Nevermore!
by and © Henry Higgins
Chapter 10, Rusty Steps Out
The boys approached the table and Kenny resumed his place, the other boy sliding in beside him, each being careful not to touch the other.
"Jim, um... this is Rusty Simpson. Rusty, Jim's my 'cousin' who moved into the neighborhood." Kenny accented the "cousin" part so that it would be obvious to all of us that it was a convenient way to refer to our relationship.
"Hi, Rusty," I said. "I'm glad to know you." I extended my hand to him and he took it in his, but with no shake or squeeze. All the while, he looked down at the table.
"Hi, Jim," he said in that husky, high voice of early puberty.
"Kenny said you two are friends. Do you live around here?" I inquired.
"Uh... Yeah, kinda. Is Kenny livin' with you, now?" he asked. Hmm. I hadn't expected him to be so direct.
"Well, he's staying with me for a while until he and his dad can get some things sorted out." Despite the wimpy handshake, I had to give it to this kid for being straightforward.
Rusty continued, "Well I hope it's for a good long while because his dad is a royal bastard!" Okay. Rusty would get an A for candor, too.
"Yeah, he's got some serious problems," I observed. Kenny and Rusty exchanged a glance that I thought might mean it was time to change the subject and get away from a sensitive issue. I decided to try to help that process along. Rusty's right hand had remained under the table since we shook hands and I noticed his upper arm moving slightly every now and then.
"Have you and Kenny known each other long?" I hoped that would steer the conversation away from talking about Kenny's father.
"A coupla years - we kinda ran into each other at the mall one day. Kenny's a year ahead of me in school, so sometimes he helps me when I have trouble with homework. I hope you can help him, Jim. He deserves it." Why was I not surprised to hear this about the boy who was stealing my heart? But even more, I was touched to see the way these boys supported one another with so much care.
Rusty was aptly named. A thick shock of copper red hair hung down over his hazel eyes so that he kept brushing it away with one hand. I wouldn't have been surprised to find that he either had or soon would have bright red pubes, like Rog had when we were in junior high. Uh oh! Rog would slap me hard for that thought.
"Rusty, Kenny and I are just into a late lunch here. Have you eaten?"
"Um... No, I haven't."
"Well, I'd be happy to get you something if you want."
Rusty still stared at the table as he nearly whispered, "That would be okay, Jim. Thanks."
I waved at D, who came over, coffeepot in hand. "D, Rusty would like to order something."
"Why, sure, Mr. Watson."
"Please, D; it's Jim, okay?"
"Okay, Jim. Hey Rusty! How are ya? What would ya like?"
"Um... Could I have some eggs and bacon with hash-browns?" Rusty said to the table.
"Sure, hon. You want 'em over easy like usual?"
"Yeah, that's okay."
"And white toast?"
"Uh huh. With grape jelly."
"Okay, m' boy; you've got it." D winked at me with a big grin, which Kenny saw but Rusty missed.
"So, do you guys spend a lot of time together?" I asked.
Kenny answered. "At school, yeah, we do. But when we're around here or at the mall, we're usually with other people." I got the signal from Kenny that we would stay away from the topic of exactly what the boys did and with whom they did it around the diner or at the mall. That was okay with me, but the conversation was falling flat.
"Have you guys seen any good movies lately?" I asked, hoping to further spark the conversation. Again, the boys exchanged a meaningful glance.
"Yeah," Kenny answered, and went on to describe some recent movie full of crashing cars, explosions, big hairy tough-guys, and beautiful women. I forgot the name as soon as he mentioned it. Rusty seemed ill at ease, but I wasn't sure what to do about it. I decided to let Kenny handle it. Something told me that he could do a much better job of it than I could.
"Okay, Rusty! Here ya go: two over easy with hash-browns and white toast with grape jelly." D laid the huge platter in front of the boy, who added catsup and then dug into it as if he hadn't eaten for days. For all I knew, that might have been true.
While D was near, I grabbed the chance to ask for the bill. "Oh, D, could you get the bill ready? Kenny and I have to leave soon to catch a movie."
"Sure, Mr. Wa... uh, Jim."
"I'll come up to the register with you, if you don't mind. That'll save you the trouble of bringing it back," I suggested.
"Sure, Jim. Whatever..."
As I followed D to the register, she said to me, "Jim, I can tell your game isn't the same as a lot of the guys those kids hang out with. I appreciate that. They're both good kids who've had some real tough breaks in life."
"I figured you'd pick up on that, D. I'm glad you see the difference and I'm really happy that I don't do that other stuff anymore. I ran into Kenny at the park yesterday and met his friend Rusty just now. I'd like to do whatever I can to help them."
D smiled. "It's like they do the best they can with what they've got; but they've also got a lot of problems."
"I'm not surprised," I answered. "Well, I'll try to do what I can. I don't know what Rusty's story is, but Kenny has sure climbed into my heart with his."
"Yeah. It's a heartbreaker, isn't it?" the waitress said. "I don't know how anyone could treat a nice kid like Kenny the way his dad does. But then, some people just can't handle booze, ya know?"
"Yeah, I do. So, does Kenny confide in you a lot?"
"Ever since his momma died and his old man took to beating on him," she said.
"Well I can say a big thanks to you for being there for him."
"Yeah, between us, we might be able to keep these kids in school, outa jail, and outa th' morgue, ya know?" D grinned widely, showing tobacco-stained teeth.
"Wouldn't that be nice," I said and shuddered. "D, how many kids like Kenny and Rusty are there around here?"
"Oh, not that many - maybe four or five? It changes because they come and go a lot."
"Do they know each other?" I asked.
"They seem to, at least a little. I guess most of them go to the same school in the neighborhood, but Kenny and Rusty are the closest. Kenny has done so much for that kid!"
"I could tell by the way they get along with each other." Why was I not surprised to hear that about Kenny?
"Yeah - he's really a jewel!" she said.
We grinned at each other as she handed me my change. So besides Rog, I had one more ally in the neighborhood. I made my way back to our booth.
"So Kenny," I said, "You ready to get to the movie?"
"Yeah, Jim. I told Rusty he could come with us if he wants, but he's gotta meet somebody in a little bit."
My antennae went up. "Okay, maybe another time, Rusty. You're always welcome, okay?"
Rusty barely looked up at me as he said, "Yeah, Jim. That'd be nice. And, thanks for the breakfast, okay?"
"Anytime, man. I hope we see you again soon."
"Yeah, me too. Take care, Kenny." Rusty looked at Kenny with such a look of trust and love that I could only feel the deepest sense of respect and admiration for my young charge.
Kenny returned Rusty's look. "Be careful, guy... Y'know what I mean? Remember what I said!"
"Mm... y-yeah, Kenny. I will."
As we left the diner for the theater, I said, " Kenny, D tells me that you have been quite caring and supportive of Rusty. She really admires you for that."
The boy broke into a huge grin. "Yeah? She said that? No shit!"
"Now, Kenny... I'm your bud; would I try to shit you?"
"Only if you thought you could get away with it, Bozo!" He was all giggles and grins and absolutely soaking up the attention.
"Okay, dude... So what's Rusty's story?" I asked.
"Well, he's not quite as bad off as me. He lives with his mom, but she's gone all th' time working two or three jobs just to support them."
"Does he have any brothers or sisters?"
"Naw. He's an only kid, like me. I guess that's one reason we get along so well; it's like we're each the brother we've always wanted." Kenny glowed as he talked about his friend.
"So do you hang together a lot?" I asked.
"Only when we're not workin', like at school. When we're workin', it's like we don' even know each other."
"Yeah, I could see that just now. How old is he?"
"Fourteen. He's a freshman at th' high school; I'm a sophomore."
"And you're fifteen?"
"Yup."
"Any closer in age and you guys could be twins!"
"You're not the first to say that, Jim."
"Would you say that Rusty's your best friend?" I asked.
He was quiet for a minute or two, as I could sense the gears grinding again. "Yeah. I love him, Jim. Not like I love you, ya know? But he's, like, my little brother."
"I could see that too, just in the way he looked at you," I observed.
"We've been through a lot together, Jim. We're not exactly the most popular kids in school, ya know?"
"Why is that?"
"Cuz we're both kinda loners - like we don't fit in anywhere. So we hang together."
I said, "Kenny, I want you to know that Rusty is welcome anytime. Feel free to include him in whatever we do, okay?"
The boy looked at me with his seriously intent look that gazed into my soul. "Thanks, Jim. I kinda knew you'd say that."
"Well, I'm happy that I didn't disappoint you, then." I grinned and so did he. By then, we were standing in line at the CineMart. When we got to the booth, I asked for two tickets to a pirate movie. As we sat down, Kenny was again so close to me that we touched almost from our shoulders to our knees. His hand grasped mine tightly, as if to keep me from slipping away.
I couldn't help wondering about the relationship between Kenny and Rusty. Had they had sex together? Was Rusty gay? For that matter, was Kenny gay? He seemed so and he said so; but it was hard to tell - I mean, he was only fifteen, for Pete's sake! I had always thought that being gay was something you didn't really settle on until you were into your late teens or early twenties, at least. But then who was I to say? I thought back to all of my secret longings as a boy. Back then, I didn't know that what I felt was homosexual; but looking back on it from adulthood, I could see that it was. Did I know at that young age? One thing I did know is that back then I didn't have nearly the degree of cultural support that kids like Kenny and Rusty did, even though it was still hard for them. One thing I recognized is that I needed to support Rusty as much as Kenny. I needed to make a place for him in our "family." Oh, God! Rog would throw a hissy-fit on that one!
Kenny was gripping the inside of my thigh, but he avoided my crotch. Good. Maybe what I had said that morning was taking hold. Even so, my penis started to swell just from his nearness. All I could do was just let it happen and go with it. If I were hard, I'd have to be hard. That wasn't the end of the world, and I didn't have to act on it! I thought of Kenny and me together in the shower that morning, both naked and both boned. Yet it hadn't ended in sex. Maybe I was beginning to change... finally!
At about the same time, we both had to make bladder calls. So, together we marched up the aisle and out towards the restrooms. I was so glad that my dick curves up when it's boned! It meant that I could walk around with a hard-on like then, and not be totally obvious. However, I noticed that my young friend didn't have that same blessing. Still, it hardly seemed to faze him. In the restroom, we took side-by-side urinals and hung out together as we let our streams flow. My urination was enough to wilt my erection; but I noticed that Boy Wonder could piss through his hard-on. My, my!
"Jim, could we talk?" Kenny asked.
"Sure, Kenny. What's on your mind?"
"No, not here. I mean, could we go ho... uh, back to your place and talk? I gotta tell you some stuff and ask you some stuff."
"Are you sure you don't want to finish the movie and then go?" I asked.
"Naw. I know how it ends anyway. Rusty's already seen it with one of his, um, friends. He told me. Besides, it's not all that good, anyway."
"Okay, sport! Let's go, then."
"Thanks, Jim. You're the greatest!"
We walked back to the car. Although I looked for him, Rusty was nowhere to be seen. I noticed Kenny checking out the video store, too.
"You worried about Rusty?" I offered
"Yeah. A little. The guy he was going to meet today is, like... a little extreme, ya know?"
"No, this time I don't know. Could you tell me what you're worried about?" I asked.
"I was with him just once. I won't go back to him because I didn't like to play his game. He, like, wants to hurt people," Kenny said.
"Uh oh, I don't like where this is leading. What would you like to do?" I asked.
"I think I know where they went. Could we go there?"
"Sure. Where do you think they are?"
"The beehive." Kenny said, his voice a little higher and quivery.
We got in the car, and I drove a little faster than I should have towards the park. Pulling into the parking lot, I left the car diagonally across two spaces as we both jumped out and sprinted up towards the beehive. The day wasn't much better than the one before, except the wind had died down. As we neared the little building, we could hear voices.
"Nooooo... Don't do that! Why are you hurting me?" It was Rusty.
"Cause little fags like you wanna be hurt. You even said so yourself," came a gravelly, adult voice.
"Only a little, dammit; I said only a little. Aiieeee! Stop it!"
Kenny beat me to the building and burst in with such force that the door bounced back and hit him in the elbow. I followed just behind. What I saw made me want to puke. Kenny stood frozen where he was.
Rusty was naked and tied up between the pipe that fed the urinal and the upright for the first stall. His toes barely brushed the filthy floor. He had clothes pins clamped onto his nipples and some contraption on his scrotum that the jerk was twisting. That seemed to be what was causing the hollering. Amidst the chaos, Rusty's penis bowed up and back towards his belly, the head a bright pinkish purple, peeking out from the partially retracted foreskin. A drool of pre-cum glinted in the light from the open door as it trailed down into a sparse nest of bright red hair.
"Kenneeee! Help me Kenny. This bastard's really hurting me. Help me Jim! Pleeeeze." The remains of Rusty's breakfast had run down his legs and lay on the floor between his feet. His nipples were an ugly shade of purple with a little red trickle of blood under each one. And, his scrotum was swollen behind the clamp that was twisting his balls. I had guessed right about his pubes.
The sleezeball turned around to face Kenny. "Well, I see that yer little friend has come back t' join th' party! Getcher clothes off, honey, and join yer friend for some fun. I have enough toys for you, too." Kenny was still frozen where he stood. I was just behind, in the doorway, still slightly out of sight of this monster.
In as level a voice as I could muster, I said, "I don't know who you are, buster, but you have exactly five seconds to haul ass outa here and if I EVER see you around here again or messing with either of these boys, I will personally do to you everything you are doing to him, only worse. Do you understand what I'm saying, asshole?"
The guy stood up, leaving Rusty hanging from his bonds. "Who th' fuck are you?" he rasped.
"That doesn't matter. What you need to know is that if you aren't outa here right now, I'm your worst nightmare and I'll do it, too. Now get th fuck outa here and don't you EVER let me catch you around these boys or any others again!"
Kenny, had come unglued from where he stood, just inside the door and had begun to move towards Rusty. The weirdo moved around Kenny and then lunged at me. I merely raised my knee at just the right time to thrust it into his stomach under his rib cage and he went down gasping for breath. That's all it took. I picked him up by the back of his shirt and belt, and then used my right foot on his ass to propel him out of the building and onto his face in the gravel. "Run, sonavabitch. Because if I catch you, you're going to lose your own balls for good. You got me?"
"Okay, okay, motherfucker. I'm going," he gasped as he picked himself up and staggered up the hill, away from the parking lot. I turned back into the building.
By then, Kenny had reached Rusty. Both boys were crying as Kenny held Rusty up. "Jim, Jim, for God's sake! Look what he's done t' my brother. Jeez! The sonuvabitch! Help, me Jim, we've gotta get him down!"
"I'm here, Kenny. Take it easy, son. Rusty, we're here. We'll take care of you." Rusty was hysterical by then, wailing and crying, as I loosened first one arm and then the other. The younger boy collapsed into his friend's embrace.
"Oh, Kenny, brother, you said not to go with him. You were right. Oh my God! Look what he's done to me. Oh, my ass!" Kenny held Rusty up as I went around to his backside. At first I couldn't see anything, but then I saw what might have been cum running down the boy's leg to mingle with the vomit on the floor below. I couldn't see his anus, but I guessed I'd find it bruised and swollen. At least the bastard hadn't torn him. Otherwise, there would have been blood mingling with that cum.
"He fucked me hard, Kenny! No lube! Jeez it hurts!" Rusty wailed as Kenny continued to hold him.
"Can you stand up, Rusty?" I said.
"I dunno... maybe."
"Kenny, can you turn him around? We've gotta get this shit offa him," I said.
"Yeah, Jim. Here. Okay Rusty, you're gonna be okay. We're here now. I won't leave ya, bro."
I looked at the clothespins carefully before deciding whether to remove them. Then I saw why there were little trickles of blood below each nipple. The bastard had cunningly put little nails through them and they pierced Rusty's flesh.
"Rusty, I'm going to take off the clothespins now. It may hurt some more before I get them off. He stuck nails into them."
"I know," wailed Rusty. "Just get 'em off, Jim; okay?"
"Take it easy, son. I'm going to do it as gently as I can."
I put an arm behind Rusty's neck as, from behind him, Kenny held him up under each arm. I couldn't figure out whether to do it fast or slow. I decided on fast. I saw that if I took the spring tension off a pin, I could maneuver the part with the nail. So I opened one up all the way and then quickly moved it up to withdraw the nail. A little fountain of blood sprouted where the nail had been, so I pulled my handkerchief out of my pocket and held it on the wound as gently as I could. Then I had to do the other nipple. So I removed the handkerchief momentarily and tore it in half. I repeated the process with the other nipple and then pocketed the clothespins, thinking that if this were ever to go to court, they might be useful evidence. But then just as quickly, I realized that it never could go to court - there was too much at stake for the boys and me.
"Kenny, can you hold these on his nipples? I've gotta do something about this thing on his balls."
"Yeah, Jim." Kenny took over nipple duty from me as I knelt down to look at whatever the guy had put on Rusty's balls. It appeared to be some sort of locking pliers. I debated for a minute whether I could remove them without causing greater pain and damage to the boy's testes. There was already a walnut-sized swelling behind the clamp. I really didn't know. If only Rog were there! Yeah, he'd have my head for this. In the end, I'd just have to try. I couldn't just leave it on there.
"Rusty, I'm going to take the clamp off your balls now. It's swollen behind the clamp - probably from backed-up blood and stuff. It may hurt more as the clamp comes off." Rusty just nodded. Gradually, I eased the forceps free. Slowly, the swelling seemed to begin to go down. I knew it hurt him from his sharp intake of breath, but Rusty didn't cry or scream. His penis still stood out from his sparse, bright-red pubes, arched into full erection and drooling pre-cum down into his bush.
I gave my car keys to Kenny. "In the trunk, there's a blanket that we can wrap him in. Bring it to me, okay? I'll stay with him." Kenny and I laid the boy down gently and I replaced Kenny holding the bandages against his nipples. Then I picked Rusty up and cradled him in my arms until Kenny returned with the blanket. Together, we wrapped Rusty in the blanket. Kenny gathered up the boy's clothes as I again picked him up and together, we made for the parking lot. I forgot to check for cops, but we were lucky.
I thought about calling Rog from my cell phone, but there was no time for that. I'd call him from the house. Meanwhile, Kenny got into the back seat and I lay Rusty in the blanket gently onto his lap before getting into the car and driving the short distance to my house. Again, I was grateful for the integrated garage door and automatic opener. As we drove into the garage, I clicked the door shut.
I lifted Rusty out of the car, and gave Kenny the keys so that he could open the house. I was right behind him with our victim in my arms. Kenny held the door for me as I went up the steps and into the kitchen to a sight that stunned me: There, sitting at the table, sipping a brew, sat Roger, medical bag beside him on the floor.
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