Finding Tim
A Fourth Alternate Reality

 by: Charlie

© 2005-2008

 

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Episode 30
Second

Conversation in the car the next day was light and cheery.  The substantial portions related to Hal’s coming race.  Could he win it this year?  Coach thought he had a chance, but only an outside chance.  There were more and more international runners, and that was leading to more frequent record breaking.  The record had only been broken once in the 1950's but had already been broken twice in the sixties, 1963 and last year in Hal’s first race  when a Japanese runner set the record.

 

That record, when Hal had finished 9th at 2:22:32, was 2:15:30.  Hal was quite certain that he couldn’t win if the field kept that pace.  His goal was between 2:19 and 2:20.  His calculated pace, for which he set a time for each mile mark, was for 2:19:30.  If he kept his pace, that’s when he would finish.  It meant that the field would have to slip a lot for him to win, but a finish better than 9th would be assured if he could hold his pace.

 

He received nothing but encouragement from the group in the van, but everyone was wise enough not to urge him to set a goal that he couldn’t achieve.  We all affirmed the goal of coming in between 2:19 and 2:20.  We all secretly hoped he would do better, but had no realistic basis for that hope.

 

The conversation continued, consisting of nothing particularly substantial till Hazel said, “OK, I give up.  I just can’t contain my curiosity.  Charlie, just what did you do with my son last night?”

 

Tim jumped in with, “Normally it would be Charlie’s job to say this, but this time he can’t, so I will.  Hazel, don’t ask a question if you can’t deal with the answer.”

 

“Thanks, Tim, but I can deal with the answer.  Certainly there was a time when I couldn’t, but both John and I have been down a long road.  It’s been troubling, exciting, mind-boggling and mind-expanding, but we’ve made it.  I don’t think that there’s much that Charlie could answer that I couldn’t deal with.”

 

“Over to you, Charlie,” said Tim.

 

“Hal asked me to make love to him.  I did, and he made love to me.  And then we had sex.  Oral sex.  69 to be specific.  And we did it all over again this morning.  We’re madly in love with each other.  But!  Hal’s more in love with Sue, and I’m more in love with Tim.  Thank God.  And we are both certain of that.”

 

Sue continued, “And Hal came charging over to me–he was so excited that he came right through the motel hall naked–and swept me off my feet and made glorious love.”

 

Hal continued, “And we’re going to be married!  We don’t know when, but it’s absolutely certain.”

 

Hazel continued, “And that’s the most unusual wedding announcement that any mother will ever receive.  Lord, thank you.”

 

John said, “I’ll second that.”

 

Phyllis said, “Thank you all for letting us share that.”

 

Coach said, “Amen.”

 

Tim said, “When do I get a chance to test that love of Hal’s?”

 

Sue said, “Not till after the race.”

 

Hal said, “It’s a date, the motel on the way home.”

 

I said, “That puts me with Sue, wow!”

 

John said, “Weird.”

 

Phyllis said, “Not for this crowd.  We’ve got to get used to this sort of thing being normal.”

 

John said, “OK, yes.  But I’m not ready for it to be normal.”

 

Hal said, “It’s OK, Dad.  We love old fuddy-duddies.”

 

John said, “You come in at least fourth and you can have your night with Tim.  Anything less and you sleep with your parents.”

 

Hal said, “Deal.  Now that’s what I call a real incentive.”

 

The conversation went on in this vein till we were finally rolling into Boston.  As we approached the motel Hal surprised all of us with, “Dad, I’ll save you twenty bucks.  Just book three rooms and the four of us’ll share.  Better yet, you could save another twenty bucks if we got only two rooms and we split by generation.”

 

The four older folks all looked at each other with a sort of surprised look on their faces.  Slowly all four started shaking their heads very slowly but with a clear “No” motion.  The four of us mimicked them, but nodded our heads “Yes.”

 

John said, “I’m not even going to ask any questions.  I’ll get three rooms.”

 

Tim said, “One king size bed in each of the rooms, please.”

 

John said, “OooooooKay.”

 

We all had dinner together at the motel.  Tim and I insisted that everyone be our guest, and after some protest from John they agreed.  The conversation at dinner stayed clear of the sexual considerations of the car, and we talked mainly of the race, the plans for Sunday, and Boston.

 

The night in the room was pretty straightforward.  We knew that it was Hal’s practice not to have sex before the race, and that set the tone for the evening.  How we would sleep was pretty easy to figure out.  As we spooned together we weren’t going to put Hal on the outside, and neither Tim nor Sue were appropriate to bring up the rear; nor were we going to let Hal and Sue be together in this mix–that would be for tomorrow night.  So it was me, Hal, Tim, with Sue in front.  The next night, just before the race, we put Hal and Sue together, so it was me, Hal, Sue and Tim.  Sue got the giggles when Tim wiggled, and we had to threaten to tie him up so that we could sleep! 

 

Sunday Coach and Hal set off for a 27 mile walk of the course.  Stopping for talk of hills, strategy, the competition, this would take most of a day.  There would be others walking as well, and it would likely be crowded.  The rest off us set off for Cambridge, where we wanted to see Harvard and M.I.T. 

 

Tim was recognized by a faculty member on the M.I.T. campus.  This led to an interesting conversation in their coffee shop with four faculty members and the six of us.  It being Sunday it wasn’t crowded, and not much of a fuss was made.  Tim is always pleased to be recognized (he might deny that, but in vain), but didn’t really want, or need, any special attention at M.I.T.  He managed to convince them that he was just a tourist, in town to see a friend compete in the race.  We had a pleasant half hour with them, and then made our way to Harvard, where we weren’t recognized!

 

Coach and Phyllis hosted dinner, being very careful of what Hal ate–nothing out of the ordinary that might affect him tomorrow.  John dropped one bombshell at dinner, “We decided to be cheap and save the second twenty bucks tonight.”

 

Hal almost choked on his pot roast when he heard that.  Tim whistled softly.  Sue did a very swift double take, and just sort of stared at John.  I said, “It’s catching,” which got everybody laughing–even though it wasn’t particularly funny. 

 

John continued, “We changed rooms to one with two double beds, and we’ve absolutely no idea what the evening will be like.”

 

Sue said, “But you can be sure that you’ll be asked at breakfast.  You can’t have Hal running in the race tomorrow wondering about something like that.”

 

Hazel said, “We can, but we won’t.  If you kids can tell all, we’ll at least try.”

 

The conversation in bed that night certainly had a focus.  We all speculated both on what the other generation was doing, and what (and who) had triggered the change in one day–a day that they hadn’t even all been together.  We finally decided that they had to have made up their minds at breakfast–they had all been at the table and started eating before we had arrived–in one sleepy group.  It was Hal’s guess that it was Phyllis that had sparked the decision.  Hal said, “Both she and coach were really moved by last year’s trip.  You know, at the end of the trip he came up to me and said ‘I love you,’ and then kissed me.  I pushed my tongue into his mouth and it was like I’d shoved his finger into an electric socket.  It was over just as fast as you would pull your finger out of the socket.  I think he might have been ready when I suggested it yesterday.  I’ll bet he and Phyllis talked a lot last night.”

 

Sue said, “I’ll bet your mom and dad did as well.” 

 

We fell silent.  Hands roamed, and Hal seemed to really enjoy my fingering his butt.  I put some lube on my finger and shoved inside, clearly with Hal’s cooperation.  Then I just let my finger rest there.  Hal seemed very content with that, and we dozed off.  I was out when I awoke, and I just put my hand on Hal’s hip bone–the top of the legs of steel.  It felt good.  Then his hand was on top of mine, holding me very firmly.  Sleep came again.  It was daylight when I became aware that we had separated and were just barely touching.  Hal and Sue were tightly entwined, and she and Tim were butt to butt.  From Sue’s reaction, it appeared that his wiggle was sexy even in that position!

 

We had to move.  Sue and Hal showered and then Tim and I.  As we came out of the bathroom wrapped in towels Hal grabbed mine and Sue grabbed Tim’s.  We were quickly naked, and Sue and Hal were staring at us.  Sue said, “What a lovely sight.  Hal and I decided that we wanted a quick suck before breakfast.”  With that they were both on their knees, Hal in front of Tim and Sue in front of me.  God, it felt good.  I came so fast I hardly knew what had hit me.  Tim took a little longer, but not much.  Then Hal and Sue kissed each other, long and hard.  They were truly a lovely couple.  Their sexual interests weren’t limited to each other, but they shared everything.  As we watched them kiss, I felt Tim fingering my ass.  It felt good. 

 

Then Sue ended it all by saying, “We have to move, we need time at breakfast to get a report from the other room–singular.”

 

Tim and I dressed quickly and we all headed for the dining room for breakfast.  We beat the old folks, and ordered.  Before any food had come, they were there.  Hal let them order, and then grinned widely and said, “Well?”

 

“Well, we’re twenty bucks richer,” said John.

 

“And?”

 

“And you kids may be onto something.”

 

“And?”

 

Phyllis said, “You know, we’re creatures of a different generation.  Just getting our clothes off last night–with the lights on–was quite an effort.”

 

“But you managed.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Who was first?”

 

“You really want details?”

 

“Damn straight.”  That was Sue.

 

“OK,” said Hazel.  “Coach made it to his boxers first, but then turned chicken.  I was the first to my birthday suit.  John was next, then Phillis, and Coach was last!”

 

Coach said, “Doing was just a lot harder than talking.  I was really surprised at myself.”

 

I said, “Let me guess.  It wasn’t a problem until there you were in your boxers and you were hard.  Being naked isn’t a problem until you discover you’re hard.  That’s really embarrassing.  Am I right?”

 

“Yes.  You’re exactly right.”

 

I said, “We’ve all been there.  And each year of your life that you’ve never been hard in front of someone other than your wife makes the first time even harder.  Teenagers have an advantage–fewer years accumulated.”

 

Hal said, “So you’re all standing there, two hard dicks and four pretty hard nipples, and?”

 

“And not much.” 

 

“Nothing?”

 

Phyllis said, “OK, I touched Herb, squeezed him just a little.  He backed away.  We aren’t teens, you know.  We really didn’t know what to do.  All our lives sex has been climb in bed with your spouse and have intercourse.  Some foreplay, but the focus is intercourse.  Here we were in a completely different situation, and we were totally unprepared for it.”

 

John said, “So we headed for bed.”

 

“Who slept with who?”

 

“We slept with our spouses, of course.”

 

“Why, ‘Of course’?”

 

“To be honest.”  This was Hazel.  “I don’t think we even considered any other sleeping arrangements.”

 

Tim said, “OK, so you’re aroused as Hell, you headed for bed, and?”

 

Coach said, “We talked.  And we decided that we needed to expand our horizons.  We agreed that each couple would experiment with sex without intercourse.   Amazingly, that was new for both of us.  Well, new since we’d gotten married.”

 

“Tim said, “Oral or manual?”

 

“You boys certainly push.”

 

“Yes.”  Tim again.

 

“Both of the women sucked their husbands, but we finished with our hands.”

 

“Did you watch each other?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“That’s the sexiest part, isn’t it?”

 

“Yes. “

 

”And you’re embarrassed as Hell by this conversation.”

 

“Yes.”  All four said that.

 

Tim said, “I’ll bet all four of the men at this table are hard as rocks right now.”

 

That seemed to be an admission that he was.  The other three of us gave ourselves away by our putting our hands in our laps.

 

Our food came, and the conversation ended for a while as we were served and started to eat.  We had been alone in the dining room, but another couple came and were seated not far from us.  Conversation turned to the race.  Hal affirmed his 2:19 to 2:20 goal.  We headed for the car, the race, and Hal’s destiny.

 

In the car I tried to sum up the morning conversation.  “First I think I speak for all of our generation when I say, ‘Thank you for sharing.’  Doing it was tough, and talking about it was tougher.  But it’s healthy.  And it won’t be spoken of outside this group of eight unless one of you four either starts the conversation or gives permission.  But I think I’m also speaking for the rest of us when I say, ‘Don’t stop now.’  You need to explore what love means.  Do you all share a form of love?  If so, don’t be afraid of it.  John and Herb, don’t be afraid of it.  Phyllis and Hazel, don’t be afraid of it.  John and Phyllis, Herb and Hazel, don’t be afraid.  And always remember how much your relationship with Hal has grown by his being totally honest with you.  It goes both ways.  And you all get huge bonus points for making it through breakfast this morning!”

 

Herb said, “Well, we didn’t change the room reservation for tonight.  But on the way down to breakfast we decided that tonight–after we celebrate Hal’s success of the day–is a night for talk.  I don’t think there’ll be much more to report tomorrow at breakfast.”

 

We drove as close to the race starting line as we could get.  Hal took the shuttle to the starting line, and Tim went with him.  Coach wanted to be at the two mile marker.  After that we would cover markers 5, 10, and 15, and Coach would be at 17, to encourage Hal in his change of pace that would start him toward his finish.  I would be at 20, Tim at 25, and we would all try to be as close to the finish line as possible.  Betsy and Phyllis had the job of trying to hold places for us.  They had stools for a lot of sitting.

 

Coach’s report from mile 2 was that Hal was 4 seconds ahead of his time.  7 seconds at mile 5.  8 seconds at mile 10.  14 seconds at mile 15.  17 seconds at mile 17, and he kicked into gear like someone had goosed him.  At mile 17 he was in 23rd place.  At mile 20 he was 19 seconds ahead of his pace and in 19th place.  We heard reports over the next five miles that he was getting ahead.  At mile 25 he passed Coach grinning, gave him a high five (a rare gesture for Hal when he was racing) and passed into third place right in front of Coach.  He was 28 seconds ahead of his pace.  His pace was set to bring him in at 2:19:30.  He was going to be very close to 2:19 and might beat it. 

 

Hal shared with us later what was going through his mind: “Am I going to try to challenge the Japanese [who was leading most of the way and certainly looked like he would be the winner]?  I knew by mile 17 that it would take everything I had from 17 on to challenge him.  Could I?  Did I want to?  I answered my questions: Yes.  No.  Of course I could; whether I could catch him was another question.  But I didn’t want to.  I wanted to run my own race.  Someday, that would be the winning race.  Probably not this year.  But I went further.  I said to myself, ‘Hal these conversations with yourself are burning you out.  Always run your own race.’  But I answered myself, ‘Except.  When I run the Olympic marathon, I’ll break down and pour everything I’ve got into getting a medal.  I won’t for the color of the medal, but I will for a medal.  Damn, I really want an Olympic medal.  Bad.”  Hall continued aloud, “With great relief I settled into the race.  I don’t ever intend to revisit that decision.  And you’ll note that I gained only 2 seconds on my pace between miles 17 and 20.  Thinking like that slows you down.”

 

In the last 2+ miles Hal move to second place, got 34 seconds ahead of his pace, and finished the race at 2:18:56.  He ran a good hundred yards past the finish without slowing down, then slowed and calmly walked back to the finish line like he had just finished a two-miler.  He walked over and kissed his mom, who had succeeded in being very close–when it was reported that he had moved into third, she had cheered so much that people figured out who she was and let her come to the front.  Meanwhile the Japanese runner who had come in first at 2:17:11 was barely able to stand up, and couldn’t talk at all.  Third through fifth were in and were in even worse shape.  I certainly admired Hal for his trademark standing up finish.  And, again, the fact that he was the only finisher that the press was able to interview made him a center of attention.  Tim had chosen to be at mile 25 so that he wouldn’t be around at the finish.  He was making sure that he wouldn’t upstage Hal like he almost had last year. 

 

Then I spotted Susan, and Mike.  And Bill!  I thought Susan and Mike would be there, but I hadn’t expected Bill.  The Chicago Tribune had been so happy with what he had written last year, that they had paid his way this year.  And sent a photographer with him.  Bill lost his professional cool when he got to Hal, though. They fell into each other’s arms and just hugged.  Only Mike and the Tribune photographers knew what it was all about, so they got the good pictures.  Mike’s picture caught a tear in Hal’s eye as he recognized Bill, and it was the sensational picture of the race.  The two photographers had agreed before hand–certainly without the permission of their editors, but certainly with the encouragement of their writers–to pool their pictures.  Mike’s picture was exclusive–until the weeklies came out–with the two Tribunes: Chicago and Minneapolis.

 

The “press” joined the eight of us for dinner.  It took us a while to break away from all of the fuss at the finish line.  Hal had waited until all of the early finishers had recovered and were up and talking.  He congratulated each of them, and fooled the winner by congratulating him in Japanese.  He had had twenty minutes before the man was able to talk, and another ten before he got free of the press and officials.  Meanwhile, Hal had asked a Japanese reporter what he should say, and had easily memorized it.  His remark sparked an effusive flow of Japanese which totally baffled Hal.  He responded by hugging the man, then bowing and smiling.  They seemed to relate well, but without a common language there wasn’t much chance of a friendship.

 

We couldn’t leave with the two reporters and photographers without looking like we were playing favorites–which, of course, we were.  So we told them the restaurant at which to meet us, and they agreed that it would be “off the record” except as we told them otherwise.

 

Bill was having a wonderful year at Mizzou–the University of Missouri at Columbia.  Being on a first name basis with Hal and Tim–well everybody was on a first name basis with them, but you know what I mean–served him well.  He had gone to several of Tim’s meets, and Tim had always given him a good interview.  The Oklahoma Track Team had come to Columbia, and Bill had connected up with Hal.  In fact, Bill had arranged a private press conference with Hal for all of the Journalism majors.  With Bill guiding the questioning, they had really focused on the question of how Hal finished standing up, and that led to the question of why Hal didn’t push himself harder to get better times.  I think that that questioning had helped Hal to focus on the question and led to his settling the matter in his own mind during the Boston race. 

 

When Bill’s advisor heard that the Chicago Tribune was paying Bill to fly to Boston for Hal’s marathon, his reputation at Mizzou was made.  When his story made the Tribune’s front page of the sports section, with a full page with pictures inside he was really in.  He shared with us that he really hadn’t thought of himself as a sports reporter until he met Hal, Tim, and the Gang.  But now he was hooked.  “Trouble is, guys, you’re just the nicest athletes around.  I don’t spend my days with very many like you.  A lot of athletes are jerks.  But there are plenty of nice guys, just nobody holds a candle to you.”

 

Tim said, “Bill, how’s your love life?”

 

That seemed to catch Bill unprepared. He replied, “I’m struggling with who I am.  Leading a life as a gay man never seemed an option to me till I met you and Charlie, Tim.  Now I’m struggling.  I’m not even sure I’m gay.  But with your example, I’ll make it.  I’m not sure where, but I’ll get there.”

 

Tim said, “You know that we’ll help any way we can.”

 

“You already have.  And, thanks.”

 

Tim looked at Susan and the two photographers.  “Off the record, folks.  For sure.  Right?”

 

All three agreed.

 

Back at the motel, Hal announced that he was going to take a little run.  He had pushed himself, and needed to loosen up.  His idea of a little run was four miles, and he dragged us all with him.  Well, me, Tim, Sue and Coach.  We could actually keep up with him! 

 

Back in the room, Tim said, “Charlie you take Hal, and I’ll take Sue.  We’ll strip them, clean them up, and get them ready for bed.”  We backed them up to each other, and Tim stripped Sue while I took care of Hal–then we took care of ourselves.  We walked them to the shower and stood them in back to back.  First, Hal faced the water and I washed him–all of him; then Sue faced the water and Tim washed all of her.  Then we dried them and ushered them to the bed.  We put them in the middle of the bed and we each took a edge laying on our sides facing Hal and Sue.  Tim said, “Don’t be shy.  Make love.  Grand, passionate love.  Long slow love.  Arouse each other as you never have, and get us a little worked up while you’re at it.”

 

They did.  By now Sue was on the pill and they had long since crossed almost all the lines you could think of.  After the most wonderful, long foreplay, Hal lay on his back and Sue sat up and came right down on him.  Tim helped by guiding Hal’s prick straight in.  I held Sue so that she didn’t come down too hard before Hal was inside.  Then we went back to being spectators as they did their thing.  It was beautiful, and ended with a wonderful kiss as Sue lay down full length on top of Hal.  There was some whispering and Hal headed for me, Sue for Tim, and we got ready for the time of our lives.  Later Hal told me that he was reserving Tim for tomorrow night, as planned. 

 

They took us in their mouths and sucked gently.  Then they stopped and Hal said, “OK, here’s the game.  It’s Sue’s and my job to get you to come quickly.  It’s your job to come slowly.  The two losers are the guy who comes first and the partner of the one who comes second.  Losers take care of the needs of winners for the night.  Losers are sex slaves.  I’m not even going to ask if you agree; that’s just the way it is.  OK, Sue.  Ready, set, go.”

 

God, Hal was good.  My job was to concentrate on something else.  Like what Coach, Phyllis, John, and Hazel were doing.  Oops, that’s hardly the right line of thought, if I don’t want to come.  The race!  That’s it.  All those half dressed men racing by, sweating.  Sure, that’s not sexy.  Bill, and his journalism successes, and if he was gay and what he would be like in bed.  OK, Susan; but God it would be fun to fuck her–I’m part straight you know.  The long car ride home, with Tim playing handsies with whoever he sits beside!  I guess Tim was having the same problems, because just as I was thinking of Tim’s hands roaming all over me, I heard Sue exclaim, “God, Tim, you taste good.  Hal stop.  Charlie and I won.”

 

Hal did stop, and I just barely avoided coming.  Sue was saying, “God I get Tim for the night.  My slave.  What’ll I do with him?  Let me think.”  Then she picked him up, laid him on the bed, grabbed his balls rather roughly, shook them, and said, “With Hal I always feel I have to be so gentle.  But these are really pretty rugged, aren’t they?”

 

Tim said, “Not really. The dick’s pretty rugged, but the balls are pretty sensitive.”

 

“Silly.  You’re mister tough guy.”  With that she really put him to the test, but Tim was a good sport.  Then his balls were in her mouth, and it was clear that both she and he were enjoying it immensely.

 

I said to Hal, “I want to continue what we started last night. By Tim’s and my rule, your ass is off limits to my dick, but not to the rest of me.  Put your legs up and spread ‘em.”

 

He did.  I started with my mouth and tongue, using saliva for lube.  Then I switched to KY and fingers, and soon found his prostate.  Hal went pretty wild.  Sue and Tim stopped to watch, and I pushed Hal to the limit.  I used my left hand on his dick and he quickly came for the second time of the evening.  I said, “You aren’t done until you come again–in my mouth.”  It took a while, but he made it.  Then I said, “Suck me.  Long and slow.”  Slow or not, I came pretty quickly, and Hal and I fell into each other’s arms, hugging tight and sharing tongues as we never had before.

 

Sue had, by this time, moved on beyond Tim’s balls, and was exploring every part of his body.  She particularly liked massaging his cute little buns, but chose not to go into his ass.  Then she lay back on the bed and said, “Fuck me.  Fuck me hard and fuck me now!” Tim did.  What a sight.  Where Hal had been gentle, Tim was rough.  He was on top; in command.  He came quickly and drove himself in as hard and far as he could.  He squeezed her and held her until he was limp and came out.”  Sue’s orgasm, coming just after Tim’s was wild and wonderful.  Finally they lay spent on the bed.  Sue grabbed for Hal and said, “Love me.”  He did.  Then she said, “See, Hal, I don’t break.  You don’t have to be careful of me.  Let yourself go.”

 

Hal was, amazingly, hard again.  He took his cue, took Sue in hand and drove into her like a steamroller.  She wrapped her legs around him and gave as good as she got.  She had another orgasm, but Hal was spent.  That suited Sue fine, as he stayed hard inside her till she was completely spent.  With that we all fell in a heap on the bed, exhausted, contented, and sound asleep.

 

At some point in the night we sorted ourselves out and I woke up in Tim’s arms and Sue in Hal’s.  It had been quite a night.  I wondered if the other folks would really want a blow by blow of all this.

 

We had agreed that breakfast would be a little later on Tuesday, and down the road a little.  We met at 9:00 at the van, and we started off.  We stopped soon at a Howard Johnson’s for breakfast, and spent the meal reliving the race of the day before.  We were all so proud of Hal that we almost burst, and Hal was in his glory.  Sue sat beside him and from time to time would lean over and either hug or kiss him–often both.  The closest we got to “the subject” at the meal was my question, “Are you up for a blow by blow?”

 

And Coach’s answer: “Are you sure that there’s something to tell?”

 

And John’s answer: “Are you?”

 

Hal interjected, “I’m glad that Charlie asked first.”

 

Back in the car there was a prolonged silence.  Finally it was broken by Hazel: “OK guys, we’ll go first.  For years now we’ve been asking you to tell us things about yourselves.  I think it’s time we played fair and took the lead.”

 

Coach said, “I suspect that there’s going to be a lot more for the boys and Sue to tell than us old folks will have to tell.”

 

Hal said, “But I think yours may be more unexpected.  I don’t think there was much for us to do last night that you haven’t already imagined.”

 

John said, “You may be crediting us with a better imagination than we really have.”

 

Tim said, “We’ll see.”

 

Hazel said, “I’ll start.  We’d crossed the nudity barrier the night before so that was easy.  Well, fairly easy.  We made Herb go first, and he was a good sport.  Then we put the two boys on one bed and we girls took the other.”

 

“Boys?  Girls?”

 

“Since we were acting like you four, we decided that we were being boys and girls.  It was talk time.  Up to now we really hadn’t thought about what we wanted to happen.  We’d just agreed to explore.  Well, now that we were in the middle of it, we really didn’t know where we wanted to go.  Herb started with, ‘Tim and Charlie have a firm rule about what they won’t do.  They don’t have anal sex with anyone but their partners.  I suggest that we agree, right now, that we don’t have intercourse with anyone but our spouses.’  That was quickly agreed.”

 

Phyllis continued, “But that didn’t give us a clue about what we were going to do.  Except that we sort of realized that by drawing a line we were, perhaps, talking about going up to the line.  So we talked about that, and decided that we weren’t comfortable with that idea.  We were comfortable saying certain things were off limits, but not with the idea that everything else was OK.  We would take it one step at a time.”

 

I said, “So, what was step one?  Besides talk.”

 

“Easy, Charlie, patience.  Talk is really the important thing.”  That was Coach.

 

John continued the story, “Herb made the first concrete suggestion.”

 

Herb continued, “I said that I’d never seen another man’s hard penis until last night, and I’d never touched another man’s penis.”

 

John said, “He reached over and very hesitantly touched me, and I did the same to him.”

 

Tim said, “And you liked it!”

 

Herb continued, “I’m not sure that we did.  But we did explore a little, we handled each other’s balls, and tentatively jacked each other off, but just a few strokes.  I think we were pretty scared of the implications of doing that.”

 

It was the girls’ move, and Hazel made it.  She came over to Herb and took his penis in her hand.  “I’d never touched another man’s penis but John’s.”

 

“Not even dating?” asked Tim.

 

“Through clothing, but that was it.  Then I found John, and that was about all we did before we were married.  I remember him coming a couple of times and making a mess in his underwear.  I think he got his hand inside my pants a couple of times, but not really inside of me.  We were very prudish, even that much was exciting and daring.”

 

John continued, “A lot of the kids were having sex.  But it was pretty grubby: back seats of cars, fields, some of the kids at college did it on the floor in the soundproof music practice rooms.  But dorms were single sex, we really didn’t have access to beds.  Intercourse just wasn’t in the cards for us.  We got married right after college, and we were both virgins on our wedding night.  And I will say, that made for a much more exciting wedding night than you and Sue are going to have, since there isn’t anything new you can do that night.”

 

“You might be surprised,” said Hal.

 

“I might be too,” said Sue.  That got a laugh from everyone.

 

Hazel continued, “I’ll have to admit that handling Herb was fun.  And I pushed it a ways.  I played with most of him, nipples, belly button, penis, balls, anus.  Then I kissed him.”

 

Herb said, “And the dam broke.  We kissed, our tongues met, and hugged tight.  And I ejaculated all over her and the bed.  God, it was embarrassing.”

 

“Why?” said Tim.  “I wish that I could be that easily aroused.  Well, I guess I was once.”

 

John said, “Herb and Hazel were immediately afraid that they’d gone too far.  What would Phyllis and I think?  Could we accept the obvious arousal between them?”

 

Hazel said, “That’s exactly right.  And John and Phyllis responded exactly right–as if they’d just had a lesson from you, Charlie.  They came and hugged us, and both exclaimed, “That was wonderful; it was beautiful to watch. 

 

“Then Herb pushed John down on the bed and said, ‘It’s your turn.  And all three of us are going to cooperate in your downfall.  We did, and I’m not sure who actually was manipulating John when he came, but we got it all over all of our hands.’”

 

“What next?” asked Tim.

 

“Phyllis started rubbing John’s semen on Hazel, and Hazel did the same to Phyllis.  Soon they were lying on the bed, hugging, and that led to hands in interesting places....”

 

“Stop, Herb,” said Tim, “You know Charlie’s rule about talking about it.  No euphemisms.”

 

Herb continued, chastened, “It’s hard.  They started putting their hands in each other’s vaginas and soon they were climaxing.  John and I got hard all over again just watching.”

 

John said, “Sue and Hal are completely comfortable sleeping with different partners; are we going to let them be the only ones that get that pleasure?”

 

With that John had taken Phyllis by the hand, led her to the shower, washed her, been washed by her, dried her, been dried by her, and walked her to a bed.  He pulled the sheet up, cuddled close, kissed her hard, and lay quietly with his head on her breasts.  Herb and Hazel watched, and then repeated the process.  But when they got to bed Hazel had wiggled around so that her head was near Herb’s genitals, and she dozed off alternately licking and kissing his dick.

 

John said, “Morning brought guilt, talk, more guilt, and scrambling for bed with our spouses, more talk, and finally acceptance of the events of the night before.  Will we go there again?  I don’t know.  None of us know.  But we had a wild, wonderful night.  We live in the same city.  We have this Gang around us that gives us both permission and inspiration.  Who knows?  We don’t.”

 

Sue said, “That’s wonderful.  I hope that I can be that open and willing to experiment when I am a parent.  You folks are truly as exceptional as the  Gang.”

 

Hal said, “My parents.  They talk about the new Hal.  Meet the new John and the new Hazel.”

 

OK, kids, we were pretty honest.  Can you be?

 

Sue said, “Charlie, you’re the one that always says you have to be able to talk about it if you’re going to do it.  Are you willing to tell last night’s story?”

 

I had to think about that for a minute.  We had been pretty wild last night.  But I decided that I had to live up to my own standards.  “OK, if I miss anything, jump in, but here goes.

 

“We were back in the room and ‘Tim said, “Charlie you take Hal, and I’ll take Sue.  We’ll strip them, clean them up, and get them ready for bed.”’  We backed them up to each other, and Tim stripped Sue while I took care of Hal–then we took care of ourselves.  We walked them to the shower and stood them....

 

Dear reader, I told it just as I wrote it for you above.  Nothing held back.  The four of them were spellbound.  What they had heard from Sue and Hal about sex had been in generalities, “Yes, we played around.  Yes, we took our clothes off.  Yes, we fucked.”  Never details.  This was new, this was crossing a line they had never dreamed of crossing.  It was exciting, revealing, and arousing.  They admitted it. And it led back to our previous conversation about cross generational sex.  And we all agreed that talk was fun, but there was a line we would feel uncomfortable crossing.  All of us felt that way.  Except Tim reserved the right to push the line from time to time.  Instead of agreeing, we all just laughed.

 

We had paused for lunch, continued on till dinner, and settled into motel rooms after dinner.  Three rooms! But a new twist: One room for John, Hazel, Herb, and Phyllis, one room for Hal and Tim, and one room for Charlie and Sue. 

 

Sue was wonderful.  “Charlie, I wanted Tim to be rough with me so that Hal would learn that I don’t break.  But please be gentle with me tonight.  Take command, fuck me again and again, but with love and gentleness.”

 

I did.  Sue was soft, gentle, lovely, sexy, hot, loving, eager.  I don’t know how to describe myself, but I am sure that hot and eager applied.  It was quite a night.  I guess we slept a little, but not much.  As soon as we’d copulate, have climaxes, we’d fall back and Sue would start with her hand or mouth to get me aroused again.  She was good.  And as soon as I would get hard she would guide me to her, suggest a new position, and bring me inside her.  I lost count.  Heavenly bliss.  Only Tim could arouse me more.  Well, maybe Franklin.  Well, maybe Phil.  Well, maybe Bill, if he really was gay.  I guess that I just can’t make it in the straight world.  But I did that night!

 

Tim and Hal explored each other’s bodies.  Every nook and cranny.  Armpits, feet, nose, ears, belly buttons, elbows, ribs (ticklish), dicks and balls very, very slowly and carefully.  Asses.  They took turns on each body part.  They said they spent half the night in the process.  Then they slept.  In the morning Tim used his hands to get Hal aroused, and his mouth to bring him to climax.  Hal tickled Tim’s sensitive dick with the tip of his tongue till he came.  Then Tim took his cue from me and made love to Hal’s legs.  He hugged and kissed them, rubbed them, and finally rubbed his dick up and down on the muscles of Hal’s right thigh, and came all over his leg.  In telling me he summed up with, “God, Charlie, you’re right, those legs are the sexiest things around, second only to your dick.”

 

In the car on Wednesday morning the conversation was light and casual.  Plans for the future.  We did talk about wedding plans for Hal and Sue, but they had a long way to go before they settled on details.  But they were planning on the summer of 1967–they wanted to be married for the Olympics and knew that training that summer would made a wedding nearly impossible.  No one seemed inclined to repeat the “show and tell” of the previous morning, so the events of the night before were not discussed. 

 

Hal’s folks later did share with him, and he in turn with Sue, Tim and me, the events of the night.  They had slept two men in one bed and two women in the other.  They did have sex, using their hands.  They were still trying to figure out whether they liked it and what the implications of that were.  John and Hazel have thanked Hal many times for the experiences of that trip.  They’re convinced that their marriage is far stronger than ever.  They report the same thing of Herb and Phyllis.

 

Hal and Sue headed to the airport Thursday morning and were back in Norman by noon.  The track team met them at the airport and gave Hal a hero’s welcome back to Oklahoma.  Until then Hal had just been one of the guys.  Now they were beginning to understand that while that was true, he was a very special one.

 

Tim and I headed back to Grand Forks, realizing that the only sex partner that we had in Grand Forks on a regular basis was Felix.  He almost got raped on the spot when he met us at the door of the house.  Who says cross generational sex isn’t fun?

 

Life did have to return to the mundane.   Well nothing was mundane with Tim, but at least it wasn’t all sex.  The student led Endowment for Faculty Salary Enhancement took a lot of our time.  Tim’s committee was up to sixteen, including Tim and me, by the second semester; and we worked hard on our research and conducted our visits like professional fundraisers.  In fact, several of the members of the committee became professional fundraisers and got their jobs on the strength of the nationally recognized success of the UND fund.  The checks received were handled by the University Treasurer, whom Tim swore to secrecy regarding the amounts.  Pledges he held onto himself.  He expected money by June first except in a couple of special cases of very large donors who wanted to spread it over three years.  He didn’t hesitate to call up pledgers and remind them of the June first date.  He only counted first year money toward his first goal of $10,000,000.  And I was the only person on earth that knew that that was a one year goal–Prexy thought that was a long term goal that would stretch over several years and it never occurred to him that we would reach it–ever.

 

The next major event in the life of the endowment campaign occurred in mid-May.  But two other major events also occurred in May–early May in fact.  First was the NCAA national gymnastics championships.  Next was the NCAA swimming and diving championships.

 

Gymnastics was in Stanford, California.  Tim and I flew out, and so did Ronnie, who wanted to check out Stanford as a possible graduate school.  We insisted that the others stay home–it was simply too far for people to go–both in money and time.  Tim insisted that he was going to be in so many meets over the next four years that the Gang simply couldn’t follow him around the country.  That fact was reluctantly accepted.

 

How did he do?  Very well indeed–but short of his diving successes.  Not part of a team, he was only eligible for individual competition, but was entered in all the men’s events–he had qualified in regional meets in the north central area.  He made the finals in all six events.  He medaled in five events–an exceptional performance.  He was first in floor exercises.  Second in vault–his timing remained perfect.  Third in three others, and fifth in parallel bars.   Tim didn’t come from an established program.  He wasn’t known on the national gymnastics scene, despite Coach Burns comments.  His success led to a couple of invitations to join university teams for the next year.  They hadn’t even the slightest comprehension of why he would want to stay at UND, a school that didn’t even have an NCAA gymnastics program.  He quickly gave up trying to explain, and decided that it was fun being an enigma.

 

The next weekend was NCAA diving nationals at the University of Illinois.  The Gang was all there.  While being the national open champion as a high school student acquainted Tim with the national diving scene, this was his first NCAA national meet.  He was confident, without being cocky.  He was just relaxed and assured.  On both the platform and the springboard, his chosen dives were the hardest of any competitor, so if his dives were near flawless, he had to win.  And win he did!  It wasn’t even close.  Mick Jacobs was there, and sought Tim out for an interview.  He had been at Stanford as well, but hadn’t sought Tim out then.  Now he said, “You get pretty special when you win two of these things, a week apart, in different sports.  That’s news.  Winning one isn’t big news, somebody always wins.”

 

Long story short: Tim’s second Sports Illustrated cover.  My picture was inside, but I didn’t make the cover this time.  The cover was two images of Tim, quite cleverly juxtaposed, one diving and the other on the rings.  Mick told Tim, “I’m going to start following you around.  You’re my good luck charm.  And one of the nicest guys to interview I’ve met.”

 

Tim didn’t really have the time to drink in his athletic celebrity.  Less than a week later, on May 14, 1966, Tim got a call from the University Treasurer.  “Tim, we got checks today totaling $650,000.  We now have received cash in the amount of $10,000,325.  I never thought I’d see it.  This is absolutely stunning.  I’ve kept this quite close to the vest.  In return, I want to be along when you tell Prexy.”

 

Tim said, “Today, 2:00 p.m.  I’ll call Prexy’s secretary and tell her to cancel whatever he has.  The whole committee will be there.  Come along.  And bring something in writing to give Prexy.”

 

As easy-going as he was, the President of the University of North Dakota wasn’t very happy about a student calling up and ordering him to clear his calendar for 2:00 p.m.  But he did.  Tim led the parade into his office.  Tim, me and fourteen other student fundraisers, the Treasurer, and the fund’s faculty advisor, Larry Knudsen–Tim had engineered that early on after his several bad experiences.  Tim was grinning from ear to ear–well I guess we all were.  Prexy guessed the mood, and let his disgruntlement at being bossed around dissolve.  Tim said, “We’ll cut to the chase.  Mr. Nettleson, your Treasurer, has a report on the Endowment for Faculty Salary Enhancement.  We have reached our first year goal.”

 

Prexy had never heard of a first year goal, only the ten million dollar long term goal which he thought was totally pie-in-the-sky dreaming; as he had told Tim.  That Tim had thought of it as a first year goal was unknown to him.

 

Mr. Nettleson was enjoying his moment in the sun; he slowly pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, looked it over and said, “The cash received by the fund, along with some interest that has accumulated on funds held in the bank, now totals ten million, three thousand, six hundred and nineteen dollars and seventy-seven cents.   That’s as of noon today.”

 

The room was so silent you could hear everyone breathe.  Prexy didn’t know what to say.  But he knew his man: he walked around his desk, walked straight up to Tim, picked him up while he hugged him, and simply held him tight.  “I don’t believe it.”

 

Mr. Nettleson said, “Believe it.  I’ve seen this coming for a couple of months, but I was sworn to secrecy.  Tim wants to keep it under wraps until an announcement can be made at the next faculty meeting.”

 

Prexy had his voice back.  “That’s in a week.  This won’t stay quiet for a week.  I’m going to call a special meeting for 5:00 p.m. tomorrow.”

 

Tim never lacked for balls.  “That’s in the middle of my gymnastics practice, and the group’s counting on me.  I can break away a little early if you make the meeting 6:00 p.m.”

 

Prexy was taken aback, was silent for a long minute, and then burst into laughter.  “Six it is.”  The irony of Tim’s demanding Prexy’s time but refusing to budge on his own wasn’t lost on anyone in the room, certainly not Prexy.

 

Prexy wanted all kinds of details: What was the largest contribution?  How many contributors?  From where, all over the state?  The answers were:  Half million dollars, 272, all over the state.  24 trustees gave over a million.  The sixteen students were the smallest donors, giving twenty dollars each–that was Tim’s maximum amount that a student was allowed to give, and no student could be on the team who didn’t give it. 

 

Then Tim said, “Next year we need to get an additional five million.  We have 200 names and we’ll go to work in September.  The third year we’ll go public with a mail campaign, but that won’t do much.  The most important thing is that we now have about 250 names that gave, and we have notes as to who’s likely to give more.  But the next visit has to be for another campaign for a different purpose.  This one will eventually make twenty million without having to go back to the well twice.”

 

Prexy said, “If Wayne Nettleson hadn’t just given me the number he did, I would simply dismiss your comments as fairy dust rattling around in your head.  But you’re for real.  Well, I can’t say I wasn’t warned.  Your coach, Mr. Waters I think his name was, warned me.  Charlie warned me.  I can only plead that I don’t think there’s a university administrator anywhere that would’ve truly accepted those warnings.”

 

I said, “Prexy, there are a lot of administrators everywhere that wouldn’t have allowed Tim the freedom to accomplish this feat.  And they would be the losers.  And he would’ve found another school.”

 

Tim said, “I want your permission to approach a few key people–Fred Milson’ll help me identify them–to raise money for women’s aquatics.”

 

Prexy said, “That’s your next campaign?”

 

Tim replied, “There’s no excuse for a men’s program and not a women’s program.  I simply couldn’t compete in a men’s only program for another year.”

 

Prexy said, “I wouldn’t dare say no–for a lot of reasons.  Go for it.”

 

The hastily called faculty meeting was well attended.  There were lots of rumors about the reason for the meeting; none of them correct.  But its timing, and the short notice, were so unusual that everybody’s curiosity was peaked, and the University Theater where it was held was packed.  The same group that was in Prexy’s office was on stage as people came in–all except Tim.  He really was at gymnastics practice and showed up about 6:01–his hair still wet from the shower. 

 

Prexy opened the meeting by thanking people for coming at such short notice.  Then he gave a little background about Tim and of his first meeting with him.  Then he introduced the other 15 students and indicated that they had a report on a project that they had undertaken.  You could hear this being greeted with a dull thud.  Nobody wanted to come to a late faculty meeting to hear about a student project.  You could hear the grumbling.  Tim and Prexy were, of course, getting precisely the reaction they wanted.

 

Tim stepped up to the podium, standing on a special box put there just for him.  “Good evening.  I won’t take a lot of your time, as I know you’re eager to get to dinner.  At the beginning of this year the students in front of you looked at the most recent AAUP faculty salary statistics and decided that UND’s were too low.  The legislature wasn’t going to pony up more money, so we decided to try to do something about it.  With President Edison’s permission we approached the Board of Trustees and established the Endowment for Faculty Salary Enhancement.  I won’t bore you with a lot of details.  We’re here today to announce that the Endowment has met its first year goal. (Long pause.)  We’ve raised in excess of ten million dollars and that translates into a salary enhancement for each full-time faculty member of $988 per year, and a proportionate amount for part-time faculty.  The money will come as an additional payment at the end of November and the end of March.”

 

Tim sat down.

 

Pandemonium. 

 

Prexy didn’t even try to bring them back to order.  Everyone from the stage walked down into the assembly, which by now was all on its feet, talking, questioning, looking blank, whatever. 

 

Finally Prexy went back up on the stage and called for quiet.  “There isn’t much more to tell.  The presence of Wayne Nettleson, the University Treasurer, is for assurance that we aren’t kidding.  Tim’s not talking about dreams or pledges or IOUs.  We’re talking real money, deposited in a real bank, soon to be moved to a real investment fund.  The cash is there to make the distributions Tim described.”

 

In another half hour we got out of the place.  It was in the newspaper the next morning, with a huge photo of Tim.  Tim was the Time Magazine cover story that week: “Undergrad, athlete, fundraiser, superstar.”  Susan would point out that it was a slow week.  The story, put together under a tight deadline, had displaced an undated fashion cover, which might, or might not now see the light of day–or the cover of Time.  It was a wonderful biography with stories about diving, gymnastics, fundraising, his appearance on the SI cover two weeks previously, and his gay partner, Charlie.  The dream of Tim and Charlie walking hand in hand in the opening ceremonies in Mexico was finally seen in the national press, with the note that Hal would be close beside us. Camp White Elk got its picture in, too, as well as the Gang.  The University of North Dakota was praised for mounting one of the most successful endowment campaigns in public college history.

 

What an end to a first year in college!  It had its drawbacks, of course.  Tim was no longer able to be anonymous anywhere on campus, nor in fact anywhere in Grand Forks.  He was a constant celebrity.  So was I, though the only thing that I had done to deserve it was to let Tim love me. 

 

And love me he did.  That night we went back to the house by ourselves.  We cooked a simple dinner, ate quietly, and went up to bed, getting there by about 9:30.  We lay in bed.  My hands wandered.  His ass wiggled.  We loved each other.  When all was said and done, the honors and praise given and received, the sexual implications of the Gang explored, this was our happiest moment. We told each other how handsome we were, how much we loved each other, how we couldn’t live without each other.  It was all true.  We slept.

To be continued...

 

Posted: 05/30/08