
THE MEASURE OF MAN

An Epic by Gil Gamesh

Chapter Sixty-Six


As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the measure of man.


CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Kieran Connor Stuart, 49; Siobhan (Kelly) Stuart, 48; Alannah Niamh Stuart, 4

Kavan Kelly Stuart, 22; Kathryn (Jenssen) Stuart, 23

Brad Alan Weaver, 22;  Arial Erin Weaver, 21

Kerry Lee Stuart, 17; Tara Wingard, 17

Stuart Andersen, 31; Joanne Andersen, 29; Paul Andersen, 9; Kieran Lee Andersen, 5 

Luke Bridges, 30; Rachael Bridges, 31; Adrianna Bridges, 8; James Connor Bridges, 5 

TELLING THE STORY
Kerry Stuart

<><><>

(KERRY)

“Could we take a break now?” Kieran asked. “I’m hot. I could go for a cold beer.”

“I could go for anything cold,” Siobhan said. “What would you like, Kerry?”

“Just a diet soft drink,” I answered. I was beginning to like beer but I had to avoid empty calories as long as I had my modeling contract. 

“Oh, come on, Kerry,” Kieran said. “I’ll get three of those mugs I keep in the freezer and you and Siobhan can split a beer. You can drink half an ice-cold beer. It’s really great like that when you’re hot and sweaty.”

“Kieran, don’t start that again,” Siobhan said. “He’s only got a couple of more months until he can forget about watching his weight.”

“OK, screw the diet,” I said. “Screw the modeling contract too. It’s been fun but I’d rather use my mind than my looks any day.”

“Well, anyway, let’s go in the kitchen,” Kieran said. “We need to let the bed cool off a little.”

“I need a pit stop first,” Siobhan said. “Wait on me.”

“Me too,” Kieran said. “Kerry, wait on us.”

I waited. They didn’t take long. Siobhan came out of the bathroom giggling. She had both hands behind her on her butt. I didn’t even ask what Kieran had done to make her laugh.

I led the way to the kitchen, with the two of them just behind me. I heard Kieran whispering and turned around briefly. He had his arm on Siobhan’s shoulders and was whispering something to her. I guessed he was trying to get her to do something, probably with me. I didn’t care what it was; I was ready for anything.

Kieran got three of the heavy glass mugs he kept in the freezer for beer. Siobhan got two bottles of the beer he liked, a German bock beer, from the refrigerator. It was a deep amber color, almost brown. I’d tasted it lots of times and was starting to like it too.

Siobhan sat down in a chair but Kieran and I remained standing. He poured half of a bottle into one of the mugs and pushed it to her, then poured the other half in a mug and motioned for me to take it. We waited until he poured his and then lifted our mugs to our mouths. I saw ice crystals around the inside of mine as I drank. The beer was good like that, probably nothing like the Germans drank it, but I liked it. I liked it so much I drained my mug and almost froze my throat.

I didn’t know Kieran was behind me until he pushed me close to Siobhan. She grinned at me and grabbed my dick. It was still soft but swollen and maybe ready to stand up again. I had no idea what she was doing. She took another big swallow of beer, leaned over, pushed my foreskin back, and quickly took the head of my dick in her mouth. Her mouth, her lips, her tongue, the beer, whatever, was icy but the effect on me was hot. I felt the blood surge into my dick. She straightened up and grinned at me again.

“I told Jerry I’d cold-cock you,” she said.

I tried to hold back a big burp but it squeezed out anyway. “Damn!” I said because I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I sat down in a chair beside her.

I looked at Kieran, Jerry, whoever the fuck he was, leaning back against the kitchen counter, grinning. “Has she ever done that to you?” I asked. 

He nodded. “Takes your breath away, doesn’t it, Jason?”

“Jerry put me up to it,” Siobhan said. “He’s a bad little boy.”

I decided to get even with him. I looked at her mug. It was empty, like mine. I went to the refrigerator for another beer, to the freezer for two fresh mugs, and then sat down beside her again. I poured half of the bottle in each of the two mugs.

“Let’s both cold-cock him, Allison,” I said to Siobhan.

“Are you sure, Jason?” she asked. “Why don’t you just let me do it?” 

“I’m sure,” I said. “He’s been telling me I’d better be ready for anything if I go play with you two and Luke and Rachael next weekend. Let’s just see if he’s ready for anything.”

“You’d better not do it, Jason,” Kieran said. “It might make you queer.”

“Not a chance,” I said. “Gays like to do something that’s not a turn-on for me. I already know I’m not going to grow up to be gay.”

“What’s that?” Siobhan asked. 

“They like to fuck each other in the ass,” I said. “I don’t want to fuck another guy and I sure as hell don’t want another guy fucking me.”

“Oh, I thought you wanted to do it with me,” she said.

“I was only teasing about it, just like you were,” I said. “I don’t see why any guy wants to do it to a woman, not when there’s a place that’s a zillion times better.”

“Bullshit,” Kieran said. “Paul and I did it to Lauren once. If a woman really wanted you to do it, I’ll bet you would. What do you think, Siobhan?”

She looked directly at me. “Oh, I think I could have convinced him.”

She picked up her mug, took a sip of beer, and then wiggled her finger at Kieran. “Come here, Jerry.”

I picked up my mug, took a swallow, and then wiggled my finger at him too. “Yeah, come here, Jerry. You’re chicken-shit, if you don’t.”

He shook his head, maybe no, but he walked over in front of us anyway. I took another big mouthful of beer and held it as long as I could.  I slid off the chair, down on my knees, and cold-cocked him while I swallowed the beer. He groaned when I tried to suck the head off his dick. 

Siobhan was on her knees waiting for him. As soon as I pulled back, she took a big mouthful of beer, held it for a few seconds, and then cold-cocked him again. He groaned again and even shivered as she was sucking him. I watched and sipped the rest of my beer. 

Kieran – Jerry – went to the freezer for another cold mug and to the refrigerator for another beer. He poured most of it in his mug, a little bit in Siobhan’s, and the rest of it in mine. He took a swallow and let out a burp.

“Stand up, Jason!” he said. “I’m not chicken-shit! I’ll do anything you do and probably do it better.”

I let out a louder burp, a real belch, sort of saying “I don’t believe you,” and stood up. Siobhan giggled and let out a polite little burp. Jerry sat down in my chair, took a couple of big swallows, burped, and then cold-cocked me again. I shivered this time.

“Don’t worry, Jason,” Siobhan said. “I’ll thaw it out for you later,”

“Thaw mine out too,” Jerry whined like a little boy. “It’s frost-bitten.”

I didn’t need to have my dick thawed out. It had swelled to a hard-on within seconds of Siobhan cold-cocking me. Kieran’s wasn’t quite standing up when I cold-cocked him but it was close. I decided to taunt him a little. I sat down in a chair, leaned back, and stretched my legs out straight. I used the muscles around my dick to make it jump up and down a few times. “It’s alive!” I said in my best mad-scientist imitation. “It’s alive! Igor, it’s alive!”

I couldn’t remember whether I’d ever done that with them around. I guess Siobhan hadn’t seen me do it before. She almost fell out of her chair laughing. Kieran didn’t even try to duplicate my performance.

“You two are both bad little boys,” Siobhan said, when she had finally calmed down and could talk again. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

“Cause we put it up you,” Kieran-Jerry, said. 

“I’m ready for a fucking shower,” I said. “I think somebody spiked my fucking beer.”

“Yeah, let’s all three get in the fucking shower together,” Kieran suggested. 

“We can’t all get in there at the same time,” Siobhan said. “It’s not big enough.”

“Get in the shower with me and it’ll get bigger,” Kieran said.

“Hush, Kieran,” Siobhan said, “I was talking about the shower, not your dick.”

“It’s big enough,” I said. “I got in there once with Brad and Arial. It was hard but we both got it in there…I mean we all got in there.”

“Kerry, are you drunk?” she asked.

“Nope but I feel a little buzz. I’ve never been drunk before and I’m not drunk now.”

“He’s just like me, Siobhan,” Kieran said. “I don’t like to get drunk because I can’t control what I do and say. He’s a control freak just like me.”

We were quiet when we went down the hall past Alannah’s bedroom. She was a sound sleeper and typically slept for about ten hours. She usually woke up about six in the morning. Sometimes she would come down to the basement and crawl in the bed with me if nobody was up.

The three of us were able to squeeze in the shower in their bathroom. We did some groping and a lot of rubbing against each other and a little bit of washing. I began to feel even more of a buzz, sort of dopey-headed, but it wasn’t bad. It just made me feel silly. Maybe it made Kieran and Siobhan silly too. I wrapped my arms around Siobhan from behind and poked her with my hard-on. She acted like she was trying to get it in her pussy but we couldn’t figure out how I could get down to it or she could get up to it. Kieran was in front of her and he tried to get his dick between her legs too. It just couldn’t be done with all of us standing up straight and Kieran and I didn’t have room to stoop down. Of course, it might have been possible if she had quit squirming and had held still long enough.

When we got out of the shower, we helped dry off each other. Kieran and I dried Siobhan and then she and I dried him. I tried to rub his dick off with a towel and he took it away from me and flipped me on my butt as I tried to get away. I raised my hands and surrendered and then they both rubbed me dry. Siobhan made Kieran let her dry my dick and balls.

“Are you two ready to go to sleep?” I asked. “I’ll go downstairs to my own bed if you want me to.”

“You can sleep with us, Kerry,” Kieran said. “You haven’t done that in a long time. It’s been a few years.”

“I’m not ready to go to sleep,” Siobhan said. “It’s just past ten o’clock.  There’s something else I want to do with you two.”

“What?” Kieran asked.

“Just wait,” she said. “It’s something silly but I want us to do it.”

When we went back to their bedroom, I waited for Siobhan to get in the bed first, thinking that she’d want to be in the middle. She surprised me. 

“Kieran, would you mind if Kerry got in the middle this time?” she asked. “When he was little, that’s where he loved to get. I can’t remember the last time he crawled in between us.”

“I remember,” I said. “I was twelve years old and you let me stay with you while you were making love. I even helped Kieran by sucking on your nipples while he was fucking you from behind. Boy, that was really hot.”

“I don’t mind if he’s in the middle for a while,” Kieran said, “but I’d rather have you in the middle when we go to sleep. If I’m going to spoon up to somebody’s butt, I want it to be yours.”

“Well, you used to spoon up against my butt,” I said. “Siobhan used to let me play with her breasts and you’d be behind me, propped up on one elbow, watching what I was doing. It made me feel loved to be there with both of you.”

“Could we do it like that for a few minutes, Kieran?” Siobhan asked. “I’ll get in the middle before we go to sleep.”

“Are we through playing for the night?” he asked. “I thought you wanted to do something else.”

“We’re not through,” she answered. “I hope you and Kerry have a little more ammunition in your guns, at least one more round.”

I looked at Kieran and frowned at him. “Did you tell her what we did this morning?”

“Yeah, sure, you know I don’t keep any secrets from her. I thought it was fun. She said she wished she could have seen us doing it.”

“Let’s get in the bed,” Siobhan suggested. “I’ll help you reload your guns and then I’ll tell you what I want you to do.”

“Do you want me to turn out the lights?” I asked, and walked over to the wall switch for the overhead light.

“Let’s leave the ones beside the bed on,” Kieran said. “I want to see what we’re doing.”

“OK, but turn them down so it’s not so bright,” Siobhan said. “Kerry, you can turn out the overhead light.”

I turned out the light, crawled in the bed, and stretched out in the middle. Kieran waited until I was settled and then looked at me while he dimmed the bedside lights. When Siobhan got in on my left side, I turned toward her. Kieran got in behind me and spooned up against me, just the way I remembered it from six years ago. She turned toward me, her face a foot or so from mine and her knees against mine. I put my hand on her breast with my thumb and forefinger on the nipple. Kieran moved up closer to me, put his right leg over my left one, and I felt his hard-on pressed against my butt. Just like old times. He rose up on one elbow and I knew he was watching what Siobhan and I were doing.

Siobhan cupped her hand under one breast and lifted it up toward my mouth. I moved down a little, bent my neck, put my lips around the nipple, and started sucking gently. She reached down, took my dick in her hand, and started stroking, just as slowly and gently as I was sucking. Kieran rose up a little higher, I guess so he could see better, and then put his hand over hers. Together they jacked me some and then Siobhan slid her hand down over my balls and left Kieran’s hand stroking me. I remembered they’d put their hands on me like that the last time, years ago.

They whispered back and forth while I sucked on her nipple. When I put my hand on her hip, slid it around onto her butt, then further until I felt the lips of her pussy, she told him what I was doing. When I moved the hand around in front, she lifted one leg, and I got my middle finger as deep in her furnace as I could. Again, she told him what I was doing and what it felt like. I sucked and finger-fucked and let them do the talking. I didn’t have anything to say.

After a few minutes, Siobhan pushed me back away from her. I looked up at her face. Her eyes were almost closed and she was smiling.

“You’ve got me too hot, Kerry,” she whispered. “I’m close to coming and I want to do something else before I do.”

“What?”

“Just wait. I’ll tell you in a few minutes. I want to do something Kieran loves. I think you will too.”

“If it’s what I think it is, I know he will,” Kieran said. “Could you get in the middle now so I can watch?”

“I’m going to do it to both of you, Kieran,” she said. “Just remember I don’t want you to come while I’m doing it. Stop me if you get too close, OK?”

I had no idea what it was but I said OK anyway. She made me move up to the head of the bed and then crawled over me. She settled down with her head near my hip, and then tugged at me until I turned over on my side with my dick near her face. Kieran turned over on his side, facing me and grinned at me. 

“Just relax, Kerry,” he whispered. “Don’t try to do anything. Just let her do it.”

I closed my eyes and let her. Maybe it was nothing special but I loved it. It was probably as erotic as anything I’d ever experienced. She put her nose on each side of my balls, took a few deep breaths, then started licking me and didn’t stop until she’d licked every bit of my dick and balls and all around. Then she started sucking. She started with my scrotum, sucked one testicle into her mouth, and then the other. Nobody had ever done that to me before. It didn’t feel that great but just the idea that she was doing it made me squirm. I opened my eyes and saw Kieran propped up on one arm, watching, and grinning at me.

She stopped, took a few more deep breaths, and then started sucking and licking my dick.  I closed my eyes and relaxed again. She did it slowly and gently, not like she was trying to make me come, not so much like she was doing something that I liked, more like she was doing something she liked and enjoyed doing. I let everything else fade away until there was nothing but my dick and her mouth and my balls and her hands. I came back to reality when she stopped. 

“I like doing that to you, Jason,” she whispered. “Is it OK if I do it to Jerry for a while? I’m a bad little girl.  I want to do it to both of you.”

“You’re not a bad little girl,” I said. “You’re a gooood little girl. You can do that to me anytime.”

She did the same thing with Kieran. He kept his eyes closed and, from the look on his face, he was enjoying it as much as I did. I lay there, propped up on one elbow, slowly stroking my dick, and watched the show. She played with him for maybe five minutes and then stopped and got up on her knees between us.

“OK, now you two can finish up with each other and I get to watch,” she whispered. “I like to watch two guys doing a soixante-neuf.”

Kieran’s eyes popped open and he looked at me. I didn’t want to finish up with him. I didn’t know whether he’d be willing to finish with me. I didn’t know whether she was just teasing and daring us again. I thought it would be fun to tease Kieran about it. 

“That’s fine with me but I’m not going to swallow,” I said. “How about you, Kieran?”

“I always swallow,” he said, grinning at me. “It’s as good as raw oysters.”

I looked at Siobhan. She wasn’t grinning, not with her mouth anyway, but her eyes said something else. I looked back at Kieran. He was still grinning. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. I didn’t want to do anything with him, not a sixty-nine anyway. 

“Well, come on, Kerry,” Kieran said. “Do you like it top and bottom or side by side?”

I looked back at Siobhan. She had a little bit of a grin on her face now. I still didn’t know whether they really expected me to do it or whether they were just teasing me again. Kieran had told me that I’d better be ready for anything if I went to Luke and Rachael’s with them. I thought I was. But I guess I was thinking of anything as something guys did with girls, not guys doing it with each other.

“You can relax, Kerry,” she said. “I don’t really want to watch you and Kieran sucking each other. We’re just teasing you.”

“Don’t listen to her, Kerry,” Kieran said. “She and Rachael got me and Luke to do it with each other. They watched us and kept at us to really get into it, to do it like we really wanted to suck each other.”

“Well, that was just because you and Luke kept teasing me and Rachael to do a soixante-neuf while you two watched,” she said. “We enjoyed doing it. I don’t see why you can’t admit you enjoyed doing it with Luke.”

“I thought I had admitted it,” he said. “I guess I enjoyed it too much. I was afraid I might learn to like it so much that I’d want to keep doing it.”

“You guys are all alike,” she said. “You love it when a woman sucks your dick. When I asked Jason what he wanted, that’s the first thing he asked for. ‘Suck my dick!’ Shit! It’s always OK if a woman does it. Just let a man do it and you panic.”

“That’s not true, Siobhan,” I said. “I didn’t panic when Jerry cold-cocked me. I’ve played with a few couples where I sucked the guy’s dick. I don’t mind doing it when we’re all playing around and having fun.  I just know I’d rather have my mouth on a woman’s pussy than on a man’s dick any day.”

“You inherited my cunnilingus gene, Kerry.” Kieran said. “When I was a kid, I used to have fantasies about licking and biting and sucking a girl all over and saving her pussy for dessert. The first time I really did it…boy, that was really something...doing it with Lauren was better than any fantasy.”

“And I’ll always be grateful that she got you off to such a good start,” Siobhan said. “Are you two ready to do something else? Have you got your derringers reloaded?”

“See what I have to put up with, Kerry,” Kieran said. “If I didn’t love her so much, I’d spank her butt for calling my bazooka a derringer.”

“I think you should spank her anyway,” I said. “I’d like to watch you do it. Get her butt all rosy red and then we’ll both bite it.”

“Don’t you dare, Kieran!” she said. “You two have got to do what I say now. Whatever your dick is, I helped you reload it. Now I want to watch you shoot it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Just what I said,” she said. “I want to lay here in the middle of the bed and I want you two to get on your knees…straddle my legs…and jack off while I watch. It may be silly but it’s what I want.”

I looked at Kieran. He was grinning at me and I knew he’d do it. I guess he knew I’d do it too.

“What are you going to be doing while we’re doing that?” I asked.

“I’m going to use my fingers to do myself,” she said. “I’m going to see if I can come at the same time you do.”

She spread her legs wide apart and put both hands between them. I couldn’t see what she was doing but I wanted to watch her doing herself while we jacked off on her. Maybe it was silly but I really wanted to do it too.

“Come on, Jason,” Kieran said. “Let’s do what Allison wants. I’m ready.”

He rolled over on his knees and straddled one leg. I straddled the other, looked down, and saw her fingers start to move. I looked at Kieran and saw that he was looking down at where her hand was. He started stroking his dick and I did too.

 She had not only helped me reload but she’d also primed me. Within a minute or so, I felt the urge to shoot begin and I decided to see if I could give her a good one. I put my other hand between my legs, thumb over my dick against my stomach, fingers curled around my balls, fingertips pressed against the area between my balls and my asshole. I tightened the muscles in my stomach and hips and thighs, gave my dick a few more strokes, and started shooting.

The first one flew a few feet and hit on one side of her face. I bent my dick down a little and the next one got her on one of her breasts. I bent it a little more and drilled her in the stomach. I leaned back, bent it a little more, and squirted a little more down on her hand and her pubic hair.

I looked back at her face and saw her eyes almost closed and an expression that told me she was coming too.

I looked at Kieran and watched him. His hand was almost a blur. It didn’t stop moving until he’d laid down another trail of white blobs and strings on her breasts and stomach.

I waited, watching Siobhan’s hand moving around between her legs about as slowly as my hand was moving on my dick. I looked at Kieran, saw him squeeze out another glob of semen, and then shake his dick until it dropped down on her stomach. I milked my dick down and added a little more to the mess.

Siobhan moved both hands up through all the semen, rubbed it around on her breasts, especially the nipples, then cupped her hands underneath them and held them up.

“Strawberries and cream,” she whispered. “Anybody want some?” 

I looked at Kieran to see what he was going to do. When he bent over, I joined him. 
<><><>

The next morning, I woke up with a piss-hard and a bladder demanding to be emptied. I was groggy and half awake and, for a minute, I couldn’t remember where I was. I felt someone behind me and I knew from the breasts pressed against my back that it was a Siobhan. But there was somebody in front of me too, somebody little, spooned back against me, a little naked butt pressed back against my hard-on. I tried to sort it all out and then I knew. Siobhan was behind me and Alannah was in front of me. They were both still and breathing slowly. I tried to be still too but there was no way I could. I eased out as slowly and gently as I could and went in the bathroom. 

When I came back out, Kieran and Siobhan were awake, hair all mussed, naked, and both turned toward Alannah. She was on her stomach between them, with her hands under her chin and the calves of her legs bent back toward her beautiful little butt and wiggling around and around. I stood and watched them talking to her and playing with her.

I didn’t feel that she was taking my place. I was happy that she could be there with them, sharing in their love, just like I had. It just made it easier for me to do what I wanted to do, what I had to do.
 
<><><>

On Wednesday morning, I caught Dad before he left for work. I wanted to talk to him about lots of stuff and I didn’t want to do it with Mom or Alannah around. I asked him if he’d go fishing with me down in the creek that evening. He knew what I wanted.

“Sure,” he answered. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Lots of things,” I said. “They all get mixed up and I’m having a hard time deciding what I want to do and what’s the best way and stuff like that.”

“OK, I’ll be home a little after five. I want to have a little time with Alannah and Siobhan first. What time do you want to go?”

“We could go about seven and still have about an hour of daylight to fish. I’ll get us some crickets and worms and make sure the poles and lines are OK.”

We always used little cane poles with a light line and a cork and a small lead weight to fish in the creek. If we went down the creek toward the river a short distance, there were some deep holes in places. We would flick the line upstream and let it drift into the holes. Most of the fish we caught were bream but Dad and I liked them. 

We were going down the hill to the creek when I asked my first question. I wanted to save a certain question for last.

“Dad, is Kavan’s plan to purchase Manchester Landscaping going to work?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” he answered. “The Manchesters really want to sell the business to him. Siobhan has helped him put together a good financing package. He’ll have a bank loan and I’ll co-sign that. He’ll have a new mortgage on the property. And he’s going to sell two thousand shares of common stock.” 

“Is it OK if I buy a hundred shares,” I asked. “If I wait a few months, I won’t have to ask your permission but I want to subscribe to the stock now.”

He looked at me and I suppose he was wondering if I knew what I was asking to do.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “The stock will be sold at $100 per share. That’s a big chunk of the money Siobhan has invested for you.”

“I’m sure. I know what I’m doing.”

“Kerry, the stock won’t necessarily pay dividends any time soon and, if Kavan screws up, you could lose your investment. Why do you want to do it?”

“Do you remember the time I cut my foot bad at the creek and Kavan and Arial brought me home. I think I was eight then.”

“Yeah, the three of you were down there barefooted and you stepped on a piece of glass, didn’t you?  You had to have some stitches and a tetanus shot.”

“We weren’t all barefooted, Dad. Kavan and Arial had their old sneakers on. I took mine off. Kavan told me to keep them on but I didn’t listen to him.”

“I don’t remember it that way.”

“Kavan lied about it when he told Mom. He told her a white lie so I wouldn’t get punished. I knew you and Mom wanted us to wear old sneakers in the creek but I wanted to get barefooted and wade. Please don’t tell Mom, OK?”

“Is that why you stopped arguing with him so much? Seems like that was about the time your relationship with him changed.”

“Yeah, that was part of it. I guess it was mainly the way he took care of me and didn’t fuss at me.”

“What did he do?”

“My foot was bleeding pretty bad and Arial wanted to run home and get Mom. Kavan told her not to. He said he didn’t want her running down the hill not knowing how bad I was hurt. He said they could take care of it.”

“And they did, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, Kavan sat me down on a rock and held the cut closed with his hand until the bleeding slowed down. He got Arial calmed down and she got me to stop crying. He got her to hold the cut closed, took off his shirt and cut some strips out of it, made a compress, and tied it over the cut. Then he carried me up the hill on his back.”

“If you were eight then, he was about thirteen, wasn’t he? He carried you all the way up the hill by himself?”

“Yeah, Mom saw us coming and I guess she saw my foot was bandaged but she didn’t panic. Arial was chattering away about what had happened. Kavan couldn’t say anything until he caught his breath and then he told Mom the white lie. He was looking at Arial when he told it like he was daring her to tell Mom the truth.”

“Did he ream you out later for being so stupid?”

“No. We talked for an hour that night but he never said a word about what I’d done. He still hasn’t said anything to me about it.”

“And that’s why you want to put your money in his company, huh?”

“Maybe. Maybe it’s because he was so calm and competent and assured that afternoon. Maybe it’s because he took care of me and never fussed at me. Maybe it’s because he’s my brother and I love him and I trust him.”

“That’s not a good reason for a business decision, Kerry,” he said.

“Yes it is,” I protested. “I know Kavan. He’s got his degree in landscape architecture. He knows how to do everything at Manchester Landscaping. He wants to buy the business and run it. I know he can do it. He’ll never let us down. That’s just the way he is. Anyway, how much of the common stock are you and Mom going to buy?”

“I’ll leave that up to Siobhan,” he said. “Lauren wants to buy some and Stuart and Luke do too. I think all of the common will be subscribed in the next week of two. If you can convince your Mom to let you subscribe to some shares, it’s OK with me.”

The first place we fished was at a big sycamore tree. The creek had washed a deep hole close to the tree and I almost always caught something in it. This time Dad was the one who got lucky. It was a nice catfish, the kind that’s really good eating. He was putting it on the string when he asked me about Alexandra.

“I heard you were at lunch with an older woman, Kerry,” he said. “Have you got a new conquest?”

“Nah, not yet. Do you know Alexandra Mishkoff? She’s the Arts and Entertainment editor for the paper.  We've had lunch together a couple of times. The first time, she took me to lunch at Mork and Mindy’s Deli. She wanted to talk to me about writing a follow-up story on the high school production of Porky’s. She saw it and also the production of Grease, the next year. That’s the one in which Nicole Whittaker and I were the lead dancers. She loved both of them. Lunch was supposed to be about an hour but we ended up sitting and talking until after two o’clock. We hit it off in more ways than one. Damn, she’s hot”

“I don’t know her but I know who she is. She’s twice your age, Kerry.”

“Yeah, more than that. She’s forty, but she’s a hot forty, Dad. She did me a favor so I took her to lunch the second time.”

“What did she do?”

“She got me a couple a couple of tickets to a concert that was sold out. I took her to lunch at The Gardens as a thank-you.”

“That’s a pricy upscale place, Kerry, Was she impressed?”

“Yeah, I dressed up some, thanks to Cruise Classics, and picked her up in my car. She wanted to know where I got the clothes and the car so I told her. I didn’t tell her where we were going and she was surprised when I pulled up at The Gardens. I’d made reservations and I just acted like I went there all the time. We talked about the article she wants to write and had another long lunch. I promised I’d help her.” 

“You said ‘not yet’ when I asked you about her. Are you planning on seeing her again, maybe adding her to your harem?”

“Who knows?  I asked her for a date, told her I’d bring her back to The Gardens for dinner and dancing. She said she wouldn’t date me until I was eighteen, told me to call her then. We both know what we want.”

“I have no idea what you two want with each other,” he lied.

“Well, she did. I asked her for a birthday present, a pair of her panties to make it clear what I wanted. She asked me what she’d get in return. I told her I’d eat her until she couldn’t talk and fuck her until she couldn’t walk. When I took her back to the newspaper, she kissed me on the cheek and told me to call her.”

Kieran just shook his head. “Kerry, you’d better be careful about messing around with older women.

“You didn’t tell me that when I was messing around with Lauren.”

“I knew Lauren wouldn’t hurt you. I don’t know anything about Alexandra. Just don’t get into something over your head.”

“That’s a good one, Dad. I’ll give you two points.”

“You know what I mean, Kerry.”

“Yeah, I know.” 

“What have you got planned for the summer to keep you out of mischief?” he asked. “Sounds like you’ve already got plans to get into something.”

“Well, the modeling job is going to take a lot of time,” I answered. “The money’s too damn good to turn down but I’m getting tired of it.”

“I meant something where you’re going to use your brain, not your looks or your dick.”

“Stuart wants me to work my way through some math subjects where he thinks I’m a little weak. He wants me to pick one basic course and make sure I know it well enough to teach it, you know, develop an outline, make up some tests, and stuff like that. He wants me to teach a few classes with him as a student so he can rip my ass to shreds.”

“Kerry, you know what he’s doing,” he said. “The experience will be useful if you go to school at Stuart’s alma mater. They like to make grad students into low-paid slaves. You might end up teaching students older than you are. Would you mind if I sat in on the class when you’re teaching it? Maybe you could invite Luke too.”

“It’s OK with me,” I said.  “I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

“Maybe Luke would help you with some computer applications,” he said. “Why don’t you ask him?”

“I already did. He gave me some computer programs he says I should learn. He charged them to Andersen Security and told me I could repay the company by helping Andersen employees with them when they need it. Is it OK for him to give me something like that and charge it to the company? Did he tell you?”

“Well, I hadn’t heard about it but, sure, it’s OK. That’s Luke’s decision. He evidently thinks you can help our employees as payment. Luke doesn’t bother me with details like that. He’s a take-charge person. He may be the next CEO for Andersen Security.”

“Oh, when would that happen?”

“Not before I’m fifty-eight, Kerry. I told you about the golden handcuffs the company’s put on me. I can retire as a millionaire at fifty-eight if I want to.” 

He’d told me about the golden handcuffs. He’d been contacted a few times by corporate headhunters who had heard of what he’d done at Andersen Security. The Board of Directors, mainly Ms. Lauren, had put the handcuffs on him to make sure he wouldn’t leave Andersen.

“Luke said he’ll help me with the computer programs anytime I want it and Stuart said he’ll help me brush up my math courses.  They both said I could come over about five, play with the kids, have dinner with them, and work with them afterwards. They said I could spend the night anytime I want to.”

“What does that mean, spend the night?” Kieran asked, grinning at me.

“It just means I can sleep over, Dad,” I answered. “What do you think it means?”

“It sounds like they want you to play with the little kids before dinner and then play with the big kids when you go to bed. Is that what you think they mean?”

“Who knows, Dad?” I answered. “The flesh is willing and the spirit is weak.”

We walked down the creek a little farther and baited our hooks again. I found a likely spot and dropped in my line. He moved on a few feet and tried another spot.

“I saw Tara Winegard yesterday,” I said. “And again today. And I want to see her lots more.”

Tara was a friend when I was in high school. She had been to our house as part of a study group more than once. Dad knew her father and mother. I didn’t know if he’d remember her. He did.

“Oh? What’s she like now?”

“She’s really changed,” I said. “I couldn’t believe what she looks like now. We’re the same age but she was just a junior when I graduated. She just graduated last week. She was kind of mousy and shy and skinny when I graduated. Kind of cute and mischievous too. Now she’s…she’s tall and beautiful, really gorgeous. Legs like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Come on, Kerry,” he said. “What happened? Sounds like she made quite an impression on you.”

“Yeah, she sure did. You know they give us a big white robe to wear when we’re not busy. They were doing some swimsuit pictures first. I had on a Cruise Classic version of a Speedo and they were through with me so I put on my robe and started back to where the guys change. I didn’t have it closed ‘cause most of us don’t worry about somebody looking at us. She came out of a room across the hall with her robe wrapped around her. I didn’t know who she was but I looked ‘cause she was so tall. When she saw me she smiled like she knew me and then flashed me and said, ‘Hi, Kerry.’”

“Flashed you?” Dad asked. “You mean she was naked under her robe?”

“Nah, she had on a little two-piece outfit,” I said. “The way she grinned and the way she did it – that’s when I knew who she was. It was Tara. I saw her again later and asked her to have lunch with me. They furnish sandwiches and drinks when we’re working and we eat when we’re not busy. We ate lunch together today too.”

“And you’re smitten, huh?” Dad said.

“Whatever. Boy, she’s really something. She’s almost as tall as me; she says she’s five eleven in her bare feet. She’s not skinny anymore. She’s filled out enough to make my tongue get hard. I want to ask her for a date.”

“Well, go ahead,” he said and paused for a second like he was thinking. “Is there a problem with asking her for a date?” 

“No problem. I know my dick’s interested in her. I jacked off twice last night thinking about how she looked when she held her robe open. I just don’t want to get involved with her unless there’s the possibility of a lot more than sex. I don’t think that would be fair to her. She’s always had a reputation as one of the nice girls in school. She told me to bug off if all I wanted was to hook up with her.”

I saw his cork go under and he jerked his pole. He had a bream big enough to put up a little fight. It was a keeper so I put it on the string with the others.

“Are you holding back on your questions?” he asked. “You could have told me about Tara anytime.”

“I know. Meeting her is just one more example of what makes it so hard to make up my mind about going to college in California and leaving home and being away from my family. I want to go. I want it real bad. I want to be totally on my own and be responsible for my life. Kavan and Arial may be content to stay here but I just feel like I can’t. I want to see different places and meet different people and all sorts of stuff. Then I see Tara, after not having seen her in about two years, and I want to stay here and…I don’t even know what. I just have a feeling I might be stupid not to get to know her better. I haven’t felt like this about any other girl I’ve known.” 

“Why don’t you just talk to her about it? If she graduated high school last week, I imagine she’ll start college somewhere this fall. She probably has a lot of the same concerns you do.”

“She’s going to college here. Maybe I ought to just stay here and get my undergraduate degree and then go to Stuart’s alma mater for my PhD.  I just have a feeling about her, like maybe I could end up married to her. I wouldn’t mind seeing her face for the rest of my life.”

“What color are her eyes, Kerry?” he asked. I knew the answer.

“They’re a very light blue-gray. Did you really know you wanted to marry Mom the first time you saw her?” I asked. “I think I remember you said you did. How did you know?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how or why I felt that way but I really did feel like she was the woman I wanted to marry. I’d never felt like that before. She smiled at me – you know how her face and eyes light up when she smiles – and I knew I wanted to marry her.”

“Well, I’ll have this summer to see what happens with her,” I said. “But I want to get busy and make plans to transfer to Stuart’s alma mater this fall or maybe next January. Will you help me? I don’t mean with money. I mean with Mom and Alannah. Maybe you and Stuart and Luke could all help me decide on a major. I love studying math and physics but I need to point myself at a specific goal.”

“Yes, I’ll help you. We’ll all help you.” 

“That’s one more thing I want to talk about, Dad, the most important thing,” I said. “About this weekend – I want to go play with you and Siobhan and Luke and Rachael. The only problem is, the way you and Siobhan make it sound, it’s a lot of playing and sex and fun. I like that but I wish I could make love to her sort of peaceful and quiet first.”

“You want some private time with her? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Uh, uh, not really, I just wish it could be like it was last Saturday night, with both of us loving her, just me and you. The only thing different would be that I get to go all the way with her.”

“You want me around while you’re doing it? You want me to stay and watch?”

“Yeah, I want you to stay. I want to watch you with her. I want you to watch me with her.”

“Both of us, huh, one after the other?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’ll even take sloppy seconds,” I answered, grinning at him

He punched me on the shoulder. “And I get third and you get fourth?”

I pretended I was going to hit him in the stomach. “Yeah, I guess so, if you can get it up again. I know I can.”

“I’ll talk to Siobhan tonight and see what she says,” he answered. “Are you going to be home tomorrow night and Friday night?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any plans until Saturday night.”

“What are you doing then?” he teased. 

“Could we talk about that,” I asked. “I mean, be serious about it. I keep thinking about it. I want to do it but I keep thinking maybe it’s wrong for me to do it with Siobhan.”

“Kerry, you know what I’ve tried to teach you about sex,” he said. “Don’t ever do anything without the permission of the other person and don’t ever do anything to hurt her. She’s says it’s OK with her and you know you’re not going to hurt her.”

“Yeah, I hope it doesn’t. I’m not talking about physically. If your dick doesn’t hurt her, I know mine won’t. I’m talking about the relationship we have. Most people would say we shouldn’t do it because it’s incest and it’s a sin for us to do it.”

He stood and looked at me for a minute or so, grinning at me, and shaking his head.

“Kerry, we’ve had lots of talks about religion over the last few years. What’s a sin?”

“I know. I know. People say it’s a sin if you disobey god’s holy words. You say there’s no such thing as a sin. I suppose you’re an atheist and I guess I am too. You say there’s no supernatural entity like a god and all the so-called holy books are just a jumble of stuff written my men. They’re not a god’s words; they’re men’s words. I agree with that.”

“I don’t call myself an atheist, Son,” he said. “I don’t even feel like an agnostic. I’ve searched for years for something like religion to believe in. All I want is a little bit of objective, verifiable evidence that the core assertions are really believable. I’ve never found any. I don’t say there’s no god; I just say I’ve never found any evidence of one.”

“Why do you get so pissed off when somebody talks about the virgin birth and all that kind of stuff?”

“Because of the way they see a woman. They see her as pure and undefiled if she’s a virgin. If she’s had a man’s dick in her, she’s been defiled. That’s crap. I didn’t defile your mother when we had sex and conceived you four kids. It’s stupid to look at something as defiling a woman when it resulted in four of the best things that ever happened to me.”

“Even if one of those four kids wasn’t part of your plans?” I asked. He knew I was teasing about the fact that I was sort of an accident.

He stood looking at me for a minute or so. “I wish you could know how I feel about you, Son. I love all of you but sometimes I feel like I’m closer to you than the others. I don’t love you any less because you weren’t planned.”

“Well, I’m glad you and Mom didn’t try to teach us to stay pure until after we’re married. When I hear kids talk about abstinence, I feel sorry for them. I’m glad you let us do stuff and just tried to guide us.”  

“Son, you know I believe all religious teachings about sex are pretty stupid. It hasn’t been that long since boys were taught that masturbation was a sin and they should be ashamed of doing it. Do you think I should have taught you that instead of teaching you that it’s the most natural thing a young man can do?”

“Shit no, Dad. I’d have gone crazy if you’d pushed that on me.”

“We’ve always tried to be honest with you kids when it comes to sex,” he said. “We never forced you into anything. We let you learn with each other and even with us. Did we do anything to hurt you?”

“Yeah, I know. But you’ve always set limits on what we do. You’ve never done it with Arial. Why not?”

“Because I think it would hurt her relationship with Brad. I screwed up when I did it with Kathryn. I think that almost wrecked her relationship with Kavan. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Well, is it going to hurt my relationship with you if I do it with Siobhan? Or your relationship with her?”

“No, Kerry, it’s not. I surrendered to loving her a long time ago and I know she loves me the same way. We’ve both done everything we can to have a loving commitment to each other. It’s gotten stronger and stronger over the years. Just because one of us has sex with someone else occasionally doesn’t diminish that love.”

“Yeah, I know how you two love each other. I’ve watched you all my life and I really believe you when you say you can’t separate loving her and having sex with her. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized how unusual you two are in not hiding your love. I guess that’s why I worry about doing something to hurt your relationship.”

“Kerry, I know what you’re doing. Maybe you don’t but I think I do. You’re going to leave us. You love both of us. You want to love Siobhan completely before you go. That’s not going to hurt us.”

I felt a tug on my fishing pole and realized I’d forgotten that I was supposed to be fishing. I finally managed to get a big bream landed, probably one of the biggest I’d ever caught in the creek. I strung it up and looked at Kieran. He had wound up his fishing line on the cane pole. I knew it was time for us to go back up the hill to home. 

“It’s time for us to go home, Kerry,” he said. “And it’s time for you to go too.”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t know where I’m going in life but I’m ready for it.

“I’ve got to pee,” Kieran said. “You?”

I knew what he meant. “Yeah!”

We stood side by side on the creek bank, unzipped our jeans, and took out our dicks. I pointed mine upward, squeezed the muscles in my abdomen, and arched a stream out into the creek. Kieran glanced at me, followed my example, and we tried to see who could piss the farthest. It was probably a tie. We both shook and put away.

“It’s your turn,” he said. 

Again, I knew what he meant.  

I said it and added something to it. “It’s great to be a man on a warm spring evening like this and to take a good hot piss in the creek – with my father.”


TO BE CONTINUED:
