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   story codes: (Mb bb snuff anal oral ped) style: contemporary

   THE DUNGEON MASTER by Rafe Morgan (Copyright 2012)

   BOOK III: THE MAZE (Scott and Rabbit)

   Chapter 7

   In the morning I found it hard to arouse both boys, but I got them up at
last and after breakfast at McDonald's their irrepressible high spirits had
reasserted themselves.  The boys were eager for competition by the time we
parked the van in the field near the paintball enclosure.

   "Can we like have that bet again, Joe?" Rabbit wanted to know after we
had climbed out.  Beside him Scott bit his lip, glanced at the taller boy,
and then looked up at me.

   "Whatever you guys want," I said.  "How `bout it, Scott?  You wanna make
the bet again?"

   The blonde boy shrugged his shoulders and after a moment of hesitation
answered, "Okay."

   "Good for you!" I ruffled his blond hair.  "That's the way to hang in
there.  Never back down.  Today could be your day!"

   The boy nodded, meeting my eyes with pride, but next to him I saw Rabbit
grin.  "Don't get so cocky, there, Ace," I told him, giving his head a
quick pat as well.  "You never know what can happen in these fights!"

   The boys followed me to the sign-up booth and after they had been
entered I got them into the protective clothing we had rented.

   "Geez, this sucks!" Rabbit complained, but he grinned again when I
squeezed his shoulder.

   "It's only for these public events," I assured him.  "Back home it'll be
different."

   "It'll be wicked awesome!" Scott exclaimed, pulling on his overalls.

   After I had helped them both adjust their goggles, we double checked
their ammo loads and went to the gate where the first event was about to be
set up.

   It was another kid free-for-all similar to the one that had started the
previous day's contests, except that this one had even more participants
and instead of being a last-man-standing event there was a flag that had to
be captured to win.  The resulting battle was lively, going on for nearly
an hour because there were so many youngsters that entered.  I watched with
pride as Scott and Rabbit survived to be among the finalists struggling to
reach the flag.  They did not win, but that was due more to luck than
anything else.  Both lasted longer than most, including the boy with a red
bandanna who had caught my attention the day before.

   Scott was eliminated before Rabbit and he emerged looking at bit
crestfallen, but the two boys' scores were very close.  I patted his
shoulder as we compared them once Rabbit joined us.  "Scott, that could
have gone either way.  Both you guys did very well.  What I really like was
how well you guys were shooting.  All your practice is paying off."

   "The kid that won just got lucky," Rabbit grumbled, frowning.  I gave
his shoulder a pat as well.

   "You've got the rest of the day to show what you can do.  You just hang
in there."

   We hadn't long to wait.  The next event was a kids' pair's competition
and Rabbit entered with Scott as a team.  Once again the objective was to
capture a flag hidden within a small hut at the center of the competition
area.  I watched with mounting excitement as my two fighters defeated three
other teams in the elimination round, and then went head-to-head for the
prize against a pairing that included the red bandanna kid.

   All four boys were good - fast, agile, excellent shots.  Approaching
from opposite directions each team attempted to ambush and then flank the
other without success.  Finally, in a spectacular move, my two youngsters
broke the stalemate.  I saw them conversing with each other behind the
brush pile they were using as a shelter and Rabbit made some rapid gestures
with his hand.  Suddenly he broke cover, zigzagging across open ground
toward a wooden barrier near the hut while Scott delivered accurate
covering fire that pinned down the other team.  Then it was Scott's turn.
He darted into the open, zigzagging as Rabbit had done, but then appeared
to stumble and went rolling onto the ground.  He was up again in an instant
but instead of heading for the barrier that had been Rabbit's objective he
ran straight at the wooden fence where the other team was sheltering,
firing his pistol.

   Both the red bandanna boy and his partner ducked out from behind their
shelter, converging their fire on him.  In a set of beautiful shots while
on the run Scott took out the bandanna boy but the other kid knelt down,
aimed, and squeezed off a volley of pallets, one of which splatted on the
front of Scott's jumpsuit.

   Just as he always did in our games at home when he pretended to 'die' in
some spectacular manner, my blonde fighter threw up his arms, staggered and
went tumbling to the ground to end up sprawled in pretended death.  The boy
on the other team kept his weapon firing until Scott was down and only then
did he remember about Rabbit.  But it was too late.  While Scott had
distracted the others, deliberately sacrificing himself, Rabbit had dashed
toward the flag hut.  He emerged, waving the red cloth in triumph and was
declared the winner along with Scott.  Both received blue ribbons and they
came back to me beaming with pride.

   "That was fantastic," I said, getting down on one knee and placing a
hand on each of their shoulders "I'm so proud of you guys." I looked at
Scott.  "There's no bet today.  No one's a slave after that.  What you guys
did showed teamwork, sportsmanship, self-sacrifice...  I can't tell you how
good it made me feel." After patting the blonde boy I turned to look at
Rabbit.  "Congratulations, Hot Shot.  Nothing you could have done would
have pleased me more.  I'm so very, very proud..."

   The lanky boy flushed and dropped his eyes, the tip of his tongue
protruding from the corner of his mouth.  I could tell he was happy and
Scott had obviously recovered all his normal high spirits because he
wiggled impatiently and said, "I'm hungry, Joe.  Can we like eat somethin'?
Let's get somethin' to eat!"

   I bought the boys lunch and during the afternoon events, while Scott and
Rabbit competed in several more team contests at the invitation of other
groups of older players, I wandered around looking over the crowd of
spectators.  Most were relatives of the competitors, but here and there I
found local kids, watching out of curiosity.  One group of four boys had
gathered on the sidelines with their bikes.  They were Rabbit's age or
younger, dressed in loose T-shirts and baggy cargo shorts, all following
the action in fascinated wonder.  I gave them an assessment out of the
corner of my eye.  It seemed likely they had come from one of the nearby
developments and I walked past several times to see if any made eye
contact. None did and after a half hour or so they left, riding off on
their bikes.

   Disappointed I kept strolling around hoping to spot other prospects. 
Out in the competition area Scott and Rabbit had formed a team with the
bandanna kid, his brother and two other boys.  They were engaged in a
spirited contest with another group made up of young men and as I watched,
Rabbit, covered by Scott, scurried from one brush pile to another, opening
a devastating fire on a member of the other team whose position was now
flanked.  The older teen's coverall blossomed with paint as Rabbit's shots
hit him and he shook his head in disgust when a referee eliminated him.

   After following more of the action for a time I wandered around and
spotted a young boy I had not seen before.  He was standing on the
sidelines dressed in shabby worn-out tee shirt and shorts, both too small
for him, watching Scott, Rabbit and the other boys with keen interest.  I
kept an eye on him until I was sure he was alone, then ambled over.

   Out on the field Scott dashed across open ground to a wooden barrier. 
Ducking behind it, he fired a volley of shots at an opposing player.

   "Way t' move, Scott!" I yelled, "Take it to him, Tiger!"

   The youngster glanced up at me and I saw he was Hispanic.

   "You play?" I asked, gesturing toward the field.

   He gave a shy half-shrug.  "Sometimes."

   "You goin' in anything today?"

   The boy shuffled his feet.  "Nah."

   "You can if you want.  It's okay.  I'll sponsor you."

   He shook his head, still looking down to avoid my eyes.  "Nah.  I better
not."

   Now that I was standing close, I could see the boy had delicate, almost
girlish features, with long eyelashes, glossy straight black hair and a
slim yet sturdy build.  His old shorts, gray from many washings, ended
above his pretty knees revealing well-formed smooth lower legs.  The boy's
skin was a light shade of tan.

   "What's your name?" I asked and he gave me a quick glance from under his
eyebrows.

   "Javier."

   "Listen, Javier," I told him.  "You look quick and strong.  I bet you'd
be good at this.  My name's Joe." I held my hand out to him.  "If you ever
want to be on a team, let me know.  We'd like to have you."

   With another shy glance at me the boy shook my hand.

   "You want something to eat, Javier?" I asked.  "I'm gonna get the other
kids a snack."

   The youngster gave a little nod of his head and followed me to one of
the food stands where I bought some nachos, gave him a portion and had the
rest ready for Scott and Rabbit when they joined me; sweaty, splattered
with fresh paint and bubbling with excitement.

   "Did you see us, Joe?" Rabbit panted.

   "We almost got all those big guys!" Scott's face was red and shiny from
all the running they had been doing.  His silky blonde hair was plastered
to his head.  "We woulda won if Cory hadn't got nailed by his own big
brother!"

   "He was pissed!" Rabbit told me, giggling.

   I looked at both my two young gunfighters with pride.  "I saw the whole
thing.  Cory's the kid with the red bandanna, right?"

   "Uh-huh!" Rabbit nodded.  "He's a good player.  He can shoot pretty
good."

   "But his brother said that we were like the best!" Scott assured me, his
eyes shining.

   Rabbit grinned.  "Yeah.  Cory was like really pissed then!" The two boys
started laughing and touched fists together.

   "You guys are the best.  There's no doubt in my mind about that." I
handed them each a plate of nachos.  Scott and Rabbit crammed some of the
cheesy morsels into their mouths and then I saw them dart curious looks at
the youngster half hidden behind me.

   "C'mon an' meet the team," I told Javier, drawing the boy forward.  He
glanced up at me for reassurance took a few hesitant steps and stood facing
the other boys, head down, looking at them from under his dark eyebrows.

   "This is Javier," I said.  "He plays paintball sometimes and he was
cheering for you guys in that last match.  You wanna take him out in the
next one and let him show what he can do?"

   Rabbit and Scott exchanged a quick look.  "Sure," Rabbit said.

   "Who knows?" I told them.  "If Javier's good enough, he might wanna try
for some big money an' play extreme paintball, or real laser tag."

   My two young fighters looked at each other again and Scott grinned. 
"Come on," he told Javier.  "There's some kids that like wanna make a team
for the shootout.  You can be on it."

   The Hispanic youngster glanced up at me.  "I doan' know..."

   "No problem," I said, squeezing his shoulder.  Beneath the thin cotton
there was silky warm skin and a firm little swell of muscle.  "I'll be your
sponsor.  Let's get you a jumpsuit."

   A few minutes later we had Javier outfitted with coveralls, goggles and
one of our spare paint guns.  The boy appeared nervous as he stood in front
of me while I checked his gun for proper loading.  But then after another
reassuring pat from me on his shoulder he trotted off, following Scott and
Rabbit.  In the next event all three boys, along with the red bandanna kid
and his partner, were on a team with several other youngsters.  In the
melee that followed I thought Javier held his own fairly well.  He was not
the first to be counted out and before he was finally hit I watched him
take down two of the opposing group.

   When the event was over Scott and Rabbit, with Javier in tow, ran over
to me.  "Our side won!" Scott announced with a happy grin.

   "Yeah," Rabbit said with a look of fierce pride.  "We slaughtered `em!"

   Behind them Javier seemed less shy and like the other two he had a happy
smile on his face.  "Did you have fun?" I asked and he nodded to me.

   "They're gonna like have target contests next," Rabbit told me.  "We
don't gotta wear all this heavy stuff for that, do we, Joe?"

   "No.  Give it to me.  I'll take it back for you."

   All three boys shucked out of their protective coveralls, uncovering
sweat soaked shorts and T-shirts that clung to their young bodies. 
Javier's paper thin clothes were stuck so tight they might have been turned
to cellophane revealing every detail of his slim graceful form.  I could
see he was not wearing any underwear and like most Hispanic boys the mound
of his butt jutted out in a smooth firm curve.  After reloading the guns I
sent my three youngsters off to sign up for the target shooting while I
returned their jumpsuits to the booth where I had rented them.

   The day's activities ended with war games for the adult players while
most of the kids were occupied with a skills competition in a special area
at the other side of the big parking field.  Contests included stationery
shooting, rapid fire and an interesting shoot against moving targets pulled
along a string.

   Scott and Rabbit emerged from this grinning at me, holding several red
and blue ribbons.  Behind them Javier was empty-handed but he seemed happy
enough and Rabbit assured me that he had done well.  "He shoulda got a
ribbon in that one with the standing targets, Joe."

   "Yeah.  He like got gypped," Scott said.

   Rabbit nodded, holding out a fist for Javier to tap.  "He's good, Joe."

   "I was sure he would be." I put a hand on the Hispanic boy's shoulder
and he looked up with a grateful expression.

   Scott giggled and told me in a lowered voice, "We like told him about
playing for real, Joe.  He says he wants to."

   "Yeah," Rabbit said, moving close to me.  He glanced at Javier and then
whispered, "We like told him he could make a lot of money."

   "It would be up to him," I said looking at Javier.  "You want to get a
ride home with us and we'll talk about it?"

   He nodded and I glanced around to make sure no one was paying us any
attention.  "Okay, here's what we do.  Don't go to the car with us. 
Someone might see that.  Go all the way down to the highway and wait for
us. We'll give you time to get there.  Just be ready to hop in when we come
by.  Then we'll talk."

   Javier nodded and after getting a pat on his butt from me he scampered
off, heading for the parking lot.

   "If he like comes with us, we can like have a for-real fight in the
maze, right Joe?" Scott asked.

   "Yeah.  If he comes..."

   "What if he don't?"

   I patted the blonde boy's shoulder.  "Then we'll find someone else. 
Don't worry.  We're not goin' home till we've got one."

   Rabbit and Scott walked with me over to the competition area where we
watched the final awards ceremony and then the three of us made our way
with the rest of the crowd into the parking lot.

   "We'll give it some time for the traffic to clear out," I told the boys
when we reached the van.

   You think that kid'll wait for us?" asked Rabbit.

   I shrugged.  "If he's interested he will.  Otherwise he won't."

   Once most of the cars had cleared out I got the van moving and my two
boys crowded together on the passenger seat, leaning forward, watching out
the window as we followed the dirt road out toward the highway.

   "There he is!" Rabbit exclaimed suddenly, pointing.

   On the corner, by the side of the road, Javier was waiting, head turning
as the cars in front of him passed, looking for us.  I pulled over, let the
single vehicle behind us pass and then drove forward.  Scott scrambled into
the back and slid open the side panel door.  As we came up Javier spotted
us, ran over and jumped into the back while Scott slid the panel door
closed behind him.

   "Anybody see us?" I asked Rabbit and the boy shook his head.

   Turning left onto the highway I drove the van a few miles down the road
until we came to a strip mall with one of the big discount chain stores. 
In the parking lot I found a place for the van away from most of the other
cars and after turning off the ignition I climbed into the back, sat down
on the Ensolite pad and gestured for the three boys to gather around me.

   "Here's the deal," I told Javier, who stared back at me with a solemn
expression.  "The guys want you on the team, but it's up to you.  Before I
tell you about it you have to swear you won't tell anyone else."

   "I won't," the boy assured me.  His big dark eyes went to both Scott and
Rabbit, and then back to me.

   "We can trust you?"

   "Uh-huh!"

   "Okay.  You live around here, right?"

   "Yeah."

   "Who with?  Your mom and dad?"

   Javier shook his head, his delicate features twisting in a grimace. 
"Nah.  It's like my gran'ma an' my Aunt an' my cousins."

   "You like it?"

   The boy shook his head again.  "Uh-uh." Looking down in embarrassment he
went on in a low voice, "My big cousin, he's like 19...  He like...  He's
like always beatin' up on me..."

   "That sucks," Rabbit muttered.  "I know..."

   "You don't have to deal with him anymore," I said reaching out to
squeeze Javier's delicate knee.  "You can come with us if you want.  It's
up to you.  Tomorrow's Monday.  You ever ditched school?"

   Javier nodded and beside me Scott snickered, "Who hasn't?"

   "Here's what you do," I told Javier.  "Show us where to meet you.  It's
got to be some place where nobody sees us.  We'll pick you up tomorrow
morning and you'll be on the team.  You won't have to see this cousin of
yours ever again.  But it's only if you want to.  You don't have to do
anything.  Either way, it's okay.  All I ask is that, if you decide not to
come with us, you don't say anything to anybody.  Deal?"

   Javier nodded.  "Uh-huh."

   I held out a fist and the pretty Hispanic boy bumped it with his own.

   "Let's get going," I told him.  "Sit up front with me.  Show me where
you live, and we'll pick out a spot where you can meet us in the morning."

   Scott and Rabbit pushed themselves out of the way so our new prospect
could get up into the passenger seat.  After sliding behind the wheel I
started the van and we drove back down the highway to a turnoff that Javier
said led to his neighborhood.  Not far down the road was an abandoned gas
station with grass growing out of the cracks in the tarmac, boards across
the windows and rusty stands where the pumps had been removed from the
service islands.

   "I can like meet you here tomorrow," Javier said, pointing, and I nodded
in approval.

   "Perfect.  What time?"

   "Ummm..." The boy thought about it, frowning a little, which made him
look cute and appealing.  "Like...  Like seven thirty?"

   "Seven thirty," I said nodding.  "No problem.  We'll be here.  And we'll
wait for fifteen minutes if we don't see you.  Now remember..." I reached
over to squeeze the boy's bare knee, enjoying the smooth warmth of his skin
beneath my fingers.  "You only do this if you want to.  It's okay if you
don't.  We'll understand."

   Javier nodded and I squeezed his knee once more.  "Where should we drop
you off?"

   The boy pointed to a street leading off from the road we were on and I
slowed the van.  "Here's some money in case you need anything." Taking out
my wallet, I handed Javier two $10 bills.  "I hope you had fun today.  If
we see you tomorrow, that'll be great - and if we don't, that's okay, too."
I checked the mirrors to be sure no other vehicles were in sight.  "Get
going now..."

   With a grateful look at me, clutching the money, Javier climbed out and
stood waving by the side of the road while we drove away.

   "How come he like can't just come with us now?" Scott asked as he and
Rabbit squeezed together back into the passenger seat.

   "Too many people could have seen him with us at the paint ball," I
explained.  "It's better we do it this way."

   "I hope he comes," Rabbit said.  He aimed an imaginary pistol and went,
"Pow!  Pow!"

   "Yeah," Scott said with a giggle.

   The boys were tired that night and a swim in the pool with me combined
with a big dinner sent the two of them to sleep even before the movie we
had selected got to its end.  They lay naked on either side of me, Rabbit
with his head leaning on my shoulder and Scott half rolled against me, one
arm across my stomach, perfect body sculpted in light and shadow by the dim
bedside lamp.  I stroked and caressed their silky smooth forms until the
movie finished and then drew a cover over us and drifted off myself
enveloped by silky warmth and the exquisite perfume of youth.

   In the morning the boys woke up early, both tugging at me in a playful
way as if wanting to be taken, but after checking the time I hustled them
into the bathroom to brush their teeth.  By 6:30 they were dressed, packed,
and we were checked out.  A McDonald's drive-through supplied us with
breakfast and while the boys finished eating I took the van past the
deserted gas station where Javier was supposed to meet us.

   "If ain't 730 yet, is it Joe?" Rabbit asked, peering out the passenger
side window as we went by.

   "No," I told him.  "This is counter surveillance.  We need to be sure
the cops don't have the place staked out.  Javier might've talked."

   Scott, who was squeezed into the seat next to Rabbit, turned to look at
me.  "He said he wouldn't."

   "That doesn't mean he didn't."

   "The kid better not rat," I heard Rabbit mutter.

   Glancing over at him I caught an expression I had never seen on him
before, a look of almost fierce cruelty.

   A few miles up the road I turned the van around in the parking lot of a
strip mall, waited a few minutes and then drove back to pass the meeting
place again.  There was no sign of any parked vehicle or other suspicious
activity.  Even so I repeated the maneuver several more times before
waiting in the strip mall parking area for 7:30 to arrive.

   "Okay," keep your eyes open," I told the boys as we started back down
the road again.  Both of them leaned forward as we approached the spot.

   "There he is," Rabbit told me.

   Beside him Scott smacked a clenched fist into his other palm and
whispered, "Yes!"

   Javier was waiting by the boarded-up door of what had once been the old
gas station's convenience store.  He was dressed in school clothes, a shirt
and long pants, and like the clothes he had worn the day before they were
faded and too small for him.  His head lifted when he caught sight of the
van and he started forward as I turned on my blinker signal for a turn.

   "Slide the door open for him," I told Scott.

   My two boys exchanged grins and I saw another momentary flicker of
fierceness in Rabbit's eyes.  Then Scott was scrambling past me into the
back and by the time we stopped in one of the weed grown service lanes the
back panel door was open.  Javier scrambled in, the door slammed shut and
then we were off, heading down the road toward the Interstate.

   "Anybody see us?" I asked Rabbit.  The boy shook his head.

   "Then we're all set."

   Rabbit touched the fist I held out.  Behind us Scott and Javier knelt on
the Ensolite pad to look over our shoulders.  Javier was smiling and he
looked excited.  "Everything go okay?" I asked.

   He nodded.  "Uh-huh."

   I saw that he had brought a schoolbag with him and I asked what was in
it.

   "I got my shoes," he told me, "An' like my Game Boy and stuff."

   "You've got a Game Boy?"

   "Uh-huh."

   "Good!  We gotta cable.  You guys can play two or three way."

   The boy's face lit up in a grin.  "All right!"

   "Yeah." I held my palm out behind me.  "Welcome to the team, Javier."

   He slid his warm little palm over mine and then exchanged slaps with
both Scott and Rabbit.

   "What's gonna happen when they find out you didn't go to school?" I
asked once the formalities were done.

   Javier snickered.  "They gonna think I ditched."

   "How `bout when you don't come home tonight?"

   "Then they gonna think I took off to my sister's." He gave me a sly
grin. "She live in California.  I done it before once and they don't catch
me until a week later."

   "Nice,"

   I held my palm out for him to slap again.  By the time we reached the
Interstate all three boys were settled in the back playing a video game and
I had the front to myself.  During the long drive home I kept the radio on,
changing stations every few hours listening to the news.  There was never
anything about Javier.

   We reached the house shortly after dark and it was none too soon.  For a
while videogames had kept the boys occupied.  Then after consuming the
lunch I bought for them they had engaged in a lengthy wrestling session,
rolling around on the Ensolite, shrieking with laughter as they tickled
each other.  But after that they became restless, and in the way of all
boys began to bombard me with the familiar questions of, "Are we like
almost there, Joe?" and "How much further?" It was with great relief, on
their part and mine, that I turned the van into my driveway and hit the
button to raise the garage door.

   While I unloaded the paintball supplies Scott and Rabbit gave Javier a
tour of the house.  "Oh wow!" The boy kept saying over and over as he was
shown things.  His pretty almost girlish features lit up when he saw the
widescreen TV in the big basement bedroom.  Soon all three boys became so
engrossed in a game of 'Doom' I had trouble prying them away when it was
time for their dinner.

   After eating, in order to bleed off some of their excess energy from
having been cooped up in the van all day, I had Scott and Rabbit find a
pair of black satin workout shorts for Javier, equip him with a vest and
then we dimmed the lights so they could teach him the basement laser tag
game.  After overcoming some initial fear when he experienced the shocks a
vest could administer, Javier was soon imitating the others, jerking or
tumbling to the floor, 'dying' in as many spectacular ways as he could
think of.  For more than three hours the basement was filled with squeals
of laughter, 'Zap!  Zap!' sounds and groans of simulated agony as the boys
chased after each other.

   They would probably have been content to go all night if I had not
insisted that it was time for bed.  Scott and Javier paired off to the big
bedroom where the Doom game was resumed, but Rabbit stayed with me when I
went upstairs.  I stripped the boy and took him into my arms on the bed
where we exchanged long deep kisses, our naked bodies twisting together in
the darkness.  Later, when I entered Rabbit, penetrating his tight opening,
the boy responded with a fierceness that he had never shown before, heaving
up to impale himself on me and writhing in desperate urgency.  Using
different positions I brought him to one jerking climax after another,
before releasing into him myself.  Then, with the boy's hard wiry body
settled in my arms, I stroked and caressed his silky warmth, whispering
endearments.

   "Are we gonna like do it for real tomorrow?" He asked, staring up at me.

   After kissing him, I shook my head.  "You gotta give that new kid some
time to train.  We'll do it pretty soon, but not tomorrow."

   Rabbit was silent for a while, then he whispered, "Do you like him,
Joe?"

   "Sure..." I stroked him.  "I like the kid."

   A quiver went through my lanky fighter and then, in a soft high voice
that betrayed his anxiety, Rabbit asked, "Better than me?"

   "Of course not!" I kissed the boy again to reassure him.  "Did you think
that?  I can never like any kid better than you."

   Rabbit squirmed, tugging at me with both arms.  "You like Scott..."

   "I like him, just the way I like you." My palm caressed Rabbit's sturdy
shoulders and then drifted down the taper of his back to cup the smooth
glossy mound of his perfectly curved butt.  "You're both very special in
different ways.  But there could never be any kid I would like better than
you."

   For a few moments Rabbit was silent.  Then he offered his mouth for
another kiss, but once are lips parted he asked, "Is the new kid special?"

   "I think he must be." I was still cupping the boy's firm butt cheek and
I squeezed it in a caress.  "In a certain way he must be special.  We're
gonna see."

   "I wanna do it for real, Joe," Rabbit said, squirming to press his silky
warmth against me.  "I wanna do it soon."

   "We will.  You and Scott have an opponent now.  Give him some training
time and we'll do it.  You're my brave gunfighter, Rabbit.  The best in the
world.  There's no one I'll ever like better than you..."

   Using more whispered endearments I finally got the boy sleep and with
him cuddled at my side I dropped off myself.  But I was awakened in the
early hours before dawn by Rabbit's hands moving on me.  He pleaded to be
taken again, desperate for additional proof that he was special to me and I
gave it to him wordlessly, all my passion stirred by the writhing of the
young boy's taut wiry form as he hugged against me.  When I came into
Rabbit, my hips jerking in thrust after thrust, the boy gave a moaning cry
of ecstasy, his wiry body heaving up against my own, shuddering in spasm.

   I found it impossible to sleep after that.  Rabbit lay beside me,
sprawled in the aftermath of pleasure, his eyes closed.  I drew a cover
over the boy and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.  Taking it
out to the patio, I stood in the chill dawn, watching the first gleams of
gold touch the treetops, sipping from time to time on the steaming contents
of my cup.

   How many dawns, in how many different parts of the world had I seen?  I
wondered.  It was a commonplace miracle, and yet at that moment the
pleasure of it seemed equal to the pleasure of a perfect boy.  Was that
because perfection was an illusion?  I asked myself.  Perhaps the sexual
ecstasy I had just tasted was as commonplace as the pleasure of coffee at
sunrise because all boys were perfect in their own way and the world was
filled with them.  With these thoughts in my head, and feeling very wise
and philosophical I retreated into the kitchen to wash up -- and there
painfully burned my fingers trying to make scrambled eggs for the boys'
breakfast.

   ------------------- End of Chapter Seven -------------------