5. In Town - The Work Camp Earth-boy

The Work Camp Earth-boy

By Earth-boy

I'd like to give a big shout-out to Li’l Ninja, who proof-read this work, alerted me to many typos and incorrect words, and made valuable suggestions. He currently has one story on Nifty: Care in the Gay/Young Friends section. The tale’s a bit dark at times but it’s a compelling read.

Comments are welcome at earth-boy-2755@proton.me, and constructive criticism as well. As I’ve mentioned before, this story is complete (12 chapters in all.) But as of the date I’ve posted this, I can entertain suggestions as long as they don’t break the established plot or have a serious impact on the remaining chapters.

If you’ve enjoyed this or other stories on Nifty, please consider making a financial contribution. The service doesn’t need a huge amount of money to run, but because it’s ad-free it needs your donations to keep going. Thank you from the operators and fellow readers of the archive!

Quick disclaimers:

• This story contains descriptions of sex between teen and pre-teen males. Do not read if you’re under 18 or it is illegal where you’re living.
• Copyright by the author. Do not upload to pay-to-view sites.
• This story is fiction; references to individuals are coincidental.
• No children or teenagers were harmed in the creation of this story.

Chapter 5. In Town

Jared and I had sex five times that night, although he was awake for only the first one (before he went to sleep) and the last (after he awoke in the morning.) The other three I knew about because I felt them, and for one, half asleep, I had to grope around for paper towels to catch my emissions because he had a wet dream while inside me. Fortunately I’d remembered to bring several of the paper towels with me.

Our morning session wasn’t nearly as intense. I worked to ensure it was pleasurable but not exhausting.

Like the morning before he wanted to hold on to me, saying he missed being able to do the same with his girlfriend.

“Can you tell me what you’re doing in the north field?” I asked.

“We’re, uh—” and he stopped. “I’m not supposed to say. I’ll be kicked off the crew and my last pay revoked if I talk about it.”

I frowned. “I’m starting to feel like a mushroom.”

“What?”

“I’m being kept in the dark and everyone’s feeding me bullshit.”

Jared giggled at the reference, and pulled me closer into his hug. “There’s also a saying that curiosity kills the cat. And I don’t want that to happen to you. You’ve made this camp a whole lot more livable in the few days you’ve been here.”

We held each other until the alarm clock went off, then I kissed him and headed to the kitchen to help with breakfast.

Savros obviously missed me overnight; I got a long kiss and a hug from him when I showed up. After making breakfast for the two early birds—Riley and Larry—we went out behind the main hut and had a quick round. It was fast enough that we were back in the kitchen when Egan came in for breakfast.

✵   ✵   ✵

When everyone had eaten and Savros and I had the kitchen cleaned up, Egan called for me. “It’s Sunday and we go to town on Sundays. Collect all the dirty clothes and bed linen from the huts. Your job when we get to town is to go to the laundromat and wash everything.”

I was a little annoyed, primarily by Egan’s continued assumption I was the camp slave. Or, more accurately, his camp slave. Everyone else, even Martin, treated me with respect.

I turned around and wiggled my bum at him. “Do I look like the type who knows how to do laundry?” I asked.

I was rewarded with a good smack on my behind. “No, but you’ll learn!”

“Egan, that’s enough!” I heard Riley call out. In a moment he was right beside us. He lowered his voice enough so that only the two of us could hear him. “I know the truth about how he came to the camp. The only reason he’s staying is because he sees this as a bit of an adventure. Keep ordering him around like that and mistreating him and he’ll up and disappear one day. I know most of us would miss him.”

Egan looked unrepentant. “We brought him here to do work around the camp. So why is he getting a break from you any time I want him to do something?”

Somehow Riley managed to keep an even tone. “By rights he should be back at his grove. The others and I want him to stay, so that’s the reason he keeps getting breaks. You just keep giving him orders like he’s some sort of conscript instead of a free earth-boy who’s here on a lark.”

“Who’s giving the orders around here?” asked Egan. “You may be the brains behind this little venture, but my uncle’s financing it. He who pays the piper calls the tune, right?”

Riley considered the threat. “That doesn’t give you the right to order the boy around. He’s not your personal servant—especially given your highly unorthodox recruitment. And truth be told, your uncle’s advanced practically all the money already. Maybe I and the boy should pay him a visit. When he hears what you did just now, he could well pull your part of the funding. I don’t know if he’s promised you any share, but I’m sure if he fires you you’ll only get what he’s paid you so far.”

“I’m here because my uncle trusts me!” Egan snapped. “Yeah, try talking to him about me. He’ll take my word over yours any day. And the earth-boy doesn’t count for anything!”

“Indeed, he doesn’t, at least not for you any more,” Riley answered coolly. He looked at me, and to make it clear he was talking to me put a hand on my shoulder. “From now on, you don’t take orders from Egan. If he asks you to do something that you don’t want to do, don’t do it. No need to come to me for backup. You do only what you want to do, and nothing more. And any day you want to leave, just ask and Larry or me will drive you back to town. We’ll miss you for sure, and Savros will really miss your help in the kitchen.”

I nodded and said, “Thanks.” Then I turned my attention to Egan. “You should look up what happened to humans in the past who abused their earth-boy slaves. We didn’t resist, but the earth remembers, and will pay you back. A badly beaten earth-boy and next thing the human knows is his house is overrun with rats. More beatings and suddenly all the earth-boys he had would just disappear one night. And a few days later a storm would come along that wiped him out completely. It happened often enough that humans knew there were consequences to mistreating earth-boys that they didn’t see with their other slaves.”

Egan said nothing, but glared first at me, then at Riley, then turned on his heel and stalked away.

✵   ✵   ✵

“I’d like to go into town with the rest of the guys,” I told Riley once things had settled down.

“Oh?” asked Riley, “Why’s that?”

“The same reason you you guys do: a change of pace and something different.”

“Alright, you can go. But the truck only seats six, so one or two of us will have to stay behind. Two is probably better; they can keep each other company and be there to help if something goes wrong.”

“Thanks. Can I get my phone back, please? I should call my grove when I get to town to let them know I haven’t vanished completely.”

“Oh, for sure. There’s a couple of chargers in the truck, so you can get a partial recharge on the drive in. I want to visit the town myself, so I’ll ask around to see who’s willing to sit out this trip. I’ll ask Martin and Savros to do the laundry.”

Savros reminded me I should find my breech-cloth and put it on when we got to town. He went so far as to recommend I put on a shirt as well, but I decided I’d put up with any disapproval from the townsfolk.

After some negotiation Larry and Jared were chosen to stay behind. Larry simply asked us to visit the general store to pick up the week’s collection of newspapers he had on order there and to check for recent issues of a couple of magazines. Jared wasn’t quite as content about the arrangement: he was the youngest person in the camp and as a result often got the short straw.

We had lunch together at the camp and Savros prepared a light dinner for Larry and Jared. From that I surmised the crew typically had supper in town and returned to the camp in the evening. We quickly cleaned the kitchen. Savros put the dinner into the oven to keep warm, reminding Larry to turn it off when they took it out.

“Oh, the earth-boy’s coming with us,” said Egan once we had everything collected and loaded into the truck. “This could be a problem.”

“Why?” asked Savros.

“We don’t have a booster seat.”

Savros scowled.

The truck was a huge beast of a pickup, dark blue with a crew cab and a covered bed. It looked very new and seemed to have all the latest gadgetry. Savros told me Egan had bought for the camp, but since it was his uncle’s money he got the nicest one he could find. Egan was also rather protective of it, rarely letting anyone but him drive it.

The drive in was much more pleasant than my initial trip to the camp. Like the last time, Egan was driving, but Riley was seated up front with him. Martin was in the back with me and Savros. I was in the less comfortable middle of the seat, and was naked until we arrived. I was also hard most of the way there, thanks to a lot of attention I got from Savros. Even Martin joined in a little.

The town wasn’t the same one I’d been kidnapped from; it was on the way there and had what the crew wanted most: a lively bar. There was also a store where Savros could purchase food for the upcoming week.

While Riley may have intended Martin to help Savros with the laundry, he got a reprieve when Savros asked if I’d be interested in joining him at the task. I said I would. I had only one thing I really wanted to do, and it wasn’t to visit a grove. The town was too small to have one of its own. There were three rural groves in the area that I knew about, but they were too far away to visit without help from the truck.

We arrived at the laundromat only to discover it was closed. Savros said simply, “wait here” and ran off somewhere. He returned ten minutes later with the owner in tow, who happily unlocked the door and turned on the lights. But he did a double-take when he saw me standing there wearing just the breech-cloth. He must have been wondering why any earth-boy would be visiting a laundromat!

Savros explained to me, “We’re here every week about the same time, and the owner’s usually here to open up for us. He’s normally closed on Sundays, but we give him good business so he doesn’t mind the minor inconvenience. But today it looks like we interrupted a kid’s birthday party.”

Once inside we unpacked six bags of clothes and three more with the bed linen. Savros showed me how to load the washers, add detergent and bleach, and use a pre-paid card to start the machines. We did the same for the bedding.

“I have a little secret for you,” I told Savros once we had almost every washer in the place running and we were sitting down at a table. “I actually know how to do this.”

“You do?” he asked. “How? I thought you guys never wore clothes.”

“You’re right, we’re usually naked. But there are times when even earth-boys need to wear something. Usually it’s because we’re meeting with a group of humans to talk about important things. We’re taken a lot more seriously if we’re dressed.”

He nodded and added, “And you’ve also learned clothes need to be kept clean.”

“Right. So every grove usually has a couple of washing machines and dryers. They’re great curiosity items for the kids.”

“Speaking of kids,” said Savros, “How do you guys reproduce? I’ve never heard of earth-girls, only earth-boys. So do you guys get pregnant?”

I laughed. “No, we don’t get pregnant! I’m a little surprised they don’t cover that for you in school. Our way of doing it is really unique.”

Savros shook his head. “Well, schools don’t like to talk about how we reproduce, let alone other species. We learned about chickens and eggs, and I remember seeing a video one time about salmon, but schools only have so much time to cram stuff into our heads. But I heard something about nuts and a fern?”

“You heard right,” I replied. “But to start, our rear end is, well, dual purpose. You know, like you use your penis for both peeing and sex. So we use our rear end for, um, solid waste disposal, but we use it for sex, too. We have something back there called an amoryn, which is kinda similar to what girls have, and like girls that’s where we sick our penis. Except for us it’s just a long tube. All the nasty stuff from our digestive system is stored beside the amoryn. There’s a muscle to keep it there until we’re ready to let it out.

“Anyway, like females we have an ovary that stores our eggs, except we have only the one. Once a week an ovum gets released into an organ down near the bottom of the amoryn known as the magnum. When it’s fertilized, the magnum surrounds it with a solid batch of nutrients and puts a shell around it, making an agor nut. It comes out looking like a large chestnut.”

Savros looked positively confused. “A chestnut? How does that become an earth-boy?”

“Like any other seed: we plant it in the earth. We produce one of these agor nuts every week. Most of them just get eaten, usually as salad fixings or in soups—“

“What? You eat your own … ?”

“Same thing you do when you have a boiled egg,” I said. “They’re good, and we just don’t think of them as potential earth-boys. Only the biggest and best looking agor nuts are set aside. We plant three whenever an earth-boy dies, as part of the funeral.”

“Three? Wouldn’t that cause a population explosion after a few generations?”

“No. Very often one of them fails to grow. Usually two sprout, and one just is better than the other and it takes over the weaker one. At rare times both of them survive and we get twins. Really rarely, all three fail or all three survive. The earth decides.”

Savros smiled. “So you wait nine months and dig up an earth-boy?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that. First, it takes longer. A lot longer. Within a year of planting a large, tall fern grows. At the same time a woody structure, like a walnut but way bigger forms at the base of the fern. We call that the boll and that’s where the earth-boy forms. Over the next year and a half the boll gets larger and larger as the earth-boy inside grows and matures.”

“How long again?” asked Savros. “Two and a half years?”

“Yes,” I confirmed, “It takes two and a half years from agor nut to earth-boy.”

“That’s more time to reproduce than an elephant.”

“Yeah. Anyway, his brain starts working about a year after the agor nut sprouts, and the earth starts teaching him that he’s an earth-boy. We call that the dream time—it’s like a long sleep where you keep dreaming pleasant things. For the next eighteen months there’s almost always an earth-boy or two at the boll using eren to quietly talk to the little one inside.”

Savros made an insightful comment. “Is the boll why you don’t have belly buttons?”

“You got it! The boll isn’t as efficient as a mammal. The earth-boy gets food through a tube the boll puts in his mouth. For the last few months we add to what the earth and the fern are giving him by putting small amounts of food into the boll—it provides a place for that. His pee just goes into the earth, who takes care of it. Solid waste is carried away through a tube of sorts pushed into his rear end.”

“And he’s sleeping all that time?”

“Yes. But it’s not a coma. He’s growing and learning. Some things the earth teaches him directly, like how to use eren. For the last year we’re talking to him about our language and culture. In that time we learn his name and a few things about his personality, so we know who he is.

“Then one day he just wakes up and asks to be let out. The one or two earth-boys with him at the time call out to the rest of the grove he’s awakened, and everyone who can gathers round. The three council members that year are given the honour of placing their hands on the boll and using eren to open it. The little one inside jumps out, all smiles and ready and eager to meet everyone he’s been talking to all year.”

I paused, then added with a smile, “It’s actually not quite as dramatic as that. His muscles are still weak and he has no co-ordination, so usually the first thing that happens after he jumps out of the boll is he falls flat on his face in the grass. Fortunately he’s been warned that will happen, so he just sits up and looks around.”

“That’s amazing!” Savros exclaimed. “Now I know why they don’t teach it in school. No-one would believe it!”

I grinned and nodded. “Probably! And possibly because of something else humans don’t want to discuss in class.”

“And that is?”

“Practically the first thing that happens after everyone says “Hi!” to the new kid, is he looks around at all the other young earth-boys, who are usually at the front of the crowd, picks one out, and sort of crawls over to have sex with him! Because sex is something he’s been learning about for the past year and he really wants to give it a try!”

Savros regarded me, astonished. “You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not. A newly awakened earth-boy has spent two and a half years developing, and he’s pretty similar to a three year old human. After only a little practice he can walk and talk, and he already knows a fair bit about our culture. That includes sex, so he wants to try it out. Usually the next thing we do is put together a celebratory meal.”

Then he asked a rather unexpected question. “Can you have a baby with a human?”

That one I knew the answer to. “No. We look a lot alike, but our genes are totally different. Remember, we’re actually part plant! I can no more have your babies than could a pine tree, and we can’t get human females pregnant. In fact, there are some females who really like having sex with us because it comes with all the pleasure but very little risk.”

“Does an earth-boy know who his parents are?” he asked next. “Given all the sex you have, you probably have no idea who fertilized the seed, but do you track who the agor nuts came from?”

“No, we don’t bother. An earth-boy child is seen as belonging to the grove as whole. Everyone takes a hand in raising him. What usually happens is the young ones pick a favourite earth-boy: the one they want to cuddle up with at night, and the first one they run to when they get upset and need comforting. The chosen earth-boy is given deference when it comes to teaching and discipline. And the younger one can—and often does—change his favourite every once in a while.”

Savros nodded sagely. “I’ve heard the expression ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ but you people raise it to an art form.”

✵   ✵   ✵

“Alright,” said Savros after we had loaded the dryers, “let’s head off to the grocery store and get supplies.”

We left the laundromat, Savros locking up with a key that had been entrusted to him by the owner. The town was small enough that we easily located the truck parked outside the hotel and its bar, and Savros went inside to get the keys from Egan.

Shopping for large quantities of food was something I had experience with. Heck, the camp was only six humans plus me; I’d joined groups of earth-boys buying supplies wholesale for an entire grove. Savros and I were all over the small grocery store filling the list.

There were a couple of other people in the store while we were shopping. They gave me disapproving frowns, more than likely because I was practically naked rather than the fact I was an earth-boy. I just ignored them, and no-one complained to the one person on staff, nor to Savros.

After paying we put everything into carry-out bins—Riley didn’t like the idea of hauling dozens of plastic bags with us back to the camp. Along with several cases of beer it all went into the back of the truck; there was even a couple of insulated bins with ice packs for food that needed to be kept cool.

Next stop was a general store. The shopkeeper readily handed us a week’s worth of the Vancouver Sun and The Globe and Mail he was holding for Larry, saying he could wait a week for Larry to come into town to be paid. I found the week’s edition of The Economist, but they didn’t seem to stock Scientific American.

Returning to the laundromat, it took Savros and me the better part of an hour to unload the dryers, sort and fold everything, and return it all to their proper bags.

“What now?” I asked. “I know you can get into the bar, but I probably can’t. I don’t have ID on me to prove my age, and because I look like a kid, even with my ears and hair it would be tough to convince the owner I’m legit.”

“And it’s not even dinner-time yet,” Savros replied. “We usually go to the restaurant beside the bar for something to eat at about 5:30. So we’ve got over an hour to kill.”

“How about you go to the bar, and I just go stand seductively on a street corner and try to reel in a lumberjack?” I asked with a grin.

Savros laughed. “Try that in this town and you’ll probably get a mob after you! But not for what you want—they’ll drive you about ten miles out and drop you off on the side of the road. You’d either have to try to make your way back to town or find a grove to stay in.”

“Well, you go the bar. I need to make a phone call or two. I can use my phone’s clock to know when to show up for dinner. Don’t worry about me; I can find things to do, even in a strange town.”

“Okay, that will work,” Savros replied.

We put the laundry alongside the provisions in the back of the truck. Savros turned out the lights in the laundromat and locked it, then went around to the side and dropped the key into a mail slot. Then we drove the truck over to the hotel. He went inside to the bar while I looked around for a quiet place to visit.

After wandering around a while I came upon a small well-kept park. It even had a playground, but because it was Sunday it was deserted. In the relative privacy of a play structure I got out my phone and called one of the grove’s councillors.

“How’ve you been?” he asked after I identified myself. “We sort of noticed you weren’t showing up for meals or frolics in the pool.”

“All right,” I replied. “A group of humans wanted a helping hand at a work camp some distance from here, and decided I’d be a decent candidate.”

“Oh, yes. Are they treating you well?”

“Yeah, they are. It’s a lot like living in a grove except there’s only seven of us. But a couple of them really like me so I’m getting enough sex that I don’t go crazy. Say, can I get you or a couple others to go on the web and look up some things for me? You see, there’s this guy Riley who’s running the show but he’s not saying what they’re up to and nobody else is talking …”

✵   ✵   ✵

The phone call completed, I looked around the park. Aside from the play structure, it was mostly green space with some benches. Two flower beds had colourful collections in them, and there was even a section with native grasses.

The flowers were very pretty, nicely arranged, with a good mix of fragrances. A few weren’t doing as well as the others, so I gave them a bit of eren to perk them up again.

Then I heard a voice calling, “Boy? Boy?” While I’d been tending to the flowers an elderly lady had come into the park and was sitting down on one of the benches. I quickly looked around to verify I was the only other one here, then replied, “Yes?”

“Can you come over here please?” she asked sweetly. “I very much wish to talk to you.”

I did so. She shifted slightly to one side of the bench, clearly offering me a seat beside her. So I sat down. She looked very old; she was even smaller than I was, her face wrinkled like a dried apple. She was well dressed in a long blue skirt. Despite the warmth of a mid-July day she was wearing a light jacket. On her head was close brimmed felt hat decorated with a brooch. Her hands rested on a cane.

She regarded me with a slightly confused expression before saying, “I just wanted to thank you for saving my life all those years ago.”

“Oh?” I asked. I had no memory of her at all.

“Oh yes. Way back when I was a little girl, remember? I got sick with something. Don’t know what it was now. So ill. So bad. Mom was sure she was going to lose me. She’d already lost another one, you know.”

“What happened?”

“We were out on the farm. I’m 94 now. The doctor was too far away. All I remember was I was hot and cold. And the nightmares. Terrible, horrible dreams. And then you were at the door.”

The lady’s memories were a little scrambled. The events she was describing were from decades before I was born.

“Why was an earth-boy visiting you?” I asked.

“Your grove’s right beside our farm, yes? You visit because you have medicines to give us, and berries and good plates and bowls. I so much love koy berry pie. Do you think you can bring some koy berries the next time you’re here?”

“Maybe,” I answered.

“Oh that day, I was so sick. Cold and hot at the same time. My mom was afraid I was going to die. My brother had died the year before and mom thought she was going to lose me too.”

I nodded.

“And next thing I knew you were there. You brought us greywolf tea leaves and plausse cream and fennet paste. The tea … I could hardly drink it, I was so sick. Mom told me she mixed the plausse with some water left over from boiling potatoes, and she spread it on my forehead and chest. Then you took away the fever.”

“Do you remember how?” I asked. I figured I knew what the earth-boy had done all those years ago.

“Your hands. You put them under my shirt … felt my stomach. You were like that for five minutes? Maybe ten. Then I didn’t feel so sick and went to sleep.”

I don’t know what she had been sick with¸ but it must have been bacterial. Using eren Earth-boys can feel out and kill even nasty bacterial infections. Viruses are too small, so we can’t find them.

She was fortunate to have had a grove so close back then, and her family on good terms with the earth-boys. Greywolf tea, plausse, and fennet are all from the leaves of the wundgheri plant that grows only inside inhabited groves. The koy berries likewise. Humans have sought them out for centuries. They paid handsomely for them, too, and for the limited healing we could do.

“And you got better,” I said.

“You saw me a few days later, remember? I was tired and still in bed, but not sick anymore. My mom and dad were so, so happy at what you did. Mom gave you so many hugs and Dad gave you boys so many things he thought would help you. They remembered you for the rest of their lives, they did, forever grateful for what you did that day.

“You gave me ninety years. You also helped Edna and Percy when they got sick. I became a nurse, you know, because of you. Do you know why I didn’t become a doctor?”

I shook my head. “No. Why?”

“The college didn’t let me. The men said being a doctor wasn’t a woman’s job and told me I had to take nursing instead. But I always made sure I had plausse and fennet around. They came out with some wonderful medicines later on. Have you seen Percy lately? I … I don’t recall having talked to him in a long time.”

“I haven’t either,” I told her. “Maybe he moved away.”

“I think so, yes. Edna got cancer and died over a decade ago now. I was so sad. I don’t think she took my advice to look for you so you could help her.”

All I could really do was nod sympathetically. Earth-boys can’t do much for cancer aside from symptom relief. Both people and earth-boys who come down with it are much better off with a good oncologist.

She went quiet for a while. I just sat beside her to give her some company, thinking how her life had been so different from mine, and how different it might have been but for a grove on the neighbouring section.

A small flock of sparrows flew into the park. The old lady found some birdseed in a bag she was carrying and tossed it on the ground, much to the sparrows’ delight. She watched with a smile as the small birds eagerly ate up the seeds.

“I should get going now,” she said after the sparrows had left. “It was so nice seeing you again. Do you think you can come by more often? I miss seeing you round here. And I’d love to get some fresh koy berries again. Can’t seem to find them in the stores these days.”

With that she patted my knee, rose up from the bench, and carefully made her way out of the park.

✵   ✵   ✵

I wandered around the town for a while after the conversation with the kind but sadly confused old lady, but tried to stay close to trees and hedges so I could hide if someone looked like they might try to force me to leave. I hadn’t been in this small of a town before by myself and didn’t know how other people might react to me. At 5:20 my phone alarm went off and I headed back to the hotel and its bar. As Savros had mentioned, the hotel’s restaurant was right beside the bar, so I waited there until Savros noticed me. A minute later he and Riley, Egan, and Martin came into the restaurant and we found a table together.

Our server was a plump middle-aged lady with a generous smile. When she saw me, she asked, “So, dearie, you have a shirt you can put on? I can see you’re an earth-boy, but we’re trying to be a respectable establishment here.”

I replied with a smile, “You can’t be that respectable if you’re letting me eat here. How about I take off my breech-cloth and put it over my shoulders? Would that do?”

She laughed heartily. “Well, I wouldn’t mind seeing it, but some other paying customers might walk out! Then the manager would shoo your bare butt out the door after them!”

“I’ll get one of my shirts from the truck,” said Savros. “Then you’ll be half-ways decent at least.”

Savros left the table to get me a shirt. Egan didn’t seem at all amused but Martin had a smile on his face. I put on the white and blue t-shirt when Savros came back, while he, of course, made sure he was sitting down beside me.

About half way through the main course a text message came to my phone:

Thav dam heln yufra Rileyse va ulfte. ¿Naupë bas ĉaono yafa? La bam thav.
("We can find very little information about Riley and his work. Can you send us a picture of him? It would help us.")

I did just that after dessert, taking pictures on my phone first of Savros, followed by Martin, Riley, and Egan. Savros was grinning, Martin wore a very happy (and slightly drunk) smile, Riley looked a little put out as if he had not wanted his picture taken, and Egan had a smile that looked more like a grimace. Then I removed my shirt and asked our server to get a picture of the group of us together. She took two, both of which came out well. Since the battery would last a day or two back at the camp, I decided I’d get pictures of all us there.

To keep the establishment respectable, I put the shirt back on after we were done taking pictures. The ones of Riley and Egan I immediately forwarded to my contact in the grove.

Dinner over, Egan paid the bill using a credit card, then we all got into the truck for long drive back to the camp. Once again Egan was driving. I wondered if he had abstained from drinking while in the bar, or had kept it to perhaps a light beer early in the afternoon.

Martin and Savros had imbibed rather heavily, and it showed. Of course I got naked the moment we were in the truck, and both men were pawing and groping me almost the entire trip. Individually they stroked me all the way to orgasm. Not wanting to soil the seats, both times I uncomfortably redirected my stuff back into my body. It was frustrating, but Savros and Martin both seemed to enjoy feeling my body and penis twitch as I came.

Like the trip in, I had my phone on a charger. I was hoping for a call or even a text from the grove, and watched with diminishing hopes as the signal became weaker the further out from town we drove. Finally it disappeared altogether. I sighed. I’d get no answer to my questions this week, and would have to convince the crew to let me come into town with them the following Sunday.

✵   ✵   ✵

The sun had slipped well below the hilltops by the time we made the final and extremely bumpy stretch up the rough road to the work camp. I unplugged my phone from the charger and turned it off to save its battery.

Savros, Riley, Larry, Jared and I unloaded the truck. I helped store food away in the fridge and what passed for a pantry in the storage shed, while Larry distributed the bags with the men’s clothing to their huts. I first helped Savros and then Jared with their bedding. Seeing how quickly we could make a bed together, Jared suggested we could do the other four in a flash.

“How was your trip to town?” Jared asked as we worked on the beds.

“Great!” I grinned. “Of course I had to do all the work by myself, and when I was done that I got pounced on by a logging crew that I kept satisfied all afternoon in the hotel lobby. Then our gang got totally sloshed at the bar, and after we were kicked out I had to push them into the truck and drive it back here myself. Which was fun because I had no idea where to go. Fortunately the GPS in the truck has the route programmed into it, and when I discovered that I followed it back here.”

Jared laughed. “Somehow I don’t think it happened that way! First, I saw Egan driving, and second you were in the back seat with Savros. I think it be hard for someone as small as you to drive that big truck from the back seat with a dick up your rear!”

“Oh, all right,” I conceded. “Maybe I stretched it a little. I helped Savros with the laundry and food shopping, then hung around town for a bit because I figured I couldn’t get into the bar. Had dinner with the guys and came back here. How was your day?”

“A lot better than I expected it to be. Got talking to Larry, and when I mentioned how close me and my girlfriend were getting, we had a real interesting talk about relationships and marriage. He’s a smart guy, you know!”

“Yes, I noticed that.”

It wasn’t that late when we arrived back at camp, so the poker game went ahead as normal. Larry sat it out, reading some newspapers with much interest. I even opened one myself. There was a lot there I didn’t understand because I hadn’t taken an interest in human affairs before this. Some of the comic strips outright baffled me, but the ads were occasionally interesting and even enlightening.

I also found a few stories I could follow thanks to my grade 8 education. Like most earth-boys living in urban groves, and ones from rural groves except for the most traditional ones, I’d attended human primary school. It gave me a good grounding in human society and beliefs, but my education ended too early for me to get a handle on human politics and their tendency to go to war. TV and the web helped a bit there, but like most earth-boys I preferred watching funny cat videos to browsing political blogs.

Tonight was officially Savros’ night with me according to the schedule Egan had set up when I came to the camp. I gave him a really good time, but not quite as intense as I’d had with Jared the night before. After we were done, I dissuaded him from putting anything on and asked him to spoon up behind me naked. As with Jared, we had a couple rounds of sleeping sex in the night, and another good one in the morning after he woke up.