Ring in Mine
Kim Terry
I decided to take a break from mainstream writing and do something a little different. Novel number three can wait.
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Ring in Mine began as a short story back when I was writing children's books. It takes place when personal computers still used green monitors and the video game PONG was cutting edge. Much of it really happened. Some of it is fantasy.
Though there are no adult intimate situations in the first few chapters, I promise I will make up for it as Bobby expands his horizons beyond his strict religious upbringing. If this bothers you don't read it.
I would appreciate hearing from you, the reader. ringinmine@yahoo.com
All rights are reserved to the author except those given to Nifty to publish and archive this work. Please do not repost without permission of the author.
(If there are errors I do apologize up front. I am used to getting things as clean as possible and then the editor takes care of the rest.)
Kim
Ring in Mine Chapter 3
Wednesday, I put on a brave face and helped my mom. Grams came over to help. She lived just across town. She made the crusts and I made the filling. Working with Grams was always fun. She had a sense of humor that wouldn't stop.
We had just put the pumpkin pies in the oven and mom realized she needed more yeast for her rolls. She grabbed the keys and ran out the door. Giving me the perfect chance to talk to Grandma about Jeremy coming over. She was the only one that ever believed me.
"Grams, I wish Jeremy wasn't coming. I keep thinking of my bicycle. If he would do that, I'm afraid what he's going to do this time." I moaned.
Grams got really quiet. "I need you to run an errand for me this afternoon and drop a pie off at my house for LeRoy. Your Papa bring you back later. I want the Buick out of harm's way. I think it is going to have a flat tire." She explained. "Anything that is really important needs to be in the car away from here."
I ran to my room and put all of my school stuff in the Buick's trunk. The last few things of value went with with it. Grams called Papa while I pulled the pies from the oven.
"Drop this off at my house please." She handed me one of the pies and I was out the door.
Half an hour later Papa dropped me off at the house. I hadn't taken two steps into the house when mom asked where my car was.
"He had a flat tire at my house. LeRoy from the shop is fixing it for me." Papa told the story with a straight face. He hasn't trusted Jeremy since the time the egg money disappeared from the tin in the cupboard.
The phone rang and mom listened more than she talked. That meant it must have been Aunt June. She was the only one that could out talk my mom. There was a lot of nodding as if Aunt June could see her answers. It didn't really matter though. Aunt June wouldn't have listened anyway. There was ever only one valid opinion, hers.
"Aunt June got off work early. They are coming a day early. Isn't that great. It will be just like old times." Mom exclaimed. I was never sure why mom got excited when June was coming. I knew they were sisters but mom always seemed miserable after the first hour. They say the only reason women have more than one baby is they don't really remember the pain. Maybe Aunt June visiting is about the same.
Papa and Grams rolled their eyes. I could feel a panic attack coming on. My breathing became labored and I felt light headed. I tried to center but was losing the battle. Grams could always spot them before they got bad.
She firmly grabbed my arm to steady me. "It looks like we have everything done for tomorrow. Bobby made some pizzas for tonight." Grams explained. "They just need to be baked at 425. There should be plenty for everyone."
I helped Papa bring the last of the groceries into the house and suggested that we go check on my car. The front door closed behind us.
"I think Mom and I would like a house guest tonight. Can you think of anyone?" Papa chuckled.
"May I have the attic room?" I asked my arms wrapped around him. My eyes once again lit up with excitement. I remembered Robert and I sleeping in the little bedroom in the attic. I used to sit on the window seat in the dormer window and read or even write stories that I only shared with my grandmother.
Pulling up to the familiar old wooden house. I felt safe. I was with people who knew my faults and loved me anyway. I had my clothes and valuables in my car safe from harm's way. There was nothing of mine Jeremy could ruin left in my room.
Papa started a fire. We had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. We played cards until late. I climbed the ladder to my special room. I found one of my notebooks and read for an hour or two. I had always been afraid to share what I had written fearing rejection, but I enjoyed my stories. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad weekend after all.
Thanksgiving the house was full of people. Jeremy was kissing up to the adults and terrorizing the kids. I tired to stay out of his way but he managed to hit me a few times. I was going to have bruises after today.
"Bobby, you need to be more careful!" Mom shouted as the water pitcher crashed to the floor. Happily it was plastic and I only had to mop up the water. My parents never seemed to notice that I was only clumsy when Jeremy was around.
Mom tried to sit me next to Jeremy `so we could talk.' Grams came to my rescue and asked me to sit next to her and tell her about school. Jeremy sat by dad and the similarity was amazing.
After dinner the `men' were settling in for the football games when Jeremy suggested getting a few beers. He had just turned 21.
"Bobby loan Jeremy your keys. I need to get some beer at the 7-Eleven." Dad demanded.
"It's at Grandpa's house. I left it there with a flat tire." I explained. He borrowed dad's car. The vindictive side of me hoped he would wrap it around a tree, but after thinking about it I changed my mind. It would be my fault because my car hadn't been here for him to destroy.
"I knew he would come up with some reason to borrow the Buick and it would come back with some kind of damage." Grams whispered. "I bet he drives past my house looking for it."
We both laughed. They lived just down from LeRoy's garage. My car was safely parked inside.
"I bet he says something when he gets back." Papa laughed.
Jeremy had only been gone twenty minutes when Mike called. He was always cool and calm, so the panic in his voice told me something was really wrong. He had committed himself to create a multimedia presentation for a communications class for Monday. His brother who had promised to help was somewhere in Vegas behind bars drying out. Being an instructional media major I was the perfect choice to turn to.
"Can't you help me with this? I need a good grade out of this class or I can kiss my scholarship goodbye," he pleaded.
"I'll come but you're buying the food." It had been required that the refrigerator in the apartment was empty and defrosted over the week long holiday.
"I'll buy the food. I'll even take you out for dinner. I really need your help." Mike always had a little extra cash. He could afford going out a lot more than I could. His scholarship paid for his books, board and tuition but he earned his pocket money posing for different art classes at least once or twice a month. With his dark Italian looks and just the right amount to hair on his chest and legs he was always in demand. I was always jealous of the art students. Here I lived with him and had never seen him in less than his boxers. I would gladly pay to take a drawing class but I couldn't afford a failing grade and with my drawing ability that's the only grade I would be able to earn.
"I am already here. Will you meet me tomorrow?" He pleaded.
I thought about being out of the house before Jeremy returned. He must have stopped to drink half of the beer. Instead to wrecking Aunt June's car maybe he could just be picked up for driving under the influence.
"I understand it's important. I will drive up tonight so I will be ready early tomorrow." I answered loud enough for the family to hear.
"What's more important than spending time with the family on Thanksgiving?" Dad demanded. Her displeasure in me leaving was evident in her tone. I wanted to say, `Just about anything but I bit my tongue.'
"There is a media package that has to be completed before Monday morning. I would rather drive tonight than get up at four in the morning to make it by six." I extemporized. "You know how slick the roads can be before the plows give them the once over in the canyon."
"Did you really need to go to the college tonight? You are welcome to stay at our house." Papa asked as he chauffeured me to my car. I nodded. There parked on the street was dad's car. Jeremy, beer in hand, was looking through the garage window. "Looks like the slimy git can't find your car." Papa laughed. Jeremy saw us coming and he jumped into Aunt June's car and drove off. "The only time I make sure everything is locked up tight is when your cousin is in town." Papa laughed some more.
We stopped at LeRoy's and Papa pulled a key from his pocket. I hugged him goodbye and headed back to school. It was supposed to start snowing again. I wanted to make it back before it got too bad. The day ended good though. I slowed down as I passed the sheriff's car with its lights flashing in the growing gloom. Jeremy was trying to touch his nose.
Even with the vision of Jeremy being arrested and dad's car being impounded, driving gets old after an hour or so. The half hour through the canyon doesn't even have a radio signal. My mind wandered to what it must be like to be a model and have people drawing your naked body. I could picture Mike sprawled out on a bearskin rug but when I tried to transpose me in the same situation I couldn't stop chuckling.
I took up swimming in high school for for two reasons. It was something a small guy could do. Another reason I swam in high school was to hang out around the showers. The side benefit was a lean swimmers body and upper body strength. No matter how I tried though, I could still pass for fourteen or fifteen. I never could build a six pack but my stomach was firm and flat. There was a little blonde hair around my nipples and above my cock. The rest of my stuff I kept shaved.
I started shaving during my sophomore year in high school. The hairs under my balls starting looking and feeling really gross. I asked my doctor when I had my physical for the swim team if it was normal. He said some hair, especially first growth hair, will absorb the moisture and get like mine. He said if it bothered me I could shave it. If I was going to be on the swim team, I would be shaving most of my body anyway. I learned I liked the feel of smooth balls when I took care of things. I have let it grow back in a couple of times. It didn't ever get gross again, but I chose to shave it anyway.
I looked back on my next year's physical and wondered. The doctor had noticed and made comment that I had followed his advice. Maybe it's just my memory playing games with me, but it seems that he took extra time when he was feeling my smooth balls for problems. That was also the first year he had given me a prostate exam. I remember getting hard and quite turned on. He said it was normal. The physician this year at the college wasn't nearly as thorough.
When I showed up at the dorms Thanksgiving evening, I was in for a chilling surprise. To save money the management had turned the heat in the whole complex down. There was just enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing. I now appreciated the Thanksgiving gift from my mom. My brother was freezing his tail off in Germany. She couldn't do anything for him, so she had given me a small space heater. They were against the rules but what the dorm parents didn't know wouldn't hurt me.
Mike helped me haul my stuff up the stairs. Leave it to the management to turn the elevator off for the holidays. Mike was almost like a furry puppy as he expressed his gratitude for giving up the end of my holiday.
"I promise, man, I'll make it up to you. I've got something special planned," he kept repeating.
Each unit in the complex consisted of three bedrooms, two guys in each, and a kitchen-dining area. The two twin beds in the room Mike shared with Tim were pushed together to make a big king bed. That left a lot more working space, so we set up the tape recorders, and video equipment he had borrowed in his room. The equipment wasn't fancy but I could work with it. The space heater didn't make it warm but it kept it from getting too cold. Tomorrow would be a day of splicing tape and editing video, it was late and the storm had moved in with a vengeance as if winter was trying to make up for its late appearance.
"I brought some frozen pizzas or we can try to find something open." He offered.
I could hear the wind whistling, driving frozen raindrops against the window. "Let's just bake the pizza. If we go out there, I don't think we'll ever get warm again," I answered.
Mike put the pizzas in the oven while I plugged my little television into the antenna jack. I was watching some stupid sitcom when Mike walked in with the pizza and a six pack of coke. When the pizza was gone, I was tired and cold.
"I'm bushed and cold. I'm going to bed where I can get warm," I said and headed for my room. "You'll freeze your balls off if you don't take the heater and I'll lose mine if you take it." He continued, "Why don't you sleep on Tim's side? That way we can both use the heater and keep each other warm."
I look back and think I should have taken the hint that something was up. Just because I liked to look, didn't mean I had ever thought of doing anything else. Is that naive or what?
"Sound's good," I answered. "That way we can still watch the TV."
------------------ Does Mike seem to have something special planned for the evening?
I know nothing has happened yet, I promise the next chapter is a little more exciting.
If you are enjoying the story I would appreciate hearing from you. ringinmine@yahoo.com