The Private Journals of Isaiah Watts

By: Nicholas Hall
(© 2021-2022 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 14
The Growing-up Years

“Who he doesn’t gut,” Matt proclaimed, “I’ll shoot and this one,” pointing at Joshua who now held his stiletto in his hand, “will cut your peckers off and nail it to a tree as warning to others to stay away from us.”

“Can’t I cut their dicks off before you shoot them?” pleaded Joshua waving his knife menacingly toward the teens. 

(The Private Journals of Isaiah Watts) 

Summer, the first summer living on the farm, was filled with new and exciting adventures! The most significant for Isaiah was living in the same place with a permanent roof over his head for an extended period of time. His life, up to this point, was that of a nomad, a member of band of travelers who moved, it seemed, on a daily basis.

Now he shared a room with Joshua and Thomas rather than the caravan with the whole family and he had new cousins and others to play with. These cousins were “Watts” cousins not “Lovell” cousins. He did miss Grandmother and Grandfather Lovell terribly and visiting Uncle Abram, but was assured by his mother they’d visit someday “when things settle down.”

Yet, given all of that, nothing could be better than having Gio as his very best friend; a best friend who’d know your deepest darkest secret and not give a shit!

Zachary took his nephews swimming once a week when the weather permitted, exposure to the sun while swimming and working outdoors browned their olive-colored skin even more. The family attended some community activities, a couple of fairs, and drove to Davenport one day to see a large carnival down by the river. Of course, they didn’t return home penniless! With Clarice, Isaiah, and now Joshua plying the family trade, it was well worth the trip! Gio continued to take off with his Uncle Freddy for several days about once a month. He always returned happy, but said nothing about what they did.

Isaiah and Joshua learned to shoot the .410ga shotgun and the .22cal rifle in anticipation of hunting rabbits, squirrels, pheasant, and quail during the fall hunting season. They weren’t permitted to use the weapons without their father or one of their uncles with them.

It wasn’t all play and relaxation for the Watts boys and their cousins. Those who were old enough helped in the gardens and assisted their parents and grandmother, not only in helping care for their younger siblings, but livestock needed caring for, and the gardens, at all three farms, were constantly in need of weeding and harvesting the vegetables produced on them. A large strawberry patch at the home place (David’s), along with weeding, provided all families with fresh berries, pies, and jars of strawberry jam made by Grandmother Watts with the help of her grandchildren. The raspberry patch and blackberry patch provided fruit for jars of jelly and jams as well. Most of the small jelly jars were sealed with a thick layer of paraffin, melted and poured onto the top of the jelly, and then closed with a lid.

It was Isaiah’s job to organize the “garden” crew to weed, hoe, and harvest the crops. He’d hitch up Ida to the donkey cart, put in rakes, loppers for cutting branches, hoes, and a couple of shovels, and Joshua and he’d head out to pick up Stephen, Patrick, and Jonathon and drive to the garden needed attention, as determined by their grandmother and their fathers. Technically, Jonathon was five but so close to six it was determined he’d be able to assist the others.

The combined gardens, the largest at the home place, contained a variety of vegetables including green beans, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers for pickles, sweet corn, lima beans, cabbage, rutabaga, turnips, pumpkins, carrots, peppers, acorn squash, popcorn, lima beans, peas, melons, and other items for fresh use, canning, and storage. All three places had rhubarb and herb gardens as well. Walnuts, Pecans, and Hickory nuts would be gathered in the fall and added to the larder, the meats picked out and stored in glass jars with lids twisted on tight to keep the moisture out.

Benjamin’s place had two really nice cherry trees which yielded an abundance of pie cherries which became pies and canned cherries for future use. Between the three farms, pear trees, several varieties of apples, white peaches, and grape vines would provide fruit when ripe. Many of the apples not canned as applesauce or apple butter, would be dried or stored in the root cellars or “caves” on the three farms. Those same root cellars would hold potatoes, squash, and canned goods not stored in the homes since they were well-insulated with dirt and dug into the ground and built of concrete or brick, and wouldn’t freeze.  Those same root cellars also served as storm shelters as well.

David continued to attend various auctions in the area as farms and homes were closed and the owners sold out. Always with an eye to the future, if a parcel of land or some particular item would prove useful to the survival or betterment of his extended family, David would make the purchase. One day he came home with two large cast iron kettles, probably holding between five and ten gallons each.

Questioned what he intended to do with them, he responded, simply, “render lard!” With a wink toward Claire and knowing grins from Isaiah and Joshua, continued, “They didn’t cost us a dime.”

An older couple, Maurice Potter and his wife, struggling on their small farm of forty acres about a mile across the section and on the next one, approached David and inquired if he was interested in buying the property. Their daughter, living on a property near Iowa City, wanted them to come live with her since it was difficult, because of various infirmities coming with old age, for Maurice and his wife to care for the property and the land. The price was right and David bought the place.

Summer was busy on the three farms and got even busier! In August, David received a telegram from Abram Saunders. It read simply, “Lovell here. Not well. Zoe, Michael, and Garrett with them. Can you come?”

There was no hesitation on the part of David in replying he’d be there as soon as possible. Claire was worried and asked him to bring them back here to their place so she could help take care of her father.  A quick conference with his brothers where he relayed his in-laws needed his help and his intention to bring them back to Decker’s Corner would involve getting the Potter place ready for occupancy. It was a two-bedroom house, small but adequate, and could be made livable with little effort since the Potter’s took relatively good care of it. He figured Claire and he’d have enough put by to feed them and his family during the winter.

“We’ve lived on less.”

Ben and Darius didn’t doubt it since during the years they were home and Neville lived, times were tough! Now, however, they often speculated where and how David obtained his cash dollars. They also noticed he tended to carry a pistol when away from the farms, concealed of course. They also witnessed regular practice by Isaiah and Joshua throwing their knives and how they were teaching young Thomas to use one as well. Isaiah was seven going on eight, Joshua five going on six, and Thomas, four going on five. Even though all three were young, Ben and Darius thought their nephews experienced some difficult times in the past and were very adept at preparing for any in the future. Given what Isaiah did to their father, there was no doubt in their minds the lad was experienced beyond his years!

David took Isaiah and Joshua with him in the automobile. He reasoned his father-in-law had his horse-drawn caravan and Garrett and Michael could use some help getting it and any livestock to Decker’s Corner. Claire packed a large lunch and jugs of water for their meals and the boys each carried a sack with clean clothes. It’d take a long day’s drive to get to Saunders’ place and several days for them to bring back the caravan. David would bring Lovell and Zoe in the car and leave before the boys.

The drive to Saunder’s place west of Burlington did take all day and into the evening. They arrived around eight. David was relieved to be there, not only because he’d be able to see the condition of his father-in-law and help them, but he’d been uncomfortable at times on the drive.

Unemployment and businesses closing, plus people losing their homes or farms because of the Depression, brought out, in many cases, the worst in people and not the best. These were the beginnings of desperate times and David knew well desperate times brings about desperate measures on the part of certain types of individuals.

Small groups of men, traveling or standing about in various towns, large and small, or alongside the roads, caused him worry for the safety of his boys and himself. His pistol would be sufficient, but the two boys, with only a knife apiece for protection, could be overcome. He wished now he’d packed the .410ga shotgun. They both knew how to use it. Even with just knives, he knew his sons would take at least a couple of assailants with them if they were over-run. Isaiah and Joshua, young as they were, were streetwise and capable of slitting a man’s gut without hesitation if need be. Isaiah, bashing Neville’s head in with the shovel, was proof of that! They’d only get one chance, however!

David didn’t know what weapons Lovell might have, if any. He pondered sending his pistol with the boys but decided to see if Saunders might have something he could purchase instead.

Isaiah and Joshua, anxious to see their grandparents, worried over the condition of their Grandfather Lovell, raced ahead of David to the house. Abram answered the door and after a quick hug from the boys, pointed toward the bedroom where Lovell rested.

“What’s going on?” David asked as he met with Abram.

“Lovell’s been pretty sick and well-bashed about from an encounter with some ga’je thugs. Michael was banged up as well.”

“What the hell happened?”

“We were attacked by a group of unemployed, worthless sons-of-Satan,” Michael answered from the bedroom doorway. “Four white ga’je showed up at our campsite and intended to rob and do us harm. Poppa took the worst of it.”

“By the looks of you,” David responded, looking at Michael, with an arm in a sling, bandages plastered on his face and hands, “you didn’t do much better.”

With a tilt of his head, Michael, said, “Come into the bedroom, Momma, Poppa, and Garrett are in there.”

Isaiah and Joshua were now standing beside the bed, after being hugged by Zoe, speaking softly to Lovell. Lovell, covered with a blanket, was propped up by a couple of pillows, and smiling at his grandsons. His head was bandaged and he also had an arm in a sling. Zoe was beside the bed and Garrett was by her side.

Isaiah and Joshua’s eyes were misted from the tears they shed upon seeing the condition their grandfather was in.

“My dear grandsons,” Lovell was saying in a soft and weakened voice, “you bring joy to my heart and strength to my body. Don’t worry so; all will be well. Grandma Zoe is taking good care of me.”

Zoe patted his good arm. “He’s a few broken ribs, some cuts and bruises, and a broken arm, but those will heal in time.”  Looking at David, she continued, “It’s his heart we need to be concerned about.”

“His heart?” David sputtered, not knowing what the devil was wrong with his father-in-law’s heart.

“Yes,” Zoe explained, “he’s had a weak heart the last couple of years after a spell he had while down south one winter. The doctor told him then he had to slow down. But you know Bill, just had to keep busy. He had another spell during the attack and couldn’t fight the men off.”

Sympathetically, yet with great concern, David asked, “What happened, really?” A glance at Isaiah’s face gave concern his son was already plotting some sort of revenge for those miscreants doing harm to his grandfather!

“Such a young boy,” David thought, “to be plotting such a deed,” for he knew Isaiah was a quiet and patient warrior.

David and his sons listened quietly as Zoe, Michael, and Garrett told the tale of what happened four nights previously. Four men, well into their cups, spotted the Lovell caravan pulled off of the road into a copse of trees. Thinking the Gypsy wagon alone would be an easy target, the four stopped, left their car parked on the road, and approached the camp on foot.

Zoe wasn’t aware of their presence since she was busy setting up camp, until they were almost in the campsite. Looking at them, she assumed they were without work and, noting the look on their faces also assumed they were coming to visit and have a cup of tea. The leader of the bunch demanded gold and jewels he assumed the Lovell’s had since, in his mind, all Gypsy’s had gold and jewels tucked away.

Zoe, hoping to dissuade them and change their minds, acted ignorant, claimed to have no money as well, offered to fix them something to eat.

They were not to be satisfied with food, preferring money instead. One commented, “if they don’t have any money, maybe we could just take it out in trade, even if she is an older lady.” He unzipped his pants and pulled his cock out and started to stroke it to get it hard.

Zoe screamed for help, alerting Lovell, Michael, and Garrett. Garrett was busy pissing off in the bushes and couldn’t respond as fast as Lovell and Michael. The two encountered the four men and the fighting began. The four quickly subdued Lovell, not realizing he’d had a heart spell, and started on Michael when Garrett made a bee-line around the caravan, racing toward the men. Not bothering to stop, he jammed his stiletto into the asses and thighs of two of the men, causing blood to gush out onto their pant legs and howls of pain. A third man made a grab for him but was thwarted by getting his hand skewered by the long, thin, knife blade and a jab in his side by the same blade.

Garrett broke away and pursued by the fourth man ran around behind the caravan. The fourth man, rounding the caravan expecting the grab and pound the smaller lad, was met by a charging, screaming, axe-waving Garrett. The man stumbled, then swapped ends and headed back toward his crippled companions, now fending off Zoe, armed with a club, was using their bodies as a drum-head.

“Run you bastards!” Garrett howled threateningly, “I’m going to chop off your dicks and then your balls!”

“Good thinking,” David commented interrupting the narrative. “That was an awfully brave thing to do, Garrett,” considering the size and weight of the teen. Garret was slight of build, light, almost lithe in build, not overly muscular, yet not spindly. At first glance, one might see him as quite vulnerable and incapable of putting up a strong defense. It’d be an underestimation on any opponent’s part!  The lad was smart and full of ingenuity and not to be taken lightly. What he might lack in brawn, he made up for in brains, a quick mind, an active imagination linked to common sense.

“What else could I do?” Garrett answered. “They were attacking Momma, Poppa, and Michael.”

“Momma and Poppa?” spouted an astonished Isaiah.

“Yeah!” answered Garrett. “Why?”

“I thought you were my cousin!”

“Nope!” David responded. “He’s your Momma’s youngest brother.”

“But, he’s not much older than me.”

“Six or seven years, Isaiah,” was David’s chuckled response. “He sort of came along late in life for Grandma and Grandpa. Didn’t you know that?”

“No,” said an almost disbelieving Isaiah. “But, I’m happy he’s my uncle now.”

Garrett was the one who seemed to be the person who, when Claire was busy with the little ones, took care of Isaiah. Isaiah seemed to be his favorite, in fact. When they went swimming, he was the one who taught Isaiah to swim, holding him belly down in the water, hands underneath supporting him, while he kicked his feet and moved his arms. Many times, Garrett would let his hand slide back and carefully cup and fondle Isaiah’s immature cock and balls giving Isaiah a great deal of pleasure in the process. Towel-dried by Garrett, Isaiah enjoyed having the older boy make certain in little boy parts were fully dried and fondled in the process. Isaiah didn’t mind and Garrett seemed to love it.

There were other sexual adventures Garrett also introduced Isaiah to. Isaiah remembered the first time Garrett stuffed his growing and spurting cock up his butt and fired off inside him. It was just after Isaiah turned six and Garrett’s teen cock was eager for a place to give it some relief. Isaiah was happy to oblige! It felt good, made him feel full, and made his own little pecker stiff and twitchy.

Isaiah’s thoughts were interrupted by David asking Zoe if Lovell would be able to travel on the morrow. Before Zoe could respond, he offered,

“I had a mind on taking you and Bill with me in the car to Decker’s Corner in the morning, where Claire can help take care of you and having Isaiah, Joshua, Garrett, and Michael bring the caravan and the extra horses. It’d appear, however, Michael may have to go with us and the other three bring the horses and caravan.”

Zoe nodded, understanding David’s unspoken, but real dilemma. “Our goal, originally, before the attack, was to come to your place and hopefully spend the winter. It’s just too rough out there and resources limited for us to travel farther south. The rest of the family, including Jacob, are dispersed with their families to other places. Hopefully to keep a low profile and survive. After we were attacked, I knew I had to get us here since Bill and Ruth have been so kind over the years and I knew he’d notify you we had some trouble.”

“Michael has insisted he’d be able to sit astride a horse if someone could handle the team pulling the caravan. Garrett is quite capable if Isaiah and Joshua could help with the stock. Problem is, I don’t know how much help Michael would be if they met some strangers who intended to do them harm, such as happened to us.”

Ruth and Abram, standing in the bedroom’s open doorway, listening to the conversation caused Ruth to interject, “Matt has volunteered to help out. He’d take the train back here once Bill and Zoe were safe in Decker’s Corner. He knows all of the back roads and can keep the boys safe from cities and towns by avoiding them.”

The plan was fine as far as David was concerned, but he still had some misgivings over the safety of his sons. Before retiring for the night, he asked Abram if he had any weapons the boys might be able to use he could purchase or perhaps borrow.

“I’ve a short-barrel double 20ga. Shotgun they could handle,” Abram offered. “I’ll sell it to you cheap, so it’s yours if you want it. Any one of the three could offer a threatening and effective deterrent from any person intent on doing them harm.”

“Done!”

David also withdrew the cash, gold and silver coin, Abram was holding for him in the large safe. He reasoned, with the extra mouths to feed and responsibilities he’d have now he was bringing his in-laws to live with them, he’d need it.

“Besides,” he made mention to Abram, “we don’t know how long this Depression is going to last. Cash is damned scarce and I don’t trust a bank. I’d rather trust my pistol and the boy’s knives to safeguard what I have.”

Dawn was barely breaking when David, Lovell wrapped in a blanket, Zoe sitting by his side in the back seat, and Michael in the front seat, over his objections, headed the car toward home. Zoe had her medicine bag with her, well-stocked with various herbs, powders, and potions from her supply in the caravan. Before leaving, she’d dosed Lovell with some powder infused in a cup of water to help him rest on the journey.

Matt supervised, as if he needed to, the harnessing and hitching up of the team of horses pulling the caravan. Watching the boys, he couldn’t help but be struck by the smallness of the lads, dwarfed by the large horses. Yet, the three showed no fear, were firm and commanding of the critters, and definitely knew their way around animals. Still, the boys seemed so small! After all, almost six, almost eight, and barely thirteen are not ages, at least in the cities, when boys of those ages would be capable or expected to possess the knowledge and skills these boys did. Their early years were certainly spent in a different environment and culture than he had.

Caravan hitched, spare team tethered to the rear, water and oats loaded, Matt mounted one of the saddle horses, tied the rope stringing the other saddle horse to his, gave  a wave of his hand signaling Garrett, handling the reins on the caravan, to move out and head toward Decker’s Corner. When they stopped, which they’d do periodically to rest and water the horses, he’d saddle the smaller mare tethered to his, so one of the boys could ride, instead of all three on the seat of the caravan.

He kept them to the back roads well away from most small towns, but not all, and all of the cities. His goal was to make about twenty miles per day, arriving at the Watt’s farms in three days. The first day and night they had no problems. Garret, quite accustomed to handling the team, spent most of the day driving, allowing Isaiah to spell him on occasion so he could rest his arms. Matt shortened the stirrup straps so they would better accommodate Isaiah’s shorter legs when he rode. Joshua preferred riding on the caravan rather than ride the horse.

The end of the second day, still some twenty miles from Decker’s Corner, when they’d made camp, Joshua, sharp-eyed as he was, noticed some movement in the tall brush and trees near their campsite.

Saying nothing aloud, he casually walked toward Isaiah and smiling as if he was telling a story, softly said in Romany, “There are ga’je in the bushes and trees watching us. Better get ready for trouble.”

Isaiah, laughing aloud, stood and walked around the caravan feigning the need to take a leak.

“Hey, Garrett,” Joshua said aloud, “Remember when we camped near that creek when the ga’je boys went swimming with us and we laughed at their little dicks?”

It never happened and Garrett knew it. He did recognize Joshua’s warning there was trouble nearby and noticed Isaiah was gone and the window of the caravan was open.

“Matt,” he whispered, “we have company. Don’t react, just be ready if they decide to make trouble.”

After alerting Matt, Garrett wandered off to the side, leaving Matt and Joshua standing near the caravan and their cooking fire.

Five older teen boys emerged from the trees and walked toward the caravan.

One of the five muttered, “They’re fucking Gypsies.”

“Told you they were,” responded another. “Saw them go around the town didn’t I?”

“I hear Gypsies take only gold coin so they must have a bunch,” exclaimed a third.

“So,” Matt greeted as they approached the campfire, “what can we do for you boys?”

“You can give us your money,” threatened the apparent leader.

“Yeah, and we don’t have little dicks,” growled another, opening his fly and pulling his cock out.

Matt made no mention of the exposed penis, but said instead, “Sorry, can’t do that!”

“Why the hell not?’

“’Cause you’d have no pockets to put it in.”

“Yeah, sure. Don’t fucking see that happening!”

“Oh, I do,” a young voice shouted from the caravan.

Five heads turned toward the caravan to see a double-barreled shotgun poking out the window and pointed in their direction.

“This scatter gun ain’t particular what it blows away when I pull the trigger,” Isaiah declared. “If I aim it at your front and shoot it, it should just about tear the guts out of at least two, maybe three of you. There goes your pants pockets, smart asses!”

The five would be thieves, had their attention diverted and failed to notice Matt unholstering his pistol.

“Who he doesn’t gut,” Matt proclaimed, “I’ll shoot and this one,” pointing at Joshua who now held his stiletto in his hand, “will cut your peckers off and nail to a tree as warning to others to stay away from us.”

“Can’t I cut their dicks off before you shoot them?” pleaded Joshua waving his knife menacingly toward the teens.

There was a distinct sound and associated rank, foul smell emanating from someone in the ranks of the young would-be bandits. In addition, there was evidence at least one pissed his pants!

“Appears to me,” drawled Matt, “you boys have lost your appetite for thieving. I’d suggest you hike yourself back from where you came and bother us no more. Can’t guarantee how patient the lad with the shotgun will be if you don’t, or him,” again pointing at Garrett standing off the side of the caravan quietly swinging an axe back and forth, back and forth and evil grin and threatening look on his face as if waiting for the opportunity to begin lopping off appendages.

Suddenly, it was just Matt, Garrett, Joshua, and Isaiah left in the small clearing.

“Guess they had somewhere else to be,” giggled Garrett.

Night noises, crickets, frogs, the soft, incessant buzz of insects, and an occasional “hoot” of an owl weren’t the noises keeping Matt awake nor was it the confrontation with the young bandits earlier in the evening. It was desire; desire he didn’t really dare act upon, unless the other party was willing.

“No,” he thought, “I’ll just spend an extra day in the Davenport area and find myself a playmate for the night. The thought did little to reduce the hardness in his groin, pressing up against his undershorts, and jeans. Deciding to relieve himself, temporarily, of his urges and seek sexual release, he unbuttoned his jeans and pulled out his hard cock.

Barely had he taken himself in hand when he saw movement from under the caravan where Garrett was bedded down for the night; the young lad fixed in Matt’s mind as being the object of masturbatory fantasy. Isaiah and Joshua were bunked in the caravan and asleep, he hoped.

Matt watched, thankful a blanket covered him, as Garrett made his way quietly through the darkness to stand beside him. Garrett stood, momentarily, looking down at Matt, long enough for Matt to discern the thirteen year old was dressed only in his undershorts, before the teen bent over, lifted Matt’s blanket, and slid in to join him.

Laying his head on Matt’s shoulder, mouth near the older male’s ear, soft breath tickling the flesh, Garrett whispered, “I’ve watched you watching us and I think you like boys.”

His small, warm hand drifted down Matt’s front until it encountered the exposed hard cock poking out from the front of Matt’s jeans. He clasped the warm, soft, still, velvety smooth uncut cock in his hand while he whispered, again in Matt’s ear,

“Now I know you do!”

His breath, coming in wispy, erotic, cock-hardening erotic puffs, tickled the hairs in Matt’s ear, sending shivers of anticipation and lust through Matt’ body, causing his cock to swell and jump in the young hand. Garrett snuggled in closer, while Matt put his arms around the lad, sliding his hands down his back, slipping them inside the shorts, and cupping the small, firm, smooth butt-cheeks in his hands.

Garrett, sighing at the unspoken signal to continue, moved his head down to Matt’s crotch. Soft lips and a moist mouth made Matt inhale and suck his stomach in, knowing the sexual pleasure awaiting him! Moving his hands from Garrett’s butt, he placed them on the teens head, encouraging him to do what they both seemed to want to do.

Garret’s lips, rounded and stretched to accommodate the adult phallus, slid the foreskin down, revealing the swollen, throbbing cock-head. His tongue swiped gently, erotically around, over, and between the flared glans, until he tickled the piss-slit with his tongue, barely entering, bringing a gasp of pleasure from Matt.

Up and down on the stiff, velvety, swollen shaft, as far Garret could go without gagging, up and down, up and down, sucking slightly on the way up, slowly and sensuously, until Matt whispered,

“Careful, I could easily shoot a load.”

Garrett pulled off abruptly, turned on his side with his buttocks toward Matt, pulled down and wiggled out of his undershorts, and said,

“Shoot in me!”

Matt swiftly put the head of his dick at Garrett’s anal rosebud and began to push. The tight, but not so tight entrance yielded slowly, but yield it did, indicating to Matt he wasn’t the first to fuck this delightful young hole. Touching, feeling where his cock was now buried deep in Garrett’s butt, Matt then turned his attention to the front, moving his hands and arms around Garret’s slim waist and small frame to the stiff, four to five inch hard teen cock, almost begging for attention and began to pump his hips and masturbate the lad at the same time.

He felt his balls churning, his cock swell, and spurts of his man-juice began firing off deep in Garrett’s bowels, filling them and dripping out thick, white, and sticky around Matt’s stiff, pumping shaft as it moved back and forth stroking the Garrett’s prostate, bringing him to orgasm as well. Even when finished, cock still sensitive, Matt remained erect and inside Garrett’s butt, announcing only by an occasional twitch of his large penis, he was not done yet.

“Let me rest a minute, and I’ll fuck you again!”

Garrett turned his head, grinned, and responded, “As many times as you want!”

To be continued...

Posted: 02/25/2022