|
Hi guys and thanks for your reading and comments. I've been away travelling for a couple weeks but am back now. Yeah, Father Ray and the kids, heading into the woods for awhile.... PART 50 After study hall Father visited Tom and Ricky’s room before they went to bed. Both boys were all crazy and couldn’t really calm down, thinking about all the fun they’d have starting tomorrow afternoon. “Hey, Father,” said Tom, “why don’t we blow off tomorrow’s classes and get an early start, we’ll have the whole day Friday and we won’t be in a hurry to gather up wood for the fire at night.” “Don’t even think about it, kid. Not even in your sick little young adolescent dreams. Not happening! Besides, you know how much Ricky loves math and English and natural science classes. He’d cry all day if he missed them.” “Uhhhh, Father,” interjected Ricky, “are you sure you haven’t been smoking weed or something in between your own classes? I love Jenny, hell with math and English and science!” “Oh yeah, Father, I just remembered something,” added Tom. “Mr. Conroy came in earlier to see us about the trip. He was all weird, telling us stuff about staying safe, and to make sure we knew where we were, and he even let me borrow his cellphone for the weekend til we get back. See? And then he started about calling 911 if anything bad happened, and made me write down his own number here. He kept talking about running away and ways to get help if anything made us feel uncomfortable. Father, seriously, he’s creepy. I don’t like that guy.” “Yeah,” said Ricky, “he’s all gross. I mean except for you raping and killing and cutting us up into small pieces, what could possibly happen? Anyway, I’m too big for you to mess with, so I don’t care. Do it to Tom or the 7th graders!” “Fuck you!” Tom shouted, throwing a pillow at Ricky. “Anyway, Mr. Mayne is way bigger and stronger than you, don’t come with that macho bullshit or we’ll both kick your ass, one of us at a time!” The boys laughed and started beating on each other. “Kids,” said Father in a singsong voice, “it’s past lights out time now, and you two are still way too rowdy. I want you guys to calm down now, get in bed, let’s all just chill here. We’re all going to have a great time tomorrow, and remember—we all meet the minute classes end at my car in the admin building parking lot. OK?” The kids climbed into bed and after a minute were finally calming down nicely. Father Ray turned out the lights and was about to leave when Ricky said softly, “Father? Thanks for inviting us. This is gonna be our best weekend ever.” That was definitely the idea. On the previous weekend, Father Ray had bought an extra-wide inflatable air mattress big enough to fit several kids. He’d driven out there and put it in the outer room, along with a couple extra-large blankets. The kids could sleep in the outer room, and there was an upper and lower bunk in the inner room for the adults. Father had also bought a few ordinary items from the general store in town, items that no one would think could be used for any strange or inappropriate purpose. But he had something really special in his mind, something he would plan to do for (or with, or to?) the kids at night when all was dark. Oh yeah. He’d need Mr. Mayne’s help, but he figured the guy would be into it. Everyone was all happy and crazy on the drive down, including the grownups. 27 hours with, in Tom’s immortal words, no rules, just outa control fun. They arrived, and everyone started exploring. It was Mr. Mayne’s and little Kevin’s first time there, so the other kids showed them everything. Father told the kids they could go down to the pond, but no swimming this afternoon because they’d soon have to gather wood and start getting dinner organized. He told them to all meet back at the cabin in a half hour. Everyone went down there except for Father, who enjoyed a few minutes of peace in his hammock. Strange, this place had been there for so many years, and there was really no way to lock the door. Yet it had never been vandalized, never had any stuff stolen. Well, there wasn’t really much to take. Just some rather ratty mattresses, some axes and a handsaw hidden under plastic underneath the place, and a few pots and pans. And the nice new hammock. Over the years, Father had sometimes seen evidence, like leftover disgusting trash, that people had been there to camp out, but never had the place been damaged. Father Ray giggled to himself, because though not many people knew about this place and it wasn’t visited often, he knew of a certain other guy who might, just might, stop by tonight! Have to let Roger know all about this possible visitor…rest for awhile, let Roger take care of the kids for a bit. Nice to have a friend to help out. Everyone came back up to the cabin a while later, and the kids started gathering wood for the dinner fire. They didn’t really need the axes and saw to break it up, but they enjoyed playing with them. The adults were supervising and getting the various foods laid out, cut up, and prepared. Father told Mr. Mayne about Tom’s little joke back in October about the murder and cannibalism. “Smart kid, that little Tom!” laughed the younger man, pronouncing the boy’s name “Tah-awm”. They both agreed, though, that there would be no shortage of other food tonight, and Roger felt that all four boys would probably make it back to school without anything so horrible happening. Ah well, Father thought to himself, that remains to be seen. At that moment, the fun and the peace were interrupted by the stupid noise of Roger’s cell phone. Father Ray had never owned one. He hated their noises, hated how they could intrude on anything, but supposed they did have their uses. After all, he wouldn’t have gotten to bring the kids on this trip if they hadn’t brought one. “Hello?” said Roger. “Ah, Coach, how you doing? Well, we’re hanging in heah, haven’t been eaten by beahrs or nuthin’. With some luck, there’s a good cha-ahnce we might just suhvyave. Thanks for all the food you got us from the kitchen. Hey, you want to talk to a couple of the kids? They’re somewheyah around heah, gathering wood. Hang on a second. HEY, ROB AND RICKY!! COME TALK TO COACH P ON THE PHONE FOR A MINUTE, WOULD YA?” While the boys were on the phone, he said to Father, “Hmmm. Guess they want to hear proof of life, don’t they? Just like in the movies!” The boys were all excited, telling Coach about the pond, about its water temperature and possible swimming tomorrow, about chopping things with the axes and what they’d have for dinner. And the kids said there would definitely be a serious late-night pyromania fire with marshmallows and stories to scare the other kids. Of course Rob and Ricky wouldn’t be scared, no way. Not them. Surely Tom and Kevin, though. Both boys laughed, gave the phone back to Mr. Mayne, and went back to getting the wood ready. Slowest things to cook would be the potatoes, so Father told the kids to wrap them in foil with the vegetables, and put them on the edge of the fire, keeping the fire low both to conserve wood and keep the veggies from getting overdone. This would take a while. The burgers and hotdogs could come later. Soon Father Ray found a moment when the kids weren’t listening, and he said to his friend, “Roger? I have an idea for later for something really fun we could do with these kids. Bet they’ve never had this kind of an experience before!! Interesting in helping me out? Oooohhh, we’ll have some fun with these little guys tonight!” Father couldn’t help saying all this with a mischievious, evil little grin. What the hell? thought Roger. He of course had the same “suspicions” about Ray that Father had about him, but well, this was getting a little freaky, but at the same time more than a little exciting. He couldn’t help getting more than a little horny. “Uhhh, Ray, what exactly do you have in mind?” The two men walked away from the fire so the kids couldn’t hear them. Father told Roger everything, including everything about the stuff he’d bought at the store. Just like Father thought, Roger got all excited (now Father had absolutely no doubt that the guy was a fellow pedo—no doubt at all now!), and with his size and strength (Mr. Mayne was 6 foot 2 and had been a very good high school and college baseball pitcher) he’d be perfect for this…..the men giggled like teenagers and spent almost a half hour planning every little detail of their evening’s pleasure. Oh yeah, it was gonna be something! Oh yeah. Us and the kids, all in the remote darkness of this spring night. Dinner was of course delicious. Stuff just tastes so much better when it’s cooked over an outdoor fire, with the sun going down and darkness closing in all around. No city or town lights anywhere to be seen, not another human to be heard for miles and miles. So cool, and as the food finally got eaten up, the boys became more mellow, more affectionate with their two teachers, snuggling up close to them in the fire’s light and warmth, with each boy attaching himself to one of the men, though sometimes they would switch teachers. Such a glorious evening this was, Father thought, and everything’s part of the plan. Father could feel Tom’s soft hair brushing up against the left side of his face, and Kevin’s longer blond hair on the right. One of his arms was around the shoulders of each kid. Those skinny shoulders were rising and falling as the kids softly breathed. Yeah, it’s time to get this whole thing started. “Boys,” said Father Ray to everyone, “we’re pretty much on our own out here tonight, right? I mean there’s no one else anywhere around, right?” |