This is a work of fiction and in no way draws on the lives of any specific person or persons. If there is any similarity to any real persons or events it is entirely coincidental.
This work is copyrighted by the author and may not be reproduced in any form without the specific written permission of the author. It is assigned to the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement but it may not be copied or archived on any other site without the written permission of the author.
My thanks to John and Nicholas who have read this through for any details that may need explanation for transatlantic, or non UK readers, and made several corrections. Any remaining errors, grammatical, spelling historical or whatever are entirely my fault.
If you wish to comment on the story then do contact me on Jeffyrks@hotmail.com. I aim to reply to all messages.
Jonathan 5.
Resume:- Jonathan and his friend Robert [Bob] have discovered they both have the same sexual orientation, and are enjoying expressing it whenever they can. They have left school, and are awaiting the results of the public examinations. Both are expecting to go up to University in the autumn. But first Jonathan has his eighteenth birthday to celebrate.
1st - 11th August 2008
There was a great deal of debate as to how and when Jonathan's eighteenth birthday should be celebrated. The date was the 6th of August, but this was a Wednesday, not the best day for a gathering of all the family. His father wanted it to be on the following Saturday, but Jonathan was vocal in his complaint about missing a cricket match. The other possibility of celebrating on the Sunday was absolutely ruled out by his parents on religious grounds, not only for inappropriateness on the Lord's Day, but also because they intended to get in outside caterers, and this would cause unnecessary labour on a Sunday. Eventually Jonathan agreed to forgo one cricket match.
There had also been a lengthy debate about how it should be celebrated. It had been decided that the celebration should be in two parts. He would hold one celebration with his friends on the Friday evening, 8th August; and another with the family on the following evening. The Friday evening would be with music, food and restricted alcohol. The following evening would be a sit down meal.
Both events were to take place in a large open-sided marquee (tent) in the Pridham's garden on the outskirts of Luton. The neighbours were warned about the considerable noise for the Friday evening, but they were guaranteed the music would stop at 11.00. As a number of the neighbours had young people of Jonathan's age who would be attending, and the Pridhams were respected members of that community, there were no problems on that score.
The Friday evening was a noisy, joyful occasion. Many of his young friends from school and church were there. The school friends were uninhibited in dancing and drinking, right from the start. They got away with as much as they could. Some of the more restrained Church friends were slightly open-mouthed to begin with, but soon they too were joining in the fun.
When it was over, Robert hung behind, as ordered by Jonathan.
"I'm not going to have a celebration of my birthday without a special celebration with you."
"I suppose you're wanting my cock up your arse, yet again?"
"How did you guess?"
They had left their bicycles where they could be removed without being spotted. They did enough assisting in the clearing up to be noticed, and win approval, and then unobtrusively disappeared. Their going was not noticed.
They cycled as fast as they could to their private place in the woods between the disused railway track, and the much used main line. Though there was little light they made their way to their usual place. Few words needed to be said. After a few kisses, and gropings, Jonathan produced the tube of KY and prepared himself. Robert greased his own cock. Very soon, with no problem, Robert's cock effortlessly made its familiar way into Jonathan.
"Happy birthday, Jon. This is my special present for you. A special private gift, my love juice, specially saved to be shot deep inside you."
He had possibly been saving it for too long. He had intended it to be a drawn out fuck, yet it only lasted ten minutes. But it was a copious load that was shot into Jonathan. While his cock was still inside and beginning to soften, Robert's hand brought Jonathan to his climax.
"Thanks Bob. That was the best birthday present of them all." He turned to face Robert. Their trousers were round their ankles, and their T-shirts pulled up as high as possible so their cocks were able to press together, and they kissed and whispered together.
"We mustn't be too long, or I'll be missed. I hope I've not got your cum smeared too much on my clothes."
"I doubt if it'll matter. We've been eating and drinking at the party. I don't think our Mums will be getting the stains on our clothes analysed."
They made their way through the undergrowth, and collected their bicycles from the bushes where they had hidden them. Robert went straight back to his home. Jonathan was able to get back in time to help with some of the finishing touches of clearing up. He had not been missed. It was nearly two o'clock when he made his way off to bed.
The celebration the following evening was a totally different affair. The marquee (tent) had a large table along one side, with individual round tables seating eight people elsewhere. The food was laid out on the long table. There were flowers, and everything looked fine.
This was an occasion for family and family friends. Jonathan's immediate family were all there. Three grandparents were there, his mother Lois' parents, and Gramps Pridham, and his uncle Stephen, and some aunts and uncles from his mother's family, as well as cousins. His other Pridham uncle, Kevin, was in New Zealand, and there was no way Michael Pridham would have allowed that brother to contaminate the proceedings by his presence. Jonathan had been baptised as a baby in the Church of England, so he had two godfathers and a godmother. They were there with their spouses, and some of their children, several of whom were older or close in age to Jonathan. Then there were that miscellaneous collection of family friends who had initially been called 'aunt' or 'uncle'.
Jonathan welcomed his guests. He shook hands with the uncles and kissed the aunts. When Gramps arrived the two of them stood looking at each other for a fleeting moment. Shaking hands was far too formal, and a kiss now reckoned too juvenile. Malcolm broke the deadlock, and grabbed Jonathan, giving him a hug.
"This is a very proud moment for me, Jon. I am so glad to be here to see you reach your eighteenth. My only regret is that Janet didn't live to see it."
"I know, Gramps. But you're here. And I hope you going to be around to see many more. I'm looking forward to being with you when you celebrate your hundredth."
"Hold on a moment, I've still got a number of years to go to my eightieth."
They laughed.
Pastor Willis was asked to give thanks, which he did at some length.
Then there was the food. Michael had not spared over this celebration, it was a lavish spread.
Then came the toasts. Michael stood up, and banged the handle of a knife on a table. "First, I would like to say how good it is to see you all here. It is not often families get together, and that this is such a joyful occasion makes it all the better."
"It is a proud moment for me to be able to propose the health of my son and heir. I am proud of Jonathan. He has done well at school; at least we have good reason to believe so, though we await the results of his final set of examinations. He has done well at sport, on the Rugby field, playing for his school, and especially this summer on the cricket field. I learnt not to make him rash promises when he went and scored his maiden century for the school against my own side, the Old Boys XI. In fact it was for me an expensive lesson."
There was laughter as everyone knew about the rash promise he had made before that match.
"Not that he has been perfect. I did have to reprimand him once for climbing out of his bedroom window, and down over the garage roof."
"One reprimand after many such exits," muttered Jonathan in a voice most could hear. This was greeted with further laughter.
Michael went on to tell a few other amusing anecdotes about Jonathan's earlier years.
"But today we not only look back, mostly we must look forward. Our son Jonathan now stands at the threshold of adulthood. On Wednesday he became of age. We all look forward to seeing his life develop and his growing in maturity and stature. Lois and I have trained him in the way he should go, in the fear and admonition of the Lord. We have endeavoured to train him in the way that he should go by our teaching and example. But chiefly we both hope and pray that he will continue to walk in the right paths growing in the love and service of the Lord. So I ask you to be upstanding, as I propose a toast, to Jonathan and his future."
All the guests stood and raised their glasses, "To Jonathan and his future."
Jonathan stood up, with a slight blush of embarrassment upon his cheeks. "I want to begin by thanking you all for coming. Many of you have known me from day one. I want to thank you all for your love and kindnesses over the last eighteen years. I have found the generosity of your birthday gifts to me to be a humbling and heart warming experience. Thank you all again. But chiefly I want to thank my immediate family. To thank Abigail and Thomas who have had to put up with me as an older brother. We have had our ups and downs."
Two young voices interrupted, "You can say that again."
"But most of all I want to say thank you to Mum and Dad. Thank you, Dad, for your words just now. The first child is the sort of prototype, the test model on which lessons are learnt. I want to thank them for bringing me up in a happy and secure home. I have always known that I have been loved, and the psychologists say that is more important than anything that money can buy. Not that we have ever gone short when it come to the essentials and many of the good things of life. Also I want to thank them for giving me freedom. When a business has been in the family for a number of generations, and Pridham's was founded by my great great grandfather, there is quite a lot of pressure on the eldest son of the eldest son to go into the business. But from early on Dad has made absolutely clear that it should be my choice what I did with my life. I was not to feel under any moral compulsion and family obligation. So thank you again Mum and Dad. Thank you for everything."
His face now crimson, he sat down. There was a good round of applause. He looked across at Gramps, who gave him a wink and a surreptitious thumbs up. That was the sign of approval that Jonathan most valued.
During that summer holiday Jonathan continued to work at one of the family's shops. He was paid by the number of hours he worked, so he was always free to go off and play cricket, or meet up with his friend Robert.
He had volunteered to help on some work that needed doing to the cricket pavilion out in Whitgest. He cycled over there, as both family cars were being used by parents. He enjoyed cycling. He had perfected a route that avoided most of the busy roads, even if at times it involved cycling down bumpy, and in wet weather muddy, tracks and footpaths. So on the afternoon of Monday, the 11th of August Jonathan made his way over to Whitgest. His work on the pavilion only took a couple of hours, so he decided to call in on his grandfather while he was there.
Gramps offered him a variety of drinks, and he chose a beer, which he drank from the can.
"Make sure you're not stopped for being drunk in charge of a bicycle."
"Gramps, one can won't make me legless."
They stood in the kitchen for a while, before going to sit outside on the patio. They talked of cricket. Jonathan was just about to leave when Simon appeared. Simon was his grandfather's friend. They had met before at his Grandmother's funeral earlier in the year, so no introductions were necessary. He too was handed a can of beer. The three of them discussed cricket, local, county and national. Little did Jonathan even begin to guess the full nature of the friendship between his grandfather and Simon. After about half an hour Simon left.
Gramps offered Jonathan a meal, but he said that he would need to clear it with his mother first. A quick phone call soon settled that, so Jonathan stayed.
It was just before eight o'clock when Jonathan left Whitgest. The journey took him just over half an hour. It was a beautiful evening, and the Hertfordshire countryside looked unusually bright and clean for the time of year, because of the heavy rains of the month before. He made his usual way along tracks and minor roads where ever possible. He arrived home and placed his bicycle in the garage, and went in through the back door.
"Hi folks, I'm back," he called as he went through the kitchen.
His mother and father met him in the hall.
"Will you come in here, Jonathan, we need to have a word," said Michael.
This seemed strangely ominous to Jonathan. First, his father rarely called him fully by his name, unless it was serious, and 'having a word' used to mean a sound telling off in his younger days. His father led the way into the dining room. He and Lois sat on one side of the dining room table, and signified that Jonathan should sit on the other side.
"Mr. Fox called round earlier this evening."
"What for?" asked Jonathan.
"Have you been looking at any DVDs round at Bob's?"
"Yes, you know I have. Bob's got all the Star Wars and Harry Potter ones so far out, and, plus many others, you know I have!"
"Any very different DVDs?"
Jonathan's heart missed a beat. "What do you mean?"
"Any DVDs of a sexual nature?"
Jonathan presumed that something had been discovered. He also presumed that Bob had been interrogated and probably divulged the fact that they had seen the offending DVD together. He nodded.
"Did you watch the whole of it?"
He gave another more reluctant nod.
"Mr Fox discovered a pornographic DVD in their player. It was not the usual porn, but far, far worse, it showed sexual acts between two men."
A thought flitted across Jonathan's mind as to whether Mr. Fox had watched the whole of the offending DVD as it contained far more explicit material than just sex between two men.
"I presume the DVD belongs to Robert?"
Jonathan nodded.
"Why didn't you stop watching it, or get up and leave?"
Jonathan remained silent.
"You know that watching any sexual material is wrong, but to watch the whole of a DVD, - of what, ninety minutes? - showing the abominable sin of sex between two men!"
There was a further silence.
"Have you watched it more than once?"
Jonathan nodded.
"Why, Jonathan?" After another long silence, his father asked again, "Why?"
"Please answer your father," interjected Lois.
"Yes, Dad, I've watched it more than once," replied Jonathan with a strong note of resignation in his voice.
"Let me ask you a further question, have you ever done anything of a homosexual nature?"
"Yes, dad," whispered Jonathan.
"The sort of things seen on the DVD?"
Jonathan nodded.
"With Robert Fox?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Oh, no," muttered Lois.
"I don't know how to word the next question in the presence of your mother. All the way?"
Jonathan nodded.
"How could you? Why?"
Slowly and softly Jonathan answered. "Because I like it."
"How can you like it? It is an abomination in the sight of the Lord. It's unnatural."
"I don't think it's unnatural for me."
"Of course, it's unnatural. God made human kind to have sex, a man with a woman in the context of a loving marriage. The last thing he wants is two young men doing what is an abomination in his sight. For how long have you been doing this evil thing with Robert?"
"Since February."
"How often?"
"Whenever we could." Now that it was out in the open a new feeling was coming to the fore within Jonathan. He was beginning to feel more defiant. He determined to be open with the truth whatever the cost. There was nothing to be gained by trying to conceal what had taken place between him and Robert.
"Have you done anything with any other male?"
"No, Dad."
"I suppose that's something to be thankful for," murmured Lois.
"If you had been doing similar things with a girl, a girl from school or wherever, that would have been understandable. But thinking about it, you've never brought any girl friends as such home to the house. Friends who are girls may be, but not girl friends as such."
"I don't feel that way about girls. I'm not attracted to them."
"But you must be. All boys are attracted to girls, I know I was when I was your age." Michael glanced briefly towards Lois, remembering the strains and stresses of their courting days.
"You are like the majority, Dad. You may have been attracted to girls. But I'm not. I'm in a minority. I never have been attracted to girls in that way."
"Have you thought about what other people think if they find out you are that way? What will Abigail and Thomas think? What will Gramps think?"
That remark hurt Jonathan. What would his grandfather think?
"For how long have you been attracted to boys, and to Robert Fox in particular?"
"For about two or three years, I suppose."
"Why did nothing happen for those two or three years?"
"Because we didn't know we both felt the same way towards each other."
"Who made the first move?"
"Dad, I want to be honest and open with you. I've told as much as possible about Robert. I don't want to blab about him any further. It's not fair on him."
"Fair enough. Are you sorry for what has happened? Are you repentant about your grievous sin?"
Jonathan thought for a moment. It would be easy to say 'yes', but that was the easy way out, and the dishonest way out. His essential honesty was forcing him to acknowledge his feelings towards Robert. He knew that not saying he was repentant would lead to no end of trouble. "No, Dad. It meant a lot to me."
Michael turned towards his wife.
There were tears in her eyes. "What are we going to do with him?"
"What are the choices open to us?" Michael sat thinking. "I don't think you should go up to University in October, Jonathan."
Jonathan gasped with shock at this suggestion. "But, Dad!"
"Pastor Willis was saying at the Men's Meeting a few months ago that our Universities are now seething with homosexual vice. In all of them there are societies, called Gay Societies, that openly push and encourage gay sex, and many young people are led astray and are caught up in this web of evil. He also said that there were organisations that could heal young men of their homosexuality. Unfortunately, the most efficient and with the best record of healing are in the States, and are very expensive."
"We need to get Jon cured, whatever the cost. We must put an end to this," said Lois.
"I don't want to be cured."
"Don't you want to marry, and have children?"
"I know I don't want to marry. The very idea of sex with a girl is distasteful to me."
"Distasteful?" said Michael and Lois in unison, their voices raised.
"How can what God has planned and given be distasteful? Your mother and I always find it something beautiful and fulfilling."
"It just is." Later Jonathan realised that this was the one and only time either of his parents had mentioned their sex life to him. The use of the present tense came as something as a surprise, that the older generation actually made love. "I believe that my relationship with Bob has been beautiful and fulfilling. I feel a more fulfilled person as the result of what we've done together."
"How can you say that? You know nothing. You are still a youth," said Michael with a mounting note of anger in his voice.
"Dad, I only know what is true for me. I've always liked Bob. We've known each other, as you know, since our early school days. I know there have been times when we've fallen out, when we've fought. But Bob has always been my best friend. During the Winter half term we discovered that we were both wanting sex with each other."
"You were lusting after each other!"
"No Dad. We had both been drawn sexually to each other. But both of us were afraid of saying anything, and certainly of doing anything. Then we found out the extent of what we were feeling for each other. That discovery, and our expression of it has been for me a great personal revelation. I think I now know more of who I am."
"You talk about your feelings, and your discovery, you even dare to use the word beauty. Isn't that what the Apostle Paul talks about when he speaks of the 'deceitfulness of sin'?" You're been led astray. You're deviating from the paths of righteousness." Michael was speaking with mounting anger, and his voice was beginning to rise.
"Dad, can't you understand I love Bob."
Michael jumped to his feet, and glared down at Jonathan. "What can you know about love, you're a mere boy?"
As his father was speaking Jonathan too stood up, lent on his hands across the table. "But Dad I lo......"
He got no further. Before Jonathan could even see it was coming, his father's fist landed on his left eye. The force of the blow knocked him backwards, he stumbled into his chair and fell onto the floor.
Lois too jumped to her feet. She pulled at Michael's shoulders, and made him sit down. "Jonathan," she said, "I think you'd best go to your room."
Jonathan got to his feet, and quickly left the room.
Michael collapsed onto his chair, put his head in his arms on the table, and wept, as the full realisation of what he had done swept over him. He had rarely smacked the children, and had certainly not laid any hand on Jonathan for at least ten years. He had lost his temper. "I hit him. I hit him," he wailed.
Lois sat alongside, and put her arm across her husband's shoulders.
That sat there for several minutes, as Michael got control of himself.
"What are going to do?"
"Yes, what are we?"
"I know I shouldn't have hit him. But for him to talk of loving in a sexual way young Bob! Hasn't he even heard anything about Platonic love?"
"I think there are a lot of things involved that we do not understand."
"You can say that again."
"But what are we to do now?"
There was again a lengthy silence.
"I think we should find out more about getting him cured."
"He won't like that. He's set on University this autumn."
"He's got to see sense, be made to see sense. What future is there for him in life as a gay man?"
"We have had a gay man as a cabinet Minister. Ian MacKellan is gay. There is even a gay bishop in the States."
"Yes, a Cabinet Minister in a Labour Government; the bishop, in the equivalent of the Church of England, that's not saying much, and well, actors are actors." said Michael contemptuously.
"Yes, dear." Lois drew a deep breath. She now thought Michael might be prepared to turn to the more immediate issue. "What do we do about Jonathan now?"
"I did wrong, punching him like that. I lost my temper, something I've never really done with any of the children." He sat thinking. "What do you think I should do?"
"You're his father. The Lord made you the master of this household, you must do what you think you should do."
"I suppose I need to go up and apologise."
"Yes, dear."
Michael stood up. Slowly he made his way to the door, across the hall way and upstairs. The door to Jonathan's room was closed. He knocked on it. There was no answer. He pushed at it and it did not move. He knocked again, a little louder this time. There was still no answer. He opened the door and looked in. The room was empty.
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