The Sins of the Father
by N Fourbois
Chapter 35
Lessons were over for the day. Rufus was just finishing the photoshoot. He and Toby, William and Eddie were in high spirits after what everyone considered to be a successful afternoon.
"Now you know, Eddie, why we enjoy being gay," said William.
"And we hope you're going to go on enjoying it as well," added Toby.
"Keep still," said Rufus. "How am I supposed to take photographs if you all keep jigging around?" A few more flashes and then Rufus said "Okay. That'll do for today. Watch your computer inboxes. You've all got the decryption code, haven't you?"
"I've written it down," said Eddie.
"You now know what a blowjob is, don't you?" said Toby.
"Next time you've got to blow us," said William.
"And swallow," added Toby.
"But why do you call it a blowjob when you suck?" asked Eddie.
"That's one of life's great mysteries," answered Rufus "along with the Bermuda Triangle, the Marie Celeste and the abominable snowman.
At that moment there was a ringing tone from one of Rufus's pockets. He fished out his iPhone.
"It's Mike."
"Mike?" said Eddie.
"Yes, Mike, Michel Ledivin, model and amour extraordinaire ." Rufus clicked the phone. "Hi, Mike."
«Hi, Rufus. I must talk to you urgently. Face to face. I can't talk over the phone in case the News of the World is hacking into this call. No, but it is urgent and important.»
"You haven't got the sack?"
«No, nothing like that. Where are you now?»
"On the train."
«Stop mucking about, Rufus. This is serious.»
"I'm at William's house."
«How quickly can you get to the agency?»
"Fifteen, twenty minutes. I've got my bike."
«Don't come directly to the agency. That might look suspicious, but you know that little café just round the corner?»
"Yes, the one that does the sandwiches for the agency staff."
«That's right. I'll meet you in there in twenty minutes and mine's a hot chocolate if you get there first.»
"Okay, see ya there. Luv ya," and with that Rufus switched off his phone. "Sorry, chaps, gotta go. Sounds important. Thanks for lunch and the entertainment. I'll text you later." At that he hugged Toby and William. "The boy done good this afternoon," he congratulated Eddie. He gave him a hug, but kissed him as well. On the lips! 'What on earth made me do that?' he wondered. 'OMG, now I've got a hard on,' he thought to himself. 'And wet pants.'
Rufus unlocked his cycle, put his helmet on and pedalled as fast as he could down the road towards his mother's modelling agency. As he cycled past it, he looked up and saw that the lights in her office were on. He went round the corner, chained his bike to a lamppost and went into the café. Mike was already sitting there with two large mugs of hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows in front of him. Rufus kissed him on the cheek.
"Get this down you," said Mike. "You'll need it." Rufus took a sip through the cream, leaving some on the tip of his nose.
"So what's this all about?"
"I tend to notice things. I've always been like that and sometimes it's got me into trouble. So you see I don't want to be adding two and two together and making five. What I am saying is don't automatically assume that I am right.
"When I first started at the agency, I was used to seeing Veronica, I mean your mother, turning up to work and going home in her car. It took some time before this clicked with me and I don't know when I first noticed – I don't see them every day – but since she left you and your Dad, she has been arriving and going home with her PA, Claire Gelding."
"Perhaps they live near one another and they help each other out with lifts."
"Perhaps, but I haven't told you everything yet, Rufus. First of all, Ms Gelding has, among a workforce which after all consists of the full range of sexuality, male and female, in a company that depends on sex to some extent for its income, the reputation of being the biggest dyke on the payroll."
"Dyke?"
"Yes, dyke, you know, lesbian."
"Lesbian?"
"Lesbian – as in gay woman."
"Yes, I know what a lesbian is," countered Rufus tersely. "I just didn't know what dyke meant unless it was associated with little Dutch boys' fingers."
"Even some of the lesbian models avoid her at all costs, but, as I said, I haven't told you everything, and then you'll understand why I haven't mentioned it before this afternoon. Veronica – sorry, she's known as Veronica to all of us in the agency – had a meeting over lunch today with a client. Nothing unusual in that and nothing unusual in taking her PA along to make notes and give advice, but I happened to see them arrive back and before they got out of the car, your mother's car with Ms Gelding driving, they gave each other a kiss. It wasn't a 'mwah mwah' peck on the cheek, either, but a rather lingering one on the lips.
"Like the one I gave to Eddie," Rufus mumbled to himself rather than meaning to say it out loud.
"Not the Eddie? Eddie Hurdle?"
"Oh, yes," said Rufus, "but I'll tell you about that later. It was in front of everyone else and so there's nothing to hide. It's not a secret or act of infidelity. Just a mad impulse on the spur of the moment. It was all part of this confused feeling I'm getting at the moment and it was saying goodbye."
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," said Michel with a grin. "Where were we? Oh, yes, Veronica and Ms Gelding."
"Is her name really Gelding?"
"No, it's Golding. It's just everybody calls her that and avoids using her Christian name. Not to her face, of course. Yes, the passionate kiss in the car. Make of that what you will, but it might give you a clue as to where your mother's staying."
"And why," Rufus added thoughtfully. "Thanks for calling me, Mike. I don't know how to break this to Dad, but I'll have to. I know we'll have Claire's address and telephone number at home somewhere in case we ever needed to get hold of her."
The boys drank up their hot chocolate and spooned out the remaining marshmallows.
"I'd better get back to the rehearsal," said Michel. "We're working late again tonight. It ruins your social life, but sure brings the money in. Anyway, we've been promised we'll finish at lunchtime tomorrow with a free weekend. I can chill out. I can't afford to get crowsfeet or black rings under my eyes at my age."
"See you tomorrow evening for supper and don't bring your sleeping bag."
"I never do," grinned Michel.
"By the way, Dad would like to take us out for dinner sometime with your mother. Just to compensate for depriving her of her son's company so much. Can you test the water there, please?"
"Sure. See you tomorrow and you can tell me all about the delectable Eddie Hurdle."
"I'll show you the pictures."
"Don't organise anything. We can just relax. Don't forget the clocks go back this weekend. We get an extra hour in bed together." Rufus giggled at the very thought.
"We'll have to think of something to do," he replied. He kissed Michel on the cheek and whispered in his ear "You're freeballing again, aren't you? And it shows."
"That's your fault it shows and who cares anyway?"
"Thanks for the chocolate." Then he disappeared out of the café.
On his ride home he wondered how he was going to break all this to his father. 'Give it to him straight, I suppose. It's the only way.'
Rufus waited until they had got supper out of the way before mentioning anything. When they had finished, Carl said
"I'll clear away as you did the cooking. You go and watch TV or something."
"No, it's okay, Dad. I've got something to tell you first."
"That sounds ominous. You're not in trouble, are you?"
"No, it's nothing like that. It's just that Mike spoke to me today, about something he saw happen at work." Rufus told his father exactly what Michel had told him in the café, even down to the possibility he might be jumping to the wrong conclusion.
"So that's what's got into her," said Carl finally. After a pause he added "You know, in a way it doesn't surprise me. Firstly, the menopause can do funny things to a woman psychologically. Deep down it's about losing fertility which is a woman's prime function in nature. It would be like you having your testicles cut off. Then you've got to remember that your mother is the only female in the family among four men. That can have an effect, especially in a family like ours – the word I'm going to use makes it sound worse than it really is, especially as it's quite a fashionable word, but I think it is the correct term – in a dysfunctional family such as ours. Certain things have pushed her over the edge and although we can only guess, I doubt whether we shall ever really know what they are." Carl paused. "Look, Rufus, despite what I said, can you clear the supper things away while I go into the study and think things through?"
"Sure, Dad, you go ahead and I'll bring you a cup of coffee in a while."
Rufus finished the chores, then went up to his room to upload the afternoon's photos and distribute them to his friends. He texted them to say that they were there and then he sat down and read GY mag. He came upon an article sourced from the Wall Street Journal about research in the United States which stated that between 2010 and 2012 puberty in boys had on average started six months earlier. 'No wonder Eddie and his 'mature' friends had started experimenting in prep school.' He looked at his watch. 'I'd better go and make that coffee,' he thought.
Rufus knocked the door and took the coffee into the study.
"Any ideas about what you're going to do, Dad?"
"Yes. After weeks of inactivity enforced by obeying your mother's wishes I think it's time for a little confrontation. I'm going to telephone your mother at Claire Golding's house. There's a fifty-fifty chance who will answer, but if it's Ms Golding I might find out whether your mother is in fact living there and if it's your mother she'll have to speak or put the phone down on me. If that doesn't work, I'll have to go to the house. On Sunday I'm going to motor up and see your brothers. I think Sunday is the day when I'm most likely to catch them in. I think they know more than they are telling us. I'll go on the excuse of a surprise invitation out to lunch, and I'm going whether I've made contact with your mother or not. Now this is most important, Rufus. You mustn't warn them at all. Don't contact them until after I get back on Sunday. If they ring you, don't pick up the call."
"That's not particularly likely, going on their track record so far."
"I'm depending on you for this, Rufus. I know it might mean divided loyalties, but we're all suffering from that at present."
"When you ring, Dad, put 141 in front of the number so that your caller ID won't come up."
"That's a good idea."
"And make sure you don't land Michel in it. We don't want him losing his job for being a good buddy to us."
"Now leave me alone while I make this call. It could turn rather unpleasant. Oh, to change the subject quickly, your seventeenth birthday is coming up soon. I'm not sure it will be much of a celebration this year, but have you thought of any particular present you'd like?"
"Driving lessons, Dad?"
"No promises, but it gives me something to work on. Perhaps I can manage a gift-wrapped copy of the Highway Code or something."
Rufus went back upstairs and to kill time he took another look at the photos he'd taken that afternoon. A lot of them he discarded as indifferent, but he could not help but linger over the ones of Eddie. 'That boy's certainly got everything going for him. He's going to need protecting as he goes up the school or he'll fall prey to every gay boy there and I don't want him becoming the school slut. He's too good for that. Despite what we said, I wouldn't mind getting into a bondage scene, just him and me. No S&M. Just pure domination and sex. Teach him the ropes. Ha ha.' Rufus had just realised how apt the expression was. 'Because I'd sure like to be dominated by him.' As he lusted over one picture where Eddie was wearing Rufus's red speedo, dried out after the morning's swimming session, Rufus suddenly realised he had subconsciously pulled down his sweats and was jerking himself off. It was too late. He was 'hooked on' as Jim Davidson termed it, couldn't stop and suddenly had to make a dive for the Kleenex box. 'Damn! That was a messy one.' He took off his sweats and slip and put them into the linen basket. He took out the red speedos that Eddie had worn and sniffed them. He looked inside the crotch and notice little spots where Eddie's precum had leaked and dried. Then he tucked them under his pillow. He cleaned himself up and put on the first clean clothes he could find before his father came upstairs, a pair of rugby shorts and a jock. Just as he'd got dressed again, there was a knock at the door and his father came in. Luckily his computer screen with the picture of Eddie had gone to sleep. Despite his father's tolerance and discretion he'd have been highly embarrassed if it had still been there.
Father looked at son in his short rugby shorts.
"Rufus, did I ever tell you what a handsome young man you've turned out to be?"
"No, Dad, but you have told me that out of the three of us brothers I'm the one who looks the most like you at my age," he answered with a knowing look. "Have you ever heard of Narcissus?" Carl realised he had been caught out.
"Um… yes… well… I got through to Ms Golding's house."
"Can we talk about it downstairs, Dad?" he replied, knowing that the slightest jog of his desk would be sufficient to bring the computer screen back to life.
Authors deserve your feedback. It's the only payment they get. If you go to the top of the page you will find the author's name. Click that and you can email the author easily.* Please take a few moments, if you liked the story, to say so.
[For those who use webmail, or whose regular email client opens when they want to use webmail instead: Please right click the author's name. A menu will open in which you can copy the email address (it goes directly to your clipboard without having the courtesy of mentioning that to you) to paste into your webmail system (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc). Each browser is subtly different, each Webmail system is different, or we'd give fuller instructions here. We trust you to know how to use your own system. Note: If the email address pastes or arrives with %40 in the middle, replace that weird set of characters with an @ sign.]
* Some browsers may require a right click instead
