The Stars

By: David H
(© 2014 by the author)
Editor: Ken King

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Prologue:
 "Take a Look at Me Now"

Everyone privy to his small circle of influence knew that there were only two things that could make Noah Barnes return to his hometown of Blakely, Georgia. The first involved the death of one or both of his parents. The other was to witness the wedding of his younger sister, Caroline, to the man that she'd been seeing for most of his life: Thomas Eugene Bailey.

The couple had met during the summer between their junior and senior years at Auburn University. It was 1986, and they were both twenty-one years old. She was an engineering student; he was studying to be a high school Social Studies teacher. He swam for the university, and she enjoyed, after they met, watching as he made his way through the water. Their first few encounters were physical, but by the end of senior year, they considered themselves friends. At graduation, she wasn't planning to walk, and so, he, being the gentleman that he was, defied his mother's wishes and refused to do it either.

That summer, 1987, she returned to Blakely, having accepted a job with the local office of Georgia Power. He returned to his hometown of Jemison to take over for a teacher that had been wildly popular throughout his forty-year career as a teacher. They still talked every day, though, running up high phone bills as they continued to get to know each other. After about a month, she drove to see him in Jemison. The next three encounters over the summer involved him driving to Blakely and staying at the house that she'd bought for herself on Baptist Branch Road. It was on the second of those trips that he met Noah, the little brother about whom Caroline cared so deeply.

At eight, Noah could ask questions that would have driven most guys in their early twenties insane. Tom was a natural at answering them, though. It was like he was born to be a father, a big brother, a positive influence in the life of this kid, especially.

By the summer of '88, he'd grown tired of teaching at Jemison, and so Tom found a position that would take him really close to Caroline. At the end of that school year, Early County posted an opening for a position that would involve teaching Government and Economics. He applied, was interviewed, and accepted the post all before he told Caroline about it. She was elated when she found out, and told him that he was staying at her house until he found a place of his own. He never left.

In the process of starting a life with her, Tom became close to Noah, who was the youngest of four, a surprise late in life to his parents who had both been born in the late '30s. Caroline was sixteen years older than him; their brother, Jimmy, was three years older than her. By the time Noah was born, he already had a nephew, and just after his first birthday, he became an uncle for the second time, welcoming a niece into the world.

It was obvious who their parents' favorite was. The Reverend Oscar and Mrs. Marie Barnes had, long before Noah came on the scene, decided that Jimmy was the reason the sun rose and set every day. Justin, his offspring by Bethany, a lady who was known around town to have a thing for the darker men, was their reason for living.

They were more apathetic toward Caroline than anything. They didn't really care what she did or who she did it with. They never congratulated her on being the only of their children to even start college, and they always did what they could to make her think that she was doing something wrong by going out into the field with men, climbing power poles, with men, and inspecting the jobs that the men had done. Little did they know that the men that she worked with respected her more than anybody else, and if someone didn't, the guys that were on her side made it known that they weren't welcome. If she said 'jump', they said 'how high'. She worked with white guys, black guys, Hispanic guys, and a few Asian guys. She respected them all for their work, and they, in turn, respected her in hers. In the early '90s, they jokingly teased her about going back to school to get a technical degree and eventually earning the title 'master electrician'. Tom loved that about her, that she seemed to fear nothing and no one.

Noah, though, was the odd ball. His parents never told him that they loved him, in public or private. They never said anything encouraging to him, calling him dumb and worthless in what seemed like every other breath. When he thought about playing sports in middle school, to try to fit in with other guys, they told him 'no', because he wouldn't ever get to play because he stunk at everything he did. They blamed him for being born and for forcing them to revert to parenthood rather than enjoy their grandson. Their granddaughter, Katie, was on the same level as Caroline, and they really didn't care what she did. Jimmy made fun of him, catching hell from Caroline on more than one occasion. Justin and his friends picked on Noah when teachers weren't looking.

Caroline and Tom, it seemed, were the only two people on the planet that cared whether he lived or died. They were the only people that really loved him for who, and later what, he was. When he was growing up, they bought him clothes when it was too much of a hassle for his parents. One winter, Noah didn't have a decent coat, wearing a wind breaker on a day when the cold winter wind was determined not to be broken. They were his only friends, his protectors, his friends, his sounding boards, and his everythings. When he did set his mind to doing something, it was to make Caroline and Tom proud, rather than his parents. When he got a good grade, Caroline was the first to know about it, and she'd always make sure that he got what Jimmy had always gotten, $20 dollars for every 'A' that he received.

At sixteen, Noah worked his ass off to buy an old truck that Tom's mother, Ms. Ruby, was selling. It was Tom that taught him how to change a tire and his oil, to take care of the beat up piece of shit. Even though it was in Tom's name, it was still his, and he babied it. They began to see a spark in him, though, that they hadn't ever noticed. While he was quiet and reserved at home, around his parents, Caroline and Tom saw the man that he was becoming. He was still reserved, but he, like his sister, was developing a very dark sense of humor. They let him cuss, to say what was on his mind, to discuss and talk through things, yet they were always there when a decision that he'd made backfired on him. He would need it, especially since his parents would, more often than not, deliver a beating unlike any he'd ever received.

For his eighteenth birthday, Caroline gave him a gift card to a department store in Dothan. He got a few really nice articles of clothing that he, for obvious reasons, left at Caroline's. Tom and his brothers, Gerald and Glen, took him to a Braves' game in Atlanta. He had the time of his life, and a million photos to go along with it.

The next week, though, Tom noticed on the most random Tuesday that Noah wasn't in class. He called Caroline on lunch, and she said that she hadn't heard from him. After school, he went, by himself, to Marie and Oscar's house just outside town, only to have Marie slam the door in his face. Thinking it was odd, he went straight to the Georgia Power office. Caroline was beside herself, as was Tom. She picked up the phone and quickly called her parents' house. There was no answer. Caroline hung up and called her boss, explaining that she was leaving because of a family emergency. The two went to their house and dropped off her car before going right back over there.

Caroline didn't bother knocking; she just opened the door to find her parents sitting at the table eating dinner as if nothing were going on.

"Where's Noah?" she asked, her hands on her hips and a look on her face.

"I don't know," Oscar started, "and I don't care. He's a faggot, and the only thing that he's ever gonna amount to is as another dying AIDS patient in a hospital."

"What did you do to him?" Tom asked.

As nonchalantly as before, Oscar answered. "I told him that he was going to hell and then told him that he was dead to me until he gave up his sinful ways."

"It just makes me sick that people like that are even allowed to walk the face of the earth..." Marie added as Caroline's blood began to boil.

"If either of you have lain ONE finger on him, I will personally make sure that you go straight to jail," Tom told him, pointing between them. "I should have called Child Services on y'all YEARS ago!" he added as he stomped out of the house.

"I hope you're happy," Caroline said. "You have just gotten all you ever wanted: Jimmy, and Jimmy alone." Before they could respond, Caroline walked out the door, slamming it as she left, knocking some terribly tacky nick-nack from the wall and causing it to shatter into a million pieces.

Marie snapped, walking out the door onto the back porch as Caroline was walking to the car. "YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE WHORE! GET BACK IN HERE AND CLEAN THIS UP."

"Burn in hell!" she said as she climbed into the passenger seat of the car. Tom quickly put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. "We've got to call the police and DHR as soon as we get home."

"Right..." Tom agreed.

"He's an angel. Why would they do this to him?"

"Sweetie. I'm about to say something that might piss you off..."

"OK..." he said. "And I've wanted to say it for a long time, but I haven't."

"Spit it out!" Caroline told him, emphatically.

"I have never liked them, and when we do get around to getting married, they will not be at the wedding. I hate they way they've always treated you and Noah. Y'all both have always deserved better than them," Tom told her.

Caroline smiled. "What?"

"I love you, Thomas Eugene."

"I love you, too, Esther Caroline!" he smiled.

As they got to the house, they were both surprised and relieved to see "The Green Bean" sitting off to the side of the driveway. As soon as Tom could stop the car, maybe a second before, Caroline was jumping up and running around back of the house. As she walked up onto the deck, she slowed as she got a look at his weak, humble body. He was 6'0" tall, but he was skinnier than a guy his age should be. When he turned to look at her, taking a deep breath, she saw the most prolific wound on his body. His left eye was swollen shut; his right eye was filled with tears that had been flowing since the night before.

"Oh my God," she whispered, her hand shaking as she covered her mouth. Just as Tom was getting out of the car, Caroline's best friend, Gwen, with whom he taught, was pulling into the drive, coming to check on Noah, worried because he'd also missed her class. Like Caroline, Gwen was emotionally distraught at the sight. Tom, pissed but in his big-brother mode, walked past Caroline. He reached down and picked Noah up from the chair, wrapping his arms around him and telling him that it would all be OK.

They took him inside the house. Tom called the police, while Gwen and Caroline silently worked in the kitchen to fix him something to eat. The policeman that was sent turned out to be one of Caroline and Noah's first cousins, by a relative that had nothing to do with their parents. His name was Brian, and soon as he got there, Caroline started crying again. Brian, too, was gay, but he was no where near coming out of the closet. Caroline, Tom, and Gwen were the only people, other than his own sister and their parents, that knew of his tendencies toward what they jokingly called 'The Dark Side'. Tom, Caroline, and Brian all agreed that it was necessary to press charges.

From 'his' bedroom, Noah could hear their conversation. Feeling the need to join in it, he climbed out of the bed and walked into the living room. Brian hadn't seen him yet, but he was shocked that even those who were his father's arch-nemesis could be so cruel to a blood relative.

"I'm not pressing charges," he said, to looks of shock and surprise from Tom and Brian. Caroline knew him well enough to know that he'd made his mind up. "I want it all to end," he said, resolutely. "And Caroline, I will pay y'all rent if you'll let me stay here long enough for me to get on my feet. I don't want to be a burden, and I just want it all to end."

"OK..." Caroline said, accepting his decision. Tom looked at her, trusting her enough to let her decision stand. Brian, too, knew that he needed closure, and this is how he was going to get it. He was determined, in that moment, to make something of himself, to prove his parents wrong, to prove the world wrong. He was forced, in that moment, to grow up and accept his fate in life. The only thing was, he couldn't ever accept just being there, alone.

He went back to school at the beginning of the next week. No one would talk to him. Teachers, except for Tom and Gwen, barely acknowledged his presence. At lunch, he sat alone, eating by himself as the bruises around his eyes healed for several days until, out of the blue, Katie, one day, came over to sit with him.

"So … I've been told," she started as she took a seat across from him, "that I'm never to speak to you again. Why?"

"Because I'm gay, and sitting with me will condemn you to hell," Noah said, cocking a half smile in her direction.

"Well. The way I see it, we've both sucked a couple of dicks, and it's possible that we've both had our bodies violated by a hot man or two," she smiled. "So I think we should split the fare on the fiery gondola to hell."

"Thank you..."

"No..." she called him by the nickname that Caroline had given him years upon years before, "I know we've not always been close, but I want to say that I admire you for putting up with Meemaw and Big Daddy as long as you have, and I know that the coolest uncle in the world is gonna end up doing great things!"

"You're gonna make me cry, Kates," he said, using her Caroline-given name.

"Don't cry," she smiled, reaching her hand across the table, taking the one in which he was holding the simple paper napkin.

A few weeks later, he graduated from high school, but given the social climate at the time, he chose not to walk across the stage in those gaudy blue robes, to collect his prize for twelve long years of hard work. Caroline and Tom, though, decided that they were going to throw him a party. Gwen and her husband, John, were there. Ms. Ruby, Tom's mother, had come down with Tom's younger brother, Glen and his wife, Gail. Tom's older brother, Gerald, who was perhaps more pissed off than Tom had been upon learning of Noah's situation, had flown up from Miami with his 'Latin Papi', Mario. Katie stopped by for a few minutes, just long enough to give Noah a huge hug and a heart-felt congratulations.

After dinner, it was time for him to open his gifts. There were a lot of envelopes, though, no doubt with a few hundred dollars between them. Tom, though, had written a check for a cool grand; Ms. Ruby, as his mother was known, had opened a bank account in Jemison for him into which she'd deposited enough money for him to start over, wherever he wanted to start. Glen and Gail gave him a prepaid Visa gift card on which they'd put enough money for him to eat. Gwen and John had recently gotten a new car, and their old one, which wasn't really old, as it had less than 10,000 miles on it, was given to him as a gift.

The gift from Caroline, though, was the one that made him cry. It was a simple, handwritten letter that she'd started with recollections of a few fond memories that she had of his childhood. She'd been excited when he was born, feeling all along that he would be a wonderful asset to humanity. "But Noah, as much as I will miss you, I think it's time for you to leave Blakely. Don't worry; we'll talk every single day. We'll write, and we'll email each other, as that is the coolest thing in my world at the moment, next to you, of course. I think that, if you ask Gerald for a job, he'll make sure you have one, and I will do whatever I can to help you get started and settled. You deserve to be free, though, from all the pain and the hurt that this town and most of its residents have given you over the years." She'd sat beside him the whole time he read the letter, rubbing his right leg.

As Noah read the final line, he started to cry. He looked at his sister, who was bawling like a baby, extending his right arm to wrap her into a huge, sideways hug. She'd said that she'd always love him, and that she'd always be his biggest fan, but those words didn't ring true until several years later.

In Miami, Noah'd worked his ass off for Gerald at a call center run by a soon-to-be major player on the national telecommunications scene: HiTelCo. His roommates, Luke and Caleb, were as much a part of his life as he was a part of theirs. He got them free phones, a benefit of his employment. Luke, who was working at a gym while pursuing a degree in the culinary arts, got him into the gym. Caleb, who longed to design clothes as he slaved away in a large retail chain for pennies, made sure that he was always well-dressed.

In 2001, though, Noah, twenty-two at the time, found himself on the short end of corporate cuts. He received a nice severance and was allowed to keep his employee phones. They'd offered to pay for him to transfer to another of their call centers, but he loved Miami, his friends, the life that he had there. With that, he decided to take what they offered him and stay in the 305 area code. What he had in savings, though, quickly dwindled as he did odd jobs for people for enough cash to pay his bills. He could have turned to Caroline or Tom, Gerald or Ms. Ruby, but he wanted to do it on his own.

It was the summer of that year that he responded to an ad looking for models. Working with Luke, he'd developed a nice physique. He wasn't huge or anything, but he was getting there, slowly but surely. He knew he had no chance at it, but when he was called for an interview, he went anyway. Surprisingly, the interview was conducted by three guys. The main guy asking the questions was Ken, a daddy type guy with a resoundingly confident deep voice.

"So in this position," Ken coyly said as he leaned back in the chair that he'd occupied throughout the interview, "you'll be working as a model for an adult website."

"Like porn?" Noah asked.

"Like porn..." Ken answered.

Noah weighed things in his mind for a second. He'd never been comfortable displaying himself in public, but it was because of scars on his back from where he'd been beaten so badly for something as a child that his mother had drawn blood. He needed the money, though, and he knew, from experience, that he was more amply endowed than most. Caleb had seen him getting out of the shower once and been dumbstruck by its size. Luke, while working out with him one time, had noticed a stiffy that he was sporting and made some comment about how Caleb would probably be dumbstruck if he ever saw it.

With the money outweighing what little dignity he had, he stood from the chair. He teasingly lifted his shirt and showed off the nicely developing physique. He touched himself in a manner that his mother would have found offensive, making one of them stare as Caleb had. They gave him an on-camera interview that next Saturday, wanting to be surprised by all that Noah could give them. Afterwards, he was told to pick a name for himself, since using his real name would just set him up for disaster.

The guy paid him cash for the 'interview' that weekend, which he took home and gave to Luke and Caleb, who'd been covering for him. When they asked what he'd done to get it, he begrudgingly told them, asking them to say nothing to Caroline, who was planning to come down the next week.

He did a few scenes over the next few weeks, gaining a legion of followers that would pay dearly to see him do what came naturally. With that, he and Ken started a website dedicated just to him. Noah learned how to build a site, working on it mostly on his own. Eventually, other guys started joining Jesse Edwards, as he was known in the adult world. On camera, he was a force to be reckoned with. He loved sex, and it showed through his work. After only a short time, Ken was getting calls asking how much it would take for Noah to get into actual films. He and Noah talked about it, and Noah was surprised when there was no haggling on the part of the other company. That first role led to larger ones, which led to 'starring' roles.

By the time he turned twenty-five, people who were into porn knew who he was. He was making enough money to where he could afford to buy his own condo in Ft. Lauderdale, securing a three-bedroom one with the intentions of sharing with Caleb and Luke. Within two years, he'd paid off the condo's mortgage and helped Luke start his own restaurant that would serve healthily prepared foods with the most amazing flavors. He worked with Caleb as he designed his own line, and when it came to try to sell his creations, Noah was the model who wore all the men's outfits. Katie, who'd moved to Miami after a brief stint in New York after college, was the woman who would wear the clothes he'd designed for women. Another of their friends, Gabe Howell, like Luke a native of Mississippi, was hired to snap the shots. He and Caleb worked well together, having similar visions of what was to happen with their artwork.

To show off a pair of jeans that Caleb had constructed for him, with his logo on the right-side back pocket, Noah took off his shirt to show the body art that had only recently been finished a few weeks before. Some would have thought it was a dragon, but they all knew that that gallant bird was a phoenix, born from fire only to be revived and live to fly another day. The tail of the bird wrapped around under his left arm to his torso, where a vibrant sunburst had been done around his belly button years before, on a bet no less, from his best friends, whom he affectionately called 'The Peanut Gallery'.

People to whom Caleb and Gabe sent the pictures were instantly turned on by how the porn star could actually do legitimate modeling. He seemed to have a knack for being in front of the camera, whether having sex or not. He was tall, muscular, tan. He had a perfectly white smile, which had cost him a pretty penny back in the day. He had jet black hair, inherited, he would reluctantly admit, from his dad's side of the family. What people noticed most about him, though, were the radiant blue eyes that were on his face.

Growing up, they'd been almost clouded by his lack of self-esteem and confidence in himself and his surroundings. Miami had changed all that for him, though. His eyes, the gateway to his soul, were as blue as the most beautiful day's sky. They were as lively as the water of the Caribbean. Because of him, GQ brought those, hiring Kevin to do another shoot and Caleb to do another line of clothes. Three months later, he appeared on their cover, as Noah Barnes, the All American NoNo.

When the magazine hit Blakely, Caroline cried as she bought a copy at Harvey's Market, a nice little place close to hers and Tom's house. She took it home and put it in a box of things that commemorated Noah's rise to fame, including a copy of every single one of his dirty movies and countless DVDs that contained clips of scenes from his site. While she often told him that if he ever caught anything, she'd kill him herself, she was proud of the fact that her little brother, her baby brother, was more successful than even she'd imagined.

In 2008, though, just after his 29th birthday party, Caroline and Tom called him with some news. Tom had been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, and the doctors that he'd seen weren't confident that he'd recover. He promised them, confident in his abilities, that he would find a doctor in Miami that could treat him, that could make Tom better than he'd been before. Noah felt like he owed him that, for all that he'd done for him over the years.

Noah went to work the next morning, wearing a ribbon on the lapel of his t-shirt that was as blue as his eyes. He, with Luke and Caleb's help, coordinated a black-tie dinner and auction to help raise money for prostate cancer research, hoping that it would put him in contact with one or more doctors willing to examine Tom. At the action, a date not with Jesse Edwards, but with Noah Edward Barnes, sold for nearly $28,000. The publicity around the event got the attention of several people who were more than sympathetic to his cause. One man contacted Noah and donated $10,000 to a charitable account that would help Tom and Caroline out in that hour of their need.

When they finally made it to Miami, Tom saw a doctor who was confident that he could treat him. Noah was beyond excited, but Tom and Caroline seemed to be cautiously hopeful. He went through surgery, and round after round of radiation and chemotherapy. By Christmas, the doctors in Miami were confident that he'd been spared a slow and painful death. It was the greatest gift that he'd ever given either Noah or Caroline, though he didn't feel like he'd ever done anything.

They had Christmas at Noah's place, just as they had for years, even when he lived in an apartment that was just a block away from the slums of Miami. There were no gifts exchanged that year, except for one that came as a surprise to Caroline. He asked that, if he was still OK that next summer, if they could get married. He knew that having children was out of the question, but he loved Caroline, and didn't care. He just wanted to spend what time he had left, whether a little or a lot, with her. Of course, Caroline agreed.

Katie, who'd found her calling as a wedding coordinator, quickly offered her services as soon as they set a date. Luke, upon learning that they wanted to get married in Blakely, at the Methodist church that they'd attended together for years, pulled some strings and managed to reserve a nice little café for the rehearsal dinner, a dinner which he would cater and prepare himself as a gift to the couple. Caleb, beside himself with happiness, started imagining the dresses that he would design and construct for her himself, having gotten a little bit of notoriety for his other designs in the years following his first line.

Luke and Caleb had grown to think of them as surrogate family. While they shared experiences similar to Noah's, they weren't fortunate enough to have a Caroline or a Tom until Noah came into their lives. With that, they considered their gifts to them as gifts to family that had encouraged them, put them on top of the world, just as they'd done with Noah. Since Caroline and Tom had learned a long time before that they couldn't have children, they'd grown to think of Noah as theirs, since they had a huge role in raising him. Likewise, they thought of Caleb and Luke, as Noah's 'brothers-in-arms' as the two that would round out their racially eclectic family. Caleb, after all, was a fabulously, excitingly hot, Taíno god, while Luke was a smooth, dark skinned black man who just oozed sexiness from every single pore on his sculpted physique.

Months of preparation and hard work on all their parts led to them flying out of Miami's Montero Regional Airport on the 10th of June, a hot-as-fuck Wednesday afternoon, headed in the plane that Noah had chartered to fly them all, along with all their things, to Dothan, the closest airport of any size to the town that, a decade earlier, he'd vowed not to see again until either a) Caroline and Tom were getting married, or b) one or both of his parents died a slow, painful, miserable death with Jimmy and Justin as the only one of their product willing to stand at their bedside.

To be continued...
 

Posted: 06/27/14