Friends and Family Series

The Lloyd King Story

By: Ron Robbins
(© 2011 by the author)
Editor: Frank Perry

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

Chapter 1

June is usually the most delightful month of the year in New York City. The weather is mild with clear blue skies and warm balmy breezes. The bright sunlight highlights the pale pastel-green foliage on the trees. Most people have cast aside their dark winter clothing for light summer colors. The people in the streets appeared to be in upbeat moods, now that the dark gray skies and the cold of winter have passed. The delightful days of summer were upon them.

For Lloyd, it was an upbeat day, everything was perfect. The bright sunny morning had set the tone for his day. Craig Zucker, his new client from Telecom telephoned early that morning with great news. The Chadwick Organization had been awarded the two-year multimedia contract that Lloyd had bid on months ago. The contract would keep them busy for the next two years, maybe longer. Lloyd was elated! This was the kind of news he wanted to share with his colleagues, but the office was empty, it was only seven-thirty and the staff wouldn't be in until nine o'clock. He scribbled a note to his boss, Paul Chadwick, and placed it in the middle of Paul's blotter where he couldn't miss it. Paul Chadwick was Vice President of The Chadwick Organization, which was one of the largest multimedia service organizations in the country.

They specialized in packaging sales meetings and dog-and-pony shows for Fortune-500 companies. Their specialty was the ever-popular annual sales meeting. Another big favorite was the annual corporate extravaganza for the movers and shakers.

They handled the entire package, from start to finish, including the leasing of convention sights. Their in-house travel department handled all the travel requirements and lodging, since it was larger than most travel agencies.

Lloyd opened his safe and removed the original CD of the proposal and printed out three copies, knowing that Paul would want to review the contract once again. It was a complex contract from the very beginning. Chadwick was one of twelve companies invited to bid on the proposal. It was a three-stage process designed to eliminate the competition in three steps. In the first round, six bidders were eliminated. The second round eliminated three more companies, leaving the final three companies to bid on the package.

When this contract came up for bid six months ago, Lloyd was determined to win. He presented his plan to the Chadwick’s and they bought the concept. They were supportive of him and gave him the time to devote to the proposal. After they made it through the second round, Lloyd called his old friend, Joel Cohn, the VP of Galaxy Productions, one of Chadwick’s competitors. 

Joel had won the last contract and still had six months left to run on that contract. Galaxy had declined to bid the contract this time around and Lloyd wanted to find out the reason Joel didn't bid. He and Joel had been friends since college. Joel agreed to give Lloyd the scoop over lunch, if Lloyd picked up the tab.

During lunch, Joel explained the reason why Galaxy was not bidding again. Joel told him that the Telecom people were a bunch of sharks and his company had it with them. Lloyd had never seen Joel get so worked up. Telecom was a sore subject with him and he went on nonstop for an hour about the hard-nosed pencil pushers that took over control of the creative operations at Telecom. He told Lloyd they were responsible for screwing up every damn project with their penny-pinching ways, and then had the nerve to throw the blame on Galaxy.

Telecom had complete control over every phase of the project. They made Galaxy adhere to the original estimated costs that had been made; of course the costs escalated over the three-year period of the contract. Joel said Galaxy had to eat the cost increases of labor and materials. Galaxy would be lucky to break even on the contract. The creative staff at Telecom was sympathetic and had even tried to help, but the financial people overruled them. Joel gave Lloyd some good advice on how to cover himself if he was serious about going ahead with the contract. Joel’s best advice was to walk away from the project.

Lloyd's strategy was to stick to the traditional bid response until it came down to the last and final offer phase of the contract. That was when he presented his creative proposal. He broke down the contract into two parts; the production and post-production phases. He knew that he had to cover himself on the labor and materials part of the contract, so he bid that part as a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contract. The second part, the post-production and distribution part, was where he had the edge, and he bid it with their usual overhead and profit. In addition, he made the client responsible for paying all the talent and labor costs directly. They liked that part of the contract, because they would only have to pay Chadwick a handling fee and not for usual overhead and profit. Lloyd liked it because he would not be responsible for the payroll.

The decisive factor was the production team Lloyd pulled together to manage the project. He listed himself as the project creative director, and hired Jim White, the former creative director, as his second-in-command. He also included the Chadwick production staff and their on-call freelance professionals. The client liked the idea that he had assigned a team to concentrate on their project exclusively.

When Paul walked into Lloyd's office later that morning, he was hit with the good news. Paul didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he did both. Lloyd's back was sore from all his pats. Paul was six-four and topped the scales at 270 pounds, so his first pat almost knocked Lloyd off his chair. He was only five-nine and weighed just 155 pounds, certainly no match for Paul's blows. Paul rushed back to his office to pass on the good news on to his father, CJ Chadwick.

Around ten-thirty, Rose Kline, CJ's secretary, popped into Lloyd's office to congratulate him and to tell him the big boss wanted to see him. He waited until he had fully recovered from Paul's pounding and then headed for CJ's office. Thank God, CJ was not the demonstrative type. He couldn't take another pounding twice in one day.

CJ congratulated him on a job well done and said that he and Paul were putting a new salary package together for Lloyd. There was also a bonus in the works for landing the contract.

There had been a little struggle going on between CJ, and his son, Paul. Each had a different idea on the direction the company should take in the future. The old man thought they should continue to concentrate on serving the Corporate Image markets. Whereas Paul thought the company should concentrate more on the theatrical and TV markets, where he felt the real money was. Lloyd felt they were both right; why not embrace both markets?

Later that morning Paul invited Lloyd to join him for lunch at his usual watering hole, Mantachie's Restaurant. It was going to be a high-powered lunch with his staff and Lloyd was the honoree. Finally, all the years of hard work were paying off and he was being singled out for his achievement. It was a great day for Lloyd.

He had come a long way since he joined Chadwick ten years ago. He began his career with Chadwick's as a part-timer while he was still in high school, then full-time after high school. Lloyd's parents couldn't afford to send him away to college, so he attended evening classes at Columbia University. It was tough going, but it paid off. It's amazing the workload you can handle when you're young. It's funny, but he was one of the oldest employees with Chadwick, yet only twenty-five years old. The years had flown by for him. Looking back on it all, he didn't regret a minute of his life. At last, he was on the move up the corporate ladder and his future looked promising.

After lunch, Paul took him into his office and laid out Lloyd's new responsibilities. He appointed him project director of the Telecom account, and in addition, he was given complete P&L responsibility for the run of the contract. If Lloyd brought the project in under budget, he would receive a bonus equal to 20-percent of the savings. Paul doubled Lloyd's salary and put him on an unlimited expense account. Additionally, the company would pick up the rent on a one-bedroom apartment in midtown Manhattan. Paul felt that Lloyd could use the three hours more productively than commuting out to Bay Shore, Long Island, every day.

Lloyd was still on cloud nine the rest of afternoon. The events ruled the day, and he couldn't settle down. He was too wound up to concentrate on work the rest of the afternoon. There was no point in sticking around the office, so he decided to leave early and head over to Grand Central Station where he would take the IRT subway to the LIRR station in Hunters Point. From there he would catch the 4:19 Montauk Point Cannon Ball. The Cannon Ball made one stop at Jamaica, after that, the next stop was Bay Shore, the town he lived in.

So Lloyd locked up the CDs in his safe and closed and locked his cabinets. He walked out of his office and said good night to Trudy, the receptionist, as he passed her desk to take the elevator down to the lobby.

As he walked from his office building on Madison Avenue to Grand Central Station, he remembered another Friday, like today, over five years earlier. That memory kept coming back to haunt him. On that particular Friday afternoon, he was about to leave his office when the interoffice phone rang.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Lloyd, but, there are two Yale college students at the reception desk asking for information on the Truit vs. Wade videos. Jim was supposed to be back by now, but he's running late. They've been waiting for a while and everyone I've tried to reach to help them is out of the office. You're the only other person who would know that information," the receptionist said.

"That's okay, Trudy, show the gentlemen back to my office. As soon as I'm finished with Yale, I'm leaving for the day though. Please hold all my calls," he said.

Trudy announced at his door, "Mr. King, Randy Cavanaugh and Chuck Lodge to see you."

"Thank you, Trudy," he said. "Why don't you both have a seat?" as he pointed to the two chairs in front of his desk. "So, Randy, tell me how can I help you."

"Thank you for seeing us, Mr. King." Randy sat down and told him that his professor asked him to drop by the office and pick up a catalogue on the Court series.

When Lloyd faced Randy, he was staring into the face of the most handsome man he had ever met in his life. He felt like he'd just been hit in the solar plexus. Randy's handsome good looks astounded him. All he could do was look into his eyes. Randy was well dressed and looked as if he stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine. Lloyd never forgot him, his image was burned into his brain to this day. He was about six feet tall with thick, silky brown, curly hair and a deep golden tan. His eyes were a deep blue-green color that sparkled. Lloyd felt lost in those eyes. He had a friendly open smile with perfect white teeth. He was polite and soft spoken. Lloyd remembered now that his friend jumped in to pick up the conversation because he and Randy were in a different world. Lloyd remembered Chuck saying, "Randy, are you okay?" That brought the two out of their trance. Lloyd regained his composure and answered their questions.

They continued to stare at each other the entire time. After giving them the brochures and answering their questions, all three left the building together and walked to 42nd Street where they turned left and headed west toward Time Square. After Lloyd shook hands with them, he then headed to Grand Central Station. He stopped and watched them as they walked away. Suddenly, Randy turned around and stared at him for several seconds, then smiled and waved. Lloyd had an urge to run after him to get his telephone number. Instead, he continued on his way. He always regretted not following his initial instincts. Lloyd was convinced that Randy felt the same experience. He was sure if Randy had been alone it would have turned out differently. For those few minutes, it seemed as if they were the only two people on the planet, yet it felt as if it lasted an eternity; funny, how crazy life can be. That was the only time in his life that he felt an emotional experience that intense. That brief encounter had haunted him to this day.

The usual train service from Penn Station to Bay Shore was hectic during the summer season. The trains to Eastern Long Island and to the beaches were always packed with vacationers during the summer season which ran from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The station platforms were jammed on Friday afternoons.

The two most popular towns were Bay Shore and Sayville on the South Shore of Long Island. These were the only two towns where the week-enders could catch ferryboats to the beaches on Fire Island. The resort towns on Fire Island could not boast the modern conveniences of motels or quaint hotels. Instead, tourists relied on renting rooms or bungalows, for either the week or month, from a rental agent or a homeowner. This was reminiscent of the delights of vacationing in his grandfather's days. Most of the towns that catered to tourists were fun places on the weekend, a great place to meet people. It was one long party from Friday night to Sunday night.

Fire Island was popular with the young crowd. Mainly, because it was a relaxed atmosphere to meet people who could afford the premium cost of vacationing at the limited number of accommodations in the various towns. In addition, the beaches were great and not crowded with wall-to-wall bodies. Its isolation certainly discouraged the beach bums and the troublemakers.

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When I was a child, the family lived in Flushing, New York, except for a four year stint when we lived in Florida. My father was an advance publicity man for National Artist Corporation. My dad moved around a lot during the early years in his career, until his big break came along and he was promoted to corporate headquarters in New York City. We again returned to NYC, and moved into a modern high-rise apartment in Forest Hills. That's where I spent my teenage years. New York was a great city back then, and I was never afraid to travel into the City. I traveled anywhere on the subways and was never bothered.

At that time, the United States was involved in the Cold War, and the economy was booming. It was a time when people could buy new cars so parking became a problem. If you were lucky, you were able to find parking space on the street close to your apartment. New highway construction began to take off and new housing developments began springing up all over the Tri-State area. It was a great time to be a teenager.

My summer vacations were always great because I was able spend the summers with my aunt and uncle in Vermont. Uncle Bob was a great guy and taught me all he knew about hunting and fishing. Unfortunately, they could not have children and I became their ‘son’ for the summers. My uncle made his living as a consulting engineer and worked for several of the manufacturing firms in the area. One of his accounts happened to be an exclusive summer camp for boys from wealthy families. My uncle thought it would be a good place for me to meet other boys my age and earn some pocket money at the same time. So he used his influence with the Camp Director to let me work there for the summer.

As a perk, I was also allowed to join in the activities as well. I was earning twenty-five dollars a week pocket money, which was quite a windfall.

It worked out great for me and I liked the place. My family could never afford to send me to camp, so it was really a break for me to mingle with boys my age and join in with the activities that were not available to me in the City.

The camp catered to their guests' every need. If a boy needed private tutoring for the summer, they hired a college student to tutor him. The work was hard, but after my shift was over, I forgot all about being tired and joined the activities with the other boys. As I mentioned, most of the boys came from wealthy families. They were considered as part of the privileged class, yet they all had to participate in the compulsory sports. Every boy had to learn to play golf, tennis, ride a horse, and to swim. They even were to learn the basics of polo, or any other sport that sophisticated young gentlemen should learn. If they wanted to play baseball, or basketball, they could do that on their own free time. Those games were not considered the kinds of sports that young gentlemen played. Most of the boys were no different than the guys in the city. The camp had its share of introverts, bullies, jocks and ordinary kids like me, who happened to be in the majority.

I got along with everyone. When you're short for your age, like I was, you learned to get along. As a rule, short guys learned at an early age to survive. I never hung around the schoolyard or any gatherings unless they were supervised. I usually hung around with a handful of close friends most of the time, and we looked out for each other.

My sister, who is two years older, attended the same Catholic school. After she graduated high school, she went on to Queens College for her BA. She was pretty and was popular in school. Her outgoing personality and friendly manner attracted a group of well-mannered boys. Our apartment was usually filled after school with her boyfriend’s on special an afternoon. Our mom encouraged us to bring our friends home so the folks could meet them. Mom felt more comfortable knowing who they were.  Mom served cookies and munchies to snack on, so our home became a hangout for our close friends.

Of course, there were the regulars, the guys who lived in the building that we had known for many years. They were more like family than her boyfriends. They all liked my sister, Marge. Funny thing about those guys though, they were very protective of Marge and steered her away from the troublemakers and the misfits. I always got along better with my sister's boyfriends than I did with my own peer group. They were always willing to give me pointers on how to protect myself in the clinches.

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My second summer at the camp was much better. I grew six inches taller and gained thirty pounds over the winter. I worked hard to develop my soft muscles and had to admit it paid off. The previous summer I met four close friends and we all exchanged letters over the winter months. Only two of them returned to camp that summer. I learned later that the other boys' families decided to spend the summer in Europe ... hard to take.

I was excited at the prospect of returning to camp and to see my friends once again. After my kitchen duties were finished on that first day back, I took off to find them. I found Gordon Robbins, III, or Buddy, at the tennis court. Buddy was just as happy to see me again. We took off for a walk in the woods to catch up on the past year.

Buddy said, "I know you have to leave for home in a few hours, but would you like to fool around?"

"Sure," I said. "Do you still dislike Tommy Bruit?"

"Nothing has changed between us," Buddy replied.

"Look, I happen to like both of you and I don't want you to be ugly to him while he's with me. He's a nice guy and you hurt his feelings by ignoring him. I would like to keep you both as my friends, so please don't ask me to choose between you."

"Okay, I promise. Let's head to our special place in the woods."

"That's not a good place anymore," I said. "I've found a new spot that's even better. C'mon, I'll show you."

Buddy and I had discovered that we enjoyed having sex together the previous summer. We had great sex and experimented with different ways to do it together, but settled on sixty-nine as the sex of choice. I led him to the new hidden location I’d discovered. It was well hidden; actually it was a small cave. The entrance had been completely covered over with bushes.

I said, “I found it quite by accident, while I was hunting rabbits last week. This rabbit ran into a small opening and that's how I discovered the cave. I cleaned out the inside and came back the following day with candles, a blanket, and paper towels.

Once inside, Buddy and I stripped. "I must warn you that I shoot a good size load now," Buddy said. "If you don't want me to come in your mouth, let me know. I'll warn you just before I'm ready to pop."

"You came in my mouth last year, and it was okay," I said. "If I don't like the taste, I'll let you know."

"Last year my load was nothing compared to this year. The guy I've been having sex with at school threw up all over me. I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

"Thanks for the warning."

Buddy said, "God, you give a good blow job, Lloyd. Too bad we can't have sex together all the time. Swallowing my sperm didn't bother you?"

"No! I told you it wouldn't; in fact it tastes kind of sweet compared to my new sex partner, Jimmy."

"You wrote about him, but didn't give me any details. What's he like?"

"He's okay, nothing like you, or Don. Don't get me wrong; he's a nice guy, but he has too many hang-ups. Everything has to be just right for him, or he can't cum. When he's on, he's one hot dude, but that doesn't happen every time."

"The only reason I don't look for someone new is because he lives in the same building and his dad works as a shift foreman. Jimmy is on his own from three in the afternoon until his dad gets home after eleven. I have a good excuse to get out of the house in the evening for a few hours. Jimmy is a hot looking jock and is hung like a pony. Other than the sex part though, he's boring. His conversation is limited to football and cars. That's not my bag. How about you, have you found a partner close to home?"

"As a matter of fact, I have." Buddy told me about his new friend, Chip Chadwick. "While I was at camp last summer, our overseer at home had hired Chip to help out in the stables. He is my age and attends the local high school. His dad gave him a saddle horse for his birthday with the understanding that he take care of the animal and earn the money for its keep. Chip approached our overseer with a deal. He would groom our four horses and clean the stalls every morning if we would allow him to pasture his horse during the summer. The overseer agreed providing Chip worked six days a week and was available every Sunday to saddle horses if the family wanted to ride. He would also pay him seventy dollars a week. Naturally, Chip jumped at the opportunity."

"He's a clean-cut football jock, somewhat laid back. He's the rugged type and handsome as all get out. He's not hung up on himself like most of those jocks. I've tried to get him to open up, but he keeps his distance. When he is not working, he keeps his nose in a book."

"One Saturday afternoon I was riding back through the bridle path, when I spotted him cutting through one of the fields. I followed him for a mile or so. Then he stopped, dismounted and tied his horse to a tree. He untied the blanket from his saddle and laid it on the ground. He stripped and lay naked on the blanket and began whacking off. He was a remarkable sight. As luck would have it, I had my trusty video camera with me and photographed the performance. The next day I decided we were going to have some fun together. The folks were gone for the weekend and I was alone. I called him on the house phone and asked him to come up to the house. A few minutes later, he was at the back door. I took him up the back stairs to my bedroom suite. I asked him point-blank why he was so unfriendly to me. I could see Chip was uncomfortable and didn't want to answer my question.

"He finally told me that the overseer instructed him to be polite to the family and not to get too friendly. That he was there to do a job and to mind his own business. Chip admitted he wanted to strike-up a conversation with me many times, but he was afraid the overseer would fire him."

"I told Chip that there was no reason why we couldn't be friends and I would have a word with the overseer. He could talk to me as often as he wanted. I told him how lonely it was for me sometimes and I would like someone my own age to talk with. I asked him if he remembered what he was doing yesterday afternoon at two. Chip got a little red in the face and said, “really nothing much.” I laughed and showed him the VCR. We both watched the tape of his performance. I could see that he was embarrassed, but that didn't stop me. I told him I was impressed with his body and would like to have sex with him. Chip got angry and told me I had no right to take the video of him like that.

"After we talked for a while he calmed down. He said he had never had sex with another person and didn't want to get involved with anyone unless he was certain they were not carrying any disease. He was shocked at my boldness coming right out and asking him for sex. Chip was not opposed to the idea, it was just that he never had sex with another guy before, so he really didn't know how to react. He agreed to try it out as long as it was safe and we kept it a secret.

"I took him into the bedroom and we both stripped and lay side by side on the bed. I stroked his penis and balls until he came alive. I took his hand and placed it on my penis to get him going. It wasn't long before we both were hard. I made him lay flat on his back while I straddled him with my erection near his head and began sucking him. He reached up and began stroking me at the same time. However, he was getting me too excited. Chip began to enjoy himself and began getting into it. He made me lay on my back while he did the same to me. I had to stop him a couple of time because he was using his teeth, but he was a fast learner. We came together and it was very pleasant. We lay on our sides, and assumed the sixty-nine position again and continued until we both came a second time.

"We lay next to each other and talked for over two hours. He told me about himself. He was working hard to win a scholarship to Yale. That was the reason he always had his nose in a book. He's an ‘A’ student and he is working hard for a scholarship. I really like Chip. He has everything together and is more intelligent than most of my friends at prep school. Then he reached over and began to fondle my goods until he had me hot again. We had a long delightful sexual experience again. We dressed and I walked him back to the stable.

"We continued meeting whenever we could until I left for prep school. We're still good friends as well as sex partners. I tried to include him in as many social gatherings as I could, but he didn't fit in with my friends. Maybe I'll try again after we graduate college. Four years of college should polish the rough edges. He is really a sweet tender guy. I told him the truth about myself; that I was a selfish person and I don't plan to let him go."

"I feel the same way about you, Lloyd," Buddy said, "you are the best. You and Chip have more intelligence and better looks than any of my wealthy friends. You two are closer to me than my family. I want you to know that if you ever need any help financially, or in any other way, I want you to come to me. Always remember that. I told Chip to go after his dreams and become a successful attorney, because he sure has the brains for it.

"He doesn't know it yet, but I plan to sponsor him if he doesn't get that scholarship for Yale. You know I will do the same thing for you. You and Chip will always remain my close friends. We have shared more happy hours together than most people share in a lifetime. I love you guys. Now remember, if there is anything I can do for you, let me know."

"There is something you can do for me, Buddy. You can teach me everything I need to know to become socially acceptable in your set. I would like you to be my teacher and instruct me in everything I must know to make it happen."

"Wow! That's a tall order and it's not going to be easy, but I'm willing to give it a try. I'll do anything to keep you as a friend."

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To be continued...

Posted: 09/07/12