A Marine Called Jason
(Revised)
by: Peter

(© 2007-2015 by the Author)
 

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

Chapter 105
Making Things Right

How it happened

As told by Jason  

The next thing was to make the thefts right. They told me the stuff had been stolen from two places. The first place they took me to was a sleazy looking place with sale signs covering the windows, called Benji's. We got out and went inside where we were greeted by a sleazy little guy who I immediately pegged as suffering from little man syndrome. It was in his walk and the way he carried himself.

 I told him why we were there and asked him to come out and have a look in the trunk to identify anything that was taken from his store. He wasn't at all considerate of my efforts. He started cursing the boys and even lunged at Braden but I stepped between them.

"Knock off the shit, Little Man, or we'll drive off with everything!" I barked. He backed off. "Now, do you want your stuff or not?"

He continued cursing under his breath as we went out to the car. Braden opened the trunk and the man began picking out his stuff. I took it and handed it off to the boys to carry in. When he picked up one of the televisions Colby spoke up to stop him.

"We didn't take the TVs from his store," he said. "Those came from Bailey's Home Store."

I grabbed the man by the shoulder and pulled him back from the trunk and slammed it shut. "Carry his shit in," I said angrily. Inside, I asked him about damages to his store from the break-in.

"Damages? You wouldn't believe the damage they did. They broke my front window and smashed the door in."

"We didn't break his window, we came in through the back, and all we did was jimmy the lock. It was loose, it practically fell apart,” Braden said.

“And his window's been taped up like that for months,” Colby put in.

"I'm calling the police, you two little pricks are going to jail," the man growled as he grabbed the phone.

I grabbed his hand and slammed the phone down.

"Nobody's calling the police. I'm getting these boys straightened out, you are not going to fuck up their lives by putting them in prison where they'd learn to be real criminals and come back and clean you out. Nice try to get your cracked window replaced, you fuckin' sleaze ball. If they busted a window, there would be a new one in there, or plywood, and those windows are so old and dirty you can't even seen through them. And you tried to steal a television." I snatched the phone up and thrust it at him. "On second thought, go ahead and call the police, maybe you'll end up sharing a cell with these boys. Go ahead, call, I'm friends with Judge Thompson, I'll put in a good word for you."

"Just get out of my store. Get the hell out of my store! And don't ever come back or I will call the police!"

Driving away I said, "You know that fucked up path you boys were on. That's where it was leading you."

The next place was Bailey's Home Store. We got out in front of the store and I opened the trunk and told them to take out the stuff they'd taken from Bailey's. There were two stereos, a box full of tapes, two boom-boxes and two small televisions. I didn't lift a finger to carry anything. Colby handed me the box of tapes but I waved him off.

"I didn't steal it," I said. But I held the door open for them.

A stooped, kindly looking old man came out of the back room or office with a bewildered, curious look on his face. His wife stood in the doorway.

"These boys have some stuff they would like to return," I said.

"You're the ones who broke into my store," he said, in a sad voice.

I looked at the boys. "He's talking to you," I said sternly.

"Yes, sir," Braden spoke up quickly. "But it's all here."

"You should be ashamed of yourselves," the woman said.

"Was there any damage from the break-in?" I asked the man.

"Yes, there was a broken window and the door was kicked in. I had to have a new door frame and a new door."

I believed him but I asked the boys, "That sound about right?"

They both nodded. "It was in back," Colby said.

"And the mess and the broken glass," the woman added.

"If you will show me the bill for the repairs, the boys will reimburse you," I said.

The woman disappeared into the back and came out with the bill. I looked it over and handed it to the boys. They looked at it together, looking duly ashamed.

"Remember that figure, ‘cause that's what you owe this man." Then I said to him, "It'll take a little while but they'll pay you back every cent."

"Pardon me, but….this one has been used, I can't sell it as new," the man said, setting one of the boom boxes on the counter.

"What's the retail price?"

He showed me the price on the other one. I picked up the boom box and handed it to the boys. "You just bought yourselves a boom box. Add that to the repairs." Then I looked at the woman. "How about if the boys clean your store for six months, as often as you say, and wash your front windows?"

She looked at them warily and said, "What if they steal from us again?"

"They won't," I declared. “One last question; do you want to press charges?” I thought the boys were going to shit their pants.

The man pondered for a moment then led his wife to the back room. They came out a few minutes later, him shaking his head.

“No, we think they’ve learned their lesson from you.”

“Alright. Thank you, you’re a good man” I said, putting my hand out. We shook hands and I stepped back, looking at the boys.

Braden stepped up first, his hand out. “Thank you, sir, for giving us another chance.”

Then Colby. “Yes, sir, thanks.” Then he put his hand out to the woman. “We’ll be here to clean your store.”

On the way back I told the boys, "By the way, I want you to wash my truck every week, and polish it once a month." They gave me a what-the-fuck look. "For causing me so much shit," I added.

The boys thought they were home free. They thought they still had a car to drive. I reminded them otherwise, that there was still the matter of a stolen car.

“Where does your uncle live?” I asked.

They were reluctant to answer.

“I don’t ask these questions just to hear myself talk,” I growled.

“He doesn’t need the car,” Colby said.

“Then he won’t mind putting the title in your name,” I said. They both knew where I was heading. “Let’s go see your uncle.”

Colby drove the car, Braden rode in the truck with me. On the way, Braden told me more of their story about Colby’s uncle.

“He always had an angle, a way to make money. You’ve heard of the cash cow. He wanted to make us his cash studs, rent us out to rich women for money. It sounded like a great idea at first. We would be fucking some beautiful women and getting paid big bucks for it.”

“He wanted to be your pimp,” I said.

“Yeah. That’s sort of why it wasn’t such a great idea. When we thought about it like that, we would be prostitutes and that didn’t sound so great. If we’d just been hooking up with those women it would’ve been different. But his uncle renting us out and skimming off the top, it was creepy.”

“So that’s when you turned to the more respectable profession of thievery,” I said.

I had my doubts but it turned out the guy really was Colby’s uncle, and he was furious. He tore into him right away when he opened the door.

“You stole my fuckin’ car, you little prick!” he yelled, lunging at the boy.

I stepped between them. “He said he borrowed it. He’s bringing it back.”

“He fuckin’ stole it!”

“Did you report it stolen?” I asked.

“He’s my sister’s kid, I didn’t want to get him in trouble.”

“He manages that pretty well on his own,” I said.

“I should’ve. I should’ve had his ass arrested and thrown in jail,” he ranted on. “Sometimes I’m just too good hearted for my own good.” He turned on Colby again. “Next time you pull something like this I will have you arrested.”

I laughed. “That would get to be a sticky situation, wouldn’t it? I mean, did your sister know you were trying to pimp out her underage son to rich women? Maybe she’d want to call the police.” He started to turn pale, his mouth moved but no words came out. “Shouldn’t throw stones,” I said.

After we’d returned the vehicle we went to Barton’s Furniture to look at bunk beds. It was a test more than anything. They didn’t make any attempt to try to dissuade me. I guessed they were staying. Of course they no longer had a vehicle to drive.

I let them pick out the beds and a dresser. It was funny how they checked out all the beds, for two boys who hadn’t planned on sticking around. They were even disappointed that one of the bunks that they chose had a tiny split in the side rail. The salesman saw their disappointment and quickly said he could have another one brought from their other store the next day.

I started to pick out a youth bed and a dresser for Adam but Brad had said he’d told him that they would pick it out. When I got home I sent him and Adam back into town so he could pick out his dresser and bed, so it could all be loaded on the truck at the same time.

When the store called the next day I tossed my keys on the table and told Braden and Colby to go into town and pick up the other bed. They sat there looking at each other, then at me.

“Serious? After all the shit you know we’ve pulled, you’re gonna trust us with your truck?” Braden asked in disbelief.

“Are you planning on stealing it?”

“No. No, but….”

“I know a lot of people wouldn’t trust you with the church plate collection, but you haven’t given me, personally, any reason not to trust you.” Then I took out some money and tossed it with my keys. “Fill it up on the way home.”

They didn’t say anything else till they were going out the door.

“He’s calling this place home for us,” one of them said.

“Yeah, I know.”

We had Adam and Jacob in with Little George, and Nolan in with Jordan and added the second set of bunk beds in that room for Colby and Braden. With the second dresser, it was crowded.

“You might be rubbing butts maneuvering around in here, but it’s the best we can do,” I said. I had suggested that we dismantle the weight room but the older boys wouldn’t hear of it. They liked that they had their own workout room at home. Secretly, I thought they wanted to bunk together in close quarters.

It was interesting how the boys seemed to team up. Jacob was protective of Adam and Little George. Braden and Colby stuck together, as did Nolan and Jordan although Nolan was more apt to be the leader of the group.

Colby and Braden did a good job keeping my truck washed and polished but after a while it wasn’t so much punishment as them having fun together. It was a pleasure to watch them out there in their shorts tossing buckets of water on each other and spraying one another with the hose. I wondered how long it’d been, if ever, since they’d had fun that didn’t result in getting into trouble. If I was on a roll with them, I didn’t want to lose the momentum.

We had sold the ponies and the tack and bought two horses. All the boys were happy as shit. I assigned Nolan and Jordan the responsibility of taking care of one of them, and assigned Braden and Colby to the other one. They sort of claimed the horses as their own. They couldn’t figure out why we were being so good to them.

 They enjoyed the horses immensely, as did the other boys. It was good to see how they all watched over Little George. At first they wouldn’t let him ride by himself. Then when they did, Jacob led the horse around. Not so much with Nolan; he was as big as they were and closer to their age. They rode a lot together and I could see a different kind of bond developing between them. I didn’t know how intimate that bond was but I suspected it was getting pretty tight.

 One evening when they were saddling up to go for a ride they invited me to come along; the boys would take turns doubling up on one horse.

 “Naw, you boys go ahead,” I said. “And take the saddle off.”

 “Ride bareback?” Colby asked.

 “Yeah. And if you want a real thrill, ride bare-assed.”

 “You mean….naked?”

 “You don’t know the meaning of freedom till you’ve ridden bareback and naked,” I said. I looked up at the rising moon. “It’s a nice night. We’ll hold supper for you.”

 “Can the younger boys ride that way?” Jacob asked, speaking of Little George and Adam.

 “Sure, why not. You take them on Roman,” I said. “Gladiator can be a bit feisty.” The boys had named the horses.

 “Come on guys, strip down,” Jacob told them as he started taking off his clothes.

“Are we really going to ride naked?” Adam asked with glee.

“Jason said you could,” Jordan said.

Jacob led Roman over to the fence and mounted him then had the two younger boys climb up the fence and he put Adam behind him and Little George in front. It was a sight to see, and there was nothing sensual about it.

When Braden and Colby were stripped down they got on Gladiator and rode off in another direction. I glanced around and saw the same look of curious surprise on Brad’s face as I was sure I had on mine. We went in to start supper. A short time later Nolan and Jordan got tired of waiting and came on in the house.

Soon, Jacob returned with the two younger boys full of excitement over the adventure.

“Braden and Colby aren’t back yet?” he asked.

Jordan laughed. “I wouldn’t wait supper on them.”

We didn’t. It was a long ride.

 It was some time later that they realized the real reason we’d bought the horses; when they were cleaning out the stalls. There’s not much that smells worse than horse shit. It’s powerful stuff, that’s the reason it makes such great fertilizer. I watched from the shed where I busied myself as they came out of the barn every few minutes to suck in fresh air. They had their shirts off and they were good eye candy, but mostly I was having a good laugh over it. I went out to the barn to check on them.

 “How’s it going?”

 “Christ, I never smelled anything so bad in my life,” Braden said. “It takes your breath away.”

 “We think we know why you bought the horses,” Colby said.

 “I bought ‘em to give you something to do besides steal cars and televisions and stereos,” I said.

 “The reason you bought ‘em can be summed up in one word,” Colby said. “Responsibility.”

 “Well, there is that,” I conceded.

 “I read about animals being therapy,” Colby went on. “You give a boy an animal to take care of and be totally responsible for. The animal is totally dependent on the boy….something like that.”

 “Would you rather I bought a couple of kittens?” I asked.

 “Oh, no, sir. We love these horses,” Braden said. “And we don’t mind taking care of them except for this shit.”

 “Well, there’s the good, the bad and the ugly in everything,” I drawled. I started to walk away.

 “Hey, Jason.” I turned back around. They were both smiling. “Thanks for turning us on to riding bareback.”

 I nodded, smiling back. “I thought you might enjoy that.”

 “You’re cool, man.”

For good measure I thought it’d be a good time to loosen the reins a little. “By the way, you’re doing a good job taking care of my truck. How would you like to start driving it?”

Their faces lit up like a Christmas tree.

“You’re gonna let us drive your pickup!”

“As long as you keep it washed and polished,” I said. “And don’t drink and you stay off drugs,” I added.  

The horses worked out so well that we decided to buy some baby chicks for Little George to care for.

But Nolan never quite took to us, especially me. I thought he resented my discipline. One day he ran away.

It was after we'd eaten and some of the boys had gone up to their rooms to work out. Braden noticed that Nolan wasn't anywhere around. We did a search of the house and the outbuildings but I knew in my heart that he'd run away. And I knew why. I expected one of them to run but not that soon. Braden and Colby offered to help look for him but I didn't want it to look like we were ganging up on him. I went alone.

After nearly hour of driving around I found him along the side of the road about dark, saw him tumble into the ditch up ahead of me. I stopped and got out of my truck with a flashlight. He was cowering behind the remains of an old culvert.

"Come up out of the ditch, Nolan."

"No."

"Son, look at me, look at you. You’re a big boy but I can come down there and carry you out of that ditch."

He crawled up the embankment, shying away from me. I noticed he didn't have anything with him and that gave me hope, that maybe he wanted me to come after him. When he stumbled I reached down and grabbed his arm to pull him the rest of the way up.

"Can you drive?" I asked, handing him the keys.

He looked at me, dumbfounded. "Yeah, I can drive but I'm fourteen, I don't have a license."

"Just as long as you can drive," I said.

"You're going to let me drive this?" He motioned to my big Dodge Ram.

"You said you could drive."

I could see that he was excited as hell and a little nervous about driving my truck. He was a good driver. A few miles down the road I told him to turn into a lane that led along the side of a field.

"Why?”

"Just do it."

He slowed but I could tell he was ready to speed up. "Don't even think about touching the gas," I said.

“I knew it would eventually come to this. That why you came after me? Why're we pulling in here?" he asked as he turned in. "What're you going to do?"

"Teach you to trust me. Pull in behind that clump of trees up ahead." When he was parked I reached over and turned off the motor and took the keys. I got out and walked around to the other side and opened his door. He got out without me telling him to. He was scared. That was okay, I wanted him to be scared, it would make it easier to show him he didn't have any reason to be scared of me.

"Take off your clothes," I said as I peeled of my own T-shirt.

"No. Why? What’re you gonna do?"

"Just like I could carry your ass up out of that ditch, I can take your clothes off of you, but I'd rather you do it yourself." As soon as I'd said it I had another idea. "On second thought, I will take your clothes off of you, and you can take mine off of me."

He reared back when I went up to him but he didn't run. He stood there while I took his shirt off. I half expected him to try to kick me when I knelt to remove his boots but he didn't. I was ready for it though. I reached up and undid his belt and opened his fly then pulled his jeans down, along with his shorts. He grabbed his shorts and pulled them back up. He lifted his feet for me to take his jeans off then I yanked his shorts down and took those off.

"Okay, your turn," I said as I stood up. I knew what he was thinking was going to happen and I still wasn’t sure he wouldn’t run.

I already had my shirt off. He undid my jeans then knelt down on one knee to take off my boots. When I lifted my feet for him to take them off of me, he pulled my jeans down and took them off as well, leaving me in my shorts.

"The shorts, too," I said.

With his head cocked a little to one side he pulled them down and I stepped out of them.

"I guess you probably want me to stay down here," he said in a surly tone.

"Not unless you want to,” I fired back smartly.

"I don't," he said. "But you're gonna fuck me anyway."

“Stand up,” I said again.

He stood up and leaned back against the side of the truck. Godd, he was beautiful, that beauty crowned by the biggest cock I’d ever imagined on a boy his age. But it was all visual. I had no desire for the boy. Nothing like that was going to happen.

"Why did you run off?" I asked.

"Brad came in the shower with me. And you kept coming in my bedroom at night. I didn't know what you might do to me." His voice was strong, unafraid.

"Look at you, look at me. You’re naked, I’m naked and I haven't laid a hand on you. And Brad didn’t touch you in the shower.”

“Yes he did!”

“Not like that. Where’d he touch you?”

“He put his hand on my shoulder.”

“And that’s why you don’t trust us?”

"My dad and step mom tried to use me to entertain their friends. I learned not to trust anybody."

I could understand that. If you couldn’t trust your own mom, who could you trust? "How old were you?”

“Twelve.”

“You said they tried to use you.”

“They sat me down and told me the things they wanted me to do when they invited their friends over. They said their friends wanted to watch. And take pictures. I didn’t even understand some of the things they wanted me to do. And I don’t wanta talk about this anymore,” he said as he puckered up and started crying.

"Alright,” I said quietly. “I'm sorry, Nolan. I'm really sorry." I was moving closer as I spoke. Leaned back against the truck, he had no place to go unless he bolted and ran and I could see no sign that he was going to try that. I stood against him, my legs on either side of his. I put my arms around his shoulders and pulled him tightly against me, our bare bodies pressed against each together. There was nothing sexual about it; I wanted him to know he could trust me.

“Just tell me, did they ever make you do any of those things?”

“No. I think they got scared that I would run away and tell somebody.”

I wasn’t sure I believed him but I didn’t press him. I just held onto him and felt his dry sobs.

“Nothing like that's going to happen with us,” I said. “Not with me and not with Brad. Do you understand?”

"You don’t believe me, do you? Why should you when I’m this way now with you?”

I knew he was referring to how his body had started to react.

“Yes, I believe you,” I lied. “How you are right now doesn’t mean anything. You’re a teenage boy with more testosterone than blood in your veins and your body wants to be in control.”

“That’s for sure,” he said.

“You needn’t be ashamed of your body or how it reacts. When you do listen to your body--and we know you do--that’s okay, too. Don’t be ashamed of who you are. Understand?”

He nodded.

I cupped his chin in my hand and made him look at me, right in the eye. It was sort of funny having this tall, well-built fourteen year old standing eyeball to eyeball with me.

“We come into your room to check on you. We do that to all of the boys. You’ve got nothing to fear from me, or Brad. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, sir.”

 I stepped back and grabbed up his clothes and handed them to him. Nolan and I became pretty tight after that. He trusted me.

I bought two feeder calves for Nolan to raise. It took him a while to catch on to responsibility. One day I found the water troughs dry. At supper when Brad set the drinks on the table I took Nolan’s glass and dumped it in the sink. Everybody looked at me; Nolan with an angry frown.

 “You didn’t fill the water troughs. The calves don’t drink, you don’t drink,” I told him. It never happened again.

The only challenge young Adam presented was not smothering him with love. I tried to keep my emotions locked down; I thought that was how you turned men into boys, by being a man yourself. Brad said the boys could see through me and I was glad of that but I still kept up the façade.

Adam was as lovable as a puppy and the other boys took to him like he was one. I guess that’s why I bought him two Golden Lab puppies to be responsible for. He was the only one that I thought had not been sexually abused, and that made him pure in that sense, but there had been other abuse. Not physical, but it can’t be anything but abuse when your mom and her boyfriend drop you off at the end of the lane and tell you to go to that house. He had all the fears and wonderment and curiosities of puberty but I was well equipped for that.

 I’d sent him out to feed and water Nolan’s two calves. Besides his two dogs, he was learning how to take care of the other animals as well. They all were, and they were getting to love animals. I couldn’t find him anywhere so I assumed he was in the hayloft. I called out to him as I was climbing up. I emerged into the loft to see him with his back to me, he was frantically doing up his jeans, and when he turned around his face was red with embarrassment.

“I came up to toss down some more bales,” he said in a croaking voice.

“I’ll help you,” I said and I picked up two bales, one in each hand and tossed them down. “Let’s toss down a dozen or so, we won’t have to do this again for a few days.”

“That’s a good idea,” he said.

“I’m proud of the way you’re taking on responsibility, Adam.”

He just smiled. His face had returned to normal color. We never spoke of it.

To be continued...

Posted: 05/22/15 rp