San Francisco
Part 26

It was about 10:30 when Spencer suggested that it was time for MM to go home, which was right next door. "But I don't wanna go home just yet! Pleeeease! Daniel hasn't told me what kinda rad stuff he does with his buds. Daniel?"

"Y'know," I shrugged, "just the usual shit. Blading, parties, movies, hanging out... that kinda thing."

"That's rad? Yeah, right."

"You really should be getting home, MM," Spencer repeated. "Your mom doesn't like you staying up too late."

"But the dishes aren't done yet!" And with that, MM began to collect the dinner plates. "You wanna help me Daniel?"

"Daniel's our guest!"

"It's OK, Spencer," I smiled as I rose from the table. "I don't mind helping MM. You and Willie can talk to Pop."

As we stacked the dishwasher, MM continued his relentless interrogation. "You're not telling me everything, Daniel. What kinda rad stuff do you and your buds do?"

"Why is it so important to know?"

"'Cause you're not much older than me, and I wanna know. You can tell me. I'm almost fourteen, and I know a whole bunch of stuff. It's not like you're gonna shock me or anything. And don't put the wine glasses on that shelf. They go on this shelf."

"Oh? What do you mean by shock you?"

"Y'know... cool stuff... like sex and everything. I've got eyes and ears, y'know. The guys at school talk about it all the time."

"Maybe that's all they do... talk."

"Do you jack off?"

"What kinda question is that?" I asked as I closed the dishwasher door.

"I mean, did you jack off before... like before you... y'know, before the real thing? I guess you don't jack off anymore 'cause you don't need to. So what's it like?"

"What?"

"Sex."

"I hear there's a lotta people into it. It's pretty popular. Hey, what button do I press? We don't have a dishwasher at home."

"This one," the little blonde dude said as he put the machine into action. "Anyway, I figure you've done it. You've got confidence. You strut around like Mr Totally Cool. You're not shy or anything."

"Do you ask Spencer these kinda questions?"

"Not really. He's... well, he's known me and my mom since I was crapping my diapers -- so he keeps reminding me -- so he's kinda like a big bro... even a dad in a way. I can talk to him about all kinds of stuff... but..."

"Not about sex."

"Yeah... and I can't talk to my mom about it, either, 'cause it's guy stuff. And I don't have a dad."

"Maybe Spencer's waiting for you to ask questions. He's a cool guy. He won't laugh at you or anything. Anyway, you hardly know me. I think it would be better if you talked to Spencer about stuff you wanna know."

"If you were Spencer, would you send me home at 10:30? Sometimes he treats me like a little boy. I don't think he realizes I've got pubes already. A whole bunch! You wanna see?"

"Not right now, MM. Save the surprise for Spencer. Meantime, you'd better do what he asks."

"It's been neat talking to you, Daniel," the kid beamed as he offered me his hand, which had a surprisingly firm grip. "I hope we can talk some more. I think you're totally cool."

Sitting around the BBQ table with the guys, minus MM, was like somebody had turned off a jackhammer. We could even hear the rumble of the surf just a few hundred yards away, and smell the salt in the cool night air.

"So what were you guys talking about while I was in the kitchen? Did I miss anything?"

"More to the point, what did we miss?" Spencer asked as he uncorked another bottle of red, and gave me a big cheesy grin.

"Don't worry. I didn't say anything. I told him you're the one he should be talking to... not me. By the way, does MM know you're gay? Like you and Willie?"

"I've never really kept it a secret," Spencer answered as he filled the first of the fresh glasses. "But I've never mentioned it, either. Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn't. We've never talked about it. And there's never any sex happening between us older guys when he's around."

"Do you think he's gay"

"Do you?"

"He's way curious, that's for sure. He was desperate to know about me and my buds... y'know, like what we do. I'm pretty sure he suspects that we do more than just shake hands. But I don't think he knows what he is... gay, straight, or whatever."

"That's how I was at his age. Actually, I knew less at thirteen than he does now."

"Speaking of age," Pop interrupted, "what's the vintage of this wine? It's very smooth."

"April."

Pop's eyebrows instantly rocketed halfway to the moon as he studied the contents of his glass. "April?"

"1992."

"I like your sense of humor, Spencer," Pop cracked, then took another sip. "Humor is a rare commodity these days. Sometimes I think that humor could solve all the world's problems. But the remaining problem would be to have everybody laughing at the same joke. Forget what I just said. I've had too much wine."

"What was it like, Spencer?" I asked as I took a piece of cheese from the platter. "I mean, when you came out to your folks?"

"It wasn't something that happened overnight, Daniel. It's a long story, and I'm not sure you wanna hear it."

"I'd like to hear it," Pop said, "...that's if you don't mind telling it."

"Well... Marc and I were way heavy into each other. It began as a normal buddy thing in our early teens. Back then, we didn't know anything about sex. But after we'd ceased to be virgins... I mean, after we'd had sex together... we pretty much began excluding everyone else, even our folks. "Shit!" we thought. "This isn't really happening to us. Shit! We're not really gay or anything." Yeah, right. Ha, ha! There were some openly gay kids at school, but Marc and I were nothing like that. We didn't look or act anything like they did. We were regular dudes: smart, popular, big, strong, athletic, and good looking. But gay? Lovers? Yeah, right. No way, Jose."

"You're right about everything else, though," I cracked, then backed off when everyone gave me weird looks. "I mean about good looking and... never mind."

"Anyway, one thing led to another, and one day I was sailing my folks' boat. Marc and another of my buds, Jay, were on board. An unexpected sorta three-way happened between me, Marc, and Jay. Then everything kinda fell into place, and we knew. Is this embarrassing you, Pop?"

"Not unless you're about to perform a re-enactment."

"Get on with the story, Spencer," I grinned. "It's making me horny."

"Everything makes you horny, Daniel. Anyway, that episode was a real eye-opener for Jay, too, 'cause he was really into girls, and still is... even though we've messed around since. Jay told me that he has this fantasy. Anyway..."

"What fantasy?"

"Stop interrupting, Daniel!" Pop scolded.

"I wanna know what the fantasy is!"

Spencer grinned as he sipped his wine, and spilled a little down his chin, which he wiped with the back of his hand. "Well, Bart has this fantasty about me f... uh..."

"It's alright," Pop laughed. "Daniel's vocabulary includes words like "fucking" and I've heard them a million times. Make that two million."

"Jay has this fantasy about me f.. fucking him while he, uh... fucks his girlfriend. But the last time we were together, he had to make do without his girlfriend."

"Whoa!" I cracked. "That is soooo fucking horny. Hey, Pop, do you mind if I stroke my boner while Spencer's telling the story?"

Pop answered with a glare, then clipped me across the ear.

"Anyway," Spencer continued, "none of our efforts to keep what we thought at the time was "our dirty little secret" worked. It was probably the way Marc and I looked at each other, and touched each other -- body language -- that got the school's rumor mills happening at full speed. It was actually Jay who clued us in on that. Still, no one at school actually said anything to our faces, but we could tell by the sideways glances and smirks that they were convinced we were gay. It was totally scary at the time, and we both began to act weird and withdrawn 'cause we were afraid that it was only a matter of time before our folks found out."

"Dear oh dear," Pop said, shaking his head. "Makes me so damn mad to hear about the unnecessary, bigoted crap that kids like you have to go through."

"Our school work suffered; everything suffered... and we even got kinda mad at each other... looking for someone to blame, I guess. But Marc's got a lotta guts. He set up an appointment with a rabbi at the local Jewish Community Center. The rabbi, by the way, was and is openly gay. I didn't wanna go, but Marc kinda dragged me along."

"This cheese reminds me of Paul's dick."

"Daniel! Stop that!" Then Pop gave me another clip over the ear, but at least I got a laugh outa Spencer and Willie. "Don't take any notice of Daniel's rudeness, Spencer. Continue your story."

"Well, this rabbi guy is a totally cool dude, and the first thing he said to us was, "Call me Jerry". We talked for a real long time, and his advice to us was to forget about all that "be true to yourself and don't live a lie" bullshit. He advised us to follow what was in our hearts, and that it would be a good idea to tell our folks before someone else did. So Marc and I figured if we came out to our folks on the same night at the same time it would be like long-distance moral support. It was kinda hard to set up, though... I mean, with Marc's dad's flight schedule, and his mom's hospital schedule. But the time came... all too soon... when all our folks were home."

"Fucking hell! So it was like you and Marc and all your folks together?"

"No, Daniel. He was at his house, and I was at mine. But we each came out on the same night. We figured if we'd done it on different nights, there'd be a lotta confusion if his folks phoned mine, or mine phoned his. Know what I'm saying?"

Pop and I nodded.

"Anyway, I kinda knew that my folks wouldn't totally freak. We're a pretty close family, and I knew that they loved me very much... and I them. So I just came right out and said, "I've got something to tell you. I'm gay." I surprised myself 'cause I didn't think I had the balls to do it. What followed was total silence. "Well?" I eventually asked the two blank faces staring at me.

Mom was the first to speak. "We knew something was bothering you," she said, "and we had considered that... that you might be gay, I mean. But we were more worried that it was something really bad like drugs."

"Then my dad got up from his chair and..." Spencer was forced to pause as his throat jammed, and his eyes filled with tears that overflowed and trickled down his cheeks despite his best efforts to fight them back.

"It's OK, Spencer," Pop said soothingly. "Take your time."

Four hands arrived at the tissue box simultaneously. A moment later, four noses were being blown, and four pairs of eyes were being dabbed. It was at least a couple of minutes before Spencer had composed himself sufficiently to continue his story.

Copyright © 2001 All rights reserved. mrbstories