CH 87: More Naked Pool Time Stories

Hi guys, it’s Marcus once more. 

For the few years that our journal blog has been online, I’ve thought long and hard about using our own names in our journal. If you’ve been following us, you finally know my first name or at least my ‘nickname,’ and Larry’s real first name. It was Larry’s decision to reveal his name before I did. Recently, we’ve met and wrote about the two men with direct connection to me and our Pops because they were original members of my dad’s band. I didn’t want to use their names since they are not aware of our blog and being written about as well. I just named them as to their looks, one with a small ponytail and one with quite a few tattoos. Larry changed them from Mr. to Uncle but kept the descriptive names. What I didn’t expect when I introduced them in a chapter, that they would be a recurring part of our lives and possibly our journal blog. So, after talking to Larry and getting his input, they will now have names instead of descriptions. Mr. or Uncle Ponytail is Anthony, he’s Italian just like Pops and myself, but prefers to be called Tony. So, he becomes our Uncle Tony. Mr. or Uncle Tattoos is William, unfortunately he’s too quiet and shy to be Italian, haha; and he likes to be called Bill. So, he becomes our Uncle Bill. I hope we don’t confuse or bore you with them, however, there will be clues to watch for. Uncle Tony is not quiet or shy, you’ll know him right away. Uncle Bill is the quietest one around here, not sure why, but having two boisterous Uncle Tony’s might be a little much to handle at one time!

Hopefully you’ll tolerate the occasional prefacing of uncle to their first names when talking to them directly. It just seems right to honor the roll we have chosen for them, and frankly, I haven’t heard either of them wish we wouldn’t do that. Otherwise, I’ll just use their names when referencing them in my chapter. I should mention that they have known me as ‘Al’ and were introduced to my babe as ‘Larry’ unfortunately for them, Pops usually refers to Larry as ‘Mark’ the name he has known for some time now. I said unfortunately because I introduced Mark to them as ‘Larry’ the name he likes to use now. I hope you are keeping a score card! Haha, really it’s not that bad, however, they both refer to Pops by his first name, not by Pops. (I hope you are taking notes, there might be a quiz later on this shit! Ha!)

PICKING UP FROM LARRY’S POOL SIDE SHOW

There’s a little more that can be added to the story Larry wrote recently about his accidental but ‘rocking boner show’ for all of us. He ended his chapter with the two of us off to bed and the guys still up with who knows what was being said. We did get Pops to reveal some of their post show conversation eventually, however, my babe had to imagine what did everyone really think about the way he handled the situation until he faces them. I’ll try to pick up where his story ended now.

The following morning before our uncles were up, we met up with Pops having coffee in the kitchen. One look at Pops and I knew he was expecting a barrage of questions from Larry, he had that look about him. I’d be surprised if he expected anything less from him. How would anyone know exactly what Pops was thinking, but I can imagine if I was him. I’d expect to be asked if there was any ridicule involved, not necessarily, approval. I just hoped that Pops would be easy on him if it all goes south.

I had more than an earful of “what if’s” from my babe before he had to face the music the next morning, especially the uncles. Larry had nothing to say about Pops, he knows he’ll have his back. In my estimation, Larry just showed everyone his playful side in a situation most ‘straight men’ wouldn’t want to be caught dead in at all. 

Actually, Pops delivered the best message Larry could have ever expected; their conversation went to how they might have handled the situation themselves instead. Talk about a newly relaxed babe sitting next to me, well the fact that he released the death-grip on my right hand, said a lot. Pops saw the tension in Larry himself and said, relax son they couldn’t be more supportive of you, we all loved your sense of humor.

Pops told us that the real topic of discussion was about how the two of us acted in front of them. He said that Tony was moved by how playful the two of us were together and loved how open and honest we were with them. Pops said he had a feeling that wasn’t the case for the two of them at all. I asked why he thought that, and he said that Tony mentioned that it must feel good to be so honest with your feelings for each other the way the kids are. Pops said that Bill’s stated that he just couldn’t see himself openly talking about living with Tony in front of others, it was nobody’s business anyway. Pops said that Tony took that a little hard when he heard it. Bill asked him why it should be so important to flaunt their business in everyone’s faces. Pops said that Bill backed off a little when he saw how upset Tony was looking and said maybe one day it will feel right for him, just not right now.

Larry certainly was relieved to hear that the conversation was more about them than him. I thought it was good that they were exposing themselves to Pops and giving him knowledge that could be shared with us. Pops said that it was Bill that wondered how the two of us could deal with our wives living right next door all the time. He set him straight on that for us without going into great detail. He told them that the wives had a thing for each other that has been going on for a long time. That the four of us are okay with the arrangements so far. Pops then told us that Tony wasn’t the least bit surprised by that, but Bill was mostly blown away, and still couldn’t believe that situation would last. That bit of conservative thinking  did not surprise me one bit, let’s just say I’ve had to deal with it over the years.

Eventually, Tony and Bill did emerge from their room to join us for coffee and breakfast. The conversation went from gossip from Pops to recollections that they were willing to share with us, and that meant Bill, too. He was the one that told us that their friendship began when they were just school boys, and that was a very long time ago. He said after high school graduation they continued their friendship as struggling musicians and eventually ended up playing together in my dad’s band.

Tony was the one that told us how the band members doubled-up as roomies when they were on the road. He said that he wanted to room with Bill, and they did for years. Pops jumped in and said that in the early years when he travelled with the band as the manager, that he roomed with Harvey the band’s percussionist because they were friends from high school themselves. He related that eventually his new and growing business needed him more at home and not on the road. He also added that my mother travelled with the band sometimes when my sister and I were little. Did I remember that? No, not when I was very young; so, I asked him what about me and my sister, who took care of us? He said, we did, Ginny and me. That was the deal we struck with your parents before you were born, we would always be there for you kids.

I wanted to ask the uncles about always being on the road, did they eventually bring their girlfriends or wives with them. What was it like if they didn’t, what if anything happened with their band-mate roomies? I thought that but couldn’t figure out how to ask it without sounding like a perv. I guess it will come out if the situation is right. But considering the amount of drinking plus the hash and pot smoking that must have gone on after a performance, there had to be some way to deal with being horny. I’ve heard enough stories about female fans throwing themselves at band members sometimes, but do I really want them to talk about that now that they are living together. I’d suspect that Tony is the type of guy that would invite a girl to their shared room, whether Bill was in there or not, haha. I’m just thinking along those lines of thought, coupled with those very revealing 1960’s naked photographs of them all in the album, I had to wonder just where the line was drawn if it was drawn at all. Well that certainly was an interesting period for them to live through; I’m still not sure how I’d handle it myself.

MORE NAKED POOL-TIME STORIES

Our side-yard sign

If I were you, I might be thinking, all the talk about five naked men in the pool around here; how the fuck did that get to be a normal thing? Who was the one to get the uncles convinced to shed their clothes and join us? You guys reading this might be inclined to think, sounds like a Larry thing, nope, not this time, although he’d be my best guess. Read on and you’ll know how it happened.

I occasionally got some alone time with Pops during our uncles stay with us and took advantage of that to just come out and ask him what’s the story behind getting them in the pool that way. He said there really wasn’t a story involved, it just sort of happened one day. Yeah, thinking about writing something about that in the journal, I’m going to need more than that to write about. I told him, “So, one day they just get naked, no coercion at all? It seems like Mark might have had a hand in this.” That got me a stare back from him, like the world revolved around only the two of us or something. I shut up quickly and let him tell the story.

He stopped with the nasty stare, shook his head a little as a non-verbal clue he could finally continue and told me about the first time it happened with them. Apparently he was already in the pool just as naked as he is with us lately. (How he got to being comfortable naked with us in the pool was covered in Larry’s last posting, if you didn’t read it yet.) He told me that Tony came out onto the office deck with a cup of coffee in hand and joked with him about the blinding light coming off my ‘snow-white ass.’ I interrupted Pops story with, “Just like someone else we both know living here; huh?” He came back with, “Oh, you mean my good son!” “Hey, I’m right here you know! If he’s your good son, what am I?” He said, “You’re the perfect son!” “Well then, okay that’s better!” And joined him in a good laugh; and then I told him. “So, you can get on with your story now.” He related the rest of the incident by saying that Tony noticed Pops clothes neatly folded on a deck chair, and just started to undress himself, and folded his clothes in the same neat fashion and placed them on the same deck chair. And then he just dived into the pool. 

I told him that it sounded like something I’d expect Tony might do and that I wondered how Bill got involved himself. He said it wasn’t much longer that Bill came out onto the deck and just stood and looked at the two of us in the pool being all happy and naked like you guys are all the time.

In case nude is not clear.

Pops said Tony was about to ask him to join us when he just started stripping off his clothes and plopped them on the deck like you two goofballs do all the time. I just ignored the slam because we deserved it. It’s only been since he’s been living here that we do that, most of the time we come out of the house already naked. If it wasn’t Fall now, I bet we’d get over him being here and go back to our old ways. 

Back to me pumping Pops for more info and asked him, “So, what else?” He told me that while Bill was still on the deck, he dropped his pants and stepped out of them, moved back a little for a run jump into the pool instead of diving like the normal people around here, and laughed. And then added that before jumping in, “Bill grabbed his balls with both hands and jumped in feet first! You can’t even call that a dive, just a crazy jump thing.” He said that when Bill resurfaced Tony asked him, “What do you call that kind of dive?” Bill told them, “It’s called a stand up and protect your balls dive, besides I don’t like to dive head first, but I also hate getting water up my nose this way.” Pops said that Tony had a better idea for him, and told him, “From what I could see, maybe you should have used one hand holding your nose, and the other one holding your balls. Besides one hand on the balls is more than you’ll ever need.” Surprisingly, even Bill laughed with us on that nasty comment because it came off just as guy humor between good friends. But Tony might had had a point there. haha.

Got to get the point across!

Well, that’s how our pool ended up with five very naked guys for a couple of weeks. Oh yeah, there are these great old signs that Larry and I found in antiques stores that state our new ‘public nudity requirement’ in the area now. (Please forgive us for acting like a couple of horny young dudes with our signs; just because we are middle-aged doesn’t mean we can’t poke a little fun with them!) Got to wonder if they worked on our uncle’s heads, or was it something else? I’m inclined to think something else, but I do love having the signs around the pool now. I can’t wait to hear what our wives will say if they see them; trust me I can wait, I already have an idea of what they’ll say anyway, haha.

MORE NAKED GUY STORIES

The weather during their stay couldn’t have been better after the smoke dissipated from the area. When the uncles and Pops were around, they often hit the pool instead of just sitting around talking. They could just float around and do their talking instead. Larry and I usually would join them, there’s really nothing else to do except be the great hosts that we are! You’ll have to take my word at that though, haha. It has been such a treat having these men around, they go out of their way being nice to us, and very complimentary as well. That helps. I love watching how Larry interacts with them, he has pulled out all stops and became the real host around here.

All fun and games in the pool eventually end up on the small office deck for Larry and myself but with all five of us, the covered patio was the perfect place. No question in my mind who Tony wanted to spend more time with, and it wasn’t me as I thought it would be. He made sure there was no one between himself and Larry as we used the shallow end steps to leave the pool. He asked Larry for his arm to help him up the stairs which Larry was happy to do for him. Mind you, not that he needed help any time before. 

Larry moved the bin with pool towels closer to the steps for our guests, which I thought was a nice gesture. He then reached in to search for the larger bath sheets for Tony and Pops, not the smaller bath towels since they both have a little more girth than the rest of us. Bill and the two of us used just the bath towels to dry and wrap around us before moving over to the covered patio to sit and talk.

One thing for sure, having five dripping wet guys drying off together is not normal for us around here. Most of the time Larry and I just sit on our towels letting the sun dry us off; something we have tabled since Pops arrived. After we all wrapped ourselves in our damp towels, I noticed that Tony had his arm locked with Larry’s as they headed to find a seat next to each other. I don’t have a problem with that, my babe is in the middle of a group of ‘dad-like’ men and couldn’t be happier. You know as well as me, which one he goes to bed with!

I sat by Bill’s side and Pops was seated between all of us in a semi-circle of chairs around a large coffee table. (You might consider remembering that seating arrangement for later.) I excused myself and asked Pops if he would help me bring out some drinks once we knew what everyone desired. Actually, unsweetened iced tea was the go-to beverage this time, that was easy, bring a pitcher along with tall acrylic cups and we were back to the conversation already in progress. The uncles had Larry in a Q&A about the two of us, and when Pops and I returned with the tea Larry told them I probably could answer the questions better. Thanks a lot pal!

If I’ve done a good job describing our new uncles, you might assume that the only one with all the questions was the outgoing Tony. Bingo! That is until Bill found his voice. Apparently, his concern or curiosity was how two long-timed married men would be living together right next door to their former mates and everyone was happy, happy. I had to set them straight on that, happy was pushing it for some of us; that there was some work to do before happy was the end result for all. 

The questions were not hard to answer, and I think the both of us did a good job in a very relaxed way. It started out with Larry sitting at the edge of his chair and looking like he was under interrogation; frankly I started to feel that way and was sitting close to the edge of the chair myself. Pops and Tony may have noticed and got all of us to relax, sit back in our chairs, and forgetting we were all wrapped in towels. In other words, some manspreading went with the relaxed state. It probably would have been a good idea to remember that we were only wrapped in small bath towels at the time.

As we continued in the currant Q&A, I explained to them, that our status quo was not in question, it was more about why mess with what is working for all of us. Larry wasn’t just playing the silent type he jumped in to help often. You guys know from our former postings what is holding up Larry and Ellen’s divorce for now. So, I introduced some of our thoughts on how our wives are dealing with these changes. I explained how Larry’s wife Ellen might ‘want her cake and eat it too’, using a tired old expression, but it’s true in her case. I offered my take to them on how my wife Lisa is more oriented on work and not family life as the two of us. Letting them know she has the greatest opportunity to relocate if a better or higher position is offered to her. And how Ellen is perfectly comfortable and happy in her position at work and living arrangements. It must be scary as hell for her thinking divorce could be an end all situation for her.

Larry jumped in and let them know how Lisa and I are handling a pending divorce and continued friendship and just couldn’t figure out why he and his wife couldn’t be the same. Or at least figure out how to make that happen. Surprisingly, Pops was mostly a listener during this part of the conversation, however, he did step in and remind us, that he would handle this to everyone’s satisfaction. I believe him, I’ve known what he can do; Larry is mostly on the fence with that information, he’ll need to see something move in that direction before he’ll be totally on board.

I did mention that Bill would have something to add to the conversation thread, of course it was about the two of us, not them. He let us know that he’d been aware of our long-time friendship, however, what happened to make it change from married straight friends to gay friends all open about it to everyone. I could have figured that was coming sooner or later, but said, “Whoa, not open to everyone Bill, we are okay that Pops and you guys know though.” At that point, Larry asked if he could talk to me privately for a minute. Sure why not, that’s when he told me that he’d like to get Bill to understand that part about us. Man, when Larry commits to change, watch out, the ‘bull is now in the arena.’

TONY AND I GO FOR A WALK

When Larry and I came back from our little conversation, he returned to his seat and leaned over closer to Tony to tell him his plan to help Bill understand us better. From how Tony reacted, I’d say he was in total agreement. At that point, Larry got up once again to head over to where Bill and I were sitting and suggested that Tony and I go for a walk, he had something he wanted to talk to Pops and Bill about privately. Please don’t think for one minute I have a problem with this suggestion from Larry, he’s exactly what I want and need in a mate; someone who’s not afraid to take charge when it’s needed, not just wait for me to do something first. Sometimes I wonder to myself how we got to this place together. I’m not sure, not even after our trip together that changed everything about us, that he could do what he just did. I trust him with my life, and I’m so grateful we got to this point together. Now all I need to figure out is where to take Tony and what we should talk about. If I knew more about what Larry was going to say, I’d have a better clue.

I hope you are not going to be disappointed that I don’t have permission to release the full details of his talk with Pops and Bill. Larry really wants to tell you himself in his next posting. So, please understand I know a lot more than I’m writing about, Larry filled me in and I’m honoring his request. Don’t fret about it, I have my own story to tell. However, it’s okay with Larry if I tell you this much, that he wanted to get Bill to understand why the two of us can be like we are in front of them. But he did admit to me that he was sure Pops would have his back if he needed it. That’s a lot of trust between the two of them.

I asked Tony if he’d like to see our area’s little lake, it’s a nice walk there. I fully expected that he would suggest anything other than a walk, but he was good with that as long as he wasn’t expected to only wear the towel that he had on. “Hey, great thinking Uncle Tony, I’d hate it if my towel just dropped off on the way there.” It’s like having two Larry’s with the same sense of humor, I love it! Since we still have some casual clothing in the office closet, that’s where I headed and it’s not far from the bedroom they are staying in as well. I just waited for him to get dressed and then we headed out the front door to bypass Larry’s little conference going on in the patio.

As we headed out the front door, Tony asked me if it would be a long walk to the lake, and I told him no, I didn’t think so at all. Perhaps he should have said that he’d get his cane from his car if it was a long walk. I’ve never seen him using a cane when walking around the place or did any of the men give me a clue that walking could be an issue they deal with. Now that I’m writing about that, I do have a nice cane that Larry bought me when I had knee surgery, he could have used that one if I knew. It wasn’t far down the street that we stopped for a minute, and he asked if there would be some benches to sit on at the lake. Yes, there are some spotted around the lake once we get there, more clues that we should have turned around and headed back home or at least get his cane.

TONY WAS OPEN AND HONEST WITH ME

Where Tony and I sat and talked.

Once we spotted the first park bench at the lake, Tony couldn’t wait to sit and when he saw all the ducks, he wished we had brought some bread to feed them; he loved the relaxing sounds of the far end waterfall. I enjoyed the chance to sit and talk with him. I have really come to like Tony very much and can relate to him greatly. Maybe if we weren’t stopping and chatting up so much on the walk, we would have been relaxing at the lake sooner than we did. That’s okay now we are sitting and still talking. The two of us have been trying to be very open with each other in our conversations, a good reason why I like him so much. Perhaps that mutual feeling is why he felt it was okay to let me know of something he was very aware of back on the patio.

He brought up our seating arrangement after swimming and stated that once I sat back into my chair answering their questions, those little towels Bill and I were wrapped in left nothing to his imagination. I should have known exactly where this was headed, especially since I got an eye-full of my babe himself, until he crossed his legs and closed the gap. But since we are having fun talking together like we are old friends, I was compelled to be a little humorous and say, “So, Uncle Tony, what kind of imagination would we be talking about? It can’t be about all that ‘buck-ass naked’ swimming we do together now; there’s little left for any imagination there. So, what kind of imagination am I missing here?” Laughing the entire time I was saying that to him, he was totally in sync with my humor. I knew he wouldn’t be offended in the least bit. His answer back was just as funny to me, “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that, but those fucking skimpy little towels made it a whole lot sexier looking for me!” Oh man, are we on the same page about that!

Feeling it was going to be okay to admit this, I told him, “You ought to see the way Larry taught me to wrap a bath towel around me, it’s drop-dead sexy.” You know there are times that little ‘brain-farts’ come out of your mouth that perhaps just shouldn’t. Consider that one of them, because Tony challenged me to show him and promise not to chicken out. I guess I could do that, teach me not to think ahead; oh well, it’s just a fucking towel low enough to show some of my trimmed bush, at least it’s not like the see-through underwear we own now; whoops, did I just admit to that? Or maybe I wanted to let you know that we still try to turn each other on in other ways. Haha, now I need to think about what I’m going to say to Larry when he sees me flaunting my ‘you-know-what’ in front of them. After all, he had his day with them, maybe it ought to be a competition between us, or maybe I should just shut up, there’s no sexy competition I could ever win with him, even after loosing a bunch of weight and feeling better about being naked in front of them. So zip it me!

It was evident that Tony was looking forward to the kind of talk we were up to because he started to open up more about wanting a new and different relationship with Bill. I could sense that their relationship was a little lopsided at best. He told me that he was having feelings for Bill that he never had before and didn’t know how to handle them and not scare Bill off. Well, I certainly understand the feeling and had to deal with it often myself. I just need a little more from him before I let loose with what I have experienced.

He brought up the first time our Pops invited them over to meet and have dinner with us. He added that how open and loving we were with them really got to him, and that he and Bill talked about us for a long time afterwards. Tony reminded me that Pops had told them that we were more than roommates so don’t be shocked. I reacted to the ‘shocked’ statement he just laid on me. “I hope you weren’t too shocked.” And laughed a bit before adding, “I guess we are very affectionate with each other, but there’s a good reason why. It boils down to, we are tired of hiding stuff from each other, we just won’t any longer. I hope we didn’t cause any trouble for you when you got back home again.”

Tony assured me that, if anything, it helped him clear what was beginning to be a problem for him and Bill. I asked him if he’d like to tell me about that, and oh did he ever. “Al, there’s a lot about me you don’t know yet or how would you anyway, I haven’t talked much about it myself.” I told him whatever he might want to tell me would always be between us. He thanked me but added that it would be okay with him if I told Larry, that he didn’t want to put himself between us at all. That was nice to know.

Tony started his story with how spending a day with us affected him, and that he kept a lot of those feelings to himself instead of opening up to Bill. “Al, I fell in love with how natural and playful you two were with us that day. I couldn’t get you two out of my mind for days; I just wished I could know how it felt being in a relationship such as yours. I’ve had good relationships in my life, some lasted longer, but none comes close to what you guys have together.” I told him how nice that was to hear, and that I felt lucky to have Larry in my life. He added, “You know, I’d like to fall in love again one day. I’m not getting any younger, that’s for fucking sure! I don’t think it will happen though.” That made me feel sad but I’m not going to let him know that I wanted this to be an upbeat conversation. I wasn’t expecting what he had to say about Bill though. And then he added, “I got Bill to admit that his marriage was a lot like what he saw with you guys, and that he missed it so much. Sometimes he reaches out to me for support but not very often.”

During our little talk, he told me that sometimes when they talk about their visit with us, Bill always wonders what could have happened to make you leave your wives and start living like you do. I told him I’d be happy to let him know anything I could, but that it took years for us to know what we wanted from each other. I did cover that sex wasn’t in the picture for us but that’s changed. He said, “No kidding huh, I would have never expected that!” And laughed his ass off, but added once he slowed down the laughing, “That’s the best part about being around you two, I think you guys are so fucking sexy together! Please don’t take this wrong, okay? I’ve never personally known any guys in love with each other, or seen guys acting so loving together, maybe I’m a little jealous, but I want to experience what you have with Larry.” I told him, “Maybe you should start working on what you really want then.”

Since we were feeling free to say whatever came to mind, I took a chance and asked if they sleep in the same room at home as they were doing here with us. He said that he has his own bedroom, but there have been a few times when he shared Bill’s king-sized bed. That opened up an opportunity for me and I asked if he’d be okay discussing that with me, but I’d understand if he wasn’t comfortable doing that. He gave me the go ahead, that he was enjoying the opportunity to discuss what’s been on his mind lately.

The first question I asked, if it was okay with him, what determines if it’s sleeping in his own bedroom or in Bill’s. He said, “Sure, I can tell you, once in a while it was something we were talking about at dinner or just after; but often it was because we got pretty high on some of his good shit that we were smoking at the time. I’d usually walk him to his bedroom to make sure he was alright, and sometimes he’d asked me not to leave him alone.” I could understand now, however, he did offer that it didn’t happen that often.

No question in my mind, Tony was willing to open up to more personal questions, however, I did tell him that I’d stop in a heartbeat, if he felt I’ve gone too far. He told me, “There’s one way to find out, ask me, I’ll let you know.” So, the next question I had was when sleeping in Bill’s king-sized bed, do they snuggle up or just pick their own side. I bet you figured out that ‘their own side’ was the answer. Man, do I ever have my work cut out for me with them. In an act of desperation, I asked, “Have you guys ever had sex together?” The answer was, “Describe ‘sex’ first.” Yup, just what I needed to hear, haha.

Actually, I got the impression, he knew exactly what I wanted him to tell me, but maybe we were a little too close to the line, so he skirted it. No problem, I got the answer from that. No they haven’t fucked yet, or anything close to it. Just because we do, doesn’t mean I should expect everyone else is as well. I didn’t go into how the two of us get it on, not sure why I would anyway. I was hoping I could help him create a situation where they could get their relationship to move forward a little faster. So, I offered a look into how we usually arrange ourselves to fall asleep. I told him, “We have no special rule on who starts and who follows, we switch it up often. However, if it’s me who starts, I snuggle up real close to his back side and then reach my arm around and run my hand up and down his furry chest until I get a signal that he wants more from me or he just takes my hand and puts it where he wants it, which is usually his growing dick.” I don’t normally have these types of conversations with anyone, if at all, it’s here in the journal. However, Tony was way more than just interested in what I had to say. I think I was turning him on, at least I was turning myself on! Haha.

After I told him that, he added, “And then nothing happens after that, you just fall asleep? I think that would start something else instead.” I laughed and said, “Maybe I didn’t make it clear enough, the ‘something else’ you are thinking about probably already happened.” “Oh! Sorry.” I said, “Hey, that’s nothing to be sorry about at all!” And got him to see the humor.

Tony told me that it sounded like a very nice way to fall asleep, too bad it might be hard to do for them. Of course I had to ask why and learned that apparently it’s the amount of clothing Bill wears at night, tight underwear and pajamas would make finding something to hold a little difficult. There was only one next question, and you might already know which one. “What’s with all the fucking clothes in bed?” Tony said, “It’s what Bill has done for years, maybe because he’s so thin that he gets cold, but out of respect for him, I also wear pajamas if I’m in his bed.” Tony let me know that he had no good idea on how to get him out of his pajamas and hoped that I did. I had to ask, just because I wanted to know, “Do you wear pajamas in your own bed?” His response was exactly like I wanted to hear, “Fuck no! I hate them.”

So, I took a chance, he’s been so open with me, and asked, “Do you guys ever just have fun hanging around naked together?” He was quick with his response this time, “Oh yes, we do that a lot around here with you guys.” I should have figured that one out myself, but I pushed on with, “No, I meant at your own place in Auburn.” “No, we haven’t, I never pushed for it at all, should I?” Man, he really is cutting my work out for me big time!

I figured if there was ever a good time to get to the basics of their problem, it just opened up for me. I told him let’s put their twin beds together today and make it easy for you to take charge tonight. He said, “Okay, then what should I do?” Wow, this is a lot greener than Mark and I were on our first time. I told him after he undresses himself, just get into bed without the pajamas, and then watch him undress and tell him how sexy he makes undressing look. I got exactly what I expected from him, he said, “He does not look sexy undressing.” I told him to bite his tongue and lie to him and ask him to join you in bed like he does in the pool. Tony asked, “What if he says it’s too cold not to wear pajamas in bed?” I told him that’s easy, tell him you can fix that for him, there’s nothing like a little body heat between you two to warm you both up. 

Tony said he’d love to at least try and see if it would change anything for them, but he might have more questions for me, if I didn’t mind answering. He asked what if Bill doesn’t like being snuggled up to or doesn’t want someone touching his cock? I told him let nature take its sweet time between you two, don’t expect too much, if nothing else, you should at least snuggle up to keep each other warm. One day, if you feel it’s time, reach around and fondle him. Tony’s response came across as skeptical at best but said he could man-up and try. I told him to play up to Bill’s confidence in himself, compliment him on how sexy he looks naked, or what part of him turns you on. But don’t over-kill any of it otherwise you might scare the shit out of him. Tony’s response was, “Fuck, or out of me!”

All the time I was talking to Tony, I was wondering if either one of them considering taking a shower together, soaping each other up all over, even the fun parts too. I know I’m going to ask him, just find the right words at the right time. Unfortunately, the bathroom they are sharing is not that big, and it’s a tub shower not a shower stall. I guess it could be used if they were careful not to slip and fall. And then I think, put a couple of 80-year-olds in a small tub together might not be my best thinking, dumb-shit thought! However, I do know of a super-sized shower room and then wonder what Larry would think if I offered it to them. Nah, I don’t think so; that’s our playground. However, I want so much to help Tony get Bill into his corner, that I did suggest showering together, just not where. Tony said, oh yeah he’s thought about that for a long time now, but no, it hasn’t happened.

I asked him if they lock the bathroom door when taking a shower. I got a definite, “Absolutely not! What if we fell and needed help, no way will either of us lock the door.” Good, I thought out loud, “So when Bill is in the shower, go into the bathroom and ask him if he would like his back scrubbed.” He told me that might take a little more courage than he has right now, but it sounds like fun. I did admit to him that we really do enjoy our time showering together and whatever. He told me the ‘whatever’ sounded like fun to him.

I was wondering if oral sex was something the two of them could consider doing for each other, however, considering the picture that was building in my head from our conversation, I’m going with no, not yet. And I was right. But I found the way to ask and the best he could give up to me was perhaps some kissing and fondling might happen between them one day. I figured, he’s been super honest with me, why not push a little harder, after all, I’m just trying to get them to open up to each other anyway.

I stepped out on the fucking ledge and asked him if he thought Bill would consider jerking-off with him; I was assuming that he might still be doing so by himself, but I know nothing about how men their age deal with sexual urges, or if they even have them. It pains me to admit that to you or anyone else, I just don’t know at all. Poor Tony had to answer that he wasn’t sure how he felt about that himself. Perhaps I’ve used giant steps forward and skipped the baby steps instead. However, I continued to push forward since I brought it up and told him, if he wanted something other than they currently have, it might be their best first step.

Tony finally allowed himself to say, that what if Bill can’t get an erection because he’s with me, a man and not his wife? Tony gave me my first look into the sexuality of a senior male, that erections could be still possible without the need for little pills. He also suggested that Bill had been married for decades and neither one of us could really know what’s in his head about sex with a man at all or if he is having a problem with erections and would like to keep it his own secret. That wasn’t hard to understand at all.

So, still trying to find a solution, either with a limp dick or not, how to get the two of them together as I suspect Tony really would like. So I bring out my own limp dick story to tell him. I don’t have the least bit of a problem telling it because it was only the medications doing it to me. Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! 

Without asking him if he’d like to hear about it I just started telling him that during my knee surgery recovery, the meds really affected my dick big time. I told him no matter how hard Larry tried, that dick of mine couldn’t be convinced to come to attention for him. Tony wondered if Larry just gave up on trying; no fucking way, he absolutely did not! However, I told him, that once I was totally off the pain meds that I was back to normal again. The real story was not that I couldn’t get hard for him, it was how much fun he had sucking a soft dick for as long as he wanted and not dealing with a gag reflex. Tony asked me if it was as good for me, too. I just looked at him, giggled, and said, “Once I stopped feeling bad that I wasn’t all there for him, and saw how much fun he was having; what do you think?” Tony didn’t need to answer, just laughed with me, and said thanks for sharing that with him because I was giving him a good picture of how one day the two of them could have a relationship something like ours. I don’t know if that is possible or not for them, but at least he’s giving it some thought.

His response allowed me to ask him, “Do you think you love Bill?” He looked at me and then the grass at his feet for a minute before answering. “Yeah, I guess so, like a brother would. But when I found out his wife died and how broken up he was, I needed to come to him until he didn’t need me; I’m still here with him, he hasn’t stopped needing me.” And then he told me there were practical needs to be made, expenses could be cut in half for them if one of us gave up our home and we moved in together. There would be someone to talk to and spend time together. Tony told me that he was only renting an apartment and Bill had this really nice house up in the Auburn area, it was easy to give up my apartment and move in with him. We are comfortable together, but after seeing you two, maybe I want more than what we have now.

I had to thank Tony for one of the nicest and open conversations I’ve ever had with another man. Tony agreed as well and thanked me for making it easy for him to open up to me without fear or embarrassment. He said maybe because he’s known me since I was a baby in diapers, the cloth kind too, it helped him. And added that he was so sorry we didn’t stay in touch over the years and hoped that would never happen again. I told him I felt the same about them. Tony just about broke me up a bit when he told me my dad would be so proud of me if he could have seen my accomplishments and the kind of man I turned out to be. I wasn’t expecting that from him, but it was so fucking nice to hear. I just wanted to hug the crap out of him, so I did. And then I said, “Maybe we should head back before they send out a search party for us!”

On the way back, Tony wondered out loud what Larry had in mind to talk to them about behind our backs. I wish I knew myself at the time, but I also knew that was a plea to give him an idea before we got back home again. I told him that Larry is very grounded now, he knows exactly what he wants from himself and me as well. I believe he will open himself to Bill and Pops if that’s what they want from him. Tony said, “That would be nice, just like you and me did now at the lake. That would be so nice for Bill.”

BACK IN THE PATIO WITH EVERYONE AGAIN

I guess we were gone for a lot longer than we both thought because they were getting worried about us. Somehow it turned out they were wondering what we were up to that it took so long. I felt like saying, wouldn’t you love to know, but figured it was the same as them. I smiled the big smile and told them we simply spent the time getting to know each other better; well, it really was the truth, and it didn’t require a full telling of the story just yet. They will get to know more when the time is right. As to fair play, I asked, “So what did you guys talk about that was so important for us to be out of here?

I got back about as much as we gave them ourselves, I don’t think it was because we didn’t give them too much of our conversation though. I know one way or another, Larry will spill his guts to me behind our closed bedroom door tonight, so I’m not pushing it too much. Larry did admit that the three of them share one thing in common, which Tony and I don’t, long lasting marriages without divorce, at least for now before he gets his own divorce. The big difference between them and Larry, they are both widowers, and that is something we don’t know much about yet. Although maybe we should try to understand how it affects them, it might be helpful for us. You can bet they had a lot more than they are giving us right now, but I had a feeling it was going to be like pulling wisdom teeth getting it all out in the open before they are ready.

Since we were all talking about relationships in one way or another, I thought it would be nice to talk about what attracts us to some people and not others. I said I didn’t care if it’s about wives, or friends of either sex. It might give me an idea of what Bill is going through, I already have a good picture in my head of what Tony might want. Larry, still on a roll was the first to offer up an opinion. He said definitely it was the differences that attracted him for years, and still does but sometimes looks for stuff that is the same.

Of course, Tony was the next to respond by asking for an example so he could understand better. That was fair I thought, at least until I find out what Larry is going to say. He said he was attracted to me because of our physical differences and kind of kept it to himself. Well one look at us would answer any question that comment gave them. But Tony went for it anyway and said, “Like what was the biggest thing?” Thanks Tony, I hope Larry doesn’t get too carried away on this. Fortunately, he went for the furry thing since I’m not and he hated that about himself. He told them exactly what you guys already know about the bullying and how Ellen was not a fan. But he pulled it together with how I worked on his head about that, and he believed me and now he’s over that problem. And he said how happy he was to find out he was just like Pops and now his son Ryan too. 

Surprisingly, it was Bill who came up with something to add himself and told Larry, “Have you ever thought about what guys who are not hairy at all might hate about themselves?” He flat out said, “No, I was too wrapped up into my own problems I guess. Tell me about it, what is it like for you if you want to tell us.” I thought, good for you babe, be a part of all this going on around us. Actually, Bill probably didn’t think it would go back to him like that because he didn’t have much to say other than he always thought hairy men were sexier than him. Good old Tony saved the day for him and said, “I think you are a very sexy old man!” Bill said, “So, you had to add the ‘OLD’ part huh?” And laughed so no one would feel bad. But I bet it stung a little. His point was well taken by Larry, you could see it in his face, he learned something he wasn’t expecting. Sometimes you can get buried in your own trash that you been carrying around your whole life and can’t see what others might be dealing with.

Since Larry made a point of my lack of furriness, I decided to poke a little fun at myself to lighten up the moment for everyone. I figured that Larry would get my humor and say something, like he’s known to do. I said, “So, my big difference is a lack of a furry backside, but I do have a sexy and furry frontside!” And of course I did my best to show it off by pulling open my shirt buttons for them. At least Tony loved my little show better than the rest of them, the others laughed harder. But my babe still on a roll and had his own funny comeback, “We all know those differences now and I do love your hairless ass if you can call that an ass.” That was a much bigger laugh at my expense. But it’s well known lately around the pool, that the only one with an ass worth talking about belongs to Larry. Yeah, and it’s all just for me!

AFTER ALL THE PATIO TALK

I followed through with Tony on my lake-side suggestion to re-arrange their twin beds to the middle of the room and then turn it into a king-sized bed for them. That’s not hard to do after seeing how they do that on cruise ships all the time. We moved the bed table and light from between the beds to one side, and used a king-sized mattress pad, sheets, and comforter to remake the bed. 

In case you are wondering if we got Bill involved with the change to their bedroom, of course we did. Was he enthusiastic? Well that’s pushing it, let’s say he was okay after his talk with Larry and a little encouragement from Tony. The transformation into the new configuration was quicker than I expected but I did have lots of help. I saw Bill looking over to Tony often during the change-over and I thought he’s doing this for him, and that’s a really nice gesture. After we made the bed I thought, let’s just leave it this way. Ryan and his wife and sons will be here before you know it, and that will be nicer for them, or for any future visits from the uncles.

Nothing else was said about the changes after they were made; life with the five of us just continued as it has been around here. Nothing to write about except for the following morning, now that was something worth writing about. I figured you’d be thinking about that yourself. It was later than usual for the uncles to be up and in the kitchen for coffee and whatever they wanted for breakfast. This is not a ‘B and B’, most days with them here it was fend for yourself, the pantry and refrigerator was stocked very well.

Pops is always an early riser and with our visitors he usually has the bigger coffee pot going for all five of us. However, no uncles yet on the morning after the changeover though. Led me to wonder, at least hopefully, that the change was a positive one for them. Well, after a couple of cups of coffee and some toasted Ezekiel bread with natural peanut butter for me, the uncles finally arrived in the kitchen to join us. I did see a couple of animated men chatting as they entered the kitchen from the hallway and a few excuses as to the lateness of their arrival. Personally, I really don’t think anyone cared and I doubt if anyone didn’t have a good idea why too; even Pops knew about the bed change we made yesterday for them.

Tony chose the chair next to me and Bill chose the chair next to Larry, part of me kind of expected something like that, just a feeling. Pops was over near the sink doing some cleanup at the time. The uncles were already dressed for the day, shoes, and everything. They were up to something I figured. Too late for going out for breakfast now, but they did say they’d like to take us out for lunch if we wanted. Sure, anything to get out of the house once in a while. 

In a quiet moment at the table, Tony said there was some plant outside in the backyard he’d like to ask me about and wondered if I could do that for him. Sure, hopefully I’d have the answer. And then he told me something obviously based on my performance yesterday, “Maybe you have a sweater or something to cover that “sexy hairy chest” of yours; I’d hate to see you catch a cold outside, as much as not seeing you without a shirt.” I told him, “If it’s your desire Uncle Tony, I’ll forgo the sweater for my sexy hairy chest just for you.” And laughed but I really loved having him feel he could say that to me. It was nice I never think about myself as sexy; I usually figure that’s Larry’s to deal with. So, after he finished his first cup of coffee, we headed to my office to go outside. I know I was joking about the cold; I truly planned on putting something warm on from the office closet along the way outside. He can see my sexy hairy chest when we get back inside! Haha.

Once we got into the office, Tony closed the door behind him and told me, if I didn’t mind, maybe he could talk to me in the office instead. It really has been cold out for us wimpy Californians, around 50° or so. I was pretty sure, what he wanted to talk about had nothing to do with the outside. He told me I could stay shirtless for the conversation but to please allow him to give me a big ‘Larry-style’ hug first. I figured that last night must have gone well for them.

After the hug and a kiss on the cheek, he asked if we could sit down for a bit. I asked him if it was about last night, as if I didn’t already know, and to tell me everything within reason. Maybe if he was my age, I’d drop the ‘within reason’ part. I got more than I expected too. He said that he picked the side of the bed he wanted and undressed right there, got into bed without pajamas and covered himself good enough to let Bill know he was very naked under there. So, I asked him to go on, what happened next? Like he wasn’t going to tell me anyway. He said he was going to ask Bill to not wear pajamas but didn’t have to, because he just stripped and got into bed naked with me. I told him I’d really like if he came over to me so we could cuddle together to keep warm during the night. I wasn’t expecting anything more than that from him.

So, I asked, “Did he want to do that with you?” “Oh you bet!” Was his answer, but his next comment was priceless. “Man-oh-man is he ever a fucking ‘human popsicle’ though! He sucked out all my body heat in a minute!” And then he laughed and said, “I could only guess if I’d like doing that with him, but I did and I want to do it again if he wants me to.”

He got my interest up about as high as it can get, so I had to ask him if he was up to telling me more about those new feelings he had and he said, “I want to tell the whole fucking world, it was the first time I felt he really wanted to be with me, and we weren’t smoking anything to make that happen; it was a wonderful feeling!”

I couldn’t help thinking, really, by just moving the beds together and our little discussion did that for them, but he cleared up that thinking quickly. He told me that maybe whatever Larry and Bill talked about gave him some ideas to think about. He added that, “Bill certainly was acting differently for sure last night.” No question any longer, Larry certainly had a big hand in this and maybe our Pops as well.

Tony couldn’t wait to fill me in about the experience, as long as I cared to hear about it. Yeah of course I want to! He told me that Bill said it was cold without pajamas and maybe he should put them on. “I told him to let me keep snuggling up with him I bet I could keep him warm enough, I wasn’t cold at all.” Tony got his hook into me, so I asked him if they just fell asleep like that. Tony said, “Oh no, it gets better. I put my arm around his waist and started to lightly stroke his belly like I think you suggested for me to do.” “And what happened then?” Tony said, “After a little while he moved his arm over mine and put his fingers into mine. I thought he wanted me to stop, but no, he actually started moving my hand where he wanted it to go.” “Really, he did that, huh?” Man, that’s it, we aren’t leaving this room until I know everything now! Haha. I had a feeling that Tony might have stepped over a line not well drawn, but he was comfortable with me and continued. He managed to tell me that Bill directed his hand much lower than he was going to try doing himself. I said, “You mean, he let you touch his dick, huh?” “Yeah he did, but I wasn’t the one pushing his hand down there you know.” Man, I wanted to know everything now.

GETTING TO KNOW TONY EVEN BETTER NOW

Considering how many years had passed between us, I had nothing, no idea of what Tony’s background was like. I’m sorry to admit that, seriously I don’t know where the two of them are headed as a possible couple. Tony filled me in, and I’ll try to let you know more about what he told me on the park bench.

He started out with something we all were told some time ago, that they have known each other for almost their whole lives. However, they have always kept in touch but lived their own lives after marrying. He told me that he was going to tell me stuff he’d never told anyone before because he trusts me and feels that maybe he should so I could understand. He said that Bill is only a few months younger and in a half year they will be the same age, that Bill would be 80 years old just like him soon. Well, I figured he was in his late seventies anyway. He told me that when they were pre-adolescents, he showed Billie what his cock could do, and had him do the same with him. It was something they did until Bill got his first girlfriend and told me that we could never tell anyone, ever! And made me swear on it, he said no one was going to call him a ‘homo.’ Tony said, “Being a homosexual was not something you wanted people to know about. I didn’t think what we were doing was wrong, but I knew I didn’t want anyone to know about it too. We learned that the girls we might marry one day would never have sex with us, but there were some girls that would. But we’d hear about the horrible sex diseases they’d give us, so you jerked off and hoped you’d find a girl to marry soon, or we’d grow hair on our palms.” We both laughed at that since I heard that one too as a kid.

No question, I was his greatest listener because he kept it coming. He said that both of them got married in their early twenties, and Bill lucked out and stayed married forever. He had a great marriage, and he misses her so much. As to himself, he said that he married a couple of times, but it didn’t stick. I asked him, “What do you think caused the breakups for you?” He was quick to say, “It was definitely me, I got caught cheating a few times in both marriages, I was at fault. I didn’t know how to say no to the women who were willing to come up to the hotel room we were staying in at the time. I liked sex, still do and I won’t marry again because I will probably do the same thing again. Although, maybe not so often now at my age.” He laughed at that shortcoming of his, I got the joke and laughed a little myself. Now I’m thinking what if he and Bill become a real couple, will he be cheating on him too? So, I asked him, he wanted this to be a real conversation between two men, and I’m willing and able. “Uncle Tony, if for some reason you and Bill find yourselves in love, will you be true to him?” He was as honest as he could be, and said, “I would only hope that I could be, but I have a history of not being that way, and frankly it disturbs me to say that.”

I followed up with, “You have told us more than once how much you love the relationship that Larry and I have, don’t you think it’s worth working hard to get that for yourself? What would make you turn your back on Bill?” Oh, I got the answer, and I knew it was coming, and it’s sex, if he couldn’t get what he wants from Bill, he’ll look someplace else. He did clear one thing up nicely, he still loves the ladies, and he had many to choose from in the ‘Senior’s Only’ apartment complex. Also said, there weren’t many men that he was friendly with there, but if that was the only sex he could get, he’d go for it. Man, I’m really getting the whole picture today from him, I’ll be dealing with a whole new dude now. I really am impressed with how open he was with me, and I will try to return the favor if he asks me questions that might have been a little embarrassing before this conversation.

Tony thanked me for listening and my honesty and said he will try not to make Bill embarrassed next time with their discussions. I guess you know that I had to ask him if Bill at any point in the night tried to snuggle up to his backside. He said, “Yes he did, and he froze my fucking ass off too.” And we both laughed at the thought of it, but he did say he was encouraged that Bill actually tried and he never let him know that he was a ‘human popsicle’ at all. He did jokingly tell me that Bill really needs to start eating some blood building foods though!

Tony asked me the one question I should have expected to hear eventually, “How will I know if sex is going to happen between us or even when to bring it up. What if I want it and he doesn’t, and I think he does.” It would be wonderful if I had all the answers he needs, but I can only give him what we’ve learned to do ourselves. I let loose with this, “You guys are life-long friends, even though you’ve led separate lives; aren’t you at least comfortable talking to each other? Can you guys trust each other enough to bring up your need for sex?” Tony said they are great friends, always have been, but I don’t know what his feelings are on that. What if I build up all these feelings for him and he rejects me and wants me to move out?”

Man, do I ever know that feeling. So, I  briefed him with a little story about Larry and me from about a dozen years ago that you guys have read about before; I’m not going to repeat it here, but I think it gave him some hope.

I guess I could go on forever about my new uncles and what they are experiencing now for themselves, but I need to be wrapping this chapter up. So our newly found ‘uncles’ are no longer staying with us because of the fire, truth to be told, they were long gone before I finished writing this chapter. They are not gone from our lives, just back home again. Pops keeps company with them often and if I didn’t know better, I might be thinking they should become a ‘Throuple’ for fun. Might be the best thing for all of them one day. Haha, just messing with you here, but I do feel bad for Pops not having someone special for himself at times.

FAMILY TIME WITH POPS

One evening after dinner and our normal clean-up in which we all participated, the three of us headed to the family room to watch the News of the day, no matter how bad or bad.

Larry and I headed to our favorite cuddling couch instead of the easy chairs we use to catch up on emails while watching whatever we put on the TV. There’s more than enough seating to suit anyone’s desires in the room but somehow we found Pops standing quietly in front of us instead of heading to an easy chair to take the load off. Pops just stood there as a silent sentinel until he told us to, “spread it, I want in there!” I don’t know who that guy was, but it wasn’t the Pops I’ve known for longer than I can remember.

Larry complied immediately as if it was a military command and headed for the other end of the couch. I couldn’t move because I was already at the right-side arm rest. As soon as the opening was created, Pops plopped down almost on top of me, it was that close. He looked over to where Larry ended up and told him, “Hey, I said spread it, not get lost! Get your ‘effing ass back over here and sit right next to me!” Of course he did, and probably wondered what he did wrong in the process of moving over.

So, here’s the picture I want you to put into your head, three mature men crammed into one corner of the couch when there was ample room for comfortable space between us. Follow up that image with Pops arms reaching out in both directions to gather us into his embrace. Got that so far? Papa and his two boys, only they were big men.

When we were all settled in the way he wanted us to be, he commanded us with, “Now rest your heads on my chest, I want to tell you a bedtime story.” That hit me as so not Pops-like and almost made me giggle, but I kept my counsel for the time being. However, my sweet old babe had his head on Pops chest in a split second. So, who am I to disrespect my Pops wishes, my head complied post haste.

I’m going out on a limb and report that in a nanosecond my babe had his head off Pops to ask him a question that could only come from the mind of Larry, and in his best little kid voice, “Are you planning on tucking us in afterwards?” Larry’s little setup was to be at my expense; his punchline was coming up. So, he finished with, “Because it might be kinda hard to tuck-in ‘little Al’ with that big tent pole of his poking up the covers all the time.” Come on Larry, that might be too much information, but I did let out a howl of a laugh at the image he put into my head. That even got Pops to laugh himself, but his own comeback was on it’s way soon.

I am so happy that we have created, strike that, that Larry has created an atmosphere of trust and humor around here on a regular basis, and it hasn’t been lost on Pops whatsoever. Pops comeback, “Yes, I could see how that could be a problem son, I’m sure you could help him with that though.” Oh, he’s not done yet, he was only building to his punchline or target. Pops continued on with, “Mark that little performance you gave us at the pool, with the surprise ending, remember it?” Like anyone could forget. He added, “That tent pole you just alluded to under the covers was the co-star for the three of us in the audience. Your ‘little Al’ here wasn’t the least bit successful at hiding his “problem” from us as he probably thought he was.”

I had a comeback too, “Oh come on, really! You guys saw that?!” Pops looked at me and then looked at Larry, shook his head in some sort of disbelief, and addressed his comment to Larry. “Would you tell ‘little Al’ that all of us were standing in shallow water, as in not deep enough to hide anything that almost floated on top of the water.” He said, “Never mind I think he heard me anyway.” He laughed before adding the rest of his comment designed for my ears this time. “Al, the three of us knew the only person Mark was performing for was you, we were only in the audience for the show. Son, you have nothing to be embarrassed about; if you didn’t get an erection after that show of his, don’t you think that would be more embarrassing?” Pops tried to soften the blow somewhat with, “We knew you might not like us knowing what Mark did to you, so we didn’t say anything. But sure had a lot to talk about after you guys went to bed!” Okay, now I’m a little embarrassed, at least I felt my face flush with some heat. Personally, I really wanted the subject to change, I should have been proud that my babe could raise my boner in front of them, but it felt weird now knowing they had a lot to say afterwards. I’m glad Pops changed the subject to what he really wanted to tell us.

Pops lead-in story might not have been the best “bedtime story,” perhaps it was his way of giving us a window into their more mature lives and how they would handle awkward situations with humor. These are my assessments on the situation, I’m sure for them it’s and over and done thing worth a chuckle now and then. 

We both settled back into a comfortable snuggle position with Pops to hear what he really wanted to tell us. He approached the subject with that he certainly wasn’t getting any younger and time is flying by for him and admitted that he didn’t know how much time on earth he had left. Neither one of us want to hear that story from him, but he shushed our attempts to silence those thoughts and continued on with his words.

It’s going to be difficult to remember everything he had to say, so I’ll paraphrase what I think I heard. The following is definitely what he started out with, “I have so much I want to say, and I don’t know if I can cover all of it in just a few minutes of your time. So, I’m writing stuff down on paper, and that’s a lot of work and scratching out stuff. You guys are always writing on your iPads, I know there’s a way to write stuff and organize it better than just stacking pieces of paper. Do you think you can teach me how?”

Man, if he only knew! But that wasn’t all he had to say, he wanted to tell us the feeling of loss, about being alone, his time with Sarah in Mexico, finding his dear old friends, but mostly about us and how we have changed his life. He added that the idea of being a Great GrandPop and Grandfather was the most exciting emotion he’s had in memory.

We listened, and yes Larry did too, no more jokes. There’s so much to write about it would take a whole chapter and I’m ready to call this one done for now. Larry and I have never felt closer to him now that he is here with us, that perhaps what he has to say is more important to us, than important for the blog. He had our rapt attention for hours longer that any of us normally stay up; and the two of us barely interrupted his thoughts. Of course, not that we didn’t want to say anything, but it seemed inappropriate to interrupt his train of thought. For me it was the chance to build more memories before the chance gets taken away from me once more. I wish I had better memories of my parents; I wish i was less of a normal teenager at the time and more adult-like. I wish I asked questions to remember for the rest of my life, I wish, I wish, I wish. Not anymore, I won’t wish any longer, I’ll ask, and I’ll listen, and I’ll learn, for one day the chance to ask will be gone forever once again. 

When Pops realized how much time we spent on the couch, he told us we all better get to bed, and if we wanted “tucked-in” he’d do it but wasn’t sure he could figure out what to do with any tent poles. I attempted to do a fake arm punch on him except it wasn’t fake, only by accident, he moved. So, he told us that he’s going to need help getting off this bean-bag couch of ours. He had two of us helping him up and then his adopted son named Larry said that he wanted to walk him to his room. But not to worry, he won’t try to tuck him in. I let him, but he better not be too long if he wants me to still be awake when he comes to bed. Well, I guess you can figure out, no matter what, I’d force myself to stay awake to see what my babe had to say.

Larry apologized for commandeering our Pops for himself for a few more minutes, that wasn’t a problem at all, I couldn’t be happier for the two of them finding what they both needed together. Larry did a slow strip right in front of me to make sure I didn’t miss a thing, including a special part just waiting for me to take over for him. I not sure if I could have predicted how these three men would have affected our relationship beforehand, and I bet the same for Larry. However, they have, and it truly has deepened the love we have for each other immensely. And somehow, I just wasn’t the least bit sleepy for quite a while that night. Wasn’t that most fortunate for us! 

MY LAST WORDS GOES TO POPS

Will Pops be a permanent resident of our home? That will certainly be up to him, but if I were a betting man, I’d say yes. We are both working hard to make him feel that he belongs here, however, we also do not want him to feel trapped or obligated in any way. The Pops I get to see on a daily basis, is not the Pops I worked with; let’s call that a very good thing. He was my boss, and he was more than fair with me, however, we knew when we could be relaxed together and when to be business partners. Around here, I believe he loves being relaxed as much as us. Can I say he will choose to stay, not yet. When he has all his ducks-in-a-row, we can readdress his situation once more. 

The subject of where he’ll call home was brought up some time ago, he has what he feels is important with him here with us. Before he sold his condo and relocated in Mexico with Sarah, he stored his belongings locally. He brought limited clothing to Mexico and purchased what he needed down there. He told us that there is nothing of importance that he can’t replace up here. Sarah’s daughter can donate everything of his still left there. Well, that’s the kind of news that certainly works for us.

I think I’ve covered enough for this chapter; you ought to see the amount I had to cut in my edits. I saved what I wrote in case there would be a better time to use the material. The one thing that has happened to both of us while the house has been full, is the amount of time that it takes writing a little here, a little there and never in front of them. Sometimes, I’d write about the same thing twice because I forgot I wrote it already. And then getting the time sequence correct, mostly because I tend to write what’s occupying my mind at the time, not necessarily in a day-by-day fashion. Larry may want to pick up where he left off, but I’d love to read what he had to say to Bill and Pops more than anything else.

So, I will close here and decide what if anything will be rescued from the cutting-room floor next time. I hope Larry is up to writing the next chapter himself, I need a rest from all the typing. From my conversations with Larry, I’m certain you’ll be surprised at what he might choose to write about next time.

 

Thanks for reading.

Marcus

Here's a link to Larry's 25th posting: https://brosgonerogue.blogspot.com/2022/12/larrys-25th-post.html#more