The Courtship of Levi Moore

By: Nicholas Hall
(© 2019 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 16
 

“Oh, hot diggity, dog diggity
Boom, what you do to me
It’s so new to me
What you do to me
Oh, hot diggity, dog diggity
Boom, what you do to me
When you’re holding me tight 

Never knew that my heart
Could go zoom that a way
Ting-a-ling that a way
Make me sing that a way 

Said goodbye to my troubles
They went that a way
Ever since you came
Into my life” 

(Al Hoffman, Dick Manning- Original music by

Emmanuel Chabnier– from the song ‘Hot Diggity, Dog Ziggity Boom’) 

Jacob’s, “Hoover” on the Carny lot, desperate, panicky, anguished cries for help caused my heart to drop from fear, while at the same time, spurred my adrenalin to an all-time high quickly bringing my body to full fight, protective mode!

Slamming the lock on the “Popper,” I shouted, “Where?”

“Behind the back yard in some trees,” Jacob screamed back, turning to run in that direction.

“King!” I shouted up the midway toward his joint. “Cracker’s in trouble; behind the back yard. Help, fast!”

“How many?” I shouted at the backside of Jacob as he pumped his legs and little ass as hard as he could. It was then I concluded, and rightly so, he could run like a fucking deer! I’d be hard pressed to keep up with him.

“Six or eight!”

“We’ll need help!” I shouted back, spotted a piece of broken tow chain about three foot long behind a joint, scooped it up, and bellowed “FIGHT, FIGHT; CRACKER NEEDS HELP!” hoping others would hear me and join in the rescue.

Jacob grabbed a broken handle to a maul behind another joint and gave his own cry for help, adding his screams to mine. He was just as desperate to save his boyfriend from harm or death as I was! Our feet were pounding dirt, slapping grass, and sending small rocks and pebbles flying as we ran. Jacob leading, cudgel at the ready, me following, chain dangling from my right hand, as we prepared for an encounter, hoping we weren’t too late. I was totally unaware of anything around me, save our goal of rescuing Matt from a lynching. I was running hard and out of breath and ceased my cries, deciding to save my energy for a fight, to the death if necessary!

The now reduced light from the midway provided illumination enough to allowing the workers to disassemble the rides for transport to the next play date, now barely provided enough light for us to see where we were going.

Jacob knew, so I continued to follow him. We left the back yard and the trailers behind and entered a copse of oak trees where a little used road wormed its way in from the main town road and dead-ended. Brightened by the headlights of three pickup trucks, revealed Matt, standing naked, blindfolded, arms tethered behind his back, held by two burley bastards, a noose around his neck, and a rope tossed over a tree limb while another asshole stood in front of him, a knife in his hand, while a fourth thug appeared to be securing the end of the rope to the front bumper of a truck. Two other men were shouting encouragement to the man with the knife.

Evidently, they’d not heard us running up since I heard the one with the knife say, “Hold him while I cut his black balls off before we hang him.” Swinging my piece of chain, I screamed, “No, you won’t, you rotten mother-fucker!” and wind-milled the chain, connecting with the arm holding the knife. I heard a sharp “crack” and a scream as the knife dropped and the man fell to his knees. At the same time, Jacob walloped the miscreant trying to tie the rope to the pickup truck across the head- cold-cocking him senseless!

The two brutes holding Matt, released him, letting him fall in a heap, as they turned their attention toward me. Whirling the chain around and around over my head, I kept them at bay, momentarily! I knew it wouldn’t be long until one would have nerve enough to dive and try to take it away from me. Suddenly, it was all over. Fists were flying, curses were being shouted, and the sounds of knuckles hitting flesh being thumped was a welcome noise in the small clearing.

David was in the midst of it, pounding, punishing, beating one and then another to the dirt while our carny friends handled the others. Not a one of the slimy bastards escaped the carny’s and our wrath.

I quickly untied Matt and removed his blindfold. Jacob was beside himself with joy, anger, and relief, first hugging Matt, then kissing him, all the while worried Matt was damaged beyond repair. David stepped over to his son, knelt, brought him to his arms from Jacob’s, and asked, “You okay, son?”

Matt nodded, although by the looks of his face he’d put up a pretty good fight before the bastards bested him.

David turned his head and snarled, “Get those assholes on their feet.”

“My arm’s broke,” whined the knife man.

“Fuck off!” muttered someone in our group.

“Be glad you still have your balls,” growled another.

“Smells like you boys had to liquor yourselves up in order to attack a couple of freshmen in high school,” David remarked snidely. “That young boy you intended to castrate and lynch is my son and you’ve made a terrible mistake- a mistake I’ll not soon forget.”

“Now,” he continued, pacing up and down in front of the lined up thugs, “here is how this is going to work. You boys were involved in a bar fight. That’s how you,” pointing at the one with the broken arm, “broke your arm and you,” pointing at the one Jacob cold-cocked, “got that nasty lump on your head.”

He walked up to the two men who’d been holding Matt for the knife-wielder. “And that’s how you,” smashing one in the nose, sending blood spattering on his face and dripping down his chin, “broke your nose and you,” hammering the other in the side, “broke your rib,” bringing the other to his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“You two,” pointing at the others, “have been punished by our friends and will swear it was by an overwhelming number in the bar. Now, which one of you is the leader?”

Nobody answered, so David walked up to one of the two and kicked him in the balls, doubling him over in pain, hands clutching his crotch.

“Now, who is the leader of this bunch?” he asked the other. The man quickly pointed at the man with the broken arm.

“Lift him up,” he instructed our rescuers, “and pull his pants down.”

“If I ever hear anything different or the law comes hunting for us, I’ll come back here with my friends and no one will ever know what happened to you, except some very fat hogs in some farmer’s pig lot. We’ll feed them your cock and balls first before letting them feed on the rest of you.”

David reached over, took a cigarette from one of the carneys, blew on the tip to cause it to glow red hot, grabbed the man’s cock, stretched it out, and touched the hot cigarette to the penis head. While the man screamed in pain, David branded him two more times progressing down the shaft. The smell of burned flesh and singed hair permeated the air, almost making me ill!

“That’s just to remind you; every time you take a piss, how serious I am about turning your sorry asses into pig shit! Now, get the hell out of our sight.”

We walked away, leaving them to sort out how to “get the hell out of our sight.”

“King,” cautioned one of the carny’s as we walked back toward the lot, “we’ll help you tear down and hook up. You and the boys should get the hell out of here, just in case.”

“Right after I check out Cracker to see how badly he might be hurt,” David acknowledged.

We were a couple of hundred miles away and heading home by the time the sun was up.

*******

“So, what happened next, Uncle Levi?” Elgee pleaded, eyes misted over in his concern for the welfare of Matt after such a horrific, racially charged incident and attempt on his life.

“We cut our tour short; there were only three dates left on our schedule, cleaned up our equipment, stored it, and headed up here for a much needed vacation and a break from the pain and dreadfulness we all experienced. There were no repercussions from the hooligans who perpetrated the event, although David did alert one of his lawyer cousins, giving him as accurate narrative as possible of what occurred.”

Matt’s injuries, physically, were mainly a few cuts and bruises, but emotionally, he was quite shaken, as were we all. He’d been in some rather dicey situations before, facing bodily harm and perhaps death, on the street but never such a racially, vicious, hateful act as the attempted lynching. In the past, it’d been fights over territory, food, bootee, dominance, or thievery, but never such as he experienced this time, a visceral hate as exhibited by the small group of white supremacists he and Jacob encountered!

He was aware of the group’s attitude toward Jacob and him long before we were from his experiences in his former life where he learned to be streetwise. Matt passed on much of what he’d learned to Jacob. They tried to stay in well-lighted areas and always together. The night they were waylaid and Matt grabbed, they were close to our trailer in the back yard of the carnival where lighting was minimal.

Matt spotted the group lurking near our trailer, moving slowly in the dark toward them. He told Jacob to run and get help and charged at the six men drawing the attention from Jacob and the thugs attack toward him instead.

Jacob lingered just long enough in the darkness to hear one man announce, “Now, you black-assed fucker, we’re going to make a Christmas decoration out of you and hang you from a tree.”

With that, Jacob ran for help and we responded.

*******

Jacob’s parents, upon hearing of our misadventure since we could hardly conceal it from them since we returned early from our tour, were horrified, angry, and taken aback by the way Matt was treated. David and I thought they might be upset with us and forbid Jacob to travel with us again or perhaps, continue his friendship with Matt. Not so; they were more concerned with Matt’s treatment and proud of the manner in which Jacob responded and reacted, although they did caution him concerning reckless behavior in the presence of overwhelming odds.

We, David and I, were encouraged to teach him, as well we had been we reassured them, defensive skills and how to survive in a sometimes hostile world.

“The world is not that accepting of two gay boys, one black and the other white, loving each other,” his father explained. “There is nothing we can or want to do to change it, but we do want Jacob to understand there are times when they have to stand up to such bullying and be prepared to do it. He’s not very big and must be prepared to defend himself and Matt. What better teachers can the boys have than the two of you? He will receive an education his mother and I couldn’t provide. He’ll become a survivor and that’s important to us.”

Jacob earned a substantial amount of money, as his share and wages for the future, but was maturing, growing into the type of person any parent would be more than just proud of. He was becoming a pillar of strength, if not external, internally as shown by his reaction toward the attack on Matt and his hard work, without complaint, all summer. We informed the Tucker’s it would be our pleasure to have him continue next summer and as many as he wished after that. Of course we knew and so did they, wherever Matt went so would Jacob. They never hesitated when Jacob asked if he could go with us to the lake for a short vacation.

*******

I looked over my sleepy group and announced it was time for bed. “If you’re going to take home a couple of ice chests full of fish, we better do some serious fishing, at least one more day, before we slack off. You’ll be leaving for home in a couple of days.”

There was some grumbling, but when I promised to continue my story, including our college years and the growth of our business, collectively, they gave a sigh of resignation and headed up the stairs to bed.

As usual, it seemed since they arrived, I was unable to sleep. Clad only in my boxers I wandered to the kitchen, prepared a Brandy Old-fashioned, and returned to living room to sit in the dusky darkness to enjoy my drink and allow my mind, still active in memories, to sort out what I wanted to tell the entire group and what I would prefer telling only Elgee. I was becoming quite attached to my great-nephew and it’d be him, as a blood relative, who either would or wouldn’t relay stories of me to others.

Our lives, David, Matt, Jacob, and mine, changed after the incident, increasing the closeness we experienced all summer, working and living together. We spent two full weeks at the farm just resting and recuperating. The first week Grandpa and Grandma Coleman were there so the boys had the opportunity to fish with him and be spoiled by Grandma as well. They waterskied, went swimming, and just explored as well.

While on the road, David and I were often so tired at the end of the day, especially if we had a tear down and set up within twenty-four hours, we often just fell asleep in each other’s arms. The relative close quarters in the trailer, although our bedroom was at the back and curtained off with a folding fabric door, afforded little privacy for us to make love. Just being with David, as far as I was concerned, was enough for me and for him, temporarily.

The lack of privacy and tiredness didn’t seem to bother Matt and Jacob however. We often would smile knowingly to each other as we heard the eagerness, the vigor, and frequency of their couplings. Matt just seemed not to get enough of that sweet, small ass of Jacob’s and Jacob just didn’t seem to discourage him from inserting the massive missile in his rectum and flood the field as deep as possible. Jacob would ask for it and Matt would oblige, their mutual climaxes quite audible to us.

At the farm, after the summer, David and I had a room of our own with a wooden door and a hallway separating us from Matt and Jacob. I discovered David could do things with his lips and tongue I hadn’t imagined before. Such magic he did to me!

*******

My reverie was interrupted when a nearly naked Elgee, clad in shorts only such as I was, slipped in beside me on the couch and snuggled up to my side. I said nothing as I put my arm around him, pulled him close to me, and heard him give a sigh of satisfaction. We sat in such a manner for a few minutes before he chose to speak.

“Uncle Levi?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to be married next spring and Rick has family to stand with him at the wedding.”

“Yes, he does.”

I had an idea where this conversation might be going, but I was patient, giving him time and opportunity to sort it out and say what was on his mind.

“So,” he continued, somewhat hesitantly and uncertainty, “would you walk me down the aisle and give me as husband to Rick, you know, you and Auntie Claire? You’re the only family I have who knows and accepts me.”

I brought him around in a full hug. “It’d be my honor and I know Claire feels the same way, to do that. I’m so proud of you already.”

Elgee was silent again, cogitating, sorting, and forming his next question and inquiry in his mind.

“That was really horseshit what those guys tried to do to Matt, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, Elgee, it was and if they’d caught Jacob they very well could have made him disappear.”

“Oh my god!” he snorted in disgust. “Why do some white people hate those people of color? They still do you know!”

“I know,” I responded, “hating those in the LGBTQ communities, various religious groups, and those with disabilities of some sort, just to name a few. In fact, they hate anyone who is not one of them, generally far-right white Christians.”

Elgee thought that over, before asking, “Rick and I are going to face some of that aren’t we; much like Matt and Jacob!”

“More than likely, considering you’re a gay white male marrying a gay male Latino. There’ll be those who vilify, denigrate you, and truly hate you both! You’ll have to be strong and rely on your love for each other and the support of a few friends to carry you through.”

“Elgee, you’ll always have a safe refuge here as long as I’m alive and as long as Spirit View Farm remains in the family. David and I bought the farm jointly, so it became mine after David died. David and Matt came up here, not only to visit his folks, but after the summer season to rest and recuperate, so it was Matt’s home as well as the Cedar Falls house. He still feels it’s home to this day. We continued that practice of finishing the season here after I joined them and David and I became a couple.”

“After the incident with Matt, we decided to spend two weeks here instead of just one. David’s folks were home for the first week but had plans for the second so we were here alone. Matt and Jacob spent the first week enjoying things with his Grandparents; fishing with Grandpa Coleman and letting Grandma Colman spoil them with cookies and other treats. It was a new adventure for Jacob and he absolutely fell in love with the place, vowing someday he and Matt would settle in the area.”

“During the second week here, that first year, we, the four of us, made some significant decisions concerning us as a family, the use of the farm, and our LGBTQ friends and relatives.”

Elgee listened patiently and carefully as I explained David and I decided, if the opportunity should arise, to purchase the farm either from his parents or from the estate. Either way, we wanted it and made plans accordingly. It was our desire to turn it not only into our home, but as a refuge for those friends of ours and relatives who were persecuted because of their LGBTQ lifestyles. It’d be a place to escape and relax, where most inhibitions, with discretion of course, could be shed and folks could enjoy a short period of time where their lifestyles wouldn’t be subject to scrutiny and criticism. It was to be a place where one would be accepted for who you are, who you love; no more, no less. Throughout all these years, it has been exactly that! Once we acquired the property, we put in large steel gates and fenced the front of the property since there were some of our guests who’d express their love for each other quite openly, unless circumstances might dictate otherwise. Common sense alerted people aware of those circumstances.

Elgee sort of snickered, “So, if you wanted to fuck in the yard or lake you could?”

I nodded, “Only if you were alone or with others who might do the same. Again, discretion is the key word. We didn’t encourage it since David and I felt making love is something special and many times private. For example, we’d never do so in front of David’s parents or his siblings and younger relatives, unless they were LGBTQ.”

“So,” he enquired, “did you ever, you know, when Matt and Jacob were nearby?”

I had to confess that was one of the decisions we made as a family. We would ordinarily keep our sex lives private, but we wouldn’t necessarily hide it either. After the first summer, there was no doubt among us what we were doing, so we didn’t hide it. Perhaps we were bad parents, but that’s just the way it was. The decision was made one evening when David and I decided to go skinny dipping and thought Matt and Jacob were in bed.

David and I were standing in knee deep lake water and he was buried up my chute to his balls, giving me a thorough and delightful rogering. We overheard someone, Jacob in fact, exclaim, “God, that is so hot! Just watching makes me hard as a spike.”

We looked toward the dock just as Jacob and Matt, naked and both very erect, climbed into the water, where Matt promptly mounted Jacob and began slowly, deeply making love to his boyfriend. It was at that point we decided there was no sense in being inhibited in the future. Besides, David admitted it made him hornier than hell watching them. It never made us want to have sex with them, however.

Out of the blue, Elgee commented, “He’s really big, you know!”

“Who?” I wasn’t certain if he was referring to Rick or my description of Matt, since he’d never met or seen him.

“Rick, especially when hard!”

“So was your Uncle David,” I commented back.

Elgee began to sort of squirm, as if trying to get comfortable or approach a subject he thought might find objection from me or a discussion he was uncertain he should enter into with me.

Clearly, I thought, we were about to approach a subject field which could be embarrassing for either one of us and probably illegal to have in today’s somewhat fucked up world, but I wasn’t about to bring it to a halt if he started it. My great-nephew had some pretty important question, at least in his own mind, and felt as though I just might be able to provide the answers without criticism or condemnation.

“I really like it, you know,” he confessed, “especially when he’s deep and pumping slowly, me on my belly and him stretched full length on top of me. When he comes, I do too, but his feels like buckets of stuff emptying into me.”

He paused, deep in thought or considering I might comment, but I didn’t.

“We only started doing it about a month before we gave each other the promise rings and set the date for our wedding.”

“Sort of anticipating the vows?” I chuckled huskily since I was growing hard listening to him and by the looks of the protrusion poking out of his boxer shorts, he was too.

“Rick was naked, a sight that made my already stiffness throb in anticipation and the beauty of his cock. His erection, long, stiff, thick, and jutting up from a dark bush of pubic hair with two large, egg-shaped balls hanging pendulously in his smooth sac made my mouth water and my rear portal twitch.”

“I know my eyes were wide with amazement and awe, but even though I wanted him in me desperately, I despaired wondering how anything that massive could fit into what I thought was such a small opening. Certainly, I’d never passed a turd that size ever.”

“Rick took his time, lubricating me, stretching me before putting me face down, raising my hips before slipping between my spread legs, his stiff cock nudging my entrance. Telling me how much he loved me, he slowly moved forward, first popping the head of his cock through my anal ring before slowly, ever so slowly, with short pumping motions began the journey into my very depth. There was some slight pain at first, but it eased. I could feel him moving inside me, my muscles, my gut all stretching to accommodate him until I could feel the hair at the base of his staff up against my stretched bung hole. We rested, allowing my body to adjust to him before he began rocking back and forth, fucking me, and claiming me permanently as his own and he mine.”

“It looked huge to begin with, but as he inched it forward, his cock changed from huge to gargantuan feeling as though when fully, completely, deeply inserted, feeling like he’d stuffed a ten foot pole into my bowels, a pole that sent electric jolts to my own cock, especially as he fondled my balls and stroked my cock, bringing me to spew as he unloaded his seed into me.”

“God, Uncle Levi, I love it so! I’m a regular cock-hound when it comes to Rick, wanting to feel it, taste it, and having it inside me. Never did I think anyone could do what he does to me. He can do things to me I never knew could be done and give me so much pleasure. His tongue sweeps over and into places I never imagined could be so, you know, sexually pleasing. I feel I could fly to the moon and back when we make love. Is it wrong to love someone so much it seems almost addictive?”

“No, Elgee, it’s not. I felt the same way about your Uncle David. It seemed as though the minute I saw him I got hard, knowing he already was.”

There was no doubt in my mind, Lyle Gilbert Moore was related to me, having the same proclivities as I did.

“David was never happier than when I was in his arms, holding me, breathing in my scent, feeling my warmth, my heartbeat mixing with his. He treated me as a precious jewel, a love he prized more than life itself. I couldn’t have asked for anything more and tried my level best to return that love every hour we were together.”

Elgee continued to talk of his relationship with Rick, how he felt, and what they did. I thought at the time he was seeking reassurance and support for what he was feeling, what they were doing, and for my blessing, as a close family member. A family member who loved him and accepted him and his intended. It was something I never received from my parents or my siblings or any of my immediate family. If it hadn’t been for Cousin Claire and her family I fear I’d have been lost to the world, a wandering soul or beneath a headstone.

It was a feeling I vowed, Elgee and Rick would never experience while I was alive and after I was gone, have imparted enough strength and knowledge they could survive and help others. Spirit View would be a place where they could retreat to, feel safe, and relax among family and friends.

Hugging him tight to me, I kissed him on the forehead, while saying, “Elgee, what you feel for Rick, his feelings for you are just perfect for the two of you. Intense love for another person and the return of that love in any form you and your spouse mutually find enjoyable and satisfying is perfect in any world, gay or straight. You’ll grow in your love, discovering, as your time together and experience dictates, the intensity of it.”

“Love is more than just the sex, it’s about pleasing and sharing your life with the one you love, not especially about you, but about him. Sex is just the frosting on the cake, so to speak. Your real pleasure will come from pleasing him. What works, concerning sex, for some couples is not for others, so don’t worry. Do what pleases the two of you.”

“Thanks, Uncle Levi,” he whispered softly, pleased at my blessings, my understanding, and my acceptance of his invitation to stand up with him and be part of his life. His confidence in me, knowing he could discuss any subject with me without derision from me, was important.

After all, who was I to cast aspersions on someone else’s sexual enjoyment or relationship. I was the same with David. My love for him was so intense I knew I’d never desire anyone else in my life. His love for me so deep, so focused on pleasing me, there was little he couldn’t do to demonstrate it. Every day with David seemed to be a continuing courtship, with him doing all he could to please me and me offering myself to him for his and my pleasure.  I was much like Elgee however, I loved anal and oral sex immensely, but also enjoyed just being close to David, whether it was kissing, hugging, being impaled by his length when I mounted him easing it inside me until my butt cheeks rested on his lap, on my back with my legs wrapped about his waist as he drove deeper and deeper, on our sides with him spooning behind me settling his length inside me, or with me nursing it as a babe would a mother’s teat!

I felt Elgee sort of slump against me and heard a soft snore come from him. He was sound asleep, resting on the comfort of the couch and in the arms of a family member he loved and felt safe with. I pulled the afghan from the back of the couch and carefully covered him. Elgee slept soundly for about an hour while I held him.

Hearing a foot step on the stairs caused me to look up and saw Rick walking from them toward me. Naked, his long cock swinging like a pendulum on a grandfather’s clock, (god, he was one hung dude) he approached us, stood, with a loving smile on his face as he looked down at his sleeping partner to be in life, and said softly, “Isn’t he just the most beautiful person you’ve ever laid your eyes on?”

I nodded, clearly understanding his meaning.

“I woke and he wasn’t next to me so I started looking. I feel so lost and alone when he’s not next to me. Don’t know what I’ll do when we go back home.”

“You’ll work something out,” I assured him. “I know the feeling. Why don’t you take your love back to bed? I’m certain he’d rather sleep in your arms than mine.”

Rick sat down on the sofa, his body up against Elgee’s, and whispered, “Elgee, Honey, why don’t you come back to bed with me?”

Elgee woke, smiled broadly, reached up and put his arms around Rick. They stood and Rick, arms around my nephew, led him upstairs and back to bed, where I’m almost certain he was impaled and rocked back to sleep.

*******

We hit the lake bright and early the next morning. I opted to fish walleye in the morning and Northern Pike in the afternoon. We’d fish for  walleye by wind-drifting the several underwater structures, such as bars off of the ends of islands, “humps” underwater where the bottom rose providing drop-offs where the fish might lurk, and the rocky shores near certain islands, all of which provided cover for walleyes to feed on unsuspecting smaller prey. Most of the time the water depth would drop off from five to six feet to twelve to fourteen feet and deeper. Walleye tend to stage in those drop off areas.

There was a nice breeze, creating what is commonly referred to as a “walleye chop,” on the water blowing from one end of the lake to the other producing almost perfect conditions for drifting jigs tipped with a minnow or a fat leech, bouncing the rig on the bottom in hopes of enticing a strike. The first two underwater structures we drifted over, even though the fish locator indicated there were fish there, produced no strikes. As a result, with action apparently slow in the fish department, I launched into the continuing narrative I began the evening before.

“We were well experienced and had purpose in mind when the school year began. Matt and Jacob decided to go out for cross-country track, given the way Jacob sprinted for help during the summer and set about planning for college someday. I was entering my second year at college, changed my major, and decided I really wanted to get my PhD someday. David’s goal was to increase our financial situation and grow our business, Coleman Enterprises.”

David worked the real estate market hard, making several profitable sales, in terms of commissions, spotted a small, but productive farm for sale and, with his Dad co-signing, made the purchase. He also invested more in the stock in the self-contained camper’s mounted on a truck chassis company he’d discussed with his Dad while we visited earlier in the summer. It’d prove to be an excellent investment and would return our investment many times over in the future! As much as we wanted to add another “Popper” and gaming joint the next summer, we just didn’t feel it was the right thing to do at the time.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were spent as we had the year before with Jacob splitting his time between Spirit View with us and his own family to celebrate.

David did build another “flat” joint, a quarter pitch, he thought we’d use the next summer if there was already a “bear” joint such as we already had. He checked with the two carnivals we traveled with and discovered about a half-dozen play dates we could use the quarter pitch at.  Players would toss quarters onto a large (six foot by six foot) piece of plywood, painted white with small squares, such as found on graph paper only the slightly larger than a quarter, lined in with black paint. Each square had a number or a zero (0) on it. The larger the number the larger number of quarters you received back as a winner, if the players quarter landed directly on the square without touching the lines. There was one, one hundred square, on the whole board, more zero’s than anything else. Still, there were still winners. The advantage to us was we didn’t have to carry a truck full of prizes and seventy-five plus cents of every dollar went into our pockets.

The next under water “hump” produced several nice walleye and several small ones so I stayed my story long enough for the boys to fish the area. We kept the larger fish and tossed the small ones back. When there were no more strikes and the fish locator indicated the fish were no longer there, I set us drifting in the wind again, heading toward the next location, and continued my story. Rather than concentrate on the activities of Matt and Jacob’ school year and mine as well, I concentrated on summers and growing the business. David’s planning and financial acumen, plus his hard work and ours during the summers, would pay off for us and provide not only for our own well-fair and comforts but for my education and Matt and Jacob’s as well.

*******

The next summer Matt and Jacob came prepared, equipped with metal “referee” whistles worn on a long lanyard around their necks and two “cattle prods.” The whistles shrill, loud sound would summon help and the cattle prods would bring an electrical jolt to any perpetrator. They were the six battery type often used in cattle and hog lots to move the animals. The metal tubes, shaped like a flash light with rubber handles, had two, two inch and half electrodes protruding from one end. Pressed up against an animal or human, the electrodes would make contact with the batteries, much like a switch on a flashlight, and send a jolt of electricity into whatever came in contact. The jolt was of sufficient strength, if delivered to the leg, to drop a man, or to the arm, to cause it to become immobile, or if jabbed in a man’s crotch or to an exposed penis, would probably make the person incapable of producing an erection for several days.

For my part, Davie purchased a .38 caliber Police Special revolver and taught me how to use it. Never had to, but it was always with me.

*******

Noon found us heading toward “Spooner’s” for lunch. As usual, the place was busy, albeit moderately so compared to other times. Customers were interested in “Spooner’s” fabulous burgers and mountains of fries, along with a cold beer or two, soft drinks, or a mixed drink or two. The day was still gorgeous so we opted to eat our meal on the deck and continue to enjoy the view of the lake. One of “Spooner’s” handsome, young table waiters (I often wonder where they find them and then persuade them to wait tables) took our order while we enjoyed our drinks.

Elgee and Rick excused themselves to go, I assumed, to the restroom although they made no announcement either they were or weren’t. They returned just as our meal was delivered. The waiter gave them an unusually friendly and knowing smile causing me to wonder what they’d been up to. I hoped they weren’t found in a state of dishabille fornicating in the men’s room. I wanted not to believe such an event might have happened but knowing Elgee could barely keep his pants on and bare his ass for Rick’s pleasure and his own, it was entirely possible.

“We stopped in the kitchen,” Elgee announced as way of explanation, without me asking I might add, “to visit with Mike and Tom and get their e-mail address in case we’d ever want to contact them.”

The boys were on their way to the boat and me to the men’s room to drain the excess when my cellphone buzzed indicating an incoming text message. It was from Matt and Jacob telling me they were coming for supper and they’d furnish the steaks. They had two of their great-nephews with them, naming them. I texted back there was five here so bring more steaks and “all of the sides as well.” They’d been visiting in Iowa and were on their way home.

I headed down to the boat, climbed in and told the boys we’d be trolling for Northern Pike on the way home since we had our limit of walleyes.

“We’ll be quitting earlier than I anticipated,” I said as we settled down with baits over the side and motor set at a low trolling speed.

“Why’s that?” Carl inquired.

“Matt and Jacob will be here around three with two of their great-nephews and will stay for supper. One of Jacob’s and one of Matt’s brother’s grandson is with them.”

“Matt’s what?”

“Matt’s twin brother Mark’s grandson.”

To be continued...

***

Thank you for reading “The Courtship of Levi Moore” Chapter Sixteen

Thank you. 

Nick Hall

Posted: 04/03/2020