An Overheard Conversation
by Ivor Slipper
Chapter 6
Mom was surprised to see us when we walked into the house at our normal time.
"I thought you two were going to the swim trials after school today?"
"We were," I answered, "but something occurred to change our minds."
"Uh oh, do we need another family conference tonight?"
"I can tell you now, but maybe it'd be best if we told both of you over dinner."
"Alright, I can wait. There used to be a time though when you told your mom everything."
She was smiling as she said it, so I knew she wasn't upset but I gave her a big hug anyway.
While we were having our snack I had an idea and suggested to Wayne that as we weren't doing the trials we should go and swim in our pool. He agreed, so we went upstairs, changed and then went out to the pool. We had fun for a good hour or more and managed to forget about school and its problems for a while.
Over dinner I told my parents what had happened earlier and how we'd been lucky to escape an initiation, or hazing as my father called it. When he used that word it made me think he must have some personal knowledge of such things and I made a mental note to ask him about it at a suitable time. He also insisted that after dinner I should write down exactly what Jerry had told us and the details of my conversation with Coach, saying that we might need to have these things documented.
Once we'd dealt with that subject he turned to Wayne.
"I made some enquiries today Wayne, about you visiting your father." Wayne looked at him with a worried expression. "No need to look worried, it's a very simple procedure. He just needs to register with the prison authorities a list of people who he wants to visit him. I guess he needs to check and see that your grandparents are also on that list, as it might currently be only your mom. As soon as that's done, I can take you there. Visiting is on a Sunday afternoon, by the way."
Wayne's face had lit up while my father was talking to him. "Gee, it's that simple. Thanks a lot for finding out Mr Berenson. I'm gonna write that letter to him tonight. I've got some money saved from my job, so I can pay for the gas when you take us."
"Don't worry about that, Wayne. It'll be my pleasure. A small way of saying thanks to the boy who's cheered my son up so much over the last few weeks. Now go upstairs and get writing – both of you."
We did, and Wayne posted his letter the next morning. We both wondered how long it would be before he got a reply. I hoped for his sake it wasn't long. He didn't tell me exactly what he'd put in his letter, just that he had a friend whose father had offered to bring him and his grandparents on a visit.
On Saturday morning Dad took us over to Wayne's grandparents. We had a short visit with them before returning with the box. As soon as we showed the contents to my parents after we got home my father pointed out that there was no way we could take the bayonet to school. He felt sure, even without looking in the school rule book, that having any sort of weapon on school premises was banned and we'd have given Jackson just cause to bust our butts.
That was a bit of a blow to our plans, which we needed to finalise as our presentation was due next Thursday. I suggested to Wayne that we could go into town in the afternoon and perhaps find some good pictures of the war in the town library that we could copy. We did that after lunch and struck lucky. Not only did we find some, but while we were looking through the archives an old man noticed what we were doing and came over to talk with us. Turned out he'd also fought in the Pacific and had actually been on an island where the Code Talkers had been in operation. He gave us quite a lot more information, so with his stories and our pictures I thought we were set.
Sunday therefore turned into an extra school day as we put everything together. By late afternoon we'd finished and treated ourselves to a little behind locked door relaxation before going down to relax even further in the pool. When we came out and were drying off, my father who was sitting in a lounger poolside, suggested that after dinner we should give our presentation to him and my mom. I thought that made sense as it would give us a chance to make sure we'd got everything right. I did a lot of the talking but insisted Wayne talk about the parts that directly involved his grandpaw. When we'd finished, my dad said he thought it was good, but made a couple of minor suggestions. Generally though, we were ready to present.
When we were in bed that night, Wayne suddenly said, "This is gonna be weird, I'm actually going to get a grade for this. Never happened before on a project."
"And we know why that is, don't we?" I replied, cuddling him tighter.
"Yep, and I also know why I'm getting better grades on my homework and stuff. It's because you've been helping me."
"Wayne, you're not stupid. You're bright, but you've just not bothered to do the work. There was nobody around to encourage you."
"You think I might even be able to get my diploma?"
"You'll walk it...with my help." He was spooned into me, so I tweaked one of his nipples. His were very dark and grew readily when touched, as it did now. He reached one hand back and slipped it between us so he could fondle my ball sack. He knew I was responding by getting hard. I moved my hand down from his nipple to his dick. The head had emerged and was wet as I ran my finger around it. We stayed like that for a while, gently pleasuring each other until the need for more could no longer be resisted. How much more enjoyable was my life now Wayne was part, even a large part, of it, I asked myself as he rolled over and things started to happen.
Apart from the two nights during the week when Wayne did his job at the grocery store, he was staying with us all the time. He refused though to let my mom do his washing and would take a black sack and an extra back pack with him when we left the house on those days. I wasn't sure if he did his laundry at his own home or his grandparents, but these days he always looked clean even though his clothes were still well worn. I was sure some came from the Thrift shop in town. We were very similar in size and I had lots of clothes. I wanted to offer him some of mine, tell him to take what he liked, but I knew he was proud and would be upset if I did. I had found out that his birthday was in a few weeks time when he'd be fifteen. Mine was still some months away. I'd told my parents when his birthday was and my mom had indicated that it wouldn't pass unnoticed.
School was uneventful for the first part of the week. Thursday came and mom drove us to school as we had all of the project stuff to take. I was very nervous when I stood up at the front of the class to do it, but we seemed to have the attention of most of the kids – at least there didn't appear to be any conversations taking place. When we'd finished, Mr Reynolds thanked us for our work and then asked if anyone had any questions about what they'd heard.
A couple of the girls made what I considered to be general comments rather than questions. Then one of the boys sitting at the back, who I knew as one of the jocks, raised his hand and when Mr Reynolds called on him said,
"So all these guys did was just talk."
"Yes," I replied.
"So they didn't kill any Japs?"
"No, that wasn't what they were there for, as we explained."
"Can't call them soldiers if they weren't killing anyone. Perhaps they didn't have their tomahawks with them."
That produced a low titter of laughter from his pals. I glanced at Wayne and could see him balling his fists and a vein in his neck expanding. I sensed he was close to exploding and either saying or doing something.
"No they didn't," I said. "They'd already left them embedded in the heads of a couple of dumbass white officers."
Wayne burst out laughing and was joined by a few of the more sensible kids there. At the back of the room though there were audible rumbles of discontent. Mr Reynolds quickly stepped in to thank us again and establish some order.
Jerry had been in that class and come lunch break he couldn't wait to recount what had happened to Willy and anyone else on our table who hadn't been there.
"How did you think of that, Ethan?" he asked when he'd finished.
"Dunno. It just came to me without thinking. Those dumbasses needed putting down."
"Good job it did, Ethan, or I'd have been putting them down with my fists," said Wayne.
"Yeah, I knew you were getting close to blowing up."
That evening was one on which Wayne was working. Mom picked us up from school, took us home and Wayne, complete with his black sack, departed. On the trip home we'd told her about the presentation. I'd omitted the dumb question and my reply, but Wayne told her about that. She said she was proud of me, which was rather embarrassing. Dad said the same thing when I had to recount events to him later over dinner.
I was now convinced I didn't sleep so well on the nights Wayne was absent and it sure seemed true that night. I just loved having him to cuddle and to be able to run my hands over his body. Sex didn't need to be the outcome either, it was simply the skin on skin contact that I craved. He was back though on Friday night and we celebrated being together again.
Saturday morning we didn't exactly get out of bed early, but it was a nice day and he suggested we ride over to his special place. I was all in favor of the idea, so that was how we spent most of the day. Once again on Sunday we were allowed to stay in bed until almost noon. The rest of the day was taken up with doing some homework and then either in or around the pool with my parents.
Monday though was school again. I'd always enjoyed going to school in California, but here I didn't have that feeling. It was now more like I was waiting for something to go wrong.
When we got home that evening my mom handed Wayne a letter that had arrived for him. I'd assumed he had written to his father using his own address, but evidently not. He tore it open eagerly and read the contents.
"Yippee!" he exclaimed. "Dad says he's done the necessary and we can go visit him. That's not just me and my grandparents Ethan, but you and your father too. He wants to meet you so he can thank you personally."
"It's great that you can see him at last, but the first visit has to be just you and them. You've all got a lot of time to make up for. Perhaps we can meet him on another visit."
Wayne looked disappointed. "We'll talk about this more, Ethan. I wonder when we can go?"
"You'll have to wait until dad gets home to find out if he has any plans for this weekend, but if he's free I'm sure he'll take you on Sunday."
And that was what dad offered to do after he got home from work and Wayne asked the question. He was all excited, which was totally understandable, but it was a part of his character I'd not seen before. Normally he was very placid, although as I'd seen in class the other day, he did have a fuse that could be lit by certain things. Now, after dad had agreed to the coming Sunday he asked permission to cycle over to his grandparent's trailer so he could let them know what was planned. He insisted that I come with him – just in case they didn't believe him, he said. They were very pleased to get Wayne's news, after all they also hadn't seen their son for some years. As we were leaving his grandma pulled me into a hug and whispered to me, "You and your family are good people. Wayne very lucky to know you and that you like him. There will be storms along your path, but in the end you will both find happy site to pitch your tent."
It didn't make a lot of sense and when, as we were cycling back, Wayne asked me what she'd said, I told him that she'd just asked me to thank my father and then said some words I didn't understand. Wayne said she'd probably lapsed into Comanche and I was happy to leave it at that.
Monday had been a good day. Wayne and I went happily to bed that evening and I'm sure our activities helped ensure a good night's sleep. He was really happy and kept talking about seeing his father and wanting him to meet his 'paleface friend' as he now jokingly referred to me on occasions. It seemed every time he did so he was close to me enabling me to tweak a nipple in retaliation. Problem was, he liked having his nipples tweaked so it wasn't much retaliation, but I enjoyed doing it anyway.
We were thus in a happy frame of mind when we went to school the next day. Even an English Lit class couldn't spoil it. At lunch break we joined our usual table. Jerry commented on Wayne being unusually happy, but he offered no explanation and I didn't consider it my place to explain. I could understand him not wanting the fact that his father was in prison becoming common knowledge. On the other hand I was fairly sure that Jerry had worked out that we were more than just friends. Actually, I suspected that there might well be something going on between him and Willy. For sure they sometimes played footsie under the table, but maybe it was just my suspicious mind at work.
My first class after lunch break was World Geography, one that I shared with Wayne. When the bell sounded to indicate the end of lunch break, I checked in my backpack to ensure I had all the necessary books and realized that I was missing one of the text books, so told him I'd dash back to my locker and retrieve it. He told me to go ahead and he'd follow slowly. Being careful not to run, as being caught doing that in the corridor might merit a paddling in some eyes, I walked quickly to my locker, opened it and took out the book I needed. I was in the process of closing it when my head was propelled forward and my forehead struck the metal locker door. At the same time my backpack, which I was holding open in my hand having just inserted the text book into it, was knocked to the ground. As I bent to recover it I was pushed to the ground. Suddenly I could tell by his voice that Wayne had arrived and then two bodies were rolling on the ground beside me. The other one later turned out to be Derrin Mathers, the leading tackle on the senior school football team who dwarfed both of us in both height and weight. Because it was an unequal fight and I was the one who'd been attacked, I joined in to help Wayne.
A loud voice, which I knew was Mr Reynolds, telling us to stop registered with me. Slowly the three of us disentangled ourselves and stood up.
"Right, you three. You know what to expect for fighting in the school corridor. Come with me to Mr Jackson's office."
It had happened. I looked at Wayne. "Sorry, Ethan," he said. I was in the process of saying sorry to him when I heard Mr Reynolds say, "He soon will be Parnell, and so will you."
Yep, I was about to find out what it felt like to be paddled.
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