It was August in the Alleghenies. Even in the evenings the day's warmth lingers low over the lake. The cottages set back among the elm and the oak are aglow with the fires from the evening cookout. The voices and conversations on the decks of the cottages carried well beyond the source no matter how quiet the conversation.

Walking along the lakeshore road after dark, it was easy to see evidence of other people. Some cottages had lights inside. Others just had the cooking fire. The noise the children made was diminishing after they had run off the last of their energy before it was time for dinner. The threat of mosquitoes slowly moved the activities indoors as the pitch black night settled in over the lake. Being reminded of marauding bears was enough to keep the most adventurous ten year old from slipping out for one more romp.

A bear story developed after one of Mrs. Mayhew's cooling pies disappeared off her porch, with the mostly empty pan found a few dozen yards away. After twenty years, Mrs. Mayhew was dead but the legendary disappearing pie lived on and the locals accounted for it by warning visitors of migrating bears.

The silence is broken by a random dog barking at some unseen varmint responsible for disturbing the canine's slumber. A murmur you can only identify as voices on someone's back deck is heard if you stop and turn an ear toward the sound. An ice cube tinkling in a glass and the pop of a can opening are all sounds that travel well. Even the softest sounds can be heard across the lake if you listen.

Tony moved down toward the clubhouse, hoping for a game of pool to play or watch. The cabin closed in on him when old baggage came out to be discussed one more time. Escape was his natural reaction to bitching. The kids were in bed and he needed the fresh air, once he had nothing left to say, which was most of the time.

"Evening," he said to the figure passing on the other side of the dirt trail.

The year before he'd only have heard the other hiker. The new lights along the dirt road once in a while revealed another man about his size, walking in the other direction.

"Evening," the voice returned in passing. "Tony? Is that you, boy? I'll be damned. It is you."

"Curtis? My god, it's been ages. Where you heading?"

"Nowhere. Just walking," Curtis said.

"Me too," Tony said, stopping as they met in the middle of the dirt road. "The old lady is on the warpath about something I did last summer or maybe the summer before. It's always something. She'll be in bed when I get back. The peace will be nice."

"I heard you got married. Kids?"

"Two, six and nine. Take it from me, avoid nine year olds when you can. Especially mine."

"Mine are six and eight. Two boys," Curtis said. "They're good kids, but that doesn't mean they don't get on my nerves. I'd like peace and quiet one evening after work. At least I've got work."

"I've got girls. The nine year old is a handful. Just like her mother. The younger one takes after me. Prefers to avoid the battles if she can. You still welding, Curtis?"

"Yea, best move I ever made, taking welding class in school. The jobs aren't as easy to find as they once were, but the pay is good. I know a lot of guys that aren't making it," Curtis said.

"Tell me about it. I've been laid off for two months. We're using my parents place to decide our next move. My wife says, 'Get a job right away. Nothing there. I've got job applications in all over the east coast. No takers."

"Man, I'm sorry. You're still a pencil pusher?" Curtis asked.

"Yea, that's me. I'll mow lawns, drive a truck, anything at this point. Jena just wants me to make some money. She's borrowing from her parents. I'm borrowing from mine. It's not how it was supposed to go. I don't know what happened. My dad always worked."

"Mine too. I wish I could do something for you, Tony. I'm only working because I've been doing it ten years and I'll travel anywhere if the job pays enough. New men are hired and then fired, and I'm still working most of the time. Not all the time. The jobs are further apart now. I do some work on the side because people know my work and want a skilled welder. I haven't fallen behind yet. We pay cash for everything or we don't get it."

"I wonder if the old fort is still there?" Tony asked. "You ever look for it? I haven't thought of that in years. That summer we spent up here together. Remember?"

"I've thought about that summer more than once. I've thought about you. Hell, I don't know about the fort. I doubt it. Last time I went there was the summer after our senior year of school. I used to steal the old man's beer and we used to ... . It was all right."

"Funny how you don't think of something for years and then it is clear in your mind as if it was yesterday," Tony agreed. "Probably couldn't find it in the dark. We could find it blind folded that summer. We spent most of our time up there together."

"We had candles we kept wrapped in a plastic bag with the dirty books. And that huge tube of KY lube you stole from your parents. I bet you don't remember that?"

"Do I remember? My parents couldn't figure out where the KY went. They looked at me like they were sure I took it, but how do you ask you son if he stole the KY to get his ass greased up by the kid across the lake?" Tony laughed as he spoke. "I don't believe I said that."

"We'd let those books get us all hot and bothered. Drink my old man's beer . It was hot too," Curtis remembered, his mouth getting dry. "We did get down to business, didn't we? I think of it when I'm up here in the summer. I imagined I'd run into you one day. Never did."

"Until now. I remember. I think about it whenever we come up here with my parents. Those were good days, Curtis. I never had another friend like you and only the one summer. Jena doesn't like it if I go out without her."

"Keeps you on a tight leash," Curtis said. "You didn't have any trouble getting out when I told you I had beer."

"Back then, the biggest worry I had was my parents checking my asshole for their missing KY."

Curtis laughed and Tony started laughing too.

"I thought about it today. How easy life use to be. How simple things were before wives and kids. Want to look for it? It was only a few yards off the lake. The path is still there. I pass it all the time," Curtis said. "No reason to go back to the fort until now."

"Anything to avoid going back inside before Jena goes to bed. I'll sleep on the deck," Tony said. "She doesn't care if I roam around up here. Can't get into any trouble up here."

"I wouldn't say that," Curtis said. "My wife is playing cards. They'll be at it half the night. I get tired of it after a few hours. They'll think I went to bed after my walk. Come on, I'll get us to the path that goes over there. I've got a lighter if we need it."

After a few false starts and some time allowing their eyes to adjust to the moonlit night, Curtis guided Tony right to where the fort once stood. It was now two sheets of plywood and some 2x4s that had seen better days.

"The board won't come up. What the ... ," Tony complained, looking for the hiding place.

"The other side, Tony. You're turned around," Curtis explained.

"Yea, here it is. It's still here. There's the plastic bag. I'll be damned, here are the candles," Tony said, handing a candle to Curtis for lighting.

"Prop up the plywood so no one sees the light from across the lake. It's all trees above here," Curtis said, as he let the wax run down onto one of the rotted boards. He held the candle until it would sit up by itself.

"Damn, the KY jelly is hard as concrete. Bummer."

"It's been ten years, Tony. You always did go straight for the tube of KY," Curtis said.

"It was something to do," Tony admitted.

"Yes it was."

"The books are paper flakes. The biggest pieces have turned brown. Can't see anything," Tony said.

"Tony, I do believe you have it in mind to recapture the past."

"I guess I do. Funny, it's what we always did when we came back here. I haven't done it since that summer. Was fun. Don't get much fun these days."

"Yea, it was," Curtis agreed. "Always being horny might explain it. You were good at it, Tony. I never left here horny."

"You've done it with other guys?"

"Only two. They were okay. One was fun to be around. It was way more fun back here when we did it."

"Who'd you do it with?" Tony asked.

"You're starting to sound like my old lady. There was a guy a couple years after I began welding. Older dude. I guess he was the age we are now. It just happened. I don't remember how. We were drinking. Somehow we ended up doing it.

"I do remember my ass being sore for a week. Guy had no technique. Only happened once. I don't think I was on that job long."

"You did it with a guy at work? That's dangerous."

"No, I do a lot of traveling for work. That was Philadelphia. It was a three day job and I came home."

"You said two?" Tony said.

"About two or three years back I was on a job on the gulf coast. I think it was Gulfport in Mississippi. They put this twenty year old kid with me. New welder. I train him and then they send me home and hope he doesn't burn the place down. I was there a month now that I think about it. The money was good.

"I was supposed to keep an eye on him, show him stuff. We went out drinking one night and he tells his parents he isn't coming in. He stays at my motel. After the boy has a couple of beers, he starts talking about butt fucking his best friend's brother. Just as pretty as you please, he says that he goes over there and if his buddy isn't home, his brother is showing him porn on the computer and then asks him to drill him while they look at the pictures, which he thinks is the answer to his problem. Maybe it was the beer. Maybe he sensed I was someone he could tell it to. We did spend a lot of time together."

"Never once had anyone ask me if I wanted to do that to them," Tony realized.

"You're forgetting me, old friend. When I saw you down on the dock, you stood up and then began pulling on your bathing suit to hide your hard dick. The more you pulled the more I looked."

"It just happened that way. I didn't have any control over it. My bathing suit was from the year before and it was too small. I remember that. You did it with that guy?"

"Whatever it was that led up to it, he ended up in my bed that night screwing me. He was always after it. We'd get in from work and he'd come out of the shower with a bone and a glint in his eye. Boy wasn't at all bashful. He was kind of funny. He didn't have a girlfriend and my wife was up here with her parents. I was on that job two months. He stayed with me about a month.

"I've been good since then. It only happens when I'm away from home," Curtis explained. "Not often enough. I found out my wife can't do that and I like having a dick up my ass."

"Damn KY's dried out. We could figure something out for later," Tony said. "I'm here to Sunday night. I can borrow my parents car and go into town and find some lube."

"Later, hell. I didn't come back here for a good night kiss, Tony. Spit works fine," Curtis said, feeling the front of Tony's pants.

"What are you doing," Tony asked, reflexively stepping back from the hand on his dick.

"You're ready to rock and roll and I'm ready. The moss is plenty soft back here and you're hard enough to drill holes in the plywood. What do you say?"

"I've never done it with anyone else, Curtis. I don't know about the moss. I don't want to get dirty. Jena will be nailing me, wanting to know what I've been up to."

"Tell her you've been fucking an old friend. Don't sound like you and Jena are a match made in heaven. It's not like we haven't been here before."

"We're both married. We're not supposed to be doing this. Back then, we were horny boys getting off."

"Tony. I had you first. I'm still a horny boy and you can deny it but your dick says you're horny too."

"That's no lie. I just never thought this would come up again. You don't think we're gay?"

"Gay? Horny maybe. We'd have to like each other a lot to be gay, don't you think?"

"That's the problem. I do think about it all the time. Maybe because I'd never done anything before I met you, but I wake up in bed at night thinking about what we did up here."

"Why make it more complicated than it is. You like fucking and I like getting fucked. What else matters? My wife can't do what you can do for me. Forget your troubles and have a good time. I've never seen such a long face as when you found that rotted Ky. You want it, Tony, and I just happen to be the man who can deliver."

"Just worries me I wanted to go for it as soon as I saw you. It was the first thing I thought about."

"We were doing it together before we knew our wives. You've never stepped out on Jena? Not once? You sound too good to be true."

"We separated. A woman at work was interested. She was a wild thing. Jena was never big on sex. I wasn't going back to Jena, so I wasn't cheating. Then, Jena turns up pregnant. I had to try to make it work for the kids."

"You sure it's yours? Or did she have it to get you home to pay the bills?"

"I don't think Jena has ever ... I don't know. I'm on the birth certificate on the line marked father. She can be a real terror sometimes. If I dared to ask her about who the father might be, she'd take my head off. It's easier keeping my mouth shut. I still think of leaving her. I can't afford it now. She may throw me out and look for someone to support her, but up until a couple of months ago, I was it."

"Not a marriage made in heaven, I'd say," Curtis said.

"Half the guys I went to school with are divorced," Tony said.

"Exactly, Tony. You deserve a little fun. Life should never be about not upsetting your wife. What do you say? Give 'er a go for old times sake?"

"I don't know. What are you doing?"

"Hard to get screwed if your dick is in your pants. Damn you are seriously ready to rock and roll, Tony. Don't remember you being so fat. You been exercising your dick?"

"I was only seventeen when we were doing it. I was a late bloomer. It grew some after that summer," Tony said, as Curtis examined him in the light of the candle's glow.

"You sure did," Curtis agreed. "Might take a lot of spit."

"What are you doing?" Tony protested, as Curtis went down on him to slick up his dick. "You never did that before."

Tony watched the mouth slide down his shaft and move back up to lick at the head. His knees grew weak all of a sudden. He hadn't had a good bj in years.

"Woo," Tony said as Curtis let the dick slip from his lips.

"Joe-Bob liked it before we got going. Those southern boys didn't mind sex at all. He needed to get in the mood before he was ready to screw."

"How'd you know he'd go for that stuff? Can't believe you do it at work. Curtis, that isn't even cool."

"We didn't do it at work. What about that girl you told me about where you worked?"

"It's not the same thing," Tony said, taking a minute to come to that conclusion.

"It's not. You didn't have a little hanky panky in mind, Tony? You saw her as your friend, someone you could talk to?"

"Yea, sure. She was a she, Curtis. Of course I thought about nailing her, but it wasn't just about that."

"That's brilliant? Joe-Bob was a he? That's your argument? Case dismissed. Joe-Bob was more fun than my wife and I love my wife. Joe-Bob and I talked and were comfortable being naked around each other."

"Joe-Bob is more fun than my wife and I don't even know Joe-Bob," Tony said. "It still isn't the same. Girls and boys go together."

"You don't want to screw then? You didn't exactly force me off your dick when I was blowing you."

"I didn't say it didn't feel good, Curtis. Don't make a federal case out of it. It's not something I'd brag about letting a guy do to me."

"Oh, you brag about the girls you have sex with, Tony?"

"No, I don't, but I don't mind if someone found out. It's normal."

"Well, lord knows I wouldn't want you to do anything that was against your religion. We'll skip the screwing deal. Sorry if I hurt your dick, Tony."

"Why are you acting like that? I didn't say anything."

"You said plenty, Tony. We're all homos, buster."

"Speak for yourself. I'm no homo. You may be one, but I'm married. I have kids."

"Homo sapien. We're all homo sapien. There ain't but two kinds, little boy kinds and little girl kinds. Sexually speaking, if one of those kinds don't provide everything you require, you try the other kind. It creates a variety we need. That's not to say we don't get enjoyment from our wives and kids. Family is part of what it takes to make me happy with my life."

"I suppose," Tony agreed. "I wouldn't have known about it if it wasn't for you, Curtis. I'd never done anything before we met."

"You can protest all you like but as I recall, no matter what we had planned, fishing, canoeing, a hike, sooner or later you wanted to go see the fort. You didn't have time to get the KY on sometimes. You were hot to trot and one thing I knew for certain that summer, before the day was over, you'd be saying we ought to go see if the fort was okay."

"I wasn't that horny. I never been that horny."

"We'd get finished. Wipe the sweat off on our shirts. Button everything up to go home, and you'd want to screw the shit out of me again before we went home. I'm not complaining, mind you. I happened to enjoy it that way, but no one was twisting your arm. You had your own ideas about when you'd had enough."

"I never said you were. I wouldn't have known about it if you hadn't shown me what to do," Tony said. "Never said I didn't like it. Never said I didn't have a bone all the time in those days. Going off with you was the first time I did anything but pound it raw. I never said I didn't like it. I liked it fine."

"You can say that again."

"I just did."

"I wouldn't want you to go home feeling bad about yourself," Curtis said. "Sounds like your wife's job."

"I won't. I told you I wanted to. Why are you being so difficult? I can go home if I want difficult," Tony said.

"I happen to enjoy what I do. I don't pretend I'm doing it for glory or for you. I do it because I like feeling a guy inside me, Tony. You do it because you like the way it makes you feel. It's no secret."

"Okay, okay, I want to do it. I want to do it with you, Curtis. I knew when I saw you I wanted it. That make you happy?"

"You want to do what with me?" Curtis teased.

Tony gave Curtis a long look, trying to avoid saying what it was he wanted from him. He didn't know why this was so difficult. As a teenager it was not anything they talked about at all, because they were too busy doing it. He did remember that an hour after they'd been at the fort, he began to think about returning. He'd had more sex with Curtis than he'd had with his wife. Back when he was screwing Curtis, he dreaded going without all night. He'd wake up with a bone and think about Curtis as he got himself off. Getting himself off was never as good after he met Curtis. It was the best summer of his life.

"I want to screw you. I want to fuck you silly, like we use to. I want to have sex. I want to shoot up your ass and then I want to do it again. There, that make you happy? Screw. Screw. Screw."

"That would do it. Your dick is throbbing. I think you mean it," Curtis said. "Bet you don't talk to your wife that way," Curtis teased some more.

"She'd kick my ass. I got to say mother may I and promise her I love her and only her. Then she might give it up."

"We don't want to ruin a good erection. Let's not talk about her, Tony. Let's just screw, screw, screw," Curtis said.

"It was supercharged by that time. I said I'd take you up to my fort and show you something else if you wanted. You wanted."

"I remember. I never knew what another boy felt like before. You better be careful. You're going to get a mouthful, Curtis. I told you I ain't had nothing in a while," Tony said as Curtis furnished the lubrication to make it easier.

"As I recall you were always ready for a second round before I stopped breathing hard from the first one."

"It was different with you. Never knew it could feel like that."

"You want to get down on the moss? It's soft."

"I don't want to get on the ground. I'll mess up my pants. Jena will want to know what I've been up to if I come home dirty."

Curtis dropped his pants. His keys jingled as he stepped out of them. His hand went right back on Tony's pulsing cock. Tony made a soft noise as Curtis stroked him to keep him completely hard.

"Push," Curtis said. "How about a little help?"

"I feel funny," Tony said.

"Well, if you won't help, I'll go home."

"No," Tony objected. "I just meant ... "

"Push! You forget how?"

"Oh, man. Oh ... , man. I'm going to ... oh, man. Fuck."

"Take it a bit easy. That sucker's fatter than Joe-Bob's."

"Oh, fuck. I'm going to ... "

"You stopped!" Curtis complained.

"I'm ... oh ... I'm ... fuck. You're so damn tight."

"You're coming. Tony, you better have another one. That's all I've got to say. Now I'm too hard to touch, but you're going to suck it if you don't reload. You aren't leaving me high and dry."

"Shut up. I need to catch my breathe is all. Just let it stretch your hole some. Oh, fuck. Oh! That is so nice."

Curtis reached back through his legs to feel Tony's smooth balls. Tony leaned forward until his chest was on Curtis' bare back.

"Take off your shirt. I want to feel your body against me."

"What?"

"Take off your shirt so your chest is on my bare back."

"Oh, yeah. You used to me yet? This feels good, you know."

"Tell me about it. I'm ready to shoot so don't start rutting until I tell you. Put your arms around me."

"You're beginning to sound like my wife," Tony said.

Both men started to laugh as Tony dropped his shirt on the ground. Before they got things going again, they were lying on the moss, with Tony trying not to lose his place. Tony slipped his arms around Curtis and liked the feel of his muscular chest.

"This is better," Tony said. "Why were we doing it standing up anyway? That's not how we use to do it. Bend your legs a little so I can push harder."

"Now we're talking. Can you take your pants off without disturbing that thought?"

Tony pushed as far as he could go before going through the delicate operation of getting his pants off over his sneakers. Curtis loved the feel of Tony's body against his. He had put on a little weight but the feel of him was familiar. Tony's smell aroused memories in Curtis long forgotten.

"You okay, Curtis?" Tony asked.

"Fine. Great. Thank you. Kinda like old times."

"Old being the key to that sentence."

"Get over yourself. You're far more handsome now than you were as a scrawny sixteen year old. You grew up nice."

"You think so?"

"I think so, except you used to last a little longer when you were sixteen. I use to shoot my load as quick as you got your business end up my ass. That hasn't changed. I barely hung on this time. I don't want to end it that fast."

"I just haven't done anything in so long. I forgot how much I liked this. I wasn't ready for how tight your ass is. I remember now."

"It's a wonder. Joe-Bob was a terror. I had to get used to him. He only had one gear. Full speed ahead."

"How'd you figure out you could get him?" Tony asked.

"Like I told you, he was training to be a welder. We had to get into some tight places to do some of the work. He'd wedge his skinny little ass tight up against me a couple of times. I'd be showing him how to do a tight even weld and his dick would be pressed against me. He wasn't as big as you but when he got hard, it was a spike. First time I looked at him when I felt it dug against me, he was crimson and tried to move, which made it worse. I just said, "I like you too," and went back to my welding. He figured out what it meant."

"One time when I dropped my arm down from doing something, I had my arm against his bone. When he tried to wiggle out of the spot we were in, he just succeeded in wedging us in tighter. He wasn't getting out, until I shifted away from him."

"Sorry, ain't got no pussy in a good little piece," he explained.

"That's obvious. How long?" I asked, not moving even a little.

"How long?" he asked.

"How long since you did something to solve your problem?"

"I don't know. My buddy used to blow me but he went in the military a ways back. That was probably it. Night before he went off to be a soldier."

"I had a guy I use to let fuck me back a ways, I told him."

"You did?" he said, and he left his dick against my arm.

"You get horny you do stuff. You had your friend. I had mine. Stuff happens. Better than nothing happening."

"You're telling me. Rupert and me was swimming and he told me he'd blow me if I wanted. We was skinny dipping so, all I had to do was stand still and he was like a calf on his mamma's tit. Never felt nothing like it. I didn't no there was anything like it. I just used my hand up until then."

"That's funny," I told him. My friend and I were swimming when we figured out we could have some fun together."

"Never fucked no guy," he told me, not a wiggle left in him as his dick stayed up against my forearm. "You ever blow one? I really like that."

"There's a first time for everything, Joe-Bob. I'll blow you if you fuck me. We both get a little something out of it."

"Man, you got yourself a deal, Curtis," he said.

" That's how it happened. He wasn't kidding about liking to get blown. Shot a big old load down my throat. Funny guy. Stayed in my motel room after that day. No discussion about it. He just slept there. We went to work and came back to the motel."

"I never had a guy ask me about it. Never thought about it, except when we did it. I liked it fine but it wasn't something I was looking for, you know?"

"You don't have to look for it now. I think you found it, stud. That thing feels like it's swelling up again."

"You can feel it?"

"It really is thicker. Joe-Bob was about the size you were at sixteen. As rough as he was, it didn't hurt, once I got used to it."

"I was maybe nineteen before I stopped growing. We only did it that one summer."

"Yea, I looked for you the next year."

"I'm back!"

"You even sound like the Tony I knew. I'm ready when you are."

"Moss feels soft."

"Yes," Curtis said, feeling Tony begin to move ever so slowly.

Tony hesitated, scooted his body into the encompassing warmth. His smooth face rested just above Curtis' shoulder blade as Tony's hand slid across the hip and around to hold the throbbing hardness.

"Careful. It's loaded and it won't take much for it to go off."

"Can I hold it?"

"Yea, but don't stroke it right away. I didn't shoot when you did. I'll probably get off as soon as you get going good. It's just the way I'm built."

"Glad we met up again. I haven't felt this good since ... since that summer."

Tony's hot breathe blew on Curtis' neck, making Curtis feel good about the guy he was with. He'd never been sure Joe-Bob was more than a sex toy, but a nice one to remind him of the eagerness of youth. Even when he woke up in the middle of the night with Joe-Bob going to town on his ass, he smiled and was glad someone found him enjoyable.

It was better with Tony. Familiar. It was nice. He wasn't sure Tony wouldn't walk away and never return. He wasn't sure he would. It was what it was and for tonight, Tony was the best lover Curtis ever knew.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Have a delicious holiday season. As you enjoy your friends and families, don't forget to smile at people you pass. Say hello. It could brighten someone's day. It'll brighten yours.