 
Chapter 51

Evidently Sarah considered the matter unimportant and went on

to other subjects. As soon as we could gracefully extricate

ourselves, we said our good-bys and left.

"This is beyond weird," Eric said in the elevator.

"I'm thoroughly confused," I admitted.

"I wonder who he really is?"

We discussed the so called Alan Sloan all the way to the

airport. There were no plausable answers that we could come

up with.

\- - - - -

First thing Monday morning, I summoned the General to my

office.

He came in all jovial, and I was smiling. When he was seated

in front of my desk, I turned serious.

"Sam," I said, "I understand that you're trying to do a good

job, keeping the planes as tightly scheduled as possible, but

there's one thing you haven't taken into consideration.

That's the fact that I OWN Metalco, the planes, and

everything else.

"What I want goes. When I want to use a plane, or have it

sit on the ground and wait for me, that's what's going to

happen. I do not have to make excuses or give explanations.

That's the way it is.

"While we were on this trip, you called twice a day to find

out when we were coming home. That will never happen again.

"Since I've requested that Ron and Jason be assigned as my

pilots whenever possible, I suggest that you work out some

arrangement with them to keep you informed on what to expect,

but I don't want you to unnecessarily pester them either."

Sam didn't make any excuses. "I apologise for being over

zealous," was all he said.

"You're doing a great job," I told him. "We're getting

better usage out of our equipment than we ever have. It's

just that when it comes to Eric or me, the rules change

slightly."

"I understand."

"Unfortunately," I continued, "neither Eric or I are able to

plan too far ahead, and then, we rarely know how long we're

going to be in a particular place. We'll let you know when

we can, but flexibility is important to us, so you'd better

plan on surprises. Do we understand each other?"

"I do now," Sam said. "Knowing the rules helps a lot."

We shook hands and he went back to work.

\- - - - -

Our surveillance operation was now limited to the Miltons and

the Mob. From what we heard, the mob was satisfied. Getting

rid of Tony had satisfied their lust for revenge and we

hadn't been mentioned.

The Miltons were evidently suspicious. Where they'd been

very open about their activities they were now being real

cagey and had ditched their "tails" on more than one

occasion. In my opinion, it was only a matter of time before

they tried something else.

Dale was accepting of the arrangements that had been made.

Jack was not. He gave me unmitigated hell and threatened to

quit.

"This is the first time in over twenty years that you've

'caved in'," he'd roared. "You know a serious, heinous crime

has been committed, and in effect, you're condoning it."

Our talk got a lot more heated than that, but I refused to

back down even though I wasn't too sure how successful the

arrangement would be. I was finally able to placate Jack by

pointing out that if the Miltons even wavered, we'd know, and

he would be turned loose to nail them in any way possible.

Having Jack's respect was important to me and I didn't want

to lose him either. I didn't think he was being fair to me,

and hoped that he'd see things my way eventually.

\- - - - -

Micron had leased the top four floors of our old building

downtown, and what used to be the Metalco building was now

the Micron building. Annie had gotten top dollar from them

and even a premium for signage, but they were delighted with

the arrangement.

From what I heard, their floors were fully occupied and

people were still being hired.

Greg was making one of his periodic trips to town and wanted

to get together with Eric and me for dinner. It sounded to

me like he had more on his mind than food.

I wasn't wrong. The first item on his agenda was to tell us

that Micron was moving their entire Operating System and

Platform project to the West Coast and wanted as much space

as Annie still had available.

There were several reasons, he explained. First was Spence's

proximity. Even though he spent little time at the office,

he was nevertheless available when needed.

Second was cost. Even though Annie was getting top buck, it

was a helluva lot cheaper than Manhattan, and third, they

needed all their New York people to concentrate on developing

programs to run on the new system. Only key people would be

moving West.

Last, he wanted to talk about Lundborg Rush. "I see from the

statements we get that you guys are doing rather well," he

observed. "Your last quarter was phenominal!"

"You ain't seen nuthin' yet," Eric told him. "We're soon

going to be the number one supplier of digital ROM in the

world," and went on to tell him about the new directions we

were going.

"Is there going to be room for Micron?" Greg chuckled.

"You bet!" Eric said. "The building we're in right now is

leased from Metalco, and we've already outgrown it. We've

got a whole new facility on the drawing boards right now, and

there'll be plenty of room for expansion."

"You'll need it if our projections prove even close to

right," Greg answered. "By the way, Warren's a great guy to

work with."

"I know we're shipping software all over the world for you

now, so would you consider making some of it overseas?" Eric

asked. "Cut down on freight and duty for your customers,

we'll probably be setting up somewhere in the EEC."

"I'm pretty sure that the Government's going to try to

control export of Spence's stuff, but that won't last long,"

Greg said. "We all know that disks have a way of getting all

over regardless."

"That's down the road a ways, but it's something to consider,"

Eric said.

There was something else that Greg had on his mind but he

seemed hesitant to come out with it. The conversation danced

around, and finally over dessert, he looked at me and spit it

out. "Dave, I know you've never sat on outside Boards, but

we'd like to invite you to join our Board of Directors."

I thought about it for a minute. I'd been invited many times

to sit on other boards, some of the biggest Corporations in

the country, and had always turned them down. I'd always

figured that I had enough to do.

"I can give you a hundred reasons why I should say no," I

told him. "First, we're already so involved in so many ways

that it's becoming incestuous, and the list goes on from

there."

"It's only four times a year, and we only pay a hundred

thousand, which I know is peanuts to you, but we DO pick up

all the liability premiums," he said.

"I said I SHOULD say no," I said. "I didn't say I was going

to."

"You'd consider it?"

"I am, right now, and the answer's yes, I'd be honored," I

told him. "Somebody's got to watch all of Eric's money, and

he's too busy to do it himself."

After the laughing stopped, they both congratulated me.

"One condition," I said. "No pictures in any reports."

"You're quite a 'catch'," Eric told me later. "You blew me

away when you said yes."

"I surprised myself too, I think," I said. "I'll try it for a

year and see how I like it." I held him close, "are you

disappointed that they didn't ask you instead?"

"Hell no! Having you there will protect my investment, and

besides, it's a good excuse to go to New York a little more

often."

\- - - - -

From the time that Tina had met Rick, they'd pretty much led

their own lives. Now, we were seeing a lot more of them.

They joined us for dinner frequently, used the pool and

tennis courts, and were just "around" more than they'd ever

been.

I think Rick was a bit intimidated by me, so I made an effort

to be approachable. Gradually he warmed up to me once he

realized that I didn't bite. He and Eric got along great,

doing a lot of kidding as well as having serious discussions.

It was clear to me that Tina was very serious about this boy,

and I had a fair idea what was going on. She was

"conditioning" him to her oddball family.

The more I was around Rick, the better I liked him. Even

though he had received a lot of recognition for our office

building resulting in more business than he could handle, it

hadn't inflated his ego. He was self-effacing and didn't take

any of it seriously.

His quiet nature seemed to match Tina's, certainly a contrast

to Gunter's arrogance.

After discussing Hydra matters one day at the office, Tina

changed the subject. "Dad, I've got something to tell you,"

she said. "Rick and I have been talking about getting

married."

"Are congratulations in order?" I asked.

"Not yet. He's kind of old-fashioned. He wants to talk to

you first before it's official," she said. "I just wanted to

know how you felt about it."

"Do I approve? Is that it?" I asked. "The answer to that is

most definitely! My question is: is this what YOU want?"

"My answer to that is a resounding YES!" she said mimicing me.

"It took me a while to tie him down," she giggled, "but it's

what we both want."

"You have my approval and my blessings," I told her. "Is

Rick afraid I wouldn't approve?"

"He's a little nervous," she admitted. "He comes from a

different background and wasn't sure you'd accept him. He's

still a little bit uncomfortable in the world we live in."

"He doesn't have a thing to worry about," I told her. "The

kind of man he is is a lot more important to me than how much

money he's got."

"How do you think Eric'll react? His approval is important

to me too."

"No problem, but why don't you ask him yourself? I know

that'd make him very happy."

"I will," she promised, gave me a kiss on the cheek and was

gone. "Thanks, Dad," she said from the door.

Not too much later, Eric came in and perched on my desk. He

was a little misty eyed. "I just got one of the biggest

compliments of my life," he said. "Tina just came in to ask

for my approval for her to marry Rick."

"You're her mean old stepmother, remember?" I said, laughing.

"No, seriously, it meant so much to me. I've never felt more

a part of the 'family', and it feels so damned good."

"You are, more than you realize," I said, standing to hold

him. "They love you as much as I do. You've earned it."

\- - - - -

The next time Rick was over for dinner, Tina, Annie and Eric

"just happened" to leave Rick and me alone. I watched him

screw up his courage, then he took the plunge.

"Mr. R," he said, "I'd like to ask for your approval for Tina

and me to get married."

"You have it," I said simply.

"I take it you were expecting this?" he asked, grinning from

ear to ear.

"When I see two people very much in love, this is the next

logical step, isn't it?" I laughed.

"There are some differences," he pointed out. "I come from a

working family, and I'm just getting started on my own

career. I can't give Tina everything she's used to."

"That isn't important," I told him. "What matters is that

you love each other and learn how to compromise. Tina's got

more money than she'll ever need, and I hope you'll accept

that, and not feel in any way intimidated because of it. You

have a brilliant future ahead of you, so relax and let her do

what she can for both of you."

"That doesn't bother me at all," he said. "We've discussed

this issue at length, and I don't see any problems."

"I'm not worried," I told him, rising to give him a

handshake. Hell, that wasn't enough. I drug him close and

gave him a brief hug. He didn't flinch. "Welcome to the

family," I told him.

"Hey, it's official!" I yelled. "Get out the champagne,

Jacques."

Everybody hugged everybody else. Jacques poured the

champagne and I toasted the happy couple, followed by another

one from Eric. I noticed that Tina only raised the glass to

her lips but didn't actually take a drink.

"Have you set a date?" I asked.

"Next spring," Tina answered.

"Oh shit!" Annie said. "That means that Mom's going to get

involved. You know about HER, don't you, Rick?"

"Tina's told me a little," he said, diplomatically.

"We'll work around her," I assured them.

The next day, Tina was sporting a three or four carat

solitaire.

\- - - - -

Both the County and the State had filed appeals in New

Hampshire, both claiming that the lower courts had erred in

denying them immunity.

Dr. Naimann had answered the County's claim in the State

Court of Appeals and the State's in the Second Circuit Court

of Appeals. Briefs had been filed, and the State Court had

handed down it's decision.

It was a resounding victory for us. The court's opinion that

the lower court had not erred let the judgment of $95 million

stand. For all intents and purposes, it was "case closed".

Now, all we had to do was try to collect.

The Circuit Court's decision quickly followed. A per curiam

opinion upheld the Federal Court's decision. Another victory

for us.

Jack was of the opinion that we'd never see a cent. Dr.

Naimann felt differently and went to work to prove his point,

asking that we have a little patience while he worked on it.

\- - - - -

In less than a month, the Milton brothers were back in

business. According to our surveillance reports, they'd

merely moved to another apartment in New York, and a steady

stream of children were visiting.

I couldn't believe their arrogance. Either the drugs weren't

working or they were doing something else. Regardless,

children were involved, and it had to be stopped.

Immediately.

This time, the decision wasn't difficult. In a conference

call, Eric and I advised Sarah what was going on, and warned

her that we had no choice but to turn them in. She wasn't

happy, but realized that we had no other option, and thanked

us for warning her.

"We gave it a try, but it didn't work," I told Jack. "Now

it's time to turn over everything you have."

"I admire you guys for trying to protect a friend," he said,

"but this can't be allowed to continue. I'll have Bob pull

off surveillance so there's no chance it can be traced back

to us, and see that those bastards get crucified."

"We don't need details," I said. "It's all in your hands."

We didn't hear the full story until much later.

\- - - - -

It didn't take all that long for Dr. Naimann to get back to

us. He wanted to outline his plan, in person, before he

implemented it.

"Are you ready for another battle?" was his opening remark,

his eyes twinkling gleefully. "At the moment, they're

sitting there gloating, thinking we can't touch them. I even

approached them with a settlement but they laughed at me."

"Is there any hope?" Eric asked.

"I think so," Dr. Naimann answered. "It's pretty hard to

execute judgment against a Governmental body unless they want

to pay up, and in this case, this bunch sure as hell doesn't

want to.

"I anticipated this, in the event we won, and I've had some

of my brightest researchers working on it since day one," he

smiled.

"The County's going to be the easiest. They own a lot of

land that we can attach and foreclose on, including the Court

House," he continued. "I don't think it's worth $95 million,

but it's better than nothing. They'll fight us, but I think

this part's relatively cut and dried.

"The State's another matter. We got lucky. When the state

was admitted to the Union in 1788, the Constitution they

adopted included most of the Colonial laws that had been in

effect before statehood. One of those old laws provided for

'discharge of public debts'. It very clearly states that

when 'public liability has been incurred through negligence

or malfeasance, and so adjudicated', the obligation must be

'discharged forthwith'.

"Malfeasance was the basis of our whole case - that

Governmental officials overstepped their legal authority with

the sole purpose of harming a specific individual or

individuals, and we proved it to the Court's satisfaction.

"We also went over every law passed since then, and can't

find any that even came close to repealing this law, and

we're convinced it's still valid and on the books."

"What does all this mean to us?" I asked.

"Citing this law, we can go back to Court, get a writ of

execution, and use that to freeze every bank account and

investment that the State has. No financial institution is

going to ignore the writ because if they do, they could be

liable themselves. They won't hand the money over to us, but

they won't let the State have it either. If anything will

make the State talk turkey, this is it, if you want to

proceed, that is."

Jack was smiling, Eric was giggling, and I was smiling too.

"Why not?" I ventured. "We've invested a lot in this

already, and I'm not one to walk away from victory without

collecting."

"I vote GO!" Eric said.

"Me too," I said.

"I'm all ready to file," Dr. Naimann said. "We should have

some answers pretty fast."

The wait was short. Dr. Naimann called, obviously delighted.

"We got the writs," he said, "and they've already been

served. I'm sure we'll be hearing from the State by

tomorrow. They're fobidden, by law, to write rubber checks."

"What do you expect them to do?" I asked.

"Beg," he said, laughing. "They're literally forced to reach

a settlement. Hell, they can't pay their bills, meet payroll

or anything else. I'll put them off as long as I can, the

more pressure, the better the settlement we'll be able to

negotiate. Oh, by the way, I leaked the whole thing to the

press. Better watch the news tonight."

Word of our latest maneuver spread through the Metalco

building like wildfire. I would be willing to bet that 90%

of our troops were glued to their TV that night. We were.

Eric, Annie, Tina, Rick and I were assembled in the den in

front of the big screen, VCR running, when the national news

came on.

It was the lead story. "As of tonight, the State of New

Hampshire is broke. In a surprise move, Attorneys for Eric

Lundborg and Dave Rush used a law from Colonial times to

freeze every bank account the state has. They are totally

without funds. Now to our Legal Correspondent..."

"Ever since the whopping judgment against them, the State of

New Hampshire has been sitting back laughing at Lundborg and

Rush. Today, their laughter stopped. Using a long-forgotten

Colonial law that's still on the books, their Attorney

Dr. Leonard Naimann, brought the State to a standstill.

"The results haven't been felt yet, but within a few days,

the effects will be widespread - a curtailment of services,

inability to pay state employees, and Lord only knows what

else. The State is finally going to have to face reality and

settle the claims against them that they should've done

months ago. A groundswell of public opinion, already

underway, is going to force the State to act, but they're not

in a very strong bargaining position."

The mike was passed to the network's political correspondent.

"We all feel sorry for the citizens of New Hampshire, but

they elected their officials and now must suffer the

consequences. From what we've heard 'on the street' New

Hampshireites aren't too happy."

Next came interview clips. "Could've been avoided..." "They

screwed this thing up from the beginning, throw the bums

out..." "Bungled from the beginning.." and "The Governor

should have stopped this a long time ago..." were some of the

comments.

The anchor summed up the story. "A sad day for the State,

the repurcussions may be far greater than anyone expected."

"Wow!" Rick said, "You've brought a whole State to its

knees. They deserve it, though."

"I want to call Naimann," I announced and went over to get

the speakerphone.

"We've got 'em by the balls," Naimann shouted gleefully.

"They've already called for a meeting in the morning, and

I'll definitely be there. Public opinion is definitely on

our side."

"How much should we settle for?" Eric asked.

"I'm going for blood," Dr. Naimann answered. "Not a penny

less than seven and a half billion, and any agreement we

reach has to be ratified by the State Legislature."

"And," he continued, "the County's not off the hook yet,

either."

"It's all going to charity, you know," I told him.

"That makes it even sweeter! I'll call you every hour at

your office tomorrow," he promised.

\- - - - -

"All that POWER!" Eric growled. "I'm not sure whether I want

to fuck or be fucked."

"Let's do both," I suggested.

\- - - - -

CNN had live coverage, and from what they showed, every other

news service was there too.

My office was full, all eyes glued to the tube, listening to

the commentators speculate. When the phone rang, everybody

jumped, including me.

"They're trying to low-ball us," Naimann said. "Their best

offer, so far, is $100 million. If this goes on much longer,

I'm going to walk...and hold a press conference. I've got to

be careful though, I want us to stay the 'good guys'."

We waited some more, no developments were reported on CNN.

A half hour later, we saw Dr. Naimann and his entourage

emerge and walk up to the massed microphones. He was smiling

but serious.

"I'm very sorry to report that our talks have broken off.

Elected Representatives of the good people of New Hampshire

refuse to negotiate in good faith, so I have been forced to

leave the bargaining table. I am available to resume talks

at any time they are ready to address this issue

realistically. Thank you."

He ignored the barrage of questions that flew at him and

stepped into a waiting car. A few minutes later the phone

rang. It was Naimann.

"How'd I do?" he asked.

"You put the ball squarely in their court," I answered.

"Those arrogant assholes are digging their own graves. The

Governor sneered at me the whole time. He's even more of a

pompous prick than the Attorney General - who was there too."

What's next?" Eric asked.

"We wait for them to call, and I assure you they will," he

said. "As soon as public opinion weighs in, the pressure is

going to take its toll. I'll let you know as soon as I hear

anything."

"Damn, 'ol Doc Naimann is sure one hell of a poker player,"

Jack commented.

By afternoon, CNN reported that recall petitions were being

circulated on street corners in every city of the state to

remove the Governor, the Attorney General, and anybody else

even remotely connected to the mess.

At no time was there any public comment made by anyone from

the State.

On the evening news it was reported that the State Legislature

was in closed-door emergency session considering whether to

remove the Governor from negotiations and take over

themselves.

We didn't hear from Dr. Naimann until morning, and he didn't

have much to report. Noone had called him. Yet.

"How's it feel to have a whole State by the balls?" Eric

asked me.

"It's no particular thrill," I admitted. "This whole thing

could have been avoided if people weren't so damned greedy.

I wish the whole thing would hurry up and get settled so we

could get back to normal."

"We seem to attract chaos," he laughed. "That's becoming

'normal' for us!"

Nothing happened all day. Or the next. We talked frequently

with Dr. Naimann, and he advised us to remain calm and wait

it out. That's what he said he was doing.

According to the news, the situation was reaching crisis

proportions. Nonessential services were curtailed, suppliers

refused to deliver to the state, being unsure when or if

they'd get paid, contractors were walking off jobs, and State

Employees were staying home in droves. Unofficial tallies

indicated that more than enough signatures had been collected

to force recall elections of several officials. It was a

mess and growing hourly, with a mass protest rally scheduled

for the Capitol steps the following day.

Thinking about it, realizing that we were responsible for

making life difficult for more than a million people, made me

wonder if we were doing the right thing. I asked Dr. Naimann

if maybe we shouldn't back off a little. On this he was

adamant, "NO WAY!" he said. "Granted, only a handful of

people got them into this perdicament, but there have been

many opportunities to put an end to the whole thing. They

either ignored these or tossed them away.

"We're talking about an affront to an individual's rights

that is protected by our Constitution, and if they get away

with it, life in these United States will never be the same.

We've got the support of more than 70% of the country. We

just can't back off now."

"The people of New Hampshire are beginning to realize this,

and see what fools they elected," he continued. "They're not

blaming you, but their own officials."

I was convinced. Naimann made it sound like we had a "duty"

to see this thing through.

Although they were working behind closed doors, rumors leaked

out that the Legislature had reached agreement on a

settlement offer, circumventing the Governor.

When Dr. Naimann was contacted, a secret meeting was arranged,

he reported to us.

Representatives from both houses of the Legislature came to

the meeting. According to Naimann, they recognized that they

were "over a barrel", and didn't try to play games. Their

offer of $8 billion, payable over five years without interest

was acceptable, and a deal was made. However, it wouldn't be

a "done-deal" until an Appropriations Bill was passed and

signed by the Governor.

Once all this was agreed to, the news was made public, the

Bill was drafted, was quickly passed and sent to the Governor

with great fanfare.

There were a lot of politics involved. Both Houses of the

State Legislature were controlled by one party, the Governor

was from the other party. The Legislature's actions were

clearly designed to embarass the Governor and he wasn't too

happy about this turn of events.

The Governor had three options: Sign the bill, veto it, or

sit on it - a "Pocket Veto". He chose the latter course of

action.

The citizens of New Hampshire were resigned to the fact that

they'd be paying higher taxes, but this action by the

Governor was an outrage. It would be sixty days before the

Legislature could override his veto, and by then, the whole

State would grind to a standstill.

The media reported that a general rebellion was "in the

making" with the whole world watching. Analysts speculated

on the Governor's motives, none coming up with anything

reasonable.

It was an impasse.

In all the hubub, "Lundborg and Rush" were completely

forgotten. The focus was on the Governor.

It got worse in a hurry. The Governor's Mansion was under

siege by angry crowds. The Governor tried to call out the

National Guard to protect him, and they refused.

The President himself tried to reason with the Governor "for

the good of the people of your State", but he continued to

stonewall.

The recall movement was moving full speed ahead, but that

took time too, more than overriding the veto. The only way

the Governor could be removed in a hurry was in the event of

his "incapacity", and since he was isolating himself, he

couldn't be examined to determine this.

Somebody came up with the idea that this determination could

be made on the basis of his actions, that no man in his right

mind would be acting like he was. That concept was jumped

on, and he was "diagnosed" in absentia.

On this basis, the Governor was removed and the Lieutenant

Governor sworn in as "acting" Governor. He immediately

signed the Appropriations Bill into law.

Dr. Naimann was skeptical. This was new legal territory and

he wondered if future litigation might invalidate our claim.

To be on the safe side, he demanded that payment of the first

year's installment be made immediately. The Legislature

agreed.

Naimann "unfroze" the State's bank accounts, and within a

week had $1.6 billion in his Trust Account. It was over.

\- - - - -

Since the money belonged to Lundborg Rush which was, in turn,

owned by the four of us, we sat down to talk over what we

were going to do with it. Everybody had opinions.

"After we reimburse the Company for it's out-of-pocket, I

suggest we give Annie the $250 million she was awarded, then

divide up what's left," I suggested.

"No," Annie said, "it's all going to some charity anyway.

That money stays in the pot."

"Do you have any particular cause in mind?" Tina wanted to

know.

"Eric has a great idea," I said, "my share goes with him."

"What's that?" Tina asked him.

Eric explained his idea of the "Lifeguard Foundation" to them

in detail.

"My share goes with you too," Tina said. "I like the fact

that none of our names are going to be on it."

"Count me in too," Annie said.

"If you all do that," Eric said, "just this first installment

is going to be far more money than I'll need to do everything

I want. Since the focus will be on education, there are a

lot of other areas where we could do something worthwhile.

Any ideas?"

We all agreed to think about it, and I added "Down the road,

I'd like to give some to my animals."

"There'll be plenty for everything anybody wants to do," Eric

answered.

\- - - - -

Since they were also LR stockholders, we talked to the Micron

boys about our plans. They were in total agreement, saying

that it wouldn't be right to line our own pockets, and that I

could help them pass a Board resolution to that effect at the

next meeting which was coming up soon.

Eric was anxious to get started and wanted to draw on Sarah's

expertise. He was a bit hesitant to call her, though, not

knowing how she'd feel toward us after what we'd done to her

brothers.

Several weeks had elapsed since Jack had set the wheels in

motion and we hadn't heard anything about what had happened.

We were both a little nervous about the reception we'd

receive when we called her. Eric insisted I be there when he

called to provide moral support.

We didn't have anything to worry about. "You did it again,"

she said happily. "Whether it was intentional or not, you

got me off the hook."

"What do you mean?" Eric asked.

"That fracas you caused up in New Hampshire pushed everything

else off the front page. My brothers' case was pushed to a

back page and hardly got noticed," she said.

"To be honest, we haven't heard anything about what happened,"

Eric admitted.

"The New York police caught them red-handed in that awful

apartment, and the New Jersey police searched their homes and

found their tape collections. Confronted with this, for the

first time in their lives, they acted like gentlemen, admitted

their guilt and were sentenced to 20 year terms without a

trial. They'll never leave prison alive. It was all handled

very quickly and quietly."

"For your sake, I'm happy about that," Eric said.

Then they got down to the real reason for the call. Eric

gave her a quick description of what we wanted to do and

Sarah was eager to help. A time was set for Eric to see her

in New York.

"Bring Dave," she said, "so you can both come to Brad's

opening."

I hadn't said a word during the whole conversation. "You

know, don't you, that child molesters aren't the most popular

people in prison?" I asked him. He nodded. "They'll never

last out their term."

"I thought about that," he said, "but I didn't want to

mention it to Sarah."

\- - - - -

The timing was good. We'd be able to accomplish a lot of

things at the same time - my Board meeting, Eric's meeting

with Sarah, and Brad's opening, something I knew we'd have to

go to. There was a two-week gap, however.

I pointed this out to Eric. "We have a whole week with

nothing to do."

"Except work," he laughed.

"No we don't, that's why we delegate," I told him. "Besides,

it's getting kind of cold around here."

"Sure, it's clear down to the high 60's," he teased. "Hell,

we haven't had a vacation in two whole months! Where do you

want to go?"

"I was thinking about the Virgin Islands, never been there."

"Which one, I hear tell there's three of them?"

"Smartass. You choose."

"Eeny, meenie..." he said, laughing.

"Call Dan," I suggested. "He'll have some ideas."

"You're serious?" he asked.

"Damned right."

"OK, I'll call him."

I heard him joking with Dan, then he held the phone away "He

wants to know if we want nightlife, history or peace and

quiet."

"How about peace and quiet where we can fuck our brains out

on the beach?"

"Hear that?" Eric asked Dan. "Sounds good to me too."

Eric listened some more, then asked me, "Private Villa or a

Resort?"

"Let's go for a resort so we don't have to take a crew along,"

I suggested.

"He says the Caneel Bay Resort on St. John would be the best,

that sound OK?"

"Go for it," I told him.

"Dan's faxing us all the details," he said after he hung up.

"I realize this was rather abrupt," I said. "I didn't even

ask if you wanted to take anybody else along."

"Not really," he said, then thought a minute. "You know who

might be interesting?" I shook my head. "Dr. Naimann and

his S.O."

"Might be!" I said. "Call him if you want, I'm agreeable."

Eric was on the phone again. "They'd love to go," he said.

"I told them all they'd need was a couple of swimsuits and

lots of lube," he giggled.

\- - - - -

When we mentioned that we'd be in the Caribbean the following

week and New York the next, Annie, with a big grin, said

"What a coincidence! I may run into you in New York. I'm

meeting Hans. We're staying with Sarah."

"Gee, you mean I'm going to have a little peace and quiet

around here?" Tina said with a big smile.

Tina would have a little time alone with Rick, and I was

happy to see that Annie and Hans were getting together. Who

knows? Maybe a double wedding next spring.

Eric and I agreed, spontaneous trips were more fun. No

chance to build expectations, just go and see what happens.

This would be different from our recent trips in another way

\- no bodyguards, no entourage. Nice.

Dan had sent over brochures and all sorts of stuff on what we

could do. We decided not to even look at them until we got

there.

\- - - - -

By now, Jacques had become an indispensible part of our

lives. In reality, we didn't see that much of him. He was

never underfoot, and protected our privacy with a vengeance.

I was almost surprised not to find him sitting outside our

bedroom door at night making sure that nobody disturbed us.

Rarely did either of us have to give him instructions. He

had the uncanny ability to anticipate. In many ways, he had

US trained. Little things that I'd taken responsibility for

all my life, frequently forgetting, were no longer a part of

my life. Such simple things as toothpaste, something I'd

often run out of in the past, were automatically replenished.

He'd trained us to forget about them completely.

The only thing about Jacques that bothered me was his total

dedication to our happiness. It seemed like he never took a

day off or had any life of his own. Frankly, it made me feel

a little guilty.

I broached the subject to Eric. "I don't know what you're

paying that guy, but it isn't enough," I told him.

"He's making as much as some of our executives," he told me,

"and worth every penny."

"But, does the poor guy have a life? He's here 24 hours a

day, seven days a week."

"There's a lot that you evidently don't know," Eric said with

a smirk. "Have you checked out the 'servants quarters' over

the garage lately?"

"No."

"It's a lot different than it used to be. I gave Jacques a

credit card to do our shopping with, and told him to use it

to fix the place up however he wanted, no limit. He took me

seriously, and now that place is nicer than most homes."

"Does he live there alone?" I asked.

"No, Rene, the chef, lives out there too," he said giggling.

"You're not very observant," he kidded. "Jacques and Rene

have been an 'item' almost since the day he arrived."

"I must be going blind in my old age," I teased. "All this

going on right under my nose and I didn't even notice. How'd

you find out about it?"

"Jacques confides in me," he said. "As you've noticed, or

NOT noticed, they're really discreet. By the way, since

we're going to be gone next week, I've arranged with Mary to

take over so they both can have a little time off. I hope

you don't mind."

"Certainly not! You know, I think I married a helluva nice

guy."

Although Jacques wasn't going with us on this trip, he did

all our packing. Neither of us even bothered to check what

he'd packed. We KNEW that everything we'd need would be

there.

\- - - - -

We would pick up Dr. Naimann and his partner in Miami. For a

change, the General was happy, we had a real schedule for

this trip, and we would be taken care of by the Steward that

he'd hired. Ron and Jason were, as usual, our pilots, and we

were using the GV.

We left early so we'd get there in daylight. Actual flying

time wasn't that long, but we'd be losing several hours.

Our Steward was a cutie. Tall, slim, with huge brown eyes.

Since this was his first flight with us, he seemed a little

nervous, a little too eager to please. I sat him down and

told him to relax, that we were Dave and Eric, and that we

liked informality.

After breakfast, he advised us that he was going to the crew

quarters, and wouldn't be back until we called him, very

subtly telling us that we wouldn't be disturbed.

"That was thoughtful," Eric commented with a leer. "There's

something we've never done on any of the planes."

"What's that?"

"Fuck."

Chapter 52

We weren't in a hurry. Neither of us wanted this to be

"deliberate".

We sat, his head on my shoulder, talking about nothing in

particular, touching, fondling. The warmth of his body, the

touch of his skin was arousing to me. Hell, just being with

him never failed to get me going.

An hour later, we folded down the couch. Sheets were already

on the mattress, and Eric had come prepared with lube and

towels.

We undressed slowly, watching each other, then sank down on

the bed. Eric scooted over onto his back, grinning at me.

"You're first," he said, throwing his long legs up.

I pulled them down and crawled on top of him, kissing him,

then working my way downward, not missing any of his hot

spots along the way. I rolled off and took his cock into my

mouth, running hy hand under him, stroking.

"That's wonderful," he groaned, "but I want to feel you

inside me."

I got the lube and loosened him with my fingers. His nod

told me that he was ready. I settled between his splayed

legs and worked my way in. Once fully inserted, I leaned

forward for a kiss. He was anxious, I was lying still, but

he was bucking upward, urging me to get busy.

I stroked, he continued bucking, wanting every inch I could

give him. A hard and fast rhythm developed with both of us

moaning. My head was beside his and when I moved to lock my

lips on his, his arms shot around me, holding me almost

painfully tight. I felt his whole body tense and his warm

cum flowing between us. The spasming of his internal muscles

pulled me over the brink with him.

I settled on top of him, feeling his dick still throbbing

between us. When I regained my breath, I whispered to him.

"We're not finished yet!"

I sat up and pulled out slowly. Gathering his cum from our

stomachs and chests, I lubed up his still hard dick. Pulling

his legs together, I straddled him, holding his dick upright

and sat down on it.

I rose and fell on him, my eyes glued to his. His smile told

me he was enjoying this as much as I was. I leaned back, and

our sharp intakes of breath showed that we both were getting

some new sensations. I rocked in this position, the rubbing

against my prostate driving me to delirium. He helped,

rising to meet my downward strokes.

He scooped up the remaining cum and stroked me. I was close

again. I lost control, my dick spurting in the air, my ass

muscles clenching, begging him to join me. My orgasm was

subsiding when his took over. Being conscious, for a change,

I was able to thoroughly enjoy it, feeling his shots going

into me clear to the core.

I collapsed forward, holding him, basking in the afterglow.

As soon as we could, we stumbled to the head and wiped each

other down with warm damp towels.

\- - - - -

Always the one to remember names, Eric reminded me that Dr.

Naimann's partner was Lee.

The two of them were just getting out of a cab as we pulled

up. They'd been delayed by a snowstorm in Boston.

"It feels so good to get warm again," Lee said, holding his

quilted jacket under his arm.

Their luggage got loaded, and we got ready to go again. We'd

settled in a grouping of seats for easy conversation since the

couch kind of isolated us.

We'd only met Lee once, at our "Victory Party" in New York,

and had been on strictly an Attorney-Client basis with Dr.

Naimann, so I didn't know where to start.

After takeoff, Lee was the first to speak. "This is the

first time I've ever been on a private jet," he said. "I

could get used to this real fast!"

"With the fee Dr. Naimann's getting, he could afford one too,"

Eric kidded.

"Gotta save up for my old age," Dr. Naimann shot back. "I'm

Len, by the way, no more of this DR. crap, OK?"

That broke the ice. These guys weren't stuffed shirts.

Our Steward emerged from the crew quarters and asked if we'd

like drinks before lunch. At first, Dr. Naimann politely

refused, but Lee jumped on him. "We're on vacation for

God's sake, loosen up!"

We ended up having three drinks apiece and got to know each

other a lot better in the process.

After lunch the conversation got more personal. The usual

questions "How'd you meet?" "How long have you been

together?" were asked. Eric told our story. I liked his

version better than mine anyway.

When it was their turn, Len merely said that they'd been

lovers for six years.

Nosy me. "How'd you guys meet?" I asked innocently.

I noticed them glance at each other. "We've known each other

all our lives," Len said, "we're cousins."

They glanced at me, then at Eric, watching our reactions.

"So?" I said.

"A lot of people have difficulty dealing with that," Lee

said. "Incest is such a taboo subject that we rarely mention

the family connection."

"It doesn't bother me," Eric said. "I'm happy to see any two

people get together that love each other. Hell, it's not

like you're going to have idiot kids!"

"We try," Len said, laughing.

"Doesn't matter to us," I said, "relax! Out of curiosity,

though, how is your family handling it?"

"We're not 'out' to them. They think we live together for

convenience. They live in the Midwest so we don't have to

deal with the issue very often," Lee explained.

After that, the conversation lightened up. We were all

intent on doing as little as possible for the next six days,

and all agreed that no business would be discussed.

We landed in St. Thomas, took the water taxi to St. John, and

were met by the hotel. On the way, Lee told us some

interesting things about the Caneel Bay Resort. It was so

exclusive that it didn't even advertise, and was the favorite

getaway for the rich and famous.

"Leave it to Dan!" I told Eric.

It was almost dark when we were shown to our adjoining

bungalows. We agreed to meet the other two for dinner after

we unpacked and freshened up.

The bellman who had handled our luggage was really friendly.

Without innuendo, he told us that he'd be happy to help us

out with any questions we had about the island or the

resort. Eric wrote down his name and phone extension.

It was warm and humid outside, but our room had the air

conditioning running full force. It was freezing. We turned

it off and opened the sliding glass doors. We came there for

the warmth, not to get refrigerated.

When I got out of the shower, Eric was sprawled on the bed

with a bunch of brochures spread around him. "I'm learning

how we're supposed to act around here," he said with a grin.

"The dining room's open for dinner only, and we're 'requested'

to wear long pants and no loud shirts. Coat and tie optional.

"Breakfast is delivered to the room, and lunch is on the

patio, wherever that is."

During dinner, we learned that none of us were Scuba divers,

but all had a little experience at snorkeling. Before making

any firm plans, Eric wanted to read the brochures in the room

and Dan's stuff.

Len and Lee were banging on our door pretty early. It was

decided that we'd meet at the beach and decide what to do from

there. Both of them were really pale so they'd have to take

the sun in very small doses or wear a ton of sunscreen.

The sand was snow white and the water an unbelievable blue.

I checked it out and it was warm as a bathtub.

Len and Lee wanted to put off snorkeling until they had

gotten a little sun, and Eric, my Nature Boy, was anxious to

hike some of the nature trails. I was game for anything.

The hotel got us a rental car and gave us directions to the

starting point of the trails. Driving was on the left,

British style, and Eric volunteered to drive. There was very

little traffic, thankfully, because he tended to veer to the

right. "This just isn't NATURAL!" he moaned.

Walking was easy and the sub-tropical vegetation was

spectacular. We wandered more than hiked, holding hands like

the lovebirds we were.

After dinner, Eric disappeared for a few minutes, coming back

with a grin, and winked at me when he sat back down.

The resort had a bar where Calypso and Reggae music was

playing, so we wandered in. The music was loud, but not so

loud that we couldn't talk. It was by no means full, but

there were quite a few people seated around. Lee was

evidently somewhat of a 'celebrity watcher' so was able to

point out the big names present, most of whom I'd never heard

of.

One that I did recognize was a singing superstar and his male

companion. Rumors had been flying for years that he was

gay. It looked like they might be true.

During the evening, they checked us out and we checked them

out, the old "are they or aren't they?" routine. Sitting

close together, with Eric's arm around me, it was pretty

obvious that we "were". Len and Lee were a bit more discreet.

I was quite surprised when they stopped by our table on their

way out, introducing themselves, and superstar saying "We've

got a boat chartered tomorrow to explore the Underwater Park

and could use some company if you guys are interested."

I looked around at our group. Heads were nodding, so I

accepted for all of us. We'd meet in the lobby.

The four of us turned in soon after.

"Where'd you go after dinner?" I asked.

"To make arrangements for tonight," Eric smirked.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We're gonna make love on the beach," he said, his eyes

twinkling, "in the moonlight."

"Just don't pack sand up my ass. It's scratchy!" I laughed.

"No, but something else is going up there," he giggled.

The beaches around the hotel were patrolled at night. For a

reasonable tip to the bellman and the guard, we wouldn't be

disturbed. We put on swimsuits and grabbed towels.

The water felt wonderful. So warm, so soothing. We just

floated around in waist deep water, touching, letting the

soft waves wash over us. When we got out, it was so warm we

didn't even dry off.

Eric took one of the towels and dropped it right at the edge

of the water, then took me in his arms. "I thought we'd let

the waves wash over us," he said softly in my ear.

We pulled down our suits and sank to our knees, the waves

running up to lap at our legs. He had a bottle of lube in

his hand. I leaned back, and before I knew it, was flat on

my back, my knees up and he was inside me.

Having him there always felt wonderful, but with the waves

running up to us and occasionally over was mind boggling.

The moon was bright which made the romantic setting complete.

His lips were on mine, his strokes long and rhythmic, and the

combination of everything had us both moaning in minutes.

Neither one of us tried to hold out, the crashing climax came

too soon. We lay side by side, the water sliding over us

while we recovered.

\- - - - -

The boat we went out on was pretty good sized, roomy and

fully equipped. Eric and I had brought our own snorkeling

gear and the boat's crew outfitted the others.

Our host was genuinely friendly and asked us to call him Al,

his "companion", Rick seemed to be more than just a pretty

face and very nice body. Al himself wasn't hard to look at

either.

The water was so clear that you could see the coral

formations below without being in the water, but we soon

learned that the view was much better once you were in it.

Al and Rick were eager, leading the pack. Eric and I

followed with Len and Lee trailing behind us.

We followed a "trail" marked out by the Park Service, with

underwater signs identifying the various coral types.

Brightly colored fish in huge schools swam right among us.

We made a large circle, ending up back at the boat. I, for

one, was ready for a little rest.

Al and Rick were fun to be around. Very energetic, witty,

funny, and were definitely not dummies. The boat took us to

other areas of the park where the underwater formations and

fish were completely different from those along the "trail".

We made a whole day of it. Len and Lee were both exhausted

and had gotten more than their share of sun. Al and Rick

appeared to be ready for more. It was agreed that we'd all

meet for a drink before dinner.

"They're fun people," Eric observed. "A little different

from the business types we're used to."

"Lots of life," I agreed.

The music hadn't started in the bar yet, so we all could talk

easily.

"We've finally figured out who you guys are," Al announced.

"Len's the one who beat the shit out of the State of New

Hampshire, Eric's the 'Wall Street Whiz", and Dave's the West

Coast tycoon. You're the only remaining mystery, Lee."

"I'm at M.I.T., working on the Space Program," Lee explained,

news to me, too.

"I sing for my dinner," Al said, "and Rick here runs a

modeling agency."

There. We were now neatly identified, categorized, put in

pigeonholes and labeled. The only thing missing was "gay" in

front of all our labels. This practice, so typically

American, tickled me.

"So, what are you going to do with all the money the good

Doctor here won for you," Rick asked Eric and me.

"We're giving it all away," Eric said. "We're setting up a

Foundation for education," then went on to describe what we

intended to do.

This was news to Dr. Naimann, too, and he paid close

attention. At the end of Eric's description, he surprised us

all by adding "I'm hoping to get Len here involved, hopefully

as a Trustee."

Len just smiled at him. "I'll think about it," he said.

"I'd like to help too," Al said. "We'll talk about it later."

Our little group grew from four to six. We laughingly

designated Eric "Social Director", and he took his new job

seriously.

We got a bigger rental car that'd hold all six of us and

toured the island, looking at all the old sugar plantations

and other history. We didn't just drive by, either, but

stopped and thoroughly explored everything.

We made shopping trips to Mongoose Junction and Wharfside

Village on Cruz Bay, taking advantage of the duty-free

shops. Eric and I collected a few local craft items as

souvenirs but didn't do any serious buying.

Sure, we were six gay men, spending a lot of time together,

and there was a lot of gay humor, but the thing that I

enjoyed was the total lack of sexual tension. Of course we

checked each other out thoroughly, but it was obvious that we

were happy, satisfied couples without any interest in

extracurricular activities.

Al, surprisingly, was really serious about getting involved

with the Lifeguard project. "I don't know what I can do

myself," he'd said one afternoon at the beach, "but I do know

a lot of people in 'Show Biz' that I could introduce you to.

Maybe original music for your presentations, help with

choreography, stuff like that."

"I'd wondered where we'd go for help like that," Eric said.

"We want to look somewhat professional, grab the kids'

interest and get our message through with a little humor."

"I know the best writers in the business too," Al said.

"They could take your concept and run with it."

"You'll be hearing from me, count on it," Eric told him.

Our six days were up far too soon. It had been a busy,

active, week but relaxing.

\- - - - -

We flew directly to New York, taking Len and Lee with us.

They'd catch the shuttle to Boston from there. Jacques was

our Steward and would be with us in New York to again take

over our lives.

The East Coast was having an early winter, and the change

from the sunny Caribbean was a shock to our systems.

I had never been to a formal Board Meeting other than those

of our Railroad, so I didn't really know what to expect.

Greg and Jerry welcomed me warmly and introduced me around.

Besides the four Micron boys and me, there were seven outside

Directors. Those were an eclectic group - big stockholders,

an attorney, and C.E.O.'s of other "Fortune 100" companies.

For the record, I was elected, then Jerry as Chairman, got

right down to business.

Finance was first. Earnings were flat, but at a high level,

something to be expected after their recent rollout of a new

generation of Software. No major growth spurts were expected

over the next year or so.

Next on the agenda was the "SPY Project", as they referred to

Spence's stuff.

"We don't have to tell Dave what THAT is," Jerry laughed.

"He and Eric have been in on it from the beginning." It was

obvious that everyone knew who Eric was, but some had

quizzical looks on their faces, probably wondering what his

connection to me was. Jerry noticed but didn't explain.

Greg was in charge of the Operating System project, and

brought the group up to date on progress.

"We're in the process of moving the whole project to the West

Coast," he told us. "We couldn't stay on schedule here, not

enough room."

He went on to detail what they were doing and how they

expected to start beta testing within a year, releasing the

new system in March of 2003, right on schedule.

After his presentation, there was "housekeeping" to take care

of - formal approval of actions taken by management. The

whole meeting took just over two hours.

"Relatively painless, wouldn't you say?" Greg commented on

our way out.

"Piece of cake," I laughed.

\- - - - -

After discussing my experience at the Board Meeting, Eric

told me what he'd learned from Sarah about Foundations.

"Setting it up is mostly a legal matter. We can have an

attorney handle that at home," he said. "It'll be structured

very much like a Corporation, Officers, with a Board of

Trustees instead of Directors. The Officers 'run' the

Foundation, take care of the money and sift through all the

requests for funds, but the real decision making is done by

the Trustees.

"Sarah suggests that we find a 'High Profile' type to be

President, someone who's a good administrator as well as

experienced in Public Relations. He doesn't have to be a

fundraiser because we won't be looking for outside money.

She even had some suggestions on where to find somebody like

this.

"There is one restriction on who the Trustees can be, at

least three of them have to be outside the 'Family' who

establishes the Foundation."

"Who do you have in mind?" I asked.

"You, me, Annie and Tina, for sure," he said, "and we'll need

at least three others. Len Naimann would be good, but I

haven't come up with another two. Do you have any

suggestions?"

"How about Sarah?"

"I already talked to her about it," he said. "Since this'll

be headquartered on the West Coast, and quite a little of her

time would be required, she doesn't feel that she could do

the job justice. She'll be happy to be on the Board, but

only with the understanding that she won't be too active."

"I'd go for that," I told him. "Just having her name

associated with it would lend a lot of credibility. As to

the others, let's think about it."

\- - - - -

The following evening was Brad's "opening", and no trip to

New York was complete without dinner at Chef Maurice's, so I

called Annie at Sarah's and invited her and Hans to join us

for dinner then go on to the gallery.

We received the usual treatment, no menus and service

directly from the kitchen.

Annie enthusiastically told us about all the exciting things

they had been doing, Hans joining in.

I sat back and watched them with pride. My beautiful

daughter was, without doubt, very much in love with this

handsome, dashing young man. Both of them literally glowed,

so I knew it was mutual.

When Chef Maurice came out to take his bow, he was somewhat

subdued, not his usual boisterous self. After we showered

him with well deserved compliments, he made an announcement.

"This is the last time I'll be cooking for you here," he said.

"My contract wasn't renewed. This is my last week here."

"Do you have any plans?" I asked.

"Not yet," he answered.

"Come see me tomorrow," I said, "at the penthouse."

\- - - - -

We were fashionably late to arrive at the Gallery. The few

"openings" I'd been to had been sparsely attended. This was

a lot different. It was crowded. With Sarah as Sponsor,

everybody turned out. That lady carried enormous clout!

"See what you started?" I kidded Eric.

We were handed catalogs, fairly thick, and a quick glance

showed that no expense had been spared in printing them. The

prices, in small print almost blew my socks off, ranging from

$100,000 upward!

In the first showroom, the paintings were beautifully

displayed, some walls dark to bring the "drama" of Brad's

work into focus, others light to show the whimsy. I was also

amazed to see a lot of "sold" signs.

In the second, larger, room, Sarah was holding court, her arm

around Brad's waist. When she saw us, she motioned us over.

"Here's the fellow who 'discovered' Brad," she announced to

the crowd, giving Eric a big hug, and me a wink.

Poor Eric was surprised at all this attention, and tried to

smile through the redness that crept across his face. He

congratulated Brad on his obvious success, and I stepped up

to congratulate him too. Sarah went on to tell her audience

how Eric had spotted one of Brad's paintings among a "sea of

dreadful cats".

I stepped back from the crowd to where Hans and Annie were

standing. "I didn't know Eric was an Art connoisseur," Hans

said.

"They both are," Annie said. "You should see their penthouse

here, and Dad's collection at home. Even the office is full."

"I'd love to," Hans said.

"Come visit us," I told him. "Most of Eric's Jacoby

paintings are at the office, if I remember right, he has 26

of them."

Hans whistled. "He's got a bloody fortune right there!"

"Let me assure you, he sure as hell didn't pay THESE prices,"

I chuckled.

When Eric was able to get loose, he and I walked the whole

gallery, looking at each and every painting. "You know

something?" he asked when we stopped to sip the champagne

that had been handed to us, "I think I've got some of his

best work. They're bolder, more expressive than most of

these. Don't get me wrong, I think these are great, but he

seems to have gotten a little timid."

I wanted to hug him right there and plant a big wet one on

his lips. I was so damned proud of him. Without any

training, he was so damned perceptive. All I could do, under

the circumstances, was to smile at him and agree. I'd take

care of the other part later.

We'd seen enough, so made our way back to Sarah to say good

night. Brad pulled us aside to tell us how grateful he was

for what we'd done for him. He couldn't believe that, as an

unknown, his show had gotten this much attention, and that so

many pieces had already sold. I believe the poor kid was in

a daze.

\- - - - -

We weren't ready to turn in yet, so we settled in the den.

Jacques lit a fire in the fireplace and we kicked back and

snuggled, watching the flames and looking out at the lights.

"I was so damned proud of you tonight," I told him.

"Why?"

"The perceptive comment you made about Brad's work."

"I don't know where it came from, it was just the way I

felt," he said.

I gave him the delayed hug and kiss. "You're sensitive and

see things that few people do. Until you pointed it out, I

didn't pick up on the subtle changes at all."

"You're inflating my ego again," he giggled.

"No, I'm just telling you the truth. It's those qualities

that make me love you so much."

"What're you going to do with Chef Maurice?" he asked,

changing the subject.

"Whatever it takes," I told him. "Maurice is a talent that

can't be wasted."

\- - - - -

When Jacques led him into the den, Maurice looked whipped.

Here was one of the world's greatest chefs without a job.

Every culinary honor imaginable had been bestowed on him,

many of them several times, and wherever he went, his

restaurant received the much coveted Michelin Four Stars

almost automatically, a rare occurrence in the United States.

He gave us both hugs then sat dejectedly.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It's a long story," he said, with hardly a trace of an

accent. "Big Corporations," he continued, shaking his head

sadly. "They want me to turn out cafeteria food under the

guise of haute cuisine. I won't do it. Standardization so

they can buy in bulk and save a few pennies. I won't do that

either.

"I've been fighting with the accountants since the day I

started with that hotel. My labor cost is too high, my

ingredients cost too much. It never stops, and when they

demanded that I cut costs at the expense of quality, I

allowed my contract to expire."

"I'm sure you have many offers," I suggested.

"A few," he said, "but with the ones I've gotten, it won't be

any different. Same old battles to maintain quality."

"Have you ever considered opening your own restaurant?" I

asked.

"I'd be broke in a month," he laughed. "I'm a cook, numbers

are foreign to me. I can only work for someone else who

knows the business part, and nobody will allow me to do

things my way."

"I would," I said.

"Don't tease me, David," he said, chuckling, "You don't know

anything about the restaurant business!"

"I learn fast!" I told him. "Think about it. We have to go

back to the West Coast tomorrow night, so let me know in the

morning if you're interested and we can talk some more before

we have to leave."

"Is he really serious?" Maurice asked Eric.

"If he isn't, I am," Eric told him very seriously.

He went out shaking his head, but his spirits were definitely

raised.

"That was planned, wasn't it?" Eric stated, and it wasn't a

question.

"I've thought about it for a minute or two since last night,"

I admitted, chuckling. "I also know a helluva lot more about

the restaurant business than either one of you think."

"As usual, you're full of surprises," he grinned.

"The classic formula," I pontificated, "is 25% for

ingredients, 25% for labor, 25% for overhead and 25%

profit. The secret is to balance all those and be able to

have menu prices that are competetive in the market you're

selling to. In most cases, it's price driven, and, you've

gotta be competetive in your market. You work backward from

the amount you feel you can charge, and in a lot of cases,

ingredients are the first to suffer.

"As I see it, with Maurice, it's possible to work from the

other direction. You can determine all your costs, then set

your prices accordingly. Price isn't important because he

has no competition. Lecture over!"

"Pop quiz later?" he asked, laughing. "I do see your point,

though. Overhead in a hotel's gotta be high, and at the same

time, they want to hold the line on prices. If Maurice were

independent, he wouldn't have those constraints."

"You're getting it," I kidded him. "Location isn't that

important either. Maurice's name alone will bring his

following just about anyplace. And, the people who follow

him are the type that don't even look at the prices on the

menu anyway."

"THIS is one thing that I'd really like to be in on, if

you'll let me," he said. "It'll make money, sure, but I'd

just like to be able to say that I'm in the restaurant

business."

"We're partners," I told him sternly. "In everything!"

We had barely finished our conversation when Maurice called

to ask if he could come back over and talk some more. Eric

told him to come right ahead.

"I'm interested," Maurice told us. "Exactly what did you

have in mind?"

I repeated the theory that I'd just explained to Eric, adding

"This would give you complete freedom to run the kitchen

however you want, which is what I believe you're looking for."

"Nobody could turn down an offer like that!" he said, jumping

to his feet. "It will be the best restaurant in America! I

will run the kitchen and supervise the service. Your people

will do everything else, no?"

"Yes, we'll handle everything," I told him, chuckling. "But,

we're going to need your help!"

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening throwing ideas

around. The only limitation we put on Maurice was use of our

names. HE was the star, and we didn't want our names

mentioned.

"Do you have any idea what we've gotten ourselves into?" Eric

chuckled.

"Delegate!" I reminded him. "We should be in on a lot of the

decisions in the beginning, but about all we have to do is

pick out the location and find a good manager. You, of

course, will do the interviewing."

Before we left the next day, Eric had a realtor busy looking

for locations.

\- - - - -

On the ride home, Eric sat at one of the tables so he could

work. I stretched out on the couch and watched him. I knew

it bothered him, but I didn't have many opportunities to gaze

at the love of my life. Such perfection. Someone I'd never,

even in my wildest dreams, ever thought would be "mine".

Unbelievably sexy, and intellectual too, the ultimate "Trophy"

boyfriend.

He'd look up from whatever he was doing and smile, then go

back to work. He got up and came over to perch on the couch

next to me, leaning over for a peck on the lips. "You're

making it awfully hard for me to concentrate," he said.

"That's my intention," I laughed. "What're you working on?"

"I'm trying to prioritize, figure out what I have to do first

to get things rolling."

"What've you decided?"

"First on the agenda will be looking for a President for

the Foundation, then a Manager for the Restaurant. Then I can

delegate!" he said, with that twinkle in his eye. "I've also

got to outline what we want to do, first, with the

Foundation, so I can let prospects know what's going to be

required of them."

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Not until I've narrowed it down, then you can help me

decide."

"Where are you going to look?"

"Sarah gave me some leads, and I'm going to use the

Headhunters I've used before for the President's job, and I'm

going to talk to some of the Culinary Schools for a Manager'"

he said. "It's important, I think, that both of them be

'take charge' types."

"The President," he continued, thinking out loud, "doesn't

necessarily have to be gay, but since our first project is

pretty gay related, he's definitely going to have to be gay

friendly."

"So's the Manager," I added. "He'll be working with Maurice

who definitely ain't straight."

"I think I've got enough to keep me busy for a week or two,"

he giggled.

\- - - - -

"Spence is coming over tonight," Eric told me. "Says he

needs to talk to his 'Big Brother'."

It'd been several months since I'd seen him, but I knew that

he and Eric talked on the phone several times a week. He

looked a lot different, no more baggy clothes, he was very

"Preppy" these days, and he looked like he'd put on weight.

Noticing me looking him over, he struck a pose. "You like?"

he asked, "I got myself a personal trainer and I'm trying to

build up a little."

"It shows," I told him, "you're lookin good!"

"Got a long way to go," he giggled. "I wanna look like my

idol here," he said, putting his arm around Eric.

"How's school?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Goin' great," he said. "It's such a change from that podunk

school where I was going. There're some real challenges

here, and I really love it."

"How's Jimmy?" Eric asked.

"We split," Spence said, his expression changed abruptly.

Now I knew why he wanted to talk to Eric. "Do you want me to

let you guys talk alone?" I asked.

"No, stay," Spence said. "Maybe you can help me see how I

fucked up."

"What was the problem?" Eric asked.

"There were a lot of them, but mostly, it was money," Spence

said. "I have a lot and he doesn't, and he resented it when

I tried to help him. I'm afraid that's going to be a problem

the rest of my life."

"It doesn't have to be," Eric told him, "look at me."

"Yeah sure, you've always had bucks," Spence shot back.

"Not quite," Eric chuckled and winked at me. "Let me tell

you a little story. When I met Dave, I was making about four

hundred bucks a week as a lifeguard. The only thing I owned

was a Jeep, and that wasn't even paid for. At that time, I

knew that Dave had a few bucks, not that he was one of the

world's richest men, and when I found that out, I freaked.

"I didn't want him to think that I was after his money, that

I really loved HIM, so I refused to accept anything from

him. I called it 'being independent'. I was afraid that if

I accepted anything from him, he'd try to control me.

"It didn't take me long to realize that it was going to take

more than fairly good looks to hang onto him, and I needed to

finish my education, as a start, to be able to be his

partner. You wouldn't believe the battles we had over that."

"Damn, you were stubborn!" I commented.

"It took a snotty remark by my brother to make me see that

Dave merely wanted to help me, that there weren't any strings

attached," he continued. "The way Dave handled it was what

made all the difference."

"What'd he do?" Spence asked.

"Most importantly, he trusted me," Eric said. "He never

tried to control or change me, and he gave me opportunities

to accomplish things on my own. It took me a long time to

see this, and to accept the fact that he really did respect

me and value my opinions. I made a few suggestions that

worked out, and he paid me for the savings that resulted,

something it took a long time for me to believe that I'd

actually earned.

"I was pretty immature and had to do a lot of 'growing up'

since we've been together, and I think I'm a lot better man

for it."

"It's hard to believe that you ever didn't have your shit

together," Spence said in awe.

"I've changed a lot, believe me," Eric said, "and it's all

happened because Dave has been patient and allowed me to grow

at my own pace."

"I really appreciate your telling me this," Spence said. "I

can see a lot of mistakes I made, and it looks like I'm going

to have to do some 'growing up' myself."

"Do you want Jimmy back?" Eric asked.

"Not really," Spence admitted. "I think I was more in love

with the idea of being in love than actually in love with

him. There were other problems too. For example, his dick

is just too damned big!"

When all three of us stopped laughing, I warned him "I hope

you never told Jimmy that! The male ego is the most fragile

thing on this planet!"

"I didn't," Spence chuckled.

"One more thing, then the lecture's over," Eric said. "It's

not a good idea to talk about money. Sure, Dave and I do

now, but we're in business together. Remember, when you do,

people who have more than you do, don't care how much you have

and people who have less, even lovers, resent it when you

flaunt what you have."

"I've learned a lot tonight," Spence said. "I still have a

lot more to learn, and now I know where to come."

\- - - - -

I got a call from one of my cousins, who very tersely and

rudely told me that Aunt Marie had died, and hung up before I

could say a word.

Of all my family, on either Mom's or Dad's side, there were

only two people who I liked and respected, my Mother's older

brother John and his wife Marie. Out of dozens and dozens of

relatives, they were the only ones who had accepted me after

my sexual orientation had become known.

I'd been careful not to force either of them into supporting

me with the rest of the family, so, had pretty much lost

touch with them over the last twenty or so years.

I immediately called Uncle John, who now had to be in his

90's. He was devastated. They'd been married for 71 years.

I'm not very good at knowing what to say under these

circumstances, so we talked about Aunt Marie. When the

conversation ran out of steam, he asked me "Are you coming to

the funeral?"

"Of course, I'll be there," I told him.

"Bring your boyfriend, David, I'd like to meet him."

"I will, Uncle John."

I told Eric about what'd happened, and that I was going up to

Sacramento to the funeral. "I hate to ask this," I told him,

"but I'd like you to go with me."

"Of course I'll go," he answered.

"My Uncle would like to meet you," I told him. "The rest of

the family, who'll no doubt be there, won't be any fun at

all. Are you ready for some heavy-duty rejection?"

"I can handle it if you can."

"I doubt that anybody will have the balls to say anything, but

they'll sure let us know that we're not welcome," I said.

"I'm just sorry that you'll have to put up with the sneers

and dirty looks."

"Not a problem," he said. "I'm proud of who I am, and even

prouder to be at your side."

"We'll get through it," I assured him, giving him a big hug.

\- - - - -

We flew up the day before the funeral. In the first place, I

hate funerals, and the added bonus of having to see a bunch

of self-righteous relatives didn't make it any more pleasant.

We got a rental and drove to Uncle John's house. The old

Victorian, looking as good as the day it'd been built over a

century ago, had cars parked everywhere. That meant

that a lot of the family were already there. Oh God, this

was going to be an ordeal, and I hated putting Eric through

it too.

We rang the doorbell. It was answered by one of my spinster

cousins, about my age, but looking 30 years older. "What are

YOU doing here?" she sneered, crossing her arms across her

bulging bosom.

We walked right past her, ignoring her entirely. I knew my

way around and headed for the parlor. When we stepped

through the double doors, the room became instantly silent.

"David!" my Uncle cried, jumping out of his chair and

bounding over to us.

"Hi, Unk," I said, using the name I'd always used, as he took

my hand for a very vigorous shake.

"This must be Eric," he said, extending his hand.

The room was still totally silent as he slipped between us,

an arm around each of us, and propelled us in the back out

into the entry but not before I got a look at all the

unfriendly faces in the parlor.

We were guided down a hallway to his office. He seated

himself behind a big wooden desk and, indicating the leather

chairs in front of it, said simply "sit."

"I know how some of the members of this family feel about

you," he continued, "and I don't think it's necessary for you

to put up with them. It's been 20 years and I want to talk!"

"From what I read, you've been pretty busy boys," he said,

his eyes twinkling. "Sure glad to see the old Railroad's

back in the family. Your Great-Grandfather was one of the

builders, or did you know that?"

"No, I didn't," I admitted.

"Yessir, he sure was. Lost all his stock in a whorehouse

poker game, though."

"We're putting a little money into it," I told him, "Eric's

even working on building a 'bullet train' down on the

southern end."

"Are there any of those in this country yet?" he asked Eric.

"One recently opened between Washington D.C. and New York,"

Eric told him. "Ours'll be the second one."

"I've heard about the ones in Japan and Europe. Love to ride

on one of those things. Haven't been on a train in about 60

years, last time was on my way home on furlough during World

War II. How's your family?" he asked me in an abrupt switch.

"My two girls live with us, but I don't think for much

longer," I told him. "Tina, the youngest, is getting married

next spring, and Annie, the oldest seems to be getting pretty

serious about a German guy."

We chatted a while longer. Uncle John complaining about how

rough farming was getting to be, and how he was thinking

about selling out since he couldn't make any money. Yeah

sure, I thought, he's been crying poor ever since I've know

him - all the way to the bank!

Before we ran out of anything to say, I mentioned that we'd

better get going, had to check into our hotel and all.

"One of yours?" he asked with a wink.

"Yes, the Regency," I told him.

All three of us rose. He escorted us out. In the entry, I

heard one of my ancient Aunts say "Well I never! Walk in

here like they own the place!"

"Ignore 'em," Uncle John said, "I do. You've given them

something to talk about for the next couple of years," he

laughed.

"I've been watching you in the papers," he continued. "Sounds

like you're doing pretty well. Also looks like you've found

yourself a mighty fine...what's the right word?"

"Partner," I supplied.

"Mighty fine," he repeated, patting Eric on the shoulder.

Then, turning serious, "You'll be sitting with us in the

mourners section tomorrow. Eric, you're as much a part of

this family as any of the rest of us."

Eric smiled his acceptance, shaking his hand and nodding.

Once in our car, I asked Eric what he thought.

"I've never seen such hostility," he said, "but I love your

Uncle," he chuckled.

"He's a nice old guy," I agreed. "Just think, I'll probably

be just like him in another 40 years! That is, if you don't

wear me out long before that," I said, patting his crotch.

"Nothing would make me happier," he said. "My God, he acts

like he could run the marathon, and he's got a mind like a

steel trap!"

\- - - - -

The funeral was at the Methodist Church. I wasn't too eager

to sit with the mourners, but had enough respect for Uncle

John to follow his wishes. He had plenty of other things on

his mind right about now.

We arrived early and walked around the side of the church to

the mourner's entrance. We weren't the only ones who were

early, a small crowd was standing around talking and smoking.

"Want to go on in?" I asked Eric.

He glanced at his watch. "Nah, let's stay out here for a few

minutes."

We stood off by ourselves, watching my relatives look us

over, trying to be discreet in their inspection but not

succeeding. After a few minutes, my cousin Elton separated

from the crowd and walked over.

"Hello David," he said rather sheepishly, holding out his

hand.

I shook it and introduced Eric.

"Why don't you give us a chance?" he asked, looking me

straight in the eye. "We're not ALL assholes."

"I don't go where I'm not wanted," I told him.

"There's a lot of us who don't feel that way," he said

apologetically. "You're a member of this family and we'd

like to see you once in a while. About the only time we all

get together is at weddings and funerals," he giggled.

While he was talking, another cousin and his wife walked up,

both with friendly smiles. We went through the greeting and

introduction process again. Before I knew it, a large number

of the crowd had come over. Being the cynic that I am, I

wondered if it was sincere interest or curiosity.

Uncle John arrived and went straight inside, we all followed.

The ceremony was upbeat, celebrating Aunt Marie's life, not

dismal and sad, but uplifting and even humorous at times.

We joined the cortege to the cemetary. "Some of them aren't

so bad," Eric commented.

"I wonder if it's true or just curiosity," I said, voicing my

earlier thoughts.

"It just might be a breakthrough," he said.

"The Holidays are coming up again," I commented over dinner.

"Anybody got any plans for Thanksgiving?" I asked.

"Anything but a repeat of last year," Eric groaned.

"I'm planning to have dinner with Rick's family, if that's

all right with everyone," Tina said.

"Hans has invited me to go snowboarding in Switzerland,"

Annie said. "It's not one of their holidays, but who needs

an excuse," she giggled.

"We have an open invitation at Mom and Dads," Eric told me.

"I think Ryan and his family are coming down."

"Then it's settled," I said. "Everybody's got their own

plans. We can let everybody here have a few days off.

Moving on, what about Christmas?"

"I've invited Hans," Annie said. "I hope he'll come early

and stay several weeks."

"My cousins in Chicago have made some noises about coming to

visit us right after Christmas. Don't know how many or when,

yet," Eric said, then turning to Tina and Annie. "Better warn

you, I have a strong feeling that the whole bunch might be

gay. They'll behave, but thought you should know."

"So what?" Tina said. "We have gay guys around all the

time. I love 'em, two in particular."

"Want to have another 'Open House'?" I asked.

"We HAVE to," Annie said. "It's already a tradition! Let's

go all-out this year."

\- - - - -

Eric's ability to delegate had developed to a fine art, and

his knack for finding the right person for the right job had

been amply demonstrated.

These talents were at work again. He had located a large

number of candidates for the job of Foundation President and

was sifting through them. He'd be elated one day and

disappointed the next as he went through the initial

screening process. Some that he had high hopes for turned

out not to be what he was looking for, and others pleasantly

surprised him.

He had narrowed it down to the "short list" when he asked for

my input. "Any of these guys could do the job very well," he

said, "now it's down to deciding which one we could work with

best."

He had final interviews for each one scheduled that would

include Annie, Tina and me. After that, the four of us

would get together and make a final decision.

We met with all four during the same day, one after the other,

nobody making any comments in between. When the last one

left, Eric asked us what we thought. Tina went first.

"They're ALL nice, pleasant and would be good, but I like the

little chubby guy with the twinkling eyes. It's just a gut

feeling."

"He's my choice, too," Annie said. "How about you Eric?"

"I picked him a long time ago," he chuckled.

"Then it's unanimous," I said. "The twinkle in his eye got

to me too."

"His name's George - for everyone's information," Eric said.

"George William Collins the third."

\- - - - -

"One down, one to go," Eric said that evening.

"How's the other one coming along?" I asked.

"Between resumes, questionnaires and recommendations, I've

already narrowed it down to seven," he said. "I got a lot of

help from the Culinary Institute in upstate New York.

"I have interviews set up in New York, and also a lot of

possible locations to look at," he continued.

"When are you going?" I asked.

"When are WE going," he corrected me with a grin. "Next

Monday, if you can get away. Should only take a day or two."

\- - - - -

We were on a tight schedule. Monday would be interviews,

Tuesday would be spent with the realtor, and Wednesday more

interviews.

On the flight East, Eric gave me the paperwork on each

candidate which I read over carefully. His notes on each

were the most revealing, detailing their strengths and

weaknesses. He also had a list of questions that he planned

to ask each one. Damn, this guy was organized!

"All of them have 'kitchen' knowledge," he commented, "but

their concentration has been on management which is what

we're looking for."

"I notice that most of them are fairly recent graduates," I

said. "Any particular reason for that?"

"Yes," he smiled. "That way they haven't had a chance to get

too ingrained in the way some other company does things.

Fewer bad habits to break, but they still have the basic

knowledge and can be trained to our somewhat unorthodox

management style."

We zipped through the interviews, all seven of them, mainly

because Eric was prepared. The questions he asked were

probing and provided the information we needed. I had little

to add, and was mostly an observer throughout the process.

Out of seven, one in particular got my interest. According

to his application he was 36, personable and someone I felt

could work with Maurice, something I didn't think would be

easy. He appeared assertive enough not to put up with any

of the crap that Maurice was sure to dish out, and had the

personality to do it in a tactful way.

Not surprisingly, he was Eric's choice too. We'd call him

back on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning, Eric's Realtor met us in a Limo to show us

the properties she'd found. For a change, we were interested

in leasing instead of buying.

The first place that we looked at was, in my opinion, too

small, the second, good size but rotten location, and so it

went until late afternoon, when we found what I felt was the

ideal spot.

Eric, who'd been losing interest fast, perked up too. It was

almost the whole first floor of an older but elegant hotel.

It had once been the hotel's dining room, but that had been 30

or 40 years ago, and hadn't been used recently for anything.

The building was on a corner, the hotel entrance on one

street, and the dining room around the corner with a walk-up

entrance. Tall windows, around eight feet above sidewalk

level went across the front.

The room itself was huge, plenty of room for the fifty tables

we planned, probably more. The ceiling was, I'd estimate,

about 18 feet, proportionate to the room's size.

The kitchen was ancient, but could be modernized and there

was room for expansion. Other advantages, the Realtor

explained, were that the space was already zoned for a

restaurant, 40 underground parking spaces were available,

and, most importantly, the price was right.

Both Eric and I were smiling. "Don't think we have to look

any further," I commented.

"Nope," he said with a grin.

I was curious, though, "Why is this place vacant?" I asked

the Realtor.

"For one thing, it's too big," she said. "For another, most

of the new restaurants that're starting up can't afford it

and go for lofts or warehouses with all the pipes and stuff

along the ceiling exposed. Cheaper to decorate too."

"What kind of lease do they want?" Eric asked her.

"Straight 5 year, no percentage," she said.

"Would they go for a longer term?" he asked.

"I think they'd jump at it," she said.

\- - - - -

We were both excited. The only remaining "if" was whether

Maurice would like it. We decided to find out before we went

any further. He and Philippe got to the penthouse in

minutes, and the taxi ride to the place was short.

The two of them went straight to the kitchen, then came out,

expressionless, to look over the dining room. They examined

the place from end to end, top to bottom, talking between

themselves. When they came over to where we were standing,

Maurice very quietly said "Enormous possibilities!" and

started telling us everything that he'd do to the place.

His enthusiasm built as he expounded. It was catching, and

soon Eric and I were as excited as he was.

"It will be elegant but simple," he stated, "the proper

setting for the elegant food I will serve. It's larger than

I expected, but we can fill the place every night, that, I'm

sure of! Have you signed the lease yet?"

"We wanted your approval first," Eric told him.

"See if you can get some space behind the kitchen for

offices," he suggested. "The Manager and I'll need some

space. We could cut through the wall, maybe even have an

entrance from the other side."

Neither of us had thought of that.

"Is the kitchen big enough?" I asked.

"Plenty of room," he said. "If the kitchen's too big, it

isn't efficient. Of course, we'll have to gut this one and

start over, but the ventilation's there, and just about

everything else we'll need."

"Then, this is acceptable?" I asked.

"It could be perfection, I can see it all now..." he said.

"Can I choose the decorator?"

"Do you have someone in mind?" Eric asked.

"Yes, Brucie," he smirked. "He may get nuts at times, like

your kitchen, but we can work together."

Eric burst out laughing. "But all the yelling you guys did..."

"Oh, that's just an act," Maurice grinned. "Both Brucie and

I know that!"

"We're going to hire a Manager tomorrow," Eric told him. "Do

you want to meet him?"

"Bring him to our place for dinner tomorrow night, Brucie too

if he can make it," Maurice said. "Then we can go to work."

\- - - - -

Wednesday was another busy day. Eric's Realtor came over

early to take us to see the space that could be converted to

offices. The owner's agents were there and we negotiated the

lease at the same time, 10 years with an option for another

ten. Preliminary papers were signed on the spot.

Brucie had lunch with us and went berserk when we offered him

the decorating job. "Of course I'll do it," he screamed,

drawing the attention of every other person in the place.

Mark, the fellow we'd chosen for the Manager's position,

accepted our offer enthusiastically. He had to give notice

but would be able to start in two weeks. Our team was

complete.

\- - - - -

If I dined the way I did at Maurice's that night on a regular

basis, I'd weigh 300 pounds in no time. Utterly fabulous.

Equally satisfying was seeing how fast rapport developed

between Maurice and Mark. Brucie seemed to get along with

everyone. Philippe was quiet, retiring, but didn't miss a

word.

Ideas flew around like a swarm of bees. There was agreement

and disagreement, but everyone was open to suggestion. Eric

and I listened and learned.

While we were eating, Mark asked how we had all gotten

together. "Chef Maurice prepared Eric's birthday dinner in

Denver a couple of years ago," I said. "From there, Eric

conned him into cooking for him here in New York, and from

there, he and Philippe have become our good friends."

Eric took up the story from there. "Bruce decorated our

apartment here in New York. Maurice helped us outfit the

kitchen, and that's how the two of them met."

"I still think that kitchen's an insult to any cook," Maurice

snorted.

"You don't have any taste," Brucie shot back, and they were

off and running, trading insults and having a wonderful time

doing it.

"Is this what I have to look forward to every time you two get

together?" Mark asked in mock horror.

"Yep, but we promise there won't be any bloodshed," Brucie

giggled, reaching over to give Maurice a hug.

We left for home the next morning. Mission accomplished.

\- - - - -

Annie returned from her week in Switzerland totally mellow.

She was up early every morning with a smile which scared all

the staff and made Eric and me chuckle.

"I guess you're trainable afterall," Eric kidded her.

"Oh, maybe," she mooned.

"I'm getting to like Hans more and more," I told her. All

she did was smile mischeviously.

"He's going to be here for three weeks over Christmas," she

said. "The office'll be closed so I'll be able to show him

around."

"Speaking of Christmas," I said, "it's not that far away.

Who's doing the planning?"

"Everybody, haven't you heard?" Tina piped up.

"No," I said. "Tell me what you've got going."

"We didn't think you'd be interested in details, so the three

of us just went ahead," she explained.

"We've conned Gary into helping us decorate," she continued,

"we're going for the 'old fashioned' look. It'll be

overdone, I'm sure, but it'll be fun. Since the guest list

will be much larger than last year, and since it's cooler at

night, we're going to put up a big tent out on the back 40.

It'll be decorated too. Eric's handling the food and booze,

and Annie's taking care of the music, and Hans," she giggled.

"Everybody needs to give me their guest lists," Annie said,

"my secretary's going to handle the invitations. At least I

can handle THAT," she said, sticking her tongue out at her

sister.

\- - - - -

The Lifeguard Foundation was housed in office space in our

new building that had originally been set aside for Micron.

On his first day, George showed up prepared. I showed him

around, introducing him to the people in our organization that

I thought could help him.

The Foundation would be a separate, self-contained entity, but

there were some functions that could be shared with Metalco

such as computer systems and payroll. Why duplicate?

George's first objective was to build the necessary

organization so the Foundation could function. He made it

clear that his staff would be minimal, that he had no

intention of squandering money on "administration" that could

better be used for Education, our stated purpose. He would

work with Metalco's Human Resources to build his staff.

Lifeguard was a non-profit, tax-exempt organization with more

than a billion dollars languishing in a bank account, earning

minimal interest. George wanted to change that, fast,

getting that money invested in securities that would provide

higher return as well as safety and liquidity. His goal was

an 8% return.

George also had a timetable. He wanted his staff in place by

January first, and to be ready to concentrate on the AIDS

Education Project.

We didn't have any instructions for him. We'd be available

to help whenever he needed, but beyond that, he was on his

own.

\- - - - -

We lurched toward Christmas. We'd included all Hydra

employees, including Lovebird, in the two-week shutdown, so

everyone was making preparations. The only group that would

remain at work was Lifeguard. George didn't feel that they

could take that much time off and still meet the deadlines

he'd set.

It wasn't going to be much of a vacation for us. The week

before Christmas would be total chaos at home, and Eric's

cousins were arriving the day after Christmas, six of them,

who'd be staying until after the New Year.

We received a big package from Maurice. In it were artist's

conceptions of how the restaurant would look from Brucie, a

cost breakdown from Mark, and a letter from Maurice

explaining everything and asking for our approval so they

could shoot for an April opening.

Eric and I both went over everything carefully. We

definitely approved of the renovation and redecorating.

Walls and ceiling a warm ivory with gold sconces on the walls

and pillars and huge chandeliers. The cost estimates on

furniture - tables and chairs was a major shock as was the

cost of tableware. Maurice explained, in his letter, that it

would be cheaper in the long run to buy "good stuff" than to

try to cut corners. Mark's comments agreed with that.

Renovation of the kitchen was less than I expected, but the

overall total of $2.5 million was more than I expected.

We worked up a projection based on what little we knew, and

the numbers came out that menu prices would have to be in the

$100.00 range which wasn't out of line. We gave them an OK

to go ahead and asked Mark to let us know when he'd need the

money.

\- - - - -

Tina's prediction was becoming true. The decorating was, in

my opinion, being overdone, and they were only getting

started. It was too much for the kids and our staff to

handle so Gary had brought his own crew. Evergreen boughs

were arriving by the truckload, made into garlands and draped

everywhere. All of Sam's Poinsettias had been commandeered,

and not one but several Christmas trees were decorated.

The overall effect was colorful, that's for sure, and rather

"busy", but it did put me in the Christmas Spirit.

Hans arrived in the middle of all this chaos and was promptly

put to work. In order to simplify matters, he was put in a

guestroom in the girls' wing, and the three bedrooms in "our"

wing were held for the "cousins".

The pace quickened as Saturday approached. A tent big enough

to hold a three-ring circus was put up on the back 40. I

didn't even peek inside. According to rumor, it would be a

"Winter Wonderland".

After dinner Friday night, I pulled exhausted Eric aside.

"We're going to bed early tonight," I told him. "You NEED

some rest, and I'm going to relax you."

"I'll bet!" he said with a twinkle in his eye and a big grin.

\- - - - -

"I'm not as good at giving massages as Jacques is," I told

him, straddling his legs, "so this is going to be short."

I rubbed his broad back, not even trying to dig into the

muscles, then rolled him over. "I'll take care of that in a

minute," I said, referring to his dick standing at

attention. I started with a scalp massage and worked my way

downward, gentle strokes, not intentionally erotic, watching

his dick bob and drip.

When I got to it, I straddled him again, putting our dicks

together. With well lubed hands, I stroked as lightly as I

could. No fancy stuff, just lightly up and down. He moaned

and groaned but didn't thrust up, just enjoying, looking into

my eyes with a blissful smile.

"Are you close?" he murmured.

"Fighting it," I told him.

"Let's go!" he said.

That's all it took for twin fountains of cum to spray all

over both of us.

I took a few licks then toweled off the rest. Before I could

turn out the lights, he was asleep.

\- - - - -

All I knew was that most of those invited had accepted, not

that they'd all arrive at the same time. Jacques, manning

the front door, was overwhelmed, but managed to get them in.

I was also amazed at some of the people who arrived from all

over the country. Two limos unloaded half the population of

Texas, there was a big Arizona contingent, and Len and Lee

came from Massachusetts, among others.

Eric and I tried to greet everybody, but it just wasn't

possible even though we split up, and ended up just waving

at many.

Even after the initial crush, a steady stream of people

continued to arrive for another two hours, then it tapered

off. Finally, Eric and I were able to "circulate" and have a

little fun ourselves.

Most of the crowd had gone out to the tent where a band was

playing, but our large living room was still full. The noise

level was rising, and it appeared that everyone was having a

good time.

I saw that Spence, who'd arrived alone, was surrounded by

Lifeguards, and was smiling a lot. Len and George were

talking, no doubt about the Foundation. I'd introduced them

earlier.

I located Eric and we went out to the tent, me for the first

time. It was goddam unbelievable! Tall trees lined the

walls, covered in fake snow, there were snowmen and lights

everywhere. I couldn't estimate how many thousand tiny

twinkling lights there were covering the whole ceiling. The

overall effect was so realistic that I got a chill!

The dance floor was full, and I stopped for a minute to

watch. I saw Hans dancing, and it took me a minute to figure

out who he was dancing WITH. Holy shit! He was dancing with

one of the Lifeguards!

I pointed this out to Eric, who looked, then said "Don't

worry, I'm still positive he's straight."

"I wasn't worried, just amused," I told him.

We went in separate directions, table hopping. When I got to

Annie's table, she was giggling. "Did you see Hans?" she

wanted to know.

I nodded with one eyebrow raised.

"He wore us all out," she said, indicating the other girls at

the table, "and now he's working on them," she continued,

pointing over her shoulder at a table full of Lifeguards and

their boyfriends. "He's got so much energy I'm beginning to

wonder if he's on drugs," she giggled.

"I think he'll fit in just fine with our strange family," I

laughed.

At the next table, the Lifeguards got up to give me a group

hug. "Hans may be straight," they said, "but make sure Annie

doesn't let him get away! He's such a neat guy."

I worked my way around the room. This year, I knew virtually

everybody, for a change. The band, whoever they were, was a

good one, playing 70's and 80's Classic Rock at a decibel

level that wasn't painful.

Eric was already there when I arrived at the Texan's two

tables. I got a big hug from all the ladies, and Big George

unashamedly gave me one of his bear hugs. There were a

couple of empty seats, so we sat, for the first time in

hours.

We talked about the kids. Everyone approved of Rick, and

wanted to know all about Annie's new "beau".

"I think it's about time for another cruise," Claire

announced.

"We're ready when you are," Eric told her.

"Oh no you don't!" Big George roared. "You're not leaving us

home this time!" he said, indicating the other husbands.

"Don't you trust us with your womenfolk?" Eric giggled.

"It ain't that," Big George laughed, "we don't want to miss

out on all the fun y'all have."

Across the tent, I noticed that people from the house were

coming in, standing around as if waiting for something to

happen. It didn't really register because I was so involved

with the Texans.

I did notice that the band finished their number and didn't

start another right away. Then the lights on stage started

dimming and went out completely, followed by the tiny lights

on the roof of the tent until the whole place was totally

dark. Conversation stopped and the place became silent in

anticipation. Eric's arm went around me and pulled me to him.

The tinkling of a piano could be heard, then a voice,

starting low, came out of the darkness. It was

unmistakable. Al, singing his latest hit. The lights came

up, the whole crowd rose and roared, drowning him out.

I looked at Eric. He had an enormous grin, his eyes were

twinkling. I grinned back but didn't say a word.

The crowd quieted and Al continued singing, the band joining

in. Al wasn't just a singer, he was an entertainer, his

charisma totally capturing the audience. He segued from one

of his classics to another, getting rousing applause for each.

When he finally stopped and took a bow, the applause was

thundering. He held up his hand, and eventually it died

down. "This next song is dedicated to two of my very special

friends, Dave and Eric," he said. The band started and he

launched into "More".

Eric held me tighter and I totally lost it. Tears started

running down my cheeks uncontrollably. I looked at Eric who

was smiling as the tears poured down his cheeks too. We

stared into each others eyes and let them run. I had never

seen or felt love like I did for those few minutes while Al

was singing.

When he finished the song, there was a moment's silence,

then, the applause was deafening, everyone giving him a

standing ovation that, I'm sure, could be heard for miles.

Al waited, then started a medley of Christmas songs, soon

getting the whole crowd to join in. I worked to regain my

composure. Looking around the table, Eric and I were far

from the only ones who had been affected. There wasn't a dry

eye.

When Al finished, he yelled "Merry Christmas everybody!" the

lights went out and he disappeared from the stage.

When the lights came back up, Eric stood and pulled me up.

"You're going to have to excuse us," he said, dragging me

with him.

"How'd you pull that off?" I asked as Eric and I walked back

to the house.

"It was Al's idea," he said.

"You're going to have to explain THAT!" I told him.

"Later," he grinned.

Al and Rick were waiting in the den, Jacques serving them

drinks. I gave Al a big hug and said "Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet," he said, "you haven't seen the bill

yet...for the band," he laughed. "I sing for my dinner,

remember, so where's the food?" he kidded.

I must have looked confused, because Al was laughing at me.

"I can't eat before I sing, and we're having a light supper

on the way home," he explained. "Speaking of which, we'd

better hit the road. You'll be calling me in a couple of

weeks, won't you, Eric?"

"I certainly will," Eric assured him.

There were goodbye hugs all around and we escorted them

through the throng in the house to their waiting limo.

"Don't worry, they're using the Gulfstream," Eric assured me.

Buffets had been set out, but I was too hyper to eat. John,

our friend the gossip columnist, immediately cornered me.

"Dave, you just HAVE to let me write about this. My God,

it's the party of the century!" he gushed.

"No, John, I'd prefer that you didn't," I told him. "But,

I'll make you a deal. Tina's getting married next spring and

we'll give you an exclusive, pictures and all."

"I can live with that," he agreed, very reluctantly.

Out in the tent, the party was coming back to life. Many

were still eating but the dance floor was full.

Tina grabbed me. "I didn't even know you knew him," she

said. "How did you get him to perform here?"

"I honestly don't know," I told her, "Eric did it."

I answered that same question so many times that I was ready

for Eric to take the stage and explain. I didn't have the

answers.

I danced a couple of times, slow ones, with Claire and Sandy,

Bill's wife. Sandy threatened to put me on the

"entertainment committee" for her next charity ball.

Hans had finally run out of gas and was sitting for a

change. I joined their table. "Sorry to say this," he said,

"but this party puts all of Sarah's to shame."

At 3:00 AM, the band packed up. Those remaining left

reluctantly.

As had become the custom, we gathered in the den for a party

post-mortem. "OK, babe, how'd you get Al to sing for us?" I

asked.

"Who's Al?" Rick asked.

"That's his real name," Eric explained, "the one you know is

his stage name."

"Come on, tell all," Annie begged.

"Your Dad and I met Al and Rick on St. John's, and became

good friends with both of them. Al called me when he got our

invitation. During our conversation, he asked if we'd like

him to sing. I told him "of course" but said that I'd never

ask him to do it.

"He volunteered, and suggested that we hire his band for the

whole evening. That's when I took over the music from you,

Annie. Anyway, we worked out all the details, and the rest

is history."

"It IS historic," Hans said. "For a concert like he put on

tonight, he gets millions, and he doesn't do many of those.

I consider myself very lucky to have been here."

"Hey Hans, what's this with you dancing with all the guys?" I

chuckled.

"Hope I didn't embarass you," he answered.

"On the contrary," I said. "It's good to see that gay guys

don't bother you."

"I'm not interested in any of them THAT way," he protested.

"A long time ago, I noticed that gay men had more fun than

anybody else, so I've had good gay friends all my life. It

seems to me that you Americans make too much of an issue out

of it."

"We do, unfortunately we do," Eric said.

\- - - - -

We didn't wake up until noon. The kids were all gone and the

house had been returned to normal. It was a beautiful day

and Eric suggested that we work on our tans.

"I'm still curions," I said. "Why would Al do such a

wonderful thing for us?"

"I've thought about that, too," he admitted. "I've come up

with two reasons. One, he sincerely likes us, and two, the

Lifeguard Foundation."

"Why the Foundation?"

"Al's had his problems over the years, drugs, booze, some

really sleazy friends. I'm sure you've heard about them.

He's cleaned up his act, and sees active participation in the

Foundation as a way to gain 'respectability'. I have no

problem with that, and it works both ways. He can be an

enormous help to us, and I'll make damned sure that he gets

the recognition he deserves."

I thought about what he'd said for a minute. "You really are

a nice guy. I'm kinda glad I married you."

"It's a win-win situation," he continued. "He's going to be

opening doors for us that we'd have a hell of a time doing

ourselves, and we're going to help him feel better about

himself. Add to that the fact that we've made some damned

good friends. Everybody wins.

"I'm not ready to ask him to sit on the Board, yet, but I

think we should create a panel of 'Advisors' - well known

Educators, Doctors, and maybe even Politicians. He'd be in

that group."

"I'm sure that'd make him very happy," I said.

"I don't know what the hell to do about those cousins of

mine," Eric said, changing the subject. "If we knew the

'real story' we could plan. If they're gay like I think they

are, we could plan a party for New Year's Eve. If they're

straight, I haven't the foggiest notion what to do with them,"

he laughed. "Left THAT world a long time ago. One thing I AM

going to do is rent a big van so I can haul 'em around."

"We'll just play it by ear, it'll work out," I assured him.

Our conversation wandered. "Do you think the 'Widows' were

serious about going on another cruise?" he asked.

"Hard to tell."

"I can see it all now, two queers and a dozen of the biggest

rednecks in Texas!"

\- - - - -

We'd already been through the agony of Christmas shopping.

No cars this year, the garage was already overflowing and

about all we did was drive back and forth to work anyway.

Eric, as usual, was impossible. Since they already had his

measurements, I had Brioni in Rome make him a dozen shirts in

various fabrics and colors, and had hit the toy stores and

Adult bookstores for some gag gifts.

We'd discussed this a year ago, so I contacted the San Diego

Zoo. They were planning a new, more natural, enclosure for

the elephants that they hadn't yet found funds for. I agreed

to donate the money for it, with the stipulation that there

wasn't to be any big press announcement, and that the

discreet placque on the exhibit would say only "A Gift from

Eric Lundborg".

The zoo provided me with a duplicate of the placque,

something that I'd be able to give to Eric. It would be

called "Elephant Oasis". It was in a presentation box and

Mary wrapped it for me.

I didn't have a clue what to get the girls. Eric was at a

loss too, until he came up with an idea. "Let's follow

through with the threat I made in France," he said. "We can

get them the jewelry they borrowed from Harry Winston, but

we'll only charge half of it to you, I'll take care of the

other half."

"Isn't that a lot of money?" I asked.

"I can afford it," he said, chuckling, his eyes twinkling,

"and I KNOW you can!"

When it arrived, we split it into four groups, one for each

of them from each of us. Mary wrapped them in huge boxes

with bricks in the bottom, filling the empty space with

stuffed animals we'd gotten at the toy store.

\- - - - -

On Christmas Day, the routine was changed from past years.

It was decided that we'd wait until everyone was there until

we opened presents.

After breakfast, Eric suggested that we take a look at the

mountain of Christmas Cards we'd received. This was

something I hadn't done since I'd met him, just taking the

pile to my secretary so she could update my list.

Eric's mother had sent over the cards that'd come to his old

address, and Nancy had sent home the ones from my friends

that had come to the office. Those, plus the ones we got at

home made quite a pile.

Some were addressed to me only, some were addressed to Eric,

but the vast majority were addressed to both of us. As we

started through them, Eric organized them into piles, one for

his friends that I didn't know, one for mine that he didn't

know and business associates, and one for OUR friends.

As we went through them, we discussed the senders. "You've

gotta meet this guy," Eric said on several occasions. I had

a few comments of my own.

In a lot of ways, it was like dredging up the past, but we

were sharing it and learning more about each other as a

result.

Mixed in were several from my Northern California cousins.

That was a first! I hadn't heard from them in years, and the

most amazing part was that they were addressed to both of us.

Eric and I discussed this surprise. "I believe they're

extending an olive branch," he said.

"Why the sudden flip-flop?" I asked, "they've been ignoring

me for years."

"Maybe, at your Aunt's funeral, they saw that you weren't an

ogre waiting to pounce on their young sons," he giggled.

"I don't know..."

"They must have hurt you pretty badly," he said, putting his

arm around me.

"When you're told, flat out, that you're not welcome around

'decent people', yeah, that hurts," I said.

"Was it any of these who said that?" he asked, pointing at

the pile.

"No, their parents, but they went along with it for almost

twenty years."

"Can you forgive?"

"Not just like that," I snapped my fingers. "It's going to

take some time. You don't get over being shunned for that

long overnight, at least I don't. Even if they've changed

their tune, I think they were a bunch of goddam wusses for

going along in the first place."

"Give it a try," he suggested.

"We'll invite 'em to Tina's wedding, see what kind of tacky

gifts they send her and see if they show up. That'll be a

start." I was by no means convinced. Eric just grinned at

me and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. How could I resist

this guy?

\- - - - -

Eric's parents arrived with a carload of presents. Spence

was right behind with so many he had to make several trips.

With the presents around the tree and all nine of us settled

with drinks, except Tina, of course, Eric and Rick

volunteered to play Santa Claus and distribute them. It took

a while, and the piles around each of us grew and grew.

If we'd taken turns opening our presents, it would have taken

all night, so Eric announced "Dig in!" to everybody.

Spence tore into his like the little kid he was. Eric was

just as eager. I watched for a few minutes then dug in myself.

I set the ones from Eric aside to open last, and noticed that

he had done the same thing. The girls, however, opened the

ones from us first.

Tina was first to get her present from Eric, open. The

stuffed animals gave her a puzzled look on her face. "Keep

digging," Eric advised her.

When she found the Harry Winston box, she squealed like a

little girl. Everybody stopped to watch her open it. When

she got the case open, her eyes got big as saucers. She took

a close look, jumped up and ran over to Eric for a big kiss

on the cheek. "Hope you charged it to Dad," she giggled.

Annie was a little less subdued. Stuffed animals flew in all

directions. Hans tried to catch them, mostly successfully.

When she got to the box, she opened it carefully, looked at

the contents closely, closed the box and walked over to Eric.

"You may be my mean old stepmother, but I sure do love you,"

she said, taking him into her arms.

"Hey, watch it, he's MINE!" I told her.

After that, they saved the ones from me for last.

It was getting to the bottom of the pile and time for me to

open the ones from Eric. I put the one labeled "Open in

private" aside, and went for a large flat one. It appeared

to be a couple of picture frames. I pulled one out, and it

was a framed Stock Certificate. On closer examination, I

realized what it was - the CLP Railroad Stock that had once

belonged to my Great-Grandfather.

The second was another Certificate, but showed the back,

showing who the stock had been transferred to, and witnessed

by one Sadie Carruthers, either the Madam or one of the

"Girls", I assumed.

"These are pieces of family history!" I told Eric, and

grabbed him in a big hug. "I'll give you the kiss later," I

whispered in his ear.

It was Eric's turn. He opened one of the small packages

first, one of the placques. "What is this?" he asked.

"A duplicate of that one will hang on the Elephants' new home

at the San Diego Zoo," I told him.

Eric wasn't the least bit inhibited. He grabbed me and

planted one right on my lips.

"What was THAT all about?" his mother asked.

"Dave gave the San Diego Zoo a new Elephant enclosure in my

name," he explained, taking the placque over to show her.

Annie and Tina were down to my gifts. When they saw more

animals, the animals went flying. They found the boxes,

opened them, took a quick look then swarmed all over me.

"We've gotta get a safe to keep these in," Annie commented.

"We've already got one," I told her. "I'll show you later."

When he could, Eric whispered in my ear "The safe in our

bedroom is full of you know what!"

"Relax," I told him, laughing. "We've got a bigger one in

the den."

My last present was from Eric. It was a rolled-up parchment

scroll announcing that the largest donation in their history

had been made to CRES in my name. I turned to Eric who was

beaming. "Great minds..." and a big hug.

\- - - - -

It wasn't until we went to bed that I opened his "private"

gift and gave him the one I'd picked up at the dirty

bookstore.

Mine was a huge selection of "toys". Dildos in every

imaginable size and shape, some with vibrators and others

that moved in all sorts of weird ways. "These'll be fun to

play with, but when we do some serious lovin', I want the

real thing," I told him, patting his bulging crotch.

His box was an assortment of lubes and other "accessories".

"With all this stuff," he giggled, "I think it's playtime!"

"Not tonight, I want to get SERIOUS!"

His smile, and the kiss we shared told me that he agreed.

Chapter 54

Eric had set the alarm. The "cousins" had taken the "Red

Eye" from Chicago and would arrive at 8:00 AM, our time.

He went to the airport alone to meet them, Sam and Jacques

following in a pickup to collect their luggage.

I could hear them the minute the door from the garage opened,

laughter, and loud voices. They tumbled rather than walked

into the den, all smiles.

Eric introduced me to each one. Some solemnly shook hands,

others gave me a hug. I admitted that I was lousy at

remembering names, and would take a while before I could get

them right. "Don, Paul, Alan, Dirk, Jason and Tim," I

repeated in my mind.

"No problem," Don, the oldest, said. "Just say 'hey you' and

point, we're used to that."

Nobody had to tell them to "make themselves at home". In

minutes they were sprawled all around the den. It was also

clear that Don was the accepted spokesman for the group.

"Any of you guys old enough to drink?" Eric teased.

Several hands shot up, and one of the others said, "No, but

I've got a good ID."

"You have a beautiful home, Mr. Rush," Alan, I believe, said.

"It's OUR home," I said. "Eric's and mine, and let's get one

thing straight right now. I may be the 'old fart' around

here, but I'm Dave. None of this MR. bullshit allowed."

"OK, Dave," he smiled, "but it's still a beautiful home."

"We like it," Eric said as he passed out drinks then sat down

beside me. "Here's to fun," Eric said, raising his drink.

There was silence for a couple of minutes. I was getting

ready to say something to get conversation going when Don

spoke up. "We all know that you guys're gay," he said. "We

heard about it before you came to Chicago."

He thought for a minute then continued. "Maybe there's

something you should know about us. Out of nine of us

'cousins', six of us are gay or at least bi, two are

definitely straight, and one is too young to have figured it

out yet. I'd guess that you'd call us MORE than 'kissin'

cousins'."

Eric gave me a grin and a wink. "We already knew that," he

said. "Are you the six gay ones?"

"Yep, that's us," Tim, I believe, said. "How'd you know?"

"We picked-up on it at the Reunion," Eric said. "How'd you

guys pick up on each other?"

"I'm the oldest by a couple of years," Don said. "I figured

out which way I was going pretty early, then Alan 'seduced'

me, and it's been like a chain reaction ever since."

"You mean...with each other?" Eric asked.

"Exclusively," Alan piped up. "That's the safest way, and

with five willing partners always available, we have plenty

of variety just amongst ourselves."

"Well, I'll be damned!" I exclaimed.

"Does the 'incest' part bother you guys?" Don asked.

"Not me," I said.

"Not me either," Eric said. "I think it's cool. By the way,

Dave and I are totally monagamous. We don't play around with

ANYBODY."

"Aw damn," Jason, I think, said. "I was hoping to get it on

with Dave. We're all family, you know, and he's so fucking

hot!"

"Doesn't matter," I laughed. "Eric's about all I can handle."

"Is it warm enough to go swimming?" one of them asked.

"The pool's heated and the windbreaks are up," Eric told

them. "Dave and I swim almost every day."

About that time, Jacques showed up and wanted to know what

luggage went where. The boys jumped up to take care of it.

"Guess there won't be a problem with two to a bed," Eric

chuckled.

They got their bags put away and began filtering back into

the den, in Speedos. This was even better than the "good old

days" of Annie's pool parties for the Lifeguards. Bodies, oh

my God! Baskets? Well, let's just say that they were fucking

spectacular. Eric wasn't the only one in the family that was

well endowed!

They were all anxious to get outside, but when they were all

congregated, Eric spoke up. "Here's the drill, fellas. This

is a fairly large household. Dave's two daughters live with

us, and we have a big household staff. Everybody knows about

'us', but we don't rub their noses in it. Only the staff'll

be around most of this week, and Sundays are 'our' day when

nobody is around. Just a little discretion is all we ask."

They all agreed to behave. Yeah, I'll bet!

He pointed them toward the pool, but they demanded that we

join them. We agreed, and went to change.

"From the way your eyeballs were hanging out, I think I'd

better wear Speedos too," Eric said. "This is just too

damned much competition!"

"This I want to see," I told him, waving my half hard dick at

him while he was struggling to get into his Speedos.

"You're not making it any easier," he laughed.

Eric moaned and groaned and finally got himself stuffed in.

I did NOT wear Speedos. It wouldn't be safe.

"Forget the competition," I told him, looking at his huge

dick wrapped around his hip. "This is all I want," I said,

kissing him and stroking his dick through his suit.

"You asshole," he laughed. "Now, I'm going to be in severe

pain!"

Eric and I each picked up an armload of beach towels on our

way out. I spread one on a lounge and stretched out. Eric

jumped in the pool with the rest.

They weren't swimming but playing just like a bunch of kids

with a lot of underwater grab-assing going on. Then, they

all ganged up on Eric. His speedos came sailing out to land

with a splat on the deck. He may have been outnumbered, but

other suits came flying out too.

"Aren't you going to help me?" Eric yelled.

I knew what'd happen, but what the hell. I dove in, aiming

for one of the guys who still wore a suit, and with the

momentum of my dive, grabbed the suit, upended him, and

yanked it over his feet.

When I surfaced, they were all over me. I didn't stand a

chance, and my suit joined the others on the deck. My suit

off, the groping and stroking began. I looked at Eric who

was standing there grinning. "Help me, dammit," I yelled at

him.

"You just sat there and watched me get molested," he

chuckled. "Take care of yourself!"

With all the attention it was getting, my dick naturally

responded. One of them got in front of me, reached around to

aim it and tried to impale himself. "C'mon, Dave, just

once," he pleaded.

I pushed him away but he was persistent and some of the

others were now helping. "Whoa!" I heard Eric bark, which got

everybody's attention. "I guess we didn't make things clear

enough." He was dead serious. "Playing around is fine, but

Dave's dick belongs to ME. Don't any of you ever forget it!

Another thing," he continued, "NOBODY around here is ever

forced into anything," he paused. "Now, let's have fun."

Paul, the one who'd tried to impale himself came over to

apologise. "Sorry, I just got carried away. It won't happen

again I assure you," he said. "I can understand Eric's

wanting to keep this beautiful piece of meat all to himself,"

he giggled, giving me a couple of quick strokes with his hand.

"No problem," I told him, grinning. "I'm flattered, but you

have to understand that Eric and I are off limits."

"We'll all respect that," Don said.

\- - - - -

The boys took an afternoon nap, giving Eric and me a chance

to plan. "Want to have a New Years' Eve party?" Eric asked.

"It's about all we can do," I agreed. "The only 'gay' thing

happening in this town is at the bars, and since Tim's

underage, that'd be a problem."

"So's Spence," Eric said. "I worry about him being alone.

I think most of our friends are stay-at-homes like we are,

and would welcome a chance to party. Let me get on the phone

later and see."

"Annie and Hans are going to Las Vegas, and Rick is taking

Tina to something here in town, so we don't have to worry

about them," I said.

"We'll keep it simple," he said. "Just booze and music and

another midnight supper. We can dance out on the deck."

"Sounds good to me," I told him. "How about the rest of the

time?"

Eric already had plans for that - Disneyland, Universal

Studios, Magic Mountain and a day or two at the beach. He

suggested that we stay home on Sunday so the boys could

frolic without any restraints and invite some of the gang

over for a pool party.

While we were talking, the kids came in. Eric warned them.

"Yes, it turns out that all of them are gay."

"If they all look like you," Rick said, "this town'll never

be the same!"

This got everybody laughing. Rick was loosening up, I was

happy to see. He'd need a sense of humor around this family

he was joining.

Eric went to make calls and the rest scattered, except Annie.

"Hans has invited me to come to Germany," she said, "to meet

his family."

"Are you going?" I asked.

"Of course," she giggled.

"You like him a lot, don't you?

"I'll admit it to you," she said, "I'm head over heels in

love with him."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," I kidded her. "From the way he

looks at you, I'd say he's pretty far gone himself."

"If I pass muster, I think he might ask me to marry him.

Would you approve?"

"Most definitely," I told her. "Don't worry about 'passing

muster', he's damned lucky to catch YOU."

"What happens if we decide to announce our engagement over

there?" she asked.

"The rest of us'll be there in a heartbeat, if you want us."

"Oh, I'll want you there, that's for sure!"

\- - - - -

We all had dinner together. The cousins were perfect

gentlemen.

The girls and their guys took off after dinner. I didn't

know if they actually had something planned, or if they were

just giving us "space".

The cousins didn't want to go anyplace, and were soon

sprawled all over the den. I was getting more comfortable

around them and could even remember their names.

"Man, your daughters sure have good taste in men," Dirk

commented. "That Rick is a real cutie and Hans, WOW!"

"I'm not surprised, those are two beautiful girls," Jason

said, the rest nodding in agreement.

"Just remember that those guys are straight. Look but don't

touch," Eric reminded them. "Seems to me you guys've got

enough to play with just among yourselves."

"We do," Paul said, "but a little fresh meat is kinda nice."

"Did you really mean it when you said that you only play

around with each other?" Eric asked.

"Mostly," Alan said. "We date other guys, and sometimes go a

little further than that, but we've all agreed to play it

absolutely safe if we do."

"That's smart in any case," Eric said.

"It's just too damned dangerous," Don said. "If one of us

picks up something, the rest of us would get it too."

"How'd you guys handle it when you got together?" Jason asked.

"We'd both been in a 'dry spell', and we'd both been tested,

so we didn't worry about it," Eric told them.

"I find that hard to believe," Paul said. "I just can't see

either one of you having a 'dry spell'. All you'd have to do

is wave those dicks and ten guys would be on 'em before you

could let go!"

Eric tried to change the subject. "What would you guys like

to do while you're here?" he asked.

"Fuck our brains out," Tim piped up.

"Other than that?" Eric asked, "give it a rest, Tim."

"But we don't have that opportunity at home," Tim whined.

Eric ignored him, telling them about what he'd tentatively

planned.

When a schedule had been agreed on, Eric told them about the

New Year's Eve party he was planning. I noticed that he

didn't mention a "pool party" on Sunday. I guess he was

having second thoughts about turning this bunch of horny guys

loose.

Somebody suggested that we watch a movie. Alan helped Eric

pick one out, an action flick. The boys were sprawled all

over the den on pillows, Eric and I snuggled on the couch.

I wasn't particularly interested in the movie, but at least

it was keeping everyone else busy. The boys' exuberance

didn't bother me. Hell they were just a bunch of playful,

horny young studs who were experiencing, probably for the

first time, the freedom to be themselves.

Following the example that Eric and I were setting, they

paired up and snuggled. Eric was lying behind me on the

couch with me spooned into him, his arm over me.

The guys on the floor scooted around, pairing up in similar

positions. Before long, it went a step further with hands

dissapearing down the fronts of shorts and butts were pushed

tighter into the crotches behind them.

That soon became uncomfortable and zippers went down and

dicks came out into the open. The guys lying behind slid

their shorts down too, then resumed the spoon position,

reaching over to play with the goodies in front of them.

Eric evidently hadn't been watching the movie either. I felt

the hardness behind me and he whispered in my ear "Wanna get

comfortable?" I nodded, so he unzipped my shorts, and as I

raised up, he pulled them down to my knees.

I turned around and told him "Your turn." He slid his shorts

down and we got comfortable again, his hard dick rubbing my

butt and my dick in his hand.

During all this repositioning, not a word had been said. It

all seemed like the natural thing to be doing.

Lying there watching three beautiful dicks get stroked was an

incredible turn on. Thankfully, Eric was stroking me very

slowly and lightly. They were all beautiful cocks, long and

straight, and obviously hard as rocks. The ones I could see

were in the seven inch range, I'd guess, all a nice mouthful.

When I saw Don, who was behind Tim, putting spit on his

fingers and transferring it to his dick, I decided it was

time to help. I was also getting too damned close. I

disentangled myself from Eric, stood up, dropped my shorts

entirely and went into our bedroom.

I came back with a stack of towels and several bottles of

lube. I handed a bottle of lube to Don. "Felt sorry for

Tim," I chuckled, putting the rest of the supplies in easy

reach for everyone.

"Here, big boy," I grinned at Eric, holding out a bottle of

lube. "How you want it?"

"Just like we were," he said, grinning and taking the bottle.

I'd lost my hardon. Eric certainly hadn't, but I hadn't had

the visual stimulation he was enjoying. I snuggled up to him

as before, his hand was back on my dick in seconds, my butt

rubbing against him.

Looking around, Don lubed up and gently slid back into Tim

from behind, Tim moaning as Don went in. Paul and Jason had

moved into a side-by-side 69 position as had Alan and Dirk.

Nobody appeared to be in a rush. It was a case of men

enjoying the pleasures that other men could provide.

"Let's get on the floor," Eric whispered. When we got up, I

took Eric in my arms for a long, passionate kiss. When we

got weak in the knees, we settled down on the carpet away

from the others. He was on top of me, our dicks rubbing

together slowly. "You ready?" he asked. I nodded.

He rolled off and lubed up his hand. His fingers gently

loosened me, going a little deeper than usual, hitting my

prostate. I twitched and moaned when he did that. I was

more than ready!

I spread my legs, he got into position and slid all the way

in. I couldn't help but gasp at the unbelievable sensations.

He held up his lube-covered hand, silently asking if I wanted

him to stroke me. I shook my head. My dick, standing up

between us was already drooling.

I believe that the way Eric was fucking me is called "Long

Dicking". He was holding me up by the hips, bending me

backward a little and sliding all the way in, deeper than I'd

ever felt. He'd bottom out, grind into me then smoothly pull

all the way out until just the head was inside. The smooth

downward stroke made me gasp every time. Looking at his

face, I could tell he was enjoying those long strokes as much

as I was.

I basked in the pleasure, building slowly. It felt so good

that I certainly wasn't in a hurry for it to end.

The moans and cries of orgasm didn't distract us. We were

totally concentrated on what WE were doing.

We built, and built, and built. I could tell he was close

and pulled him down on me, holding him to me, his lips on

mine. He started humping with short strokes just like a

bunny rabbit and it swept over us. I felt him still stroking

hard, literally pumping the cum out of my spurting dick. It

went on and on, with him slowing and eventually settling on

top of me, both of us still twitching as the aftershocks hit.

After another five-minute kiss and a lot of sighs, we rolled

apart. Six pairs of eyes were trained on us.

"Now that's the way you're supposed to fuck!" Alan said.

"We weren't 'fucking'," Eric said calmly, "we were making

love."

"How come none of us ever cum like that?" Tim asked. "Hell,

you guys were cumming hard for at least a couple of minutes.

All we ever last is a few seconds."

I was still too out of it to answer. "It's a lot more than

the physical stimulation," Eric told them, "it's the caring

that we have for each other. Not bragging, but that was a

short one, sometimes it lasts much longer, and on occasion we

both have multiples."

"I can see why neither one of you is interested in anybody

else," Jason commented.

"It gets better and better, too," I said, finally able to

speak.

"Really?" Dirk asked. "I thought it'd get boring."

"Not on your life!" Eric said. "When Dave told me that'd

happen, I didn't believe him either, but I sure learned

differently."

"You always on top Eric?" Paul asked.

"Hell no," Eric answered. "Maybe half the time. That's not

all we do, either."

"Then you must jack each other a lot," Paul continued.

"Nobody could swallow that whopper you've got."

"Dave can," Eric said innocently.

"Now that's something I'd really like to see!"

"I'm beginning to feel like we're putting on a freak show," I

said to Eric, chuckling.

"Don't EVER feel that way," Don said. "We're just finding

out how little we know."

\- - - - -

The troops went to Disneyland the next day. I didn't want to

go. At this time of year, the crowds would be unbelievable.

They stayed for the fireworks, so didn't get home until

late. I was on my usual perch in the den when they roared

in. This being their first trip to Disneyland, they were all

excited about everything they'd seen and done.

When they'd settled down, Tim, the horniest little shit I'd

ever seen, suggested we "watch a movie" again, leering at

everybody.

"Not me," Eric said. "That floor's too damned hard. I'm

ready for a nice soft bed!"

"Me too," I chimed in. "My back still hurts, but you guys

can do anything you want."

"Have fun?" I asked while we were undressing.

"I've seen enough of Disneyland to last me the next five

years," he chuckled. "I think we did every ride at least six

times even though the lines were unbelievable."

"That's why I didn't go," I told him.

"By the way, the guys think you're the neatest guy they've

ever met."

"Any particular reason?"

"You're so easygoing, and the fact that you were willing to

join in the fun and games last night."

"I'll have to admit, it was pretty hot. First time we've

ever made love in the den, and, having an audience was, in a

way, kind of hot too."

"From what they told me today, they don't have many chances

to do that at home. It's hard to believe, but they swear

that their families don't have a clue of what's going on."

"Hard to believe is right," I said. "Maybe it's just that

nobody's saying anything."

Eric snuggled up to me, his dick totally soft. "You too?" I

said, wiggling my butt against it.

"Yeah, they wore me out today."

When I woke in the morning, my piss hardon was stuck between

Eric's legs, my arm draped over his shoulder. Or so I

thought.

As the fog cleared, I realized something was wrong. "Eric"

was on the wrong side of the bed, and an arm was over my

shoulder and a hard dick was poking my butt.

The arm over my shoulder moved up and tweaked my nipple.

Carefully, I turned my head and saw Eric's blue eyes shining

and a big grin on his face. Another mop of blond hair was

behind him. He winked at me and I turned back. I felt him

move his dick down so it'd slide between my legs and then he

started rocking back and forth, pushing my dick back and

forth between the legs in front of me.

"Just a little higher, honey," Eric mumbled.

"You too, honey, just a little higher," the body in front of

me said, then burst out in a fit of giggles.

Somehow, we got untangled without breaking off any dicks.

Dirk, in front of me was still giggling and Alan behind Eric

started giggling too.

"Nice try, guys," Eric said, laughing.

"We got cold," Dirk said in a little boy voice that got us

all laughing.

"You may sound like a little boy, but this doesn't FEEL like

a little boy to me," I said, reaching over and grabbing what

had to be an eight incher.

\- - - - -

It was overcast and cool, not a good day for the beach as

planned. The boys also decided to forego any more amusement

parks. Eric let out a major sigh of relief.

The problem now was what to do with these six energetic guys

for the day. Eric and I wandered off by ourselves to talk it

over. "If we just sit around, it'll become an all-day

fuckfest," Eric laughed.

"It's not really that cool, and it doesn't look like rain," I

said, "Got any ideas?"

"Is it whale season?"

"I think it is, that'd be a good idea, keep 'em occupied."

"You want to come along?" he asked.

"Nah, I've done it a hundred times. I'll stay home and get

my batteries recharged," I grinned at him.

Eric made a quick call then we joined the boys in the kitchen

where they were finishing breakfast and talking to Hans.

"No beach today, guys," Eric told them. "I've got another

idea though. Have any of you ever seen a whale up close and

personal?"

"Nope," Don said and the rest, including Hans shook their

heads.

"The Gray Whales are migrating down the coast to their

calving grounds in Mexico. We've got excursion boats here

that go out so you can get a real close look at them, wanna

go?" Eric asked. "You too, Hans."

All the cousins were eager to go. So was Hans, who went to

get permission from Annie. While he was gone, Eric reminded

the others "Remember, look but don't touch. He's STRAIGHT."

After they'd all gone, Annie came into the den where I was

reading. "Tell Eric thanks for me," she said. "I love Hans

to death, but we've been together constantly for more than

two weeks. We both needed a break."

"Do you trust him alone with all those wildmen?" I chuckled.

"No problem, I feel VERY secure," she laughed. "I'm happy,

though, that he gets along so well with all of us, you, Eric

and all your friends included. I haven't got anything to

worry about."

\- - - - -

Sitting there, I got to thinking about what we'd do if this

weather continued. Since we hadn't watched the news lately,

I had no idea what the forecast was, so got on the internet

to find out. Bad news. The high overcast would be around for

two more days, then clear up.

After the Whale Watching, there wasn't much else to do around

here, so I checked out the weather in Palm Springs. 80's and

clear. Bingo!

I called Dan. When I told him I needed accomodations at a

gay resort for eight, he wanted to know if we'd collected a

"harem".

"No," I chuckled. "Six of Eric's cousins are visiting us."

"You're going to take them to a gay resort?" he asked in mock

horror.

"Hell, they're all as queer as we are," I laughed. "And a

helluva lot hornier."

"If they look anything like Eric, I wanna meet 'em," he

chuckled.

"They do," I told him. "Come to our New Years' party and

your eyes'll fall out."

"You bet your ass I'll be there. I'm single again and on the

prowl."

"What happened to Ted?"

"It took me a while to realize it, but all he wanted was for

me to support him. I don't care to be 'used' any longer."

"Been there, done that," I told him. "Don't let it get to

you like I did."

He promised he wouldn't, and got back to business, promising

that he'd see what was available in Palm Springs and get back

to me.

He was apologetic when he called back. It was the holiday

season and the only thing he could find at a "nice" resort,

as he put it, were two rooms. Each had two king-size beds,

so they would hold all of us.

I had Dan go ahead and book them and request early check-in.

He would also get us a van so we could get around. He also

suggested that we take along a case of rubbers.

I called the General. The GV was available, and Ron and

Jason were on call. I called them too to let them know what

was going on.

\- - - - -

When the boys got home, they were still excited. They'd seen

several whales and were in awe of how huge they were and how

close they'd gotten to them. The words "way cool", "awesome"

and "super rad" were used a lot. Hans was as excited as the

rest and thanked Eric profusely for asking him along.

As soon as I could, I got Eric alone to tell him about what

I'd planned. I wanted his approval before I mentioned it to

anyone else. That wasn't a problem, in fact, he was wildly

enthusiastic. "I've heard about those places, but I've never

been to one," he said. "Think you and I can have a little

'fun' too?"

"I'm planning on it," I told him.

Hans was gone when we got back to the den. "Listen up, guys,

Dave's got something to tell you," Eric told them.

I waited until I had their attention. "I checked the weather

forecast this afternoon. It looks like we're going to have a

few more days of this crappy stuff." There were moans and

groans. "I know you all came for sunshine, and I'm sorry

about this, but I have an idea. Let's go where there is

some. It's clear and in the 80's in Palm Springs. We're

leaving in the morning if you want to go."

There was no question about their desire to go.

Eric took over and told them where we would be staying and

all of the "opportunities" that would probably be available.

Now, they weren't just eager to go, they wanted to leave

right then!

"How long a drive is it?" Paul wanted to know.

"We're flying," I told him. "It should take about 45 minutes

to get there. Let's try to be ready to leave here around

nine in the morning."

"What time does our flight leave?" Jason asked.

"When we get there," Eric said and changed the subject to the

clothes they'd need to take.

\- - - - -

We were all loaded up and on our way early. I saw a few

strange looks as we sped right on past the Terminal off ramp

and onto another further down. Eric went through the guarded

gate and right onto the tarmac and pulled up in front of our

hangar. The General was there to meet us, Ron and Jason were

standing by the open door of the Gulfstream sitting on the

apron.

"Grab your bags," Eric said as he jumped out.

We took our stuff over to the plane and the pilots loaded it.

As we were going aboard, I heard one of the guys ask Eric if

this was a "charter". "Nope," he answered, "belongs to Dave."

Both Eric and Jason had big grins. No telling what they'd do.

When we were all settled and moving down the runway, Ron came

on the intercom and in a very authoritative voice started

speaking. "This is your Captain speaking. Our flight time

to Palm Springs will be approximately 40 minutes. That is

adequate time for you to join the 'Five Mile High Club'. If

you don't know what that is, figure it out. It's not an

opportunity afforded on most flights, so I suggest that you

take advantage of it."

The boys were wide eyed, looking at one another.

Ron continued. "I recommend use of the oral cavity only,

with lots of tongue action, and that you swallow fast. No

mess that way.

"We've been cleared for takeoff," he continued very

seriously, "strap your asses in your seats and get your dicks

hard. Enjoy your flight."

With that, we shot down the runway and into an almost

vertical climb. Eric was grinning at me. "We can always

count on those two!"

When we leveled off, Ron was back on the intercom. "The

carnal pleasures may now commence."

"Did he mean what I think he meant?" Don asked.

"Sure did," Eric deadpanned. "Better get busy."

Zippers came down and mouths were lowered onto the dicks that

popped out. I got up to get a cup of coffee for Eric and me.

When we landed, Ron emerged from the cockpit and looked at

the boys sternly. "How many new members do we have?"

"All of us," one of them said.

"That's good, your certificates will be in the mail," he said

then broke into a big grin. "See Dave, I told you they could

make it!"

The boys were chuckling contentedly on the way into town.

"That was a setup, wasn't it?"

"Sure was," I answered. "We need to wear you guys out so

Eric and I can get a little sleep tonight."

Bags were tossed into rooms and Speedos donned in record

time. The boys couldn't wait to get to the pool where they

expected the 'action' to be.

"I feel like a goddam chaperone," Eric giggled as we

eventually wandered out to the pool. "I don't think I was

EVER as horny as this bunch."

"You were just saving up for me," I kidded.

There were quite a few guys spread out on lounge chairs

around the pool. Some were nude, others wearing speedos or

g-strings. There wasn't any "action", as such, going on, but

a few dicks were not quite soft.

It was a mixed group, agewise, a few twinks, quite a few nice

looking guys that appeared to be in their 20's or 30's, a lot

that looked to be in their 40's to 60's and a few a lot older.

After being thoroughly checked out by everyone, we too

stretched out to grab some rays.

It was fun watching "our" boys at work. Singly and in pairs,

they were talking to other guys or groups of guys.

Surprisingly, they were all still wearing their suits.

I saw others, not our group, pairing up and leaving, then

returning a few minutes later looking sated. Our boys

started disappearing too, but they were usually gone longer.

"God I'm glad I never have to play this game again," Eric

commented.

"Quickies were never a favorite of mine either," I laughed.

"It's so damned nice to have somebody to love," he said kind

of wistfully, reaching for my hand.

"Don't get sappy on me," I kidded.

"It's seeing this kind of stuff that makes me realize just

how lucky I am. If that's sappy, then that's the way I am."

I couldn't resist, I got up, leaned over and kissed him, held

him for a minute and tweaked his nipple when I got up.

"Don't do that! You're gonna make me get hard and my poor

dick doesn't have anyplace to go." he laughed.

Holding hands, we just lay there and watched the boys at play.

"Want a drink?" Eric asked.

"Sure."

"Anything in particular or the usual?"

"Not the usual, surprise me," I smiled.

The outdoor bar was at the other end of the pool. As Eric

walked, every head turned, including those of the cousins. I

smiled as I watched the involuntary licking of lips and the

open stares of lust. Then I noticed something else. Eric

didn't even notice.

There wasn't a trace of "attitude" and he certainly wasn't

projecting ego. I remembered in our first days together that

I had had to point out to him that everybody was drooling

over him. He'd never noticed.

About the only acknowledgment of attention he'd ever made was

that he "got a few looks" when he was working as a lifeguard.

Either he wasn't aware of the effect he had on other people,

both men and women, or he chose to ignore it, and was always

friendly and approachable.

In reality, I had more "attitude" than he did, and that was

because of him, the knowledge that he "belonged" to me. I'd

have to do some thinking about that.

The boys stopped by to chat and tell us more than we wanted

to know about their exploits. They were using sunblock so

wouldn't be totally fried.

We spent the whole day in the sun. Eric and I were the first

to go back to the room, hoping to have a leisurely shower

before the mob descended on us.

Before we went out to dinner, I checked Tim's ID. It was

a Wisconsin Drivers License with his own name and picture on

it, looking very authentic to me. I didn't ask where or how

he got it. "Just wanted to make sure nobody gets into an

embarassing situation," I told him.

After dinner, which the boys had tried unsuccessfully to pay

for, we went to one of the bars Eric had located in the

Damron Guide. Not surprisingly, it was a Disco, and everyone

except Eric and I got carded.

"Must be showing my age," Eric chuckled.

It was like a blond invasion. There was no pretense,

everybody was staring. Lining up on bar stools, we turned to

survey the room. A little dramatic, but that's the drill.

Being a disco, all the attention was focused on the dance

floor. I could sense that Eric was itching to get out

there. "Go ahead," I told him. "I'm happy watching."

He grabbed one of the remaining cousins. Don was the only

one left, and he moved to sit next to me.

"I wonder if Eric really knows how lucky he is?" he asked.

"I know how lucky I am to have him," I answered.

"That's the beautiful part," he said. "You have each other."

He was silent for a few minutes, pensive. "I'm having a

wonderful time, I want you to know, all the sex is great, but

for some reason, lately, it just isn't satisfying."

"I understand EXACTLY what you mean," I said with a smile.

He nodded, knowing that I really did understand. "Hell, I've

'made it' with four different guys today, and all I want is

more, for chrissake!"

"Something missing?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure what it is."

"That's because it's something you've probably never

experienced. It's called love," I told him.

He thought about that for a minute. "Then why am I always

looking for another guy to have sex with?"

"Have you ever cared for another guy, I mean REALLY cared for

him?"

"A few, I guess, but it was mostly because of the awesome sex

we had together," he admitted.

"Did you ever look beyond their dicks?" I asked, chuckling.

"There's more to a guy than that."

"Not until lately, and then, the ones I really 'like' are

either straight or not interested in me."

"It's not going to happen overnight," I chuckled. "Hell, I

was fifty when I met Eric. The right man's out there, I

assure you, all you have to do is be there and be available.

With your looks, brains and attitude, you won't have any

trouble finding him."

"Should I go into a convent until I do find him? Save myself

for him?" he asked with a big grin.

"Hell no! You only live once. Enjoy it!"

"I think this whole issue came to a head the other night when

I watched you and Eric together. I was, quite frankly,

jealous as hell of what you guys have."

"You can have something like that too," I told him.

He reached over and put his arm around me. "You're one hell

of a neat guy, Dave," he said.

Don's arm was still around me when Eric and the others walked

up. "Hey, go find your own man," he joked, muscling in

between us. "This one's MINE!"

"You and Don were sure serious," Eric commented when the rest

went back to dance.

"He's come to a realization - that there's more to sex than

just finding a warm place to stick your dick into."

Eric started laughing. "About time he started growing up!"

\- - - - -

They danced and drank for a while longer, but were anxious to

get back to the hotel. They all had "dates". On the way

back, we got the details. At night, the "action" was at the

hot tub, the "pickup point", then moved to individual rooms.

They changed back to Speedos and were on their way. Eric was

curious. "Let's take a walk and see what's going on," he

suggested.

We put on loose boxer-type suits, Eric saying we didn't need

to advertise since we were just "window shopping", and headed

for the hot tub. Along the way, doors were open and drapes

pulled back on the windows. The dim lights invited anyone

passing to look in. The occupants, mostly alone, were lying

on their beds, either on their back with hard dicks sticking

up, the old invitation for a blowjob, or on their stomachs

asking to be fucked. Hell, it was no different from the

baths of the 70's.

"I was just kidding when I said 'window shopping," Eric

said. "This is the real thing! Lots to choose from if

you're interested."

I could tell that he was surprised, and at the same time,

aroused by the displays. We discussed the "wares" in quiet

tones, being, at times rather unkind in our assessments.

The hot tub and the area around it was the scene of a

full-fledged orgy. Men were in every combination imaginable,

one-on-one all the way to one muscle stud who was being

fucked and sucked at the same time, had another guys dick in

his mouth, who, in turn was getting fucked, and was sucking

still another guy. There were six altogether in that dog pile.

Maybe all the guys didn't have horse-sized cocks, but the

scene was hotter than any orgy video I'd ever seen. Even

though we were wearing loose suits, both of our dicks stood

out in front of us, begging for attention.

I led Eric through the writhing bodies to the far side where

an empty beach chair sat off by itself but with a good view

of the whole scene. "You sit and watch the action," I told

him. "I'll give you a little of my own."

Off came our suits and after a long, deep kiss, Eric sat. I

dropped to my knees in front of him. His magnificent pole in

front of me was the ultimate turn-on.

I spent a minute just looking at it, appreciating it, while

feeling my own throb in anticipation. Leaning forward I

savored the beads of precum that I found, then laved the head

and shaft with my tongue. He tasted particularly good for

some unknown reason. The whole length slicked up with

saliva, I began working my way downward, giving him all the

tongue action I could.

I had to pull his cock back a little to the right angle so I

could swallow all of him, something we both loved. I was

totally engrossed in our mutual pleasure when I felt

something rubbing on my shoulder. I knew it was a dick, but

ignored it. It was soon gone and I was able to fully

concentrate again.

The scene he was watching must have been affecting him

because his balls in my hand started to retract. Too fast.

Too soon. I wanted more. I raised up to look at him. "Just

let it happen," he said softly, "I have other plans for us."

OK. I went back to his dick, planning to get as much

enjoyment as I could in the time available. I felt it coming

and started humming to give him added sensations. He blew

long and hard and violently, forcing me to back off or cause

severe pain. That was fine, I could taste every drop that way.

In spite of the fact that he didn't soften at all, I drained

him completely.

Standing to get the kinks out of my legs, he leaned forward

and took the head of my still raging dick in his mouth and

gave me a moment of "Velvet Blender" treatment, then pulled

off.

"Can we go back to the room?" he asked. "I desperately need

to feel you inside of me."

He wanted it doggie-style, and was so hot, about all I had to

do was be there. He did all the work, humping into me as

hard as he could. "God, you feel SOOOO good," he moaned.

Standing on my knees, my hands on his hips, I couldn't reach

him, but I sensed that he didn't want me to touch him.

His internal muscles were working on my dick to such a degree

that I had to really concentrate to keep from cumming. Out of

nowhere, he abruptly switched from those unbelievable

sensations to the spasms that made it clear he was cumming.

That did it for me. I fell onto his back for the short

strokes that deposited everything I had inside him. We

collapsed in a pile.

We rolled apart when we stopped twitching. "I still owe you

one," he said. "We'll take a shower then I'll suck you to

sleep."

"I don't know if I'm up for that," I told him, "what just

happened was pretty intense."

"I'll make it happen," he said, his eyes sparkling. "Do you

think you can handle another full day of this?"

I groaned.

Chapter 46

I awoke facing Eric, a smile on my face. "Mornin' hot

stuff," he said, grinning. "Have fun last night?"

"Ohhhh yeah," I drawled, moving over to hold him. Remembering

that we had roommates, I looked over my shoulder. The bed

hadn't been slept in.

"Another day of fun and frolic," he said. "Tonight it's your

turn."

"I thought I had quite a few 'turns' last night," I said,

snuggling into him. "I got to suck the dick I love, got to

make love to the hottest man around, and got the blowjob of

the decade. What's left?"

"We'll switch tonight, give you a chance to get off on the

action."

"This's what I want," I told him, taking his morning woody in

my hand.

"Me too," he said, doing the same thing to me. "It's not

that I'm the least bit interested in actually doing anything

with any of those guys, but watching it all happen was rather

stimulating! I want you to experience it. Remember how it

turned me on?"

"Look," I said, "I'm still smiling!"

\- - - - -

The boys came dragging in, singly and in pairs. They were

amazingly chipper after a night that I assumed had been

non-stop sex.

I suggested that we hop in the van and take a look at Palm

Springs, but there were no takers. They all wanted to resume

their "activities". Eric wasn't much interested either.

"I'd like to just sit around today, maybe do a little

reading," he said. "We go back to work in a couple of days

and I want to relax as much as I can. That OK with you?"

"Sure is, let's take advantage while we can."

The boys were taking advantage of the situation too, but

their objective wasn't rest, that's for sure! They were in

man-sex heaven.

I didn't worry about them. My only concern was that they

were sticking to their rule of NO unsafe sex outside their

"family" circle. It wasn't my place to remind them, however.

We spent the day in the sun again. This being "winter" we

could stand a lot more, and with rotation, we were turning

really dark on all sides.

We talked about the year almost over, what we'd accomplished

and what we wished we'd done. My main regret was that we

hadn't done more traveling.

"How can we be running around when there's so much to do?"

Eric asked. "Neither of us could have accomplished what we

did if we weren't THERE to do it."

"True," I agreed, "but a whole lot has changed in the way I'm

doing things these days. Bill used to handle everything,

giving me an update once a month, or letting me know if a

crisis developed. Now I'm in the middle of everything."

"Don't you like that?"

"Yes and no. I enjoy the excitement of being involved, but I

kind of miss the freedom. Don't forget, Metalco isn't the

only thing we've got going on.

"It's all your fault," I kidded, "before you came into my

life, I was just a hermit watching the world go by. I love

the excitement, particularly because you're involved with me

in everything, but I'm wondering if we've both taken on too

much."

"I don't think so," Eric answered thoughtfully. "We've done

a lot of delegating, but we're still pretty involved in the

day-to-day operations of the new businesses we've gotten

into. Maybe we should back off and leave our 'delegatees'

alone and set up a more formal reporting procedure."

"You're probably right," I agreed. "Why don't we take a look

at them, company by company, and cut the 'apron strings'."

"Lundborg Rush is already doing fine. Warren has a lot of

initiative and only comes to me with major things he thinks I

should know about. Maybe a short monthly meeting with both

of us would be a good idea, but he could still come to either

of us anytime if he thought it necessary."

"I think that'd work well for both of us," I told him.

"Lovebird is about the same. Hal's confidence is building

and he just jumps in and does what needs to be done. Meeting

with him once a month would be good for him too. At times, I

believe that he thinks we're neglecting him. Actually,

that's a compliment, but he doesn't see it that way."

"I guess things are getting pretty routine for him," I said,

"but I don't have any idea what's going on with Basic Metals

and the Copper mine. Of course, if John makes another find,

we'll be in the middle of it."

"I don't know much about the Copper either," Eric said. "I'm

confident that Hal's on top of things, but, you're right, we

both need to know what's going on."

"The Railroad is definitely running itself," I said, "and we

go to the quarterly Board meetings. That's enough for me.

By the way, are you spending a lot of time on the Bullet

Train?"

"Not yet. George has made contact with Washington and

they're interested, but the application process is just

getting started. If there's any lobbying to be done, I'd

prefer that George and his own people did it, I'm not very

good at kissing asses.

"At the moment, Development is split into two areas. Tina's

completely in charge of selling off the property we don't

want and is doing a helluva job. She's also working with

Annie and Dean on new development. That's Annie's bailiwick,

and things are happening. A monthly meeting with all three

of them might not be a bad idea either. That's about it."

"How about the Foundation?" I asked.

"George has a timetable. He plans to be 'Spreading the word'

soon after school starts next fall. I'm going to be spending

quite a little time with him in January, but I think he'll

take it from there."

"Don't forget, we're opening a restaurant in New York," I

told him. "Once they're up and going and get all the bugs

worked out, I don't think there'll be much to do, but in the

meantime, we may need do do a little hand-holding."

"That covers everything that I'm directly involved in," Eric

said. "What about Metalco?"

"Bill ran it single-handed for years. We've grown a lot, but

everything's falling into place there too. The hotels are a

routine matter now, and Jeff has grabbed the reins at

Milton. That'll change as Milton is integrated into Metalco,

with Jeff taking some of the load off of Bill. Actually, I

think Bill is grooming Jeff to be his successor. Unless

something drastic happens, I don't have to get involved at

all."

Eric started laughing. "You know, when you lay it out like

we just did, it looks like we only have to show up one day a

month!"

"In theory," I laughed. "Reality is usually a little

different. We can shoot for that, but I promise you it won't

turn out that way.

"One thing I would like to plan on is you and me going on our

REAL honeymoon this Spring, two or three weeks in Egypt, and

I think it'd be kind of nice to do it over our anniversary."

His eyes lit up. "Can I help you plan it?" he asked

enthusiastically.

"You betcha," I told him.

\- - - - -

Knowing that this would be their last night to play, the boys

weren't interested in checking out any bars after dinner. We

dropped them at the hotel, told them to be ready to go at

9:00 the next morning, then took off by ourselves. We went to

a piano bar that Eric had found in the "Guide".

It was dark and romantic with good music. "Let's not stay

too late," Eric said, his eyes twinkling. "All that sun

today made me horny as hell."

"Me too, tiger, better watch out!"

"You know," he said seriously, "I think my sex drive is

stronger now than it's ever been in my life. Aren't we

supposed to peak out at around 18?"

"That's what the books say," I told him, "but I don't believe

it. In fact, I think mine's speeded up the last couple of

years. I can't imagine why!" I chuckled as I ran my hand up

his thigh.

We sipped our drinks and watched the people. I could tell

that Eric was getting antsy, and ignored him as long as I

could. "Ready?" I asked.

"See for yourself," he giggled, putting my hand on his lap.

We changed into our loose suits and wandered toward the hot

tub, window shopping along the way. "Activity" around the

hot tub was even more frenzied than the night before.

Surprisingly, again, not a "cousin" was in sight.

The only vacant seat was a bench almost on top of the

action. We sat and watched the spectacle for a few minutes.

Eric stood and shucked his shorts, then got on his knees and

pulled mine off. When he moved in, he licked my dick from

bottom to top, sending shivers through me. Then, he

concentrated on the spot under the head, licking it gently

and occasionally taking a trip around my corona with his

tongue. How in hell was I supposed to pay attention to

anything else when he was doing THAT?

He had to hold my dick still because every time he made a

swipe with his tongue, it twitched. "Like that?" he asked,

looking up at me, grinning.

My moan was his answer. He changed his attack, just licking

the shaft, giving me enough relief to take a look around.

Lots of combinations, but the one that caught my eye was an

extremely handsome, dark haired guy on all fours right in

front of us. An older guy with an incredibly long cock was

behind him, deep dicking him slowly. The look of complete

rapture on the young guy's face was what caught my interest.

I watched him until Eric changed back to the licking routine,

bringing me up to the edge pretty fast. When he sensed my

closeness, he swallowed me whole and cranked up the blender.

I went flying.

Eric was pumping out precum in a steady stream, leaving a

trail all the way back to the room.

"Ready for round two?" he asked.

"I didn't think I would be," I told him, "but hell yes!"

\- - - - -

On the ride home, we didn't use the sofa, joining the guys

for conversation. They compared notes on their experiences,

which would've sounded unbelievable under any other

circumstances. In this case, I believed them.

"You all played safe, I assume," Eric asked.

"Sure did," Tim piped up. "Must've drunk a quart of cum, but

no bareback riding." The rest giggled and nodded.

"Isn't tonight New Year's Eve?" Alan asked.

"Sure is," Eric said. "We're having a little party

tonight." All ears perked up.

"It'll be a little different from the party you guys've been

on for the last two days," he continued, chuckling. "We're

having a few of our friends over, some're couples, some're

single. You'll be able to tell. This'll be just fun, not an

opportunity for you horny bastards to see how many holes you

can poke. Unfortunately, this is the real world."

"I'm kind of glad to be getting back to reality," Don, who

was sitting next to me, said. "It was an experience I'll

never forget, but I don't think I'd want to repeat it. I

also don't know how we can ever thank you guys for showing us

such a wonderful time."

"We had fun too," I told him.

\- - - - -

Spence was the first to arrive. After Eric introduced him,

he stood quietly and took a hard look at the six beautiful

boys. "I'll take that one, and that one, and that one..." he

said as he went down the line until he'd pointed to all six.

"Hey, I like this guy already," Dirk said, walking over to

put his arm around Spence's shoulder. "He knows what he

wants and goes right after it!"

After that, guys arrived in waves, most of them stopping to

give me a hug and kiss on the way in. Lifeguards were in

abundance, but I was really surprised to see Brian and Billy

come in.

"I've forgiven him," Eric whispered in my ear. "Besides,

he's kind of decorative."

The bars were busy and the DJ fired up the sound system on

the deck. The party was underway.

I chatted with a lot of the guys. Everyone was still raving

about our Christmas party. Nobody could believe that Al had

actually put on a concert for us and wanted to know how we'd

managed it.

Ron and Jason wanted to know what had happened in Palm

Springs. All I could tell them was what I'd heard, that the

boys had fucked their brains out for two days straight.

"Those guys are unbelievable," I said in awe. "I've never

seen anybody with that much energy, six of them, too, with

perpetually hard dicks!"

The night flew by. I didn't see too much of Eric. He was,

as usual, on the dance floor. He found me just before

midnight and pulled me aside. "At midnight, they're going to

play something slow and YOU ARE GOING TO DANCE WITH ME," he

announced.

"We've never danced together, and I want to hold you in my

arms," he continued.

"This oughta be good," I laughed. "Who's gonna lead?"

"You lead, I think I can follow," he grinned. "Let's go!"

We got to the deck just as "Auld lang syne" started. I took

him in my arms for a New Years kiss that almost took my

breath away. We broke and just stared into each others

eyes. "I love you," he said softly and gave me another kiss.

We started dancing. Amazingly, it worked! Nothing fancy,

mind you, but we were able to navigate around the deck pretty

well. "We should do this more often," I told him. "You feel

so wonderful in my arms." Eric squeeezed me tighter.

The song ended, followed by a much faster one. We walked off

the floor arm in arm. "We've gotta do that again tonight,"

he said. "That was utterly fantastic."

We stood, my arms around him in front of me and watched the

gyrations. Dan wandered up. "I thought you were kidding

me," he said.

"About what?" I asked.

"Six cousins..." he said shaking his head, "all gorgeous, all

gay."

"It runs in the family," Eric giggled.

"Gay or gorgeous?" I teased.

"Both!" Dan said emphatically.

Eric turned to give me a kiss then returned to the dancing.

"Have fun in Palm Springs?" Dan asked.

"We did, watching," I laughed. "The boys were at it hot and

heavy every minute we were there. I don't know how they do

it."

"Youth! It's disgusting!" he laughed.

"Find yourself a young one like I did, they'll get you

going," I advised him.

"I'm working on it," he laughed. "I don't think anybody'll

ever find another Eric, though. On top of being the best

looking man I've ever laid eyes on, he's the nicest and, by

far, the smartest."

While we were talking I noticed that Spence and Dirk were

dancing together. Watching them, it was more like they were

"together" in their own little world.

One of the lifeguards came up and drug Dan off to the dance

floor. I winked at him and wandered back into the house.

Eric and I got to dance again before the night was over. Not

just one song but three slow ones in a row. It didn't

register until we were getting into bed that this had been

the first time in my life that I'd ever danced with another

man.

\- - - - -

I awoke at my usual time and slipped out of bed without

waking Eric. In the kitchen with coffee and the morning

paper, I was surprised when Dirk came in. He sat down at the

table with me and Rene brought him a cup of coffee. I got

the impression that he wanted to talk about something.

After "good mornings" were out of the way, he asked what was

planned for the day.

"Nothing, as far as I know," I told him. "Everybody'll

probably watch the bowl games, other than that..."

"Would you mind if I took off for the day?"

"Hell no, got something planned?" I asked

"Yeah," he said, blushing bright red. "I was hoping to spend

the day with Spence."

"Fine with me," I told him and waited. He seemed like he had

more to say, and this bashful behavior was quite a bit

different from the self-assured cocksman that was the usual

Dirk.

"I really like him," he said tentatively.

"You're a fast worker," I chuckled.

"It's not like that at all," he said defensively. "I really

LIKE the guy, he's nice, sweet, and a lot more than just

another piece of meat."

"Spence is a very special young man," I agreed.

"He asked me to spend the day with him and I jumped at the

chance," Dirk continued. "Hoped you wouldn't mind 'cause I

really want to get to know him better."

"Go for it," I told him. "Bring him home for dinner tonight

if you want, Spence's almost a member of the family anyway."

I heard the doorbell ring and Jacques ushered Spence in. He

was literally bouncing, a big grin on his face. "Hiya

gorgeous," he said to Dirk then jumped on my lap and gave me

a kiss on the cheek.

"Will I need a jacket?" Dirk asked.

"Good idea," Spence said. Dirk left to get one.

"I think I'm in love," Spence told me. "Dirk is so neat!"

"Take it slow," I cautioned him.

"Oh, we will," he promised.

They were gone and I went back to the paper.

\- - - - -

As expected, the troops spent the day in front of the

big-screen TV in the family room. Dirk was missed, and

everyone wanted to know where he was. "He had a date," I

told them. No details.

Eric wanted details. "He's spending the day with Spence," I

told him.

"If he takes advantage of Spence..."

"If anybody has to watch out, I think it's Dirk. Spence

looked like the one who wanted to get into somebody's pants,"

I laughed. "I really don't think there's anything to worry

about, I believe the 'L' word describes the situation."

Eric brightened. "They might be good for each other."

"Do you remember what we were doing a year ago today?" I

asked, changing the subject.

Eric thought a minute, smiled then frowned. "We were in New

York," he said. "That's when we ran into that fucker with

the 'eyes', wasn't it? Alan Sloan?"

"That guy still gives me the creeps. I wonder who the hell

he really is."

"We'll probably never know," he said. "What are the chances

of ever running into him again?"

\- - - - -

Before they left the next morning, each of the cousins

thanked us for the wonderful time they'd had. Dirk wanted to

know all about Spence, but I told him that whatever Spence

wanted him to know, he'd tell him himself, just to rest

assured that Spence was a fine upstanding citizen and not to

worry.

Eric and I were able to enjoy the quiet - until the kids all

got home. The holidays were officially over and I think we

all were happy about that. Except for Hans, who was leaving

the next evening, we were faced with a work day. I suggested

that Annie take the day off, but she wanted Hans to spend the

day with her and see what she "did".

\- - - - -

Getting back into the routine after more than 2 weeks off

required an effort on everyone's part. I had a hard time,

myself. Bill, mug of coffee in hand, wandered in. It was

more of a social than business chat, discussing our

activities over the holidays.

"We closed the books before Christmas," he told me. "Should

have the statements in a day or two."

"How do they look?" I asked, knowing he'd peeked at

preliminary printouts.

"No surprises. We closed Hydra too, they'll all be ready."

I told him about the idea Eric and I had about monthly

meetings, and asked his opinion of the idea.

"I think it'd be a damned good idea. Not only would you stay

up-to-date, but it'd force a little much-needed discipline on

all the rest of us. If we had to report on EVERYTHING once a

month, we wouldn't be able to let things slide. When do you

want to start?"

"How about the end of this month?" I suggested. "No long

presentations, just an informal get-together to go over

what's going on."

"What brought this on, if I might ask?"

"First of all, we want more freedom to travel, and since

we've got so many things going, we're both losing track of

what's going on."

"So I hear," he laughed. "What's this about a restaurant in

New York?"

"That's something Eric and I are doing on our own, no company

connection. Chef Maurice quit the hotel chain he was working

for, so we're setting him up," I explained.

"Sounds like fun!"

"I hope so. I hope it doesn't turn into a headache."

"One thing I want you to understand," I continued. "These

monthly meetings don't mean that I don't want us to continue

the get-togethers every few days like we've been doing for

years."

"Oh, I understand that," Bill said smiling.

Eric had talked to everyone else, and they unanimously

approved of the idea of monthly meetings. All four members

of the "family" would sit in on every one, requiring 3 or 4

days a month, but Annie pointed out that that would actually

be less time than we were currently spending.

\- - - - -

Rich and Tina would be getting married in a few months, and I

began thinking about a wedding present for them. I told Eric

about my ideas, he fully agreed and had an addition of his

own. We decided to tell them now so everybody could go to

work on it.

When the four of us got together, I asked Rick and Tina what

plans they'd made about "Living Arrangements" after their

wedding.

"We haven't gotten that far," Rick admitted.

"I want to talk about my wedding present to you guys," I said.

"I want to buy your first home for you."

"We couldn't accept that!" Rick said, asserting his pride.

Tina didn't say a word.

Eric jumped in. "Let me tell you a little about this 'pride

and independence thing'," he lectured. "I've been through

that whole thing with Dave." Then he told him the whole

story about his own independence and fear of "control", how

he'd dealt with it and how he felt now.

Rick was NOT convinced.

"Here is what I'd like to do," I told them. "You could

either pick out an existing home somewhere, or you could

design it yourself and build it. You are, afterall, an

Architect! Get your heads together and design your dream

home, and we'll build it."

"I don't know..." Rick said.

"You don't have to decide right now," I told him. "Just

think about it. You could make an old man very happy."

"Old man? Yeah, right!" Rick said then busted out laughing.

"OK, we'll think it over."

"I have a present for you too," Eric said, "but I'll wait

until you reach a decision on the house before I tell you

about it."

\- - - - -

Eric was focused on the Foundation. George had quietly

assembled his staff and, according to Eric, had a good handle

on the money they were managing.

They were now concentrating on developing the "Information"

program that would be presented at schools. Ingrid, Eric's

Mother, was helping them assemble a panel of experts in the

field who would develop content. Nationally known Doctors

and AIDS experts were eagerly joining the effort.

The idea was to present true facts on disease transmission

and prevention in a way that was effective, but at the same

time, acceptable to School Officials and the communities

themselves. This was a real tightrope walk. The subject

itself was controversial, with many communities refusing to

recognize that AIDS existed, and many Religious Groups

fighting against anything that even resembled "sex education".

Eric felt this could best be accomplished if presented in an

entertaining and even humorous way. This is where Al could

help, bringing entertainment Pros on board to script the

presentation.

George and Eric identified the areas of responsibility, then

went to work finding people to take care of them.

Every night Eric would tell me about the day's progress. His

goal was to have all the different facets of the Education

Campaign underway by the end of January. The way he and

George were moving ahead gave him confidence that he'd get

the job done.

I truly believed that Eric had taken the art of delegation to

a new level. He had the uncanny ability to pick the right

person for the job, gave that person detailed instructions on

what he expected, then turned him loose to get the job done.

\- - - - -

Eric sat in when Bill and Jeff brought in the 4th quarter

statements for Metalco. They were highly detailed with

individual statements prepared by product and by production

facility.

Our Balance Sheet was stronger than ever. The payments Hydra

had made had allowed Metalco to pay off their borrowings to

finance us, and the cash kitty was growing.

After they left, Eric and I studied the Hydra and Lundborg

Rush statements. We'd get the Railroad statements at the

next Board meeting in a couple of weeks.

Hydra Development, as expected, was still a drain, but that

was more than offset by Lovebird and Properties, both of

which were doing phenominally well.

Lundborg Rush was performing at 150% of our most optomistic

projections and was capable of financing most of the upcoming

expansion internally, and certainly had a strong enough

financial statement to borrow whatever they needed.

\- - - - -

Eric invited me to attend the "symposium" of all the AIDS

experts. The objective was to find a way to get our

"prevention" message across in a way that would be palatable

to everyone. Ingrid, Eric's mother, chaired the meeting.

Eric explained the method he intended to use to "get the

message out", personal appearances by real Lifeguards making

a carefully scripted presentation - plus handouts and other

follow-ups.

Ingrid, not one to pussyfoot around, summed it up. "We need

to remind these kids that if they're going to engage in sex,

they have to do it safely. We all know that the gay kids are

most at risk, but we can't focus on that. Also, scaring the

hell out of them isn't going to work, either."

>From there, it became a round-table discussion. Ideas

started flying around. A former Surgeon General had, in my

opinion, some excellent ideas. "Working for the Government,"

he said, "everything I did had to be evaluated for political

implications, which literally killed half the good ideas we

had. This effort is free from those constraints. Looking at

the whole country, we have extremely liberal areas, extremely

conservative communities, and some that are everywhere in

between. It might be a good idea to tailor our presentation

to community attitude, one for the liberal, one for the

conservatives and maybe one somewhere in the middle."

I sat through two hours of this brainstorming, strictly as a

spectator, having nothing to add. After that, I begged off.

Eric and Ingrid's enthusiasm would keep the ball rolling.

They spent two solid days working, but reached a consensus on

how and what should be presented.

Responsibility, Love and Caring, and Safety were the points

to be stressed. There were also lots of suggestions on how

to present these points in an interesting, sometimes humorous

way.

Eric summarized their conclusions and was ready to talk to Al.

For several days, the two of them conferred by phone, then

Eric announced that WE were going to Hollywood, more

specifically, Beverly Hills, to confer with composers, script

writers and choreographers. It took a lot of talking, but I

finally weaseled my way out of going with him.

He decided to drive, so he'd have "wheels" when he got

there. When he said that he was going to take his Rolls, I

teased him about "Going Hollywood". "Gotta fit in," was his

laughing reply.

He was gone for three long days. I missed him every minute

even though we talked several times a day. When he walked

in, he was trying, unsuccessfully, to hide his excitement.

I didn't care, all I wanted was my arms around him and my

lips on his.

"I've just been to fantasyland," he said when we broke for

air, "and I don't mean the one at Disneyland either!"

"Well, tell me all about it," I said when we were snuggled on

the couch.

"I can't believe all the doors that Al opened for me. Hell,

on my own, I'd never have stood a chance of even meeting

those guys, and now, they're all going to be working on the

project!

"I didn't even think about music, but Al insisted that we

have original music for the presentations, and set me up with

Tony. Tony's a composer who ONLY has two Oscars for original

movie soundtracks! He's going to do a 'Theme' for the

beginning and ending of our presentations and if any more

music would be appropriate, he'll do that too! And guess

what? He's doing it for minimum scale, not the millions he'd

normally get!"

He stopped long enough to take a sip of the drink Jacques had

set in front of him.

"Then there's Sidney," he continued. "He's the screenwriter

with a whole mantle full of Oscars. He's wants to take the

stuff from Mom's group and turn it into a 'performance'

that'll really have an impact. He wants to do other things

too, but I'll tell you about that later."

"Alexei is the choreographer. The performances aren't going

to be 'Musicals' but he's going to plan all the movements of

the Lifeguards while they're making the presentation. That's

about it."

"Looks like you accomplished a LOT in a couple of days," I

told him, holding him a little tighter.

"That was business, here's the fun part," he began. "Every

one of them thought I should 'be in pictures'," he chuckled.

"Sidney was downright insistent! He's working on a

blockbuster and thinks I should have the male lead, even

offered to take me right over to the Studio for a screen

test. He begged and cajoled, telling me how much money I

could make, how I'd become famous, and could have anybody I

wanted.

"The only way I could get him to talk about the 'Project' was

to sit him down and explain the situation. I told him that I

already had all the money I would ever need, in fact, that I

could probably buy the whole goddam studio myself if I wanted

to. Then I told him that we spent a great deal of money

protecting our privacy and preventing our becoming famous.

Last, I told him that I was already 'married' and wasn't

interested in anybody else. He finally got the picture, but

didn't give up."

"All this without a romp on the casting couch?" I teased.

"Oh that was offered too, even a choice of Hollywood Starlets

or studs, whichever was my preference. Tempting, but I was a

good boy," he giggled.

"Are you tempted?" I asked, seriously.

"At what?" he asked.

"Becoming a movie star," I said. "You could do it, you know."

"Never in a million years," he said seriously, then grinned.

"I have to admit that when I was a teenager, the thought

crossed my mind," he giggled. "All the glamor, the money,

all that, but there's no way I'd trade what I have now for

that bullshit."

"I don't want you to ever feel unfulfilled," I told him.

"Being with you, particularly during those 'special moments'

is fulfillment enough for me," he leered.

"Did you have time for any fun?" I asked.

"Al and Rick took me out 'clubbing' both nights. Not gay

clubs, but the ones that are the current rage with the

Hollywood crowd. Fun, but too much 'drugging' for me."

"Ready for a little 'fulfillment'?" I asked when we got to

bed.

"Thought you'd never ask. It's been real lonely the past

couple of nights," he whined, humping my leg and taking me in

his hand. "Can I just play with you for a while?"

"If I can play with you too."

The covers were swept off and we got into a side-by-side 69

position, dicks in front of faces but far enough away so that

they could be handled comfortably.

With feather-light touches I explored the magnificent dick in

front of me. Eric copied my movements, sending chills of

pleasure throughout my body. Exploring him, tracing from the

tip to the base with my fingers was an unbelievably sensual

experience - for me! I marveled at the softness of his skin

and the hardness underneath, throbbing with life. It was so

beautiful.

We didn't often have this close-up opportunity to appreciate

each other, and I took full advantage. Just touching and

feeling him was turning me on bigtime.

When he started dribbling precum, he raised up. "Better back

off a little," he suggested. "I'm real close."

While we were resting and talking, I suggested that we do

that again, but with lube. He readily agreed and reached for

lube and cum towels.

Before putting on the lube, I couldn't resist licking off his

precum. It was too delicious to waste.

We didn't stroke with closed hands, only using our fingertips

until we were both close again. After a breather, I asked

him to turn onto his back so I could get "serious". He was

ready!

With both fists, I stroked him lightly, bringing him to the

edge repeatedly, then over. He stiffened and convulsed

several times before he started shooting. What a deluge! It

seemed like he never would stop shooting but finally subsided

and was followed by a series of aftershocks. We held in a

tight embrace until he was breathing again normally.

Then, he repeated the whole process on me.

\- - - - -

We made a quick trip to San Francisco for the Railroad Board

Meeting. It was short and to the point. Financial

performance during the past quarter was quickly dealt with;

Advertising on our boxcars was still under investigation;

Progress on the bullet train was good, but it would take a

long time before we could start building; then, George threw

in a surprise.

"I want to thank Eric for the most generous offer he's made

to us," he said. "I doubt that many of you know that he

found the old dilapidated 'Presidential Car' in one of our

yards. He is personally paying to have it completely

restored, and once that's complete, has offered to let us

display it at our terminals around the country so that

everyone can get a look at that bygone era. The interest

that will be generated will most definitely reflect favorably

on the Catalina, Long Beach and Pacific Railroad. Thank you,

Eric."

"Don't forget," Eric laughed, "after that, you're going to

pull that car, with us in it, all over the system - Free!"

\- - - - -

Our first "Monthly Meeting" was with Warren of Lundborg

Rush. The first item on the agenda was the Music CD and DVD

contract. Since this was the first time that either Annie or

Tina had gotten involved with LR, they had a lot of probing

questions.

A ten year contract had been signed, one that was very

favorable to us, initially covering production for the

domestic market. It allowed us to "grow into" the volume

that they required, and gave us the option of also taking

over production for their other markets around the world.

According to Warren, they wanted us as badly as we wanted

them. In just over a year, we had built the reputation of

being the premiere producer of digital products in the U.S.

if not the world.

A site had been found for the new facility. Rick, Tina's

fiance, was doing all the design work, and a huge order for

additional equipment had been placed with Koenigsburg GmBh.,

Hans' Company in Germany.

Hell, this was fast becoming a "family" affair.

\- - - - -

The meeting on Hydra Properties lasted less than an hour.

Tina reported that sales volume was ahead of schedule and

that property sold, so far, had averaged 96.7% of appraisal,

while our goal had been only 75%.

We moved right on to Development. Dean reported that the

engineering work on the Silicon Valley Project was nearing

completion, and that we would be making permit applications

to the Cities and Counties involved within a few months.

He expected quick approval. There was a housing crunch in

the area, and housing, at all price levels, was desperately

needed.

\- - - - -

Lovebird was next. The gold mine was pumping out ore on a

regular basis, and transport of concentrate was continuing

without major incident.

Basic Metals' Copper refinery was under construction, and the

task of removing overburden was underway. Actual mining

operations were expected to get started before the end of the

year.

John Bussey had moved his exploration team to Southern

Arizona, and would be moving again to Colorado in May when

the snow melted.

\- - - - -

The following day was Metalco. Bill had asked that we set

aside a whole day because he had a lot to talk about.

Rush Properties was first on the agenda. He introduced

Sheila Coombes who had taken over from Annie when Annie had

moved to Hydra.

Sheila was an all business, serious, no-nonsense, type of

person, bordering on officious. She was new, and I hadn't

met her before.

Annie asked her a couple of questions which she obviously

didn't have the answers for. She hemmed and hawed, then

changed the subject. Annie looked at me with arched eyebrows.

I felt that she was "talking down" to all of us, and when I

asked her a question and she told me that "You don't need to

know about that," I fired her on the spot.

"Ms. Coombes," I told her. "I don't believe your services

will be required around here any longer."

"Why not?" she snapped.

"Two reasons," I told her. "You've been around here long

enough that you should be able to answer our questions, and

second, I don't like your attitude."

"I do things MY way," she said, leaving no room for

discussion.

"Not around here. If you're not a team player, we don't want

you."

"You're an arrogant son-of-a-bitch!" she said.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," I said, hoping she'd go

quietly. That wasn't to be, and she wanted a pissing contest.

"I'm not leaving without a fight," she announced, plopping

down in a chair facing me. "You have to give me notice, and

I'm going to sue you for everything you've got. This is out

and out discrimination. I'm a woman, something you queer

bastards can't handle, not to mention the fact that I'm

black. I'll get you for this!"

Annie took over from there. "That type of language will not

be tolerated," Annie told her, breathing fire. "Security is

on the way to escort you back to your office to pick up your

personal things, then out of the building."

"What if I refuse to leave?" she taunted.

"You'll be arrested," Annie told her.

Bob showed up with a couple of big, burly uniformed guards.

"This lady will be taken to her office to collect her

personal things," Annie told him. "Please see that it's only

personal things that she takes. She no longer works for Rush

Properties."

Bob nodded and motioned to his men to remove her. When they

put their hands on her shoulders, she started screaming.

They didn't waste any time, lifting her up and gently pushing

her toward the door.

Realizing she was outnumbered, she settled down and let them

lead her out.

Bill sat there shaking his head. "I wonder what brought that

on?"

"Forget it," I said. "She's gone, case closed."

"I do have a lot to talk to you guys about," Bill said. "We

may have some serious problems."

Chapter 56

"In a word, PLASTIC," Bill said.

"What're you talking about?" I asked.

"Give me a minute to explain," he said. "Over the holidays,

I got to thinking about all the stuff we buy - parts,

components and so on, that go into our products.

"We produce everything that's made out of metal ourselves,

either own or control the production of most everything else

we use a lot of, except plastic. That's something we have

absolutely NO control over, and it's now the largest item,

other than steel, that we buy.

"Every product that we sell has plastic components, and we're

at the complete mercy of the nine suppliers that we use."

"Is there any reason to believe that they won't continue to

supply us?" I asked.

"Quite frankly, yes," he said. "The first thing to come up

was when a couple of our smaller suppliers refused to accept

additional business. They said that they were uncomfortable

with Metalco taking such a high percentage of their total

output, and wouldn't accept any more from us until they

expanded. They want to 'diversify' their customer base to

reduce their dependence on us. Now, it's prices."

"What's happening there?" I asked.

"Over the past six months, prices have increased an average

of 10% on all the components we buy, and we've just gotten

word that there's another 5% increase coming up real soon."

"If they're all doing it, isn't that collusion?" Eric asked.

"Sure, but we'd never be able to prove it," Bill said. "They

all blame it on higher oil prices since just about all of

their raw materials are petrochemicals."

"Can't we go to other suppliers?" Annie asked.

"Sure," Bill said. "We own all the molds, but that wouldn't

solve the problem, only shift our dependence to another

company that may not be as reliable as the ones we already

have."

"What are you suggesting?" I asked him.

"The only way we can be absolutely safe is to control

production ourselves, and I think we'd better give that some

thought before we find ourselves in a corner."

"Do you think we could buy any of our suppliers?" I asked,

winking at Eric.

"Maybe," he said. "Them or others. Or... we could start

from scratch and build our own, more modern and efficient

plant. The only problem there is nailing down a supply of

raw materials. There's a shortage now, and if the Arabs keep

cutting production, it's going to get worse."

"Let's explore all of our options," I suggested, "both buying

and building." The germ of an idea was forming. "Can you

get me a list of the raw materials we'd need if we built, and

an idea of the quantities we'd need if we did it all

ourselves?"

"Our Chemists provide all the specifications to our suppliers,

so I can get that for you in a couple of hours," Bill said.

We all agreed that a concentrated effort needed to be made to

learn a whole lot more about the Plastics business, and

assignments were split up between Bill and Jeff. We'd meet

again in a week.

\- - - - -

"I know you've got something up your sleeve," Eric grinned.

"Give."

"It's only logic," I told him. "Petrochemicals - Oil - Big

George!"

"I see," he laughed. "When're we going to Texas?"

"Tomorrow, if we can get in to see Big George," I told him

and grabbed the phone.

Big George was beaming as he led us into his office. "What

kind of trouble are you boys stirrin' up today?" he laughed.

"We're trying to stay OUT of trouble, for a change," I told

him.

"What's goin' on, men?" he asked when we were seated around

his desk.

"We're looking for some petrochemicals, and where else would

we go? We're thinking of going into the plastics business."

"Now why would you want to do that?" he asked.

"We use a lot of injection-molded components in all our

products, and we don't like being dependent on others.

Particularly when they're playing games with us. I've got a

list here of what we're going to need," I told him.

"I already have a pretty good idea," he said, and literally

read us the list.

"They're all refinery by-products," he said. "Used to be we

couldn't give 'em away, now everybody wants 'em. How much

volume we talkin?"

I read off the estimates Bill had given me.

"You all're talkin some major money here," he observed.

"I honestly have no idea," I admitted. "I do know that we're

spending around $4 billion a year for components."

"How long do you figger it'll take to get set up?" he asked.

"We're working on that right now. I'd guess it's going to

take a year, at least."

"How're you going to keep it quiet that long? The minute you

start ordering equipment, the whole world's gonna know."

"Maybe not," Eric added. "Most of the equipment's made by

Koenigsburg in Germany, and Hans Koenigsburg might soon

become Dave's son-in law."

"You sly devil," he said to me. "Got all the bases covered!

Which one, Annie or Tina?"

"Annie," I told him, "and it certainly wasn't planned. Just

turned out that way."

"Just a minute," he said and grabbed his phone. He talked

and we both tried to act like we couldn't hear what he was

saying.

"Looks like I might could help y'all, but we may have a time

problem. One of my refineries in Louisiana has contracts for

that stuff coming up for renewal in about seven months. The

question is... what do we do with the stuff between then and

the time you're ready for it? That's something we're going

to have to work on."

"Would you be able to supply everything we need?" I asked.

"Purdy much, and I'm sure I could hit up a few of my buddies

for the rest," he said. "Something you may not know," he

added, "is that the stuff we sell you has to be processed

before you can use it. I've been thinking of setting up to

do that myself, and this'd be as good a time as any.

"How long a contract do you want?" he continued.

"As long as you'll give us," I said. "How about 20 years

with all the usual adjustments and a rollover option?"

"Sounds damned good to me," he said, "assuming your credit's

any good," then burst out laughing.

Big George took us to the "Top of the World" club for lunch.

It was evidently the hangout of Dallas's Oil Barons. As we

walked through the room, Big George stopped at just about

every table, joking with his buddies and introducing us. We

already knew quite a few from Claire's hoedowns.

At our booth, Big George ordered us all "Bourbon and Branch",

and business talk resumed. "One thing you don't have to

worry about is whether or not them Arabs cut production. All

the feedstock for that refinery comes from mah own wells off

the coast. Figger I got 'bout 300 years' worth," he laughed.

"Where you boys gonna set up?"

"We don't know yet," I told him. "This whole thing only came

up yesterday!"

"Damn! you boys don't fart around! I like that!"

"Now, we're really going to have to go to work," Eric said,

"this is just the beginning."

"Take a look at Louisiana," he suggested. "They're mighty

friendly and, come to think of it, I've got a couple hundred

acres fairly close to the refinery that I'd sell ya real

cheap. We could pipe that resin directly to you and save a

few bucks in transportation."

"We'll definitely look at it," I told him.

When our drinks came, George hoisted his glass "Here's to a

$30 billion deal between friends," he toasted. "When we

takin' that cruise?"

\- - - - -

Annie was home when we rolled in, so I talked to her about

what we'd learned that day. I also told her that Hans'

Company made the molding machines that we'd be needing, and

that I'd like to talk to him about deliveries. She gave me

all of his numbers and the best time to call, which was early

morning.

The following morning we all got together again. Bill and

Jeff didn't have much to report except that our current

suppliers' price increases were totally out of proportion to

the price of oil. They also had ruled out four of them as

possible buyout candidates because they were divisions of

mammoth chemical companies and we were not their largest

customers.

"I'm not so sure we'd be interested in the other five," Jeff

said. "Their plants are old, inefficient, and would require

major refurbishing to meet our standards."

"Then maybe we should take a hard look at starting from

scratch," I said.

"But, can we get raw materials?" Bill wanted to know.

"I think so," I told him and winked at Eric. "We can lock in

a 20-year supply right now, but there's a time limitation.

We have to be ready to start taking deliveries in a year or

less. That means we've either gotta work fast or build some

huge storage facilities.

"I also talked to Koenigsburg this morning. I didn't have

much to go on, but they can start deliveries in six months if

we tell them what we want within a few weeks."

"Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves here?" Bill asked. "We

don't have any idea what we're going to need or where we're

going to put it."

"Can't we work backward?" Eric suggested. "We know the

products we're going to need to produce, so we get the

equipment we'll need to accomplish that."

"I'm real sorry to say this, but we're NOT going to build in

California," I said, getting very surprised looks from

everyone. "It seems to me that the climate here is becoming

more and more unfriendly to business. This energy mess is

the last straw."

"Where do you suggest we go?" Jeff asked.

"Regardless of where we go, we're going to have to move

product around the country," I said, "and I believe it'd be

more efficient and economical to build one large plant rather

than several smaller regional ones. We're offering clean

industry and a lot of jobs, so I'm sure there are a lot of

places that'd welcome us and not tax the hell out of us like

California does."

"Then, I take it that you've decided to go ahead?" Bill asked.

"Isn't it inevitable?" I asked. "Our goal over the years has

been to be fully integrated. Our needs have changed and now

we NEED to have control of this component that goes into

everything we make. We have the best production people

around, and I believe that we'll be able to produce this

stuff for less than we've been paying for it. Our suppliers

have been making money or they wouldn't still be around, and

I'm sure we can do as well or better."

"That brings up the question of what do we do with our

current suppliers," Bill said.

"I've been thinking about that," I told him. "We can try to

keep what we're doing quiet, then rip the rug out from under

them when we're ready, or... we can level with them now and

give them a chance to find other customers and make an orderly

transition. I like the second idea, but we'd better have all

our 'ducks in a row' before we say anything."

"And we have no idea whatsoever what all this is going to

cost," Bill said, chuckling and shaking his head.

"Nope," I told him, "maybe we ought to get to work on that

too."

"If we get everybody working on it, we should be able to come

up with some ballpark figures in a week or two," Bill said.

"We can get some others working on a site, and others working

on the facilities that we'll need."

"I realize that we're 'flying blind' at the moment," I said,

"but I'm confident we can pull this all together in a short

time."

\- - - - -

"We may have another timing problem," I told Eric.

"What's that, babe?"

"The kids," I said. "Tina and Rick are getting married in

May. Annie is going to Germany in February, and just might

announce her engagement to Hans."

"What's the problem?"

"I don't want anybody or anything to steal the spotlight from

Tina and Rick. If Annie and Hans get engaged, it's going to

be a major event because of WHO they are, and I don't want

that to interfere with Tina and Rick. Their wedding will be a

major event too, but I don't want it overshadowed."

"Have you talked to Annie?"

"Not yet, I wanted to get your slant first, partner," I said,

grinning.

"I don't think Annie'd have any problem with waiting until

after the wedding," he said. "Her engagement may not happen

that fast anyway, but I'd let her know how you feel."

"I'll do that."

"By the way, I've been talking to Rick, giving him some

insight on how you 'operate'," he said. "I think he's

beginning to understand that you're not a manipulator, just a

nice, generous guy."

"I just want to give them a head-start. Tina could do it

herself, but I think Rick would resent that even more."

"It'll take him a while, just like it did me," he said.

I talked with Annie about my concerns. She understood and

agreed. If Hans did propose, they'd wait until June to

announce it formally.

I also had a long talk with Tina. Wedding plans were well

underway. It would be a church wedding then a reception on

the back forty.

"I'm really sorry Mom can't be involved," she said, "but I

just don't trust her. It's a damned shame, but this is going

to be MY day, and I'm not taking any chances."

"What have you told her?" I asked.

"That I'm engaged, but not when the wedding is going to be."

"She'll have to be here," I warned. "Have you thought about

talking with her, explaining the situation?"

"I'd have to tell her that I'm making all the arrangements

myself," she said. "If she found out that Sarah's helping

me, she'd go ballistic!"

"Handle it however you feel best," I told her. "It's your

decision, and whatever you decide, I'm behind you."

"She's not going to make it easy - for any of us."

"How's Rick coming along about the house?" I asked.

"Better than you think," she giggled. "He's working on the

plans and we've found a lot that we love."

"Somebody better nail down the lot," I suggested.

"I have," she giggled, "quietly."

\- - - - -

I was in regular contact with Big George. He was working

feverishly too, planning the processing plant that he wanted

to build. In one conversation he announced "I've got good

news for you and bad news for me.

"It's going to take me at least a year and a half to get my

plant on stream, so that'll give you a little breathing

room," he continued. "Now, all I have to do is figure out

what to do with the raw resins in the meantime."

"Would your present customers take them?"

"Don't know yet. I'm not even going to mention it until you

and I have a firm deal."

"Our guys are working around the clock," I assured him. "We

should be able to give you a hard answer in another week."

They were. Bill and Jeff had set up teams, one was working

on equipment, another on facilities, another on a site, and

another preparing production and profitability analyses.

They gave Eric and me daily progress reports. They were

still working on the 12-month timeframe. The only one I'd

told about Big George's problem was Eric. We'd need the

extra time in any event. A project like this never went off

according to plan.

A list of required equipment was the first to be completed.

Even though our engineers had opted for the most automated

equipment available, the total cost was less than I

expected.

The site group had it narrowed down to Louisiana and

Mississippi. The transportation savings were making their

decision lean toward Louisiana.

Finally, we had it all together. Our total outlay would be

less than $1 billion, with a five-year payout.

The decision was made to go ahead. All this had taken just

about three weeks. When I told everyone that we actually had

a year and a half to be up and running, there was a major

sigh of relief, but I reminded them that the pressure WASN'T

off!

I called Big George. "Get the papers ready," I told him.

"As far as we're concerned, it's a deal."

He was delighted, and we agreed to keep it quiet until he had

a chance to talk to his old customers and we talked to our

suppliers. We were to meet in Dallas in two weeks, and he

invited us to spend the weekend.

\- - - - -

Bill volunteered to talk to our current plastic suppliers.

They were scattered around the country, and he was taking our

Manager of Purchasing with him as well as the buyers who

dealt with them. I was damned glad it was him instead of me

making the trip.

They made a whirlwind trip and came back with fairly good

news. Our suppliers appreciated that they were being given

18 months' notice, but all wanted price increases. Bill

agreed to that, but refused to agree to some of their demands

to "shut us off", without notice, whenever they were able to

find other customers. They had already accepted orders from

us covering the next twelve months, and he demanded that

those be filled. To avoid lawsuits, they capitulated.

Others were more cooperative, even agreeing to accept larger

orders during the last six months and beyond that if needed.

Overall, Bill and I felt that we wouldn't be too badly

crippled during the changeover, but this increased the

pressure on both Big George and us to move full speed ahead.

\- - - - -

We left Friday morning for Dallas. On Sunday, we'd continue

on to New York to check on the Restaurant's progress.

Up until now, we'd dealt strictly with Big George himself.

This time, a whole herd of his executives were present. We

were introduced around, and then they made a big deal out of

the actual signing of the contracts.

The last item to be signed was a Press Release. I handed

Eric a copy then read it over carefully myself. It was brief

and to the point. Metalco had agreed to purchase $30 billion

worth of petrochemicals from Matheison Petroleum. Let the

newspapers take it from there.

Big George had his own release to accompany that one which

outlined his construction of a chemical plant in Louisiana,

and we added ours which told of our plans.

An Email would go out to all Metalco and Hydra employees that

afternoon, giving them the news before they read it in the

papers.

Once everything was signed and the pictures taken, we went

back to Big George's office. "I'm just a nosy old bastard,

and tell me if this is none of my business, but how come Eric

wasn't a signer on those contracts?" he asked.

"That's easy," Eric said with a grin. "Metalco belongs to

Dave. Lundborg Rush and Hydra, which includes Lovebird, the

Railroad and the Development Company, is 'community

property'."

This brought a roar of laughter from Big George. "I like the

way you put that! What's Lundborg Rush? Never heard of it."

"It's a company we set up a year or so ago," Eric explained.

"Hi-Tech. We produce software for Micron and quite a few

others."

"Knowin' you guys, it'll be the biggest in the business in a

year or two," he said.

"That's our intention," Eric told him.

"I've been doin' some thinking about this Louisiana thing,"

Big George continued, "we may have a lot of synergy if we

work together. Here's just one idea: My refinery produces a

little Natural Gas. What we don't use ourselves isn't enough

to make it feasable to pipe to a market, so we flare it off.

But you boys, bein' just down the road, might be able to use

it to produce your own electricity."

"Would it be enough to power our whole plant?" I asked.

"Maybe not all of it, but I'd guess most of it," he said.

"Definitely worth looking into because I'd sell it to you

real cheap. It'd be 'Found money' for me."

"We'll definitely look into it," I assured him.

\- - - - -

Although Big George and Claire had invited us to stay with

them, we decided to stay at one of our hotels. We liked our

privacy. We were, however, going to their house for dinner

that evening.

It was like another "homecoming". The rest of the "Texas

Widows" and their husbands were all there, but it certainly

wasn't a hoedown. Very formal. Cocktails in an enormous

salon, dinner in a chandeliered dining room, then all the

Gentlemen went to Big George's study for Brandy and cigars.

Business had not been discussed until we got to the study,

then all the Texas guys wanted to know if the rumors they'd

heard were true, that Big George and I had a big deal cooking.

"No big secret anymore," he told them, "be in tomorrow's

paper. Old Dave here just bought $30 billion worth of my oil."

The details were discussed. Big George seemed to be pleased

as punch over the whole transaction, telling them how easy we

were to deal with, and how he was himself spending a lot of

money to build a conversion plant, and that our plastics plant

would be just "down the road" and his resins would be pumped

or conveyed directly to us.

All of these guys were in the Oil business in one way or

another, and several told us that if Big George couldn't meet

our needs, they'd be happy to do so. That was nice to hear.

Now we had backup.

When we rejoined the ladies, all they had on their minds was

another cruise. They didn't care where or when, just that we

went on another one.

"You wanna go?" Eric asked me quietly.

"It's up to you," I told him. "It might be fun, but not

before September."

Several destinations were discussed, but there was no

consensus, so Eric suggested that he put our Travel Agent Dan

to work which was agreeable to everyone. All the husbands

made it real clear that they wanted to go too. I wasn't so

sure about that.

\- - - - -

I must have misunderstood Big George. I thought we were

invited "for the weekend", but when we learned that nothing

was planned for Saturday, that obviously wasn't the case, so

we packed up and headed for New York.

En route, Eric called Maurice to let him know that we'd be in

early and asked if he wanted to get together that evening.

They'd be waiting at the Penthouse when we arrived.

We weren't even allowed to sit down. Maurice and Philippe

had us in a taxi and headed for the restaurant before we had

a chance. Mark and Brucie would meet us there.

The building looked the same from the outside. The only

change was a covered walkway from the building to the curb

with "MAURICE" stenciled on it. When we walked up the steps,

it was a different story. The room didn't look anything like

the last time we'd seen it.

I walked inside and looked around. The place had been

transformed. The peeling paint was gone, the wonderful

woodwork on the columns, walls and ceiling had been stripped

and repainted a soft off-white. The floor was covered with a

patterned carpet in various shades of dark red and marroon.

It was dusk and all the lights were on. Sparkling crystal

chandeliers hung from the ceiling and gold-finished sconces

shot light upward on the walls and accented the fluted

columns. The paned windows out to the street sparkled. The

overall effect was starkly elegant but still warm and

inviting.

The room seemed a little smaller than before, then I saw that

the back wall had been brought out several feet. Only half

of the room was furnished with tables and chairs. Tables

were mostly round, a few square, functional, and the chairs

were dark wood upholstered in a cream fabric.

While I was gaping, Eric was standing with Brucie and Mark

who were both excitedly talking at the same time. I joined

them and gave Brucie a hug and congratulations on a job

beautifully done. He almost purred, and wanted to know if I

REALLY liked it.

Maurice had me by the arm. "Come," he said. "You have to

see the kitchen of my dreams!" He led me back and through

the doors. Eric and the others followed. All I could see was

the shine of stainless steel. There were the biggest goddam

stoves I've ever seen, some with eight or ten gas burners!

There were ovens, broilers and a lot of stuff I had never

seen before. Maurice was trying to explain how it all

worked, but mostly raved about how wonderful it all was.

I noticed that all of the small appliances were made by

Metalco, and that a lot of the cookware was Metalco's Excilar

coated. "These are the best," Maurice said, pointing to an

Excilar coated saute pan. "Now, if you'd only design them for

COOKS!"

There were banks of refrigerators and freezers, as well as

walk-in boxes. The dishwashing area was flanked by shelving

holding dishes and glassware of every conceivable kind.

I expected a huge wine cellar, but this one was rather

small. "We're going to offer a small selection of only the

very best," Maurice explained.

There were two service bars, well stocked. I'd recognized

something missing but hadn't figured out "what" until I saw

these. There was no "Bar" as such. I asked Maurice about

this and he explained that this would be a place to EAT, not a

place where the focus was on booze.

Once the "Official" tour was over, Eric and I wandered off by

ourselves to have another look, comparing notes on our

observations. We agreed that we couldn't find anything that

we didn't like. It had been designed by professionals and the

results were spectacular.

\- - - - -

Maurice insisted that we all come back to his apartment for

dinner and "talk". There was no way that either of us would

pass up one of Maurice's home cooked meals!

It quickly turned into a business meeting among the five of

us while Philippe worked in the kitchen. Bruce led off,

telling us that the rest of the furniture would arrive the

next week, and his work, except for touch-ups, would be

complete.

Mark then told us that since the place was ready, he and

Maurice had decided to open a month early, March 15th instead

of the end of April and that he was recruiting personnel now.

Maurice, totally agreeing, said that he had already hired all

of his kitchen staff, and was anxious to get started.

Mark, it appeared, was also a good PR man. He'd "leaked" the

opening date, and the restaurant was already fully booked

through April. He also told us that he'd like to have a

high-profile Charity Event for Opening Night, followed by an

invitation-only Grand Opening.

Eric jumped in with an offer to help with the Charity event,

and we all agreed that the Grand opening was a good idea.

"It's wonderful working with someone who isn't constantly

screaming at me to cut corners," Maurice said, giving Mark a

playful jab. "I think that this's going to be the most

successful restaurant in New York."

"I think you've been very reasonable... so far," Mark added.

Mark's partner joined us, about Mark's age, quite goodlooking

and as affable as Mark.

When Brucie's "boyfriend" showed up, I got the surprise of my

life. Joey was the butchest stud I'd seen in a long time,

and a real hunk to boot.

\- - - - -

"Make you a bet," I told Eric. "Within a year, those guys

are going to want to open another restaurant, then another..."

"Wouldn't surprise me in the least," he said. "I'd be all

for it if the quality didn't suffer, and I don't think

Maurice'd stand for that."

Eric spent the next morning with Sarah and I went out to the

plant in New Jersey. Hopefully, the "old" plant would soon

move into a new building. Bob and I checked out progress.

If the new plant that they'd recently moved into was huge,

this one was gargantuan. Acres and acres of concrete floors

had been poured, and the building's skeleton was going up.

Bob estimated that they'd be moved in by Fall.

With all Annie was involved in, I wondered if she was still

interested in making a Shopping Mall out of the old factory.

When I got home, Eric and Sarah were conferring with Mark in

the den. They asked me to join them. "You didn't say a word

about this restaurant of yours," she chided me.

"It was just in the planning stage the last time we were

here," I told her.

They went back to planning. Just listening, I learned that

Sarah would sponsor the charity fete, 400 guests at $1,000

per plate. Mark would provide the food, wine and service at

cost. One of Sarah's pet projects would make a bundle and

Mark would definitely get the publicity he wanted.

They had already checked out the place, and Sarah had nothing

but praise for the job Bruce had done. "In my humble

opinion," she said, "there's only one thing missing. You

need some Art on that back wall."

"We thought about that," Mark told her. "Posters just

wouldn't cut it, and we didn't want to spend the amount of

money necessary to buy 'appropriate' paintings to go up

there, so we left it bare."

"I just may be able to help you," Sarah said, smiling. Oh

shit, I thought, what's she going to do now?

"Have you heard of Brad Jacoby?" she asked Mark.

"Isn't he the hot young artist who's in all the papers?"

"Yes, that's him. Eric 'discovered' him, and I'm very sure

that Eric and I could talk him into hanging several of his

paintings there. They'd be on display and rotated as they

sold. Are you interested?"

"That would be fantastic!" Mark bubbled, "but I'd want to get

Bruce's approval before I made a commitment."

"Let me know, and I'll take care of it," Sarah said. I

looked over at Eric who was just shaking his head. Leave it

to Sarah!

\- - - - -

When we got home, Annie was getting ready for her trip to

Germany. She wanted to fly commercial, but I insisted that

she take the Gulfstream. Make an entrance!

Tina would be taking over Annie's responsibilities while she

was gone, and when I talked to her about the additional

workload, she wasn't concerned. "Annie and I have been

watching how you and Eric 'operate'," she told me. "We're

getting pretty good at delegating ourselves. You and Eric

are around to help me if I need it, too."

I asked her how the "house" was coming along. At this she

giggled. "Rick's spending all his spare time on the plans,"

she reported. "He's accepted your offer, but I think he

wants to play 'Hard to get' for a while, not give in too

fast. We'll let you know, officially, one of these days

soon. We're planning to rent a condo until it gets built."

The subject changed to wedding plans. She assured me that

everything was under control. She and Sarah had worked up a

checklist, and she was following it. The "Georgia" issue

hadn't been settled, but Tina planned to stop off in

Indianappolis on her next trip East to try to work something

out.

"Just don't forget that Eric and I'll be in Egypt most of

April," I reminded her.

\- - - - -

I noticed that Eric was doing a lot more reading than usual,

mostly about Egypt. "I'm trying to learn as much as I can

before we go," he told me.

"May I make a suggestion?" I asked.

"Sure, babe."

"Don't try to learn it all now. You already have a good

background, and on your first trip there, you'll be so

overwhelmed by what you're seeing that details won't matter.

After you've seen everything, you'll know what you're

interested in and can learn more then. Don't ever think that

this is the only trip to Egypt we'll be making."

"That makes sense," he said.

"That's what happened to me on my first trip," I told him.

We talked about the places he wanted to see, starting an

itinerary. "We'll see them all," I assured him. "I just

want to be in Luxor on the 14th."

"Why?"

"That's our anniversary, and that's where the 'Holy of

Holies' is located, in the Temple of Karnak."

He was thoughtful for a few moments, then asked sheepishly

"Do you think there's any chance we could re-enact the

Pharaoh's ritual, in the place where it originally took

place?"

"I'm planning on it," I told him, grinning.

"Ohmigawd, really?" he asked as he pounced on me.

"I have friends over there who should be able to arrange it."

"Now I'm really getting excited!" he said. "You'll be the

Pharaoh this time, no arguments!"

"Get out your oils," I chuckled at him, "and something to

prop me up."

\- - - - -

"I believe that getting into Plastics is going to prove to be

one of the smartest moves we've ever made," Bill declared.

"It's more than just having control over our supply, it's

going to change our way of thinking."

"How?" I asked.

"We've always been focused on 'Metal', making every part we

could out of metal since that was our business. Possibly

that same part could be molded out of plastic cheaper and

faster and end up making a better product.

"That very well may be true," I said, "but we're a helluva

long way from actually being in the plastics business. I

have a strange feeling that we're going to have some problems

before there's smooth sailing.

"Eric and I know Big George socially, but I really don't know

that much about his background. I'm sure you checked him out

thoroughly?" I continued.

"The usual," Bill said, "credit checks, a little nosing

around about his reputation. Everything we found out showed

that he's just what he says he is, and he's got a sterling

reputation."

"Would you do me a favor and dig a LOT deeper? I want to

know as much as you can find out about his finances, his oil

wells - where they are, how much they pump, and his

refineries too. I'd like to know just about everything there

IS to know about him. A whole dossier, so to speak."

"I'll get somebody to do that," Bill said. "It'll take a

little while if we're thorough, and I know that's what you

want."

"There may be a few others who I'll need dossiers on too,"

I added. "I'll try to get their names for you sometime today."

I wandered down to Eric's office. "Do you remember the

conversation we had in Big George's study the other night?" I

asked.

"Pretty well," he answered. "Why?"

"Do you remember those other guys who offered to help supply

our resins if Big George couldn't?"

"Uh huh."

"Do you happen to remember their names?"

He thought a minute then started rattling off names. "Whoa,"

I said, "can you go a little slower so I can write them down?"

He repeated, I scribbled.

"Thank God one of us can remember names! Thanks, babe."

"Now you've got me curious," he said. "Why are you

interested?"

"It's just a gut feeling," I told him. "Maybe it's because

I'm still pissed about the way we were 'dismissed' in Dallas,

but I want to do some digging into that whole crew."

"You were pissed too? You didn't say anything," he said.

"I didn't want to make an issue over it. In my way of

thinking, it was sure as hell a snub, something I don't get

over in a hurry. At first, I wanted to think it was a

misunderstanding, but the more I thought about it, I

remembered that he specifically said 'for the weekend' on

several occasions."

"I wonder what happened?" he asked. "I was a little more

than furious myself. Let me know what you find out."

I had put a hold on anything beyond surveying at the

Louisiana plant site until we completed our "check" on Big

George. Bill and I talked about it a lot, and every time, we

came up with something else to check out. By now, he was

getting nervous too. Legal was going over our contract

literally word by word, and had found several ways we could

get out of it. That would be a last resort.

\- - - - -

Annie was ready to go. She did her best to seem nonchalant

about the whole thing, but her excitement couldn't be

hidden. From what Tina told us, Annie packed and unpacked

several times before she was happy with the wardrobe she was

taking - just about everything she owned, I guessed.

Before we left for the airport, I went over the essentials

with her, money, credit cards, passport, satellite phone with

220 charger, and anything else I could think of. She had

them all.

Eric and I drove her, and her luggage, to the airport. There

would be three pilots and a steward on board, and the flight

was timed to arrive in mid-morning in Germany.

We all hugged, then they were off.

\- - - - -

Waiting is stressful, and with Annie gone, and Tina at

Rick's, we had some privacy and the hot tub helped relieve it.

Without bubbles, we could talk...and play. I loved to sit on

Eric's lap, impaled, and let my internal muscles do all the

work. It felt sensational to me, and Eric liked it too, not

moving at all until he was close, then banging the hell out of

me, bringing me off too.

We'd switch off, him sitting on my lap, but he preferred to

face me so we could kiss. After that, we slept like babies.

\- - - - -

As we took a harder look at the Louisiana location for our

plant, more and more negative aspects were cropping up. The

labor market was tight, and there wasn't much to draw people

to the area.

Transportation was another drawback. We'd be shipping all of

our product out by truck, and the roads would definitely

require improvement for the amount of traffic we contemplated.

When information started coming in on our potential "backup"

suppliers, all of their wells and refineries were in the

strip between Houston and Beaumont, in Texas, where there was

a ready labor market and good transportation.

The first comprehensive "dossier" to come in was on Billy

Griggs. He'd inherited his Oil Company, consisting of many

wells and a medium-sized refinery. He also had a conversion

facility that turned out the resins we needed, but only about

25% of what we would need if we took his entire production.

On the financial side, his personal net worth was

conservatively estimated to be around $600 million, with

virtually no debt.

Reports on the other four were very similar. Some were

bigger, some smaller, and all were strong financially and had

excellent reputations as businessmen. Between the five, our

requirements were covered almost double.

Before we made any changes of plans, I wanted to see the

report on Big George. When Bill brought it in, it was far

from complete. All the numbers were "estimated" and even

those were footnoted as "guesses".

"This isn't near good enough," I told Bill. "We're about to

stake our future on somebody we know nothing about, and I

don't think that's such a great idea. We'd actually be in a

weaker position than we were before."

"This is all we could come up with," Bill apologised.

"Have you used every source, including our 'hackers'?" I

asked.

"Yes, and we couldn't get in. They're tight, and if our guys

can't get in, nobody can."

"I'd like a list of everybody else in the country who

produces these resins, where they're located, and an estimate

on their production volume," I requested.

"I'm starting to get scared," Bill admitted. "Why the

secrecy?"

"I don't know," I said. "We may find ourselves in one

helluva corner."

Chapter 57

I took the report home with me for Eric to read.

After going over it very carefully, he looked up, a frown on

his face. "I don't get it," he said. "Surely some of the

reporting agencies have more than this."

"I guess he must not give them ANY information, but why? I

don't want to jump to any conclusions, but we need to have

assurance that he's capable of performing. We've got a lot

riding on this."

"I'll say! and everything hinges on getting the resin. Any

ideas?"

"Not yet, how about you?"

"I believe it's time we got the whole story. Maybe Big

George could tell us, and then we should be hustling up other

suppliers," he said.

"I don't want to go to Big George's buddies yet, not until we

know more, but I've got Bill's crew getting a list together

of everybody else in the business."

"Here's an idea," he offered. "I don't know how closely

mining and petroleum are related, but it might be worthwhile

talking to Hal."

"Good idea, let's do it first thing tomorrow."

I had just gotten a cup of coffee when Eric and Hal came in.

Eric got right to the point. "I don't know how closely

Geology and Oil are associated, but we need some help."

"They're closely related," Hal said, "at least at the

exploration level, but Petroleum exploration has become much

more sophisticated than looking for minerals. It's become a

whole separate field."

Eric gave Hal the whole background on our situation, and what

we needed to find out. "We need to know if Big George really

does have the reserves he says he does, and if his refinery

has the capability of producing what we need."

"Personally, I don't think I can help you," he said. "But, I

may know somebody that can. A guy I went to College with

went on to get his degree in Chemical Engineering, and now

works for one of the Major Oil Companies. If anybody would

know the answers, or know how to get them, it'd be him."

"Do you think he may be willing to help us out?" I asked.

"I can sure ask," Hal said. "Can I offer him a consulting

fee?"

"Absolutely," Eric and I said in chorus.

"Let me see if I can locate him. It's been a few years..."

Hal said, and rose to leave. "I'll let you know as soon as I

find out anything."

"There's something else I'd like to know," Eric said after

Hal left.

"What's that?"

"Just how far along Big George is on the resin conversion

plant. That's critical to us, and by now they should have

made some progress."

"Let's see what we can find out from Hal's buddy, then I

think we need to talk to Big George. In the meantime, I'm

going to ask Bill to check out plant sites in Texas, around

Houston."

Hal didn't get back to us until noon. "Had to run home to

get my old address book," he explained. "Found him, but

nobody was home. I left a message for him to call me when he

got in, either here at the office or at home. I should have

some answers by tomorrow."

\- - - - -

Hal was waiting for us when we came in the next morning.

"Learned a lot last night," he said.

"About my buddy Neil," he said when we were seated. "He's a

Chemical Engineer for Shell Oil, and is completely familiar

with the whole situation. He also knows a little about Big

George Matheison, and he's willing to help us out.

"He can find out about any offshore leases that Big George

has with a phone call to somebody in Louisiana, and get his

production records with another call since all of that is

public information. He's doing that today.

"When he has that, the only way he could assess the

refinery's capability is to actually see it. That

information is NOT public. Do you think you could get us in?"

"I think so," I said, "Big George may want to go with us, but

I don't think that'd be a problem. When do you want to go?"

"Neil's free this Friday, and all weekend. We could have

most of the answers you need by Monday," Hal said.

"Should I wait until you have answers to the first two

questions before I call Big George?" I asked.

"Good idea," Hal said. "Neil said he'd call me as soon as he

had anything. By the way, he doesn't want anything for doing

this."

"We'll take care of him anyway," I assured him.

Eric and I brainstormed ways to approach Big George. Between

us, we came up with a workable scheme.

Hal came back with positive answers to our first two

questions, so it was time to call Big George.

The call started out the usual way, general pleasantries and

family. Then I got serious. "We're planning on spending a

few bucks down there in Louisiana," I said, "and hell, we

haven't even seen the place yet, so we're thinking about going

down and taking a look on Friday."

"Sounds like a good idea," he said, then went on to extoll

the advantages of locating there.

"Another thing," I said innocently, "I've never seen a

refinery up close and personal, so I was wondering if you

could arrange for us to take a tour of yours?"

"On Friday? I don't see why not. I'll make all the

arrangements, just show up at the office, they'll be

expecting you. How many will there be?"

I thought fast. "Five or six, I believe," I told him.

"No problem," he said, "just wish I could get away and join

you."

Hal and Eric were waiting. "All arranged," I told them. "Let

go to Houston Thursday night so we can have all day Friday to

look things over," I suggested. "I'm going to ask Bill to

join us."

Hal volunteered to reserve the plane and to find the airport

closest to the site. Eric would handle the hotel.

"I'm beginning to wonder if we've gotten all excited over

nothing," I told them.

\- - - - -

Annie called to check in. She sounded deleriously happy.

She "loved" Hans's family. She and his mother were spending

a lot of time together while Hans was working, and Hans was

showing her Germany from the "inside".

She said that Hans had asked her to stay an extra week, and

wanted to know if that was OK with me. Of course.

\- - - - -

We checked into one of our hotels. Not surprisingly, Eric

and I had the biggest suite in the place. The grin on his

face told me that he had more planned than business.

Hal and Bill brought Neil up for a drink before we all went

to dinner. Neil wasn't exactly what I expected. He was

friendly, outgoing, and had a great sense of humor. He

wasn't hard to look at, either. Dark hair, green eyes and

dimples that made you smile every time he grinned, and that

was often. Almost as tall as Hal, wide shoulders that

tapered down to a tiny waist, and not an ounce of fat. This

was one hot man, and my gaydar went into orbit the minute he

walked in.

Poor Bill, again he was the only straight guy in the group.

Neil started telling us what he'd learned about Matheison Oil.

Big George had gotten an offshore lease at auction, and had

two platforms off the coast. Each had six wells that were

pumping sizeable quantities of oil, enough, Neil guessed, to

feed his refinery, no more.

If his crude was typical of the area, the refining process

would produce an ample amount of what we were looking for.

So far, so good. Now, all we had to do was verify that all

of this was actually happening.

We took two cabs to dinner, giving Eric and me a chance to

talk. "How's your gaydar?" he asked, chuckling.

"Tilt!" I said. "Not a doubt about Neil."

"Same here," he laughed. "I wonder if Hal's picked up on it?"

We didn't talk about oil over dinner. Instead, Hal told Neil

all about the other things we were doing, mainly the Lovebird

Mine.

Afterward, Neil asked Hal to have a drink with him so they

could discuss old times, the rest of us went back to the

hotel.

"Give me two minutes, nothing elaborate, I promise," Eric

said as he went into the spare bedroom.

It didn't take long before he was back, dragging me with him

back to the room. There were a few candles burning and a

big, thick beach towel on the bed. We had a long kiss in the

semi-darkness then undressed each other slowly.

"Just lie back," he said. "I'm going to enjoy your body

tonight."

I flopped down on the towel, my hard dick pointing skyward.

He slipped between my legs and covered his hands with some

type of lotion. Leaning forward he started at my shoulders,

barely rubbing the skin, just enough to put a light coat of

the silky smooth lotion on. His feathery touch was highly

erotic, making my dick twitch.

As he worked his way downward, my whole body tingled. A

light touch on my nipples made my dick start dripping. Out

each arm he went, clear to my fingertips, spreading lotion on

every square inch of my skin. Then, across my chest and down

my abs to my navel. The feelings were intoxicating.

He stopped there and moved down to my feet. Still with the

feather touch, he worked upward, replenishing the supply of

lotion every minute or two. When he reached my balls, I

spread my legs even further. His light touch electrified

me.

With only the tip of one finger, he traced from the base of

my cock to the rim, then back down, continuing this until

he'd gone all the way around. I half wanted him to quit

teasing and get serious, but then, what he was doing felt so

damned good I didn't want him to stop.

His fingertip traced the rim and wandered all over the head,

making me arch up with the tender sensations, gasping.

Our only physical contact was his finger rubbing me. His

beautiful dick was bobbing and dripping but it never touched

me. All I could do was look at it and drool.

His finger found my g-spot under the head and gently

massaged. I was getting close, and wanted to beg for

release, but let him have his way. The pressure built, I was

getting really close to the edge, then up to the edge. He

held me there, teetering, not letting me go forward or back,

making me feel like I was cumming, but I wasn't actually

"there" yet.

"After what seemed like hours of this exquisite torture, he

took me in his fist, and with only a couple of strokes, I

went flying over into one of the hardest orgasms I'd ever had.

When I came to, he was lying on top of me, his dick beside

mine, softening, his face buried in my neck.

"Wow!" was all I could say in my semi-conscious state.

"You like?" he whispered, panting.

"Kinda nice," I giggled, wrapping my arms around him. "In a

couple of minutes, it's going to be my turn."

"You're way too late," he laughed. "I got off right after

you did. Without touching myself, I might add. See what you

do to me?"

\- - - - -

The flight to Morgan City didn't take long. Eric had

reserved a van so we could all ride together. It was

definitely "Bayou" country with water everywhere.

The directions we had for getting to the refinery were a

little less than adequate, so several stops for directions

were necessary. We smelled it long before we saw it.

Our plan was for Eric, Bill and me to ask the dumb questions.

Any questions that Neil had would be passed on to one of us

to ask so that his expertise wouldn't be obvious. We wanted

to appear to be just a bunch of tourists.

The Plant Manager was expecting us, and after giving us hard

hats, we set off on our tour. This was all totally new to

the three of us, so we had no problem asking a lot of

questions.

The place was a maze of pipes and tanks. The tall "Cat

Crackers" were, as I understood it, the heart of the

operation. The Manager explained that they were no more than

fancy stills where various grades of distillate were pulled

off at different levels of the towers.

A big pumping station near the water's edge sucked the crude

oil out of the underwater pipeline coming from the offshore

platforms.

Every place we walked, I looked for signs of new

construction, but didn't see any. On the way back to the

office, I asked the manager where they were going to put the

conversion facility. He looked at me in total surprise.

"Don't know anything about that," he said.

Those who heard my question and his answer tried not to show

their amazement, and we calmly continued the tour.

As we neared the end of our tour, I looked at Neil. He

nodded his head and smiled, indicating that he had gotten

what he needed.

After getting a look at the area, and particularly the roads,

I had definitely decided against locating our plant here, but

since we were already here, we might as well take a look at

the proposed site. We got directions, and found it about a

half mile up the road.

As soon as we got into the car, I turned to Neil. "What do

you think?" I asked.

"It looks OK," he said, "but I'd like to work with some

numbers before I give you a final answer."

I was NOT impressed with what I saw. It was flat, but that

was about the only positive feature. The water table must be

very high because there were ponds and puddles all over it.

Site preparation cost would be exhorbitant, and we'd probably

have to sink pilings for every piece of machinery to sit on.

"We sure as hell aren't going to build HERE," I announced.

"This is nothing but a goddam swamp! Can you imagine the

bugs in the summertime?" There was unanimous agreement.

On the flight back to Houston, Neil had his calculator out

and was hard at it. We left him alone. The rest of us

discussed the surprising news that the Plant Manager was

unaware of the conversion facility that was vital to us.

"Something's fishy," Eric commented.

"I'll say so," Bill added. "If there's any hope of meeting

the deadline, they should be started by now, at least SOME

activity!"

All of the possible reasons why nothing was happening were

thrown around. No plausable reason could be found, and it

came down to the necessity for a direct confrontation with

Big George.

In Houston, we all went back to the hotel, congregating in

our suite.

"I've got some rough figures for you," Neil said. We all

nodded eagerly.

"That's a pretty small refinery in comparison to the ones I'm

used to working with at Shell," he grinned. "But, if the

crude they're processing is typical of that area, they should

produce about 70% of what you'll need."

"Only 70%?" I asked.

"That's optomistic, too," Neil answered, "and running at 90%

capacity consistently."

"Then we're in trouble before we even get started," Eric

observed. "That is, if we rely on Big George as our sole

supplier."

"And that doesn't include any expansion, which we'll surely

do," Bill added.

"Let's look at something else, then we'll come back to this,"

I suggested. "It looks like, for some unknown reason, Big

George is dragging his heels on the conversion facility.

What do you know about those, Neil?"

"Quite a bit, actually," he said. "Shell does a lot of that."

"In layman's terms, what does the process consist of?" I

asked.

"Quite simply, it's a mixing plant. Other chemicals are

added to the distillate, a reaction takes place, and the

stuff solidifies. It's then ground up, and you use the

granules to make whatever you want out of that. The chemicals

you add determine what type of end product you'll have. Some

of the formulations don't solidify, and those would be

delivered to you in liquid form."

"Is this a 'clean' operation, from an environmental

standpoint?" I asked.

"Relatively," Neil said. "When the chemical reactions take

place, some smelly fumes are given off, but, with air

scrubbers and precipitators, virtually all of that can be

eliminated. There's nothing toxic involved, it just smells

bad."

"I assume, then, that this plant could be built anywhere?" I

asked.

"Just about."

"Do you have any idea what a facility big enough to meet our

needs, with some spare capacity, would cost to build?" I

asked.

"I was expecting that one," Neil chuckled. "Shell built a

plant like that on the West Coast a year or so ago, about

twice the size you'd need. That one cost about $150 million,

so half of that would be a good guesstimate. There are only

two companies who make the machinery for these, and I've

worked with both of them."

"Hmmm. I wonder if Big George has talked to either one of

them," I said, thinking out loud.

"Like to find out?" Neil asked, grinning. "I've got

'connections'."

"That'd be a tremendous help," I said.

"I can get the numbers from my Secretary," he said, heading

for a phone.

The rest of us got into a huddle while he was calling. "It's

pretty obvious where you're heading," Bill laughed.

"We need to know our options," I told him. "And, I need all

the ammunition I can get for our confrontation with Big

George, which is looking inevitable."

"What's our legal position on the Contract you signed with

him?" Eric asked.

"I do know that we have all kinds of escape clauses," Bill

said, "mostly regarding performance."

All sorts of ideas were thrown out, Hal as big a contributor

as any of us.

Eventually, Neil got off the phone. He was grinning when he

came back over. "Neither one of them have heard a word from

Matheison," he announced.

"Are you sure?" Bill asked.

"I talked to the guys who head their sales departments, and

they assured me that nobody from Matheison had contacted

them," Neil said. "I know these guys pretty well, and have

every reason to believe that they're leveling with me. While

I was at it, I asked them what their timeframe was, and they

both said 'about 18 months'."

"Where do we go from here?" Bill asked.

"We should have known everything we've learned today BEFORE

we signed an agreement with Big George. I'm afraid that I

have to take responsibility for that," I said. "I took him

at face value, and now we're going to have to re-do the whole

thing."

"What if he's not willing to make changes?" Eric asked.

"He may not have any choice," I said. "The way he's acting

now, there is no way he can meet the deadlines that've been

set, and even then, he can't meet our full requirements as he

claimed he could.

"As I see it, he has two choices: He can either go ahead,

and pay the enormous penalties the contract calls for, or

face reality and work with us. Hell, I don't even know if

he's got the money to pay the penalties if it comes to that.

I think we all, particularly me, assumed too much."

"If you can get George's distillate, I think I can help you

find the rest of what you'll need," Neil volunteered. "With

a little time, I might be able to find ALL that you'll need."

"When do you want to go on our payroll?" I asked jokingly.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Definitely," Bill said.

"They pay REAL good," Hal added.

"I'll think about it," Neil said.

\- - - - -

I called Jack on the way home, asking him to put everybody on

the Matheison contract and meet with me first thing on

Monday.

Eric, not one to beat around the bush, asked Hal, "Is he or

isn't he?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is Neil gay?"

"I honestly don't know," Hal answered. "I'm pretty sure he

is, but the subject never came up."

"Man, he's givin' off some pretty strong vibes," Eric

continued. "Both Dave and I picked up on them."

"He's turned into one hot stud," Hall commented.

"Sure did," Eric said, "but it doesn't make any difference.

I think we all agree that he'd be a helluva asset to the

Company."

"I didn't notice anything other than he's a very goodlooking

man," Bill observed.

"You straight guys don't have 'gaydar'," Eric told him,

laughing.

\- - - - -

We didn't talk about the situation much over the weekend, but

I know both of us thought about it a lot.

Monday morning, Jack was waiting, along with 4 other

Attorneys from his office. As soon as Bill and Hal got

there, we gathered around the conference table.

I took over. "I'm assuming that you're all familiar with our

Contract with Matheison Oil." There were nods all around.

"Now, I'm going to tell you what we believe is happening, and

what I'd like to do to save our asses. After I get finished

and Eric and Bill have added their comments, you guys are

going to tell us how we're going to get what we want," I told

them, laughing.

"First, we have a Contract with Matheison to provide ALL of

our resin requirements for a plastic molding plant we're

going to build. In addition, Matheison has agreed to build a

conversion facility to turn the petroleum by-product into the

resins we need.

"We have since learned that Matheison doesn't have sufficient

volume capability to produce enough, short by an estimated

30%. And, we've learned that Matheison hasn't made any move

to start building the conversion plant. How about some

comments on that before I go on? Eric, Bill, do you have

anything to add?" They shook their heads.

"The contract specifies volume of product," Jack stated, "are

those the same numbers you used to calculate shortage?"

I nodded to Hal. "The numbers I gave Neil are the ones you

gave to me, Dave. I'm assuming they're correct. I'll get my

copy and we can compare," and he took off.

"While we're waiting, let's go to the second part," Jack said.

"How do you 'know' that he isn't working on the conversion

plant?"

"First, his refinery in Louisiana where the plant's supposed

to be built, knows nothing about it, and second, there are

only two manufacturers of the equipment needed, and neither

one of them have heard a peep out of Matheison," I told him.

"That's circumstantial. He isn't in default yet," Jack said.

"The contract calls for huge penalties if he doesn't perform

on time, but we can't do much until he fails to have that

plant up and running by a specific date."

"If he doesn't, we're left holding the bag," I said. "Do you

realize that that would virtually shut Metalco down? We

can't let that happen.

"If he defaults, and penalties pile up, I'm not even sure

he's got enough money for us to collect," I added.

"Do you have any idea why he isn't moving ahead?" Jack asked.

"None whatsoever," I answered. "My best guess is that he

doesn't have the resources to do it."

Hal came back with his copy. The numbers were compared to

the Contract and they matched.

"How sure are you of the 70% figure you used?" Jack asked.

"More than 90%," I said.

"What do you want to do about all this?" Jack asked.

"I want the contract re-written," I said. "I still want

whatever product Matheison can produce, but in its raw form.

We'll process it ourselves."

"Do you think Matheison will go for that?"

"I don't know. That's why you guys are here. I want you to

come up with some compelling reasons why he should so that I

can negotiate with him from a position of strength."

"I assume you want this yesterday," Jack chuckled.

"That would be fine," I grinned. "I'll need ammunition."

\- - - - -

The four of us sat there in thought after the Attorneys

left. "How strongly can we rely on Neil's conclusion?" I

asked Hal.

"Just about 100%," he said. "Neil's sending us a report,

though, showing how he arrived at the numbers he did. I

expect it by fax sometime today."

"It's not that I don't trust him, but I think we need a

second opinion," I said. "Anybody got an idea where we could

get one?"

After a few moments' silence, Hal spoke up. "If they're

still there, I could talk to some of my old professors at the

Colorado School of Mines. They could either give me answers

or point me to someone who could."

"Would you follow up on that?" I asked.

"Happy to," he said. "It may mean a trip to Colorado."

"That's what we've got planes for," Bill said, laughing.

\- - - - -

"Never a dull moment around you," Eric chuckled that evening.

"I just hope that all of this won't kill our trip to Egypt."

"It won't," I assured him. "That's one thing that's 'cast in

stone'. Maybe we'd better do a little serious planning."

"I'm ready whenever you are. It's kind of up to you since

you know your way around."

I got a pad and we went right to it. We'd start in Cairo.

It'd take at least a week to see everything in that area,

then fly to Luxor to be there on the 14th. A few days there

to see everything, then a Nile cruise to Aswan, where we'd

also spend a few days.

Altogether, this amounted to almost three weeks. Neither of

us wanted to be rushed, but even then, it'd be a full

schedule. Working around the 14th, it looked like we'd have

to leave around the second.

With this rough outline, we'd let Dan handle the rest. I

wanted to fly commercial, at least in and out of Egypt, so we

wouldn't draw any attention. The Moslem Fundamentalists were

still acting up.

\- - - - -

Hal flew to Golden and came back with just what we needed.

Not only did a highly respected professor confirm Neil's

findings, but he put it in the form of a signed letter and

gave us permission to use it however we liked.

Hal also confirmed that there were only two known suppliers

of the equipment needed for the conversion facility. This

was spelled out in another signed letter.

Hal didn't pay him anything at the time, but asked if we'd

send him something when the dust settled.

Next, Hal researched the area around Big George's refinery to

see if there was someplace relatively close where

supplemental supplies could be obtained. There were none.

We also checked with Jack and his crew to see if outside

purchases were allowable under our Contract. They weren't

prohibited, so it would be OK if that's what Big George

intended to do.

Try as we did, nobody could come up with a reason why Big

George wasn't doing anything. Except money problems.

The way things were going, we were going to need somebody

like Neil to help us through this mess, and maybe run it if

we ended up building our own processing plant. So we'd be

ready, I had Bob run a check on him. I didn't think the

"Sensitivity Evaluation" was necessary.

As much as I hated to, it was time to meet with Big George.

I called and made an appointment for us to see him.

Now that a time had been set, Neil agreed to check with his

pals at the two equipment makers the day before our meeting

so that we'd have up-to-the-minute information.

Eric and I went over different scenarios on how to approach

Big George. The bottom line was that we wanted the

production from his refinery, even if it wouldn't meet our

total needs. What we needed was either a demonstration of

good faith on his part, or his agreement to sell us the raw

product.

We hoped that this could be accomplished as easily and

amicably as possible.

\- - - - -

Big George was as jolly as usual when we went into his

office. Eric and I put on our cheerful faces too.

Once our families had been thoroughly discussed, Big George

asked "How you boys comin' along on your plastics factory?"

Eric, as planned, jumped in, telling him about all the

machinery we had on order, and that we were designing the

buildings around it. "Dave's other 'Son-in-law to be' is

doing the architecturural work," he added.

"How's your progress on the conversion plant?" I asked. Here

it was. His answer to that question would decide the issue.

"Runnin' into a few snags. I may've backed myself into a

corner," he said.

Before he could give an explanation, I asked "Would it help

you out if we took the stuff unprocessed?"

"Would you consider that?" he asked, almost breathlessly.

"In a heartbeat," I told him, "but we still want all of your

raw product."

"I've never backed out of a deal before in my life," he said

sadly.

"You're not backing out," I said, stroking him, "we're just

modifying it, and that'll remain between the three of us, and

our lawyers, of course."

"I thought..." he started, but I interrupted him.

"No explanation necessary. We just want your goddam oil!" I

told him, laughing.

"You write up the papers and I'll sign 'em," he promised,

rising and offering his hand, which I shook.

He offered to take us out to a late lunch, but we declined.

We had other work to do.

The minute we were in the car, Eric was calling Neil.

By the time we got back to the airport, flew to Houston, and

found the restaurant, Neil was waiting.

"We're here to proposition you," I told him as soon as we

were seated.

"Oh No! Not that!" he said, wide eyed, then burst out

laughing.

"Sorry about that, just couldn't resist," he said when we all

stopped laughing. "How'd it go with Big George?"

"Looks like we're in the chemical business," I told him, "and

we're looking for somebody to run it. Interested?"

Neil was dead serious now. "I've been thinking about it

since last weekend," he said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Build the plant then run it," I told him.

"Have you decided where you're going to build it?" he asked.

"It sure as hell isn't going to be in some swamp in

Louisiana," I said. "It'll be next door to our plastics

plant, and we're looking at sites between here and Beaumont."

"Then I wouldn't have to relocate," he said gleefully. "I

kind of like it here. But, you don't know anything about my

qualifications."

"You'd be surprised," I told him. "With your education and

experience, you've got everything you need. Let's talk

money."

He told us what he was currently making, a figure that I knew

to be accurate, and I countered with double that amount, for

starters.

"You're making it impossible for me to say no!" he said.

"That was my intention," I told him seriously.

"There's one thing you ought to know, though."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I'm gay."

"Aw gee, ain't that awful!" Eric put in then cracked up

laughing. "So are we," he said, putting his arm around me.

"Then it's not a problem?" he said, still uncertain.

"We're probably the most gay-friendly employers on the West

Coast," Eric told him. "Probably in the whole country, for

that matter."

"That'll be so nice. Shell is supposedly tolerant, but it

doesn't really work that way, so I'm in the closet at work.

I'll gladly accept your offer."

We all shook on it, then started planning.

Neil would give his notice immediately, and try to leave

sooner, but would, in the meantime, work on bids to design

and build the plant. After that, he'd come to the West Coast

for a month or two until construction started, and work with

other Metalco people. Finding a source for the other 30% of

our raw material requirements would be a priority from day

one.

We celebrated the new venture and Neil's becoming a key

player in it. In fact we celebrated a LOT. When we got back

to the plane and got strapped in, we both promptly fell

asleep.

\- - - - -

Our hangovers were mild. A handful of aspirin and vitamins

and we were back among the living.

I called everyone involved with the project together as soon

as we got to the office.

"We're in the Chemical business," I announced. "We got all

of Big George's production of raw material in unprocessed

form, so we're going to build our own conversion facility.

Jack, will you re-write the contract to show that change?"

He nodded.

"Now that the project is entirely ours, we need an all-out

effort to get those plants up and running as fast as we can.

At the moment, we don't even have a site picked out. We are

NOT building in Louisiana, but the area around Houston looks

pretty good. Texas has their act together on the power

situation, and their tax laws, I understand, are pretty

favorable.

"Getting a site selected should have high priority.

"We've already hired someone to build and run the Chemical

operation. Neil King will be here in a couple of weeks." Hal

was grinning.

"Now, it may seem like we wasted a lot of effort over our

uncertainty about Big George. Fortunately, everything worked

out in our favor, but things could have been different. We

were prepared, that's the important thing, and I want to

thank all of you for your efforts, particularly Hal, who did

more than his share."

\- - - - -

"Guess who came to see me today?" Eric said that evening.

"Who?"

"Spence, and was he ever full of news."

"Well, spill it," I said.

"Our cover's blown, his and mine, that is. Micron's Annual

Report is out, and it lists those who own more than 5%. It

shows I have 5.62% and he has around 19%. This is the first

public disclosure and he's already being bombarded with

requests for interviews. He wanted to warn me and get some

advice on how to handle them."

"Have you gotten any?"

"Several, lately, but I didn't know what they were all about.

I turned them down as usual."

"How's Spence coping?"

"He seems to be doing fine, ignoring the press and hoping

that there won't be any major flap until Micron announces his

stuff. He had some other news, too," he said with a big grin.

"Seems he and my cousin Dirk are an item!"

"The matchmaker strikes again!"

"Sounds serious," he said. "Spence's been to Chicago three

times, and Dirk'll be here this weekend. Spence swears that

they're still getting to know each other, and they haven't

had sex yet. Knowing both of them, that's surprising."

"I'm glad to hear that they're taking it slow."

"Spence plans on telling Dirk who he really is this weekend

before he finds out from someplace else. Too bad we won't be

here to see what happens."

"And where are we going to be?" I asked, confused.

"In New York. The Restaurant's grand opening, remember?"

"Oh shit, already? I totally forgot."

"We leave Friday. Tina and Rick and Bill and Sandy are going

with us, and, of course, Jacques."

"I guess I totally spaced the whole thing."

Dan had sent over a proposed itinerary for Egypt. That too

was closer than I thought, so we went over it.

It covered travel and accomodations. Those looked like what

I wanted.

In Cairo, Luxor and Aswan, we'd have a car, driver and

guide. Our guide would be a licensed, graduate Egyptologist

as required by law. I hoped we'd get good ones who were

interesting, not ones who recited a canned spiel.

"Won't that draw attention?" Eric asked.

"Wait'll you see the car," I laughed. "It'll be an old

clunker that fits right in. Let's face it, we're going to be

noticed regardless."

"Why?"

"Because you're a blond, and my hair's kind of light.

That'll brand us as foreigners in any case."

"Never thought about that!"

"I really don't think we have anything to worry about. We

CAN get guards if you're nervous."

"If you're not, I'm not," he said. "What all do we need to

take?"

"I'd travel light. A lot of shorts, a pair of VERY

comfortable shoes, maybe two pairs, and a couple of pairs of

long pants for evenings. I'd throw in a really light suit

and one dress shirt, and that's about it. At this time of

year, it cools off in the evenings, particularly on the

desert, so I'd throw in one sweater.

"Just a minute," I told him, and went to the bedroom.

"In my opinion, one of these is a must," I told him, showing

him my little nylon satchel with the shoulder strap. "I use

this for my camera and my water bottle."

"Water bottle?"

"The only water that touches your mouth, even when you brush

your teeth, is bottled. I carry a bottle around with me all

the time, sometimes two if it's really warm. This works

perfectly."

"Do you drink quite a bit?"

"I've been known to drink 9 2-liter bottles a day," I laughed.

"Damn! Bet you pee'd a lot."

"Hardly at all, and you don't perspire either. It's so dry

that it evaporates immediately."

"What do the Egyptians wear," he asked.

"Western clothes like we do here, but not many bright colors,

or Galabayas."

"What the hell's a Gala...."

"It's kind of like a long nightshirt. I love 'em. Buy some

new ones every trip and wear them all the time."

"Do you wear anything under them?"

"Yeah, I'd suggest Jockeys, or boxers if you're daring," I

kidded him.

"Sounds like fun. Jockeys for me. If I was flopping around,

I'd be hard all the time!"

"I'd see to that!" I giggled.

Chapter 58

"We didn't make any money last night, but we got more

publicity that we could ever buy," Mark said when we walked

into MAURICE. "Have you seen the papers?"

We hadn't but Mark had gotten copies for us.

"Last night was 'Society', tonight it's the 'Big Shots and

Celebrities'. We should get even more publicity tomorrow,"

Mark told us.

The place was ready for that night's "Opening Night". Tables

were set with sparkling crystal and gleaming flatware, and

even though it was set up for a capacity crowd, the tables

didn't seem in the least crowded together.

I agreed with Sarah. The Jacobys hanging on the back wall

added the finishing touch to a very elegant room.

Maurice was nowhere in sight, so I assumed he'd be in the

kitchen. Eric and I headed in that direction to say

"hello". I don't know what I expected, but it certainly

wasn't what we found. The place was humming along like a

well oiled machine with Maurice perched on a stool smoking a

cigarette, grinning.

He jumped down and gave us both hugs and kisses on each

cheek. "What do you think?" he wanted to know.

"The dining room's a work of art!" Eric told him, "and you

sure seem to have the kitchen under control."

"Don't believe everything you hear about bombastic Chefs," he

said giggling. "It's so much easier to be organized and save

my lungs! It also works better this way."

"How'd it go last night?" I asked.

"Like it was supposed to, not a hitch," he said. "We've been

rehearsing for two weeks. I'm a 'Pro', remember," he laughed.

"We just wanted to stop in and see how you were doing," I

told him. "We'll see you tonight."

"You are a table of seven, right?" I nodded. "No menus, and

I will prepare your dessert at your table."

"I can't wait!" Eric gushed.

\- - - - -

It was a formal affair. Eric looked stunning in his tux, and

I didn't look too bad either. Rick looked pretty damned good

too.

We were dressed and waiting for the ladies to finish when

Eric announced "If you want a drink, better have it now.

Maurice frowns on booze, but you can drink all the wine you

like - at a couple hundred a bottle!"

Sarah arrived, looking like a million bucks, about the amount

the jewelry she was wearing was worth.

Tina was definitely no slouch. In a simple cocktail dress

and one of the diamond ensembles she'd gotten for Christmas.

When we neared the restaurant, our stretch limo had to get in

line. The line of limos, cabs and private cars stretched for

blocks, but was moving right along.

The doorman was friendly and efficient. There were

photographers standing around, but didn't consider us

newsworthy, so ignored us. Inside, we gave our name, and were

ushered directly to our table and seated. The first thing I

noticed was how quiet it was. It was by no means silent, but

the noise was muted, soft, and lent an air of expectation.

Eric leaned over to me. "All that money they spent on

acoustics is really paying off," he said.

Those of our group who hadn't been there before were looking

around. "Spectacularly simple," Sandy said, "I know that

sounds like a paradox, and it is, but the simplicity DOES

create a spectacular effect."

"I never expected anything like this," Tina said, "you guys

did good!"

We were seated at a round table with fresh flowers in the

center, seven wine glasses in front of each of us, and a menu

card on the plate in front of us. I didn't read it,

preferring to be surprised, and put it in my pocket as a

souvenir.

The service was top-notch, not hovering or rushing, but timed

so that there were no long pauses between courses. When it

came time for dessert, a cart was rolled out and Maurice

appeared. He went around the table greeting everyone he knew

and was introduced to Bill and Sandy, then went to work.

I left a tip that I estimated to be 25% of the tab. No

wonder waiters could work for minimum wage and still make as

much as most executives!

On the way out, the photographers recognized Sarah, and asked

for a group shot. Eric and I moved out of the way and let

the other five line up.

\- - - - -

On the ride home, the kids went off to sit by themselves

leaving the rest of us to talk.

"You know," Sandy said, "everything you guys do is larger

than life, this plane, the penthouse, that restaurant, and

you do it all so quietly."

"We're just a couple'a country boys that like purdy thangs,"

Eric said with a hillbilly twang which got us all laughing.

"Yeah right!" Sandy said. "The kind of taste you guys have

is a lot more than that!"

"Beg ta differ, maam," Eric continued, "comes with the

territory for us queerfolk."

"Oh, come off it," she laughed. "You guys have more taste and

CLASS than anybody I've ever known."

"Aww Maam, yer makin me blush!"

"I've got a question," Bill said, thankfully changing the

subject. "That's one hell of a big restaurant. Do you think

you can fill it every night?"

"It's already booked solid through the month of April," Eric

told him. "Not one but two seatings every night. In two

weeks, they'll start accepting reservations for May."

"It wouldn't surprise us if they want to expand, real soon,"

I added. "It's not 'trendy' so I believe it'll have staying

power and the concept will work anyplace. Maybe not on the

scale of this one, though."

"Looks to me like you've got a real winner," Bill said.

\- - - - -

It was only two weeks before we left on our "Honeymoon" and a

lot was happening.

Annie made a triumphant return. The first thing I noticed

was a ring on her left hand. "Aha! What's this?" I asked,

holding her hand to take a good look at it.

"Oh, just a 'friendship' ring," she said offhandedly.

I looked at it closely. A small emerald surrounded by tiny

diamonds and pearls.

"It's been in Hans' family for over 400 years," she said,

showing her excitement. "His family goes clear back to the

Middle Ages, rather impressive, I'd say!"

She went on to tell us about his family. According to her,

they were all "delightful" and had welcomed her with open

arms. She'd stayed with his parents, and had visited their

castle in the village of Koenigsburg where their title had

originated.

There had been parties as well as getaways to quiet scenic

parts of the country. All in all, it sounded like she'd had

a wonderful time.

"One more thing," she said when Tina wasn't present, "we'll

be announcing our engagement in late June!"

I grabbed her in a hug. "Is this what you REALLY want?" I

asked her.

"More than I've ever wanted anything," she answered.

Eric broke the spell. "Does this mean we're going to have to

call you 'Your Highness'?" he asked.

"Only in public!" she shot back. "Hell NO! That's not the

way I am. I'll always be just 'Annie', and Hans will be just

plain Hans."

\- - - - -

Several suitable sites for the Plastics plant had been found

in Texas. This time, we were going to look them over

ourselves before making any commitments, so Bill, Eric and I

flew to Houston to check them out.

The plant that we were building would handle our current

requirements plus 10 or 15%, so growth was inevitable. I

wanted to be damned sure that we'd have room.

Neil met us and we toured the sites. We looked at a couple

in Pasadena, but the larger ones were in Baytown, a quiet

community that was reputed to be inhabited by hard-core

rednecks. "That doesn't matter," I said. "We'd be coming

here to mold plastic, not promote a lifestyle."

Neil acted real butch in front of Bill, still not sure how

"open" he could be until Bill spoke up. "I've known Dave all

my life, and my own son is gay, so relax for chrissakes!"

The plot that looked the best to me was a rectangular, flat,

160 acre parcel. The price was pretty steep by Texas

standards, but a fraction of what the same thing would have

cost in California.

After seeing most everything available, everyone agreed on

that one. We'd make an offer on it immediately, subject to

zoning and local approval.

\- - - - -

Spence invited himself over for dinner one night. The kid

literally glowed, and it wasn't the freshly-fucked look

either. He was happy.

He also looked pretty damned good, which I commented on. "My

trainer is a Nazi," he said, "makes me work my ass off and

eat all this godawful stuff, but it seems to be working.

I've put on 20 pounds, and most of it's going where I want

it to."

"You're looking pretty hot!" Eric commented. "With your

money and your looks, you'll be beatin' the boys off."

"Not interested," he said. "I've got the one I want."

"And who might that be?" Eric teased.

"Your gorgeous cousin Dirk, of course!" he said.

"How was your weekend?" Eric asked.

"Too damned short, but we did a lot of serious talking,"

Spence said. "We both had some confessions to make. I told

him about my software, and what I've earned from it. At

first, he was delighted, but when he thought about it, he

wasn't so sure, wondering how my money would affect 'us' if

we ever really did get together."

"How do things stand?" Eric asked.

"He's working through it."

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Eric offered. "I went

through the same thing with Dave, and we survived."

"Not yet, but thanks for the offer. There's more... He told

me about his relationship with his cousins."

"How do you feel about that?" I asked.

"You know about what's going on?" Spence asked, surprised.

"They were very up-front about the whole thing with us," I

told him. "It doesn't bother us. It's not like they're

going to have children."

"No," Spence grinned, "but the whole idea really bums me out.

Must be my Mormon upbringing."

"Look at it this way," Eric suggested. "They're just a horny

bunch of guys with the same interests. They play it safe and

nobody gets hurt. Sure, I know they care about each other,

but what they're doing is more an outlet than anything else."

"Incest is incest," Spence argued, "but I will agree with you

that it's harmless in the respect that nobody's getting

hurt. Dirk has to stop, though."

"I'll bet he already has," Eric told him. "The important

thing here is that you're being honest with each other. That

definitely means something!"

"Dammit, I love him, and I'm sure he loves me."

"If that's the case, that's all the more reason why you two

should work it out," Eric said. "What difference does it

really make who he's been having sex with. Wouldn't you

rather it was someone clean rather than a bunch of sluts he

picked up?"

"I'll work on it. We talk every night and we're making

progress."

"Work HARD at it - if you think he's worth it," I chipped in.

\- - - - -

Neil arrived and got situated in the Metalco part of the

building. In a lot of ways, he was very much like Hal,

digging in and doing what needed to be done.

He worked mostly with Bill and Jeff, both of whom were

delighted to have him as part of the team.

We hadn't found a manager for the plastics plant, and within

days of his arrival, Neil assumed responsibility for

coordinating that project too. He was definitely a workaholic.

\- - - - -

Eric was spending a lot of time with the Foundation. The New

Hampshire funds had been invested and were earning $80+

million on an annualized basis, and none was being spent,

yet, so Eric and George were looking at other programs that

they could get into.

A lot of Grant requests had come in, some offering some good

ideas that could be expanded upon, and these were being

analyzed.

I remembered a project that Dan had started many years ago,

and told Eric about it as a possible project for Lifeguard.

It had all started when Dan heard the story of a student at

one of the local Colleges. This guy's family had learned

that their son was gay and had disowned him. This also meant

the end of financial support, consequently the end of college

for him.

The kid was a good student with the potential of a brilliant

future, but now couldn't continue his education. Dan thought

that was a real shame and decided to do something about it.

He called all of his friends and asked for our help. We all

kicked in a few bucks, and the kid was able to finish college

and go on to graduate school. The kid is no longer a kid,

but a very successful physician.

"Was he the only one you helped?" Eric wanted to know after I

told him the story.

"There were others, I don't know how many because Dan handled

the whole thing."

"I wonder how many guys and girls are in that same situation?"

"I'd be willing to bet there are hundreds, maybe thousands,"

I told him.

"I wonder how we'd go about finding them," he pondered.

"I've got a couple of suggestions," I said. "Talk to Dan,

for sure. Then, a lot of Colleges now have Gay Organizations

on Campus, they might be able help get the word out, and, you

could advertise in Local and National Gay Newspapers."

"I think it's a great idea, something we could do relatively

fast, and I believe, fill a real need. There'd have to be a

thorough screening process to make sure students really

needed help and not just looking for a free ride.

"Let me talk to George, see what we can come up with."

\- - - - -

This time, when we had our monthly "meeting" with all of our

top people, instead of seeing them separately, we got them

all together at the same time. My idea was that this would

give them all an idea of what other segments of the business

were doing, and promote working together.

It wasn't formal, no conference table, everyone gathering in

the comfortable conversation area of my office. Since

Metalco, Hydra, and Lundborg Rush were all "family" owned,

they were all invited, even George Wilson from the Railroad

joined us. It was quite a crowd.

Bill got things started. "Since we don't have a 'Head' of

Rush Properties, I'll report on that. By the way, Eric,

could you help me on that when you get back?" Eric nodded.

"Revenues are fairly flat," Bill continued, "but at a high

level. Reserves are growing, and we now have enough set

aside to cover seven months' service on our $16 billion debt

if revenues were to stop entirely. It may be time to consider

expansion, but I'll leave that up to Annie."

"I've got some ideas," Annie said. "I want to do a little

more research before I present them, though."

From there, we went around the room, each Executive reporting

on what was happening in his area of responsibility. Quite a

few questions were asked, and many areas where cooperation

would be beneficial were found.

The only real "news" was about our entry into the Plastics

business and it was discussed at length. Neil had most of

the answers, and when he didn't, admitted it.

In three hours, everything was covered. I was "up" last and

told everyone that Eric and I would be gone most of the month

of April and that I felt everything was in most capable hands.

After the meeting broke up, George Wilson came over. "I knew

we were part of a large organization," he said, "but I had no

idea of the scope of it. This was most enlightening."

\- - - - -

Departure day was approaching and I'd never seen Eric so

excited. He packed and unpacked, made constant runs to pick

up something he'd forgotten.

We limited ourselves to two pieces of luggage apiece, putting

a small one inside a larger, third empty one so we'd have a

place for our "treasures".

The Gulfstream was taking us to Rome, nonstop, and we would

continue from there to Cairo on Alitalia. The flight to Rome

would take around 10 hours, and we were both prepared. Eric

picked up several movies that we hadn't seen and I brought

along a couple of trashy books. We also intended to get some

sleep. The plane carried the crew that Sam had determined

appropriate for overseas flights - three pilots and a steward.

Darren, our Steward, was another of Sam's "finds". A very

pleasant young guy that was attentive to our needs, but made

it clear that we could have privacy if we wanted it. Eric

was so jittery with excitement that I didn't think we'd need

any.

He put in a movie but couldn't hold still long enough to

watch it, and changed to music. Sitting next to me, he

finally admitted how excited he really was. "Everyplace

we've been, up until now, has been pretty 'western', this is

the first time I've ever gone anyplace that's really

'foreign'," he said.

"It's definitely different," I agreed. "The Moslems are a

wonderful people, the Egyptians in particular. I describe

them in one word - Gentle."

"I've tried not to build expectations," he said, "so I

wouldn't be disappointed."

"This is one time that whatever your expectations are, they

won't even come close to reality," I told him. "No books,

movies or TV shows can prepare you. Everything is more than

you could ever imagine." He grinned in anticipation.

The atmosphere was informal, Darren talked with us, and Ron

and Jason came back to talk too. The third pilot was a new

one, and bashful, according to them, and we didn't see much

of him. Altogether, I think we got 3 or 4 hours of sleep.

As soon as our plane came to a stop, an Alitalia Van pulled

up. Our luggage was transferred, and we were driven directly

to their plane since regular boarding was ready to begin.

Usually I got the window seat but this time I insisted that

Eric take it. I wasn't sure how light it'd be when we got to

Cairo, but I wanted Eric to have his first glimpse of the

Pyramids from the air if possible.

Eric squirmed for the next five hours. I was as excited as

he was. This would be my first trip to Egypt WITH someone,

and with that someone being the man I loved, it would be an

immense thrill to me to show him all the wonders that I so

dearly loved myself.

As we circled to land, Eric jumped clear out of his seat. I

joined him at the window and could see the Pyramids below in

the dusky light. By now, he was on the verge of

hyperventilating with excitement. "Oh My God," he kept

repeating.

In the terminal, I got us a cart so we could collect our

luggage. While standing in line at immigration, I saw a guy

behind the barrier waving a sign that said "RUSH". That had

to be either our driver or guide.

We got our passports stamped and sailed right through. Ali

was our guide, and pushed our cart on out to the parking lot.

"See, I told you," I grinned at Eric as we piled into a 20

year-old Mercedes. "This sure ain't no attention getter!"

On the ride into downtown, Eric got his introduction to the

way Egyptians drive. Insane is the only description.

Eric wasn't missing a thing, pointing out things which Ali

identified for us. As we got into downtown where traffic was

moving a lot slower, Eric grabbed me. "Did you see that?

Two guys were walking holding hands... There's another one!"

We stopped at a light and two guys in military uniforms,

automatic rifles slung over their shoulders, and their arms

around each other, crossed the street in front of us. Ali

turned around from the front seat and explained to Eric that

Moslem men had no problem with showing their affection for

their friends. Now, if Eric and I were to do the same thing,

it would be frowned upon.

Eric also saw his first galabayas. "Those DO look

comfortable," he said.

Our room at the Semiramis Intercontinental overlooked the

Nile. It was on the 6th floor with a big balcony, high

enough to see the surrounding city, but low enough so that

the sounds from the Corniche below could be heard. I'd asked

for this because I wanted to get the full flavor of the city.

We laughed about having to do our own unpacking, Jacques had

us spoiled to the point where we had forgotten how to take

care of ourselves!

Arm in arm, we stood at the balcony railing in the warm night

air. Cairo had a definite "smell", one I'd never found

unpleasant, and I was happy that Eric felt the same way. It

was just "different".

He was itchy to do something, so I suggested that we go down

to the lobby and exchange some dollars for Egyptian Pounds.

We wandered through the shopping arcade. In addition to

Egyptian crafts there were a lot of Western shops, and

everything had "tourist" prices. We'd do our shopping at

the Bazaar.

It was relatively early, but after going through eleven time

zones, we were ready for some sleep. "First lesson," I told

him, going to the little refrigerator. "Don't drink anything

that isn't bottled. Here's a bottle of water to brush your

teeth with."

\- - - - -

Ali was waiting for us when we got out of the elevator.

"What's on the agenda for today," Eric asked him.

"The Pyramids," he said, with a wide grin.

Eric looked at me, his eyes sparkling and a huge grin.

As we drove to Giza, there were glimpses of the tops of the

Pyramids. As we got closer their size began to sink in.

Even though I'd seen them many times, I still got chills when

I saw them. I could just imagine the awe that Eric was

feeling.

We parked in the lot between Chefren and Cheops. We got out

and just stood and stared. "I never expected..." he said.

"I told you that nothing could prepare you."

We walked over to Chefren's Pyramid, Ali following. Up

close, the size of the individual blocks of limestone began

to sink in. Ali started his spiel. It was obviously

memorized, delivered in a monotone, and even if the content

was interesting, his presentation was awful. We listened for

about ten minutes, then I interrupted him.

"Ali," I said, "can you just tell us the facts and leave all

the other stuff out?"

"I'll try," he said rather unconvincingly. This guy had to

go, I thought to myself. I didn't want Eric's introduction

to something so exciting to be presented in such a dull,

pedantic way.

He continued his dissertation, catching himself when he

wandered back to his canned monologue. That, if anything,

was worse than before. This was getting to become a

distraction, so I pulled Eric along with me and told Ali we'd

be back.

"That guy's pretty bad," Eric giggled.

"Don't worry, we'll have a better one by tomorrow," I assured

him.

We wandered around, talking about what we were seeing,

marveling at the immensity of it all. We climbed up a few

levels on the face of Chefren's, the second largest, and

looked over at Cheops', the largest. Mostly, we were silent,

just taking the whole thing in.

"Have you ever climbed one of these?" he asked.

"That one," I said, pointing at Cheops'. "It's illegal, now,

but if you want to, we can."

"Oh God, yes!"

"I'll make the arrangements tonight when we see Nasr," I

said. "See that corner over there," I pointed. "That's about

the only place where it's safe to go up. See all the stone

that's sluffed off everyplace else? They've cleaned up that

corner so you won't slip off."

We wandered back to where Ali was waiting. He told us that

it was time for our tour inside Cheops' Pyramid, and that he

wouldn't be going with us, thankfully.

We lined up at the little entrance. Only a few people at a

time were allowed in, and you had to have tickets which Ali

produced. The ramp went downward. There were cleats on the

wood flooring and handrails so that while walking almost bent

double, it wasn't that difficult. Then, the ramp angled

upward, ending at a horizontal passage.

There was a side passage to the King's Chamber that we

explored. Actually it wasn't much. Back, the main passage

led to the Grand Staircase. This was truly spectacular, the

corbeled passage rising 30 or 40 feet above our heads with

dramatic lighting. We took our time ascending, taking

everything in. We stopped to take pictures of each other,

and another tourist took a picture of us together.

At the top was the Queen's Chamber. The entrance was only

about three feet high and we had to crawl through. It was a

large room made of enormous pink granite blocks fitted so

perfectly that you couldn't get a razor blade between them.

We looked around. A lidless sarcophagus, carved out of one

piece of rock, was at one end, the only thing in an otherwise

bare, unadorned room. I went over to the wall, squatted

down, and just sat there absorbing the "aura" of this ancient

place, Eric right beside me. Soon, his arm crept around my

waist and I moved closer to him. We totally ignored the

stares that we got.

Reluctantly, we got up and retraced our steps back to the

sunlight. Ali met us, and we drove over to the building

housing the "Solar Boat."

He joined us for the tour, babbling incessantly, and I

finally asked him politely to stop talking.

From there, we wandered down to the Valley Temple, then over

to the Sphinx. Eric's first remark on seeing the Sphinx was

"Somehow, I thought it'd be bigger!"

"Those were my exact same thoughts the first time I saw it,"

I told him, laughing.

Ali was trying to hurry us back to the car, another "no-no"

as far as I was concerned. When we were good and ready, we

obeyed.

"We'll come back by ourselves," I whispered to Eric.

On the way back to the hotel, Ali tried to drag us into a

"Papyrus Institute", and when we declined, tried again at a

"Perfume Bottle" place. I knew that he'd get a percentage of

whatever we spent, but I wanted to take Eric to the really

good ones.

At the hotel, I took Ali aside and explained that we wouldn't

be needing his services any further, and gave him a very

generous tip. We did, however, want to keep the car and

driver for that evening, and those arrangements were made.

The first thing I did when we got to our room was call Nasr.

I told him about the crappy guide we'd gotten, and he had an

immediate solution. He'd give us the details that evening

when we came to his house for dinner.

We sat on the balcony sipping from our water bottles. "Tell

me about Nasr," Eric requested.

"I met him quite a few years ago," I told him. "He's a very

successful businessman, but I don't know exactly what he

does, and he's very 'well connected' in Government circles.

Whenever you want anything 'done' you call Nasr."

"Is he gay?"

"Some Moslem men live by the philosophy that women are for

childbearing and men are for love and pleasure. That's

Nasr. He's married but I've never seen his wife. Remember,

in the Moslem world, the donkey ranks higher than females do.

"I don't know if he has a lover, but he knows I'm gay. I do

know that he's a wonderful friend, and I'm sure you'll enjoy

him as much as I do. And, no, I've never slept with him."

\- - - - -

I gave our driver Nasr's address. I was prepared for what

we'd find there but Eric wasn't. The big wooden door was set

into a dirty plastered wall. The street itself was strewn

with trash. I banged the door with the big ring hanging on

it and waited. A moment later it opened and I ushered Eric

inside.

We found a cool garden, fountains bubbling with orange and

lemon trees around them. We followed the servant who'd

opened the door on into the house. The interior was like a

scene from the Arabian Nights.

Nasr was standing there, a huge smile on his face. "Welcome

to my humble abode," he said in perfect English, then stepped

forward to take me in his arms for a hug and kiss on each

cheek.

"This is Eric," I said proudly. Nasr offered his hand and

when he collected Eric's in his huge paw, added a second hand.

"Shame on you, David," he said seriously, "your description of

this man was criminally understated. Now, I've seen

perfection!"

I smiled and Eric reddened.

"Come," he said, leading us further into the house. We ended

in what I knew to be Nasr's favorite room. It was dimly lit

with candles and furnished with low couches, hassocks and

pillows. Art was everywhere. In the center was a large, low

round brass table.

He motioned for us to sit, Eric looked at me for direction,

I smiled and lowered myself into a semi-reclining position.

Eric followed, but stayed real close to me.

A servant entered with a tray of drinks. "The only place in

Cairo where you can find good Scotch," Nasr chuckled.

We raised our glasses to our host then sipped. "This is one

of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen," Eric spoke up.

"It's my favorite in the whole house," Nasr said. "It's a

wonderful place for conversation, sharing food, and I like to

make love here too, something you two should try while you're

here."

"Now, tell me about your guide," he continued.

I told him about Ali, his canned speech, and how bad he'd

been.

"Some are like that," Nasr agreed. "That will be changed

tomorrow. I've got the best guide in Cairo for you. He's

interesting and knows his stuff. He'll stay with you for the

rest of your trip."

About this time, a young man walked in. "Ah, Adel, do you

remember my good friend David?" Nasr asked, rising.

"Barely," Adel said, "I think it was a long time ago."

We also rose to shake hands. "This is Eric, David's lover,"

Nasr continued with the introduction.

"And partner," I added.

Adel was one of the most striking young men I'd ever seen in

my life. Tall, slender but with broad shoulders, and a face

that would immediately make him a top model or movie star if

he tried. His almond shaped eyes were so expressive, and

his smile was contagious. The only way to describe him was

"beautiful" but definitely masculine.

Nasr, noticing me looking his son over, commented "Isn't he

gorgeous? I'm so proud of him. His boyfriend is almost as

goodlooking, and from what Adel tells me, has the biggest

dick in the Middle East!" he chuckled.

Adel didn't seem to mind his father's frankness, and

continued to give us that gorgeous smile.

"Adel," Nasr said, "why don't you take Eric on a tour of the

house. David's seen it before."

Eric and Adel rose and took off.

"You are a lucky man, David," Nasr said. "I can see the love

in both of your eyes. He is good for you."

"I'm happier than I've ever been in my life," I told him.

"I can see that."

I went on to ask about my two favors \- the Pyramid climb and

access to the Ark chamber in Luxor on the 12th."

"Gamal, your new guide, can arrange for you to climb the

Pyramid," he said, "just ask him. For the other, I will make

some calls and let Gamal know who to pay. It will be

expensive, a lot of people will require 'baksheesh', but I

don't think that'll be a problem for you," his eyes

twinkled. "Gamal will handle that for you too."

Adel and Eric returned, chatting and laughing like they'd

been friends since childhood.

We had another drink and talked while servants began filling

the brass table with food. The table was soon covered with

delicacies, barely leaving room for our plates.

Thank God Eric wasn't squeamish. Some of the dishes looked

REALLY exotic.

Sitting on hassocks, we took our time eating. In fact, we

spent several hours at it, then reclined on the couches and

pillows to continue our conversation. It was the wee hours

before we said goodnight.

\- - - - -

The late hour hadn't phased Eric. He came out of the bathroom

sporting one of the stiffest hardons I'd ever seen on him,

sticking almost straight up and begging for attention. "It's

been three days," he pleaded.

He got no argument from me! I pulled him over to the bed and

took that beautiful throbbing thing in my mouth, my own dick

rising to the occasion. God he was hard! What I really

wanted was to have him inside me, and made that clear by

letting go of his dick and rolling back on the bed.

With a gleam in his eye, he grabbed the lube and climbed on

top of me. His kisses were frenzied and I reacted

accordingly, wrapping my legs around him and humping upward.

He rolled off, and had me loosened in no time. His dick

followed, and I could definitely feel his steely hardness.

He bottomed out, pulled back, and on his first stroke, came

violently.

"Sorry about that," he grinned when he regained control. "I

couldn't help it. Ready for some more?"

I nodded, feeling him inside me as hard as ever. He started

the long strokes that drove me nuts, my feet locked around

him, pulling him into me on every inward stroke. The tempo

picked up a little and he changed position so that his dick

was raking my prostate on every stroke. I reached the edge

but he wouldn't tip me over, holding me suspended to the

point where I wanted to scream. He reached between us and

took my dick in his hand then leaned forward to lock our lips

together, then tensed up and pushed us both over. It was so

intense that I totally blacked out.

We stayed locked together until he softened completely and

fell out. He must've dropped a couple of huge loads because

I could feel his cum running down my leg.

\- - - - -

Gamal walked up to us as we got out of the elevator, saying

he recognized us from Nasr's description. His car was a

newer Mercedes in better condition than the last one, and his

driver was friendly but didn't speak any English.

Gamal suggested that we visit Saqqara that first day, then

discuss the rest of our sightseeing that evening. Fine with

us.

We started at the Mere-Ruka Mastaba, then on to the little

Pyramid of Teti. The Serapeum, with its massive sarcophagi

for mummified bulls was exciting to both of us, and we spent

several hours touring Zoser's Step Pyramid and the area

surrounding it.

Throughout the day, Gamal's commentary was knowledgable but

informal, telling us what we needed to know so we would

understand what we were seeing, but without any long

lectures. He didn't rush us, and whenever we asked, left us

alone to contemplate and soak up the ancient splendors. He

was exactly what I'd wanted in the first place.

On the way back to the hotel, I requested that we stop at one

of the "good" galabaya shops so Eric and I could get

outfitted.

That evening we agreed on what we'd see for the rest of our

stay in Cairo. The Pyramid climb was set too.

The minute Gamal was out the door, Eric was undressing to try

on his galabaya. He looked sensational, but hell, he looked

great in anything he wore. "This feels so good," he said,

"lots of ventilation, but it's a cinch I'm gonna wear

underwear. These things are semi-transparent!"

"Come here," I asked. When he stood in front of me, I

started playing with his dick through the fabric. He

responded quickly. "THAT could be another problem," I

laughed as I looked at the huge protrusion in front of him.

"And, I promise to play with you every time you're wearing

it."

"Asshole," he grinned, "I know you would, too."

"Damned right I will."

"I forgot to tell you last night..." he said, "Adel invited

us to join him and his boyfriend to go to some 'interesting'

night clubs with them. Wanna go?"

"Sure, might learn something," I said.

\- - - - -

We spent the whole next day at the Egyptian Museum. Gamal

was a perfect guide, pointing out the important things and

giving us a brief background. The Tut exhibit was the most

fascinating. We spent more than an hour in the "Gold Room"

where the gold face mask and mummy cases were displayed. In

my opinion, it was a crying shame that they were so poorly

exhibited.

The following day we started with a tour of the City, and

ended up at the Khan al Khalili Bazaar, one of my favorite

spots.

Gamal left us alone to wander and shop. Eric saw something

he wanted and paid the asking price. For that, he got a

lecture. "You never pay what they ask," I told him. "They

expect you to haggle, and usually settle for around 30 to 40%

of what they first ask. Don't worry, they won't sell at a

loss. Watch me."

I spied a T-Shirt shop. Those were always great gifts to

take home, so I went over and took a look. They were good

quality, interesting designs, so I asked how much. "30

pounds," I was told.

"I'll give you 5," I told him. He acted insulted, so I

walked away, Eric following.

A minute later, the guy had me by the arm. "Fifteen pounds,"

he said, "my best price!"

"Five," I said and continued walking, dragging him along.

"Ten pounds," He countered. "How many do you want?"

I shook my head. "Five pounds," I said again, not budging

and still walking.

"Eight," he shouted. We were getting closer.

"Seven," I said. He moaned and rolled his eyes skyward, but

led us back to his shop. I picked out the ones I wanted and

paid for them.

"Unbelievable," Eric said, shaking his head. "What's your

secret?"

"Decide what you want to pay then stick to it. Don't move up

until they're almost there or walk away. There's lots of

shops selling the same stuff, so if they walk away, you'll

know you're too low and can move up a bit at the next one."

We found a goldsmith and ordered gold cartouche pendants for

everybody back home, after haggling, of course. They'd be

ready in an hour or so.

Eric caught on to the haggling real fast. I believe he

bought a lot of stuff just to try out his new-found talent.

We stopped for mint tea and a puff or two on one of the huge

hookahs that were offered. I'd seen a couple of Ushabtis

that I wanted for my collection, so we went back to get them

and collect our cartouches and buy gold chains for them.

Promising each other that we'd come back, we found Gamal and

headed back to the hotel, toting all of our "treasures."

Eric had been in touch with Adel, and they were coming to

pick us up after dinner. Neither of us had any idea of what

to expect, but we were game to try most anything.

Adel and Khalid met us in the hotel lobby. They were both

wearing galabayas, and insisted that we go back and change

into them too. "Easier," Adel enigmatically explained.

The four of us piled into a taxi, an ancient Toyota, with

Eric, Adel and me in the back seat, Khalid riding shotgun.

Nasr had been right. Khalid WAS gorgeous. He wasn't as

slender as Adel, but you couldn't tell much in the galabaya

he was wearing, but he was incredibly handsome.

When we got to wherever we were going, Adel took over,

talking to the doorman in rapid-fire Arabic. With a lot of

bowing, we were led to a large, dim room. There was a small

stage on one side, and on the other side were deep alcoves,

the center of the room was piled with pillows interspersed

with small brass tables. It wasn't crowded, but many of the

pillows were occupied by lounging Arab men.

We went to an alcove directly opposite the stage. "Make

yourselves comfortable," Adel suggested, and started

arranging pillows. It took Eric and me several tries before

we got comfortable, stretched out in our favorite position,

spooned together with his crotch against my butt. "Good

thing I wore jockeys," he whispered, humping me gently.

"You can't hide an elephant under a handkerchief," I giggled

back.

The first surprise was our waiter, a young guy, about 16 or

17, I'd guess, totally nude. "Nice, huh," Adel said, as he

reached up and fondled the cock in front of him that was more

than six inches long totally soft. "I'd recommend tea or

Coca Cola," he continued, still stroking the guy, "the booze

here is pretty bad."

When he returned with our Cokes, he also put small pipes in

front of each of us. I picked one up and looked at Adel

questioningly. "Excellent hash," he explained, handing me a

lighter. "Makes you super horny."

Our waiter reappeared, this time with an armload of towels

which he put on the carpet in front of us. Before I could

ask, Adel explained. "Cum towels," he said matter of factly.

"You'll need them."

"What're the rules here, or are there any?" Eric asked.

"No fucking," Khalid said, "that's for the stage only.

Anything else is OK."

Eric and I discussed whether or not we should try the hash,

and decided to give it a try. I took one of the pipes and

got the little lump fired up. I took a puff then handed it

to Eric. We each had a couple of puffs then put it away.

Adel and Khalid were watching us with big grins. It didn't

take long before I felt a warmth spreading all through my

body. Eric was feeling something too because I felt him

"growing" behind me.

"If you guys still have your shorts on, get 'em off or you'll

be in pain," Adel said, patting my crotch. We didn't waste

any time remedying that situation!

Before he resumed his position behind me, Eric pulled the

back of my galabaya up, and the front of his down so we were

skin to skin. I leaned back and we had a long, passionate

kiss. When he settled down, his hand was over my hip holding

my dick.

The music started, the lights in the room got even dimmer,

and lights on the stage came up.

I love Eastern music. This was Belly Dancing music, but the

dancer who shimmied on stage sure didn't have a belly! He was

a tall, muscular guy, wearing a belly dancer costume minus

the tittie covers. His undulations were sensuous, and the

g-string under his jangling belt seemed ready to burst. Eric

squeezed my dick and I humped back into him.

The guy on stage turned his back to the audience. When he

turned back, the g-string was gone and his semi-hard dick

hung halfway to his knee. His hips continued to sway and his

dick started to rise. It pointed down, then out, then

straight out then up to a 45 degree angle from his stomach.

Precum dripped which he collected and sucked off his finger.

He continued this until the music ended and the lights went

out.

I glanced over at our companions for the first time since the

show started. They had moved, now lying side by side, their

galabayas pulled up to their chests, and were stroking each

other right there in plain sight. Adel turned around. "What

do you think, so far?" he asked, still stroking.

"Hot!" Eric said, "but I don't know which is hotter... the

stage or right here."

"You like?" he chuckled, wagging Khalid's dick at us.

"Very nice," I said.

Khalid was pretty big all right, about 8+ inches, but really

thick. Adel looked longer but nowhere near as thick.

The show started up again. A couple of dancers in elaborate

costumes were doing a simulated battle with long sticks. I

wondered how they were going to manage getting out of all

those clothes.

They battled for a while, then "magically" as one of the

sticks passed, a piece of clothing ended up on it. This

continued until they were both nude, two of the biggest cocks

I'd ever seen sticking straight out. They dropped the sticks

and continued the "sword" fight with their dicks. If the

dicks hadn't been so spectacular, it would have been

comical. As the music ended, they stood with each other's

dick in hand and bowed.

Eric pushed me on my back and dove on my cock. He pulled out

every trick he knew, and I had no control over the situation

at all. In minutes, I was tensing and feeding him my load.

I rolled over, yanked up his galabaya, got into position and

took him to the bottom. Not too many strokes later, I

started humming. That did it for him, blasting my tonsils

with tasty cream.

"That was awesome!" Khalid commented from behind me. "I

didn't think anybody could take a dick that big! How do you

do it?"

"Practice," I grinned.

"I wonder what it'd feel like," Khalid said, NOT saying that

he'd love for me to show him how it felt.

I looked at Eric who was grinning hugely. He nodded.

"Wanna find out?" I asked Khalid, crawling in his direction.

"Oh my God," he said, stretching out and spreading his legs.

I crawled between them and pulled his dick up from his

stomach. I licked my lips and took him in all at once. He

groaned loudly. I gave him a couple of strokes then a few

seconds of humming and pulled off. He lay there dazed.

"Want a try, Adel?" I asked.

"Oh Yes!" he answered.

I gave him the same treatment then moved back to Eric.

Noticing he was still hard, I went after him again. I sucked

him lovingly for a few minutes, then turned up the

pressure... One hand rubbing a tit and the other one up his

butt. This time it was an extra long double. He twitched

and spasmed, giving me load after load, stopped for a second

then did it all over again. He was slow recovering, and was

in my arms when he came to.

I glanced over and the two boys were 69ing. Neither one

could get much more than half in their mouths, but it seemed

to be working fine.

We had a couple more hits on the hash, and I felt the warmth

again. "Damn, I wish we could fuck," I said.

"Me too," he said, playing with my still-hard dick.

There were three more "performances". Each one got a little

raunchier, but nobody on stage had reached orgasm. We all

did, though, getting off at each break. That was a LOT for

both of us, but we were perpetually hard and ready to go.

All of the performances had consisted of imaginative methods

of removing clothing then adoration of the male member. It

had been hot, arousing, and we'd seen some of the biggest

dicks in captivity. None, however, that I'd be interested in

doing anything with except looking at.

The music started again and all the performers came on

stage. They were in various stages of arousal, some already

wearing condoms. "Anybody can go on stage and do anything

they want," Adel explained.

"I think we'll pass," I told him, "but it may be interesting

to watch."

The first "volunteer" got on his hands and knees in front of

one of the rubber-clad studs. The stud pushed the guy's

galabaya up to his shoulders and started pushing his

humungous cock in. We had a side view, and that cock, without

exaggeration, had to be a foot long. When he got it all the

way in, it only took a dozen long strokes before the guy

below was shooting all over the floor.

Others were getting fucked, and some were sucking on the

monsters in front of them. It was exciting, but I either

wanted my dick up Eric or his up me!

The boys agreed. They were ready to go. Eric and I put our

jockeys back on, and manhandled our dicks into position so

they wouldn't stick straight out. I noticed Eric pick up the

unfinished pipes then try to find a place to put them.

Galabayas don't have pockets.

At the hotel, we asked the boys in, but they said no. They

had some other "pressing" matters that needed attention.

The minute the door was closed, we both pulled down our

jockeys. It had been painful. One look at each other and we

both got the giggles. We looked like we were riding

broomsticks.

"Let's have a couple more hits of that stuff," Eric

suggested, "then I want you to fuck me until I can't walk."

"I'm ready, as you can see," I told him.

I don't know what that hash did to me, but I was unsatiable.

Eric had two huge orgasms while I was inside him, then

returned the favor. We made such a mess that we had to sleep

in the other bed.

Chapter 59

"Is this what a honeymoon is supposed to be?" I asked groggily

as I tried to wake up.

"Sure is," he answered, too damned chipper for that early

in the morning. "That was some night, wasn't it?"

"I've never felt so horny in my life. That hash is really

mean stuff! I think I'm still horny!"

"Me too," he giggled, poking my leg. "But, you know, that

was just pure unadulterated sex. Sure, it was great, but I

think I get more real satisfaction when we 'Make Love' only

once a night."

"I see what you mean," I agreed, "but I still need to get

that itch scratched that's way up inside of me. Get over

here and make love to me!"

"Yes Sir! Gladly Sir!" he said grinning.

\- - - - -

Gamal took us to the Camel Market and then dropped us at the

Bazaar. To be honest, we were both exhausted but neither

would admit it. That didn't slow down our haggling and

buying, though.

After taking an afternoon nap, I was hungry for some beef,

something we hadn't eaten in over a week. "But where?" Eric

asked.

"There used to be a restaurant over at the Ramses Hilton that

had beef," I told him, "let's see if it's still there."

The Ramses was next door so we walked, having dressed in long

pants for the occasion. It was still there, right off the

lobby. We checked the displayed menu, they had beef, and

waited to be seated. The Maitre 'd came up, stopped to look

at me, then cried out "Mr. David!" then rushed forward to

pump my hand. Miraculously, I remembered his name, Hassan,

and introduced him to Eric. They shook hands then Hassan

stepped back and looked Eric over from head to toe. He

looked back at me with a big smile and nodded his approval.

He seated us and recommended the Prime Rib.

"Why do I feel like I'm under a microscope?" Eric asked.

"Everybody seems to be inspecting me to see if I'm 'worthy'

of you."

"My friends are protective," I told him. "I guess they don't

trust MY judgment, which kind of pisses me off, but I know

they care."

"I don't really care, just so long as I pass muster. So far,

I guess I have."

"And how!" I said. "Have you noticed the drooling?"

"Let 'em drool, just don't touch."

"Did my antics last night bother you?" I asked.

"Hell no! You gave those two boys the thrill of a lifetime.

You were just showing off," he chuckled.

\- - - - -

The wakeup call came before dawn. It was our day to climb

the Pyramid. Gamal was waiting and we headed for Giza,

driving right up to the base of the Pyramid. Gamal jumped

out and we followed. Very subtly, wads of Pound notes found

their way from Gamal to the Arab "guards" standing around.

When he had concluded his business, he led us over to the

corner of the Pyramid.

"It usually takes about an hour to get to the top," he told

us. "It'll be daylight by then so you can see everything.

Please don't stay up there too long so you can get back down

before all the tourists arrive."

We took a long look, then started climbing. The layers of

stone were about chest high, so you had to reach up then pull

yourself up each course. It was hard work!

We were not the only ones doing the climb. Others were ahead

of us and some following. A pack of American teenagers

zipped past us. "Goddam kids," I muttered, getting Eric

giggling.

As it got lighter, we stopped to take pictures, then

continued. When we reached the top, it was light and a mob

scene. Everybody was taking pictures of everybody else. We

helped out, and had our pictures taken with our own cameras

individually and together with Chefren's Pyramid in the

background.

The scenery was spectacular from this height, the equivalent

of a 54 story building. We looked and took pictures. The

crowd was starting to go down, and when we found a spot

between groups, started back down ourselves. It was a

helluva lot easier going down than the climb up.

Back on the ground, looking back up, we were both awed.

After being up to the top, we were able to appreciate the

size of it, which made me kind of tingle.

Gamal, knowing of our previous bad experience, offered to

take us on a short tour. His commentary was a vast

improvement over Ali's spiel.

We hadn't taken a camel ride, something that was a must.

"Here's the drill," I told Eric. "These guys will agree on a

price, then, when you've had your ride and still up on the

camel, they'll ask for a lot more before the'll let you down.

My solution to that is to flip one leg over and just slide

down, then pay them the original price."

Gamal had been listening. "You've been here before!" he

chuckled.

"I see," Eric said, "They try to hold you hostage."

"Doesn't work on me," I told him.

We picked out camels with the most tassels and other

adornment to ride on. They knelt and we climbed aboard, they

stood up and the owners led us off. We took a pretty long

ride, snapping pictures of each other, hamming it up.

As predicted, when we returned to the starting point, the

price went up. I threw my leg over and slid down, and paid

the original asking price. I watched Eric doing the same.

Since we were already in Giza, where, in my opinion, some of

the better shops were, we went shopping. We went to a

Papyrus "Institute" and a perfume bottle store, buying a few

items at each, then on to a jewelry shop. Gamal advised us

that at these stores one didn't haggle, particularly the

jewelry shop.

I bought enameled wing gold Scarabs for all the ladies on my

list and Eric bought pendants and chains for all his buddies.

\- - - - -

It was time to pack up and head for Luxor. We packed all our

dirty clothes and "Treasures" in one of the empty suitcases

we'd brought and left it at the hotel.

We flew to Luxor, Gamal with us, and got settled in the

hotel. That afternoon we went to see Luxor Temple, then

checked out the Bazaar.

The next day was the 12th, the big night! Gamal assured us

that everything had been "taken care of" and I gave him the

baksheesh money. At that point, I was pretty sure that Gamal

had figured out that Eric and I were lovers, but I wasn't

sure if he knew WHY we wanted to get into the Ark chamber,

and I didn't think it necessary to tell him.

We spent the whole day at Karnak Temple, the largest

religious structure in the world. A lot of time was spent in

the Great Hypostyle Hall with its forest of enormous

columns, sitting and absorbing the grandeur.

Next was the Great Temple of Amun, an enormous structure, and

in it's depths, the Chamber of the Ark.

The chamber itself wasn't very impressive, just a square room

with a stone pedestal in the center. A modern wooden replica

of the "Ark" that had held the golden Statue of Amun was on

the pedestal, otherwise the room was bare. The blackened

ceiling showed evidence of the torches that had burned in

there over the millenia. Looking around, and knowing what

we'd be doing that night gave me goosebumps and a roaring

hardon.

The entire complex was too much to see in one day, so we only

hit the high spots. We'd come back and spend another day

there.

Gamal ate dinner with us and explained how things would work

that evening. There was a "Sound and Light" show at the

Temple. It was a "walk-through" of the entire temple complex

which we'd join. He had our tickets.

We would follow the crowd until we got to the Temple of Amun,

then hang back until they moved on. He, Gamal, would confirm

with the guards that everything was OK, then lead us to the

chamber and leave us there. Just to make absolutely sure

that we wouldn't be disturbed, he would wait for us outside

the passageway leading to the chamber.

He assured us that there wouldn't be any problems.

We had an hour to get ready.

We both wore shorts, T-shirts and sandals. We put the

battery powered lantern in a small back pack along with the

"Aromatic Oils" Eric had brought, and a small towel for

cleanup.

Instead of a taxi, Gamal had gotten a horse-drawn carriage.

I guessed that he knew more than I thought!

The ride to the Temple was romantic. The wait amidst the

crowd to get through the Hypostyle Hall and the main part of

the Temple of Amun was excruciatingly slow.

While we were listening to the descriptive lecture over

loudspeakers, in German, Gamal was scurrying around making

final arrangements.

Finally, finally, the crowd started moving on. Gamal led us

over to the Sanctuary, and we followed him through the other

chambers until we reached the Ark. "Take your time," he

said, chuckling, "We're paid up for the whole night."

I got the lantern out and put it on the floor pointing

upward. It gave the whole room a dim glow. Eric watched me,

then took me in his arms and kissed me lightly. "This is an

experience of a lifetime," he said quietly, then took off all

of my clothes and stood me next to the pedestal.

He stood directly in front of me oiling up his hands. I

smelled Sandalwood. He reached forward and enveloped my

half-hard dick with his warm hands. I rose quickly and he

stroked me slowly with both hands.

I looked into his eyes and saw the love there, then thought

about what was happening, and, more importantly, where. All

of these thoughts magnified the pleasure he was giving me. I

felt it coming and involuntarily tensed and started

shooting. It was intense, and there were so many things

going through my mind that my ejaculation continued and

continued.

I opened my eyes to find that Eric had moved to my side

because he wasn't covered with my cum as I'd feared. His arm

was around me, holding me up, thankfully, because I was

definitely sagging.

When I could stand unassisted, he got out the towel and

cleaned me up.

Still nude I took him in my arms and just held him. I pulled

his T-shirt up and started working on his shorts. "What are

you doing?" he asked.

"You're going to prove that you're fit to rule, too," I told

him.

His smile spread and he relaxed.

I finished undressing him and got the oil.

Standing in front of him, I enveloped him in my hands. He

was throbbing. I stroked slowly but firmly, the way I knew

he liked it.

Our eyes were locked, he had a slight grin, and when those

blue eyes started to glaze over, I moved slightly to the side

and sped up. He grimaced, stiffened and groaned as the white

ropes flew across the room and hit the floor with a splat.

I put an arm around his waist to steady him and we came

together with his arms around me, his head on my shoulder. I

felt a couple of aftershocks wrack his body.

When he was fully recovered and could stand on his own, I

wiped off the oil and the last "dribbles". Silently, we

dressed and he took the towel and wiped up the pools of cum.

We loaded up our stuff and "felt" our way back through the

passage.

Gamal was waiting for us, a smile on his face. "Everybody

pass the test?" he asked with a gleam in his eyes.

"With 'flying' colors!" Eric answered. Gamal knew everything.

We reeked of Sandalwood. It smelled good but was a bit

overpowering.

"Why'd you do that?" Eric asked as we were stripping for the

shower.

"That was MY plan from the beginning," I told him. "It was

easier not to say anything so I didn't have to argue with

you."

"Asshole! But I love you for doing it. I guess we'll have

to share the throne."

In bed, we discussed the feelings we'd experienced during our

little "ceremony". The love, the profound feelings about

history, and the awe that being in that particular place had

produced. Sex really wasn't a conscious part of the whole

experience.

\- - - - -

Over the next four days, we toured the Valley of the Kings,

the Valley of the Queens, saw the Colossus of Memnon, the

Ramesseum, the tombs at Deir el Bahri, and spent another half

day at Karnak.

Near the Ramesseum, we were approached by some local

villagers who had "Ancient Relics" to sell. The terra cotta

Ushabtis (Tomb figures) that they had "looked" authentic, and

the price was certainly reasonable, so, after a little

haggling, we bought all they had.

"I doubt that any of these are 'real'," I told Eric, "but you

never can tell. Hell, they're about the same price as the

reproductions I bought in Cairo."

"Why do you want so many?" he asked.

"I'll stop when I have 365. They're going to be my servants

in the 'Other World', one for every day of the year."

\- - - - -

"Disk full!" Eric announced one evening. "My brain's getting

overloaded with everything we've seen in the last few days."

"Save it on the Hard Drive," I kidded.

"Wish I could. I just need a little time to 'process'

everything."

"Things will slow down quite a bit when we get on the boat

tomorrow," I assured him.

\- - - - -

Riverboats that ply the Nile between Luxor and Aswan are all

pretty much the same. Big, flat bottom boats that usually

have four decks. The accomodations were much the same, some

a little nicer than others. The big difference, however, was

in the food they served. I had been on one many years before

that expected us to live on sliced cucumbers. I hated the

damned things and had damned near starved to death.

The one we were on had been highly touted for its "cuisine".

I was hopeful.

Our cabin was tolerable. Certainly not spacious, and

horrors! twin beds. We laughed about that and agreed to

"visit" each other.

We met Gamal on the upper deck. Eric went over to lean on

the rail. "Get away from there," I warned him.

"Why?" he asked.

"One of the Roman Emperors took his boyfriend for a boat ride

here on the Nile. I don't remember which Emperor, but the

boyfriend somehow ended up in the water and was never heard

from again. I don't want to take any chances!"

Gamal was laughing. "My Roman History is pretty weak," he

said, "but I remember the story," he said.

Most of the passengers had boarded several days ago and had

been using the boat as a hotel. Touring the Luxor area had

been a part of the cruise package. They were now coming back

from the day's touring. Mostly, they were students, with a

few prim and proper Englishmen thrown in.

We were lying on the deck lounges beside the tiny, tiny pool

when the horde descended, made up mostly of college girls.

Since we were the new "kids on the block" they came over and

introduced themselves, eyeballing us like a bunch of

Piranhas. It blew me away to be getting almost as much

attention as Eric.

Evidently none of them had given a thought to the fact that

two men who were traveling together might be "together" in

another sense.

"Should we duck and run?" Eric giggled.

"Why? I'm enjoying the attention!"

He sat up and looked at me seriously. "Don't I give you

enough attention?"

I grinned at him. "It'll never be enough, unless it's 24/7.

Be serious babe, 24 hours with them would be like 5 minutes

with you. Relax, I'm only teasing you."

"Dammit, I wish you'd tell me when you were."

"That wouldn't be any fun."

\- - - - -

Gamal joined us for dinner. We had three choices of entrees,

meat, chicken or fish. Our waiter didn't know what kind of

"meat" or what kind of "fish". At least I knew what chicken

was. Eric was daring and had the meat. At least there was

something other than those goddamned Cucumbers!

After dinner, everyone migrated into the "lounge". It had a

small bar, a dance floor and a DJ playing Disco music. They

evidently catered to the young crowd. We took a look around,

got soft drinks from the bar, and became wallflowers.

That wasn't to last. One of the gals we'd met by the pool

dragged Eric to the dance floor, and a couple of minutes

later this tall statuesque blond came over and brazenly

plopped down on my lap. She spoke perfect English with a

German accent. Her name was Gretchen.

"Left your wife at home, I see," she said, pointing at my

wedding ring. I just smiled. "Dance?"

"Too fast for me," I told her.

"We wait for a slow one," she said, squirming her butt into

my crotch. "I'll show you a good time," she continued,

winking.

This was getting out of control way too fast for me, so I

decided to level with her. "Gretchen," I said, "I'm gay.

That's my lover," I pointed at Eric.

"Oh!" she said, scooting off my lap to Eric's chair. "That's

OK, I love gay men. They have the most fun and are by far

the best looking! Do you mind if I stick around?"

"Not at all," I told her. The conversation turned to the

wonders of Egypt and how awful the guide the ship provided

was. "We figured that might happen, so we brought our own."

I watched Eric. The gal he was dancing with was coming on so

strong that it was comical. He saw me looking and winked.

He came over, sweaty and out of breath. I introduced him to

Gretchen and told him she was cool about "us".

He pulled up another chair and talked for a minute, then

excused himself saying he had to get something from our cabin.

Gretchen and I continued talking. She was very interesting

and knew her Egyptian history well.

Eric came back and danced a few more times. When he gave it

up, his last partner followed him to his seat and jumped on

his lap. "I don't even know your name," he said to her.

"Denise," she said in a whiney voice.

"Maybe I'd better clue you in," he said. "I'm gay and this

is my lover," he continued, patting my thigh.

"EEEEEK!" she screeched, jumping up like he had a contagious

disease. "Can't stand you fucking fags," and thankfully ran

off.

"That's disgusting," Gretchen said.

We talked a little more then decided to turn in.

Eric unlocked our cabin door and waved me in. The place had

been rearranged, matresses from the two twin beds were on the

floor, wedged between the nailed-down beds, all made up. I

turned to Eric who had a huge grin. "You do this?" I asked.

"Sure did. I can't stand to sleep in the same room and not

be able to touch you."

\- - - - -

In the early afternoon, we docked at Esna, then went to the

temple of Khnum in a fleet of taxis. After seeing Karnak, it

wasn't much. We spent an hour buying more T-shirts, then went

back to the boat.

The evening was a repeat of the previous night, but before

looking in on the Disco, Eric and I went up to the top deck

to look at the scenery we were passing. As the sun went

down, it was cooling off fast, so we went inside to warm up.

Gretchen and a few of her girlfriends came over and joined us.

We chit-chatted for a few minutes then Eric asked one of them

to dance.

"Aren't you a little bit jealous?" Gretchen asked.

"Not at all," I told her "I know where I stand. The thing

that makes me mad is that we can't dance together."

"No," she chuckled, "that'd raise even a few more eyebrows."

"I guess two men traveling together is suspicious," I laughed.

"Particularly when they're the two best looking men on

board," she said. "You two ARE a stunning couple, you know."

Then she launched into an interrogation about "us", all the

usual questions - how long we'd been together, how we met,

what kind of work we did, and so on.

When I mentioned that I had two daughters, she became

immensely curious, even moreso when I told her that one of

them would soon be marrying a German boy. She demanded to

know who.

"Germany's a big country," I told her, "I doubt you'd know

him," but she wouldn't give up.

"Hans Koenigsberg," I finally told her.

"Not Prince Hans Koenigsberg?" she said, awed.

"That's the one," I told her.

"Did you hear that?" she said to her friends. "Dave's

daughter is going to marry Prince Hans!"

"Aww darn," one of them said. "I've been in love with him

since I was a teenager. He's the country's heartthrob, you

know."

"They're not going to announce their engagement until June or

July, so it isn't official yet," I told them.

Eric came back. "I'm all sweaty," he announced. "Think I'm

gonna go take a shower."

"I'll be there in a few minutes," I told him.

I talked a few minutes with the girls then went down to our

cabin. Eric was just emerging from the tiny bathroom. I

shucked my clothes and stepped in. When I came out, he was

sprawled out on our lovenest on the floor, naked, and soft!

Lying next to him were the two little hash pipes, a lighter

and a bottle of lube. I reached back into the bathroom and

grabbed a towel.

"We're on our honeymoon, remember?" he chuckled. "We're

supposed to make love every chance we have!"

"Looks like you're ready to make a night of it," I commented.

"That's why I left early, I wanted to make a WHOLE night of

it."

I got into bed next to him and took him in my arms. Our

kisses were soft and gentle as we tried to hold back our

eagerness to make love. "I don't think we need these," I

said, pointing at the pipes and playing with his pulsing dick.

"After tonight, I'm throwing them overboard," he promised.

"I intend to get you off three or four times tonight, so,

think about it."

"Why not?" I grinned at him.

He lit up, took a couple of puffs then handed the pipe to me.

The stuff hit me hard, like before, and I couldn't wait to

start. He tried to push me on my back, but I wanted him

first. He sighed and rolled on his back in resignation, but

with a big grin on his face.

I rolled on top of him, kissing him really deeply. When we

broke for air, we were both already panting. I moved down

his body, kissing his chin and neck, detouring up to his ears

then down to his magnificent chest. I licked his nipples

then gently chewed on them, eliciting a moan.

On down to his hard stomach with my tongue, being careful not

to tickle him and break the mood.

I passed his dripping cock and went for his balls, tonguing

first one then the other, then got both in my mouth, rolling

them gently with my tongue. By now his moaning was

continuous.

I released his balls and worked upwards, lapping at the

underside of his dick until I reached the head. I forced

myself to go slowly because I wanted him in my mouth very,

very badly.

I took the head in. His precum was sweeter than usual,

goading me on. I took him in gradually until he was buried

in my throat. No tricks, no fancy stuff. I just wanted to

enjoy the feeling of consuming him and I wanted it to last.

My own dick was twitching and drooling from the oral

sensations I was feeling, and he approached the edge

quickly. I wasn't far behind. I backed off completely,

moving up to give him another kiss. He held me so tight I

felt like my ribs would crack.

I went back to his dick. I wanted a LOT more of that. It

was hard not to be overzealous. I loved his dick so much, I

couldn't get enough of it.

I finally let him cum. He just seemed to dissolve, twitching

and groaning and shooting and shooting.

I cuddled him while he came down. We kissed and shared his

generous load.

He looked at me and grinned. "I enjoyed that so much I

almost came, too," I told him.

"Don't you dare!" he said. "I want every drop."

He moved between my legs and traced my body with

feather-light touches with his fingers. Good thing, too. If

he'd used his tongue, I would have been long gone by the time

he got to my dick.

When he reached it, it was long and slow, taking me all the

way for the first time ever. I just laid back and enjoyed.

He took me to the edge just once, backed off, then let me

go. It was dreamy, I felt it begin at my toes, then envelop

me.

I awoke with his lips on mine, our bodies entwined, his hard

dick against my leg. "Want some more?" I teased, grasping

him.

"Lots," he laughed, "we've just gotten started."

I got us cokes out of the little refrigerator while Eric

fired up the pipe and we each took a few puffs. "Let's give

it a couple minutes to take effect," he suggested, snuggling

up to me.

I was soon back to full staff and eager for more. Eric

rolled onto his back, his legs hiked up. It was an

invitation I couldn't refuse.

I went in easily and smoothly. It felt so good, I guess to

both of us, that we groaned in unison, then started

laughing. "God, you feel soooo good," he groaned.

"So do you," I said, and started moving in and out. Moving

wasn't really necessary because his internal muscles were

doing a number on my dick.

His legs were locked around me, pulling me deeply into him,

my lips locked on his. I could feel he was getting close so

I sped up, pounding him hard. He spasmed and took me with

him.

I rested my head on his shoulder, feeling him still spasming

between us. He pushed me up so I could look into his eyes.

"I love you so much," he whispered. I shut him up with a

kiss.

I was temporarily sated, but I still wanted more. We sipped

our cokes and talked, then, when he saw I was hard again,

wanted to know what I wanted to do. I threw my legs in the

air. He got the hint.

When he entered me, it was in one slow stroke, all the way.

It actually took my breath away, leaving me gasping for air.

It felt so incredibly good. It got even better, though, and

it wasn't long before we were both bucking and shooting.

Eric recovered first, I looked up to see his smile and

sparkling blue eyes. I also felt that he wasn't softening

inside me. "More?" he asked.

I pulled him to me, "Oh God yesssss!" I groaned.

\- - - - -

Our next stop was Edfu. The Temple of Horus was the best

preserved Temple in Egypt. The soaring Pylon at the entrance

was spectacular. Too bad the Christians had defaced the

carvings on it.

We spent most of the day climbing all over the Temple, poking

into every nook and cranny as well as sitting and

contemplating the splendor of the place. It had gotten

warmer as we'd traveled south, and that day it was probably

well over 110 degrees, and our water bottles came in handy.

We got fresh, cold bottles of water and found a little shade

on deck and talked undisturbed. "About last night..." Eric

said apologetically, "I didn't mean to force that stuff on

you."

"I was a more than willing participant," I smiled at him.

"I just don't ever want you to think that I need some

stimulant to make love to you." He put his elbows on his

knees and leaned forward earnestly. "You, just you, is all

it takes for me. I don't think I've ever told you that I

love your body, your face, and the fact that I love your dick

goes without saying."

I leaned forward so I could look directly into his eyes.

"Your eyes tell me everything I need to know, even last night

when we were both buzzed. I see the love there, and have no

doubts. I've never felt more confident about 'us' or safer."

"I love you David," he said softly. I couldn't help myself,

leaning a little further to brush his lips with mine.

"Aha! The Lovebirds," Gretchen roared, making us both jump.

"Don't mind me!"

"We won't," Eric assured her. "Actually, we're on our long

delayed honeymoon."

The three of us talked for a while, all complaining about the

total lack of anything to do in the evenings. In reality,

there were three groups aboard - The giggly college kids,

mostly female, the Britishers who wouldn't deign to talk to

anyone but each other, and us, the outcasts.

"At least there'll be a little excitement tomorrow night,"

Gretchen said, "It's the Masquerade Party."

"Where's Jacques when we need him?" Eric moaned.

Gretchen looked at him questioningly, not understanding, so

Eric explained how he had dressed us on our Caribbean Cruise

and for the Masquerade Ball in France last Fall.

"And who is this Jacques?" she asked.

"He's our Butler and Valet all rolled into one," I

explained. "He runs our lives," I laughed, "but we left him

home on this trip, which he wasn't very happy about."

"We could wear our galabayas," Eric suggested. I quickly

agreed.

\- - - - -

Our stop the next day was at Kom Ombo to see the Temple

dedicated to the Crocodile Headed God Sobek. We were only

docked there for a couple of hours, then had the rest of the

day to kill.

We didn't need any more sun, we were both deeply tanned, and

it was too hot to just sit out in it, so we wandered the

ship. We ran into Gretchen in the lounge and she asked us if

we played bridge. "I used to, but it's been years," I told

her, then looked at Eric. He nodded sheepishly, "Yeah, I've

played a little."

"One of my girlfriends plays. We challenge you guys!"

Gretchen said.

I looked at Eric, he nodded, so we accepted.

Like so many other things about Eric, he totally surprised

me. Not only was he good, he was excellent. We played all

afternoon, slaughtering Gretchen and Elsa.

"You never told me you played," he said on our way to get

dressed for dinner.

"It never came up. You surprised me, too. Not many of the

younger generation know the game."

"Mom and Dad insisted that Ryan and I learn how to play, and

taught us," he said.

"They did a good job. You're damned good."

\- - - - -

After dinner, we got into our galabayas - the whole costume,

with the white head scarf and the golden "rings" to hold it

on.

It was the same as the other nights in the lounge. Nobody's

costumes showed any imagination, and the English were in

their usual attire, too goddam prissy to even try to

participate. I'd never been an Anglophobe, but this bunch

could change that.

A really, really ugly girl came over and asked me to dance.

I wasn't even polite, just roared "NO!" and headed for the

deck. The place was closing in on me.

I found the rail and leaned against it. "You OK?" Eric

said, his arm circling my waist.

"No," I admitted. "I'm in one of those moods where

everything pisses me off. Must be having my period."

"Lets grab a couple of chairs and talk," he suggested.

"No, please," I begged. "Just leave me alone, I'll get over

it. Go on back, I'll be OK, I promise," I pleaded.

Reluctantly he went back in.

I knew what was happening because it'd happened before. Out

of thin air and for no reason whatsoever, I'd get into one of

these moods. Anything and everything made me mad. All I

could see was the negative side of things and that irritated

me, and, all too often, I'd say something. That was the bad

part. In the past, I'd spent days or weeks apologising for

things I'd said that I really didn't mean.

The only solution I'd found was to isolate myself until

whatever it was went away. Sometimes a few hours,

occasionally days. Doing that kept me from making an ass of

myself and hurting those I truly loved.

I tried to relax and think positive thoughts. Unconsciously,

I started repeating my Transcendental Mantra.

I don't know whether it was ten minutes or an hour later when

I started surfacing. It was a slow process, yawning,

stretching and shaking myself back to full consciousness. I

felt immensely better, energized and totally rested. I took

my time, but was anxious to find Eric and explain. I didn't

want him to think I was a nutcase.

I walked back in, a smile on my face. Eric was talking with

the "girls" and when he saw me, jumped up, a look of

bewilderment on his face. I turned and he followed me back

outside, catching up and putting his arm around me.

"Let's talk," I suggested, leading him to a couple of deck

chairs.

"I'm really not nuts," I smiled at him, then told him about

what'd happened in the past and what happened earlier that

evening. He didn't interrupt.

He heard me out then knelt in front of me, taking my face in

his hands. "I've gotta admit you scared the hell out of me,"

he said. "I fully understand, but why didn't you tell me

about this before?"

"Since I haven't had one of these 'attacks' since I met you,

I forgot about them myself. It's also not easy to admit that

you have a weakness to anyone, particularly you, my love."

"Why? I wouldn't love you any less. In fact, I think I love

you more now, knowing that you're not perfect."

He scooted me over and sat beside me, his arms going around

me and pulling me to him. I put my head on his shoulder.

"Now I feel safe again," I told him.

\- - - - -

We awoke to bedlam in the hall outside our room. "What the

hell's going on?" Eric asked.

"Everybody's leaving today," I said. "The ones on the

'Package Tour' have to have their luggage ready to go early

so they'll have all day to 'see' Aswan, then catch a plane

back to Cairo tonight."

"What about us?"

"We'll wait til things quiet down, then move to the hotel," I

told him. "Gamal's taking care of everything."

"How do you feel this morning, really?" he asked, concern

showing on his face.

"I'm just fine," I told him, giving him a quick peck. "It

won't happen again for at least 28 days," I laughed.

"That your cycle?" he giggled.

"I know it's heresy, but I do believe that men have cycles

too. Certainly not as severe as women, but they may develop

slight hormonal imbalances on a regular basis - usually too

slight to even be noticed," I told him seriously.

"I'll mark the calendar," smartass said.

"Well," I said, "I went for over 3 years without it

happening, so maybe I've gone through menopause and it won't

happen any more! Last night, by the way, was the shortest one

ever. It usually lasts at least a day."

"Does that mean we can't have any kids?" smartass continued.

"Who knows? I think we should keep on trying, though."

\- - - - -

We went up to the bar for a cup of coffee and watched the

others filing out and into a line of waiting busses. Gamal

came in, asked if we were packed and ready, and told us to

meet him on shore, he'd be along in a few minutes with our

luggage.

We went directly to the Old Cataract Hotel and checked in.

This was the scene of Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile",

an elegant old place that had recently been restored and

modernized. Our suite overlooked the Nile and all the islands,

but we weren't much interested at the minute. We were both

in "Sightseeing Mode" after all the inactivity aboard the

boat.

Gamal was ready. We grabbed fresh bottles of water and were

off.

We were hot and tired when we got back. There was good

reason, the temperature that day had gotten up to 47 Celsius,

117 Fahrenheit. Gamal told us that from then on, we'd be

getting an early start and quit around noon to beat the heat.

A cool shower and we were ready to roll again. We had dinner

in the main dining room, a huge place with a soaring ceiling.

Following dinner there was a show. Belly dancers, whirling

dervishes and great music. "The cleaned-up version of what

we saw in Cairo," I chuckled to Eric.

After this, we walked to the Bazaar. It was substantially

cooler, but nevertheless hot. We each bought a couple more

galabayas to wear while we were there, and a few more

reproductions. Eric kept looking for a statue of Amun, but

there just weren't any to be found.

We settled into a rather grueling schedule: up early,

leaving the hotel by 7:00AM, sightseeing until early

afternoon, a dip in the pool until late afternoon, then

another sightseeing jaunt. There was a lot to see.

On our third night in Aswan, we took a felucca to the Oberoi

Hotel on Elephantine Island for dinner. These ancient

sailboats were everywhere on this part of the Nile. On the

trip back, we snuggled and looked at the stars. By the time

we got back to the hotel dock, we couldn't wait to get to our

room to finish what we'd started.

We were both excited about the trip to Abu Simbel. We left

Aswan early on the half-hour flight, arriving at the airport

in the middle of the desert soon after daylight. Busses

shuttled us directly from the airport to the Temple.

We walked around a couple of little hills, and there were the

Colossal seated figures of Ramses the Great's Temple, and

beside it, cut into a smaller hill was the Small Temple with

more Colossal figures of Ramses and his favorite wife

Nefertari.

Gamal led us inside, giving us information about the huge

interior chambers carved into the hill as we went along.

Everything, particularly the seated figures, were enormous,

but the remarkable thing was that both temples had been moved

from another location. When the Aswan High Dam was built,

Lake Nasser would have completely covered the Temple, so it

was chopped up and moved to higher ground. The "hills" were

hollow, actually a concrete dome that covered the interior

chambers.

When we had seen everything, we took the bus back to the

airport and flew back to Aswan.

\- - - - -

The flight to Cairo didn't take as long as going through

airport procedures. Gamal escorted us back to the hotel, and

we invited him up to our room. This was goodbye and we both

wanted to thank him and give him a well deserved tip. I got

an envelope out of the desk and stuffed some bills in it,

Eric did the same then we gave them to him.

"The next time we're here, I definitely want you to be our

guide again," I told him and got his business card as well

as his home address and phone.

He insisted upon coming back the next morning to take us to

the airport, but allowed us to use the car to go to the

Bazaar that afternoon and to Nasr's that evening unescorted.

We still had one suitcase that was only half full, so, at the

Bazaar that afternoon, Eric was determined to fill it.

Nasr's bash that night was a lot different from the last

one. Instead of a "family" get-together, all of the tycoons

in Egypt were there and we were the guests of honor.

Many business opportunities for us were discussed that I'd

definitely think about. I wasn't aware of the rapid

development of a middle class in Egypt that was hungry for

consumer goods - appliances and computers particularly.

This was, however, the first "business" that'd been discussed

on our entire trip, and, as usual, I relied on Eric to

remember names.

I pulled Nasr aside to thank him for all of his favors. He

wanted to know how our "night" at Karnak went. Evidently he

didn't know our real purpose for wanting to get in there, and

bluntly asked. I bluntly told him exactly why and what we'd

done. He was delighted that he'd been able to arrange it for

us.

"I lied," Eric admitted with a grin when we got back to our

room. "There was too much of that hash to throw out, and I

figured you wouldn't object to one more night of fun. Don't

worry," he held up his hand, "I'm not taking it home."

"OK," I told him, "only in Egypt, though, never at home. I

like that stuff just too damned much. It scares me."

"I agree," he said, "let's fuck."

Chapter 60

I was a total zombie when we got home. The jet lag didn't

seem to affect Eric, but it sure did me, and I wasn't in any

rush to get back to work and waited for our monthly meeting

to learn what was going on.

The main focus was Tina's wedding. Even though it was a few

weeks away, taking care of all the details had reached a

frenzied pitch. Of course, I wanted to know everything.

About the only thing I was worried about was Georgia. Tina

had made a trip to Indianapolis to talk to her, and reported

that she'd calmed down a lot and had promised to "behave".

That sounded good and all, but I didn't trust her. She was

capable of anything.

When Eric and I talked about her later, we agreed that it'd

be best if I stayed as far away from Georgia as possible.

"Dammit," Eric said, "this is going to be Tina's big day and

I'm not going to allow Georgia to mess it up, even if I go to

jail for kidnapping."

"God, I hope it doesn't come to that," I told him.

"Maybe we could slip her some Prozac," he giggled, "or,

here's an idea: Get some of her friends to kind of control

her if she gets out of hand, have either Annie or Tina talk

to them."

"That might work," I agreed. "Let's look at the core of the

problem. Me. Georgia hasn't been able to accept any

responsibility for our marriage falling apart. It's all my

fault, I'm the dirty sonofabitch, and then I turn out gay,

which she considers the ultimate insult.

"The problem is that she won't move beyond that, build a new

life, have fun, accomplish something. No, all she does is

sit and feel sorry for herself, making herself and everybody

around her miserable."

"Maybe since the focus is on Tina and not you, she'll act

differently," he said.

"I hope you're right, but you've seen Georgia in action! We'll

work it out, though," I told him.

\- - - - -

Late Friday afternoon, Dan called and asked me to join him

for Happy Hour. Eric was NOT invited, so that meant that Dan

had something serious to talk about.

Eric was a bit miffed when I told him, but I explained that

Dan had been there for me, and I'd sure as hell be there when

he needed somebody to talk to.

The bar had a patio where the tables were far enough apart

that we could talk without fifty people hearing every word.

Also not dark and smoky.

Dan was one of my oldest and closest friends. Nothing we had

discussed over the last 25 years had ever gone beyond the two

of us, so when he asked "How was Egypt," I felt free to

discuss some of the spicier things we'd done.

These were the preliminaries, the warmup to whatever Dan

really wanted to talk about. Finally, we got down to the

nitty gritty.

"I'm in love," he announced, "and I'm scared shitless."

"Why?"

"He's so young and so fucking gorgeous, and I'm just an old

fart who doesn't have anything to offer," he said sadly.

"That's crap and you know it," I told him. "You have a LOT

to offer, so get off that shit. Now tell me about this guy,

from the beginning."

"He came in to pick up a ticket. I make it a point to never

hit on customers, but this guy was so incredibly hot I

couldn't help but stare, and drool. A week later, he came in

again, and I was able to control myself and we talked a little

and ended up next door for a drink.

"Another week, another ticket, and this time we had dinner

together and ended up at my house. That was last night."

"Well, did you get laid?" I asked.

"Could've, but didn't," he said. "For some reason, I wanted

to keep that for a special occasion. Thankfully, he agreed.

But, now I'm a nervous wreck wondering if I scared him off."

"Remember," I told him, "Eric and I played games for a couple

of months. It was definitely worth the wait! Remember too,

a lot of guys like a little romance, not just a slam-bam

thank you Sam. What do you know about this guy?"

"Other than the fact that he's gorgeous and sure knows how to

kiss, he's smart, funny and just fun to be around. Oh, and

by the way, he's one of yours."

"One of my what?" I asked, not understanding.

"He works for you, he tells me. His name's Neil King," he

added with a grin.

"Ohmygawd! Gotta hand it to you, old buddy, you've got

excellent taste!" I told him, chuckling.

"You know him?"

"Eric and I hired him ourselves," I told him. "I don't know

anything about his personal life, except that he's openly gay,

but we're expecting him to be a star performer at work."

"He's new, then?"

"We stole him from Shell a couple of months ago. He'll be

here for a few months, then permanently stationed in Houston

running the Plastic factory that we're building."

"He told me that," he said. "That's a part I don't like.

Him in Houston and me here."

"If things work out," I told him, "don't do the long-distance

thing. It doesn't work out. Remember Tommy?"

"I certainly do! That asshole! If Neil and I do get

something going, I guess we can work something out."

"Does he know that you and I are old buddies?" I asked.

"No."

"Don't say anything," I suggested. "It might be a good idea

to keep us out of the picture."

"Any particular reason?"

"Just less pressure on him. No conflicts about pleasing his

boss or pleasing YOU."

"That's probably a good idea," he said.

"Most importantly, though," I told him, "is that you get over

any feelings of unworthiness. NOW! If I can handle a young

stud, you sure as hell can too."

"Yeah, you seem to be handling it OK," he grinned. "You only

look about 20 years younger and I've never seen you doing so

many things all at once. It looks to me like you guys'll

take over the world any minute!"

"Eric does that to me. I've never felt this way, or this

happy."

"He's the best thing that ever happened to you."

"I want a promise from you," I warned him. "I want to know

everything that happens with you and Neil. Call me."

When Eric confronted me with a "Well?" I was ready.

"Can't a couple of old farts get together and feel sorry for

themselves?" I asked.

"No," he said with a grin, "not unless I'm there. What're

you feeling sorry about?"

"It's not me, it's Dan. He's fallen for a young stud, hard,

and is going through the usual doubts and insecurities. He

just needed a Pep Talk. He'll be OK."

"I need to talk to Dan about that Scholarship Program," he

said, changing the subject. "George thinks it'd be a great

idea and has already done a lot of work on it."

"About all you have to do is find the ones who really need

help, then weed out the deadbeats," I told him.

\- - - - -

Officially, Rick and Tina hadn't yet accepted my offer of the

house. I knew otherwise, but they hadn't formally accepted.

The two of them surprised me, wandering casually into my

office. I think Rick still had some misgivings, but he put on

a brave face. "We're here to accept your unbelievably

generous offer," he told me, Tina grinning from ear to ear.

"We've picked out a lot, and I've been working on the plans.

It isn't going to be too big."

"I'm glad, guys," I told them. "This is something I wanted

to do. But Rick, why build small? You need lots of room for

all those grandchildren you guys're going to have. It'll

also be a 'demo' for your Architectural talent. Build big!

I can afford it."

"It's tempting," Rick said.

"Go for it! Before we go any further, though, there's another

surprise for you."

I grabbed the phone and called Eric, telling him that Rick

and Tina were in my office. He agreed to come right over.

After telling him that they'd accepted, he came straight to

the point. "Now you have a house," he observed with a grin,

"now you need a few things to put in it and around it. How

about finding the best Decorator you can and the best

Landscape Architect you can, unless you do that work too,

Rick, and put 'em to work. That's my wedding gift to you

guys."

Tina jumped up and gave Eric a big hug and a kiss on the

cheek. "Hope you're ready to spend a LOT of money," she

giggled. "I have expensive tastes!"

"Good. Let's see if we can't outspend your Dad," he told her.

Rick was sitting there looking stunned. First, I'd hit him

with a bigger house then Eric's gift was too much for the

poor guy. "I'm overwhelmed," he said. "Never in my life

have a seen such generosity. Thank you both more than I can

tell you."

"We did it because we WANTED to," Eric assured him.

"Any chance of getting the decorator that 'did' your

apartment in New York?" Tina asked Eric.

"If you want, and if you think you can control him," he

said. "Brucie's pretty headstrong and can be a real wildman."

The fire in Tina's eyes gave me no doubt that Brucie would

toe the line.

\- - - - -

Every one of our top people was on hand for our second

Monthly Meeting. It quickly became a quick report on progress

or anything new going on. Everything was going along

smoothly in all segments of the business, and new projects,

like Plastics were progressing on schedule. The meeting

didn't take long.

Then it was Bill's turn. "First of all," he said, "I want to

congratulate all of you on continuing these meetings outside

this room. We may be different companies, but we're all

under one ownership, Dave, Eric, Annie and Tina. By learning

what's going on in our other companies, we can all benefit.

"Metalco, in particular, has a problem. It's an ongoing

one and if we all work together, we can solve it. Even with

our investment in the new Plastics facility, our cash is

getting out of control. We NEED to find some good

acquisitions.

"I know, we could have worse problems, and this one,

hopefully, will never go away. Our aim is to put that money

to work, not let it sit idly. We need your help and

suggestions. There are no limits to the industry or size of

the targets. Tell us your ideas." He waved to me to go next.

"Along that line," I said, "our market is just about entirely

domestic. There's a whole world out there that we're very

capable of competing in. Lundborg Rush is taking a hard look

at World Markets, but everyone else should be, too,

particularly consumer products. I think we'll be very

surprised at what we learn, and I'm asking all of you to take

a hard look at these markets. Don't ignore the smaller, less

developed countries, either. Do what you can by next month's

meeting. Market research is cheap and we need to know what

our competitors are doing."

There were quite a few questions about the acquisitions which

Bill answered, and several for me on market research. After

the meeting, I talked to Bill and Jeff about including some

of their division leaders at our next meeting because they

were closest to the consumer market.

\- - - - -

Georgia announced her plans. She'd be arriving a couple of

days before the wedding and departing the day after.

According to Tina, she totally ignored all the preparations,

rather uncharacteristic, I thought.

It wasn't as chaotic as I expected. Tina was organized and

brought her talent for delegation home. Mary and Jacques

were kept busy but with a minimum of fuss. Eric and I

watched.

Every day or so, Tina would let us know who'd accepted

invitations and who'd declined. It looked to me like just

about everybody would be there, and she'd sent out more than

600 invitations. Wedding presents were arriving too. A big

table was set up in the family room to display them, then a

second table. Tina logged every gift in herself when she and

Rick opened them. I glanced at the loot, but planned to take

a closer look while they were on their honeymoon. Hell yes,

I'm a nosy old fart and I wanted to know who sent what.

The ceremony would be held at Rick's family's church

downtown, thankfully a big one, then the reception on the

back 40, including dinner. Sarah would arrive soon to

supervise the final touches.

Hans would also be there for the festivities, and would be

staying a while after.

The kids were going to the Caribbean on their honeymoon,

using our plane for transportation but had made all other

arrangements themselves.

One thing I wondered about was a pre-nuptial agreement. Tina

was already worth a lot of money and would be coming into a

lot more. It's a touchy subject and I avoided it as long as

possible. Actually, Tina brought the subject up. I listened.

"Rick was the one who wanted it," she told me. "I didn't.

You know, I'm in love and can't ever see anything going

wrong, but Rick made me face reality. Things can change, and

he wanted both of us to feel secure that should anything

happen, there wouldn't be a big knock-down, drag-out battle.

"Rick's doing rather well himself, so we both have a lot at

stake. We had a pre-nup drawn up and both signed it a long

time ago, so nobody has anything to worry about."

"It isn't very romantic," I agreed, "but in your position,

it's a necessity."

"I guess so. I just wanted you to know that it's all been

taken care of."

\- - - - -

One night after work, we met John the Columnist for a drink.

He hadn't pestered me about the promise I'd made him, but I

intended to keep my word.

Eric agreed, but also felt that we should establish ground

rules.

"And, what are the two sexiest men in town up to these days?"

was his opening comment. "Haven't seen you for quite some

time."

"We've been on our long-delayed honeymoon," Eric told him.

"Three weeks in Egypt."

John wanted to know all the gory details, but Eric gave him a

highly edited version.

"I wanted to talk to you about Tina's wedding," I told him.

"Are you still going to give me the story?" he asked.

"It's all yours, cameras and everything," I told him "with a

few restrictions."

"And, what can't I do?" he asked.

"This is Tina and Rick's day, concentrate on them. No

pictures of either Eric or me, and there may be some other

guests who don't want their pictures in the paper."

"And, who could possibly NOT want their picture in the paper

other than you two recluses?"

"I can think of a few," I told him. "Just get their

permission, if you would."

He told us that he planned to work with the paper's "Society

Editor" on the story, but would write it himself and had been

promised prominent placement. He considered the story news,

not gossip.

\- - - - -

Sarah arrived and everything went into high gear.

Then Hans. The place was filling up fast.

The wedding was on Saturday, the dreaded arrival of Georgia

was on Thursday. Annie got us all together to work out a

plan of action.

Annie would pick her up at the airport, take her to her

hotel, and get a "reading" on her disposition. Tina would

take her to dinner that night, Rick's friends were having a

bachelor's party for him.

Friday night was the Rehearsal and dinner, and Saturday

afternoon was the wedding.

The only times Eric and I would be in contact with her were

the Rehearsal and the Wedding itself. Now, If Georgia would

just cooperate, there wouldn't be any problems.

Sarah, sitting in on the planning session, had only one

comment. "Don't ignore her," she said. "Everybody likes

attention."

Thursday arrived and Annie went to the airport, not the least

bit happy about having to do it. When she got home, she

plopped down in the den with a dazed look on her face.

"I didn't think she could do anything that would surprise

me," Annie said, "but I just got blown away."

"What'd she do now?" Tina asked.

"She brought her boyfriend," Annie deadpanned.

"I didn't even know she had one," Tina said. "What's he

like?"

"Not a pretty sight," Annie answered. "He's a skinny, and I

mean REALLY skinny wannabe cowboy. Wears those tight, cheap

'Western' clothes that make him look even skinnier, and to

top it all off, he's a Bible thumper. Can't say a complete

sentence without at least one 'Jesus Christ our Lord' or

something like that. Mom said he's a Country Singer."

"Oh shit, why us?" Tina snorted. "How's Mom's humor?"

"She's like a giggly schoolgirl with a crush," Annie said.

"I don't think she's going to be the problem, Joe Bobby is.

By the way, forget going to dinner with them tonight, they're

'goin out to stomp' on their own."

Fucking wonderful! I thought to myself. Now we had a Bible

thumping redneck who was probably a homophobe on our hands.

Tina didn't deserve this! But then, Georgia never thought of

anybody but herself. Not much we could do, unfortunately.

The tension started building. Now, we had two unknowns who

might be capable of most anything. I just hoped that the

stress didn't get to Tina, in particular.

Eric and I discussed the situation. He was determined that

there wouldn't be any disruptions and offered to "take out"

Joe Bobby himself if he tried anything. We agreed to wait

and see how Joe Bobby behaved at the Rehearsal, and if things

looked bad, put a security detail on him for the wedding.

\- - - - -

We all assembled at the church for the run-through. It was

quite a crowd - all the ushers and bridesmaids along with

their escorts, and Rick's parents who I got to meet for the

first time. They were delightful, friendly people. Georgia

and Joe Bobby made a late, noisy entrance.

The Minister took charge. After getting everyone's

attention, the first order of business was getting the

families seated. Rick's mother would be led in and seated

with his father on their side of the aisle. Next would be

Eric on our side, then finally, Georgia and Joe Bobby, also

seated in the front pew on our side.

Georgia went ballistic. "I'm not sitting on the same pew

with that queer-ass motherfucker," she screamed, Joe Billy

nodding in agreement.

Tina stood up and walked toward her. "Then, Mom, you can sit

anywhere you like. Dad and Eric ARE sitting in the front

row. Case closed!"

"But I deserve to sit in the front row, I'm the mother of the

bride," Georgia wailed.

"In name only," Tina spat back.

"Can't we work out a compromise?" the Minister asked.

"I don't care what you work out," Tina told him, "but Dad and

Eric sit in the front row. That's final."

"Now just a minute," Joe Billy got into the act. "You Godless

faggots can't push this sweet little lady around like that!"

The minister had had enough. He gathered Georgia under one

arm and Joe Billy under the other and hustled them to the

other end of the church. A heated discussion followed.

"We'd better get a detail on them for tomorrow," I told Eric

quietly. "If either of those assholes start spouting about

'queers', THEY may need protection."

The Minister worked out a compromise. They would sit on the

front pew, but at the opposite end from Eric and Me.

The rest of the rehearsal went without any further problems.

The dinner following was another matter. We had a private

room at the restaurant. Tina and Annie saw to it that Eric

and I were seated at a different table than "them", but that

didn't work.

The Minister said Grace, and when he finished, Joe Bobby said

in a loud voice "I can't see how those Godless abominable

faggots can sit here and accept Grace in the presence of all

of us Godfearing Christians."

Not quite as loudly, one of Rick's ushers who I knew, and

knew was straight as an arrow, responded. "I don't know what

your problem is, buddy, but none of us want to hear your

comments. Shut up, please."

This only goaded Joe Billy on. He launched into a tirade on

"queers" that got totally out of control.

The Minister glanced over at me with a look of disgust. I

didn't know what to do and just shrugged my shoulders. He

rose and walked over to where Joe Billy was seated. "Sir,"

he said, "I believe that you're injecting an issue into this

occasion that has no place here. I ask that you drop it."

"What? You a queer lover?" he asked, then wanted to argue

scripture.

The Minister stopped him cold. "I'm not going to argue with

you, either drop it or leave."

Two of the ushers had stood to await his decision. When Joe

Billy started in again, they walked over and literally drug

the skinny little fucker out of his chair and headed for the

door.

The Minister wasn't finished. "Please understand one thing,

Sir, this type of outburst will not be tolerated in my Church

tomorrow. You will be swiftly removed if you try anything."

Joe Billy was propelled to the door, Georgia following,

screaming obscenities at all of us.

When he was again seated, the Minister spoke again, this time

to the whole room. "What you just saw was an example of what

Christianity is NOT. Shall we have a moment of silence, then

celebrate this happy occasion the way it should be

celebrated?"

\- - - - -

When we got home, it was a Council of War. Everybody was

furious. The girls ran Hans and Rick off for their own good,

not wanting them to know what we might do.

"That bitch!" Annie roared. "How could she do this to us,

bringing that pathetic 'thing' with her when she knew damned

well he'd raise hell?"

"She can spread enough grief by herself without any help,"

Tina added.

"I'll kill 'em both if they try anything tomorrow," Eric

promised.

I let them all rant for a while, then I suggested that we

calm down and look at preventive measures. In my opinion,

they wouldn't do anything at the church, the reception,

however, would be harder to control. I had some ideas, which

I presented.

They were drastic, but everybody listened attentively. When

I was finished, they all agreed that my plan would work. Most

important to me was seeing Tina's spirits lift visibly.

"You're taking a big chance," Eric said, "but I'm with you

every step of the way."

\- - - - -

Thankfully, Tina had not chosen formal wear for the guys. A

dark suit was all that was needed. While we were dressing,

Eric was laughing. "You're devious, you know," he giggled.

"The big question is whether we can pull it off and not get

into serious trouble."

"If anybody can, Bob can."

Sarah rode to the church with us, still a little apprehensive

about what Georgia and the hick would pull. We reassured her

as much as possible without telling her what we had planned.

Hans met us on the front steps and went in with Sarah.

They'd be seated in the second pew, right behind us. Eric

had to wait to be seated, and I, of course, would bring Tina

down the aisle.

With all the other excitement, I hadn't given any thought to

that. No biggie, I thought, just walk like we'd rehearsed,

one of the proudest moments of my life.

The big moment was approaching. Rick's parents were led in,

followed by Eric, then Georgia and the hick, dressed in the

tackiest suit I'd ever seen. The rest of the "cast" got into

position, the flower girl, the ring bearer and all the

bridesmaids. Annie as Maid of Honor looked beautiful.

Tina was a vision. I'm certainly no fashion expert, but her

dress was spectacular. High necked, sleeveless and form

fitting, not one of those great bigass skirts. Simple,

nothing but elegant.

The procession started. Finally, "Here comes the Bride"

started on the organ. "Ready?" I asked. She looked up and

nodded with a grin on her face. I lifted her veil and gave

her a kiss on the cheek, put it back and tucked her arm into

mine.

That was one LONG goddam aisle! We reached the altar and I

said my "I do" when asked who gave this... then sat down next

to Eric.

Georgia and the hick were huddled at the other end of the

pew, looking like they didn't really belong there. At least

they were quiet.

I glanced around the church. The whole apse was filled with

white Lilacs and Peonies with tall tapers symmetrically

placed among them. A beautiful setting.

The ceremony covered the basics, no long speeches by the

Minister and was quickly over. I liked that.

We filed out, Georgia and the hick, too. Waiting on the

church steps for the bride and groom, Joe Bobby cranked up

again, muttering about the "Godless in our midst" until

somebody told him to "shut up". Eric elbowed me and grinned.

When Tina and Rick emerged, we pelted them with birdseed.

Got to be environmentally correct, you know, can't have birds

exploding all over the place!

Rick and Tina climbed into the limo and took off for home and

the reception. We found our car and followed.

"I heard that awful man on the church steps," Sarah said. "I

dread to think of what he'll do in the receiving line."

"Don't worry," Eric told her. "If he gets out of line, we'll

take care of him." His confidence buoyed her. I just hoped

that the split-second timing would go off as planned.

When we got home, the receiving line was forming. I lined up

with the rest and Sarah was the first one through. Georgia

and the hick didn't show up and we didn't wait for them. A

half hour or so later, Eric came over and, grinning from ear

to ear, said two words. "Mission accomplished." I saw him

give the same information to Annie and Tina. Now we could

all relax.

The receiving line moved right along. It was great to see

everyone, even a large group of family from Northern

California.

The line disbanded and it was time to "mingle". I found

Eric, curious about what'd happened. "Went like clockwork,"

he said. That's all I wanted to know. From there, we made

the rounds. I saw Dan and Neil sitting together and steered

clear of them. My Uncle John and the rest of the family were

all at one table, and we stopped and talked with them for a

few minutes. I was really pleased that they'd shown up, now,

maybe, relations with them would thaw a little.

This was by far the largest group we'd had on the back 40,

and it handled it nicely. The round tables weren't crowded

together and nobody was perched on the edge of the cliff. As

it darkened, torches were lit and with the massed candles in

every centerpiece, there was plenty of light.

Dinner was served. The toasts were many and hilarious.

Tina threw her boquet - directly to Annie, and after changing

they were off to the airport. Not long after, the jet, flying

as low as permissable, passed overhead dipping it's wings.

The party was over and soon everyone was gone. It had gone

without a hitch.

Walking back to the house, Sarah confronted us. "What did

you do with Georgia?" she asked. "I know she didn't go

quietly!"

"You'll hear all about it in a minute," I told her.

Bob and Jacques were waiting for us in the den. I introduced

Sarah and told Bob that he could give his full report in

front of her, she was family.

Jacques discreetly closed the doors and joined all of us.

"When they drove up," Bob started, "they were diverted into

the house. Jacques brought them in and insisted that they

both have a drink while they waited for the receiving line to

get organized. They both threw back their drinks and five

minutes later they were both asleep. Our men carried them

out through the garage and took them back to their hotel.

"Some of our other men were waiting at the basement service

entrance with wheel chairs. They were wheeled in, up the

service elevator to their rooms, and using their keys, taken

into their room and carefully deposited on their bed.

"Their car is parked in the hotel garage in its usual place,

and there isn't any trace whatsoever of our ever having been

there. They should be waking up in two or three hours."

Sarah sat there in shock. "You love your daughter an awful

lot, don't you?" she said to me.

"This was HER day, and nothing was going to mess it up," I

told her. "I did what I had to do."

"Will they remember anything?" she asked.

"I understand that the drugs we used cause some rather vivid

dreams," Bob said. "I don't know if they'll remember them or

not."

"What could happen? To you?" She asked me.

"I could probably go to jail for kidnapping, false

imprisonment and a whole bunch of other things," I said, "IF

they can prove anything. It'll be my word against theirs,

and Georgia already has had some run-ins with our local

police, so her credibility isn't that great."

"There won't be any trace of the drug in their systems by

morning, and it won't leave any after-effects," Bob said.

"I don't think anything will come of it."

"Well, it worked, anyway," Eric said. "The kids had their

day, and that's what counts."

\- - - - -

We were all sitting around the breakfast table the next

morning when Jacques announced that a Police Detective wanted

to talk to me. Eric and I followed him into the den where

the detective was waiting.

"I'm really sorry to disturb you, Mr. Rush," he said, "but

your ex-wife and her 'companion' have sworn out a complaint

against you... some pretty serious charges."

"What have I done now?" I asked with a smile.

"They're accusing you of drugging and kidnapping them. Did

you?"

"That's preposterous!" I said. "Should I have an attorney

present?"

"These are pretty serious charges..." he said.

"I'll call Dad," Eric said and jumped up.

Karl was there in about fifteen minutes.

"What's going on?" he wanted to know when he walked in.

I started to say something but he shushed me. "I'd like to

hear it from the Officer, Dave."

The story was repeated. Karl busted out laughing. "So this

woman and her 'companion' go to a wedding, get lost on their

way to the reception, and dream up this story to get Dave in

hot water. I don't think so. What evidence do you have?"

"Just what they put in the complaint," he answered.

"Listen Officer," Karl said gently, "I understand that you

have to investigate these things, but this is so ridiculous

that no court is going to listen to you. Has the D.A. seen

this yet?"

"I don't think so," he said.

"Please ask him to call me tomorrow," Karl said, handing the

officer one of his cards. He was dismissed. Jacques showed

him out.

We waited silently until we heard the door close. "I

wouldn't blame you if you DID do it, Dave, Eric told me what

happened at the rehearsal. Now don't say a word! I have to

assume that you didn't do it if I'm going to represent you."

"Why, would I ever do a dastardly thing like that?" I asked

him with a big grin.

"Damned right you would! Let me handle it, the whole thing

will be forgotten in a day or two. Just don't talk to

anybody unless I'm there."

Karl had a reserved tee time, so had to run, but promised to

be in touch with us the next day.

\- - - - -

Georgia and the hick were supposed to return to Indianapolis

on Sunday. Evidently they didn't.

When Karl called on Monday, he had news. "They've gotten a

shyster lawyer," he said, " and he wants to talk to me

tomorrow. I'm pretty sure this is going to turn into a

shakedown."

"What have they got to go on?" I asked.

"Nothing that I've been able to find out. I want to be

prepared, though, destroy their credibility. I know about

some of Georgia's antics when she was here a year or so ago.

They're all documented, even the mental exam, and I'll get all

those records, but I need some help with that other character.

Can your boys dig up any background there is on him?"

"Hell, I don't even know his last name."

"I've got that for you, even his Social Security Number, from

the complaint."

"Give it all to me, and I'll get them right on it."

Bob went right to work and was back within hours. Joe Billy

had a rap sheet a mile long. His specialty, it appeared was

fleecing rich widows and divorcees. And bigamy. I was sure

Georgia would like to learn all this!

There were several convictions, too, mostly slaps on the

wrist for his fleecing activities, but he'd gotten two longer

terms for bigamy.

I hand delivered this information to Karl on my way home.

"Just as I expected," he said. "This guy is real scum."

"What's going to happen tomorrow?" I asked.

"I'm going to meet with their Attorney and see what he has to

offer. If they offer a settlement, I'll have them write it

up, then I'll present it to you and we'll talk about it.

Then, we'll get serious."

"I'll leave it all in your hands. Just let me know the

minute anything happens."

I discussed developments with Eric. "I see what Dad's

doing," he said. "He's getting them to commit to blackmail,

then'll use it against them and prove that the whole charge

is bogus."

"Will their Attorney allow that?"

"Dad'll 'sweet talk' him," Eric grinned. "It may take a

while, and you may have to get involved, but he'll make it

work."

\- - - - -

"OK, here's what they want," Karl said. "Whatever you did to

them has caused them great pain and suffering. You deprived

Georgia of attending her daughter's Wedding Reception which

will cause her great emotional pain for the rest of her life,

and the aftereffects of the drugs you gave them are causing

them extreme physical pain."

He paused for a moment. "However, they are willing to say

that the whole thing was a mistake if you'll fork over ten

million bucks to compensate them for all of this. If you

don't, they're going to file a civil suit asking for more."

"Bullshit!" I said.

"I'm glad to hear you say that," Karl said. "This is as

close to blackmail as it gets."

"What's happening with the Police?" Eric asked.

"I've talked with the D.A., and he's treading very

carefully. Let's face it, Dave, you're a rather important

person and he doesn't want to make any mistakes. He HAS told

me that they haven't found anything that'll hold up in court,

but they're still investigating.

"Truthfully, I don't think they're working very hard, and

just wish that the whole thing would go away. If they don't

prosecute, Georgia and her pal wouldn't stand a chance in

civil court. This isn't like the O.J. case where there was

strong circumstantial evidence. Hell, there isn't any

evidence at all!"

"Then we wait?"

"If I can talk their shyster into presenting an agreement to

settle, it'll be all over. I actually think he's greedy

enough to do it, too. I'm working on that, but I'm also

looking at a preemptive strike. I taped my conversation with

the shyster, and although it isn't admissable, I could take

it to the D.A. I believe that'd kill anything further as far

as they're concerned."

"That'd blow their credibility completely," Eric commented.

"As far as any criminal activity was concerned, yes," Karl

said. "He'll see it as a family squabble and drop it, I'm

pretty damned sure."

"Can Georgia and the hick go ahead with a Civil Suit?" I

asked.

"They could, but I don't think any Judge in his right mind

would hear the case. It'd be a farce, but get you a lot of

bad publicity."

"I'm surprised that Georgia hasn't gone to the press already,"

I said.

"She could at any minute," Karl said. "Well, do you want me

to go to the D.A. with the tape?"

"What do you recommend?"

"I'd say go with it. It should end the whole thing," Karl

answered.

"You have my blessings," I told him.

\- - - - -

"I'm going to regret ever doing this," I told Eric. "Georgia

just isn't worth it."

"You did what you had to do. If you're worried about going

to jail, forget it. I've been talking to Dad, and he assures

me that it ain't ever gonna happen."

"Does he know that I actually DID do it?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure he does, but he won't come right out and say

so - or ask me."

"I want you to know one thing," I told him seriously. "I

don't consider myself above the law. I guess I'm just too

protective and got carried away. The last thing I wanted was

anything to spoil Tina's big day. It could've been handled

differently, a lot messier, but I wouldn't be in this mess."

"It's going to blow over," he assured me again, hugging me.

"I've talked to Bob and nobody saw anything and nothing was

left behind. We're clean. Alex and Ricky ran the

'operation', and they'd lay down their lives for you."

"Were you worried?"

"I was," he admitted, "and I'm still a little nervous. If it

comes down to it, I'm going to share in the blame."

"Don't be ridiculous. I did it, it's my baby!"

Sarah had gone home, nervous about what may happen. I kept

Annie up to date on developments, and Tina, I hoped, was

totally in the dark, enjoying her honeymoon.

\- - - - -

Karl came to the office. There weren't many Attorneys who

made house calls. His eyes were sparkling and we waited for

Eric to get to my office before he told us what'd happened.

"The D.A. was really interested in that tape," he said.

"After the stuff that Georgia pulled a little over a year

ago, he thought that this whole thing was unbelievable in the

first place. Now, with the tape that is all but blackmail,

plus Joe Billy's record, it's a dead issue as far as he's

concerned.

"In fact, he's so thoroughly pissed about all the time they've

wasted, he's going to call them on the carpet for making false

accusations, maybe charge THEM with something."

"Is that the end of it?" I asked.

"As far as any prosecution of YOU is concerned. Your men

made the D.A. look pretty good in that bombing case last

year, probably got him re-elected. He remembers."

"How about Georgia and the hick? Can they do anything?"

"They can try, but the smartest thing for them to do is fold

their tent and go home."

"I wouldn't bet on that happening," I told him.

\- - - - -

The minute the door closed behind Karl, Eric was all over me.

"You must've been really nervous," I told him.

"Honestly? I was scared shitless."

"I promise you I won't even think about doing anything like

that again. Kinda scared me too."

I walked over to Annie's office to give her the news. She

had been under more strain than I realized, and was as

relieved as Eric.

"Hans wants to talk to you tonight," she said, her eyes

sparkling.

"I was wondering when he'd get around to it," I chuckled.

\- - - - -

Hans had already become a member of the family, relaxed and

comfortable around all of us. But, when he approached me

that evening, he was different, serious and obviously tense.

I took him in the den where we could have privacy. "Mr. R,"

he stuttered, "I want to talk to you about Annie."

I nodded, and he continued. "I love her very much, and would

like your permission to make her my Princess."

I wasn't going to let him off easy. "Does that mean you want

to marry her?"

"It certainly does," he smiled.

"You have my blessing," I told him.

He jumped up and grabbed my hand, pumping it. "Oh thank you!"

I didn't stop there, I grabbed him and gave him a hug.

"Welcome to the family, Hans," I told him.

"Annie! Eric! Get in here," I yelled, but knew they were

close, trying to listen. "Jacques, we need Champagne!"

Jacques poured, and I toasted them, then it was Eric's turn.

Everybody was talking at once.

Hans told us how anxious he was for BOTH of us to meet his

family, and how anxious they were to meet us and invited us

to Germany as soon as we could make it.

Annie explained that they planned to wait a few weeks to

announce their engagement, and that they hadn't set a wedding

date yet. She was bubbling. She also discreetly let the ring

she was wearing show.

"Let me see that," Eric said when he noticed it, going over

and taking her hand. "Wow! Now that's what I call a ROCK!"

I went over to look too. It was huge. Old fashioned cut.

Mighty impressive.

"The stone's been in the family for a couple hundred years,"

Hans said. "I thought about having it re-cut, but decided

not to. It has a lot of history."

"I love it just the way it is," Annie gushed, flashing it

around.

We polished off a couple of bottles of Champagne. Hans

didn't know that we were celebrating something else too.

Annie made one comment that acknowledged it, though. "When

Hans and I get married, Mom isn't going to be within a

thousand miles."

\- - - - -

Georgia and the hick weren't ready to give up. On my way

into the office the next morning, I was ambushed by a process

server. They weren't greedy or anything, they only wanted

$50 million.

Chapter 61

"This is patently ridiculous," Karl said after he'd read the

suit. "They haven't got a shred of evidence that this even

happened, but it's going to be splashed all over the news."

"I don't care," I told him. "Like everything else, it'll

blow over pretty fast."

"It's just WRONG that you're made out to be the dirty rat

when she and that asshole are the ones who caused all the

trouble," Eric said.

"I think we can kill this thing before it ever comes to

trial," Karl said. "It'd be even easier if the D.A. brings

charges against them, which he very well might do."

"It's your baby, Karl," I told him. "Just let me know what

you need and it's yours. My Security guys are at your

disposal."

\- - - - -

It was time to get back to work. Dean had scheduled his

presentation to all the local agencies on our Silicon Valley

project, and there were the last minute adjustments to make.

He wanted Eric and me to see the scale model they'd built

before it was packed up and shipped north for the meeting.

The thing was huge and detailed right down to fire hydrants.

An enormous amount of work had gone into its preparation.

Tiny little model houses were placed in various densities,

apartment complexes were by themselves, and the shopping

center, which we'd bought, was shown expanded to its full

potential. A second, proposed shopping mall was at the other

end of the tract.

The final total was 53,847 single family homes and 6,200

apartment units, housing, eventually, approximately 155,000

people, literally a city in itself.

Another truckload of supporting documents stood ready to go.

"I'm almost positive we've covered all the bases," Dean told

me. "We're as ready as we'll ever be."

"What's Henry think of the whole thing?" I asked.

"He and his people have led us just about all the way. He

considers this to be his masterpiece in Housing. He's going

to be there, too, giving his pitch along with me."

"My big question is: Are we going to make any money on this?"

"I believe we will," he grinned. "With current costs, and if

we sell finished lots, we should net around $3 billion, and

that doesn't include the apartments. As soon as we have an

indication from the City, we need to talk about that - whether

we want to do any building ourselves."

Eric hadn't had a lot of questions. He appeared to be

thinking. "I really want to hear a lot more about doing the

building ourselves," he said. "We have an Architect in the

family now."

The presentation that Dean and Henry made was well received.

There was a shortage of housing at every price level in the

area, and this was the first major project to come along that

offered homes in all price ranges. The City volunteered to

put the approval process on a "fast track".

\- - - - -

"One down, one to go," I told Eric as we watched the sunset.

"You mean the girls?"

"Yep, and you know what we do when they're both gone? We

redecorate!"

"Why? I like this place just the way it is."

"Quite honestly, I'm tired of it. It's been over ten years

since anything major has changed. I'd also like to see a

little of YOUR influence around here," I told him.

"I'm not a decorator. Hell, I wouldn't even know where to

start."

"Just think about it, what'd make you more comfortable, what

you'd like to change. We could have a lot of fun."

"I'll think about it," he agreed. "By the way, we haven't

used the hot tub in a long time, how about tonight, AND the

'Do Not Disturb" sign?"

His eyes were sparkling and I was more than interested.

He got a bottle of wine and glasses while I found big bath

towels. "Want some smoke?" he asked.

"It's been a while," I said, "why not?"

Eric brought out his stash, using a bong instead of rolling a

joint.

We slid in. Man it felt good.

Most of my enjoyment of Eric's body was visual. Since we'd

gotten home from our honeymoon, we'd been tired or stressed

to the max, so our lovemaking had been perfunctory.

Satisfying, yes, but rushed.

I perched on the step in front of him, leaning in for a

sweet, tender kiss. I moved back, looking into his eyes and

traced his brow, his nose, his mouth and around his jawline

with my fingers. I moved up to his ears, caressing them,

making him purr.

Another kiss while I palmed his pecs, grasping the hard flesh

and tweaking his hard nubs with my fingertips.

His hands were running up and down my arms, then moved to my

chest, kneading me with a lot of attention to my hard little

nips.

Our hands moved downward along each other's sides. When he

got to my butt, he pulled me into him, our arms going around

each other, our lips meeting in a serious kiss that lasted

and lasted, our tongues exploring and enjoying.

Eric pushed me away. "I'm overheated," he laughed and moved

up to sit on the edge. I climbed up beside him. Both of our

dicks, so far untouched, were standing tall.

"I just noticed how much your arms have grown," he said,

turning to me and taking one of my biceps in each of his

hands. "Flex," he asked.

I bent my arm and tightened up. "See, it affects me too," he

said. I looked down to see his dick twitch and a drop of

precum form on the tip. I leaned over to lick it off.

"Not like me," I chuckled, "I'd be shooting by now."

I had a drop myself that Eric leaned over to get. He didn't

just take a lick, he went all the way to the bottom, gave a

couple of strokes, then sat back up.

"Yes, I noticed," I told him. "You started doing that in

Egypt. God it feels good."

"All of a sudden, I COULD," he said. "It surprised me, that

last half inch just went on down. Feels good to me too."

We decided to head for the bedroom. It was a lot more

comfortable.

Although we were both hard and dripping, we started over,

using our tongues instead of fingers. When I got to his

dick, I held it straight up and looked at it. It was

beautiful. Smooth, that flaring corona, and so fucking

long! At the moment, it was throbbing with his heartbeat.

I got into position and took just the head into my mouth.

Slow sensual swipes with my tongue across the head and around

the rim had him arching his back. Down a little, then more,

gradually, until my lips were against his trimmed pubes. I

stopped to swallow and let my tongue explore as long as I

could, then started stimulating the whole length.

He couldn't take it for long and pulled me off, turning

around and engulfing me. I didn't realize that that last

half inch could make such a difference. I soon had to pull

him off too.

We switched positions, and I really got into the joys of

having him imbedded in my throat. He neared, I backed off

for a few seconds then took him to the edge and held him

there. He writhed and squirmed and gasped. Eventually, I

took mercy on him and pushed him over. It was a wild ride

but I managed to drink every drop.

I was already close myself, so I held Eric until he'd

completely recovered before I'd let him reciprocate.

He evidently enjoyed his newfound ability to deep-throat me

because he'd go to the bottom then let his throat muscles and

tongue stimulate me. It was fanstastic! He got so carried

away that he missed the warning signs and took me straight to

the top. No complaints here!

"That was soooooooo good," was all he said.

\- - - - -

The first snag in the Silicon Valley project developed rather

fast. It appeared that the property to the West of the

project was an Army Military Reservation. They didn't want

neighbors and had registered an objection to the entire

project.

"There are Military installations all over California," Henry

said. "I've never run into a problem before. They're

usually very cooperative."

After much discussion and shaking of heads wondering what the

problem was, Dean agreed to trace down the objection and find

out how we could "make them happy".

Dean was gone several days, and came back without any

answers. "This is really strange," he said. "Nobody'll

talk. All they'll say is 'because', no specific reason."

"Who'd you talk to?" Eric asked.

"The land next to us is controlled by the Army. The objection

was filed by the Commander of an Army Research facility in

Sunnyvale. Under 'Reason for Objection', he put 'National

Security', and the man wouldn't see me."

"Can they do that?" Annie asked.

"According to the Planning Commission," Dean said, "if the

Government objects on the basis of National Security, they

can kill the whole project just like that," and he snapped

his fingers.

"That's bullshit!" Annie roared. "In effect, that's seizure

of our property."

The light started to dawn. I'd better explain to Dean.

"I think we may have a political problem," I told them all.

"Let me give you a little background, Dean.

"First of all, I don't think we've discussed this before,

but I'm gay and Eric is my partner. Second of all, because

of this, the Senior Senator from North Carolina rather highly

disapproves of me and will do anything he can think of to

make my life difficult, or impossible, if he can.

"As Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, all he'd

have to do is drop the word, and, hiding behind the National

Security issue, we'd be stopped cold. I have a pretty good

idea he's behind this."

"He's a very powerful man..." Dean said.

"It's a petty thing to do, and won't stand scrutiny if we

bring it to light. He's bowed to reason in the past when

I've tangled with him, and he probably will again. If enough

pressure is applied," I said.

"Is he the same one you tangled with three years ago?" Eric

asked.

"Yep, he's the one," I said.

"This is getting even more ridiculous!" Annie spat out. "What

can we do?"

"First of all, we need to find out if he's behind this," I

said. "Then we have to figure out a way to get it dropped.

Since Metalco is out of the Defense Contracting business

except for one job, I'm out of touch with everybody in

Washington, but I think Bill still has a lot of connections.

I'd like to get him to help us."

Dean wasn't looking very optomistic so I told him "Nothing's

impossible, keep your chin up, I'd say there's a good chance

we'll get this straightened out. Won't happen tomorrow, but

we'll get to work on it."

I asked Bill to come in, and we explained our problem. He

agreed that it sounded like something the old fart would pull

and told us he'd make a few phone calls and see what he could

find out.

\- - - - -

"I absolutely despise politics," I told Eric, "but it's time

I did something about that old asshole."

"Isn't he up for re-election this year?"

"I think so, and if he is, I'm going to do everything I can

to see he's defeated. He's been a thorn in my side for 20

years. I think that's enough."

"This oughta be fun," he said. "Don't forget that I'm as

involved as you are, so count me in for a few bucks. How do

you go about getting somebody 'unelected', anyway?"

"That old bastard is in his nineties, and I think he's been

in the Senate for at least 50 years. I don't think he's had

a serious challenger in the last thirty. We've gotta change

that!"

"How?"

"I've heard about a lawyer in Washington who is mostly a

lobbyist who can elect anybody if she has enough money. I

intend to hire her. We can find out who she is easy enough.

The one thing that we'll have to be very careful about is

that everything is out in the open and totally legal or the

whole thing could backfire."

"We may have to sit on the Silicon project until November,

but that's a hell of a lot better than scrapping it," I

continued.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all if York Hotels weren't one of

his big supporters either," Eric said. "What you did to them

may not have made the good Senator too happy either."

"I don't care if we get this thing dropped before the

election, I want to go ahead and get rid of that old fucker,

regardless of what it takes. Let's get our asses to work!"

It only took a few phone calls to get the name of Mayra

Soames, but it was too late in the day to call her in

Washington. It'd have to wait until Monday.

\- - - - -

Saturday we ran a few errands. There never were many because

Jacques took care of everything for us. Sunday we were lazy,

going out to the pool right after breakfast. I swam a few

laps with Eric, then got out while he continued. The Sunday

paper wasn't interesting and I couldn't concentrate anyway.

I gave up on the paper and stretched out and closed my eyes.

There were a lot of things bothering me that I hadn't taken

the time to work out in my own mind. I wasn't proud of what

I'd done to Georgia, and now I was contemplating getting

involved in politics in a big way. Was that really any of my

business?

I looked at the "Georgia" situation \- what I'd done, what I

could've done, and where things stood at the moment and the

possible consequences. I went through this in my mind,

trying to look at every angle.

When I'd beaten that to death, I thought about the Senator.

There were many directions this whole effort could take, and

just as many ways it could turn out.

I don't know how long I'd been buried in these thoughts.

Eric had finished his laps and had settled on the chaise

beside me a long time ago quietly.

"Sorry about that," I smiled at him.

"You looked so serious I didn't want to bother you," he

said. "Figuring out how to bust the Senator?"

"Uh huh," I said. "I'm not going to do it."

"What?" he said, sitting up. "Why not?"

"Who the hell am I to buy an election? I'm getting too

goddam big for my britches."

"If anybody has a reason to do it, you have," he shot back.

"That's just the point," I said. "I probably could pull it

off, but in my mind, that's a hell of an abuse of power."

"There'd be celebrations in the streets if he got defeated,

the gays and lesbians and the Arts community to name a couple,

not to mention that he'd be off your back. It'd be a major

blow to the Religious Right."

"I agree with all of that, but I wonder if I'm not being a

bit presumptuous to take on the job, with your help, of

course," I smiled at him. "Don't get the idea that I'm

getting 'soft'. I'll do anything necessary to get that

project up North approved. Hell, we don't even know if he's

behind it yet."

Eric was silent for a few minutes. "One of the first things

I recognized about you was the enormous power that you had

but used so carefully. It wasn't your style to shove

anything down anybody's throat, instead, you convinced them

that you were right and they went along willingly. I

respected you for that then and I respect and love you for it

now."

"I also feel bad about what I did to Georgia, it could've

been handled differently."

"How?"

"If we'd all faced reality, it would've been clear that if

she was here, there would be problems. We could've

sidestepped the whole issue by not inviting her and keeping

her out. Sure that would have been cruel, but what did she

contribute? She didn't spend five minutes with Tina, and she

didn't show any interest whatsoever in the wedding. Her only

purpose in being here was to spread hate and discontent.

But, I'm afraid I overreacted."

"That's hindsight," he said. "Annie's got the right idea,

keep her totally out of the picture.

"Actually, babe," he continued, "I think you're beating

yourself up unnecessarily. Give yourself a little slack."

"I just don't want to do something else I'll regret."

He got up, pushed me over and sat next to me. "I know where

you're coming from," he said. "Maybe it's time for me to

step back and take a look too. Just remember one thing, I'm

with you whatever, and I DO mean whatever."

I grinned at him, believing every word he'd said. "Together,

we're invincible," I said. "I just don't want us to do

anything that we regret later."

\- - - - -

Bill wasn't having any luck. Nobody could or would point the

finger. The powerful old Senator either had them scared or

they actually didn't know.

Dean was frantic and Annie was furious. The feeling of

helplessness was getting to both of them. Tina, luckily, was

still on her honeymoon so was missing all the fun.

In the meantime, I still had the "Georgia" matter to deal

with. At least, progress was being made there. Karl had

called to inform me that the D.A. was going after both

Georgia and Joe Billy for filing false charges against me.

That would literally blow their lawsuit out of the water.

With the Police on our side and no evidence to present, the

suit would never make it to trial.

Late in the afternoon, Bill asked to get together with Eric

and me. He came right to the point. "I know you hate it,

but if you're going to be in the development business, you're

going to have to start getting palsy-walsy with our elected

officials. They can make or break you.

"It's not so much that you have to 'brown-nose' them as just

recognize their existence, and maybe throw a few bucks their

way when elections roll around. A few of them are actually

pretty decent people."

Eric's eyes just about popped out when I said "I'll do it.

It's a part of doing business and unfortunately a necessity."

"You will?" Eric asked.

"Yes, but at arms-length. We're going to need help from

members of both parties, so I don't want to be identified as

supporting either one, just individuals. We'll give

financial support to those who help us. Hell, we won't be

asking for any special favors that I can see, just help with

snags like this one."

I turned to Bill. "Our Senator from San Francisco is on the

Senate Armed Services Committee. Do you have contacts in her

office?"

"Yes."

"Can you make an appointment for us to see her?"

"I'm pretty sure I can."

"Would you?" I asked.

\- - - - -

The first of many hearings was held to listen to objections

to our project. We all attended.

The Army's objection would, of course, determine whether or

not the project went forward, so they had been asked to

explain their position first.

It was clear from the start that the Planning Commission was

in favor of the project. The Chairman, a feisty, rotund

little guy made that clear.

An Officer represented the Army and was asked to explain

their objection.

"It is the position of the U.S. Army that this project would

be detrimental to National Security and should not go

forward," he said stiffly.

"Why?" the feisty little Chairman asked.

"I'm afraid that's classified information, Sir."

"Who made this determination?" the Chairman asked.

"I'm afraid that's classified information, Sir."

"You're telling us that we can't do anything with this land,

but you won't tell us why?" the Chairman asked in disbelief.

"With National Security at risk, I'm afraid so."

"Can you show us any documents that support this

determination?" the Chairman asked.

"I'm afraid that's classified information, Sir."

"You're not going to cooperate with us at all, are you?"

"I have my orders, Sir."

"Who gave you your orders?" the chairman asked.

"I cannot divulge that information, Sir, that's internal Army

information."

"We're not getting anywhere," the Chairman said. "I suggest

we adjourn this meeting."

The whole hearing lasted about 15 minutes. It was obvious to

all that the Army was Stonewalling, hiding behind National

Security and secrecy laws. The sad thing was that nobody

could do anything about it.

It was always a possibility that the Army had a legitimate

reason, but in view of the facts, nothing made sense. It

wasn't a Top Secret base. There were only a few facilities

on the whole sprawling property, the closest more than two

miles from our property. Hell, the base wasn't even

securely fenced! There was definitely something else going

on here.

I didn't say much on the way home until I got tired of

listening to all the pissing and moaning.

"OK folks," I interrupted. "It's time for a change of

attitude. Let's quit feeling sorry for ourselves and start

looking for a solution to this mess. We DO have a few

billion dollars at stake!"

\- - - - -

Eric checked out the Congressman who represented the district

the project was in. He was a freshman, so wouldn't have the

clout necessary to help us.

Through his connections, Bill was able to arrange our

appointment with the Senator. Eric and I concentrated on our

presentation. We wanted it to be complete but brief, just

the facts.

If the Senator saw our point and decided to do anything about

it, we'd probably be in Washington for several days, doing a

lot of waiting, so Eric, who had never been to Washington,

wanted to see the sights.

\- - - - -

Rick and Tina returned from their honeymoon all smiles and

sporting deep tans.

Tina's first reaction to our "problem" was outrage. When she

heard the whole story, she was even madder, but calmed down

when we told her what we were doing.

Construction of their house was just starting and would take

several months to complete, so Tina moved into Ricks

apartment for the time being and dove into work.

A lot of other things were happening too. Ron and Jason

picked up our second Gulfstream, and were holding it for our

trip to Washington for it's "maiden" flight. The General

wanted to put it right into service, and a major battle broke

out. I had to use my authority to settle that one.

Maurice called and wanted to see us as soon as possible in

New York, and I had a Micron Board Meeting coming up.

Eric was busy with the Foundation, working to get his

programs underway by the start of the next school year.

\- - - - -

We both liked the new plane. The only difference from the

other one was the interior. All the gadgets were the same.

It wasn't as "cozy" we agreed, but appeared more spacious.

On this flight, we were so concentrated on the meeting the

next day that the idea of having sex never crossed our minds,

at least mine.

We had the biggest suite at one of the Rush hotels, definitely

a different one than I'd stayed at on my last visit. I

pointed this out to Eric.

"That's so long ago and such a dead issue," he said, "I

wouldn't mind if it were the same hotel and the same room."

"I would," I told him.

"Forget it," he insisted. "It served a purpose, and look

what's developed since. I don't think there are two people

more in love than we are."

I kissed him and dropped the subject.

We'd studied the Senator from every possible angle. She was

a conservative Democrat, fiscally responsible, and fairly

liberal on social issues. Coming from San Francisco, she

pretty much had to be. I felt fairly confident that she'd be

sympathetic to our case, but we wouldn't know for sure until

our meeting.

We were formally ushered into her office by an aide. She

knew who we were, me from Metalco and Eric from the press

he'd received as the "Wall Street Whiz Kid".

When she asked "What can I do for you gentlemen," the time

had arrived.

As planned, I outlined our problem. I was brief and to the

point, handing her the project summary, two pages, a copy of

the Army's objection, and a copy of a newspaper article from

the San Jose Mercury describing the need for what we were

doing. I did NOT mention the Senator from North Carolina.

"This is highly unusual," she said. "I don't think the Army

has any business getting involved in Local land use. They

must have a very compelling reason." She thought for a

minute.

"You say they won't provide any reasons for their action?"

she asked.

"It's a matter of public record," Eric said. "An Army

representative appeared at a Planning Commission Hearing and

cited National Security in answer to every question,

including who gave him orders to appear there."

"That's strange," she said. "I was under the impression that

the Military's policy was to cooperate in every way possible

with the communities they're located in."

"Everybody's pretty frustrated," Eric admitted.

"I'll bet YOU are! You've got a huge investment here. This

whole thing doesn't sound right to me. I'm more than willing

to look into this for you, and find out what's REALLY going

on. How long will you be in Washington?"

"We'll stay as long as it takes," I told her.

"I don't know how long this is going to take," she said. "Do

you have cell phones so you won't be tied down waiting?" We

patted our pockets.

"That's great. I may have some questions," she said.

We gave her our numbers and thanked her for helping. The

meeting was over.

\- - - - -

"Waiting, my favorite occupation," I groused.

"We got step one accomplished, anyway," Eric laughed. "I

feel a helluva lot better already."

"Me too, what do you want to do while we wait?"

"Let's go up to New York and see what Maurice's problem is.

I don't think anything's going to happen for a day or two,

and we've got the cell phones anyway."

"Good idea," I told him. "We'll just leave everything here.

We've got clothes at the penthouse."

We gathered up Jacques and called Maurice. He wanted to meet

us at the penthouse the minute we arrived.

\- - - - -

The usually enthusiastic Maurice was really subdued. The

kiss on the cheek that we got was mechanical.

"We've got problems," he said.

"What's the matter?" Eric asked.

"Money," Maurice said morosely.

"Is business falling off?" I asked.

"Not at all," he said, "we've been full every night since we

opened, that's what I can't understand. Our provisioners now

require that we pay when they deliver. I think the only ones

getting paid are the waiters and cooks. Mark tells me

there's no money in the bank."

"That's hard to believe," Eric said.

"How many covers a night?" I asked.

"More than 600," Maurice said.

"How much do you pay your provisioners?"

"That runs around $10,000 a day," he said.

"We've got a hemorrhage on our hands," I said. "Mark handles

all the money, right?"

"Not much actual money," Maurice said. "Just about everybody

uses credit cards."

I looked at Eric. "If we haul ass, we can get down to the

bank before it closes. Let's go." I turned to Maurice.

"Just stay here, we'll be back in an hour or less. We'll

straighten this out."

We got there before they closed and got in to see one of the

Bank Officers. After much fuss, showing our ID's and other

red tape, it was finally established that we were indeed

signers on the account. Once that was done, we opened a new

account and transferred incoming credit card receipts to that

one. We also requested copies of all transaction records and

checks be sent immediately to the penthouse by messenger. It

took a lot of arguing, but eventually the bank agreed to

have everything we wanted delivered the following day, for a

fee, of course.

"The leak's been plugged," I told Maurice when we got back.

"Do you think it's Mark?" he asked.

"We'll know for sure tomorrow," Eric told him. "Don't let

him even know we're in town."

"I feel so terrible," Maurice moaned.

"Don't worry about a thing," Eric told him. "Remember, you

worry about the food, we'll worry about everything else."

\- - - - -

"Boy, can I ever pick 'em," Eric groaned. "what a fucking

mess!"

"It's only money," I chuckled. "We may have a hard time

getting it back, but if he's as stupid as it looks, it won't

be hard to find. I'm going to call home and have them send

an auditor."

Jacques brought us a drink and we planned our attack for the

next day.

\- - - - -

Maurice was there to let us into Mark's office. "We served

612 last night, I kept track," he told us.

Both of us started searching for records. Eric found the

checkbooks, but we couldn't find any canceled checks. Other

than paid and unpaid invoices, that's about all we did find.

Eric started through the checkbook while I rummaged around.

"Come here!" he yelled. "This guy is a real dumb shit. It

looks like about a week after they opened, he started writing

checks for 'supplies' every other day. They're round

amounts, usually $50,000, and don't say who they're payable

to."

"It'll be interesting to see the canceled checks, or the

copies from the Bank. I'm going to look for paid invoices."

There were none.

"Here's a total," he said, "$1,280,000, and he's only been at

it for two months!"

"Don't you think we ought to bring in the police?" I asked.

"Let's wait until we see the checks. Surely he wouldn't have

been stupid enough to write them to himself."

We took the checkbook and the invoices, locked up, and went

back to the penthouse. The package from the Bank was waiting.

Copies of the checks were there, showing both sides. They

were made out to Acme Distributors and endorsed with a rubber

stamp. A rather "original" name, I thought.

We agreed that this was about as far as we could go ourselves,

and it was time to call the fraud unit. Eric made the call

and we waited.

A couple of plainclothes cops showed up and went over the

evidence we had. They wanted to talk to Maurice too, so he

came over.

Maurice confirmed that they didn't have a supplier named Acme

Distributors, and the cops were convinced.

"For this kind of money, this guy will skip the minute

there's any indication you're onto him," one of the cops

commented. "We'd better pull him in on suspicion of

embezzlement as fast as we can. We'll also freeze this

'Acme' account until we figure it all out. Might as well

salvage what we can."

Nobody knew where Mark lived, so the cops would be waiting

when he showed up for work.

"Can you get along without him tonight?" I asked Maurice.

"Philippe knows how," he said, brightening. "You'll see.

Come for dinner and bring Jacques."

We spent the next hour filling out paperwork, and the cops

left.

The auditor from the West Coast arrived and we took her along

too.

\- - - - -

The auditor worked with the police to reconstruct what'd

taken place, Eric started looking for a replacement for Mark,

and I worked on operating procedures that would protect us

in the future.

Control of the cash was critical. From then on, it would be

handled from the West Coast. A bit complicated, but safer

for all concerned.

Arrangements were made for payroll, and Maurice and I visited

his 6 major provisioners. We filled out Credit applications,

throwing my financial strength behind the restaurant. All of

them agreed to give us 30 day terms after they checked me out.

The police had determined that Acme Distributing was just a

transfer account, but were digging further to try to find the

money. Chances weren't good of ever recovering much.

Maurice's spirits were rising, and he was taking a serious

interest in the "Business" end of the restaurant. So was

Philippe, who showed a lot more knowledge than anyone

expected.

Mark was arraigned and bound over for trial, bail was set so

high that it was probable he'd be held until the trial.

Eric and I were talking with the auditor when my cell phone

beeped. It was the Senator's office. When she came on, she

was serious. "We've really opened up a can of worms," she

said. "This could turn into a major scandal, and I'm calling

to ask you not to talk to the press."

"No problem," I told her.

"We're still not sure what's going on, but I assure you we're

going to find out. Are you still in Washington?"

"No, we're in New York," I said.

"I don't think we'll have much until next week. How fast can

you get back to Washington if I need you?"

"Probably around three hours," I told her.

"That'd be fine. Just keep your cell phone charged," she

laughed.

"We're 'on-call'," I assured her.

"Just a minute," she said. "I'm making a speech in New York

on Sunday. If I have any news, I'll call you and maybe we

can get together."

"We'll be available," I assured her.

"Was that who I think it was?" Eric asked after I clicked off.

"Yep," I grinned. "She's digging, and not liking what she's

finding. Says we've 'opened a can of worms', and asked us

not to talk to the press. Also says that a major scandal may

be brewing. We may be getting together with her here on

Sunday."

I apologised to the auditor for talking around her, and

explained that we had a problem that we were working on.

\- - - - -

We were committed to stay in New York until at least Sunday,

and I had the Micron Board Meeting on Friday. Eric had

already set up interviews for a new Restaurant Manager, so

he'd be busy.

I decided to go over to New Jersey and see how everything was

going. Bob was happy to see me, and had lots for "Show and

Tell."

Construction on the new plant was complete and departments

were being relocated. He was doing it in such a way that

virtually no downtime was being experienced. The "older" new

plant and the "new" new plants, connected together, made up a

really enormous facility. It was a bit overwhelming to me to

know that we had 47 of these around the Country in the Milton

division alone.

Bob wanted to know if we'd reached a decision yet on the old

plant. "It hasn't come up lately," I told him. "The

Shopping Center was my daughter Annie's idea, and with

everything else she's working on, I don't know if she's still

interested. My other daughter just married an Architect, so

he may be interested. Let me find out."

I'd noticed as we drove through that the area had become much

more commercial in the last three years.

We talked about how the non-Union shop was working out. "I

don't think Milton people have ever been happier," he said.

"Production is up and turnover is almost nonexistant. It

seems to me that the general feeling is they're happy to be a

part of Metalco, but want to retain their 'Milton' identity."

He also mentioned that the Milton Managers were anxious to

get together again, but with some of their Metalco

counterparts.

\- - - - -

The Micron Board meeting was routine until Greg introduced

the main item on the agenda. Announcement of the new "SPY

System."

After a lot of Market Research, it had been determined that

it would be to Micron's advantage to announce the system and

give a firm release date. This would generate interest, and

then, details of the system would be parceled out until the

system itself was released to the market.

December first had been set as the target release date. I

had a question about that. "Are you absolutely sure you can

meet that date?" I asked.

"Beta testing is progressing on schedule," Jerry responded.

"We feel extremely confident that the finished product will

be ready to go to production by November first, maybe

before. We do NOT want to be like our competitors who have

announced a new product release date, then pushed it back

several times."

There was a lot of discussion with a lot of speculation about

what Micron's stock would do. It was agreed that it'd go up,

but how much was the question. The announcement was approved,

pretty much a foregone conclusion.

"Better get your ass in gear," I told Eric. "Micron's going

to release Spence's system December first, and we're only

giving Lundborg Rush a month to get the stuff on the shelves."

He thought a minute. "We should be OK," he said, "IF

everything goes according to schedule, it'll be a snap, but

if the new equipment doesn't get here, we'll be running

around the clock. At least, now we have something to shoot

for and can plan accordingly."

\- - - - -

"I have a couple of things for you, too," Eric said. "First,

since it doesn't look like we'll be going back to Washington

until later, Jacques took the shuttle down and picked up our

stuff today.

"Second, we got lucky. Maurice has fallen in love with the

Auditor, Sheila, who's checking out the books. He wants to

keep her on as Manager. Not only has she been working all

day in the office, but she's been coming in at night to help

out, and in a few days, has just about taken over. She has

the Accounting background and Maurice says he can teach her

the ins and outs of the Restaurant business.

"I talked to her, and she jumped at the opportunity. She's

single, no kids, and would like to give it a 30 day trial.

Would that be OK with you?"

"Did you call Accounting to see if they could spare her?" I

asked.

"Sure did. They said it could be arranged."

"Then, I think it's a great idea."

\- - - - -

We spent a large part of Saturday with Sheila and Maurice.

It was late afternoon before we heard from the Senator. She

would be staying at the Plaza, but didn't have a place to

meet. I suggested she come to the penthouse.

She arrived at 10:00 AM sharp. Eric met her at the door and

ushered her into the den.

She came directly to the point. "What I've found out so far

is rather disturbing," she said. "I have a four star General

at the Pentagon that I work very closely with. When I asked

him about this base, he didn't even know it existed, so had

to look it up and call me back.

"It's not even a 'base', merely a piece of land that the

Army's had for a long, long time, and doesn't want to give

up. The only structures on the property are a couple of

empty warehouses, and the last time it was used for anything

was a National Guard camp three years ago when their regular

place was flooded. The property, I'd hardly call it a 'base',

is under the command of the Army's Research Facility in

Sunnyvale, and only because it's the closest active Army base

around."

She paused to think. "I can't, for the life of me, see how a

housing development could be a threat to something that

doesn't exist. Neither can the General. Something is very

wrong here, but we're going to get to the bottom of it.

"The General isn't satisfied with the answers he's getting

from Sunnyvale, mostly run-around, so he's making a trip out

there next week. We should have some answers by then, and I

don't see any point in your waiting around. I'll let you

know when there's any news."

"We'd appreciate that," I told her. "We can be back here on

24 hours notice."

Chapter 62

An hour after the Senator left, we were on our way to the

airport.

Before we'd met with the Senator the first time, we'd decided

that it wouldn't be a good idea to even mention our

suspicions about the Senator from North Carolina. We figured

that if they were true, our Senator would uncover them. If

they weren't, and we had made an accusation, we'd be dead in

the water.

We felt pretty optimistic. Something was obviously not right,

but the wheels were in motion.

I'd kept Annie informed of developments every day, but wanted

everyone to hear the latest. We all gathered in my office

first thing Monday morning.

Eric told them about our Sunday morning meeting, repeating

the Senator's words almost verbatim.

"What do you think'll happen?" Dean asked.

"I have no idea how this'll play out," I said, "but eventually

we'll get what we want. We're just going to have to be

patient."

"That's a relief," Dean said. "I'm sure glad we have the

resources to wait this thing out. A setback like this would

break just about any other developer."

"We're fortunate in that respect," Annie said. "I think this

is a good time for us to start working on some of the other

projects that we've got lined up so we can keep everybody

busy. Dad, Eric, should we keep on working on Silicon, or

should we put everything on hold?"

I looked at Eric. "Personally, I'd hate to see us lose any

momentum," he said.

Tina spoke up. "What do you think, Dad?"

"I'm confident that this will all work out. I'd say go ahead."

"Then that's the way I vote, too," she said. "Annie?"

"I'll make it unanimous," Annie said, "but I still want to

get going on other projects too."

\- - - - -

Naturally, Eric was excited about the Micron announcement

that would be made that day. Not telling him why, he invited

Spence to have dinner with us, then watched the market until

it closed. Micron was up 31 points.

"How's it feel to make almost two billion dollars in one day?"

I kidded him.

He let his excitement show, grabbing me and swinging me

around. "One billion nine hundred and thirty seven million

five hundred thousand to be exact," he giggled. "It isn't

real!"

"That was just the initial reaction," I told him. "Hold onto

your hat, this is only the beginning."

Spence showed up looking tired. "Only three weeks to go," he

said. "Finals start next week and Graduation is in three

weeks.

"Are you going to invite us?" Eric asked.

"You'd BETTER be there," he laughed, "Dirk's gonna be here,"

he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Here's something that might cheer you up until then," Eric

said, toying with him. "Did you check the market today?"

"No, should I? The only stock I've got is Micron."

"Micron moved a little today."

"How much?"

"31 points," Eric said.

"Up, I hope," he said, not comprehending the significance.

"Yeah, you only made about ten billion today."

"I WHAT?" he yelled. "Now don't play with me, Eric!"

"It's true," Eric said, sobering.

"WHOOPEE!" he shouted and grabbed Eric. "It's all because of

you, Big Bro."

I asked Spence if he wanted a drink to celebrate. He stuck

to his soda. They sat on the couch, one on either side of

me, my arms around both of them.

"You guys are my real family, you know," Spence said.

"How about Dirk?" Eric asked.

"He's my boyfriend, that's different. It's you guys I come

to when I have a serious problem."

"How're things going with Dirk, anyway," Eric asked.

"Getting better all the time. I've gotten over the thing

with his cousins, and it seems like he's getting comfortable

with my money. I've been to Chicago three times and he was

here for Tina's wedding, but, would you believe we still

haven't slept together yet. Don't get me wrong, I WANT to,

but the time just hasn't seemed right."

"You'll know when," I assured him.

Annie joined us for dinner. She liked Spence and kidded him

unmercifully. He gave it right back to her.

"So, what's new with everybody," she asked.

"Eric and I made a few billion bucks today," Spence told her.

"Yeah, right," she said. "You print it yourselves?"

"Yep, just like that rock you're wearin' is glass. Hansie

baby pop the question?"

"Yes, and don't you dare say a word to anybody. It's not

official yet."

"Looks kinda old, just like him!"

"He's a MAN, little boy," she shot back.

"I like being a little boy," he said, "that means I always

get my own way!"

"Truce!" Annie said, laughing. "What really happened to you

guys?"

"Micron stock took a big jump today after they announced

Spence's new system," Eric said.

"Congratulations on catching Hans," Spence said. "He's a

terrific guy, and he has the cutest buns."

"Look but don't touch, dammit," she said. "He's MINE!"

It went on like this all the way through dinner. I stayed

the hell out of it, just watching and laughing at the three

of them having fun.

After dinner, Spence got serious. "I was planning to call

you guys this week," he said. "I need a little help."

"Dirk?" Eric asked.

"No, my Dad. I've been getting a lot of letters from him,

through my attorney, of course. He and my mother want to

come to my graduation and are begging me to invite them.

What should I do?"

"Do you want them to be there?" I asked.

"No way! After what they did..."

"We normally don't give advice, but in this case, I'm going

to," I told him. "If you don't want them, don't give in and

let them talk you into inviting them. If you do, they'll

know where you are and you certainly don't want that."

"Unless he's stupid, which he isn't, he knows what city I'm

in, but thankfully it's a big city and there are a lot of

colleges here so he'd have a hard time finding me."

"I hate to burst your bubble," I told him. "Are you

registered at UC under your own name? Is your condo in your

name?"

"Yes and yes," Spence said warily.

"A few phone calls and he could pinpoint you," I said.

"Start calling schools to find where you're registered, then,

with proof that he's your Father, he could find out

everything. Same thing about where you live, and that's

public information that every Realtor has access to."

"I didn't know that," Spence said.

"It's almost impossible to disappear completely unless you

lay the groundwork very carefully," I told him.

"Oh shit! I thought I was pretty safe."

"You probably are," I said, "but, if your Dad really wants to

find you, he can. What do you think would happen if he did?"

"He's hard to predict. If he finds me, I know he'll do

everything he can to get me to go back to Idaho, or Utah, and

make my life miserable until I do."

"He's already proven that he's capable of physical abuse," I

said, "so your protection should be our first concern."

"How do I do that?"

"Leave it to the experts," Eric said, knowing where I was

going. "Ricky and Alex?" he asked me.

"Yep," I said. "They'll stick to Spence like a second skin

from a week before graduation until as long afterward as

necessary."

"Who're Ricky and Alex?" Spence asked.

"The best bodyguards we have," Eric told him. "They don't

look like bodyguards, so nobody'll even notice them."

"What about Dirk? Will his being there create a problem?"

"Not at all," Eric said, giggling. "Ricky and Alex are a

couple themselves."

"I'll set it up," I told him. "Come into the office next

week so you can meet them and we'll work out all the details."

Spence was shaking his head. "You guys really ARE my family!"

\- - - - -

The next day, I asked Bob to bring Ricky and Alex to my

office, that I had an assignment for them.

I explained who Spence was and what I wanted done. "I want

you guys to stick to him like glue, 24 hours a day. I don't

think he's in any serious jeopardy, it's his parents and the

Mormon Church that bothers me. They want him to return to

Idaho, and he doesn't want to go. Kidnapping is a

possibility, and it's your job to see that it doesn't happen."

We went over more details, then I asked Bob if I could give

the boys some instructions in private.

"OK guys," I said. "Spence is like a son to me and a little

brother to Eric. He may be one of the world's richest men,

but he's still young and rather naive. He has a boyfriend

who'll be here for his graduation, but I don't want either of

you tempting him in the meantime. If the subject comes up,

tell him that you guys don't play around, and don't!"

"What if he tries to start something? You know how my

hormones work," Ricky said with a giggle.

"Say 'No Thank You', and that's an order!" I told him. "He's

serious about his boyfriend, who happens to be Eric's cousin,

but they're having enough problems already, so don't make it

any worse, OK?"

"I suppose he's a real hottie, too," Ricky groaned.

"You could say that," I said, "but keep it in your pants."

"For you, boss, we'll do the impossible," Alex promised.

\- - - - -

I told Eric about my discussion with Ricky and Alex. He burst

out laughing. "Those guys will have poor Spence so damned

horny that he'll jump Dirk's bones the minute he walks in the

door!"

"Is that good or bad?" I laughed.

"I think it's about time SOMETHING happened. It's unnatural

to put it off this long!"

"Spence'll be happy with what he finds when he gets around to

it."

"And how do YOU know?" Eric teased.

"Remember the morning I woke up and he was spooned in front

of me and I thought it was you? When I reached over to play

with 'you' I grabbed hold of a mighty nice eight incher. Not

anywhere as nice as the one that belongs to me," I told him,

giving his crotch a pat. My, my, I found stiffness!

"Speaking of that," Eric said, "how about a quickie before

dinner, the hot tub after dinner, then let me give you a

massage? I know you don't show it, but I can 'feel' the

stress you're under."

"What're we waiting for?" I asked.

\- - - - -

It was Wednesday before the Senator called. "The General is

still in California digging," she said. "I probably

shouldn't be telling you this, but it appears that the order

to file the objection came from a rather high level,

verbally, and nobody wants to talk. The General and his

staff are trying to trace it back to its source, but the lack

of cooperation that they're up against is going to make it a

slow process."

"I'm sure you understand our position," I told her. "We're

only interested in having the objection lifted, so we're not

going to do anything that might 'rock the boat'."

She promised to keep us informed on progress.

\- - - - -

Nothing had been happening on the 'Georgia' matter until Eric

was served a subpoena and demand for a deposition all in the

same day.

He called his Dad immediately, but Karl was booked solid that

day, so agreed to come to our house after work to discuss the

situation.

"Looks like they're getting desperate," was his comment after

scanning the papers. "The Police say it didn't happen, and

THEY can't prove that it happened, so they're going to try to

get Eric to incriminate you, Dave.

"That's one of the shitty ways the Law treats you guys.

You're not legally married so they can force you to testify

against each other."

"But what if there isn't anything to testify about?" Eric

asked.

"Then they're spinning their wheels again," Karl said. "Don't

forget, though, if they somehow get some substantiating

evidence and win their case, the Police could reopen the

case against Dave."

"I don't have anything to say that'd help them, that's for

sure," Eric grinned.

"That shyster they've got is a tricky son-of-a-bitch," Karl

said. "In your deposition, he's going to use every trick

he's got. That's why I'll be right there with you."

"Is the DA doing anything about the false charges?" I asked.

"Normally, he'd give them a slap on the wrist and let it go

at that. This time, he's sitting back to see what they do

next. I'd say it's a good sign.

"In any event, I'm preparing pretrial motions to have the

whole thing thrown out for lack of evidence."

"Do you think that argument will fly?" I asked.

"It has to... unless they've found something I don't know

about yet. They have to tell me virtually everything they

have during pre-trial discovery. It wouldn't surprise me if

they tried to depose you, too, Dave. I wasn't going to get

depositions from Georgia and Joe Billy because this whole

thing is so ridiculous, but maybe I'd better."

"Do whatever you have to, Karl," I told him. "You have a

blank check on this whole thing."

"The more I think about it, I think it's time to mount a

major offensive. Yes, with them going after Eric, we'd

better cover all the bases."

\- - - - -

"God I'm sorry you got dragged into this," I told Eric.

"Listen babe," he said seriously, "we're in LIFE together,

this is just a part of it. Remember, I took you for better

or worse," he chuckled.

"But I hate to see you perjure yourself."

"I wouldn't have to if the laws weren't so fucked up. Relax,

it'll be over soon, Dad'll see to that."

"That's another thing. I wish we could tell him the real

story."

"I think he has a pretty good idea. If things get really

sticky, we'll have to tell him so he can protect us, but

we'll wait and see if it comes to that."

"If Georgia's Attorney has come up with anything, I'm sure

they'd run straight to the D.A. with it to get themselves off

the hook for the charges he's got pending against them," I

said.

"That makes sense," he said, "but we're not dealing with

rational people."

"I'm going to put Bob to work tomorrow," I said. "We'll have

him dig up every speck of dirt he can on both Georgia and Joe

Billy. That may help your Dad."

\- - - - -

Sure enough, I got an invitation to give a deposition too.

Eric and I discussed our "stories" to make certain there

weren't any conflicts. They were quite simple, actually. We

had seen Georgia and Joe Billy on the church steps after the

ceremony, and hadn't seen them since.

We "assumed" that they had gotten lost between the Church and

our house where the reception was being held, and had

evidently found their way back to their hotel. Or, they just

didn't want to attend the reception and hadn't. It was pure

speculation on our part.

Just to make absolutely sure, I talked to Tina and Annie

separately about what was going on. They both said they

hadn't discussed the matter with anyone and wouldn't.

Eric's deposition was scheduled two days before mine, so Karl

coached us together. "Remember, this is going to be on the

record, so anything you say can be used to your disadvantage.

"Take your time, be deliberate and think about every answer

before you give it. I'll be sitting where you can see me,

and if the question is out of line, I'll object, so don't

blurt out anything so I'll have a chance to do that.

"One tactic a lot of Attorneys use is to try to get you

pissed off so they can try to trip you up. If I see that

happening, I'll call for a break, and we'll get you calmed

down.

"They're on a fishing expedition, so will ask totally

unrelated questions. They're looking for motive, which you

definitely have, then anything that can tie you to the

supposed act.

"Eric, they're going to try to find out if Dave told you

about any plans he had to keep Georgia away. Dave, they know

you have the capability of having something like this done by

your 'Private Police Force', and will ask a lot of questions

about that. Think ahead about your contacts with Bob."

"I don't know nothing," Eric said.

"I didn't do nothing!" I said.

Laughing, Karl said "Just stick to that story and we're home

free."

Karl brought Eric home exhausted. "He did a damned fine

job," Karl said. "If they got anything useful out of that,

they heard something I didn't."

"That was WORK!" Eric said, "and a long goddam two hours!"

Jacques brought us a drink and we rehashed the whole thing.

"They'll probably go over some of the same things with you,

Dave, just to see if there's any discrepancies," Karl said.

"I suggest you two go over everything Eric can remember

before your turn in the hot seat."

We did. In detail, Eric remembering bits and pieces as we

talked. The only question he'd answered untruthfully was

whether or not he was aware of any plot to abduct Georgia and

get her out of the way. The rest were truthful.

That night, it was my turn to relieve HIS stress. A massage

and the best blowjob I could give did the trick. He rolled

over, closed his eyes, and was asleep before I could pull up

the covers.

\- - - - -

It was my turn. I pegged my interrogator as a genuine

asshole on a power trip the minute I sat down. He seemed to

think I was a "Big Shot", and was thoroughly enjoying being

in a position to make me squirm, puffing up self-importantly

and treating me as condescendingly as possible. If it hadn't

been such a serious situation, I would have cracked up

laughing.

I soon realized that he had a purpose. He wanted to get me

angry, indignant and... sloppy.

"Isn't it unusual for an older man like you to have such a

young, virile boyfriend?" was his first question.

"I don't think so," I answered.

"Must be all that money you've got, then."

"I don't think so," I answered.

"Do you tell him everything?"

"We have no secrets."

"Did you tell him about your plan to get Georgia and Joe

Billy out of the way?"

"No."

"Why not? Ashamed to tell him what you were doing?"

"There was no plan to discuss."

"I get the impression that you and your ex-wife aren't on the

best of terms?"

"True."

"What do you attribute that to?"

"I can't speak for her. I have no bad feelings, in fact I

pity her," I told him.

"Just as long as she doesn't disrupt your otherwise perfect

life," he commented sarcastically.

I didn't respond.

"Now tell me about the Wedding Rehearsal."

"There was an argument about who would sit in the front pew.

The Minister worked out a compromise."

The Attorney wanted me to "Tell him what happened." I only

answered specific questions. Then we went through the same

thing about the Rehearsal Dinner.

At about this time, Karl requested a break. We went outside

to talk.

"You're doing just fine," Karl said. "Don't let your guard

down, though, he's a slippery asshole."

We went through the wedding itself, and how the last time I'd

seen Georgia and Joe Billy was on the Church steps. From

there, the questions seemed random, covering a wide range of

subjects with no apparent goal in mind. It was obvious that

the Attorney didn't have a clue what he was looking for.

Karl followed me home where Eric and Annie were waiting.

"How'd it go, babe?" Eric wanted to know, enveloping me in a

bearhug that threatened to crack ribs.

"I told them that I had Aboriginal tribesman with blowguns

stationed outside the Church who shot them in the ass with

knockout darts and then hauled them away," I told him

seriously which got everybody laughing. "I could sure use a

drink!"

"I'm starting to get the impression that their own Attorney

isn't buying their outlandish story either," Karl added.

"I got that feeling too," I said.

"Your guys have gotten me so much information on things

Georgia and Joe Billy have pulled in the past that when I get

through with their depositions, it wouldn't surprise me if

even that sleazebag Attorney they've got walked out on them.

Their accusations are so unreal in the first place, and when

the other things they've done come out, they won't have a

shred of credibility left," Karl said.

"I've seen some of them," Eric said. "Joe Billy's a petty

crook and Georgia has been acting like a nut. Sorry, Annie."

"No problem," she said. "It's true."

\- - - - -

The trial was set to begin in a couple of weeks. There had

been a flurry in the press when the suit was filed, but

little since then. Nevertheless, I wanted the whole thing

settled before Annie announced her engagement. If it wasn't,

some reference would be made to my problems. I didn't want

that. Both Hans and Annie agreed.

\- - - - -

It had been several weeks since we'd heard from the Senator.

We figured it would be best if we left her alone and didn't

become pests.

When she called, she was very circumspect on the phone, just

asking us if we could meet with her in Washington.

When we were led into her office, there was another

distinguished looking man there. He was the Senior Senator

from Connecticut, one of her colleagues on the Senate Armed

Services Committee.

We were introduced and the door behind us firmly closed.

"Even though this is very sensitive information we're about

to give you, we felt you deserved to know what's going on,"

she started. "I don't think I need to remind you that this

cannot be repeated - to anyone."

We nodded.

"The Senate is kind of like a 'Club'," she explained. "When

one of us gets out of line, we try to wash our dirty laundry

ourselves, but that only applies to minor infractions.

"What may have happened here may or may not be minor, that's

why I asked the Senator here to get involved. Let me tell

you what we've learned, so far.

"The Army General that I work with made a trip to California.

He confirmed that the 'base' in question had no strategic

importance whatsoever. The Base Commander in Sunnyvale who

issued the objection would only say that the order to do that

came through 'channels', verbally, and would not provide any

names.

"The General didn't have the power to demand an answer, that

would have to come through 'channels' too, so he worked his

way up the chain of command. Either nobody knew anything, or

wasn't talking.

"We're up to the Pentagon level, and now we're stymied. The

only way I can demand answers is to hold hearings. That's

why the Senator has joined me.

"What's the total value of this project?" she asked.

"Between thirty and forty billion dollars," Eric said.

"That's definitely not small potatoes," the other Senator

said, speaking for the first time. "I think we should

definitely get to the bottom of this."

"I intend to," the Senator said. "It's either a colossal

mistake, or there's something going on that we don't know

about."

She thought a minute then continued. "Since the Army and the

issue of National Security are involved, they'll probably be

closed-door hearings, but I'm putting my staff to work on it

right now. We may call you or some of your staff to testify,

but I doubt it. The issue is what the Army did and why, not

anything you've done."

We thanked her for her continued efforts and left.

"This'll be interesting to watch!" I told Eric when we were

outside.

\- - - - -

A day or two after Karl took Georgia and Joe Billy's

depositions, their Attorney approached Karl with an offer.

"They want a hundred thousand to drop the whole thing," Karl

laughed. "I guess their Attorney finally talked some sense

into them."

"Pay it!" I told him. "It'd be worth it just to get this

goddam thing behind us."

"Not yet!" Karl said. "They're offering to settle for that.

They're still reaching, and I'm willing to bet that they'll

actually settle for a helluva lot less. If we threaten to go

to trial, they'll run like hell. They haven't got a chance

and they know it. Actually, $10,000 for nuisance value would

be more reasonable, and I'd demand a full retraction of the

charges they filed. Maybe I can sweeten the pot a little by

talking the D.A. into dropping the False Charges matter."

"Just make it go away!" I told him. "I don't care what it

costs as long as I'm totally cleared."

"I'll see what I can do," Karl said, grinning. "I'll also

make sure they give a statement to the press."

"It's a deal," Karl said when he called the next day.

"$20,000 and everything we wanted. We're drawing up the

papers now."

"A check's on its way over to you right now."

"When everything's signed, I want you to tell me how you

pulled it off," Karl said, laughing.

"Remember, I didn't do nothin," I laughed back.

"Sure, Dave," he chuckled. "We'll have this all wrapped up

tomorrow."

Eric and I had our own little celebration. While I was

pistoning in and out of him, he looked up into my eyes. "I'm

sure glad you're not going to jail," he said, "I don't think

I could live without this for very long." At first, I thought

he was teasing me, but then I saw he was dead serious. I

slowed down to make it last for both of us. We kept at it

until we were both begging for release.

\- - - - -

"I've been talking to George in San Francisco," Eric said.

"We've agreed that since the Railroad is now a private

company and we have our monthly get-togethers, a quarterly

Board Meeting is kind of unnecessary."

"I totally agree," I said. "Why haul all of us up there when

he'll be coming down here once a month anyway?"

"An Annual Meeting should take care of everything. But, I'd

like to go up there for another reason, you free tomorrow?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"The Presidential rail car is finished and I want you to see

it before it goes on display. We can fly to San Jose, that's

closer."

The car that we drove up to in the switching yard was a far

cry from the one I'd seen before. A rich maroon paint job

and gold lettering made a huge difference. It was even on a

track that led someplace!

Eric was proud as a peacock. "Wait'll you see the inside,"

he said.

"Have you seen it before?" I asked.

"I've slipped up here to check out progress a few times," he

grinned.

The interior was 1890's opulence, polished Mahogany, lots of

red velvet upholstery, crystal chandeliers and gold fittings

everywhere. We walked the length, taking in the detailing

that was incredible. I couldn't imagine the car looking this

good when it was new.

The kitchen was thoroughly modern, compact and efficient.

"Got this from Gulfstream's supplier," Eric said, his arm

sweeping the kitchen."

There were four sleeping compartments. Not exactly spacious,

but definitely comfortable. One with a full size bed, the

others with upper and lower berths. Each had a sink and

toilet, but one small room that originally had a bathtub in

it now had a shower and served all.

The dining room seated eight around a big, heavy Mahogany

table with a crystal chandeleir overhead. The most

spectacular room was the salon. Comfortable plush chairs and

lots of windows.

"Is this stuff real gold?" I asked.

"Yep, solid, from the Lovebird Mine," he grinned. "Don't

worry, I paid market price for all of it."

"Why? It's OURS for chrissake."

"No, I pay for everything," he insisted. "I even paid the

Railroad Book Value for the car. A whole dollar.

"It's going on display at the main San Francisco Station next

week. They're going to get a ton of publicity out of it.

After that, I'd like us to take a trip in it. What do you

think?"

"As long as we get the compartment with the double bed," I

chuckled.

"That's automatically ours, always!"

We stood arm in arm surveying the place. "A bit too ornate

for me," Eric said, "but it'll be fun once in a while."

"You did a wonderful job," I said hugging him, "this sure

doesn't look the same as the last time I saw it."

"You really like it?"

"We'll have some wonderful times here," I assured him.

\- - - - -

I think I, at least, had learned my lesson. Georgia was a

time bomb that went off every time she was in my vicinity.

The obvious solution was to stay the hell away from her.

After this last episode, what little care I had was gone.

Sure, I had gotten myself into trouble by overreacting, but

that's something she brought out in me. If only I could

remember that lesson in the future.

The tension level around home, and at the office too, dropped

dramatically. Everybody around me had sensed my stress

level, Eric particularly, who had suffered right along with

me.

It was time to get on with our lives, mine particularly.

It would be late, but we needed to have our Monthly Meeting,

so the troops were gathered.

Bill and Jeff had a pretty hefty pile of Market Research

summaries and information on Metalco and Milton's competitors

worldwide. Those were mainly for me to look at, but I asked

if people from any of the other divisions wanted to look at

them, and encouraged them to do so.

Lundborg Rush was facing production problems. Even if the

new plant was complete and all new equipment arrived and was

installed, and the plant was run around the clock, there was

no way they could meet Micron's production requirements.

If Micron's sales projections proved accurate, we'd fall 10

to 20% below their needs.

Eric suggested that we get the equipment on order now, and

not stop at Phase I of our building program, but to go ahead

and finish the whole thing.

Warren agreed, hoping that he'd soon be able to pursue some

of the other business that was out there.

There were sour notes, too. Although construction of the

Chemicals plant in Houston was right on schedule, the

Plastics plant was not. All sorts of snags had developed,

and materials were not being delivered on time. This was a

problem Neil would have to work closely with Bill and Jeff on

so that we wouldn't experience a big supply shortage.

Dean's Development sector was in limbo. There wasn't a

damned thing we could do until the Army's objection was

lifted. He asked me for the latest news.

"About all I can say is that our problem has reached the

highest levels of National government. I DO have a gut

feeling that it's all going to work out - - IF we live long

enough!"

George Wilson from the Railroad wanted to see Eric and me

before he returned to San Francisco, and Hal wanted to see us

whenever we had a spare minute.

George wanted to thank Eric for allowing his Presidential Car

to be displayed. It was drawing huge crowds, and all the

Railroad magazines were doing spreads on it. CLP was getting

a huge amount of favorable, free publicity.

"Eventually, some of that publicity will turn into revenue,"

he told us. "As I promised, we'll pull that car anyplace on

the system, anytime."

"We'll be taking you up on that soon," Eric told him. "We're

thinking about taking it somewhere after the Exhibition in

San Francisco closes. After that, it's all yours for more

shows."

\- - - - -

"Hi there," Dan said on the phone. "See you finally got the

bitch off your back!"

"I think I learned my lesson this time," I said.

"What's that?"

"She's a fucking time bomb that detonates every time she's

anywhere around me. I don't ever want to be even in the same

State as she is!"

When he stopped laughing, he wanted to know if I was free for

Happy Hour that evening.

"Sure, same time, same place?"

"Yeah, and by the way, bring Eric."

"OK."

We were already seated when Dan burst in, all smiles.

"Well, has the bitch ridden off on her broomstick yet?" he

asked.

"Far as I know, they left town a day or two ago, leaving a

helluva hotel bill," I said. "Doesn't matter, I'd pay just

about anything to have them outta here. Enough about HER.

What's going on with you?"

Dan looked straight at Eric. "I suppose he told you the

story, so where should I start?"

"At the beginning. He wouldn't tell me a damned thing, kind

of pissed me off, too," Eric grinned.

"Well, I met this gorgeous man, and fell for him. Hard." He

turned to me. "I believe we were having dinners together the

last time I talked to you, right?"

I nodded and he continued. "We've made a lot of progress

since then."

"So I noticed, at Tina's wedding," I commented.

"Who in the hell is this gorgeous stud? Do I know him?" Eric

asked.

"Oh yes," Dan said, grinning and enjoying the game. "He

works for you guys."

"Oh shit! Come on, tell me who he is."

"I'm thinking about moving to Houston," Dan hinted.

Eric thought a minute. "Neil?"

Dan just sat there with the biggest shit-eating grin I'd ever

seen on him.

"Good for you!" Eric said, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Gotta hand it to ya, you've got awesome taste!"

"He's an awesome guy," Dan said.

"Well, give us all the gory details," I demanded.

"He's moved in with me. That happened about two weeks after

I last talked with you, Dave, and he plans to stay as long as

he's here. After that, he wants me to move to Houston with

him."

"Go for it," I told him. "You're going to have our business

wherever you are."

"It's reassuring to know that," Dan said. "Metalco, Hydra

and you guys count for about 75% of my business."

"It's always going to be yours," I told him.

"Neil still doesn't know that you guys are my two closest

friends, but I think it's time to let him know. Can you come

over for a barbecue Sunday?"

"We'll be there," Eric said. I nodded.

\- - - - -

Neil really was surprised when we showed up. At first, he

was a little stiff, then, seeing that we were totally relaxed

and informal, loosened up. It was just the four of us.

We sat around the pool and talked. Dan told Neil about our

Sunday pool parties, and that as a result of them, half the

local gay population had been "married" off.

"How's Spence doing?" Dan asked us.

"Do you know who he really is?" Eric asked.

"Just a sweet young kid that followed you home, isn't he?"

"Well, not exactly," Eric giggled. "He's a little more than

meets the eye. For one thing, he's a computer software

genius who designed a system that's going to change how we

all use computers."

"Is that your opinion, or is that for real?"

"It's 'for real' enough that Micron paid him billions for

it. They'll be introducing it to the world in December."

"I'll be damned," Dan said. "Here I thought he was a charity

case and you guys were supporting him."

"That's what he wants everybody to think," Eric laughed.

"It's public knowledge that he's a major stockholder of

Micron, but they've kept the fact that he designed their new

software pretty quiet."

"So that's why LR's planning on production shortfalls," Neil

said, the pieces starting to fall together.

"Who's 'LR'?" Dan wanted to know.

"Only the biggest software manufacturer in the world," Neil

said, "and just happens to belong to Dave and Eric."

"What DON'T you guys own?" Dan asked.

"There's a few things out there," Eric giggled, "but we're

working on them."

\- - - - -

We didn't expect to hear much from the Senator real soon, but

she was courteous enough to keep us up to date on what was

going on.

The latest was that the Senate Armed Services Committee had

met and voted to hold hearings on our problem. The vote had

been unanimous except for the Chairman who had fought tooth

and nail to kill the motion.

"I don't understand his attitude toward you," she said.

"Have you had run-ins with him before?"

"We've tangled a few times in the past," I told her.

"Any particular reason?"

"He's a Southern Conservative and I'm gay. That doesn't fit

well with his way of thinking."

"I didn't know you were gay," she said. "I imagine that does

irritate him, but, with my constituency, that's all the more

reason why I need to get this mess straightened out."

Chapter 63

"Look who I found wandering the halls!" Eric said as he

ushered Al the superstar, and Rick, his lover, into my

office.

We went to the "conversation" area and caught up on what'd

been happening to everyone. Tina stuck her nose in, and had

the opportunity to thank Al and Rick for the fabulous wedding

present they'd sent. She even got a big hug from Al which

I'm sure made her day.

Eventually, Al pulled a video cassette out of his pocket. "I

wanted to deliver this in person," he said, handing it to

Eric. "It's a run-through of the presentation. Actually,

two different ones, one for the liberals and one for the

conservatives."

"Don't we have a big screen down in the auditorium?" Eric

asked me.

"I'll see if it's free," I told him and grabbed a phone.

"It is," I told them. "It'll take a few minutes to set up."

While we were waiting, Eric and I took them on a tour of the

Foundation's offices, introducing Al to everyone as one of

our "Advisors".

With half of the Foundation Staff in tow, we found our way to

the auditorium.

The screen was just slightly smaller than ones in a movie

theater. We found seats, Eric on one side of me, Al on the

other.

The music came on, a catchy tune that I'd never heard before.

The scene was a school gymnasium. The music faded, then a

very up-tempo piece started and the troupe bounded onto the

floor, doing a variety of tumbling moves. There were three

hunky guys and three beautiful girls. The guys were wearing

spandex, mid thigh shorts and tank tops, the girls short

skirts and halters, all in red, white, and blue.

As they found their positions, the music went up a notch and

the clapping started. I assumed that with an audience, they

would be joining in. One guy and one girl were the leaders.

"ARE YOU READY TO HEAR HOW IT REALLY IS?" The guy leader

yelled into his headphone, after getting everybody worked up.

>From there, he and the gal leader talked to the crowd. It

wasn't a lecture, but a humorous discussion of how things

"were" in this, the 21st century.

The points they stressed were Love and Caring,

Responsibility, and Safety, and were done in such a way as to

make them important but not onerous.

The music went up and the show was over.

"All the performers will then man the exits and hand out

brochures and posters," Al said.

George got up in front of everybody. "I cannot see how ANYONE

could possibly object to that presentation, Liberal OR

conservative! A magnificent, powerful presentation!"

"Let's hold our discussion until we see the other version,"

Eric suggested.

It had the same cast, and was basically the same with a few

script changes. Just as funny and just as powerful, but the

part about 2 people of the same sex getting together had been

eliminated. To me, they were the most important.

We filed back to the Foundation conference room and all got

seated around the table. Eric stood. "Al, I don't know how

we can thank you for shepherding this project through to such

an awesome conclusion." There was a round of applause.

George took over from there. "It'd sure be easier just to

play that tape, but we all feel that a live performance would

have a lot more impact. We're really going to have to work

to make our performances live up to the standards that you've

set."

"That was taken into consideration when it was written," Al

said. "There are only two significant speaking parts, the

others only have a few words. The performance you saw was

done completely by amateurs."

After a few more formal comments, we settled down into a

"bull session" with ideas flying around like crazy. At this

point, I excused myself.

It was late afternoon before Al, Rick and Eric returned to my

office. I invited them to come home with us for dinner. At

first they refused, saying they had a plane to catch. This

objection was overcome when I reminded them that we had a

couple of planes of our own and could fly them home anytime

they wanted.

At home, conversation continued about the Lifeguard Project.

Al was really fired up about what we were, or, Eric was

doing, and wanted to know everything there was to know.

"Our goal is to have five troupes on the road by September

fifteenth," Eric told him. "We already have them scheduled

through January first. Hopefully, before then, we can have

at least another five on the road, but we're not scheduling

them until we see how the first five are received."

"How're you going to move them around?" Rick asked.

"We're having five new busses converted," Eric said, "It'll

be just like a 'Road Show'."

"We've been really surprised at the response we've gotten so

far. Just about every school we've contacted has accepted

our offer, even without the preview video we'll be able to

use now.

"Our goal is to have 25 troupes on tour within a year, making

at least one performance per day. At that rate, we could

cover every High School in the country every four years."

Eric went on to tell them about other programs that they were

working on, some I hadn't even heard about yet. "Lifeguard",

he explained, would remain non-oriented, neither gay nor

straight, to avoid controversy, and subsidiary or separate

foundations would be set up for specifically gay programs.

Al and Rick wanted to help in any way they could. Rick, who

ran a modeling agency, offered to help find cast members if

Eric had trouble finding enough real lifeguards. "Gorgeous

guys are a dime-a-dozen in Hollywood. All of them want to get

into the movies, and there just aren't enough jobs, even as

extras, and decent modeling jobs are just as hard to find.

A lot of these would jump at the opportunity. No problem

with beautiful girls, either."

This idea really excited Eric. He'd been worried about

finding enough Lifeguards.

\- - - - -

We decided to grab Neil and Dan and fly to Houston to check

out what was really happening with the building delays.

We got into Houston early and got a rental. Not economizing,

but we all decided it'd be easier.

The Plastics plant was much, much larger than I had

envisioned. The molding part was in the front. Behind that

were silos for raw materials, and behind that were warehouses

and loading areas.

The silos were up, and the warehouses looked nearly complete,

but the most important part was mostly just poured

foundations. The floors hadn't even been poured and there

wasn't any sign of walls or roof.

"How come?" I asked Neil.

"The contractor says the steel hasn't arrived," he answered.

"How's it being shipped?"

"By rail, it'll come in on flatcars back there," he said,

pointing.

"This is bullshit. Do you happen to know who it's coming

from and where?"

"I talked to one of their Reps when he was here," he said and

gave me the guy's card.

I found a piece of concrete to sit on, and called the steel

fabricating company. I managed to get through to the

manager, and asked about the status of our buildings. He was

very apologetic, saying that the order had been cleared for

production only two weeks ago. It seemed that our contractor

was a "Cash in advance" customer and his check had just

cleared.

There wasn't anything that this guy could do at this point,

but I asked him to push as much as possible and to call me if

any snags developed. He was also located on the CLP

Railroad, and agreed to call me when they were ready to load.

I handed the phone to Neil. "How about giving our contractor

a call? Have him meet us at our hotel later this afternoon.

He WILL be there."

The Chemical plant, a short distance away, looked ready to

start up - from the outside. On the inside, Neil explained

that a lot of equipment was still missing, but would arrive

and be installed well ahead of deadline.

Normally, I don't give an ass chewing in front of others, but

in this case it was unavoidable.

The contractor knew why he was being called on the carpet,

but did his best to act like everything was wonderful.

"We've just been out to the plant site," I told him. "I

wasn't too pleased with what I saw."

"The steel's been slow. It's on the way right now."

I stared at him. Do anything, but don't lie to me! "That's

an outright lie, and we both know it! They just started

fabricating it, and it'll be a couple of months before

they'll ship. I talked to the plant."

"But, but, but..."

"If you'd had the balls to tell me that you needed cash up

front, we could've worked something out. Now, I want to know

if there are any other snags that we have to look forward to."

"nnNo," he stuttered, "I don't think so."

"Well, if anything comes up, grab the goddam phone and call

me. I think you're aware that you're on a deadline. If

those buildings aren't ready the day and hour they're

supposed to be, I'm going to own a construction business plus

every other dollar you've got or ever will have."

"I understand how you feel," he whined.

"Let's just be goddam sure there aren't any other delays," I

threatened. The meeting was over.

Dan was sitting there wide-eyed.

"Feel better, babe?" Eric giggled.

"Sure do," I told him. "Pride again. He just couldn't admit

that he had a problem, and now we both may be in trouble."

Dan and Neil took off to see Neil's house, and wouldn't be

back to join us for dinner.

Eric suggested we call Ron and Jason to join us for a night

out, and that we go get some jeans so we could do a little

shit-kicking later on.

\- - - - -

Annie was in a quandry over whether to go to Germany for the

engagement announcement or to ask Hans to come to

California. Germany was finally decided on, but she wanted

the whole family to go with her, not including Georgia, of

course.

Eric and I were ready and rarin' to go, but Tina and Rick

weren't as eager. They were both buried in work and didn't

feel they could take the time off. Annie did a "Sales Job"

on them, and eventually everyone agreed. We were to leave the

day after Spence's graduation.

They had set a wedding date in mid September, in Germany, at

the family Castle in Koenigsburg.

"Do we have to learn how to curtsy?" Eric asked Annie.

"God no!" she laughed. "Hans' family wouldn't know how to

act. Just be yourself."

"Do they know we're gay?" I asked.

"Oh yeah! I made sure of that. Remember Kevin? Don't want

a repeat performance of THAT!"

We went on to discuss what would be happening once we got

there and what type of clothes we needed to take.

\- - - - -

The night before Spence's graduation, Eric and I took him and

Dirk out to dinner. They showed up smiling from ear to ear.

During dinner, they told us all about what was going on. The

big news was that they both felt their major problems with

each other were behind them.

"I've been an absolute angel since I met Spence," Dirk said,

"I've got calluses on my palm to prove it, but it was worth

the wait."

"Does that mean...?" Eric asked.

"Nosy fucker," Spence giggled, "but yes, that means yes..."

"About time!" Eric snorted and we all broke out laughing, the

two red faced boys included.

"Just between us," Spence giggled, "Dirk has the most

beautiful, tasty, filling, dick I've ever laid eyes on. You

can bet I'm not going to give up that baby without a helluva

fight!"

"What're you calling a 'baby'?" Dirk kidded him. "OK, so you

got me by a quarter inch."

"OK, OK, guys, so you're both hung like horses. We don't

really need all the details," Eric laughed.

"Here I get used to all the money Spence's got, then he tells

me it's doubled," Dirk said, changing the subject. "I guess,

after a certain amount, it doesn't matter any more."

"It wouldn't surprise me to see Micron continuing to climb,"

I commented. "How're Alex and Ricky working out?"

"They're great," Spence said. "The only time I'm out of

their sight is when I'm sleeping, and if Ricky had his way,

they'd be there too. Damn, I've never seen such a horny guy!"

Eric and I exchanged grins on that one, no surprise. "You're

any different?" Dirk teased.

During dessert, they told us their plans for the summer.

Dirk would be staying on the West Coast and they planned to

just jump in the car and go. No plans, no destination, just

go wherever the road led.

"Of course, if you guys go anyplace and wouldn't mind a

couple of KIDS tagging along," Spence said in his little boy

voice, "we'd sure love to go."

"We're going to Germany in a couple of days," Eric told

them. "Annie and Hans are going to announce their

engagement, but I'm afraid the whole family's going."

"That's OK," Spence said. "We need a week or two to wind

down."

The Graduation ceremony was the same as Eric's, but there

weren't as many in Spence's 'School', so it went faster. As

soon as it was over, Spence ran up to us, Ricky and Alex a

short distance behind. Dirk got the first hug, but Dirk

didn't stop there. He laid a big lip lock on him that raised

a few eyebrows. Eric got a hug and eventually, so did I.

As I was holding him, he whispered in my ear "They're

standing right over there."

"Who?" I asked.

"Mom and Dad, and I'm sure they saw Dirk kiss me. It's gonna

hit the fan now."

"They won't touch you if you don't want them to," I told him

softly and motioned to Alex and Ricky who rushed over.

Spence let go of me, and was immediately enveloped by Dirk.

I could see Spence whispering in his ear.

I looked around to see if I could pick out the Youngs. A

very well dressed couple was walking toward us. As they

neared, the woman's hands flew out "Spencer Darling!"

Before she could reach him, Alex was in front of Spence

blocking her way. Spence just stood there, Dirk's arm still

around him. When she stopped, a man I assumed was his father

stopped beside her. "It's OK," I heard him murmur to Alex.

Alex stepped aside, but stayed between them, Ricky was on the

other side, tensed.

"Hello, Mother, hi Dad," he said unemotionally.

"You're looking wonderful, Spencer, you've put on a lot of

weight," his mother said. Dad just stood there and scowled.

"It's all the good clean living I'm doing," Spence said with

that gleam in his eye, unable to resist the needle. "I'd

like you to meet my friends. This is Dirk, my best friend,

this is Eric, my big brother, and this is Dave, Eric's

partner." Mother nodded to each of us in turn, but Dad

didn't make any effort to shake hands. I also noticed that

Spence hadn't used any last names.

"Who are these thugs?" Dad spoke for the first time, nodding

toward Ricky and Alex.

"They're my good friends and bodyguards," Spence answered.

A very awkward silence followed. Everybody looked everyone

else over carefully. Dirk didn't let up his protective grip

on Spence either.

How fucking cold, I thought. Not one congratulation to

Spence on his achievement. At least he knew that the three

of us were enormously proud of him.

Dad broke the silence. "Got a job yet?" he growled.

"No, Dad, I don't have one, and I'm not looking for one

either. I'm planning to take some time off and play,

something I've done very little of in my life."

Momma stepped in. "Could you have dinner with us tonight,

so we can talk, Spencer?"

"No Mom, I can't," Spence said, looking her straight in the

eye, with kind of a grin. "I already have plans... with my

Family here."

Spence's Dad looked like he was on the verge of some kind of

fit. Momma must have seen it too, because she grabbed his

arm and started moving. "We'll be in touch in the next day

or two, Spencer," she said over her shoulder.

"I don't think so, mother," Spence murmured as we all watched

them walk on out of the outdoor amphitheater.

On the surface, Spence looked calm, but I could tell that

inside, he was churning. Even if planned, the confrontation

couldn't have gone much better than it had. Actually, it

hadn't been a confrontation, more of an exchange, but the

little that WAS said carried enormous meaning, and what wasn't

said carried even more. Even though Spence may not realize

it yet, that conversation had been a turning point in his

life.

"Do you want to go out tonight or come over to the house?" I

asked him.

"Can we come over to your house where we can relax and be

ourselves?" he asked, "and bring Ricky and Alex too?"

"Of course," I said.

"Anything special for dinner?" Eric asked.

"Food at your house is always wonderful, I'll take potluck,"

he giggled. "Can we come early? I don't feel like going

home."

"Anytime," Eric told him.

\- - - - -

"Why'd those assholes have to horn in and spoil it for him?"

Eric asked on the ride home.

"I don't think they spoiled it for him, and might have done

him a favor."

"How's that?"

"His dad showed up to reassert his authority over Spence, to

take back control. That didn't happen, and now probably

never will. Spence stood up to him, not arrogantly, but made

it clear that he was making his own decisions. I think once

Spence realizes this, he'll be much more comfortable with

himself."

"I see your point," Eric said, "and there wasn't any screaming

and yelling either. His father scares me, though."

"Me too. Let's get the boys out of town for a week or two.

That'll be my graduation present to Spence."

\- - - - -

"I did it!" Spence roared as the four of them came in.

"Did what?" Eric kidded him.

"Actually two things - I got my Diploma, and I stood up to

Mom and Dad."

"Congratulations on both," I told him. "I'm really really

proud of you."

About that time Annie roared in. "Hiya Brat," she said.

"Heard you conned them into giving you a diploma!"

"You got it all wrong," he told her, "I bought it, for $24.95

plus shipping and handling."

"Congratulations, anyway," she laughed. "Hi guys," she

acknowledged the other three. "I'm off to Tina's to help her

pack. See you all later." Before leaving she walked over

and gave Spence a big hug.

"That's what I mean about 'Family'," he said to Dirk, hugging

him close.

"Well, how do you guys feel it all went?" Spence asked us.

"You looked great getting your Diploma, summa cum laude and

all. Hope the pictures turn out," I told him.

"I'm pretty proud of that," he admitted, "but I'm even

happier about the way things went with Mom and Dad. Rather

civilized, I thought, but I don't think Dad's going to give

up yet."

"I kind of feel sorry for him," I said. "First, you 'out'

yourself, then you make it clear that he no longer controls

you, then you tell them you no longer need them. All of

that's hard to swallow. But there'll never be an excuse for

what he did to you."

"Someday, I might be able to forgive him, but not soon. Just

talking to him, even if it was only a few words, has made me

feel different. I don't think I actually fear him any more,

and I don't feel guilty about defying him either. It's kind

of like gaining my freedom. It's easier to see him for what

he really is, a poor soul so caught-up in religion that he

doesn't recognize reality."

"Do you think he'll leave you alone?" Eric asked.

"Hell no! Seeing me now, and how I've changed, will only

goad him on to undertake a Holy Crusade to 'save' me. He

won't give up this easily, and now he knows where I am."

"OK Spence," I said. "Your parents will probably only be in

town for a few days. Eric and I are leaving for Germany in

the morning, so we can't watch you, not that Ricky and Alex

aren't doing a damned fine job, but I'd feel much better if

you weren't anywhere around." I paused for breath.

"I know that Eric got you a Graduation present from both of

us, but I have one for the two of you. Tomorrow, a plane

will be waiting to take you to Disneyworld for as long as you

guys want to stay. Your rooms, a car, and anything else you

might want is taken care of. How does that sound?"

They took a look at each other, grinning, and chorused

"YESSSsss!"

"After dinner, you can go home and pack, but you're staying

here tonight," I told them. "If you forget anything, buy it."

"Can we go pack now?" Dirk asked, "it's still afternoon."

"Good idea," I said as the four of them headed for the door.

"You keep reminding me why I love you so damned much," Eric

said. "Are you going to send Ricky and Alex with them?"

"No, I don't think it'll be necessary," I answered. "They

need some time by themselves, an opportunity to be on their

own."

I called Sam, The General, to set up the plane. The General

was in the mood for a pissing contest. "I can't," he said.

"Every plane is booked solid for the next week."

"Sam," I said, "I want a plane waiting tomorrow morning at

9:00, fueled and with pilots ready. I don't care which plane

you use."

"I can't."

I lost it. I held my temper with a great deal of effort.

"Sam, one last time. There will be a plane waiting as I

asked. That is now a direct order, and it WILL be obeyed.

Let me warn you, this is the last incident of insubordination

we will ever have while you're a Metalco employee. I think

you know what that means. I'm at home. Call and confirm

those arrangements and let me know who the pilots will be in

an hour."

"Yes Sir."

"Old Sam acting up again?" Eric chuckled.

"I wonder who the hell he thinks he's working for? It's a

cinch that I'm not putting up with any more of this crap."

My next call was to Dan. He would make all the arrangements,

get them a suite at one of the Disney Hotels, and get the

whole package over to the house sometime that evening. I

told him it was a graduation present. No need to give out

any more information.

The boys came back all packed. I took Alex and Ricky aside

to tell them that I didn't think they'd be needed. No

problem, as far as they were concerned.

"When are you guys going to get packed?" Spence asked Alex and

Ricky.

"We're not going," Ricky said. "Dave feels that you guys

need some time alone, and we agree."

"Oh no!" Spence said and came over to plop between Eric and

me.

"These guys have been real good to me, Dave," he said.

"They told me about your 'order', and I'll vouch for the fact

that they were well behaved. They deserve to go."

"No Problem," I said. "I thought that you'd be safe and

might like a little time just to yourselves. But, I gotta

tell ya, I'm pulling back the orders I gave them earlier.

Fend for yourself, baby stud! ...However, that doesn't give

permission to anyone to force anything on anyone else. Just

have fun, Willingly!"

\- - - - -

When we got to the airport the next morning, everything was

very quiet. Only one plane, ours, was ready. Two of the

other planes, including the other Gulfstream, were gone, and

one was in the hangar. I went looking for Ron and Jason,

Eric right behind me.

They were working on their pre-flight checklist in the

cockpit, and when I told them what had happened, and Sam's

evident refusal to follow orders, Ron went ballistic.

"I don't care if he is doing a good job," Ron said, "this shit

will not be tolerated."

"Excellent timing, too," Jason added sarcastically. "We're

all on our way out."

"Let's go find out what's going on," Ron suggested. "Can I

fire him?"

"If you don't, I will," I told him.

When we got to the office, Sam was sitting there at the

computer with a big smile. "Good morning, Gentlemen," he

said cheerily.

"Good morning, Sam," I said. "How come the other plane isn't

ready to go?"

"I decided to stick to the original schedule," he said.

"Then there's no plane scheduled to fly my guests to Orlando

this morning?" I asked.

"We couldn't fit them in until Wednesday," he answered. "If

they want to go sooner, they'll have to fly commercial."

"That's not the way it works around here," Ron told him.

"You're fired."

"You can't fire me!" Sam roared.

"Well, I sure as hell can," I said. "Sam, you're fired for

insubordination. Get out NOW. You can come back in an hour

to collect your personal belongings under the supervision of

our Security people. Now, get your ass out of here!"

He started to say something, thought better of it, and left

the office.

Jason sat down at Sam's desk and started looking around.

"Here's the flight schedules, I'll take care of the other

flight," he said.

Taking another desk, Ron asked Jason "Is Rich scheduled

today?" Jason shook his head. "He can man the fort today,

at least, then we can organize the next few days by phone."

I got out my cell phone to call Bob and give him his

instructions. Ron or Jason would keep him up to date on what

was happening.

Eric and I went back out to the plane to tell everybody what

was going on. They were all aboard the Gulfstream with

Jacques and the other Steward serving coffee.

As soon as I'd explained the situation, Spence spoke up. "We

can fly commercial, that's no problem."

"Not when I've got a plane sitting over there that's

scheduled to take one passenger to Seattle late this

afternoon," I said. "Whoever THAT is can fly commercial.

You may be an hour or two late taking off, but you'll get

there by this afternoon, a helluva lot faster than commercial

where you'd have at least two stops along the way."

Annie looked nervous, so I sat down beside her. "Relax,

kiddo. We won't be more than a half hour late taking off.

There's always a cushion built into the schedule, so we'll

arrive just about on time."

"OK Dad," she smiled.

When Bob and another carload of his people pulled up, Eric

and I went out to talk to them.

Following right behind them were pilots who went right to

work getting the other plane out of the hangar. Ron reported

that the plane had been fueled, and that he'd ordered food

from the caterer. "Can't let four growing boys go unfed for

five hours, no telling what they'll be chewing on," he

giggled with a leer.

Ron briefed Bob on what had to be taken care of. He was

capable, and if he didn't have an answer, would find someone

who was more knowledgable.

The four boys climbed out of the Gulfstream and stowed their

stuff in the smaller plane. Ron went over to introduce them

to the pilots and show them where food and drinks would be.

Eric and I said goodbye and we all climbed aboard and got

settled in for takeoff.

"Nothing like a little excitement to get the day rolling,"

Annie quipped.

"It'll all be back to normal by the time we get home," I

assured her.

The Steward took breakfasts to the cockpit and Jacques brought

us ours. Almost too much "service", two stewards for five

passengers and the three pilots.

Rick and Eric were deep in discussion, Annie and Tina were

talking, and I had an opportunity to sit back and look my

family over.

Rick was a fine addition, fitting right in, comfortably, once

he realized that we were all harmless. He and Tina seemed

blissfully happy, and he'd developed a relationship with Eric

that was more like brothers-in-law than "step Father-in-law".

I believe it grew out of mutual respect.

Rick was insistent on calling me "Mr. R". Actually I liked

it. "Dad" was reserved for my girls. Eventually it would

grow into "Dave".

Tina was happy and content. She'd grown up in the short time

she'd spent with us as a "family". I couldn't be more proud

of her.

Annie had changed enormously since she'd shown up on my

doorstep. From a very angry young girl, she'd blossomed into

a mature, responsible woman, who now was bringing another

addition to the group.

>From what I'd seen, Hans would fit right in. No bullshit, no

pretense. I looked forward to getting to know him better.

My reverie was interrupted when Ron and Jason came out of the

cockpit. "Doesn't somebody have to fly this damned thing?" I

asked, chuckling.

"Kirk's doing just fine," Ron assured me. "Thought we needed

to talk about the 'Sam' mess."

"Got any ideas?" I asked.

"Actually, we do," Ron said. "As it usually happens, just

when you've found somebody for the job, you run into all

sorts of good candidates. Now, all we have to do is find

them and hope they haven't already found good jobs."

"We don't need a 'yes-man', but somebody who'll follow the

rules. Do you guys think I've been unreasonable?" I asked.

"Hell NO!" Jason said. "I think you ask very little, and

hell, you own the company and should be able to do anything

you want without question."

"The guy - or gal, for that matter, that we get, doesn't have

to be a pilot," Ron said. "All they need are good

organizational skills and the ability to learn that program

that Sam got. I did, and I'm sure no computer whiz.

"Don't worry," he continued. "Everything's under control

right now, and we'll have a permanent solution a week or two

after we get home."

\- - - - -

Hans literally stormed the plane as soon as the engines were

shut down. Annie was the first one off and jumped into his

arms.

We gave them a chance to say hello in peace, then the herd

descended. We all hugged him, Rick a little shyly at first,

but Hans was insistent, just grabbing him.

After the enthusiasm settled down, Hans told us that nothing

was planned for that day to give us a chance to get over jet

lag, but things would get busy the next day, and gave us the

schedule of events.

Two limos pulled up and the crew unloaded all of our baggage.

The six of us climbed in one, and the crew in the other,

putting overflow luggage in the back seat with them.

Our arrival at the hotel was like an invasion. The doorman

ushered us into the lobby and Jacques took over the luggage.

We left our passports at the desk and went directly to our

rooms. Eric, Jacques and I were in the biggest suite, with

Annie next door on one side and Tina and Rick on the other.

The rest were in rooms down the hall. We were pretty high up

and had a sweeping view of the city.

"I'm going to find the pool and see if swimming helps jet lag

when you travel East," Eric said. "Want to join me? I'm

wearin' speedos..."

"Then, definitely!" I told him.

"I think I'll see if anybody else wants to join us."

Neither Jacques nor the kids were interested, but the crew

were, meeting us at the rooftop pool.

It was a warm, sunshiny afternoon, but the pool wasn't

crowded. The eyes of those there just about popped out when

Eric took off his robe. How he managed to stuff his dick

into that tiny little thing was always an amazement to me.

Kirk, the new pilot, and Joey, the steward, were a bit awed

too, their jaws dropping and eyes boggling. I watched them

for a minute, then looked at Eric myself. My God, what a

body! what a face! what a basket! No man could ask for

more. He looked at me and grinned, not the least bit self

conscious.

I loved the way he handled himself. He was outstanding. He

knew it and the effect he had on others, but he wasn't the

least bit conceited. To me, his looks were a small part of

his attraction. I loved the whole man.

We spent quite a while in the warm water. No serious

swimming, just playing around, talking and splashing.

We all went to dinner together then Eric and I headed for

bed, the rest heading out to check out Hamburg's "Hot spots".

\- - - - -

The next two days were pretty well planned for us. First on

the agenda was lunch with Hans' father. Hans came to collect

us and drove us to the tallest building in the city. Up the

elevator to the top floor, naturally, whizzing past

secretaries and receptionists to the huge, unmarked, double

doors of his father's office, and right on in.

His father rose and came around his desk. He was tall, very

distinguished looking, graying at the temples of his medium

brown hair, and the same blue eyes as Hans. His Teutonic

bearing brought the words "stiff as a poker" to mind

immediately.

"Dad, I'd like you to meet Dave Rush and Eric Lundborg," Hans

said. "Dave, Eric, this is Otto Koenigsburg, my father."

The stern expression vanished, and was replaced by a huge

smile as we shook hands. "So nice to finally meet our biggest

customers and, I hear, soon to become the newest members of

our family."

It took less than five minutes to dispel the "stiff as a

poker" image. He was as down-to-earth informal as Hans, and

was obviously very close to him.

We moved to a private dining room that was as elegant as Otto.

Lunch conversation switched back and forth between the

upcoming engagement and business. Otto's sense of humor came

through with his constant kidding of Hans and general lack of

seriousness. He sure didn't LOOK like the personality he was

turning out to be. One of the things I really liked about him

was the way he effortlessly included Eric in everything that

was said.

Lunch lasted well into the afternoon, then Hans took us back

to our hotel. A limo would call for all of us that evening.

While Eric and I were sitting around discussing our lunch

with Otto and Hans, my cell phone rang, or dinged as this one

did. It was the Senator. After exchanging pleasantries, she

asked how soon we could be in Washington.

"Eric could probably be there tomorrow," I said, winking at

him, "but I couldn't make it for a few days. My daughter's

engagement party is tomorrow night, and we're in Germany."

"Don't EITHER of you miss it," she said. "What I have to

tell you is highly confidential and will have to be in

person, but let me tell you this, it's GOOD news."

"That's real encouraging," I told her. "We can be there on

Friday, for sure."

"That would be fine. How about noon and I can take you to

the Senate Dining Room for lunch?"

"We'll be there," I promised.

"Please give your daughter my congratulations," she said.

I relayed the news to Eric. "Don't get your hopes up yet," I

told him. "This thing could drag out forever."

He sat and grinned at me. "I know it'll work out. It's just

that neither of us have any patience," he said. "I spent

most of the trip over talking to Rick about building houses

up there. I think we may have something going there too.

That's how confident I am that this thing will fly -

eventually."

Dinner that evening was a family affair, the five of us and

Hans' family, including his younger brother and his wife.

As Annie had told us, Hans' mother Charlotte, Lotti for short,

was delightful. She wasn't exactly petite, but not a

Brunhilda either.

Dinner was informal, or as informal as it could be when

served by five maids in a baronial dining room with enough

antique silver to supply the Mint for a year if melted down.

Eric and I were seated on either side of Lotti, and she was a

great talker, wanting to know everything there was to know

about the two of us. Not nosy but interested.

Hans' brother Kurt and his wife Edith were a stunning pair.

He was classicly handsome with high cheekbones and

mischevious blue eyes, Edith was an adorable blond. The two

of them really seemed to hit it off with Tina and Rick.

It turned out to be just a family dinner, lots of laughing

and teasing back and forth, making Eric and me feel very

comfortable and welcome.

We left fairly early, the next day would be a busy one.

\- - - - -

Annie was spending the day shopping with Lotti, Tina and Rick

were doing something with Kurt and Edith, and Eric and I were

going on a plant tour with Hans and Otto.

Our first stop was at the docks. Cranes were hoisting crated

machinery into the hold of a freighter. "This is the first

boatload of your molding equipment going to Houston," Hans

explained. "The first of six."

>From there, we went to an enormous factory where the

equipment was made. It was more like a steel mill with

furnaces melting the iron to be cast into the large parts

that would be machined and end up as our molding equipment.

I didn't have a clue how they worked, so Otto explained,

ending with "The ones we're building for you are among the

biggest we've ever built. With these, you can handle more

cavities and produce more pieces with each cycle of the

presses."

We invited them both to come visit us when our plant was up

and running. They both eagerly accepted.

We spent the whole afternoon at their electronics plant. It

too was enormous, they made a lot of other things besides

disk copiers.

At the moment, the majority of their production of copiers

was for Lundborg Rush, and Eric warned them that LR was on

the verge of explosive expansion and to hold lots of

production slots for us.

We got back to the hotel in time to rest a little before the

evening's festivities, but instead, got caught up on

something else that had been neglected.

Freshly fucked, showered and dressed, I think we both glowed

when we met the others in the hotel lobby. Our limo whisked

us off to a private club where the party was being held.

We went into a lounge where drinks were being served. Otto

and Lotti were waiting for us. Kurt and Edie whisked Tina

and Rick off in another direction. Annie was already

someplace with Hans.

With drinks in hand, we were introduced around to some of the

other guests, certainly not all because there were a LOT of

people there. Then out of nowhere stepped the most regal

lady of all, none other than Sarah!

She walked straight to us, threw her arms around Eric for a

hug, then me, then the von Koenigsburgs. "Where're my

girls?" she asked.

"They're here someplace," Eric told her. "Want me to find

them for you?"

"No, that's fine," she said. "They'll show up sooner or

later." Then she turned to me. "They may be getting

married, but they'll always be MY girls," she smiled.

The dinner itself was spectacular. The "family" sat together

at one big, round table, including Sarah, of course. There

were toasts to the newly betrothed, then dancing. They even

played some waltzes for the old farts.

Eric was dancing up a storm with the younger set, even Hans,

to everyone's delight.

Sarah and I had a chance to talk while they all worked up a

sweat. "Everything work out with the Georgia mess?" she

wanted to know.

"What mess?" I grinned. "Officially, nothing happened." She

laughed, understanding me perfectly. "Annie says that

Georgia's not going to be within a thousand miles of here

when SHE gets married."

"That's a good idea," she said. "But how can you keep her

away?"

"I'm not sure, but Annie's determined, so we'll figure out a

way."

"Annie's already asked me to help her with the wedding,"

Sarah said.

"You should," I grinned, "afterall, you're responsible.

By the way, did you fly over on one of our planes?"

"No, none were available, or so I was told."

"That will never happen again," I told her. "Our flight

operations manager who did all the scheduling was fired on

our way out. I wished you'd have let me know."

"I have to admit I'm spoiled," she said. "It's so nice to go

when you want to, and those nice young men of yours spoil me

rotten."

"We're going home tomorrow by way of Washington D.C., want to

go with us?"

"No, I'm going to Paris for a few days."

"Call when you're ready, we'll come get you," I told her.

"Why don't you come to Paris with me? I'll take you to some

grand parties."

"Wish we could, but we have to be in Washington on Friday."

"No problems, I hope," she said.

"Don't you know that the two of us always find problems, or

they find us?" I laughed. "This time, though, we're getting

dragged into politics, which I hate!"

"Serious?"

"I'm confident it'll get worked out," I said. "I'll tell you

all about it when the dust settles."

Around midnight, Eric slumped into the chair next to me.

"Don't be fooled," he whispered in my ear. "This afternoon

was only an appetizer! I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"That's an offer that's impossible to refuse. Let's get the

hell out of here."

Chapter 64

The Senator welcomed us warmly, saying that she'd read about

Annie's engagement in the paper the day before. "Such a

handsome couple," she commented.

>From there, she went directly to the problem. "We've learned

a lot," she said, "but far from everything."

"The order to file the objection to your project did NOT come

through regular channels. The best we can find out is that

it was a local decision made by the Commander of the

Sunnyvale Base on his own. We don't believe that, and we

can't find out who gave him the order because the Commander

won't talk.

"Even though we offered him immunity from prosecution, he

still won't talk, so he's facing Contempt of Congress

charges, and the Army has removed him from his post and is

planning a Court Martial for insubordination."

"What will that accomplish?" Eric asked.

"The Commander has been removed from his post," she said,

"and his replacement has been given orders from the highest

level of the Army to withdraw the objection immediately.

That will open the way for you to go forward, and once the

objection is formally withdrawn, it cannot be reinstated.

"Before I got involved in this," she continued, "I talked

with the City and County Officials, and they assured me that

once that obstacle was removed, their approval would be a

formality. They want and NEED your project."

"Will that be the end of it?" I asked.

"From your standpoint, probably," she said. "However, the

whole thing stinks to me, and I'm not going to let up until I

find out what's really going on. The Army wants to know too.

"This whole thing looks to me like a blatant abuse of power

targeting you. That isn't tolerable. The Sunnyvale

Commander wouldn't have any reason to do this on his own.

Somebody would have to have given him the order and I intend

to find out who did it and why. Do you know of anyone in

government who would be that vindictive?"

"The only person I can think of is the Senior Senator from

North Carolina," I said.

"Has he ever done anything in the past that would indicate he

would do more than grouse about your personal life?" she

asked.

"Quite a few things," I said. "When Metalco was a major

defense contractor, he did everything in his power to see

that no contracts were awarded to us, and he was very open

about his objections. We know for a fact that he gave copies

of our bids to other contractors so that we could be

underbid."

She just shook her head, not commenting.

"On three occasions," I continued, "my personal security

clearance has been revoked for no reason, at his request,

which would mean that I couldn't set foot in my own

factories. I got it back, fortunately, but it was an ordeal

every time.

"His most recent attack was three years ago when he attempted

to cut funding for an aircraft part that we are building as

a subcontractor, the last job we have for the government, and

the last one we'll ever bid on."

"I cannot believe that anyone could be that mean spirited!"

she said. "What could possibly make him do things like that?"

"One possibility," I told her, "is an incident that happened

about two years ago. The York Hotel chain leased a lot of

hotels from us. They were a Southern, 'Christian' outfit.

We learned that they were openly discriminating against

homosexuals, and when York refused to change their practices,

we threw them out which caused the whole company to

collapse. It wouldn't surprise me if they weren't strong

supporters of the Senator."

"I commend you," she said quietly. "I had no idea you were

even involved. You've given me a lot of information that's

going to help get to the bottom of this thing, and I thank

you."

"We're the ones who should be thanking you," Eric said. "You

listened to us, and did something about it."

"I will NOT allow politicians from other states to meddle in

the local affairs of MY state," she said, her eyes flashing,

"particularly when bigotry and personal revenge are involved."

\- - - - -

"Well, we got around the old bastard again," Eric observed.

"I'll betcha that's the last anybody'll hear about it," I

chuckled. "Lots of big talk, but when it comes right down to

it, nobody's got the balls to stand up to him. He's just too

damned powerful. At least WE got what we wanted."

"Damn, it'd sure be nice if the old fart would only retire."

"Never happen, he'll die in office," I predicted.

"Even though she was only doing her job," Eric laughed, "I

think we should throw a few bucks OUR Senator's way when the

next election rolls around."

"Absolutely. What she did is worth a lot to us, even if it

was all unnecessary."

What the Senator had told us was in confidence, so we couldn't

let on that the issue was settled and the local officials

were planning to approve the project. So, we had to wait

until everything was official before moving forward. Of

course we told Tina and Annie, and Dean so that they could

relax a little.

\- - - - -

We'd only been gone a week, but a lot had happened. It

seemed like everyone wanted to see us, preferably together.

I took the whole pile of requests out to Carol and asked her

to schedule meetings, a half hour each, with Hal at the top.

We'd never gotten around to him before we left.

I abandoned my desk for the conversation area of my office so

it wouldn't seem so formal, and Eric sat across from me so we

wouldn't be distracted.

We were both apologetic when Hal came in. He just laughed it

off, "I don't know how you guys keep up with everything,

anyway," he said. "I just plug along."

"With men like you running things, we don't worry," Eric

said, and Hal actually blushed.

"What I wanted to talk to you about is John who's in

Colorado now," Hal said. "He hasn't found anything major

yet, but he says he 'smells' something and would like you

guys to come over and take a look."

"Any idea what?" I asked.

"He hasn't mentioned anything specific," Hal said.

"Is there a rail line into that area?" Eric asked.

"I saw one when I was over there," Hal told him. "It's way

up in the Rockies."

The subject got changed to the other mining operations.

Lovebird was spitting out ore with no end in sight, and the

copper mine had cleared it's last environmental hurdle.

Bill had two items on his agenda: Begging Eric to find him

someone for Rush Properties, and his concern about the delays

at the plastics plant in Houston.

"We're getting along fine at Rush Properties," he said, "but

we're stagnating. Without a 'head', they run to me for every

decision. We need another Annie!"

"Give me two weeks," Eric said. "We'll never find another

Annie, but I'll find you somebody who can handle the job."

"After the ass kicking you gave the Contractor, Dave, I think

he'll get the buildings done pretty close to schedule, but my

question is whether we can get all the equipment set up,

checked out, and running by the time our old suppliers cut us

off."

"Will any of them cut us a little slack?" I asked.

"Some will, but at a price," he said.

"It's a one-time thing, and we may have to go for it," I told

him. "We don't have to like it, but we can't let a whole

bunch of other plants shut down."

The last appointment of the day was with Ron and Jason. I

knew what that'd be about.

They brought along a surprise, however. Her name was Peggy.

"This lady knows what it's all about," Ron said after

introductions. "We did want her to meet the men who are all

of our REAL bosses, though."

"I can even get along with all THESE guys," Peggy giggled.

"That's no mean feat in itself," I said, laughing. "At the

risk of telling you things that Ron and Jason already have,

I'll tell you what our priorities are. Since Eric and I own

the company, we come first. We never know when we're going

someplace or where. We usually travel together, but not all

the time.

"Next in priority is a lady in New York by the name of Sarah

Thornton. You'll be hearing from her in the next few days to

come get her in Paris. Drop everything and run. Usually,

though, she gives you lots of advance warning."

"Should we use any particular plane?" Peggy asked.

"I've gotten used to one of the Gulfstreams," I told her.

"I'd prefer them, but if they're busy, any will do except for

trans-continental or overseas flights."

"Any others who have priority?" she asked.

"Not really," I said. "On occasion, Eric or I may request

that you fly some of our friends someplace. That doesn't

happen often, but we'd like you to do your best. In case you

haven't heard, that's why your predecessor got fired - for

refusing to make the effort."

"One more thing," I continued, "until they get too old and

senile, we'd like to have Ron and Jason be our pilots. They

should be able to handle it for at least another year or so."

"Oh? Do they have physical impairments?" Peggy asked.

"Too many to detail," I said sadly.

Ron was chuckling quietly, Jason was glaring at me, and Eric

was choking trying to keep from laughing.

Jason exploded. "That's a damned lie and you know it,

asshole!" he spat, and we all cracked up laughing.

Poor Peggy looked genuinely alarmed which made the rest of us

laugh harder. When I could, I explained that the four of us

were "almost family", and she settled down.

"First she finds out that we're all queer, then you start

spreading the rumor that I'm about to fall apart..." Jason

wailed, and we all started laughing again.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I asked Peggy.

"What?"

"The fact that all our pilots are gay," I answered.

"Not at all," she giggled. "My husband prefers it that way."

\- - - - -

"Whoa... What's happening here?" Eric asked as soon as I

stopped shuddering from the cataclysmic orgasm I'd just

experienced.

I still hadn't regained full consciousness from the blow-job

of the century. "Whaaa?" I asked.

"Take a few more minutes," he said, holding me tight in his

arms.

"I'm OK," I finally said.

"Do you know what you just did?" he asked with a huge grin on

his face.

"Not really," I answered. "It sure felt good, though."

"It's not the first time, either, it started a couple of

weeks ago."

"For Christ's sake, tell me what!" I begged.

"All of a sudden, you're having the longest and most intense

orgasms I've ever seen you have."

"Oh, you finally noticed, huh?" I kidded him.

"At first, I thought it was a one-time thing, but it's

happening every time now. At first, it kind of scared me."

"You haven't had your dick up my butt when it happened yet,

have you? When that happens, or the other way around, you'll

sure know it! Don't worry, you'll catch up, I can promise

you that."

"When? I'm ready now!" he giggled.

"Take your time, don't try to force it, it'll happen in it's

own time. Who knows, maybe right now," I said, stroking his

hard-again beauty.

I scooted into position so that I could swallow every one of

those nine wonderful inches and proceeded to do so. Oh good,

this would take a while and I'd get to thoroughly enjoy it.

He was on a hair trigger like he'd been a few minutes earlier.

Yippee, I thought, maybe thirds! I used all of my prolonging

techniques, but he slipped past me over the edge. I could

tell that the intensity was greater, but it didn't last much

longer than his usual, already long orgasms.

This time, he totally wilted. "Want more?" I asked.

"That's all I can stand!" he groaned. "I can't believe what

you do to me!"

"Making love to you is my greatest pleasure in life," I told

him.

We didn't discuss whether or not he'd reached a new plateau.

\- - - - -

After two weeks, Spence and the boys were ready to come home.

They stopped by the office on their way home from the

airport. "We saw everything there was to see," Spence gushed,

"and rode every ride about a hundred times. It was so

wonderful not to have to worry about a thing!"

"At least you got out of your room once in a while!" Eric

cracked.

"There's twenty four hours in a day," Spence leered. "We

used every single one of them!"

It was agreed that they would feel safe without bodyguards, so

they went home alone. I knew that Alex and Ricky would be

checking on them.

\- - - - -

Since we expected to receive approval on the Silicon Valley

project any day, Eric wanted to talk about actually building

all the houses ourselves.

"I don't know a damned thing about building a house, but

after spending a few hours with Rick, I know a tiny bit

more," he said.

"What'd you guys come up with?"

"There are only three or four builders in California that

have the capability of building 2,500 houses a year for the

next twenty years, and none of them are for sale. I'm not so

sure we'd want any of them anyway. Most of the large ones

are pretty shaky financially, which tells me something about

their management."

"Start from scratch?" I asked.

"Yep, but really using some of the construction techniques

that everybody gives lip service to. My God, you wouldn't

believe all the ideas Rick's got!"

"He's one sharp fellow."

"If we follow our original idea of ALL custom houses, not

stamped out with a cookie cutter, we'll have to use an

assembly-line process if we plan to keep them affordable.

Rick's got ideas on how all that can be accomplished."

"How can you use an assembly line to turn out different

products?" I asked.

"It's not so much product as function. Divide it up. At the

architectural level, one guy, or team, would create basic

design and layout, suited to the site. Another team

structural, another electrical, another mechanical, and so

on. Same thing for construction, specialists performing one

function then moving on to the next house.

"The critical part that'll make this whole concept work or

fail is management's ability to keep the proper materials and

supplies delivered to each building site at the right time."

"Sounds to me like you'd be doing the same thing Metalco is,

only out in the field," I commented.

"We could save a bundle on materials by buying in quantity,

and a lot of other economies of scale."

"Can we make any money?" my usual question.

"Rick and I estimate that we'd at least double, maybe triple,

the per-lot net over selling them off as bare lots."

"How involved is Rick willing to get?"

"I don't know, let's ask him," Eric said.

"Before we get too far along, I think we should get the

opinions of our other two partners."

"Absolutely. If you're ready, I'll go find them right now

and we can see which way they want to go, or at least

something to think about."

It was midmorning when Tina and Annie came in. Eric did the

majority of the talking, being the most informed. We are a

very close family, but when it comes to dollars, everybody

asks a lot of pointed questions. There were a lot of those

that day.

By late afternoon, it was pretty much settled, subject to

further study. Everybody had jobs to do. Poor Eric had

volunteered for the majority of them and if the final

decision was a "Yes", he'd take primary responsibility for

the whole thing.

We'd even come up with a name for the project, "Coast Hills"

because the name "Silicon Valley Project" was too cumbersome.

While we were all together, I asked about the changes we

could expect after Annie's marriage.

"We've been working on that for over a month," Tina said.

"We haven't really decided what we're going to do, where

we're going to live, or any of that stuff," Annie said, "so

Tina and I are trying to cover all the possibilities."

"As you know, selling excess property is my main

responsibility. When it's all sold, I'm out of a job, and

we're 75% there now. And, just about all the work, except

for decisions, has been delegated anyway," Tina said.

"About 60% of my duties have already been delegated," Annie

reported. "If we go ahead with building, we'll set up a new

organization for that, and that'll report to Eric."

"I'm in the process of learning everything that Annie does,"

Tina said, "and she's learning everything that I do, so we

can step in for each other. Either one or both of us will be

able to handle everything we've got right now."

"Hell, you won't even miss me!" Annie wailed.

Everybody rose up and contradicted THAT!

"It's not that I don't have enough to do," Annie said, "but I

will train the next manager you get for Rush Properties."

I was amazed. These kids, and yes, they were kids, had taken

the initiative and started making the necessary changes

called for by the changes our lives were taking.

\- - - - -

"Don't you think you've bitten off an awful lot?" I asked Eric

that evening.

"I don't think so," he said. "To tell the truth, I'm so

excited about all of this that it's all I can think about."

"Just promise me you'll get all the help you need."

"I will, hell, I have to! I don't know anything about this

business. Rick is the key, though."

"We both have a lot to learn. We'll both have to learn how

not to get bogged down in all the details."

"A certain amount of detail is necessary, mostly making sure

that all the details are taken care of, but you're right. If

you try to check on everything yourself, you'll lose sight of

the big picture. We do have to talk to Rick as soon as we

can, though."

"Would you set it up?" I asked.

\- - - - -

Rick was usually a pretty quiet guy, but get him talking

about something he's interested in, and that sure changes.

Eric told him about the conversation he and I'd had, and the

meeting with the girls, which he'd no doubt heard about from

Tina.

"I'm not surprised at all by your decision," he said.

"There's a lot of money to be made, but there's just as many

headaches. The most important thing is that you'd maintain

control over the product."

I decided to jump right in. "How involved would you like to

get in all this?" I asked him.

"Really?"

"It's up to you," I told him. "A little or a lot."

"What I'd really like to do is set up an assembly line for

the architectural work, then work with Eric. I understand

he's going to run the project."

Eric was beaming and I was delighted myself. "Do you realize

that this is a 20 year project?"

"It'll never take that long. I'd be surprised if it takes

even ten unless the whole computer industry falls apart. If

you build the kind of houses that Eric was talking about,

they'll sell as fast as you can put them up."

"If you're willing, you've certainly got a deal," Eric said.

"Nobody's discussed compensation, but I'm sure we can work

something out."

"When do we start?" Rick asked.

Eric was ready. "We should be getting word anytime that the

Army's objection has been lifted, then, if the County hasn't

been sitting on their thumb, they should be ready to give

tentative approval real fast. Hell, why am I telling you all

this?"

"Every County works differently," Rick said. "In my opinion,

we should be ready to start grading the minute we get

approval, and ready to start building the minute we can. Do

YOU realize that we have to start and complete ten houses a

day, every day at just the 20 year pace?"

"Best get our asses in gear," Eric laughed.

"One more question," Rick asked. "Where does Dean, your

'Developer', fit in?"

"I'm not sure," Eric said, thinking. "Maybe I'd better talk

to him."

"Let me know when you can. I sure don't want to step on any

toes."

Before leaving, Rick came over to me. "This is an

opportunity that most Architects would kill for," he told

me. "I hope I'm getting it because of my ability rather than

family connections."

"I've seen what you've done, and you wouldn't have been asked

if I didn't feel that you were capable. Good luck and have

some fun in the process."

\- - - - -

When we told Dean that we were seriously considering building

out Coast Hills ourselves, he was confused. "I'm sorry to

tell you, but I'm just not qualified to oversee a project

like that. All my experience is with big construction, mostly

high-rise. I've never had any experience with houses."

"Don't worry," I told him, "that's covered. You just

continue developing land, and if it's houses, we'll build

'em, or at least we'll give it a damned good try."

Eric spent almost every waking hour with Rick. It got so bad

that I kidded them that Tina was moving back with me and Eric

could move in with Rick.

When the Army finally withdrew their objection, it was only a

matter of days before the County gave us tentative approval.

Now, we had a timetable - and Eric and Rick had separate

duties. Eric's responsibility was implementing all of the

meticulous plans the two of them had made. Although he'd

long ago started on house plans, Rick's push to have several

hundred ready to go was on.

It was frantic on all fronts, so we skipped the monthly

meeting.

Annie was now immersed in her own wedding. She and Sarah

were just about commuting across the Atlantic.

A couple of weeks of this chaos got to me. "Enough!" I told

Eric. "We both need to get away for a few days."

"You'll have to give me a direct order," Eric giggled, "I've

never had so much fun in my life!"

"Then, it's an order. We're leaving Friday morning and

coming back Tuesday."

"Where are we going?"

"How does the lake house sound? Just you, me and Jacques.

Cell phones stay at home, and the phone there gets unplugged,"

I said.

"I won't know how to act - without 50 things going on at

once. Hell, I've become worse than you ever were!"

He came over and put his arms around me. "It would be nice,"

he admitted. "I love you," he said simply.

\- - - - -

Jacques had never been to the Lake House. Evidently he

expected a rather primitive place because he started out

packing everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. When I

mentioned that all this stuff had to be carried to the car

then into the house, he cut way back.

Jason took one of the new pilots along to familiarize him with

the short runway. It was pretty tricky landing even our

smallest plane between the trees.

The house seemed quiet with just the three of us, but the

serenity was definitely welcome. We wandered around and spent

most of the day just sunning on the deck.

After dinner, we had a couple of glasses of wine then hit the

hot tub as it got dark. Jacques offered us massages and we

accepted. My poor baby was asleep after Jacques gave him

about four strokes down his back.

In the morning, the lake was like glass. "Wanna go skiing?"

Eric asked.

"Sure, but we'll have to talk Jacques into being observer. I

wonder if he skis," I said.

Jacques didn't know how to water ski, and wasn't interested

in learning how. He was happy to just be observer.

Eric and I got the boat out. I was amazed that it started

right up. The last time we'd used it was almost 3 years ago,

but, I guess the caretaker maintained it.

We all piled in and headed straight for the marina to gas up.

It was a summer Saturday and pretty busy. While we were

waiting, Eric started talking to a red-headed kid who looked

to be about 15 or 16 years old. Eric brought him over and

introduced Lyle to Jacques and me.

Lyle was fascinated by our boat. I wasn't aware that it was

anything special, but evidently it was. "Throws the flattest

wake of any ski boat ever built," he said, "the best boat to

ski behind there is."

It was obvious that he was angling for an invitation to take

a ride. I glanced at Eric who was grinning and nodding, so I

invited him to join us. He was ready, had his own slalom ski

right there.

Lyle went on to tell us that the only boat like this that

he'd ever seen belonged to some mysterious people who had a

house up the shore inside the park. Eric asked about "those

people", and Lyle told him all the local stories about them.

Most of the local rumors were totally outlandish, but the

attempted massacre by "Drug Lords" hit pretty close to home.

When we got back to the dock in front of the house, Lyle

started apologizing. "I didn't know that's who you were!

You just seemed like regular guys."

"We are," Eric told him. "Relax."

We all took rides. The water was warm and the lake stayed

calm. When the three of us had had our turn, Eric turned to

Jacques. "Your turn, big guy," he said, grinning. Jacques

protested but Eric was persistant.

Eric got in the water with Jacques to hold him steady for

takeoff. Evidently there was too much crotch to butt contact

because when Jacques rose out of the water, he was sporting a

full-fledged boner.

"Look at that!" Lyle, who was observer, shouted. "That guy

must really be turned on!"

Jacques didn't go too far then took a spectacular header.

"Ouch!" Lyle said, "bet that hurt like hell!"

We circled to pick Jacques up. He didn't want to make

another try, so we hauled him in. Jacques was OK. "See,

nothing's broke," he laughed, wagging his still hard dick.

Boners are contagious. I noticed that Lyle had a helluva

bulge, and I was starting to move around in my shorts.

When we got back to the dock, Jacques didn't make any attempt

to hide his protrusion. By now, I had one too, and Lyle

wouldn't stand up. Eric started laughing at both of us.

"Need some help there fellas?" he giggled.

"Sure," I laughed. Jacques just stared at him.

Eric stood and it was very obvious that he'd joined the club.

I heard a groan from the boat where Lyle was still sitting.

I didn't want the situation to get out of control, so I

suggested we take another turn. "You've got three now, so

you don't need me," Jacques said.

"Yeah, I know you've got more urgent matters to attend to,"

Eric said, leering at Jaques' crotch.

Eric went first, hardon and all. Lyle was transfixed. We all

took long rides - which I knew I would regret the next day.

We took Lyle back to the marina then went home. "You sure

gave that kid a lot of jack-off fantasies," I told Eric.

"He's a cute kid," he chuckled. "Even if I was single and

horny, I still wouldn't touch him. They've got laws..."

"Speaking of horny..." I said, wrapping my hand around his

still hard pole. "Have you been like this all day?"

"I guess. It's comfortable and I forgot about it. I'm

saving it for tonight, though."

My back and legs were stiffening up, so I jumped in the hot

tub. Eric sat on the deck and talked to me. When I got out,

we stretched out on lounge chairs and promptly fell asleep.

\- - - - -

I awoke to the softest pair of lips that had ever been on

mine. "Thank you," he murmured. "We both needed this and

you were the only one who could see it."

Crushing him to me, I tried to wake up and digest what he'd

said.

"Let's take a shower and get dressed. Whatever Jacques is

cooking sure smells good."

I grinned and lay there looking at him. God he was just so

damned lovable. When the fog had mostly cleared, I nodded

and got up.

The warm shower brought me back gradually. All I could think

about were those lips. I never thought I'd have the capacity

or willingness to love anyone like I did that wonderful man.

We dressed for dinner, both putting on long pants and

shirts. That's the least respect we could show Jacques.

Two places were set at the table. I dug through the cupboards

until I found everything for the third.

Jacques protested, saying that it "just wasn't right". I

didn't argue with him. I asserted my authority instead,

sitting him down, sitting down myself, and giving him a

lecture.

It was short and to the point. I told him that if anyone was

a part of our "family" it was him. He took care of both of

us like we'd never been taken care of before, and we WANTED

him to join us. Case closed.

I knew that he was pleased with what I said, but he was still

a little uncomfortable during dinner.

"You're the only one who could've pulled that off," Eric

commented later.

"What do you mean?"

"Even though I pay Jacques' salary, if I'd asked him to eat

with us, he would've ignored me. He considers you the

ultimate authority figure."

"Well, I am, you know," I said laughing.

"Except for me, you really are."

"Bullshit!"

"No, really you are. I don't know what it is, but you have a

'presence' that makes people want to follow you. I see it

everyplace we go."

"Do YOU want to follow me?" I asked, not believing a word of

all this.

"Most of the time, yes. When what you say makes sense," he

grinned. "When I don't agree, I let you know, though."

"God, I hope so. You're telling me I have Svengali-like

powers that I don't even know about. I still don't believe

it."

"Don't get the idea that it's bad," Eric said seriously.

"You're a leader, the strong one everyone looks to for

guidance. I certainly don't call that bad!"

"Let's change the subject. You're making me nervous."

"Just remember," he said, "that's one of the reasons why I

love you as much as I do."

I promised myself that I'd forget this conversation. In a

way, what Eric said scared me. I didn't want the

responsibility, and I certainly didn't want to find myself

"using" this power that he attributed to me.

Jacques had a fire going in the fireplace. We changed into

sweats and I asked him to join us. He surprised us both by

putting on sweats himself and sitting on one of the huge

sofas.

Eric got him started telling us about his experiences aboard

the cruise ship. Jacques was a great storyteller and kept

us enthralled. Most were hilarious and we all laughed a lot.

Eventually he excused himself and went to bed. We were

silent for a few minutes lying there. Eric's dick was

pressed against my back, and his hand was on mine, the way

we'd been most of the evening. I rolled over so I could kiss

him.

Kissing Eric was a unique experience. He was good. So good,

in fact, that within minutes he had me gasping and I believe,

if we continued, I could reach orgasm with that stimulation

alone. His sensuous lips that I'd been thinking about all

afternoon were so soft and gentle, yet demanding, that they

drew me into him in a way I'd never dreamed possible.

"My God you can kiss!" he said when we broke for air. "You

ready for bed?" I nodded eagerly. We got up, checked the

fireplace screen, and walked arm in arm to the bedroom.

The cool sheets felt good when we stretched out on them and

started where we'd left off. It got so intense I had to

break. "I'm on the edge already," I told him.

"We'll cool a second then get serious," he grinned, taking my

dick gently in his hand.

He pushed me gently on my back and zeroed in on my left nub,

the one he knew was hard-wired to both my dick and my brain.

The texture of his tongue sent signals racing up and down my

body, my dick throbbed and dripped and my hips twisted

involuntarily, progressing closer and closer.

With a sigh, he pulled off and rolled on his back gasping.

I trailed my fingertips over his chest, barely touching the

skin. He groaned and sighed and his dick bobbed and

dripped. Too much of that delicious fluid was being wasted

so I moved to collect it.

I licked and savored his precum, and not even thinking, had

him buried in my throat. I couldn't get enough. My tongue

wanted to touch every inch of skin and was searching out

places involuntarily. I couldn't slow down, I couldn't stop.

I was possessed.

My thought process never considered the pleasure I was

receiving. It was all about the pleasure I could give to

Eric. Maybe, in the back of my mind was the thought that I

could bring about one of those cataclysmic, earth-shattering

climaxes like I'd been experiencing recently.

He set the tempo, his hips pistoning upward, my mouth

matching his speed. Then he stiffened. His whole body in

midair supported by his shoulders and heels. He just held in

that position, then the floodgates opened. He strained

harder, not breathing, with the fire-hose like flow

continuing.

He reached the point of explosion, a huge expulsion of air

then collapse. Then spasms started to wrack his body, his

arms and legs flying, still cumming but dribbles now being

gently sucked from his steel hard flesh.

He pushed me away, evidently too sensitive, and manhandled me

into his arms, frantically kissing me. We held until he

stopped quaking a long time later.

It was only then that I realized that I'd cum too somewhere

along the line. I had been too involved with Eric's orgasm

to notice.

I was joyous. I'd been able to share with my man in the most

intense climax of his life.

\- - - - -

I woke up with Eric's arms around me. When he noticed me

moving, he pulled me closer and kissed my neck. "Did that

really happen last night?" he asked.

I turned to face him. "It sure did, do you remember

everything?"

"Just bits and pieces. I DO remember it was the most

exciting time I've ever had in my life," he said, leaning

forward and giving me a tender kiss. "I feel like hell,

though, I didn't even get you off."

"Oh yes you did," I grinned. "I was so involved with you

that I got off at the same time. Maybe not as explosively,

but I'm happy."

"That was so fucking unbelievable!" he said. "Do you think

it'll ever happen again?"

"We'll find out tonight," I teased him.

"What the hell did you do to me, anyway?"

"Nothing special," I said. "You did it all yourself, with

just a little help from me."

"Can you imagine what it's going to be like when we do that

TOGETHER?"

"It should be interesting," I chuckled. "Give us both

something to think about today."

\- - - - -

"No skiing today for me," Eric announced. "I'm stiff and

sore from yesterday. Maybe tomorrow."

"You want to haul out a couple of jet skis?" I asked.

"Maybe later."

After agreeing not to talk about business, we sat on the deck

and talked.

We thoroughly discussed Annie's upcoming wedding and how we

were going to stay as uninvolved in preparations as

possible. "I just want to be a guest this time," I told him.

"From what I hear, it's going to be the 'Fairytale Wedding'

of the new millenium," he said. "Being in a castle and all

that, with a beautiful bride and a handsome groom, and

royalty at that, has caught the world's imagination."

"I suppose the press will be out in force."

"Oh yeah, I don't think that you'll be able to duck 'em

completely this time, either," he giggled.

"I'll make it as hard for 'em as I can," I assured him.

"I've got another brainstorm I'd like your opinion on," he

said, changing the subject. "The rail car in San Francisco

is still drawing big crowds and they want to keep it on

exhibit a few extra weeks. We're going to be ass deep in

work until after Annie's wedding, so I'm thinking about

letting them do it.

"After we get back from Germany, I suggest we go someplace

in it. Also, I've been neglecting Dad, and haven't seen

Ryan, so thought we might ask them to go with us. Kind of a

'guys' thing."

"That's a splendid idea!" I said. "Good company and we've

got plenty of room. Any idea where you want to go?"

"Colorado."

"Why?"

"John's been digging around there all summer and we haven't

been near. Might be interesting to see what he's up to. I

did some checking around and there's a little-used spur line

that runs right into the area where he's working. It's even

owned by the CLP."

"I'd rather do THAT than go to the wedding," I told him,

laughing.

"We can't, but we can do both."

We never got around to the Jet Skis. Instead, we took a nap.

\- - - - -

Jacques ate with us then told more stories. He went to bed

earlier, "to read", he said.

I don't think that either one of us were disappointed.

Eric's hard dick had been poking me from the minute we

settled on the couch. "Anxious?" I asked, reaching back to

stroke him.

"You bet I am," he giggled. "If you've been experiencing

what I did last night, I'm surprised you ever wanted to get

out of bed!"

"I didn't," I admitted.

We went into the bedroon quietly, in hushed anticipation.

Eric was so anxious to have another 'super-orgasm' that it

was almost clinical. I understood, but it just didn't seem

very romantic.

He was undressed in seconds and on the bed waiting. I didn't

undress, just lay down beside him in my sweats.

His hand found my soft cock. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"It's just no good without love," I said and rolled over.

Chapter 65

We both lay there in shocked silence.

I couldn't believe I'd said what I just did. It was how I

felt, but I didn't have to lash out like that. We could have

talked, anything but this.

I turned back to him and threw my arm over his chest. Tears

were streaming down his cheeks. I moved closer but all he

did was carefully lift my arm off his chest, get up, put his

sweats back on and leave the room wordlessly.

Oh my God, what have I done?

I tried to think. It wasn't working. My mind was a

maelstrom of thoughts, none making any sense. I couldn't

concentrate, hell I couldn't put a rational thought together.

Above all, I realized, I was scared.

I finally did something sensible. I went into the bathroom

and doused my face with cold water. That helped a little.

The reason for my very existence had walked out on me,

severly hurt by a remark I'd made that expressed how I felt

for an instant. Could I make him understand?

Most importantly, what was I doing here with him out there?

He was sitting on one of the sofas in front of the fireplace,

his head buried in his hands. I sat down next to him, not

touching. "I'm sorry," I said softly but never meaning two

words more sincerely.

No response. I waited. "Can we talk?" I literally begged.

It took a little time, but finally he said "In a while. I'm

going for a walk." He got up without looking at me, got some

shoes and went out the front door. I stood to watch him

disappear in the darkness.

There was hope. At least we would talk. I threw a log on

the fire and sat down to watch it catch fire, my mind still

reeling but the ability to think lucidly starting to return.

Unable to concentrate on anything, I replayed what had

happened. I was right to feel the way I did, but wrong for

saying anything. It would have passed.

He wasn't gone as long as I expected. He came back and stood

in front of me. "Stand up," he asked. I stood and he took

me in his arms, pulling me gently to him, holding me. "Still

wanna talk?"

I mumbled "Yes". We were both sniffling.

We sat, looking in each other's teary eyes.

"That was the dumbest, selfishist thing I've ever done. God,

I'm sorry. All I was thinking about is having another one of

those orgasms. I totally ignored all the important things,

you mostly. Hell, I didn't even give you a kiss all evening.

I started to say something but he wouldn't let me.

"What happened last night was an experience I'll never

forget. It happened because of you. The trust and love we

have for each other made it possible, and if that isn't

present, like it wasn't a while ago, it'll never happen for

either one of us again.

"That'd be a shame, but it isn't anywhere near as important

as what I feel about you." Tears were welling in his eyes.

"David, you are my life, my existence, nothing else matters."

"You're the same to me," I said, taking him in my arms.

\- - - - -

We were a little bit careful of each other the next morning.

I wasn't sure if Eric was "over it", and, I guess he had the

same doubts.

I puttered. Eric helped me put the boat away, and then I

checked out the rest of the gear in the boathouse. We took a

walk around the perimeter of the property. There were rail

fences down the sides from the road to the lake to show the

boundaries, and some repair was needed. The whole property

was left pretty much natural. No landscaping, no

maintenance.

We found the fallen tree on the shoreline where we'd spent

some time after the shooting incident a year or two ago and

again sat and enjoyed the scenery.

"Remember this spot?" Eric asked.

"Sure do," I smiled, and snuggled up to him. "We've had a

fair amount of excitement in the last three or so years."

"I don't think we seek it out, but it finds us anyway," he

chuckled.

Jacques made us a light lunch then took off for town to pick

up some supplies that we'd run out of. Eric and I went out

to the deck for some more sun.

It was a comfortable silence, but I didn't like it. It

seemed as if a barrier had been thrown up. His lounge was

almost horizontal. I got up and straddled him, settling on

his thighs. "No more pussyfooting around," I told him and

leaned forward to his lips.

His arms went around me, and the action of our tongues soon

had me unaware of anything else. I felt back where I

belonged, in the arms of the man I loved.

The confinement of our shorts was getting painful. I rolled

off and we both adjusted, but that still wasn't enough.

"Come on," I said, getting up.

We sprawled on the bed, our lips meeting immediately and our

hands fumbling with zippers. We stopped long enough to lose

our shorts. I grabbed the lube off the nightstand and handed

it to him, our signal that I wanted him inside me.

He grinned and lubed his fingers. His preparation had me

gasping and when he started working his long dick in, I had

to think of something else to keep from cumming. Buried to

the hilt, he felt so wonderful inside me, like he belonged

there. Each of his long strokes brought sensations that I

cannot describe.

When he leaned forward and we kissed, I was complete. I KNEW

this was going to be an orgasm to remember.

No games, no prolonging, just a straight fuck right to the

finish. The tempo increased and I begged for more. I could

feel it coming, building, building until neither one of us

had any control. I tensed, he tensed and the ride began.

The lights, the colors, the feeling of his strong arms around

me, his chest plastered to mine, his lips on mine sucking the

air out of my lungs. All of these things registered along

with the incredible waves of pleasure that were coursing

through my entire body.

The intensity was unbelievable, building to a point where I

didn't think I could stand any more, and I thought I'd

explode. Then serenity. I felt like I'd dissolved and was

running all over the bed in liquid form. So peaceful, full

of love for the man who was quaking on top of me.

I felt his dick rapidly deflating in me then slip out and his

body roll off of mine. Barely coherent, we lay side by side

gasping for air. I rolled over to put my head on his shoulder

and my arm around him. Full recovery from THAT experience

was going to take time.

We dozed. We weren't capable of anything more strenuous.

\- - - - -

I woke up with this warm fuzzy feeling - but to a helluva

mess. There was cum everywhere. I moved a little and

realized that my whole body was stiff too, my muscles ached

painfully.

When he awoke, Eric hurt too, so we peeled ourselves from the

sheets and went out to the hot tub. There was still such a

feeling of oneness that we couldn't let go of each other,

even in the tub.

"I don't know what to say!" he said. "My mind is still trying

to figure out what happened."

"I know how you feel," I laughed. "All I know is that I want

to do it again and again." His lips shut me up.

\- - - - -

We left for home around noon, rested and glowing, and

probably more in love than we'd ever been.

We had plenty of time to stop by the office but didn't.

"We'll be there until midnight if we do," Eric said, "at

least I would."

However, when we got home, we did talk about all the things

that would be pressing and urgent the next morning and worked

out a game plan.

Between Coast Hills and the Foundation, Eric had a killer

workload. I offered to take a more active part in Lundborg

Rush and Lovebird to cut him some slack. At first, he fought

me, but when I assured him that it would be temporary and I'd

discuss everything with him, he relented.

When we went to bed, it was obvious that we both were ready

for some lovemaking. After climbing in bed, we were in each

others arms immediately. "Can we talk for a few minutes -

first?" Eric asked.

I nodded.

"What do you think brought about what's happening to us these

days?" he asked.

"Love," I said.

"How do you mean?"

"I've had more time to think about this than you have, and

I've for damned sure thought about it a lot. My conclusion

is that my brain finally recognized how much I love and trust

you, and decided to relax. Then my body reacted accordingly."

"I don't get it."

"I've loved you since day one. I think you know that. But,

all of my self-preservation instincts still held back,

unconsciously. When they finally got the message that

everything was OK, they allowed me to open up and let myself

go completely, to enjoy what I believe we're supposed to

enjoy."

"That makes sense, though it's hard to believe. Why would it

happen to one of us, then the other right after?"

"Love," I said. "We're so closely attuned to each other that

when one of us lets go, the other recognizes and joins in.

It's a case of giving ourselves totally to the other. Sure,

it feels good to us, but it's our expression of total trust

to the other. That certainly isn't a scholarly opinion, just

mine, but it works for me."

"It works for me too. I think it's pretty accurate, about

the only plausable explanation. Total Love! Let's keep it

going for the rest of our lives."

\- - - - -

Before we dug into the pressing and urgent stuff, Eric took

me to Warren's office. He explained that because of his

workload on Coast Hills and the Foundation that I was going

to take responsibility for Lundborg Rush for a while. It'd

only be temporary, but for how long we couldn't say.

Warren was delighted, welcoming the opportunity to show me

what they were doing.

"Dave's not exactly unfamiliar with LR," Eric said, "I

discuss everything that's going on with him on almost a daily

basis."

The next stop was Hal's office. He too was eager to work

with me.

"I need a quick update on the Foundation," Eric said. "You

got time to join me?"

George was his ususal ebullient self. Everything was moving

along on schedule for the school awareness program. Al was

helping him a lot, providing Hollywood professionals to help

with casting and training.

"There's another matter that I've needed to talk to both of

you about," George said, and jumped right in. "Here's an

idea I had: We want to keep the Schools Program as

uncontroversial as possible so that we don't run into any

opposition. It's neither straight or gay oriented, and I

think we should keep it that way.

"The other two programs we're starting, scholarships and

community, are strictly gay. If we don't separate these, we

might be in for trouble down the road. With that in mind, I

suggest we split off the other two into another Foundation

that's at least arm's length from Lifeguard. Excuse me for a

minute."

He got up and left the office, but was right back, handing us

a piece of paper. "This came in yesterday, and, I believe,

could help us do what I suggest."

It was a warrant from the State of New Hampshire for

1.6 Billion Dollars.

"Damn!" Eric said. "I've never seen that much in one check!"

"It's going to the bank today," George said. "Every day is

about a quarter million in interest."

"I think you've got a real good idea about separating them,"

Eric said. "We don't want Lifeguard caught up in any

controversy. We just want to get the word out, and the less

opposition, for any reason, the better."

"I agree," I said. "Can you work up a short proposal,

George, and we'll look at it?" He nodded.

"Can I borrow this check for a few minutes?" Eric asked. "I

want to scan it and print a color copy to frame."

\- - - - -

Then, we went to work. It was always amazing to me that if I

left for a day or two, there was always a pile of messages

waiting for me. The phone didn't ring that much when I was

there for chrissakes.

Annie came in and flopped in front of my desk. "Don't ever

get married!" she said. "It's too damned much work!"

"I already am," I reminded her.

"That's for sure," she giggled.

"The only thing that's saving my ass is the team I've got. I

know it's rather unorthodox, but Lotti and Sarah are doing

almost everything. Lotti's a godsend in Germany. Neither

Sarah nor I would have a clue how to get things done, but

Lotti just sails right in and handles it."

Annie went on to tell me all about what was planned. It

sounded spectacular with lots of pomp and circumstance. Even

Chef Maurice had volunteered to supervise the wedding dinner.

"How's your money situation?" I asked. "You know I'm going

to write you a check for everything. Need an advance?"

"Actually, I could," she said. "I'm running kind of low on

cash and I'm not anxious to sell any stock."

I got out my checkbook, signed one and tore it off. "You

fill in the amount," I told her. "It won't bounce."

She came around and gave me a hug. "Thank you, Dad."

"How many people are you expecting?"

"We sent out over a thousand invitations, about 600 in

Europe, the rest here. We're holding our breath to see how

many accept. The Great Hall in the castle will only seat

about 1,200, and that's jammed in tight. We may be in

trouble from the looks of things because just about everybody

we've heard from so far is accepting."

"A lot from here?"

"Hundreds. I don't know where they'll stay in Koenigsburg,

it's more like a village. Guess we'll have to run shuttle

busses. Don't worry, though, all the family's staying at the

castle."

"Maybe I'd better think about chartering a big jet to take a

load from here," I told her.

"Maybe you'd better think about several!" she giggled.

"Let me know who's accepted from here, and we'll see what we

need."

\- - - - -

To be on the safe side, I gave Dan a call to see what we

could do if we had to. There were all first-class wide

bodies available that would hold around 200, but they had to

be reserved in advance, so I asked him to see if any were

available.

"The minute we got our invitations, I made reservations for

Neil and me," he said. "Found a nice little Inn in

Koenigsburg and we're booked there too. From what I hear,

the minute the date was announced, the Press booked every

other room in town. Want me to look into rooms in Hamburg,

it's only 45 minutes away, and busses too?"

"I guess we'd better."

\- - - - -

That night I told Eric what was going on. No sooner had I

finished than Annie came in with an updated list of

acceptances. While I looked at it, Eric and Annie talked.

He was full of questions, and their conversation was a helluva

lot more interesting than the list.

Annie was excited about the whole thing, and it showed. She

repeated to him what she'd told me earlier about what would

happen. It would be a fairytale wedding befitting a princess.

"What's your new official name going to be?" he asked.

"Her Highness Princess Anna Catherine von Koenigsburg, quite

a mouthful wouldn't you say?" she giggled. "Legally, it'll

be Anna Catherine Rush von Koenigsburg, but hell, just call

me Annie."

They continued and I went back to the list. When I'd gone

through all the pages, I broke into their conversation.

"There are a lot of people here I don't know, but most I do.

Should we offer to provide transportation and rooms to

everybody?"

"I don't think so," Annie said, "Most of them can damned well

afford to take care of themselves."

"But, it's kind of unfair to be selective," Eric said, "and

those who've accepted have probably made arrangements

already."

"Probably so," Annie agreed, "but there's a lot from here in

town that it might be difficult for, and I definitely want

ALL the lifeguards there."

"Why don't we limit it to only people here in town, then?"

I suggested. "Eric and I can get the word out."

"That'd work," Annie said and Eric was nodding vigorously.

"Between Metalco and Hydra people, lifeguards and a few other

people, we'll have a planeload," Eric said. "No problem!"

\- - - - -

"We're having a Groundbreaking Ceremony at Coast Hills, want

to come up for it?" Eric asked.

"Sure, but I'm not doing any digging, that's work!" I laughed.

"Yeah, I know, you just don't want your picture taken."

"You're a helluva lot prettier than I am anyway," I told him.

"That's 'handsome', darling," he said giggling, striking a

pose.

"Beautiful to me, and with a hardhat and boots, SOOOO Butch,"

I giggled.

"I don't mind being 'front man'," he said. "Everybody else is

going," he added.

\- - - - -

I started spending a little time with Warren at Lundborg Rush,

learning a lot. The new facility was partially complete and

as new equipment arrived and was installed, production was

being moved from the old plant. Once running, old equipment

was being moved and reinstalled.

Warren's main concern was having everything ready to meet

Micron's production requirements. The problem was getting

enough new copiers from Koenigsburg.

He and I worked out what would be ideal, less what was

expected to be here, and still came up with the 15% shortfall.

It would be a great help if Micron gave us the masters a

month early, or if Koenigsburg was able to ship early.

I called Greg to see how Micron was progressing. The news

wasn't what I wanted to hear. It didn't look like they'd be

early, but late. It'd be mid November, giving us only two

weeks to get initial stocks to stores.

I also talked to Hans about deliveries. Their production

schedule was pretty rigid, he said, and the best they could

do was a few days one way or the other. He suggested,

however, that we air freight them. That would save about

three weeks on each one, and, since we were desperate, would

be worth the extra cost.

Hans also told me that they were getting close to introducing

a faster, larger copying system that would help us out, but

that they wouldn't be available until sometime next year. I

asked him to reserve as many production slots as were

available for us.

With this new information, Warren wanted a few days to work on

his scheduling.

\- - - - -

With as many people as there were wielding shovels, they

could have done the grading themselves. It was a photo-op,

nothing more, and all the local officials got into the act.

We were officially represented by Eric, Rick and Dean, but

the rest of our troops were there on the sidelines. Of course

there were speeches. When it came to Eric, he was the only

one who was brief. "I'm happy to represent my partners at

The Hydra Group," he said. "It's our objective to build a

community that we can take pride in, and one that will be an

asset to the whole community."

The backdrop for this ceremony was lines of earth-moving

equipment that would start digging the next morning. Grading

would be confined to roads, the lots themselves would be left

as "natural" as possible.

We hosted a reception at one of the local hotels. Drinks and

canapes. Dean introduced me to all the local officials, most

of whom were pleasant and excited about the project.

Construction would, afterall, be a major industry in itself.

Henry Gibson was very much in evidence, smiling widely.

"This is the first project I've ever worked on where there

haven't been any restrictions," he told me. "Without

somebody looking over my shoulder trying to cut costs, I

think we actually saved money and are ending up with a

superior project."

"I just don't have your ability to 'see' things until they're

built," I laughed. "I'm going to have to wait until some of

it gets completed."

"I understand that you're going to build it out yourselves.

You've got two wonderful young men running it for you."

"They have my confidence," I told him, "and since both are

financially involved, that'll be an added incentive."

\- - - - -

Eric started commuting almost daily from home up to the

site. They'd found an airport that could handle one of our

small jets that was only 15 minutes away from the site and

Eric's office in the shopping center.

I suggested that he stay up there, get one of those "Executive

Suites", but he wouldn't listen to it. "I want to sleep with

you every night," he said. "And, it's amazing how much work

I get done on the way up and back."

His current project was finding a Construction Boss, someone

to translate his and Rick's plans into reality. He wasn't

having much luck finding the type of guy that he was looking

for. Either they were "Executive types" who would be afraid

to get their hands dirty, or they were illiterate

bullshitters.

He was also building a "Distribution Facility" where materials

would arrive in bulk for delivery to each lot as needed.

This was centrally located to serve the whole property and

would be torn down when all the houses were built.

While all this was going on, Eric was getting richer by the

day, a fact that he paid little or no attention to. Micron

was on a steady climb, going up a point or two every day. So

far, the market value of his holdings had gone from around $5

billion to almost $12 billion, and in my opinion, had not

even gotten close to the top.

Since he knew I was watching it, occasionally he'd ask "Still

going up?" and when I'd tell him how much, he'd giggle and

say "Good." that's all.

\- - - - -

Annie's wedding had caught the imagination of the world. The

supermarket tabloids were having a field day, and the TV

networks were touting live coverage and specials. I guess a

dashing prince and a beautiful heiress were too much to

resist.

>From the size of the check that Annie'd written, she wasn't

sparing the horsepower either!

Our chartered plane was full and Dan was busy taking care of

the overflow. The time was getting close. Only one major

question remained in my mind. What would we do about Georgia?

I asked Annie what she'd done, so far. "First of all, she

didn't get an invitation," she said. "Without an invitation,

NOBODY gets into the castle. The Koenigsburg Guards are

handling security, and since a lot of other royalty are going

to be there, it'll be tight. There's no way she'll get in."

"What happens if Georgia just shows up and makes a helluva

scene when they won't let her in?"

"Let me explain," she said. "Being a Koenigsburg Guard is an

honorary position for local people. They take it very

seriously and have the same powers as the local police. They

have orders that no disturbances will be tolerated, and those

who will be manning the gates will be expecting Georgia, even

have pictures of her. If she tries to crash or has somehow

gotten hold of an invitation, she'll be arrested on the spot

and hauled off as quietly as possible. I think we have the

bases pretty well covered."

"Sounds like you've taken care of things," I said, breathing

a sigh of relief. "At least, I didn't have anything to do

with it," I laughed.

"I wonder if they'll stash her in the dungeon?" Annie giggled.

"They have one, you know."

\- - - - -

Eric was elated. "I think I've found the perfect guy to boss

construction," he announced. "He's got a college education,

a contractor's license and isn't afraid to dig in. He's so

fucking butch that he should be in cigarette ads. I don't

think he'd look right in anything but Levis and a hard hat

and with a name like Clint..."

"Congratulations!" I told him, "now start delegating!"

"The only thing that worries me is what his reaction is going

to be when he finds out I'm queer."

"I wouldn't worry about it. I don't think you'll be hitting

on him - - will you?" I chuckled.

"You never can tell!" he shot back with a gleam in his eye.

"Are you out of your mind? Why would I look when I've

already got the best there is? Anyway, he's not my type."

"The most important thing is you're getting the help you

need."

Curbs and gutters were going in, and as soon as streets were

paved, they'd be able to start building houses. It wouldn't

be long. Eric already had a Purchasing Manager who was

buying up a storm.

Eric wanted me to spend a day with him to see the progress

they were making, but I wanted to give them a little more

time, wait until we got back from Germany.

\- - - - -

I really missed Eric now that he was gone three or four days

a week, but I certainly got a lot done. I was able to follow

up on the market research project that had been started, then

dropped, earlier. More Metalco people got involved, and the

promising areas were pinpointed.

A team was put together to conduct further "on site" studies

of distribution and marketing. Pending the results of that,

we'd prepare a game plan for entering these new markets.

\- - - - -

A Micron Board Meeting sneaked up on me. I did NOT want to

go to New York alone, but Eric was just too busy. He'd take

advantage of my being gone and stay up North for a few days,

so insisted that Jacques go with me.

I fought that on principle. I didn't think I was too old to

take care of myself! Eric argued and won, of course.

The Board of Directors was a happy bunch. All of them had

made a potful on the stock they owned, and the new programs

hadn't even hit the market yet.

The main concern was timing. Would the software be on store

shelves on schedule?

I was able to assure them that Lundborg Rush was prepared,

and at most, we would be 5% short of projected volume

requirements during the first 30 days, but would be able to

handle full volume by January 1st with spare capacity.

"Yeah, it'd be in your own best interest to get that stuff

out as fast as you can," one of the Attorney board members

cracked. "I still can't see why you weren't foreward

thinking enough to have everything in place so you'd be able

to support ALL of our requirements."

"Timing and logistics," was my answer.

"This makes me wonder if it's a good idea for us to use you

as our sole supplier," he continued snidely.

"You're not giving us a lot of incentive to bust our asses

for you with remarks like that, Sir," I said. "Feel free to

find another supplier, but I suggest you find one to handle

all of your production because with us, it's all or nothing."

"Whoa!" Jerry jumped in. "That is not a matter before this

Board. If anyone wants to pursue it, bring it to the next

meeting in the proper form."

"I'll just do that. It's just too damned cozy," the Attorney

muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "First his boytoy

rips us off, then he can't produce."

I didn't rise to the bait.

>From there, the atmosphere was decidedly hostile, most of it

directed at the mouthy Attorney who wouldn't shut up. Luckily

there wasn't anything important left on the agenda.

I left as soon as the meeting adjourned. Back at the

penthouse, Jacques told me I had an urgent call from "Greg".

When I caught up with him, he was steaming, but wanted me to

join them for dinner, at Maurice's, naturally. He asked me

to see if I could get reservations, he couldn't.

I sat and thought about the afternoon's events. I could take

offense at what'd been said and strike back, or I could

ignore the whole thing. My first reaction was to ignore it,

but whatever I decided, Eric would be a part of the decision.

I'd wait until I got home to tell him about it. That'd give

me a chance to hear what the "Micron 4" had to say.

"Smile!" I told myself.

Maurice and Sheila were both waiting when I arrived and

escorted me to my table. If their smiles were any

indication, everything was going wonderfully. I'd hear all

about it when we got together the next morning.

When the Micron boys arrived, their attitude was quite a bit

different. They were all apologetic about what had happened,

and wanted to reassure me that nothing was going to change.

"Giving you guys our production was one of the smartest

things we've ever done," Greg said. "We're sure as hell not

going to change that!"

"Listen guys," I said, "I can understand his disappointment

that we'll fall short. That's a business matter, but I do

object to the personal attack, and I think mentioning Eric

was unnecessary."

"As far as directors go, in reality they serve at OUR

pleasure," Ted, the quiet one said. "The four of us still

hold the majority of the company's stock, and you can be sure

that we'll take care of that guy."

"It really pisses me off to hear anything derogutory about

Eric," Jerry said. "He's directly responsible for all the

good things that're happening to us."

"Actually," Greg said, "our inability to meet demand on

release might be a blessing in disguise. As long as we meet

the roll out date with some inventory, a little scarcity may

increase demand. This isn't going to hurt us a damned bit and

may very well help us."

"Don't worry fellas, I'm not the least bit worried," I told

them, laughing. "We could have all your business replaced

before the machinery cooled off."

"Where IS Eric?" Greg asked.

"Working his butt off," I laughed. "He's building about

50,000 houses for one of our other companies in Northern

California." They wanted to know all about it.

While eating, I mentioned that I'd seen that they were coming

to Annie's wedding.

"Our wives would have divorced us if we didn't," Jerry

chuckled. "It's the biggest event of the century, and since

we were lucky enough to get invitations, there was no way we

could stay home."

"What I don't understand is how you and Eric, easily two of

the world's richest men, manage to maintain such a low

profile," Greg said.

"It's become a habit," I admitted. "Neither of us are

interested in notoriety, and we just don't allow our pictures

to be taken. We do everything we want to, but don't allow

any publicity. That may change with Annie's wedding, though.

I hear the papparazzi will outnumber the townspeople in

Koenigsburg."

The subject turned to Lundborg Rush. I told them about the

expansion that we had underway and how we planned to be

opening facilities overseas next, mainly to make record CD's.

"You must be keeping Koenigsburg busy," Greg commented.

"They'll be unveiling a new higher-production copier next

year and we've already reserved as many slots as they'll give

us," I told them.

"Of course," Jerry laughed, "you have the inside track now."

"Doesn't help as much as you think," I said. "They'll only

give us a fixed percentage of their production of any one

thing at a time. Right now, we're at the max in two areas,

copiers in their electronics division, and injection molding

equipment in their heavy machinery division. Metalco is

building a plastics plant in Houston."

"Hadn't heard about that," Greg said.

We were ready to go when one of the boys asked what it took to

get the dinner check.

"There won't be one," I told them. "Eric and I own this

place."

\- - - - -

Maurice and Sheila came bouncing in early the next morning.

Sheila gave me the latest financial reports which I just

glanced at. "Well, how is everything going?" I asked.

"Couldn't be better," Maurice said enthusiastically. "We're

full every night, and I'm in love with Sheila!"

"Don't tell me you're going straight on us," I chuckled.

Maurice reddened. "I didn't mean THAT way!"

"I know what you mean, I was just kidding you."

"We've become a team," he said. "we work so well together,

and Sheila takes care of so many things. She's even our

hostess every night, and we know where every cent goes."

"Isn't that a lot of hours Sheila?" I asked.

"Not really," she said. "I got a good bookkeeping program

that's compatible with the mainframe at home, so it doesn't

take much time, and I love the time I spend in the restaurant

every night."

"You've learned to put up with this outrageous guy?"

"Oh, he's a pussycat."

I could tell that they were both anxious for me to take a

look at the financials, so I did. The Balance Sheet looked

good except for an "Extraordinary Loss" item. I asked about

that. It was the loss from embezzlement and could be used for

tax purposes, Sheila explained.

The Income statement was most impressive. They were definitely

making money, big money.

"We're in a position to start paying back the money you

advanced whenever you want us to," Sheila said.

"Unless we expand," Maurice slipped in.

I couldn't help it. I broke out laughing. I guess they

thought I was laughing at their idea. I set that straight in

a hurry. "Eric and I predicted that this would happen before

we even got started on this one," I told them. "I support

you, and I'm sure Eric will too."

Their enthusiasm returned. "I have a few cautions though," I

continued. "What you've created here is a phenomenon,

probably one of the most successful restaurants in the world,

and you've done it in less than a year. Don't do anything

that might detract from it or pull down the reputation of

'Maurice'.

"Another consideration is, can you maintain quality and

excellence at more than one location?"

"We've given both of those ideas a lot of consideration,

along with a lot of others," Sheila said. "One of our

strengths is that we're not 'Trendy'. Our fare is basic,

classic French with Maurice's personal flair. He's been

training other chefs in his approach, and soon, they'll be

able to follow his style on their own."

"Right now, I could take a month's vacation and nobody'd

notice," Maurice said seriously.

"Have you looked at locations?" I asked.

"We're getting lots of offers," Maurice said. "Even from

hotels where I've worked. Now they see us as a drawing card,

and are making offers that are basically floorspace rental.

They've really changed their tune!

"We wouldn't consider anything in New York. One here is

enough. We're more interested in the West Coast, probably

Los Angeles, and possibly Las Vegas."

"I understand LA, but why Las Vegas?" I asked.

"The big new hotels are promoting the 'upscale' image, and

since 'Maurice' personifies class, there's a bidding war

underway to get him," Sheila said. "It's down to free rent

and a small percentage of the gross, and we think that even

that can be negotiated."

"I'd look at LA first," I recommended.

"We all agree," Maurice said. "Sheila figures that we can

finance most of it ourselves, too."

"Let me talk to Eric and see what he thinks," I told them.

"Neither of us need to be repaid in a hurry, and if it looks

like a good move, we have more if necessary."

"That's as much as we could ask for," Maurice said beaming.

The minute they were out the door, Jacques and I were on our

way to the airport.

\- - - - -

We were several hours ahead of schedule, so I went to the

cockpit to talk to Ron. With the three hour time gain, we'd

arrive on the West Coast in mid-afternoon, so I suggested we

change course and go to San Jose instead. I could surprise

Eric. To make sure he didn't leave early, Ron contacted

Peggy and asked her to have Eric's pilots fake "mechanical

problems" if he did try.

About an hour into the flight, Ron came back to the cabin.

"I've gotten permission to land at the closer airport," he

said. "You know I wouldn't attempt it if I wasn't positive

that it's safe."

"You're the boss," I said, meaning it. He understood.

"I've flown Eric a few times, so I know the way to the

project. Want me to drive?"

"That'd be great," I told him.

Headwinds weren't as strong as usual, so we made excellent

time. On the approach, I could see the activity at the

project. Roads were being carved and a line of houses under

various stages of construction could be seen.

When I walked in the door of his storefront office, I saw

Eric, sitting at a table with Rick and another guy, his back

to me. Rick saw me and said "Hiya Mr. R, didn't expect you!"

Eric turned and tried to stand at the same time, almost

losing his balance. His smile told me everything. He rushed

over and gave me a very chaste hug, then turned to introduce

me. I gave Rick a hug too, he understood. It would help keep

Eric from being "outed".

Eric and Rick couldn't wait to show me what was going on. To

my delight, Eric had a Jeep. When we were out of sight of

the office, Eric pulled over. "Turn your head, Rick," Eric

said and reached for me.

As we neared the main entrance, they started explaining. The

road that we were on would be expanded to 6 lanes, there

would be a sound-barrier wall surrounding the property, and

just inside the entrance would be a Sales Office. There

wouldn't be any "Model Homes" since every one was different.

All they'd offer were floorplans of available designs.

"We don't actually intend that every single house is totally

different," Rick explained. "We'll repeat some of the really

popular ones, but in different parts of the development so

you'll really have to look to find them."

We turned up a paved street and went to the end. All along

the way were houses in various stages of construction, men

working everywhere. Where we stopped was the "beginning".

Here, trenchers and small backhoes were digging foundations,

Eric explained. Next back down the street, forms for the

concrete foundations were being set, after that, the plumbing

and underground electrical were being installed. On it went

until we were back to the starting point where the framing was

complete.

The "function" concept that they were using was very obvious,

and looked to be working.

"We're learning the timing," Eric said. "Wherever a particular

function is out of sync, we either add or subtract crews so

that the timing is synchronized with the other functions.

We'll be fine-tuning for a while yet, and we know that when

we get to interior finishing, we'll have a LOT of adjustments

to make."

"The results are damned impressive," I told them.

"All we have to do is stick to the system," Rick added.

"It's easy to get sloppy and lazy and lose the momentum

we've built up."

On the way back to the office, Eric wanted to know if I was

ready to head for home a little early. Rick was staying over.

I was ready, so we dropped Rick off and drove directly to the

airport.

We were soon airborne and all over each other. Two nights

apart seemed more like a month.

I was kidding him about being out of uniform, no hardhat and

boots when my cell phone started making noises. It was the

Senator.

"I'll bet you thought the whole thing was a dead issue," she

chuckled. "Not even close. You can get all the details if

you watch the national news tonight. It's the lead story on

all the networks."

"I'll admit I'm surprised," I told her. "We'll be watching,

I assure you, and thanks so much for letting us know."

"Glad to do it, and keep in touch. I like working with you

guys."

I knew I was grinning from ear to ear. "Who was that?" Eric

asked.

"The Senator," I told him. "She really surprised me, she

didn't drop the whole issue, and it's the lead story tonight

on all the networks."

"Maybe that old bastard finally is going to get what's coming

to him!"

"We'll find out pretty damned soon."

Chapter 66

I called Tina from the plane to alert the troops. She wanted

details but I didn't have any to give.

Eric and I were glued to the tube when the anchorman's

sonorous tones started.

"Today a unique case developed in San Francisco. For the

first time ever, a civilian was arrested for bribing a

ranking member of the military for a non-military matter."

They switched to a film clip. "Here we see prominent San

Francisco Banker Edgar Atherton under arrest by Federal

Marshalls for paying an Army Commander a reported million

dollar bribe to stop a residential development in California's

Silicon Valley. Reportedly, 'National Security' was used as

the basis for filing an objection to the project without any

authorization from the Pentagon."

"The scheme was unearthed by a Subcommittee of the Senate

Armed Services Committee chaired by California's Senior

Senator. No motive for Atherton's actions has been

disclosed. Arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow.

"The Commander is already scheduled for Court Martial and

faces a rather lengthy prison term and restitution. The money

reportedly is in offshore accounts in the Bahamas."

The station went to commercial.

"I'll be goddamed," I said in shock.

"Never thought he'd have the balls," Eric commented. "He's

out of his league, anyway."

"Well, it wasn't that old fart from North Carolina, anyway.

Good thing we didn't accuse him even though it seemed so

obvious.

"At least we were kept out of it," Eric said. "I wonder how

they nailed old Edgar?"

"We might find out when he comes to trial. Anyway, it's over

for the moment."

\- - - - -

"I really don't care about old Edgar, what I want is some of

my MAN!" Eric said, sliding over and putting his arm around

me. "How was New York?"

"Interesting, but that can wait, I want a little of MY man,"

I said wrapping my arms around him. "Two nights is a long

time," I moaned. "I just want to hold you and feel you."

"Feel this," he said, moving my hand to his crotch.

"That too," I giggled.

"What're we waiting for?"

I was painfully hard by the time we got to the bedroom.

Clothes came off fast and we were on the bed kissing

passionately. We needed each other badly. Frequently we

went two, even three days, without making love, but being

geographically separated made me, at least, desperate for his

body.

On my hands and knees, he penetrated me slowly. As each inch

went in I gasped in pleasure. I gasped a LOT. He reached

under and stroked me with his lubed hand, bringing me along

at the same speed he was progressing, my hips slamming back

to meet his every stroke.

I flew over the edge without warning, losing control for how

long I don't know, ending up flat on my stomach with Eric

still pounding away. His groans told me he was there. He

stiffened and shook, his hips spasmed as he pumped me full,

then more and more and more, finally subsiding and depositing

additional shots as each aftershock hit.

We lay there semi-conscious, waiting until he softened and

pulled out. It took a while before we were lucid.

"We forgot dinner," he mumbled, "but I'll take this anytime

instead."

We took a shower, then, reinvigorated, conned Rene into fixing

us something to eat.

We talked about my New York experiences. Eric agreed that I

should forget about the nasty remarks made at the Micron

meeting. LR wasn't in jeopardy. All the "guys" were behind

us, and if the issue went to the stockholders, we were solid,

particularly with his and Spence's shares firmly in our

corner.

When I told him that Maurice and Sheila were ready to expand,

he too started laughing. "Even sooner than you predicted,"

he giggled. "What'd you tell them?"

"I sidestepped, said I had to talk to you. They're looking at

LA or Vegas."

"Why Vegas?"

I repeated the story they'd told me. Eric agreed with me, LA

first.

Next came Coast Hills. I told him how impressed I was with

the progress they were making.

"Damn," he giggled, "I almost 'outed' myself when you showed

up! It'll come out eventually, but I'm still a little

concerned how Clint'll take it. He's so goddam macho, and

Rick and I are convinced that he's the man for the job."

"You be the judge," I told him. "Have you accomplished all

that in two weeks?"

"Yep, but those are the easy phases. It's the next ones that

have Rick and me worried. Subcontractors for the next parts

are notoriously unpredictable and unreliable, working when

they feel like it, not when it's needed. We're trying to

get around this problem by hiring tradesmen ourselves, and

making them adhere to the schedule. We should know in the

next few weeks if that's gonna work."

"Are they Union trades?"

"Some are, some aren't. We're trying to hire all non-union.

We've got a lot to offer, long-term job security, good pay and

working conditions, so we're hoping to have the whole project

union free."

"Just be careful of those guys," I warned.

\- - - - -

"Hey Dad, we got room for Spence and Dirk in our plane?"

Annie asked.

"I think so, why?"

"Spence's part of the wedding party. Didn't you know that?"

"No, I didn't."

"Hans asked him to be one of his groomsmen a long time ago.

I'm surprised Spence hasn't said anything," she said.

"We'll make room for them," I told her, "and there'll be

another one, my uncle John is going with us."

"Does he have a room?"

"In Hamburg."

"Forget THAT, he can stay at the Castle with us. I'll take

care of it."

\- - - - -

The time was getting close and chaos reigned. Even though

we'd only be gone a week, Eric and Rick wanted to make sure

that everything ran smoothly in their absence. I tried to

get them to ease up. "This will be a good test for Clint," I

told them, but nevertheless I was proud of their dedication.

I flew up to Sacramento to pick up Uncle John. He was

delighted that I came myself. His first words were "Where's

Eric?"

"Somebody in the family has to work," I joked. "He's working

on a housing project we're doing in Silicon Valley, but he

comes home every night."

"I like that boy," he pronounced.

"I do too," I laughed.

"You have quite a family, David, it's too bad so many of the

rest of the family are missing out."

"Are any of them coming to Germany?"

"No, they're scared to death. Royalty! for gods sake! They

wouldn't know how to act."

"They're no different, you'll see. You're staying at the

Castle with us, you know."

"Now you're making me nervous!" he laughed.

That evening, Eric came roaring in still in his "uniform",

shorts, t-shirt and boots, looking like he'd been playing in

the dirt. He gave me a kiss, then without hesitation, Uncle

John a big hug, then ran to the showers.

"Never paid much attention to men, David, but that boy is one

outstanding specimen," was his droll comment.

We were leaving the next morning, so activity reached a fever

pitch. Eric, Uncle John and I sat in the den and watched.

Uncle John's favorite subject was the railroad. Since that

was Eric's baby, they really had fun. When Eric brought out

the stock certificates that had once been in the family,

Uncle John told us the whole history of what actually

happened.

The three of us went to bed early, the rest would be up for

hours. Since we didn't know what to expect at the Castle,

Eric wanted to "bank" a little lovemaking.

\- - - - -

Metalco Flight Operations had never been so busy. The wide-

body charter was parked on the tarmac along with the

Gulfstream. Our plane, which usually looked rather

impressive, looked like a mosquito next to that behemouth.

The charter would take off first, so Eric and I went over to

talk to arriving passengers. Damn, there were a lot of good

looking men going aboard. The beaches wouldn't be too safe

for the next few days. (Neither would the men be in Hamburg!)

We watched the charter fly down the runway and out of sight.

Our group was all aboard, so we climbed on too. For the

first time, the plane was full, all but one seat was taken.

Jacques and Joey, the stewards, were serving coffee. I knew

that Jacques had carefully planned all the meals they would

serve, and had made arrangements for our return too.

The plane, though full, was still roomy and comfortable.

Everyone was grouped, talking. What surprised me most was

that Spence and Dirk were in animated conversation with Uncle

John.

Every transatlantic trip was long, this one no different.

The level of excitement was so high that there wasn't much

sleeping.

Even though it was contrary to protocol, Hans was waiting,

sweeping Annie off her feet when she came down the steps. A

huge cheer went up. Looking around, the fences were lined,

several deep.

Dan was on hand to sort everybody out, those going to the

castle and those going to a hotel in Hamburg. He'd really

have his hands full when the big plane arrived.

The "Castle contingent" piled into limos and off we went in a

convoy with motorcycle escorts.

The sign said Koenigsburg 8 KM. I looked, and sure enough,

could see the castle sitting on a hilltop in the distance.

We passed through the village, the streets lined with well

wishers. A guard in a colorful medieval-looking uniform

opened the huge iron gates. It was still another half mile

to the castle itself.

Schloss Koenigsburg, like many of the castles along the

Rhine, was a mass of round towers and turrets surrounding the

keep. It had been as carefully restored as Windsor, looking

almost new!

We crossed the bridge over the moat, went through the

portcullis in the outer wall into a huge court. Directly

ahead was the massive entrance, but we turned and circled the

building. Another door, not much less impressive, was open

and Hans' family were all waiting.

It was a happy reunion, and as soon as all the hugging and

handshaking and introductions were taken care of, an army of

servants took us to our rooms.

"There's a schedule in every room," Annie hollered at us.

Our "room" was actually a suite. Sitting room, bedroom,

opening out on one of the battlements, a butler's pantry and

a huge bathroom.

"This place really is straight out of a fairy tale," Eric

said in awe. "I know, you'll want to explore every square

inch, can I come too?" he asked in his little boy voice.

"Yeah," I drawled, leering. "Maybe we can even get into a

little trouble in the dungeon, bet they've even got some

irons we can use," I said licking my lips.

"Don't scare me!" he said, giggling.

Eric looked around our rooms while I read the schedule. The

only thing on the docket was dinner at 8:00 in the "Family

Dining Room."

I answered the knock on the outer door. It was Sarah. "See

you made it," she said, giving me a hug. Eric came in and

gave her his usual enthusiastic hug.

"Well, are you guys all ready?" I asked her.

"I think so. We never could have pulled it off without all

the help. Lotti was a godsend, and the Captain of the Guard

took over all the pageantry. Maurice has taken over the

kitchen."

"Have you known Lotti a long time?" Eric asked.

"About 20 years," Sarah said, "When I first met Lotti and

Otto, Hans and Kurt were babies. I've always had a soft spot

for Hans, he's such an adorable boy. I've got to admit, I

wasn't playing matchmaker intentionally last fall, it just

happened. I couldn't be happier, though."

"I'm kind of happy too," I said. "Annie needs somebody like

him, full of life."

Sarah left us to get some rest. Afterall, we had hardly

slept on the way over.

\- - - - -

Dinner was an informal buffet. The "Family dining room"

could handle 50, easily. I wondered what the "regular" rooms

would be like.

We loaded up with food then found seats. I looked around,

and there was Uncle John near the end of the table in a

deep conversation...with Sarah! I elbowed Eric and nodded in

their direction. Eric looked and started giggling.

Spence, sitting on the other side of me, was giggling too.

"We've lost him," he moaned quietly, "I know he's straight,

but this fast?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He's the neatest guy, but he's been talking with Sarah all

afternoon. We want him back!" he giggled. "Oh well, John's

invited us to come visit him. He's gonna take us to see his

farm, and we've already decided to go. He doesn't know who

we are, and we'd sure like to keep it that way."

"My lips are sealed," I assured him, "but good luck!"

After dinner, we retired to the "Family" salon. It was no

less impressive than the other family rooms.

Hans came over to sit with us for a minute. "I hear you're

interested in castles," he said to me.

"An old fascination," I admitted.

"I'll take you both on a tour tomorrow if you want to," he

offered.

I agreed immediately with Eric bobbing his head. "One thing

I haven't heard anything about," I told him, "is where you're

going on your honeymoon."

"It's been a big secret, that's why. Don't want the press

following us. I think we have them 'decoyed' though. We're

really flying to a small village in Greece where we have a

boat waiting. Our family boat is waiting in Cannes and will

sail at the correct time and go in circles. That oughta keep

'em guessing for a while!"

Otto came over for a while too, his jovial, happy self. He

was the perfect host.

We excused ourselves early and Uncle John followed us out.

Once in the passageway to our rooms, he said "Such nice

people. I didn't expect anything like this."

"Most of them are like family to us," Eric commented.

"Another thing," Uncle John said kind of sheepishly, "Sarah's

asked me to escort her to the ceremony on Sunday."

"Well good for you," I told him.

"Be good!" Eric teased, "she's my second mother!"

\- - - - -

The only one who had anything to do that day was Jacques.

He'd volunteered to press shirts and suits for all the men in

our group.

We waited around for Hans to go on the castle tour, but when

he didn't show up, we asked and got permission to wander down

to the village. Before we knew it, Uncle John, Spence and

Dirk had joined us. We made sure the guard at the front gate

remembered us so we could get back in.

I'm willing to bet that at any other time, Koenigsburg would

be just another sleepy quaint village. It just didn't seem to

be a tourist mecca. That day, the sidewalks were jammed with

people, and all the trinket shops were jammed to capacity.

These people were entrepreneurs and "Annie and Hans" were the

words of the day. Just about every imaginable thing had

"Annie and Hans" painted on it as a souvenir. Anything with

their monogram on it was priced outrageously, but that didn't

keep them from flying off the shelves.

I kidded Eric about finding the one in the worst taste to

buy. We went to work looking. Eric found it, a horse-drawn

carriage with Annie and Hans waving, all in godawful colors,

very poorly molded out of plastic. "I've gotta have this

one, even if it does cost a hundred bucks," Eric said,

laughing. "Look at this," he said holding it upside down.

Sure enough, there on the bottom it said "Made in Taiwan."

We wandered around until the crowds got to us, then trudged

back up the hill. Hans found me and apologised for not being

around to take us on the tour. "Don't worry, you guys will

be back here many times, and we can take our time."

We talked about the village and how crowded it was. "Wait'll

tomorrow," Hans said, "they're expecting at least 50,000 to

100,000 more!"

Other guests were arriving at the castle, Hans' relatives,

and royalty from all over Europe who were also related. We

were introduced to all, and found most, particularly the

younger ones, to be as informal as Hans. My gaydar went off

like a klaxon when I met a drop-dead gorgeous Danish prince,

something later confirmed by Eric.

The "rehearsal" amounted to a very quick walk-through,

supervised by the wedding Direktor, who worried more about

the cadence Annie and I used walking down the aisle than

anything else. The Great Hall was cavernous, and was totally

filled with seating. Annie told me that all the upper

galleries were filled with seats too. The whole thing didn't

last long, and there was no big formal dinner afterwards.

After eating and socializing, we turned in early at Eric's

insistence. The looks he'd been giving me made it clear that

he was horny as hell. So was I, so we went right to work

taking care of that condition.

\- - - - -

The wedding breakfast was a big deal, attended by everyone

staying at the castle. Afterward, I had a chance to talk to

Annie privately. She seemed to be holding up well, no second

thoughts, no cold feet. She was just anxious to get the

whole thing over with.

Jacques was all over us while we dressed. I sure as hell

wasn't familiar with this formal outfit I was putting on, and

his help was actually necessary. The tie was weird, but it

all came together with the cutaway coat. I had, however,

balked at the hat. I don't wear hats, regardless.

Eric could be seated at any time, depending upon how long he

wanted to sit and wait. I was part of the pageant and had to

wait until the proper moment to make my entrance with Annie.

Eric chose to wait with me as long as possible.

Madame Direktor put us in a holding room near the entrance.

At least the seats were comfortable. On our way in, we got a

peek at the Great Hall. It was packed and the ushers were

now taking everyone up to the galleries.

I assumed that all the TV crews were in place. Annie had

told me that there would be only three cameras, feeding to a

pool of the world's major networks. I knew that they would

probably get pictures of me, either walking down the aisle or

at the altar, but I certainly wasn't going to try to hide or

duck them - even if I could.

The time was approaching. Eric was led off, and I was told

to be ready. I met Annie in the foyer. The two things I

noticed were her beaming face and the enormous train on her

dress. There were two little train bearers, so I didn't

worry about that. I carefully gave her a hug and we got into

position.

The march started and so did we. The crowd rose and the

music soared.

We made it to the altar without either of us tripping. I

said my bit then turned Annie over to Hans. Returning to the

front pew, I felt the most reassuring thing - Eric's hand on

my knee, squeezing.

Since the ceremony was conducted in German and I couldn't

understand a word, it seemed to last forever. The only way I

knew it was over is when Hans and Annie kissed, turned and

headed back up the aisle.

We followed. At the doorway, an open, horse-drawn carriage

awaited. The carriage itself was a piece of art, carved

walnut glistening richly. Koenigsburg Guards were everywhere

in their colorful uniforms. Twenty or more, mounted on brown

horses preceded the carriage with that many more following.

Many more on foot stood beside it, all in formation.

Annie and Hans climbed aboard, the train bearers getting her

train tucked in, and they were off for a tour of the

village. We'd see it all later on TV.

The rest of the guests were shepherded around the side and

out the postern gate to the park outside the walls for the

reception. Eric and I followed.

Soon after everyone found seats and got settled down, the

wine started flowing. When the carriage delivered Hans and

Annie back to the party, they were both flushed with

excitement.

They were passed around the families for hugs and kisses,

then we all sat down to the fabulous meal Maurice had

prepared.

This was a sedate, formal affair, so the music was classical

and there wasn't any dancing. Eating and toasts to the bride

and groom only.

Annie and Hans dispensed with all the other formalities,

changed clothes and departed on a helicopter. The wedding

was over and Eric and I had a chance to mingle with the

guests. The Texans were there in force. We had a chance to

talk with the Micron guys and their wives, and tons of

lifeguards who wanted us to go "party" with them in Hamburg

that night.

We decided to stay home at the castle and keep a low

profile. It also gave us a good opportunity to get to know

some of the other guests staying there, ending up sitting

around drinking some wonderful German wines.

Not surprisingly, Spence and Dirk were in conversation with

the Danish prince, and they asked us to join them. Olaf was

not only nice to look at, but a very informed, witty talker.

I got a chuckle out of watching the five gay men in the room

discussing international finance!

We got up early to say goodbye to the Koenigsburgs, and were

on our way back to Hamburg then home.

\- - - - -

The minute we touched down, Eric and Rick were anxious to

head north to check on Coast Hills, but Tina and I talked

them into waiting until the following morning.

Uncle John was also anxious to get home, so he and I dropped

the boys off, then went on to Sacramento. On the way, he

told me what a wonderful time he'd had, and literally gushed

about all the people he'd met, Sarah, Spence and Dirk in

particular. He'd invited the boys to come visit him and

hoped that they'd show up, and Sarah had invited him to her

"houseparty" in France, and he was seriously considering

going. "We're going for a week this year, I think," I told

him. "Want to go with us?"

He also heaped an embarassing amount of praise on Eric. Of

course, I beamed. Approval from a member of my family meant

more to me than I ever expected.

Eric came home that evening all smiles. He couldn't wait to

tell me how well everything had gone in their absence. "I'm

pretty confident that Clint can handle everything," he said.

"I'm going to stay away a lot more."

"About time," I grumbled then laughed. Eric stuck his tongue

out at me.

"We should have the first full cycle complete in another

seven weeks," he said. "That should tell us what we've

missed or done wrong. If everything goes as planned, both

Rick and I think Clint can pretty much carry it from there

with only maybe weekly checks from one of us."

"When are you going to start selling?"

"As soon as we have a hundred complete, we're going to open

the Sales Office. That'll be about 17 weeks, shortly after

Christmas, if everything pans out."

"Then what?"

"If they sell like they should, Clint wants to start another

team, doubling production, but this group working on a

different price range.

"Oh," he continued, "Dean's working on the first phase of the

high-rise apartments. The first of those should be ready to

lease in about a year."

"Does this all mean that I'm going to get some of your time?"

I asked.

"A little, but the foundation's School Program kicks off next

week, and I want to be there for the first presentation. It's

gonna be someplace in LA. Wanna go?"

"You betcha."

We watched a tape of the ABC Special "Annie and Hans". It

was a lot more tasteful than I expected. Inside the Great

Hall, the focus was on Annie, showing the two of us going

down the aisle, but barely showing me at all. No closeups,

and only a brief shot of me as I walked from the altar to my

seat. The ceremony itself was close-captioned in English,

with the majority of the coverage their carriage ride through

the village. Knowing that this was MY little girl made me

kind of misty.

\- - - - -

The five new busses were delivered to our parking lot. They

were really nice, fully self contained for the troupe of six

and the driver. There were bunks for all seven and a spare,

a sitting area, a small kitchen, a complete bathroom, and

just about every other convenienience. They were painted

white with "Lifeguard" painted in huge letters across the

sides.

The first performance was scheduled at a High School in

Burbank in the morning, then another that day in Glendale,

with a whole week's performances planned in the LA area.

George, President of the Foundation, Eric and I were driving

over early in the morning where we'd be meeting Al and many

of the others who'd contributed to the program. We wanted to

see how the kids reacted, and the others wanted to see if any

"fine tuning" was necessary.

On the trip over, George told us about the Scholarship

Program. For this school year, we had just over 600 that

would receive tuition grants, with quite a few of those also

receiving other stipends. He was enormously proud of our

initial success.

I had a lot of questions on how they were determining if

these were all genuine hardship cases caused by family

"disownment" over sexual orientation. George gave me an

outline of their procedures that satisfied me. They weren't

100% foolproof, but they were designed to weed out those who

were just looking for a free ride.

We found Al and Rick, who were trying not to be noticed.

Rick had been of enormous help finding cast members.

Finding our way into the auditorium, we found seats with some

of the faculty. The kids came in, the place filled quickly

and the presentation got off on schedule.

The music got their attention immediately and the

presentation held them. It went off without a hitch.

Flawless. "I think we got our message across," Eric

whispered to me.

It seemed to me that the kids were reluctant to leave. That

was probably because they had to go back to class, though.

All of our group was impressed with the performance, and the

school officials I overheard were favorably impressed, too.

At the exits, it seemed the kids were picking up a lot of the

literature that the cast was handing out. Hopefully they'd

at least glance at it before trashing it. One small card had

a toll-free number on it that anybody could call if they had

a question. ANY question, and the lines were staffed with

counselors who were thoroughly trained. It would be

interesting to see if that was used much, and what the

questions were.

We congregated in the parking lot, a pretty happy group.

"If they all go like that, I believe we've got a real

winner," George gushed.

"I intend to get around and check out some of the other

troupes, see how they're doing," Eric commented.

"Some people from the office will be doing that too," George

said.

Al and Rick were beaming. They were, afterall, responsible

for making the whole thing come together.

Eric and I heaped well-deserved praise on everyone who'd

helped. There were quite a few, and some of them were still

trying to talk Eric into a screen test.

\- - - - -

Eric wanted to take a run up to check out the Coast Hills

project before we took off for Colorado, and wanted me to go

along. Of course, he successfully twisted my arm.

Even from the air, it was obvious that the project was

growing. At the opposite end of the growing number of

houses, the steel skeletons of the apartments were rising.

We loaded our stuff in Eric's Jeep, and Headed for the

project. I couldn't resist resting my hand on my sexy man's

thigh during the ride.

Once inside the gate, we drove up the street where they'd

started. Houses were beginning to look "complete", at least

on the exterior. I was impressed with the fact that they

certainly didn't look like "tract" houses. Each was totally

different and had an individual personality. "We'll come

back and look some of them over on the inside," Eric assured

me.

We wound around several streets until we reached the place

where they were preparing foundations, the starting point.

"When we finish up these, it'll be a total of 210, and we'll

be ready to start selling," he said. "Of course, by then, as

many more will be started."

"What price range will these be in?" I asked.

"$375 to $425,000," he answered.

We drove through a vacant section to where another series of

houses were under construction. "This is a higher priced

section," Eric said. "Bigger lots, bigger houses, and the

prices will range from $600 to $800,000. We're only going to

build 140 of these this year."

Big earth-moving equipment was at work everywhere we went.

"That's going to be a school," Eric would point out, or "a

church" or a "neighborhood center." He also pointed out

other features like lakes, parks, firehouses, etc. It was

truly going to be a complete community.

Near the center of the property, we reached the Construction

Headquarters. There were lumber sheds and warehouses, the

area was landscaped so it wouldn't stand out. We pulled up in

front of a bustling office structure and got out.

Eric's office was small but adequate. No desk, but tables

along one wall strewn with plans, and a table at one end with

a computer. It was definitely functional.

We were barely seated when Clint came in. He didn't strut,

but he carried an air of authority. He was the boss and not

to be fucked with. I understood better Eric's reluctance to

let him find out that we were gay.

Clint and Eric got into a discussion about what was going on,

thoughtfully stopping to explain things that I may not have

understood. The second crew, starting on the larger houses

was doing well. It had already become a competition with

the first crew, Clint reported.

"Fine," Eric commented, "as long as quality of workmanship

doesn't suffer." Clint assured him that it wouldn't.

After Eric had gotten "caught up", we went back to look over

the "almost complete" houses. Right off, I noticed many

features that made them "special" in my opinion. The rooms

seemed spacious, not chopped up into what I'd call

"closets". Another thing was the quality of the hardware and

fixtures that were installed - all above average, which made a

definite impression.

No carpeting was installed, and I asked about that. "It's

included," Eric explained, "but we intend to give the buyers

a choice and an opportunity to upgrade. With all the options

we're offering, move-in will probably be 30 days after sale."

Eric had asked Clint to join us for lunch, so we picked him

up and went to a restaurant they'd found. Over lunch, Clint

invited us to come to his home "up the Peninsula" the next

time we came to town. I accepted for us, thinking it would

be interesting to learn more about Mr. Super Macho.

We spent the afternoon looking at the apartment

construction. There would be seven "towers", each ten

stories tall. The rest would be two story "townhouse" type

units, all in a parklike setting.

Three of the towers had the skeletons completed, the floors

poured, and were ready for finishing. A large block of the

two-story units was underway.

All in all, it was a long and very educational day for me.

The project was taking shape and my "boys", Eric and Rick

could be justifiably proud.

\- - - - -

"Is John expecting us?" I asked Eric.

I talked to him a few days ago, and they're expecting us next

week. It looks like everything's going to be ready. The car

is going to be parked at the Harborside Metalco plant, and

Jacques is ready to take care of everything."

"Take some warm clothes," I warned. "it could get a little

nippy."

"Our coach is heated," he informed me, "and we can keep each

other warm," he leered.

"Be fun to try," I smiled. "I just don't want to embarass

your dad."

"I don't think we could. He's mentioned how well behaved we

are, asked why we never showed any affection in front of him

or mom."

"What'd you tell him?"

"That there was a time and place..."

"This WILL be your first train ride, though, won't it?"

"Sure will! and I want to do a few other things too," he

said, winking.

"Absolutely! but what're we going to do all day?"

"Eat, talk, and we all play bridge."

"Don't forget seeing the sights. It's a different view from

the tracks."

It was just like I was getting used to. Eric and Jacques

took care of everything. Virtually all I had to do was show

up.

The CLP switch engine was scheduled to pick us up at 2:00

Monday afternoon. All five of us were on board, putting our

stuff away when we felt the gentle "bump" of the engine.

We went through town to the main station, where we were

connected to the "Coaster" commuter train that would take us

as far as Los Angeles.

It was a short ride, and we were barely settled by the time

we got there. In LA, we were connected to another passenger

train that would take us to Denver. The crew showed us how

we could cross from the platform at the front of our car to

the main part of the train if we wanted to, but noone from

the train could get into our car.

Once we had cleared LA, the train picked up speed. Next stop

Salt Lake City, sometime the next day, then Denver the

following.

Jacques served us drinks and conversation got started. Eric

and Ryan started "catching up" and Karl and I talked about

just about everything.

Out of the blue, he asked me "What really happened with

Georgia and that creep she had with her? It's safe for me to

know the whole story now."

I spent the next hour telling him exactly what I'd done. He

was amazed, to say the least. I also told him that I'd

learned my lesson. In the future, I'd try to avoid problems

beforehand instead of trying to "fix" them afterward.

Karl thought that was a very good idea because, technically,

if I'd gotten caught, I could have been convicted of

kidnapping and false imprisonment.

Jacques cooked and formally served a wonderful dinner. Good

wines too. Afterward, he excused himself to take a tour of

the rest of the train.

He was gone for over an hour, and reported that he'd made

some friends in the dining car. "All they've got is a

primitive 'fry kitchen' he sneered. I invited them to come

back here sometime tomorrow and see a REAL kitchen...if its

all right with you?" he asked Eric, who, of course, gave his

OK.

Quite a bit later when we turned in, we learned that our

compartment was adequate but certainly not spacious. It was

difficult for both of us to undress at the same time, so we

took turns. I went first. "we'll pee in the little sink, if

we have to during the night," he laughed.

The bed, running lenthwise of the car was also somewhat

narrower than the king-size that we were used to. At least

it was long enough that we could stretch out.

I pulled Eric in with the most accessible handle, all nine

hard inches of it. "Cozy, huh?" he said, snuggling up.

"Gonna get warm," I commented.

"No," he said, "HOT!" as he grabbed and started playing with

my dick.

"What've you got in mind, Big Boy?" I asked him.

"I didn't get enough dessert. Think you could help me out?"

"I'll do the best I can, but don't forget, I want some too!"

"I think that'll be an interesting 'first' for our first

train ride together."

We kissed and played for a while. Somehow, I ended up with

my hand on his bicep, which he flexed. "Lazy fucker," I

kidded.

"That wasn't my intention," he said, "but maybe with a little

more of that, I can get a second helping," he laughed.

"Might work," I told him. "We've never tried that!"

I was ready and so was he. Now that he could swallow every

last fraction of an inch of me, his efforts felt extra

wonderful, and it didn't take long for him to get what he

wanted. "Delicious," he said, smacking his lips, before

leaning down to kiss me.

After a short cooldown, I was eager to get my lips around his

tasty meat. I placed my hands, one on top of the other,

around his shaft, leaving the head and a couple of inches

sticking out the top. This is what I concentrated on.

I wanted a load of his sweet cum, yes, but I also wanted to

savor the feeling of having his hot flesh in my mouth for a

while too.

I enveloped the head, running my tongue around the rim, then

settling on the sweet spot just underneath. I knew that I

could bring him to climax just by licking that spot, but I

wanted more, and I wanted a really big load.

When I would feel his balls start to rise, I'd let them come

up a bit, then stop sucking his cock and lick them for a

while. When he'd back off, I'd return to his now rock-hard

head for some more enjoyment there. This process was repeated

until he murmured "Please!" and I allowed him to ease over.

We'd learned, with the intensity of our orgasms, and the fact

that we lost control over our limbs, that it was a good idea

to avoid flying elbows and knees, so after he started

flailing, I stayed clear, but held onto his dick with my lips

until he was drained.

He wanted to go for "seconds", but I was spent.

We rolled over into my favorite position - me spooned into

him. The rhythm of the clickety-clack of the rails had us

asleep in no time.

