Now I Know I Am Not Alone

My trip to Greece was delayed for reasons I will tell in another story. Here is the the next part. By the way, I am writing all these stories using a journal that I started writing as the summer's events unfolded. Sometimes, I have to compress events and time to keep the story a reasonable length. The story is true, but some names have been changed for obvious reasons. Any questions or comments? Send them to dimiandjoey@mail.com

Now I Know I Am Not Alone, Part III

"The River"

As I sat watching the TV, my mind began to wander. School had started again. It felt good to be back. Joey started school too but was released from all physical activities and could not participate in sports until he had a medical permission. What that told me too was that we could not do anything either. The doctor, though, said that Joey should be fully recovered by the end of November. Until then we would have to be content with just hugs and kisses. I often wished I could write the truth in English class about my summer, but that was out of the question. I knew that when I faced the traditional "What did you do during summer vacation" essay, I would have to leave out a great deal of what really happened. However, what I had thought would be a typical, boring summer In SW Florida turned out to be much more than I could ever have hoped for at age sixteen. First I fell madly in love with Joey, made love to him, and then almost lost him. Then I found out that my father's friend, Costas Agrigento, is gay and I made love to him. Lastly, I found out that my little brother Theo is also gay, but I did not make love to him because of what my father's gay friend had taught me.

Anyway, Tuesday night at our house is always movie night. Sometimes we rented new releases; other times we rented old favorites. Everyone was there: mama, papa, giagia, Theo, Costas, Joey, and a ninth grader named Eamon, a friend of Theo's. We were watching "Forrest Gump." Yep, Gump was right. Life is like a box of chocolates and I had only eaten a few from the box. Many more chocolates were yet to come.

After the movie ended, everyone went different ways. Mama and papa went into the kitchen with Costas. Giagia went to her room and Theo followed her in there, perhaps thinking for a moment that it was still his. Eamon hung around Joey and me, listening to our conversation.

"Dimi, come here!" My father yelled from the kitchen.

When I entered, everyone was sitting at the kitchen table, with glasses and ouzo at hand. I had absolutely no idea what papa wanted. It was too early in the year for deficiency reports and I had taken out the garbage and cleaned my room. As I looked back at Joey before I entered the kitchen, he had a funny look on his face-almost a smile but not quite. It was almost as if he knew something I did not!

"Dimi, we have been talking with Dr. Agrigento about an idea that he has and we want to hear what you have to say before we go any further. He will be going down to Chile during Christmas vacation for some river rafting and guiding and he thinks that you are old enough to go and would enjoy it....Costas, what is the name of that river?"

"Futaleufu," answered Dr. Agrigento casually.

"Well, what do you think, Dimi?" asked papa with a slight smile on his stern Greek face.

"Wow! Holy...cow!" I stammered and almost said "shit" but I caught myself.

"But papa," I said almost immediately, "We can't afford to pay for something like that. It must cost a fortune!"

"Don't worry, Dimi." Costas interrupted. "I've contracted with company that runs the trips in Chile to co-pilot their charter flight from Fort Meyers for free and also to guide for free. In return for my free services, I can bring two guests with me."

All I heard was the words "two guests." I could feel my heart miss a beat and a kind of electricity run up my spine. Joey was the only one I thought of as a second guest, and I was right. Costas saw the expression on my face and read my mind.

"Yes, Dimi, I've already spoken with Joey's parents and they love the idea. Joey can go too!" Costas said with a devilish smile on his face. "But," he quickly added, "He has to get final clearance from his doctor first just before Christmas vacation.

"Oh, yes, yes!" I squealed as I hugged Costas and whispered in his ear in Greek, "Eucharisto, Thank you!" I hugged mama and papa too and kissed them on the cheek. Costas gave me brochures about the trip so I would realize that this would be no ordinary trip. It would truly be an adventure of a lifetime.

It was getting late. Giagia had already gone to sleep. Costas was preparing to go home, and Theo had walked outside to say good-bye to Eamon. Since tomorrow was a "teacher's preparation day," school would we closed and Joey was staying overnight. I was delighted about that but kinda down in the dumps because I knew nothing could happen even though we would be sleeping in the same bed.

"Got you good on that one. Bet you thought that you were in some kind of shit!" Joey snickered as we climbed the stairs to my third-floor bedroom.

"Yeah, you did, but I'll get you back somehow. I should kick your butt, but I don't think that would be a good idea!"

Of course, going to bed did not mean going to sleep. Joey sat on the edge of the bed, picking on his baglama, a Greek instrument that he played. I started to write the day's happenings in my journal but soon traded my pen for my bouzouki [another kind of Greek instrument]. We started playing some Greek folk music, but that did not last too long. Papa bellowed his second floor bedroom that the music was beautiful but it was late and he had to get up early for work. That, of course, ended our performance immediately. I returned to writing in my journal and Joey thumbed disinterestedly through the material that Costas had given me about the trip. He had already devoured the same material two days ago when Costas spoke to his parents about the trip. "Hey, did I tell you that my doctor asked me if I was sexually active?" Joey commented and continued, "I blushed and told him yes, but said I had broken up with my girlfriend before I got hurt. For a minute I was afraid that he either suspected or knew something. But then he said that that was good that we broke up and that I had to refrain from all sexual activity until he said it was OK. He also told me that he would not tell my parents I was sexually active."

"Shit, imagine what your parents would do if he told them that you were humping some girl!" Dimi said, almost visualizing what they might do.

"I don't even want to imagine what might happen...let alone what would happen if they found out I was having sex with a boy!" Joey mumbled almost like it was prayer.

"Hey, what do you think of Theo's friend, Eamon?" Joey asked as I scribbled the last words for the day in my journal.

"I dunno. He seems like a nice kid. Shy, but that's the way ninth graders always are. He's not Greek, but he is kinda cute with that red hair and freckles on his face. But he is not my type!" I chuckled.

"You hungry?" Joey asked casually.

My stomach had been growling for ten minutes so I sprinted down to the kitchen but tried not to wake anyone. In the refrigerator, I found some souvlaki, which I heated in the microwave and brought upstairs along with cans of soda. When I returned I found Theo sitting on the edge of the bed, talking to Joey. Since Theo knew about us and we knew about Theo, there were no secrets between us. We could talk freely, and that was good.

"What's up, Theo?" I asked as I handed Joey his souvlaki and gave Theo a piece of mine.

"I've been hanging around with Eamon a lot lately," Theo began. "As a matter of fact, I like him a lot and want to love him but I was asking Joey if there is any way I can tell if he gay. I just can't walk up and kiss him."

"Like I said before, Theo. . ." Joey picked up where he left off. "It is so tough to tell. I spent a long time secretly checking boys out in gym class and I had no idea that Dimi would be the one. Dimi took a chance when we were drinking and made his move and it paid off. But, in a way, it was just luck. That's all."

Dimi nodded his head seriously in agreement with Joey, adding "sometimes, though, there can be little signals like. . . in gym . . .does the kid always seem to be near you in the locker room. I mean does he pick a locker close enough to yours to see you undress? Does he stall around when he is getting changed like he is waiting for you to do something?" The signals weren't there with Joey, though. I just got lucky.

"Yeah, he does all that stuff," answered Theo, "but any time I even begin talking about sex in general, he sorta clams up, gets nervous, and changes the topic. You can almost sense that he is afraid; he doesn't blush or anything like that. He just gets frightened. Like this afternoon after school, we were just talking in front of the house. I had my bike shorts on and was leaning back on the trunk of papa's car, and I swear I caught him looking right at the bulge in my shorts more than once. When he realized I noticed, he got that frightened look and looked at the ground or away."

"That could tell you something." Dimi mused. "Staring at your crotch once might be an accident or just curiosity, but going back and looking again and again tells me that there is something there he is very, very interested in. I read someplace that in the army if you stare at a girl for more than 30 seconds, it could be considered mental rape and the soldier could go to jail for it."

Theo was probably looking for better advice but that was all that we could give him. Nothing is one hundred percent. Joey suggested that Theo invite Eamon over for a weekend sleepover. Of course, they would sleep in Theo's bed. Perhaps, alone and almost naked in the dark beneath the blankets, Theo might be able to explore Eamon's fears as well as the desires that he might suppressing.

It was getting real late so I chased Theo to his room and I closed the door to my room, assuring privacy. No one in my home ever opened a closed bedroom door without knocking and asking first. Joey had already begun undressing. Yes, we were going to sleep naked but what I saw as he pulled off his underpants and shirt called back the terrors I had felt during the summer. Scars so red that they appeared to have a brightness of their own ran here and there across his body. What dominated his thin, milk-white body was this monstrous red, fresh scar that ran from his sternum to the base of his dick. It looked like some devil had placed a giant zipper there. I started getting choked up right away and found myself wiping tears from my eyes. All the pain, all the fear came rushing back.

Joey knew right away that I was upset and tried to make me laugh by saying that he would not be diving for the cross on Epiphany any more because everyone would faint when they saw his scarred body. He sat down next to me on the bed, put his arm around me and told me that he loved me very much. He helped me pull my T shirt off, and then my underpants. This was the first time that we had been naked together for many months. Joey knew that I could do nothing but kiss him, so he initiated a kiss and we fell backwards into the bed and pulled the covers over us. He snuggled close to me, placed my dick in his mouth and slowly and lovingly began to suck it. I held him tightly as I cumed. We kissed again, and he gave me back some of my cum. The rest he made part of him.

I had been sniffling and sobbing all through Joey's love-making as I gently held his head, caressed his ears, and jostled his hair. I knew it was time, the time that Costas told me had to come. I had to tell Joey how I had betrayed him by making love to Costas.

"I'm sorry Joey...I'm sorry." I sobbed over and over as I gasped for air between sobs. "When you were in the hospital, I did anal with Costas once and tried to do it again with him, but he said no."

"OK," whispered Joey very solemnly and hugged me very tightly, "I forgive you and for your penance you must have sex with me at least twice a day when the doctor says its OK but you cannot swallow any of my cum for two weeks and you must refrain from having anal with Costas in the future."

I was shocked. I really was. No one can imagine the guilt that I felt and really still feel about that betrayal and here was Joey almost snickering at my confession. I couldn't believe it. Amazed, I sat up in bed, breaking his hold on me.

"Dimi, I love you and when you love someone you have to take the good with the bad. Shit happens!" He explained. "That is all there is to it. Theo hurt me real bad and I don't hate him for it. Besides, at least you learned the difference between lust and love. . .Yep, I read your story. What I really want to know is how Costas got it into you all the way without your feeling pain?"

The moment I had dreaded since that night turned out to be nothing, a passing quip, almost only a joke. Joey reached up slowly, put his hand behind my neck and pulled me back down in bed next to him. We giggled, cuddled, and then, entwined in each other's embrace, we fell fast asleep, each the other's true love, his matia mou.

As I sat at my desk, writing the day's events and thoughts in my journal, I glanced up at the computer calendar that I had printed and put above my desk. It was no ordinary calendar. It was a countdown calendar to Thursday, December 21, 2000, the last day of school before Christmas vacation, showing fifty-five days left. Our parents had approved our taking that day before off and cleared it with school. We would be going down to Costas' home in Venice on the evening of December 20, sleeping there that night, and leaving from SW Florida International Airport in Fort Meyers and going to the bottom of the world for an adventure of a lifetime. Costas had told us that sometimes, if it is clear in southern Patagonia, the faint outline of the Antarctic coastline could be seen from some of the mountaintops there.

When you fall into a pattern-eat, sleep, study, and go to wrestling practice, time moves without your noticing it. It's hard to believe that it is already the end of October and that Halloween is this weekend. Joey has to go with his parents to his father's law firm's awards banquet in Tallahassee so I am going to be alone this weekend. But Theo is very excited about this weekend for two reasons: he can go trick o'treating and Eamon is sleeping over because his mom, a legal secretary, is going to the same banquet, and she has no one to watch Eamon because she is divorced so she asked our parents if they could help.

As I was writing these thoughts in my journal, I heard a knock on my door. Almost like a reflex, I asked who was there and I heard Theo answer. Even though he knew about my journal, I quickly encrypted it with Stealth Encryptor and then told him to come in. Excited about the weekend with Eamon, he asked, "Dimi, do you think I am gonna need the stuff you have in the secret room for Eamon: you know, the enema, KY, condoms, the dildo and other stuff?"

His mind and mouth running at incredible speed, he then asked without pausing, "How should I approach it? What should I say?"

"Theo, hold on! Calm down!" I laughed. "Remember Joey told you that you have to play it by ear. I don't think you are gonna need any of my toys for the first time. One thing is for sure: Eamon is gonna be sleeping in your bed and it is really a bed for one person so the two of you are gonna be real close to each other. Make sure that you undress with the lights on. Don't rush! Let Eamon see you real good. Walk around the room in just your underpants. Make believe you are looking for something. Bend over like you are stretching so he can see you ass. Sit on the bed with your legs spread wide and facing him. Don't put on any kind of sleeping shorts or pajamas. Sleep only in your underpants. Speaking of underpants, don't wear briefs. Wear the white nylon bikini underpants that I gave you for your birthday. That will show everything you have. If you are hard, don't hide it. Let him see that big, long bulge in your underpants. Leave the lights on until he is undressed. Leave the blinds and curtains open so that the street light gives you some light after you turn off the lights so you will be able to see better in the dark. If he tries to sleep in anything more than his underpants, tell him that because the two of you will be close together, body heat will make it too hot to sleep, that both of you will sweat a lot, and that he should sleep only in his underpants."

"Wow!" exclaimed Theo, "it's like you have to plan everything out step by step. But what do I do once we are under the covers in our underpants."

"That is the tough part." I continued. "The chance of an out-in the-open move by either of you is slim. You are afraid he will not go along with it, and he might be thinking the same thing. When the two of you are climbing the stairs to your room, make sure you tell him that you go to sleep quickly, that you are a very deep sleeper, and that it is almost impossible to wake you up. To emphasize this more also tell him not to accidentally push you while you are asleep because sometimes you fall out of the bed at night, don't know it, and wake up on the floor the next morning. Saying that would suggest to him that he could touch you, do things to you, and you would never know it. Also, it gives you an alibi too. If you casually let your arm fall on him and then move down to his dick, then you are just moving around in a very deep sleep. That's about all I can suggest."

With that Theo went down stairs and left me to my journal again. Theo hadn't noticed it but while I was giving him suggestions about how to set the stage and what to do, I was actually getting a hardon. Not having Joey was sure making me horny. For a while I even considered spying on what might go on between the two of them. It would be easy because my secret room was nothing more than the unfinished part of the attic that ran behind both bedrooms with the bathroom in between. It was completely closed off when the attic was finished and the only way to get to it was through the secret door, a piece of the wall panel that could be moved aside to gain access to the attic. All I had to do was poke a small hole in the wall to peek through....then I pulled back from my thoughts. I realized that doing something like that would make me like that the kids in that video. I would become someone driven not by love but by animal lust. I also decided that it would not be right for me to ask him what happened when they were together in bed. If Theo offered the information, I would listen but I would not ask him.

Halloween afternoon brought the usual mayhem to our neighborhood. The doorbell never stopped ringing, but by dark the trick o'treaters were home devouring their candies. After dark, older goblins prowled through the neighborhood. There was the usual assault on Mr. Zenakis' mailbox with cherry bombs; after all, what could the neighborhood grouch expect after all those insults he hurled at the local teens. Some of the trees looked like they had been decorated for Christmas with all the toilet paper hanging from them. Some car windows were soaped, but nothing really bad happened.

I had just finished watching the ten o'clock news on channel 13 and was just getting ready to go to my room when Theo and Eamon burst through the front door. Theo had a Darth Maul mask on and Eamon a vampire one. The bag that they had taken with them trick o'treating appeared less full than when they left. They had disposed of all the toilet paper they took with them and brought back some treats for their mischief.

They headed right for the stairs and I followed behind them casually. As they made their way up the stairs, giggling and recounting their earlier exploits, I heard Theo say, "Hey Eamon, I gotta tell you that I go to sleep real fast and even a bomb going off might not wake me so don't push me over to get more room in the middle of the night cause I'll fall on the floor and wake up the next morning there." Almost casually, Eamon answered, "Nothing wakes me up either. That's why I'm late for school a lot." I smiled just a little bit as I climbed the stairs behind them. Theo was setting the stage for what might happen later. But I couldn't help wondering if Eamon was also setting up for the very same thing! By the time I got to the third floor, the door to Theo's room was closed. I could hear some music playing on his Discman and some conversation. Soon, though, the music and the conversation stopped. I got up from my desk, closed my door, and whispered, "Good luck, little brother."

I was up earlier than usual the next morning. As I came out of the bathroom, Theo came out of his room followed by Eamon; both of them seemed to be in a joking, good mood. As he passed by, Theo gave me the kind of look that giagia [grandmother] always calls "the cat that ate the canary" look. That told me that something had happened and I was glad for Theo. I knew all too well how frustrating it could be doing things alone and looking only at pictures. After breakfast we all went to church and returned to a relaxing Sunday. Later, Eamon's mother came by to pick him up. Since she was only a legal assistant, she did not have to stay in Tallahassee as long as Joey's family did. Theo walked out to her car to say good-bye to Eamon, and I went to my room to study for my English test. As I reviewed my notes on James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist..." Theo walked in. He was smiling like I had never seen him smile before.

"Aren't you gonna ask me what happened?" He almost begged.

"That would not be right." I answered, knowing that I was about to hear all about it.

"We did it! Wow! It was incredible!" he exclaimed as he sat on the edge of the bed to tell me the whole story.

"I did exactly what you told me to do. After we hung out for a little while, I yawned and said I was ready for bed. I took off my shirt and I thought I saw Eamon get a bit nervous. I opened my belt and dropped my shorts. I was harder than I have ever been before. I don't think he expected to see me hard. He could not take his eyes off my dick. He just kept staring at it as I walked around the room, pretending to look for a magazine. I was surprised when he just took off his shirt and dropped his shorts too without hesitating. He was wearing very baggy boxers but I could see that he was hard too. We got right into bed and I turned off the light right away. It almost seemed too easy. I was all set to convince him to sleep in his underpants, but I didn't have to. Both of us laid on out backs with our bare shoulders touching. After a while I started breathing real slowly through my nose, pretending to be asleep. Eamon asked me a question but I did not answer. I just kept breathing slowing and regularly through my nose. Soon I felt his left arm fall to his side right up against me. I felt his hand right up against my leg below my underpants."

"Alright! Way to go..." I commented as Theo continued.

"He asked me another question but again I didn't answer. Then he rolled over on his side I could feel his hard dick pressing against my hip. He laid there for a long time and did nothing, but I could feel his dick throb and twitch. His face was right next to side of my head and I could feel his hot, short, excited breaths on me. Then it happened. He slowly put his finger under the elastic at the bottom of my underpants, pulled it away from my leg a bit, and put his dick under it. I could feel the heat and throbbing against my bare hip as he began to thrust his dick slowly against it. I reached over and grabbed his head real fast and kissed him on the lips. I guess I scared the shit out of him 'cause he jumped up out of the bed and just stood there, terrified. I could see him in the light from the street lamp, standing there with his dick straight up. I threw the covers down, pulled off my underpants, and told him to take off his boxers and get back in bed so we could have some fun. He didn't hesitate, and he was back in bed naked in a second. We kissed and rubbed each other all over. Then I sucked his dick for a minute and then he sucked mine for a minute or so. Then we crossed arms and started jerking each other off. He whispered to me that he was so afraid doing this, but it felt so good and that he had always wanted to do it with me. I had a lot of trouble jerking him off because he is circumcised and I am used to using the foreskin to do it. I had keep spitting into my hand a lot so it would move up and down on him smoothly. I could feel him starting to twitch and spasm, holding his legs out straight and tight. The bed started squeaking and then he moaned and cumed all over both of us. Then I cumed and we sighed, giggled and rubbed our hands in the cum on each other's stomachs. Next thing I knew it was morning, and we were still naked in each other's arms. We didn't do anything else. All he said was that enjoyed last night. I said I did too and that we should do it again soon. He agreed right away, and we got dressed and went downstairs."

At that moment, mama called up on the intercom and told us that dinner was ready. As we went down the stairs, I put my arm around my brother and said, "I am glad for you Theo. Now you know what it like. . .how wonderful it can be . . . maybe you have found someone to share you love with. But only time will tell if it will work out for you."

My countdown was moving very fast now. Thanksgiving had arrived. Mama spent the entire day before Thanksgiving, cooking and getting the house ready for our company. We had a wonderful lamb dinner with all our family and friends around us. Joey and his parents were there along with Eamon and his mother, Uncle Constantine, Costas, Giagia, grandfather Stephanos, and distant cousins who were visiting from Greece. After dinner, everyone moved out to the lanai, a twenty foot square screened porch attached to the house. There we had music, dancing, and, of course, ouzo. Joey, Theo and I danced the hapsatico while Costas, Uncle Constantine, Papa, and his friend Petros provided the music. Theo tried to teach Eamon hapsatico but he was awkward and really did not dance well. For the first time - at least our parents thought it was our first time - we were allowed to drink as much ouzo as we wanted. We danced and drank, drank and danced, until at least two in the morning. We were not alone. You could hear music from our neighbors' homes too. Grandfather Stephanos even sang parts of "Digenes' Battle with the Crow," an oral epic. One bit of very, very bad news came that Thanksgiving, though. Joey's father, who works in international law, would be working in Greece from the middle of January 2001 to August 2001. The whole family would be there including Joey, who would spend the second semester of this school year at the American School in Athens. I was crushed by the news, but I rationalized that it would look good on his school record when he applied to college. That made our trip with Costas even more important. Those eight days would be the last I would spend with Joey in my arms for eight months!

As everyone left or went to bed that night or what was left of it, I noticed something strange: Theo did not walk out to the car with Eamon. I hoped that their relationship was not slipping away. While Eamon had become a very frequent overnight guest in our home, Theo had confided that he did not like doing some of what Eamon wanted him to do lately. Every time Theo sucked his dick, Eamon asked him to bite it hard while he sucked. He wasn't happy unless he felt pain and saw Theo's teeth marks on his shaft. I did not think that was normal, but I told Theo to do only what he felt he wanted to do with Eamon.

Both very tired because we had not slept last night, Joey and I waited to board our bus after school. Marika Kostidakis ran up to us and gave Joey a large shopping bag filled with single use cameras. She was the editor of the school newspaper, and she wanted us to take lots of pictures on our trip for a major article in the school paper. She also asked us to keep a journal of the trip so captions could be written to go along with the pictures. Yes, my countdown calendar was about to run out - December 20, our last day of school. Joey had gotten the OK from his doctor only a few days ago, and soon we would be on a plane bound for Chile. Many of our friends came up to us and wished us well as we waited, and waited, and waited for that damn bus to arrive. Mr. LePere, the Spanish teacher saw us and used the opportunity to remind us that we should have studied Spanish, but we told him, probably with some arrogance emphasizing the words friend and doctor, that our friend Dr. Agrigento spoke nine languages and one of them was Spanish. The bus finally arrived and we boarded quickly. Because Joey would be going to Greece for eight months shortly after our return to Florida, we had made a solemn pact that we would do absolutely nothing with each other until we were in our tent at the base camp by the river. We vowed to make love to each other every night-the last ones we would spend together for eight months.

Costas picked us up at seven-thirty that night. He did not have to wait because we were sitting on the front port with out parents and our backpacks waiting for his arrival. Just before we left, our parents gave us each three hundred dollars spending money and cautioned us to use it wisely. We threw our packs, sleeping bags, and duffel bags filled with everything on the list Costas had given us into the back of his Blazer, hugged and kissed our parents goodbye, thanked them for the money, and we were off. We had barely gotten to the end of the driveway, when I had to ask Costas to stop. I had forgotten the notebook in which I planned to keep a private journal of the trip. I ran into the house, up the stairs and back down, notebook in hand, in what had to be record Olympic time. As we looked out the side widow of the Blazer we saw our parents waving at us. Our moms looked like they were crying a bit too. Moms always do stuff like that when their teenage sons leave home for a long time.

The ride down Interstate 75 was uneventful. Once we got out of the city and its lights, the highway took on a completely different appearance-dark with only mile-markers and tail-lights, and our headlights guiding our way through the darkness. Some of the exits had lights around them but they we like islands in the darkness. We passed a place named Bull Frog Creek. Joey and I delighted in its rural, hillbilly sound as we flew past the sign back into darkness. Our conversations revealed out excitement. We stopped at one of the exits to get McDonald's but we ate as Costas drove. We tried not to bother him too much because Interstate 75 can be a dangerous road to drive after dark. Joey and I grew silent as we stared out opposite windows of the Blazer. Soon we were asleep.

"Hey! Joey! Dimi! Wake up!" yelled Costas. "We're are almost there."

We startled from sleep, rubbed out eyes and saw the sign for Exit 35. Joey looked at the clock on the dashboard and remarked that we had been asleep for more than an hour and a half. When we got to Costas' home, we left everything in the Blazer and went inside. He gave us a quick tour of the house, the lanai with its pool, and then he took us to the guest bedroom.

"I'm sure that the two of you will not mind sharing this bed." He said with a twinkle in his eye, adding, "be sure to get right to sleep. It's almost eleven o'clock and we have to be up early in the morning. It takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the airport. Our flight departs at seven-thirty, but I have to be there much earlier for weather briefings and pre-flight checks." We sat down on opposite sides of the bed, took off our sneakers and socks, and fell back with our clothes on. The excitement and our lack of sleep had won. We were dead to the world.

I groaned. Joey groaned. I felt like lttle Gizmo screaming "bright light" when Costas turned the lights on in the bedroom! I hissed the Greek word for shit, "scata," as I looked at the clock. It was three forty-five in the morning. He meant it when he said we had to get up early!

"Go take a swim in the pool. That will wake you up!" Costas laughed.

Not being completely conscious, I protested saying that my bathing suit was in my backpack. Then I realized we were alone with no other people around so we stripped right there and walked half asleep out to the pool. Costas was right. It woke the both of us up real fast.

We ate breakfast, loaded a few additional items into the blazer, mostly camping gear, and we were on the road again by four-thirty. The Interstate was really empty at the time of the morning and we arrived at the airport a little early. Costas showed the appropriate passes and security clearances to the guard on duty and we parked in the pilots' parking area. It was warm for the time of year, almost seventy-eight degrees at five-thirty in the morning. We put or luggage and gear on a cart and Costas took us to the International portion of the terminal. The security people recognized him, but they checked our passports and passes anyway. We then took an elevator down to the baggage loading area and had the handlers place our stuff on the plane, which was already at the gate. It was a 737 and to two sixteen year olds standing right next to it, it looked massive beyond belief. Ours would be the first international flight out. After that Costas took us up to departure desk where they checked our tickets and passports and then they let us go down to the gate. Costas left us there, saying that he had a great deal of work to do and that he would be back later. Joey and I sat there alone in the quiet, dark terminal and found ourselves dozing off once in a while as we waited. I looked at our tickets. We were in Row Two, seats A and B, right behind the cabin attendants. By six-thirty, the seats around our gate began to fill up. We found out later that people had flown in from all over the States to connect with this charter flight, and that we would be picking up some more passengers in Quito, Ecuador.

We were literally the first to board the plane. As we walked past the open cockpit door, we could see Costas sitting in the right seat.

"Hey guys, do you want a quick tour of the flight deck?" He asked.

"Wow! Yes!" we both said at the same time.

Neither of us knew anything about planes and the cockpit looked very very complicated like one giant electronic machine, knobs, and buttons, flashing lights all packed into this relatively small space. Costas has always amazed me with his varied skills and abilities. I think in many ways he has been an inspiration to me.

By seven-twenty, we had one hundred and sixty-eight people on the plane. The attendant closed the door, and then we heard Costas say on the intercom, "Flight attendants, prepare the cabin for departure." They went through a safety briefing about life jackets and oxygen masks and how to put them on, and how to get out in an emergency. Then we heard this low, whistling sound and knew that the engines had been started. The plane lurched back as ground crew pushed it away from the gate. Joey and I looked excitedly out of the window as it bounced along, heading out to the runway. It stopped for a few minutes near the runway, then turned onto it and the low whistle of the engines got louder and louder and higher in pitch until the whole plane seemed to shake. It suddenly jumped forward and we were pushed back in our seats as the plane moved forward very fast.. Within a minute, the shaking and bouncing stopped. Yes, we were in the air and on our way to the adventure of a lifetime.

After about ten minutes, the speakers in the cabin clicked and we heard the a voice saying, "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard charter flight 763. This is Erich Vargas, your Captain. Our First officer for this flight is Costas Agrigento. Our initial destination is Mariscal International Airport in Quito, Ecuador, where we will be picking up additional passengers and fuel. Our estimated flying time is three and one half hours. The distance is approximately 1850 miles at an altitude of 35,000 feet with an airspeed of 520 knots. Our estimated arrival time is eleven AM local time. Right now we anticipate a layover time of no more than forty-five minutes at Mariscal. The second leg of our flight will be from Mariscal to El Tupual International Airport in Puerto Montt, Chile. Our estimated flying time is five hours and thirty minutes at a speed of 520 knots. The distance is approximately 2515 miles. Flights ahead of us have reported some moderate to severe turbulence along our entire route, which may delay our arrival times. For now, though, we'll will turn off the fasten-seat-belts sign. Please move about the cabin carefully. Right now we are looking at wheels down at El Tupual at 7:15 PM local time.

We had a continental breakfast, and listened to the chatter from the passengers around us. We felt out of place. We were the only teens on the flight. Fly fishing, mountain climbing, kayaking, rafting, mountain biking were some of the topics we heard discussed by the passengers. They were all yelling above the sound of the engines. Evidently, Patagonia in Chile is a sportsman's paradise, and all these people were going to different places there. Two rows behind us, however, we heard some people talking about rafting the Futaleufu so we assumed they were going where we were going. We walked back to them and introduced ourselves, but they really were not friendly. Later we overheard one of them comment:

"Those kids up front must come from families with money to shell out five grand to raft the Fu." Another replied, "They'll never stick to it; they wasted their money. They're just kids looking for a quick thrill."

Soon our lack of sleep won again, and we woke up as the plane was landing in Equador where we took on an additional fifteen passsengers. Everyone had to get off when we landed so they could prepare the plane for the next part of the flight. While we waited, Costas came through the door and sat right down and talked to us for a while. I thought he was more excited about us going on this trip than we were. One thing was for sure. Those other passengers who would be rafting the Futaleufu were probably wondering why the co-pilot sat, chatted, and laughed with "those kids" and paid no attention to anyone else. We Arrived in Puerto Montt ahead of schedule. After customs, we met Costas at the baggage ramp and took our baggage to a waiting pickup truck. What happened next really took me and Joey by surprise. As the three of us walked toward the truck, a boy maybe fifteen years old and stunningly beautiful wearing only white shorts on jumped out and ran toward us. He literally bounded into Coastas' arms, wrapped his legs around his waist, crying with delight, "papa, papa, I missed you a lot!"

"Dimi, Joey, I'd like to meet Aldo, my son. Aldo, these are my friends from the United States, Dimi and Joey," he said, pointing to each of us.

We were in shock as we looked at each other, almost thinking out loud, "Costas has a son?"

We were still looking at each other in confusion as the driver of the pickup, whom Costas introduced as Laurence Montes, one of the owners of the rafting company, walked up to us. The two of them loaded the pickup with our gear and took us to another part of the airport. There our gear was placed on a smaller plane for the flight to Chaiten tomorrow. After a quick stop for something to eat, Laurence took the four of us to a bed and breakfast in the next town, Puerto Varas, about fifteen minutes away. The room at the Compass del Sur was nice, but it had only one large bed. We wasted no time. Exhausted from the almost twelve-hour trip, Joey and I undressed quickly and jumped into bed as Costas and Aldo did the same and chatted in Spanish next to us. Soon Aldo was asleep in his arms, wrapped around him like a loving vine.

"I guess you are wondering how I ended up with a fifteen year-old son!" Costas chuckled as he explained softly, "Aldo was an orphan and is a half-breed, part white and part Mapuche Indian, the original inhabitants here. Orphans are on their own here unless their relatives take them in. If you are an orphan and a half-breed, that is the kiss of death, and you are rejected by everyone. Such children do what they have to do to survive. I met Aldo begging on the streets in only dirty, tattered underpants when he was twelve and he has been mine ever since that night. I adopted him officially when he was thirteen. Unfortunately, though I've spent a fortune on lawyers, I have been unable to bring him home to the States to raise him properly. While we say our laws place a child's well-being first, laws in the United States and especially in Florida specify that only married couples can adopt children. But I will not give up until I have him with me in Venice. Until then he lives here at camp with Laurence and his family and works on the catarafts we use on the river."

I woke up first very early. Joey and I were in each other's arms. I could see Costas and Aldo still asleep together. I lay there for a while, with Joey's head on my chest, enjoying the beautiful smell of his hair and skin. Soon, though, Costas began to move. Aldo stretched and then kissed his papa good morning. It was time get up, eat, and begin the final leg of our trip. The plane waiting at El Tupual was a small commuter type from Buscar Air, holding about fifty people and their gear. The company had its own pilot and co-pilot so Costas, Aldo, Joey, and I all sat together. Of course, the flight to Chaiten, which took about forty minutes and then the 110 mile drive by bus down the Carretera Austral highway to the camp entrance took much less time than the flight from Fort Meyers; but we were anxious and wanted to get there as soon as possible. Austral really wan't a highway but more like a two-lane dirt and rock-paved road that had a habit of becoming one lane without warning. We rode in Laurenc's pickup. Aldo, Joey, and I rode in the back seat. It was kinda cramped but we enjoyed it. Joey commented that those nasty people from the plane probably were really wondering about us now because we were riding in the owner's truck while they were packed into a bus. Several times the bus almost hit wild goats that were grazing by the roadside. For the first time, I noticed the beauty of Patagonia. I looked in awe at magnificent mountains over which we had just flown with their snow-topped peaks reaching to the sky, lakes with water so blue that it reminded me of the waters of the Aegean. It was a place of contrasts - of rain forests and glaciers. It could be as warm as 90 degrees during the day and as cold as 30 degrees at night.

"Wow! I have never seen so beautiful a place!" I said, and Joey replied, as if punctuating what I had said, "Me neither! It is so beautiful."

We arrived at base camp around 1 PM. I had imagined it would be something like the Boy Scout camps that I had attended when I was younger, but I was wrong. In the center of the camp was a elaborate, two-story camp center for get-togethers, movies, dinner, and there was even a library. There was a magnificent, outdoor teak bar, where they served unlimited free drinks every evening. They had satellite TV and internet access too! Off to the right next to a white-bricked path was a sign that read Saunas and Hot Tubs. To the left, another read Camping Area. Further back were other signs for River put-in, Nature Hiking, Biking Trails, and Waterfall. On a perch to the right of the Camping Area sign sat a magnificent macaw, which watched us as we marveled at the camp. I had read about the hot tubs in the brochure. There were three of them, oval is shave and carved from huge lava boulders.

Aldo had already removed all our gear from the pickup, stacked it on a electric golf cart, and taken it down to Camp Site 6. As we walked down the trail, I noticed that each tent site was completely private and cut off from each of the others. The actual sites, buried deep in the forest, could not be seen from the trail. When we reached the end of the access path to Site 6, I stood there in amazement. There was a wooden platform about two feet above the ground. The whole platform was at least twenty-five feet square with a thatch roof above it. On each side was a smaller platform and roof. One was a bathroom. The other was an outdoor shower. There was a long wooden table, and two low bureausand two large foot lockers sitting on the platform. Around the entire platform, flowers and shrubs had been planted.. Costas explained that the roof and high platform were necessary because very often it can rain as much as eleven inches or more in one afternoon in Patagonia. Standing at the top of the steps was a young man, perhaps in his early twenties, named Juan. He was our 'tent captain.' It was his job to bring us coffee or other drinks each morning and evening, to take care of our laundry for us, and to assist us with any other things we needed.

"Scata," commented Joey, " No wonder a trip like this costs twenty-five hundred dollars a person!"

"And that does not include airfare costs," added Costas.

Without realizing it, I had been standing next to Joey, and I was holding his hand. I looked at Aldo and Juan on the platform and saw no reaction whatsoever from either of them. We moved the furniture to a corner of the platform and began to assemble the tent that Costas had brought with him. It was really huge and he told us that he had it custom made for these trips. It measured sixteen feet across the front and eleven feet deep with windows on both sides and the back. In the center it was eight feet tall and at the sides was just under five feet tall. There was one double-wide entrance, but there was a curtain that could be drawn across the middle to make two rooms. It took about twenty minutes to set it up, and Juan had to crawl under the platform to tie the corners to the beams underneath. We then inflated the four queen-sized air mattresses and placed two in each room, one on top of the other. Juan then unpacked our sheets and pillows and placed them on our beds. He unzipped out sleeping bags completely so that we could uses them as blankets. He then brought in the two small, low bureaus and placed them next to each of the bed and put our battery lanterns on them. He then unpacked all our clothes, and put them in the drawers. He placed a foot locker at the foot of our air mattresses and placed all our other items from gear list in there. Outside the front of the tent he put the long wooden table, set up our folding chairs, and hung our two Coleman lamps on hooks that dropped from the roof beams.

"Would you like coffee or a drink now, Doctore?" he asked and then added, "Would the young gentlemen wish something to drink also?"

Costas told him in Spanish what he wanted while we looked at him, wondering what we would be allowed to drink. Shortly, we had the answer to our question when Juan brought back four bottles of cold beer. Costas smiled and told us that there was not really any legal drinking age here, but he cautioned us not to overdo it and make fools of ourselves. Juan asked if there would be anything else we needed before he left and Costas told him no. We each took a bottle, clicked them together in a toast while Costas said, "Here's to a great week!" Joey and I replied instantly, "Entaxi," the Greek word for OK. Aldo said nothing; he was smiling broadly with his arm around his father's waist as he drank his beer.

It was four o'clock and dinner was at six in the main dining area. We had time to kill so Costas took us down to river to show us the beauty and power of the Futuelu. We stood on shore and looked out with a mixture of amazement and fear. There was a very large area of still water that Costas called an eddy but beyond that we could see waves that just seemed to stand still in the river. Many of them had to be at least eighteen feet high! The bass-like roar of those waves pounded on our ears and we found ourselves shouting to be heard.

"That rapid is called Himalya," shouted Costas. It has the highest waves in the western hemisphere and is classified as a Class IV rapid. What that basically means is that it's a killer. You make the wrong move at the wrong time out there and you will die...simple as that."

"Why does the rapid have a name?" asked Joey.

"All rapids have names if they are bad enough. It personalizes them, making them unique. Further down river is another one called Terminator. There is another one called Tiburon . . .that's white shark in Spanish."

"Costas," I said, "this is not really adding to our confidence level right now!"

"Don't worry Dimi," laughed Costas. "You will we in an eighteen foot raft, which is pretty safe at this flow level. If you were going to be in a kayak like I will be, it would be time to worry. Most of the time I will be buried in Himalya as I work my way through the waves!"

By the time we hiked back to Site 6, we were really sweaty and decided to shower and change before going up to the dining hall. The shower was only large enough for one person at a time; there was not curtain. Joey showered first while we sat on the bench next to it, waiting our turns. When he undressed, I heard Aldo gasp and then he asked Costas if Joey had been attacked by a wild animal. Costas explained what had happened to Joey.

"That is really sad. His is such a beautiful body to be cut like that." Aldo added.

I was really taken back by Aldo's simplicity and honesty. Back in the States, one teen boy does not say something like that about another teen boy in public. Each of us took our turn in the shower while the others dried off, changed clothes, and got ready for dinner.

After dinner, we returned to Site 6. Juan appeared out of nowhere and asked if we wanted anything tonight. We told him no, and he took out orders for breakfast beverages and then left. Soon after the rains came, first a few drops and then a tropical deluge. It was also getting much cooler. Costas wished us good night and pulled the curtain across the middle of the tent so that the rooms became private. We took off our T shirts and sandals. From the other side of the curtain, Aldo wished us both good night. Then I turned off the light. As Joey and I stood there in the dark right next to the bed, I could feel my heart pounding. I actually felt afraid as I reached over and pulled him toward me. I could feel his heart pounding against my chest. I had both my hands on his behind, and he held my head as we kissed and breathed through each other's noses. I reached down, unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his shorts, and pulled his zipper down, and his shorts fell with a little clink as the buckle hit the wood floor.

As we continued kissing and caressing each other he too ritually removed my shorts. I could feel my dick pulsing and pushing out beyond the elastic as he pulled down my underpants and I stepped out of them. Joey dropped to his knees, pulled my foreskin over the head of my dick and then filled it with his spit. Then he sucked the spit out and then refilled my foreskin with his spit again. I pulled off his underpants as we quietly fell down onto the airbed. "I love you Joey, I really really do!" I whispered as my lips first kissed his eyes, his forehead, and then his mouth. "Let's do a switch," whispered Joey as he licked and sucked my ear lobe. That was our special name for a sixty-nine position. In an instant we were there. I did what he did to me before. I pulled his foreskin over his head and filled it with spit and then sucked it out again. Taking his cue from me, Joey did the same. It felt great! I asked him quietly why we had never done it that way before, but he did not answer. I could feel my foreskin expanding like a balloon as it filled with his spit. While I was doing it, I slipped my middle finger into my mouth to lubricate it. I reached between his legs and started to slip it into his asshole. I felt him stiffen almost in terror. "Please, no, not that!" He begged out loud,. I knew then that Joey was absolutely terrified of any sex involving his anus. Perhaps deep down he believed that I was the one who hurt him that night. I took my hand from between his legs right away and just rubbed his thigh and hip instead.

We did our balloon sucking over and over, stopping just before cuming. We would wait a few minutes, kiss, and then go back to balloon sucking. Joey stopped suddenly, sat up and pulled me around and down on top of him and wrapped his legs around mine and began stroking the back of my thighs with his legs. I began to thrust against the side of his dick. "Ah, stop!" He said out loud. "You're on my scar and it hurts like hell!" I stopped and repositioned my dick so that it was in the crease between his leg and his groin and resumed my thrusts slowly. Soon my cum sprayed out onto the sheet, as I kissed and gasped for air though his nose. In an instant, we reversed position so that Joey was on top. He fucked me violently. His thrusts were so forceful that the top air mattress was sliding closer to the bureau and you could hear it rubbing against it. The thrusts became faster, I could feel Joey stiffen his legs; his breathing became short and gasping. Then I felt a warm wetness spread from my dick hair almost to my sternum. Joey kept thrusting, sliding on his own cum until, exhausted, he let out a deep breath and said out loud and clearly, "Dimi, I will love you forever." We rolled on our sides, kissed, pulled an open sleeping bag over us, and felt our bodies relax as we drifted toward sleep. I remember thinking that we made a lot of noise while we did it and I hoped that Aldo had not hear us.

It was light. The sounds of the forest woke me. The rain had stopped. With my free hand, I pulled the sleeping bag off us and it fell to the floor. I could not see my watch because Joey was laying half on top of me with his head on my chest and his left leg hooked over my left leg. I could feel my morning hardon pulsing but there was no way I could do anything about it. As I lay there enjoying being in Joey's arms, I saw Aldo poke his head around the curtain for a second. He was innocently looking to see if we were awake, but what he saw was much more. I was terrified!

"Papa, are Dimi and Joey like us?" I heard him whisper from the other side of the curtain. I did not heard Costas' answer; perhaps he just nodded his head. I was happy for Costas. What Aldo asked could only be interpreted one way. That magnificent, beuatiful boy was both Costas' son and his lover. Joey's began to move his hand on my chest, first as a reflex then purposefully rubbing my nipple as he woke up. I rubbed his back and he lifted his head and kissed me. As we cuddled, I heard someone turn the shower on. Either Costas or Aldo was showering, and that mean it was later than I thought. It was time to get up!

"That was pretty wild sex we had last night!" Joey said, pointing to the airbed as we decided whether to dress or shower.

The mattress on top was partially hanging off the mattress on the bottom and pushed up against the bureau. The sheet was pulled off at the top of the mattress and there were large yellow stains all over it. Both sleeping bags were on the floor. I pulled off the sheet, straightened the mattress, and put the rolled up sheet in the laundry hamper, hoping that Juan would not notice those tell-tale yellow stains when he did the laundry. As I walked toward the shower, I scratched my dick hair and realized that I had crusted Joey cum all over it. Last night was awesome!

As we walked up the path out of Site 6, it started to rain again. We ran back and got our rain gear. By the time we put it on, it seemed like ten thousand fire hoses were turned on out camp. I have never seen such intense rain. The brochure was right about this part of Patagonia having violent, intense rain storms.

"Is it gonna be like this all week, rain all the time?" asked Joey.

"Don't worry, Joey," Coastas laughed. "There are no rain cancellations. We do get tons of rain here. During the technical meeting after breakfast, they will give you all do's and don'ts of life down here. What you have to be careful of on the river is the cold. Don't forget the river is glacier fed. On a sunny day, it is tolerable; in the rain, you can go into hypothermia real fast."

We changed into the clothing that Coastas said we should: river shorts that dry real fast, a goretex undershirt and long johns, wool sox and river sandals. Joey thought we looked kinda silly with longjohns with short pants, but Costas said everyone would be wearing the same kinda clothes. In our fanny packs, we put sun glasses with our surf croakies and a tube of SPF 40 sunblock. When we got to the Center, everyone was there . . about fifty people, men and women of assorted ages, but we were the youngest by far. For a second, I smiled at all the outfits on the people. Our clothes were conservative in colors but many of theirs sported bright, gaudy colors that reminded me of some of the outfits that bicycle riders wear. First, most of the people had to be fitted with life jackets and helmets, although some brought their own with them. We were sized for paddles, and then the raft captain we were assigned to placed our positions in his raft based on our weight. Joey and I, of course, being the lightest, were placed in first left and first right paddling postions. The captain joked that the river "would eat us first." Joey leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I'm jealous! I don't want anyone or thing eating you but me!" After that we were given river bags to hold what we would be sized for next: dry suits, which are treated nylon suits you get into through a zipper that runs across the front of your chest. The neck, wrists, and ankles all have these neoprene cuffs that are real tight and sorta seal off the inside of the suit. The suit is designed to keep all the water out and body heat in.

"Now I know what a dick must feel like when it's inside a condom!" I said to Joey.

Several of the men who were close by laughed and that said "That was a good one!" I had hoped that some of the people on the trip would become a little friendlier. May my little joke broke the ice!'

Ten people were in a raft, and ten people carried their raft down the trail to the put-in. There we practiced holding ourselves in while sitting on the tube of the raft. Each person in the raft had to listen carefully to the raft captain for paddling instructions. This was no free-for-all do-what-you-want task. To demonstrate, the captain yelled: "All Paddles up. one left, draw; one right pry!" What that meant was that everyone except Joey and I raised their paddles out of the water. I, known as one left, executed a draw stroke. Joey, known as one right executed a pry stroke. Instantly, the raft spun around like a slow top. Then the captain yelled "All left, draw; all right pry!" The raft responded by moving to the left. "All left pry; all right draw!" The raft slid to the right. We spent about two hours practicing various paddle strokes and executing them in the ordered seuqence. Several of the paddlers, though, seemed to be having problems with who was left and who was right. They were partially thankful when the captain called lunch break, but they still knew what was coming after lunch. As we carried our raft up the trail to the Center, the skies opened up again.

There was a noticeable lack of conversation, as we rode the shuttle bus to our put-in location. We were going to be paddling a section of the river that rafting company considered an easier section. We learned that day that the word easy is really a relative term. We blasted through and pivoted around rocks the size of my house in a rapid called "El Macal." Busch Gardens may think they have awesome roller coaster rides but these rapids make them look like little kiddy toys! Within minutes we were drenched to the skin. I was oblivious to everyone and everything except the commands of the raft captain. I never looked at Joey and he never looked at me. The adrenalin kept us going even though we were terrified. Two hours and three rapids later, we turned out raft into the take-out eddy just before a huge bridge over the river. Everyone cheered; everyone hugged everyone else. We had all looked danger and death in the eye and survived. We had only one "swimmer," but he didn't count because he held on the safety line and was pulled back into the raft. The raft captain was right too: Joey and I were the first each time to feel the river's fury. He dampened our spirits a bit by telling us that today had been a warm-up, a practice session for bigger things to come tomorrow. By the time we returned to base camp, it was raining again so badly that we could barely see the sign on the trail for Campsite 6. We dragged ourselves into the tent. No one was there. We knew Costas and several other guides were leading an overnight kayak trip through "Inferno Canyon" and would not be back until tomorrow morning. We stripped off our river clothes and hung them on a clothesline between two roof supports. I ran to the shower, but Joey just laid down on the platform in an area they called "the sun deck," a small unroofed portion near the showers, and let the downpour wash him.

"I'm not kidding, Dimi! The rain felt great. It was like having your whole body in front of a Jacuzzi nozzle." Joey insisted as we sat naked at the table in front of the tent. At that moment, Juan appeared, umbrella over his head, and asked if we would like anything to drink. Realizing we were naked, we covered ourselves quickly with our hands, blushed, and said yes. Joey asked for a glass of beer. I decided to live dangerously and requested a White Russian, a drink I had secretly tasted at the picnic last summer. When Juan returned, we had dressed and were sitting at the table. I asked if dinner would be at the same time tonight. He replied that it would and that all guests had returned to camp except those on the overnight kayak trip.

"Joey, We are going to be completely alone tonight in the tent. Costas is away. We don't have to be as quiet making love . . " I stopped as Aldo walked up the steps to the platform. We looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders and said, "Oh well." Although Aldo greeted us, he seemed strangely quiet. The rains were coming down relentlessly now, heavier than ever. We put on our yellow rain slickers and blindly worked our way up the path toward the Center for dinner.

After dinner, Joey and I went to the library area where Internet access was available. Aldo tagged along with us. Other than the traditional call home on Costas' cell phone to tell our parents we had arrived safely, we had not sent any postcards, e-cards, or email to Florida. We had to let them know that we were having a great time so we emailed Theo and Joey's dad and told them how great everything was and asked him to print out the email for mama and papa. We didn't mention how scary the rapids were and we left out the fact that we were sitting in front of the keyboards drinking beer and White Russians. We explored the Center, checking out the Media Room where Planet of the Apes was playing on a 60 inch, big screen TV with surround sound. Each time we went to a different area of the Center, we always ended up looping back to the bar for more beers and White Russians. Aldo was still drinking beer, but Joey had switched over to White Russians.

By eight-thirty, we knew that it was time to head back to Site 6 even though it was still raining heavily. Tomorrow morning would come too quickly if we stayed up much longer. We were all a little tipsy as we walked down the trail to Site 6, singing "I'm Singing in the Rain." By the time we reached the platform, we had tired of our song and changed to a medley of Beatles tunes! We were sitting around the table, singing our hearts out when Juan made his nightly appearance.

"Juan," I said slowly, feeling the effects of the White Russians, "how come you always show up soon after we get to camp?"

"I saw you leave the Center and walk toward the camping path. It is the job of a tent captain to know his guests. The Doctore, his son, and you and your friend always go back to Site 6 between eight-thirty and nine at night. I must always see to your needs. Would you like anything tonight?"

"Yes," I said slowly. "Bring us two White Russians, please, Juan."

"I would like one also." Added Aldo.

The last round of White Russians really did Joey and me in. We were giggling, dragging out our speech, and walking not too well. Aldo was also feeling no pain; a White Russian on top of all that beer really hit him. We knew it was time. We had to go to bed because we would be rafting again tomorrow. We staggered inside the tent, and I zipped closed the door. Joey turned on the battery lantern and pulled closed the curtain between the two parts of the tent. I thought Aldo looked a bit funny as he pulled it across. I turned around and Joey was already naked, hard, and had already started by jerking himself off. I pulled off my clothes, tackled him, and he fell on the bed, roaring laughing. I pinned him down and kissed him and with almost a laugh I said, "I love you!" But I said it while I was kissing him and breathing through his nose. It sounded weird.

"You sounded like a fucking duck talking when you kissed me!" Joey said with drunken glee as he pulled away from my mouth, laughing and then started licking and chewing on my ear.

"Who do you think you are. . . fucking Eamon. Stop biting my ear! I don't want bite marks on it!" I howled back at him. We were really beginning to feel those last White Russians.

"I' m gonna suck your dick real good now, Joey!"

"Bite me! Bite me! Bite me! Eamon!" Chanted Joey as I put my face down on his dick and took it into my mouth and began sucking real hard. Without realizing it, I positioned his dick head between my back teeth and began chewing on it. Joey began moaning and moving his hips from side to side. Everything was happening so fast! I reached under his legs with my hands and flipped his legs up on my shoulders and pushed him backward. In an instant, my dick was at his asshole, I pushed real hard against the muscles of his hole, and I started to enter him. He screamed, somehow got one of his feet on my chest, and kicked me off the bed and onto the floor.

"You fucking bastard," he screamed. "I hate you! Get away from me! Get away from me! I hate dicks up the ass! I only like enemas and we ain't got one!"

I sat on the floor of the tent, staring at Joey in disbelief. He was sitting up on the bed, breathing heavily. As we glared at each other, saying nothing, we heard low crying coming from the other side of the curtain. We had forgotten that Aldo was on the other side of the curtain and we knew he had heard the whole thing. Perhaps that crying brought us back to our senses. We looked at each other with a funny, dumb look.

"Aldo," I asked quietly, "are you OK?"

We got no answer so we pulled on our underpants and peeked around the corner of the curtain. We could hear Aldo crying. We walked in and turned on the light. Aldo was in the bed, facing away from us. We stood there in underpants which really did not conceal our hardons and asked again if he was alright. He finally turned around toward us. We could see his face was soaking wet from crying.

"I am afraid." He explained as he cried. "I am always afraid when papa is not here. I am always afraid when someone I like fights. Do you always fight and hurt each other when you love? That is not good. Love should always be warm and happy and feel good like sitting in the sun."

As he talked, I sat down on the bed next to him. For the first time, I noticed that he was naked and hard. Sometimes people keep things hidden in a dark part of their minds - you know, all the bad things that have happened. Perhaps all the drinking made Aldo remember his hidden things. He told us of his life before meeting Costas that night in Puerto Varas, about begging for food, selling himself to tourists for pennies, living in a big cardboard box. He spoke of the constant pain and violence around him.. Perhaps speaking about it, letting his devil out in the open did the trick. He seemed to calm down. I guess it was time to let our devils out too. I then told him exactly how Joey was injured. Joey told him how deep down he always blamed me because I had not locked the door that night.

After a while he seemed to calm down, and I guess we all sobered up a bit. We started to walk back to our side of the tent and close the curtain.

"Joey, Dimi, I am afraid to be alone."

We walked back and got into the bed with him. We had our underpants on, but he was still naked and hard.

"Do you wish to ..." Aldo said, making a jerk-off motion with his hand because he did not know the word in English. "It is good. It helps when there is trouble." Joey looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. We hiked up our butts, pulled our underpants off, and we all jerked off together.

After we cumed, Aldo reached over and took my hand and placed it on Joey's stomach on top of his cum. Then he did the same with Joey's hand on my stomach, saying, "It is good to have friends and not be alone." We took our hands convered with each other's cum and put them on Aldo's cum-covered stomach and he put his hand on top of ours. Yes, it was good to have friends and not be alone.

Before we knew it the trip was almost over. We had rafted every day, sometimes from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon, almost living and eating on the river. But the river is a demanding creature. It gives you pleasure, but drains every ounce of strength you have. We had falled into a patten of eat, paddle, and sleep. The pact we had made to have sex every night was taking second place to our fatigue. Often, we would kiss, begin jerking each other off and then fall asleep while doing it. We were thankful that there would be no rafting on Christmas day. It was a day of rest for all.

Christmas morning Aldo asked Joey and me to accompany him to the Docares homestead that was about a ten minute walk from camp. He had to pick up fresh vegetable from the family for our Christmas feast. It really was an amazing place, like walking back into the frontier days. The family was very friendly. They insisted on sharing lunch with us. It was amazing. Nobody down here in Patagonia seemed to hustle, they just moved along a leisurely pace. It was a life-style I could easily get used to, and which I would miss soon.

"Dimi, Joey," said Aldo, "after lunch I will take you to a special place that I know. Only papa and I go there. I want you to see it. It is very beautiful."

After lunch, Joey and I put on our sneakers for the first time since arriving, got on mountain bikes and followed Aldo down the path to the bike trails. Half way down the trail, Aldo stopped and turned his bike to a narrow rut that went off to the left and then vanished into the foliage. The ride was difficult, farm more difficult that any mountain biking we had done before. Up hill most of the way, with terrifying down hill parts, we worked ourselves deep and deeper into the forest. Suddenly the foliage thinned and we found ourselves in a clearing with a magnificent blue pool of water in it. At the other end of this clearing was a waterfall, or rather a series of waterfalls, cascading over rocks that looked like steps leading down to the pool. There was no deafening roar, only something that sounded like many garden hoses spraying at one time. It was beautiful.

"Come! Come!" Yelled Aldo as he stripped off his clothes and bounded toward the waterfalls. We followed quickly and soon found ourselves climbing the various levels to the top, about thirty feet up from the pool. As we stood on top, marveling this beautiful scene, Aldo turned to us and said "Come." At the same time he took one hand and pinched his nose closed, and the other he cupped over his balls, saying "You must do this! Come" and then he jumped from where we were standing into the pool of water thirty feet below.

"Come! Come! Dimi, Joey, Come!" yelled Aldo from the pool.

We looked at each other, and I then Joey grabbed his balls and his nose and jumped! I followed soon after.

As we tread water in the pool, Joey gleefully said, "Dimi, you are not going to believe this. I just had an enema.!" I replied, "yeah, me too!" It felt great. Let's do it again! Up the rocks we went, each time delighting in the water easily entering our bodies. After the fourth jump, we were hard. The water was kinda fucking us up the ass and our assholes tingled with pleasure. Up we went again for a fifth time. Each time, it provided even more pleasure.

While we were in the pool, delighting in this newfound pleasure, Aldo told us to follow him and we swam under this one part of the waterfall to a flat rock right in the middle of the cascading water. It felt like a thousand gentle water massagers were pointing right at us.

"This is a very special place. This is where I love papa and he loves me. You should love each other here because you are my friends."

He looked at Joey, saying, "Do not be afraid to take your friend's love in, " as he made a thrusting motion and patted his butt, " the water has relaxed you and it will not hurt you. But you must do it the way the animals do," as he got down on all fours and demonstrated the position.

With that he dove into the water and swam away. I looked and Joey and then we held each other and then kissed. "I'm sorry about the other night. I was drunk." He whispered. "Let's give it a try," as he dropped to all fours and spread his legs as wide as he could. I knelt behind him, kissed his cheeks and asshole, positioned my dick carefully and pushed every so slightly, telling Joey to stop me the minute he felt any pain. I was about an inch in, and Joey did not make a sound. I pushed a little more and my dick slid in further as if it was lubricated with KY. My dick hair was brushing his ass cheeks when I said, "I'm in all the way," and Joey answered in amazement, "fuck I didn't feel any pain at all. I thrust slowly in him and cumed filling him with my love. I then dropped to all fours and Joey gave his love to me. It was amazing. There was no pain; just that warm feeling as we filled with each other's cum. We stood up, kissed, and then jumped back into the water.

We found Aldo sitting on a rock by the side of the pool. As we swam up to him, he had a smile on his face. He knew we did it and said, "Was it as I said?"

"Yes," we answered together, "it was beautiful."

Soon our adventure of a lifetime was over. We had to return to a world we had grown to dislike during our time in Patagonia. Aldo came with us to Puerto Montt, hugged and kissed his papa goodbye, and then hugged and kissed each of us in turn.

"We are brothers now!" He said with a smile as we walked through the gate.