The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or deceased is purely coincidental. This story may depict sexual situations between minor boys, and if this is illegal where you reside, or you are not 18 years of age, read at your own risk. This work is the property of the author Rob Warr and should not be re-posted without his consent. © 2019-2022 Rob Warr.

I never knew I was poor till someone told me. I mean, I guess I knew that some kids had nicer houses and more stuff, but I had all the things I needed, and a family that loved me, and in my eyes I was as rich as the richest kid in town. But that year, that special Christmas when I was 12, I discovered that compared to some people I was rich beyond measure.

I lived in a small three bedroom house on Oak street in a small Oklahoma town with my mom, and two brothers, Danny, age 8, and Billy, age 10. My name is Tony Wilkins, and at the time of this story I was 12, almost 13. You're probably wondering what happened to my dad, well, that's sort of a sad story. See when I was 10 my dad was killed in a car wreck while he was on his way home from work at the cement plant. A drunk driver hit my dad head-on as they were driving over a bridge, and both of them were killed instantly.

Enough about that sad stuff. It hurt a lot to lose my dad that way, and even today my eyes get a little wet just thinking about it. What this story is about is my discovery of just how lucky I was to have such a wonderful family and that first Christmas without my dad.

My mom was a beautiful and intelligent woman, and she didn't waste any time feeling sorry for herself or drowning in her grief. She had three boys to raise and she knew she had to get a job and move forward with her life. Of course we had some help. My grandparents, both sets, offered to have us move in with them, but mom decided that she wanted to remain in the house that we'd lived in since I was born.

Mom and dad had bought the house when they found out they were going to have a baby, me, and over the years dad had paid the mortgage payments on time and even made double payments when he could. So, at the time of his death there were only about 10 years of mortgage payments left, and my mom was determined to pay off that mortgage and provide us with a stable home.

The year was 1977, and it wasn't easy for a single mom to find a good job and care for her family, but my mom was no ordinary woman. My mom was not only beautiful, but smart, and she used those two things in her favor.

Fortunately, dad had a life insurance policy that covered his burial expenses and left a little for other things, like the few debts my folks had, but mom knew that eventually she would have to have a steady stream of income. At first she took any job she could find, a clerk in the Five and Dime, a waitress at the truck stop, and even a seamstress at a dress shop, but none of those jobs paid enough money to provide the kind of living mom wanted for us. Oh, she knew that our grandparents would never let us go hungry, or without the basics, but mom was proud, and she was determined to provide for her boys.

It was quite by accident that my mom found the job she had been looking for, but once she had, things began to look up for us, and my mom was suddenly the manager of a small but busy dry goods store downtown. She'd stumbled in that day looking for a pair of jeans for Danny and wound up as the manager. The owner of the store had been doing interviews that day for a new manager, and he had mistaken her for one of the applicants and well, as they say, the rest is history.

Now, this was 1977, and equal pay for women was only a dream, well...still is, but even though mom wasn't making quite as much as a man would have been, there would be enough money now to keep us out of the poor house. We celebrated that first night after mom got her new job by having Spaghetti and meatballs and RC Cola.

In our small town we had three grade schools, but only one junior high (what they call middle school now) and one high school, and both of these were on the same block at the end of main street. I was 12, and in 7th grade that year, and getting used to all the new stuff, and trying to fit in with a bunch of new kids, so I really didn't need any more stuff to worry about.

I'd enjoyed going to grade school with my brothers, but now we were separated, and that was sort of hard on all of us. I mean, I used to be there to protect my brothers and ride the bus with them, but now they were on their own. Okay, maybe it was hardest on me since I really loved those little goofs and missed seeing them at recess and lunch. Oh, I had other friends too, and a few of them were in some of my classes at school, but I really missed my brothers.

My best friend was Mike Perkins, and we had three classes together that year, including gym class, which was last period. Mike and I lived a few blocks apart, though he lived in a nicer and newer neighborhood than mine, so we saw lots of each other outside of school, and in the summer we spent a lot of time at each other's house. We even slept over, but usually in the backyard in the tent my dad had bought when I was about 8 or 9. Despite his folks being what I considered 'well off', and that they lived in such a nice house, they were very down to earth people and always treated me and my family well. Furthermore, they'd been there for us when my dad had died, and I'm not sure we'd have made it if not for their support. Our moms were very close too, and I like to think that it was because of Mike and me being so close that my mom made such a good friend as well.

Mike was a good looking boy, slender, not skinny, with muscles from playing sports and just doing the stuff that boys did back then. You see, we didn't sit around and play video games, or text and talk on the phone, or check our social media. Mike had long brown hair and sparkling blue eyes and a nice smile, and he was the kind of friend that you could always count on.

My brothers and I took after our dad, and are blond haired, and Danny and Billy had his brown eyes, but mine were green like mom's. We were average in size, I guess, and though I thought my brothers were cute, I didn't think much about my own looks. I mean, I know now that I was pretty cute. Looking back at my childhood photos I often think, was I really that cute? I mean, I knew I wasn't ugly or anything, but I wasn't stuck on myself by any means, and didn't think about how others saw me.

That year, right after Thanksgiving, mom's job got a little more intense. Not only was she learning a lot of new stuff as she went along, but business was picking up as Christmas grew closer. That left me to watch over my two brothers when she was gone. That wasn't long though, since the store closed at 5 each day, except on Thursdays when all the stores downtown stayed open till 8 o'clock, for shoppers who had trouble getting downtown during the regular hours.

That meant for a couple of hours each day after school I was in charge of my brothers. It really wasn't a big deal, they were good kids, and I'd just fix them a snack and they'd watch TV or play outside if the weather was good. We had a nice fenced back yard with a swing set and a treehouse in the corner, a combined effort of my dad and us boys when I was 10.

Danny, at 8, was still a little kid in some ways and I had to treat him a little differently than I did Billy, who was 10, and more mature for his age then even I had been at that age. I think dad's dying had caused Billy to grow up a bit faster, while Danny had reverted some, and acted younger. He had taken dad's death very hard and still had nightmares, and sometimes he would come to my room and climb into bed with me. I never minded, and it actually felt kind of good to have his warm body snuggled up to mine. Though I had no sexual feelings toward my brothers at the time, puberty was slipping up on me, and my body was going through a lot of changes, and boners were becoming more and more common.

Often when Danny was snuggled up to me in my bed, I'd pop a boner, and at first that bothered me. Was I sick to get hard cause another boy, my brother for gosh sakes, was snuggled up to me. Without a dad to talk to about such things, I just let those thoughts simmer for the time being.

Sometimes Mike would come home with me after school, and all four of us boys would play in the back yard, or if the weather was cold or rainy we'd play a board game or just wrestle around in the house. Sometimes I'd pop a boner when we wrestled around, especially if it was Mike who's body I was pressing against, and a time or two I swore that Mike had one too.

Now Mike and I had been good friends for a long time, and we'd seen each other naked or in underwear lots of times, in fact when we were younger, we'd even bathed together, but except in the showers at gym we didn't see each other naked these days. When we were younger, we'd done our share of show and tell, even touched each other down there, but it was all just innocent fun, nothing serious, and we hadn't done anything remotely like that since we'd turned 11 or so.

I was curious about other boys at that age, and I'm sure most other boys were too, but I was careful not to look too long, or too hard in the showers after gym class, which was the perfect time to do some comparing.

One evening as the four of us rolled around on the floor, Mike suddenly pinned me and was holding my arms, his body pressing down on me, and I was as hard as I'd ever been. At first I was worried that Mike might feel my boner and get freaked out, but then I realized he was as hard as I was, and that his hard dick that was pressing into my thigh.

His face was only inches from mine, and he had a strange look on his face, and suddenly he began to struggle as if I were trying to escape him. What was he doing? I wondered, then I felt his dick on my leg pressing into me as he gyrated his hips, and I knew what he was doing. I'd done the same thing before, using my pillow or a stuffed animal, but up until then, I'd never even dreamed of doing it with another person.

I guess I was pretty caught up in what was going on, and suddenly I was pressing back, pretending I was trying to get away, mostly for my two brothers' benefit since they were cheering us both on, and the feelings pulsing through my body was almost too much to bear. As I gazed into Mike's eyes, I wondered if he was seeing the same dreamy look in my eyes, and if my mouth was making the same almost comical movements as the intensity of the feelings rushed over us.

I knew what would come next, and though I didn't know the name orgasm, I knew how good the feeling was, and when Mike began breathing faster, his face a mask of pain and pleasure, and his body tensing up, I knew he was about to experience that feeling. What I wasn't prepared for, was my own feeling of pleasure as his movements and mine together caused my immature body to achieve one of the most intense climaxes of my young life.

If either of us had been having wet orgasms at that point in our life, we would have no doubt had an underwear full of cream, but as it was, the only wetness down there was the sweat from our exertions. Mike rolled off of me as soon as he had calmed down some, and lay panting as if he had ran a mile.

"Who won?" Danny wanted to know as he fell down beside me, gazing over at me and grinning.

We might not be able to express what had just happened to us in words, but we both knew that something very important and life changing had just occurred. Eventually, we tired of wrestling and watched some TV till my mom got home, and later I walked Mike home, nervous that he might bring up what had happened, and yet hoping he would.

We were almost at his house before either of us really spoke, but it was me who finally breached the subject of what had happened to us that afternoon.

"Wrestling like that is fun," I said blushing bright red, then looking away for fear he would see my embarrassment.

"Yeah, I was surprised you...um, you know, wrestled back," he said blushing as bright red as I had.

"Yeah, it was...fun," he said in a soft voice, "Maybe next time we have a sleepover we can do it again...in our undies."

"Yeah, just wrestling around and having fun," he said. Was there a hint of disappointment in his voice?

"Well, here we are," I said as we reached his house, "see ya at school tomorrow."

I walked home in a funk, not sure what all this meant, or if it was good or bad. I knew I liked the feeling, but it seemed wrong in some ways. Wasn't sex stuff supposed to be between a girl and a boy? Was this what they meant when they were talking about boys being queers? I sure didn't want to be a queer, or to be made fun of, or beat up for liking boys, so maybe I shouldn't do that stuff anymore after all.

After supper I took a long hot shower, and after hugging my mom goodnight and kissing my brothers on the cheek, I headed off to my bedroom. I was lucky that I had my own room while Danny and Billy shared a room, but they were still young enough that they didn't mind, and in fact I think they enjoyed it. They each had their own twin size bed on opposite sides of the room, with a desk between them, and each had a bookcase and nightstand, though they shared a dresser and closet.

As I lay in my bed that night, I thought about what Mike and I had done that day, and my resolve to not repeat it soon melted away. In fact, I soon found my hand rubbing the hardness in my briefs, and suddenly I had my hard dick in my hand giving it that good feeling that Mike and I had shared that afternoon.

When I'd climaxed, I felt a little guilty, but mostly tired, and was soon fast asleep. I awoke sometime later to feel something warm and soft snuggled against me, and I roused long enough to make out the form of my little brother resting peacefully in my arms. I sighed contentedly and went back to sleep, happy that I could be of comfort to my younger brother.

The days passed, Christmas was fast approaching, and one evening after mom got home from work, we went looking for a Christmas tree. There were several tree lots in town, and even the grocery stores had a few trees out front to sell, but mom headed to The Lion's Club lot because she said they had the best trees and that the proceeds were used to help folks in the area.

We found a nice one and loaded it on the roof of mom's old Ford, then headed home to set it up and decorate it. It took us most of the evening to get it decorated and looking just right, and by that time we were all starved. Mom had a solution to that though, and we all piled into the car again as she drove us to Ken's Pizza, and we had pizza and a pitcher of root beer to celebrate yet another event in our family life.

We'd just gotten our pizza when suddenly Mike and his mom and dad came through the front door, and when Mike saw us, he rushed over to the corner booth where we sat.

I quickly explained to him about putting up the tree and then coming here to eat and he listened with a smile. "We just got back from Church, and mom and dad let me choose where we ate."

Mike's folks came over and said hello, then took the booth next to us and ordered their pizza and drinks. Mike kept leaning over the back of the seat and talking to me, and when his family's pizza came, he and I took our plates and sat together in the booth on the other side of ours.

My brothers were too busy eating and talking to mom to seem to care, and for once I was glad my brothers weren't tagging along after me. Mike seemed different since that day at my house when we'd wrestled ourselves into an orgasm, but so far we hadn't had an opportunity to repeat our performance. However, with Christmas fast approaching, our families had been busy and we just hadn't had time to get together.

"Can you sleep over Saturday?" Mike asked as he smiled across at me, a piece of pizza in his hand ready to be devoured.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can, but I won't be able to come till after 5. Mom's off Sunday though, so at least I don't have to be home early."

We ate the rest of our pizza and finished our drinks, then wandered over to the couple of arcade games they had there and wasted a few quarters on them before deciding we needed to pee. The bathroom had a lock on the door and Mike latched it behind us, then headed to the toilet and began fumbling with his zipper while I stood by the sink, trying not to be too obvious as I tried to sneak a peek at his dick.

If he minded that I was watching he didn't show it, and in fact when he finished peeing and had shook off the last few drops, he actually turned a little, allowing me a perfect view of his dick. Now, I'd seen him in the showers at school before, but not up close, and I never really had the time to look closely till now. What I saw was a cut dick about two inches long, though it seemed to be growing a little as he continued to shake it. It looked a lot like my own dick, except I was uncut, as were my brothers, since my dad was uncut, and had insisted that we be too. When hard, my own dick was about 4 inches, and not all that thick, but Mike's looked a little fatter, and I thought his might be a little longer when hard.

Eventually, he put his dick away and it was my turn to pee. I was a little nervous since I'd begun to spring a boner while staring at Mike's dick, but I really did need to pee, so I took my place at the toilet and unzipped my jeans. As I skinned back the foreskin and let loose, I was aware that Mike had moved closer and was actually beside me, staring down at my dick and watching me piss.

"I like how yours looks," Mike said looking serious, "Does it work the same way as mine?"

I laughed at that, "What do you mean? I can piss just fine, if that's what you mean. See, with the skin pulled back it looks just like yours."

I shook off and zipped up while Mike washed up, and soon we were back at our table. Mike's folks had finished eating and said it was time to go, and mom said we needed to get going as well, and soon we were all headed toward our cars. I said goodbye to Mike and climbed in the back seat of our car with my two brothers, and soon I'd forgotten about Mike and what had taken place in the bathroom, at least for the time being.

In my bed that night, my hand went to my dick as soon as I was under the covers and I didn't stop till I had that good feeling rushing over me. I fell back exhausted and didn't wake till the next morning.

At breakfast, I asked mom about spending the night at Mike's and she said that was fine, but as expected, I had to wait till she got home from work to go to his house.

At school the next day I told Mike the good news and he slapped me on the back and told me we were going to have a lot of fun. I wondered if he meant regular type fun, or if he was talking about the new fun we'd discovered, and I was excited and nervous as the next two days passed slowly by.

Friday night mom brought home a surprise for us, Christmas cookies from the MainStreet Bakery downtown and we had those for dessert that night. Danny and Billy were all excited about Santa coming this year, but of course I was 12, and I knew Santa was just a fairy tale like the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, but no way was I going to ruin if for my brothers by acting like I didn't believe. I even helped them write their letters to Santa, which we gave to mom for delivery.

That night my brothers and I sat on the sofa thumbing through the Sears Wish Book, the toy catalog that every kid treasured, as my brothers pointed out the things they liked best. I knew mom couldn't get them everything they wanted, but that she would do her best to make sure all of us boys had a nice Christmas.

Being the man of the family, I'd gone to mom one evening and told her not to worry about presents for me, but to make sure that my brothers got some, and she cried and held me tight. I guess I cried a little too, but I meant what I'd said. She thanked me for being so generous and sweet, but assured me that Santa would be bringing all of us boys something special this year. I never brought up that subject again, because I didn't want my mom to cry again.

Saturday was a busy day at mom's store, and she was a little late getting home, but she seemed in a good mood, and said that if sales continued to be as good as they had today that she would be sure to get a good year-end bonus, even if she hadn't been there all year. I guess it was based on how many months you worked or something, and she said that next year she would get a full bonus, and it would be a really good one.

Mom fixed supper for my brothers, but I was invited to eat with Mike and his folks since they ate later, around 7 o'clock on Saturdays. I hugged my mom and told her and my brothers goodbye, then rode my bike to Mike's house just in case we might want to ride bikes tomorrow.

Mike was waiting for me out front with his dog Poochie, and after petting him, Poochie, not Mike, we went inside. Mike's folks were always friendly to me and my brothers and I felt right at home at their place. They had been there for us when dad died, and if it hadn't been for Mike, I don't think I would have made it through all that pain.

"That's wonderful. I know everyone is happy for her, and she's brought in a lot of new business, since everyone in town loves your mom."

"I hope you're hungry Tony. I have meatloaf and scalloped potatoes, green beans, and for dessert, lemon meringue pie."

"Dinner will be in about a half hour, why don't you take your things to Mike's room and I'll call you when it's ready?"

In Mike's room, I tossed my gym bag in the corner and plopped down on his full size bed and sighed, "Man, I was so glad when mom got home, my brothers were driving me nuts."

"It's Christmas, its making them crazy. They still believe in Santa, and they think they're gonna get everything they asked for," I said, realizing how sad that was going to be when they didn't.

"I don't know, maybe he's just going along with it to make Danny feel better. I never really asked him, cause if he still does believe I don't wanna spoil it for him."

"Yeah, that would suck. But your mom, she has a good job now and all, she'll get them presents, right?"

"Oh sure, I even offered to not get any presents myself so they could have more, but my mom said things would be fine and not to worry."

"Well, then don't worry," Mike said, dive-bombing me and pushing me onto my back. Was he starting this stuff already?

But fortunately he just fell down beside me, staring at the ceiling. "I'm hoping to get a new stereo for Christmas. Radio Shack has this really cool system with a turntable and a cassette deck and it even records. Man, I want it soooo bad."

"I guess, but I mean...I'm their only kid, so they can afford to spend more on me," he said beaming.

I poked him in the ribs with my finger and that got a giggle out of him, "I'd be happy with a new model kit or a board game," I confessed, "or even underwear," I added laughing.

"Underwear! Underwear...!" he said, his voice growing louder and more menacing each time he spoke the word, "do not tell them that. No kid should ever get underwear for Christmas. It's...it's, unconstitutional or something," he added, rolling into me and tickling me now.

"Do you like being the only kid?" I asked suddenly. I couldn't imagine being alone, but I guess my brothers and I were closer than a lot of siblings were.

"Nah, not really. I wish I had a brother, but not a sister," he said making a face, "girls are weird."

"Well, Paula Wells is pretty," I said, stating the obvious choice. Everyone thought Paula was about the prettiest girl in the whole town. Fashion model pretty.

"Yeah, good luck with her. She's so stuck up even her parents have to have an appointment to see her," he joked.

"Do you like anyone that way?" Mike said rolling over to face me, his hand suddenly going to my stomach and resting there as if to support himself.

The feel of his warm firm hand on my stomach was causing a stirring in my pants, and if he didn't move it pretty soon I'd be popping a full on boner.

"Nah, I'm too young for that stuff. Maybe when I turn 13 and the hormones kick in. Like they told us they would in Health Class."

"You mean when we get hair and start shooting the goo?" he laughed, "I can't wait for that to happen. I check every day to see if any hair is starting to grow."

It was funny, cause I did the same things too, but I guessed all boys did that stuff.

"I felt my face flush, and was about to suggest we go see if dinner was ready, when we heard Mr. Perkins calling our names.

We hopped up and I adjusted myself, hoping Mike wouldn't notice, but it seemed he was doing some adjusting himself.

Dinner was great as always. Mrs. Perkins was a great cook, and the pie was the best I'd ever tasted. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins weren't much on sweets, and only had a small slice, but she gave me and Mike a huge slice, and there was still some left over for later.

We hurried off to the living room after clearing our plates, then watched TV for awhile, and eventually Mike's folks joined us. We talked some during the commercials, and I felt warm and cozy with Mike and his family. They had put their tree up the same week we had, and it was decorated with hundreds of colorful twinkling lights, glass ornaments, and tinsel, but I still liked our tree better. Ours was simpler and less flashy, and we'd decorated it with love. There was even an ornament for each of us boys' first Christmas, a tradition mom and dad had kept alive, as well as photos taken with Santa each year, and a family portrait.

The last family portrait with dad was the year I was 9, and then he had died, and there was now an empty spot in our family portraits. We'd kept up the tradition though, and this year's portrait was to be taken next Saturday at mom's store. A photographer was going to set up a booth with backgrounds and stuff, and take portraits, and ours was scheduled to be the first one of the day so mom could get to work before it got busy.

"Yes ma'am. Since mom has a better job now she says we'll have a better Christmas than last year."

"Your mother is an amazing person," she said looking teary-eyed, "I don't think I could have done what she has done, and to think she has three boys to raise, and not just one."

"I know you do, you're a good son. I'm sure your mother has told you that a million times. We're very glad that Mike has a friend as good as you," she said smiling, "we've come to think of you as our second son," she added, looking at her husband for support.

"Mike's a good friend too," I said in defense of my best friend, "he's helped me a lot since my...my dad...died."

"He's a good kid," Mr. Perkins admitted, "but I still think he's better since he met you."

Eventually, Mike and I moved to his room, and we planned out our evening. There were no video games, or computers, or smart phones to occupy our time, but looking back, I now see that as a good thing. What that meant was that we had to rely on each other and our imagination to pass the time, and we had plenty of both.

"Let's play Sorry, and listen to my record player." Mike liked music, and had just discovered The Beatles, and he knew all of their songs by heart. Me, I could take it or leave it, but I had to admit since Mike started liking that stuff I was beginning to like it too.

Mike had a crappy little record player with a single speaker, thus the reason he wanted that cool stereo system for Christmas, and the sound was less than perfect, but still enjoyable. I wished I had the money to buy my best friend a cool gift like that, but even saving up my allowance all month, I'd only be able to spend a couple bucks on him. The rest would go for gifts for my mom and brothers, and even that would be stretching it.

That seemed to be his favorite song of late, and I caught him singing those lyrics a lot. Did they have special meaning to him, or was it just a catchy tune that he liked singing? I wondered, despite his protests about girls, was there one he had a crush on? After all, if he did, I was sure he wouldn't go around announcing it to everyone, not even me. I tried to remember if I'd seen him talking to any girls, or even just looking at any, but I came up blank. We spent most of our time together, so when would he even find time to like a girl? Unless...maybe at church. That was the one place Mike went that I didn't, well not much anyway. Like tomorrow, I'd go with him and his folks to the 11 o'clock service, but we'd be home by 12:30 or so, and still have time to hang out all afternoon since I didn't have to be home till 5.

Yeah, maybe some girl at church. I would be sure to keep my eyes open tomorrow and see what I could see. Meanwhile, there was a game to play, and joking around to do, and...later, who knew what might happen in bed?

"I wish we had three players, we could play Clue," Mike said as he rolled the dice.

"No, that's okay," Mike said, acting as if I were serious, "Sorry, its fine, and if we get tired we can play Rummy or something."

"Okay, sure...go get him," he said, finally catching on and giving it back to me, "I'll grab the game and set it up while you go get him."

"Okay," I said, starting to get up. I didn't know how far he'd let this go, but I was determined not to be the one to back down, "here I go. Be back in a few minutes..."

I'd made it to the door before Mike was up and moving toward me, then he was dragging me to the floor and pinning me beneath him. "Don't you dare. I want just us two here tonight," he growled.

"Okay," I said breathlessly. Why had I never noticed how deep and soulful Mike's eyes were before? And his lips, they were so red it was almost like he was wearing lipstick. And his nose, it was so cute as he brought his face closer to mine. Was he going to...?

"Get up fart knocker," he said releasing his grip on me and rolling away before jumping to his feet. In a heartbeat it was over, but what had happened in that heartbeat would stay with me the rest of the evening.

Had we almost kissed? And if so, had I wanted it? And most importantly, had he wanted it, started it, but somehow chickened out at the last moment?

"Okay okay, fart sniffer," I countered. Farts were still the funniest thing we knew at 12 years of age.

I still hadn't regained my feet, and had scooted up against the door and was leaning back into it, my knees drawn up and my arms locked around them. I rested my head on my knees and tried to clear my head.

"Sorry," Mike suddenly said, and I glanced up to see his face was a mask of distress and pain.

I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet, and for a moment we stood gazing into each other's eyes, and the longing and fear in his eyes had to have matched my own, and yet it scared me. At 12, neither of us was prepared for such deep and life altering feelings.

"Who's turn is it?" I said, breaking away and returning to the bed where we had the game board spread out.

We played two games of Sorry, and a couple of hands of Rummy before Mike's mom stopped by his room and reminded us to take a shower since we were going to church tomorrow. Though we'd bathed together when we were younger, that had been ages ago when we both took baths, and except for showers at school, we didn't bathe together these days.

Since I was company, Mike let me go first, and as I gathered up my stuff for my shower, Mike grabbed a comic book and put on another Beatles Album, this one: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, his absolute favorite. As I headed out the door, I heard the opening strains of Ringo Star's, What Would You Do, and Mike was singing along.

I smiled as I closed the door behind me. Actually Mike had a nice voice, and I liked hearing him sing. He'd even sang in the choir at his church when he was younger, but he'd given it up when he turned 12. He said his voice was changing, and that it wasn't quite as cool as it had been when he was a kid. I wondered if he was afraid other kids would make fun of him, but then Mike was popular enough that that sort of thing would get squashed pretty quick.

Mike was tough too, and I'd seen him face off with older boys before and come out on top. He was muscular, and fast, and didn't have a scared bone in his body. I guess that was half of the battle, being confident and fearless, and most of the guys he came up against respected him for that. But those times were few and far between, since most kids liked Mike, and he got along with most everyone.

I stripped off my clothes and hopped in the shower and quickly soaped up, paying special attention to my privates. Of course I popped a boner as I was cleaning down there, but I wasn't really thinking about anything sexy or wanting to jerk off, it was just how things were when you were a boy on the edge of puberty.

I checked the area for any hairs I might have missed the last hundred times I checked, but there was nothing but smooth skin there as always. Someday that would change, and I couldn't wait till that day. I washed my hair and rinsed off, then turned off the shower just as I heard the door open, and when I stuck my head out I came face to face with Mike.

"Had to pee," he explained, "Oh, good you're done, so I can go ahead and take my shower while I'm in here."

"Uh, okay..." I said, wondering how I was going to dry off with Mike there. I mean, after all, we hadn't seen each other naked except in the school showers since we were little kids.

"I'm not shy," I said quickly, "we just never...you know? Been this close before."

"I can go back to my room if you want," Mike offered, but I could tell he really didn't want to go, and actually...I didn't want him to go either.

"Nah, it's no big deal," I said pulling back the curtain and stepping out onto the blue bath rug in front of the tub. I grabbed my towel and began to dry off, keeping the towel in front of me most of the time, for fear I might pop a boner since I knew Mike was watching me.

Only Mike wasn't exactly watching me. As soon as I'd stepped out of the tub he'd started to undress, and now he was down to just his white JC Penney briefs. While my mom only bought us boys Fruit of the Loom, Mike's mom bought his underwear at JC Penney, and his always looked new.

"My turn," Mike said, barely glancing at me as he reached in to turn on the water and adjust the temperature.

Wait, I wanted to say, I thought you wanted to look at me naked. I realized then that I had been making more of this than there was. Mike just wanted to pee, and now he wanted to shower, end of it. No big deal. I sighed and finished drying off just as he stepped in and pulled the curtain closed.

"Okay," I said as I fumbled with my not so white tighty whities, "I gotta brush my teeth anyways."

"Hey, tomorrow after lunch, wanna ride our bikes to the park and shoot some hoops?"

After church Mike's mom would fix us a quick lunch, usually sandwiches and chips, then we'd have a few hours to kill before I had to be home. After lunch, we'd either play in Mike's backyard or inside if it was raining, but the cold didn't bother us at all. And if by chance it snowed, we were sure to spend the day building forts or having snow ball fights.

After brushing my teeth, I sat down on the toilet seat and we continued to talk.

"Yeah, better come in and check to see if I got it all," Mike teased, as he stuck his head out of the shower curtain.

"Coming," he giggled, "I mean, I'm almost done," he added. What was the joke? I didn't get it.

I looked up when I heard the water shut off, and suddenly the shower curtain slid open, and there stood Mike, dripping wet, and completely naked. I wanted to look away, after all, it was rude to stare at someone who was, was naked, but I was mesmerized, and I just sat there gawking as he stepped out.

He grabbed his towel and began to dry off then, and I was able to look away. "Get up so I can put my foot on the toilet," Mike commanded and I jumped up like I'd been shot and scampered over to the sink. Mike's bathroom didn't have one of those vanities like some houses had, instead there was a porcelain sink with two spigots. There was a medicine chest built into the wall and a small wooden shelf above the sink with a toothbrush holder and a few other items sitting on it.

I leaned against the sink and continued to watch Mike dry off, talking to him the whole time and trying to pretend that I wasn't checking out his naked body. What was it all of a sudden that had me so curious? Was it because of what had happened the other day while we were wrestling? Or, was I just growing up and trying to figure things out?

Mike finally got his underwear on, but not before I'd had the opportunity to get a good look at his entire body. This was new territory for me, but it was interesting and exciting, and I wondered why I'd never felt this way before.

We finally made it to Mike's room, and Mike pulled a tee shirt out of his drawer. I watched with interest as he snaked it over his wet hair, and I noticed little droplets of water running down his neck. It was weird how I'd never noticed before how nice Mike looked. I mean, I'd seen him in his underwear a hundred times before, but until that night I'd never given it much thought.

What was different? I wondered, why had I never felt this way before? I was just a kid, not even into puberty yet, but somehow looking at Mike that night, I felt more grownup somehow, and as if my life would never be the same. It was as if my eyes had been opened to something new and wonderful, something that had been right in front of me all along.

"Was not, asswipe," I said blushing. Well, I wasn't. Not exactly, I was looking at all of him.

"It's okay," he said letting me off the hook, "hey, want to borrow a tee shirt?"

"Eww...no, it's got boogers on it," he teased, "here, wear this one," he said, grabbing another white tee shirt and tossing it to me."

I didn't argue, I just grabbed the tee shirt and skinned it over my head. It felt soft and warm against my skin, and for some reason, knowing it belonged to Mike, and that at some point and time he'd worn it, gave me a warm feeling in my stomach.

"Dunno, what do you wanna do?" I said, walking over to sit on his bed. For some reason I felt weak-kneed all of a sudden.

Mike walked over to join me on the bed, falling onto his back and sighing. I fell back like he had, and rolled onto my side to look at him. Everything about him seemed different tonight. Why had I never noticed how blue his eyes were, or how his hair fell across his face sometimes, and the way he occasionally pushed it back? Or that spattering of freckles across his nose and the way he wiggled it when he was talking? And his lips, I swear they looked redder today, almost like he'd been drinking cherry Kool-Aid."

"Are you okay?" he said studying me with a smile. "You been actin' goofy all night. Are you sick?"

"Nah, I'm okay. Just tired I guess," I said, rolling onto my back again so I wouldn't have to look at him.

Instead of replying, Mike got up and went over to start the Beatles album playing again.

"Nah, but we can read some of the old ones again," he said getting up to grab his stash of books.

We sat cross legged on his bed and pawed through the stack. I pulled out a Superman and fell back onto the bed and held it up in the air as I started reading it. Mike was awfully quiet the whole time and I finally sat up to see what he was doing.

He was just sitting there, a book in his hand, but he wasn't reading, just staring off into space. After a couple of minutes, he glanced my way, then pretended to read. Now it was his turn to be acting goofy. Was it because I'd been acting weird, or was he feeling some of the same things I was?

"We could wrestle," Mike suggested, and that caused me to perk up some. Was it going to be the kind of wrestling we'd done that day at my house? The sexy kind?

"Okay, but we shouldn't be too noisy. I don't want your mom and dad yelling at us."

"They're probably asleep by now," Mike said, "they go to bed at like nine o'clock," he added rolling his eyes.

"Floor," Mike said scooting off the bed, "Come on pussy, I'm gonna whip your ass."

"Bring it on," I said, dropping down on all fours and giving him my meanest face."

"Okay, we gotta have rules. First: we can't stand up, we have to stay on our knees or on all fours, just like high school wrestling."

"Okay, so I guess I don't get to hit you over the head with a chair then," I joked.

For some reason, the way he said that sort of made me feel all tingly inside. As if he meant that he was going to put his body against mine. Well, I guessed he was, especially if we wrestled like we had last time.

We circled each other for a while, on our knees now, making faces and growling at each other, but it was Mike who made the first move. He lunged and I dodged, and we wound up gripping each other around the waist and straining to throw each other off balance.

Now, at this point I was sorta considering just letting him pin me, just to see if he'd do what he did last time, but I didn't want to appear too easy. We were pretty much evenly matched strength wise, and I held him back till he finally broke the hold and backed off.

"Prepare to die," he giggled, then launching himself at me, he managed to take me down.

I didn't want him to think I was giving in too easy, so I struggled as we flopped around on the floor, but eventually he got me flat on my back and sat on my chest. I was growling and half-heartedly trying to throw him off, but he had my arms pinned by then, and I wasn't going anywhere.

"Do you give?" he said moving his face within inches of mine. So close we could've kissed, but boys don't kiss, right?

I could feel the warmth of his crotch on my stomach, and raising my head a little, I could see a bulge in his white JCP briefs. Suddenly, I realized there had to be a bulge in my own undies too, because I could feel the hardness pushing at the soft fabric. What if I did break free and Mike saw I had a boner? Would he think I was sick, or queer or something? Of course, it never occurred to me that he had a boner too.

He was grinning down at me the whole time, and sort of wiggling his butt around on my belly, and it felt warm and soft. I wondered what it would feel like if he was wiggling his bottom around on my boner, and I blushed bright red at the thought. Last time we'd pressed our fronts together till we'd given each other the shivers, and I guess I was hoping for something like that again.

But this felt good too, Mike sitting on my stomach and holding my hands, well, sort of, and his face was so close to mine that I could feel his warm minty breath on me. But I wanted more, and I think he did too. The question was: how do we make that happen? I had an idea, but I would have to reverse positions to make it happen.

Summoning up all my strength, I caught Mike off guard and managed to roll him onto his back. Then, before he could recover, I fell down on top of him and pinned his arms down like he'd done mine. Only instead of sitting on his stomach, I straddled his legs, and in the process pressed our boners together.

I swear I almost blew right then and there, and from the look on Mike's face I think he felt the same way. So instead of moving around, I just lay there for a moment, letting things cool off for a minute.

"Got ya," I said, but my voice didn't sound like me. It was like someone else had taken over my body and it was their voice I was hearing, "don't resist me. I've got ya covered."

At first I thought he was going to try to get away, but after a few minutes I realized that he was just rubbing against me to make it feel good. Of course it felt good for me too, and for a minute I forgot all about holding him down and just concentrated on that good feeling our rubbing together was causing.

I was disappointed at first, but the look on his face said that he wasn't done playing yet. He turned off the room light, and when we were in his bed, he switched off the lamp on the night stand. For a minute we just lay there, letting our eyes get used to the darkness, then suddenly he rolled into me and threw a leg and an arm over me.

I instinctively patted his arm, and when I rolled my head over to stare into his face, I could just make out his handsome features. His eyes were fixed on me, and they seemed to be begging me for something, for what I didn't know though. Did Mike feel the butterflies in his tummy too? Was his heart beating nearly out of his chest? Was his mouth so dry he felt like he'd been eating sand?

"I can feel your boner," Mike suddenly giggled as he moved his naked leg around on my crotch.

I didn't know whether to deny I had a boner, or to encourage him to do more with it, so I didn't speak right away.

"Wait," he said rolling off me and digging through the drawer of the night stand. Then suddenly the beam of a small flashlight hit me in the face and I blinked.

Wow, Mike was sure moving fast. I figured we'd just pull them out the fly or something, but this actually made more sense, not to mention I'd get a better look at his dick.

"Okay, sure. I said sitting up, but when Mike didn't make a move to remove his underpants, neither did I.

"On the count of three," Mike said then, "One...Two...Three," and with that he scooted out of his underwear and so did I.

At first I kept my legs closed and my hands over my boner, but Mike didn't even bother. In fact, he actually shined the flashlight on his dick, laughing the whole time. So, not wanting to look like a coward or anything, I moved my hands and I got the spotlight next.

"Okay, let's compare then. Get up on your knees and face me," he said moving toward me.

As nervous as I was, I was glad Mike was taking charge, almost as if he'd done this before, and I began to wonder. I mean, Mike had other friends, and so did I. Had he been comparing boners with some of them, or was this a first?

"Scoot up till your, umm...dick touches me beside mine. That way we can see who's longer, then I'll measure to see how much."

"Good idea," I said nervously licking my lips, my heart thumping wildly in my chest. I felt as if I could get the sparkles just from touching the tip to Mike's belly, but thank God we didn't shoot wet yet, so I wouldn't have to worry about making a mess.

Well, Mike was right, he was longer and maybe a little fatter. His dick was 4 inches long and I was 3 and 5/16 inches according to his measurement. We didn't know how to measure around but Mike tried to do it with the ruler but gave up after a couple tries.

"The only way to tell for sure is to do the...umm, hand test," Mike said, sounding nervous for the first time.

"Well, see...we umm...take our hand and we...umm, wrap it around each other's dick and see who's is fatter."

I must've blushed three shades of red then, and suddenly I felt a little faint. Was he suggesting we hold each other's dick in our hand? Sure sounded like it to me, but as scary as that sounded, it was exciting too.

"You just want to touch my dick," I laughed. I don't know why I said that, it just seemed right, but Mike didn't take offense.

"Nah, that little thing," he joked, "just want you to see who's the real man here."

"Well, who goes first, or do we do it at the same time?" I said, surprising myself by accepting this test so easily.

"One at a time to begin with, then we can...umm, feel...I mean test each other at the same time just to make sure we...umm, got it right," Mike said, finally sounding a bit nervous.

My breath was ragged now, and besides the thumping of my heart, I had a million butterflies in my stomach, and my palms were sweaty. Gosh, even my ears burned as I blushed even redder, but I was ready to do this, and there was no doubt Mike was ready too.

"Okay, so...you go first...since you thought it up," I finally said, not sure I was brave enough to start things.

God, was it? I was so hard my skin felt too small for my dick. It was throbbing too, thump thump thump, matching every beat of my heart.

"Yeah," he laughed nervously, "I don't think I've ever been this hard before. I feel like it could break off."

"It won't," he said grinning, "but it's really hard...so hard. Who knew a guy could get so hard?"

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Mike said, sounding unsure for the first time.

We'd already bumped dicks and touched each other when we measured, so what was the big deal now? Was there more he wanted to do than just feel each other?'

I shrugged, "Only way we'll ever know for sure, I guess. Go ahead, give it the test," I said, thrusting my hips to present my hardness for his inspection.

I watched as Mike's hand slowly wrapped around my shaft and I sucked in a breath and let out a little sigh when it closed around me. At first his touch was light, and he held my dick loosely in his hand. Looking into my eyes, he gave me a nervous smile, "This okay?"

Suddenly, his hand began to tighten until he had a firm grasp on my dick, but not so tight that it was uncomfortable or anything. In fact, it felt really good, maybe better than anything I'd ever felt before. Way bettern' my own hand, which up until then had been the only hand down there.

"Now, I'm gonna feel mine with my other hand, then you can take a turn," he said, obviously making it up as he went.

I nodded, not at all anxious for his hand to move away, even if it did mean I'd get a turn at feeling his dick. In fact, I'd gladly have given up and let him win the contest if he'd just hold onto my dick for a while longer.

"Hmm...I think mine is a little thicker, see what you think," Mike said, letting go of my dick and thrusting forward to present his own for my inspection.

I felt a sense of disappointment and loss when he dropped my dick, but it was soon replaced by the excitement of touching his dick. My hands were shaking as I slowly wrapped my hand around his hard throbbing dick, while at the same time taking my own in my hand. I marveled at how warm his dick was and how soft the skin was, even though beneath, it was like steel. Well, my own dick was pretty much the same, but this was my first time touching another boy this way, and it was more exciting than I can put into words.

I halfway expected Mike to become impatient with me and remind me of the task at hand, but I think he was enjoying my touch as much as I had enjoyed his. After a while though I decided I should do something, anything, and I began to move my fingers, gripping the shaft and measuring it in my mind.

"Hmm..." I hummed, mimicking him, "I think...I think, you're right, but it's really close," I said, giving his dick a little squeeze and causing him to emit a little squeak.

I wanted to keep holding his dick, but after all, I'd already announced the results of my test, and it just seemed awkward to do so. So, with one last squeeze for good measure, I dropped my hand from Mike's magnificent dick and scooted back a little.

"Wait," Mike said then, "we're not done yet. Now, we both do it at the same time, I mean...feel each other's and see who's fatter..."

"Oh, yeah, " I said perking up. Good old Mike was keeping the game going, and who knew what else he'd think up?

I moved back to my original spot, on my knees facing Mike, so close I could feel the heat coming off his body and smell his excited boy scent. I wasn't quite as nervous as I'd been before, but this was all new to me, and more exciting than anything I'd done up to that point in my life.

By unspoken mutual consent, we reached out at the same moment and wrapped our hand around each other's still throbbing dick and both sighed at the same exact moment. That caused us both to giggle, but the moment passed and we were suddenly dead serious again.

"I think," Mike said in a dreamlike voice, "that...that mine is fatter, but your head is bigger, and I definitely like your skin."

"Thanks, but when you pull it back it looks like a regular dick, right?" I liked my uncut dick, but since most boys my age were cut, I guess I was a little self conscious about it.

"It's neat the way the skin covers the head," he said as he concentrated on moving the foreskin back and forth, causing a shock of pleasure to echo through me, "Now you see it, now you don't," he laughed.

"That, umm...feels really good," I said, "but I thought we were measuring..." I stammered, afraid I was going to get that feeling at any moment if Mike continued moving his hand that way.

"Oh, right," Mike said sounding disappointed, "yeah, well...let's see..." he said squeezing my dick gently, which was almost as stimulating as what he'd done before, "yeah, I'm definitely fatter, but like I said, your head is bigger, like a mushroom," he laughed, "I wonder if it's the kind you can eat, or the poisonous kind?"

I laughed nervously, but the implied meaning send shivers through my body, "It's not poisonous," I assured him, "but I wouldn't want anyone to eat it," I giggled.

"Hmm...how about lick it then?" Mike said, blushing bright red, but giving me a lewd smile.

Up until then my hand had remained still, gripping Mike's hard dick, but suddenly I was inspired to give back a little of what Mike had been giving me. Mike was cut, but not tightly, and there was just a little skin around the shaft under the head, and I bunched it up in my fist and moved it across the sensitive ridge of his mostly round rosy head, and he moaned lowly.

"Is this how you...umm, do it?" Mike said as if reading my mind, skinning back my foreskin, then pulling it back up again.

"Yesss," I gasped, "just like that," I said, never missing a stroke on his own dick.

Suddenly, we were too dumbstruck to speak, and the only sounds were our heavy breathing and that fap- fap-fap noise that jerking off makes. Somehow we managed to move closer, our faces only inches apart and again I had an almost overwhelming urge to kiss Mike right on the lips, just like those couples in the movies. Only those couples were a boy and girl, and we were two boys. Did boys kiss each other, or was that just too weird? I almost laughed. Here we were jerking each other's hard dick for all we were worth, and I was worried about what a little kiss might mean.

But, in the end, I just wasn't brave enough to plant my lips on Mike's, so I did the next best thing and leaned my head down on his shoulder and slobbered on it as we continued to jerk each other. Boys our age aren't known to last long when enjoying themselves this way, and the novelty of having a strange hand on our most private part, certainly didn't help to prolong the experience.

Usually when I jerk off, alone, I can control the speed, and make the experience last as long as I want by backing off and cooling down, but Mike seemed determined to get there and get there quick, and I was being dragged along for the ride, desperately working his cock just as frantically.

"Are you..."?" he gasped suddenly, as I felt him stiffen and his cock began to throb in my hand, trying to pump out the liquid that wouldn't be there for another six months.

"Yesssss," I said raising my head at last, answering his question with some throbbing and gasping of my own. I've read that a mutual orgasm is one of the most satisfying things two people can enjoy, but that it doesn't happen often, and that it had for us, our first two times was amazing.

"So..." Mike said as he came back down to earth, still gripping my dick, though he'd stopped his movement long ago, "do you agree? I'm fatter, and longer, but you have the biggest head...and the coolest skin?" he said grinning.

"Yeah, but we'll need to measure again sometime, cause we're still growing," I said grinning.

Mike laughed and finally released my dick, then he did what I hadn't had the courage to, well sort of. Quickly he leaned in and brushed his lips against my cheek, then fell back onto his pillow, leaving me to swoon, thinking about my first kiss. I think the kiss was even more moving, more life changing than the sparkles Mike had given me moments before, and I was smiling like an idiot as I fell down on the pillow next to him.

You might think we'd talk about what had just happened and try to sort things out in our mind, but that didn't happen, not then anyway. Instead, we talked about school, Christmas, and what we'd do on Christmas break. I guess I was a little disappointed at first, but I was nervous too. What if Mike didn't like it as much as I had and didn't want to do it again? Or...what if he thought I was weird cause I'd done that stuff? Of course, that obviously made no sense, since strictly speaking he'd started the whole thing, but I was young and stupid, and a little overwhelmed at the moment.

Still, it was kind of nice just laying their, Mike so close I could feel his warmth and smell his boy scent, talking about things just like always, and I relaxed some. What we'd done hadn't really changed anything, we were still two best buds, and even if we never did that stuff again, it hadn't ruined what we had. But I was almost sure we'd do it again, or at least I hoped so, cause what we'd done had been the greatest thing yet to happen in my life.

Sunday was pretty typical, we slept late, ate a quick breakfast and were off to church. Church is not so bad, and it was especially good that Sunday since there was a play about the baby Jesus and stuff. Afterwards there were snacks in the meeting hall, mostly cookies and stuff, and Mike's mom didn't try to keep us from eating our fill.

Back at Mike's house, we had a light lunch, grilled cheese sandwiches and soup, then Mike and I were free to spend the next few hours having fun. Mike suggested we grab the basketball and ride our bikes to the park, and after changing out of our church clothes we headed that way.

I won't say I didn't think about what had happened the night before, it was always there in the back of my mind, but come morning light I wasn't as obsessed with it as I had been in the dark of night. Sure, it was fun and it was new, but there had been so many firsts and so many good things in our relationship that I just figured this was one more. We'd figure out where to go from here, but right now there was fun to be had, and just around the corner was Christmas.

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly and after playing basketball for a while we just goofed around in the park and talked about regular stuff. Neither of us brought up the stuff from the night before, but I could tell Mike was thinking about it too.

Around five we headed back to Mike's house, and after grabbing my stuff, Mike walked me to the garage and I grabbed my bike. He opened the big door for me, then followed me out and to the sidewalk, where we talked a bit before I rode on home.

"Thanks for coming over and stuff," Mike said laying his hand on top of mine on the handlebar grip.

I felt a little tingle from his touch that seemed to go all the way from my hand to my crotch, and I felt a little dizzy.

"Yeah, no problem. I had fun," I said, then blushed bright red at the implications of what that fun might have been, "I mean, I always have fun at your house."

"Yeah, me too. Well...I guess I better let ya go. Don't want you to miss supper."

"Yeah, don't want to make mom mad, especially at Christmas," I joked. Mom never got mad and Mike knew it. She might get upset, but she was always calm, cool, and collected when she dealt with us kids.

"Yeah, don't need a paddling this time of year," Mike joked back, "Well...see ya at school tomorrow. Only five more days of school...yaaay!" Mike reminded me.

Christmas was on a Sunday that year, and our Christmas vacation would begin after school on Friday and run till Monday Jan. 3, 1978. 1978, wow, I thought, a whole year will soon have gone by.

"Man, I can't wait," I said echoing his enthusiasm, "I hope the teachers lay off the homework this week. Who wants to do homework on Christmas vacation?"

My dad said he'd had Mrs. Knight when he was in school, and that she was, 'older than dirt', and even back then she'd been famous for her homework assignments. She taught English and Literature, and one of our assignments this year had been to read Dicken's Christmas Carol. As far as books went, it wasn't bad, but the way people talked back then seemed funny, and Mike and I made a lot of jokes about that.

"Well, gotta burn rubber," I said, having stalled as long as I dared, "see ya later, alligator."

"After while, crocodile," Mike said, finally removing his hand from mine then patting me on the back.

As I began to ride off, Mike ran along behind me, then placed a hand on my rear end and gave me a good send off. I turned to wave goodbye one last time, and I remember him watching me with a big smile on his face as he waved back. I turned once more after I'd ridden the length of the block and he was still watching me ride away, and I smiled. Good old Mike, nothing had changed, we were still pals, though now things were a whole lot more interesting.

Not much of interest happened the next few days, there was school and home life, but on Thursday mom asked me to bring the boys to the store where she worked as soon as we got home from school. On Thursdays the stores downtown were open till 8 p.m. and we usually didn't see her till around 9 those nights, so we were happy to oblige. I was curious what was going on, but she just said I'd see, and I knew better to question her too much.

Danny and Billy seemed excited to be going to see mom where she worked, and I had to admit I was a little excited too. It wasn't the first time we'd visited her there, but there were always new things to see, especially this time of year.

As we walked the short distance to downtown, the boys filled me in on what they'd done at school today and I asked them if their classes were having a Christmas Party this year, like they had when I was in grade school.

Both said yes, and Danny, my youngest brother, said he was supposed to bring cookies or cupcakes. Billy said he didn't have to bring anything because the mom of one of the kids in his class worked at the bakery downtown and was bringing treats.

As we crossed the only busy street on our route, I made my brothers hold my hand, and when the light was green, I walked them quickly across the street. As we stepped up on the sidewalk, Billy released my hand, but Danny held on tight. Danny was an affectionate boy, much more than Billy, but I guessed their ages had something to do with it. Billy had always seemed a bit older than his age though, and I wondered if part of it was due to dad's death.

Now that we'd official entered downtown, we took note of the Christmas decorations the town had put up. Festive strands of garland around every lamp pole, and strings of colorful lights and garland from pole to pole in the intersections. Of course most of the stores downtown were decorated as well, and I thought to myself how pretty everything was, and what a shame it would all disappear once the season was over.

Mom's store was at the end of the block, and was actually like two stores divided down the center. On one side was ladies' clothes, infants, and girls, as well as household goods, like towels and bedding and stuff. The other side was men and boys' clothing as well as the shoe department, which had shoes for the whole family.

Mom's office was located just behind the cash office, which was actually on the ladies' side of the store, but accessible from either side through a hallway. However, as we pushed open the door that day, mom was waiting for us, and of course Danny broke loose and went running up to give her a big hug. Chattering excitedly, he filled her in on his day while Billy and I stood there waiting for him to finish.

When Billy was finished, we both gave mom a hug, then greeted the other two ladies who were working that day. They both commented on how big we were getting and the usual stuff, then asked if we were excited about Christmas. Of course we were, but of course Billy was the one who jabbered on about what Santa was going to bring him. Thankfully mom ended the discussion by calling to us.

"Come back to my office," mom said at last, "I need to grab my coat," she added without explaining further.

"Are we going somewhere?" I asked, then realized how stupid that question was, I added, "I mean, where are we going?"

"Shopping," mom said smiling, "I've arranged to take the rest of the day off so we can do some Christmas shopping. Tom is going to close for me." Tom was mom's assistant manager, and though young, she said he was very reliable and trustworthy.

Mom laughed, "No, not for you. Santa will bring your things, but we need to get something for our friends, and your grandma and grandpa Wilkins."

"Oh," Danny said looking confused, "how come Santa doesn't bring them presents anymore?"

"Well, I guess once you grow up, Santa leaves the gifts to other adults. I guess he deals mostly with children."

Good save mom, I thought, and fortunately Danny was too excited about the whole shopping thing to ask any more questions.

"I've already picked out a few things here at the store because with my discount I can save a lot of money, but there are a few things we don't carry. We'll be going to McCrory's and a few other places."

"I suppose," mom said, "but first, let's do our shopping. Later, I might let you boys go there by yourself while I go a few places that might bore you."

"I could watch out for them," I said beaming, "I won't let them break anything or get into trouble."

"I know you will, and thank you for that...and for all the times you watch your brothers while I'm at work. I couldn't do it without you," she said giving me a brief hug.

I sensed Billy wanted to say something, but mom ushered us out the door then and we were off on our shopping adventure. With Christmas only a few days away, the stores were crowded, and it seemed like every parking place downtown was occupied. Cars came and went, and there was always a line at the street lights.

Mom parked behind in the store in her old Ford, so parking wasn't a problem for us, but we didn't need her car anyway since every store we needed to visit was within the two or three block area of downtown. First stop was the bank, which I hadn't expected, but mom had us boys sit in some chairs by the door while she went up to the teller and took care of some business. I had no idea what she was doing, whether it was personal business or store business, but when I saw the teller count back some bills to her I figured she was just cashing a check or something.

"All right boys, I'm ready. Just had to withdraw the last of my Christmas account. I've been putting money in it all year, even when I was working those odd jobs, just so we'd have as merry a Christmas as Jock Mayor himself," she laughed.

Jock Mayor wasn't the mayor of the town however, he was a slum lord and ran an auto parts/junk store on main street that sold just about anything you could think of. He was considered to be the richest man in town, but the way he lived you'd never know it. His house was just as run down as his rent houses, wore overalls, and drove an old rattle trap of a pickup that was probably older than he was. I laughed along with mom, but Billy and Danny just smiled, since they didn't know as much about Jock as I did.

Next door to the bank was Rexall's Owl Drugstore and mom led us inside where she picked out some cards for her employees at work. The store paid Christmas bonuses to each employee and mom used store petty cash to pay for the cards. Tomorrow she would place the money for each in the appropriate card and give them out as was the tradition long before she'd gone to work there. The bonuses ranged anywhere from 10 dollars to 100, the maximum being what mom got.

In January after inventory was completed, mom would receive a partial bonus for the previous year and she said it could be anywhere from $200 to $500 depending on the final results. Once she'd worked a whole year, and assuming sales held up, her bonus for next year would be even more.

From the drugstore we moved to The Ben Franklin store next door, which back then was known as a five and dime store. Or as us kids called it, The Dime Store. Not everything was five cents or ten cents, but I guessed back when the stores were first started in the 40s or whatever, that was true. Even so, most things they sold were inexpensive and they had a wide variety of items to choose from, which I guess would compare to the dollar stores of today.

While mom looked for whatever it was she was looking for, she allowed me and my brothers to go check out the toy department. It was only one aisle, but there were items on end caps as well, and enough toys there to keep us occupied for a while. I especially liked looking at the plastic model kits and saw several that peaked my interest. I hoped mom had gotten me one, since I'd been hinting around about it since Thanksgiving, but I knew I'd be happy with anything she bought, because my mom always seemed to know just what to buy for us boys.

Mom finally found us, carrying a gown and a pair of house slippers which she said were for our grandma Wilkins. Grandma Wilkins was old, really old, and didn't even bother to dress most days, just sitting around in her gown, and mom said this one would be nice and warm for her.

For Grandpa Wilkins, mom had bought a nice leather belt and matching wallet at her store, and had gotten it at cost plus 10%. The other set of grandparents lived out of state and mom had mailed their gifts long ago, and had already received thank you cards and gifts for us as well.

Mom had become close to one of the ladies that worked at her store, Ellen Colby, and mom said she wanted to get her something nice, so our next stop was Ivan's Jewelry store. Boy, talk about boring. I had never understood women or the need to wear jewelry, but ironically years later, when I was old enough to understand such things, I became sort of a jewelry hound myself.

She found a nice pair of earrings and matching necklace, her words not mine, and I was surprised to see how much they cost. My eyes must've given me away because mom blushed and quickly explained that Ellen didn't have a lot of money, that she lived with her mom and only worked part time, and that she deserved something special. I just smiled, if buying this gift for her friend made her happy, then I was all for it, no need to convince me.

Mom just nodded, and when the lady behind the counter asked if she wanted it wrapped, mom said yes and we had to wait a few minutes for her to do that. While we waited, my brothers and I peered into the cases, looking at the shiny baubles, and again I wondered what the big deal was. Then I thought of how nice mom looked with her earrings, and necklace, and gold ring, and I sort of understood, but I still didn't think it was anything I'd ever be interested in for myself.

From the jewelry store we made our way down the block, hitting almost every store, and everywhere we went, everyone seemed to know who my mom was. I'd find out later that as a member of the Chamber of Commerce she'd met a lot of them at the meetings, but a lot of them were her customers as well, and everyone seemed to like my mom and her store.

I say her store, not because my mom owned it or anything, but heck, she pretty much ran it all by herself sometimes, and she was in charge of everything that went on there. Sure, there were big bosses in the home office and they came to visit her like once a month, but they always seemed happy with the way she was running things, and it didn't hurt that the sales continued to increase week by week.

Next was McCrory's, which was another variety store, much like Ben Franklin, only larger and with a much better selection of items. In the toy department I found several other model kits I liked and spent a lot of time checking out the packages and reading the details.

Mom bought a few items there, including some wrapping paper and bows, and by then we were starting to get hungry.

The Cafe was just what it sounded like, and just across the street on the corner, and Cherokee Drug was the other drugstore in town, but it also had a couple of booths and a long counter and served sandwiches, burgers, and the like.

Almost as one, we three boys shouted, "Cherokee drug," not because the food was so special, but because we loved the cherry limeades they served, and...they had the best selection of magazines and comic books in town. Mom laughed, and we were off to the drugstore.

Talk about coincidences, who do you suppose we ran into at Cherokee Drug? No, not Jimmy Carter, Mike and his mom. I was just so excited to see him that I kind of forgot where we were and that we weren't alone, and before I could stop myself I had ran up to him and given him a big hug.

"You'd think you boys hadn't seen each other in ages, and not just a few hours ago at school," Mike's mom chuckled as Mike and I both stood red-faced and ready to crawl under a table.

"It's Christmas," I stammered, "you know, peace on earth...good will toward men."

Mom just laughed, and later she told me she thought it was cute the way we'd bumped together like puppies, and once again I felt the blood rushing to my cheeks. But that was later, at home, and now I had Mike to deal with.

"Us too, only we're going to order dinner too," I said, hoping Mike and his mom would join us.

"Oh heavens no, Ruth. I'd welcome some adult company. Maybe the boys can sit at a booth and you and I can sit here at the counter and chat."

So, that's what we did. Like I said, the food was okay, but it was really the cherry limeade that made the meal so enjoyable. We ate quickly, talking about our adventures so far that evening, then went over to check out the comics and magazines while our moms ate slowly and got caught up.

I found three comics I wanted, but I'd spent all my money on gifts for my family, and of course Mike, so all I could do was look. However, Mike always seemed to have pocket money and he fished out a dollar and handed it to me.

"Ah, I can't do that," I protested at first, but Mike always had a way to convince me to go along with whatever idea he had, and I soon gave in. After all, he'd get to read them too.

Eventually, our moms said they were ready to go, and by then Mike and I had formulated a new plan.

"Mom, Mrs. Perkins, can me and Mike go to Toyland while you guys do the rest of your shopping?"

"Well, what do you think, Ruth? Can we trust these four desperadoes not to rob the bank if we leave them alone?" she chuckled. I knew mom was okay with it, and I was pretty sure Mike's mom would be too, but of course they just had to give us a hard time. That's what parents do best.

"Well, if it was just Mike, I'd say no, but Tony, I know you keep him in line, so, sure...go on. I'm about done shopping but I'll help Ellen finish hers, then we'll swing by the toy store afterwards. That all right Ellen?"

"Yes, Ruth, that sounds perfect," then to us boys, "okay boys, you have about an hour, and don't go anywhere else, all right?"

"Yes ma'am," we all chorused, earning us a head shake and smile from our moms. And just like that, we were off to Toyland.

Toyland was actually a seasonal store set up just for Christmas and opened the day after Thanksgiving and stayed open till just after the New Year. It belonged to the same guy who ran the Western Auto and was filled with all the latest toys, games, and even some bikes and sporting equipment geared for kids. It was a fairly large building and the tables were made of plywood set on top of empty boxes or sawhorses, and earlier in the season it had been packed wall to wall with merchandise. Now, three days before Christmas it looked empty, but there was still a good selection of toys, just not as many of each one as there had been earlier.

"Wow, look at this train set," Billy said, his eyes lighting up when he saw the Lionel HO gauge train set, complete with landscaping and a tunnel.

"Maybe Santa will bring you one," Mike said, earning him a dirty look from me. Why was he even suggesting such a thing when he knew mom couldn't afford a gift that expensive?

"Billy," Danny said looking at his older brother, "he says momma buys the presents and just puts tags on them that say from Santa."

Billy shrugged and looked a bit defiant, but he knew he'd messed up, "I dunno, just did. Anyway, it's true. He's old enough to know the truth by now. Geezes, you'd think I killed somebody the way you're starin' at me."

I almost laughed, but he was right, I was giving him the evil eye. I sighed, then shook my head to clear it.

"I'm gonna tell you what dad told me when I stopped believing in Santa," I said turning serious, "he said there was a little Santa in all of us, and that it wasn't about the gifts at Christmas, but about the love and sharing, especially among family. I never forgot that Billy, Danny, and I hope you won't either."

"If dad said it was right, then it's right," Danny said smiling sadly, "I miss daddy."

"Tony..." Billy said looking sad now too, "I'm sorry, I shoulda asked you first."

"Yeah, I'm fine," then moving on, my little brother spotted something across the aisle that interested him and he was off to check it out, Billy right behind him.

"It's okay, I'm sort of glad the cat is out of the bag. Now I don't have to be careful what I say around Danny about Santa and Christmas."

"Yeah, what your dad said, that was so true. Your dad was a great guy," he said slipping an arm around my waist, "Let's go check out those bikes back there..."

Spending an hour in Toyland was probably the highlight of our week, and when our moms finally showed up to cart us home, we still hadn't had enough. But, we knew it was time to go, and from the amount of packages mom now carried, she definitely needed our help.

We parted with Mike and his mom at the corner, then walked across the street and into her store. It was only about 7:30 and the store was still busy, but we didn't linger. Instead we went out the back door where mom's car was parked, threw the packages in the trunk, then piled in for the short ride home.

Back at our house, we helped mom carry in the gifts, then she sent us off to bathe and get ready for bed. We had one more day of school, and our bedtime was 9 o'clock, but if we hurried we'd still have a little time to watch TV before we headed to bed.

I let my brothers bathe first and they shared a tub bath, but I made them hurry and not linger and play like they usually do. That night, for the first time I could ever remember, I actually looked at their naked bodies. Now, I'm not saying I'd never seen them naked before. After all, we were brothers, and modesty had never been an issue with us. We were all boys, we all had the same equipment, and we never gave much thought to parading around naked or in our undies as long as mom wasn't around.

But that night, I looked, really looked, and I found what I saw very interesting. We'd all done some growing that year, and Billy's body was beginning to fill out a little and lose that little boy look, while Danny was still pudgy and cute as a puppy. Sometimes even I just wanted to squeeze the stuffing out of him, as grandma like to say, while with Billy, it was more of a quiet love I felt for him.

It was obvious that we shared a lot of the same genes, for we all had the same blond hair, and the resemblance in our faces said we were brothers. My eyes were green, and theirs brown, but otherwise we could have been the same boy at three different ages.

That got me to thinking about the part between their legs. Was that what I'd looked like down there at their age? Danny's was small, sort of like a grub worm hiding in a turtle neck sweater, but Billy's penis was quite a bit bigger, the tip of his penis sticking out from the foreskin. Like me, both of my brothers were uncut, as was our dad, and though I didn't think much about it then, later in life I would thank my parents many times for leaving us intact.

Billy seemed to pick up on my sudden interest in his body and he gave me a strange look, then being his usual silly self, he grabbed his penis and shook it at me.

"Shut up," I said, but I was blushing bright red after having been caught staring.

"What are you guys talking about?" Danny asked, scratching his balls and still managing to look innocent.

"Yeah, nothing," my middle brother said grabbing his clean undies and slipping them on.

Then without another word he left the room, but I couldn't help but stare after him, admiring his perky butt. Was my butt that cute when I was his age? I wondered. Then I thought about Mike's body and his butt, and I felt myself stiffen a little down below.

When I was Billy's age, I couldn't remember thinking about sex or other boys, but I had learned to rub myself and get that good feeling by then. The weird thing was that I didn't think of anyone or anything when I did it, it was just like scratching an itch. I did it, then forgot about it till the next time. Now, all that had changed, and I had Mike to thank for that.

Once Danny was gone, I latched the bathroom door, stripped off my clothes and started the shower. Ever since I'd turned 11, I preferred showers to baths, and that night I was looking forward to a long hot shower.

As I stood there, the water cascading over my head and shoulders, I thought once again of how my brothers had looked naked, but it was the memory of Billy's body that kept replaying over and over in my head. His body was a lot like mine, if I really thought about it. We were both fit, and though not overly muscled, we had some good muscle definition from playing hard and getting lots of exercise and sunshine.

Not that Danny didn't run around like crazy too, but he was still young enough to have what mom called 'baby fat', and it not only made his body softer looking, but gave him that teddy bear, huggable quality that everyone seemed to pick up on right away.

Suddenly, I realized that while thinking about Billy and what he'd looked like naked had given me a boner. At first I felt kind of guilty. After all, he was my brother and I shouldn't be thinking about him that way, but I also knew I had no control over that particular part of my body. Ever since I'd turned 8 or 9, boners had become a way of life, and it was only after I'd learned what to do with them that I'd begun to get them under control.

So, sick or not, I finally decided I needed to rub one out right there in the shower. I tried to keep Billy out of my thoughts, concentrating instead on Mike and what we'd done, but as we guys all know, we don't really have any control over our thoughts at a time like that. Fortunately, by the time Billy's naked body clouded my vision, and before I could worry about it too much, I was there. Left panting and leaning against the tiled wall, I thought about what I'd just done, but for some reason the guilt didn't seem as strong as I felt it should be. After all I reasoned, I hadn't touched him or anything, it was just a picture in my head, and no one would ever know but me.

I hurriedly lathered up, rinsed, dried, and got dressed for bed, and by the time I got to the living room my brothers were curled up on the couch with mom and Danny looked half asleep. I took the easy chair to the left of the couch and stared at the TV, but my mind really wasn't on the flickering images on the screen.

I watched as mom gently roused my little brother and herded him off to bed, but I knew she'd be gone awhile because Danny always insisted on a bedtime story.

I got up then and sat down beside Billy, who turned to look at me as if to say, "what?"

"You're getting fit, like me," I said, trying to explain my earlier appraisal of his naked body.

"I think so. I mean, it's hard to remember, but looking at you now, your body seems to be a lot like mine."

"Really?" he asked, looking serious for a moment, then he laughed, "dork, I've seen it, it ain't that big."

"Well, you've never seen it on the bone," I said blushing, but grinning none the less, having got the one up on him again.

"Even Danny," Billy said, then blushed, "he gets em a lot, especially in the morning."

"Those are pee boners," I said, "every boy gets those, and it makes it hard to pee."

"Huh, well...he does," Billy confessed, then looking serious, he added, "that's bad, right?"

"No, no way," I said, hoping I sounded as confident as I felt, "all boys do that. It's not bad, it's...it's natural."

"Really?" Billy said looking pleased, "well...I guess that's true. Umm...do you do it?"

"Oh, yeah...me too," he said grinning, but still not admitting the obvious, that he did it too.

"Boys," mom said, suddenly appearing from the hallway, "bedtime, come give me a kiss. I finally got my little teddy bear to sleep," she said smiling, such love in her eyes that I wanted to cry.

We hopped up and took turns getting our hug and a kiss on the cheek, then we all went off to our rooms. I held back until mom was already in her room with the door closed, then I grabbed Billy's arm and jerked him to a stop.

"Don't worry about me, I know how much to do it, and I know how to do it just right," I said grinning, then I left him to ponder that as I stepped into my room and closed the door

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Poor Boy's Christmas

by Rob Warr

Chapter 1