Tales from the Ranch

Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fiction. If you are offended by descriptions of homosexual acts or man/man relations, please exit this page.

TALES FROM THE RANCH Copyrightc 2003 by Tulsa Driller 7. All rights reserved.

This is a story of men who have two common interests. You will see that they love the land where they live and work, but it is also the story of young men who love other men and their coming of age in a culture of prejudice and misunderstanding. It is a story, which deals with difficult and often disturbing issues but, nonetheless, issues which must be confronted in today's world.

This is a work of fiction and in no way draws on the lives of any specific person or persons. Any similarity to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental. This work is copyrightedc by the author and may not be reproduced in any form without the specific written permission of the author. It is assigned to the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement but it may not be copied or archived on any other site without the written permission of the author.

PLEASE: In a perfect world AIDS doesn't exist. My characters have unprotected sex. I hope you use proper precautions because I'd like you to be around the read the last chapter of this story.

Chapter 29: The Horse Show Experience

Jason woke up first, as he almost always did. The alarm hadn't rung yet, but he heard the puppies stirring and starting to make noise. He slipped out of bed, pulling on his Levi's, not bothering to put on shorts or socks. He let the pups out of their cages, picking up both so he could carry them downstairs. Not to do so was only inviting the accident of them peeing on the carpet before he got them outside.

There had been a heavy dew the night before and the air almost felt cold when he stepped out on the sidewalk. The pups didn't like the wet grass at first, but bounded away from Jason after they were used to it. Brandy was almost always the one to find the right spot first, with Ginger relieving herself alongside Jason's dog. He had a couple of treats ready for them when they finished their morning bathroom duties. He was amazed how quickly the dogs had come to expect their reward as they each made their way to the sidewalk where Jason was kneeling.

"Good dogs. Good dog, Brandy," ruffling her fur. "Good dog, Ginger," giving her the expected treat and attention, too. He let them follow him up the steps, and then fed them in the enclosed porch. They ate like there wasn't going to be another meal for a while, which there wasn't, and he took them back outside, making sure they did what was expected of them. Another treat and some praise for each of them.

Mrs. Wood was in the kitchen when he went back inside. "Good morning, Jason. I see you have the 'puppy bathroom duty' this morning."

Jason grinned. "Yeah, now I've got to go wake up the other puppy and get his morning started, too."

"I'm fixing waffles this morning, so you boys hurry back down when you're dressed for school."

"Yum," Jason said. "We'll probably be back in about 25 minutes." Then, "Come on Brandy. Come on Ginger. Let's go find Kevin," he said as he led them up the backstairs.

They entered the boy's bedroom suite together and Jason scooped the dogs up, one at a time, and put them on the bed. Of course, that had the desired effect. They spotted Kevin, still curled up and asleep, then started licking and chewing on him. It was a great game and Kevin was awake almost instantly.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Jason told him. "I'm going to start letting the dogs wake you up every morning, then you can take them outside."

"I'm sorry, Jase. I didn't hear the alarm."

"That's because I got up before it rang, but you better get up now and start cleaning up. Mrs. Wood is going to fix waffles this morning."

"Oh boy, my favorite."

Jason noticed that Kevin was waking up more easily since they'd gotten the puppies. Maybe he was growing up some, too.

They relieved themselves at the stool, and then brushed their teeth prior to climbing into the shower. The puppies were having the time of their lives, playing on the bed. Ginger fell off, not realizing yet that the bed didn't go on forever. This started them barking at each other, one on the bed and the other on the floor, as if to say, "Come on and play with me. Why are you down on the floor/up on the bed?" It was comical to watch them try to figure out what had happened.

The boys were through with their showers in record time, dried off and used the dryer on their short hair.

As they walked back in the bedroom to get their clothes, Brandy managed to fall off the bed, too. Jason and Kevin got down on the floor to play for a little bit. The dogs were learning how to fetch and it was a riot of boys, puppies and rubber balls.

Finally, they were dressed for school and gathered their backpacks and started the trip down the backstairs, the dogs tumbling after them. Marty was already in the kitchen, so he went upstairs to get the carrier so the pups could be contained for the day.

Mrs. Wood had a waffle ready for each of the men and served their plates with link sausage and scrambled eggs. The boys had milk and orange juice and Marty had juice and coffee.

"What's going on today?" Jason asked Marty.

"The farm crew is still working on the new land we've acquired, but they should be done plowing and preparing the ground this week, so Dale will probably have them starting seeding alfalfa and wheat when they're through with that. The house is coming along nicely. Have you been down there since Sunday?" Marty asked.

"No," Kevin answered, but Jason said, "Yes" as he was curious about the process of building the house.

"I suggest that you go look at it this evening when you get home from school. They should have the roof finished today and most of the siding will be on. Then if it rains, like they've promised, the house will be weather tight and they won't lose any construction time."

"Neat," Jason said. "We'll go look a little later this evening."

They each had another half of a waffle, then it was time for the boys to walk to the end of the driveway to catch the school bus.

Marty took the pups out on the grass for one more chance to take care of their necessary duties before they were caged for the morning. He was amazed how quickly the pups had learned what was expected of them, then running to him for their treat. He was glad that they had gotten a dog for each of the boys.

Dale and Craig seemed to both wake up at the same time - after all the alarm was ringing. Their trip had allowed their body clocks to get off time. Dale reached over to hit the off button and as he rolled back to Craig, he found that Craig had rolled into the spot he had occupied.

"Morning lover," Craig said, reaching his arm around Dale's neck to pull them together.

"Morning lover," Dale replied, all too happy to return the proffered kiss.

They exchanged kisses and would have liked to be able to play around for a while, but the alarm was set so that they didn't have a lot of extra time after it rang. Usually Dale woke up a good half-hour before it signaled the start of their day.

They talked briefly about the day as they were shaving and in the shower.

"I want to go out to the Bar-W the first thing this morning to see what Ray and his crew have accomplished," Craig said.

"That's practically the first thing on my agenda, too, but I may need to drive up to where the guys are working the new ground and see what progress they've made and what needs to be done before planting crops," Dale said. "I guess I'll talk to them before they leave to go up there, so I may not have to go right away."

Craig went to the kitchen to get them each a glass of juice and start the coffee. Dale laid out his clothes for the day while waiting for Craig to come share their morning shower. That was one routine that he looked forward to everyday. It was sure more fun than the showers after gym or athletics because you didn't dare play around there.

Their shower accomplished, Dale took the glasses to the kitchen and returned with two mugs of steaming coffee. They each dried their short hair, applied deodorant and a splash of cologne and dressed for the day.

Dale took his cell phone off the charger, kissed his lover goodbye, as they might not have a chance when Craig left the ranch to go to his office, and they headed downstairs for their vehicles.

Arriving at the Bar-W, they each parked in front of the office and walked the short distance to the new house. Dale was stunned. Although Ray and Craig had told him they would probably have the house weather tight by today. About half the shingles were on the roof and the siding would all be completed today, too. The windows and doors had been installed. It looked like a house and was much larger than it appeared it was going to be when he saw it last Thursday.

Ray was working on a ladder at the front. "Good afternoon, guys" he teased.

Craig looked at his watch. It was 7:50. "What time do you start, anyway?"

"Early enough that we can get some work accomplished. We don't have cushy jobs like you and Dale," Ray laughed.

Dale and Craig joined in the laughter, as did a couple of Ray's crew who were working on the front side and heard the repartee.

Ray was finished with nailing some trim in place, so came down the ladder to give his friends the guided tour.

Two of the men were running electric wiring, locating outlet boxes and drilling holes in the wall studs, floor and ceiling plates as needed to pull the Romex cable from the main box for the various circuits.

"I didn't expect you to be this far along. You've got a good crew, Ray," Craig said.

"Yes, they are good, but we worked a half day on Saturday and Sunday because I got the contract on the Peebles project. Seems that their contractor ran into some 'non-performance' problems on another job and has to make that good. The people on the Peebles project managed to get that contract cancelled and hired me, so I've only got the extra men here through today. Then it's back to six men here, but that's all I'd planned anyway. Having the extra men for a few days helped me get this project further along than I actually scheduled. We'll still finish here ahead of time."

"Good," Dale said. "If you need extra help, I might be able to spare some men next week, but they are going to be pretty busy on their normal work."

The men walked through the house with Ray and Craig discussing a number of items. Dale followed along, hoping to learn something about construction methods.

Shortly, Marty arrived at the house.

"Well, what do you think, Dale?" he queried.

"I'm astounded. Last Thursday they were just starting to frame walls on the second floor and the first wasn't complete."

They hung back as Craig and Ray went upstairs.

"So, how was the big trip to Ft. Worth and Dallas?" Marty asked.

"We had a really great time. Lots of fun, it seemed like we walked all over both cities, had some wonderful food at several really good restaurants. The time was too short, so we'll probably go back again to see more things."

"Good, I'm glad that you had a chance to do that, and I'll bet that Craig was a good tour guide since he's from that area."

"Yes, I would have been lost if I'd had to drive and figure out where places were."

"Did you go to the top of the Reunion Tower?" Marty asked.

"Yeah, twice. Once in the morning before lunch and then again that night after dinner. It was like going to two different places," Dale told him.

"Chris and I've been there, both in the daylight and the dark. It's a great place to eat at night because you can tour the city without moving from your table."

They talked about other things and the upcoming Central Texas Horse Show in Waco. "We're staying at the Holiday Inn at I- 35 and Lake Brazos and are supposed to have five rooms next to each other. I think Mort is planning to leave here about 3 o'clock on Friday afternoon and we'll come home early Sunday afternoon, unless you and Craig want to stay over and explore the town. There is a cocktail party at 6 p.m. on Friday evening that's pretty casual and dinner is on our own. The formal cocktail party and dinner is on Saturday evening."

"Sounds good to me," Dale said. "Craig and I are looking forward to it."

"Okay, glad you are both going with us. We always have a good time and it's a chance to meet a lot of people you both will enjoy knowing."

By this time Ray and Craig were back downstairs and Dale realized that Michael, Pat and John were at the office, waiting for him.

"Excuse me. I need to see what's going on in the crop department. Talk to you later," Dale said, then walked swiftly to the office.

"Hi guys," Dale said as he approached the three men. "How's the project coming along?"

Michael answered. "We've made good progress and should finish plowing by noon, so can starting disking and planting, however you want us to continue."

"I think I need to ride up and look at it and then decide. The alfalfa seeds can be broadcast and that will go pretty quickly. The wheat, of course, will have to be drilled and I think I'd like to get that in the ground first because they are talking about a chance of moisture on Friday. That will help it germinate and get some roots down. So, I'll be up there by the time you are ready to go to work this morning.

"By the way, we'll be leaving for the Central Texas Horse Show on Friday afternoon about 3 p.m. I'll make arrangements for you to get your paychecks before I leave the ranch."

The men left in their pickup and Dale walked to the office to see what was piled up that needed his attention. There were a lot of invoices and mail to go through.

Craig arrived at his office about 8:45 and Don was just leaving to meet with a potential client. After they greeted each other, Don said, "Craig, I made some changes to those plans you've been working on for Warren Collins. They are on the computer desk. Can you make those changes and produce some rough drawings with the computer program?"

"Sure, no problem. How soon do you want them?"

"Would this afternoon be too soon?" Don asked.

"No, I don't have much else going on, unless you've slipped me something I didn't count on," he grinned.

"No, no surprises."

"Good."

"Why, do you need to rest up from your trip?" Don teased.

"No, but we did have a great time and it was the best show yet that they've had in Ft. Worth. I have a sack full of literature, a couple of videos and other stuff from the show for you to go through and look at."

"Great. Hey, I almost forgot. Someone from Aspen Spas called here for Dale yesterday. His name was drawn for their grand prize. Looks like you guys have a new hot tub to use," Don said. "Any idea where you're going to put it?"

Craig was astounded. He'd never won anything and Dale had won something great. He could hardly wait to tell him tonight.

"No, not at this point. Guess we'll have to put it in storage, but I'll have to find out what Dale wants to do with it."

"The prize includes installation, so you may want to find out if you have to do it right away," Don said.

"Okay." Craig was excited. He didn't know where they were going to put it, but it probably wouldn't fit on the balcony at their condo.

The day went smoothly for both of them. Craig took care of business at the office and Dale took care of business at the ranch. He ate lunch with Mrs. Wood, Marty and Chris at noon and the conversation centered on their trip to Ft. Worth and Dallas, as well as the upcoming Waco show.

Dale hadn't been home too long when the telephone rang. It was Carole Stanhope.

"Hi Dale, Paula and I wanted to give you a report on your sale. Thursday and Saturday were both good days. The first day always is and people are looking for bargains on Saturday. This has turned out to be the best sale we've ever had."

Dale was pleased to hear that.

"I'm sure you want to know the results?" she questioned.

"Yeah." Dale was very interested.

"It surpassed our estimates. The gross was almost $8,300 as the better, more expensive things sold the first day. If they had sold Friday and Saturday, they would have been marked down from our tag price."

"That's almost $3,000 more than you thought," Dale said, clearly excited.

"Your net on this is about $6,200. I don't have a final total yet, because there is a man coming to look at the few things that are left. He owns a flea-market in the next town, but can't look at the items until tomorrow evening."

"Great, that's even better than I expected and I really appreciate you doing this for me," Dale said.

"The better the sale, the bigger our commission and the less we have to dispose of. Some of the stuff you thought was junk sold for a good price and we could have sold more of it if we'd had it," Carole said. "Anyway, everything is gone from the house, except several bags of trash that are on the driveway. Is the trash service still picking up. or do we need to haul it?"

"I haven't done anything with the utilities unless Don might have," Dale told her. "Tomorrow is regular trash day. If they don't pick it up, I'll let you know. or haul it myself."

"That's fine. We left it there, but call us if it's not picked up. That's part of our deal."

"Thanks, Carole and Paula," Dale said.

"Well, thank you. We'll call and bring you a check in a couple of days."

Dale hung up. Craig had just mixed drinks and handed him a scotch and soda, since Dale liked the one he'd had Sunday night.

"Thanks, hon," Dale told Craig.

"I overheard a little of the conversation. Did the sale go okay?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, super. Much better than they estimated. She said the good things sold the first day, which of course, was at the marked price. Sounds like I'm going to get about $6,200 out of this and there is still a man who owns a flea-market that wants to look at the items which didn't sell."

"Congratulations. I'll bet you are glad to have that behind you."

"Yes, it seems like everything is coming together nicely. I found you, got promoted, got a raise, sold my Mustang, sold my house, got more money because of the crooked realtor and had a great sale - and had a wonderful honeymoon, too," he said, pulling Craig to him for a hug and kiss.

"Well, I have one more thing to add to your list," Craig said.

"What else is that? Oh, yeah, I left out my new family and getting you for a brother," Dale added.

"That, too, but there is one more thing and you won't guess that that is in a million years."

"What?" Dale's eyes were twinkling. Craig had to remember not to take a sip of his drink.

"Don told me this morning that somebody from Aspen Spas called the office for you yesterday. Seems like you won their grand prize at the Builder's Trade Show. A new hot tub!!"

Dale couldn't believe it. "How big is it? Do we have to go pick it up? Where are we going to put it? How many people will it hold.?"

"I don't have any of those answers, but here's the phone number and the man's name. You need to call him tomorrow and find out what is involved. I think this includes installation. As far as where to put it, we'll have to find out how large it is and if there is a time-limit on claiming the prize and having it installed."

"Wow! I've never won anything in my life - except maybe for you," he told Craig, giving him a kiss.

"If you won me, then I got the best of the deal, because I got you in return."

Another kiss.

They finally settled on their favorite perch, but sitting so they could look at each other, enjoying their drinks.

"I gave the cook the night off, so guess we'll have to go out to celebrate tonight," Craig said.

"Sounds fine to me," Dale said. "Any suggestions?"

"How about the College Inn out by the school? They have good cold beer and great burgers or sandwiches."

"That would be okay with me. I haven't been there for a couple of years."

Wednesday was another beautiful fall Texas day. Dale had noticed that the days were getting shorter, especially in the evenings. He had Michael bring one of the plows back to the ranch and hook up a disk harrow to break up the large clods of soil created by plowing. Pat and John could probably finish plowing today and one could pull another disk harrow tomorrow. The other could start drilling winter wheat. Dale called the farm co-op and ordered seed to be delivered on Thursday morning.

Dale called Curt Downey at Aspen Spas on Wednesday morning.

"Congratulations, Dale," Curt said. "You've won our deluxe hot tub, including installation at your home."

"Curt," how large is this?" Dale asked.

"It easily seats four people and the pumps and plumbing are underneath. It's about five and a half feet in diameter and 44- inches tall with the insulated cover."

You could hear the disappointment in Dale's voice. "We live on the 5th floor of an apartment complex and our balcony is only about 5 feet wide."

"Is there any place that you could install it at ground level and still make use of it?"

"I don't know, we'll have to talk about it," Dale said.

"We had this happen last year, too. The winners didn't have room for it, so we ended up giving them half of the retail price as their prize."

"How much would that be?" Dale questioned, not really wanting to do that.

"About $1,500," Curt told him.

"Let us see what we think is best for us to do and I'll get back with you in a couple of days," Dale said, knowing that they wouldn't be able to use their prize.

Ray's crew was smaller on Wednesday but the smaller group of six men was used to working together and managed to stay out of the other's way. Two men were running electrical wiring and by the end of the day were through with that job.

The other four men finished up the work on the outside of the house, except for painting. Ray would subcontract that job out, as well as painting the inside when it was ready.

By quitting time the men had almost all of the outside walls insulated with fiberglass batting on the first floor. That left the ceiling of the first floor, the outside walls on the second floor, the roof joists and around the foundation at the top of the stem walls. They would have all of that completed by Thursday night and be ready to start hanging sheetrock the next day.

Ray had a sheetrock crew ready to start on Friday morning and the lumberyard made the delivery on Thursday afternoon.

When Dale looked at the house on Wednesday evening, he was really surprised again. These men didn't fool around.

Wednesday night was the cooking class. The offering was roast pork loin, dressing made out of bread, onions, celery, sausage and chicken broth, seasoned with fresh ground black pepper, fresh parsley, sage and sherry wine.

'Mister Andrew,' as Craig and Dale referred to him, told them to never buy anything at the grocery store that said "cooking wine" on it - of any kind. "What this amounts to is 'wine-flavored salt'," he told the group. "Buy a reasonable wine that you would use for drinking and cook with that. The flavors will be better and it will certainly be more healthy."

The main side dish this evening was roasted vegetables; potatoes, thick slices of zucchini and yellow squash, green and red peppers, carrots, onions, green beans and a lot of seasonings. A roasting bag was used to help bake and steam them, but would be cut open the last 20 minutes so they would get crispy on the outside.

A spinach salad would start the meal and the teams would work together to make a French Chocolate Mousse for dessert.

It was an excellent meal and Dale and Craig enjoyed working with Louis and Jerry again. Again they were invited out afterward. Since they had a bountiful meal with a rich dessert, the four went to Dale and Craig's condo for coffee.

"We need to have you over to our place some evening. Maybe after we finish this cooking course," Jerry laughed.

"We're all going to know how to fix the same dishes when we are through with this," Craig said. "I may be willing to settle for a hamburger."

"You've got that right," Jerry said. "I'm not sure we'll ever fix some of the things we are going to be learning about."

"I think that by the time we are finished, we will have learned enough about the various methods of doing things that we will be able to take any recipe and prepare it by using the techniques we've learned in class," Dale said.

Craig agreed. "We're not just getting recipes to use, but how to prepare the ingredients to use. I think I've always been scared that I would really mess something up, but I'm starting to feel more confident when I see the terms 'chop, mince, grind, dice and slice' now. I didn't know these things two weeks ago."

"And I didn't know the difference between the various kinds of chocolate until tonight. I just thought chocolate was either cocoa powder or a chocolate bar. Or that there is different kinds of flour and they all have different uses," Dale added.

After Louis and Jerry left, Craig told Dale, "I'm not sure that they understand that they are learning how to do anything except prepare the dishes in class."

"You are right there," Dale said. "I'm not afraid to tackle some other things on my own now. or with your help. but two weeks ago I didn't have a clue about most of this."

"Maybe when we finish this class, we can invite my parents down to spend a long weekend. Mom can give us some really good practical instruction," Craig told Dale.

"Or. maybe we can go up and spend some time with them, too," Dale said.

Thursday was another day in the beautiful fall weather pattern. It did look like they could get some rain on Friday, but that depended on two fronts moving toward each other and the area where they met up would receive the rain. Williamsport was kind of on the edge of the projected area.

Dale looked at the fields where his crew was working on Thursday morning. There was only about 500 acres left to plow and that was in two fields. He pulled Pat out of the field he was working, as that field would be planted with a spring crop.

"I want you to work on this section and we'll get it finished for sweet clover hay. I'm going to have John start disking with a second unit, then later today when you are finished plowing there, I'll probably have you start drilling wheat where Michael is now working."

Ray's people made a lot of progress on the house. All of the insulation was in place, as was the electrical wiring. They were ready for the sheetrock crew to start the next morning.

Jason and Kevin went out to the house to look at it before they did their chores on Thursday evening. Dale happened to be there and greeted them. He and Ray were talking about getting the driveway paved and the outside concrete work that would have to be done. There needed to be two sidewalks, one from the driveway to the front door, with an extension that went on around to the kitchen door, where you could go into the mudroom and downstairs if you were really muddy and dirty. Ray reminded Dale that they also needed to pour a pad to set the heat pump for the air conditioning system.

Kevin and Jason were amazed at the whole project. Although Ray and his partners had remodeled the rooms they shared, this was the first time they had really seen raw construction where one could see everything that went into the walls and ceilings before it was covered with sheetrock.

Craig arrived shortly after Jason and Kevin arrived and they were glad to see him, as was Dale, although he didn't think he should greet Craig with the enthusiasm that the boys showed. He knew that Craig would understand, but gave him a welcome wink.

Marty was the next to arrive as he'd seen Craig's car in front of the office/barn when he arrived back home. He greeted everyone.

"Hey, Craig, it looks like a 'Cowboy Palace' to me. I thought we were going to keep this simple," he teased.

"Can I help it if Ray can't read blueprints and built this without checking with either of us?"

Ray pretended to act wounded. "Maybe if you and Dale hadn't taken two days off to go play in the city, this might not have happened. Besides, I didn't have a full set of plans to work with."

Everyone had a good laugh and Jason and Kevin knew they were having fun with each other.

Paula and Carole brought Dale a check for $6,483.29, thanking him for allowing them to conduct his sale. He was grateful to them because as far as he was concerned, it was almost $6,500 more than he would have ended up with had he been on his own. He would have given much of it away and hauled the rest to the dump.

Dale woke up at his usual time, a half-hour before the alarm was set to go off. This was the first time this week that his body clock was on its regular schedule. He decided to wake Craig up by tonguing his nipples, then tickling them with his mustache. It worked. Craig jerked awake and grabbed Dale's head to pull him off.

"Aahhuunnhh," he gasped. "That tickles."

"I seem to remember you mentioning something the other morning that you wouldn't mind if I used that anywhere on your body. What's the problem?" he teased.

"I'd like to be awake when you start," he gasped.

"Okay, you're awake," he said as he dove back to what he had been doing.

Craig still wasn't fully awake, but his dick was. He needed to pee, but the nipple action really made him - and Dale - hard.

"So I can enjoy this, I've got to go pee," Craig said.

"Yeah, I do too. I'm pretty uncomfortable."

He leaned down and gave Craig's right nipple a swipe with his tongue.

"Have to mark my place so I'll know where to start when we come back," he smiled.

They went into the bathroom, giggling and pinching each other, like a couple of school kids.

Although sex was unhurried, they had to make up the time while shaving and showering.

"You sure made me feel good this morning," Craig told his lover.

"I know somebody that did a pretty good job on me, too. Do you hire out?"

"Uhmm. I'd probably do it for you for free," Craig answered, turning his face up for another kiss.

They loved everything about the aspect of being each other's partners. The sex was fantastic, as they seemed to know how to find the other's buttons and push them. They were never at a loss of things to talk about, they loved to touch each other and each thought they were the luckiest person alive.

Jason and Kevin were walking down the driveway to catch the school bus when Dale drove in, on his way to the barn/office. He stopped so they could chat.

"How are the pups today? Do you have them housebroken, yet? Dale asked.

"They're doing great. We haven't had any accidents yet, but Dad said not to trust them for another couple of weeks," Kevin said.

"They sure are fun to play with," Kevin added.

"Well, if I have time this morning, I'll go see them and play for a little bit," Dale told them.

They could hear the bus coming down the road, so the boys had to run the last 50 feet to the stop where they got on.

Dale had barely gotten inside the office when his crew drove in. They were in Michael's car this morning.

"Morning, guys," he said as he handed them their time sheets. "I guess you need to keep on with your project today. Can you work tomorrow and Sunday? They are talking about the rain arriving on Monday now and I'd sure like to get this project completed. Seems like it's taken a lot longer than I had planned."

"For one thing, the ground was pretty hard. I would guess it's been years since it was last plowed. We had to go slower because of the load," John said.

"I know, and we're going to run into the same thing when we start plowing the area we've been using for grazing. I think that's pretty solid, too. Sam is supposed to start moving cattle off that land next week after they get some new fences in place in another area," Dale said.

They talked about the things to be done and Dale reminded them that he would have their payroll checks at noon. "As far as working tomorrow and Sunday, we'll pay overtime, but if you want time off next week, you can have that, too."

"Thanks, Dale. That seems fair," Pat said.

"How are they coming along on the house?" Michael asked.

"They are supposed to start hanging sheetrock today. The outside is pretty well complete except for blacktop on the driveway and a couple of sidewalks to the doors. Be sure to go look at it before you leave this evening," Dale told them.

"Okay," Michael said, the other's echoing.

"I'll leave your timesheets out on my desk, so be sure you fill them out this evening and over the weekend. I'll see you on Monday morning."

"Have a good time in Waco," Michael said.

"I honestly don't know what there is to do there. I'm sure that some of the women will have things they want to do and see, so guess we'll leave that up to them."

"Is your girlfriend going?" John questioned.

Dale blushed a little. "No, my friend, Craig is going with me. The women are Marty's mother and wife, Mort's wife and Lee's wife."

"Oh, okay," John answered. "Well, we'll see you Monday morning."

They headed to their pickup to go to the fields. Michael was driving, as usual.

John said, "Is Craig the good-looking blonde guy that's the architect?"

"Yeah, I think so," Michael answered.

"Hmmm. I wonder," said John.

"I know what you're thinking. and there's no way. Dale's as straight arrow as can be," Pat said. "How can you even think that?"

"Well, excuse me for speculating," John said. "I'll bet we find out that there is something going on between those two."

"No way, he doesn't look or act gay," Pat said.

"And do you, or John. or me?" questioned Michael.

Pat, as usual, was at a loss for words and hemmed and hawed around.

"None of us do," said John.

That seemed to be the end of the discussion that morning, but would give each of the three something to think about.

Michael was happy because he was able to get Pat to shed some of his inhibitions and they were having a lot more fun giving pleasure to each other.

John was thrilled with his relationship with Nolan, although having to get him back to his dorm every morning was getting tiresome.

Dale had a lot of things that needed to be accomplished in the office that morning. Mort came in with what seemed to be an armload of invoices and bills for approval and he sat down with Dale so they could go through them together. It took over two hours to get them ready to put in the folder to send back with the messenger from Morris Johnsmore's accounting office when he delivered the payroll checks.

"I'm going home for lunch, then Craig is driving his car out and leave it here for the weekend."

"That's fine. Marty and Chris and his parents will go in one car and Lee and Adele are riding with Marge and me. We may want to put some of the extra luggage in the back of your Blazer," Mort told him.

"That's fine. There's plenty of room," Dale answered.

When Dale arrived at the condo for lunch, Craig was just putting the finishing touches on the pork loin sandwiches he had fixed. This was leftover roast from the cooking class. Since they had paid for the food, it was theirs to take home. Craig had stopped at the grocery to pick up some deli potato salad and potato chips.

"I've got to go back to the office for about an hour after we eat as I'm printing some proposed sketches for Don to show to Warren Collins this afternoon.

"How's that project coming along?" Dale asked.

"Pretty good. He's gotten two businesses to consider signing lease contracts and I think the third large company is about to do the same," Craig told him.

"I'm wearing what I have on to go to Waco. You might as well do the same, then we can change in time for the welcoming cocktail party," Dale said.

"Good, I hate to wear dress clothes if we are going to sit in a car. They wrinkle too easily," Craig said.

"By the time we get to Waco, we'll be halfway to Ft. Worth," Dale said.

"Thinking of going back to the gay bar to dance?" Craig teased.

"No, just thinking that the road is going to be familiar by the time we get home on Sunday night."

"I wonder if there are any gay bars in Waco?" Craig said.

"Never thought about it," Dale replied.

"Well, it's a college town, but the school is Baptist dominated. It's hard to tell," Craig said.

"I doubt if we're going to have much time to explore on our own, anyway. I think the women have our free time planned to go where they want to go," Dale reminded him.

"Not a problem, but I'll bet it will be pretty easy to find out where to go, if we want to," Craig said.

"How would you do that?" Dale was puzzled.

"Simple, ask any young person at the motel, the bell hop, the desk clerk. They are asked questions like that all the time, they don't think anything about it."

"Guess I didn't think about the obvious. As you can tell, being gay is new to me," Dale laughed.

"Yes, I forget that you are just barely past being a virgin." Craig blew a kiss at Dale and they both laughed.

Dale noticed that Craig was wearing his ring, so he got his out of his dresser drawer and put it on.

As Dale was leaving the condo, they exchanged a passionate kiss, as they wouldn't see each other for at least an hour and a half. He stopped at the filling station, then ran his vehicle through the carwash and vacuumed it out.

RJ was working today and they exchanged a little conversation, but the place was busy with people buying gas and sodas, candy and cigarettes.

It didn't take long to load the cars at 2:45. Martin and Jeanine had a new Lincoln Towne Car and although there was plenty of room for their luggage, they wanted to hang two garment bags in Dale's Blazer. Mort was driving his Blazer, so there was plenty of room for everything they and the Bakers were taking in that vehicle. It appeared that Dale and Craig had the least luggage, but they had packed according to what Marty and Mort had told them. Then Dale remembered that most women took twice as much clothing as needed, just to be on the safe side.

They pulled out of the ranch driveway just at 3 p.m. Marty was driving his parents car, followed by Mort and Dale brought up the rear of their caravan. He and Craig were happy. They were off on a new adventure and they were together for the weekend.

The 135-mile trip went quickly and they were checked into their motel rooms by 5:30. They were on the 3rd floor and their rooms overlooked a central atrium with a waterfall and a stream connecting several pools with fish in them. Dale remembered the display at the Builder's Trade Show and the water garden in Craig's parents yard. He told Craig that if they had a house, he would like to do the same sort of thing.

They freshened up, putting on Dockers and plaid cloth shirts and, of course, their boots

When they were ready to leave their room to go down to the banquet hall for the cocktail party, Marty was waiting and handed each person an envelope, which had schedules and their badges, which had to be worn so they weren't charged admission for the events. Dale and Craig pinned their badges on and Dale stuck the envelopes in their room.

There were about 200 people at the cocktail party. Dale and Craig noticed several very good-looking men in attendance and they seemed to be looking back. Craig nudged Dale and whispered, there's another male couple, do you think.?"

Dale giggled. "Let's get a drink and circulate some. Maybe we'll find out."

They went to the bar and each got a scotch and soda and the bartender didn't hold back on the liquor. Dale noticed Craig putting a lemon twist in his glass, so he did the same. They were getting ready to go introduce themselves to the other two men when Marty motioned them over to join the group he was talking to.

"Harry, this is our new General Manager, Dale Richards and his friend, Craig Bastian. Fellows, this is Harry Dorrance. Harry is the head honcho for the Rocking-W down at Northwest Hills right outside Fredericksburg."

They exchanged greetings and Marty continued. "Lee is interested in a couple of fillies they have and I think all of us will be going down to see Harry and look at them before too long. We do a lot of business with Harry's ranch and sell them a lot of horses, too."

Harry looked like he belonged out on the range. His skin had that "weathered look" of someone who probably spent their entire time outdoors and probably smoked a lot, too. Dale guessed him to be in his late 60's and was surprised to find out later that he was only 53.

Patting Dale on the back, Harry said, "So you're taking Mort's place?"

"I think that's a strong statement," Dale replied. "Nobody can take Mort's place and I have a lot to learn about ranching before I can even attempt it."

"Well, son, you've got the right attitude. So many of you young people come in and think they know everything and they just get in the way of how we horse people do business. We still do a million dollars worth of business on a handshake and most of us would be insulted if we were asked to sign a contract."

Craig was all ears. He couldn't imagine his business without contracts and written agreements.

Marty agreed. "Dale, you can trust Harry and about 98% of the others in this room. If they agree to deliver something, it will be delivered and will be what they say it is. And, he's right about contracts - up to a point - I want a contract before I sign a check," he laughed.

"Ahh, Marty. I'm just kidding Dale. We'd never cheat each other."

"Dale, you don't have anything to worry about. The world of ranching has changed, and I guess mostly for the better, but gut feelings about business deals is still something that I pay a lot of attention to. You just need to learn who is trustworthy and who isn't - and the ones who aren't soon find out they can't buy or sell manure, 'cause no one will do business with 'em."

Dale shook hands again with Harry. 'Thanks for the words of wisdom, and I'll look forward to seeing your operation at the Rocking-W."

"We just have a small ranch down there, but we have good horses and they are in demand. Look forward to seeing you again, Dale. Nice to meet you and your pal."

Marty was talking to someone else and Craig had been keeping an eye on the other two men they had spied earlier. They were talking to another man. Craig guessed all of them to be in their late-20's.

Dale turned to Craig as Harry walked off. "Well, that was an interesting lesson. Guess I need to get the truth about all that from Lee, Mort and Marty."

They stood, sipping their drinks, while people circulated. Several people stopped to introduce themselves to Dale and Craig, noticing their "Bar-W badges". At various times, one of the Bar- W men would catch Dale or Craig's eye and nod their head to indicate they were to join them to be introduced to someone else that the Bar-W did business with. There was no shortage of people to talk to. This was a close-knit group that somewhat looked out for each other as well as their own business. They weren't about to buy or sell a horse that wasn't what it was supposed to be. Not that they didn't sell second-class stock, but they made sure you knew what you were getting. It was an unwritten creed all subscribed to and it served all of them equally well.

Finally, about a half hour later, after they had freshened their drinks, Lee caught Dale's eye and nodded for him to join him. He was talking to the two men they had seen earlier.

As they started across the room, Dale whispered to Craig, "Well, I guess we'll find out who the two mystery men are."

Craig agreed.

Lee seemed to be in a more jovial mood than Dale usually saw. "Fellows," he said to Dale and Craig, "I want you guys to meet Torrance and Bryant Greenwood. This is Dale Richards and his pal, Craig Bastian," he said peering at Craig's badge.

The men shook hands, greeting each other, eyeing the others.

Much to Dale and Craig's surprise Lee excused himself, saying he wanted another drink. Craig was thinking, 'Well we got introduced and they must be brothers.'

Dale took over. "I see that you are from the Southern Pride Ranch, but I don't know where Pollok is."

Torrance took over. "It's a little over 130 miles straight east of here. We kinda sit in the shadow of Lufkin on the Angelina River. Beautiful country."

"We've never done any business with the Bar-W, but everyone says that you have some of the best horses to be found," Bryant said.

"Our horse manager, Lee Baker, is the best," Dale replied. I'm just taking over the management of the Bar-W, so I depend on him to guide me in the right direction."

Torrance was about 6' tall, and probably weighed 180. He had a broad chest and shoulders and a trim waist. Bryant was just a little shorter, and probably was about the same weight, but was smaller in the upper body and heavier in the waist. Both had brown hair and brown eyes and a good smile. Each was wearing western-cut dress slacks, polo shirts and boots.

"Craig, do you work with Dale?" Torrance asked.

"No, I'm an architect in Williamsport, in partnership with an old college buddy. We've been in business about three years and think we will be hiring an assistant in another year."

"Me and Tor are kinda new to the horse business. We grew up on a large farm about 50 miles from where our little spread is. Our older brothers are about 15 years older than us and they got the land when our parents died. So, there wasn't anything for us to do except start our own place," Bryant told them.

"Bry and I own a software company that we started in college. It's done pretty good, but we have good people to run it and we really love horses, so we're lucky we've got some money to indulge our real interests."

Dale and Craig found that "Tor and Bry" were easy to visit with and they were close in age so had that bond, also. They were pretty sure about the Greenwood men, but didn't want to ask questions. They would probably find out in time.

The Greenwood boys were thinking the same thing about Dale and Craig. They were really handsome men and both had noticed that each was wearing beautiful ring and that they were identical. Well, there was no question in their minds about Dale and Craig.

"Would y'all like ta have supper with us this evening?" Tor asked. Both men were soft spoken with that east-Texas accent sprinkled with "y'alls" and chopping off words, using "kinda" for "kind of" and changing "to" to "ta", along with other similar words.

"That would be enjoyable, but we need to find out what the women in our group have planned for the evening. They didn't say anything about all of us eating dinner together, but we don't want to offend them by not going if they expect us."

Dale excused himself to find either Marty or Chris to find out what was expected of them.

Meanwhile, Craig found out a little more about Torrance and Bryant. Tor was 29 and Bry was 28 and each had a master's degree in computer science. They had started a small software company in college, writing custom financial applications for personal computers for companies that could not find "off the shelf" programs to run their businesses. They had 15 employees, and a college friend, who was the third partner, managed the company. The business was located in Bryan, next to College Station where they had gone to school at Texas A&M.

Dale came back about that time. "Chris and Jeanine have planned for our group to eat at the Lake Brazos Steakhouse, which is a family owned restaurant, but somewhat like a cafeteria as you can help yourself to side dishes. The steaks are cooked to order and Marty says they are delicious. He invited the two of you to join us, it's within walking distance of here."

"We'd love to," Tor said. "This is our first time to come to this show, so we don't know many people yet."

"Fine, we need to circulate and meet some other people Marty wants us to know, but we'll find you when they are ready to go eat," Dale said.

The cocktail party lasted another half hour, but people were drifting away to find a place to eat. The Holiday Inn had an excellent restaurant and there were another four or five good places to eat that were within a short driving distance. Since they were right off the Interstate and in the downtown area, there were enough events going on to help keep the restaurants filled.

The people from the Bar-W all enjoyed meeting new people and visiting with people they knew from business deals or from previous shows. Attendance was made up of people from huge operations, like the Bar-W, to small breeders who only bought or sold a couple of dozen horses a year, but had quality herds.

Marty had already met Torrance and Bryant, as had Mort and Lee, and Dale introduced them to Martin and the women in their group. They drove the three miles to The Miller Family Lake Brazos Steakhouse, Dale driving with Tor in the front seat and Craig sitting with Bry in back..

True to Marty's word, the steaks were excellent. There was a really good salad bar, but the side dishes, being on a steam table, were standard restaurant fare. Dale and Craig both thought of the excellent meals they'd had in Ft. Worth and Dallas, truly great dining experiences. However, they were hungry and the food was flavorful.

About halfway through the meal, Dale became aware of a hand on his thigh and it could only belong to Bryant. This, of course, was the first time anything like that had ever happened to him. At first he was going to ignore it, but the rubbing turned persistent and the strokes went from his knee to the top of his thigh and were started to get closer to his groin. He finally reached down and pinched the wrist of the offending hand with two fingers, then put it on Bryant's leg, shooting him a warning look. Dale's hands were strong and it brought tears to Bryant's eyes.

He didn't realize that Craig was having the same experience with Torrance on the other side of the table where they were seated. Craig had the same reaction, grabbing Tor's fingers and squeezing them together, then shoved the hand off his thigh.

As they were leaving the restaurant, Dale told Craig, "I got groped by Bryant."

"Join the club. The same thing happened to me, only it was Torrance."

"Well, I don't like it. I think it's terribly forward and out of line," Dale said.

They noticed Tor and Bry talking to each other, and then they approached them as the others walked out of the restaurant.

Torrance started, "Guys, we owe you an apology. We both think you guys are hot and hoped that maybe you might want to come to our room for a little fun, but I guess."

"Damn right!" Dale said. "Look, Craig and I have been together for just a short time, and even so we are committed to each other and we're not interested in anyone else. You fellows are nice and good looking, but it's just not going to happen."

Dale took Craig by the arm and started to turn around to leave.

"Hey, fellows. I'm sorry, we were wrong. We play around with each other, but we're not opposed to bringing others in to have fun. I hope we can still be friends. I promise this won't happen again. Okay?" Bryant asked.

"Yeah, everyone needs friends and I think we both think you are guys we'd like to know, but not for sexual purposes," Craig said.

"I'm sorry, we should have just ask you if you were interested in having fun instead of trying to feel you up," Torrance told them. "No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings," Dale said, Craig echoing.

They started back to the motel, this time Bryant sitting in front with Dale and Craig in the back with Torrance.

"Look, would you guys consider having a night cap before we go to our rooms?" Tor asked.

Dale and Craig agreed and they found a booth in the Lamplighter Lounge at the motel. The rest of the evening went smoothly and there was no further discussion of the earlier problem.

The Central Texas Horse Show was a lot of fun. A lot of deals were made to buy and sell horses. The Bar-W brought about 2-dozen of their best show horses and a couple of Lee's men had come along to show them. There were several exhibitions of riding, roping, trick riding, then and a parade at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday going from 4th and Holman, through the downtown area then back to the Heart of Texas Coliseum across from the Fairgrounds. It was part of the Fall Festival and the parade was a long one with local floats, the Shriners and other groups marching, Boy Scouts, Veterans and several high school and college bands. It was a perfect day and the town turned out in full force to watch.

All of the Bar-W people rode horses in the parade, although someone had neglected to tell Dale and Craig they were expected to participate. Regardless, they had fun and Dale saw to it that Craig had the most gentle of the horses. His own mount was a little more spirited than he would have liked, but he was used to riding and controlled the horse with no problems.

The gala banquet started with a cocktail party at 6:30. All of the women were wearing long dresses and most of the men were wearing suits, or at least sport coats.

It was typical banquet food. Shrimp cocktail, a garden salad, roast beef, baked potatoes, green beans, beets and a corn pudding. Dessert was cherry cheesecake. Certainly not great, but everyone was hungry.

After dinner, the emcee introduced people from each ranch as a group and the audience seemed to give the Bar-W group more applause than the others. That made both Dale and Craig feel good to be associated with the Bar-W.

After dinner, they ran into Tor and Bry again. They had only seen them once today and that was from horseback as they were standing on the sidewalk, watching.

"Would you guys like to go to a dance bar with us tonight?"

"You mean there is one in this town?" Craig questioned.

"Yeah, it's called the 'Honky Goose' and it's close to the Baylor campus. It's gay-friendly and everybody dances with everybody, although last night we did see guys dancing slow dances together.

Dale and Craig looked at each other and nodded their head. It was Saturday night and was still early.

"Meet us in the lobby at 9:30. We'll take our station wagon," Tor said.

Back in their room, they changed clothes and decided to go to the lounge for a drink while waiting to meet Tor and Bry at the appointed time.

Martin and Marty were having a drink and motioned Dale and Craig over to their table.

"Where are you off to?" Marty questioned.

"The Greenwood brothers invited us to a bar to dance," Craig answered.

"Let me guess. it's near the Baylor campus and is called the 'Honky Goose'?" Marty said.

"Yeah. how did you know?" Dale asked. He was surprised.

"That place had been there for years when I was in college. It was a dance bar then, although it was rock-n roll at the time. Is it a country bar now?"

"I have no idea. They had been there last night and said it was a mixed group of people and there didn't seem to be any problem with men dancing together," Dale said.

"It was that way when I was in college. I always thought it was amazing for a Baptist dominated town, but Chris and I used to go there for fun."

Marty thought for a little bit. "Hey, let me ask Chris if she wants to go to one of our old haunts. Maybe we'll join you a little later."

"That would be fun. Hope we see you later," Craig said.

Dale and Craig finished their drinks. It was time to meet their friends.

As Tor was driving down the street, Dale told them that his boss and wife used to go to the same bar when they were in college and might be joining them later.

"That's neat. They know about you?" Bryant asked.

"Yeah, they treat Craig and I both as part of their extended family. They are just great to work for and supportive of both of us."

"You're lucky. Our town is pretty red-neck and the only other gay person we know is a florist and we try to avoid him as much as we can because he's so flaming," Tor said.

"I'm sure that everyone probably wonders about us, being brothers, but we've never had any problems, mainly because we generally go to Nacogdoches or Lufkin. They're both about 30 thousand and each have a gay-friendly bar. Nacogdoches is a college town and we both seem to do pretty well picking up tricks. Houston's only a couple of hours away, so we go there quite a bit. The Montrose District is the gay ghetto there," Bry added.

Dale and Craig realized that they hadn't been exposed to this sort of thing, although they both knew that many men cruised the rest stops to have casual sex. They were both thankful that they had found each other as they did and not a pick up in a bar.

The bar had a $5 cover charge and each paid their way. The bar wasn't crowded, but was pretty full. In looking at the dance floor, they did see men and women, male couples and female couples dancing together.

Tor bought beer for all of them and they found a table that would seat six in case Marty and Chris joined them. Dale and Craig mostly danced the slow numbers, but did join a couple of rompin'-stompin' two-step dances.

They had only been there about 20 minutes and were just ready for another round of beer when Marty and Chris showed up. Dale went to the bar to find out what kind of beer they wanted and directed them to their table. Marty stayed to help Dale carry the beer bottles.

Soon all six of them were out dancing and having the time of their lives. They traded partners several times, Marty even dancing with Dale and Craig on a couple of fast numbers.

After a second round, which Marty bought, he and Chris were ready to leave. It appeared that Tor and Bry were trying to pick up a couple of young men, so Dale and Craig told them goodnight and left with Marty and Chris.

As they got in the car, Chris laughed. "I haven't been to a place like that since Marty and I were students here. Guess I'm getting old. That kind of dancing is tiring."

"You do use up a lot of energy," Craig agreed.

"Enough to stop for some ice cream?" Marty asked. "I wonder if the Fudge Shop is still in business."

"Sure, that sounds good," Dale said.

The Fudge Shop was still there. It was an old drug store with the original soda fountain. There were still a few shelves of items for sale, magazines, toiletries, over-the-counter drugs, condoms, and other student 'needs', but now tables where customers could sit and enjoy the old fashioned ice cream and fountain treats had replaced most of the shelving.

They each ordered something different, a thick chocolate malt for Dale, a banana split for Craig, a hot fudge sundae for Marty and a lemon soda for Chris.

"This reminds me of The Soda Fountain in Williamsport," Dale said. "It's a great place to go for fountain drinks or coffee, but they don't have anything else to offer."

"I've always wanted to be a soda-jerk. That was the ultimate job when I was in high school," Marty said. "You got to sample all the fountain treats for free and some of the guys always managed to give their girls sodas and not pay for them."

Chris spoke up. The Soda Fountain doesn't do as much business as they should. I think someone needs to buy it and promote some other things beside the soda fountain."

"Such as?" Marty questioned.

"They ought to promote it as a family place, maybe have other things to sell like candy, CD's video games, Video rentals. Stuff like that," Chris said.

"That might work, a place to kind of get away, yet have things a lot of different people are interested in," Craig said.

"Are you ready to give up your day job and run it for us?" Dale teased Craig.

"You wouldn't want me. If everything was this good, I'd eat all the profit," he answered.

"Yeah, and within a year you couldn't get through the door, either," Dale snickered.

"Seriously, that might be a good idea for Williamsport. If you are interested, I'll help you look into the idea," Marty said. "We haven't had anyone that was serious about a good soda fountain in Williamsport for at least 16 years. I think the drug store went out of business right after I started college and they just kept the soda fountain open because it was something to do. And the stuff at the Dairy Queen and A&W just don't compare to this."

They finished their treats and Marty paid the bill. Dale started to protest.

"Hey, this was my suggestion, so you guys are my guests. and guests don't pay. Besides, if you give me any trouble about it, you can walk back to the motel," Marty said, giving him a hug around the shoulders.

All of them laughed.

"Thanks, Marty and Chris," Craig said after they were back in the car.

"You fellows are welcome. We're glad that you could come with us, Craig, and I know Dale is," Marty said.

"Yeah, he is kind of special," Craig agreed.

"And, so are you," Dale said reaching for Craig's hand.

After Marty parked the car at the motel, they took the elevator to their floor and said their goodnights.

"Well, this has been an interesting evening, hasn't it?" Dale said, after he shut their door.

"Certainly has. I guess that Tor and Bry are having a good time, but I just can't imagine going to a bar and picking up a stranger to take home for sex. Seems like you are putting yourself at all kinds of risk," Craig answered.

"You took me home for sex," Dale said, walking up behind Craig and putting his arms around his chest, rubbing his nipples.

Craig turned around. "That was a whole different situation. Besides, you had already seduced me the night before at your house."

They both laughed.

"Why don't we get naked and see who can seduce who the fastest?" Dale asked.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather have a slow seduction," Craig told him, reaching for Dale's face for a kiss. "And. I want to undress you. slowly," he added.

Sunday morning Marty and Chris were in the restaurant when Dale and Craig walked in. Marty motioned for them to sit at their table. They had just gotten their coffee and were looking at the menu.

The pot was on the table and there were cups at each place so Dale poured coffee for each of them.

"Sleep well?" Marty asked.

Craig and Dale both blushed.

Marty was in a teasing mood. "It's okay. Chris and I have sex, too."

Chris burst out laughing and they all joined her. All four of them had red faces.

The waitress arrived to take their orders, wondering what they were laughing about.

"This is all one check," Mary said. "Go ahead, guys."

Each ordered a country breakfast with pancakes to go with it.

"What time are you going to start back?" Dale asked.

"Probably about noon, but there isn't any schedule. If you want to stay and come back tomorrow morning, it's fine," Marty said.

"No, I think we're going home after lunch. We may go to church. Do you have any suggestions?" Dale asked.

"There is Emmanuel Episcopal that bills itself as 'traditional'. We've not been there, but I would guess they use the 1928 Prayer Book and it's probably Low Church. We used to attend the Church of the Holy Savior when we were in college. It's nothing like St. James at home, but their service used to be quite nice. Kind of middle of the road in churchmanship. It's been several years since we've been there, though," Chris answered.

"We'll call when we get back to the room and see what we can find out," Craig said.

Their meal arrived and Marty asked permission to ask the blessing. They joined hands after crossing themselves, saying "Amen" at the end of the prayer.

While they were eating, Martin came into the room and they scooted around so an extra chair could be pulled up. Their conversation was lively and Martin told them that he'd seen Lee earlier. "He sold 150 mares to the Lazy-Z. They are coming to the Bar-W on Wednesday to pick them out and load up."

"That's great," Marty said. "I was afraid that they were in trouble two years ago." He went on to explain that the ranch had lost about 200 horses to a mysterious illness, but they were never sure what the problem was. Some thought that it had come from some horses they bought from another breeder.

"Then it was all over with as soon as it started," Martin explained.

"They didn't dare sell any horses for about a year, but they had insurance so didn't suffer for the loss except for not having any sales that year," Marty said. "It was pretty hard on them and some of us were afraid they wouldn't survive.

Marty looked at Dale. "The horse breeders are a pretty tight group. We try to watch out for each other and probably if it had looked like they would to have to liquidate, some of us would have stepped in to guarantee their notes at the bank."

Dale and Craig were both impressed and Dale was getting a good insight as to how the horse business worked.

Breakfast being over, the group split up.

Craig called the two churches after the got back to their room. Emmanuel Episcopal was a "Morning Prayer" parish and only had a Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month, although it was available each Sunday at an 8 a.m. service.

He called Church of the Holy Savior and found that they had a 10:30 Holy Communion. Since they had skipped church the previous Sunday, they decided to attend. Craig thought this would allow Dale to see the contrast of two parishes using the same Prayer Book. The difference in the ceremony would be of interest to both.

They checked out of the motel after having a sandwich for lunch. Mort's Blazer was still in the parking lot, but they didn't see the Lincoln that belonged to Martin and Jeanine. They left the motel parking lot at 1:30, so they should be home by 4 p.m. Dale decided to split the driving, so they traded between Temple and Killeen. It made the trip go more quickly and was a good diversion for each of them.

Since they had to go to the Bar-W to get Craig's car, it was easy for them to check the progress on the house construction. Dale had checked the progress before leaving on Friday afternoon, but Craig hadn't seen it since they had started hanging sheetrock. The job was over halfway to completion.

"There will be a lot of visible progress the next few days, but then it will slow down after that. They probably will be ready to start taping and mudding tomorrow sometime. Then it has to be sanded, more sheetrock mud, more sanding, then a light coat to feather the edges and sand that. Then they can paint," Craig explained.

"What's after that?" Dale asked.

"Outlets, light fixtures, floor covering, wood trim, plumbing fixtures, window treatments, appliances. I guess then it's ready for the guys to move in. Probably another three weeks, maybe a little longer, it depends on Ray's schedule. Anytime ahead of the first week in November and he's completed it ahead of schedule."

"I can't believe that two weeks ago we were looking at foundation walls," Dale said.

"Ray's good and has good men working for him. His company keeps growing and I hope that he and Keith and Andy can handle the expansion and find other good men to work for them," Craig said.

They left, getting into their own vehicles for the short drive back to their condo.

Craig took the dirty clothes to the laundry and started a load of colored clothes, as Mrs. Hopkins wouldn't be back until the end of the week. Although they had plenty of clean clothes, they both tried to keep soiled laundry from accumulating. They usually changed the bed and towels twice a week and Mrs. Hopkins generally washed those and put them away on Friday.

"Are you tired?" Craig asked Dale.

"A little. I'm glad to be home where we can relax. The trips are fun, but they are tiring," Dale said.

"How about a quick trip to the grocery store to get a few things and pick up some fried chicken for dinner? We need juice, salad greens and baking potatoes unless you want macaroni and cheese," Craig suggested.

"Sounds good to me. If you're ready, let's go now, then we can come back here and get comfortable," Dale said.

"Naked?" Craig grinned.

"You know I love to be naked with you. It makes me want to wrap my body around you and do things to you."

"Oohh," Craig said. "Let's hurry before you change your mind."

"No danger of that." Dale pointed downward. "I'm horny, he leered."

Craig grabbed his hand and pretended to pull him toward the door.

Craig asked Dale if gin was okay and fixed their drinks with Beefeater Gin.

It felt good to strip down to their shorts and sit on their favorite piece of furniture and assume "their" position of Dale sitting in the corner with his right leg stretched out along the back. Craig sat as close to Dale as he could and Dale either left his left foot on the floor or put his leg across Craig's lap. This put them in a position to have maximum contact with each other's face, neck and chest as well as their groins.

As far as they were concerned, this was the ideal position to caress, kiss and enjoy the closeness of the other. And for some reason, it didn't work for them to trade places.

They talked about the horse show and especially Torrance and Bryant.

"I wonder if we'll hear from them again?" Craig asked.

"We might, Bry asked for our address and I gave it to him. They would be interested in seeing the Bar-W and maybe buying some horses," Dale told him.

"Well, maybe our 'contact' with them will help the Bar-W with sales, but I certainly didn't appreciate being treated that way," Craig said.

"I know. I didn't like it either, but I guess that's their lifestyle and they probably think we're pretty square for not wanting to play around with them. But. I just can't imagine doing anything with anyone except you."

Craig leaned up to kiss Dale. "Thank you. Me either."

(to be continued)

• • • • • Author's Note: This is my first attempt at gay fiction, and the only way I can learn whether or not I should continue is from my readers' feedback. I would appreciate your comments, criticism, suggestions, and anything else that you would care to say. All Email will be answered. If you wish to receive e-mail notification of subsequent postings, please let me know by sending your request to the following e-mail address: TulsaDriller7@aol.com

Thanks for the overwhelming response to previous chapters. I have received positive replies from all over the world. Thank you to Mel, who used to live in Waco for helping me locate the "Heart of Texas Coliseum at the Red Barn. This venue for the horse show didn't show up on the Waco Tourism Website. My special thanks for proofreading help to Paul Daventon, who has taken time to help me catch obvious errors.