The Private Journals of Isaiah Watts
By:
Nicholas Hall
(© 2021 by the author)
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's
consent. Comments are appreciated at...
nhall@tickiestories.us
Chapter 8
The Early Years
“A week after the auction, Gio came to visit. I learned he’d been held back a year in school because of his language, the old county superintendent of schools spoke German like the Mayor of Leipzig, and if bitten by a rattlesnake, which there were plenty in the lowland timber, someone has to such the venom out. I think that was just an excuse for him to use in order to such my cock.”
(The Private Journals of Isaiah Watts)
“Uncle who?”
“Uncle Knuckle-fucker – my Uncle Freddy. He’s my ma’s brother. The other guy is my Grandpa Russo, Agostino, but people call him August.”
“Okay, now, why do you call your Uncle Freddy, Uncle Knuckle-fucker?”
“Well, I’m the only one who does and not very often. He gets a little touchy about it sometimes. Uncle Freddy was in the county poky for a couple of years before I was born. Said he learned a lot while there. When nothing or no one else was available and he was horny, he – you know,” made a fist with his right hand, held it in front of his crotch, and pumped it up and down several times.
“He learned that in the county jail?” Isaiah asked dumbfounded. “Hell, I knew that before I was even five. The older boys taught me.”
“Yeah,” piped up Joshua, “and Isaiah taught me.”
“Nah, he knew how. He taught me. Said he learned to never take a shower when more than a couple of guys were in there.”
“Why?”
“Claims his asshole would be sore for a couple days afterwards,” Gio chortled, mimicking a bowlegged walk and with a hand over his ass about where his pucker packet would be.
Before Isaiah could ask any more, David waved them over to join him. “These are my two oldest, Isaiah and Joshua. I have three more at home; Thomas, age four, Jerome, age two, and Gideon about three months old.”
“Boys,” he continued, “this is Fred Russo and his dad Agostino Russo. They live up the road from us about a mile. I went to school with Fred.”
The boys made their polite greetings and stepped behind their dad.
“Auggie, Freddy, I need some help loading the wagon. I’d be obliged if you’d give me a hand. I’d pay if you would.”
“No pay,” Agostino declared in a lightly accented voice. “Your momma keep us supplied with milk, for him,” pointing at Gio, “and butter and cream for Grandma and me. Just plow the garden like your brothers do for us every spring, okay? Neighbors help neighbors.”
It didn’t take long for the three men to load the safe and the refrigerator in the wagon. Isaiah and Joshua clambered up on the wagon seat and with a snap of the reins, David headed them home. Isaiah looked over his shoulder toward Gio and saw him smile and wave. Isaiah returned the wave and smile, watching Gio lick his lips as if preparing to enjoy a snack, large or small. Isaiah nearly sputtered a laugh when Gio clenched a fist in front of his crotch and pumped it up and down.
Joseph and Zachary helped unload the safe and put it in David and Claire’s bedroom closet. The refrigerator was put in the kitchen next to an outside wall, but Joseph declared it couldn’t be used until he fashioned a vent and stack outside for it. The beds and dressers were moved to the “spare” bedroom, now the “boys” room, and Isaiah, Joshua, and Thomas moved in.
Isaiah occasionally thought of Gio during the next week, but he was so busy doing chores and learning about farm life, the only real time he thought of him was when he had his pecker in his hand taking a leak or in bed, after Joshua was asleep. It didn’t take much for him, pumping on his cock, to pleasure himself and get the “shivers” as he referred to his climax. Gio wasn’t the most good-looking boy he’d ever seen but he was ruggedly handsome, he thought and that was just fine. He appeared to be smart, self-assured, and able to hold his own.
Bigger than me, Isaiah thought, so he’d be a good friend to have during the summer when school was out and even better in the fall when school started. Other kids sometimes teased him about his game leg and limp. He’d never attended a public school. He was taught to read, write, and do arithmetic by his mother, grandmother, and father. None of the kids in camp went to school, but his parents insisted he get an education, one way or the other.
“Can’t do much in this world without it,” David declared.
Going to school, encountering other boys who’d think because he was crippled and small, he’d be easy prey, might prove more than interesting, especially if he pulled a knife on one and threatened to cut his balls off, Isaiah thought. “I wonder what a teacher would do then?”
If Isaiah didn’t think of Gio very often, just the opposite was true for Gio thinking about Isaiah. He couldn’t seem to get the new kid out of his mind. He wondered how Isaiah got the bum leg, how old was he, where had they lived before, would he go to school in the fall and be in his grade, and how big was his cock? Gio really didn’t care since he thought Isaiah was the cutest boy he’d ever laid eyes on and he wanted him badly.
“I wonder if he likes to fuck,” Gio thought, “just like Uncle Freddy does me a couple of times per week?”
The next Saturday after the auction, chores all done, he announced he was going to walk down to the Watt’s farm.
“Want to get better acquainted with David’s oldest?” his grandmother Sabrina asked in German. She spoke English relatively well, but often used German or Italian which Agostino spoke, when speaking to Gio. She wanted him to read, write, and speak German, Italian, and English. She felt it was a blessing and a skill few people would have and would benefit him someday. Gio was smart and spoke both languages like a native.
“It’s good to have someone your own age to play with,” his grandfather advised, in English.
That’s exactly what Gio hoped for. Not that Uncle Freddy wasn’t fun to play with, but usually he’d just suck Gio, roll him over on his belly, lick his asshole, and fuck him until he squirted his juice up his butt, and then fall asleep.
“I want more than that,” Gio thought, “I’m looking for a friend.”
He wanted a friend, a real friend, who he could pal around with; one that didn’t give a shit his uncle was an ex-con and fucked him on a regular basis, or he was a bastard being raised by his grandparents; someone he could hunt and fish with, or just do nothing with; someone he could tell things to and know it’d never be repeated and; someone who wasn’t afraid of nothing or nobody. The way Isaiah pulled the knife on him, slid it into his bibs, and tickled the spot where his crotch hairs would grow someday, made him believe Isaiah Watts is someone he could trust and really wanted him for a friend. Of course, a little sex play wouldn’t be bad either!
The more he thought on it, the less convinced he became the main thing he wanted from Isaiah so badly was sex. It was something else entirely, but he couldn’t quite identify it. It, this thing, was something he’d never experienced outside of his immediate family in his eight years of existence. He’d never known his mother or even seen her so he couldn’t think it’d be like that. It was more like the way he felt when Grandma gave him a hug, called him her precious sweet boy, and said how much she loved him. Or, when he’d cuddle up next to her or Grandpa on a cold winter’s night sipping a hot chocolate and eating cookie and hear them tell him how important he was in their life.
It was like when Grandpa sat with him while he did his school work, encouraging him, helping him when he needed it, or played cards with him, showing him how successful card players, especially poker players, could win more times than lose, or taught him how locks worked, and what was a fake gem stone and what was a real one. Grandpa’s background as a jeweler before he settled in Decker’s Corner helped while hugging him tight and telling him how well he did.
It was like when Uncle Freddy took him hunting and praised him for a good shot at a rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, quail, or duck and bragged to anyone who’d listen what a great shot and hunter his nephew was or when Uncle Freddy took him to the city to help him do some business.
Oh, his family wasn’t perfect, they had their secrets. Of course, almost everyone in Decker’s Corner had secrets the outside world had no business knowing! Some of those secrets could put people in jail or get them killed. But his family loved him, trusted him, and protected him and he loved them for being there for him, no matter what he did.
It wasn’t just sex he wanted with Isaiah Watts, much more like friendship, the type of friendship that’s indestructible, the kind no one or any deed could destroy. But, did Isaiah want that as well? He’d soon find out and either be rewarded or disappointed.
It was a warm day, the last Saturday in April, warm enough for only a tee-shirt under his bib overalls, sans underwear as usual. Popping his baseball cap on his head, his trusty sling shot in a back pocket, and a generous supply of ball bearings in a front pocket, Gio started down the road to Isaiah Watt’s house.
Isaiah was just returning from the spring house after putting a cream can there to keep cool. His grandmother was going to churn butter later on in the day with the cream accumulated over several days of milking. Really not paying attention to anything, just sort of sauntering toward the house, he heard the “thwack” of something hitting either the barn or a tree although it didn’t sound like the barn. Looking around, he saw someone walking toward him. It didn’t take but a second to identify the smiling face and easy gait of Gio Russo.
“Hey!” Isaiah said, smiling his greeting.
“Hey, yourself!”
“Been wondering when I’d see you again.”
“Did you want to?”
“Yeah,” responded Isaiah softly.
“Me too! What’cha up to?”
“About three foot ten inches and forty-five pounds or so. How ‘bout you?”
“Smart ass! If you insist, about four foot two and sixty pounds of raw steel and swinging meat.”
“Hah!”
“Come on, Isaiah, where are you headed?”
“To the house to see if I could help, but now I’m going to ask if I can play with you instead.”
“Play or – play?”
“Smart ass!”
Both boys giggled and laughed as they walked to the house, their banter slowing as they went inside.
“Momma,” Isaiah said addressing his mother, “this is my new friend Gio Russo from up the road.”
Claire smiled and nodded, “Nice to meet you Gio, but you’ll have to excuse me, right now I have my hands full. Isaiah’s little brother, Gideon decided it was time for a snack.”
She did have her hands full, Gio thought, not only her hands full of baby, but the baby had his mouth full of her left teat, small hand manipulating, squeezing at the bare breast, his lips locked around the swollen nipple, mouth and throat working as he nursed. Her other breast was barely covered as well. It was a sight Gio never saw before. Sure, he’d seen pictures of lady’s tits before, but never up this close Never, he thought, had he seen such an erotic sight such as this, other than a man or boy’s cock. Not that he wanted to suckle at her breast, but the thought of sucking, nursing, wrapping his lips around something lower, say on Isaiah, or Isaiah doing the same for him, made him hard as a rock!
Isaiah’s mother didn’t seem to be embarrassed he noticed, nor did Isaiah or his grandmother. In fact, they seemed to take it as something one might see every day. He didn’t doubt they did.
Gio sort of gurgled out a “Hi, Mrs. Watts,” in returning the greeting. His attention and eyes were diverted when Dorothea welcomed him.
“Hi, Gio. Been a while since you came for a visit. Bet schools kept you occupied?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Would you like a cookie? They’re hot from the oven and begging to be eaten. I’ve been feeding young Jerome cookies and milk. He’s having a hard time weaning himself from his Momma. Because there’s two faucets available he can’t understand why he can’t have the other one to nurse on as well.”
Gio didn’t know whether to laugh or not, but when Isaiah did, he joined in, adding, “If that was the case, cows would have four calves at a time.”
“Momma,” Isaiah asked, “Can I go out and play with Gio? Joshua is with Daddy, unless there’s something else you want me to do?”
“No, you enjoy your friend; it’s nice to have someone your own age to play with, so go ahead.”
“Gio,” Dorothea said, “I’ll have some fresh butter in the morning and some milk. If Isaiah brings it over, do you suppose your Grandma could trade for some honey? Those bees of hers produced well last year and I thought she might have some left.”
Gio grinned, nodded he understood, looked at Isaiah, knowing what she intended, answered, “I’m sure she does.”
Isaiah gave his mother a quick kiss, grabbed a cookie for himself and another for Gio before heading outdoors and down the steps to the yard. Both boys giggled over the prospect of being able to see each other again the next day, and walked slowly toward the barn.
“So, what do you want to do?” Isaiah inquired shyly.
Gio didn’t respond with what he really wanted to do, so just sort of shrugged, pulled his slingshot from his pocket, picked up a small stone, placed it in the pouch, pulled back, and fired the rock at a pigeon on the barn roof. Feathers flew, but the bird didn’t drop and flew away minus a couple of tail feathers.
“If I’d used a ball bearing, I’d a killed that feathered fucker!” he announced to a very surprised Isaiah, amazed at his new friend’s skill.
“Then what?”
“I’d a skinned it, gutted it, and Grandma would have cooked it.”
“Why the slingshot?”
“Cause Grandpa Russo won’t let me carry a gun when I’m alone, only with him or Uncle Freddy. I got a .22 rifle and a .410 shotgun to use then. How about you?”
“Knife only.”
“Boy, do I know that. I thought you were going to cut my cock!”
“Don’t be silly,” Isaiah giggled, “wouldn’t want to spoil your fun or hurt your hand’s best friend.”
Both boys slapped their sides and howled their laughter! They talked as they walked, investigating, commenting on this, that, or the other or just saying nothing in general. Both leaned over the fence, peering into the hog yard, watching the pigs snuffle and grunt, poking their noses into the mud; the piglets scampering after the old sows, trying to latch on to a teat.
“Nice litters of little pigs,” Gio commented.
“I guess so,” Isaiah replied, “never raised pigs before. Besides, pig shit stinks.”
“So do my farts,” snickered Gio.
“I’ll bet not this bad,” Isaiah snorted back, holding his nose.
“So do chickens,” Gio added, pointing at the chicken yard. “Hate to clean the chicken house; you smell like chicken shit for a week.”
“Ever wonder how a chicken gets that big egg out such a small hole?” Isaiah pondered.
“Nope, must have a stretchy asshole; no different than when Uncle Freddy stuffs his stiff dick up my small ass.”
“He does?”
“Yep.”
“Often?”
“Maybe once a week or so.”
“Really?”
“Yep!”
“Hurt?”
“Not anymore. Did like hell the first couple of times though.”
“How long?”
“About six inches or so, I think.”
“No, you diddle-head! How long as he been fucking you?”
“Maybe a year, ever since I turned eight.”
“You eight years old?”
“That’s what I said, didn’t I?’
Isaiah’s chin sort of dropped in apparent disappointment.
“So?” asked Gio.
“It means you’ll be a year ahead of me in school and I was sort of hopin’ we’d be in the same grade.”
“Nope!”
“Nope, what?”
“Be in the same grade.”
“Why?”
“Got held back.”
“Why?”
“First day of school the county superintendent visited our one room school house. Said a few words to all the kids and then announced he wanted to meet the new first graders while the others started on their lessons. Teacher has all eight grades in one room. The older kids sit to the back while the young ones sit closer to the front. Anyway, each first grader, I remember there was about four of us, were supposed to meet with him in the coatroom near the door. He waved me in first, talked a bit, and the horny old fucker decided he wanted to stick his hand in my pants, claiming he wanted to see if I was ‘old enough to attend school.’”
“I really didn’t want him to fuss with my dick or pucker, ‘cause he was old and had a fat gut hanging over his belt. Uncle Freddy told me to watch out for ‘old peanut dick.’”
“Peanut dick?”
“Yeah, Uncle Freddy said the old bastard’s dick was about the size of peanut.”
“Soft or hard?”
“Hard, I guess. Anyway, I ran out of the room, turned around and called him a dirty, fat mother-fucker in German. Figured he wouldn’t know what I said.”
“So?”
“How the hell should I know he spoke German like the mayor of Leipzig? Any way he told Grandpa to hold me back until I learned to behave and quit using swear words.”
“So, what grade you gonna be in next year, Gio?”
“Second.”
“Me too, I think. Daddy says he won’t take any less since he thinks I’m a good student. Do you think that old fat Superintendent will let me start in second?”
“Don’t worry about him.”
“Why?”
“Dead.”
“How?”
“’pears he was fuckin’ some twelve-year old girl; didn’t even have hair on her snatch yet. Died, mid-fuck!”
“Wow!”
“Yeah; poor girl didn’t know what to do, so she just slithered out from under his fat belly, pulled up her panties, and went home.”
“What’d she do then?”
“Ate supper. It was that time of the day.”
“No, about the dead guy.”
“Nothing. He wasn’t related so someone else had to bury him.”
“No, dip shit; about him fucking her and dying.”
“I suppose pray he didn’t knock her up and leave the baby fatherless.”
Isaiah sighed, Gio looked at him and shrugged. “Honest to God, Isaiah, I don’t know. You don’t just up and ask when you’re snoopin’ on adults talking do you?”
“I guess not, but if his dick was so little and his belly so fat, how did he get it in her?”
“Lined it up best he could and with a pile driving ass, pushed it in. I really don’t know. Personally, I don’t think I want to fuck a girl.”
“Me neither.”
Gio purposely slowed his pace as they walked to allow Isaiah to continue by his side. He’d noticed Isaiah’s limp the first day he saw him and noticed it even more now as Isaiah tired and the limp became more noticeable. Yet, he heard no protest to slow down or complaints of pain from Isaiah. Gio wasn’t about to embarrass his new friend by asking him if he needed a break. No, Gio didn’t want to lose Isaiah as a friend. In the brief time he’d known him, he knew Isaiah was the type of friend he wanted and needed. He enjoyed the company and wanted it to continue and, by listening and watching him he thought Isaiah was enjoying his company as well.
They were two young boys, each seeking and not finding until now, someone with similar interests, likes and dislikes on the same level, and if Gio was correct in what he observed, Isaiah liked boys as much as he did. They were two misfits in a small portion of society filled with other misfits at all age levels and degrees of peculiarity, criminality, and perversion. This world, this micro-culture was familiar to them, but not to the outside world except Decker’s Corner residents, was avoided and tolerated in order to avoid trouble being brought down upon them if the outside world didn’t.
Both boys were smart, quick, one partially crippled with a distinct limp and the other a bastard whose mother abandoned him to be raised by his grandparents. Both had secrets they were not ready to divulge to the other, just yet.
At the end of the fenced in pasture, well past the barn and house, a small narrow lane, beginning at the edge of a large timbered area, led down a hill through the trees toward the river bottoms.
“Where’s that road go?” Isaiah inquired, hoping Gio would know.
“Down to the river, through the woods. Joseph and Zachary have kind of a boat landing down there. They keep a flat boat down there in the summer and fall.”
“For fishing?’
“Yeah, and hunting. There are potholes and sloughs, plus a way into the main river from the slough. In the fall this whole area is loaded with ducks going south. You can shoot squirrels, rabbits, and other stuff down there as well. Uncle Freddy said he and your dad used to hunt and trap down there. He said they’d get muskrat, beaver, raccoons, mink, and sometimes otter.”
“What’d they do with them?”
“Sold the hides and ate some of them, especially the raccoons and beaver.”
“Can we go down there?”
Gio hesitated, wondering if the road might be too rough or steep for Isaiah’s leg to stand it.
“Gio,” Isaiah pleaded softly, “Don’t think ‘cause I’m a cripple I can’t do things ‘cause I can.” He didn’t want his new friend to hesitate doing or showing him things because he pitied him. That was the last thing he wanted! While in the Lovell Camp the other boys accepted his condition and also expected him to keep up the best he could. They didn’t ridicule or humiliate him because of it.
Gio nodded his head slowly, understanding Isaiah was telling him not to worry about him, but Gio did. “I just don’t want to see you hurtin’ ‘cause when you hurt, I think I hurt too.”
Isaiah put his arms around Gio, hugged him tightly, and answered, “Don’t worry, I promise I’ll let you know if I do. You won’t do anything to hurt me; I know that.”
It was all the reassurance Gio needed. “So, Isaiah, you got a broken spoke, flat tire, or what?”
“You mean my bum leg?”
“I wasn’t talking about your dick, so yeah.”
“I was born with it so I’m pretty used to it now. Usually, when it hurts or at night before I go to bed, Daddy massages some liniment we get from Grandma Lovell, that’s my other grandma, and it makes it feel better. I also have some exercises I do to help strengthen. I suppose I’d limp a lot more if Grandma Lovell hadn’t taken charge of getting me healed up. The limp bothers other people more than me, but there are days it hurts like shit.”
“How about now?”
“Oh, some, but it won’t stop me from asking if we can walk down this road to the river.”
“Probably not since I’m going to carry you until you get rested.”
“You can’t, Gio. I’m too heavy.”
“Want a bet?”
Before Isaiah could react, Gio squatted down, patted his back, and said, “Put your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Isaiah, with some hesitation, but with confidence, did as Gio told him to. Gio slipped his hands behind his back, cupped Isaiah’s small butt cheeks in his hands to secure him to his own body, and stood up.
“See, told you so.”
“We gonna go down the road now?”
“Probably only part way. The river is on the rise from flood waters up north and I think the bottoms are probably being covered with water. Besides, don’t want to get snake bit.”
“Snake bit?”
“Yep, rattlesnakes live down in there and when the water comes up, they head for higher ground. They’re nasty fuckers! Uncle Freddy says if you get bit you have to make a cut and suck the poison out.”
“What if it bites you on the ass?”
“You find out who your friends are!”
“How about if you’re taking a leak?”
“Then you’ll die with a smile on your face with my lips wrapped around your dick!”
They laughed and Isaiah wiggled around on Gio’s back getting more comfortable on his back. Gio stopped about one hundred yards down the narrow dirt road and stopped. The river was up and was flooding the low parts of the bottoms and was across the road for a short distance in front of them.
Isaiah rested his head on Gio’s right shoulder, enjoying the comfort and closeness of the other boy. He sighed and hugged Gio just a little tighter his face resting against Gio’s cheek.
“You smell good, Gio.”
Gio turned his face just a bit so his nose sort of rubbed Isaiah’s cheek.
“You do too.”
They stood there, savoring each other’s closeness and unique scents, content to be next to each other, feeling comfortable, secure, and warm in each other body’s heat, giving them both very stiff, throbbing pre-adolescent penises. Their solitude, the pleasures of the moment, was interrupted when Isaiah hissed, “Something is swimming, slithering, on the water coming toward us.”
“We’re out of here,” snorted Gio. “It’s a fucking snake!”
“Want me to get down and take a leak?”
Isaiah giggled at Gio’s response. “Maybe later, not now,” as he hustled both of them up the hill away from the water and toward the house. Isaiah just held on, head still resting on Gio’s shoulder, bobbing up and down slightly while Gio carried him up the hill.
Gio stopped, breathing a little hard from the light, but so scrumptious burden he carried on his back, where the lane began, near the pasture. Holding Isaiah on his back, he again rested his face up against Isaiah’s and Isaiah was making no effort to either pull his own face away or get down off of his back.
Taking a chance, while both seemed comfortable with their closeness, Gio said softly, tenderly, “I really, really like you Isaiah.”
Isaiah quietly accepted the spoken affection, but remained silent for a moment or two as if pondering how he should respond to the words. He was conflicted since he was uncertain if Gio might not change his mind when he knew of his heritage, his ethnicity, his culture, and some of the other family secrets such as his skill as a pick pocket, learned from his mother who was more than just skilled, or how his Daddy and some of the other family members earned their money. His daddy just didn’t trade in horse flesh.
Gio felt Isaiah take a deep breath and sort of held his own.
“I feel the same way, Gio, toward you, but you may change your mind. I’m part Romanichal and you’re gaje.”
“What?”
“You know, Roma, American Traveler, Gypsy.”
“Okay what’s this ‘gaje’ or whatever?”
“I’m American Gypsy or traveler and you’re white. Some people don’t like us, chase us from areas where we go, beat up on us, and other stuff.”
“Better not while I’m around, besides, Isaiah, look at me!”
Isaiah tilted his head, his nose slightly brushing Gio’s cheek. What he saw was his new friend, good looking, warm, gentle, and fun to be with. Gio’s dark eyes melted him in some parts and steeled him in one other part below his waist.
“I’m a bastard, Isaiah, whose mother didn’t want him so she gave me to my grandparents to raise. I’m a throw away kid, part German, part Italian, and who the hell knows what else. From what Uncle Freddy tells me, my mother, whom I’ve never met, lifted her skirt and spread her legs for anything with a cock and fucked her brains out. I’ve been held back a year because I swear, my uncle’s an ex-con who fucks me regularly and I love it, and right now I’d love to fuck you as well. So, what does that make me?”
“So?”
“Well, Isaiah, I figure that makes us perfect for each other, that’s what.”
Isaiah nodded, understanding what was being said and he wasn’t being rejected.
“I think you’re right, Gio, although I don’t know if it would be smart to fuck me right here, someone might see us but I want to get down.”
“What if I don’t want to put you down? What if I really like holding you on my back?”
“You just like playing with my butt. Only problem is, if you don’t put me down, I’m going to piss all over your back.”
Gio released his grip on Isaiah allowing him to slip to the ground. Isaiah quickly pulled his half stiff uncut cock from his overalls and began to piss. Gio decided he had to go as well, pulled his smaller dick out and let loose. Soon they were crossing streams and giggling as boys do, each trying to pee higher than the other.
Looking down at Isaiah’s dick, Gio said with admiration, “You’re bigger than me.”
Isaiah tilted his head a little to get a better look at Gio’s penis. “Yeah, but you should see my daddy’s or my uncles’. They’re huge!”
Gio licked his lips and looked down at Isaiah’s prick. “Want me to save your life from being snake bit?”
“Just as soon as I quit pissing, then you can suck my eyeballs to my crotch.”
To be continued...
Posted: 01/14/2022