I've learned to be an expert eavesdropper since Mom and Dad like to spring things on me unexpectedly after they've discussed me without my knowledge. It keeps me off balance. So, I've bugged some of the heating ducts and the extension phone in my room doesn't make a "click" when it's connected to the line.

   If that sounds devious, it is ! Why can't they be open and above board with me ? If they weren't so sneaky, I'd have come out to them a year ago when I first was sure that I'm gay. So, I tried the mike in the kitchen cold-air return duct and found that it was the right one. 

   I heard Mom saying "...and so, I saw Jimmy sucking Steven's penis." "Oh my God" barked Dad, "You mean Jimmy's queer."  "It would appear so." said Mom. "APPEAR SO !" yelled Dad. "What more proof could you need ?" "If you say so, dear." said Mom. "You men know more about these things than women do."

   "Alright, then," said Dad. The question is what're we going to do about it ? "A psychiatrist ?" asked Mom tentatively. "Psychiatrist, BULLSHIT !" bellowed Dad. "Headshrinkers are nothing but PHONIES !, charlatans ! I'm not going to pay a hundred bucks an hour for Jimmy to lie on a couch and talk about his toilet training for a year or two, while he goes on sucking pricks. What that kid needs is for somebody to straighten him out and make a man of him. Maybe I should send him to a military school." I shuddered at that and thought "Oh no, they're hell on earth ."

   But, Mom said "No, Frank. You never knew my brother Wilbur. He was sent to a military school. I never did understand why. But, they treated him so badly that he killed himself. You're NOT going to send our son to one of those places" "Attagirl, Mom", I thought.  "Well, then, " said Dad, "What do YOU suggest ?" "Wellll, " said Mom. "It's just a suggestion because I don't know if he'd go for it, but my younger brother, David, runs a lumbering camp in Maine, up near Millinocket, maybe he'd take Jimmy in and help him grow up into a fine upstanding man. You seemed to like him when he visited us about ten years ago."

   Dad seemed to take a while to think about it and then replied "Yeah, he's a reg'lar feller alright. He'd be a good manly example and it'd be a wholesome life: hard work in the Maine woods with no bad influences from dope fiends and fairies. We'd have to make it worth Dave's while, of course; we couldn't expect him to raise Jimmy for free.

    Saaaay, why didn't he ever get married ? " "He was, for about a year and a half" answered Mom. "She was a tramp, but he was too much in love to see it. Anyhow, it really soured him on matrimony." "Well, he was lucky he found out before they had kids." "She didn't want any, anyhow, but Father was disappointed not to have any grandchildren with the Williams name." "Hell, there are plenty of Williamses." snorted Dad. "Have you got his phone number in Maine ?"  "Of course." replied Mom. "OK, let's call him up and find out what he thinks of the idea of taking in Jimmy."

   I had to be careful not to pick up the extension phone too soon or Mom wouldn't be able to dial Long Distance. so I missed a few words. ".....problems with his sexual orientation. We thought that taking him out of this effete, unwholesome, urdan environment might help him to grow up straight and wholesome, unlike so many of the boys around here."  "What makes you think he's gay ?"  " Here, I'll let you talk to Frank; he'll be more comfortable in a man-to-man discussion of such matters." 

   "Hi, Dave, Frank here. Maude saw Jimmy blowing another boy out in back of the garage this morning. I don't know if this is the first time, but I seriously doubt it. He's 15 years old; he's not interested in girls; he's always pawing his friends, always got his arm around another boy's shoulders. I've seen him and one of his friends come up out of the rec. room with boners. Of course, maybe they were just talking about sex. I've never seen him grope any of his buddies. I'd have put a stop to that in a hurry. But, let's face it; normal boys don't give blow jobs."

   "Well, Frank, I'm no counsellor, or scoutmaster; God knows, I'm no shrink . I could give him a healthy environment to grow up in, though, if that's what you're looking for." "That's just what we're looking for, Dave, to get him away from the druggies, and fairies, and the sleazy characters who hang around the video arcades and have him associate with real men." 

    "Er, Frank, don't forget that lumberjacks aren't exactly noted for refinement in manners or speech. The guys who work for me are the salt of the earth, but they're 'rough diamonds', you know"  "Dave.....have you listened to teenaged boys talk to each other these days ?" " No, not really, I don't have much contact with them." "They swear like sailors, Dave. We'd have gotten our mouths washed out with soap for using that kind of foul language when we were their age.. Jimmy won't hear anything from your lumberjacks that he hasn't heard at school, and probably used, out of my earshot.

   Now, of course, we'd reimburse you for board and room, school supplies and the correspondence school course he'd have to take for his high school diploma equivalency, and clothes, and other expenses." "Well, the cost of living is high up here in northern Maine. Everything has to be trucked in for long distances.Food alone will run about $85 a week or about $360 a month. He'll need warm durable clothing: blue jeans, NOT designer jeans, work clothes, flannel shirts, 2 or 3 sets of thermal underwear, work boots, such as Herman Survivors, boot sox. It's easier to get these things up here at L.L. Bean's in Freeport. I can take him there, buy him what he needs, and send you the bill."

   "That sounds as if you're willing to take him." "Yes, I am. You can send him up to Augusta on the Greyhound bus and I'll pick him up at the bus station in my jeep. It's a 3-hour ride from Augusta to here. Tell him not to bring anything that requires electricity except from batteries. Electricity is a sometime thing around here."

   Of course, I couldn't let Dad know that I'd been eavesdropping, so when he called me downstairs and sprung my exile to Maine on me as a surprise, I had to act surprised and dismayed. Arrangements were made for me to travel to Augusta a week later. 

   I managed to meet Steve in the park and tell him all about it and to go into the woods with him and blow him for what might be the last time.

   I had everything I was taking with me in one ridiculously bulky suitcase which was almost unmanageable. Because it was stowed in the luggage compartment on the side of the bus, I had no reading matter or anything else to use to while away the hours of a long and very boring and uncomfortable trip. It rained all of thre way through New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.When we crossed the bridge from Portsmouth to Kittery, the weather began to improve. Still, we were only about 30 miles from Augusta when the sun finally came out. I can't sleep on a bus, so I was pretty weary and frazzled by the time I finally got to Augusta. 

   When I got off the bus and retrieved my bag, I had no idea where Uncle David's jeep might be. He had been told to look for a boy with short hair bleached and dyed to a metallic-looking red-gold color. Lucklily I was distinctive enough and Uncle Dave recognized me. I heard a shout from my right "Jimmy, over here." I turned and saw an old Army surplus jeep with a blond giant at the wheel. Though I wouldn't have called the weather warm, he was bare-chested. As I approached the jeep, I could see that he was around 30 years old and very handsome.

   When I got to the jeep he shook hands with me and said, unnecessarily, "Hi, I'm David. Toss your bag in the back and let's go." As I did so, I saw that he was wearing very brief blue-jean cutoffs, evidently with nothing under them. He had a partial hardon which was nearly poking out of the left leg of the cutoffs. I blushed as I threw a rod and my slacks stood out in front of me. David made no comment, but I thought that he winked very quickly. He asked if I'd eaten and I told him that I'd had a Buffalo chicken wrap in the club car. 

   "So, I'm told that you're gay." "Yes, Sir." I hung my head shamefacedly . "Hey, no 'Sir', no 'Uncle'. I'm David. And you are not to look or be ashamed of being gay."  "You don't mind ?"  "Mind ? I'm gay myself. And your parents have sent you all the way up here to me.....to be straightened out ! I am going to help you, though. I'm going to help you to accept yourself as you are and be proud of what you are. Homosexuality isn't a disease and it can't be 'cured.'  Statistically, it's an abnormality because 'normal' is defined by the majority. We are not vile, or evil, or nasty, we are just different. Many great men have been homosexual, Socrates, Alexander the Great, the emperor Hadrian of Rome, to name a very few.

   It may well come to pass that we will have sex with each other. If that should happen, let it happen and don't feel bad about it if it is something which you desire. It won't be pedophilia which is regarded with such horror these days. The age of consent in Maine is 14. In this state, then, at 15, you have a legal right to consent to sex

   When we get to the camp, you will meet the four lumberjacks who work for me. All of them are also gay. One of them is a eunuch, castrated for being gay. He'll probably tell you his story this evening. They have different preferences and interests, but all are strictly directed toward other males.You need fear nothing from any of them. They are all decent well-behaved young men between 20 and 26 who wouldn't think of forcing their attentions on you, though, if you expressed an interest in one of them, he'd probably be willing to have sex with you. 

   I'll tell you a bit about them in advance. Bruce Wallace, also called "Big Bad Bruce" is the eunuch. Though he takes hormones and is potent, he isn't much interested in using his penis. He is primarily a cocksucker. Silvestre LeTourneau  is a French Canadian. He is strictly a 'top' and he hates anal sex. He gets his pleasure exclusively from receiving blow jobs. He is one of our two cooks, and a very good one. Theo van Groothuizen is our other cook, obviously a Dutchman. He enjoys all kinds of gay sexual activity but by far greatly prefers buttfucking, as a 'top.' Ketil Sturlusson, of Icelandic ancestry, is an anal bottom and our hands-down jerkoff champion . He's only 20 years old and has been whacking off seven times a day for eight years. 

   It occurs to me that I haven't even mentioned myself. Like Theo, I do everything but prefer buttfucking. Now, then, what do you prefer ?"  "Cocksucking and jerking off, but I'm willing to try other things."  "Well, you'll get the opportunity to try anything you want to." With those words, David turned to the right and up a steep incline to come to a stop in front of a large log building, and said "Well, Jimmy, we're home."

                                to be continued