Howdy Doody

The Program III

Mark's New Home

Chapters 9-10

Chapter Nine

Adell's return to Corfu for the birth of Nicholas's first child was both a very happy occasion, and for the woman a sad one too. As the eldest son, Nicholas was to bring Stavros's first grandchild into the world. Preferably, that child would be male. Circumstances and passion now interfered with those plans, and Nicholas would be presenting his Father with a girl, and she was preceded by Alexander's twin boys. Although unspoken, Adell knew of Nicholas's very deep disappointment. Nicholas loved his brother but felt that he was denied his right to present Stavros with his first grandchild, male or female.

Adell had taken more than a few walks on the beach with Nicholas discussing the situation and never did get over the feeling that Nicholas felt that Alexander betrayed him, however inadvertently. Nothing was ever said by Nicholas to Alexander concerning the subject other than to insist that he retain the right to name his first born son after Stavros, but at the same time, Nicholas and Alexander's relationship was never quite the same either. Of his four brothers, Nicholas would take a future brother, Peter, under his wing and this spot Adell had always felt should have been Alexander's. Once again, parents don't control their children, and Adell would have to adjust.

One week premature, Stavros's third grandchild made her appearance in the Grotto. Aletha, named for Maria's Mother, was a long baby and came into the world very nearly completely silent as she was picked out of the water and laid on her Mother's stomach. Once syringes were stuck up her nose and clamps were placed on her umbilical cord, she rebounded with a low cry, but nothing compared to the birth of the twins just three months earlier. Aletha was a lady, and came into the world behaving as one while Adell presented her to Nicholas. He fell in love instantly.

Probably as in all societies, boys are the gold standard, but girls are no less valuable in their Father's eyes.

Following Jean-Paul's return to school his intention was to cultivate his relationship with his roommate Mark. He wanted to make Mark his "Best friend". Something he never really had in his life up to that point, his only "Playmates" were his older sisters and since the age of three or so, he was their "Baby" rather than the usual dolls girls played with. From earliest recollections, Jean-Paul was diapered, fed, washed and performed "Tricks" for his sisters on demand. The tricks usually were best performed while naked and Jean-Paul taught his sisters boy's anatomy 101. Since little girls don't play with little boys, his sisters solved that problem by making Jean-Paul a girl doll. He was not Jean-Paul, he was Paulette. By age 11 he rather enjoyed the role, right up until his mother began hearing stories from the local woman that her son was performing oral on any local boy who pulled down his pants for Jean-Paul. Jean-Paul came from Milan and his Father was a Magistrate of importance in the City. He was sent off to boarding school to avoid scandal.

All of the above was known to Mark and the rest of the boys in his room since all the boys shared their life histories with each other, or at least a lot of it. Like Mark, Jean-Paul had secrets known only to himself, including the fact that Jean-Paul had already decided for himself at age ten that he was homosexual and had no interest in girls whatsoever. He had four strong women in his house and a fairly weak Father figure despite the fact that the man was a judge and garnered a lot of respect and admiration from the townsfolk. Jean-Paul saw his Father as meek and subservient to his wife.

Now, after he had fought with his friend, he was convinced that there was no way he could make Mark love him, he was on the search for someone who would love him for who and what he was, no matter what he had to do to gain that love.

Increasingly, the 13 year old was invited to play with the model trains in his house parent's apartment, Mr. D'Angelo, or Mr. Dee as he preferred to be called was also a fifth grade teacher at the school. Jean-Paul found the man to be very nice. He was kind and gentle, and he was a very easy man for a boy to talk to. Only Jean-Paul's best friend Mark seemed to understand him as well as Mr. Dee and the teacher had an advantage over Mark; the man gave the very dependent boy his undivided and exclusive attention. Mark was a very wonderful friend, but he also had many other friends that took his attention away from Jean-Paul.

Mr. Dee had three hobbies. The first was the trains that he allowed the boys in the house to play with on occasion. It was a very special treat from the man, and as time passed, Jean-Paul found himself alone playing with the trains more and more. The teacher's second hobby was making clothes for his "Nieces". He would design, pattern and sew the clothing himself and ship them out weekly to his nieces who appeared to live all over the world. As Jean-Paul played with the trains, Mr. Dee sewed Dresses, Blouses, Skirts, Dancing tights, Underwear, Night clothing and Bathing suits for all the little girls in his family. His third hobby was photography. Seeing Mr. Dee with a camera in his hands became routine not only for Jean-Paul, but for all the boys.

Mr. Dee's relationship with Jean-Paul grew by the day. Mark and his friends made every attempt to dissuade their friend, but knew that in the end, it was his choice to make. Jean-Paul was lead off in a direction none of the other boys in the house would follow. Jean-Paul today remains involved in the lives of his friends that were made back in the eighth grade, and his friends both love and support him.

Jean-Paul said nothing to his friends about his activities with the teacher at the time they were happening. He had rationalized that what he did with his friends upstairs in the dorm, and what he did with Mr. Dee were two separate issues of private business. Within two weeks Mr. Dee had groomed Jean-Paul to the point where Jean-Paul moved into the teacher's apartment. The move upset Mark very deeply, but the bottom line was that the move was made with Jean-Paul's complete acceptance and agreement. Mark isn't sure to this day, but believes that Jean-Paul would have followed his chosen path with or without Mr. Dee's influence, but the nagging feeling that a delay at the critical juncture the boy was at at age 13 may have made a difference in his decision to live his life as a homosexual. Nobody will ever know.

Before Mr. Dee's total dominance over Jean-Paul, there was a Baptism to go to and the boys were packed and waiting at the house on Friday afternoon. While Mr. Dee didn't like the idea, Adell insisted on Jean-Paul's attendance and the teacher wasn't about to cross swords with Adell again.

Mark, Mario, Zachary, Mackenzie, Sebastian, Julian and Jean-Paul all waited as a van pulled up the driveway with Rachael. All the boys had been to the airport many times, but always to take commercial flights. Now they pulled up to a private Lear jet that Stavros had chartered. Inside, Alexander and Emily along with Lydia, Aletha and the babies who had been picked up in Nice were waiting. As the boys sank down in the leather seats, Zachary put his hand under Julian's chin and closed the boy's mouth. "You ain't seen nothing yet, wait till you see Mark's Father's row boat!" he told the boy sitting next to him.

Once the plane reached altitude, one by one, each boy got to sit next to the pilot for a few minutes and watch a sight very few people get to see from that vantage point. It was a 90 minute flight and most of the boys would have been happy to stay up there all day. The exception was the babies who rarely stopped wailing their asses off even with a breast stuck in their face most of the way.

On Corfu, Stavros had once again moved the ship off the beach in front of the house and designated it for the children's housing during the weekend. Alexander was already in a very good mood, but it brightened even further when he was told that he would have the Master Cabin with his family. Emily's Mother and baby sister took Adell's cabin, which left the remaining four cabins to a total of 22 children between the ages of six to 16. A 175 foot Feadship is a very large ship, but it was maxed out in the sleeping arrangements. Air mattresses and sleeping bags were everywhere.

"So what do you think? Will this do?" Zachary asked Julian as the two walked up the ship's gangway. Julian said nothing; he just shook his head as he passed the Officers standing at the top of the gangway welcoming the children aboard.

Mark had already announced that he would sleep in his stateroom along with his friends from Turin which meant he would have seven boys in his room. He had forgotten about Emily's brothers, who now numbered all four, and his room alone could no longer handle that many. Opening an adjoining stateroom, Mark's room become one big dorm as air mattresses and pillows

started flying in all directions. Mackenzie was the first boy naked as he bolted for the door and out to the Boat Deck and pool. Having been to the Island twice before, he knew the etiquette, and on the ship or on the beach, naked was acceptable. Julian had never been there before, and his jaw dropped open once again.

With clothes dropping to the floor like snowflakes on Sestriere, Adell walked into Mark's room towing Mackenzie behind her. "There's no time for swimming right now," the woman said as she pulled Mackenzie into the bathroom. "You have just enough time to take a shower and dress for dinner," she told the boys as she reached into the shower and turned it on. Scooting Mackenzie in with a pat on his ass, Adell walked back out of the bathroom. "Dinner is informal and will be outside, but that doesn't mean you come to the table with your birthday suits on," she said as she tapped Zachary on the top of the head and walked back out on her way to Emily and her twins amid a chorus of giggles behind her.

"Yes Gramma," Zachary said. The woman stopped in her tracks halfway out the door and she turned around. "You're teaching them to speak Greek?" Adell asked Mark as she looked at the boy. Mark shrugged his shoulders a little. "I guess after over a year of your yelling at them, they're picking it up by themselves," Mark told the woman while trying to keep a straight face.

"Great, another year of comedians," Adell said as she again exited the room with even more giggles following her out.

Showers without Adell's supervision or participation was a very quick affair. One by one, the boys stood under the shower long enough to get their skin wet and hoped back out to dry themselves before they got water logged. In fifteen minutes, eleven boys were showered and dressed and leaving the ship for the house.

Dinner was outside on the lawn and the star attraction was there. None of the boys had seen her before. Her name was Aletha and at two weeks old, was a small baby who for the most part kept her eyes closed as Adell laid her down on the table and removed her blankets and diaper for the boys' initial inspection. "Yep, that's a girl all right!" Zachary said as he looked down at the baby. Even Nicholas smiled.

Alexander was named as the baby's Godfather and one of Maria's sisters was to be her Godmother. One by one, every guest who wanted to had their picture taken holding the baby. Mario's picture taken with Aletha that day was the first taken with his future bride. Nobody knew it at the time but Adell.

By the time dinner and the festivities were over, it was pitch black out and probably close to 11:00 as the boys made their way back on board. It wasn't really planned that way, but it was a very quick night for all concerned. By 11:30 the sound of deep breathing was all that was heard on the ship except for an occasional cry from a baby twin now and then.

At three months old, the baby twins were beginning to get some personality Mark thought and as Alexander brought them into the stateroom in the morning and laid them down on the bed, they moved around a bit looking around. The big twins, Zachary and Mackenzie each took one and rocked them a little. Both boys were used to handling babies; having younger brothers and sisters. One by one, each boy in the room awoke to a baby either trying to suck on his nose or tweak his face with a very small hand. It probably would have gone on for much longer except Zachary's nose caught wind of a problem. "One of them is over ripe!" he exclaimed as he looked for the telltale sign. Playing with babies was fun for 11 to 14 year old boys, but not shitty babies, and a bee line was made for the bathroom and showers as Alexander was handed the problem for return to their Mother.

Adell was already on board as the showers began, and promptly took over the hair cleaning with or without permission. Except for Emily's oldest brother, who was visiting for the first time, she knew every boy there and every boy knew she didn't take no for an answer. At 15, Emily's oldest brother might have had something to say about a woman washing him, but Adell didn't ask, and besides, his Mother was also there washing his brothers alongside the woman. There were no 15 second showers that morning; the boys glistened in the sun as they dried themselves off.

Shorts or underpants were the uniform of the morning for most of the children. The weather was cooperating and it was expected to be close to 70 by mid afternoon. With very few exceptions, most of the children and adults there were there before, and most of the children were straining at the leash to get to the Grotto and the cove.

A large breakfast buffet greeted the boys at the house and once stomachs were full, bicycles and Vespas were appearing in the olive groves surrounding the house as the boys made their way to the Grotto. The twins were on a mission. Emily's brothers were back and they brought a new one with them. As the rest of the group headed directly for the cove and its small Island in the middle of the lagoon, Mark, Mario and Julian sat down on a high rock overlooking the Grotto where they could see the lagoon below them as well as the ship off the beach and the house up on the hill.

"Zachary said you lived in a Palace, now I believe him," Julian said to his friends. Mario giggled a little. "There's a house on Crete too, but it's not as big as this house," he told Julian. "Do you live here all the time?" Julian asked Mario. "No, my Father's house is in Athens. It's big, but it's not as big as Uncle Stavros's house," he told his friend. "I like my house, but I like Corfu better than Athens. There's much more to do here and besides, Mark is here," he said. Mark looked over to his friend and smiled at him as he reached out and tossed the boy's hair that was blowing in the breeze. Julian was a bit envious of Mario. He most certainly had friends, but not someone who was as close to him as these two boys were. There was a comfort zone between them that transcended inhibitions. They were buddies and fuck anybody who didn't like it. As he sat there he thought about all the boys in the ninth grade. He decided he was exactly where he wanted to be.

Aletha's Baptism was set for the Grotto at noon followed by lunch at the house. By 11:00 Mark, Mario and Julian joined the rest of the group and it took zero time for Mark to figure out that the twins had broken the ice with Emily's oldest brother. Like Mark and his brothers, Emily's brothers were raised extremely liberally when it came to their sexuality. As long as they left their sisters alone, what they did with each other was their own business and never interfered with or discouraged by their parents. While girls were always protected, boys had those little worms that needed exercise and a stiff cock was a sure sign of a healthy boy.

Jean-Paul was having the time of his life. He was now living in totally open sexual freedom for the first time in his life so long as he was in Mark's company and the company of his friends in the house at school. Nobody told him what he could or couldn't do, and there wasn't a hint of anyone being ashamed of him for what he was doing. Once he returned to school that would all change, but for now, he was in pure boy heaven.

Sebastian was swimming laps around and around the lagoon, and was as happy as Jean-Paul in his present situation. Sebastian cared more about sports than he did about getting it on with the other boys, but he wasn't even close to kicking anybody out of his bed either for that matter. Probably more than any of the other boys, Sebastian was already looking forward to his first girl, something the rest of his friends didn't seem too anxious to explore just yet.

"Nana wants everybody to remember that the Archbishop will be baptizing Aletha and she doesn't expect to have him staring at a cave full of naked bodies," Rachael told the group of children who had gathered at the grotto. For all the good that it did, they went to find their soggy underpants and shorts, and only a few lone tots were unable to come up with anything.

As had Emily's twins, Aletha was born in the berthing tub installed in the Grotto, and she would now be returned to the tub for her Baptism by the Archbishop. As her Godfather, Alexander removed her Baptismal gown which was the same one that Stavros had been baptized in and before that, his Mother. Taking off her diaper, he handed the baby to the Archbishop who dunked her three times in the water. By dunk one, Aletha was wailing. By dunk three, she was beet red and looking really pissed. The Archbishop was praying, but not as loud as Aletha was screaming as she was presented back to Alexander as Maria's sister diapered her and returned her to the gown. With her face still beet red and a scream that was bouncing off the Grotto's walls, Aletha finally calmed down with her Mother's breast firmly attached to her mouth. Zachary was sticking his finger in his ear to get the ringing to stop.

As the ceremony drew to a close Demetrious and Constantine, Emily's twins, decided it was time for a wake up wail in support of Aletha. Their Mother took Demetrious to the berthing tub and stood the boy up in the shallow end. Lydia did the same with his brother and both babies decided to dance in the tub and splash as fast as their legs could pump soaking both their Mother and their nanny. In true Alexander style, Demetrious decided it was potty time just before leaving the tub. "OK Gramma, check his water!" Mark joked to the woman as a stream arched out from the baby.

Lunch immediately followed the Baptism as Aletha slept very soundly sandwiched between her twin cousins. Mark and the rest of the party looked down on the three sleeping babies. Compared to the twins, Aletha was tiny. From that point on in her life, she would be raised with the twins and she would eventually be protected by them as she grew up. Already looking like two sumo wrestlers, she was in very good hands as the twins flanked her on each side. The formal part of the ceremony was over. Now the partying began and wouldn't end until well after dark.

Normally, the house and ship were alive and active by 7:00 or so but in the morning, 8:00 rolled around before anybody stirred except the babies. Adell, Rachael and Athena came on board to help Emily's Mother who was already washing the boys who straggled into the bathroom one by one. Rachael and Athena took care of the other two staterooms full of children, leaving Adell and Emily's mom to look after the Turin boys. The twins would have liked to join the other group of children in the showers, but both knew they would have to climb over Adell's dead body before that happened.

After breakfast, the boys returned to the Grotto and the beach and either swam or ran the motor bikes up and down the beaches and through the groves. By lunch time, half the children were on their way back home and the Lear jet would be waiting to take the Turin boys and Alexander's family back to Nice by mid afternoon. It wasn't a sad time, but few of the boys were jumping for joy at the thought of returning to school.

For the most part Mark and Jean-Paul were rarely alone during the weekend and Mark really had no opportunity to talk with his friend. Mark remembered Jean-Paul's concern over having Sebastian come into the room at school, and the boy's stated desire to make closer friends with him. Yet, Jean-Paul seemed further away from him, not closer as far as friendship was concerned. Mark wanted to sit down and talk with his friend, and he got the opportunity after lunch when he asked Jean-Paul to join him for a horseback ride through the groves as the boys rode double. Meandering through the groves, the talk at first was small talk, nothing of substance. Eventually the talk turned to Mr. Dee and Jean-Paul's thoughts on the subject. Mark was alarmed, but listened as his friend spoke while riding in front of him. "Mr. Dee asked me if I wanted to move downstairs with him where it's more quiet," Jean-Paul began telling his friend as the horse walked in between the olive trees. "You want to move out of our room?" Mark asked the boy. Jean-Paul shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I really like it with you guys, but I can't get a whole lot of studying done," he told Mark. "Jean-Paul, you know what Zachary said. You know that Mr. Dee has one boy stay with him every year right?" he asked his friend. "What does that mean?" Jean-Paul responded. "We don't know Jean-Paul. We don't know who the boy was from last year and we don't know who the boy was from the year before." "But we do know that both boys are still at school right?" Jean-Paul asked his friend. "Doesn't that mean that Mr. Dee is OK? I mean if he wasn't, they wouldn't still be there right?" he asked. Even to Mark, that had logic to it. Whatever private business Mr. Dee was conducting wasn't seeing boys disappear or quit school but who knew? Mark had no real answers, but he had a feeling about Mr. Dee. He didn't think he was a bad man, but he didn't think that Jean-Paul was in any position to evaluate his position either. Jean-Paul was looking for warmth, protection and love. Whatever was going on with Mr. Dee lasted a school year and then he was on to a new boy. That didn't seem like much protection and love to him. Mark's only hope lay with his teacher. Once again, Sergio might have the key to unravel this mystery.

"Yes, the boys are still here as far as we know," Mark said to his friend. "You may be right, Mr. Dee is probably a wonderful man, but let me try to find out who the other boys were first OK?" he asked Jean-Paul. "Why?" Jean-Paul asked. "Isn't his private business his private business?" he asked his friend getting defensive for the first time. "What would you say to me if I told you he was asking me what you were doing upstairs?" Jean-Paul said.

Again, Mark and the boys worked under a set of rules that many people can't possibly understand and had to agree with Jean-Paul. At the same time, he feared for his friend. "You're right. His private business is his private business. But if you ever need help or a friend, you know where I am right?" Mark told the boy. "We all banded together and took care of Stuart and you were there for him more than anyone. We're all there for you if you need us Jean-Paul." Jean-Paul said nothing, he took Mark's arms and wrapped them around the front of his chest and covered Mark's arms in his. Jean-Paul's and his friends' lifestyle were parting by the day, but their friendship and commitment to each other never wavered.

Arriving back at the house, Mark and Jean-Paul slid down from the horse as Maria Anna called Mark into the house to see his Father. Walking into the library, Stavros was sitting at his desk. "What's up Poppa?" he asked as he walked over to the man and gave him a kiss. "Mark, do you know you've been here for two days and this is the first time we've gotten to actually talk to each other?" his Father said as he turned around in his chair and sat Mark down on his lap. "Poppa, we've talked plenty of times!" Mark said. "Conversations at dinner or in passing isn't talking. This is talking, one on one," the man told his son. "How are things at school and how are things with Rachael?' he asked the boy. "Fine Poppa, but Nana needs to be back with us," the boy told his Father expecting to hear how Adell was going to be too busy to go back to Turin with him. Stavros smiled at his son. "The day will come when you stop expecting the worst to happen. Nana will be returning with you today and your friends can continue to torment her.

My question is how you are doing?" Mark smiled and wrapped his arms around his Father. "I'm fine Poppa. And Nana is the one doing the tormenting." Stavros laughed as he smacked his son on the ass.

"I have to go to New York next week, I will take Nana with me. I expect we will be back before Friday, so she will be there on the weekend for you," Stavros told his son. Mark looked into his Father's eyes, they were now serious. "You've found a new brother?" Mark asked his Father. "We don't know yet, it may be," the man told him. Mark shook his head. "What do you think about another boy coming into the family right now? If you don't think it's a good idea, we can wait for a while Mark, there will be other boys to chose from," Stavros said to his son. Mark thought for a few seconds. "Poppa, I'm very happy and know that you love me, I don't have a problem with getting a new brother." Much like the previous day Mark once again saw his Father tear up. "That's exactly what Alexander told me when I told him I was thinking about taking you home," Stavros told Mark. Mark smiled, "Poppa, if Nana likes him, bring him back."

The flight back to Turin was a lot quieter than the flight to Corfu and it seemed a whole lot faster. Adell parted with Maria and Aletha about as well as she parted from Stavros, and that was his worst nightmare. It wasn't as if she carried on or anything, you just felt like you were totally abandoning everything you once loved and cherished for ever and ever and ever. Bon Voyage!

Jean-Paul, Mario and Mark were dead asleep before they left the airport and barely remembered walking into the house in Turin before the sun woke them up the next morning. By noon they made it back to school only three hours late.

Being Monday, Mark and Mario had tutoring session with Sergio after classes and Mark was looking forward to talking with his tutor. He knew the only chance of unraveling the mystery of Mr. Dee lay with his tutor, and that was a long shot at best. Undressing for the session, both Mark and Mario told the tutor all about the Baptism weekend and then settled down with their teacher. "Sergio, Jean-Paul is talking about moving downstairs with Mr. Dee," he told his teacher. "Do you think that's a good idea?" he asked. "Jean-Paul told you he was thinking about it?" Sergio asked. "Yes, but I don't know if that's the best thing for him to do," Mark responded. "If you were Jean-Paul, would you go?" Sergio smiled. "Sometimes I wonder if I am teaching Greek, or Italian, or Math, or Psychology. Today, we seem to have stepped into Psychology." "I don't understand," Mark said to his teacher. "Yes you do, you want to know if Jean-Paul is making the wrong decision. I can't tell you if he's making the wrong decision or not, that's his to make, just like it was yours to make when you came to me. Many people would say you made the wrong decision. Is that your opinion?" he asked. "No, of course not!" Mark replied.

"Well, then you'll just have to accept the fact that some people make decisions that don't coincide with yours. Some folks starve to death as cows run around the streets as "Sacred" animals who could feed them. Some let monkeys pull food from their mouths as they themselves starve to death. Some folks have 15 or 20 babies when they can afford only one or two and all of them die because they won't use condoms. Some folks kill their girls because only boys will support them in their old age. Global Society accepts all of that nonsense, don't you?"

"What the hell does all that stuff have to do with Jean-Paul?" Mark wanted to know. "If Jean-Paul decides he wants to move downstairs, isn't it his decision to make?" Sergio asked his pupil. Mark hung his head for a very long time. "Mark, you have to know he's different don't you?" Sergio finally said to the boy. "He also knows it, and is following his course. Let him go Mark."

"All the other kids know what's happening to him. He wears girl's underpants and when he's in the apartment with Mr. Dee, Mr. Dee dresses him and treats him like he's a girl," Mark told the teacher. "Yes, I'm aware of those things. There are several boys who live with their houseparents at school who are treated as girls," Sergio told Mark. "Has Jean-Paul ever said one single word that indicates to you that this is something he does not wish to do? Does he seem sad or unhappy? I observed Jean-Paul over Christmas vacation Mark, he is exactly where he wants to be and he's being treated exactly how he wishes to be treated." There were no sessions that day, Mark cried for Jean-Paul's chosen lifestyle for the last time.

Accepting Jean-Paul's decision was as hard on the rest of the boys in his room as it was to Mark. At their age, sex was a lark; a fun thing to do, but not something that was taken very seriously or considered as life altering. They all knew they were going to be "moving on" in the very near future, but in the meantime, it was merely playtime. The boys were in no way homophobic, but knew the lifestyle Jean-Paul was heading towards was anything but "Gay". Society would never allow it to be. Nevertheless, as a unit they vowed to support and protect their friend as best they could and let Jean-Paul know that he always had friends to call on whenever the need arose.

Jean-Paul's turning out by Mr. Dee moved very swiftly during the next two weeks and the boy very voluntarily moved downstairs to the teacher's apartment. It was years before Mark and the rest of the boys learned the full extent of Mr. Dee's influence on him and of the activities the man conducted while the house parent. For one, he mailed boxes of clothing weekly to a friend in Madrid who then re-mailed it to a colleague in Budapest and Prague. Where it went from there was anyone's guess. The shipments were primarily of the clothing he designed and made, complete with pictures of Jean-Paul modeling the clothing much of the time, modeling himself increasingly more as time passed.

He apparently also had a lucrative business selling boy's clothing. Used boy's clothing, primarily underpants. By October of 1990 most of the boys in the house noticed that the underpants they sent down the chute never returned. It was replaced by new underpants almost weekly. Most of the boys didn't understand or care what was happening and were happy to get brand new underpants each week. That didn't extend to the twins who wanted their special underpants back and fast. They didn't get it, but they did get a check from Mr. Dee for their "Lost" laundry and their pants stopped getting "Lost" in the future.

Finally, the shipments contained video tapes of boys showering and taking care of personal business in the only place in the house that offered any "Privacy": the bath tub room that had a door and locked from the inside with a full length mirror on one wall. While most of the boys in the house didn't give a rats ass who saw them jerking off or having fun with their friends, there were still a few who insisted they never did any of that kind of thing. The boys who jerked off in their rooms with their friends did so in complete anonymity to the outside world. Those boys who jerked off or sucked their friends in "Secret" were box office bonanzas all over Europe for years. Zachary had won his bet!

As Sergio had told Mark, there were other boys at Turin and in other boarding schools who were being raised by their houseparents as girls, and for Jean-Paul, his group of friends at Turin was quickly replaced by Mr. Dee by the network of like minded houseparents and their "Girls".

Jean-Paul spent very few week-ends now at Turin, he was usually visiting with his new found friends and their houseparents for "Tea parties and fashion shows" that always ended in group sex. Mark had a tough time understanding Jean-Paul's attitude towards this, but for Jean-Paul it was apples and oranges. "The only real difference was that we took off dresses, panties and bra's to have sex, you took off shorts and underpants," he told Mark when they were in 12th grade.

"But you're still doing it. You haven't lived with Mr. Dee since 9th Grade," Mark said. "No, but each new year, I would go to a new houseparent that Mr. Dee knew would take care of me the way I wanted to be. That's where the boys before me went when you tried to find them remember?" Jean-Paul asked his friend.

The season progressed and eventually the snows came making all the boys very happy skiing Sestriere, especially Sebastian and Julian who formed a very tight-knit bond coincided by a rivalry that was, to say the least, intense. While they became practically inseparable, start a contest and you'd think their lives depended upon being the winner against each other. Mark and the rest of the boys couldn't figure it out and stopped trying by mid winter.

Two weeks after returning from the Baptism, Adell, Stavros and Mark's newest adopted brother returned from New York to Greece. Mark would not physically see his new brother until Christmas break, some ten weeks away, but Adell brought back pictures of him on Corfu each week as she shuttled back and forth spending the weekends in Sestriere with Mark and Alexander, and Monday through Friday with Peter on Corfu.

Mark's newest brother was a small boy, 11 years old. His name is Peter. His Mother was Greek, his Father was Portuguese. Peter was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts and moved to Whitehall, NY when he was six years old. The boy loved Whitehall, it is at the base of Lake Champlain, and all spring, summer and fall the boy watched the boats traversing the waterway between the Lake and Albany as they moved through the locks. It was probably good that he enjoyed doing that, there's very little else to do there.

Peter's Mother spoke Greek, Peter's Father spoke Portuguese and Peter learned both as well as English. However, like Mark, he spoke the languages, but was basically illiterate. Peter's family, in keeping with his surroundings, was dirt poor and the New York State Department of Social Services figured that it would be cheaper for the County to take Peter and his siblings away from their home and put the children in Foster Care rather than allow the family to go on welfare and become a "Burden" to the community. That might shock some people to even imagine, but in America, if a Social Worker doesn't approve of the way a child receives medical attention, or fails to do homework, the State can take him away from his parents. Stalin and Hitler had very good teachers.

Within a year, Peter was placed in three different homes, had lost 15 very scarce pounds, had been beaten, and spent more than a few nights on his knees and stomach as some of the other Foster children practiced what they had been taught in Foster Care. In his third home, Peter was found in the bed of one of the biological kids of the foster parents, and entered the Family Courts. The State couldn't possibly send this obvious pervert back to Foster Care; he was made a Ward of the State and entered The Program.

When Peter hit the Program, bells and whistles went off. He was Greek, he spoke Greek, and Stavros wanted another two boys. Peter completed the Program and never left Elmira for the field. With paperwork complete, Peter was driven to New York and placed on a plane for Greece with Stavros and Adell. Peter never looked back.

At age 11, Peter was now the youngest adopted boy Adell had to raise and because he spoke Greek, the connection was almost instantaneous. In Peter's family, his Father was dominant. It didn't take the boy long to figure out that in Stavros's household, Adell ruled the roost. Monday through Friday, Adell would be there, during the weekends, he would be cared for by Gloria, a 17 year old girl hired to replace Lydia. Peter knew Adell would be in Italy with his other adopted brothers, Mark and Alexander, and he also knew of Nicholas and the fact that all three boys also came from The Program as he had. Peter came to Greece in mid October, and rather than place him in school on the Island, Stavros elected to hire tutors for him and teach him at home. Just like Mark, Peter wasn't a sterling student, but he did excel at Math.

The boy was very quiet, very withdrawn, very introspective and very dependent. Having every weekend without Adell, he was also much more involved on a day to day basis with Stavros who also was a math wiz as a boy. Peter was destined to become the "Baby" of Stavros's family, something none of his brothers resented or found fault with.

Julian's lessons in Italian grew by the day and by mid December, he could actually request toilet paper without being handed bread and butter. Rarely did he leave the side of either Mark or Mario during the school day in September, and by December, sometimes neither boy saw him for an hour or so.

Jean-Paul now slept downstairs and every boy in the room looked for any sign of a problem, but the truth was, Jean-Paul looked and sounded like he was the happiest boy in the world. Still, Mark and the twins were not happy with his decision. As the winter deepened, they saw less and less of Jean-Paul and by Christmas time, they only saw him in class.

Christmas time came and the ship was sitting in Monte Carlo. Alexander and his family were on board and Friday afternoon, two vans were loaded in Turin and ready for the 2 1/2 hour trip. Mark, Mario, the twins and Julian would be going. Sebastian was skiing with his family in the Swiss Alps and Jean-Paul would be going to Milan with his family. It was clear from the parting that Mark was taking it a lot harder than Jean-Paul, and that in itself was even more upsetting to Mark. Jean-Paul was picking up mannerisms more natural for a girl and now even smelled and looked somewhat like one as well. The other boys in the ninth grade had already written him off as lost. The road trip from Turin to Monte Carlo was full of boy chatter, but a good part of Mark was still with Jean-Paul.

Julian had been on the ship before at Aletha's Baptism, but the ship was anchored and never moved. Now, he pulled up in the van to the ship and she was immense as she sat there. Every yacht in the harbor was bedecked with decorations including Stavros's and the scene looked like a carnival midway awash in blinking lights.

Mark walked on board greeted by his Father and Alexander. Standing behind Stavros, he met Peter for the first time in person rather than by photograph which he had seen hundreds of from Adell. The boy held his Father's hand as Alexander introduced him. "Peter, this is our brother Mark." Mark extended his hand to him and the boy clung closer to Stavros. "Show him your left hand," Alexander told Mark. Dropping his right hand, Mark extended his left hand to the boy. Peter took Mark's hand in his and looked at it for a second and then put his left hand on top of Mark's. "You are Mark?" the boy asked him. "Yes," Mark replied. The boy then put both his hands up towards Mark in the unmistakable sign to pick him up which Mark did. Whispering in his ear, Peter brought a message from Elmira. Backing up, Peter waited for a response. Mark smiled, as he brought his mouth as close to Peter's ear as he could and whispered back to the boy. "That's what Alexander said too!" Peter exclaimed as he smiled in Mark's presence for the first time and kissed his brother, also for the first time.

Zachary for one was as curious as hell. What he just witnessed was certainly nothing new to him; a boy kissing another boy was nothing. A boy kissing his brother was nothing. But he did notice that Nicholas, Alexander, Mark, Mario and now this brand new brother all had one thing in common; this gold band on their pinky finger on the left hand, and it was obviously some kind of recognition sign to them. Zachary decided he was going to find out the significance of that gold band come hell or high water.

Once the vans were unloaded, the ship was ready to leave and with the boys now lined up on the Boat Deck, the ship moved out past line after line of boats of every description as the ship headed out to sea. Julian was mesmerized by the size of the ship gliding past boats that were both a lot smaller, and some even bigger, than the one he was on. Including Alexander, there were seven boys on the bridge as the ship cleared Monte Carlo, and only Adell could haul them off the bridge for dinner.

It would have been cheaper, easier, faster and more convenient if everybody flew home for Christmas, but Stavros wanted to use the cruise back to Corfu as a time to "Get acquainted" with Peter for Mark and Alexander. For the man, it was critical that each boy he adopted bond with his brothers into a cohesive unit, they would inherit his estate, they would be his legacy. Peter was the latest addition, and as with Mark and Alexander, the ship would be the oil that made the transition smooth.

Stavros would have preferred that Peter sleep with the boys in Mark's stateroom where there was more than enough room for him, but Peter had other plans. He had met Alexander earlier in the afternoon and was assured through the code that the boys in The Program had with each other that Alexander was who he said he was, and that he was in no personal danger. He had also confirmed with Mark that Mark was who he said he was and again, he was in no personal danger. Peter knew there was yet another "brother" out there, and when he met him, he would again confirm the code. Still, Peter completely trusted only one person and he would sleep with her unless his Father directed differently.

Shower time after dinner was more of a party than a washing. five month old Demetrious and Constantine could actually sit up by themselves on the shower room floor and Zachary and Mackenzie took over making sure they didn't fall over backwards and hit their heads as Mark, Mario and Julian played with the babies as Adell came in with Peter. The shower could fit four if they were very compatible, it was now straining at the seams as Adell waited for the boys to finish their play as Peter observed very firmly attached to Adell's side. Emily ended the water fight as she and Lydia took the babies back to their cabin.

As he dried off with Zack, Mark watched as Adell washed Peter for the first time. Thinking back, he wondered if he looked as young, as vulnerable, as unprepared as Peter now looked to him. For an 11 year old, Peter was small. Very small. Peter was skinny. Very skinny. Mark wondered what the fuck the boy had been through and he shuddered at the thought that he already knew the answer to his question; when it came to fucking up a child's life, nobody in the world was better at it than the State of New York.

Probably the most curious thing to Mark was the fact that he was uncircumcised. If Peter had two inches, it would have been a kind measurement. With his foreskin, he was maybe 2 ½ inches with two little balls that usually stayed tucked in his inguinal canal. Mark wondered how Peter didn't get circumcised in Elmira. Every boy there was always circumcised. It was mandatory. Mark also wondered who his caretaker was. Was it possibly Michael? He had a lot of questions.

"Gramma, there's plenty of room in our room for Peter, is he staying with us tonight?" Mark asked Adell. The woman continued to wash the boy as she looked up into Peter's face. "We'll see Mark," she told him as she continued his washing. By washing's end, Mark didn't really need an answer from Adell, Peter wrapped himself around the woman and it would have taken a can opener to pry him away from her. Peter was sleeping with Adell and that was the end of that. Mark fully understood where the boy was coming from.

Bedtime came as Adell came back into the stateroom with Peter now tucked into a set of Doctor Denton's. The rear flab wasn't buttoned and Mark smiled a little as two puffy little cheeks sat on Adell's forearm as she carried him in. Peter watched as his brother and his friends scooted up the bed one by one and climbed under the sheets. Unless he was mistaken, one of those bigger boys had a boner. With goodnight kisses over, the lights in the stateroom went out and Adell and Peter closed the door.

"He's a cute little kid," Mackenzie said as he rolled over on his side. "He's Greek like you guys right?" he asked. "Jesus Mack, you just met the kid today, give him a chance!" Mario told his friend. "What?" Mackenzie replied. "You know what! You think every Greek boy screws around," Mario said. "Well, every Greek boy I know does!" Mack retorted. Mackenzie ducked as three pillows came flying at him. His brother laughed.

"So I guess that means that because you two are the only Australian boys we know and you fuck, all Australian boys fuck. Right?" Mark asked. Zachary and Mackenzie looked at each other for a second or two. "Well, every Australian boy I know does!" Zachary replied. The laughter from the stateroom was enough to bring in Lydia. "Sshh!, you'll wake the twins," she said and re-closed the door.

As Mark adjusted his pillow for the 3rd or 4th time, a large ship caught his eye and he got out of bed and went out to the ship's railing and watched her. Curious, the other boys followed and within less than a minute five boys stood at the railing with the moon shining on their bare asses as they wondered what the name of the ship was. It was a large cruise ship with deck lights glowing in the night and was probably three or four kilometers away headed towards Genoa. Either the chill in the air or Mackenzie brought the boys back to bed. "Let's go get warm," he said as he retreated back into the stateroom room with a four inch stiffy.

Sleep time came to Mack about an hour later and as he laid there sound asleep Mark and Julian watched him as he slept with his penis laying limp on top of his testicles "Maybe we should take a picture. It's about the only time we're going to see him with a limp biscuit," Julian said. Mark giggled a little as he flipped himself around head to toes with Julian. The babies had a breast to suckle, Mark had something a tad more substantial in mind and peeling back Julian's foreskin he gently kissed and nibbled at the boy's head until a small but steady stream of precum extended from the boy's urethra to his stomach. With Julian's penis throbbing with the beating of his heart, he was ready as Mark took Julian in up to his groin and they brought each other to a climax that had them both sleeping in less than five minutes. Like Jean-Paul, Julian basked in the glow of sexual freedom that surrounded Mark and the boys in his room at Turin. If there was a better place in the world to grow up, Julian couldn't imagine it.

Daylight brought a line moving up and down on the stateroom wall that Mark knew very well. So did the twins. The seas were up and the ship was diving into the swells like a drunken lifeguard. With no advance warning or medication, all three boys wondered if they were going to spend the next few hours under the showers. Getting up, they made their way up to the Boat Deck and looked out at a very angry sea. "Fuck, there goes our breakfast!" Mackenzie said as he looked out at the whitecaps. Mark looked at the bow as the spray bounced off the superstructure of the ship and arched back down towards the water. He nodded in agreement. "Good Morning!" the First Officer said to the boys as they stood there. "Fine day isn't it?" he said.

"Sure, for bloody ducks!" Mackenzie replied. "What's the problem?" the First Officer asked. "We're hungry and now we can't eat," Mackenzie replied. The First Officer looked a little puzzled at first, but then he understood. "A person can be seasick or he can be hungry but he can't possibly be both. If you're hungry, you're beyond seasick. Go eat. What you see is the worst of it," he told the boys. "Really?" Mark asked the Officer. "If I handed you a piece of bacon or fried bologna right now, would you eat it?" he asked the boys. All three boys shook their heads yes. "Then you are fine," he told them. "All you need now are some underpants."

Every other boy on the ship may have found their "Sea legs", but Julian and Peter didn't look like two of them as the boys took turns in the shower. Julian spent the greater part of his shower under the shower head with fairly cold water pouring over his face that looked much whiter than Mark was used to seeing. As for Peter, he came in carried by Adell and was breathing very shallow.

Adell had ordered the Captain to minimize the rocking of the ship, and the Captain swung the ship west and slowed to ten knots. Julian recovered somewhat, but Peter looked a tad green as Adell brought him back to her cabin leaving breakfast behind. For those who've never had the pleasure, sea sickness is greatly exacerbated by food, even sometimes the mere thought of it, let alone the sight or smell. When sea sick, the mere thought of a pork chop can be enough to make you spill your cookies. Breakfast that morning for Mark, the twins and Mario went just fine. Julian wasn't exactly sure right up until the time the bacon hit the table and Rachael was taking her second shower of the morning with Julian. By 11: 00, the seas subsided to a point at which the Captain turned the ship east and could glide along at close to 25 knots. They were now headed in the right direction at a speed that would get them home. The Captain's mood improved.

Lunch was held until 1:00 and both Julian and Peter made an appearance. Julian was 95 percent recovered and ate pretty well for someone who was dying five hours earlier. Adell convinced Peter to put some tea and crackers in his stomach which he did. five minutes later Peter put the tea and crackers in Adell's lap and nobody at lunch opted for the tapioca pudding the chef had prepared for desert. The twins and Mark were very proud of themselves; they were "Seasoned" sailors who didn't get sea sick. The feeling for Mark lasted for a good year until he came face to face with 25 foot seas during a storm off Portugal and learned all over again just how "Seasoned" he wasn't.

A combination of the ship's stabilizers and the Captain adjusting the course and speed had Peter back on deck and at the pool by 4:00. He looked OK as Adell basted and oiled him for his suntan, but no amount of convincing could put any food in his stomach until well past dinner. At the pool, he watched as the twins played in the water with the baby twins, and very closely watched the interaction between all the boys, especially Mark, Mario and Alexander.

After dinner the boys played in the Main Salon as the rest of the family gathered with them generally keeping Demetrious and Constantine happy. Even Peter ventured away from Adell, playing with Mario on a car racing video game. Once Julian entered the game as the third racer, Peter began to open his shell and took a peek around. Adell usually called a halt to playtime sometime around 9:00 on non-school nights, but she wanted to see just how far Peter would venture around these new boys, and it was sometime after 10:00 before she called for showers and bed. Peter immediately dropped the game and climbed back into her lap.

Going topside, she spoke to Mark. "I need your help tonight Mark, you will wash Peter while I attend to the twins," she told him. "Yes Nana," Mark said. "Wash him in my room, he might feel more comfortable there" she told him. Mark nodded his head. Turning the shower on, Adell had Mark sit down and placed Peter in his lap. "I will be back to dry you off Peter, your brother will bathe you," she told the boy. Peter said nothing, but he didn't look overjoyed to Mark as Adell handed Mark a bottle of shampoo and left the bathroom closing the door behind her. Mark smiled at Peter as he picked the bottle up over Peter's head and squirted a bunch of shampoo on the boy's head and started to wash him.

"Do you really think she's going to take care of the twins?" Peter asked Mark very shyly. "Well, to be honest with you, I think she'll look in on them, but I think she wants you and me to get to know each other better," Mark told him. Peter smiled a little. "Me too," he replied. Mark slowed down on his washing and was no longer really shampooing his brother's hair. He was massaging his head, and it happened to have shampoo on it. His movements were very slow and deliberate, and meant more to convey security and tenderness rather than cleanliness. "Does talking about The Program make you upset or angry?" Mark asked Peter. Peter shook his head no. "I was ringed by Michael. Who ringed you?" Mark asked. "Peter," his brother replied. "Father Peter?" Mark asked. Peter shook his head yes. "Is he still in Michael's group?" Mark asked. Again, Peter shook his head yes. "Then you know Michael?" Mark asked "Yes, and he sent you a message," Peter told his brother. Even alone in the shower, Peter brought his body chest to chest with Mark and whispered into his ear. Then the boy backed up again and laid back on Mark's legs. Even in the shower, Peter could see that Mark's eyes had filled with water and the boy was shedding tears. "I'm sorry, did I make you sad by telling you that?" Peter asked. Mark shook his head no.

"Michael ringed me and is very special to me," Mark replied. I wasn't crying because I was sad, I miss Michael," he told Peter. The boy looked down at Mark's hand and felt his ring. "Are you going to have it cut off?" he asked. "No, never," Mark replied. Peter now looked down on his own hand and felt his ring. "I don't know if I will or not," he said more to himself than to anybody else. Mark nodded his head and resumed washing his brother.

"When I was in The Program all the boys had to be circumcised. Did they stop doing that?" Mark now asked. "Oh no, they still cut off all the boys' dicks, they just didn't cut off mine," Peter said to him. "Why not?" Mark asked. "Poppa and Nana told them not to!" "Who told you that?" Mark asked. "Poppa and Nana. You can ask them yourself," he responded. "Where did they send you in the field?" Mark now asked. "I never went into the field, when we graduated to Senior boys, I was sent to New York and flew on an airplane with Poppa and Nana to home," he told his brother. "You were never in the field?" Mark asked. Peter shook his head no. "But you were ringed by Father Peter," he said. "Do they still ring boys the same way?" Mark asked the boy. "Do you still have to sleep with your caretaker to be ringed?" "Yes, we all had to sleep with him," Peter replied.

None of what he was being told made very much sense to Mark. He would have to discuss this with Adell he thought to himself. "Do you want me to sleep with you and do it with you?" Peter asked as Mark washed the boy's arms and chest. "Why do you ask me that?" Mark replied. "Because that's what we do together isn't it?" Peter replied. "In The Program that's what we did together, but you're not in The Program anymore and you don't need to do it with me if you don't want to," he told the boy. "Isn't that what you do with the boys in your room?" Peter asked. "Yes, but we do it because we want to, not because someone makes us or expects us to do it," he said. "Nana will tell you very plainly, if you say no, nobody will try to do it with you." Peter looked at his new brother and smiled. "It's OK, I got used to it in foster care. We had to do it all the time there," he told Mark. "Here you don't have to do it, you only do it if you want to now," he told the boy. Peter watched him very closely as he continued to wash him. "Lay back down on my legs and we'll finish getting you all washed up," Mark told the boy as he dropped his legs to the shower floor slowly as Peter went flat on Mark's legs. Mark squirted some soap on his brother's stomach and peeled back his foreskin to wash his penis. As Mark washed, the little boy smiled and let out a giggle as his penis took note of the fact that it was being washed. "That tickles," the boy said as Mark cleaned the boy's head and shaft area. Mark smiled. "Of course it tickles, it tickles whenever anybody touches your penis. Everybody has a sensitive cock," he said as he moved to the boy's scrotum and washed it. "Does it tickle you too when Nana washes you?" the boy asked. "Sure," Mark replied. "Then how come you don't get a boner like I do when she washes you?" Peter asked. Again, Mark smiled. "I used to get a very big boner when she washed me at first," he said to the boy. "But after a while, I knew she wasn't doing it to play with me, so I stopped getting boners. Nana doesn't do sex with us. She's just washing," he told the boy. "She kisses," Peter said to his bigger brother. "Yes, she kisses because she loves us, not because she wants to do it with us. It's different with Nana," Mark told the boy as Mark finished washing his legs and feet.

Mark finished washing Peter as the boy sat and watched his brother. Standing, Mark shut off the water and picked the boy up and walked into Adell's room and plunked the boy down on the bed and started drying him off when Adell came into the stateroom with a clean pair of Doctor Denten's. Peter stood up as he lifted one leg at a time and climbed into his long johns

while holding onto Mark's arms to steady himself. Once the pajamas were on, he turned himself around and Mark pulled up the zipper. The flap was down and Mark reached to button it up. "Nana leaves it down so I can go to the bathroom," Peter said. Turning back around, he said thank you and gave Mark a small kiss just before scooting back to Adell, who had sat down in her chair and waited to comb the boy's hair. Adell was very pleased as Mark gave her a kiss and returned to his room.

With Adell now combing his hair it was now Peter's turn to ask questions, and Adell was only too happy to receive them. "I know why Mark and Alexander have their rings, but why does Mario have one too? Was he in The Program Nana?" "No, Mario's ring came from Mark. They are like brothers and Mario wanted to show everybody his connection to Mark," she told the boy who now sat back in Adell's lap as the woman took out a nail clipper and began to clip his finger nails. "Do you know what the rings mean?" he asked. "Yes, and so does Mario." The boy looked at Adell for a few seconds. "Do the other boys in Mark's room know what the rings mean?" "As far as I know, only the family knows the meaning of the rings and Mario is considered a part of the family," she told the boy. "I don't think Mark told any of his friends, but you would have to ask him that question. Mark isn't ashamed of his ring, it came from Michael." The mention of the caretakers name surprised Peter. "You know about Michael?" he asked. "Yes," Adell replied. "Do you know about Peter too?"

"I know that Peter was your caretaker and that he ringed you, yes," she told the boy. Peter looked down at his ring and fingered it, turning it around on his finger. "Why don't the other boys take their rings off?" Peter asked. "Because they are not ashamed of the rings and they are not ashamed of the caretakers that gave them the rings is what they told me," Adell replied. "Do you want me to have your ring removed from your finger?" she asked the boy. "If you do, it can be taken off in a matter of minutes," Adell said. "But I would talk to your brothers first and ask them why they do not remove theirs." "I don't know Nana, when I talked to Mark about his ring and Michael, he cried," Peter said. "Cried? Adell asked as she stopped cutting his nails. "When did you see Mark crying?" she asked the boy. "I had a message from Michael, and when I told him the message he cried," Peter responded.

Hearing that Mark was upset had the woman's blood pressure rising. She now needed to speak with Mark and it would not wait until the morning. Putting Peter under the covers, she gave him a kiss goodnight. "I will be back in a few minutes, if you need something, Emily and Lydia are right next door," she told the boy.

Mark returned to his stateroom from Adell's and found the twins and the rest of his friends all engaged in plotting the days course with the GPS receivers supplied by the ship's Officers. Alexander and Mario was showing the twins and Julian how to use the machines and charts were all over the place as he climbed on the bed and joined the group. Within ten minutes, Adell tapped on the door and entered fully expecting to see a very tired group ready for bed.

As the woman asked Mark to take a walk with her, Mark expected to be debriefed on his shower with Peter and how he thought his little brother was doing. That was a part of Adell's "Talk". But a very small part. Going into the ship's Library which was also Stavros's office when he was on board, Adell sat down on Stavros's lounger and had Mark sit in her lap. At that point, Mark knew the meeting wasn't about Peter anymore. "What do you think about him?" Adell began the conversation as she laid Mark's head on her chest and stroked his hair. "He's perfectly fine Gramma, what's the matter?" he asked. "What do you mean?" Adell asked the boy. "Gramma, when we sit together like this, you don't want to discuss the weather," he replied. "You're getting too old to sit in my lap?" she asked. "Gramma, I'm never going to get too old to sit in your lap and you know it. Now, what's the matter?" Mark again asked.

Grabbing Mark's head she kissed it and placed her hands back down stroking his back. "You received a message tonight and it upset you. Is everything all right?" she asked as she spoke into the boy's hair. "Peter told you about Michael's message?" he asked the woman. "He told me he gave you one, he said nothing about what the message was," Adell responded. "I have no concern over the contents of the message, only if it's something that makes you upset," she told him. "The message was a good one Gramma, everybody is fine. I just got sad thinking about Michael and my friends in America for a minute," he told the woman. "Michael knows Peter is here with us and if something was wrong, he would never have sent him with a message."

Now it was Mark's turn for questions. "Gramma, every boy in Elmira always got circumcised. Peter wasn't and he says you and Poppa told them not to. Is that right?" "Yes," Adell replied. "He never went out into the field. Did you stop that too?" he asked the woman. "Yes," she again replied. "But me and Alexander and Nicholas went out into the field!" Mark now stated as he sat up and looked at Adell. Adell nodded her head. "When you and your brothers were first brought to your Poppa's attention, you were already out in the field and out of Elmira. With Peter, Poppa knew about him when he was first brought to Elmira and he told them not to circumcise him or put him out into the field. It cost your Poppa a great deal of additional money but they did as I told them to do and left his cock alone. He would have done the same for you if there was time," she told the boy. "Gramma, I was circumcised when I was born. So was Alexander and Nicholas!" he said with a small smile on his face. Adell returned the smile. "I'm talking about the field, not cutting your cocks!" she replied. Mark giggled and Adell's blood pressure receded somewhat. If Mark was making jokes, he wasn't working up a depression.

"Now, let's get back to the real reason you are here," she lied. "What do you think of him?" Mark laid his head back down on the woman's chest and giggled again. "You're not rubbing my back," he said. Adell gave him a playful swat and resumed rubbing his back. ""There were boys like him in Elmira and out in the field, I think he just needs some time to get used to us," Mark replied. "I just don't understand why Michael didn't ring him instead of Father Peter. Boys like him were always given to Michael, he's the smartest caretaker in Elmira." Adell listened to Mark, but did not reply. As she knew, Peter was assigned to Father Peter by design at her and Stavros's request. Had Peter been ringed by Michael, the connection to Mark would have been much too close. Stavros was looking to make brothers of the boys, not interdependent lovers.

"Does he have his own room at home?" Mark asked. "He has a bed in your room, but he hasn't slept in it yet," Adell replied. "When he gets comfortable, I'm sure you'll be seeing him," she said. "What about school, is he going to Russia next year?" Mark asked. "Your Poppa doesn't think so. Things in Russia right now are very, very bad and he doesn't think they're going to be getting better anytime soon. Peter speaks Portuguese and maybe his school plans will be put on hold for awhile," Adell told Mark. Mark giggled once again. "Boy, I'll bet that just makes you really, really sad!" he said. Pinching him on the cheek, she moved to get up out of the chair. "I think you've been hanging around Mackenzie and Zachary much too long!" she said as they went topside to the staterooms. "I'm afraid of what's behind that door. Good night Mark," she said as she gave the boy a kiss and left him to enter his room alone. Mark shook his head in wonderment at the woman's intuitiveness. Alexander had left and returned to the Master stateroom and the room was dark except for the light from the bathroom. One damned good romp was now occurring and by the time Mark went to the bathroom and returned to the bed, there was no question in any boy's mind that he intended to join the party that was already in full swing.

Adell returned to her stateroom to find Rachael reading a book in her chair and watching over the sleeping Peter. As Rachael left, Adell retreated to the bathroom and dressed into her night clothes for bed. Picking up a clean pair of pajamas for Peter, she placed them at the end of the bed. Getting into bed, she knew she had three or four hours before Peter would wake her up and have her change him into dry ones but for now, Peter was dry and she rolled him over until he was on her side and she could wrap her arm around him for security if the boy woke up during the night. Peter didn't fully awaken, but he knew Adell was back with him as he drifted back off to sleep.

The morning broke a lot smoother than the previous day and it was obvious the ship was making up for lost time. Adell was usually up by 6 or 6:30 in the morning and for the past ten weeks or so, so was Peter. Once Adell awoke and got out of bed, so did the boy. In a way, that broke the woman's routine who was used to the two hours or so that she had between the time she got up and the time the boys awoke. It also gave her time with Stavros who was also an early riser. Now, she had a shadow. Private times like bathing, dressing, organizing and just plain relaxing were out the window unless Peter was firmly attached. Not since Stavros between birth until around age ten had she been completely stripped of all private times and every once in a while she missed it.

Getting up, she flipped Peter on his stomach and unzipped his Doctor Denton's that were soaked from head to foot. He usually went through two or three changes a night, this was a two nighter. Pulling them off his feet, she then picked him up and with Peter on her hip, it was bath time. By the time body and teeth were bright and shiny on the both of them, the twins were heard next door and Adell had ten minutes of coffee time with Emily as Lydia and Peter watched the twins as they crawled around the shower floor like a couple of fiddler crabs.

Adell watched Peter as he played with the boys. Around older boys, Peter was uncomfortable. With younger boys or babies, he was at ease and playful. Even with the boys from Mark's group, Peter gravitated towards the younger and smaller Mario. "I think having your brothers with us for Christmas will be a very good thing for Peter," Adell said to Emily. "He is very shy and takes to younger boys better." Emily looked at the boy she had met just two days earlier. "How much did he weigh when he first came?" she asked. "34 kilograms" (75 pounds) Adell responded. "He's up to 40 kilograms now, but we are told the damage the boy suffered in foster care will be able to be reversed." Emily shook her head.

Athena now came into the stateroom with a box of sanitary napkins and gave them to Emily. It was not the wisest thing the girl could have done and she most probably heard about it later. "The twins are now five months old," Adell said as she sipped her coffee looking at the napkins. Emily closed her eyes and Athena split for the shower. "Yes Nana," Emily replied knowing full well what was coming. "Everything is fine between you and Alexander?" she asked. "He has sufficient seed and is not spilling it foolishly. Emily smiled. "Yes Nana he has a regular fountain and knows where his cock belongs," she replied. "Five months and still you're passing your eggs? You don't allow him to wear condoms do you?" she asked. Again Emily smiled. "Nana, Alexander has never worn a condom with me, see the proof?" she said as she looked down at the baby Lydia brought to her to feed and immediately retreated to the bedroom to feed Constantine and relative safety. "He fills you with his seed and no babies?" Adell pressed. "Nana, I just had twins, isn't it a little early to be having more babies?" the girl said as she presented the baby to her breast. "Early? Why would it be early? My Mother had eight children and each one was nine months apart. Your brothers are nine months apart aren't they?" she said. "Yes Nana," Emily said now wondering if she were allowed to beat Athena with a belt or at least a small stick. "Just a thought Emily," Adell said as she poured one last cup of coffee. Emily knew this "Thought" was going to find her pregnant again and she rather liked the idea of fitting into a bathing suit.

As the two women talked, Demetrious half nursed and half fussed as he alternated between nursing and letting go of his Mother's breast and squirming around. Rachael was fairly used to the routine, both boys did it, and both eventually settled down to nurse so she never really gave it any thought. Adell on the other observed the movement quietly at first, but by the 3rd squirm with Emily doing nothing to correct it, she had to comment. "This is a regular routine?" she asked. Emily looked down at the baby. "He'll settle down after awhile, they both do it," she replied. "Your Mother has seen this and hasn't told you how to prevent it?" Adell asked the girl. "Prevent what?" Emily asked. "He wants to be cradled. Your Mother hasn't shown you how this is done?" she asked. Emily was at a loss and shook her head no. "Loosen his diaper and slip your hand under his cock. Gently massage him while he drinks and he'll stop fussing for you," Adell told the girl. "Massage him?" Emily asked. "Of course! All babies want to be massaged when they nurse or are about to go to sleep, it's how you yourself were raised," Adell told the girl. "You helped raise your brothers, your Mother must have taught you how to pacify a fussy baby." Emily thought back to her younger years. "My Mother slipped her hand into their nappy, but she didn't massage them," Emily replied. "She told you that?" Adell asked. "No, I just never saw her do it," the girl replied. "You only need a single finger stroking their cock Emily, you're making them relax, not actively pulling them to orgasm like you do for your husband when he requires it," Adell replied. "Alexander told you I do that?" Emily asked more than a little pissed. "Don't be silly. Why would he need to tell me what his wife's duty is? All women perform this duty for their husbands or they know he'll go find a woman who will! Surely your Mother told you this from the very beginning," she said. "She didn't go into detail, she just told me I was to make him happy," Emily replied. "Same thing. A man is happiest when his cock is happy. Sitting on your lap is a very small man. No different," Adell instructed the girl.

Emily now looked down at Demetrious who was still fussing. Opening his diaper, she slipped her hand under the boy's testicles which had an instantaneous response from Demetrious who now made eye contact with his Mother. "You now have his full and undivided attention in your hand," Adell said as she undid the other flap of the diaper and let it fold down. "Move your thumb very slowly up and down the bottom of his cock. Take care not to try to uncover his cock head, he's not ready for that yet," Adell advised the girl. Emily watched the baby's eyes as they slowly closed with him retreating to her breast and latching on to her nipple. "He's drawing much harder," Emily said somewhat amazed as his penis went fully ridged under her guidance.

Adell smiled as she raised his diaper and covered the girl's hand. "It's a long way from his mouth to his cock, and now he has something to concentrate on," she replied. "Make sure Lydia is aware of this, as his Mother, you need to see that they are both handled correctly." Emily now thought back a little. "The boys aren't as fussy with Lydia when they nurse as they are with me," she now said. "If that is so, then you do not need to tell her to cradle the babies cocks, she's already doing it," Adell replied. "She's never said anything to me about it," Emily replied. "Probably because she automatically assumed you were doing the same thing. I'm sure she's well versed in the subject, she has brothers doesn't she?" Adell asked. Emily nodded. "Just remember Emily, the time to stop cradling them is the same as with Alexander. All cocks work the same and they will tell you when it is time to stop stroking."

Emily looked into the babies face as he continued to suckle. "Isn't doing this to him going to draw his attention to his penis a lot faster than it should?" she asked. Adell chuckled. "Why? Do you think if he doesn't have it done it will not exist for him? He is already well aware of his cock and probably has been since he was sitting in your womb.

What he is feeling has nothing to do with sex yet, it is pure pleasure. Five years from now it's sex. Today, it's a flight through clouds in his mind," she told Emily. Emily leaned down and kissed the baby on his cheek. "Happy dreams," she told her son.

Mark awoke stretching and yawning and with the sound of giggles in the background. He had a happy face drawn on his penis and stomach and Mackenzie was now working on Julian. At that point, Adell came in with Peter trailing behind her. "This is what they teach you in Turin?" Adell said as she passed Mario who had two bull's eyes painted on his ass cheeks unknown to him. As Adell turned on the shower, four boys stood around the toilet pissing as Peter watched from a safe distance. "We will be arriving this afternoon before dinner," she told the boys as she went over to the toilet and looked at the boys' urine. Saying nothing, she went into the stateroom and took out a bottle of Perrier out of the mini fridge and handed it to Zachary. "I don't need any water," Zachary said as he took the bottle from the woman. "Drink," she said as she returned to the shower and began washing the boys' hair one by one. Zachary shrugged his shoulders and downed the bottle. For the next 20 minutes or so Peter watched as Mark and his friends pretty much had a teasing session with Adell who could give as well as she could get. Mario learned of his bull's eyes as Adell bent him over and scrubbed with a washcloth as Mario figured out how to get even with Mackenzie.

Breakfast was a continuation of the mayhem as the baby twins took a face and hands bath in the rice cereal they were presented with. Adell sat back watching the interaction between the babies and the boys, especially Peter and she was quite content that everything was running smoothly. For everyone except Athena, it was a bright and shiny new day.

For Stavros's part, he loved the playful interaction between the boys and Adell; as long as they were at each others throats, all was right in Greece. As far as Alexander was concerned, Adell wanted to know what birth control method was in place, it had to be eliminated and it was Stavros's job to talk to his son. Stavros sat at the table with the ship's Officers who had joined them for breakfast. The holidays were fast approaching and the mood on the ship fit the season.

By Sunday afternoon the ship anchored in front of the house on Corfu and Nicholas and Maria joined the party with Sophia and the baby who just turned three months old. Aletha had the features of her Mother, who was a very pretty girl. Nicholas was very proud of her, but he was most proud of his announcement at dinner; Maria was pregnant again, the baby was a boy. Maria would have her baby in early June, she was three months pregnant. Emily closed her eyes and kissed swimming goodbye; at least in bathing suits. She wondered if she would go to jail if she flogged Athena.

In what would become the routine during vacations and summer break, unless the ship was sailing, it would house the children, and Stavros and Adell gave up their staterooms during those times. For Christmas, 1990, the ship was the home of Mark and Mario and the boys from Turin as well as Alexander and his Family, Emily's Family, and a few children from Maria's family who opted to stay on the ship rather than the big house. The ship was delivered to Stavros in 1985. It was now becoming too small and calls were already being made to Feadship in the Netherlands to start building the next one.

Nicholas's introduction to Peter was a memorable one. Not so much for Nicholas, but most certainly for Peter as the family would find out from him years later. For Peter, meeting Mark and Alexander felt like meeting another boy like himself. On the other hand, meeting Nicholas, who was dressed in a tie and jacket and was no boy, looked like a towering giant but a giant who was ringed just like he was. When he grew up, Peter thought to himself, this is what I'm going to look like. The boy grew intensely interested in all things Nicholas, and by the time his brother returned to England after the holidays, Nicholas had a fan for life. At the same time, Nicholas felt the boy's admiration and love, and reciprocated.

Nicholas meeting Julian was another milestone for the family that nobody recognized at the time. Julian came from an Island in Greece that Nicholas was very interested in; Limnos. While the family business was in Olives and Olive oil, Nicholas was convinced that the business could be expanded to include pomegranates and grapes.

In the 1960s the Greek wine industry was decimated by a disease. Nicholas was convinced that he could not only diversify his Father's crops of strictly olives by using the same land and orchards, but he could re-introduce centuries old grape vines brought from Portugal, Spain, Italy and especially France. In 1990 Nicholas began planting not only on land Stavros owned, but on sites he considered promising and one of them was on Limnos.

So long as Nicholas did not threaten the olive groves, Stavros gave him a blank check to conduct whatever experiments he needed. Nicholas was the serious brother, Mark was now 14 and not yet ready for serious at Christmas time. 1990.

Emily's family was there when the ship arrived. Her Mother, little sister and brothers came on board and Peter's interest grew with two boys who were much closer to his age.

Dinner was on the ship and Alexander assisted in the preparation of Moschari me Kastana as the main course. For Alexander, cooking was becoming a hobby and he was getting damned good at it. The only complaint from the galley was that he never cleaned a pot, and he usually used dozens.

After dinner and showers, the exodus of adults began. Adell waited for Peter's decision to sleep ashore or stay on board. As much as he very much wanted to continue to play, Peter opted for the safe route and slept with Adell. That decision fit very well with Adell, she knew full well that Emily's brothers were very active, especially the youngest boy. For Mark and the boys from Turin as well as Emily's brothers, bed time for them would begin and end as it always did; they were male, they were healthy and they were horny.

Monday morning broke in a cold drizzle which put a pretty good damper on the boys' mood. After showers and breakfast, the boys decided to all go up to the house and play with the babies. Aletha wasn't getting around all that much yet, but Demetrious and Constantine could pretty much crawl around at will. The boys stayed amused until the babies called it quits for sleep time and then they gravitated to the video games and model race cars. The adults heard more than a few "I'm bored" remarks. The weather called for more rain, and Stavros decided to load the ship and cruise two days earlier than originally planned.

Mark and the boys on Corfu during that Christmas were now getting set to leave and cruise the Islands for a few days until Julian had to leave for his home and the twins returned to Australia for the balance of their holiday. Because it was raining and it looked like it would be for a few days, Stavros called the Captain on the ship and told him to prepare to sail the next morning. Since the ship had been at sea for the past week, she needed to be re-provisioned and re-fueled and the Captain now needed to get the ship back into port. The boys all scurried back to the ship from the house and they very quickly forgot about the rainy overcast day as they stood on the bridge watching the anchor chain being pulled up from the bottom.

The trip back to the shipyard took less than an hour once the ship was underway, and all ten boys were all over the ship like ants on a sugar pile. Even Peter, Mark's newest adopted brother elected to join the ship without being attached to Adell, and Mark for one was very surprised. It was the very first independent move he had seen the boy taking since meeting him in Monte Carlo. After his talk with the boy in the shower, he liked the little boy and he once again found himself in the role of protector. He began wondering what it was about himself that found him in this position so often; it certainly wasn't something he wished upon himself.

As the ship entered Kerkyra and docked in the shipyard, a very familiar sight greeted Mark as the ship was surrounded by trucks, fork lifts and hoses almost before she stopped moving. "Captain Sophis, where did all these people come from so fast?" Mark asked the man as he stood on the bridge watching the men on the pier. Captain Sophis smiled. "When your Poppa called me to tell me to ready the ship, I called the ship's chandlers who are responsible to supply us with the things necessary to sail," he told the boy. Mark wasn't the brightest academic student in school, but details tended to catch his eye and attention. "But how could they know what we need? There hasn't been enough time to tell them!" the boy now said. Again, Captain Sophis smiled to himself.

Mark was the third boy adopted by Stavros and the Captain's allegiance went to all of them, but Mark always had questions not usually asked by a boy. Normally a boy wanted to know how fast a boat went. Mark wanted to know how it did that. Captain Sophis saw in Mark a boy whose brain was turning in much larger circles than the average boy.

"The ship's chandlers are always made aware of where we go and how far we travel. They also know how many people we have on board, and if we intend to entertain," he explained to Mark. "From that information, they know what supplies we are using, how much food, water and fuel we are consuming and who they need to alert that we are coming," he told the boy. "Right now, they know how many diapers we need for Demetrious, Constantine and Aletha for the next four days." Mark listened to the Captain while watching the action on the pier. He didn't have a damned clue why, but information that would have probably put just about every other boy on the ship fast asleep in seconds somehow fascinated Mark. "Who tells them all of this?" Mark asked. "It's part of the responsibility of the First Officer," the Captain replied. "If we run out of something, he's the one who's in trouble with me, and then I have to explain it to your Poppa." Mark smiled at that. "So I guess we won't be running out of soda?" "Probably not," the Captain replied a little mystified.

By nightfall the trucks and men were gone and the ship was set to sail the next morning. The galley was taken by surprise by the sudden order to sail and hadn't planned on a dinner on board for what would now be about 15 people including Alexander's family. They were more than delighted when they found out that the request from the boys was for a pizza party that they could provide in less than a half hours notice.

By nightfall Peter's blood pressure started to rise as he tried to figure out where and who he was going to be sleeping with. Adell was nowhere in sight, neither was Stavros. As the pizza, stromboli, calzone and canoli disappeared, so did Peter's security as he clung tighter and tighter to Rachael and Lydia. By about 9:00 Adell arrived on board and Peter took off like a rifle shot and was in her arms before she got a chance to sit down. The main lounge was now decorated in Christmas ornaments with a big tree off in the corner. With everyone on board for the cruise there would be 25 guests plus the crew of 12. Even on a 125 foot Feadship, things were getting tight. Adell's job, given to her by Stavros, was to figure out where all those bodies were going to sleep. Once again, air mattresses and sleeping bags made the children very happy as Stavros thought two to four years down the road. His family was quickly overtaxing the ship's capacity and a larger boat was on the drawing board.

Bedtime showers had become by now a party occasion for the twins as it signaled a time for them to joust with Adell in a playful banter. She now knew both boys for the past year and a half and was totally comfortable around them. More importantly, she knew that they were completely compatible with Mark's, and therefore her lifestyle. They weren't Greek, but they were acceptable.

Washing Mario and Mark, the twins waited their turn and Zachary figured it was a very good time to tweak Adell. "Mark, did you see Athena today?" he asked his friend. "I saw her at dinner, she's probably with the twins," Mark responded. "Why?" "Just asking," Zackary replied. Did you see her yesterday at the Grotto?" he asked. Mark thought about it for a few seconds. "I don't know. Why?" he again asked. "Just thinking," he said. "Do you think she's too old for me?"

Zachary's brother Mackenzie giggled along with Mark and Mario. Since Zachary was speaking in Italian, the rest of the boys in the bathroom along with Adell were fairly clueless until Adell asked Mario what the giggling was about. After the interpretation to Greek, Adell went back to washing the remaining boys with Zachary being washed last. Most of the boys thought that the comments went over the woman's head including Zachary who now stood before the woman as she began to shampoo his hair and spoke to Rachael who was assisting her. Those boys who understood Greek exploded in laughter.

With his eyes still closed from the shampoo that was flowing down from his scalp, Zachary wanted to know what was so funny. "Adell wants Rachael to go get her a knife so she can cut your cock off," Mario told him in between laughing. Soap or no soap, Zachary's eyes opened as he ran out of the shower and locked himself into an adjoining bathroom. Christmas 1990 for Mark and the boys on the ship was a very merry and happy one, and Zachary learned to tease Adell very, very carefully.

The ship cruised the Ionian Islands for three days finding the remotest ones possible. When they did, the boys were off for hours largely playing Robinson Crusoe which looked a whole lot more like Lord of the flies. Peter stayed on board on the first day of island scavenging, but after the boys returned to the ship and Peter listened as the boys recalled their day's adventures, he joined them for the next two as a full fledged participant. Peter was definitely coming out of his shell as he returned to the ship the first day sandwiched between Mario and Emily's youngest brother Kyle on a jet ski covered in sand and nothing else. Running up to Adell on the Boat Deck, he excitedly showed her some shells he had gone diving for oblivious to his nakedness. Adell was very pleased with his progress as the boy waddled away with Kyle.

The ship returned to Corfu by Saturday afternoon and the mood among the twins and Julian took a downturn as they realized that the vacation at Mark's was coming to a close. A small pre-Christmas Dinner was planned and then the boys shared some small presents among themselves. Some 15 years later none of the boys really remembered what they gave to each other, but the one they did remember was what the twins brought for Adell which had the woman extremely misty eyed as she sat in the Main Lounge and opened two small boxes, one from each boy.

Upon the birth of Stavros, his Father gave the man's Mother a gold charm bracelet with a gold heart on it and the boy's name engraved on it. After Stavros's Mother died, his Father gave the bracelet to Adell. Mario's Father was added to the bracelet on his 8th birthday and Mario was added when he was born. With each adoption, Stavros gave Adell a duplicate of the heart along with the engraved name of the boy. As the babies were born, he added their names to the bracelet. By 1990 the bracelet had ten hearts on it.

As Adell opened the boxes, Zachary spoke first. "You don't have to put them on the family bracelet, my Father sent another bracelet that you can start for friends," he told the woman as he handed her another wrapped box. Mark had only seen Adell cry a few times in the almost two years he knew her, and all of those were at weddings or births. The twin nearest to her was Mackenzie and she wrapped her arms around the boy and kissed his head and cheeks more than a few times. Then she motioned for Zachary who also got smothered in kisses. "Tell him the hearts will go on the family bracelet where they belong," she told Mark. Mark translated in Italian as both the twins smiled broadly. Then she spoke again to Zachary and the room exploded in laughter. "What did she say?" the twins asked. "She said not to worry; she won't cut your cock off!" Mark told him in English. Adell never forgot anything.

Today, the bracelet contains 43 charms and had to be converted to a necklace. Mackenzie and Zachary's hearts are still on it and they are the only two non-family members who are.

Saturday night was a relatively quiet one for the boys from Turin, they were slightly depressed about leaving, not to mention dog tired from running around remote islands for hours on end. The sea has a way of draining you and they were well drained. Laying on the bed in between the twins, Zachary propped his head up on his hand as he looked over at Mark. "I'm going to start working on my parents during Christmas for this summer OK?" he asked. "Sure," Mark replied. "When do you want to come?" he asked Zachary. "Me?" Zachary replied. "Don't you remember your promise?" he said. "What promise?" Mark said now sitting up in the bed. "You promised that you'd come to Australia!" Zachary told his friend. Mark was confused and looked over at Mackenzie who was laying there listening with his hands folded in back of his head. "Yep," replied Mackenzie. Mark vaguely remembered a conversation about Australia, but wasn't sure if it rose to the level of a promise or not. "That's a long way away. How long is it?" Mark asked his friend. Neither twin knew. "We need to find out what we're talking about first," Mark told Zachary. "Let's ask the Captain," he suggested.

As tired as the boys were, they were now looking for answers and never took into consideration it was 10:00 at night. Throwing on underpants, Mark, Mario and the twins headed for the bridge. "Is Captain Sophis here?" Mark asked the First Officer who was sitting on the bench on the bridge as the boys entered. The First Officer was somewhat startled and then surprised to see the boys. "Mark, its 10:00 at night the Captain went to bed long ago," he told the boys. "Do you know how far it is to Darwin?" Zachary asked the man. "Darwin?" the Officer responded. "In Australia?" "Yes," Mackenzie responded. "I don't know, 12 maybe 13 thousand kilometers. Why?" he asked. "We want Mark to come to Australia," Zachary told the man. The Officer smiled. "Tonight?" he asked. "No of course not. This summer," Mackenzie responded quite seriously. If the boys didn't look so serious the First Officer would have laughed. "The first thing you need to do is talk to Mark's Poppa," he told the boys, "and I think it should wait until the morning." With a bunch of "Thank you's", the boys left in a clamor headed back to their stateroom as the First Officer took back his book and returned to reading. He was on duty, and chuckled to himself as he settled back down. As did all the crew, the man liked the boys very much and was kept fairly constantly amused by their cavorting around. Watching them now, he was reminded of his own childhood growing up, and was just as spunky as well as bare assed running around with his friends.

Once back in bed, all four boys agreed they would speak to Stavros in the morning. Last goodbyes were now in order and it would take almost a half hour before the last boy fell asleep wrapped up in each other. After New Year they would be back at school in Italy, but for now, their vacation continued.

Peter and Kyle awoke first and were making enough noise for a small troop of Brownies as they showered with Demetrious and Constantine crawling around on the shower floor with Lydia and Rachael supervising. Mark and the remaining boys slowly awoke to the sounds of high pitched shrieks and giggling as the woman grabbed for a constantly moving arm, leg or torso to wash. When the din died down and moved off to Alexander's room, it started right back up as Emily's little brothers and the boys from Turin took over their place in the showers. Halfway through the showers, Adell returned to the ship with Emily's Mother which ended the fun and games part of morning showers and ushered back in hair cleaning time.

Julian and the twins would be going home that morning, and neither woman was going to permit any of the boys to return home without being spic and span, so the twins and Julian's bath came complete with ears being cleaned as well as nails clipped. Most boys hate both, but the twins were not only getting used to it, they were almost beginning to like it. Naturally, they would never in a million years admit to that, as they balked every step of the way. Adell smiled and moved the next fingernail into position.

For the boys, breakfast had long ago become their favorite meal. It was always highly informal and, weather permitting held outside. On the ship it was held on the Boat Deck and with the addition now of not only the twins Demetrious and Constantine, but Aletha, it was play time for all. Aletha was still strictly breast fed, but the twins were now eating rice cereal and fruit. Some of it was actually eaten, most was worn. The morning offered the boys about a two hour window to interact with the babies, once their stomachs were full, they were back asleep until lunch time.

After breakfast, the twins and Julian were packed, and the boys headed for the big house and Stavros. Normally, Stavros would be chest deep in work by 9:00 in the morning, but four days before Christmas, he was found by the boys sitting on the back patio with Captain Sophis and Mario's Father. "Poppa, how far is it to Australia?" Mark asked the man as he bent down and kissed him good morning. "The trip takes about 28 hours. They have three stops along the way," Stavros replied. "No Poppa, I mean how far is it by boat in kilometers," Mark said. The man looked at his son. "By boat? Why do you want to know that?" he replied. "The twins want me to come to Australia. We were wondering how far it is so we can figure out how long it would take to get us there," Mark replied. Stavros sat back in his chair and looked at Mark for a few seconds. Was the boy serious he wondered. "Captain?" Stavros finally said not turning away from Mark. "About 13,000 kilometers as the crow flies. 16,000 kilometers by sea," the Captain replied. "That means it's almost twice as far as New York," Stavros told his son. Having crossed the Atlantic from New York to Greece, Mark now had a pretty good idea of the scope of the voyage. It was massive. "Thank you," Mark replied as he turned and motioned the boys to follow him. Stavros looked at his friends sitting at the table. "So, you're on your way to Australia?" Mario's Father asked with a smile on his face. Stavros just shook his head.

Sitting down with his friends on the pool patio, Mark looked to Zachary who was staring back at his friend. "The trip is twice as far as it is to America. It took two weeks for us to get here," Mark said to Zachary. As much as he wanted it to happen, even Zachary realized that the trip by ship was fairly impossible. "You can still fly," he told his friend. Mark considered the option, but it really wasn't his to make. Would his Father even allow him to go to Australia? What about Mario? Would Adell let him go? "Let's figure this thing out when we get back to school, OK?" Mark said. "But you are going to come to Australia right?" Zachary asked. Once again, Mark found himself being pulled in a direction he really didn't really understand or have any control over. "OK," Mark responded

As Adell fully expected, the trip to the airport was a somber one. The twins and Julian were happy to be going home for Christmas, but at the same time, they wanted to remain on Corfu with Mark and Mario too. Julian's trip would be a fairly easy on. Limnos was on the other side of the Greek mainland, and he would be home in a few hours. The twins on the other hand would be on four different planes over the next 28 hours, hopping from Greece to Dubai, to Bangkok, Singapore and finally Darwin. Even in jets, their trip was no cakewalk. Knowing that, Adell had loaded the boys up with Walkman, music and snacks to keep them occupied and each boy toted a flight bag bulging at the seams with goodies. Less than ten days later, they would be back on planes for the return trip. At 14, both boys were getting burned out about flying. After an early lunch at the airport, the boys were seen off on their flights and Mark and Mario returned to the house saying very little despite Adell's best efforts.

Christmas 1990 was Mark's second Christmas with his new family, and with his brothers Nicholas, Alexander and now Peter, along with Mario and Emily's brothers, it was pretty much remembered years later as the benchmark by which all future Christmases would be judged by Mark as a teenager. At 14, he and Mario were inseparable. Emily's brothers fit into his lifestyle like a glove and his brothers instantly accepted him, as he had done with Peter, who was now the youngest. There were now three babies being raised and already, more were on the way. Mark was a very happy and contented boy.

By Monday, it was Christmas Eve and in the afternoon all the boys went horseback riding to the beach eventually ending up at the Grotto. After the twins and Julian left, Peter seemed to venture a lot further away from Adell, Rachael or Stavros than he usually did as far as Mark was concerned. Since both boys were the same age, Peter and Kyle were becoming close friends, and when Mark saw one, he usually saw the other. On Christmas morning, Mark awoke especially early to find Peter and Kyle asleep together. Waking up Mario, Mark went to Adell's room for her camera and took the picture that today hangs in Peter's office in his house on Corfu. Just before going to sleep, Kyle figured Peter's Doctor Denten's were large enough for two, and he slipped into them behind Peter and had Adrian zipper them up. Both boys fell fast asleep not quite remembering to button the rear flap and all but Kyle's bulging ass was tucked inside the pajamas as Mark shot the picture.

Chapter Ten

Christmas on Corfu 1990 came to its conclusion much faster than Mark or any of the boys for that matter wanted it to. By the weekend after New Year it was time for Mark and Mario to return to Turin, for Alexander and Emily to return to Nice, and Nicholas and Maria to return to England so that all three boys could continue their education.

Stavros had decided that his original plan to send Peter to school in Russia was out the window because of the political situation there, and since the boy already spoke English, Greek as well as Portuguese, he would be tutored at home. Peter was now in his new home for over three months, and more than anyone else, his friendship with Emily's brothers, especially Kyle who was Peter's age brought him out of his shell faster than even Adell could have hoped for. As Mark's newly adopted brother, he was egg shell fragile when he first arrived in Greece and now he was flourishing in his new environment.

Nicholas and his family would fly back to England, Mark and Alexander would take the ship back to Monte Carlo and then motor on to their respective schools. After seeing off Nicholas, the family re boarded the ship once again and set off on Friday afternoon for Monte Carlo. With just 13 passengers and the crew of 12, it almost felt like the 175 foot ship was empty to Mark compared to recent trips.

Not unexpectedly, the center of everyone's attention was the twins who were now very close to six months old. When they weren't asleep or being fed, they went from person to person being played with, especially by Peter.

Were the twins not on board Mark knew that Peter would take center stage and that didn't bother him or Alexander one bit. "What do you think of him?" Stavros asked the two brothers as the three of them watched Peter swimming with Mario in the pool after dinner. "He fits right in Poppa, you saw the picture Mark took of him with Kyle?" Alexander replied. The man smiled. He had seen the picture of the two boys snuggled into a single pair of pajamas that Mark had taken Christmas morning. "Yes," Stavros said to his sons. "Mark what do you think of his school plans? Are you sorry you're going back to school and not staying home like he is?" the man asked. Mark thought for a few seconds. It was quite true that he would love to stay home rather than go to school, but his thoughts went deeper. "I'd be very happy to stay home Poppa if I could bring back Mackenzie, Zachary, Sebastian, Julian, Jean-Paul and Sestriere with me," he replied. Stavros laughed. ""Haven't you forgotten Mario?" he said. "No Poppa, I know wherever I go, Mario will come with me," Mark replied quite seriously.

Stavros sat back in his chair and studied the boy. No Father could possibly be more proud of his son. "And you Alexander, what are your thoughts for the coming months?" "I think you already know what my plans are Poppa," Alexander told his Father. "What do you mean?" Stavros asked. "Poppa, you're not going to tell me that Nana hasn't bugged you about Emily not being pregnant yet are you?" Alexander replied. Stavros cleared his throat and took a sip of wine before answering as Alexander smiled at Mark. "I don't have to tell you that Nana comes from another time," Stavros said. "She's of the old school that believes that a woman's duty is to have her husband's children very early in their marriage so that they can enjoy them in their old age." Alexander giggled a little. "Tell Nana that I'm working it and no, we're not using condoms." Mark sat there and swore he saw his Father blush a very little bit for the first time in his life.

Dinner that night was more informal than usual, the twins were introduced to finger food of peas and corn and wore much more than they ate which made Adell very happy. Anybody who's ever changed a babies diaper knows why.

Baths and bed came a little early mainly because the following day would be a full one for the boys, after reaching Monte Carlo, they would be driven to Turin in preparation for their return to school. As Adell put Peter back into his pajamas, she fully expected the boy to either sleep in her bed or with Stavros. Surprising everyone, Peter elected to sleep with Mark and Mario. "We won't be together again until Easter," he told Adell as he crawled into the bed and laid down in the center. Adell went into her room and brought back two more pairs of pajamas. Laying them down on a chair at the side of the bed, she addressed Mark. "When he wets he will wake up and want dry clothes on," she told Mark and Mario. "He doesn't like sleeping wet, so make sure you attend to him," she told both boys. After goodnight kisses to all three, she returned to her stateroom.

It was a very warm night, and a small breeze came through the open sliding glass doors of the boy's stateroom. With Mark and Mario on their backs, Peter was on his stomach and kicking off the sheets, Peter moved his head to Mario's chest and used it for a pillow as his feet now dangled across Mark's legs as his body moved slightly sideways on the bed. Mark's view was now of Peter's cheeks as they glistened in the moonlight sticking out of the Doctor Denten's rear flap that was never buttoned closed. "Do you want the back door closed?" Mark asked Peter as he lifted the flap and put it over Peter's ass. Peter giggled. "No, the breeze feels good on my butt," he said as he stroked Mario's chest with a free hand. Mark brought the flap back down and put his hand on Peter's cheeks and slowly massaged the boy's buttocks with his fingers. "Did Kyle tell you what we were doing together?" Peter asked his brother. "No of course not. Kyle would never talk about private business with people who weren't involved," Mark told him. "But Adrian and Kyle told me that they don't keep any secrets away from you and Mario," Peter replied. "They told me that you know we did it together." "Yes, we know we all do it together, but that still doesn't mean that Kyle would tell me what you and him did. Mario and I do it, but we don't go around telling everybody about it unless they asked and we wanted to tell them," Mark told his little brother. Peter was quiet for a few seconds deep in thought. "Did you ever do it with Kyle? He says you did," the boy asked.

"Yes, and with Mario and with Mackenzie and with Zachary and with Adrian and with George and with Alexander and with Sebastian and with Jean- Paul and with Julian," Mark replied. "Who's Sebastian?" Peter asked. Mark and Mario both broke out laughing. "Sebastian is a friend at school and so is Jean-Paul. You've never met them yet," he told his bother.

Again, Peter fell silent for a short time. "You sure do it a lot don't you Mark?" he finally said. Once again Mark and Mario had to laugh. "Yes, just like you and Kyle," Mark replied. Now it was Peters turn to giggle. "Remember when you told me I didn't have to do anything if I didn't want to?" Peter asked Mark after doing some more thinking. "Yes," Mark replied. What about if I do want to?" he asked. Mario reached down and pulled down the zipper of the boy's pajamas. "You show us a boner and we'll take care of the rest," he told Peter. The boy giggled again as he turned himself around and slipped his arms out of the sleeves. Mark didn't need to know that he was ready; he had a tent in his pajamas that couldn't be missed by Stevie Wonder. As Mark pulled on the legs of the pajamas, Peter arched his back lifting his ass off the bed. When the boy's penis finally came into view, it was standing proud, tall and ready. With Peter laying flat, Mark was on one side of him and Mario was on the other. "Very little boys like to get tingles really fast," Mark told his brother. "This is how the big boys like to do it," he said as he and Mario began massaging Peter's body from the tips of his toes to the tip of his head. "Just close your eyes and concentrate on what you are feeling," Mario told him. A good twenty minutes later, Peter's dry climax came to him as close to Mario's tonsils as he could get it. Peter was sound asleep back in his Doctor Denten's as Mark and Maria made each other extremely happy and fell asleep inches away from their next romp. Sometime in the middle of the night Peter did wake up soaking wet, but he headed back to Adell's stateroom and awoke in the morning with Adell as his new pillow.

Adell awoke with Peter attached to her side as the boy's hand moved over her breast slowly back and forth as he looked at it. Adell knew the boy wasn't erect, she could feel his penis through his wet pajamas against her side. "You look like you're thinking very hard," Adell said to the boy. "How come you don't feed the babies like Emily and Lydia do," Peter asked the woman. "You have boobs just like they do." Adell smiled and took his hand and kissed it. "They used to feed your Poppa, but now I'm too old to produce milk that would be good for a baby," she told him. "They don't look too old!" Peter replied. Again, Adell smiled. as she kissed the boy on his forehead. "Babies need young fresh milk to grow big strong bodies and their Mother and Lydia have all the milk they need," she told Peter.

The boy stayed quiet for a few seconds but Adell knew he was still deep in thought. "I slept with Mark and Mario last night and we did it," Peter finally said as he looked up at the woman. Adell looked at the boy and nodded her head. "Is that what you wanted to do?" she asked. "Me and Kyle did it too!" he responded. "Did anyone force you to do it?" she asked the boy. "Am I going to get into trouble for fucking with my brother?" Peter asked. "That depends Peter, did you force Mark or Mario or Kyle to take you to their bed? she asked the boy. "Or, did they force you?" Peter was very puzzled by the question. He shook his head no. "Then if nobody forced anybody, nobody can get into trouble," Adell told him as she stroked his face. "But we did do it!" Peter told the woman. "Peter now lives in Greece. Unless Peter forces somebody to have sex with him, Peter can't get into trouble anymore," she told the boy. "What you do with your body, and what you allow others to do with you is something you have a right to decide unless someone is getting hurt. If somebody makes you do something you don't want to do, you tell me or your Poppa or one of your brothers and then there's going to be trouble. Other than that, what brings you pleasure is yours to explore." Again the boy said nothing, but stared into Adell's eyes searching. "I wanted to have sex with Mark and Mario and Kyle," the boy said to the woman. "Then I'm happy for you. Now, let's get these wet pajamas off you and get clean for breakfast," she said as she got up and took the boy into her bathroom. Peter said nothing as he wrapped his arms around her neck and held her as tightly as he could. Somehow Peter felt good and clean and free for the first time in his life. Only Father Peter back in Elmira made him feel good about himself like his new family did, and as he looked down at his ring he smiled to himself. Like his brothers before him, the ring would never come off; it was at the root of his happiness.

By dawn, Sicily was on the stern, and after breakfast, both Mark and Mario were sitting in the wheelhouse as Captain Sophis monitored the ship's progress. "How long would it take for us to get to Australia?" Mark now asked the man. Captain Sophis closed his eyes as he looked out over the bow. "You mean from here, or Corfu?" he asked. "From Corfu," Mark replied. "Between three to four weeks if we got there at all," the Captain replied. Mark found the answer very curious. "What does that mean?" Mark asked. "A trip to Australia for a ship our size is very dangerous," he replied. "We would have to travel through waters that large yachts like us have disappeared in with no trace ever found. There are people in those waters that would kill us for the food and water we carry," he told the boys. "Why would they do that?" Mario asked. "Because where they live they are starving to death," the Captain told them. "We are too small to even consider such a trip." "People in Australia are starving to death?" Mark now asked. "No, not in Australia, but in the countries we need to pass by on our way to Australia," he told the boy.

"The problems would begin in Egypt, Ethiopia and Somalia and get worse as we traveled eastward. I would not consider going unless we had an armed escort," he said. Mark pretty much abandoned his hopes of getting to Australia by boat. "Are you going to ask Uncle Stavros about Australia?" Mario asked his friend. "Why bother, he'll just ask Captain Sophis and never agree to go," Mark replied. "The only way we can get there is by flying. Do you think your Father would let you go?" Mark asked. Mario shrugged his shoulders. "If you go, I guess he'd let me go," Mario told his friend.

This was the second time the Captain heard about the boys' questions concerning an Australian cruise and he for one was totally against it. He knew the waters that it would be necessary to travel through and he trusted none of them. As a Naval Captain he came upon more than a few boats that had been stopped and raided and the raiders left little behind but wanton death and destruction; entire families slaughtered and thrown overboard because they carried some food and fuel. He had no idea what the boys had in mind, but he would get to Stavros before they did, if the ship were ordered to Australia, he would have to consider resigning his appointment.

As if the Captain didn't have enough on his mind, his First Officer had asked him for permission to speak to the owner concerning Lydia. The only way the man could even approach the girl was to get approval from Stavros first since the girl was his ward, as well as his employee.

The ship's First Officer was the son of the Captain's old friend, a fellow Captain from the Greek Navy. In all probability, he would take over the ship as its Captain once Captain Sophis retired. Spiros was known by the Captain since he was a very young boy, and was almost like a son to the Captain.

Lydia was now 17 years old and had been working for Stavros since she was 14. She began her work in the man's house on Crete where her family lived. Whenever the ship sailed, Stavros had four of the girls who worked for him join the ship's crew, where they functioned as chambermaids to Stavros, Adell and his adopted sons. Lydia was one of those girls and became known to the First Officer, but always at a distance. As Stavros's Ward, he was responsible for the girl, and since Lydia was raised traditionally and still a virgin, she was unapproachable without going through Stavros and Adell first. Especially Adell.

With the birth of the twins, Lydia now took on additional responsibilities, including wet nursing the babies in her care. This created even higher hurdles for any potential suitor to overcome; the girl was now practically a member of the family.

A routine meeting with Stavros always took place every morning after breakfast between the owner and the ship's Officers and this morning's meeting would be anything but routine. Following normal business, the Captain's first question concerned the boy's inquiry into Australia. "The boys have approached both Spiros and now myself on this subject," the Captain began. "As large as we are, we are not large enough for such a trip and I would never recommend it be undertaken for security reasons," the Captain told Stavros. Stavros sat back in his chair. "Ari, I have no intentions of ordering the ship to Australia, why does it seem to bother you so much?" he asked his Captain. "Probably because I've known you since you were a baby and if one of your sons were to put enough pressure on you, you would deliver the moon for them," the Captain replied very frankly. "You are exactly like your Father and if you recall, this ship itself came about because his son wanted something bigger to play on when he was about Alexander's age." Stavros smiled as he remembered back. His Father owned a 100 foot Feadship which is a fairly substantial size. But not big enough to travel across the Atlantic Ocean where Stavros wanted to go. The smaller ship was sold and replaced by this 175 foot Feadship. Stavros was 15 years old at the time.

Already they were plans for a larger ship underway, and even then, the Captain was completely opposed to going anywhere near certain countries in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. To the Captain, it was shallow grave territory and he had seen the corpses to prove it.

"There are no plans to order the ship to Australia and there won't be any made without your approval first Ari," he told the Captain. "Thank you Stavros," the Captain replied. "Is that it?" Stavros asked as the Officers arose from the table. "There is one more matter that is personal," the Captain said. While the Second Mate and Chief Engineer left for the bridge, Captain Sophis and the First Officer stood by their chairs. Stavros signaled the two to sit back down at the table and drew another cup of coffee as he watched Spiros fidget in his chair. "Spiros has been on the ship now for eight years since he was a boy of 16," the Captain told the owner. "He joined the ship in June, 1983 Ari, he will be on her for eight years in June," Stavros replied.

The man's intention was to tell both men he knew exactly what was happening on the ship. He made his point to both the Captain and the First Mate. The Captain smiled and nodded his head. "He is now 24 and I know him as a good and honorable man," the Captain said. "He's still 23, but let's not quibble Ari," Stavros replied. Again the Captain had to smile. "He seeks permission to court Lydia Stavros." Stavros's gaze shifted from his Captain to the young man sitting before him. Spiros knew that a "No" would close the subject. Stavros sat back in his chair and studied the boy before him. "Time flies Ari, I remember when he first came on board with pants too short and a very bad haircut." As very serious as the conversation was, the Captain had to laugh. "I will talk with him," Stavros said looking back at his Captain. Excusing himself, the Captain now left for the bridge.

"Does Lydia know of your request?" Stavros asked the man who now sat before him beginning to perspire. "No Sir, I have never approached her," Spiros replied. "You are aware that Lydia is raised traditionally and is saving herself for marriage?" Stavros asked. "If your intentions are to merely date her, there are other women available for you to take to bed besides Lydia," he told the man. "Lydia is my ward, I am completely responsible for her to her Father," Stavros told the man. "If she would accept, I would make her my wife. I would never seek to disgrace her or to bring dishonor upon myself to you," he replied. Stavros sat back in his chair and fell silent for a few extremely long seconds as far as Spiros was concerned as he felt his shirt getting wet.

Finally Stavros sat back forward. "If you are not aware of it, you should be; receiving my approval is fairly easy, receiving Adell's is much more difficult and it will be necessary before Lydia can be approached," he told the Officer. "Yes Sir," Spiros replied. "I will let Adell know of your request. I don't envy you son," he said to the man with a smile as he arose and shook Spiros's hand. "I suggest you get as many pointers from Ari as you can, Adell will not be moved casually." "Yes Sir, Thank you Sir," the First Officer replied as he left the table. Stavros shook his head wondering if the boy knew what hurdles he was going to have to jump over to get past Adell and into Lydia's arms.

As Spiros walked back onto the bridge, all three Officers now waited for him to tell them how his meeting went. "He said he will let Adell know," he reported as he sat down on the bench in the wheelhouse. "Did he approve?" the Chief Engineer asked. "If he didn't approve, Adell would never hear anything about it," Captain Sophis told the man. "Now the real work begins Spiros," the Captain said shaking the First Officer's hand. "Just think of it like this; you have a fondness for a very young baby bear cub and all you have to do is crawl into the cave and get the cub out past its Mother," he told the man. "You believe Adell will be that difficult to deal with?" the Second Mate asked. "I'd rather deal with the bear!" the Captain replied. "Stavros suggested I ask you for pointers," Spiros told the Captain. "Pray," the Captain replied. "And if she sees your eyes gaze below the girl's neck, you can kiss your cock goodbye!"

By lunchtime the ship was approaching Monte Carlo as the family ate. The twins were very busy eating their food, but getting it past their hair, eyes, ears and nose to their stomachs was proving to be a chore, but they were diligently trying. Once the ship docked, two vans were being loaded with luggage and two cars awaited to take Alexander and his family to Nice and Mark and Mario back to Turin.

The time of parting was now at hand, and for Stavros, it was one of those times he dreaded most. Adell did not part lightly. Despite the fact that she would be seeing Alexander and everyone in his family in two weeks, Stavros was certain that the woman was convinced she'd never see anybody ever again. Alexander, Emily, Lydia and Athena took a good half hour to say goodbye to and then it was time to leave the twins. By 2:00, it was time for Mark and Mario to get on the road and Adell was saying goodbye to Peter for a good half hour. "She's flying back to Greece on Monday right?" Mario confirmed with Mark as the water works flowed. Mark nodded his head. "She'll be back with him in less than 36 hours," he told his friend. Rachael giggled hearing the boys. "Your Nana is a bit sensitive," she told the boys. "My Nana is a nut ball," Mark replied. "But we do love her."

Peter was left in the care of Gloria who would watch over him until Adell returned to Corfu, and now she said her goodbyes to Stavros. She made much less of a scene with the man, but somehow, Stavros usually felt like Captain Tibbits flying the Enola Gay to Japan. Waving goodbye from the ship as the van and car headed to Turin, Stavros looked over to his friend. "She's getting worse Ari." The Captain nodded his head. "And with each new grandchild expect it to get even more intense."

The road trip back to Turin was uneventful and as usual, dinner would be eaten at the Palace Hotel in Turin. By 7:00 Mark and Mario were back at the house and unpacking.

Sunday morning broke for the boys as it almost always did with Adell coming in and turning on the showers. Rachael came into the room and as Mark and Mario exited the bed for the bathroom, she looked at the sheets. "Another dry night," she said to Adell. At 14, both boys were now progressively dryer at night. In September, they stayed dry probably half the time. Now, they were dry probably 80% of the time. Standing on the sides of the bowl both boys commenced a sword fight as they listened to Adell and Rachael discuss their pissing habits. "By June they might even be able to sleep with a girl and not send her down the river," Adell joked with Rachael. "Yes, Gramma, but if we did, I'm sure you'd be there to check the color," Mark said as he stepped into the shower. "Speaking of smart alecks, when do Zachary and Mackenzie return to haunt me?" Adell asked. Mario giggled along with Rachael. "They are flying in from Paris at 2:00 can we pick them up?" Mark asked. "From Paris? Why from Paris?" Adell asked. "They flew on the Concorde yesterday from Australia to London and today are flying to Paris and then Turin. There are no direct flights from London," Mark replied.

Adell shook her head. "All this flying for two little boys is crazy!" she said as she finished washing Mark and began washing Mario. "I think it would be neat to fly all over the place," Mark said to her. "Not for long!" Adell replied.

After breakfast Mark and Mario took their bikes and peddled to the stream. This was "Their spot" where most conversations were held, most plans made, and happiest memories were created for both boys through their early school years. This was the boys' second year at Turin and there would be three more through their graduation. For both boys, the stream at Turin was surpassed only by the Grotto on Corfu. The house in Turin was located in one of the oldest sections and could easily be considered as remote. The boys rarely saw more than a dozen or so people all day while at the stream, and most of them were very little old ladies in black dresses walking with mesh bags either alone or two by two.

Two boys, or half a dozen for that matter swimming in the stream or sunning themselves in their birthday suits didn't create a ripple in the neighborhood. A full year earlier, Mark and his friends hid or kept a low profile from the locals when they knew they were around. Now, they sunned themselves on the grass and on top of the arched bridge that crossed the stream as the local women walked by smiling and greeting the boys in Italian. Mark now looked over to Mario and shook his head. "What's the matter?" Mario asked. "If we were in America right now, those two little old ladies would be calling the cops as soon as they got home and we'd have three or four cop cars hauling our asses off to jail," Mark told his friend. Mario looked down at his penis. "Just for being naked? We ain't fucking or anything!" he said. "It doesn't matter, In America if they see your cock, you're in big fucking trouble," Mark replied. Mario shook his head as he laid back down, "Stupid place!" he said.

Even in winter the stream held its alluring magic for the boys. Swimming was out, but the quiet peace and serenity of the trails though the woods that overlooked the Italian Alps gave the boys respite from a Monday through Friday mayhem at the dormitory that more than made up for the loss. Now, hours before Mark's dorm mates would reconvene after their Christmas break, Mark and Mario walked the trails and grew closer to each other emotionally more than most brothers ever achieve.

"What are you going to do after we graduate Turin?" Mario asked Mark as the two boys walked across a fallen tree trunk just off the trail. "I don't know, Poppa hasn't told me yet," Mark replied. "I'm going to University," Mario told his friend. "My Father wants me to achieve a degree in Banking." "Why? Your Father owns a bank; he could just give it to you!" Mark responded. Mario shrugged his shoulders. "How long does it take to get a degree?" Mark asked his friend. Again, the boy shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he said.

"When I get out of school, I just want to go home," Mark told his friend. "Poppa grows olives. I don't need a degree to know that!" Both boys giggled at the thought, but the underlying conversation was a lot more serious to Mario. "Uncle Stavros and my Poppa said that we would be friends for life," Mario said as he sat down and pulled a rock from his shoe. "They are friends for life and our Grandfathers were too," he told his friend. "So, what's the point?" Mark asked. "If I go on to University and you go home, how can we be together?" Mario asked his friend. Mark looked at Mario trying as hard as a 14 year old boy can to figure out the meaning of the words. "Friends don't need to be together Mario, my Poppa and your Poppa don't live together but they're the best of friends right?" he asked. It was damned rare in their relationship, but Mark watched as Mario's eyes filled up. "I don't want to be friends with you like Stuart is our friend," Mario told Mark. "When Stuart left, he was gone. I don't want you to be gone," Mario told his friend as his eyes could no longer contain the tears that had welled up.

The crisp air brought both boys back to the house with a firmer understanding of their relationship. Mark wasn't overjoyed at the prospect, but if Mario's Father sent him to school in Mozambique, Mark promised his friend he would accompany him. Both boys resolved on that day at the stream in Turin not to ever be separated. Most plans of boys barely 14 are rarely written in concrete. Mark's vow was made some 15 years ago to Mario, it holds to this day.

About an hour after lunch, Sebastian was the first boy to arrive back from vacation as he pulled up the driveway in a cab. Over Christmas vacation, the boy spent almost every waking hour shushing down Gstaad. Both Mark and Mario couldn't stop laughing at Sebastian's face. His cheeks were almost apple red and he had a wind burn around his eyes from his ski goggles. It was almost like looking at a raccoon with rouge on.

All three boys and Rachael left for the airport to pick up Julian and the twins who would be arriving at around 2:00. Just after 3:00 the car pulled back up to the house and Adell's peace and quiet was at an end. All conversation straight through dinner was of the twins' flight on the British Concorde. To the boys, an eight hour flight from Australia to London was a bloody fucking miracle. Many of their flights back and forth from school took 50 hours or more to complete.

The talk about their flight brought up Mark's promise to go to Australia. "The Captain won't take the ship to Australia, he says it's too dangerous. If I go, I'm going to have to fly," Mark told the twins. "Did you ask your Father?" Zachary asked his friend. "No not yet, I wanted to talk to you first," Mark told him. "What did your parents say?" "They think it would be great. You could even go on a roundup," Zachary replied. "What's a roundup?" Mario asked. "It's like herding goats, but with cows," Mark told him. "Like you see in the movies," Mackenzie told him. Mario nodded his head.

Adell and Rachael came into Mark's bedroom with an arm load of towels, face cloths and shampoo headed for the bathroom as the boys continued their conversation and started undressing more out of habit than anything else. Not a word was said to any of them, but seeing the women, they automatically knew it was shower time and time to get naked. Adell smiled a little to herself. Even though the boys were conversing in Italian and she didn't understand a word, she knew that they were trained well. She also knew she had a small problem on her hands; Sebastian. Washing the boy herself, she had absolutely no problems. With Rachael who was 20 and a virgin, the potential for a problem was growing by the month. Sebastian had a cock that most 14 year old boys could only dream about in their wildest fantasies. Rachael was highly trusted by Adell, but Sebastian sported the Holy Grail and Rachael was a virgin; not a blind barren eunuch.

Sunday night washings were always more intensive than other nights, the boys would be at school for the next week and quite incapable of keeping themselves clean according to the Gospel of Adell. She solved the immediate problem as she usually did by assigning Rachael to clip finger and toenails and cleaning ears, while she did the shampooing and washing.

By 8:00 the boys all laid down on the living room rug in front of the fireplace as clean as whistles and tucked into their underwear that contained, but barely, their very healthy bodies. At 14, they were still boys, but round smooth features were slowly giving way to a muscular definition to their arms and legs that told Adell the time was fast approaching when being washed by a woman would no longer be needed.

Much to Adell's chagrin, the boys out of necessity reverted back to Italian as their common language. three Greek boys, two Australians and one Swiss boy spoke only Italian in common. Adell and Rachael spoke only Greek so to keep them in the loop, Mark, Mario or Julian now had to interpret. What was occurring at the same time however was that the twins and Sebastian were also picking up Greek almost by osmosis. Unless Adell and Rachael rambled on and on in Greek, the twins and Sebastian were picking up key words and phrases in Greek over the past year and a half and progressively understood more and more. Years later, the twins remembered the first phrase they learned from Adell: "Behave yourself!"

Now, with the boys laying there with bowls of ice cream disappearing, Adell sat in the living room listening to Italian she didn't understand and Mario telling her what the conversation was about as the boys learned what each other had experienced during the ten days they last saw each other.

Sunday night bedtime came relatively early, the twins were on the road for pretty much two days traveling and Adell saw in their eyes two boys who were fairly spent. Kissing Zachary goodnight, he reached back up to her and took her face in his hands. Kissing her on her cheek he spoke to her. As the woman moved over to Mario to say goodnight Mario told her what Zachary said. "Zachary said that the second kiss was from his Mother for taking such good care of him and Mackenzie." Mark didn't see the woman cry, but she did get mighty misty eyed he thought to himself.

Morning broke for the boys a whole lot earlier than they wanted it to as Adell and Rachael came into the room. The boys were still stretched straight across the bed where they fell asleep watching the fire in the fireplace when it closed their eyes. Before she turned on the showers, Adell walked over to the boys as she looked at each boy's sleeping face. "It's incredible how angelic and innocent they appear right up to the moment they awaken," she told Rachael. The girl giggled as she walked into the bathroom. "Two years ago you said the exact same thing about Alexander, Mario and Nicholas on Corfu," she told the woman. "Did I?" Adell asked as Mario began stirring. "Yes Nana," Rachael replied. Adell smiled a little to herself. Now she was even being called "Nana" by the employees.

"Come on sleepy head, today starts school," she told Mario as she dragged the boy by the arm pits off the bed and into her arms. "With Mario standing at the toilet pissing and yawning, Mark and Julian were now stirring as one by one the boys rousted themselves out of bed. Halfway through the group of six boys, Rachael went back downstairs to finish preparing breakfast while Adell dried and oversaw the boys getting into their school clothes. "I will be flying back to Corfu this morning. Rachael will be here if you need her and if there are any problems, I can be back here in hours," Adell told the boys as they devoured breakfast. "When are you coming back Gramma," Mark asked the woman. "I will be back on Friday night before bedtime," she replied. "So that means we're free until Friday!" Mackenzie said as he downed his last piece of French toast and quickly exited the kitchen before Adell got her hands on him. Breakfast ended with a laugh as the boys headed back upstairs to brush their teeth. "Just think of how boring life will be once Mark leaves school," Rachael told Adell as the two women cleared the table.

Promptly at 9:00 the boys were delivered back to the courtyard at school and the second half of the boys' 9th Grade year continued. It took some time for the boys to all settle down from their Christmas vacation, but by the afternoon and Mark's return to Sergio to tutor him and Mario, it seemed like one more Monday except for Jean-Paul and his remoteness from the boys now that he lived downstairs. Mark barely knew him anymore and most of the other boys considered him "Lost". Jean-Paul was "Gay" and getting gayer by the day. To put it mildly, Mark was despondent concerning his friend, he wanted to turn him around and bring him back into their circle of friends. Sergio knew it wasn't going to be.

Sergio stayed on at Turin during vacation, he had permission from Adell to use the Chalet at Sestriere while they were in Greece and spent many days there with friends. He also watched as Mr. Dee and Jean-Paul made infrequent appearances around campus during Christmas vacation and didn't need to be hit over the head. Jean-Paul was being groomed by the teacher, and Jean-Paul was doing absolutely no objecting to it. Whatever transpired between the two, the boy was cooperative and even encouraging it as far as the teacher observed.

"I think you know me well enough to know that if I thought Jean-Paul was being made to do something against his will or that could harm him, I would intervene. But you see and talk to Jean-Paul, does he seek any kind of help or seem to be in any danger to you?" Sergio asked Mark. Mark had to shake his head no. "He's turning him into a faggot!" Mark told his teacher. Sergio took Mark's face in his hands and lifted it up so that both the boy and his teacher were in eye contact. "Mark, can I turn you and Mario into faggots?" he asked his pupil. "No," Mark replied. "You're right, I can't because you're not homosexuals. Mr. Dee can't turn Jean-Paul into something he's not either. Jean-Paul is what he is with or without Mr. Dee and if he wasn't there for Jean-Paul, Jean-Paul would find another teacher or boy who was." Mark was quiet for a very long time. "We know that Mr. Dee only keeps a boy for one year," the teacher told him. "After June, Mr. Dee will be out of Jean-Paul's life. Let's see what Jean-Paul wants to do then," the teacher told Mark. "In the meantime, make sure Jean-Paul knows you're there for him if he needs you and let Jean-Paul decide. OK?" Sergio asked his pupil. Mark nodded his head.

For Jean-Paul, the return to school of his friends was something he looked forward to, but was of concern to Mr. Dee. "If you wish to return upstairs you may, but I would have to find a replacement for you to live here with me," the teacher told Jean-Paul Sunday night as the boys began returning to the house. "A replacement?" Jean-Paul asked the man. "Yes, if you were not to love me anymore, I would have to find another who did," he told Jean-Paul. Mr. Dee was a master at manipulation and manipulating a 13 year old boy who was in love with his teacher wasn't all that hard to do. Jean-Paul had a decision to make; His lover or his friends. Jean-Paul chose Mr. Dee. "Fine, but your friends would not understand our love for each other Paulette. You need to choose between them or me. If you choose me, you need to let them know you are well and happy and they need to go their separate way," he told the boy. Jean-Paul would now be effectively isolated.

The boys had a 14 week span between New Year and Easter Vacation and weekends for Mark and all the boys in their room would spend it at Sestriere skiing. Jean-Paul all but disappeared to the boys except during classes, and on weekends he was always busy doing "Homework". Mark and Jean-Paul talked, but it was the same as two people meeting and asking each other how they where. "Fine," was always the answer, nothing more.

Every other weekend Alexander and his family joined Mark at Sestriere, and at least once a month, Adell brought Peter back from Greece with her for a weekend which had the Chalet bulging at the seams. Peter had never skied before and became a fan.

By March winter was almost about to wind down and two occurrences altered the boy's routine. First, the ninth graders of Turin learned of the existence of Josephine and Mackenzie broke a leg after doing a flip and landing on a rock.

First came (pardon the pun) Josephine. Probably every boarding school town has one (or more) but Josephine was a lady of the evening. She was not a streetwalker. Josephine demanded a very high price for her services and there were very few refusals among the town gentry. If you weren't careful, you could bump into the Mayor, a City Councilman, or more than a few Magistrates coming out of the gates of her house in Turin at certain times of the morning and afternoons.

Josephine kept regular hours, nine to eleven for the early birds, three to five for the working crowd, and seven to nine for newcomers. At the equivalent of $100.00 U.S.per hour in Lira, Josephine was not cheap. She also had no openings in her dance card for weeks ahead.

The ninth grade Turin boys learned through the "Grapevine" that they were "Newcomers". Josephine had a hell of a lot of community spirit and she always reserved seven to nine at night for sex education 101. The fact that the early birds and working johns were now at home with their wives and families may have had something to do with it, but it certainly was no coincidence that the newcomers were always in class during the day and nobody at school knew where the fuck they were at night.

Making arrangements for the boys wasn't all that hard, Josephine had a representative there at school who could make reservations, he was a school janitor who worked on commission. Zachary first learned of Josephine, and he was now on a quest. Vincenzo was a likable guy, and he liked money the most. The more he booked, the more he made and he knew he had the best product on the market for 14 to 16 year olds with very strange bulges in their pants. "She will take two boys at a time, but won't take bald boys," the man told Zachary as he put $200.00 dollars on the table. "Bald boys?" Zachary asked. "Boys without hair. If you're not old enough to grow hair around your cock, she won't fuck you," Vincenzo replied. "How come?" Zachary asked. "She doesn't fuck with babies," he responded.

"That's enough for four boys," Vincenzo said as he counted the money. "I thought she got $100.00 an hour?" Zachary said. "Yes, for men she gets $100.00 per hour, for newcomers, she charges $50.00 since your cocks are so small." Then and there, Zachary decided that when his time came, he would be joining Sebastian for the Grand Opening.

"How much hair does a boy need to have?" was Zachary's final question. "Enough for her to run her fingers through," came the reply. Julian and Mario were DOA.

The boys were now set. She would take four boys on Tuesday night and they could all come together (sorry). Mario and Julian weren't happy, but they couldn't blame anybody but themselves; both boys were still basically bald. For Mark, he went along with the twins, but without Mario, he was ambivalent at best. Sebastian and the twins were almost electrified with excitement concerning their upcoming "Date" with Josephine. All three packed their pockets with condoms as they dressed in street clothes and slipped out the front door of the house. It was a 15 minute walk to Josephine's from the school and all three walked with their hands in their pockets trying to keep their erections under control. Mark wasn't exactly sure if he really wanted to go or not but there he was.

Josephine let the boys in as they clamored up the front stoop. Dressed in a long flowing bathrobe, she showed the boys into her living room and brought out some cans of soda while she had a large glass of iced tea as all five sat down. One by one, she asked each boy his age. "Have you ever made love to a girl before?" she asked each boy in turn. four very nervous "no's" later she was ready to start the show. "Have you decided who is first?" she asked. Mackenzie raised his hand. The woman smiled as she got up and took Mackenzie's hand and he stood up. "I have protection," Mackenzie said. "We all do." Josephine smiled again as she brushed her fingers through the boys hair. ""I keep myself protected so that my men can know the full warmth of a girl's body when their cock is planted," she told Mackenzie. Mark watched as he saw Mackenzie blush for probably the first time in his life. "What we are going to do is to teach you how to make love to a woman properly," she told the boys as she started to unbutton Mackenzie's shirt. "If you wish, you may watch me with each other. I will let you decide that," she said as she took off the shirt and reached for Mackenzie's belt and opened it. Opening his pants, she slid them off underpants and all. She had no problem knowing Mackenzie was ready as she ran her fingers through his pubic hair and down around to his scrotum. "No doubt you are all used to having very fast sex. Little boys tend to rush things too much," she told the group as she had Mackenzie sit down and took off his shoes and socks. "Girls do not like to be rushed. We will go slow," she said. Standing Mackenzie back up she backed up and looked at the boy who was beginning to drip precum as he stood there. "You have a very fine looking body and your cock is obviously ready to be rewarded," she said as she took off the bathrobe she was wearing and let it slip to the floor.

Josephine had a body that warranted the fee she charged. Her breasts stood firm and full and her nipples were large and pointed. She didn't have an ounce of fat and she was completely shaved. Her vulva was firm and full and she had a bulge at the top that indicated that her clitoris wasn't very far behind it. She wasn't dripping, but she was wet. Mackenzie wasn't wet, he was dripping. Sebastian and Zachary both knew their underpants were getting wet. "Let's see what the rest of you look like," the woman now said as she moved over to Mackenzie and put his face on her breast as she stroked his back. As far as Mackenzie knew, he hadn't breast fed since he was around two or three years old. At 14, he resumed with his face smothered in one breast while he played with the other. For the most part, Josephine was in good control until Sebastian stood up along with his penis. "How old are you?" she asked the boy as she stared at his penis. "He's 14," Zachary told the woman with a big smile on his face and a boner in his hand. "You boys must have a hell of a lot of fun over there at night," she said as she turned to go into the bedroom with Mackenzie.

While three boys watched, Josephine lead Mackenzie to an orgasm that took 20 minutes to produce. Mackenzie could have done the job in under two, but Josephine didn't allow it to happen until she was ready. Mackenzie by that time would have fucked a doorknob or a 1955 Buick. By the time he came, his penis was deep pink along with his balls. Zachary was next, and Josephine introduced the twin to his very first taste as the woman tea bagged him into acceptance. Not a whole lot of men she made happy were anywhere near what Sebastian could produce for the woman's enjoyment and Sebastian didn't fuck her nearly as much as she fucked him. For the most part, Sebastian laid there on her bed as she did a round robin on the boy that had his balls screaming for relief when she finally allowed him to come as she gave him oral. Sebastian's first girl cost Zachary $50.00 He enjoyed Josephine many more times over the next three years and she never charged him a penny.

For close to an hour and a half Mark watched the woman take care of his friends and by the time Mark mounted her he was quite primed. Too primed: Mark came on her stomach just before he entered her. She made a very valiant effort, but Mark was through for the night. Mark felt humiliated. The twins and Sebastian practically danced back to school. Mark smiled and laughed when appropriate, but he wasn't a happy camper with himself.

After showers and retelling old war stories to the rest of the boys in the house, it was bedtime. Once Mark and the boys in his room settled down, Mark was ready to talk to Zachary. "If you guys want to tell everybody about what you did, that's your business, but I don't want my private business discussed. OK?" Mark told his friend. Zachary looked at his friend. "What's the difference? They all know we got fucked tonight." "That's my private business OK?" Mark repeated. Zachary didn't completely understand, but he shook his head yes. Zachary saw his friend come on the woman instead of in her, but so what? Hadn't they all done the same thing with each other and never thought anything about it? What was the big deal? While he was confused, he still didn't want to piss Mark off. Invoking "Private business" instantly meant none of your business. The boys did talk of their own adventures with Josephine, but left Mark's involvement out of the conversation as he requested.

By Friday Mark had pretty much worked himself up into a frenzy as far as Josephine was concerned. A 14 year old boy can be irrational at times and Mark was thinking irrationally. He had half convinced himself that there were two boys hell bent down the road to homosexuality; one was Jean-Paul, the other was himself. There was no doubt in his mind that the woman's body was sexually appealing to him, but then again, so was Zachary's, Mackenzie's, Julian's, Mario's and on and on. With Josephine, once he came, the game was over. He wanted to be out of there. That never occurred with his friends. Why not? He rather enjoyed the thought of fucking her, but the thought of performing oral or anal on the woman was repugnant to him. Even when he watched Zachary and Sebastian he was wondering how they could do that. Why? Hadn't he regularly performed both on his friends? Only one person in the world could hear his thoughts and only one would have the answers he was looking for; Adell.

Adell's flight from Greece came in at 8:00 and by the time she reached the Cottage the boys were fed, washed and almost ready for bed. Every weekend, Mark, Mario, the twins, Sebastian and Julian would go skiing in Sestriere. When it came to the boys, Adell had radar and she knew something was wrong with Mark within five minutes of arriving. "I need to talk to you tonight Gramma, I'm sleeping with you," Mark told her as she unpacked a small suitcase in her room. Adell said nothing, she nodded and put an extra pillow on her bed.

After saying goodnight to the other boys at bedtime and passing out kisses, Adell returned to her room and closed the door behind her. Mark had already climbed into bed and laid there as she readied for bed and put on her nightclothes. Coming back into the room she picked up a large comforter and a pillow and sat down in her large stuffed reclining rocker. Draping the comforter over her, she put the pillow on her chest. "Come here with me," she told Mark. Mark got up and went over to Adell and sat down on her lap as the woman wrapped the comforter around him and settled the pillow between her chest and the boy. She now had him exactly where she wanted him. She could talk to him and he could talk to her as her face lay on the top of his head listening to what he had to say. "Tell me what's bothering you," she said as she slowly began rocking the chair while massaging Mark's temple with her thumb. The story of Josephine came spilling out. It was close to an hour before Mark finished telling the woman everything he experienced and what he now felt about it.

In retrospect, Adell was relieved as she listened to Mark tell her of his fears. Her biggest fear was that the boy was digging down into his past. That would require possible outside intervention. As serious as Mark considered his predicament to be, Adell knew that most boys felt extremely threatened by the very worst of all scenarios: am I a homo?

Adell wasn't all that nutty about the fact that the boys went to a hooker for their first time and even less enthused about the idea that the woman had taken on four boys at once. In her mind, it would have been much better if the boys went to go find a girl their own age when they were ready to plant the carrot, or at least have a one on one with a pro. What she was hearing wasn't a human sexuality lesson, it was an orgy and her Grandson was trying to figure out why he wasn't enamored by sloppy fourths.

Adell began her advice by bringing Mark back down to earth. "Do you believe that Nicholas or Alexander are homosexuals?" she asked the boy. "Do you believe your Poppa is?" "No Gramma," Mark replied. "No, they are not. Yet I have sat in this very chair when they were your age and they were concerned about the exact same thing," she told him. "What does that tell you Mark?" she asked. Mark shrugged his shoulders. "Mark, most boys your age are concerned about being homosexual and very very few are," she told him as she kissed the top of his head. "For you to worry that you didn't perform properly in the middle of a sex orgy is distorting your thinking about yourself. You are a very normal, very healthy boy and when you came your body proved it to you. Just because your cock wasn't in place means absolutely nothing," she told him. "And comparing your feelings about making love to a girl to your friends feelings is like saying that Sebastian has the right sized cock while everybody else's is wrong. If that's the case, you're all doomed to failure!" she said. Mark giggled.

Sitting Mark up, Adell took his face in her hands. "Mark, you were not ready to do what you did. When you are ready, you will do just fine. Don't try to rush becoming a man, it will happen when you are ready and not before. That's what happened with your Poppa, with Nicholas and with Alexander and it will happen with you too," she told the boy as she kissed him on both cheeks. Mark had not slept well all week long since his encounter with Josephine. He slept like a rock with Adell with the woman's heartbeat echoing in his ear.

One week later the boys were back at Sestriere skiing when Mackenzie saw a jump he wanted to take and flew across three moguls to get to it. By the time he was in the air and flipping, he was off balance and sideways. When he landed, he landed on a rock and laid in the snow with a compound fracture of his femur and out cold. He was brought down the mountain by the ski patrol and because of the bleeding from the compound fracture, the Fire Brigade airlifted him to Cottolengo in Turin along with Zachary and Sebastian. Mark doesn't think the hospital has been the same since.

Mackenzie arrived in the hospital sometime around 1:00 in the afternoon and disappeared on a gurney down the hall. Zachary and Sebastian were still sitting in the waiting room when Adell blew through the doors with Sergio about an hour later. It would be very kind to say that the hospital staff grew an immediate dislike of Adell. They very calmly explained to the woman that she wasn't the parent of the child, she wasn't a relative, and she had absolutely no standing concerning the boy whatsoever. The shit hit the fan!

Stavros isn't your average Greek. Stavros called the parents in Australia, then the Greek Consulate in Rome. The Greek Consulate called the Italian Consulate, and he called the Mayor of Turin. The Mayor escorted Adell past the nurses along with the hospital's Administrator into the recovery room where Mackenzie now lay in a half body cast. It took her under three hours to teach the staff not to say "No" to her.

Once out of the recovery room, Mackenzie was put in a private room. Adell ordered a chair for herself and an extra bed for Zachary and the hospital staff explained that hospital rules forbade non-patients staying overnight. Adell didn't sleep in her chair, but Zachary fell asleep sometime after 10:30 or so with his bed moved next to Mackenzie's. The hospital staff gave up and hoped for Mackenzie's speedy recovery and removal.

When he landed on the rock, Mackenzie broke his femur and the upper bone tore through his calf and out his leg. He also sustained a concussion which was most probably a good thing. It kept him immobile and he had no memory of the accident; only of seeing tree limbs go by as he flipped upside down.

He awoke the following morning to Adell on the phone to Greece wanting to know where the orthopedic surgeon was that she wanted to evaluate his ex-rays. Mackenzie's Doctors were very nice the woman was sure, but they weren't Greek. In the meantime, Mackenzie's Mother was on her way, and according to the twin's Father, the hospital staff was very fortunate to be dealing with the calm easy going Adell. Stavros was happy he was in Greece.

According to Zachary, Mackenzie was "Dopey" for the first two days, but on the third day when his Mother arrived, he was almost back to his old self. As she arrived and greeted Adell, Adell was pretty much on her last legs having had less than ten hours of sleep in three days. Rachael took Adell back to the Cottage as the twins' Mother lived up to her husband's expectations. Hospital staff thought Greeks were rude, over bearing and snobbish. They thought Australians were hysterical, irrational and over-protective. Adell and the twins' Mom almost instantly liked each other.

Mackenzie stayed in the hospital five days and Zachary is certain there was a celebration at the hospital when his brother was wheeled to a van and loaded for the cottage. Mark and the rest of the boys returned to school on Monday following the accident while Zachary remained with his brother for the entire week. Adell was due back in Greece on Monday but wouldn't leave Mackenzie "Alone" in a hospital with no one to care for him.

Having the twins' mom now there answered a lot of Adell's questions concerning the boys and their attitude, particularly concerning things sexual. Adell thought that beyond the world of Greece, Italy, Spain, France and some of Eastern Europe, most Countries were not only ignorant, but completely clueless concerning children and their sexuality. She found their practices and beliefs appalling. Now, she watched a Mother who saw her sons in the morning with a bladder erection and didn't go screaming for a sex therapist for the child. She saw a Mother see her son hold his penis in his hand and not go reach for a belt. Maybe Australia was different from the rest of the western world she thought to herself.

The twins' Mother brought her youngest child with her, a baby girl of 13 months who was still breast feeding. Adell knew almost immediately she was dealing with a woman she felt comfortable around, when the baby was hungry, the baby drank. It really didn't matter where or when. She was Adell's kind of Mother.

Before Mark and the rest of the boys returned to the Cottage for the weekend Adell was a bit apprehensive about how the woman would be able to deal with the boys' behavior. After watching her on Thursday and Friday with her own boys, she had no problems.

It was no surprise to the boys that they would not return to ski at Sestriere the next weekend, or even the weekend after that. Mackenzie was not traveling because of his injuries and the Cottage buzzed with activity mainly geared towards keeping Mackenzie busy and occupied while cemented into a cast that went from both ankles to his waist with nothing but his ass and penis sticking out in between.

When Mackenzie first awoke in the hospital room, his entire stomach and groin area was a brownish yellow color including his genitals. "What the fuck is that," he asked his brother. "They said it was to prevent infection," Zachary replied. "What, to paint my fucking balls?" Mackenzie asked. Now back at the Cottage just before the boys came back Zachary took it a step further.

Just before dinner Mark and the rest of the boys arrived and walked into Rachael's room where Mackenzie had been set up along with his mom, sister and brother. Rachael moved temporarily in with Adell, and the boys all sat on the sides of Mackenzie's bed as he sat propped up on the hospital bed. Julian discovered the remote for the bed, and for the next five minutes, the bed was turned into a pretzel with Mackenzie laying in it as the boys pushed button after button.

"Let's see the cast," Sebastian finally said as the bed lost the boys allure. Mackenzie pulled the sheet over his body showing the cast from feet to waist. With Mackenzie wiggling his toes, the boys looked at the stone white cast and up to his waist. Where his penis should have been was a whole bunch of cotton. The boys fell silent. They pretty much all wondered to themselves if he still had one. In fairness, none of the boys were with him during the accident except for Sebastian, and even he didn't know the extent of Mackenzie's injuries beyond the fact that his pants and leg was covered in blood when the ski patrol cut his snow pants off on the slope.

"Is everything going to be OK?" Mark asked Mackenzie. "Sure," Mackenzie replied, "The cast will come off in about six weeks the Doctor said." "Why is that cotton on your willy, you still have one right?" Julian asked. "Sure, take a look!" Mackenzie told him. Just as the twins' Mother and Adell came into the room, Julian reached over and removed the cotton as the boys all erupted in laughter. Zachary had dyed Mackenzie's genitals a bright red. "The twins' Mother just shook her head. "I guess they're back at it!" she told Adell.

If Adell had any concern about the twins' mom and her reaction to the boys' extra-curricular activity it was pretty well wiped out during Friday night showers. After bathing Mackenzie, she came into the bathroom to assist Rachael and Adell with the other boys. After finishing Zachary Sebastian came next. "Well, what's your mum been feeding you?" she said to the boy as Sebastian stood there not understanding the woman's English. After Mark translated into Italian and Greek, a red faced Sebastian stood there amid laughter that even Mackenzie downstairs could hear.

Mackenzie's mom returned to Australia almost a week after she came. For the twins, they barely escaped being flown back to Australia, and being removed from school. Adell became the deciding factor in her decision to leave the boys in Italy, she had no doubts whatsoever that her sons were in very able hands and that they were well cared for.

Zachary returned to school Monday, and each of the boys took turns staying with Mackenzie one day a week to keep him occupied and up to date with his school work. For Mackenzie, the ski season was over, but everybody returned to Sestriere three weeks after his accident and Mackenzie busied himself playing with Alexander's twins.

Adell remained with Mackenzie the week following the boy's accident and returned to Greece to take care of Peter a week later. It was then that Stavros told the woman about the request from Spiros to court Lydia. As Stavros expected, her first reaction was complete and total rejection of the idea. It took Stavros very nearly the entire week to convince Adell that the boy would be a very positive suitor for the girl and that he wasn't going to screw her face off at the earliest possible opportunity.

The man knew full well that the request was going to set into motion a defensive position by Adell that would make the Green Bay Packers look like a girl scout troop when Lydia came within 500 feet of Spiros, but that was to be expected. In truth Adell liked the boy very much, but there was no way in hell he was going to find that out until after the wedding. For now, he was the enemy and the girl's hymen was going to stay intact if she had to shoot him to do it. Adell's first move was to notify Lydia's Mother of the intentions of the First Officer. Now the poor guy had two women glaring at him like he was Adolph at a Bar Mitzvah.

When Adell returned to Sestriere, Alexander and his family joined them which afforded the woman the first time to speak to Lydia in person. The girl was now wet nursing the twins, and the first opportunity Adell got was after the adults and boys went to the mountain to ski, leaving Mackenzie, the twins, Lydia and Emily behind. With just six people there, the house almost seemed empty by comparison. With Emily and Lydia feeding Demetrious and Constantine, Adell got her chance and took it. "Stavros has been approached by Spiros. He has asked Stavros for permission to court you Lydia," the woman began the conversation. Lydia looked a little stunned and surprised as she looked up from Constantine who was more asleep than feeding. "Spiros?" she asked Adell. Adell nodded her head as Lydia looked at Emily. "Has he ever told you of any interest in courting you?" Adell now asked. "He's been nice, but he's never said anything to me," Lydia told the woman. "Good, if he did, he'd be packing his bags," Adell told her as she took a sip of tea. "What did Poppa tell him?" Emily now asked. "Men don't get involved in such things, he has left that to Lydia's Mother and me to deal with," Adell told the women. "Are you interested in having Spiros court you?" Adell now asked the girl. Lydia blushed a little. The girl had never been courted before, she had never been on a date before. "If he does, he will be expected to keep his pants on and his hands in his pockets!" Adell told the girl very bluntly. "You are a virgin, and you will remain a virgin until your wedding night. Stavros will make that crystal clear to him if you decide to accept him," Adell said. Lydia's blush got deeper as she looked down at Constantine.

Lydia was now 17. She had gone to work for Stavros and Adell at age 14. Lydia knew full well what accepting Spiros's courtship meant. She was going to have a shadow from then on whenever Spiros was anywhere near her. She would no longer be sent out alone in public, another woman would always have to be with her. The two would have company whenever they were in contact with each other and Spiros would be expected to refrain from dating or seeing any other woman. Holding hands and a little kissing would be tolerated, but other than that, it would be rosy palm or nothing for Spiros until they either married or called the courtship ended. "How old is Spiros?" Emily asked Adell. "He will be 24 in June," Adell replied. "He has been on the ship since he was 16 and he will probably take over when Captain Sophis retires," Adell replied. "Unless he gets stupid!" she quickly added. Both girls knew what getting stupid meant. "Are you going to accept Lydia?" Emily asked the girl. "Has Stavros approved?" Lydia asked Adell. "If Stavros did not approve, he would have never said anything to me," Adell replied to the girl bringing the courtship game almost full circle. "Do you approve of him?' the girl asked. "That remains to be seen," Adell replied. "Yes, I accept," Lydia responded.

"Your Mother will be here tomorrow afternoon," Adell told the girl as she got up from her chair. Lydia knew her shadow was on its way from Hania and the other was now leaving the room. With two babies nursing, the women sat there as the smiles began appearing. Lydia would probably marry after a one year courtship and be nursing a baby of her own within two years.

Mr. Dee's dominance over Jean-Paul in the meantime grew almost by the day. Jean-Paul yearned for a strong loving relationship with his Father, and Mr. Dee now provided that relationship beyond Jean-Paul's greatest fantasies. Once the boy's school day was over, Jean-Paul was the man's cook, cleaner, wife and lover. He was also a very large part of the man's extra income. Weekends now found Jean-Paul chiefly in Genoa where the man kept an apartment and Jean-Paul found himself entertaining his teacher's "Friends" who usually only stayed for an hour or so as Jean-Paul modeled his teacher's clothing to the friend and always ended up having sex with the friend as Mr. Dee took the pictures. If Jean-Paul was especially good at making the teacher's friends, happy, Jean-Paul was rewarded by sleeping with the teacher that night. It happened, but not as often as Jean-Paul wanted it to.

None of the boys at Turin knew exactly what happened to the boys after Mr. Dee's initial year, they did know that the teacher only kept a boy like Jean-Paul for one year. In June just before school let out for the summer, Jean-Paul learned where he would be going. "This is Roberto, Paulette. Next year he will be returning to school as a Senior boy and you will be moving in with him in his apartment to take care of his needs," the teacher told Jean-Paul. "But I want to stay with you!" Jean-Paul told the man. "Roberto needs someone to take care of his needs, you will stay with him and make sure that he is happy," the teacher said unemotionally. "We have loved each other for a year, it is Roberto's time for you now." As with all the boys kept by the teacher, he was sold to a Senior Boy who had been with the teacher four years previous. Each year, Jean-Paul moved in with the next senior boy in line, each year, and the senior boy paid Mr. Dee very well for Jean-Paul's attention. Mark learned all of this in Jean-Paul's senior year. The boy now standing next to Jean-Paul when Jean-Paul told him, was with the teacher the previous year. Mark said nothing to the boy who stood by Jean-Paul's side. "He's happy," Jean-Paul told his friend. "Ask him if he would rather go live in a house with other 10th Graders." As Jean-Paul spoke the boy reached for Jean-Paul's belt and shook his head no. Mark didn't ask the boy, he knew what the answer would have to be. Mark wasn't happy, it wasn't the way he did things.

The system wasn't new or invented by the teacher, it is a traditional practice that most prestigious boys' boarding schools utilize and it's officially known as a "Mentoring" Program to assist the younger boys by pairing them off with Seniors who "Guide" them through school. Most of the guiding is done in bed as Jean-Paul found out the day he met Roberto and his mentor satisfied himself that Jean-Paul could meet his needs to the teacher's approval.

For Mark and his friends, the balance of the school year from Mackenzie's accident forward moved fairly swiftly. For Adell, there weren't enough hours in the day. Between Mark and his roommates, Mackenzie, the twins and Alexander's Family and Peter back in Greece, the woman rarely got an hour to herself. Now, Nicholas's wife Maria was pregnant with another child due in June, and Emily was again pregnant and due in September.

At the close of school, Mark and Mario returned to Corfu and the rest of the boys all returned to their homes except for Jean-Paul. Not against his wishes, his parents found a summer camp for him in Germany for kids who had gender identity problems. It's a politically correct way of saying it was a camp for gay children. He returned to the camp for the next six years, eventually becoming a counselor there. For Jean-Paul the camp probably saved him from becoming a leather boy. He learned he didn't need to be bound and tied down, but that's another story.

In the ninth grade his friends didn't know him or understand his chosen lifestyle. It manifested itself in their distancing themselves from him, including Mark. Once back in tenth grade, they knew he was certainly gay, but he came back from camp a different boy. His relationship with his friends at Turin remains intact today. He is the Godfather to one of Mark's children.

Mark and Mario's return to Corfu in the summer of 1991 was a summer filled to the brim with memories for not only them but everybody else who was there. In June, Maria gave birth to Stavros and Nicholas's disappointment at not being able to present his Father with his first male grandchild all but disappeared with Adell's and Stavros's reception of the baby. Neither Mark nor Mario saw much difference between their reactions to the birth of any other baby by the two, but Nicholas did and that was all that mattered.

For Lydia, her around the clock guarding began on the ship as it picked up Alexander and Mark from Monte Carlo for the return to Greece. Adell and Lydia's Mother had almost three months to plan the defense of Lydia's virginity, and as the two women boarded the ship on Corfu bound for Monte Carlo, the scrutiny of Spiros began as the Captain warned the First Officer it would. "Women are very strange creatures Spiros, until Lydia is married, they'll cut your balls off if you try to get too near her. Once she is married, they'll hold her down on the kitchen table for you," he told his ward. As a boy, Spiros had seen the tradition in its full glory when his own older sister was courted, so he had an inkling of what to expect. On the return trip and throughout the summer Spiros saw Lydia and even sat and talked with her many times, but never alone. If he saw Lydia, he was also looking at one other woman with the girl, usually her Mother or Adell.

The twin's determination to get Mark and Mario to visit them in Australia never let up and pressure was applied to both families all winter long. Probably more than anything, Mackenzie's accident and Adell's meeting their Mother did more to grease the wheels than anything the boys could say to convince Adell to allow the boys to go. If she said no, there wasn't going to be any trip and all four boys damned well knew it!

By mid July, Mark and Mario were flown to England along with Rachael and the three flew to Australia on the Concorde. For two weeks they almost lived on top of horses and in the beginning of August were returned to Corfu along with the twins who would remain in Greece until it was time to return to school.

With the addition of Emily's brothers in the beginning of August and Julian in mid August, the boys now numbered nine and lived on the ship anchored just off the beach in front of the house.

Mark's 15th birthday rolled around, and once again, Karah and her parents visited which was the second time that summer Mark had seen the girl. This time, Mario suggested that there was only one reason the girl was still coming for visits. "I think that Nana has plans for you to marry her," Mario said the day after the girl left. "She's just the right age that Nana picks," he told Mark. Karah was now nine years old and growing quickly. She grew a few inches over the winter, plus the fact that she was also budding unlike most nine year olds. When she swam in the pool or in the Grotto, she was naked like all the children were and Karah was very quickly leaving childhood behind her. "She's just a little girl," Mark told Mario. "How old is she going to be when you're 18?" Mario asked his friend. "12," Mark responded. "And how old was Maria when she married Nicholas?" his friend reminded him. Mark thought about it and decided to ask Adell. Adell didn't answer Mark directly, as she played with Aletha on her lap, she posed a question to Mario. "And how old are you going to be when she's 12?" she asked him. Mark smiled as the boys left the Library. "Maybe she's not my wife, maybe she's yours!" he told Mario. The question would be left open for another year. Karah was going to marry Mark. Mario would not marry until he was 26 and completed his education. His future wife was ten months old and sitting on Adell's lap.

Unknown to Mark or any of his brothers, Stavros received word from America that both Doc and Patty had died and that Michael was no longer a caretaker in The Program. Stavros had never met either Doc or Michael personally, but he knew all about them and especially of Mark's very strong connection to Michael. Along with Adell, Stavros kept the news from all the boys. Mark would learn of it in 2000. The Program Administrators told Stavros about the situation only because the man was still planning on adopting one more boy, and they didn't want the news reaching the boys accidentally.

Nicholas's return to Greece for the birth of Stavros also coincided with the end of his schooling away from home. He would continue school in Greece and Maria would continue to bear his children at a rate Adell approved of. By 2000 Maria had eight children. Most were nine months apart.

Both Mark and Alexander returned to school, It would be Alexander's last year. Emily gave birth to a baby girl in September and was pregnant with her 4th child before the November snow flew. She would go on to have three more by 2001.

By now, most of the boys with Mark were 15 and turning their attention to girls more and more. Compared to the boys' interaction at ages ten through 14 with each other, their 10th grade activities could be considered tame. They still loved to fuck, but progressively sought out girls who could be convinced to raise their dresses and open a blouse. Mark and his friends were luckier than most of the horny little 10th graders, they had Sebastian, or better yet his dick to act as a magnet. 14 and 15 your old girls can be fairly rude to like aged boys, but one look at Sebastian had wet underpants down and off before the boys could adjust their condoms. The supply of girls wasn't all that difficult to find. Turin has three schools for girls. Two are run by nuns who kept very tight reigns on their charges through age 12. Once they took the leashes off, the girls couldn't get the boy's pants down fast enough.

After Josephine, Mark was a little gun shy around girls. That disappeared on his third trip to the convent as he was greeted by the same girl each time. She didn't just want to kiss and get felt up anymore, she took his heterosexual virginity and came back for seconds. Mark walked back to school with the twins and Mario a very proud and tired 15 year old.

The last boy that would be adopted by Stavros was now being processed through The Program and like Peter, he would not go out into the field before being adopted. He was already circumcised, so Peter would end up being Stavros's only adopted boy who remained intact. That was neither here nor there to any of the boys who had been circumcised, but Adell had regrets. She didn't believe in it, and wouldn't allow any baby to be circumcised as long as she was in charge.

The boy's name was Gregory and he was 12. He was born in Sarasota, Florida and lived with his father who was a carnie. The man owned and ran four booths that were set up on Carnival midways and sold Sausage and Pepper Sandwiches. Gregory spent his winters in Sarasota, and spring, summer and fall on the road. Gregory hated it. The boy's father made a great deal of money, but between the rent that the midway owner charged and his father's "Hobby." There was very little left over for basics and Gregory grew up on leftover sausage sandwiches and lemonade.

He wore bib overalls until he was 10, no shoes, no underpants, and no shirts. Just bib overalls. Gregory's mother gave him to his father when he was two months old, she went to California with another carnie, she was 13 when she abandoned him.

Gregory's father had a hobby, and his hobby was usually between 11 and 14 years old. At every stop on the tour, he would hire local girls to man the booths and pay them. If they worked the booths, they received $25.00 a night. If they worked Gregory's father, they were paid $45.00 a night. Gregory learned by age four to move over in bed usually by about 8:00. By the time he was six he learned how to put a condom on his father and guide the man's penis into the girl while his father pinned the girl to the bed if she was having second thoughts. At age 11 at the Dutchess County Fair, Gregory's father was busted for raping a 12 year old, along with his son, who "Assisted" in the rape. Like Peter, Gregory never looked back when leaving America, there was nothing there for him to begin with.

With the arrival of Gregory in January, 1992 Peter was ecstatic. He would now have a boy who was his age around him. His best friends were Kyle and Adrian, but they are around only during holidays, births and the summer. Mark was now too old for him to play with so Gregory was the answer to his prayers. He had a brother right around his age that he could grow with.

Gregory came right after Christmas and Mark and Alexander were already back at school. With Mark's agreement, Adell now returned to Italy twice per month to be with Mark and Alexander at Sestriere on alternate weekends. She went mainly to be with the twins and their new baby sister, as well as the boys.

Gregory did not speak Greek and Adell had to start all over again with sign language and charades whenever an interpreter wasn't immediately available.

From the very outset, dealing with Gregory's problems created by his father was going to be monumental in scope. Gregory wasn't basically illiterate, he was totally illiterate. He did not know how to read or write. He knew money, but nothing else concerning math. From his earliest days, Gregory stole his food whenever possible. Now, every time Adell turned around, she found hoards of food in his drawers and closets. Money and valuables began disappearing; Gregory was burying them in the orchards in cans and bottles. He never took showers or baths and hated them. He had no hygiene skills and Adell found more than a few of his underpants stuck under a bed or in a closet corner full of feces. He could curse like a drunken sailor and smoked if he got the opportunity. Gregory wasn't like any of his brothers, this boy was going to be the extreme test of Adell's skills. She informed Stavros the boy needed to be "reasoned with".

After five days of very patient child rearing, Adell was frazzled to the bone and ready to beat his ass in with a belt. Instead, she had one of the guest houses almost completely cleared of all furniture and Gregory was going to be living with her alone until he begged to move back into the big house as a civilized human boy. To do it, she enlisted Nicholas's help as an interpreter once a day just before bedtime. Other than that, Gregory could curse his ass off, she understood none of it.

For about a week, Adell and Gregory had a battle royal usually ending with Gregory in the shower for the 10th time that day. If Gregory soiled his pants, he was naked for the rest of the day after a shower. If he pissed in his closet, he was back in the shower. Food was never made an issue and he was fed five times a day. If he balked at the showers, the housekeeper's husband, who weighed close to 225 pounds and was a big as a bull was at the doorstep and ready to assist in his next shower if absolutely necessary. Gregory was ready to be reasonable eight days after he entered the guest house. Gregory was tired of cursing at someone who didn't understand a fucking word he said.

The day after Gregory returned to the big house, everyone but Gregory and Peter were downstairs when a commotion in the boys' bedroom brought most of the house upstairs. As Peter lay on the floor crying with a fat bleeding lip, Adell went to find Gregory who had disappeared into a closet. Bringing him back out into the bedroom Stavros was holding Peter and breathing heavily. "Why would you think you could ever hit one of your brothers?" the man asked. "He tried to steal my fucking game," Gregory responded. Stavros looked at the game on the floor. "That game was a Christmas present of your brothers, it's his, not yours," the man told him. "It's mine, I won it from him," Gregory responded.

Stavros put Peter down on the floor and approached the boy now standing defiantly in front of him. Pointing to Adell, Stavros put his face less than six inches from Gregory's and spoke in English. "This woman would never harm a hair on your head. But I'm not her. If you ever raise your hand to one of your brothers again, I'll take this belt off and beat your ass bloody. Do we understand one another?" he asked the boy. Gregory shook his head yes. "Give your brother back his game, if you want one, I will buy one for you," Stavros told the boy. "Gregory did as he was told.

"That was good Nana, Gregory has a much better understanding of how the household works now," Stavros said to the woman in Greek. "What did you say to him?" she asked. "I reasoned with him," the man replied as he picked Peter back up and took him downstairs.

Walking down the stairs Peter now had a question for his Father. "Would you really beat him Poppa?" he asked "If the only way I can reach his brain is through his ass, yes Peter," Stavros said as he kissed the boy.

"I have lived here now for almost eight years Gregory, I've never once heard my Father threaten to beat anyone. You need to take him seriously, he won't tolerate fighting between any one of us," Nicholas told Gregory as the boy sat down on his bed. "Maybe he should just send me away," Gregory said. "He won't do that, you belong here now and he loves you as much as he loves the rest of us," Nicholas responded. "Everyone of us came from The Program just like you did and we've started a new life: it's time for you to do the same thing."

There were very many bumps in the road ahead for Gregory; you just don't turn around 12 years of garbage at the twinkle of an eye. Stavros's plan was to send Gregory to school in Germany with Adell in the fall. That never happened. Gregory was much too far behind in basic schooling and was tutored on Corfu through his youth. He never learned to read or write in English, he was tutored in Greek and is now literate thanks mostly to Nicholas's dedication to him.

Adell's separation from Mark was no easier for him than it had been for Alexander two years earlier, but like Alexander Mark had his school friends and his studies. Mark never made the Headmaster's List, but he didn't flunk out either. The one problem the boys did have was the impending end of school. This was going to be the last year the twins attended Turin, They would finish their secondary schooling in Perth and then continue on to University. Nobody was happy.

The end of 10th grade for the boys was a bit more like a funeral than a graduation. Mark, Mario, Sebastian and Jean-Paul would be returning in the fall, but the twins and Julian would not return. Julian was on his way to England as his family had planned for him.

Neither Adell nor Stavros made light of the boys' separation; Mark had suffered catastrophic losses in his life and he did not accept loss lightly. Among his friends, only Mario ranked higher than the three boys who were now about to be leaving. Adell wanted some link of continuity to remain between the boys. It was easy to arrange with Julian, he lived in Greece and the ship could be there in a full day. Summers and holiday visits were easily arranged. The twins however were 14,000 kilometers away. One plane ticket cost close to $7,000.00 US unless you wanted to spend three days getting there.

Both sets of parents knew that the need to keep the boys in contact with each other would fade with time. With new friends, different schools, the normal maturation process, the boys would drift apart and eventually go on about their lives with fond memories and maybe some phone calls now and then over the years. Temporarily, they could each go to each others home and spend two weeks apiece in the summer. This they knew would ease the transition. That was in 1992.

The boys never subscribed to that theory and in 2005 they remain best friends and visit each other as often as possible. Zachary has four children, Mackenzie has 5. Three of the children learned how to swim in the Grotto. They spend a month in summer on Crete with Mark and Mario's family along with Julian and his two boys. As a boy, Julian got along very well with Emily's brothers. Today, they are related. Julian married their baby sister and Stavros is now the Patriarch of Julian's family.

As for Zachary and Mackenzie, their boys are coming well within the age criteria to pair with more than few cute little Greek girls on Corfu and Hania as far as Adell is concerned, but nothing "Official" yet.

Mark and Mario's final two years at Turin flowed swiftly and without major problems. Both the cottage in Turin and the Chalet at Sestriere were maintained for the boys, but Adell was spending more and more time on Corfu taking care of Peter, Gregory and the growing bundle of babies that were being produced by Nicholas and Alexander. Rachael stayed with the boys through the 11th grade, but in their senior year, they were fairly independent.

Once Mark graduated, he would return to Corfu and join his brothers. He would also marry, which took him a bit of getting used to. He first met Karah when he was 14 on Hania. Now at 18, he had seen and been with the girl for the past four years on occasion, but basically, the two didn't really know each other beyond playing, swimming and being with each other during holidays and on special occasions like births and Baptisms. The girl was picked by Adell, and like Nicholas before him, he would marry the girl and begin a family. Mark had nothing against marriage, he just wondered if he should be marrying a girl of very barely 12.

From a legal standpoint, the answer is yes if you have the girl's parents' permission and Mark did. In the good old days, a girl could legally marry in the eyes of the Church at birth. Nowadays, that might be pushing it, but ten is legal if the girl is "With child". Beyond that the rule is "Of child bearing age". Karah was eligible to marry after her first menstruation which she had at age 11. Her wedding date was set for the 10th of July, 1994 which was calculated to be five days after her last period. On her wedding night, an egg would be sitting there waiting. July was a good month to both families because the baby would be born in April, and might even be a Pascha Baby.

None of the above was a surprise to Mark, but he just figured it would all go away in time. As he was being fitted for his Tux he realized it might be a good time to have a conversation with his brother Nicholas. Sitting at the pool that afternoon the talk began.

"Poppa and Nana go by Greek customs. Here in Europe, it's not uncommon for a young girl to be married as long as both families agree to the marriage and what the Groom is going to bring into it," Nicholas told his brother. "If a family doesn't have anything, then there's no reason to commit their daughter. But families like Poppa's ensure that a girl and her family is very well taken care of for the rest of her life," he said. "What about the girl?" Mark asked. Nicholas shrugged his shoulders. "Maria knew when she was eight years old that she was committed to marriage, she just didn't know who it was to until she was 10," Nicholas told his brother. "Suppose she didn't like you, or suppose me and Karah don't like each other?" Mark asked. "The girl has no option; she's committed by her family. Maria or Karah would never refuse to marry, it would disgrace her family." Mark looked a little puzzled and at the same time distressed.

"Mark, this isn't America. In America most marriages end in divorce or they never bother to get married in the first place. America has a divorce rate of 47 percent. Here in Greece the average is 14 percent. Who has the better system? Here, most children are raised with two married parents. Half the kids in America don't live with their fathers and most of them don't even know who their fathers are!" he counseled his brother. "They're all completely fucked over there! If you're going to figure out what's right, look at the statistics and not what they might think about it in Boston."

"Karah will love you and she'll have as many children as you want her to.

Your job is to take care of her and raise your children as a family," Nicholas told his brother. "There's no other way and that's what Karah will expect of you." Mark was deep in thought. "Nana would never have arranged for you to marry Karah if she didn't know the girl would make you happy. Talk to Nana and she'll tell you the exact same thing," Nicholas said.

By the early afternoon Mark decided he would talk to Adell. He knew damned well what the outcome would be but decided to talk anyway. It couldn't hurt. Mark found the woman bathing Aletha in the kitchen sink while the four year old squirmed to go play with Demetrious and Constantine who were ankle deep in the fountain in the courtyard. Aletha went running out the door as Adell took her out of the sink with the little girl dripping water all over the floor as she gave her a pat on the ass. Adell sat down at the kitchen table. "Nicholas told me he had spoken to you," Adell told Mark. "Are you concerned about not loving her, or about her age?" she asked. Mark smiled a little, more to himself. He knew the conversation was going to be frank; it always was with his Grandmother. "I guess a little bit of both Gramma. I've never even kissed her. We never talked about love or anything. I don't have a clue of what's she's thinking, and she can't know what I'm thinking," he told the woman. Adell sat and listened and paused very briefly. "And her age?" she asked. "Gramma, she is only 12 years old!" he responded. Adell nodded her head. "And when you are 30, she will be 24 and probably have four or five children at least," Adell said. "You would rather have a 24 year old Mother taking care of her children than a 30 year old. By 30 a woman doesn't want to be making babies anymore, she wants to watch them grow and play, not change diapers and breast feed," Adell said. "Karah is ready to marry and to have your babies. That's what she has been raised to do since she was a small child. She is a virgin, but she has been taught since age five how to make her husband happy in bed. Forget her age, she is more knowledgeable than a 20 year old when it comes to making you happy."

Adell got up and went to the sink. "Come here Mark and look." Mark got up and looked out the window. Outside on the Patio, Maria was nursing her youngest baby, her 5th since marrying Nicholas four years earlier. "Maria is 16. Can you imagine her if Maria was 18 when your brother married her?" She would be sitting there now 22 years old. Nicholas has two boys, Maria will have at least three more babies before she is done having his males," Adell told Mark. "By the time she finished having babies, she'd be too tired to enjoy her life!"

"And as far as knowing each other and loving each other, that takes time to develop and begins on your wedding night when you take her to your wedding bed and you take her Maidenhead," Adell told him. "You've had almost 18 years of practice. You are a good and skilled lover and she will expect you to keep her as happy in your body as you will be in hers. With her husband's warm stiff cock inside her where it belongs, love will come to her faster than her pubic hair will!" For probably the 9,000th time, Mark blushed at the woman's candor. "You mean she's bald?" Mark asked. "That's for you to find out when you give her your first baby!" she replied as she went to the door to watch the children playing in the fountain. "Karah is ready for you and you will be as happy with her as Nicholas and Alexander are with their wives Mark. If I didn't know that to be the truth, you wouldn't be marrying her."

Mark's first child missed Pascha (Easter) by four days. The baby is a boy named Michael and is now 11 years old. Today, Mark has five children, Karah will probably have three or four more before she turns 26. Mark's oldest daughter Olympia is now 10. If Karah and Adell have any marriage plans for her, they've not told Mark about them; yet.

Following graduation at Turin, Mario attended the University on Corfu very much to the great relief of Mark. Mark had promised his friend he would go with him wherever Mario was sent to school and Mark was very worried that he'd find himself stuck somewhere in Mongolia. While Mark and every one of his brothers except for Alexander married at 18, Mario did not marry until he graduated University with a Master's Degree in Business at age 26. Mario would have been very happy to marry at age 18 but his Father asked him to wait until he finished his education. It was probably a good thing he accepted his Father's advice, when Mario was 18, his future bride was almost 4. Today, Mario has two children and Nicholas is his Father-in-Law. He married Aletha when she turned 12 as Adell had planned from day one. Mario is now a member of Stavros's family and regards the man as his Patriarch.

Lydia and Spiros courted and married exactly one year from the day Adell agreed to allow the First Officer to court her. They were married on Corfu at the big house, and today have six children who are raised on the estate in Hania with Mark, Alexander and Mario's children. Captain Sophis retired in 1995, one year after receiving a new 225 foot Feadship from Holland to replace the smaller one that could no longer accommodate Stavros's growing family. Spiros is the ship's new Captain.

All five of Stavros's sons came together to form an alliance, but as usual, all things were not equal. Alexander and Mark along with Mario were inseparable, and now live on Crete within sight of one another. Nicholas, Peter and Gregory live on Corfu within sight of each other. Their common goal is the family business and each plays a pivotal role in its success.

Nicholas's dream of returning a viable wine industry to Greece is now in its 15th year. In the wine industry, that makes it a baby, but the baby is growing and thriving thanks to Nicholas, Julian, Peter and Gregory.

Mark and Alexander concentrate on the olive business, while Mario takes care of the banking side of the business.

Stavros and Mario's Father oversee the entire company, while Adell sits awash in grandchildren on Corfu. As of 2005 she counted 28 very tanned naked Greek children between the ages of three months to 15 years old swimming in the Grotto on Corfu and that didn't include friend's and employee's children.

Demetrious, Constantine and Stavros all live on Corfu with their Grandfather, all male children live in the big house under Adell's supervision upon their 12th birthday.

In 2005 a reunion was held on Corfu between Mark and his friends from The Program. The reunion was a bitter sweet one. Mark had heard of the death of Doc and Patty in 2000 when Michael came to visit Mark in Greece at Stavros's invitation. Now, Aaron, Alex, Conner, Jimmy, Daryl and Michael came along with their children. Six of the original boys from Danamora were back together again for the first time in roughly 16 years and the journey each of them had taken in the intervening years took almost a week to compile on tape and notepads.

Besides Doc and Patty, the only two people really missing from the group were Kellie and Sean. Kellie won't go anywhere emotionally due to the loss of Doc or Patty, he doesn't feel he's strong enough to deal with their loss even today. He and Sean are the adoptive parents now of three boys and Sean is well and happy.

Just before the group disbanded, Daryl asked Mark if he thought he'd ever bring his children to visit them in Florida. "No, I would never allow my children to go to America," Mark replied. "I don't hate them. I have what I have because of what they did to us as children but who wants to go through that kind of stuff no matter what you end up with?" he asked. "As a society America is fucked and I won't expose my kids to that silly stupid nonsense. When it comes to human sexuality, America is in the dark ages. Let them have Danamora, they deserve it."

As Mark finished speaking, his seven year-old came bounding up to him from the Grotto. "Come on Poppa, let's go swimming," the boy pleaded. Mark got up from the beach and picked the boy up and gave him a hug and a kiss as he patted the boy on his rear. "They arrest people in America for doing this don't they?" Mark asked the group as he walked down the beach with his naked son cradled in his arms giggling all the way.

The End

If the written word creates evil, perverted, disgusting and sick individuals, please don't read or study the history of man, politics or religion, you would be in very deep fucking shit!

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