Cheddar's, Chapter 23
Darrin woke up giggling because someone was blowing raspberries on his taut tummy. That someone was Rob, of course.
"You'd better stop or I'll pee the bed!" he managed to gasp out.
"Okay, but you'd better come right back so I can continue. I love playing with you."
Darrin returned after he'd emptied his bladder and brushed his teeth.
Realizing his breath might not be pleasant, Rob jumped up to brush too. Then, they snuggled, nude again, kissing and touching.
Their morning play was interrupted by a soft rap on the door.
"Are you decent?" Adam called.
"It depends on how you define the term," Darrin chuckled.
"As in, will you be embarrassed if I come in?"
"Nope, but we'll never be ashamed if you catch us in whatever state we're in."
"Jeez, have you no modesty?" Adam grinned, seeing their sheet looking like a small tent with twin peaks toward the middle.
"Nope, we're not the least bit shy anymore!" Rob said. "We're living with guys who understand."
"Well, you certainly won't need any poles if you go camping with your new pickup. Just lie on your backs and pull a tarp over you."
"Speaking of the pickup, did I tell you how overwhelmed I am by your generosity?" Rob asked.
"Only about 20 times. I keep telling you, it's part of the inheritance. You're just as much a son of Robert J Baxter as I am. I'm the firstborn, but you got his first name."
"That's only because it's also the first name of the guy who's always been Dad to me. He wanted me to be a junior, so no one would question my legitimacy. It's ironic they both had the same first name, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it really is.
"So, my purpose on coming in here wasn't to check on your erections. I'm supposed to roust you out for breakfast. Parker has it almost ready. Don't bother to dress up. We're all in boxers or sleep-shorts."
"Okay, we'll put some on as soon as you get out of here," Darrin said. "Rob's afraid to be naked in front of you because he thinks you'll be jealous if you see the size of his junk."
"I wish. I've seen my bro, in a Speedo, and I know, - he's packing!" Rob rapped, with a grin on his face.
"Yeah, and I've seen my sib in a singlet. In fact, I'll bet it's the same one that's on the floor over there."
"Damn!" Rob blushed. "I was just..."
"Yeah, I know. Parker and I like to play dress-up too. I hope it was hot for both of you!"
Over breakfast, the guys discussed what they had on their agendas. Darrin was working at the hardware store all day and Rob was going in to Cheddar's to wash dishes during the noon rush. Jon and Bart had arranged two appointments with contractors to begin getting estimates on the work which needed to be done on the house. Parker and Adam were going along to get an idea of the extent and cost of the restoration.
Jon said Bart and he would probably drive back to the `burbs after the later meeting because they had business to conduct the following day.
"We have to take a client to lunch, and it would be better if we didn't feel stressed from a four-hour drive when we do. So, we'll get a good night's sleep in our own bed and be fresh."
"We'd love you to stay, but you have to do what's best for you," Parker agreed.
"You guys need to sleep in your own bed too," Bart added. "It was gracious of you to give it up for us and sleep on a futon. That's hospitality above and beyond the call of duty!"
"It wasn't a hardship," Adam insisted. "Being confined to a smaller space means that cuddling isn't an option, but that's a good thing! Someday soon, we may have a spare bedroom. Ben and Jake are talking about moving in with their girlfriends if they can swing the financing on a mobile home which came on the market recently. They're working on their parents for a loan before the fall term starts. They have all sorts of data to support their position on how it would save money and be a good deal. Ben's mother isn't convinced that couples should live together without getting married first, so we'll see how that goes."
Carson Construction was one of the larger local companies. They had a great reputation, with many references. The guys were impressed with the before and after photos of several houses they'd worked on.
Don Carson claimed that they were very busy despite being more expensive than some of their competitors. It would be at least November before they could even begin to do any tearing out.
While he went through the various apartments, he kept up a running narrative on how his company was the only one to hire.
"We're the best in the state, possibly the whole Midwest!" he boasted. "You can hire wood-butchers for less, but you won't be pleased with the results. We use the finest material, we're fussy about details, and, we don't hire Mexicans!"
Parker nearly choked on hearing the last part of the statement. He was already put off by the man's arrogance, but now he could barely wait for the meeting to be over.
"Thank you for your time," Jon said, as he, more or less, ushered Carson out the front door. We'll be in touch, if we decide your estimate is within our range, and if we want to do business with you."
"I think that guy should be rated three-B: boastful, bigoted, bastard!" Parker exclaimed after the man had left. "I guess racist comes under the umbrella of bigoted, but it almost needs its own, separate category."
"I could tell by the look on your face that he wasn't likely to get the bid," Adam grinned.
"I wholeheartedly agree," Jon nodded.
"Me too," Bart added.
"Well, let's catch an early lunch so we have time to relax before our afternoon meeting," Parker suggested. "We might see Rob for a minute if he's not overwhelmed."
At 11:45, Cheddar's wasn't packed, but it was beginning to fill up. Having called last minute about where they'd like to sit, Parker feared they might have to settle for whatever table wasn't occupied. He smiled in relief when they were seated in the area that Jason was tending.
"Ah, I see the dads from Chicago are here! Welcome back, gentlemen."
"How nice of you to remember!" Jon complimented him.
"I assumed you'd all want water with lemon," Jason said as he placed the glasses on the table. Is there anything else I may bring you to drink?"
"No, that will be fine," Parker said. "I think we all know what we want."
After placing their orders, they asked if they could see Rob if he wasn't too busy. Jason said he would send him out for a minute if possible.
Rob grinned at seeing who had summoned him. He had only a couple of minutes to spare because the pots and pans would be stacking up, but was interested to hear more about the boorish man they'd dealt with. Adam's initial comments whetted his appetite for the whole story.
"I'll give you the details tonight, Bro," Adam said as they bumped fists in parting.
"God, it feels so good to say `Bro' and know that it applies!"
"It's cool knowing he'll be my brother-in-law," Parker agreed.
"Have you decided on a date already?" Jon asked.
"Probably sometime next year. We aren't rushing, but we're not going to wait until after graduation either. It's so awesome knowing that our friends and family support us in whatever we choose to do."
They went back to the Forsythe house early, but arrived only a minute before a big pickup pulled into the drive. Discretely painted on the side was a sign that read: "M R Construction."
"Hello, I'm Manuel Rodrigues. I hope that you will consider allowing me to restore your beautiful house."
"You're certainly in the running. When I looked up your business on the Internet, I noticed that you don't have a lot of references, but the ones you have are current, and very positive."
"We're reasonably new, and we're beginning to build a reputation. We're a small company, with headquarters in West Branch where the overhead is less expensive than in Iowa City. Our operation is made up of my brother, nephew, my wife's nephew, and myself. We occasionally hire college students with less experience for the tearing-out process. We don't do a large volume of business, but we are careful craftsmen who pride ourselves in seeing to all the details. I have a couple of before and after examples on my laptop, if you haven't seen them already on our website. I'll give you the addresses so you may drive by and see them for yourselves."
"Excellent! If we decide to hire you, how soon would you be able to begin?"
"We could do some of the deconstruction as early as next week, if you like."
"Well, let's give you a tour of the place, and a few of our ideas for restoring it," Jon said. "We have some rough drawings."
As they looked over the rooms together, Manuel made several notes on his tablet, and photographed the major walls in each unit.
"I took the liberty of doing a little research on this house. It was owned by one of the early governors, William Stone, and had a long and notable presence in the community in the past, so there are photos in an old book on the history of Iowa City that's in the public library. They let me make copies to use as references of what we're shooting for in restoring it. Here is what the grand staircase looked like a century or so ago. I believe it can look that way again. Part of it is evidently concealed by the wall that was put in to make a separate apartment on this side of the first floor. That area of closets and built-in cupboards probably boxes in about a third of the width of the original.
"Wow! I thought the stairs were unusually narrow," Parker exclaimed. "I hope the tearing out process can begin here so we can see it."
"It can be done early in the process, but I'd recommend beginning with the area that was damaged. We want to know what we're up against there before we invest a lot of time."
From there, they went up to the second floor. Manuel agreed with Jon that there was no structural damage. He felt that the walls which had been erected in dividing the house up into apartments would come down quickly. The materials were flimsy, and the construction wasn't very solid.
Their last stop in the house was the garret apartment that the guys had lived in before the fire. Manuel suggested that a different configuration of the closet could retain as much storage by incorporating space under the sloping roof, but make the bedroom larger. The guys loved his ideas.
As they were on the way out, after exploring all the apartments, Jon had a feeling that Manuel could very well be the man for the job.
"Your theory about the existence of the original stairway will alter our plans, so you'll have to take into consideration what additional expense would be incurred in its restoration. At your convenience, we'd appreciate an estimate. If you could send a copy to our firm in the suburbs, and a copy to my son, Parker, that would be great."
"I shall get on it immediately. Is there a way I could come back to spend more time looking at the staircase?"
"I have a bucket of front door keys because all the tenants had one, please take mine so you can come and go as you please," Parker offered.
"Thank you. I'm happy that you'd trust me to have unlimited access."
"I think we've found our man, unless his estimate comes in way higher than Carson's," Parker said as they returned to Adam's house. "I'd even consider paying him more, after the comment Carson made about not hiring Mexicans!"
The others agreed. They also felt bad that Manuel seemed surprised to be trusted with a key.
"It goes back to a discussion Adam and I were having when I first took him to visit my grandparents. We are not living in a post-racial time. There is entirely too much distrust of people who aren't of northern European heritage," Parker sighed. "It's a sad commentary on our nation of immigrants!"
Shortly after Jon and Bart left for the `burbs around 3:30, the guys changed their big bed, and began to make plans for dinner. They were going to grill bacon-wrapped sirloin filets to have along with potato salad and baked beans – all warm-weather favorites.
Rob didn't have to work the evening shift, so he was home for dinner after he picked up Darrin from his job.
"How do you like your steaks cooked?" Parker asked, as he saw them come into the kitchen.
"Anywhere from medium to medium rare, erring on the rare side, if possible," Rob requested.
"Just like your brother. How about you, Darrin."
"Same here."
"That should be easy then. Four alike, coming up."
The new arrivals pitched in to help Adam set the table on the screened-in porch, so everything would be ready when the meat was.
"This is an awesome meal, but you can't keep feeding us all the time!" Darrin exclaimed. "Rob and I have to pull our own weight."
"We're still celebrating having you move in. We can work out a schedule for sharing duties later if you like, but it won't hurt us to do most of the cooking while we're not working. Of course, once school starts, it will be every man for himself. We'll end up eating out when we're too busy to cook."
"Maybe we can spell each other then," Darrin suggested. "I'm sure we'll all eat out sometimes. But, making meals at home saves calories as well as money."
"That's for sure. When you eat out, you're more likely to be tempted by appetizers and desserts."
Over dinner, they discussed the restoration of the house. Rob and Darrin agreed that they wouldn't want to give business to someone who was openly prejudiced.
"I'm sure we all deal with bigots on a daily basis," Darrin said. "But when they make their biases so clear, it makes you sick!"
There wasn't a lot of summer break left before the new term at the university would begin. Adam thought it would be fun for the four of them to have a weekend away, possibly camping. He broached the subject with his housemates, and they were all for it.
Rob was dying to have an excuse to use his pickup for an adventure, and the others thought a bit of communing with nature would be a good way to kick-back before hitting the books again.
Adam went up into the attic over the garage to see if there was still any camping equipment stored there. It had been years since his family had used it, and he thought they might have sold it or given it away.
To his surprise, and delight, everything was still there. Better yet, it was wrapped up in plastic to protect it from dust, and surrounded by boxes of d-CON to keep the rodents at bay, in case they tried to winter over in the garage.
With the help of the other three, everything got sorted out on the garage floor.
There was a tent big enough to hold a small family. There were pots and pans, and even a Coleman stove. The sleeping bags were a little musty smelling, but could be laundered in the large-capacity equipment in the mudroom. Last, but not least, was a big cooler.
"I think we can pull this off without having to buy anything but food," Adam grinned. "Does anyone have to work tomorrow?"
Since no one did, they made plans to visit Backbone State Park the next day. Having all day Friday, as well as the weekend, they could arrive early enough to secure a good spot before it got too busy.
Rob and Darrin went to Scheel's to buy new sleeping bags that would zip together. They wanted their own in the long run, and couldn't wait to christen them!
Parker's bicycle rack fit into the receiver hitch on Rob's pickup, but had places for only two bikes, so they carefully padded the other two as they packed them with the camping equipment. No one wanted to put a scratch on Rob's pride and joy.
With the addition of a cooler full of food, they were at last ready to go.
Darrin rode shotgun, though he had offered the spot to Adam, saying that the brothers could bond by sitting together on the way. Adam deferred the spot to Darrin because he was Rob's special guy. Adam would rather sit in back to hold hands with Parker, anyway.
As predicted, there were plenty of prime camping sites open when they arrived on Friday just after noon. Parker and Adam paid the fee to make up for the fact that Rob had driven. They wanted to keep costs equal.
The vintage family tent was a bit cumbersome to erect because it was heavier than the modern nylon models, but it was also more resistant to rain. So, if they did have any bad weather, they should be quite snug.
After everything was in place, they decided to take an exploratory ride around the grounds to get the lay of the land. Adam was the only one of the group who had been there before, and that was long ago when he was a little boy, so most of it was new to everyone.
At the store, on the way back, they bought a bundle of firewood for their evening's entertainment. They had made a pact to keep their phones locked up inside the cab of the truck, and check them only twice a day. If they were going to be communing with nature, they didn't want the songs of the birds to be interrupted by tweets of a different kind.
Their supper was hotdogs, chips, and fruit. Afterward, they sat around the fire making a few s'mores. During that time, they exchanged more bits and pieces of their lives. The brothers were bonding, but so were their boyfriends. They all seemed to be quite compatible. At one point in the evening, Parker realized how offering shelter to Adam in the previous autumn had led to a whole new community of friends.
Before going to bed, they all went to the shower house to rid their bodies of the sweat they'd worked up biking, and the campfire smoke they'd absorbed on their skin and hair.
"We all smell like smoked sausages," Adam giggled.
"Be careful with that analogy, or someone may try to eat you," Rob snickered.
The shower was a big open gang-style one like many high school locker rooms had. They were all used to the lack of privacy, and weren't embarrassed to be naked together.
It was interesting to see the two brothers standing nude, side by side. Undressed, they looked even more alike than with their clothes on. As Darrin had suspected, their equipment looked like duplicates, right down to their foreskins. When he mentioned it, they all dropped any pretense of not checking each other out. No one was ashamed or disappointed!
"Um, I think Rob and I may take a little walk in the woods before we turn in, so you guys will have time to, um, make out or whatever," Darrin announced.
"Bud, those mosquitoes will eat you alive when there's no smoke to keep them away," Adam cautioned. "I think we can all go back to the tent and make out. I'm not inviting anyone to participate in an orgy, but the tent is quite dark, and we're all guys, and we're all gay. So, to coin a phrase, `what happens in the tent, stays in the tent.'"
"Cool!" Rob grinned. The rest agreed.
After the sun had set, and the moon hadn't yet risen, the tent was as dark as Adam said it would be. As they stripped, they couldn't really see each other moving about.
The only thing that hinted at what was transpiring was the noise each couple was making. In the beginning, it amounted to kissing and barely audible moaning. At one point, there was tittering from Darrin, as Rob blew raspberries on his tummy. That set off giggles of empathy from the other two. After some rustling of bedding due to changing positions, things got quiet for a few seconds. Then the silence was broken by the sounds of sucking and more moaning. Before long, it turned a chorus of whimpering as each guy felt the intensity of impending orgasm. A staccato of sharp moans and gasps signaled when that goal had been reached.
Tender words of love and caring were exchanged in the afterglow.
By then, the moon had risen, and their eyes had adjusted to the dark enough to make out shadowy forms in the ambient light coming through the open flap at the back of the tent. Adam got up on his knees and held out his arms toward the other couple. The rest understood his unspoken request, and got up on their knees to join in a group hug. It was a moment of connection that would cement their kinship for the rest of their lives.
Author's notes: Thanks to Zero M, Bill K, Wayne, Mendy D, Skip M, Tony C, Kevin C, Charles G, Randy McM, GDC, Walt S, Joe W, Bill T, Walt Sz, John L, Tom A, Max P, Jim W, Steve C, Douglas and Lawrence, Omaha Jim, Ott H, Hotrod, Frank K, Michael McM, Bill Th, Paul R, Ray K, and Paul F who have emailed since last posting.
Don't forget to include Nifty in your will!
David