Perry's disappearance was sudden which could mean only one thing. The cave floor must have collapsed and dropped the boy into the hole. The tunnels were in layers and if the floor of the cavern was weak MT knew he would have to be careful or suffer the same fate.

His light traversed the floor by the wall and he saw the disturbance. There was now a hole that had not been there when they walked in. MT got down on his stomach and crawled towards it. As he would on a frozen lake, he tried to distribute his weight and hope that nothing else gave way.

What was down there? MT tried to remember the twists and turns in the tunnels he knew about, but they ran off in another direction. Whatever was down there was something he hadn't encountered before. He had told Perry that there were two exits from the cavern, but had not mentioned that one of them was filled with water.

MT crawled along the wall and hesitated ... he needed a plan. He slipped off his backpack and pulled out a coil of the nylon rope. A boulder protruded from the wall about twenty feet from the hole and it gave him a place to anchor the end. Passing the rope around the rock he tied a bowline and yanked on it to test the knot. Wrapping the remaining rope around his middle he slowly let it out as he crawled over to the hole.

"Perry?" He called.

"Yeah," Came a distant reply.

"Are you hurt?" MT asked.

"No ... just very wet. I'm standing in a pool of water up to my waist and its cold as hell."

"If I dropped you the rope do you think you could climb back up?" MT asked.

A beam of light suddenly shown in MT's face. Perry must have fallen about twenty feet and MT could see the reflection of the light off the water below.

"I don't know, the rope is kinda skinny for climbing," Perry called up. "And besides, I was never very good at that in gym class."

"I have an idea," MT said. "Tie your backpack on the end of my rope and let me pull it up. We'll need to use both ropes for this operation."

Two minutes later MT had the other coil of rope in his hands. He crawled back to the rock and anchored the end there. Then he proceeded to tie knots in the rope every three feet which took him some time to accomplish. Finally he dropped both ropes back down to Perry.

"Okay, here's the deal," MT said. "You use the rope with the knots to help climb back up. The other rope you tie under your crotch and around your waist so I can help by pulling on you. Between us we ought to be able to manage getting you back up here."

"Okay," Perry said, "but let me tell you something first. The hole I fell through looks like it was at the center of a dome shape. I can see it from here. I guess that means the area around the hole is weaker than the rest, so don't you sit there when you pull or there will be two of us down here."

MT nodded, what a smart boy. "Okay, I got it. Take your time and let me take the strain as you climb from knot to knot. Clamp your feet above the knots and push up while you pull with your hands."

Perry laughed. "I remember the gym teacher saying pretty much the same thing."

"Let's do this," MT said. "Tell me when you have the rope wrapped around you."

More rock might fall if they weren't careful and Perry would be right under it. If they went slowly this might work. MT had the rope over his shoulder and wrapped around his waist so he could take in the strain.

"Ready," Perry called.

MT pulled on his line until he felt Perry's weight. Every time it slackened a bit he pulled more of it up. This was working, and then all of a sudden he had all of Perry's weight.

"Sorry ... my foot slipped off the knot," Perry yelled.

"Okay, just get back to it," MT yelled back.

It seemed to take forever to move the boy twenty feet, but MT suddenly saw a hand come up over the lip of the hole and then Perry's head appeared.

"Hang on to that rope," MT cautioned. "If you shift your weight to the rock all of a sudden you might crack it."

Getting Perry up through the hole and sprawled out on the cavern floor took a little time, but finally he was sitting next to MT, the both of them exhausted. Perry was completely wet and shivering from his immersion, but he wasn't damaged in any way.

"That was some adventure," Perry laughed.

"Thank God we had the rope," MT said.

All of a sudden Perry leaned over and gave MT a kiss on the cheek. "My hero," Perry said.

"Oh, don't go starting that. Look, we ought to move the hell out of here and get you dried out."

"Yeah, I'm cold."

The return to open skies and warm sunshine didn't take that long. Perry followed MT down the hill until they came to a creek where they could wash up. The soil from the cavern had deposited a gritty dust on both of them, but Perry was covered in it because he was already wet.

"Is this private enough for me to take off my clothes and rinse them out?" Perry asked.

"I think so," MT replied. "We're pretty well off the main trails up here."

"I don't want to go home looking like this. You know what kind of trouble that will cause."

"Agreed, we could both use a bath. I just wish the water temperature was warmer," MT said.

They both stripped off and Perry rinsed the dirt out of his clothes. He emptied the backpack and came across their soggy lunch bag, so much for that. The clothes were soon laid out on a warm boulder to dry while the boys sat down on MT's clothes to wait.

"Uh ... you kissed me," MT said, the thought coming out of nowhere.

"I did ... haven't you ever kissed a boy before?"

"I never kissed anything but my mother before," MT replied.

"That wasn't a real kiss," Perry said.

He laid a hand on the back of MT's neck and pulled their faces together. Lips met and what followed was a very real kiss. Perhaps it was the release of emotion after a difficult moment in the cave, or perhaps MT wanted this kiss to mean something. But neither of them pulled away as MT slid his hands around Perry's shoulders and held him closer.

What followed went way beyond kissing, and for MT it brought back all the memories of his time with Alvin. Perry was just as willing, which spoke a good deal about his previous experience in the field of sexual activity. But despite his protests about the volume of his ejaculations, he did just fine this time.

Trading small pleasures with a willing boy was the extent of MT's experience, but somehow it did everything to satisfy his needs. And when they finally came up for air they just stared at one another for the longest time, afraid to say the wrong thing and break the magical spell they had fallen under.

"I ... I was hoping we could do something like this," Perry said.

MT smiled. "You mean risk our lives in a deep dark cave?"

Perry smiled back. "That was pretty dangerous ... but I guess this is too, if anyone finds out."

"That was dangerous, but this isn't. I don't suppose anyone knows you do these kinds of things," MT said.

Perry nodded. "They do, at least my mother knows. I started having sex when I was ten years old, fooling around with some of the older boys at school ... and we got caught. I had to see a shrink, you know, a psychologist, at least I did for a while."

"They made you go to a doctor?"

"Yeah, it was kinda freaky. But he told me there was nothing wrong with me except I was going about discovering sex the wrong way."

MT smiled. "You are a little bit over the top when it comes to sex."

Perry nodded, and then he frowned. "I'm going to tell you something but you have to keep it a secret ... can you do that?"

MT held up his right hand. "I swear."

"You know what the Trogdon name means around here, but down in Atlanta at my school it doesn't mean shit. The younger kids get bullied a lot by the older boys and some of that becomes sexual. I mean there were the occasional beatings and some of the smaller boys got forced to do things, but I wasn't one of them. I was only too willing.

"You couldn't tell on some of these boys, their daddies were important people. The boy who had sex with me was the son of a politician. He felt guilty after it happened; maybe he was a little scared, and he apologized to me. That's when I realized how powerful this sex thing could be.

"Honestly, I liked having sex with that boy. The shrink says my feelings probably mean I'm gay but that decision should wait until I'm older. So now you know," Perry said. "I don't think I'm supposed to tell anybody about any of this, but I can't lie to you."

Wow, MT thought, gay was a pretty big thing to admit. "You said your mom knows."

"Some of it," Perry replied. "I think the shrink told her I was questioning my sexuality and that only time will tell. I think this summer was supposed to make a man out of me, so perhaps they planned for us to meet."

MT grinned. "Didn't quite work out the way they planned, huh?"

Perry grinned back. "Nope."

"So ... do you think you're gay?" MT asked.

Perry sighed. "I've been alone with the feelings for a long time, but I still don't know what it means to be gay."

"But you like sex with guys and you aren't interested in girls ... kinda like me," MT said.

Perry grinned. "Yeah, you understand. Gay is just a word and it scares some people. I told the shrink it wouldn't matter if I was and he said I had the right attitude. But he said that gay relationships were more difficult in our society because so many people didn't understand. What do you think about that?"

"I think we ought to go home, I need a shower," MT said. "We have all summer to figure this out."

"Sure thing," Perry said. "So what's this easy way out of here?"

They dressed and took the slope south, and away from the cliffs. It brought them down into the valley and left a mile long hike back to their bikes, but it was the easier way. The path led them to a gash in the forest of trees and Perry looked back towards the mountain.

"Is this a road? Where does it go?"

"The Confederate mines, but you can't see much."

"Can we at least go look?"

"Figured you'd say that," MT said, and he led the way.

The ruts of the disused roadway led into an alcove in the folds of the mountain. The trees had been cleared away from the rock face and piles of slag from the mining operation still covered part of the cleared space. Bushes had grown on the piles, but the two openings to the mines were still visible, along with the signs that said 'Keep Out'.

MT didn't say a thing and allowed Perry to walk right up to the entrance of one tunnel. There he encountered the rusty metal wall that had been used to plug the entrance. Large steel bars had been sunk into the rock and heavy steel plates had been welded to them, sealing off the entrances.

"Wow, I guess they really do want to keep people out," Perry said. "Hey, there's a door over here."

It was more like a portal, just as rusty as the rest of the wall. Large strap hinges held the portal shut, but there was an immense padlock as well.

"The state shut this down a long time ago," MT said. "I doubt if anyone has been inside for fifty years."

Perry was examining the lock. "I don't think that's true, this lock has been oiled recently."

MT bent to examine the lock mechanism and saw that the rust had been cleared away and traces of oil still remained around the hole where a key would be inserted.

"Look, the hinges still have grease on them as well," Perry said.

"Maybe an inspector has been up here to make sure the mine is still sealed," MT said.

"Yeah, but why would they open the door?"

"I don't know what's inside there," MT said.

"Oh come on, you said you knew which tunnel led down into the mines," Perry said.

"Never said I went into them, well at least not very far."

"How did you know it was the mine?"

"I saw some rusty picks, a few shovels ... and a skeleton," MT said.

"A dead man ... you saw the skeleton of a dead man?"

"No, it was mule I think. They must have used animals to haul the saltpeter soil out of the mine. But I was tired by the time I discovered those things, it took me about two hours to get that far down and I still had to go back."

"Two hours ... damn. How did you find your way?" Perry asked.

"We left marks on the wall with spray paint, arrows pointing back to the entrance."

"We? You weren't alone?"

MT shook his head. "Never go far all by yourself. You might fall through a hole and end up stuck."

Perry nodded. "I get your point. But then if I hadn't fallen you wouldn't have rescued me and I wouldn't have kissed you."

MT smiled. "Yeah, there is that."

They were hungry by the time they got back to the gates onto the estate. Unfortunately their lunch had been in Perry's backpack. But there was no way they could make an appearance in the kitchen until after they had cleaned up.

MT was all for heading on home, since both his parents would still be working and not due back for hours. Perry looked down at his clothes and decided it would not do for either Missy or Bernice to see him like this. Word would get back to Pops if they thought anything was amiss.

"You can come shower with me and we'll wash the clothes," MT suggested.

"That'll work," Perry replied.

They stuck to the alleys on the approach to MT's house; that way no one at the garage or the Piggly Wiggly would see them. They dropped the bikes in the back yard and took the porch steps up into the mud room. Fortunately the washer and dryer were right there opposite the bathroom door.

"I'll wait until we get out of the shower before I wash the clothes," MT said. "The hot water heater is kinda small."

"What will we wear when we get out?" Perry asked.

"I have some stuff that will fit you."

They undressed, tossed the filthy clothes in the washer and hurried into the bathroom. It occurred to MT that they probably should have gone upstairs where the bathtub was big enough for two. Instead they slipped into the tiny shower stall because it was right there.

"Cozy," Perry said with a smile.

MT turned on the water and Perry got a shot of cold before it warmed up. It made him jump but there was no room so the only thing he did was end up plastered against MT.

"Hmm, I like your muscles," Perry said.

"Down boy, let's get clean before you have any other ideas."

The soap and the washcloth went back and forth between them until every inch of skin had been cleaned. Fortunately cave water wasn't stagnant or it might have contained all kinds of nasty germs. About as expected, they managed to use up the whole tank of hot water by the time they were done.

MT added soap to the washer and turned it on before they ran upstairs with towels wrapped around their waists. Compared to Perry's room in the summerhouse, MT's was plainly decorated. No television or stereo, no shelves of books or even a computer. The contrast of their lives was never more apparent.

MT bent over in his bureau drawers to find an old pair of shorts for Perry to wear. But a pair of hands slid around his waist and the towel dropped to the floor. Perry was already aroused and MT felt something hard press against the crack of his ass as he stood up.

"Have you ever done anything besides oral sex?" Perry asked, pulling himself into MT's back as his hands held tight in an embrace.

MT stood with his hands braced on the dresser wondering what Perry was actually thinking. But just as he was about to ask they both heard the screen door slam shut downstairs.

"My mother," MT said, tossing Perry a pair of old gym shorts.

They dressed and walked barefoot down the stairs, through the hall and into the kitchen.

"Hi, Mom," MT said. "This is Perry."

"Hello, dear," She replied. "Nice to meet you, Perry."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Teague."

"Do you have something in the washer, MT?"

"Yeah, we got kinda dirty this morning. I thought we might wash up and have some lunch," MT said.

"That's fine," His mother said. "I just came home to change my shoes. These darn things are pinching my feet."

The Piggly Wiggly was only a few blocks away and so she changed her shoes and went right back to work. MT opened several cans of soup and made ham sandwiches for their lunch. By then the clothes were clean and he tossed them in the dryer.

"I wish you had a computer," Perry said.

"I wish I did too. What's on your mind?"

"I know you said those mine tunnels are dangerous, but what if we could open that door and take a look inside?"

MT laughed. "You aren't going to let this rest, are you? Did you see the size of that lock? We'd never get that open."

"Maybe, but if I knew what the key looked like we'd have a better chance of opening it," Perry said.

"Let me guess: you're a locksmith."

"No, but I do have some talents in that direction and Franklin has a lock picking set out in the garage. If I can find a picture of that lock on the internet I might get to see what the key looks like. Then I could probably open it. "

"Really?" MT said. "I wouldn't mind seeing what's in there."

By the time they finished lunch their clothes were dry. Perry's hiking boots were soaked clean through but he put them back on until he could get another pair of shoes at home. Now that they were clean they could ride straight up Lindsey, but then MT had forgotten that Perry was the new kid in town.

They rounded the corner of Dubb's and ran straight into Jason Wicket and two of his sidekicks. Jason's sister was that pretty girl, Cassie, who worked up at the lumberyard owned by their father. Jason was a pretty useless individual in MT's estimation because he stayed stoned on pot most of the time.

His little gang of stoner buddies were the town bullies about half the time, the half where they weren't too spaced out to enjoy being cruel. Jason jumped off the sidewalk into the street and blocked MT's path by placing both hands on the handlebars.

This was too public a place to do much but harass MT, but Jason was always someone to watch out for.

"Hey, Marion," Jason said. "Who's your buddy?"

"That's my cousin," MT replied. Jason didn't need to know who Perry was. Just knowing that MT was related to the Trogdon family would cause a lot of grief come fall when school was back in session. By then Perry would be gone and off the hook-not that Jason would lay a finger on a Trogdon, but there were other avenues of cruelty.

"I heard you were out catching moonshiners last week," Jason said. "That's pretty risky business for someone like you, don't you think?"

His two buddies snickered which meant Jason had their attention and was already planning to show off even more.

"Now if it had been me," Jason continued, "I would have caught their asses and confiscated that shine; pretty good market for it, I hear."

Anything MT said in reply would only encourage the boy to brag further. But at that moment Elvis walked out of the drugstore and stopped on the sidewalk when he saw them sitting there.

"Hello, MT," Elvis said.

"Hi, Mr. Dubb," MT replied. Of all people, this would not turn out well.

Elvis seemed to sense the tension in the air and turned towards the parking lot. Jason grinned and watched him walk away.

"Hello, MT," Jason said with a lisp, flopping his hands around in an exaggerated move that he thought might look gay. "I think the man has it for you, Marion ... better watch your ass."

Jason laughed and MT jerked back on his bike, trying to pull the boy's hands off the handlebars. Jason took one hand away and swung his arm in an attempt to slap MT's face. But then he froze as the sheriff's patrol car slid to a stop beside them.

The deputy had his windows rolled down and leaned over the passenger's seat to look up at Jason. "Are you jaywalking, Mr. Wicket?"

Jason took his hands off MT's bike and smiled at the deputy. "No sir, Mr. Sawyer ... I was just conversing with MT here."

"Then get out of the street before I write you a ticket," Sawyer said.

Jason and his buddies jumped back up on the sidewalk and Sawyer gave MT a wink. MT took the hint and pedaled away with Perry in his wake. The patrol car slowly pulled away leaving Jason standing on the corner. MT turned his head in time to see the boy give the deputy the finger.

Jason was going into his junior year and turning seventeen. One of these days he was going to tangle with Sawyer and the outcome would be predictable. The deputies in town already had Jason on their hit list and when he turned eighteen ... watch out. They knew he grew pot somewhere in the valley, but they were willing to wait until Jason became an adult. Then he would get hard time in jail, and probably a good beating in the process.

So Jason knew about the moonshine incident. Great. Now MT wondered who else knew what had happened. The deputies sure did. Sawyer had been one of those in on the bust. That wink had meant something ... maybe they were watching out for him now. Cool.

They hit the outskirts of town and Perry rode up beside MT. "What was that all about?" He asked.

"Jason Wicket, town asshole, that's all," MT replied. "He's the local pot farmer and sells to a lot of the kids around here. I try to stay away from him best I can."

"He grows marijuana ... don't the cops know about that?"

"I'm sure they do, they just don't know where he keeps his crop," MT said.

Perry grinned. "But you do, don't you? Hell, you seem to know everything."

MT laughed. "Seems that way, doesn't it? Yeah, I know where he grows, but I'm not telling anyone ... yet."

"Is it someplace secret? Can we see it growing?"

"Hmm, his crop ought to be about four feet tall by now," MT said. "How close can you get with that Google thing on your computer?"

"Close enough to see someone standing on the ground," Perry said.

"Excellent."

They hit the driveway up to the mansion and wheeled around back. Perry wanted Bernice to know he was back since she was in charge today, so they walked up the steps to the kitchen door.

"There you are," Bernice said. "Hello, MT."

"Hello, Ms. Ball. Mom said to tell you thanks for the pie," MT said. "Says she wants to know your secret ingredient, too."

"Just peaches, fresh sweet peaches. Oh, and a pinch of rhubarb to add some bite to it. Did you boys have your lunch?"

"Yes, ma'am, we ate over at MT's house," Perry said. He wasn't about to mention that the lunch she'd fixed was probably feeding the scavenger birds and squirrels up on the mountain. Perry grabbed two bottles of juice and they headed out to the summerhouse. It took no time to boot up his computer and jump on Google to make their search.

"So where is it?" Perry asked.

MT looked at the overhead display of Trogdon and ran a finger across the screen to the east of town. Most of that area was farm land crisscrossed by small streams and dirt roads leading nowhere.

"Jason's grandmother lives out there on his uncle's old farm. The guy just up and left town and nobody knows why. But the old lady doesn't do any farming so they rent out land to others. Out back of her house is like a jungle all the way down to the stream, and that's where Jason grows his crop."

Perry finally located a satellite picture of the house and shifted the image further and further east until they could see the squiggly line of a stream. From on high there was very little difference in the overgrown property and the plants that covered the ground. But MT urged Perry to move further south and zoom in.

The magnification now showed texture as well as color, and trees looked different from crops lower on the ground. The leaves were off the trees and that gave them a clearer view of the ground. But in this one spot the weed choked property seemed to embrace a small area that looked quite different. It could only be Jason's marijuana farm after the crop had been cut down.

Perry zoomed in all the way, and Google rejected the move. There wasn't adequate information for a view that close. But the image they could see left no doubt in MT's mind that they were looking at a bare spot which, in season, would be filled with pot plants.

"How big of an area do you suppose that is?" Perry asked.

"In comparison to the stream I'd say about a third of an acre ... room for maybe a hundred plants."

"And they're growing now?"

"Not that I should know anything about growing pot," MT said, "but it's planted in spring and grows all summer long just like corn. In the hot part of summer it flowers and grows the buds that everyone smokes. Jason is pretty smart planting that close to the stream, he wouldn't have to go far to get water for his plants."

Perry sat back in his chair and nodded. "Okay, so if guys like you go exploring all over the place how come no one has found this pot crop yet? Doesn't his grandmother know it's there?"

MT shook his head. "I doubt it. I've seen the grandmother at the Piggly Wiggly. She's in a wheelchair. Most people avoid that area for one good reason. Move your image across the other side of the stream."

Perry did just that and all he could see was some trees and then wide open farm land that was being cultivated.

"So it's a farm," Perry said.

"What you can't see is the tall fence and the razor wire. That's the county prison farm," MT said. "They have a few guards patrol that fence line, but because of the trees they can't even see the stream or what's beyond it. Jason has a good setup."

"Wow, I'll say. So what are we gonna do?"

"Do? We don't need to do anything. If Jason ever finds out we were back there he'd make my life a living hell, and meanwhile you'd be off in Atlanta. Look, this isn't like busting moonshiners. That was an accident and something we never should have known about in the first place."

Perry grinned. "But it was fun, huh?"

MT shook his head once again. "That kind of fun is only going to get us in trouble."

They spent the afternoon swimming in the pool wearing only their boxer shorts. That only encouraged Perry to play grab ass and MT knew the boy was horny again. Hell, they had just had sex that morning ... now what?

The pool had a wide deck and a broad stretch of carefully tended lawn, all surrounded by a six foot chain link fence. The fence was meant to keep critters out of the pool, but there was still the occasional mouse that slipped in and drowned. Trogdon had a couple of dogs who stood outside the fence and watched them swim. MT was sure they would be in the pool if they could get to it.

"Do you go camping?" Perry asked.

"You mean sleeping out in a tent? I've slept in lots of places, but never in a tent," MT said.

"We could do that right here. Would your parents allow you to stay over?"

"Sure. All I have to do is ask."

MT called his dad at the garage, knowing full well that his mother would be out on the floor of the market and have to be paged. She hated that because her mind conjured up all kinds of emergencies when it happened. His dad only asked if he would get some dinner and made him promise not to go wandering around town after dark. That done, they went looking for the tent.

Again it was Neil's equipment in the attic that provided their needs. Only this time Bernice stood at the bottom of the attic stairs and told them to get on with it and not bring any of that dusty mess down with them. They found the tent nestled in a nylon bag with all the poles to hold it up and the pegs to nail it down.

Bernice would stay at the house long enough to fix their supper, and then they would be alone for the night. Ben Trogdon had lived alone for years now, except for the staff that filled the daytime hours. Perry figured it was a sign of trust when his Pops decided he could stay by himself for two nights, but maybe he figured MT would be around.

Pitching the tent took them a while to figure out. All these thin fiberglass poles had to be inserted and bent just so until the curved top of the tent was held up properly. The ground under the grass was pretty hard to drive a peg into but a large hammer solved that problem.

"Damn, this thing could hold six people," MT said.

"Neil, he probably had a few girls along on his campouts," Perry laughed.

"Is he the hell raiser in the family?"

"No, that would be my father," Perry said. "I imagine by the time Neil became a teenager that Pops was pretty worn out by my dad. But Neil is also the son of his second wife."

"What happened to her?"

"She only lasted six years. Trogdon was just too small a town for her social tastes, so she went back north. Mom told me all that stuff."

"He married a Yankee?" MT asked.

"Not just a Yankee, a New Yorker. Big city and all that. I would imagine this must have been hell for her. They divorced, but I think my Pops was getting a little something on the side back then."

MT laughed. "A mistress? Wow, you better stop talking behind his back."

"I dunno, I heard she was black," Perry said.

"That's no shock. I think a lot of white men cross the line like that. If committing adultery is illegal might as well go whole hog and do it with a black girl. You don't suppose we have any black bastard uncles or cousins hiding in the closet somewhere, do you?"

"I doubt if he's that crazy. A rich man can always fix things," Perry said.

"Ain't that the truth."

Bernice made them fried chicken, slaw and potato salad for dinner. She said there was pie in the fridge and ice cream in the freezer, and then she was off to see after her family. As he did at home, MT rinsed off the dinner dishes, put them in the dishwasher and wiped down the counters. Perry sat and watched all this until MT felt the eyes staring at him.

"What?" He asked.

"You're very domestic," Perry said.

"Both my parents work and we don't have a housekeeper ... somebody has to do it."

"It's starting to get dark, maybe we ought to go out to the tent," Perry said. "No wait, I need something first."

He left the kitchen and was gone for a few minutes. MT cut them each a slice of pie and put a scoop of ice cream on top. He was already eating his when Perry returned with a shotgun under his arm.

"Okay, what the hell is that for?" MT asked.

"Varmints ... never know what might try to sneak up on us tonight. I'd just feel more comfortable with some protection."

"Is it loaded?" MT asked.

Perry reached in his pocket and pulled out a half dozen shells. "Not yet, guns are dangerous."

"That's a twelve gauge ... have you ever fired a shotgun before?" MT asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm the best shot in my class," Perry said.

That was surprising and it must have shown on MT's face.

Perry laughed. "Skeet shooting, golf, fencing ... we have it all at good old Altamont. Bunch of spoiled little rich kids."

MT held up his hands. "You said it, I didn't."

Perry leaned the gun against the cabinet by the back door, and then sat down for his pie and ice cream.

"You go hunting, don't you?" Perry asked.

"I can shoot a .22, kill a squirrel, but I don't own a gun. My dad keeps a pistol hidden in his office at work, but I've never fired it. I hear a twelve gauge gives a pretty good kick."

"It does," Perry said, pulling the shells out of his pocket. "But this is birdshot which won't hurt much of anything past fifty yards. I don't intend to fire it because Pops would know right off if I did." Perry looked over at the gun. "That gun is probably worth a few thousand bucks."

The dessert finished, MT put those dishes in the sink. They left the back porch lights on as they walked across the lawn towards the pool enclosure. There was movement under the trees and two of Trogdon's dogs came loping up from the stables. They slept with the horses, a friendship that gave them a very distinct odor.

Perry shooed them away and shut the gate. The lights from the porch didn't reach this far down and Perry hadn't turned on any of the lights in the summerhouse so it was pretty dark around the pool. The moon would be up later and perhaps they could go for a midnight swim, MT thought. But he knew Perry had arranged this little campout for other reasons.

The sides of the tent were a tan nylon material, which let in a little light from up at the house. They crawled in and zipped up to keep out the mosquitoes, but if they turned on the lantern the bugs would beat themselves to death again the screened windows.

Perry had spread sleeping bags across the floor, although it was too hot to crawl inside. The cool breeze had already begun to flow into the valley, but it was still stuffy as hell inside the tent.

"We're gonna sleep naked, you know that, don't you?" Perry asked.

"Sure, a lot cooler that way. Maybe we can swim later, after ... "

"I want you to ... well, I want you to go all the way," Perry said. "It doesn't hurt me. I just think it would be cool for your first time, especially if you aren't going to do it with girls."

MT nodded and they began to undress. He could feel his heart beating faster, the excitement of what he was about to do was pretty darn overwhelming. He had never considered doing anything like this with Perry until their talk up on the mountain this morning. But sex was more than masturbation and oral fun, MT knew that.

Perry had admitted to being gay and it seems he understood that gay males had anal sex, well most of them. MT wondered what it would feel like if Perry wanted to do it back, would he like it? But just like his first time with Alvin, sometimes it was more important to do something grand for the other guy and not expect to please yourself.

Perry was offering his body, the only thing that was truly his to give. MT didn't think it was for love because that feeling had never come up in conversation. Perry wanted to please him, an act of friendship from one gay boy to another. But if the boy enjoyed being on the receiving end, MT wasn't going to deny that he wanted to do it ... and then they would see what happened next.

Perry had a little jar of something in his hand and he showed it to MT. "Cold cream, I stole it from my mother's makeup box," He explained. "I guess there are better things to use but I'd be too embarrassed to buy them at the drugstore."

MT thought about that for a moment and started laughing. "You only saw Elvis for a minute this morning. He would probably faint if I asked him for something that made anal sex better. He's the town's gay guy."

"Oh ... yeah? I wondered about that when I saw him and then that asshole started making comments. So, are we ready for this?"

"Are you sure?" MT asked.

Perry leaned over for a kiss and pulled them both down on the sleeping bags. MT was trying to figure out how this was supposed to work when Perry lay on his back and opened his legs. Things just seemed to fit after that and what followed was the most revealing moment in MT's young life.

There was a lot of moaning and groaning in that tent, some his, but a lot of it came from Perry. That cream sure made things slippery and when MT made the effort to push he slid right on up inside until he had no more to give.

Perry grinned up at him and MT couldn't hide the shock of the feelings that seemed to overwhelm and focus his entire attention on that one piece of his body that was inside someone else.

"Hmm ... slow and easy," Perry whispered.

Oh yeah, MT wasn't about to do it any other way. The feeling was unlike any other he had encountered and it was just too good to waste.

"You can move, you know ... like back and forth," Perry said with a giggle.

"Yeah, I was just about to start that," MT replied. Damn, he had almost forgotten how it was supposed to work.

The movement elicited the groans, and Perry was panting by the time he wrapped his legs around MT's middle and his fingers clutched and caressed. This was sex, real sex, MT decided, and he wanted it to go on forever ... but then the tingling started.

MT could feel the pressure building up, the stimulation overcoming any sense of control he might have, and then the spasms began. Perry groaned and MT wondered if the boy could feel the spurts as they came. But then he had his answer as he cut loose with what had to be the biggest orgasm of his career.

"Oh yes," Perry groaned. "Don't stop moving, do it harder."

MT obliged although he knew his erection would soon fade. But he looked down in time to see Perry jerking himself with quick sudden strokes. And then MT slid out just as Perry cut loose, leaving wet trails across his stomach all the way to his neck.

The only sound in the night was the panting of two boys, some night birds, and the high pitched whine of a small engine that seemed to grow louder by the second.

"What the hell is that?" Perry asked.

MT pushed off and grabbed for his shorts. "It's a four-wheeler ... someone is coming."

"Now?" Perry said, reaching for his shorts.

The pitch of the engine became quieter, which meant whoever was on it had slowed down and was closer. Perry didn't say a word as he reached for the shotgun lying beside the sleeping bag. He cracked the double barrels open and dropped in two of the shells.

"Now don't you go pointing that gun at anybody, we don't know who this is," MT said.

"No one invited, that's for sure," Perry said, but he clicked the safety on.

MT unzipped the tent as the sound from the four-wheeler came around the side of the house. They had been inside a dark tent so MT's night vision was already in high gear. The moon was out, but low over the trees leaving large areas of shadow. He heard Perry crawl out of the tent behind him and they both moved slowly towards the fence, which was the only thing between them and the house.

The porch lights silhouetted someone sitting on a four-wheeler, and they saw this person strike a light. There was the sound of glass breaking and all of a sudden there was a gush of flame rising up the back steps towards the roof of the porch.

"Jesus, he set fire to the house," MT said.

MT heard the click from the shotgun as Perry released the safety. He stuck the barrels through the chain link and then a mighty blast shattered the night. Perry was pushed back against MT and they both nearly fell over. But they heard a yell of pain as the four-wheeler's engine revved up and the small vehicle shot away from the porch steps.

For just one split second the person on the machine was in the spotlight shining down on the yard, and MT got a quick look. He knew that face; he would never forget it because it was too frightening. The four-wheeler almost tipped over as it rounded the corner going much too fast. The man in the saddle was clutching his shoulder so Perry's shots must have hit him.

"The house," Perry yelled, jacking the shotgun open and replacing the spent shells.

"Go call the fire department, I'll try and put it out," MT yelled back. His ears were still ringing from the shotgun's blast as he threw open the gate and ran towards the coil of garden hose by the corner of the house.

MT could smell the gasoline boiling off the fire as it began to consume the back steps. The fire was licking at the posts of the porch roof when he managed to drag the hose back and turn it on the flames. Perry came running up a few minutes later, but by then MT had most of the fire out.

"Fire department is on the way," Perry yelled, his voice filled with excitement. "Did you see? I shot the bastard. Why was he trying to burn down the house?"

MT hosed down the last of the smoldering wood as they heard the distant scream of the fire engine coming down the road from town. He dropped the hose and turned to see Perry was still holding the shotgun.

"I wish you'd killed him," MT said. "Now we're in more danger than ever."

"Did you see who it was?" Perry asked.

"Yeah," MT said as the fire engine made the turn into the driveway. "It was Nathan Bates."


On to Chapter Five

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