The Apprentice
by Sahypo
Chapter 5
Once they got to Isaac’s house, Timmy had little appetite, but did eat a couple of slices of toast and had some chicken noodle soup. Isaac watched a bit of TV with him, until Timmy told him he was wiped out and wanted to go to bed. Isaac felt some heat coming off Timmy’s forehead and was pretty sure he had bit of a flu bug. He put Timmy in his bed and got an extra blanket to cover him, and went back out to the living room, as it was a bit early for him to turn in.
An hour later he went in to check on Timmy, and found him fast asleep. He decided not to disturb him. He was pretty sure there was a thermometer in the first aid kit that had been in the hall closet for years. He found it, and unfortunately it was a mercury type, so he would have to wake Timmy to get a temp.
Timmy woke up easier than Isaac expected, and opened his mouth to accept the instrument. Isaac asked him if he was in pain, and Timmy nodded “Starting to feel crappy pretty much all over”. Isaac got him some Tylenol and water, and Timmy took the pills. He was running just over 100 degrees. Isaac let him get back to sleep, and soon after, climbed into bed on the other side. He knew this would probably be a long night.
Several hours later, in the early morning, Timmy woke Isaac with his fitful tossing and turning, and mumbling in his sleep. Isaac turned the light on, and saw Timmy was sweating and breathing very loudly through his nose. Isaac tried to wake him, but Timmy wasn’t acting that lucidly at the moment, so Isaac left and ran room temperature water in the bathtub, and went back in to the bedroom to drag Timmy out of bed.
Timmy was able regain enough wits to stand shakily and let Isaac get him into the tub.
“Ahhh! Ahhh! God, it-t-t-t-ts c-cold!” Timmy yelled.
“I know, little buddy…got to get your temp down. Just lay down in here.” Isaac put a towel behind Timmy’s head, as he knew he wouldn’t stay awake for long. “Let me get a temp, Timmy” Isaac said, inserting the thermometer. By now Timmy’s temp had risen to almost 102 degrees. Isaac left Timmy for a moment, not concerned as the water had just barely begun to lap under Timmy’s legs, and he hadn’t offered to move enough for Isaac to think he would drown. He came back from the kitchen with the ice from the freezer and set it on the toilet seat, as the bath tub filled. He soaked a washcloth in the water, folded it and placed it on Timmy’s forehead, covering his eyes.
Isaac ran the water until it was up to Timmy’s neck, and turned it off when the level reached the overflow. He then poured the ice into the water, which got no reaction from Timmy, who had gone back to sleep or had passed out, Isaac wasn‘t sure. He retrieved the blankets and pillows off the bed and threw them down next to the bathtub and made a nest to lay in. He settled in on the floor and began a long nights vigil, keeping watch on Timmy.
Isaac must have dozed, because it was light out in the morning when Timmy’s voice roused Isaac.
“Isaac, why am I in a cold bath in my underwear?” Timmy said, shaking Isaac to full consciousness .
“You don’t remember?”
“Not really, I must have been out of it”. Timmy felt like he had spent the night under a truck in a snow bank. “Help me get out, please, I’m so cold”.
Timmy held on to Isaac as he lifted his feet over the edge of the tub, and Isaac wrapped Timmy in a towel and began to dry him off, and rub some circulation into his cold skin. Timmy shivered and said, “I can’t get
these off ,” meaning the briefs. Isaac pulled them down off his body and Timmy stepped out of the wet underwear.
“Here, stick this in your mouth “ Isaac said, poking the thermometer into Timmy’s mouth again.
After he felt that there was a good reading, he took the instrument from Timmy and read it. “Back down to 100 and some change. I guess your fever broke. How do you feel?”
“Cold and achy” Timmy groused.
“Well, I can help you work on the cold part,” Isaac said, guiding him back to the bed. He wrapped Timmy in the blanket and climbed in bed with him. Within minutes, Isaac was out like a light, bushed from his long night on the bathroom floor. When Isaac woke up in the early afternoon, he found Timmy’s nude back pressed up against Isaac’s belly, and Isaac’s arms had wrapped around Timmy in their sleep. He could hear and feel Timmy breath as he slept, and Isaac thought “I don’t know why God brought me this angel, but for some reason he is here in this life with me.”
“Timmy….Timmy” Isaac, letting go off the boy so he could uncurl and stretch as he woke up.
“Ummmphhh…huh, what…….” Timmy croaked.
“Its 2:30 in the afternoon, do you feel like getting up, are you hungry? Isaac asked.
“Not hungry…..sleep more…” Timmy managed to get out, never opening his eyes.
Isaac put his hand on Timmy’s head, it felt normal, but suddenly, Timmy took Isaac’s hand and pulled it into his chest, and said in a muffled voice, “I love you…” as he went to sleep again. Isaac laid back down and pulled the blanket over them and considered what Timmy had just said. He wondered if Timmy was still a bit out of it from running a temperature last night, or if this is how Timmy really felt about him. He stroked Timmy’s hair and whispered “I love you too, little buddy.” He cuddled Timmy for another 15 or 20 minutes, then got out of the bed and gathered a load of laundry, including Timmy’s clothes. Once he started the wash, he pulled out some chicken breasts to defrost and began to watch TV until it was time to start the evening meal. Timmy woke about 4 o’clock and came into the living room nude, and sat next to Isaac on the couch.
“What happened to my things?” Timmy wondered.
“It’s all in the washer…which reminds me to put it in the dryer”, Isaac said as he got up.
When he returned to the couch, he said “Do you feel like eating yet?”
Timmy was feeling a bit better, certainly not as rough as he did last night “Some, I guess.”
“Okay, I’ll get something going in a few minutes then” said Isaac. “You like grilled chicken breast?”
“Sure. I like chicken” Timmy said. “Isaac?” Timmy asked, pausing to make sure Isaac was looking at him
“Did you hear all the stuff I said when I was sleepy?”
“Yes, you were moaning and rolling around before I put you in the bath. You didn’t actually say words though.”
“I mean the stuff I said when we were in bed after the bath…” Timmy hinted.
“Yes, I heard that.” said Isaac. “Did you hear what I said to you?”
Timmy nodded. “I was almost asleep again, but yeah, I did.” Timmy looked into Isaac’s eyes “I’m so happy when I’m with you, Isaac. I never had anyone like you before in my life.”
“Timmy, you mean a lot to me, too. You’ve given me so much, and taught me a lot, too since I met you.”
“But I haven’t given you anything” Timmy protested.
“You’ve given me your trust, your heart and your love….that’s priceless, Timmy. And you have taught me that not everything and everyone is what we assume them to be. Some of us are a little different in ways and I would have never learned about that if I hadn’t come to know you. You‘re a very strong person and you inspire me, I admire you.”
“I do? Really, I mean I’m just a kid…” Timmy said.
“Yes, you are in so many ways, and in so many others you are much more than that, Timmy.” Timmy couldn’t come up with anything say at the moment, so he leaned over and kissed Isaac on the cheek.
“Thanks for being my nurse and staying with me” Timmy said.
“It’s what big brothers do, little buddy” Isaac replied. “I think its time to burn some dead bird, don’t you?”
“Oh God, that’s sick!” Timmy recoiled, a look of mock horror on his face. Isaac grinned and said, “Let me pull the clothes out of the dryer,” and got up.
He came back and set the laundry basket down behind the couch where Timmy was watching the TV, and laid Timmy’s clothes out on the couch back. “Here when your ready” Isaac said.
Isaac put the chicken in to bake, and while that was going, made salad and several side dishes, and set the table. Timmy decided to remain nude during the meal, and Isaac noted the change in the boy’s confidence over the last week and a half and hoped it was signs of an improved emotional outlook. Timmy had been so mentally beaten down and closeted when they first met.
Timmy had seen now first hand how Isaac put Timmy first in everything, and he found that he was falling head over heels in love with this young man who had demonstrated through his actions how deeply he felt about Timmy. That gnawing feeling that something would happen to destroy the only positive thing in his life was still there, but beginning to recede into the background. Isaac had not flinched or pulled back at anything Timmy had revealed to him. The fact was Isaac had accepted Timmy unconditionally for who he is, as is. Even his own father had never done that, never told Timmy that he even wanted him, let alone loved him.
After they ate, Isaac told Timmy that he had to get dressed, and he had to take him home, as his father had no idea where he was. Timmy reluctantly agreed and dressed as Isaac cleaned up in the kitchen.
A little after seven o’clock, Isaac’s Golf pulled to the curb in front of Timmy’s house, and they were surprised to see Timmy’s father sitting on the front porch, smoking, and drinking a beer. He appeared to be in his mid-forties, with a large belly and several days growth of beard on his face. He was barefoot and wearing a stained sleeveless undershirt.
“Shit” Timmy whispered “I hope he’s not too hammered”. The man on the porch made a waving motion toward the car, and Timmy said, “He wants to see you, I guess”, and got out of the car. Isaac shut the engine off and got out and walked around to the porch steps, as Timmy said, “Dad, this is Isaac.”
“Isaac Daniels, Mr. Billings” Isaac said, offering his hand.
“Tate, the name is Jack Tate” Timmy’s father corrected. He didn’t offer Isaac a hand to shake or a place to sit, so Isaac remained standing on the bottom step.
‘Is the little bastard causing problems again?” the man demanded gruffly. Timmy scooted into the house as fast as he could get around Tate, and the screen door swacked shut, leaving Isaac and Jack alone.
“Nothing like that at all, Mr. Tate. I kept him at my place last night because he was pretty sick with a bit of fever. I’m sorry we didn’t …..”
“Ahh, Fuck, Don’t sweat it…he told me he’s been over going to a friend’s house….You?” he asked.
Isaac nodded.
“I don’t know how much he told you, but his mom and I had a one night stand, and that was pretty much it. A year and half later, she shows up with this baby” pointing over his shoulder, “and says he’s mine, and she’s on the streets. She moves in for four months, then one day she ups and gone, and we never seen her again. I still don’t have a clue what the fuck happened to her. The cops looked for her off and on…So I’m stuck here with a goddamn kid I’m not sure is mine and a broke back in three places, trying to live on 100% disability.” He drank down the rest of the beer in his hand and crushed the can and threw it over his shoulder into a small pile in the corner of the porch.
“I should have never let his mother dump him on me like that, …uh, what’s the name again?”
“Isa--…” Jack interrupted with a loud, long carbonation fueled belch that echoed across the street. “Isaac, Sir”
“Right…oh, I ain’t no Sir, kid” Tate said, breaking into a wheezing laugh that wasn’t intended to make Isaac think Tate found that funny. “I should have turned the brat over to the county a long time ago. I’ll make sure he doesn’t pester you anymore, boy”.
“Actually, we have a lot of fun together, Mr. Tate” Isaac rebutted.
“Just Jack, for now…doing what kind of things?” Tate asked.
Isaac recounted getting the old car running, and taking Timmy to the batting cage, also told him about the attack at school, and the outcome. He told Jack about Timmy’s spell with fever last night, but not about the visit with Doc Selden. Keep things simple, Isaac figured. Jack listened, then said,
“Well you make sure you kick his ass good and hard if he gets out of line”.
Isaac wondered how on earth Timmy managed to survive in this place, and decided that he must be a lot tougher than he let on. He also felt an overpowering urge to get away from Tate, and only regretted that Timmy had to stay after he went home.
“Timmy, I’m going now.” Isaac looked into the dark house and listened, but only heard silence. He called for Timmy again, and saw a light behind a cracked door just off the living room. Isaac assumed it was probably the bathroom. Timmy called from behind the door, “Okay, see ya”. With that, Isaac left. What Isaac didn’t know was that Timmy had eavesdropped on the whole brief chat between Isaac and his father, and only managed to duck into the bathroom for cover when he saw Isaac step up on the porch to let him know he was leaving. He sat on the toilet lid and let the tears flow as quietly as he could.
Two days later, an elderly man and his nine year-old grandson had decided to spend the morning fishing off a local bridge on the edge of town. Summer vacation had just started and the boy had been dropped off the evening before for a two week stay with Grandma and Grandpa. They had been dangling their lines in the small river just off the end of the bridge out of harms way from traffic, which was light this time of morning. After about an hour with no reaction from the fish, the boy had to urinate, and went about halfway down the bank next to the bridge abutment so cars wouldn’t see him. He unzipped his fly, pulled his briefs down to free his tiny circumcised acorn, and let the stream go. Flaccid, he had almost no shaft visible behind his glans, so the stream would pretty much go where he was facing … He distracted himself by swinging his hips side to side, spraying the abutment with a sinusoid piss trail. Suddenly, something glinted along the rivers edge, and the youngster became curious as to what had caused it. He pulled his underwear back up, zipped his pants and made his way to the edge of the river, keeping his eyes on the spot where he’d seen the flash. It was probably a piece of broken glass, he thought, but what the hell, it beat standing there waiting for a stupid fish to bite, and he was a bit bored…
He made his way to the spot, and looked down and saw a gold bracelet, with what appeared to be a locket in the mud, half exposed. He bent down to pick it up, and saw that it was wrapped around a root or something….No! It was a bone!….The boy screamed and ran back up the bank to his grandfather and almost incoherently began babbling about a dead person in the mud….
The old man gently took the boys head in both hands and held him so the boy had to look him in the eyes, and said, “Shhhh! It’s okay, just tell me what you saw….calm down and tell me what you saw, son. Just look at me…look at me“ he repeated, trying to defuse the terror the boy was experiencing. The kid was almost hysterical, but began to breath slower and calm down so he could tell his gramps what had spooked him so badly. “That’s a boy…just breathe and calm down…it’s okay” the grandfather cooed.
“A gold bracelet, with a charm or something, and there’s bones too….“ The little boy was still in some distress and said, “I want to go home, Gram-pa. Can we just go home?”
“You bet,…the fish weren’t bitin’ anyway. Let’s go home.” The old man took the boys hand and they went back to the truck and put their gear in the bed. He made sure his grandson was belted in, then got in on the driver’s side. Before they moved, the boy unbuckled his belt and slid to middle of the bench seat next to his beloved grandfather and re-buckled himself into the middle belt. They drove home in silence, the boy pressed up hard against his ancestor. The old man put his arm around the boys shoulders, and only moved it to work the column shift 3 speed manual transmission in the old Chevy C10. The old man had bought this truck new in 1967, and was still behind the wheel of the same truck 30 years later. The little boys’ father had sit in the same seat when he was the little boys’ age, and as a teen, learned to drive in the old Chevy. The old man figured if he was still around, and the old 292 straight six was still running, he would be teaching the tiny fellow beside him to drive in a few years.
Once home, the man called the sheriff and told them what his grandson had seen, and what side of the bridge, and so on. About thirty minutes later, a Sheriff’s cruiser came to a halt in front of the house and a female deputy came to the door. The little boy was fascinated with the uniform and the gear the deputy was wearing, and of course, the gun. He never took his eyes off her as she and his grandfather talked briefly and she wrote down what he said on a clipboard. He said “It may turn out to be nothing, but he says he saw bones. And animals don‘t wear gold bracelets.”
The deputy crouched down to the boy’s eye level and studied his face for a moment. “Well, I believe him, he’s obviously seen something that really distressed him, and kids his age usually don’t make things like this up.” She patted the boys head and smile at him as she stood up. “Well, thank you very much, guys. We will check this out, and let you know.”
“Thanks for coming out on this, Deputy. Take care and go home safe to your family.” the man said.
“I will, Sir. Take care.” and the deputy drove off.
Within an hour, an initial check of the bridge by the detectives revealed that the bracelet was indeed on human forearm bones, and a crime scene unit was called in to close the area and begin the process of excavating the rest of the remains. It was hot, muddy work, made more tiring by the fact that the cops had to work on a steep riverbank, and there was no comfortable place to stand. Over the next couple of days the crime scene analysts removed the soil layer by layer working in grid squares, just like paleontologists unearthing fossils. The only difference was that these were definitely not fossil remains. In a parallel effort, the cold case detectives dug out their missing persons files and segregated them by decade…when an approximate time for burial was determined, they would begin by looking into those files first. Dating the remains by exposure to local soils was a bit beyond the capability of the local police and county sheriff, so when coroner was sure that he had as much of the skeleton that could be recovered, he would send samples to a lab in Delaware with the proper expertise, along with soil samples from the entombment.
Timmy now had more time to spend with Isaac, since they were both out of school. Isaac planned a surprise for Timmy, and when he rode up the driveway, Isaac ushered him into the VW and simply said “Road Trip!”
“Yeah, where to?” Timmy said, with a big grin. Isaac’s road trips were always exciting for Timmy, since it meant he would likely being doing something for the first time, like the batting cages. Timmy had been back to the batting cages with Isaac several times, but he went mainly because Isaac liked it.
“Nah, I ain’t gonna tell you ‘til we get there” Isaac enjoyed teasing Timmy and making him guess and surmise.
“That’s mean, but I love surprises” Timmy said.
Their first stop was IHOP “Well, all right!” Timmy exclaimed.
“You’re not hungry? Oh well, I guess we can skip breakfast….” Isaac offered, teasing the kid some more.
“No friggin’ way are we skipping IHOP!“ Timmy grinned.
“Well, I guess, if you absolutely insist…” said Isaac. But Timmy was already out of the car and halfway to the front door, leaving Isaac to lock up.
They each ordered a full breakfast and he knew that Timmy would eat like he had been trapped in a mine shaft and just rescued by Lassie, Isaac thought. Well, that’s good, he’s a growing pre-teen, or least parts of him are growing….he thought as he watched Timmy intently reading the menu for something to do while they waited for the food to arrive. Isaac was drinking a second cup of coffee, and looking for something to distract the train his thoughts had taken regarding Timmy when the plates showed up.
After they paid up and left, Timmy was still curious as to what the agenda for the morning held. “So are you gonna tell me where we’re going now?“
“Nope, but it isn’t far…Enjoy the ride” Isaac said in a creepy voice, “BWAHHHAHAHAHAHA! He looked at Timmy and gave him a horror movie laugh. Timmy rolled his eyes and giggled. He thought it was the worst horror movie laugh ever…
A few minutes later, Isaac parked the VW in front of the bowling alley, and said, “C’mon, and do lock the Bentley like a good chap, won’t you?” in a pretty bad pretentious British accent, to which Timmy replied “Ah, yes, very good, Sir” like a right proper butler…
Timmy found the sounds and sights of the bowling alley quite amazing, and stared at everything in wonder.
“Ever done this before, Sport?” Isaac asked
“Never” Timmy replied.
“What size shoe do you wear?”
“Huh?” Timmy asked, not grasping the relevance of the question.
“For your bowling shoes…you wear bowling shoes on the lanes”
“Oh, umm nines? I think…I don’t know for sure.” Timmy admitted.
“No biggie, we’ll try nines on ya to start and go from there” Isaac stated.
Timmy considered that, and the thought occurred to him that this was one reason why Timmy felt so attached to Isaac. Isaac always knew how to fix a problem. Nothing was a big deal, and there was nothing Isaac wasn’t able to do. Timmy wanted to emulate Isaac and be as sure and confident as Isaac was. He was daydreaming a bit when he heard the man behind the counter ask “Size?”
“Nine” Timmy replied, and a pair of shoes plopped down on the carpeted counter top. He turned to Isaac, who was carrying a pair of shoes as well, and followed Isaac down to the lanes they were set up on. They took their street shoes off and put on the alley rentals, and Isaac said “Come on” and showed Timmy to the racks of balls.
“Here’s how you grip a bowling ball, Timmy” Isaac demonstrated. “Now you go through the balls and pick one that fits your fingers and has the holes spaced comfortably. Timmy went over a few balls and picked one out and tried the grip. He looked at Isaac and asked “Does this look right?” Isaac looked and frowned, and said “Umm…you might try to get one a little closer, otherwise you will probably end up with a blister on your thumb. But set that one aside in case you don‘t find something better.”
“Okay” Timmy said, as he resumed his search, and Isaac found a ball he was pretty satisfied with. He waited until Timmy found one that he thought would work better and they went down to start to play. He gave Timmy a lesson on how to step and release the ball, and had Timmy do it several times without the ball to get his stride down, then told him to do it with the ball. Timmy promptly launched the ball about a foot off the lane, and it crashed onto the maple causing Isaac to cringe, and promptly scurried off the lane into the gutter.
“Needs a lot of work….rough…..funny, but rough” Isaac said, rubbing Timmy’s embarrassment in a bit.
Isaac could read that as a sign of improvement in Timmy’s self confidence. He would never have said anything that direct to Timmy only a month and a half ago as it would have crushed the boy...Timmy had come a long way.
“I guess I won’t be bowling on TV any time soon” Timmy laughed.
“Keep working on your release…when we get that down, we will start on your aim, Ok?” Timmy nodded, and took his second turn. The release was much smoother this time, as Isaac had worked on getting him to swing the ball lower, in slow motion before doing a “real” one. The ball stayed in the lane this time, and Timmy got two pins on the left.
“Okay, so that’s two for the first frame” Isaac set, scoring Timmys sheet. “See, there are two balls in each frame, except three in the tenth”. Isaac let Timmy absorb that and went on, “When you knock all the pins down, that’s a strike, and your done for the turn if you strike on the first ball….If you hit some pins on the first ball, and the rest on the second, that’s called picking up the spare. it’s also a spare if you gutter the first ball, and strike on the second.”
Isaac took his turn and knocked down eight pins, leaving the seven and ten standing. “Timmy, this is the hard part, and how you score high in bowling…picking up spares.”
Isaac lined up his shot and launched his ball just left of where Timmy thought he should have aimed, and Timmy was convinced the ball would miss the pins, passing them on the left. Just as a groan was about to escape him, he was amazed to see the ball curve to the right, hitting the pins dead center between them sending them both tumbling…
“Wow, that was totally cool! How did you make it turn like that?” Timmy was in awe, as he had not seen this before.
“That’s called English, or spin, Timmy. It has everything to do with how you launch the ball. Pro bowlers can throw a ball with several different types of spin. For the average person, it’s just how they do it, and they adjust their game to accommodate it.”
It was Timmy’s turn again, and Isaac whispered in his ear “Just try to be as smooth in your release as you can…Smooth and easy.”
Timmy stood at the foul line, and backed off three steps, and held the ball up to begin his delivery. The ball hit the maple smoothly, and ran true and straight, knocking down seven pins. Unfortunately, he now had a 4, 7 and 10 split.
“How do I make that?” Timmy asked, sounding a bit disgusted.
“You probably won’t. Just go for the 4 and 7, that pays at least two points instead of one or none” Isaac advised.
“Is there a way to make it, though?” Timmy inquired.
“Yes, by kicking the 4 over into the ten. The ball should roll on enough to take the 7 out as well. But the trick is you got to roll the ball very close to the gutter and just graze that 4 pin so it spits out sideways. I’ve only picked this spare up maybe once or twice, and screwed it up probably 50 more times.” Isaac said. “Give it a shot, you never know.”
Give it a shot….seems like I have done that a lot lately, and so far it has been working, Timmy thought to himself. Here goes……
Timmy’s shot wasn’t quite far enough to the right, and the ball went off the lane about halfway down and dropped into the left gutter. “Keep working at it, little buddy. You will get better as you learn your swing and get consistent..”
“Your shot” Timmy said, sitting down.
At the end of the first game, Timmy had bowled a 47, and Isaac turned in a 158 score, which was about par for him. He was a solid 160 bowler and had signed up for a community college league. They would begin in a few weeks. He went to the concession stand and got a couple of sodas and took a break with Timmy before they began a second game.
In the second game Isaac struck in the third and ninth frame, and bowled a 168 score. Timmy’s consistency began to gel and when he finished his tenth frame, he had bowled an 88. Isaac thought that was very good for a beginner. “You can see how you got better as the game went on and you picked up spares” Isaac said.
“That’s the secret, always picking up your spares.”
“Isaac, lets say you struck in all ten frames…is that possible?”
“Only a few times that I heard of, its called a 300 game”
“300?” Timmy asked “Perfect score in bowling is 300.” Isaac confirmed.
After another game, Timmy said his hand and arm was getting tired, and his score showed it, by sagging to 53. Isaac knew Timmy had peaked and would need to rest his arm before bowling any more.
“So you ready to get out of here?” Timmy smiled and said “Sure”
They paid up and turned the shoes in, and went to the car. Isaac had more in mind to do today, so he asked Timmy if he had ever been to Grand River, a water park about 40 minutes away. Timmy shook his head, and Isaac said, “Well, you are in for a treat…let’s boogie!” He said, and they drove away.
Timmy thought about it and said, “I don’t have a swim suit, Isaac…”
“But of course you do, you silly knave!” Isaac said, in the ridiculous imitation of a British accent. “Look in the back seat”.
Timmy turned to look between the seats and saw a bag lying on the cushion. He reached back and grabbed the bag and brought it forward and looked inside. A pair of new turquoise and white boys swim trunks were in the bag. There were also two towels from Isaac’s bathroom and Isaac’s trunks.
“Leave the tag on ’til you try them on so I can take them back if they don’t fit” Isaac said.
Timmy said “You think of everything, don’t you? Thanks, Isaac” Isaac smiled and drove on.
When they got to the water park, Isaac paid admission and rented a locker key. They went in and found the locker room was not packed, but still pretty busy. Men and boys of various ages and in various states of undress busied themselves showering, dressing and undressing. Timmy and Isaac both had to stifle the urges to ogle the male meat on display, but they still stole quite a few glances around the room. Isaac selected a corner locker so Timmy would have a semblance of privacy, not that anyone would really notice anything, but because he knew Timmy might be intimidated and wanted him to have a good time today.
Isaac opened the locker and put the towels in first, then his clothes as he undressed. Timmy watched intently as Isaac stood nude facing him, putting on his own trunks. Timmy followed suit and quickly undressed and slipped on the swim trunks as fast as he could. Isaac closed the locker and looked at Timmy “How we doing, little buddy.” Timmy smiled and gave him the thumbs up. As they left the locker room Isaac said, “That wasn’t too terrible, was it?” and Timmy shook his head. Isaac grabbed the tag on Timmy’s trunks and pulled it off.
“Thanks, I forgot about that, Isaac”
They spent the whole afternoon doing everything the park had to offer and rode the slides a half dozen times, which was moments of thrill separated by a climb up a long stairway and waiting in line. Timmy was in nirvana, enjoying an outing at a place like this for the first time in his life. He and Isaac battled with water cannons in a shallow pool filled with pirate themed playground equipment. Off to one side a group of kids stood huddled together, and Timmy wondered what they could possibly be doing just standing in a herd when hundreds of gallons of water suddenly drenched them, and they laughed hysterically. A huge barrel on pivots above them had just dumped, and was now swinging back upright to fill again. He and Isaac joined them and let the barrel deluge them a few times before moving on.
After a long afternoon in the sun and water, they decided they were getting hungry and had enough water for one day. They went back into the locker room and took a shower in their trunks to rinse the pool chemicals off of them and out of their trunks. Back at the locker, Timmy and Isaac stripped and dried off , looking each other over…Isaac could see that Timmy was still fascinated by Isaac’s foreskin, as his eyes were glued to it the whole time Isaac’s penis was exposed. Seeing Timmy’s penis reminded Isaac that the boy had an unusual flaccid girth, and he wondered again how much it changed when Timmy was erect, but this was neither the time nor the place. Once dressed they left the park and on the ride home Timmy thanked Isaac for a really wonderful day and told him he would love to do this again. Isaac told Timmy that he enjoyed making him happy and seeing him smile. He gave Timmy two quick pats on the leg, and things were silent for a few miles until Timmy spoke again,
“Isaac, do you prefer having your foreskin, or would you rather be circ-, circo -….”
“Circumcised?” Isaac finished. “Yeah, what you said” Timmy replied, making Isaac laugh.
“I’ve never really thought about it, Timmy” Isaac said.
“Does it feel good when you pull on it or touch it and stuff? Timmy wondered.
“Yeah, it’s pretty sensitive there all right” Isaac said.
“I like to pull on mine and rub it too…I wonder if it feels different for boys with no foreskin” Timmy stated.
“I guess that is something we will never know, unless someone who was cut later in life can describe the difference” Isaac postulated.
“Cut?” Timmy asked, confused by the term.
“To say someone is ‘cut’ is to say they were circumcised” Isaac offered.
“Oh”.
They stopped at a chicken joint on the way home and got three piece dinners with two sides and sodas, and had their evening meal out.
When they got back to town, Isaac drove over to Timmy’s to drop him off, and after Timmy got out, Isaac watched Timmy go up to the door, and had almost driven off, when Timmy screamed “Isaac! Isaac, Stop!” as he ran into the street to catch up to the car.
Isaac spiked the brakes, almost causing Timmy to body slam onto the back of the car. He waited until Timmy was clear and backed up and parked again.
“What is it?” Isaac wondered
“I think he’s throwing me out of the house” Timmy said. “My stuff is packed and there’s a note…“
Timmy went back up on the porch to retrieve the note on the duffel bag, as Isaac came up behind him.. “What does it say, Timmy?”
Timmy looked at the note for a moment, handed it to Isaac and pulled the duffel back up and began to hump the heavy load off the porch, down the steps and to the VW.
Isaac read,
Isaac crumbled the note into a ball and dropped it on the porch. He closed his eyes and turned so Timmy couldn’t see him fight to keep his shit together, although he desperately just wanted to lose it at the moment, fold up, and have a good cry. He knew he couldn’t do that, because Timmy would need him now more than he ever had. After a long pause, he went back the car and they drove away. He could hear noises in the seat beside him and looked over to see Timmy crying bitterly, and silently save a few sniffs and snorts. Tears were flowing down his face and dripping on his shirt. Isaac reached his arm around the boy and Timmy leaned over the console and put his face in Isaac’s shoulder and began to bawl his eyes out.
“How could he do that?” Timmy wailed, “How could he fuckin’ do that to me”? “What did I do that was so bad he hates me like this? And with a note…I‘m so hard to face that he couldn‘t tell me this?”
“I think he does love you, Timmy…” Isaac started, but Timmy interrupted, shouting
“No, He doesn’t!…He fuckin’ hates me! I know he does, I heard what he told you! I heard it, I heard…it” he trailed off, crying harder. “I was dumped on him? Dumped, Isaac? His son was goddamned dumped on him? What kind of asshole says something like that?…..Shit! I hope to hell I’m NOT his” as he continued to irrigate Isaac’s shoulder and chest with a steady flow of hot tears. “How could he say that……”
Isaac could feel the deep hurt, intense pain and now powerful anger coming from Timmy. Isaac stopped the car in a parking lot, and shut it off. He rubbed Timmy’s neck and shoulders and said,
“Listen to me now, Timmy….what I got out of that chat with him is that he realizes he isn’t able to give you a life you deserve. Maybe you can’t get this now, but he’s done you a huge favor. He’s giving you a chance to have better than he was able to give you. He’s no prince, I’m pretty pissed at him for what he did to you and I’m not defending him, but this is about you and the rest of your life, Timmy. You can hate him for doing this, but that will just harden your heart and hurt you in the end. Hate is hard work to carry and eventually it will eat you up from the inside out like acid. I can’t help you with that, all I can do is watch while that hate kills you slowly. He can only do so much to you…Now you have to choose how you’re going to handle this…I think you have two choices in life Timmy. You can go ahead and hate the fuckin’ shit out of him for the rest of your life and let that make you hard and bitter and cold, or you can choose to forgive and move on with the rest of your life without a lot of baggage holding you back….That’s going to be much harder than hating him, and its going to take a lot for you to do it, but I will be here for you to help when you don’t think you can do it….Now, do you want to be happy and love and be loved, or do you want to spend life hating him? Is this going to destroy someone I love deeply, or is this the start of a new life for you?”
With that said, Isaac cranked the engine and they went home. Timmy had quit crying, but now stared out the window of the car and said nothing more.
At this moment he was crushed, empty, angry and done emotionally.
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