While it was still light, I showed Freddy what to do with irrigating the corn. We gave the horse some more food and water, and let BC bring the sheep back to their corral. I fed her and the sheep, got both water, and gave the chickens some feed and water. The last thing we did was wash up in the animals’ reservoir, then head inside.
I was floored. The table was set, carrots were cooking, and Ma was baking the beef. Dad was finishing up the dishes, whistling. I think they were happy that they had actually been useful today.
“The carrots look good, Aunt Harriet.” Freddy bussed her cheek, and she blushed. I saw Dad grab his left arm and sit down quickly, and asked if anything was wrong.
“No, probably more exercise than I’m used to. I’ll be fine.” I told everybody I’d be back in a little bit. Tomorrow was my day to take produce to Widow Henley, but with dinner taken care of, I took it over early.
Mrs. Henley wasn’t real old, but her husband took ill fifteen years ago and couldn’t work. She spent half her time taking care of him, and half her time working as a nurse in Doc Whitley’s office in McClelland. He didn’t have enough work for her to work all day, so she paid for her basic needs with sewing for the neighbors.
“Hello, Carl. You’re early. I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.” She was always friendly and well-dressed, usually in a gingham dress. She took the corn, tomatoes and beets I brought for her, and gave me a pair of socks she had darned. When I walked in our house, Dad was saying grace, and Ma was saying it with him. I waited until they were done, then joined them.
The beef was tasty, and Ma had put some spices in the carrots, something I never did. Dad winced a few times during dinner, but protested that everything was fine. Freddy said he wanted to clear the table and do the dishes tonight, to learn how to do it. Everybody knew he was trying to spare Dad from too much time on his feet, but nobody said anything. I helped Freddy with the dishes, and we could hear Ma and Dad talking pleasantly.
We stayed in the kitchen talking, until we heard a crash, followed by a cry. We rushed in, and found Dad on the floor, with Ma fussing over him. “I can’t tell if he’s breathing,” Ma said in a strained voice. I bent over, took his pulse, and listened to him breathing.
“He’s breathing, but his pulse isn’t steady.” I looked at Ma, and saw real fear in her eyes.
“Freddy, Doc Whitley lives next door to Max’s store. Please saddle up the horse and get him. I’m afraid Dad had a heart attack.” Freddy ran from the room and out the door. Ma started crying, so I held her hand.
“Ma, he’ll probably be OK, but we need the doctor. I’d go get Widow Henley, who works as the doc’s nurse, but I don’t want to leave you alone. Will you be OK while I go to the kitchen and get some water?” She nodded her head, and when I brought back water I had chipped some ice also. I told Ma to feed him ice chips, then see if he could drink something.
While she stayed with Dad, I ran upstairs and got the best pillows I could find, and took them to the living room. I left Ma in charge of Dad, and made her some tea. When I took it to her, I could hear BC barking excitedly.
Then I heard hoofbeats coming to a halt, and Freddy was crashing through the front door, Doc Whitley behind him. He examined Dad, listened to his chest, did a bunch of other stuff, then turned to us.
“He had a heart attack. I’m sure you’re all blaming yourselves for something you did or didn’t do, but heart attacks happen almost randomly. I’m leaving some pills for him to start on tomorrow.
“A small amount of red wine in the middle of the day will help. And, keep him away from cigars. I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but he isn’t to go upstairs until I clear him, which is probably two months from now. Somebody will have to stay down here with him.”
I started to volunteer, but Ma beat me to it. “I’ll do it. We’ll make up the sofa for him, and I’ll stay in the chair. It’s comfortable, and I’m used to his noises. I’ll know if something is wrong.” I had to admit she was right.
“Carl, you know the Widow Henley, don’t you?” I nodded my head. “On my way back into town I’ll stop by her place. She has a big bed she doesn’t need, and I’ll ask her to loan it to you. That way, Jacob can be comfortable, and Harriet can sleep on the sofa.”
We thanked him, and Freddy walked him out to his horse. It was half an hour before Freddy had put away our horse, rubbed him down, and gotten him fresh water.
Dad still looked bad, although his color was better, and he wasn’t struggling as much to breathe. We both volunteered to stay downstairs with Dad, but Ma wasn’t having any of it.
“It’s my place, Carl. Thank you, boys, but I have the right to be by his side.” She needed to say something else, so we waited.
“I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. We won’t need it for quite a while. The two of you take our bedroom, with the big bed for both of you.” I was too shocked to speak, but Freddy just gave Ma a kiss, hugged her, and took my hand to lead me upstairs.
“How does she know?” I asked Freddy.
“No idea how, but she does. And she gave us her blessing. Let’s not waste any time.” Soon we were naked in the big bed, kissing each other. Freddy went into his room briefly, and came back with some lotion he had brought with him. I grinned, and he moistened his hands and mine. I used my hands to slick his manhood, and he used his to slick my entrance.
Freddy took my penis in his mouth, and used his slicked hands to toy with my hole. I was getting impatient, but my cousin took his time licking and sucking on me, while he used first one, then two fingers on me. He was massaging that place again, and I couldn’t hold back. He sucked harder, and in almost no time he was swallowing my output. Then he moved behind me, and I shivered with anticipation. I knew what was coming, and I couldn’t wait.
Freddy was breathing hard, but I was breathing harder. I was shaking already, and has he circled my hole with a finger, I pushed back against him as hard as I could. The burning wasn’t as bad or intense, but I welcomed it. I enjoyed the brief pain, and the longer-lasting pleasure. When he had two fingers inside me, I whispered “Now, or I’m going to fall apart.”
I could hear my cousin chuckling, and he removed his fingers and began penetrating mem with his manhood. I felt the muscles spreading and straining, and tried to close them around him. That started Freddy moaning in pleasure, and pushing in with more force. I ignored the pain and focused on the awesome feeling I was experiencing. I was trembling, then shaking, and couldn’t control my voice.
I pushed back so hard I impaled myself on him. Freddy cried out in pleasure as my muscles squeezed him hard, and I joined him, crying out at the ecstasy of being completely filled. Freddy steadily pushed in and pulled out, and I rocked my body back and forth, following his rhythm. I felt him arch his back and plunge all the way inside me, which brought a wonderful warm, moist feeling throughout my insides. Freddy fisted my penis until it, too, gave forth its cream. Fortunately, we’d had the sense to put down towels on the bed, so we wouldn’t have to change the sheets.
The last thing I remembered was kissing Freddy, and telling him I loved him.
“I love you, too, Carl. In a few months, we start a new century, but we’ve already started our new lives.” We cuddled together, both dreaming about our new lives and loves. Tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of our lives.
Chapter Five
When I woke up the next morning, Freddy was sucking me. The best wake-up call, ever. I offered the same to him, but he said we needed to get to work. Lots to do.
I could hear rain on the roof, so we didn’t need to irrigate the corn field. We dressed, and went downstairs. Ma was hovering over Dad, and when she looked up she volunteered to help with breakfast. “Tish-tosh,” Freddy replied. “You’re doing the most important job right now.” We each kissed Ma on the cheek, and I kissed Dad on the forehead. He didn’t wake up, which was fine.
Freddy gathered eggs and tomatoes for breakfast, and I got ready to cook. I put sourdou
gh in the oven, got out plates and so forth, and heated the pan. When Freddy came in I had him chop the tomatoes, and after I had the eggs ready for scrambling, he added tomato. It was only seven-thirty, usually too early for breakfast, but I thought Ma had been awake all night.
I had saved some egg mix aside, and while Freddy took Ma’s plate to her, I scrambled eggs, no tomato, for Dad. That and sourdough rolls should be fine. I walked over to Widow Henley’s, and asked if we could borrow her extra bed. She already had it disassembled, so I went home, got Freddy, hitched the horse to the wagon, and before eight-thirty, Dad was in a large and comfortable bed, eating breakfast.
We did the chores together, and stayed a few minutes to play with BC. Freddy was looking past the cornfield, and turned to me. “Who owns the empty land behind the corn?” he asked.
“We do, all the way past the river to half a mile on the other side. Why are you asking?” He said he’d explain later. The next month went the same way. We were lucky, every time the corn field needed water, it rained. When we were done with chores at mid-day, Freddy disappeared for two hours, no explanation. I figured if I needed to know, he’d tell me.
One morning, Sam came by, bringing along a young Negro man, maybe five years older than me. “This here’s Theo. He came by my ranch looking for work this morning, but I ain’t got anything for him. Can you use an extra hand?”
I invited them in and gave them coffee, and leftover rolls from breakfast. “Sorry, Freddy and I are handling everything here. I don’t know of any farms in the area looking for help now, although we’ll want help when the corn gets harvested, and next spring for shearing the sheep.” We chit-chatted for a minute, when I heard the back door open.
“Theo? How in hell did you get here?” It was Freddy, who pulled Theo to his feet and embraced him. Sam and I sat with our mouths open.
It turned out Theo was from Columbus, Ohio, just like Freddy. “I got beaten for being an ‘Uppity Negro,’ because I was in college studying engineering. The Ku Klux Klan has been gaining strength in Ohio, and it’s only a short while until they take over. I escaped with the clothes on my back.”
“You’re hired,” said Freddy. I shot him a questioning look, so he explained.
“Every day I’ve been going to the Widow Henley’s house to read her dead husband’s law books. We need an engineer to build the dam, and now we’ve got one.” He seemed to think I should know what he was talking about.
“Why do we need a dam?” I asked. “There’s plenty of water underground.”
“The dam lets us build a water-driven electricity generator. It’s legal to dam water on your property, as long as you get the written agreement of every landowner within two miles downstream. With the size of Sam’s ranch, that’s Sam. We can provide electricity to both places.”
Freddy and Theo talked about the project, and decided they could build an earthen-work dam in three months. Freddy took Theo to the river, while I took care of the animals. They came back enthusiastic, and since Sam had stayed around, they got his written permission. Sam even volunteered to help.
Theo and Sam got started on surveying, while Freddy and I worked the farm. We gave Theo my old room. One morning he saw us coming out of our bedroom together. “I always suspected you liked boys, Freddy. Don’t make no difference to me.” The only one now who didn’t know was Dad.
I rode the horse to Omaha and got books on electric generators. I thought we needed a 10KvA AC generator, that sounded like a lot. “The 55KvA costs little more, and you’ll have excess electricity you can sell.” Theo knew what he was talking about. Turned out, we could get 15 cents per kilowatt hour. For a house and farm, eight kilowatts was plenty. We could hook up six farms and have some to spare.
Sam funded the wiring, and Freddy sold the electricity. I helped Theo wire the stuff, and he, Freddy and I harvested the corn. Dad told me about a deal with Mr. Jenkins, who grew sugar beets, for sugar in exchange for corn. By the end of the year, our place, Sam’s, and four places across the river had electricity.
New Year’s Day, 1900, was the reckoning for the barter, so the Widow Henley, Sam, and Mr. Jenkins were all at the house when Dad just stopped breathing. Mrs. Henley was a nurse, and did everything she could, but he was gone. Ma cried, and so did all the rest of us.
In the barter, Mr. Jenkins wound up owing us fourteen dollars. “I ain’t got it. I’m sorry, can we just carry it forward?” The Jenkins family was poorer than the rest of us, and he had a lot of mouths to feed.
“How about your two oldest boys work next spring in the cornfield?” I didn’t know what Freddy had up his sleeve, but I didn’t interrupt.
He agreed, and by springtime Theo had worked some engineering magic, and we were able to get two more houses hooked up. The day before the Jenkins boys were to start work, I found Ma still asleep in her bed at noon. I tried to wake her, but it did no good. She was dead.
Reverend Chavez held the funeral, and she was buried that afternoon in the McClelland cemetery. The next morning, Freddy was in charge, and I learned why he was so eager to get help with the corn. He doubled the size of the corn patch, and Theo went into Omaha to do some research.
When he came back, he had a second generator, doubling our power. And, he brought the specifications for a corn mill. New Year’s Day, 1901, in the reckoning, everybody came out close to even. The Jenkins boys were getting a dollar a day each, and there was plenty of work. Freddy and I continued sleeping together, pleasing each other with our mouths, hands, and penises. I finally did Freddy, and decided it was almost as enjoyable as when he did me.
Widow Hensley was getting sick, and asked if she could move in with us. She sold us her house at a cheap price, so Freddy and I moved there. Theo was now in charge of the farm, and Freddy and me, well, we were like a married couple. Freddy finished all of Mr. Henley’s books, and opened a law office in McClelland.
New Year’s Day 1902, we made Theo an equal partner in the farm, corn mill, and electricity business. Rory came over one day that, and told Theo to get out. He didn’t want any colored people living next door. Theo went to the bank, bought the mortgage on their place, and foreclosed on them since they were behind on payments.
New Year’s Day 1910, we had a meeting with Theo and Sam. We sold them our stake in everything at a fair price, and moved to Omaha. BC had died the year before, but we took one of her granddaughter’s puppies with us. Freddy practiced law, I started teaching school, and things were marvelous. We had sex every morning and every night.
New Year’s Day 1920, we celebrated. Freddy had defended two men who were arrested for sodomy the previous year. The sheriff had barged into his house and caught him and his partner in the act. He asked the sheriff about the search warrant, which of course didn’t exist. He quoted the fourth Amendment to the judge, and asked if the sheriff was authorized to invent his own search warrants, or if that was the prerogative of the judge. Case dismissed. Of course, we had a cross burned on our lawn and some bricks thrown through the window. I was fired from my teaching job, and half of Freddy’s clients quit.
It was worth it.
New Year’s Day 1930, we were both more than fifty years old. Life expectancy wasn’t much more than that, so we sold the house and took a train to Denver. On the way I used Dillon’s old camera to take pictures of the scenery. The hotel in Denver wouldn’t rent a room to us together, so we got two adjoining rooms. Freddy bought me a new camera, and I took more pictures all the way to San Francisco.
We booked passage in first class on a ship to Hawaii. Neither the crew nor other passengers thought it strange that we were always together. We stayed six months in Hawaii, and on New Year’s Day, 1940, we had completed our voyage around the world, and landed in New York.
New Year’s Day 1950 we were old men. We had stayed in New York, which had a homosexual village with underground clubs. They were often raided by police, but we only went to clubs that had Mafia protection. We had to be circumspect about our actions, but that
had been the case since we waited until Ma and Dad had gone to bed to use the shower. In 1950, New York made sodomy a misdemeanor, a major step forward. In our seventies, sodomy was infrequent. We mostly enjoyed holding each other and kissing.
In 1968, we watched the news about the Stonewall riot, and celebrated with an extra glass of wine. We were close to ninety, but had lived to see homosexuals fight back. We’d heard occasionally from Theo’s family in Iowa, and last year we got a letter from his great-grandson telling us he was in love with another boy. We were overjoyed that his generation had a chance to become open about their love.
Freddy died in early 1969, and I was inconsolable. I went to my doctor, and told him I was unable to sleep. He gave me sleeping pills and so did four other doctors. It’s New Year’s Eve, 1970. I’m celebrating with a bottle of red wine, and as many sleeping pills as I could swallow. I couldn’t wait to see Freddy again.
THE END
To Love A Hitman Page 21
