Howdy Doody

The Geppetto Project

Chapters 25-26

Chapter Twenty Five

Sunday morning broke in a steady rain on Green Tree as the water poured off the wooden shutters in a curtain of water. The sound of the rain on the roof told Adam as well as the campers that this rain was going to be around for awhile, maybe even all day.

Trevor was one of the first boys up as he clutched his penis in a choke hold while studying the horse-back riding schedule pinned to the cabin wall. Now doing a small dance to try to contain a morning piss, he damned near lost control over it.

"We don't got a ride until this afternoon! Maybe it'll stop raining by then." he declared as he beat feet for the bathroom.

"Is it gonna rain all day Uncle Adam?" Chris called out from his bedroom.

With Sammy adjusting himself back onto Adam's chest where he usually spent the first five or 10 minute's of every morning, Adam looked over to the water pouring off the shutters that lined the screened in porch. With no radio, no newspapers and no tv usually being monitored by most people at camp, Adam hadn't even been aware that it was going to rain.

As a camp policy highly endorsed by the Intermediate Camps Director, Adam very much liked that policy, which avoided the very much hated "New music" on the radio and what Adam considered as garbage on the tv, not to mention the nightly news which highly irritated most staff. Camp Green Tree was a closed society, and Adam and his staff liked it that way. It also caught them flat footed when it came to most weather situations, including rainy days.

"Call Aunt Helen and find out what's going on," Adam told the boy as he wrapped his arms around Sammy for the boy's first hug of the day. Burying his nose in the boys hair, Adam kissed his scalp as Sammy now began to stretch himself flat and work the night's kinks out.

With a thud, Carla threw her pillow next to Adam and flopped down beside the counselor as she curled herself against Adam.

"Let me guess, this cold clammy ass I'm feeling isn't because you've been out in the rain!" Adam said to the girl. Carla giggled a little.

"I slept with Matty and Chris," she said.

"I thought you smelled a little familiar," Adam said as both Carla and Sammy now both giggled.

"Uncle Adam! Aunt Helen wants to talk to you." Chris screamed from the living room. Sammy groaned a little.

"Just stick it in park, I'll be right back," Adam said as he patted Sammy on the ass and moved the boy on top of Carla.

"The Weather Channel say's it'll let up by about 11:00" Helen reported as Adam picked up the phone.

"Bert's already gone to the airport with Thomas, Kevin Charlie and Stephanie," the Director's girlfriend reported.

"Bert's not going right?" Adam asked.

"No, he'll be back here by about 9:30 or so, and Sid is going to be going to pick them up this afternoon." Helen reported.

"Sid will be here right after breakfast, but if something comes up before then, he'll be at his cabin," she told Adam.

"No problem. I take it Assembly won't be blown?" Adam asked.

"No, they'll go straight to breakfast." Helen reported.

"No assembly today guys. Aunt Helen says the rain should stop by lunch," Adam said as he stood at the toilet.

"We have about an hour before Mess Call, so that should give you enough time to find your poncho's." Several boys now came into the bathroom soaking wet.

"We don't need no poncho's Uncle Adam, the rain is warm!" Billy form Dan's cabin next door told the counselor as they joined three boys already in the showers. Adam shook his head as he headed back for his room and some important unfinished business.

"Hey Uncle Adam, the door was closed!" Carla said as Adam returned to his bedroom.

"Oh, sorry I wasn't paying attention," Adam replied as he realized he had just temporarily interrupted the two bodies deeply involved with each other.

"That's OK, you can come in with us if you want to. Right Sammy?" Carla asked. Before Sammy got the opportunity to answer, Adam spoke first.

"I'll take a raincheck on that sweetheart, I'm going to take a shower," he replied. As Adam closed the door behind him, Carla lay with her head on the pillow with Sammy behind her.

"What's a raincheck?" she asked Sammy.

"I guess he's gonna go outside and check the rain," Sammy replied as he once again found Carla's clitoris and resumed making the both of them happy. Carla closed her eyes as she put her hands on top of Sammy's. It wasn't often that she had the chance to play with Sammy in the early morning, but when she did, it was somehow much different than when the two played just before going to sleep. Not only Sammy, but all the boys in the cabin seemed to have been in a hurry at night, but in the morning, they liked to play for a lot longer, and with a hell of a lot more passion. As her friend brought her to climax for the third time, she felt his penis inside her as it signaled his climax. One of these days, the boy would be "Spitting" and she wondered how much better that was going to feel as she put her finger on top of Sammy's and pressed down and into her just a little bit more.

Adam shook his head and smiled a bit to himself as he entered the shower that already had Jeannie and Joey in it.

"Mind if I join you?" Adam said as he entered the bathroom.

"Come on in Uncle Adam, the water's nice and warm!" Jeannie said as she scooted next to Joey on the floor making room for the Counselor.

"Where's Sammy?" Joey asked as he poured soap on his legs and washed.

"A little busy with Carla," Adam replied. Both Jeannie and Joey looked at each other with a small smile on their faces.

"They Fuckin?" Jeannie asked.

"The door's closed," Adam answered. Again the two campers looked at each other with a knowing smile. Adam sat down next to Jeannie and looked at the girls wet hair.

"Did you shampoo yet?" he asked. Jeannie shook her head as she reached for the bottle of shampoo and climbed over Adam's leg and sat herself down. Adam smiled a bit as the girl laid back and pinned his penis between Adam's stomach and the base of her spine. A year or two earlier, Adam probably would have gone into full erection within seconds. Now, it was about as sound asleep as it ever got. Adam was extremely grateful as he reach between the two and adjusted it to sit out of harm's way. Adam knew full well that if he made the move, either girl would have assisted him, but that wasn't about to happen anytime soon. Adam would romp with the best of them with a boy, but something inside him put little girls off limits; maybe the thought of his little sisters when he was growing up.

Jeannie giggled a little at the move, and snuggled herself in a little deeper as Adam poured shampoo on her head and began what she knew very well would be a five minute scalp and chest massage that both girls had come to love. Showers both girls could do without, the massages were a completely different matter as she closed her eye's and painted pretty pictures in her mind as the rain poured down all the harder outside.

Bert's Morning began at 4:30 when he opened his eye's wondering what time it was. Getting up and slipping on some underpants, he checked the girl's rooms. Christopher was sound asleep tucked securely in between Robin and Stephanie, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it had been a two or three shower night. Christopher's one piece fluffy cotton pajama's were soaked, and there was a roll of blankets between both girls to help dam up the overflow. Bert slipped back out of the bedroom and checked on Claire and Jill who slept as soundly as Christopher did. After going to the bathroom he slipped back into bed with a hope that Helen just might awaken, at least for a few minutes.

"What time is it?" Helen asked as her hand went to Bert's groin area and her fingers reached into the slit in his underpants.

Bert's second beginning occurred about 10 minutes later as he sat in his office and Helen drifted back off to sleep. As a 47 year old widower, Bert was a happy camper to know that he could still keep up with the teenager's, and had no problem whatsoever keeping Helen both full and happy, usually twice a day. But now that his penis was also happy, it was time for work.

Bert was about to send his staff to New Hampshire to pick up a set of twin boys, and the sound of the rain might alter those plans. First phoning Alabama where the plane was coming from to pick up his staff, he was told that the weather was not going to be a factor, the plane would be leaving on schedule. With that chore over he took out the file on the boys and skimmed through it. He was mostly interested in the health and history of the boys, it was his practice not to delve into the behavioral aspects of the children he took in, nor was he interested in prior staff's personal assessment of a child. That he would determine for himself having no pre-conceived notions concerning a boy.

The eight year twins were named Benjamin (Benji) and Gavin. Nothing was known about their parents, they were found abandoned in a church in Chicopee, Massachusetts's when they were 18 months old. A note was pinned to each boy's snowsuit identifying them by name and nothing else. Social Services placed them in their first foster home and by age 7

they had been placed in their 11th when they were finally remanded to a Harvard Program for sexually dysfunctional children. The Institute knew immediately they had two Geppetto boys on their hands and once dna testing confirmed the diagnosis, they were enrolled at the Institute for more advanced study. On a good day, they maintained a Scale One, which usually meant they would become sexually involved on an hourly basis. On bad days, you were lucky to get a 45 minute break in between romps. Both boys spent close to 10 months at the Institute in Brookline, before the boys were eventually transferred to The New Hampshire School.

The New Hampshire's School's primary reason for requested re-assignment to Green Tree was based upon the ages of the children involved. Green Tree contained a campus of almost 200 boys who were age appropriate for the twins, while New Hampshire's student body was much older. New Hampshire also wanted the twins re-assigned because the twins had obviously picked up some preferences for boys older and larger than themselves, no doubt a preference strongly encouraged in foster care from the earliest age. Bert read the report with a very heavy heart.

Bert's normal routine was to find himself in the Mess Hall for an early morning cup of coffee with the School's kitchen staff when he awoke early enough to stay out of their way, and on this morning, even with the rain pouring down, he found himself walking around the Camp Lake first in his rain poncho and bare feet. Like Christopher, these twins struck a nerve in him, a nerve that went all the way back to his own dead child. It was a half hour walk around the lake if you didn't dilly dally, Bert made it in a little over an hour as a murky dawn presented itself in the east through the rain.

"Helen called looking for you. Christopher's up and she want's to know if you plan on taking him to the airport with you." John the Chef said as Bert came into the Mess Hall and hung his poncho on a peg. Handing Bert a cup of coffee, Bert addressed a Mess Boy.

"Call Aunt Helen and tell her to have Christopher ready with two girls here in 15 minutes." he instructed. Bert sat down in a chair in front of his Chef's desk as he sipped the coffee.

"You leaving?" John asked.

"No, I just need to bring some staff to the airport. They're picking up two boys in New Hampshire," Bert replied. John nodded "What did you think of Dinner?" John now asked.

"Spectacular as always. One complaint I never get around here is about the food," Bert replied.

"Not too much garlic?" John asked. Bert looked at the Chef not really understanding the question, then he remembered the Pin worm situation.

"Shit, I didn't really taste it, where did you put it?" he asked. John smiled broadly.

"Between the marinade for the chicken and beef filet and the garlic bread sticks, the little heathen's ate close to five pounds [2¼ kg] of garlic powder last night!" John said with a grin. Bert shook his head and chuckled.

"So we don't have to worry about worms, but we have a camp full of bad breath and body odor now," he said.

With the slamming of a screen door, Thomas, David, Kevin and Michael now entered the Mess Hall "Stephanie and Charlie will be here too, can we get them a continental breakfast to hold them over until they get on the plane?" Bert asked.

"No problem." John said as he called over a Mess Boy. The arrival of Michael with the group signaled for the boy a brand new chapter in his life. He had been awakened by Kevin about 45 minutes earlier, and the 12 year olds new adventure would begin. For one, he he was now traveling with his Counselor off school grounds for the first time in his life. Since arriving at Green Tree with Kevin almost two years years earlier, he had been the man's constant companion and room mate. Like David was to Thomas, and Sammy was to Adam, Michael had chosen Kevin as his First Uncle, and the relationship between the two was one which was never interfered with by other students or staff. From a very meek and subservient beginning, Michael had now grown into a very active, stable and self confident boy who was now "Top dog." as far as the rest of the boys in the mafia were concerned, especially those in his own Cabin, Coquina.

Sitting with David, he was served some hot chocolate and a bowl of cereal as he began to pick David's brain for information. Michael knew that David had flown in the jet before, something he had never done in his life. With he and David peeling a banana and slicing it into his cereal, Michael listened as David described what he would be soon experiencing as all around him everything and he saw and heard was brand new for him.

He was now on "The inside" of how things worked at camp.

Halfway through the abbreviated breakfast, Christopher, along with Stephanie, Jill and Claire came in and after removing their poncho's sat down. Christopher was "Flying low" as the staff had come to call the boy's hyper-activity, and he was ready to get into everything and anything he saw. Until he finally sat down in Bert's lap, the Mess Boys had a very worried look on their faces. Breakfast was a one suit affair for Christopher after it met a half a mug of hot chocolate. Undaunted, Jill and Claire took out one of four replacement sets of bib overalls that Helen had packed in Christopher's traveling bag, and with a new pair of pants and a new shirt on, the team was loaded into the van as reveille sounded across the lake. The Mess Boy's blood pressure dropped once Christopher disappeared through the van's doors.

The ride to the airport was fairly uneventful. There was little to see in a fairly steady downpour and the sun wasn't appearing anytime soon. Christopher had been taken to the bathroom before leaving and he had urinated, but despite coaxing from the girls, wasn't ready for a bowel movement. Naturally, 20 minutes later he was and he even gave advanced warning which wasn't always forthcoming prior to a packages arrival. Bert smiled as Jill whipped out a porta potty from the back of the van, something Helen had already anticipated. With the rain pouring down and the necessity for the windows to be up, it was a fun ride for the next 15 minutes or so. Michael was thinking that being on the "Inside" wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

Arriving at the airport, Christopher's interest increased once he saw the jet. He had been on the jet now twice before, and there was nothing wrong with his memory. Practically crawling along the roof of the van, Christopher was ready to go for another ride! Michael on the other hand had heard about the plane, but had never seen it before; He was mesmerized. The Gulfstream V was a 12 passenger jet that now stood glistening on the runway even through the rain as the floodlights illuminated it. Once the van pulled up to the ramp, several baggage handler's loaded 400 pounds [180 kg] of Gulf Shrimp into the back of the van as Christopher practically dragged both girls up the ramp.

"You're going to need a can opener to get him back off that plane!" Thomas now said to Bert. Bert nodded his head.

"Maybe I'll let him go along for the ride," Bert said.

"As Sid would say, Fuck you," Thomas replied. Bert laughed.

Michael knew nothing of Corinthian leather, but he knew opulence when he saw it. The cream colored seats looked more like overstuffed chairs than seats like the ones in the van, and the chrome and cherry wood trim was polished to a deep shine. Michael chose a window seat just in back of David as he looked in awe of the machine he sat in.

"Hello again Christopher." The stewardess said to him as he dragged the two girls from the back of the plane.

"Are you flying with us again?" she asked the boy more than a little skeptically.

"No, he's just visiting today." Jill told the stewardess who breathed a sigh of relief. Within a few minutes, it was time for departure as the engines began coming to life, and Bert now picked up Christopher who was still fairly unaware of what was about to happen.

"Let's wave to the big plane," Bert told the boy as he deftly maneuvered out the doorway. Both Michael and David watched as a happy smiling Christopher waved excitedly from the tarmac right up until the plane started moving forward. Then the shit hit the fan once Christopher realized he wasn't also moving, nor was he one the plane!

"It sucks to be your Uncle Bert right about now," Thomas said as he watched Christopher try to wiggle out of Bert's arms while pointing at the plane in near panic.

Michael watched as the blue and red lights on the ground went by and the plane taxied out to the runway. It was still raining pretty well, but it wasn't a downpour. Once the plane turned itself around, Michael listened as the jet's began to build in speed, and once the pilot let go of the brakes, the plane roared down the runway and into the air with a force that pushed the boy into the seat back with his knuckles white on the armrests. This was no van rolling down the highway, this was more like a roller coaster. Feeling the plane lift off the ground, Michael listened intently as load bangs and bumps that came from directly beneath him kept his attention at it's highest peak.

"We're OK, that's just the wheels coming back up." David told Michael as he turned around in his seat and looked at the expression on Michael's face. Once Michael got his color back, he began relaxing a little as the depressions on the armrest's slowly disappeared. Now watching out the window as streaks of water beaded and flowed towards the rear, Michael saw the clouds as they streaked by and it got lighter by the second. Within thirty seconds, the plane broke out to a clear sunny day as the clouds below the plane drifted further and further down from the plane. Michael looked out at what he thought looked like a huge field of rolling snow. Looking up, he saw a contrail of another jet as it streaked westward and away from him "Would you like the cheese omelet, or the scrambled eggs for breakfast?" A stewardess asked Michael as David now swiveled his seat around and faced Michael.

Michael wasn't sure.

"What are you having David?" he asked his friend.

"The omelet. But they're both very good." David replied.

"Two omelet's?" the Stewardess asked Michael. Michael nodded his head.

"Yes please," he said. The Stewardess smiled.

"My name is Vickie. If you need anything, just push this button," she told Michael.

"Hello again David, it's nice to see you again," she told the boy as she returned to the galley.

"She knows you?" Michael asked. David shrugged his shoulders, the girl did look a little familiar, but David wouldn't have recognized her in a crowd. Michael now looked back out the window.

"How come it's not raining anymore? How did it stop so fast?" he asked his friend.

"It's still raining down there on the ground, it won't stop until the clouds go away. We're above the rain when we're on top of the clouds." David told him. Michael looked out and saw another jet ahead of them and below that was heading south. As he watched and it streaked passed them he was still fairly speechless.

Breakfast was a bit smaller than the boys were use to at school, but still, far more extensive than the food they use to be served on commercial airlines. Fruit cups, eggs with bacon, ham and sausage, hot cross buns, orange juice and milk disappeared into both boys, as they watched Schreck II. Once the cloud cover thinned and Michael could see the ground 35,000 feet [10 km] below him, the movie took second place.

"We're about to cross into New York. Would you like to go up to the cockpit and visit with the Flight Crew?" The stewardess asked both boys. It was a rather silly question she knew, nobody ever said "No".

Compared to the passenger section, the Cock pit was tiny to Michael with buttons, gauges, dials, and screens everywhere including the ceiling. The co-pilot gave up his seat, and one by one, David and Michael got to sit in his seat and listened on the headphones as the planes and ground talked to each other in a language neither boy understood. Almost everything said was either a letter or a number.

"See that little ribbon of water down there?" the captain asked both boys.

"That's the Hudson River that flows from New York City to Albany," he told the boys. One by one, he pointed to the Berkshires, the Green Mountains, the Catskills, the Adirondacks, and the White Mountains far off in the distance.

"On the other side of those Mountains is New Hampshire, we will be landing in about 20 minutes," the Captain said as he looked at his watch. Michael had never thought about his future or a career before, he was now thinking very long and hard.

The campers arrival in the Mess Hall was normally a fairly hectic occurrence on a nice day. On a rainy, cold or snowy day it was closer to bedlam with either rain poncho's or heavy winter clothing having to be discarded prior to sitting down. The one saving grace on this particular summer day was that unlike winter clothing which was specific to each child, rain poncho's were a universal piece of gear, subject only to size variance. three piles of poncho's now littered the front entrance, large, medium and small, all color coded.

With Bert gone to the airport, Sid was in charge, but as he usually did, he didn't announce Bert's absence from Camp. Sunday at both School and Camp was usually kept fairly low key with those wishing to attend Vespers in the morning, and quiet play in the afternoon, it wasn't so much off a spiritual day as it was simply a day of rest and relaxation. As Sid was fond of saying, it was simply "Kick back and smell the roses time."

On most Sunday's, unless Sid was busy elsewhere he would attend Vesper's. He did not attend because he had a close affinity to the lord, he attended because it brought the boys, and now girls, together in unity not so much for religious purposes, but for the sake of camaraderie. As a boy in New Hampshire, Sid had been taught to play the piano and organ by his Uncle Kenny, a man who had saved his, and three other boy's lives. Now, Sid was a fairly accomplished musician who had two musical passions; Classical Music and Rock and Roll. One of his biggest reason's for wanting to attend Vesper's as both a child and as an adult was the music, and Sid could go from Bach on his Baby Grand to Procol Harum on his Hammond B-3 organ by mere request. For the children at Green Tree, Vesper's was more of a concert than a prayer meeting when Sid attended.

With Bert now gone for the morning, Sid couldn't disappear, especially with the maintenance, laundry and housekeeping departments in round-the-clock cleaning mode because of the worm situation. If Sid had gone to Vesper's, there probably would have been a hundred or so attendee's. With his absence, about 30 trekked to the Rec Hall, most from Camp Kenny and Pine Ridge.

Plan's for the morning for the mafia were already made mid-week when the boys ran out of jelly on Wednesday morning. The kitchen had six kinds of jelly to replace it, but no blackberry, and with a protest from the boys, John became involved. As any Chef can be, John was a cantankerous Son of a Bitch if things didn't go exactly his way, but he was also a born and bred Geppetto boy who originally came from The New Hampshire school.

He had attended the Culinary Arts Institute of America in Poughkeepsie, NY to become a Chef. He also took several courses in Early Childhood Education at Sienna College in Schenectady. John could have a knock down drag out argument with a cook one minute, and turn on a dime to comfort a boy with a problem the next. Bert took a lot of shit from John, mainly because John was just that good. "We''ll order more, but if you want jelly faster, you can go pick some berries yourselves and we'll make up a batch," he told the boys. Now, with plastic buckets in hand, the Great Berry Hunt was on for Sunday morning.

With canteens slung over their shoulders and a bucket swinging from their hand, the Mafia disappeared into the woods immediately after breakfast. The boys had roughly 12,000 acre's to traverse and high expectations of full buckets of berries floating around in their minds. They could smell the jelly cooking already. The mafia was thrilled to be off on their own, all alone in the deep woods. They were now more like intrepid hunters than lowly berry hunters as the climbed the hills in back of the cabins heading for the fields and meadows they knew would hold the blueberry's, blackberry's, strawberry's and raspberry's they sought.

"Hey buddy! What'cha do'in, working on your tan?" Sid said as he rolled up in front of Adam's Cabin.

"Fuck you too!" Adam replied as Sid mounted the steps with three or four boys giggling away.

"Where is everybody Uncle Adam?" One boy asked as he looked at Turtle Rock which was deserted.

"On a wood's hike Ronny," Adam replied. As Sid sat down, the boys headed inside to the kitchen for some milk and cookies.

"It'll take them about about 45 minutes to get up on the meadows. Once they're up there, they'll start spreading out and my guys will be monitoring them from a safe distance on horse-back" Sid told Adam.

"They think they're on their own," Adam replied.

"They will be. My guys can monitor them without the boys knowing they're around. They make enough noise up there to stay a half a mile [800 m] away from them and still keep tabs," Sid told his friend. Adam smiled.

"Did our counselor's pull this kind of shit on us when we were kids?" Adam asked.

"If they didn't, they were fucking fools," Sid responded.

"I ain't about to turn a group of boys loose on 12,000 acre's of woods without keeping them on some kind of leash!" he replied.

In the late Spring and early Summer, berry's of all kinds abounded in the woods and on the meadows, but by mid Summer, between the deer and the rabbits, pickings were slim and usually found in hard to reach places for the animals. The boys might have found a half a bucket of berry's, but with one going into the bucket and three being eaten, most were fortunate to keep the bottom of the bucket covered. By 11:00 the boys were ready to head back to camp, and as pre-arranged, Brian blew a whistle three times to signal the rest of the boys to head for home. On horse back and with radio's, the senior boys shepherded the boys back out of the woods without their knowledge, and soon learned that 32 entered the woods, but only 28 could be counted leaving despite three counts from a safe distance. The senior boys would have to double back and find four more boys.

Tracking the four missing boys down was something the senior boys were very skilled at. They didn't need to put their ear to the ground to hear footsteps walking in the woods, or follow broken twigs and footsteps in the soil, they needed clean ears for listening. Doubling back around to where the main party had gathered, the senior boys circled around the wider parameter in an ever expanding half circle until they heard the boys.

Circling around and coming from the West, the Senior boys "Happened" upon the four boys who had discovered a blueberry patch in a thicket.

"Were' going back to camp, want a ride?" The lead Senior boy asked Billy.

"We're with Coquina and Beachview. They're collecting berry's too," he told the boys on the horses.

"We heard them down in the valley about 20 minutes ago. They're already going back to camp." Randy replied.

"They left?" Billy asked. The Senior boy nodded his head.

"It's OK, we'll take you back if you want," he told the boys.

Sid had left Adam's earlier, and when the main party returned to the cove, Adam took a quick head count with Eitienne.

"Whose missing?" Adam asked. Once Identified, Adam waited a few minute's to see if the boys were simply lagging behind, but after about five minute's he called Sid.

"They're on their way off the mountain now. They hitched a ride with my boys," Sid told Adam.

At 11, Billy was the oldest boy in the group, the other three were all eight years old. There is no such thing in Green Tree as a Cub Scout Pack or Boy Scout Troop, yet, in the woods, Green Tree boys are probably more knowledgeable. 12,000 deeply wooded acre's isn't a huge piece of land plus the entire Federal Preserve is surrounded by a 12 foot [3½ m] chain link fence with razor wire on top. It's not like someone could walk for days without bumping into a fence and walk along it to civilization. The property is also dotted with marked bridle path's and snowmobile trails that the boys were all familiar with. Getting "Lost" was highly unlikely for any length of time but a child could founder around for awhile if he walked in large circles or kept doubling back on himself. As with all the boys, Billy knew how to determine compass direction during daylight sunny hours, and he also knew how to find his direction at night from the stars if need be.

Since the boys were off in the woods "On their own" they never did find out that they almost had a full day in the woods as they were dropped off by the Senior boys on horse back to the sounds of "No fair" coming from their cabin mates. Right then and there, Adam made himself a mental note to get the younger boys into the woods and make them "Lost proof" at the earliest opportunity.

Bert's arrival back in camp was anticipated by about 9:30, and by 10:00 Helen was beginning to get a little worried. Tracking down Sid who was on his way to the girl's camp, she asked Sid if he had received any word.

"If the plane lifted off a little late, or if he encountered some traffic on route 52, he's still within reasonable time, but if it makes you feel better, you can call him if you want," Sid said as he handed Helen a cell phone.

"Would you call?" she asked. Sid shook his head.

"If it goes beyond an hour, I'd start looking for him, but if something was wrong out there, he'd be the first to call, and he has direct access to Alexandria. One push on a button, and Alexandria is all over the place like flies on shit," Sid told the woman. Helen's girls in the back of the golf cart giggled.

"Ignore your Uncle Sid girls, he just has a colorful way of speaking." Helen said as she glared at Sid.

"S"cuse me ladies!" Sid said as he doffed his non-existant hat which brought out even more giggle's.

As Helen arrived back down on the lower campus, the girls saw Bert's distinctive golf cart coming through the trail leading to the front gates. With Christopher sitting on Bert's lap steering, the girls sat in the back holding on. Converging together at the Cabin/Office, Christopher was now pulling at his overall straps to get them off as his eyes never left the lake and a group of Camp Kenny children playing along the shore and digging in the sand.

"Problem's?" Helen asked Bert as he helped the girls get Christopher undressed before he raced down to the beach in a gallop. Bert shook his head and smiled somewhat.

"We really fucked up on the way home. I passed a McDonald's and Christopher went ape shit all over the place," Bert told his girl friend as the girls in the back of her cart once again looked at each other and giggled. Helen shook her lowered head.

"He doesn't mean that girls, he just picks up very bad language from your Uncle Sid!" she told the girls. Bert didn't fully understand Helen's remark but he continued.

"We had to turn around and go back. I thought Christopher was going to climb out the window when he saw the god-damned thing!" Bert reported.

"So that's why you're so late?" Helen asked. Bert nodded his head.

"I tried to go through the drive-in window, but he wasn't having any of that, we had to park and go in!" Bert said. "That's nothing Aunt Helen, you should have seen Christopher when the plane took off without him!" Jill now told her counselor. Helen looked at Bert.

"It was a fun morning," Bert said somewhat sarcastically.

To the boys unanimous approval, lunch was beef vegetable soup and submarine sandwiches of meat balls, sausage and peppers, veal parmesan and just about anything else Chef John could disguise Garlic powder in included the toasted garlic bread itself. Those boys who didn't want sandwiches could always choose pizza or calzone, which had even more garlic on it. Most staff just smiled and shook their heads and were very happy that the Pin worms didn't hate Tabasco sauce instead of garlic.

For David and Michael on the plane, the fun morning which began at 6:30 was still going on. By 10:00 they had landed at Laconia, and watched from the plane's windows as the plane was first unloaded with crates, and then reloaded with even more crates by the baggage handler's who were filling the cargo hold. Once the machinery around the plane that was filling it with fuel, water and food pulled away, a van pulled up and sat at the stairway as both boys watched Thomas, Kevin, Charlie and Stephanie go down the ramp and around the back side of the van. Once more luggage from the van was put in the plane, David and Michael saw two little boys exiting the van and saw Benji and Gavin for the first time.

Both boys were impeccably dressed in different colored, but matching sneakers, strap shorts and polo shirts. They were obviously brothers, but not identical twins. The had very light brown hair, and it was cut long in a page boy style with bangs coming down in front almost to their eyes. Each boy carried a knap sack on one shoulder, and had a small travel case on wheels with a handle. They were neither crying nor smiling, but David didn't think they looked particularly unhappy, more curious than anything else, especially towards the plane that now stood before them. With a toss of their hair, the two staff members who had gotten out with them returned to the van and both twins watched as the van left the area.

"I seen clothes like that on Camp Kenny kids, but I ain't seen them on any Intermediate boys. Have you?" Michael asked David. David focused on the boy's short's. They were mid calf length short's with pleats and pockets, but no belt loops.

The fly on the shorts was not zippered, it was folded over fabric, like pajama bottoms.

Straps held the shorts up, and they were connected to the shorts by buttons. Except for the fact that they didn't have a bib front, they looked like the sunsuits that the youngest camp Kenny boy's wore. In Intermediate boy's terminology, this was Oshkosh B'gosh stuff which was about as popular as Barney with the eight to 12 year old set. David shook his head. These boys were acutely underdressed for their age as far as both David and Michael were concerned.

"I wonder what the rest of their clothes look like?" David asked himself more than anybody else.

Thomas lead the way onto the plane and the boys climbed the stairs without looking back. After introductions, and a quick visit to the cock pit to meet the flight crew, both boys settled into window seats as the Captain started the first jet, and then the second. Neither boy spoke for the first five minutes of David and Michael's meeting them and it would be the last silence from the twins for such a long period of time unless they were asleep as both boys would soon learn.

The Gulfstream V took off from Laconia and both climbed and banked upon takeoff.

Almost immediately, David saw Boston on the horizon and with noses pressed to the windows showed Michael the City and pointed to landmark's he recognized. Once over the city, he looked South towards Cape Cod and eventually Martha's Vineyard when his blood pressure began to rise. It was a tiny little dot sitting along the water's edge, but he recognized the shape of the house and the driveway of Thomas's family estate where he would be vacationing in less than three weeks time. From about 15,000 feet [4½ km] he could see car's in the driveway and the gardener mowing the lawn in straight symmetrical rows. Now breathing heavy, David left his seat to make sure Thomas saw what he saw as he climbed onto Thomas's lap and peered out the window. Once nothing but water was seen as the plane continued to climb and head South towards Block Island, David wrapped his arms around Thomas and hugged the man tightly. The move did not escape the twin's attention as they both now looked at each other in silence for the last time.

All the seats on the plane swiveled 360 degrees and as soon as the twin's found that out, they were riding on a Merry Go Round when they weren't looking out the window or talking to someone, almost always either David or Michael. Both David and Michael had been briefed concerning the boys, and were told that basically, Green Tree had two boys with perfectly clean slates, and whatever was written on those slates was going to be very hard to correct or erase if it was wrong information, so they were to be very careful about what they said to them.

"These two boys are just like new boys coming into the Intermediate Camp from Camp Kenny. Always defer a question back to a staff member if it's about school rules or policy," Bert had instructed both boys on the way to the airport.

Now going back to his seat with Michael, Benji asked the first question.

"Is he your Dad?"

"No, he's my Uncle Thomas. We live together," David said.

"Your real Uncle or your pretend Uncle?" Gavin asked. David now looked at Thomas.

"That's a very good question. What is the difference between a real Uncle and a pretend Uncle?" Kevin asked.

"A real Uncle is part of your family. A pretend Uncle takes pictures of you and gives you to people to do things in bed with." Benji replied.

"Uncle Larry and Uncle Noel brought you to the airport. Are they real Uncle's or pretend Uncle's" Kevin asked after very carefully thinking about the question.

"They ain't our real Uncle's, we don't have any real Uncle's. But they ain't pretend Uncle's either, they're school Uncle's which is different." Benji replied matter of factly. Kevin wasn't sure about the rest of the people on the plane, but his blood pressure dropped significantly he was sure.

"How are they different? He asked.

"School Uncle's come from Barclay House. They don't take any pictures or give you to anybody else, they just take care of us and the other kids." Gavin replied.

"Uncle Matthew say's that there are no pretend Uncle's in his school." "Barclay House?" Stephanie asked Kevin.

"The Institute's Intake and Research facility in Brookline," Kevin told the woman.

"Uncle Matthew is right, there are no pretend Uncle's in his school, and there are no pretend Uncle's in your new school either. Uncle Thomas is a school Uncle, so is Uncle Charlie, and so am I," Kevin told the boys.

"Do you have school Aunts in Uncle Matthew's school?" he asked. Both boys shook their heads.

"Well your new school does, because we have boys and girls there that are all ages, all the way from babies to big boys like you. This is Stephanie, and she would like to be your school Aunt," Kevin said. Both boys looked at Stephanie fairly expressionless.

"Is she gonna live with us?" Benji asked.

"No, you'll be living with a bunch of really nice boys in my Cabin," Kevin replied.

"So how come she's gonna be our Aunt?" Benji asked.

"Most boys at Green Tree have special Aunt's. If you have a problem or are upset about something, you can go and talk with her," Kevin replied.

"Like Doctor Lester?" Gavin asked.

"I'm not sure, what does Doctor Lester do?" Kevin asked.

"He talk's to us!" Benji replied.

"And asks us questions." Gavin added.

"I guess Aunt Stephanie might also do those things too, but mainly, she's there to make sure you are safe, and happy, and not having any problem's," Kevin told the boys.

"Uncle Matthew say's that your school is just like his school. He say's that we can do privacy there just like we can do it now." Benji said.

"He also told us that everybody does privacy at your school just like they do here. Is that right?" the boy asked.

"Yes," Kevin replied.

"Privacy means fucking." Gavin informed the teacher as he pointed to his penis.

"At Green Tree, some of the boys call it privacy, most call it playing or romping. Some call it fucking, it's all the same thing," Kevin replied emotionless. Two set's of hands now drifted into pockets that obviously had no bottoms as both boys took possession of their genitals.

"Doctor Lester told us we would like Green Tree!" Gavin said as both boys now sat back and smiled for the first time.

Within minutes, both boys had to "Go to the bathroom" and as the door locked behind them, Kevin and the staff all looked at each other.

"Pictures, being given away?" Stephanie asked.

"11 foster homes!" Thomas replied without explanation either given or needed.

"I guess that pretty well explains the shorts." Charlie said.

"When I was a kid, I never wore underwear and I didn't own a pocket in any pants either," he said.

"David already knows that whatever he hears concerning other boys is held in the strictest confidentiality Michael. Anything you learn or hear concerning these boys can never be repeated, not even to them." Thomas now advised Michael.

"Yes Uncle Thomas," Michael replied.

Lunch on the plane gave a little more insight into the twins behavior. They had picked up many habits over their first eight years of life and one of them was food hoarding. It had been seen many times at Green Tree and was almost always associated with children placed in foster or state care.

The bulk of the talk during lunch was between the twins and Michael and David.

Green Tree rules forbid serious or disciplinary talk during any meals, the discussion was to kept light, if not fun. School work was out unless the boys elected to talk about a specific assignment or activity in class. If a topic caused a boy stress, it was put on hold until after meals.

As with the boys on the flight up North, the twins were invited to visit with the Captain after lunch and the second bathroom break. To Michael's surprise, when David asked the pilot where the plane was now entering the coast from the ocean, the Pilot replied Albemarle Sound. Michael now retreated back into the cabin where he called Kevin and Thomas over to the window to show them his old school if it could be found from 32,000 feet [9.7 km].

"If that's Laurel Point, it's right down there," Kevin told Michael as they looked down. Michael looked and watched in silence.

"Do you miss it?" Kevin asked.

"I miss going hunting for fiddler crabs out on the bogs, but I don't miss anything else. Green Tree is way more fun," Michael replied. Kevin smiled and kissed the boy on the top of his head.

"I completely agree," he told Michael as the twins now returned to their seats and resumed twirling around as they talked.

With Kevin now back with the rest of the staff, the four boys were basically alone, and both twins had plenty of questions that were best asked and answered around kids like them. The twins liked their new school and the way they could talk to the staff about anything, but still, another kid could always be counted on to give you the real story.

"You let him kiss you whenever he wants to?" Benji asked Michael.

"He's my teacher and my counselor, I've lived with him for five years now," Michael replied.

"You live with him?" Gavin asked.

"Yes," Michael replied.

"You too?" Benji asked David.

"No, I live with Uncle Thomas in his Cabin." David replied.

"With other kids?" Gavin pressed.

"No, we live together because he's a Doctor and I'm going to be a Doctor too." David replied.

"Do you know Doctor Lester?" Benji asked both boys. Both Michael and David said "No."

He says we're Scale One. Are you Scale One?" Benji asked timidly.

"No, I,m a Scale 3."

David replied.

"Me too," Michael replied as the twins looked at him.

"Ain't nobody a Scale One at your school?" Benji asked.

"Sure, but most are Scale three or 4." David replied.

"That's just like our school." Gavin said somewhat disappointed.

"It's not a problem, all the kids play whenever they want and the kids who are Scale One don't care." David told both boys. Both twins now looked at each other. Turning back, Gavin leaned forward in his chair.

"You mean play play, or fuck play.?" he asked very quietly. Michael giggled as David had to smile.

"In Green Tree, playing is fucking!" he stated. Again both boys looked at each other.

"And with your Uncle's too?" Benji asked.

"That's up to you. You can play with anybody you want to so long as they live in the Intermediate boys camp."

David's information was fairly sound, but it had a glitch in it, to be precise, two glitches.

"Wanna play?" Benji asked both boys as his hands disappeared into his shorts.

"Maybe tonight," Michael replied.

"OK." Gavin said as he stood up and reached out for his brother's hand.

"Bathroom time," he said to Benji.

As both boys trotted themselves aft, Charlie came forward and sat down next to Michael.

"How's things going?' he asked. Both Michael and David giggled.

"Once they figure out how Green Tree ticks, I don't think they're gonna be going to the bathroom so much!" David replied.

"You're most probably very right. But if you want to do both these boys a very big favor, you'll tell all the mafia to only play with them when they come to you to initiate it. If they can be slowed down to a Scale Two, they're going to a lot happier." Charlie told the boys.

"They'll play every half hour if you want them to, but you're not doing them any good if you did that," he told the boys.

After lunch, the mafia all gathered in the kitchen with Chef John as they poured their berries in a wash sink and separated them. Of the four berries found, the strawberries were the most in need of major surgery, half were half ripe, and the other half had been eaten by something at some point in time, either a child or maybe even a rabbit or mouse. Setting them aside, John declared them to be reserved for strawberry shortcake desert that evening at Dinner.

The blueberries were next, and once washed and repotted, they would be turned into blueberry muffins for breakfast in the morning he declared.

The blackberries and raspberries were the most plentiful and John figured that with a little creative adding, he could render down the berries and get enough for a few bowls of Jam for the mornings toast specifically for the mafia.

With the kitchen crew preparing a full blown Sunday Roast Turkey Dinner all around them, 32 boys and girls in paper Chef's hats and aprons stood taking turns at mashing and then stirring the berries as they rendered down in the cooking pots. By 3:00 both Jams sat in the walk in cooler as their collectors took off for an afternoon lake swim in the cove.

That evening, the mafia ate strawberry shortcake for 42 children and staff. Two flats of strawberries from the produce cooler aided the collection from the campers which found their way to the compost heap.

The following morning, the entire camp enjoyed the blueberry muffins supplied by the mafia, along with six number 10 cans of blueberries that happened to be sitting in the pantry.

The raspberry and blackberry Jam's also got a little boost from the pantry, but the mafia knew that their own hand picked berry's made the very best Jam of them all.

David was the veteran flier on board the Gulfstream V as far as the children were concerned, and even among the adults, only Thomas had as much experience as he did. But nevertheless, the plane was now landing at Winston-Salem, and that still held his attention as closely as taking off. All four boys had their noses pressed against the windows as the tree tops loomed closer and closer until finally, the plane broke out to a field of grass and the familiar blue lights sticking out of the ground that David recognized.

With a bump, the planes wheels touched the ground and very shortly afterwards, the whine of the engine's brakes pulled the boys forward in their seats. It was only 1:00 in the afternoon, but both Michael and David had gone from North Carolina to Massachusetts and back again, all in five hours.

Bert had delivered the Green Tree staff and boys to the airport in the morning, but Sid was on hand to pick them up for their return. Stephanie wasn't exactly sure what to expect, she had come to Green Tree just a little less than six months earlier, and her first impression of Sid was pure loathing. Then again, she was highly suicidal, and Sid wanted it that way as the woman learned many months later. Now, as she stepped off the plane with the new boys from New Hampshire, she wasn't exactly sure how the man was going to present himself to the boys. Was he going to be an asshole prick to them like he was to her? Was he going to be the camp clown she eventually saw him portraying? However the man behaved, she would have to go along with it, he was the Assistant Director of Green Tree.

Once the luggage was loaded, the van pulled out while the cargo was still being unloaded from the plane by a crew from Camp. With Sid driving, he had invited both boys to sit up in the front seat with him, which the boys readily accepted. Sid had a 30 second conversation with Charlie once the plane had landed, and the man was briefed on Charlie's observations of the twins. When it came to boys, Sid was a very close second, if not matched with Bert as far as gaining their confidence, and Sid knew that nothing worked quite as fast as keeping in very familiar territory.

"So, who's Dorm were you in at school?" Sid asked the boys as they turned onto the highway.

"Uncle Ted's" Benji replied .

"Oh Uncle Ted! Doe's he still have that big bowl of jelly bean's on top of the television? When I was a little boy, I use to have pockets full of jelly beans every night and Uncle Ted would come and steal them back from me," Sid told the boys. Both boys now stopped looking out the window.

"You know Uncle Ted?" Gavin asked.

"You bet. He was my Dorm father for a few year's, but then I was moved to Uncle Barry's Dorm until I moved to Green Tree," Sid said nonchalantly.

"You know Uncle Barry too?" Benji now asked.

"Know him? Heck, he taught me how to swim!" Sid said. Both twins now looked at each other.

"You was at our school?" Benji asked.

"Grew up there. There's a bunch of kids at Green Tree who came from The New Hampshire school and we liked it a whole bunch, but the kids tell me they like Green Tree maybe even more," Sid said.

"So you know Uncle Matthew too?" Gavin said.

"Know him! Who do you think gave him the nickname "Juan Veldez!" Sid replied as he grinned at the boys. Two pairs of eye's now opened wide.

"We still talk to each other all the time, as a matter of fact I just spoke to him a little while ago. Want to say "Hello" to him?" Sid asked the boys.

"Sure!" both boys said instantly. Clicking a button, Sid now handed a cell phone to Benji.

"Share it with your Brother, it's ringing," Sid told the boy. With the cell phone now between the two boys ears, it rang a few times and the boys heard the familiar voice of the Director of their old school say "Hello." "Uncle Matthew! It's us, we flew!" Benji excitedly told the man.

The boys talked for about a minute and when final goodbye's were made, Benji handed the phone back to Sid.

"Uncle Matthew say's he sent you a box of coffee so you can stop whining to him." Gavin now told Sid.

"The man never did forgive me for giving him that nickname!" Sid replied. The ice was melted, and the twins were now back in familiar territory. Stephanie in the back seat listened to the entire conversation and marveled at all the coincidences between Sid and the twins. It was a really lucky stoke on Sid's part she thought to herself as the twins now chattered away like two hyper active magpie's.

Lunch on the plane was more than filling, but no boy was going to forego an ice cream soda if offered. Stopping at a Denny's on Route 52, the boys had an endless stream of questions about Green Tree and making comparison's to their old schools way of doing things. Sid joked and laughed whenever possible, but was taking down some very extensive mental notes in between the levity. By the time the group reached Green Tree, Sid had a brief to write down that would take about two hours and became the basis for much of the Individual Service Plan for each brother that the staff would follow for many years to come.

As Sid's cart now pulled up in front of Bert's office, Bert was sitting on the porch talking with Scotty, who had fallen off the monkey bars and was showing his bandaged war wound to the Director. Handing Scotty back to Sarah, his counselor, Bert gave the boy a good bye kiss as Sid mounted the stairs holding both boys by the hand.

"Boys, this is Uncle Bert. He's just like Uncle Matthew at your school, he's in charge of Green Tree and if he likes you, he might even offer you some lemonade or ice tea," Sid told both boys. Bert smiled and shook both boys hands, as Helen came out with a tray of drinks.

"Don't pay any attention to Uncle Sid, he's just trying to mooch his own glass of ice tea," Bert said to the boys as he sat back down. Benji and Gavin smiled, but they had retreated somewhat back into their shell as Sid handed each boy a glass and had them sit down on the swinging bench with him.

"This is Benji, and this is Gavin Uncle Bert. They had a really nice trip and it was the first time they ever flew in on plane," Sid told Bert.

What the boys wanted to do was to get to a calm quiet place with no strangers around them except maybe for Uncle Sid, David and Michael. Knowing this in advance, Bert kept the meeting short and upbeat, with most of the conversation centered on the plane ride and eventually even the ice cream soda's. Within a few minutes, the group was headed back down the stairs as the boys instantly went for Sid's hands once again. Stephanie, Thomas and Charlie said their goodbye's to the boys as Kevin and Sid returned to the cart with the boys who were now getting their first opportunity to share steering responsibilities.

Stephanie watched from the porch as the cart headed down the path along the lake .

"Is this the way Caleb first met Sid?" Stephanie asked the Director as she sat down to brief Bert concerning her observations of the boys. Bert thought back on Caleb's arrival almost two year's earlier. Caleb was Stephanie's Son.

"No, I took the lead with Caleb, we decided to attach him to me first, because of his age. My place was a lot quieter than Sarah's Cabin and Sid had moved in with Adam to make room for the new boys from Albemarle," Bert told her.

"But Sid is his Primary Uncle." Stephanie said. Bert nodded his head.

"Caleb chose Sid weeks after arriving at school. Initially, the team decided he was going to attach himself to me first," he told the girl.

"Suppose he chose somebody else?" Stephanie asked.

"If he did, we would have gone with it, but it was no more likely than the twins accepting Sid today," he said.

"Sid lucked out. He had the same counselor as the twins when he was a boy." Stephanie replied. Bert sat back and smiled as he drank his Lemonade.

"Sid is almost 51, the twins counselor is 32. They don't even know each other," Bert told the girl.

"But the jelly beans!" she said.

"Information from Matthew that would draw the boys towards Sid," Bert replied.

"And Barry?" she asked.

"They think Sid was in Barry's dorm too!" she said.

"He was, Barry and Sid are four months apart in age. He and Barry grew up together as children at The New Hampshire school," Bert replied. Stephanie shook her head as she looked at Thomas.

"You knew all of this?" she asked the Doctor.

"No, but it doesn't surprise me. You're sitting next the Master manipulator. His twin is rolling down the path with two little very happy boys," Thomas replied with a smile.

Once the three adults were debriefed, Bert needed to go up on the hill and pick up Christopher and the girls at the pool.

"Once the boys learn all the rules, they'll know exactly what your role is concerning them so keep yourself available to them and it wouldn't be a bad idea if you popped in on them from time to time during the day. If there's any problems, you'll be the first notified, but just remember, your role to them is to be Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, The Great Pumpkin and Wonder Woman all wrapped up in one. You are their advocate, never their disciplinarian," Bert instructed.

"Your best reference is Gloria, Jeanette or Johanna," Bert advised.

"Got any tricks for me to use?" she asked. Bert smiled.

"You don't need tricks, we do. You need ears that listen, a soft voice, a softer lap and very secure hugs," he said as he took his leave.

The boys arrived in the cove just before the stampede from the Kitchen made it's presence known as Turtle Rock filled up along with the boats. Kevin, Greg and Sid helped the boys unpack, but it wasn't long before the commotion in the cove made it impossible for the twins to concentrate on putting their clothing away. From behind the vertical blinds on the front windows of the cabin, they peeked out as the mafia arrived on the beach and quickly stripped for swimming or jumped into a boat. Being very careful not to be seen watching, both boys focused their attention rather quickly on two figures that were somewhat unlike the others.

"They skinny dip with girls too?" Benji said as his hands now disappeared into his pockets. With both boys now watching Carla and Jeannie like two vultures watching a dead cat on the road, Kevin looked at Sid.

"Those two girls live in the Cabin next door with Uncle Adam and Uncle Anthony. They're part of the group you now belong to," Kevin told the boys.

"Do any girls live in this Cabin?" Gavin now asked.

"No, all the campers living here are boys," Kevin replied.

"Would you like to go swimming? The other boys are really friendly and they'd love to meet you," Sid now said. Both boys shook their heads.

"We can't swim." Gavin now said.

Knowing precisely what was going to happen, Sid now suggested they get a bottle of soda and sit with the group out on the front porch. Probably not fully thinking it out, both boys agreed as David went for some soda. It might have taken 30 seconds before the boys in the lake began congregating on the porch chiefly to see Sid and to talk with David and Michael about the jet plane ride the boys knew they had just taken. The twins began with a little space between them and Sid when they first sat down. Now, you couldn't prey them away with a spatula. Once the twins realized they weren't the center of attention they eased up some, especially when Sid wrapped his arms around each boy in a protective embrace as the man talked to the boys who seemed totally unconcerned about both their being naked and getting Sid soaking wet from dripping water. The twins had most certainly seen their peers in The New Hampshire school naked before, but Green Tree boys seemed to ratchet up the ante a bit. These boys were outside, and it was daylight out; something that never occurred at their old school. These boys also seemed oblivious to their nakedness, with or without boner! To compound matters, two of these boys weren't boys at all, they were girls, and something the twins had had the pleasure of experimenting with before, especially in foster care. Since being enrolled in The Institute, they had no more access to girls, but that didn't mean they forgot about burying the boner or playing with tits. Neither girl had a huge set of tits, but there was no mistaking that they could probably make some impressive donuts.

Once the bulk of the greetings were done, Kevin rang the ship's bell that signaled the cove to come ashore.

"Tonight is Sunday Dinner and it's a formal meal here at Green Tree, so it takes a little longer to get showered and dressed," Sid told the twin's.

"Usually, the boy's shower wherever they want to, either here in Cochina, Over there in Uncle Adam's Cabin which is called Beachview, or over there in Uncle Dan's Cabin which is called Bay Watch," Sid said as he pointed to the different cabins in the cove.

"These three Cabins are known in Camp by the rest of the Campers as "The mafia" because we all stick together like glue," Sid said as the boys around him giggled.

"Since this is your first day, and you're going to want to get to know everybody in your Cabin first, we'll have each Cabin shower in their own Cabin's. Once you feel like visiting, you can go anyplace you want. OK?" Sid asked the twins.

"You mean to live?" Benji asked.

"No, I mean to visit with, or sometimes even have sleepover's in. This is your home Cabin, because it has some of the nicest counselor's and best behaved boys in it" Sid replied.

"Hey Uncle Sid, what about us?" Joey asked.

"Trouble makers! They'll just show you how to weasel extra jelly donuts out of Chef John in the kitchen. Stay away from Beachview, they'll teach you very bad habits!" Sid said as more than a few boys began to playfully maul him to the ground.

The education of the twins now began in earnest as the boys retreated up the winding staircase to the loft area. As was normal, the boys would now teach the new boys, and no staff would go upstairs unless necessary.

"The most important thing you gotta know is that if a door is closed, you gotta knock first, you just can't walk into somebody's room unless the door is open," Michael told the twins.

"How come?" Gavin asked.

"Because a closed means that the people in the room want privacy," Michael replied. Benji and Gavin looked at each other. Both boys knew what privacy meant at their old school, did it mean the same thing here? "What for?" Benji asked.

"Usually for fuckin!" Andy said.

Michael gave Andy a look that told the 12 year old to cool his jets.

"He means, playing. That's what we call it around here," Michael said.

"You don't get "Quiet time" for saying fuck?" Benji asked Andy.

"No, everybody say's it. But the counselor's like for us to call it playing, or doing it, or privacy," Andy replied. Both twins looked at each.

"You was outside naked. They let us do that too?" Gavin asked.

"Uncle Bert don't care if we're naked outside, he just don't want us in public places naked or doin' it," Bruce now said.

"What kind of public places?" Benji asked.

"The Mess Hall, the Recreation hall, The gym, the girls camp, the class rooms, the activity shacks and stuff like that. But we can be naked at the lake, the big pool, the stables, the woods and in Cabins in the Boys Camp." Michael replied.

"But we can only do privacy in private, we can't do it in public places." he said.

"Except the bathrooms!" Andy added.

"Bathrooms ain't public," Michael replied.

"Oh yeah," Andy said."How are we supposed to know where's public and where's private?" Gavin asked.

"You'll learn fast, just ask somebody if you're not sure until you learn," Andy replied.

As the boys talked in Bruce's room, the rest of Cochina gathered and introductions began. Cochina now had Michael, Bruce, Andy, Mike, Kenny, Larry, Eddy and Shaun.

At eight years old, the twins were now the youngest followed by 10 year old Shaun, 11 year old Eddy, with all the rest of Cochina now 12 years old. At eight the twins were the "Baby's" of the Cabin, but age meant absolutely nothing any more! The older boys were all Scale three or 4. The twins at Scale One could keep all 10 of the rest of the people in Cochina very busy and happy including their counselors, and every boy there knew it.

With the clock ticking, it wasn't long before both twins were involved in deep conversation and deeply rooted in their pants which were very conducive to free access. First of all, all pockets were bottomless, having been cut with scissors. If the twins wanted more room, they could simply slide their hands inside the waist bands, which were elastic banded and larger than their size eight bodies.

"Time out" Gavin said to Benji as both boys sat on the bed.

"What's that mean?" Shaun asked Gavin.

"That means we gotta go to the bathroom." Benji replied.

"You gotta pee?" Eddy asked.

"No, fuck" Gavin replied. Both Eddy and Shaun now looked at each other.

"Ya' don't gotta do it in the bathroom, there ain't no room in there except in the showers." Shaun replied.

"Maybe they want privacy?" Michael asked.

"We don't care." Benji replied. With Kenny now bouncing off the bed and slamming the door shut he came back to the bed with a substantial interest now staring the twins in the face.

"There's another major rule that can't be broken at Green Tree," Michael now advised the twins.

"Nobody can ever make you do it if you don't want to, and you can't make anybody else do it if they don't want to," he told the twins.

"But you said you'd do it tonight." Gavin replied.

"I said "Maybe" Michael replied.

"You don't like us?" Benji asked.

"Sure I like you, but we don't have to fuck to prove it," Michael said.

"Why not?" Gavin asked. Now surrounded in a sea of giggles and quickly rising attention, Michael threw in the towel.

"Never mind," he said as his shirt came over his head.

With two grins on their faces from ear to ear, the twins laid back on the bed and pulled the straps to the shorts over their shoulders. Scooting their bottoms up, they now had both the shorts and their underpants off in one smooth move as they laid back down with two erections pointed directly at the ceiling. Experience aside, the boys didn't have the largest penises in the room, but there are penises that aren't all that attractive, and then there are models of efficiency, texture, sight and even taste. Both boys were circumcised, and with testicle's pinned to their groins, weren't waited for a bus. The Cochina boys were told to "Go easy" with the twins upon their arrival and let them "Get the feel of the place" before any full fledged boogies began and that was their intention. It was not the twins intention however. With Eddy and Shaun doing the initial honors for the twins, the other boys either waited their turn or began to separate into pairs.

The twins had other idea's as both Michael and Bruce were requested to sit on the twins chest's while the two eight year olds determined what their much larger friends tasted like.

Michael had been in this position before and it took him zero time to figure out that both boys had this lesson down pat. They knew precisely where to go and precisely how to make someone's penis do exactly what they wanted it too whether you wanted it to or not. There was no "Holding back" from either of them, they weren't "Given" an organism, they "Took" it.

It's possible that the Kama Sutra could demonstrate more positions than those known by the twins, but by weeks end, most Campers and staff on the lower campus doubted it very much. Charlie, the Energizer Bunny, now had some formidable peers with the presence of these two angelic looking twins that had a definite twinkle in their eyes. Complete strangers to most of the boys less than an hour earlier, the twins took maybe 20 minutes to meet and greet their new found friends from the inside out and visa versa.

The closing of the bedroom door didn't surprise either Kevin, Sid or Greg, but the counselor's did imagine that it was a slowly developing bonding that was occurring. It's highly doubtful that they would have intervened if they knew it was play time that could make a Roman or Greek orgy look tame by comparison, but they did have their hopes up.

Bert arrived at the Cove with Christopher, Robin and Stephanie in tow. Bert knew he couldn't stay long, he had to get back to get Christopher showered and dressed for dinner, and both Robin and Stephanie were there fresh from the pool. While they wore bottoms in the pool, inhibitions disappeared as tops were discarded the year before. At 13 and 14 years old, they tended to have some effect on the boys particularly since they were topless. Still, they were young enough to be still calling the boys obvious appreciation of their flowering womanhood "Obnoxious". Bert concluded the word was the only one that girls aged 12 to 14 really knew or thought they understood.

"What'd you do, kill them all?" Bert asked Kevin as he entered the Cabin. Kevin smiled as he pointed to the bedroom door. Bert nodded.

"How's it going?" he asked as Christopher stood in front of Kevin's refrigerator like he was waiting for a bus. As Greg opened the door and Christopher now pointed to the soda, Bert shook his head.

"Milk, ice tea or lemonade Christopher," Bert said.

"Mik" Christopher said as he pointed to the milk container. With a tumbler full of milk going down in one movement, Christopher's stomach expanded appropriately with a trail of milk coming from his mouth to his testicles as he burped and now headed out for the porch and a pile of toys owned by the boys.

"Want something to drink?" Kevin asked Bert as the men now headed for the front porch.

"Gin and Tonic?" Bert asked. Kevin shook his head.

"I've got Gin, but no Tonic. Want some in lemonade?" he asked. Bert thought about it for a few seconds.

"Sure" he replied as Greg now went back inside.

"What no beer?" Bert asked Sid.

"No, not right yet, I have to go over to housekeeping and the laundry. They've been working 24 hours a day on this worm bullshit all weekend," Sid told his boss.

"Where's things at?" Bert asked his second in command.

"The kids should have all their clothes and laundry back by tomorrow night, but it's still going to look a little skimpy in the clothing department tonight for Dinner. We can get their asses covered, but only barely," Sid reported.

"Well, let's look on the bright side, I don't really think that's going to depress the shit out of the boys too much!" Bert replied.

"True, but we've got some pretty long faces up on Pine Ridge," Sid replied as he walked down the stairs chuckling.

"Where's Adam?" Bert now called out.

"If he's not in Beachview, he's about to be, it's shower time," Sid replied as he rang his cart bell's and turned around on the path.

3 or four boys upstairs heard the ringing of Sid's bell's and were in a position to respond as they now bounded down the stairs with a thumping thunder building as they neared the landing.

"Jesus Uncle Bert! These twerps are naked! That's obnoxious." Stephanie reported as the boys zoomed out on the front porch.

"Fuck you! This is our Cabin!" Mike retorted.

"Mike has a point girls. A crude point that belongs out on the baseball fields, but a point," Bert replied shaking his head.

"Sorry Uncle Bert. Where's Uncle Sid going?" Mike now asked.

"He has some work to do. Is that a lake shower I see or a shower shower?" he now asked.

"We went swimming, we're taking a shower as soon as we get through playing," Larry reported.

"We?" Bert asked.

"The whole Cabin," Larry said. Bert now looked at Kevin.

"The twins are here right?" he asked "Sure they're here Uncle Bert, they're on the bottom of the pile!" Shaun now reported.

"Obnoxious!" Robin said to Stephanie who nodded her head.

"Let's go girls, get Christopher." he ordered as he finished his drink.

"Gentlemen, I'm sure we talked about this situation and I'm sure you know where I'm coming from," Bert told the boys as he arose from the lounger.

"It's Ok Uncle Bert, they fuck harder than we do!" Eddy now said with a small innocent smile.

"Play Eddy. It's play when there are girls in the neighborhood," Bert reminded the boys.

"They can play with this!" Mike said as he grabbed his penis. Bert shook his head but had to smile at the same time.

"They will Mike, but it'll take a few years first," Bert told the boys as they went back upstairs giggling past the girls who were coming out with Christopher in tow.

Bert's return to his Cabin was a smooth one except maybe for the girls remarking to each other how "Disgusting" the boys were as they walked around with nothing on and letting it stick out like a silly stick.

"You know they're doing it on purpose Uncle Bert!" Robin told the Director.

"Well, you might be right girls, but when they see a couple of girls as pretty as you two, it's natural for them to show their appreciation," Bert said with a straight face.

"Obnoxious!" Stephanie said as she looked at Robin and Bert caught a smile pass between the two girls in the back seat. Maybe a year he said to himself.

Sunday Dinner was Roast Turkey, and was formal on normal occasions. When the boys played in any capacity, they preferred playing in their Birthday suits, but they also had closets full of designer clothing usually worn at Dinner. The pin worm situation put that tradition on hold, as the laundry struggled to sanitize every piece of clothing and bed linen for roughly 600 people. By Sunday afternoon, polo shirts and shorts were the best the laundry could manage to return to the Cabins since the bed linens and towels had to be washed first.

The meal itself went routinely, and just prior to desert being served, the table's were cleared of dishes.

"We gotta go." Benji said as he looked at Kevin. Pointing to a bathroom in a corner of the building, Kevin thought nothing of the twins request as they left the table.

Kevin wasn't sure how long it was before the desert came and halfway through the strawberry shortcake, the twins were still a no show.

"See if they need any help," Kevin told Michael.

"Nobody's in there Uncle Kevin," Michael said as he returned to the table a minute later.

"Nobody?" Kevin asked. Michael shook his head.

"Check the other bathrooms, maybe they went to another one. Kevin told the boy as he sent David and Brian to check the other bathrooms. After all three bathrooms came up empty of the twins Kevin looked around and didn't see them anywhere.

"Maybe they just got lost and are sitting somewhere else." Matty suggested.

"No, they wouldn't do that. They don't really know anybody but us," Adam now replied.

"They know Uncle Bert and Uncle Sid!" Sammy replied.

"You check on Sid, I'll check Bert's table," Adam told Kevin as all the mafia staff now began to circulate in the Mess Hall looking for the twins.

Bert listened to Adam and then he got up and looked around. Not seeing them, Bert now stood up on his bench and folded his arms which signaled "quiet" for the Campers.

"Uncle Kevin has two desert's sitting uneaten at his table. I need the twins to return to Uncle Kevin's table," Bert said calmly so as not to embarrass the boys. After about 30 seconds and no response, Bert spoke again.

"Staff, take a count, I,m looking for the twins," he said a little more forcefully. Bert now fully expected a staff member to call out that they boys were with them. None spoke. Boys and girls, we're going to have a Lost Camper Drill. I want all Campers to return to their own table's if you're visiting. Counselor's, take a count" Bert now said with rising blood pressure but no panic.

With two exceptions, all Campers were present and accounted for and the Administrative team was now convening at Bert's table. Sending Robin and Stephanie back to his Cabin with Christopher, Bert ordered the campus locked down.

"Send the Camp Kenny kids back to their campus with minimal staffing and keep them inside until they're cleared to resume the normal schedule. Do the same with the Intermediate's and have everybody check their Cabins when they get there. They might have drifted back to the Cove. Sid, go straight to the Cove right now with some senior boys and check it out. Dan, secure the lake with senior boys. I want a senior boy every 25 feet [7½ m] around the lake," he told the team.

"They can't swim," Kevin told Bert.

"Fucking great! Check for all boats and make sure none are drifting empty," Bert replied. Dave, tear this fucking building apart, make sure they're not in the kitchen or the dish room. Check every walk in cooler and freezer and any place they could get into. Adam, Start checking every building on the lower campus beginning with the closest one's to the mess hall. Assume their lost people, and follow the rules and find them stat!" Bert told the assembled staff.

Green Tree is run in a very outwardly carefree and casual atmosphere that sometimes even appears in a perpetual party mode. For the children, it is. There is an education to be taught and rules and regulations that have to be followed, but for the staff, they are fully well aware that what they're in charge of is close to 400 children who are an extreme embarrassment to certain members of the Government, and if not taught well enough, would probably end up either in prison or dead of STDs, in a relatively short period of time. To the staff, that's hardly the things Disneyworld is made up of unless you happen to be hiring Michael Jackson as your Director of Entertainment.

With the twins now missing, it wasn't known if they ran away, got lost (Unlikely), were just venturing off, or were lured somewhere. While all were possible, Bert and the crises team that now converged on the Infirmary as their base of operations for the search now had to consider which one's were more feasible.

"It's pretty fucking tough to lose a building that has 600 people in it all having a conversation at the same time. They're Scale One's not Helen Keller!" Bert said as Dave handed out Walkie Talkee's to every staff member. Staff knew that communication was now the key to finding the boys, and they were well skilled in Emergency Communications Systems.

"Search Operations is on Channel One and transmits directions. Search Teams are on Channel Two. The radio's monitor each Channel simultaneously." Dave told the Teams.

The boys are on the grounds, it's impossible for them to have left and the gates are now locked down. Nobody gets in or out until they're found!" Bert reported.

"What about using the guards from the depot?" Stephanie asked. We've got close to 400 people right here, right now, we know this place, and I don't want outsiders on the grounds unless it's absolutely necessary," Bert told the woman.

What about a runaway situation?" Gloria asked.

"Sid, Kevin, Thomas and Charlie saw nothing to alert them about that," Bert replied.

"If either boy intended to run, they kept it damned close to their vest!" he said.

"What's Matthew have to say about that?" Gloria now asked. Bert nodded.

"Good question. If those boys have a history or running and we weren't told about it, I'll cut his fucking nuts off!" Bert replied as he picked up a phone.

"Not a word about it even in foster care Bert, shit, if I thought they would run away, or it was even possible, I would have warned you. It carries the same weight as suicidal tendencies." Matthew told Bert.

Since all communications out and into Green Tree is monitored, Alexandria came on the line which was no surprise to Bert.

"Bert, I wouldn't recommend 500 troops traipsing around the place, but if you want, I can call in some teams of dogs up there from Atlanta.

They can be choppered up to you in three hours," Bert looked at Sid who nodded his head.

"If we don't need them, we can always send them back. But if we haven't found them within three hours, it's pitch black out there," Sid said.

"Send the dogs Harry, and Thanks," Bert replied.

"Dave make sure everybody has a flashlight and extra batteries by 8:00 if we need them."

"We cannot ignore the possibility that the boys were lured Bert. The Senior Boys and Adult staff houses have got to all cleared and secured," Sid advised. Bert now knew he had to give a Directive that would personally hurt. He loved and trusted the people under him, and it was beyond his comprehension that the missing boys were intentionally taken.

"Begin with my Cabin and yours. Let them know I don't think for a moment that they've done anything, but there are two lost Campers out there and they're going to be found!" Bert said with a growing determination.

Within 45 minutes, every single Cabin and building in Camp was checked and was being monitored by a senior boy or girl who relieved the adult staff for the search. As time grew, Those staff who rode, were put on horseback and began combing the woods.

Bert's biggest fear centered on the lake. The boys couldn't swim and it was a magnet, just 200 feet [60 m] from the outside door of the bathroom the twins had to walk out of when they disappeared a little over an hour earlier. With no drifting boats, no sneakers, socks or clothing on the lake shore, Dan doubted that the boys were in the water but still, it was completely possible.

"Send Snorkles and scuba teams into the lake now while there's still light," Bert told his Water Front Director. No staff now mentioned the obvious if the boys were in the water.

Darkness came at around 9:00 at night in mid Summer, and as the last of the sun's ray's drifted off the lake and onto the trees along the shore and up on the hill, no sign of the boys were seen by what was now everybody in camp over the age of 12. In the meantime, Bert and Sid studied a map of the camp grounds Sid drew a circle on the map with the Mess Hall at the center.

"They have to be somewhere within a 1,000 yard's of this building, we're missing something," Sid said as he studied the map. Contained within the circle was the senior boys camp, the adults compound, the laundry, kitchen, dish room, maintenance shed, Bert's Cabin, the lake, the recreation hall and the gymnasium.

"They've all been cleared." Dave said as he looked down. Bert put his finger on the lake. If they went in the lake here, they could be over at the dam by now," Bert replied very despondently.

"Right now they're invisible to us. They could be under the trapeze apparatus for all we know," Bert replied.

"I agree with Dan, if they did go into the water, they most probably would have sat down and at least taken of their sneakers and socks," Sid replied.

"Well, that brings us back to square one. Every single building has been checked and every place they would have had access to was opened and searched." Dave replied.

"What does that mean?" Sid asked Dave after looking out the Infirmary window at the lake.

"The search Teams looked in every possible place that could contain an eight year old, even if it was a drawer." Dave replied.

"What was that about "access" Sid asked.

"There are secured cabinets and locked closets the boys couldn't have gotten into." Dave replied.

"The whole fucking buildings aren't being check?" Bert now asked.

"Not secured area's. It's in the manual." Dave replied.

"Fuck the fucking manual!" Bert now screamed.

"Re search every god damned piece of wood in this camp!" Bert ordered.

"And start with the Mess Hall. I don't give a fuck if it has a Fort Knox Safe in it!"

Bert didn't want to pull the search teams off the lake and out of the woods while they still had daylight, so the re searching of the lower campus buildings took close to another hour. Bert was notified that an ATF helicopter was 15 minutes out when the search teams finally arrived at the recreation hall and started searching it once again.

"What's this door?" Charlie asked Dave.

"Attic storage I think. Nobody cares, open the fucking thing." Dave told the counselor. The light's in the attic didn't come on, but it was still light out outside as Charlie mounted the stairs. Boxes and boxes filled the attic making a maze of a walkway, and in a corner, a pile of wrestling mattress sat in a corner.

"Team five to Search Ops. We've got sleeping targets in the Rec Hall Attic." The radio in the Infirmary crackled. Bert sat back in a chair and closed his eye's.

"I need a fucking drink!" he said as he wiped his eyes.

"Call a Code Green Sid, get the horses back and get the people out of the lake," Bert said as he whet down the Infirmary steps two by two.

"They're up there?" Dave asked.

"Sound asleep with a video game still on. The Turkey must have put them to sleep." Charlie replied with a grin.

"Why didn't you bring them down?" Dave asked.

"They aren't going anywhere, and they might get scared when they wake up. Maybe this is something Stephanie should handle." Charlie replied to his boss.

"Good thinking, nice job Charlie." Dave replied. Charlie smiled.

"Let's hope Uncle Bert sees it that way. We cleared this building almost three hours ago," he said.

"We followed the fucking manual like we were told to do!" Dave said defensively.

"Search Team five to Stephanie, come pick up two packages at the Rec Hall." Dave said into the radio as he shut it off.

Stephanie arrived with Bert and a growing number of search team members who were now gathering.

"Ya left them up there?" Bert asked Charlie.

"They ain't going anywhere and they're sound asleep. Stephanie's their Primary Aunt, so I figured she should be the one protecting their asses before you got near them." Charlie told the Director. Bert shook his head as Adam now entered the Rec Hall.

"You raise these kids and they all grow up to be smart asses!" Bert said to Adam.

"Chips off the old block!" Adam replied as more than a few staff stifled chuckles.

With Stephanie carrying down one, and Bert the other, the twins exited the attic to a growing commotion outside. Oh fuck! I forgot to cancel the dogs!" Bert exclaimed as he heard the very distinctive sound of an extremely large helicopter landing alongside the Mess Hall lawn. Handing Gavin to Kevin, he instructed the two to take the twins back to the cove.

The explanation to the ATF agents was accepted, but the men were clearly disappointed that they would not be needed. Saving Bert's bacon for not canceling sooner, Dave suggested the agents use the dogs for a practice session by giving them a smell of the twins clothing in the Mess Hall bathroom where they disappeared and see if the dogs would retrace what was now the twins known destination. The dogs would have found the boys in the attic in less than five minutes as they trampled the mats and slobbered all over the video game where the boys fell asleep. Quite rightly proud, the ATF agents left with full stomach's and a crate of Maine Lobster compliments of Bert.

The question now became; how did it all transpire. Apparently, the twins walked out the wrong door in the bathroom and found themselves outside. They could have easily reopened the door and gone back into the Mess Hall, but were curious about the big building next door that they were told was full of video games, computers, arcade games and pin ball machines. The door to the attic wasn't quite closed completely, and it opened when Benji tugged on it. Locking shut from the inside behind the boys, the door was locked, but the boys could still have gotten out if they wanted to. Once upstairs, they found a hand held video game, and played with it until they became tired. The rest was Bert's growing set of gray hair.

Ramifications from Bert concerning the lost boys was kept to a minimum mainly because of the Manual which called for the searching of buildings and places where the lost camper "Would have access to."

"What dumb shit put that phase in?" Sid asked at the staff review of the incident a few days later.

"I wrote the Manual Sid. You would have known that if you ever bothered to read it," Bert said amid many turned heads.

"Shit Boss, you know I don't pay no attention to anything you say," Sid replied as he finished his beer.

The twins were returned to the cove and for the most part, they never knew the anxiety they created on their first day at Green Tree. A return to normalcy was what the entire camp was hoping for, and I guess to a degree it did, but the fact is, the place hasn't been the same since and nobody expects it to be for the foreseeable future. The twin's were now Green Tree boys, and between them and Christopher, have kept the staff fully on their toes.

Chapter Twenty Six

New Beginnings

To the sound of a fairly raucous party going on on the roof of Coquina, the twins Benji and Gavin awoke first. A group of probably five or six gray squirrels were chasing each other around in play, and periodically zoomed down the side of the Cabin and across a window screen. In mid-summer, the Cabin usually began waking once reveille blew at 7:00, but being brand new to Green Tree these two eight year olds were still operating on their old sleep habits, down by about 8:00 and back up at 6:00 or so.

They awoke soaked from head to feet, something that always occurred, and had been put into underpants and pajama's by Kevin and Helen when the counselor's brought them in from the previous day's adventure's. A day which began with them at their old school in New Hampshire, and had ended in their new one at Green Tree. It took a few seconds for the boys to figure out exactly where they were. Once they recalled the trip on the big jet, both boys now began their normal wake up routine and looked around for places to hide wet blankets, wet sheets, wet pillows, wet underpants and wet pajama's. From about age two to around age seven, a fairly good beating followed wet beds, and hiding the evidence was routine.

The boys had been put to bed in a room with two other boys, 10 year old Shaun and 11 year old Eddy, and were careful not to wake them up, at least until all evidence of their nightly "Crime" was disposed of. This was a necessary habit they had picked up in foster care, and far from the only one's the boys practiced as Kevin would learn over the next few days. After stuffing their underpants and pajama's in between their mattress, the blankets under the bed, the sheets and pillow on the floor of the closet, they quietly found a plastic cup in the kitchen and placed it on the wet mattress. The "Stage" was now set, and the twins went off to "Explore" their new world.

Their first stop was the screened in porch off their room which surrounded the camp Cabin on three sides. Being one story up, Benji looked down to the ground. It must have looked like a toilet bowl, the first flood of the day occurred seconds later as Gavin joined him.

"Good Morning guys" Greg said as the last little dribble's floated down to the ground.

Greg, a 16 year old counselor didn't usually wake up at 6:00, but it was either raining outside his window downstairs or somebody at 6:00 am was taking a piss. That was nothing new after reveille sounded and the boys all woke up, but at 6:00 it could only be the new campers in town.

The twin's were surprised by Greg's presence and Benji had to think very, very fast.

"We were just spitting down to the ground." He announced to the counselor now standing before them.

"Spitting?" Greg asked.

"Yeah." Gavin confirmed with a tone of forthrightness and honesty that couldn't be denied.

"Oh, that's OK, usually the other kids just piss off the porch anyway," Greg replied as the twins looked at each other in silence.

"Usually the other boys don't awaken and start moving around until reveille. But that's OK. All the boys take showers when they get up. Do you want to take showers now, or wait for the other boys?" Greg asked as he turned for their bedroom.

"We can wait." Benji now said.

"But somebody's taken our pajama's and stuff last night and spilled some water on our bed." he reported "Well would you look at that! Must be the other boys wanted to play a welcome to camp trick on you!" Greg said as he looked at the plastic cup.

"That's OK, we thought it was funny, didn't we Benji?" Gavin now replied.

"Good Morning guy's, did you sleep well?" Kevin now asked as he came into the room.

"Good Morning Uncle Kevin, looks like the other boys have been up to their old tricks welcoming the new boys to the Cabin," Greg said as both twins said hello. Kevin looked at the stripped bed.

"It's OK Uncle Kevin, we think it was a funny thing." Benji assured his counselor.

"Lot of water for one little cup," Kevin remarked as he looked over to Greg. "Maybe they filled it up two or three times?" Gavin asked innocently.

"Look's that way," Kevin replied.

With the conversation going on in the bedroom, Shaun and Eddy were awakening as was Michael and several other boys. Shaun awoke with a stretch that had his sheet retreating to the end of the bed as a fairly substantial piss stain now became slowly visible. Both twins looked at the boy and then over to Kevin. He wet the bed! You gonna beat him?" Benji asked.

"What for?" Kevin asked.

"He wet!" Gavin exclaimed.

"First of all, most of the boys wet the bed. Secondly, nobody beats boys at Green Tree, it's against all the rules," Kevin replied.

"Like in our old school?" Benji replied.

"Did anybody hit or spank you in your old school?" Kevin asked. Both boys shook their heads.

"Green Tree rules and New Hampshire rules are the same. Nobody here will ever punish you by hitting you ever!" Kevin replied.

"Ask any boy or girl you speak to, they will all tell you the same exact thing," he told the boys.

While Greg quietly explained the "Trick" routine to the other boys as they awoke, Kevin now picked out two fresh pairs of underpants for the twins and had them join him in the shower. Normally, he himself would have joined the boys, but being brand new to the Camp, he didn't want to "Freak them out" as he poured shampoo on both boys heads and began washing them. Michael was the first to join them, and before Gavin was finished, there were five boys in the shower and time for Kevin to leave the boys to their own devises.

"We've got plenty of time before Reveille, so take your time," Kevin advised both boys as he retreated to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

With the whole Cabin now awake and still 15 minutes before Reveille, Kevin and Greg sat down on the front porch sipping coffee. Kevin brought out a three ring binder and pen with him.

"I'll let Bert put the notes into therapeutic child rearing terminology,

but so far I see food hoarding, lying, lack of conscience, and a generally healthy dose of dishonesty," Greg suggested as Bruce now came out of the bedroom downstairs and climbed into Greg's lap still half asleep. Kevin nodded his head.

"They're most certainly trying to ensure that the wrath of god doesn't swoop down and strike them dead!" Kevin replied.

"A lifetime of ducking the next swift kick seems to have their defenses up to a finely tuned degree," he said as he shook his head.

"So how are we going to handle them? The other boys are going to take the blame for this shit for only just so long," Greg asked. Kevin nodded.

"First thing we do is to bring Adam into the loop and have a team meeting to set up an I.S.P. for these boys," Kevin told the Junior counselor as Bruce buried himself a little deeper into Greg's chest. Greg nodded and at the same time patted the 12 year old on the ass.

"Time for a shower stinky," Greg said as he kissed Bruce's head and arose from the chair. As the two left, Kevin looked at the boys sleeping face on Greg's shoulder. From a boy on suicide watch less than two years earlier, Bruce had come miles since then. Then again, hadn't Kevin and all the Albemarle transferees come miles since arriving at Green Tree he thought to himself. Now, it was the twin's turn at a new life.

Reveille blew at 7:00 right on schedule, and except for the boys already in the showers in Coquina and the Camp Kenny toddler's, very few were ready for it. The search for the missing twin's ended early enough, but by the time the searcher's settled down enough to fall asleep, it was closer to midnight than their usual bedtime of about 10:00 PM. The search, coupled with the around the clock wash down of the camp because of a pin worm infestation had most staff dragging themselves out of bed.

Especially hard hit were the Administrative staff who had to make sure that the campus, which had been turned upside down looking for the twins was ready for business as usual for the children in the morning. None of them saw a mattress before 2am. Bert's last order of the day was to cancel the mornings school schedule. It was going to be a "Lazy morning." to allow everybody to get some much needed rest.

Adam awoke smashed up against Jeannie as Sammy and Carla on his other side were stretched out on ¾ of the rest of the bed laying sideways. By pushing on shoulders and pulling on legs, he finally got a little closer towards the middle of bed as Sammy crawled over Carla's body and he plunked himself down on top of Adam. It was several minutes before any noise was heard in Beachview except for the two cocker spaniels who were debating who was going to tear apart a roll of socks first.

"I'm really tired today Uncle Adam. Maybe I gotta stomach ache." Jeannie said very sleepily and groggy.

"Gee that's too bad sweetheart. Uncle Bert called off school this morning, so you can stay in bed until lunch if you want to," he told the girl. Jeannie and Carla's head's were now off the pillows like a bullet.

"Really?" Carla asked.

"Yes, really," Adam answered. Maybe it was a bed bug, or a bee sting, but both girls were flying out of the room within five seconds to spread the good news that nobody had to get out of bed. Adam listened as the thunder of little feet now headed for the lake.

Sammy also wanted to get out on the lake and "Rest" but he had long since developed the habit in the morning of spending his first few minutes with Adam. It had now been since Friday night that he and his counselor/teacher shared some Prime Time together, and as good as his other friends in the mafia were concerning play time, his Uncle Adam wrote the book as far as he was concerned.

Bert was not quite as lucky as Adam, he had been up until 3:00 making sure everything was addressed that needed to be, and Reveille came about four hours too early for him.

Christopher had four Senior girl babysitters that work in alternating teams taking care of Christopher during the day and sleeping with him at night unless he was feeling ill or happened to fall asleep in Bert's bed with Helen. The girls always liked those nights, it meant they'd wake up dry. The telltale stomp of feet on the floor told Bert that Christopher was now on his way. Climbing up the bottom of the bed and on all fours, the boy scooted himself down in between Helen and Bert and pulled up the covers.

"He's soaking wet." Helen moaned as she moved over a bit. Bert smiled and wrapped a sheet and blanket around Christopher as he warmed the boys soggy and chilly ass.

"Mornin' tiger, you ready to let the world know you're here?" Bert asked Christopher as he kissed him on his forehead.

"Hey" Christopher replied.

"Uncle Bert, he hasn't had a shower yet." Jill said as the girl now came into the Director's bedroom.

"How come you ain't down in your office?' she asked.

"Long night sweetheart," Bert replied. Jill now clapped her hands.

"Christopher want a shower?' she asked. Christopher shook his head and said "No." as he signed it with his hand sticking out of the covers. Bringing them back down under the covers, he reached for Helen.

"His hands are freezing and they're on my breasts!" Helen said.

"Well he is a boy, and you do have large breasts," Bert replied as Jill now giggled a bit. With a pillow flying at him, Bert now scooted out of bed with Christopher in tow.

"I'll make a deal with you Jill. You make some coffee and I'll take a shower with my little pal here," Bert told the girl as she avoided looking at the Director's usual bedtime attire of skin.

"Yes Uncle Bert," she said as she beat a hasty retreat.

Bert's decision to call a lazy day was made for several reason's, and key among them was the fact the the kitchen staff, which normally awoke at 3:00 in the morning to begin the days cooking was simply not getting enough sleep. A "Normal" breakfast for the Camp/School was usually an involved affair, but on a declared lazy day, it was a Continental style buffet which required must less time to prepare, but was just as well received by the children. For the campers, lazy meals were more of a "Make it yourself."

situation. The uniqueness made the meal an adventure.

With no Assembly, Flag Ceremony or Mess Call being blown, the campus drifted into the Mess Hall whenever they felt like it, between 7:30 and 9:30. It was more like a picnic than a meal, and most of the children spent the better part of two hours socializing more than eating. Normally for meals the children were dressed, at least in a bathing suits or shorts. On lazy mornings they could come in pajama's if they wanted too, and as Adam had noted on more than a few occasions, it was the only time most campers bothered to wear the damned things.

Adam sat at the mafia's table and watched as Sid walked in looking a bit like he had been hit by a Mack truck and carrying two toddler's from Camp Kenny as they chatted away in both his ears. Plunking the little one's down at their Cabins table, Sid now walked over to the mafia.

"Good morning Sid. How's it going?" Adam asked.

"I don't know yet, as soon as I wake up, I'll let you know," Sid said as he picked up Adam's coffee and took a drink. Kevin smiled as he sent Michael for another cup.

"I don't know whether or not Bert has set-up an I.S.P. For the twins yet, but I'd suggest we do it as soon as we can. We've got a trunk full of issue's to deal with," he told the Assistant Director. Sid nodded his head.

"I haven't seen Bert yet, but I'm sure it's his priority. The faster we all start working from the same page concerning them, the faster we're going to be getting some sleep," Sid told both Adam and the rest of the staff.

"You had problems already?" he now asked Kevin. Kevin explained the boys morning as Sid listened with the rest of the staff and basically was neither surprised nor concerned.

"Fairly typical of what you see coming from a foster kid. Let's hope the bulk of the little bag of tricks they've developed have been limited to things as benign as hiding pissy pants." Adam looked over at the twins who were now at the fruit table collecting banana's, pears and tangerines. Their pockets were already full of food.

A stir at the front door of the Mess Hall along with the boys at his table now all bringing their chocolate milk or orange juice into safe custody told Adam that Christopher was now entering. He didn't really have to turn around to look, the mafia's faces told him what was about to strike.

"I-ee?" Christopher squealed as he now began to drag himself up on the bench between Sid and Adam. Scooting over to make room, Sid picked the boy up and stood him on the bench as one by one, Christopher gave each counselor a fairly soggy kiss. Fortunately, there was no peanut butter and jelly involved yet.

"Hey little buddy, where's your old man?" Sid said as Christopher now headed across the table for an unguarded glass of orange juice.

"Who the hell are you calling old Grandpa?" Bert asked.

Sid now looked at his wrist which had no watch on it.

"About time you decided to drag your sorry ass out of bed," Sid said as Michael handed Sid a fresh cup of coffee.

"Where's mine?" Bert asked the boy. With Michael now leaving to get another cup of coffee and a new Orange juice for himself.

"We need to set up an I.S.P. Meeting For the twins ASAP boss," Sid now told Bert in a serious tone.

"10:00, my office. Notify all relevant staff," Bert replied as he nodded his head.

"What about coverage?" Kevin asked.

"Until we work out the details, I want each one assigned to a Senior Buddy. They don't need to be wall-to-wall eyeballed, but I want someone to know exactly where they are at all times," Bert replied as the twins now came back to the table with full trays and fuller pockets. Bert ignored the pockets but most assuredly saw them.

"Good morning men, you guys all set to give your counselor's a nice morning of peace and quiet?" Bert now asked the table full of boys. With most of the mafia saying "No", the twins were silent. Bert was still pretty much an unknown to them, Sid on the other hand was not.

"My plan is to see if we can't convince some very pretty and very nice lifeguards to start teaching our newest campers how to swim this morning," Sid now said.

"That's a really great idea. But first, Uncle Thomas needs to give Benji and Gavin a physical examination to make sure they're healthy and happy," Bert replied. Both boys now looked at the Director.

"Do we gotta get needle's?" Benji asked with a very concerned look. Bert shook his head.

"Uncle Thomas never gives needles on the first visit," he told the boys.

Thomas heard Reveille, but knowing that Bert had called a lazy morning schedule, he called Sarah at the Infirmary and let the nurse know he would be in his Cabin if needed. Thomas was back asleep curled up with David in less than two minutes. An hour and a half later he was awakened for the second time as Sarah notified him of the need to conduct two physicals on the twins.

Like Sammy, David was never prepared to leap out of bed first thing in the morning. David would very shortly turn 13, and as the date approached, so did the boys increasing anxiety. School tradition and policy had boys moved from the Intermediate campus to the Senior Campus when a boy reached 13. For most boys, by age 13 they were frothing at the bit to get into the Senior boys compound mainly because the older boys were granted many privileges not available to the younger set including driving vehicles, staying up later, and most especially, living much more independently. Senior boys lived in large dorms, and were basically on their own. If things went according to the normal practices, David was going to be moved to the Senior compound once the Camp season ended, and the School season began in mid September, just two short months away. Like Jesse before him, David was not ready for this move to independence but had remained silent about his concerns.

Now, laying across Thomas's chest as the man stroked his back, David was deep in thought.

"If we stay at the Vineyard's for two weeks Uncle Thomas, then it'll be almost time to switch to the school schedule right?" he asked.

"Yes, I guess if we switch modes after Labor Day, we'll be back in plenty of time," Thomas replied.

"And then I have to move to the Senior boys campus?" he asked.

"To tell you the truth David, this is the first time the subject has been brought up that I know about. Is that what usually happens?" he asked the boy.

"Usually, but Jesse didn't do it like that." David replied. Thomas now thought back on Jesse's move. Jesse did not move when he was first eligible, he moved close to half a year later, and even then, with more than a little reluctance to be moved away from Sid, whom both boys considered as their Primary Uncle.

"No, he didn't David. I guess he felt he just wasn't ready to move up yet. How do you feel about it?" Thomas asked.

"If I become a Senior boy doe's that mean I can't stay with you?" David asked.

"No, your I.S.P. calls for you to be working at the Infirmary when you're not in classes. We'll be together just as much as we have always been," Thomas replied.

"But I won't be living with you?" David asked.

The boys question was really one the Doctor hadn't considered before. In his own family history, he and his brother's were all separated from their Big Brother Marty and Uncle Joel when they reached age 14, and were sent to very exclusive Boarding School's in New England to further their education and to eventually all become Physician's.

Thomas remembered it as not being the happiest separation he had ever made, but the close support from Marty and Joel, coupled with the fact that Thomas had older brother's at school that he could fall back on cushioned the loneliness and loss he felt concerning the two men who had been everything to the boy since age 10. In David's case, he was only moving a few thousand feet away, but it was a move out of Thomas's bed. The Doctor knew very well the feelings of loss that kind of a move could bring about.

"Eventually David, that day will occur, but it'll happen when you're ready for it and comfortable with it." Thomas told the boy as he rubbed his back and shoulders.

"You know much better than I do that your Uncle Bert and Sid and everybody here will make sure that you are happy, and if special arrangements need to be made, then we'll make sure they are made." Thomas told the boy.

"Do you think it's a good idea if I move to the Senior boys dorm?" David asked. Thomas smiled to himself and wished he was now a Sid or a Bert. Choosing his words as best he could so that David not only knew how much he loved him, but wanted what was best for him, Thomas closed his eyes and wrapped the boy up in his arms.

"Today, I think it would be the dumbest thing in the world for you to do. But it's like a little boy who plays with a fire truck. We know the day will come when the little boy puts down the truck and moves on to other pursuits, but nobody can tell him exactly what day that will happen or when it's the right time. Something inside him will drive him to go onto something more interesting and that's when it's right to leave the truck behind him." Thomas told David as he buried his face in the boys hair.

"I think the best thing to do, is to sit down with Uncle Sid or Uncle Bert or even both of them and have Talk Time once we get back from the Vineyard's." David was very quiet for the next few minutes as Thomas resumed rubbing the boys back.

"When I do move to the Senior boy's dorm Uncle Thomas, I'm still going to take the Fire Engine from Uncle Bert with me!" David finally said resolutely.

Freshly showered, Thomas and David arrived at the Infirmary with better than half of the mafia sitting outside waiting for the twins to receive their physicals so they could then pester Sid at the stables. Sending several boys to the Mess Hall to get David and himself some breakfast, Thomas entered the clinic and was greeted with a few dozen Camp Kenny bottoms to be checked for "Sand flea's". Once the tests all came out negative, happy smiling faces on the children's counselor's now packed up their charges headed for the big pool on the hill.

The twins now sat on the examining table in their underpants intently watching Thomas as the Doctor brought over his instruments. After very careful scrutiny, Benji spoke first as he usually did.

"Uncle Bert says you ain't givin' us no needles!" the boy exclaimed. Thomas smiled as he looked at Sarah.

"I promise not to ever give you any needles unless Uncle Bert orders me to," Thomas replied.

"Shame on you!" Sarah quietly said as she handed Thomas his stethoscope. Thomas shrugged his shoulders, "Fair's, fair," he told the nurse. The Physical exam of the twins took about 20 minutes or so, with no great anomalies beyond half a dozen or so scars on backs, bottoms, and the backs of their thigh's. Thomas knew from the physical exam that there had been several broken bones in arms and legs, but the medical files and x-ray's would tell the complete story. Thomas noted that the boys co-operated, but never let their guard down.

After physicals, the twins now headed up the hill to the pool. With Kevin and the rest of the Senior Counselors now at the meeting with Bert, Greg, as Coquina's Junior Counselor was in charge of the twin's and two senior boys now joined him in the golf cart as they made their way around the lake to the path that wound it's way up to the upper campus where the Camp Kenny children lived. With both boys taking turns steering the cart, they received a mini-tour of the camp as they rode.

"Where's the other kids?" Benji eventually asked.

"Most went to the stable's to help Uncle Sid clean up, but Uncle Bert want's you two to meet your new swimming instructor's so you can learn to swim and take the boat's out whenever you want to," Greg told the two.

Entering the pool area, there were probably a few dozen boys in and around the pool and sauna room. Both boys looked around.

"Where's all the little kids?" Gavin asked.

"Camp has two pools, this one is used mostly by intermediate and senior boys. The other pool is smaller and is used mostly by Camp Kenny children and the senior girls," Greg said.

"How come?" Benji asked.

"Because the other pool was designed for smaller children, and some of the senior girls don't want to swim with older boys," Greg replied.

"How come?" Gavin asked.

"Probably because we like to swim naked, and they get all prissy if we walk around in our birthday suits." one of the senior boys remarked. Both twins smiled broadly. Greg shook his head a little as he glanced at the senior boy.

"This pool is clothing optional, the little pool is more for people who like to swim in bathing suits," he said.

"But the little kids swim naked. We seen 'em at the lake!" Benji responded.

"Yes, but they're babies or little kids under 7, not big boys yet," Greg said.

"The girls don't care if they walk around naked, just us," the other senior boy said.

Both boys were now fitted into teaching vest's that were designed by Dan. Like a life preserver, it wrapped around the boys and had pockets with floatation pads in the pockets that could be added or removed as needed. Unless a person had a deeply rooted fear of the water, the vest's could get a person swimming in less than two weeks, no instruction necessary. Each twin was assigned two life guards, and as their shorts dropped to the floor, they were in the water.

The team meeting concerning the twins began right after 10:00. Normally, an Individual Service Plan (I.S.P.) meeting lasted several hours for each child; the twins' meeting took the better part of a full day. Every staff member who would be in regular contact with the boys was there as was the various Department heads and Administrative staff. An I.S.P. Is nothing new to child care, however the Plans as formulated by Green Tree and the rest of the Geppetto Schools actually mean something beyond filing three ring binders with useless garbage which is never implemented and rarely makes a meaningful difference in a child's life. The New Hampshire School and the Institute in Brookline had already laid the foundations of the Plan, it was now time to adapt it where and if necessary.

"As with them all, I suggest you make your own personal evaluations of each boy based upon what you see and feel, somebody else's opinion is nice, but that's their opinion," Bert began the meeting.

"We started off with a fucking bang, let's hope we've seen the best they have to offer, but somehow I doubt it," Bert continued.

"Unless they disappear on a regular basis, yesterday was a fluke as far as we're concerned. It wasn't a run situation so we just log it as an occurrence."

"What we're seeing is typical behavior from foster bred children; food hoarding, defensive poster, avoidance, introversion and submission," Bert said.

"We may have lucked out and gotten them away in time, so far we haven't seen aggression, suicidal tendencies, fire setting, self hatred, masochistic tendencies or Psychiatric disorders." he told the group.

"The boys will live in Coquina and we need to see to it that they play where they live. They are both Scale One, and they can both give Charlie a run for his money, so if they drift to either Camp Kenny or the Senior boys, they need to be gently steered back to greener pastures," Bert said amidst more than a few chuckles.

"We're putting Senior monitors on them for their own safety until they figure out where they are and we figure out where they're going," Bert now looked over to two Senior boys sitting around the porch.

"Jerry and Karl are going to be the boys shadows beginning this lunch time. I expect you'll be joined at the hip for a few weeks, maybe a month. Your primary responsibility is to see to their safety and keep them within their group," he told the Senior boys.

"If they don't make a move on you, I'd be completely shocked. You'll be very flattered by the offer, but you will not accept it. When they dance, they dance with Intermediate boys. Right?" he asked both boys.

"Yes Uncle Bert." both boys said stifling smiles.

"You already know that the twin's reside in the mafia. The rules regarding Senior boys and Intermediate boys holds; you play in your own backyards." he cautioned the boys.

With the arrival of Thomas and David, the boy's medical history was gone over which automatically involved five years of systematic abuse.

"X-ray's show Benji has sustained three fractures of either arms or legs, and no less than three cracked ribs. Gavin had a broken scapular, a compound femur fracture, and a broken wrist. That doesn't include various tears, sprains and contusions that have healed with no residual evidence of their occurrence," Thomas reported from the medical file.

"Both boys have been raised on physical abuse since the left the Nun's care. I don't give a fuck if they burn the camp down, they are not to be physically punished under any circumstances. We all know that these kind's of children can wear the patience of a Saint. If you even think about paddling either one, remove yourself from the situation immediately and turn them over to another staff member!" Bert told the group.

"Between the Institute and The New Hampshire School, they've been brought up to a reasonable weight to age scale, but they're still deficient in bone mass because of lack of calcium in their diet through the first seven seven years. They don't need any restrictions on their activities, but they will be put on a high calcium, high fiber, diet. We need to encourage food like milk, meat and fish and discourage sugar in the form of candy and soda whenever possible. Beth will make up a list of good and bad food," the Doctor said.

Once Thomas was finished with his presentation, it was time for Sid to review the boy's history. "We would all have to stupid if we didn't know that this kind of upbringing comes with tons of dirty laundry and now we have to clean it up," Sid told the group.

"There are going to be times when you want to turn them over on your knee and smack the shit out of them. Instead of that, come back here and read first." he advised the staff.

"We don't need to go over every detail of their past eight years, but you do need to understand where they've been to understand what we might see from them in the future," Sid said un-characteristically somber.

"They were abandoned soon after birth in Chicopee, Massachusetts's. We don't know who their family was, but we have their dna on file and if the Father shows up and the dna is matched, we may have a clue at some point in time, but it's really irrelevant as it concerns them. They'll never be returned to their family, they will be educated to the maximum of their capabilities and live as independently as can be allowed unless we find the magic cure.

The Church raised them to age 15 months and by all accounts, the Nuns did a good job. The shit was hitting the fan at the time in Boston, and the Cardinal wanted the losses cut regarding little boys and the twins were out-sourced to Social Services," Sid said as he read from his notes on the boy's file's. "From that point on, the boys were in deep shit and went from one foster home to another. As Scale One Geppetto boys, it didn't take long before the foster parents figured out what they had on their hands, and the boys were then either rejected or exploited. At their last placement, the foster mother was a prostitute for her pimp husband and she retired and became a housewife while the twins took over the family business and entertained her clients. The couple was popped when one of the client's wives found a video of her cop husband and the twins romping and the Institute was then given custody of the boys by the Court's who couldn't figure out how to stop them from getting screwed by the child care workers at the home it put them in after the bust. Naturally, the Court's knew nothing about Geppetto, they just wanted to avoid the embarrassment of having two nympho-maniacs on their hands," Sid concluded.

"So where are we with the twins now?" Adam asked.

"Good question. They've been at The New Hampshire School for a little under three months, and before that, six months at The Institute. As far as two eight year olds can, they understand now why they feel as they do and why they want to romp. They also now know the difference between being exploited and being loved and taken care of. At the Institute, they developed a rapport with the Chief of Psychiatry. They know him as Dr. Lester. That's his first name. Both boys are being followed by the Doctor and he's taken a personal interest in seeing to their care. You can expect to hear a great deal from Dr. Lester in the future," Sid told the team.

"Is he personally involved?" Stephanie asked. Sid smiled.

"If you're asking me if he's romping with them, the answer is no," Sid told the woman.

"We know that because the boys have been taught that there are two kinds of adults who might romp with them, "School" Uncle's and "Pretend" Uncle's. They know that one's there to have a good time and the other one is there because they're loved. Even at eight, they do know the difference," Sid said.

"As far as Doctor Lester is concerned, the boys do not consider him an uncle of either persuasion. They regard him as their "Talking friend."

As Sid concluded, it was Dan's turn to review the boy's academic history. During the Summer camp session, Dan was the Water Front Director. During the school year, he was the equivalent of the Principal.

"One way you could look at it is to say we're dealing with a clean slate. The boys have received minimal education, most of it was "Home schooling" because they never sat long enough in class to be allowed to attend by their school district's. They're basically illiterate and we start from square one," Dan reported.

"The one area they do know is basic math. They know how to give change for a hundred dollar bill and how much to charge for certain services. They can't put it down on paper, but they can both figure it out in their minds. It not the best way to learn math, but it gives us a starting point," he told the group.

By the time Dan was finished, it was too close to lunch for Bert to complete the briefing and the meeting adjourned. Now walking down by the lake where half the Camp Kenny children were playing in the sand and along the water's edge while they waited for the bugle to blow Mess Call, Adam sat down with Sid at a picnic table. The discussion concerning Uncle's had left Adam with a burning question on his mind.

"They don't have Outside Uncle's in New Hampshire do they?" Adam asked. Sid shook his head.

"Uncle Kenny was the first one they had when he brought me and Barry and the other two boys from Block Island, and they had maybe a half dozen more after that, but after we left the school to come to Green Tree, things blew up with one of them and the program was ended," Sid responded.

"Blew up?" Adam asked. Sid nodded.

"The guy was a good teacher, but he was into frilly little dresses on his boys and into taking and sharing pictures with his friends. Neither one was acceptable to anybody," Sid said.

"Even if the security risk was resolved, the dresses ended it."

"So why did Bert opt to keep them on?" Adam asked.

"Mainly because of Uncle Kenny. Uncle Kenny could evaluate a man as quickly as he could a boy. If a potential Outside Uncle came along, he could tell if the man was going to be a positive or a negative influence. He and Bert spent hundreds of hours on the subject and a lot of his knowledge rubbed off on Bert," Adam sat back and thought about his own beginnings at Green Tree two years earlier.

"That has to be an awful heavy responsibility. If he makes the wrong choice, the whole damned thing could blow up in his face," Adam finally said.

"Yes, but he has a lot of back-up. The decision is his, but he never agrees to it unless the decision is unanimous. If one person objects, it's a no go," Sid said.

"Like me?" Adam asked.

"Yes, and like every other Outside Uncle. If one person you came into contact with when you first arrived felt something negative about you, you wouldn't be sitting here today. It's an inner radar we have. We instinctively know who might harm us, and who won't," Sid said.

"Bert knows that."

"So if the twins have never been around Outside Uncles, how are they going to relate to me?" Adam asked.

"Right now, you're simply a school uncle to them. It isn't going to take them long to figure out you're not a Geppetto boy, and they're going to be hearing about inside and Outside Uncles from the other boys," Sid told his friend.

"If I was one of them, I'd be mighty curious about this new kind of uncle, so I wouldn't be all that surprised if one of these days, you find them sending out invitations," Sid said.

Adam thought about that scenario and came up with more questions for himself than answers.

"I think I'm a bit too big to be playing around with them," Adam finally said.

Sid smiled.

"Seems to me, Sammy was just about their size two years ago," he said.

"Sammy's different. I'm not sleeping with Sammy because he's a cute cuddly little boy .

If that was the story, I'd be playing musical beds every night," Adam replied.

Sid shook his head.

"Trust me Adam, if you or any other Outside Uncle went from bed to bed to bed, you would not have lasted a week. Nobody expects Outside Uncle's to be monogamous, but promiscuous behavior wouldn't have been tolerated any more than abusive behavior would be. Sammy can get simple sex from any of almost 200 other boys here. What you give him and the rest of the boys in Beachview is a sense of love and security they can't receive from just romping around from bed to bed," Sid told his friend.

"And as far as the twins are concerned, they may, and they may not turn to you, but they will be looking around once they figure out what Outside Uncle's are all about," he said.

Adam knew there was no simple solution to his inner feelings concerning the matter,

he was who he was, which he had been taught all his life was horribly wrong, but how could loving Sammy be something that was wrong? Were the boys in Beachview not completely happy with their life and with his part in it?

Sid's response to Adam's doubts were answered for Adam almost two years earlier during a quiet conversation in Florida.

"Uncle Kenny told me when I was a little boy that he himself had the same questions rolling around his head. He resolved the issue to himself by remembering back when he was a little boy himself and would masturbate in his bedroom closet every afternoon after school and walk around afterwards for hours loathing himself for doing it and resolving never to do it again. But the next afternoon, he was right back in the closet. One day his Mother was doing laundry and opened the door to put some clothing away for him and there was little Kenny jerking off," Sid told Adam.

"My Uncle Kenny figured it was the end of the world, but his Mother told him he'd be a lot more comfortable laying on his bed masturbating instead of standing in a dark closet.

He stopped loathing himself that afternoon," Sid said.

"My Mother would have cut my dick off!" Adam responded.

"Then it's time you replaced your Mother with Uncle Kenny's Mother. You're a sexual being. Trying to stop that is like swimming up stream," Sid told his friend. Adam listened to his friend's advise then, and remembered it now, but still, it nagged at him.

"If the twins decide to engage with you, that's their decision to make. On the other hand, if the time comes when they crawl into your bed and you don't want to participate, you'll have to make sure they don't regard that as a personal rejection of themselves. Keep in mind, they don't take romping seriously unless they bond to you and that's something that never occurs in a vacuum," Sid now advised.

"In many ways, Geppetto boys are luckier than you "Normal" people, we take sex as casually as eating, breathing and having a pulse.

"Normal" boys have been taught from birth that it's something to hide and deny, to us, it's about as routine as the next piss," Sid declared.

"Sounds lonely," Adam told his friend.

"If you never bonded, it probably would be. But I bonded to Uncle Kenny, and from the looks of things, Sammy doesn't exactly strike me as a boy who's lonely. Doe's he or David seem lonely to you? Do any of them?" Sid asked with a small grin. Adam looked out at the lake where Sammy and the boys were playing on the high trapeze as they swung out and dove into the water. Not even the twins who were sitting along the lake shore digging into the sand and burying Matty looked like they were very unhappy. To the contrary, both squealed like little girls as Matty kept flexing his penis and unearthing it as shovel after shovel was piled on. Adam had to shake his head "No",

"What about swimming lesson's?" Adam now asked Sid.

"We'll be discussing that after lunch, but I'm sure that Bert will have them in the pool with Dan and the Girls on a full time basis until they learn to swim. Having them around that lake as non-swimmers isn't an option," Sid replied as the bugler blew Mess Call.

It took the boys a few minutes of diving before they surfaced with enough bathing suits or underpants to enter the Mess Hall, but with the twins under their morning monitors close scrutiny and Sammy firmly sitting on Adam's shoulders while Adam held both Carla and Jeannie's hands, the group marched off to the Mess Hall with Sid playfully lowering Sammy's underpants to half staff as the rest of the boys giggled while walking in back of Sammy's impressive mooning.

Bert's morning had not been spent resting, but the lack of any stressful situations around him had rejuvenated the Director despite his four hours of sleep. Few staff had spent the morning sleeping, but the restful atmosphere of Lazy Day, was having it's effect on them too. Breakfast had been drawn out over a three hour period, and was highly informal with most campers still in underpants or pajama's. Now at lunch, they were normally clothed, but only barely. Most had spent the morning on the Lake or at the pool's and most were still soaking wet with shorts, bathing suits or underpants being the mainstay of their uniform. Bert usually wanted to see something more than a wet transparent pair of underpants on the children, but Lazy Day allowed that choice, and he walked into a sea of red, yellow, green and blue underroo's walking around or hanging off the benches with their owners chattering away.

"Do we need to get you a smaller size, or is that a new fashion statement?" Bert asked Sammy as he approached the mafia's table's and tugged on the boy's underpants. Sammy giggled as he gave Bert a kiss.

"Uncle Sid keeps pulling them down on me!" Sammy explained. Bert now looked over at Sid who now had a twin on each knee.

"Boys delirious!" Sid said without being asked. Bert shook his head as he reached over and took Sid's ice tea.

With Christopher now towing his two chaperone's towards Bert, the boy finally broke free as he headed for the drink.

"Rink!" Christopher chirped as he reached with both hands. As Bert handed it down, Sid watched as the boy downed his tea in one motion as the lemon and ice drifted to the floor.

"Be my guest!" Sid said. With a burp, Christopher handed the empty glass back to Sid.

"Rink!" he repeated.

"Yeah, it use to be," Sid replied as he poured another glass. Bert now picked up Christopher and planted the boy on his hip.

"We get more drink at our table Christopher, if the wind changes, where going to be smelling Uncle Sid's horses," he told the boy. With the mention of horses, Christopher's ears perked up.

"Horsey?" he asked as he took Bert's face in his hands. It was now time for Sid to shake his head.

"Big mouth!" Sid said as the boys around the table now all giggled.

With Bert now going to his table with Christopher and the girls, Adam watched as Christopher bounced on Bert's hip simulating riding a horse.

"I think that little comment is going to back-fire on Bert. Christopher has a memory like an elephant he's not going to let it slide." he observed. Sid nodded agreement.

"There's no Riding List posted Uncle Sid. Are we gonna be able to ride this afternoon?" Trevor now asked with a few dozen boys keenly interested in the stable masters response.

Camp had six dozen horses in all. four dozen were trail horses, mostly used by the boys and two dozen were dressage horses that were almost exclusively used by the Senior girls. Even by riding double which the Intermediate boys almost always did, only one in three could ride at any given time. Sid had to juggle the horses schedule very carefully while at the same time, prevent any hint of "Favoritism" towards the mafia in the minds of the rest of the campers. Sid's ties to the mafia was well known in camp, and he had to bend over backwards to appease all parties.

"Which group rode last?" Sid asked the table as he grabbed for a sandwich.

"The Cherokee's, but we ain't ridden since Thursday!" Sammy now said. Sid nodded his head.

"You ain't been to English class either!" Sid responded.

With Dan, Kevin and Adam now chuckling, the boys looked a little perturbed.

"Uncle Sid, you ain't our English teacher, you're our History teacher!" Matty retorted.

"Yeah!" a small chorus of boys and girls responded as the twins watched the banter with a growing interest.

"Right! Sorry, but I hope you guys paid a little more attention in my class than you did in Uncle Leo's," Sid said sticking to his guns.

"Uncle Sid!" Sammy exclaimed a little exasperated. Sid nodded his head and let the lesson lapse.

"Who's due to go on the schedule after the Cherokee's?" Sid now asked the table.

"The Mohawk's, but they got to ride this morning." Chris told the stablemaster.

"This morning? I didn't authorize any trail rides for this morning!" Sid now said.

"They didn't go on the trails, but they did ride in the corral." Chris told the man.

"That hardly counts for a ride," Sid told the boys.

"Tell you what, I'll authorize three Trail Rides for this afternoon and an overnight ride for the Senior boys tonight," Sid told the group.

"That just gives us one hour Uncle Sid!" Trevor complained.

"Well for now, that's the best we can do. Tomorrow, we go back on normal schedule, so you'll be able to ride to Lookout Point if you want to," Sid replied.

"Us too?" Gavin now asked Sid.

"Yes, you too, but you and your brother have to ride with another boy from Coquina," Sid told the twins. Which brings me to these two gentlemen.' Sid said as he gestured towards the twin's new chaperone's.

"This is Jerry and Karl. They live in the Senior Boys Camp, and will be your buddies until you learn all about Green Tree and know how to get around by yourself," Sid told the twins as the boys looked at their new chaperone's.

"How come we got Senior boy buddies? Nobody else has them." Gavin now replied with a small frown.

"That's true, but nobody else got lost for a few hours yesterday either!" Sid responded with a small smile.

"We didn't get lost, we knew zactly where we was!" Benji replied innocently.

"I'm sure, but we didn't, and we didn't like not knowing where you were," Sid said.

"How come?" Gavin asked.

"Mainly because if you were hurt, we couldn't find you," Sid said. The twin's now looked at each other.

"You mean hurt like an accident or hurt because someone hit us?" Gavin asked."That's a very good question boys, but I think the answer has to come from the other boys in your cabin," Sid told the boys as he looked around the table.

"Doe's any boy sitting here know of anybody here at Green Tree who would hit or beat you?" Sid asked the boys. With giggles and shaking heads Sid continued.

"Doe's anybody here know anybody who would make you do something if you said "No?" He asked the boys.

"Yeah, you Uncle Sid!" Chris now replied.

"You make us study all the time," he said to more than a few chuckles from the other boys.

"You know what I'm asking Mr. smarty pants!" Sid said With a smile, Chris shook his head. "There's nobody here who will ever hurt you. It's against Uncle Bert's rule, against my rules, against Uncle Kevin's rules and every other person here in camp. Until you learn to swim, the pool and the lake is a dangerous place for you to be. Until you are taught to ride, the horses can be a dangerous place to be, you could get lost in the woods until we teach you how to find your way home, and your buddies will be with you until we know you are safe all alone if you want to be," Sid told both boys. Gavin now looked back at both senior boys.

"They living with us?" he asked.

"No, they will meet you at flagpole in the mornings, and leave after taps at night. They are Senior boys and the rules remain in place concerning Senior boys and Intermediate boys," Sid responded.

"Like at Uncle Matthew's?" Benji asked.

"Zactly!" Sid responded as the mafia giggled around him.

"Now who don't know good English Uncle Sid!" Sammy asked as he finished his second piece of watermelon.

Lunch ended in front of the Mess Hall with a fairly robust watermelon seed spitting contest being engaged in as the boys slowly headed back to their respective cabins for rest period. With Bert's decision to keep both boys under close scrutiny, it was then up to Dave to chose the actual boys who would be working with the twins full time. At 15, both Jerry and Karl had worked extensively with the youngest of campers in Camp Kenny, and were highly skilled and reliable. As Geppetto boys themselves, they wouldn't be shocked by the twins play activity, nor would they become personally involved with them. That did not mean that the twin's weren't going to try, but everybody understood that from the very beginning including Jerry and Karl themselves. As Sid, Adam and Kevin watched, the mafia made it's way as a group to the cove, with the twins in the middle of the bunch and two Senior boys tagging along behind them.

"So how did the morning go for them?" Adam now asked Greg, Kevin's Junior Counselor.

"It wasn't all that much of a lazy morning," Greg replied.

"They bounced from the stable's to the pool and back all morning. Aunt Stephanie has them signed up for swim lesson's from 10:00 to 12:00 starting tomorrow," Adam nodded his head.

"What about school?" he asked.

"They're going to have one on one tutors with them all morning, even in the pool, but Uncle Dan wants them swimming first. He says he can get them into deep water in a week or so."

Greg replied.

"How's he know that?" Adam asked. Greg shrugged his shoulders.

"Uncle Dan says he can look at somebody and tell if he can teach them to swim or not. He's usually right," Greg reported.

"What about their scale?" Sid now asked. Greg's smile disappeared. "It's not even a Scale One. More like a half of One. They usually start reaching back into their pants after a half hour, maybe sometimes 40 minutes," he replied somberly.

"With or without external cue's?" Sid asked. "It don't matter, they ain't following the crowd, they just gotta go," the boy replied. Sid nodded.

"Back to the salt mine's Gregory, we have a meeting to go to," Sid told the boy as he tossed Greg's hair.

With the team now back on Bert's back porch Sid sat down and handed Adam a beer.

"Little early ain't it?" Adam asked. Sid smiled a little, but didn't answer.

"It took us almost five years to slow Charlie down to the point where he wasn't consumed every waking minute by having to romp. And even then, he was a full One," Sid said.

With Christopher wrapped firmly around his neck, Bert sat down as he pulled a pair of underpants up on the boys legs and tried to stuff his ass into a size 10. Looking at Sid's beer, he looked into his office at the ships clock on the mantle.

"Bar's open? I'll have a Gin and Tonic!" he said as he now sat Christopher down in his lap and put the boy into his swimming vest. With a kiss, Christopher climbed down Bert's legs and was headed for the front door.

"Be a good boy!" Bert said as the screen door slammed shut.

"Hey!" a muffled response came from the boy As Bert smiled.

"So, is this some kind of a Jewish Holiday I wasn't aware of, or did we receive some bad news?" Bert asked as Helen handed him his drink.

"Adam told me it was Martin Luther King Day today," Sid said.

Once the laughter died down Bert sat back and watched his Assistant Director. Seeing Sid drink was nothing unusual, seeing him drink this early on a week day was.

"Greg says they're not even a Scale One. He's counting point 5s," Sid replied without prompting.

"We knew that coming in Sid. Now we deal with it," Bert said quietly.

"I received a package and a note from Dr. Lester in Brookline with the boys stuff yesterday. I turned it over to Thomas. As our Physician, he's in charge of the boy's physical well being and this fall's within his purview," Bert told the group solemnly.

"To some, this may seem like we're reverting to toys and we have a well established policy towards them, so I'm not even going to address that issue. Dr. Lester doesn't consider this a toy situation, I don't, and Thomas doesn't either," Bert said.

"But none of us are Geppetto like the rest of you except for Adam, so you have a larger say in this thing than we do," he told the group.

"What thing?" Dave now asked.

"Dr. Lester sent a devise that can induce the boys by stimulating them electronically. It can be automatically set, or manually controlled. It's internal, so other than a momentary lapse in concentration, inducement would go unnoticed unless the boys wanted it otherwise," Bert told the group.

"Am I being thick, or are we talking about implanting vibrator's in the boys?" Sid asked.

"Not implanting, inserting. And the medical people don't call them vibrator's, but basically that's what they are," Thomas replied.

"Doc, you weren't here two years ago, but back then we took away these toys from the Albemarle School boys and staff who joined us. We do things here the old fashioned way," Sid said somewhat sarcastically.

"We took away unnecessary toys Sid. and we didn't take in anybody who was a Scale One or less." Bert told Sid.

"This would be used during academic school time only so we can get them concentrating long enough to pick them out of the illiterate gutter they're now in. If they object, it won't be used," Bert said.

As everyone on the porch knew, Sid was not often silent for any period in a conversation, and when we was, he was usually not in a good mood. They also knew that when it came to protecting the boys, he was first on the battle line. Sid also had a very special thing concerning mechanical devises of any kind. As a child, he and the other boys from his group had spent year's being hooked up to machine's, and he fiercely hated the dehumanization and humiliation he felt while his body performed like a puppet on strings. The government didn't pull the Project's name out of thin air, it was a very funny joke to them but not to the boys who were gawked at while climaxing like a monkey in the Bronx Zoo.

"What makes this any different than the goons at Pilgrim State?" Sid finally asked Bert.

"At Pilgrim State you were all guinea pigs for research purposes. We're not looking for research Sid, we're just trying to get them capable of concentrating long enough to teach them basic necessities. We can't just let them grow up academically vacant can we?" he asked his friend. Sid knew the answer to the question.

"Did they use them at New Hampshire?" Sid now asked as he arose and stood facing the lake in front of the screen.

"No, Dr. Lester wanted us to make the decision because he didn't know how our academic program was structured. We could decide not to use them, but if we do, we're going to be teaching them 15 and 20 minutes at a stretch. That isn't a very large learning window," Bert said.

"What about the rest of you?" Sid finally asked after a several minute pause.

"Sid, we came well after you, and none of us went through what you did. We're all Green Tree raised," Dan told Sid.

"Not you Kevin!" Sid replied. As all eye's now shifted to Kevin, he kind of wished he too had a drink.

"No, I wasn't raised here, and I'm well aware of your concerns. But as Bert said, we didn't have any Scale One boys either. It's a whole different story," Kevin said.

"So you'd plug them in?" Sid asked as bluntly as he usually asked all questions.

"I don't know, I'm not a Scale One but we have to get them at least basically literate," Kevin replied.

"Charlie?" Sid now asked the Junior Counselor.

"I don't know what experience they've had with toys and how they regard them. I began playing with them around six or seven for variety, but I always had a cabin full of kids to play with too." Charlie began.

"I could also sit still for a full class. They won't," he told Sid.

"Would you have plugged yourself in?" Sid asked the boy.

"You have to remember Uncle Sid, I didn't have to play with them, I wanted to. You and us have different attitude's about them. That's why we always called them toys." Charlie said.

"Unless there's an objection, why don't we find out exactly what the boys think about it?" Bert asked Sid. Sid shook his head.

"They'd screw each other's balls off on a Macy's float! What the fuck would that prove?" Sid replied bitterly.

"It would prove we're not projecting our fears and concerns on the boys Sid. Nobody's talking about standing them on an examining table surrounded by gawking witnesses while they climax," Bert replied as calmly as he could.

"Uncle Sid, there we're a lot of times when I was doing something and I had to stop to go play when I didn't want. I would have been happy to just cross my legs and finish what I was doing!" Charlie said.

"Projecting?" Sid turned around and asked Bert.

"Think about it Sid," Bert told his friend. Sid now turned and looked at Adam.

"You?" he asked his friend.

"I'd let Charlie decide, he's the closest to the boys," Adam told Sid.

"And you think I'm projecting?" Sid asked.

"That's a decision for a Georgetown Psych. Major, not a math teacher!" Adam replied. Sid smiled for the first time in more than 10 or 15 minutes and the mood of the assembled improved visibly.

"I won't blackball their use, but if the boys so much as hint that they don't like it, they go into the garbage!" Sid told Thomas. The Doctor nodded agreement.

The meeting for the twins continued for another two hours while the team took up every subject that would go into the boys I.S.P. It was the blueprint for taking care of them, and by 4:00 the plan was completed. There would now be 200 adults and about 150 senior boys and girls who would come into contact with the boys, and they were now all working from the same page. In the meantime, the seriousness of the business being conducted in Bert's Office had little if anything to do with the activity outside of the building.

Rest period was the time between lunch and 1:00 that the campers use to "Rest" if you have a very broad interpretation for the word. It is usually about a half hours time, and must be spent in individuals cabins. Some boys actually did lay down and rest and maybe even nap, but most were in Camp Kenny who did so. Intermediate boys generally romped or played quiet games, or so it was before the twins arrived.

Their cabin was the last of three cabins in the cove inhabited by the mafia, and as the first two cabins peeled off, Gavin and Benji took note of where everybody lived. They were especially interested in Adam's Cabin and of the two girls who appeared usually completely dressed in a pair of underpants, and when in the cove, generally as naked as the rest of the boys. But these were not boys, and both twins had a great deal of experience with this type of camper. Little wheels were already quietly turning.

"How come Carla and Jeannie don't live with the other girls?" Gavin asked Greg as they mounted the stairs to the cabin.

"They want to live with the mafia. The intermediate and Camp Kenny girls can choose where they live, and Carla and Jeannie chose to live with us," he told the twins.

"Do they sleep in our cabin too?" Gavin now asked.

"Sure sometimes, but most of the time, they sleep in Uncle Adam's Cabin," Greg responded.

"How come?" Gavin quickly asked.

"Probably because they like Uncle Adam and the other boys in that Cabin more than others," Greg said.

"Do they have their own room?"

Benji asked. Greg smiled slightly as he looked down at both boys who were already deep within their shorts.

"Like all of us they have all their clothes and things in a special place just for them, but they sleep just like we all do where they want to," Greg replied as they entered the cabin.

"They sleep with boys?" Benji asked.

"They live with boys, they sleep with boys and they play with boys," Greg said.

"What kind of play?" Gavin asked.

"Both" Greg replied as Bruce now giggled. Taking his brother now by the hand, Gavin led Benji up the stairs to the bedrooms. This was now a topic both of them would have to reflect on. The twins were beginning to think they were going to like Green Tree more than they liked New Hampshire.

The twin's were now at Green Tree just shy of their first day. As the Green Tree staff had been warned, both boys lost no time in approaching their cabin mates once they were assured that they would not be punished for romping. When in a strange environment, they sought each other out to meet their needs, but once comfortable in their surroundings, there was no time for blushing or hesitation. At the pool, it took no time for them to discover the sauna room where along with eight of the boys there, made themselves very happy. Now, as their pants fell to the floor and the bedroom door closed it was time to get to know both Shaun and Eddy a whole lot better. For Shaun and Eddy, their instructions were fairly simple; don't initiate contact with the twin's, but if they were approached and wanted to romp, they were free to do so. At Green Tree, awkwardness is an unknown. A boys stiff penis speaks volumes, and both twins needed no interpreter's.

Shaun and Eddy were playing on their bed on their backs reading comic books as the door closed and Shaun looked down at the twins who were now approaching. The comic was interesting, but not quite as interesting as the two penis's that were staring at him. Throwing his comic up to the ceiling, Eddy looked over to his friend. What'cha do that for?" he asked as the twins now began crawling onto the bed.

"Looks like reading time is over." Shaun said as Gavin and Benji both squirmed themselves up between the older boys legs with not so much as a "May I?" Once inspection time was over, and with both Shaun's and Eddy's testicle's pinned firmly to their abdomens leaving nothing but a tight bulge where their scrotums use to be, both boys learned very quickly that there were those boys who sucked, and those boys who swallowed. Neither boy had ever been deep throated before and as they lay there contemplating this brand new kind of lollipops, they stared at each other in wide eyed amazement. Either boy could have climaxed in under two minutes but that was not what the twins would ever allow. Ten minutes later, in full control by two eight year olds, the first of the mafia had a brand new way to make their partner happy. With no words spoken, once Shaun and Eddy had their world rocked, it was the twins turn and as both boys now repositioned themselves on top of Shaun and Eddy's chest, they placed their groins within reach as the twin's penis's became about as clean and happy as their new found friend's already were as the bugle blew the end of Rest Period.

With the bedroom door closed, nobody would come in unannounced, but it was plain to the four boys inside that their friends were stomping their way down the stairs as they headed for the kitchen and a snack before either going to the lake, or up on the hill to the stable's. Within moments of climaxing, both twin's were searching for clean shorts as Shaun and Eddy looked down on their beet red erections that were still throbbing with their pulse. Both turned to each other one more time as Shaun's eyebrows raised.

"Uncle Sid said we can go riding. Is that what you're gonna do?" Benji asked the two as they slowly left the bed and searched for clean underpants.

"Yeah but we might not get a chance to go first period, we may have to wait for second period if too many kids show up." Eddy replied as he pulled his pants up.

"Ain't you gonna put some pants on?" Gavin now asked.

"Why bother? We just end up taking them back off anyway." Shaun told the twin.

"What'cha mean?" Benji asked.

"We ride naked here." Eddy replied. Both twin's hesitated.

"We do?" Benji asked. As both Shaun and Eddy nodded their heads, the twins looked at each other. With hands in shorts, both boys walked down the stairs almost ready for the next romp.

Since Sid was in the afternoon meeting with Bert and the team, the boys met Patty at the barn door as she crossed off boys names and their mounts. The scene was old hat to the mafia, but to the twin's, they were now coming into a brand new world. New Hampshire had no horses, and neither boy had ever been even close to one before. Now, as the boys around them mounted their horses two by two,and trotted off in pairs out into the sunlight, Benji and Gavin stared up in awe at the size of the horses and the two bare assed boys riding them.

"Stay on the Blue, Red or Green Trails." Patty told each group of horses passing.

"There are boys waiting behind you, so you have an hour to get back here and I don't want to see the horses all lathered up from being run into the ground. If I do, you'll be cooling them down and explaining to your friends why they can't ride!" she told the kids assembled in the barn.

"Can we do a Lake Ride Aunt Patty?" Sammy asked as he passed the woman.

"Not today Scooter. Uncle Sid want's strictly Trail Rides so that everybody gets a turn." Patty said.

"No fair Aunt Patty, the lake's only five minutes away!" Carla replied who was sitting in front of Sammy.

"Trail Ride!" Patty exclaimed without looking up from her list.

The twin's watched the encounter with fast growing interest both in mind and body. Neither boy saw air between Sammy and Carla, and since both were naked, it was a matter of speculation where Sammy's worm was hiding as the twins once again looked at each other in silence as little wheels turned furiously.

Now spotting the twins, Patty called out to a stable boy to bring "Maria" out.

"Uncle Bert want's you two to stick together for the first few days at least until you get use to your surroundings," she told both boys.

"Maria is the gentlest horse we have and she can carry three boys without a problem. Chose a boy from Coquina to go with you and we'll get you out on the Trail." Looking around, Benji spotted Jeannie who was waiting with Matty for a horse.

"That one!" Benji said pointing to Jeannie. After a few stifled giggles from the boys, Patty looked around.

"Bruce, want to go with the Boys?" she asked.

"Sure Aunt Patty," Bruce replied. Patty now looked down at the twins.

"I think I said "Boy" and I think I said "From Coquina". In case you haven't noticed, Jeannie isn't exactly a boy, and she doesn't live in Coquina." With giggles anew, both twins looked at Bruce who was now approaching them. At the same time, a stable boy brought Maria into the barn who was being followed by her colt, Baron. All thoughts of the previous 10 minutes immediately ended for the twins.

At almost a ton and a half, the Chestnut Belgian with the golden blond mane just might as well have been an elephant walking into the barn as far as the twins were concerned.

She towered over any other horse there, and was probably twice as broad. A boy did not sit astride Maria, he rode on top of her. To sit astride, he would have to be capable of doing a split. With a tail as blond as her mane and tufts of hair above each hoof,

she was a brood mare that produced Champion Belgian's and her off-spring now walked feet away from her side without benefit of halter or leader.

Both boys gave his Mother wide latitude, but the colt was another story. Born about as tall as the twins were now, the colt had grown a foot [30 cm] or so, but was nowhere near as massive as his Mother yet. Almost eyeball to eyeball, the twins approached the colt who had never known fear from humans and looked instead for a piece of carrot or apple.

"Baron will stay alongside his Mother, she's still nursing him, so if he ducks his head under her, he's looking for some of her milk." Patty told the boys as they stroked his mane and caressed the cool softness of his nose.

"The most important thing you have to remember around horses is that they don't look where they're stepping, and if they step on your bare feet, you're going to know about it real fast!" She told the boys as she placed a lambs wool blanket on the mare.

"If you fall off one of our horses they are trained to immediately stop, but you still need to make sure you roll away from their feet as soon as you can," she instructed as she lifted the twins on top of the mare.

"Bruce knows exactly what's safe and what's not safe, so listen to him!" Patty instructed.

As both boys sat now on top of the huge animal, they felt her shift occasionally from foot to foot. Looking at the ground, it was a very long way down.

"What are we gonna hold onto?" Gavin asked.

"If you feel you might fall, lay back onto Bruce. You also have the horses mane to hold onto and there are hand holds sewn into the horses blanket. Feel around and you can find one of them. If you think you might fall off, grab a hand hold and let Bruce know and he will keep you safe." Patty told the boys.

Benji and Gavin watched as Patty cupped her hands and half tossed Bruce up on the mare in back of the twins. With Bruce sitting on top of the mare with his feet tucked underneath him, he brought Gavin into him and felt for the hand hold. Once he found it, he showed the boy where it was and instructed Benji to sit back on his brother.

To Bruce it was a very boring walk out of the barn and out of the corral to the trails but to the twins, it was the very beginning of a fantastic adventure as the colt walked alongside his Mother waiting for a quick chance at a snack.

Within Coquina itself, two boys interested the twins the most. The first was Michael who was usually with the cabin's Counselor, Kevin. Then there was Bruce, who was usually with the cabin's Junior Counselor, Greg. Neither twin had yet had a chance to talk in depth with either boy; they were still working on their first day. Now, as they walked into the woods and elected to take the Red Trail the fear of falling off and getting crushed to death diminished, but the opportunity to explore their new environment increased.

After probably five minutes up the trail, watching trees slowly being passed became more routine and the questioning from the twins began in earnest.

"What room do you sleep in? I didn't see you this morning with the other boys." Benji asked Bruce.

"No, sometimes I sleep in the other boy's rooms, but most of the time I sleep with my Uncle Greg," Bruce replied.

"In the same bed?" Gavin asked.

"Sure," Bruce said.

"You do it with him?" Benji asked.

"Yes, why?" Bruce said as he reached over and gave Baron a piece of carrot.

"Bruce is a senior boy, Uncle Bert and Uncle Sid said we can't play with senior boys didn't he?" Benji asked.

"He was a senior boy when I first came to Green Tree, but Uncle Bert made him an Uncle which means I can sleep with him and play with him if I want to," Bruce replied.

"We're allowed to play with Uncle's if we want to?" Gavin asked.

"Yes, if you both agree than you can," Bruce told the twins.

"How come we can play with the Uncle's and we can't play with the senior boys?" Benji wanted to know.

"Uncle Sid said it was because it might cause fight's with the senior boys and because the Uncle's won't play with you unless they really like you. He want's us to play with the boys in the intermediate camp if we want to because we all live together," Bruce explained.

"Uncle Greg really likes you and nobody else?" Gavin asked.

"He likes everybody else, but he's my best friend," Bruce replied.

"How did you make him your best friend?" Benji asked.

Bruce smiled "You can't make somebody your best friend. It just happens when you talk to each other and learn about each other," he told both boys.

"And fuck?" Benji asked.

"Sometimes, but I would be best friends with Greg even if we didn't," Bruce replied.

"But you do fuck right?" Gavin asked. Bruce smiled once more and ruffled Gavin's hair.

"Everybody in Green Tree plays except for Christopher," Bruce said.

"No, I mean together!" Greg said pressing the issue.

"Yes," Bruce simply replied.

"And you fuck with the other kids too right?" Benji now asked.

"Sure, we already said that," Bruce told the twins.

"Everybody else on the trail is naked, how come we ain't naked?" Benji now asked.

"Probably because you didn't drop your pants," Bruce replied with another small smile.

"But we could be?" Gavin asked.

"Sure, if you want to be naked, lay back and take your short's off," Bruce replied.

"And you too?" Gavin asked.

"I guess so," he said.

As Benji now laid back, he picked up his legs and slid his shorts off followed by Gavin.

"What are we gonna do with our pants?" Benji asked.

"You can either tuck them under the blanket or drop them on the ground. The senior boys pick up the stuff left on the trails every afternoon," Bruce replied. With two pairs of shorts now sailing to the ground Gavin turned his head around.

"Now you," he told Bruce. After two years of riding bareback, Bruce had long ago perfected what every Green Tree boy knew how to do very well; stand up on a walking horse without loosing his balance. To the twins total amazement,

Bruce back away a little from the boys and stood up. Sliding his pants down, he kicked them to the ground and sat himself back down.

"Are we gonna stop?" Gavin asked.

"We don't stop to play at Green Tree unless we're at Lookout Ridge or Indiantown. Sometimes we stop at a stream to cool off, but that's about it," Bruce told the boys.

"So how can we fuck?" Benji asked. Bruce broadly smiled and giggled.

"Simple, like this!" he told the boys as he pulled Gavin into himself.

"Now you scoot yourself back towards your brother Benji," he told the other twin. With the horses gait pretty much doing all of the work, the twins first ride was a complete and total success. Both boys were use to sessions that lasted 10 or 15 minutes if time allowed, but on a trail ride, the boys of Green Tree were in no hurry whatsoever. Romping for a few minutes was fun, romping for closer to a half hour to forty five minutes with the horses doing all the work was so very much better. The only conversation 15 or so minutes later came from Benji to his brother.

"I told you that boy was fucking that girl on the horse," Bruce said nothing as all three boys leaned back and enjoyed the ride.

Christopher's afternoon with Jill and Claire was going well for the better part of an hour. Just as both girls thought they were going to have a nice enjoyable afternoon lounging around the pool, Christopher spotted the senior girls in the ring practicing dressage. The girls spent about five minute's listening to Christopher whine, point and sign that he wanted to go to the stable's and with a few choice curse words towards Uncle Bert, Christopher was pulling both girls by the hand across the ball fields.

"Jesus Aunt Patty, he's soaking wet and naked. He's going to ruin my saddle!" a senior girl pouted as Patty lifted Christopher up and plunked the boy in front of the girl.

"Just walk around for about five minutes with him and then we'll pass him on to another rider."

Patty instructed the girl.

"But he doesn't sit still! He bounces around like a rubber ball and he farts!" the girl complained.

"Ride upwind!" Patty said as she retreated to the barn.

The arrival of the first period riders back at the stable's began a few minutes after Christopher's arrival, and in a steady stream, as the first period boys dismounted, the second period boys headed out for their turn on the trails. It was already 2:30, so Patty knew full well she was in for a long afternoon. Once Maria arrived back in the corral, Patty lifted the twins one by one.

"I guess by your Uncle Sid's standards, the ride was a success?" she asked Bruce noting the complete lack of clothing.

"That was fun!" Gavin exclaimed as he turned himself around underneath the outdoor shower on the barn wall.

Sammy and much of the mafia went up into the loft to pitch straw and hay while the twins, along with their senior buddies and a few other intermediate's now sat on the fence rails watching the senior girls practice. The girls had learned long ago to ignore the intermediate boys; any comments from them regarding "Naked twerps" watching them was immediately met with a line of naked twerps with erections now staring at them. Skunks have a smell, porcupines have quill's, and intermediate boys have boners to make senior girls go away. Now after two years, there was somewhat of a truce between the two camps, but every now and then, a boner was needed and was very effective.

"Is he a retard? Is that why he don't fuck?" Gavin asked as the twin studied Christopher riding around the ring.

"Uncle Bert and Uncle Sid would be very angry if they heard you use that word," Bruce told the twin's.

"Christopher can't speak, and he doesn't learn well, but nobody's allowed to call him a retard."

"What would they do to us if we did?" Benji asked.

"They would be very disappointed in you. If you kept doing it, they might not even like you," Bruce replied.

"Why?" Gavin asked.

"Because Christopher needs all of us to protect him. Nobody here would ever call him names that hurt him," Bruce said.

"How come he's always with Uncle Bert?" Benji now asked.

"He lives with Uncle Bert and Aunt Helen," Bruce replied.

"He got'sa penee, how come he don't fuck?" Benji asked as Christopher passed by the group. Bruce shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, you'd have to ask Uncle Bert or Uncle Sid. I betcha Uncle Kevin knows," Bruce replied.

"How do you know he don't fuck?" Gavin asked.

"I know that the rules are that we can't play with him. Nobody's ever done it, and he don't get boners," Bruce replied.

"Never?" Benji asked.

"Maybe if he's gotta go to the bathroom, but not for sex," Bruce told both boys.

Both boys looked at each other with neither boy believing a word they had just heard.

"What would you like to do next?" Bruce now asked both boys.

"What can we do?" Gavin asked.

"We can go to the pool, go to the go-cart track and see if we can get our names on the list, or we can go to the lake," Bruce replied.

"Can we go out in the boats?" Benji quickly asked. Bruce shook his head.

"I don't think so, Uncle Dan only let's deep water swimmer's in the boat's. But we can ask him."

With about three dozen go-cart's available and a list about four dozen boys long, Bruce informed the twin's that the likelihood of them riding that afternoon was very close to zero.

"If we put our names on the list now, we will probably be able to ride fist period tomorrow afternoon after school," he told the twins. Agreeing to the plan, Bruce signed his name and handed the pencil to Benji.

"We can't write our names." Benji said as he looked at the list.

"How come?" Bruce asked.

"We don't know how." Gavin said.

For a 12 year old Bruce was a smart boy, but he had never come into contact with a boy who couldn't read or write except for kids in camp Kenny and Christopher, but there were good reason's for that. These boys weren't babies or toddlers, and they weren't like Christopher. Listening to the conversation, Greg now intervened because of Bruce's silence and confusion.

"Starting tomorrow you'll be taught to read and write, but for now, I'll write in your names for you," he told both boys.

Coming off the hill on the way to the Lake a detour was requested to return to the cabin.

Despite the trail ride which made the rest of Coquina more than happy for a few hours, the twins "Had to go" and it had nothing to do with taking a piss. With the bedroom door now closed, Greg and the rest of the boys waited for the twins with tall glasses of ice tea.

"I sure am glad I'm a Scale 3!" Shaun said as the group sat on the porch watching a group of campers race around the lake on Sailfish. Nobody disagreed.

As the meeting at Bert's office broke up, the Director motioned for several staff to remain. Bert had wanted Adam to also remain behind, but recognized that Adam, as Sid's closest friend besides himself, would need to stay with Sid for the time being. Few people that knew Sid well didn't know that the man was in deep inner turmoil over the twin's situation.

Once the office was fairly well cleared, Bert, along with Dan, Dave, Thomas, Charlie, Gloria, Jeanette and Johanna sat back down. Now surrounded by the people who were closest to Sid, the meeting was "Off the record".

"For obvious reason's, Sid's involvement in the Twins's use of toys needs to kept to the bare minimum. They dredge up shit from his past he's not prepared to deal with so he's kept out of the loop whenever possible," Bert began.

"Kevin's involved, Adam's involved, we're all involved, and Thomas's staff is involved. If the twin's object to their use or develop problem's we end it, but there's no reason to keep Sid involved on a day to day basis." Bert said. Dave got up and walked over to the bar and made himself a drink."Sid's going to balk. He's going to know the Chain of Command is being jumped over," he told the group as he sat back down.

"You are correct, he is going to know it. He'll also be told that if the twins object, their decision rules. He's also smart enough to know he's too close to the fire to do any cooking," Bert told the group.

"So we load him down with other work?" Dan asked. Bert sat back. "That won't work in this case, he'll be looking for it. We make sure he knows we're ready to end it if the twin's balk and trust that he has enough faith in us to know we'll keep our end of the bargain," Bert replied.

"Make no mistake about it, Sid's going to be diving headfirst into a depression concerning this if we're not very careful, he needs to know those two boys best interest is being considered above all else," he said.

"Tonight after Dinner, the twin's go to the infirmary. I want Charlie and Stephanie there along with Kevin. Doc, it won't take them very long before they realize that we're dealing with toys, but keep it clinical and make sure they know every step of the way they can say "No" and the deal is off," Bert said.

"You want me there?" Stephanie asked the Director.

"You're their advocate, if you feel it should stop, say so," Bert told the woman.

"Charlie, you're the closest thing they've got to understanding how they feel, a buddy chat before dinner might not be a bad idea," Bert suggested. Charlie nodded agreement.

Sid's departure from the meeting with Adam was a silent ride as the two friends boarded Sid's golf cart. As Adam drove around the lake, Sid looked out at the kid's boating and playing in the water. Keeping to the upper path, the two avoided contact with the children by the lake as Adam drove toward's Johanna's cabin, the cabin that his when he originally entered Green Tree some two year's earlier.

Now pulling up in front of it, both men sat staring at the cabin which had been somewhat transformed from a chidren's summer camp cabin to a small home to accommodate Johanna and the now 10 month old, Sidney Bertram.

"Looks a tad different, don't it?" Sid said as he sat there. Adam smiled as he looked at the cabin that now had lace curtains on the windows, flower boxes and probably three dozen Little Tyke's toys strewn about the grounds.

"Slightly!" Adam replied as he got out of the cart.

"Let's see how they ruined the inside," Adam said.

The cabin had been winterized the year before and after the birth of Sidney Bertram, a jacuzzi had been installed in the back porch of the cabin that hung close to the waters edge. Johanna, the baby and two senior girls who helped her with the baby were now living there, and the cabin was now most certainly lived in by females. Gone was the butcher block furniture that could stand up to a dozen boys. Gone was the basketball hoop that was on the living room wall. Gone were piles of fishing poles standing in the corner and gone was the odor of boys socks, sneakers and wet towels. In their place was everything baby.

"Hard to believe he's just one kid. You think he play's with half this shit?" Sid asked as he looked around. Adam smiled as he went to the refrigerator.

"Hey, she's got beer in here!" Adam said as he pulled out two bottle's.

"Well shit yeah. She knows if she don't keep a stock, I'll never come to visit," Sid said.

Walking out on the back porch, both men sat down.

"She must be at the pool," Adam said as he and Sid watched the boys in sailboats and canoe's go past the window.

"Bullshit. She's with the rest of them at Bert's conspiring against me and you fucking know it!" Sid replied half smiling.

"What the hell are you talking about? Nobody's conspiring against you!" Adam replied.

"Adam, when Bert gets together with Gloria, Jeanette, Johanna, Dan and Dave and we're not there, just exactly who do you think they might be talking about?" Sid asked. "And how come you're sitting here instead of sitting on the front porch of Beachview watching your kids?" he asked his friend.

"Certainly not because of any conspiracy, I just felt you might want a friend around, that's all," Adam replied.

"And Bert didn't tell you to stick with me?" Sid asked.

"Nobody said a word to me, you were right there," Adam replied truthfully. Sid looked at his friend, but said nothing. There was no telling from either man's face if they were telling the truth or not, they could both lie with an angelic look on their face if need be just like the kids could.

"Maybe so," Sid eventually said as he looked back towards the lake.

"So I guess I'm going to be knee-deep in busy work shortly," Sid said as he took a sip of his beer. "That's OK, I'm going to dump half of it on your shoulders." he mused. "I think you're just getting old and paranoid," Adam replied.

"Fine, I'll dump three quarters of the new load on you," Sid responded.

There was a long pause in the conversation and eventually, one more beer apiece was half finished before Sid spoke again.

"Do you think I'm over reacting?" He asked Adam.

"I think you have a very real reason to hate the idea of it, but I also think that there isn't a person in the camp who would allow it to occur if they even thought the boys would be harmed in any way. I know that to be the truth, and I think you do too deep down inside of you," Adam counseled his friend. Sid said nothing as he contemplated Adam's word's. He knew them to be true, but at the same time, his thoughts fell back to his own childhood at Pilgrim State. It was not the first time, and Adam knew it would not be the last, as the tears rolled down his cheeks as he stared at the lake but didn't really focus on anything.

"Uncle Sid! You in there?" a small voice called out from the front door. Sid quickly dried his face and eyes on his shirt sleeve as Adam rose from the rocker.

"Yes, we're on the back porch," Adam called out. With small buckets in their hands, a troop of probably six kids came into the cabin. Half looking around, and half searching, they made their way towards the back of the cabin.

"Aunt Sarah says if we find enough berries, she'll let us make muffins tonight. Will you help us Uncle Sid?" five year old Scotty asked. Sid smiled and looked at Adam.

"And did Aunt Sarah or anybody else tell you to come and find me to ask me that?" Sid asked the boy as Sid scooped him up and kissed the boy. Scotty shook his head no.

"We just saw your cart on the way to the trail up the hill," the boy replied as Sid picked up the next child waiting for a kiss. Sid looked at Adam once again who shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't sound like a conspiracy to me," Adam told his friend.

"What's a speeracey?" five year old Adrian asked the men as Sid gave her a kiss.

"Never mind. I think I know where we can find some berries if the rabbit's haven't found them first," Sid replied as he walked to the front door keeping the girl on his hip. Adam watched the group as they shuffled out of the cabin and jumped down the steps of the cabin one by one with buckets banging and clanging.

"I'll take your cart back to your cabin," Adam said as the group headed up the path towards the walking trail that would lead them up to the upper campus. With a wave of his hand, Sid acknowledged Adam as he lead the children like the Pied Piper. Adam had seen that same scene thousands of times before as he smiled to himself. It was a bitter sweet smile, Adam knew Sid had merely pushed his pain back into a small corner of his mind, but it wasn't healed and very well might never be.

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