Howdy Doody

The Geppetto Project

Chapters 5-6

Chapter Five

The Boys Arrive

As the boys were moved into their new houses and the front doors shut tight behind them, Bert was already receiving reports. The bus drivers from Orlando, the ferry drivers, the van drivers onto campus and housekeeping staff all told Bert the same story. The staff was as warm as ice and the boys were walking zombies. They were not abused, but they were instantly obedient to any request from staff. They were all very neat, clean, polite and totally uninterested in what was going on around them. Bert saw a very red blinking light in his mind.

Initially, it was Bert's intention to allow the new boys and their staff as much room and space as possible to get use to their new surroundings and their new home. As report after report came into him indicating that the Albemarle staff was keeping their boys as distant as possible from all things Green Tree, Bert decided he was going to integrate the boys sooner rather than later. Meals were usually held in each individual house. They would now be held in the Dining Hall and dinner that night would be their first meal.

"I want our boys to act no differently than they would at any meal or get together," Bert told his staff in a note.

"The Albemarle boys will be watching them, let them decide how they want to spend the next few years."

The boys at Beachview came home from school expecting to go visiting the new boys and get acquainted. That wasn't going to happen so Sid decided that it would be a nice change of pace to take a swim at the beach. (Something he avoided at all costs normally.) On the way to the beach passing house after house with the new boys in them the window shutters were open. Within a few minutes they were all shut.

"Well, they can't see us, but there's no reason they won't hear us," Bert told Adam as he tossed a frisbee to a group of boys which always started a pretty loud party.

Cell phones and radio's were always banned at Green Tree for security reasons; you never knew who was listening and ask why people were out there talking. Albemarle was made aware of the rule and as Bert suspected the rule was broken before the ferry entered the slip on the Island. Just prior to dinner, Bert received a message that the Albemarle boys requested dinner in their houses; they were very tired from their trip. Bert apologized, but the kitchen didn't have enough time to respond, and Bert would send staff to escort the boys to dinner if the staff was too tired to attend. Three cell phone calls were immediately made to Selma, Alabama. Bert now knew where the Director of Albemarle was.

Friday was chicken day, and the kitchen had made what was probably the boy's favorite, Southern Deep Fried Chicken, and Chicken Tenders. Coming into the Dining Hall, the Green Tree boys were already excited because of the food, so it took very little encouragement from staff to keep things on a higher than usual plain socially. Bert wanted the new boys to see how real boys lived life and there were no shutters to close to keep them 'sheltered' while they sat silently and ate.

Dinner went uneventful, with a welcome from Bert to the new boys which ended with the Green Tree boys rising and clapping their greeting. Bert then announced a very short meeting with all Albemarle staff during desert. Bert was ready to rip some new assholes as the new staff joined Bert, Sid, and the Security liaison in the Recreation Hall next to the Dining Room.

"Gentlemen, I want to personally welcome you all to Green Tree. We're all very happy to have you here and we all know it has to be very difficult for you to leave Albemarle behind you," Bert began the lecture.

"I know that all of you attended Albemarle as children and grew up there. It's always difficult moving on, and that's what's now going to happen. Green Tree is your new home for as long as you want it to be. Any requests for transfer to any other placement will receive my highest priority," Bert told the men.

"We want you to stay, we want you to be happy, and above all, we want the boys to be happy. As happy as our own boys are and that's our highest priority.

We will assimilate the new boys as quickly as possible. Albemarle had its way of doing things, and we all understand that. But we're not in Albemarle anymore and now we'll do things the Green Tree way."

"Sir, it's my understanding that there are agreements in place that have been approved by Alexandria," a new staff member stood up and said to Bert.

"First, my name is Bert. What's yours?"

"Kevin Sir," the man replied.

"Yes, Kevin, there were agreements signed, and we hope to be able to follow them as closely as we can. But that's like the agreement concerning the ban on cell phones and walkee talkees," Bert replied.

"This is a print out I received from Security. It's a log of all calls made since you left Orlando. The last call was made 20 minutes ago back to Selma."

Bert had Sid pass the log to the man standing.

"Agreements are very wonderful things if everybody follows them," Bert said without waiting for a reply.

"Security will pick up every single cell phone tonight. If Security is breached again, someone's on their way to Selma on the next bus," Bert told the men. The silence in the room was deafening and uncomfortable. (Except for Sid.)

"Can I assume you are the Senior Staff member of this group?" Bert asked Kevin.

"Yes Sir," he replied.

"Then I will consider you the liaison between my office and your people until we've broken down all the barricades and start functioning as a cohesive unit together. I'll tell you up front my game plan, and I hope very sincerely you'll accept us as equals as soon as possible," Bert said as he now stood up from his desk.

"We intend to turn Albemarle boys into Green Tree boys in the shortest possible time. As adults, you have the choice to accept our philosophy or reject it and move on. Again, we hope you stay on, but that choice is yours alone to make," Bert told the men.

"I see very fine boys who are well cared for, healthy and extremely well behaved. What I don't see is a lot of happy smiling faces, and that's the first thing we're going to change."

"Does that mean you intend to violate the agreement concerning contact with non-Geppetto staff members?" Kevin asked. Bert's first reaction was to go for the throat, but he reconsidered.

"Kevin, I'm not privy to how things worked internally at Albemarle, but when staff got together to talk privately like we are now, did you ever get the opportunity to speak openly, honestly and frankly?" Bert asked the man. Sid needed to sit down, he knew the shit was about to fly.

"Sir?" Kevin asked. "Did you ever say to your Director, Sir, that's a fucking load of bullshit?" Bert asked the man. Kevin turned a little pink and some of the other men shifted around in their seats. Sid knew why he loved Bert so damned much.

"Absolutely not!" Kevin replied.

"Too bad!" Bert muttered to himself audibly.

"Well Kevin, at Green Tree, if Sid here, who's my eyes, ears and sometimes my voice thinks I'm off base he has the balls to tell me so and he knows I won't cut them off. Albemarle had a problem with non Geppetto Staff members and I understand that and never once suggested that your Director was a fucking asshole for believing that way," Bert told the man as calmly as he could. "Now, we're at Green Tree and we use Non Geppetto Staff. They will continue to be used, and your boys will be coming into contact with them. That doesn't mean that our staff will be fucking their balls off!" Kevin's face went from pink to red.

"Sir, Our boys have never been exposed to acting out sexually with other men or boys." Kevin replied very defensively.

"Your boys have never romped with each other? Is that what you're saying Kevin?" Bert asked the man.

"Romped?" Kevin asked.

"Fucked Kevin, fucked! You do know what fucking is don't you?" Bert replied.

"Sir, I really don't think you need to be crude!" the man replied.

"Aw shit Kevin, how old are you?" Bert asked the man.

"42 Sir," he replied.

"Well Kevin, for probably 38 or 40 years you've been fucking. I'm 55 and have been fucking for about 45 years now. Nobody really gives a shit!" Bert said as he sat back down.

"Do you or don't you know that your boys are jumping each other?" Bert again asked the man.

Clearing his throat, Kevin replied to the question as uncomfortable as he was now feeling.

"From time to time, our boys have been found in bed with each other, but it's never condoned and we have always stopped it from repeating," he said.

"How?" Bert asked the man.

"The offending boys are separated from the group and sleep alone."

"Why?" Bert asked.

"So they don't continue to engage in illicit sex!" Kevin responded.

"And how do they obtain sexual gratification with staff approval?" Bert asked the man.

"They are stimulated as-needed by medically approved devises," Kevin replied.

"You too?" Bert asked the man.

"Sir?" Kevin asked.

"You're a Geppetto boy, Kevin, when you decide to romp, you plug yourself into something?" Bert asked the man.

Probably the closest color Sid could think of was Candy Apple Red.

"Sir, that's a private question that I don't think is germane to the conversation." Bert said nothing, but turned and looked at Sid.

"My question wasn't put to you to embarrass or humiliate you Kevin, it was asked to try to find out how we can best assimilate the boys in a unified approach between our staff and your people. If you took offense, I apologize, but had no ill intent."

"Yes Sir." Kevin replied not quite as clear eyed as when he arrived.

"Until tomorrow morning, you may continue to govern the boys as you have in the past, but I'll tell you all right now, things will change in a very big way, and it's going to start tomorrow. We're not a battery operated facility and I don't intend on becoming one anytime soon. As for Selma, you have Carte Blanche to contact them and report anything you wish, but you must do it through Security. What you say to Selma is your private business, and we will not monitor any correspondence between you as long as it is put through secure channels," Bert told the men.

"Isn't that right Officer!" Bert asked the Security Liaison.

"Yes Bert," the Officer replied.

"Gentlemen, it's going to take some time for the both of us to understand each other and I ask that you spend as much time as you can observing and watching how our boys are taught, handled and especially how they respond to our way of doing things. For us, if a boy isn't happy, smiling, laughing, playing or interacting with his peers and staff, we know something's drastically wrong with the boy and we start figuring out how to correct the problem and get him back to a happy childhood. To us, everything else is pure bullshit and that's our official philosophy."

"Breakfast is at 8:00 in the Dining Hall and your boys will be assigned to their new classes immediately following the meal. We will all meet out in front of the Dining Hall and we'll orientate you to your new surroundings," Bert stood up.

"Gentlemen, let's get back to the reason we're here," Bert told the men as he moved to the door.

The meeting was a little over ten minutes long and as the men walked back into the Dining Hall the scene was a little different. When they left, all the new boys were sitting at their tables. Now they were still in clusters, but more scattered around the Dining Room talking and meeting the other boys around them. As the Albemarle staff reappeared their boys almost instantly rejoined their assigned tables.

"Tomorrow is Saturday, and your first day here as students of Green Tree, No classes are held on weekends, we play from sunup to sundown, but it's your first day and we'll be showing you where your new classes are located right after breakfast. Have a good nights rest, and tomorrow, it's a new day," Bert told the assembled new boys.

"My name is Bert and this man's name is Sid. The only reason I'm here and Sid is here is to listen to any problems you might have and try to solve them for you. If you want to talk to either one of us, our door is never closed and all you have to do is let your staff know you want to speak to us, they'll see to it that you see us immediately," Bert said to the boys.

"Isn't that right Kevin."

"Yes Bert." Kevin replied. Several Albemarle boys looked at each other. Most didn't know Kevin's first name and never heard it before.

The walk back to Beachview found Adam and Dan together as the boys from their respective houses heading for the lagoon as the sun began setting. Sid was still with Bert, and they could only imagine what the meeting was about, but figured Bert and Kevin saw eye to eye, after all, they were already calling each other by their first names.

"What's your impression of the new boys?" Dan asked Adam as they walked.

Adam thought for a few seconds. "Stiff," he finally said.

"And the staff?" asked Dan.

"Stiffer," Adam replied.

"Yeah, me too," Dan told his friend.

"It's probably just the unfamiliarity with the place," Adam finally said.

While the greater majority of all the boys ended up at the waterfront, the Albemarle boys and their staff retreated to their new housing and once again closed the doors and shutters.

Flopping down on Bert's couch popping open a beer, Sid was first to speak as the two converged in Bert's house.

"Just when we were going to take off on holiday!" Sid said sarcastically, Bert sat down after mixing a double gin and tonic.

"We stepped into a pile of dog shit!" he said to his friend as he took a sip of his drink.

"There was nothing in the files?" Sid asked his friend.

"Clean as a hounds tooth, everything very clinical," Bert responded.

"Nothing about the Energizer Bunny?" Sid asked.

"Very vague, very, very vague!" Bert responded.

"When those leashes come off the boys necks, you know this place is going to go bullshit!" Sid told his friend. Bert nodded his head and took another sip.

"The bigger problem is going to be their staff. They've been screwing their balls off in 'secret' for who the fuck knows how long. Digging them out of their little closets is going to be a real fucking funfest!" Bert said.

"OK Swami, are we going to do it fast and furious or slow and very painful?" Sid asked.

"The first thing I've got to do is to get a hold of Alexandria. Albemarle's little one's and senior boys have to be just as fucked up as ours are. Alabama and New Hampshire have to warned about this stuff!" Bert replied. Sid looked at his watch which wasn't there.

"Too late boss, they're probably already telling Alexandria to warn us!" Sid replied.

"I want the team together tomorrow morning at 8:00 and fully briefed. I also want any references to inside or outside Uncles erased from our vocabulary. Not between staff, and not between our boys. Uncles are Uncles, period."

"That's a mighty tall order boss!" Sid told his superior.

"Do what you can Sid, I'm going to be stripping some people mighty naked and I don't need any excuse for them to hide behind."

Sid arrived back on the beach just before the sun went down and as his cart pulled up, a Security Cart pulled up to Bay Watch which caught Adam and Dan's attention.

"What's that all about?" Dan asked Sid as the men converged around Sid's cart.

"Old communication lines are tough to break," Sid responded somewhat cryptically. Dan's eyebrows rose.

"Tomorrow morning Dan, the Crises Team will gather at Beachview at 7:00 pass the word," Sid told the man.

"Another thing, and this comes from the top, there's no more reference between inside and outside Uncles. Uncles are uncles. That goes for staff and that goes for the boys as well."

"How the hell do I explain that to my kids?" Dan asked.

"Pass it on as a 'temporary request' to the boys until we get the new boys acclimated. They'll go along," Sid suggested.

"What's going on?" Adam asked his friend. "Basically, we've got 40 new Geppetto boys who don't have sex with each other or their staff," Sid told the men.

"Other than that, everything is completely normal." "You're kidding me!" Dan said.

"No, they are!" Sid replied as he peeled off his shorts and took a swim with a group of boys who were badgering him to swim with them for the past five minutes.

Bert's call to Alexandria was completely expected on their part. They had already received calls from the other two schools who had received their Albemarle boys and Bert's reaction mirrored previous calls. Albemarle was always considered by Alexandria to be one of the most efficient and quietest run of Geppetto schools. They never received complaints from Albemarle, they never had problems, everything was always running very smoothly and now they were learning why.

"I don't want to hear a fucking word about any 'agreement' that was signed. I've been handed 50 people who are walking zombies thanks to Albemarle," Bert told the Conference call participants.

"Our staff are professionals, they are also Geppetto boys themselves. They would never have taken advantage of the boys in their care," a familiar voice to Bert said.

"Any body from New Hampshire or Alabama who believes that, please tap your phone receivers," Bert replied. A dead silence followed for the next few seconds.

"Gentlemen, Geppetto boys fuck because that's what they were made to do. If you don't know that, or, you think you can stop it, you have no further business being on the line," Bert said to the participants.

"As for me, I'm going to try to get these men and boys back to reality beginning tomorrow morning so have a nice day." The call was ended and Bert went to make another gin & tonic before he went to Beachview to talk with Sid.

After the sun set, the boys walked back to their houses with their staff. Some, like Sid, had his Cart and eight to ten boys piled on and house by house, a few boys dropped off at each one and continued down the trail. Most of the boys hadn't gone swimming, but some, like Sammy and Joey had and were carrying their clothes as they passed by some of the new boys' houses and waved to the boys on the porches if their staff allowed them out there. Most of the new boys just stared back, but some did wave. Progress, Adam thought to himself.

Bert came into Beachview with the very unmistakable sounds of boys upstairs in the midst of a shower party. Bare feet ran a crossed one end of the loft to the other and back, and in between, hollow echo's of boy's voices screeching and playing under flowing hot water in an enclosed shower stall told Bert that his part of his promise to his son and wife was being fulfilled. Bert sat down in a lounger in the living room as Sid and Adam came in with an arm load of boys clothing headed for the laundry chute.

"Drinking Boss?" Sid asked his friend.

"No, gave it up for Lent!" Bert responded.

"God Bless," Sid said as he handed Bert and Adam a bottle of Budweiser.

Adam sat and took a sip of his beer now and then, but the sound of the boys upstairs he thought might be distracting to Bert.

"I think I better go upstairs and stop the war," Adam finally said as he leaned forward to get up from his chair. Bert motioned for him to sit back in his seat.

"We all worked our asses off to hear those kids do exactly what they're doing now, let them be," Bert told Adam. Adam sat back.

"I called a meeting here of Crises Team heads Sid. They're on their way," Bert told his friend.

One by one, another staff member joined them until by 9:00 or so, there were probably a dozen staff in the living room. Adam felt out of place. He was the newcomer, and wasn't really sure he was expected to be there in the first place. And besides, he had seven boys upstairs he hadn't seen in well over an hour. Getting up, Bert asked him where he was going.

"The boys are done with their showers, I was going to see to them and go to bed," Adam replied.

"The boys have all been put down and they're fine," Bert told Adam.

"This is a meeting of the Crises Team and you're on it," Bert told the man.

As Adam already knew, Bert very rarely minced words, and on this occasion he was brutally frank.

"We've now got 40 boys who've been bullshitted for who knows how many years that they have a 'condition' that can only be controlled by their being mechanically jerked off on some kind of a regularly scheduled basis. In the meantime, we have their staff who administer this mechanical marvel, but of course never participate themselves in any kind of debauchery! Beginning tomorrow morning, I want them dragged out of the closet so that we can continue with their lives!"

"Tomorrow morning after breakfast the new boys are to be shown their new classrooms and the campus. I want all teachers there to meet them and get introduced," Bert told the assembled men.

"What about our boys?" Adam asked.

"We'll need the morning for orientation, so our boys will have a Beach Day and be supervised by housekeeping and building and grounds staff. We'll use as many senior boys as we can get," Bert replied.

"What we're staring down the throat at is 40 boys who've been tethered to an extremely short leash all their life. Now we're about to take that leash off and they're going to be tasting freedom for the first time. I expect some fireworks before they settle back down to a reasonable control over themselves."

"Our bigger problem is their staff. They're use to sneaking through life in the middle of the night, and they've been at it years longer than the boys have. Some have been at Albemarle since just after birth, so we expect some fairly entrenched sexual repression," Bert advised his people.

"Some of them actually blush at the spoken word 'fuck.' If you can believe it!"

"Now, I want suggestions on the re-education of their staff," Bert told the group.

"I assume we're taking away their toys as a first step," one team member asked.

"As of tomorrow morning after breakfast, toys will be used on the boys only if they specifically request them," Sid volunteered.

"Toys?" Adam asked.

"Toys are what the boys call vibrators," Bert told Adam.

"Albemarle refers to them as mechanical devises. To us, they're Energizer Bunny's," Sid told Adam.

"Just think of the commercial," Dan interjected as the group snickered a bit. Adam smiled as he pictured the Bunny in his head.

"How are we going to enforce that?" a team member asked.

"Beginning at lunch tomorrow, each house will have a Green Tree Staff Monitor attached to it 24 7. They will advise the new staff as to Green Tree procedures," Bert told the group.

"You don't think they're going to balk at that?" Dan asked.

"I don't care. Let them report it back to Selma," Bert replied.

"What I do care about is them sending back reports of our boys or staff engaging them," Bert told the group.

"Until further notice, they are off-limits to anybody from Green Tree. We don't need Alexandria getting reports that we're all a bunch of perverts screwing their poor virgin brains out. Let them screw each others brains out until they all get bored," Bert told them. A low muffled chorus of giggles turned a few heads upwards to the loft area of the house. seven little heads peered down on the group through the railing.

"I thought things were a little too quiet up there!" Sid said as he stood up.

"We've got an audience!"

"Gentlemen, what you've heard stays within this house. Isn't that correct?" Bert said to the boys as he got up and addressed them.

"Yes Uncle Bert!" a chorus of little voices came back.

"Good night," Bert told the boys. Disappointed the boys slowly got up off the rug and retreated back to their rooms.

"OK, so tomorrow after breakfast we begin the re-education. The Crises Team Counselors will educate the staff and the teachers will educate the boys. Sid will be your conduit, my office door never closes," Bert told the assembly."

It was very close to 10:00 by the time the meeting broke up, and Beachview emptied out. Adam went upstairs and entered the room as sheets still drifted down to the boys lying under them.

"Still awake I see," Adam said as he sat down and began undressing. A few giggles confirmed what Adam already knew; his boys were wide awake, and they heard every single word of the conversation. Adam lay down and pulled the sheet up around him and pulled Sammy next to him as he always did every night.

"Do you really think all they play with is toys Uncle Adam?" the little boy asked him.

"No Sammy, We know they play just the same as everybody else, but it was something they could never admit to," Adam told the little boy.

"How come Uncle Adam?" he asked.

"Probably because the head of their school isn't as well educated about Geppetto boys as Uncle Bert is," he told Sammy. The little boy snuggled against Adam and reached his hand over and rapped Adam's arm around his waist and covered Adam's hand in his.

"I'm happy I'm at Green Tree and not at their school," Sammy said. Adam smiled as he hugged the boy as close as he could.

"I think after tomorrow, so will they Sammy," Adam told the boy as he kissed him on the side of the neck.

"Time to play?" Sammy said almost instantly. Adam's smile deepened as he shook his head. Come hell or high water, Geppetto boys never quit and Adam was up till just past 11:00 making Sammy, Joey and Trevor very happy little boys one by one and there wasn't a battery in sight.

Bert's night after the meeting with the Crisis Team was far from over. It would be well after midnight when he went to bed, and most of his time was spent talking to Alexandria. Bert knew two things; Alexandria wanted the least amount of problems concerning the schools that held Geppetto boys and they wanted to know as little as possible about them or what was going on.

"I never knew that, I was never told that, I never condoned that." was the cloak they wanted covering their asses, and 'deniability' was, (and is.) key. Bert and the rest of the heads of Geppetto Schools know that.

"Guys, we've been handed the biggest bag of shit in the world. These kids have been on the short leash forever and their staff's been in the closet with them. New Hampshire and Alabama must be telling you the same thing! I've got to deal with this stuff and get these people assimilated into Green Tree and New Hampshire and Alabama's got to do the same thing. Tell Albemarle to fuck off and let us get these people back down to reality!" Bert told the Liaison from Alexandria.

"Bert, they really want the Agreements honored."

"And if the Agreements were made based upon the truth, I'd honor them. We've been bullshitted, and you've been bullshitted. I can't run Green Tree like Albemarle has been reporting, it's been a bullshit lie from beginning to end."

The voice on the other end told Bert that the man had heard it all before.

"Do me a favor, do what you have to do, but don't send the gory details or rip Albemarle into six million pieces. Make the reports as benign as you possibly can."

"No problem, trust me, I'll send reports that worship the ground Albemarle walks upon. The assholes," Bert replied.

"I didn't hear that!" Alexandria said.

"Of course you didn't, I didn't say it," Bert responded.

Bert went to bed after two more gin & tonics. He went through each staff members file once again. Each file was of a Geppetto boy, now man. Some were 1st Generation (1965) and some were 2nd Generation (1980) All were of boys who, through no fault of their own, were now at Green Tree as adult staff having come from a school that had denied their basic instincts all their lives. They would probably resist, but Bert was determined to bring them into the light and into the open acceptance of who and what they were. The hiding, sneaking, shame and denial was at an end and the process would begin in the morning.

The sun rose on Saturday morning over Green Tree as it had for over 33 year's since it's founding in 1970. There were now very close to 450 people at the Academy all together, from babies of 16 months, to adults, well into their 60s. From the schools very beginnings, it was founded under a new philosophy of raising the boys who were in its care. These were very special boys who, through no fault of their own, were considered unable to live in 'normal' society; they were extremely sexually active, 'officially' they were part of a special program and labeled as having a medical condition known as 'precocious puberty'. That condition does medically exist, but the greater majority of boys at Green Tree do not have it. They are highly sexually active because that's how Uncle Sam made them. They are what is known by the Government as 'Geppetto boys' and come from the results of an experiment gone wrong post WW II.

From its very beginnings, Green Tree was a school founded under a new philosophy of caring for these boys; they were raised away from society, but free to interact amongst themselves as they were compelled to do. Now, Green Tree had taken in 50 more men and boys who were all Geppetto boys from another school (Albemarle) that had to close its doors. The 40 boys were all intermediate aged boys from eight to twelve years old. The men ranged in ages from 22 to 44. However, there was a major difference between the new group of residents and Green Tree boys and their staff. The new group was raised in a school with a vastly different philosophy than Green Tree's.

Green Tree's approach to the boy's condition was one of acceptance and openness. Albemarle's approach was one of denial and secrecy. To Bert, the Executive Director of Green Tree, the two philosophies were diametrically opposed to one another and Albemarle's boys and staff would have to be ripped out of the closet. Bert knew the boys would be fairly easy to re-direct. Their staff however would be the tougher nut to crack. Most had been in hiding and denial since birth.

Bert awoke just before the sun rose just as he did every morning. It was already in the mid 70s on this small key in Florida, and Bert could feel the humidity already getting uncomfortable as he sat on his porch over looking the Gulf as he sat his cup of coffee down and picked up a stack of ten files and for the third time in two days, went through each one to get a feel of the ten new members of his staff who arrived from Albemarle and would soon be mingling with Green Tree students and staff. By the second file, his assistant Sid pulled up to Bert's house in his golf cart and jingled the bells on the cart to forewarn Bert of his impending arrival. Bert smiled and shook his head a little; he and Bert went back longer than any other Staff member. Sid was there at Green Tree when Bert first arrived some 25 years earlier fresh out of Harvard.

"Mornin boss, got coffee?" Sid said as he walked into the house followed by four very spunky little boy's.

"Yep, there's more in the kitchen," Bert replied as all four boys surrounded the Director and pretty much lined up as one by one, each boy gave the man a good morning hug and kiss and then headed straight into the kitchen. Sid came back onto the porch and sat down in a chair next to Bert's desk with a very tall glass of ice tea.

"No coffee?" Bert asked. Sid shook his head.

"I've been up since 5:00 and had a pot already. It looks like it's going to be a cooker today," the man replied. Bert nodded his head and passed the man the files he had already read that morning.

Several minutes went by as the men read when the boys began re-appearing in Bert's office along with bowls of Sugar Pops and Lucky Charms. As each came in, they sat down and ate their cereal, half watching the men work.

"The same rules apply as they did last night when you nosey bodies spied on us. What you hear doesn't leave this house!" Bert advised the boy's. A chorus of "Yes Uncle Bert" followed along with a few giggles.

"Do you think we're going to lose any of them?" Sid finally asked as he read through half the pile.

"I hope not, but if the staff can't adjust to our way of doing things, they're out of here on the next bus," Bert replied.

"Frankly, I wouldn't care that much except for the fact that they're all Geppetto boys themselves," Sid nodded his head.

"How are we going to handle it?" Sid asked his Director.

"I think the best way is to lay out on the table for them how we operate and why," Bert said.

"If it's something they're unwilling or unable to accept, we're beating a dead horse," Bert said.

"They know I'm not a Geppetto boy. That brings with it an automatic distrust in their minds. They're like radical deaf people who believe that only another deaf person can possibly understand them or deserves to be able to teach them anything. I don't want to give them one more crutch to hold onto, so I think you'll head the team that handles the staff and I'll lead the team that handles the boys," Bert told his friend.

"Just keep in mind Sid, if you were sent to Albemarle instead of Green Tree, you'd probably be sitting there amongst them."

Sid smiled "Boss, I promise I won't drag them off to bed and show them how to do it," Sid replied. A few giggles reminded both men they had an attentive audience.

"Just eat," Bert told the boys who immediately returned to their cereal bowls. Horns and bells came from the outside for the next few minutes, as once again, the Crisis Team assembled. The boys knew who was appearing at Bert's house without seeing the men. They knew the sounds of the different horns, bells and whistle's each staff member used on his golf cart. As the room filled up, the boys drifted off to the parlor and turned on the tv. Listening to the meeting was nice, but not as interesting as the cartoons.

While Sid's day began at 5:00 with the four boys in his room, Adam's day began a good hour later as he awoke to a soggy set of sheets and comforters that were very well watered down by Sammy, Joey and Trevor. As they usually did, Joey and Trevor had climbed into bed with Adam and Sammy long after the two had gone to sleep, and having both of the boys piled up against him was nothing new to Adam. In fact, he almost came to expect it. Joey and Trevor were in their usual head to toes configuration, both eight year olds grew up together since age four and both were very much closer than brothers. They ate, played, learned and slept together and were pretty much inseparable. If you saw one, the other wasn't very far away. Now, they were still sound asleep as Adam watched the boys sleeping as peacefully as a litter of puppies on their mothers stomach.

On the other side of Adam, another pile of water logged mass was turning around and stirring.

"Good morning pookey," Adam said to the little boy whose eye's opened and slowly came back into focus. Sammy smiled but didn't speak; he had no voice quite yet. Instead he reached over and lifted himself on top of Adam in his most comfortable position as he found a spot on the man's stomach and abdomen that molded to the curve of his body and settled himself back down. Adam's nose nestled into the boy's hair that still smelled of shampoo from the previous night's shower. Adam instinctively kissed the boys scalp and then kissed him again. There were a lot of ways the man liked to awaken, and this was just about his favorite as one hand massaged the boy's back and spine while the other caressed the boy's cooler than normal bottom. For Sammy's part, the boy lay there half studying the feelings the mans hands were sending through him and half needing to go to the bathroom but he really didn't want to move off quite just yet.

"It smells like shower time again," Adam whispered to the little boy. Sammy giggled a little as he turned his head to the other side of Adam's chest.

"You say that every morning Uncle Adam," the little boy told his teacher.

"And every night, you have a swimming party in the bed," Adam replied. Again, Sammy giggled.

By now, Joey was awakening and turned his head towards Adam. The boy was now about half a nose away from Trevor's groin as he stared directly into his friends erect penis. Trevor had what the boy's all knew as a 'morning boner.' And it was pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing. Just as big, just as much fun to play with, you just had to remember that it just might go off due to it's real condition; a very full bladder. Joey considered his options and as he usually did, took his friend into his mouth. He knew one of two things were about to happen; Either Trevor's body was going to suppress the need to go to be replaced by the need to climax, or, Joey was going to be drinking some sterile water really fast. By now Joey too had a boner, but it had absolutely nothing to with his bladder. Trevor awoke dreaming he was standing at the toilet peeing. He was peeing, but there was no toilet to be seen. What was seen was Joey's erect penis and Trevor fully awoke as he continued to release his water while at the same time, take Joey's penis for a morning ride. Both Adam and Sammy watched both boys in silence. This scene was nothing new to any one of the boys at Green Tree and Sammy knew it as just the start of another day with his friends. Sammy, Joey and Trevor were Green Tree boys, this was the way their day began just about every single morning, with a few variations maybe, but basically, the same. Adam smiled as he felt Sammy's erection flex against his stomach. Sammy was ready to play, and that didn't depress Adam one single bit!

For the Albemarle boys who were now awakening in their houses in their new home, there was also a routine to be followed as it had been for years. They were awoken very promptly at 7:00 and immediately lined up at the bathroom door to urinate under the supervision of their staff who were there to see to it that no sexual interaction transpired between the boys. That was forbidden at Albemarle and was considered 'deviant' behavior on a boy's part. Most of the boys were enuretic, but regardless, they still had full bladders upon awakening, and one by one, each boy would strip out of his pajamas as he approached the toilet and urinate. Once that task was completed, the boy would report to his house parent where he would be 'mechanically induced.'

Albemarle was well aware that the boys needed to induced by artificial mans lest they take things into their own hands which would not be tolerated. One by one, each boy would be induced, and it would be repeated every 90 minutes throughout the day until the boy was put to sleep at 8:00 sharp! Their staff, who were also Geppetto boys naturally needed inducement also, and they self administered prior to the boys. It was very clinical, very proper and very impersonal, therefore, not deviant behavior. On paper, it seemed to work very well, Albemarle was doing things that way since 1965 with a few, but not very many boys actually coming into actual sexual contact with each other. Staff of course never even dreamed of having sex with another person. On paper, Albemarle was a huge success story. Bert wasn't buying a single word of it and neither was any member of his staff.

Breakfast that morning, unlike the usual meals that were served in each individual house, was centrally located in the Dining Hall of school. Bert, or any of his staff had not been made privy to any last minute instructions from Albemarle staff to their charges, but he didn't need a whole lot of imagination to know that the boys walked into the Dining Hall with instructions to keep a great deal of 'secrets' to themselves from Green Tree Staff. After breakfast Bert separated the boys from their staff and the boys' new life began.

After introductions to the boys' new teachers and staff members, Bert sat down on a table in the dining room and began.

"You are now Green Tree boys. Green Tree is run a little different than Albemarle was, and it will take some of you some time to get use to us. We know that, we understand that, and we accept that. One of the first things you'll learn about Green Tree is that we have no secrets from each other. We don't need any. We all know exactly what each other is doing and there's no reason to have secrets. Some of you have secrets, and we know that. That's also OK with us, when the secrets no longer matter, they'll be forgotten," Bert began.

"I don't think it's a secret that you are all Geppetto boys, almost every boy here as well as the staff are too. We all know what Geppetto boys need to do many times a day, and in the past, you've been mechanically induced to accomplish that goal. Those days are now over," Bert told the boys.

"Without their express permission and request, no Green Tree boy is made to reach sexual gratification mechanically. Those toys will not be used on you again unless you ask them to be." Almost all of the boys reacted, some of them tearfully.

"But Sir, we have to be discharged," one boy of about twelve told Bert.

Bert had never heard or read the term before.

"Is 'discharged' what you call climaxing?" the man asked the boy.

"I don't know, what's climaxing?" the boy asked.

"Most of our boys call it getting tingles, or coming, or popping," Bert told the boy.

"It's how your body feels once the machine has done its job," Bert replied.

"Yes," the boy replied.

"Well, from now on, you'll 'discharge' the old fashioned way," Bert replied.

"Boys, I know you've been taught to never, ever, ever pull your penis off by yourself, but there isn't a boy in the world who hasn't done that, and that includes yours truly!" Bert told the boys. More than a few giggles told Bert he was making small, but certain progress.

"Every single boy in the world has his own name for it, I called it jerking off, bopping the bologna, rosy palm, choking the chicken. Anything you want to call it, the results are the same; climax in three minutes or less!" he said to the boys. More giggles lightened Bert's mood for the first time in days.

"I want to see a show of hands. I'm not asking you if you did it with anybody else, or if anybody else did it to you, how many boys here ever played with their own penis to climax?" he asked the boys.

After counting, Bert had 16 hands up in the air, most of them the younger boys. 16 down, 24 to go Bert said to himself.

"I want the 16 honest boys in this group to line up over here," Bert told the group. "As you will be learning during the next few days, Green Tree boys are honest, and honesty is rewarded here. You 16 will go with Uncle George and Uncle Pete here and return to your houses. You don't need any more meetings this morning," Bert told the boys.

Smiles came to well over half the boys now leaving the Dining room as the rest of the boys all looked at each other.

After the Dining Room cleared of the 16 boys, Bert returned to the table and sat back down.

"Your class mates will rejoin you at lunch; they will be swimming and playing for the rest of the morning," Bert told the remaining boys. Many heads dropped at the lost opportunity.

"Sir," a small voice in the back of the group called out, "Can you ask that question again?" he asked Bert. Bert smiled as more than a few staff chuckled.

"What's your name?" Bert asked the voice.

"Jamie," came the reply.

"Well Jamie, I'll ask another question in a few minutes, and we'll see what happens," Bert replied with a smile that was impossible for him to suppress.

"Our boys call what you call mechanical devises 'toys.' That's what they basically are, they have one purpose, and that's to make you climax," Bert told the assembled group.

"It works, but its not human, and it's artificial. It might be good for a change, but it isn't natural. You eat, but you don't have to eat with your mouth, we could put a tube down your stomach and feed you forever. You go to the bathroom, but we could tubes in you and do that for you. We can hook you to a machine that will breath for you, run your heart for you. We won't do that, we won't allow you to be discharged either. If you want to climax, do it like everybody else and have a good time instead!" Bert now looked at a few red faces and heard a few more giggles.

"One of your biggest problems is the secrets you have in your heads that nobody else in the world knows about but you," Bert told the boys.

"Many of you hold the secret that you've played with another boy. Some of you hold the secret that you've played with staff or your staff has played with you. Some of you have the secret that some boys do things in the middle of the night with each other and with you even, but we don't know any of these secrets. Because you haven't told us about them. What we do know is that you are Geppetto boys and if there's one thing that Geppetto boys do really well, its what Jamie?" As he pointed to the little boy in the middle of the group.

"Fuck!" the little boy exclaimed.

"You're outtahere Jamie, go put your bathing suit on!" Bert told the little boy with the red face. With a yelp, Bert lost his seventeenth boy to the front door.

Once the group settled back down, Bert made one last comment for the morning.

"Boys, Green Tree is a new beginning for you, and I'm absolutely positive each and everyone of you is going to like the change once you get use to us. Green Tree is honest, open and free and so are you. We have one major rule regarding your conduct and won't tolerate anybody breaking it.

"No Means No!" if you don't want to engage, say 'No' and it will stop. If it doesn't, speak to any staff member and it will stop I promise you. At the same time, if you hear the word 'No', stop immediately or you will find yourself in trouble very quickly. That goes for students and that goes for staff, no matter where they came from. Do you understand what I'm telling you?' Bert asked the boys.

"Yes," came the chorus of voices.

"Last thing; you live under new rules and your staff is not yet familiar with them. If you have a question, ask any Green Tree staff member and he'll tell you what you may and may not do. Ok?" Bert asked the boys. Another chorus of "Yes" Came back.

"Let's go swimming!" Bert told the boys as a herd went running for the door. A boy of about 11 approached Bert and stopped the man to ask him a question along with several of his friends.

"If we're not going to be discharged anymore, what do we do?" he asked the man.

"Do what everybody else does here, go to the bathroom and whack it!" Bert responded. The boy looked at Bert for a long few seconds and slowly smiled.

"Really?" the boy asked.

"Really!" Bert responded.

Educating Kevin

"Basically Gentlemen, what you just read is how we function as a school, and how we treat the boys at Green Tree. I'm not telling you word for word that everything you read is followed to the letter, but basically, it tells you that Green Tree is an open free society of Geppetto boys and their lives are not interfered with when it comes to sex."

"The last thing in the world I want you to believe is that we are crude or insulting, but here at Green Tree we call a spade a spade, and don't have all that much time for nice, nice. So if our language or terminology puts you off, we're sorry, but don't take it personal."

"Now, I'm better at answering questions or listening to concerns, so let's start this ball rolling with page one," Sid told the assembled.

"Our boys are going to find it very difficult to adjust to this free and open thing you have going here," Kevin replied.

"By 'thing' do mean sex?" Sid asked.

"Yes," Kevin replied.

"Your boys are exactly the same as our boys. They're both Geppetto boys. Would you agree?" Sid asked the man.

"Yes, of course they are, but we've never allowed them to have sexual intercourse or to sexually inter-act with each other openly in their lives!" Kevin responded.

"We know that. But you also know that's exactly what they've been doing anyway. If not between themselves, between staff, most probably both," Sid said matter of factly.

"I'm a teacher and I deeply resent the implication!" Kevin said as several staff 's backs straightened.

"So am I, and like you, I'm also a Geppetto boy myself. As we all know, what we do the very best is fuck. That's what and who we are!" Sid responded like he was eating a bologna sandwich.

"I don't have sex with children!" Kevin replied almost explosively.

"Then I apologize, you're the very first Geppetto boy I've ever met who can make that claim!" Sid said very calmly.

"I certainly can't say that and neither can any staff member I've ever known."

"I believe that a very great deal of anxiety that exists in this room right now comes from the belief that the past is going to come back to haunt us," Sid told the group.

"Gentlemen, what happened yesterday happened yesterday and nobody in this school gives two shits about it. The only thing we're interested in is moving forward and living with these boys according to the Green Tree way of doing things. The boys aren't going to be allowed to sneak their way through their life; they will live free and openly as long as they're students in this school. We hope you choose to remain with us, but if you do, there will be no closed doors, no secrets, no visits in the middle of the night and no bullshit tolerated," Sid told them. "Lunch is coming up, take the Manuals and read them, and let's get back here after lunch and move on with everyone's life yours included!"

Sid and his staff left the group fully knowing there was going to be a very heated discussion about being plunked down amidst a bunch of degenerate perverts. These men had a great deal to hide, and it was going to take some time for them to convince each other they weren't doing what they were doing. Old habits die hard.

"So, how did it go?" Bert asked the man as Sid sat down for lunch with his Director.

"Not really sure boss, either I did well or we may need ten bus tickets real soon," Sid responded honestly.

"I hope I reached them, but they have some mighty high fences built around their sexuality. Most of them will probably tell you they never have sex!" Sid said. Bert smiled.

Adam's morning really began once the new boys left the Dining Hall. Returning to their houses, the boys went upstairs to change as Adam and the rest of the staff remained downstairs. One by one, they returned downstairs with question after question of Adam and the Green Tree staff. They wanted to know how Green Tree did things, they also wanted to know how Green Tree Boys behaved with one another.

"Probably the best way to answer your questions is for you to ask another boy," Adam suggested. Either at the beach, the pool or the gym, the next two hours were spent with groups of boys in huddles together, The new boys were learning, and at a pace far faster than their staff.

When Adam came into the Dining Hall with a group of boys for lunch, Bert and Sid were already sitting down and both eating and discussing afternoon strategy. The entire team all agreed that Kevin was the catalyst that was holding the new staff in check and there were already recommendations to cut the losses and remove Kevin from the scene. It was something that none of the staff felt comfortable with, the man was a Geppetto boy and on the outside, would very quickly end up in prison, contracting aids, or worse, committing suicide without substantial support from his peers.

By Bert's orders, the new boys were allowed to sit where they wished at lunch and they were scattered throughout the Dining Hall in roughly age appropriate groups picking the Green Tree's boys heads for information (More like permission), and with a few exceptions, the new staff ate together at a single table huddled in conversation.

Adam sat down and listened for a few minutes to Bert and the team and then picked up Kevin's file. Thumbing through it, he ate while he began focusing more closely. Eventually he got a pen and paper and started taking notes. 20 minutes later, he closed the file.

"I think we have the key to open Kevin's closet," Adam said as he passed Bert his paperwork.

"Kevin's a thespian," he told Bert. Bert read the notes and smiled.

"These are ages?" Bert asked Adam.

"Yep, age 8, 9, 10, 11, 12"

"And I'll bet he had the same staff member during that time," Bert replied.

"Bingo," Adam said as both men smiled.

"What's happening boss?" Sid asked as the rest of the team listened to the cryptic talk flying around them. "We're idiots Sid, we've been looking at the adult in the file. We should have been looking at the child," Bert responded as he flipped Kevin's file back in front of his assistant.

"Albemarle was big on getting their boys into choruses and plays. Kevin was in every single one of them and each year, his part got bigger. By age 12 he was the lead in Oliver!" Bert told the group.

"So he's protecting his old Uncle?" Dan asked.

"Albemarle didn't call them uncles, but basically yes. He had the same houseparent for almost ten years," Adam replied.

"Where's the Uncle now?" Greg asked.

"He died of a stroke about ten years ago. He was an original Geppetto boy," Bert recalled from the file. Adam nodded his head. Sid read through the file and shook his head.

"Good buddy, when you fall to sleep tonight, keep in mind that you most probably saved a man's life today."

"Indeed!" Bert responded.

"OK, so his life's story is now a wide open book and we build from there," Bert told the group.

"Sid, you're going to need a new Director for the Drama Club this afternoon and you understand that Kevin has some expertise in that area. Green Tree boys have expressed an interest in putting on amateur productions for in-school audiences, and you need a volunteer," Bert told his assistant.

"I didn't know we had a Drama Club!" Sid responded.

"We didn't until just now!" Bert said. Lunch ended in laughter.

For the new staff, the afternoon session was going to be a showdown as far as they were concerned. They balked at everything done since they arrived, and were ready to walk. They would try to appeal to Alexandria and if that failed, would work to be transferred to either Alabama or New Hampshire with the other Albemarle boys. Walking into the meeting, Sid talked to Kevin as the two men entered.

"I wanted to talk to you after we get through orientation and iron out any problems we might have between our boys," Sid began.

"The boys here at Green Tree have a Drama Club that they wanted formed, and we really haven't found someone yet to steer these boys in the right direction. Bert says that you have some experience at this thing at Albemarle, and I wondered if you'd consider taking over as the Director?" Sid asked the man.

"A lot of our boys have great singing voices, but no one to really fine tune their talents." he told Kevin." One minute earlier, Kevin was ready to drop a desk on Sid's head.

"Drama Club?" he asked Sid. Sid smiled, he knew he had the man hook, line and sinker.

"Yea, it ain't very much right now and has very little direction to it, but under the right tutelage, I think someone could make the boys shine," Sid responded.

"Let's talk tonight after dinner at Beachview House OK?"

Kevin nodded his head as Sid patted him on the shoulder. The war was over and Kevin would bring his own troops back into line. Bert expected the staff to present him with a much greater challenge than the boys would. In reality, it was pretty evenly matched. The afternoon saw a meeting with staff over by about 3:00 with Kevin pretty much keeping his staff under control and un confrontational. One staff member, more entrenched than Kevin, did suggest that they were unhappy and considering being transferred.

"We would very much prefer you remain here with us, you have developed a rapport with your boys and I'm sure that some of them are very attached to you," Sid said.

"However, if you are determined to leave, we will not stand in your way, but keep in mind, regardless of what decision you make for yourselves, the boys will remain at Green Tree."

"Isn't that Alexandria's decision?" the man asked.

"Yes of course it is, and they've already made it," Sid told the man. Several men lowered their heads. They already knew they weren't going anywhere if the boys stayed behind.

As for the new boys, the more they saw, the more they liked. By 5:00 when they returned to their houses to get prepared for Beach Dinner, their major concern was not offending their Albemarle staff by seeming to be too happy with their new home. They were walking a fine line, and these men were always the ultimate authority figure in their lives. Each house now had a Green Tree staff member monitoring the situation and that fact now put the boys in an additional dilemma; who did they listen too? Whose direction did they follow? Where did their loyalties lie?

As Bert and his entire staff already knew, many of these boys, if not all of them, were also keeping their 'secrets' concerning their sexual involvement with their staff, and that only compounded the boys problems for them.

Kevin occupied Sid's old house that sat next to Beachview which now held Sid and Adam and the boys.

"How do we dress for dinner Sir." One of Kevin's boys asked him as they arrived back at the house.

"I don't know, probably the best thing to do is to ask Greg," Kevin told his boy. The boy asking the question was a little surprised by the direction, prior to that, all the boys were told to respond only to their old staff members, not directly to Green Tree staff.

"Beach Dinner is always very informal," Greg offered without being asked.

"Most boys and even staff go in bathing suits or shorts because many end up in the water," he told the boy and Kevin.

"It's really your choice Uncle Kevin, if you tell your boys not to go into the water, they will probably obey you," he told the man. Kevin was struck by two words, 'Uncle' and 'probably.' At Albemarle, staff was always addressed properly as Sir or Mr. Kevin never called anybody Uncle in his life. At the same time, he now knew Green Tree protocol and the monitor was a senior boy of 16.

"Why do you say 'probably' Greg?" Kevin asked the boy. the senior boy smiled.

"Because most of the time, either Uncle Bert or Uncle Sid end up throwing a boy into the water anyway, so it doesn't really matter what our Uncles say," he responded.

"Does that mean we can go to Dinner in bathing suits?" the little boy asked.

"I guess it make sense." Kevin replied.

When it came to food, Albemarle's food wasn't all that different than Green Tree's food. Uncle Sam was footing the bill, and neither school spared any expense. The Kitchen was primed by Bert to make the extra effort for this very first Beach Dinner for the new arrivals and as they usually did, they chose a theme and this one was 'luau'. Hundreds of Beach Dinners had been held, and the music was already in the can. Bert wanted a party atmosphere, and the beach took on the appearance of a Tahitian Village as the kitchen cooked beef, pork and chicken on turning spits over open fire trenches. Baked potatoes lined the trenches along with steaming pots of shrimp, clams and lobsters.

Good food didn't impress Albemarle one bit. The party scene on the other hand had the new boys mesmerized while their staff wondering what happened to the 'loyal opposition' and their leaders resistance to change of any kind. As Bert had surmised, with Kevin's new found willingness to look at Green Tree as an acceptable alternative, the rest of his staff were leaderless.

As was always the case, Sid provided the music which he had taped in advance. As Adam learned, Sid had music to fit any scenario and a song library that could make RCA Records blush. Sid took his music extremely seriously and Adam was learning by the day who was pulling the strings when it came to the boys taste in music.

Both the intermediate boys and senior boys camps were assembled as they usually were when Camp Kenny appeared at the beach and the Albemarle staff saw for the first time in most of their lives females in and amongst the boys. Bert knew it couldn't be avoided, he approached it head on.

"Some of the girls have brothers, nephews and cousins who are Geppetto boys, they are here to raise our smallest boys and enjoy the same protection our boys do," Bert told a group of Albemarle staff.

"Surely you're not allowing your boys to come into sexual contact with females too!" One staff member said.

"No, the girls do not have sex with their boys. The boys they take care of are all under seven years old," Bert told the men.

"But even if the boys did get lucky, they're still shooting blanks and the girls have all been sterilized," Bert responded. More than a few raised eyebrows left as Bert and Sid stood there.

"I think the toys are in for a workout tonight," Sid told his Director.

"It does make for kind of an interesting visual doesn't it?" Bert said.

Beach Dinners always put the Green Tree boys in a very special party mood and now that mood was infectious. The new boys had never seen a scene like this before, and the music and atmosphere was fairly intoxicating to them. As the food was eaten and their bellies swelled, they watched as the Green Tree boys cavorted and played with their staff as they had only done in extremely private settings. Seeing boys picked up and thrown over their staff's shoulders and dragged into the water kicking and screaming in laughter never occurred in public. Picking a boy up and being wrapped in his housefathers arms to be kissed and hugged just never happened with the lights on. Even more shocking, as the night wore on the appearance of bare bottoms flourished among the Green Tree boys and nobody blinked an eye from Green Tree!

Originally, Bert wanted to advise his staff to tell the boys to keep their clothes on. A Beach Dinner usually ended with probably 60 to 70 percent of the boys returning to their houses naked after swimming. Nobody cared the week before, but now, there were the new boys and staff to consider. Bad first impression and all that stuff.

"Boss, I understand where you're coming from, but how do we explain to our boys that being naked is wrong? We've told them all their lives it's OK as long as you're not in public and Green Tree certainly isn't public," Sid advised.

"Sure they may wrinkle a few noses, but we both know in a week or two they'll be bare assed themselves." Bert thought long and hard in the very early morning hours of Saturday.

"We change nothing, but let's reinforce the decorum issue to the boys," Bert told Sid in the morning.

Bert watched the scene and was very interested in how the new group would react. His answer came when a new boy, probably eight or nine, approached his houseparent and lifted his arms up to the man. The houseparent was standing with two or three of his colleagues and seemed a bit stunned at first as his friends first looked at him and then to one another. The man hesitated for a few very long seconds, but the boy never lowered his arms. Bert watched as the man reached down and picked up the boy and the boy wrapped his arms around the man's neck and hugged him while the man reciprocated. Bert closed his eyes and breathed a great sigh of relief. The closet was opening.

The Intermediate boys Beach Dinner ended with the opening bars of Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. None of the Albemarle boys knew the song; the Green Tree boys knew it by heart and sang it spontaneously heading back up the beach and back into their houses. As they would each Beach Dinner, they fell asleep to the senior boy's music that would continue for another hour. Kevin walked back with the group until he reached his house and went inside to put his boys down for the night and would then meet with Sid.

Adam watched as Kevin walked up the stairs holding onto one of his boy's hands. It was the first time Adam ever saw Kevin do that since his arrival and he took note of his colleague's evolution. It reminded Adam of his walk up the trail at summer camp with Sammy on his shoulders with the both of them as naked as the day they were born. Adam had never felt so free in his life and he hoped Kevin was feeling even a fraction of that freedom as he climbed the steps.

With Sid still gone, Adam had seven boys who went swimming and he wasn't about to get into bed covered in salt water, sand and shells if Adam had anything to say about it. David, Jesse, Christopher and Matty would sleep in Sid's room once again, and Adam pretty much had to promise each boy that all he'd do was shampoo their hair and then they could take a quick rinse and fly off to bed.

"Showers are OK Uncle Adam, but you ain't happy until you rub our tan off!" David exclaimed in protest.

"I fully blame your Uncle Sid. If he had his way, you'd all smell like a pile of sheep shit!" he told the boys as they lined up to get their heads shampooed. The bathroom exploded in laughter as soap flew and the music came flowing through the open windows. As each boys hair was washed, the next boy stood before Adam until all four were clean from the neck up and then they rinsed themselves off.

Sammy, Joey and Trevor were next and they knew damned well that it wasn't going to be the economy wash. Adam sat down in the shower as Sammy lay between his legs and put his head down on Adam's groin. Joey and Trevor lay on either side and lay their heads down a crossed Adam's hips. Adam looked straight down on three boys heads all within reached of his hands and the shampoo bottle as one by one, he poured the shampoo on them and had three very white, very soapy and very fluffy little heads full of shampoo and hair spikes in double quick time. Neither Adam nor the boys said much, most of the time the boys shut their eyes and listened to Uncle Sid's music that reverberated though the house like a soft echo.

"That's the finally." Each boy said one by one as a new song came on. Adam was clueless.

"What are you talking about, what's the Finally?" he asked the boys after the third time.

"Uncle Sid always ends the night with a real special song," Sammy replied.

"Usually, we can figure out which song it is!" Joey chimed in. Adam smiled at the thought. He doubted it.

Probably five minutes and two songs later a new song began outside. Adam was completely engrossed in washing the boys as he was finishing up with their feet when all three boys, who were previously damned near comatose as Adam washed them, sprang to life and scared the shit out of him.

"That's it!" not only Sammy, Joey and Trevor cried out, so did all four boys in Sid's room.

"That's the finally Uncle Adam!" Sammy said as he smiled and laid back down and lifted his leg back up. Adam listened as the song came drifting into the bathroom. Adam never heard it before.

"What is it?" Adam asked.

"Brand New Day," Joey replied. Adam listened to the words as he took Sammy's leg and returned to his washing. He certainly recognized the voice of Van Morrison, but didn't ever recall hearing the song before. Adam shook his head as the song ended and the PA voice wished the boys good night and fell silent. The boy's knew their music, and they knew Sid. Within the first seven words of the song, all seven boys knew Sid was sending a message and putting the place to bed. Adam wondered what Kevin and the other new staff's reaction was. Did they hear it? Did they care? Did they feel even close to how content and happy Adam was to be in this place with these boys and with these men? Could anybody be that numb inside?

"Uncle Adam, I got winkles on my fingers!" Trevor said as he looked at his hand and showed them to Sammy. Adam smiled.

"I guess that means we have to get out of here?" he asked the boys. Sammy shook his head as he headed for the bedroom dripping wet and climbed into the bed. Using the comforter, he dried himself off and slid down between the sheets. Joey followed and looked at the bed next to Adam's that he usually fell asleep in. Joey took a left turn instead of a right turn and slid in next to Sammy. As Adam came into the bedroom with Trevor's head being dried by the man, Adam watched as the top of two boys heads disappeared from the pillow.

"What's this?" Adam asked as Trevor climbed onto the end of the bed and crawled on all fours like a crab as he reached the pillows and slid himself down alongside the other two.

"Good Night Uncle Adam!" Sammy called out from under the covers. Adam smiled to himself. Two can play this game he said to himself as he shut off the light and pulled his towel off. Adam slipped into the bed next to his.

"Good Night Boys" he said as he got under the covers and adjusted his pillow. The room was completely quiet for probably five seconds or so, and then he heard the sound of bed clothes moving. He had turned towards the window facing away from his bed so he couldn't see the boys, but he knew they were now sitting up and looking over at him. Adam lay there and began to make snoring noises. Very quiet whispers could be heard by Adam as again he heard the rustle of the covers in back of him. Adam felt the lifting of the covers as a small body slid into the bed and scooted next to him, then another, then the third. Adam wanted to laugh, but at the same time, he wanted to play asleep just a little longer to see what the boys were up to as he continued snoring softly.

"He can't be asleep yet!" Adam heard Trevor whisper. Adam now felt the hand and arm of a boy slipping against his side and around to the front of his chest as the boy slipped himself against Adam's back. Somewhere close to the end of his spine was a definite lump poking him.

"Uncle Adam, you're not asleep yet," the man heard Sammy both ask and tell him in a whisper at the same time.

"Yes I am," Adam whispered back and then resumed his snoring. Adam heard nothing for about three seconds and then Joey and Trevor giggled and sat up.

"He is not!" Joey said. Adam would have much preferred to keep up the charade for much longer but the boys reaction wouldn't allow him to. From the sound of them, not one was dead positive the man didn't fall asleep practically instantly. Adam began laughing which now had Sammy sitting up.

"Uncle Adam, you're just fooling with us!" the boy exclaimed as Adam turned himself on his back and reached out for the boy.

"Well, I thought you three boys wanted to spend the night alone," Adam replied as he lifted Sammy over his side and put him directly on top of himself.

Sammy's lump now jabbed Adam in the belly button and the boy lifted up his waist to let his erection rise up into a more comfortable position.

"You're squashing my peter," Sammy said as he reached down and adjusted it.

"We can't have that, there'll be nothing left!" Adam said as both Joey and Trevor now giggled. "Uncle Adam!" Sammy exclaimed somewhat miffed at the implication. "Oh sorry, I forgot how big it was," Adam replied. Sammy groaned a little as Joey and Trevor only increased their giggling. Adam reached over Sammy and pulled Joey closer to him and half lifted and dragged Joey over Sammy's back and bottom to the opposite side of him.

"There, that's better, now I can sleep without falling out of bed," Adam said as he cupped both Joey and Trevor's testicles in his hand. Sammy lay there for probably five or six seconds and said nothing as he then reached over and pulled Adam's arms back to himself. Adam needed no directions, Sammy intended to receive his attention and Adam kissed the boy on the side of his neck as Sammy pulled his legs up and alongside Adam so that his teacher could make him a very happy boy and THEN take care of his friends. Joey and Trevor were in no hurry, they had hours before they'd quit and fall asleep, their teacher had learned weeks before to make them happy long before he finally allowed himself to climax and have to rest.

Kevin walked back into his house as his boys all went upstairs to quickly shower and go to bed.

If the boys were still back at Albemarle, they would have all undressed and showered under the watchful eyes of their staff to ensure that none engaged in sexual activity. If a boy developed an erection, he would immediately be withdrawn from the showers and be put into a specially made pair of pants which would mechanically induce the boy to climax very quickly and clinically, and then the boy would return to the shower to complete his bath. The remaining boys would then be induced one by one as they exited the showers and be put into pajamas and put to bed. The houseparent would then remain in the dorm until the last boy fell to sleep. This was the way it was reported in the official log. Rarely was it so clinical, so mechanical and so impersonal.

The boys had now been at Green Tree for two days, and the toys were banned by Bert. While most of the boys initially pleaded total ignorance, they were now left to fend for themselves. In lightening speed they 'remembered' how to take care of business by themselves and the bathroom stalls at school were receiving a full workout, singularly, or in pairs. All day the boys were told by any Green Tree boy they spoke to that in the bedroom, what you did was your business and no staff would interfere as long as nobody was being forced to do anything. The concept to the new boys was dizzying. They were extremely well versed in sexually engaging their peers, but it was always the most secret thing they could ever do. Nobody could ever know what they were doing, and they would have to plan very carefully when and where to arrange it.

If they got caught, they would be put in the 'Time Out' room and have to be discharged every half hour for a whole day. Even if they fell asleep, they would be put into the pants and the machine would hum and vibrate against their genitals until they discharged. A day in the time out room left them very tired and very weak. It also hurt them in their privates. The time out room was not a good place to be sent. Now, they were told there was no time out room and 'playing' as the Green Tree boys told it, was OK. Could it really be true?

All six of Kevin's boys were in the shower when Greg came into the bathroom with towels and one boy who was 'elected' by the rest of his friends, approached Greg and related what they were told.

"Is that true?" the boy asked when he finished.

"At Green Tree you will never be punished for playing, it's against the rules," Greg told the boys. The boys all looked at each other.

"Does our housefather know that?" another boy now asked.

"Yes, all your staff was told that today by Uncle Sid. They know you have permission to play, and they know you are not allowed to be stopped for doing it," the senior told all the boys. At that point, Kevin came in with a handful of toothbrushes and toothpaste. All the boys fell very silent and Greg took notice. As Kevin put the brushes down on the sinks, the little boy who initially talked to Greg pulled on his arm for Greg to lower his head.

"Can you tell him we won't get time out anymore?" the boy whispered in Greg's ear. Greg smiled and stood back up.

"Uncle Kevin, your boys are concerned that the time out room is still being used," Greg told the man.

"I've already told them there is no time out room in Green Tree." Kevin turned around and looked at Greg and then his boys who were all standing there in the shower watching him as the water poured down on them. He thought for a second or two, he knew the direct implications.

"Boys we're now at Green Tree and you are now Green Tree boys. We go by Green Tree rules now and the time out room is history and so is you're being discharged."

All the boys in the shower looked at each other, but they didn't really believe it. For one thing, their houseparent was talking to them in front of a big boy from Green Tree who was there to 'spy' on their old staff according to what they were told the day before. Anything said with both people present carried little weight with the boys since the only person who really controlled them was their Albemarle staff member, Mr. Dobbins.

Kevin never really thought about Albemarle rules before, he had grown up with them; they were a natural part of his life. He saw nothing wrong with them. After he finished speaking, one boy sat down on the floor and started crying. Softly at first, but it grew and ended only after Greg went into the shower and picked the boy up and sat down on a toilet with the boy in his lap holding him tightly and reassuring him that everything was going to be all right. Kevin now felt ashamed.

"It's been a very long day boys and we've all learned a lot. Even your house parents learned things we never knew before, and things will change," he told the boys.

"Let's finish our showers and see what we can learn tomorrow."

Following the conversation in the bathroom, Kevin went downstairs and left his boys to the care of Greg, a senior boy of 16 who was now monitoring Coquina Cottage on behalf of the Green Tree Administration. Greg was there to assist the new staff at Green Tree concerning the new rules and regulations, some of which were totally foreign to the strict conservative school the boys and staff had just come from. Sitting down in the living room, Kevin was unsure of everything he had previously been taught. Upstairs, the boys were now fairly jubilant. They had been at Green Tree less than two whole days, and by the hour, their world was evolving from a Christian conservation nut ball life of sexual repression to a fantasy world of 'Go ahead and screw your brains out.' They were ecstatic and their sounds of celebration was painful for Kevin to reconcile, he was an instrument of their very recent torment and he was never even aware he was the instrument of their abject misery.

Kevin had made an appointment to meet with Sid, the Assistant Director, and he wondered what challenges that meeting would present. In the beginning, Kevin and his staff considered everything about Green Tree nothing but open and wanton sex. They were appalled. Not at the sex, but at the openness of it. As Geppetto boys themselves, the old staff was no different whatsoever from anyone at Green Tree, they were just never allowed to admit to it, or to allow the boys in their care to admit to it. Now, Kevin's boy's were actually using the term 'fuck.' A word never spoken before without severe punishment. Kevin looked at his watch and it was now 10:15 and Sid would most probably be back next door at his house, Beachview.

"Greg, I'll be back within the hour, I'm going next door," Kevin told the boy who was sitting on a bed in the boys room as the boys sat and talked with the senior boy.

"OK, the boys and I are just talking over some rules and we'll be going to bed shortly," Greg told the man.

"Good night Uncle Kevin."

Kevin smiled a little. Being called 'Uncle Kevin' still seemed strange to the man, but he didn't dislike it much to his surprise. His boys never called him anything but Sir or Mr. before, and now this boy was using the term regularly.

"Good Night Kevin, Good night boys," the man replied. Very timidly, the boys said "Good night" as Kevin left the room leaving them alone now with the senior boy sitting with them on their bed Indian style and chatting like he was one of them.

'Uncle' Greg

As Adam had learned just a few short months earlier, if you had any love whatsoever in your heart for a boy, if you could look at the naked body of a boy and see beauty rather than shame or 'indecency', or, if you knew the love between another boy yourself as a child, a Geppetto boy could get into your bloodstream faster than any drug known to man. A Geppetto boy somehow stripped a man or boy they came into contact with of sexual inhibition, no matter how many years you were indoctrinated that sex was evil, dirty, disgusting, perverted, immoral, or made you go blind.!

Kevin's boy's were all nine years old in keeping with the boys' prior school's practice of keeping their boys within the same age bracket, and Greg now sat with six of them all huddled around in a circle Indian style learning from their new 'teacher' the ways of Green Tree. Andy, Kenny, Bruce, Larry, Mike and Michael were all instantly liked by Greg, his favorite after the first day was Bruce. To Greg, Bruce was the most vulnerable, the boy most in need of support, and the boy who most easily attached himself to an authority figure. After a week, nobody was really sure if Greg singled out Bruce, or if it was really the other way around. (Bruce 'read' very well.)

"I wonder what Mr. Dobbins thinks about Greg calling him 'Uncle'," Larry said to the group.

The boys all looked at each other, it was unknown what the houseparent thought, he hadn't said anything about it.

"Every boy here calls all the staff 'Uncle' and you have permission to start calling Uncle Kevin your uncle anytime you want to," Greg told the boys. They all again looked at each other.

"It would be very strange," Andy said after some thought. All the boys nodded their heads in agreement including Bruce who sat next to Greg on the bed. Both boys were sitting Indian style, and Bruce's knee was touching Greg's. To Greg, it was an unnoticed accurance. To Bruce it was anything but. Physical contact between the boys was never allowed. Now, two knees touching was damned near the equivalent to knock down drag out sex to the boy. He listened, but his concentration was centered on the warm feeling coming from Greg's skin. To Bruce, they may as well have been kissing. Greg was completely unaware.

"Well if I were you, beginning tomorrow morning when you wake up, all of you call him Uncle Kevin and I'll bet by the end of the day, you won't even think about it anymore," Greg suggested.

"What if he doesn't want us to?" Michael now asked. Greg thought for a few seconds. The question had never ever come up before.

"Tell him that at Green Tree, all boys call all staff uncle and all the Green Tree boys do it because they love and respect their teachers," Greg suggested. The looks on the boys faces told Greg they didn't see Kevin as a warm fuzzy, or at least they were uncomfortable with being to familiar with the man in public.

"If Uncle Kevin doesn't want you calling him uncle, let me know and I'll talk to Uncle Sid," Greg told the group. Invoking the name of Sid, even to these brand new boys, carried substantial weight. In just two days, they learned that Bert ran the place, but Sid wasn't very far behind him and he was fun to be around.

"Tomorrow is Sunday. How long does Green Tree Chapel last?" Kenny now asked Greg.

"Here, we call 'chapel' Vespers and if you want to go, it's from 10:30 to 11:30," Greg replied.

"Want to go?" Mike now chimed in.

"Yes, if you want to go, the services start at 10:30 but a lot of the boys get together for awhile at rec first," Greg replied.

"They have a choice?" Mike asked.

"A choice?" Greg asked the boy.

"A choice to go to church. If they don't want to go, they don't have to?" Larry interjected.

"Nobody here has to go to Vespers and that now includes you. If you don't want to go, don't go!" Greg told the boys.

"Mr. Kevin ain't gonna like that!" Andy now replied.

"It really doesn't matter anymore, if you don't want to go to Vespers I'll stay here with you and we can do something else," Greg told the boys.

"Making a boy go to Vespers is against the rules. Nobody can make you go, Uncle Bert wouldn't allow it."

Once again, the boys all looked at each other. It also gave Bruce as reason to adjust his seating as he picked up the leg on his pajama bottom and shifted over a bit towards Greg. He now had a knee and half an upper calf laying skin to skin against Greg's leg and asking questions didn't really interest the boy anymore. He was much happier feeling the additional warmth coming from Greg's leg against his, and in studying Greg's brief's that contained this very big boy's genitals that he had seen several times during the day either in the restroom peeing, swimming in the pool or at showers. Greg already had what Bruce hoped he would be holding in a few years. Bruce had never been this close to an older boy before, his eyes studied the form underneath Greg's underpants and hoped for an actual glimpse as the older boy talked and moved about very slightly but his underpants fit well and did their job in keeping Greg under cotton. Bruce had to be content with watching the flaccid form as it lay off to the side of his thigh tucked into a pouch of fabric. Bruce was listening to the conversation, but his forehead was getting a tight feeling known well to the boy. It usually came just before he was 'discharged' in his old school. With his own underpants, diaper and pajamas on, Bruce was secure in the knowledge that no one around him knew his boner had returned, especially Greg.

"Once things settle back down and you boys all know what the rules are, Uncle Bert is going to have the kitchen go back to normal meals," Greg now told the boys.

"Normally, every House eats all their meals at home except for Beach Dinner." The boys didn't consider this news as good. They liked eating in the Dining Hall, it got them in closer contact with the rest of the boys. If they ate at home, they would be more secluded in their activities and they were tired of seclusion.

"That means the only time we get to see the other boys is at school," Mike now said.

"No, of course not. There's plenty of time during the day when everybody's together," Greg did some quick calculating in his head.

"The intermediate boys are up and awake probably 13 or 14 hours a day. They're together for probably 10 hours a day on school days and closer to 12 hours on weekends. Even more if they have sleepover visits," Greg told the boys.

"Sleepover visits?" Andy, Kenny, Mike and Michael now all asked together. Greg nodded his head.

"On weekends and when there's no school, you can sleep over if you get your Uncle's permission," Greg replied.

"Sleepover where?" Andy asked.

"Wherever you want to. Wherever your friend lives or another staff lives," Greg replied.

"But only in this compound. You can't sleepover in Camp Kenny or the Senior boys compound unless Uncle Bert says you can."

Once more, all the boys looked at each other.

"What if Mr. Kevin says 'No'?" Mike asked.

"He has to have a reason, and if it's not a good one, Uncle Bert will over rule him," Greg responded.

"How?" Andy asked.

"If a staff member tell's you to do something you don't like, you can go to Uncle Bert and asked him to decide," Greg told the boys.

"Uncle Bert always makes any final decisions if somebody's unhappy."

"What if you tell us to do something we don't like?" Michael asked the senior boy.

"Then you tell me you want to speak to Uncle Bert and I have to let you see him right away," Greg responded.

"Has anybody done that before?" Larry asked.

Greg thought for another few seconds.

"I think the only time I remember about is a boy who fell off a horse at camp and Uncle Sid told him he had to get a Tetanus shot. The boy didn't want to and went to Uncle Bert," Greg replied.

"What happened?" Bruce asked. Greg smiled.

"Uncle Bert told the boy that he would have to get the shot because of medical reasons, but he also said that Uncle Sid had to get a shot first." Greg, along with all the boys had a very good laugh at Sid's expense once again.

The shifting around during the laughing gave Bruce an opportunity that he leaped at. Yawning, half in earnest and half on purpose, he unfolded his legs from the Indian position and lay flat on his stomach across the bed and his body was now alongside of Greg with his feet facing back and his head almost mid calf alongside Greg who was still cross legged. Bruce laid his face against Greg's thigh and rapped one arm around Greg's leg using the senior boys thigh as a pillow. Greg thought little to nothing of it as he put an arm on Bruce's back and stroked the boy's upper back and neck area as he continued to talk. While the move was insignificant to Greg, it caught more than a few of Bruce's roommates by surprise at first, and then by a growing sense of envy.

"What did Uncle Sid do?" Kenny now wanted to know.

"Uncle Sid carried on so bad at the doctor's that the boy who got the shot forgot all about it until after the doctor gave it to him," Greg laughed.

As the boys continued their discussion Bruce concentrated on his new found endeavor. The boy lay there on top of Greg's thigh and closed his eyes. With his hand underneath Greg's leg, he felt the smooth texture of the bigger boys leg and his hand bathed in warmth given off by the boy's body. Bruce wanted to, but didn't dare move his hand, but could sense every movement of Greg's ligament's underneath Greg's skin. He also picked up somewhere in the palm of his hand a faint pulse of the big boy's blood flowing through his body. Bruce's face lay against the top of Greg's thigh and the boys ear picked up not only the vibration of Greg's talking, but his heartbeat as well. Half of Bruce's lips lay directly on Greg's skin and it was smooth to the touch. Greg had showered with the boys, and Greg's skin smelled of Johnson's baby shampoo that every boy in Green Tree used because it didn't make you cry when buckets and buckets of suds came pouring off everybody's head after every shower. Bruce's nose bathed in the smell of Greg, and the little boy hoped Greg was going to talk for a few more hours. Here, he could very easily fall to sleep very happily for the first time in he didn't know how long.

After the laughter died down, the boys had a few more questions. Of chief concern to Michael, was his diaper.

"Do all Green Tree boys have to wear wet pants?" he asked Greg.

"You mean your diapers?" Greg asked.

Michael, Andy and Larry hung their heads. Greg cursed at himself for being so insensitive.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you didn't like to put them on," Greg told the boys.

"We hate them," Larry responded.

"It's like we are babies," Greg watched as very large tears fell to Michael's pajama legs.

"If you don't like them, take them off. Nobody at Green Tree wears diapers except the babies in Camp Kenny," Greg told the boys.

"But we wet the bed," Larry responded.

"So what? So does almost everybody in the Intermediate Compound."

"Really?" Michael asked.

"I know more boys who wet the bed then I know who don't," Greg replied.

"Take the diapers off now," Greg told the boys.

"What about the beds?" Mike asked.

"Every bed in Green Tree is protected. Even Uncle Bert's bed is protected," Greg responded. Larry giggled at the thought.

"Should we?" Michael now asked his friends.

"Lay down Michael," Greg told the boy sitting next to him. Michael laid down as Greg took off the boy's pajama bottoms and then his underpants. Unsnapping the tabs on the diaper he pulled it down and off the boy.

"Do you want these pants back on? Nobody in Green Tree wears underpants to bed," Greg asked the boy.

"What do they wear?" Larry asked as Michael lay there not exactly sure if he was going to react or not.

"Their skin," Greg told the boys. Michael was now fairly sure he was going to react.

"Really?" Kenny asked.

"Balls assed naked!" Greg told the boys.

"We all do." With the raising of Michael's flag, the rest of the boys weren't far behind. This kind of talk usually ended up with them being attached to a machine in double quick time at their old school.

Greg took Michael's pajama bottoms and underpants and rolled them up and threw them into a corner of the bedroom. Michael immediately turned his body around and laid on his tummy.

"OK, your turn," Greg told Larry and Kenny.

"I, I can't," Larry told Greg.

"Why not?" Greg replied.

"I gotta go to the bathroom and I have a boner," the boy said almost inaudibly."

"Me too," Andy said. Greg looked over to Mike who wore no diaper.

"I don't have a diaper!" Mike told the senior boy.

"But I see you have to go to the bathroom too," Greg said to the boy with the pronounced bulge in his pajamas. Mike turned a little pink. Greg now looked down on Bruce who wasn't really all that interested in the conversation. He heard something about diapers and boners, but he had his own problems and goals.

"And what does Bruce think about his wet pants?" Greg asked the boy as he patted Bruce on the bottom. Bruce was now being dragged back into the conversation but he wasn't all that upset, it gave the little boy an excuse to turn his face in the opposite direction. It also gave him a way to move his lips a crossed inches of Greg's upper thigh to feel the texture of the big boys skin in relative anonymity. As his head moved to the left, the softness of Greg's inner thigh increased.

"It doesn't matter," Bruce replied as his eye's now opened probably inches away from Greg's groin that no longer harbored a flaccid penis under the cloth.

"Bruce wears the wet pants a lot," Michael told Greg.

"Sometimes he even wears them to school."

"Really?' Greg asked the boy.

"It doesn't matter," Bruce again replied.

"That's all he ever says," Mike now told the boy.

"Well it matters to me," Greg replied.

"I want to take them off you," he told the boy as he pulled off Bruce's pajama bottoms and then his underpants. Greg pulled the tabs on the diaper loose and pulled it out from underneath Bruce who still lay on his tummy. Bruce's now naked body did nothing to relieve the growing pressure on Greg's underpants.

Let's see, Me, Andy, Kenny, Larry, Mike and Michael need to go. What about Bruce?" Greg asked the boy as he rubbed the little boys bottom.

"Or does it not matter?" Greg asked. Andy giggled a little.

"It's mattered to him for the last ten minutes silly, he's been doing it with your leg!" the boy said. It was now Bruce's turn to turn pink, but he said nothing as he closed his eyes and shut out the world once again. Even at 16, Greg knew when to shut down a conversation.

"That hurts and we don't hurt each other," Greg told the boys as he lifted up the bed cover and draped it over Bruce.

"None of you has to go to the bathroom, but you do have to go. Take off those silly assed diapers and pajamas and take your business into the bathroom," Greg told the boys. As Mike entered the bathroom last, Greg looked down at Bruce who still kept his eyes closed and the world at arms distance. Bending over, he kissed Bruce on the temple and then on the cheek.

"Thank you, I like you very much too!" he told the boy as he backed up and caressed the boys back and arm. The two sat there not talking for a minute or so and then Bruce broke the silence.

"Are you going to go away too?" the boy asked Greg. Greg didn't know what the boy was specifically referring to, but it didn't sound all that great to him.

"I'm not leaving Green Tree, no," Greg replied.

"Are you leaving me?' Bruce asked.

"No," Greg said still wondering where the boy was coming from.

"If they try to take you away, I'm going to speak to Uncle Bert. You said he could stop anything right?" Bruce asked. Greg's fondest wish was that his Uncle Bert or Uncle Sid was here with him right now. These were not casual questions and they didn't appear out of thin air. They were deep, and Greg didn't need any degree to know that.

"Any time I ever had any problem, Uncle Bert was always there for me Bruce, and he'll be there for you too."

"What about play time? You need to go to the bathroom and go don't you?" Greg asked the little boy. Bruce's eyes now reopened.

"Greg, you're a Geppetto boy too," the boy said.

"The boys today told us that they all play with each other because they're all Geppetto boys," Greg didn't need any tea leaves; he knew where Bruce was headed.

"Yes, but Green Tree is separated into groups. The intermediate boys all play with other Intermediate boys. I'm a senior boy and can't play with intermediate boys."

"But you want to," Bruce said.

"Just like I want to. Why do you say that?" Greg asked the boy.

"Because we both got boners!" Bruce responded. Greg looked down on the boy laying on his leg. At about four or five inches [10-12 cm] away, Bruce would have had to have been blind not to figure that out Greg thought to himself.

"Yes, I have to go too, but Uncle Bert said we can't have sex with the intermediate boys and I can't," he told the boy.

"But we can play with ourselves right?" Bruce asked the senior.

"Of course!" Greg said without thoroughly thinking out the possibilities.

"OK, Now!" Bruce said as he lifted the covers off himself and turned his torso around as he took his erection in his fist.

"Now?" Greg asked.

"Yes, you do you, and I'll do me," Bruce said without hesitation. Greg wasn't dead positive which side of the technical line he was on. If he bopped the bologna with the boy, but didn't actually touch him would Bert consider that following the rules? Greg wasn't sure. Bruce started the action and fortunately for him he was left handed since his right arm was now under Greg's leg and came around his thigh to allow a little more spread between his legs. Greg put his hand down his pants and began stroking.

"No, I want to see it," Bruce requested. Greg didn't know if it was going to cut any ice with Bert, but he said it anyway 'no touching' as he dropped his pants down and resumed stroking.

"Bruce watched in mesmerized awe as Greg brought himself to climax as the little boy's fingers pressed deeply into his thigh as he arrived at the same place moments after Greg.

Both Greg and Bruce lay there recovering as the rest of the boys returned from the bathroom with very pink penises still in various stages of interest. With Greg's underpants half way down his thighs and a half dill if soggy penis still in his hand, the boys didn't need a roadmap to figure out that both Greg and Bruce didn't need a bathroom stall anytime soon. As Michael remounted the bed, Bruce hadn't yet moved from his position and Michael watched as Bruce continued to slowly knead his penis back to sleep. All five boys were fairly use to Bruce, he spent a great deal of time keeping himself happy whenever he wasn't away in the time out room after being discovered by staff at his old school. The boys also knew that Bruce never said no when he was told to give another boy his pussy, or get down on his knees and suck on them, Bruce never complained and he never said anything to anybody to get them into trouble.

"You did it with him right here?" Andy asked Greg. Greg smiled a little sheepishly.

"No, we didn't do it, we just played with ourselves together," Greg told the boys. As poles began to very quickly rise, Greg figured he needed to cut the posse off at the pass.

"We've had a very long day today and it's getting really late. Let's get to bed and tomorrow's a brand new day," he told the boys.

Mike had been at Green Tree now for two days and his boldness was increasing by the hour as he and the other boy's learned the 'new rules' they were playing under.

"Some of the Green Tree boys said they play until they fall asleep. Is that true?" Mike asked.

"Yes, as long as they keep it quiet and don't disturb other boys," Greg responded.

"And we can do anything and not get time out right?" Larry asked.

"Go at it!" Greg replied. All the boys looked at each other except for Bruce, who remained in the position he was in for the past five minutes or so, watching Greg's penis as it slowly descended back to rest.

"Uncle Greg," Bruce said. Greg smiled as he turned and looked at the boy laying next to him.

"I'm not an Uncle yet," Greg replied.

"Yes, you are. I'm going to sleep with you," Bruce told the senior boy.

The other boys looked at each other. The remark didn't surprise them; Bruce always was a little different. Even when he came back from a night with Mr. Kevin he didn't try to hide the fact that Bruce and his teacher made pussy together.

"Bruce, I told you we can't play together," Greg said to the boy.

"We don't have to fuck," Bruce responded very openly.

The boys day ended with yet another first; the first deep kiss they ever saw any one of them receive from another boy. Greg had one hell of a lot of explaining to do in the morning to Bert, but he had many more questions that he never asked himself before and he hoped Bert had the answers.

Chapter Six

Joining the Flock

The walk between Coquina and Beachview was less than two minutes. As Kevin walked down the stairs of Coquina, he was rather hoping it was two miles, or even more. The 44 year old man was bone weary from the switch to Green Tree from Albemarle, he was practically raised at Albemarle and never once questioned how he, or in later years, how he himself, raised the boys who attended the school. Now, everything he believed was somehow falling apart before his eyes and was out of his control. Kevin didn't really understand how, but somehow, the thought of removing himself from the situation wasn't really all that strange to him. Being at peace with himself was never really that close to his thoughts throughout his life, maybe it wasn't just a very crazy idea.

As Kevin mounted the steps to Beachview House, Sid sat on the porch. He had watched the man since he left the steps of Coquina House and knew the steps of a man walking to battle and walking to uncertainty. At 48, Sid was just four years older than Kevin. Sid knew that Kevin had graduated Vanderbilt with a Bachelor's Degree in Education. He knew little else until lunch about the man and the Liberal from Georgetown found a lot more compassion for the Conservative from Vanderbilt since lunch time.

"Glad you could make it Kevin, how's the boys? Sid asked as the two men sat down on Loungers on the porch.

"They're fine. Greg is putting them to bed now," Kevin responded.

"He's a very fine young man."

"Yes, Gregory has been here since day one practically. He was two months old when he first came," Sid told Kevin.

"Two months?" Kevin asked. Sid nodded his head.

"How could you raise a baby of two months" Kevin asked.

"We didn't, the girls did," Sid replied as he took out a beer from a cooler and handed it to the man.

"I don't, usually." Kevin said as he looked at the beer.

"Inside there's iced tea, iced coffee, hot coffee, hot tea, booze. In this humidity, beer makes me the happiest," Sid said to the man.

"Beer's fine." Kevin said as he took the bottle from Sid. Sid opened a bottle of his own and sat back in his chair.

"Have you given any thought to helping us out with the Drama Club?" Sid asked.

Kevin had been on an emotional roller coaster for the past three months prior to moving to Green Tree. The man was flat out exhausted and in better times, could have jockeyed for position much better than he now found himself in.

"You and I, we're Geppetto boys." Kevin began.

"We come from a different place, but we're the same. We don't need to lie to each other," Sid looked at Kevin.

"No, we most certainly don't. We never have had to, and I hope we never do," Sid said.

"We want you here with us, we want you to be happy, and we have to see that the boys are happy. Every single one of us could be the most retched miserable people on the planet, but here, only the boys matter. I don't know how much more honest I can be about it."

Kevin hung his head for the longest time.

"I'm losing them." He finally said as his tears flowed down his cheeks and dripped off his chin.

"Bullshit!" Sid replied "How the fuck can you possibly say you're losing them after two days? Most of those boys have been with you for over four years. The only difference between you and your boys and ours is that we've told and showed them we loved them from day one. You want honesty, that's the most honest way to put it!" Sid told the man.

"Think back Kevin, when somebody loved you, they showed you, they didn't just tell you! The only way you can possibly lose these boys is if you keep them at arm's distance when everybody else around them is being wrapped up in honesty and openness.

Kevin didn't speak for a good long time. When he did, Sid once again knew the man had leaped a personal barrier that only he could jump.

"What am I going to do?" Kevin asked.

"Well, there are three or four things I'd do," Sid told the man.

"I'd make sure when I went home I gave my boys a good night kiss and tucked them in. When they woke up in the morning the first thing I'd tell them was that I loved them. Then I'd accept the job as the new director of the Drama Club, Kevin smiled as he listened to the man.

"You said four things."

"I'd look around me and smile from ear to ear," Sid told the man.

Again, Kevin smiled.

"I talked to a few of the Green Tree boys after lunch today. They never heard about any Drama Club." Kevin said to Sid.

"Now see, That's exactly what I was talking about. No direction. They need you!" Sid told the man.

"Now you're bullshitting me," Kevin said.

"Of course, I'm a Geppetto boy!" Sid responded. Kevin smiled and then had to laugh.

"You're into the theater and dance, I'm a fair hack at music and stage lighting. We get together, no telling what production we can put on," Sid told the man. Kevin smiled at the man and pushed back a flood of emotion that had been welling up for weeks within himself.

"Kevin, you're home, I'm damned glad you're here and that's no bullshit!" Sid told the man as he held out his hand.

Kevin returned to Coquina and the house was dead quiet. Upstairs, pajamas, underpants and diapers on the floors told Kevin that another Albemarle tradition was history. Andy and Kenny lay in bed alongside each other and Kenny's leg was still in between Andy's as the two boys slept peacefully. Kevin figured they had been with each other naked before, but he never actually saw it in person until now. He pulled up the sheets and covers and gave both a kiss on their foreheads.

Larry and Mike were head to toes and Kevin frankly didn't know how to pull the covers up, so he didn't. Greg and Bruce were both snuggled under the covers together so Kevin left them as is which left Michael who was sleeping alone.

Michael awoke being picked up from bed. He would join Kevin. It wasn't the first time, but it was the first time he would awaken in his teacher's bed in the morning without having to sneak back to his is own bed extra early without the other boys knowing about it. Michael never really knew why that was necessary. Every boy in the dorm knew that Michael was sleeping with Mr. Dobbins. For that matter, so were they.

"I put my wet pants and pajamas on after showers Mr. Dobbins but Greg told me and all the boys that they didn't do that at Green Tree." Michael told his houseparent trying to avoid any punishment for being naked.

"It's OK Michael, we are all Green Tree boys now and we will be following their rules from now on," Kevin told the boy.

"From now on, I'm not Mr. Dobbins anymore. The boys here all call their staff 'Uncle', so you may do that if you feel comfortable about it."

Old habits were very hard to break for both man and boy.

"Yes Sir," Michael replied.

Kevin sat down on the end of his bed and put the boy in his lap.

"You know we've slept together before, but I never asked you if you wanted to or not," Kevin told the boy as Michael looked at his dormfather.

"Here, it's OK if I sleep with you, but only if you say it's OK. Michael, you don't have to sleep with me if you don't want to, there are three beds in this room, and you can sleep in any one of them or go back to the other room," the man told him.

"That's what Greg told us too," the boy told the man.

Kevin nodded his head.

"What would you like to do?" he asked the boy.

"If I stay with you, I'm going to wet your bed. I don't have my wet pants anymore." Michael said looking down at his genitals.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Kevin told the boy.

Michael smiled a very small but definite smile." If I wet, the other boys will know I slept in your bed," he told the man.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Kevin replied once again.

"They'll know that we're doing it," Michael said.

"I think they already do, don't you?" he asked the boy. Once again a very small smile came a crossed the boys lips. He didn't verbally answer, he merely nodded his head.

"Teachers can be very smart people most of the time Michael, but sometimes they can be really stupid and do stupid things," he told the boy.

"The next time I do something stupid, I want you to tell me about it OK?" he asked. Again Michael nodded his head in agreement.

"I love you and all the boys very much Michael, I want you to always know that," Kevin said as his eyes began filling up.

"I'm very sorry if I ever confused you, I didn't know I was doing it," he said as the man's tears now overflowed his eyelids and fell down his cheeks. Michael didn't know how to respond. His teacher, always a very strong man and even stronger disciplinarian was holding him in his lap and the man was crying. What had he done to make the man cry? What was his teacher sorry about? Michael didn't know what to say so instead he wrapped his arms around the man and laid his head on his chest to comfort the man in the only way he knew how.

Michael's second night at Green Tree ended with him snuggled next to his teacher. He fell asleep as the man slowly stroked his hair and rocked him in the big chair as he sat a crossed Kevin's lap. He awoke in the morning sleeping in his teacher's bed. It was the first time he awoke having not engaged in sex during the night and it was the first time he awoke when he didn't have to pretend he wasn't with the man. Things we're changing, and Michael liked the changes a whole lot.

The Sunday morning sun broke over the mangroves at Green Tree with a cloudless sky. Tourists loved it, but the staff saw it as one more broiler coming their way. Even in mid September it was still high humidity season in the Keys and the staff longed for a cool breeze coming off the gulf instead of a tropical wave coming up from the Caribbean as it was now doing.

Sid along with David, Jesse, Christopher and Matty were drying themselves off from their shower as Adam joined them on the lanai that wrapped around the house. As Adam sat down with Sammy still half asleep in his arms, Joey and Trevor followed and fell into lounge chairs waiting to fully awaken themselves.

"Willard says 96 [36°] for the high today," Sid said as he stood drying off Christopher's hair. Adam looked out towards the Gulf.

"I don't think he knows any other temperature," Adam replied as he looked at seven naked boys and two naked men and not one goose bump in sight.

"I use to hate snow," Adam said nostalgically as Sammy nestled into his shoulder and Matty now sat down on Sid's lap to be dried off by the man.

"How did it go last night?" Adam asked Sid as the man dropped the towel to the floor and sat back with Matty finding the most comfortable spot he could on the man's lap. Sid picked up a brush and began brushing the little boys hair.

"He's come a very long way. He's scared, He's depressed. He's got a lot to lose if he can't make it here and I'm sure he knows it," Sid replied.

"Will he?" Adam asked. Sid took a while to answer Adam. He watched as Sid lay the boys head back and drag the brush from the boys forehead towards the back of his head while he cradled Matty's face in his hand like he was holding an egg.

"Yes, I think the pull of his boys will bring him through. There's no scenario I could think of that would stop me," Sid said as he kissed the top of Matty's head and laid the brush down.

"Uncle Adam, I gotta go pee," Sammy said to Adam. Adam thought about it for second, probably a second too long as Sammy let go without further warning.

"Jesus good buddy, I knew you were into golden showers but don't you think this is carrying it a bit far?" Sid said as Sammy's water flowed over Adam's legs and down to the lounger and beyond. Adam shook his head as the river flowed to the lanai below. Adam was happy he hadn't showered yet as Sammy ran out of juice.

"Sure you're finished? Adam asked the boy. Adam felt the boy on top of him push on his bladder. A short squirt later, Sammy relaxed his abdominal muscles.

"Done," Sammy reported now pretty much fully awake. Adam got up and flipped Sammy upside down and carried the boy back inside.

"Don't let me find out you taught him that trick," Adam said to Sid as Sammy shrieked his way into the showers being tickled by Adam on his sides mercilessly. Sid looked at the boys around him with a stunned look on his face. The boys all giggled.

The day began for Kevin's house at pretty much the same time Adam's house did. As with all the houses, there were no alarm clocks or wake up bells, each house awoke when the time was right. Since school did not start until 9:00 in the morning on week days anyway, and week ends began once the boys were up and about, there was no reason to artificially awaken the boys, and they slept until their bodies had had enough. Kevin and his boys were use to being awoken at 6:00 sharp, seven days a week. This was to prevent any 'activity' from occurring between the boys that Albemarle would never permit. Now, the boys had some time on their hands since they usually awoke with the sun around 7:00 if left to their own devises.

Kevin awoke realizing he needed a clean set of sheets. The sandman had been there and emptied Michael's bladder for him and since the boy went to bed naked, Kevin knew a feeling he hadn't had since he was something like 10 or 11 himself. Kevin shoved a bunch of the comforter under himself trying to find a dry patch of bed as he sat there thinking about his conversation with Sid the night before and his talk with Michael. For Kevin, considering leaving the boys was now completely out of the question. three days earlier, he didn't know it would even matter to him and he was concentrating on retaining as much power and control over 'his' boys as he could. three days earlier, Green Tree was a threat to him and his authority over the boys. Kevin was the master, Kevin was the ruler, and Kevin was in charge of them, period. They were his. After two days at Green Tree, Kevin knew that his boys were being lured away from the Albemarle way of doing things and thoroughly content with joining the Green Tree boys in what Albemarle would have considered open and wanton debauchery. Or so Kevin had been taught for 44 years. Now he wasn't sure anymore and what he was seeing and being told made sense, even if it was wicked and sinful.

Coquina stood on the same dune as Beachview, the two houses were separated by 200 feet [50 m] or so and were only about 600 feet [200 m] from the water. With wrap around porches on all the houses at Green Tree, if the sliding glass doors were open, or if the inhabitants were on their porches, you didn't need perfect hearing to listen to the house next door to you or for that matter to those around you. Kevin now lay there listened to a small group of boys who were obviously showering and obviously not very depressed about doing it. Kevin listened to sounds never heard at Albemarle, boys having fun and boys who were very happy. The sound of bare feet running on wood told Kevin that some of the boys were now out on their porch at Beachview as the man arose from the bed and pulled a pair of boxers as he went to his porch. Michael remained fast asleep as Kevin opened his doors and watched as two boys sat on chairs at Beachview and dried themselves off. These boys were bigger than his, Kevin guessed they were at least 11, if not 13. In a short time, Kevin watched as another boy came out of the house followed by Sid who carried the smallest boy in his arms as the group did nothing to hide their nakedness; something else that would never have occurred at Albemarle.

Kevin returned inside his house and went to the bathroom to empty his bladder that now told him it was high time. Once finished, Kevin quietly entered the other bedroom that contained the rest of his boys and Greg, a 16 year old senior boy from Green Tree that Kevin initially resented for being placed with him to 'monitor' him and his interactions with his boys. Putting a 16 year old boy to watch a 44 year old man was humiliating two days earlier. Now, the boy was sleeping with one of his boys openly. Kevin had done the same thing, but never openly. Things were changing around the man at lightening speed. He was now hoping he could keep up with the changes without being destroyed. Kevin glanced at his other four charges who were paired off in two beds. A week ago, they would now be facing severe punishment at the hands of Kevin, but again, this was a new day as Kevin turned back to reenter his bedroom.

Kevin sat down on the side of his bed and stared down into the sleeping face of Michael. He had cared for the boy now for the past four years, and sitting there now, didn't recall ever really looking at the boy other than superficially and unemotionally. Micheal was a good looking boy, kept himself clean, brushed his teeth and cleaned his ears, combed his hair and was obedient. What else was there to know about a boy, and what else was there to see? A week ago, Kevin wouldn't have been able to tell you. Now, he looked at the boy through different eyes. These eyes had a growing sense of compassion, empathy, concern, consideration and yes, love. A week ago, Kevin wouldn't admit that to himself let alone another human being, even the boy himself.

Kevin reached out and brushed the hair from Michael's eyes. Kevin had touched the boy before, but again, either to perform perfunctory duties expected of a houseparent, or, in the very dark of night and in secret. Kevin's touch now was neither as a groomer or to engage with the boy.

Michael stirred, and then the boys eyes slowly opened as he focused them. Michael's first reaction was surprise to see his teacher sitting there stroking his hair. It had never happened before. It was daylight, and he was still laying in his teachers bed. Discovery was unthinkable!

Michael also felt the wetness below him. He had soaked his teachers bed, and that could also lead to discovery. Once Michael fully realized his situation, he was wide awake and close to panic. As his eyes began to fill up he reached for his blankets and pulled them around him to hide his nakedness.

"Sir, I'm sorry!" Michael pleaded as he tried to avoid the severe punishment he knew was about to descend upon him. Michael tried to sit up and escape, but Kevin restrained the boy.

"Michael, where are you?" Kevin asked. Michael's tears were already running down his cheeks as he heard the man speak and wondered what the question was.

"What Sir?" he asked.

"Michael, look around. Where are you?" Kevin replied again. Michael was still confused, but he did as his teacher asked and looked around the room.

"Your bedroom Sir," Michael replied.

"And where's my bedroom Michael," Kevin asked the boy.

"Green Tree Sir."

Kevin didn't verbally reply, he simply nodded his head. It took a few seconds for the boys brain to figure out the meaning of his houseparents remark, but once he did his blood pressure began to recede. Kevin wiped away the tears on the boy's cheeks and stroked the boy's temple.

"There's no more Albemarle Michael, and there's no more Albemarle rules. Do you remember our talk last night?" Kevin asked the boy.

"Yes Sir," Michael replied after thinking back.

"No Michael, not 'yes Sir'," Kevin reminded the boy.

"Yes Sir came from Albemarle," Michael smiled slightly at the man.

"Yes Uncle Kevin," he said to the man.

It was now Kevin's turn to smile and get a little glassy eyed. Bending down he kissed Michael on the forehead for the first time in broad daylight.

"I have something to show you Michael," Kevin said to the boy as he took the covers the boy held tightly against himself and lifted the boy up and into his arms. Walking out onto the porch he sat down after turning Michael around.

"Just watch," Kevin told the boy as they looked over to Beachview. Adam was now out on the porch as was everybody else in Beachview as Kevin and Michael watched and listened silently. Michael watched as Adam got up and turned a little boy upside down and began tickling him. Michael didn't know why the boy was being tickled, but he did know that the boy was loving every second of it. A small smile again came over his face as he studied the fading shrieks of the boy he could no longer see.

"That's the way they do it here, and that's the way we need to learn," Kevin said to Michael softly into Michael's ear.

"There's no more hiding anymore Michael, there's nobody to hide from anymore," Kevin told the boy. Michael squeezed the teachers hand that was sitting across the boys stomach. A tear once again appeared on the boy's face, but this wasn't from fear or pain, this one was from relief.

"Come on, let's get clean and ready for the day, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful one," Kevin said to Michael as he stood back up and turned the boy back around. 44 years of sexual repression wasn't going to be wiped away in a few days, weeks, and even months, but Kevin's new life would begin that weekend, and he would never look back.

Greg's day began on top of a pile of blankets he had to put under himself to soak up Bruce's contribution to the laundry effort at about 3:00 in the morning. The 16 year old himself hadn't wet the bed since age 9 or 10, and he first awoke in the early morning hours with his waist and side being washed in a very warm shower of Bruce's making. He wasn't into golden showers, but neither did they gross him out. At the same time, he wasn't used to a soggy bed either, so blankets became a convenient sponge for the time being and he fell quickly back to sleep. Bruce awoke first, hearing the water running in the shower. Bruce stirred, and then reached his arm out and placed his hand on Greg's chest as the bigger boy lay there. Feeling the boy's hand slowly move back and forth a crossed his chest, Greg too slowly awakened hearing the water flowing in the shower. Looking over at the other two beds, Greg knew it had to be Uncle Kevin.

"Hi," Greg said to Bruce who lay next to him staring at him. Greg reached over and kissed Bruce on the forehead. Bruce said nothing but did present a small smile.

"Today's Sunday. Do you want to go to Vespers?" Greg asked the little boy.

"Do you?" Bruce asked.

"Sometimes, but today I have to talk to Uncle Bert," Greg replied.

"I can stay with you?" Bruce asked.

"Until I meet with Uncle Bert you can, but then I have to meet with him in private," Greg replied.

"Why?" the little boy asked him.

"Because I have some private questions I need to ask him," the senior boy said.

"About me?" Bruce asked.

Greg was practically born and raised at Green Tree, as a baby, he grew up in Camp Kenny raised by his Aunts and Uncles and then as an intermediate boy by his uncles. He was now a senior boy and had been taught certain rules all his life. One of them was to be honest and truthful. Lying was frowned upon by his Uncles. If a question was asked, or an answer necessary, it should be truthful. Of course, there were times when exceptions were necessary, and at 16, when that necessity kicked in was still a pretty cloudy issue to the boy. As Uncle Bert had explained it to him, the exception rule usually appeared when an answer could hurt or confuse the questioner. The truth was that Greg had a great deal of questions about Bruce, but more importantly, why Greg had feelings for the boy he didn't understand.

"Not really," Greg told the boy.

"I just need to ask him what rules and regulations he wants me to tell you guys," Bruce was nine years old, but he had a quick mind.

"What's private about that?" he asked the boy he was being drawn closer to by the hour.

"Are you going to tell him about you and me last night?" Bruce asked.

"Are you going to tell him we slept together?" Greg smiled a little.

"Do you remember what we talked about last night when I told you that you could talk to Uncle Bert about anything in the world and he wouldn't get angry or upset about it?" Greg asked. Bruce nodded his head.

"And you also remember that I told you that it was against the rules for a senior boy to play with an intermediate boy?" Greg asked.

"But we didn't play with each other, we played with ourselves," Bruce said defensively. Greg smiled once again and kissed Bruce on the forehead again.

"Uncle Bert might think that I shouldn't have done that, and I want to know if it was right," Greg told the little boy.

"Why can't we just keep it a secret?" Bruce asked.

"Nobody has to know."

"Bruce, I'm not ashamed of what we did last night. Are you?" he asked the little boy.

"I don't know," Bruce lied.

"You did nothing wrong. Maybe I did, and it's something I need to ask Uncle Bert in private," Greg told the boy. Bruce thought for a few seconds and as Greg would learn, that usually meant a dammed difficult question was about to be asked.

"What's the difference between a secret and private," Greg was a great fan of Chess.

'Check!' he thought to himself.

"Suppose we ask Uncle Bert together?" Greg asked the boy.

"About fucking?" Bruce asked.

"About anything that comes to your mind. But remember, nobody was fucking last night!" Greg told the boy.

"Andy and Kenny were!" Bruce immediately replied. A light bulb went off in Greg's mind.

"THAT"S the difference between a secret and private!" Greg told the boy.

"It's not a secret they were doing it, but it was something private and nobody else's business!" Greg told the boy completely happy with himself.

Greg's conversation with Bruce had not only awakened Andy and Kenny, but Larry and Mike as well who listened carefully as only little boys can. At the mention of Andy and Kenny's bedtime adventures, Larry and Mike looked over to their two friends. Andy stuck his tongue out at Larry and Mike began to giggle. Greg knew the boy's day had begun.

"Showers!" he told the boy as he got out of bed and led Bruce out by the hand. Usually the boys had diapers, underpants and pajamas on which helped to hide their morning embarrassment. Now all naked, the problem was mitigated somewhat. Greg at 16 had the biggest embarrassment of them all and if he could walk around with a ragging boner, who were they to complain as five little poles followed a slightly bigger one into the bathroom.

As the boys entered the bathroom, Michael was standing on the top of the toilet seat being dried off by their housefather. These boys had seen that scene thousands of times before. What they had never seen was their housefather as naked as they were. Mr. Dobbins NEVER undressed in front of the boys.

"Good Morning Uncle Kevin," Greg said as he passed the man and headed directly into the shower.

"Good Morning Greg, Good morning boys," he said as he continued to dry Michael.

It was probably a good thing none of the boys had false teeth, they probably would have dropped them Greg thought to himself as he let go. The boys, like their houseparent had a lot to learn and lesson one was that the plumbing drain had one pipe, nobody at Green Tree really cared which one you pissed into.

Shy "Good Mornings" came from came from all the boys but Bruce who was now in the shower contributing his share to the drain pipe as he stood alongside Greg with an impish smile on his face. He made sure his back was turned to his housefather's view, but two streams of piss landing on the drainpipe left little doubt in Kevin's mind as the their origins.

"Boys, I had a meeting last night just before you went to bed with Uncle Sid," Kevin said to the boys.

"Green Tree is run very differently than Albemarle was and we're all a part of Green Tree now. At Albemarle, we all lived together in secrets and shadows. We're not living that way anymore. I was wrong to lead you to believe it was the right thing to do. It won't happen again," Kevin told the boys.

For the boys the experience was 'weird.' They had never heard their houseparent talk to them like that before.

Once showers were done, the boys were back in their room when Kevin appeared in their room followed by Michael who joined the group.

"Today is Sunday and there is no school for you, but there is for me," Kevin began as he spoke to the boys.

"I'm learning Green Tree rules just as you are so I'm going to be a student and be learning while Greg leads you today," he told his boys.

"If you have a question, you have to ask him, he's your teacher."

"Are we going to Chapel?" Mike immediately asked without two seconds delay. The boys all looked to Greg.

"Here, we call Chapel Vespers. Going is strictly voluntary. About half the boys go because it's a lot of fun sometimes, but it's your choice," he told the boys.

"If we don't go, what else can we do?" Mike asked.

"Quiet rec," Greg responded.

"Uncle Bert doesn't want a baseball game going on during Vespers because the other boys will want to come out and play, but you can play in the rec hall or play back at your house," he told the group. As Kevin already knew the boldest boy in the group was most certainly Larry.

"Play?" Larry asked. Greg smiled.

"Play like in playing baseball not fucking," Greg replied. Six pair of eyes now opened wider. Nobody had ever said 'fuck' in front of Kevin before without heading for the bathroom and a through tooth brushing with Ivory soap that always ended with the boy draped over the toilet bowl puking from the swallowed soap.

"You don't need anybody's permission at any time to go," Greg told the boys.

"If you need to have sex, go do it.!" The bedrooms were carpeted, but if a pin fell, it probably would have been heard. Five boys looked to Kevin. The man shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm learning," he told the boys. Bruce sat down in a lounger on the back porch and looked out over the bay. Bruce didn't like talk about sex, he just did it.

Greg continued.

"After Vespers we have lunch on the lawn. Then we have afternoon rec until dinner and go home to eat."

"You mean to the Dining Hall?" Andy asked.

"Now we're going to the Dining Hall, but usually, we eat at home except for lunch. Uncle Bert will probably go back to the normal way after you new boys get use to Green Tree," Greg told the boys.

"You don't normally eat in the Dining Hall together?" Kevin asked.

"No Uncle Kevin, we always eat in our own houses," he told the man.

"Uncle Bert said we needed to eat together so you could get use to us faster and once you did, we'd go back to the old way."

"Tell Uncle Kevin about the sleepovers," Larry said. Greg smiled a little and shook his head. This little guy sure does know how to push the envelope Greg thought to himself.

"As I told the boys last night, on nights when there is no school, the boys can sleepover if they have their Uncles and the other boy's Uncle's permission," Greg told the man.

"But Uncle Bert can say yes!" Larry very quickly interrupted. Greg hesitated a few seconds wondering how many paddlings Larry received a day at Albemarle.

"Uncle Bert can overturn any decision anybody makes at anytime. He can even stop a sleepover even when the staff says yes," Greg added.

Larry liked the first answer. He didn't expect the second.

"I have a question," Kevin now asked.

"All the Green Tree houses have boys of varying ages. All our boys are placed according to their age. Is that about to change?"

"I don't know Uncle Kevin. Only Uncle Bert or Uncle Sid would know that," he told the man.

"I'm told you have lived here since you were a baby Greg, how did you find it growing up with boys both younger and older than yourself," he asked the boy.

Greg thought about the question he never had been asked before nor thought about. It was normal, why would he think about it? "I guess it's like growing up in any family. There are older and younger brothers and sisters that live together, we are just all brothers that's all," Greg responded.

"We didn't all get along with each other all the time, but I guess nobody does," he related.

"Which way would you have it if the decision was yours?" Kevin asked.

"I guess living in different ages," Greg responded.

"Why?" Kevin pressed.

"Because if we were all the same age, nobody would have any answers. We'd all be stupid together," Greg replied.

"Sorry!" Greg immediately said as he thought about his choice of words.

Kevin smiled.

"Don't be sorry, you might very well be correct," Kevin replied. Andy and Kenny looked at each other. They weren't completely sure if they were just called 'stupid' or not.

"If boys are bad at Green Tree, how are they punished?" Mike asked.

"Uncle Sid has a big dungeon he dug in the marsh beyond the fence and he ties up the boys and whips them," Greg told the boys.

A pin dropping would have made a soft sound, a feather would now have made a sonic boom on the carpeted floor.

"Really?" Andy asked.

Greg started laughing as the boys recovered their heartbeats.

"No! You cannot be hit or hurt in any way at Green Tree, Uncle Bert has made it against the Law. Nobody can make you do anything you don't want to do and nobody can ever take food away from you," Greg told the boys.

"Then how do we get punished?" Kenny asked.

"Uncle Gene is the Director of Student Affairs and if a boy gets into trouble he assigns him to KP or groundswork," Greg replied.

"What's that?" Mike asked.

"KP is kitchen duty. Maybe scrubbing pots and pans, maybe peeling potatoes or onions, maybe washing dishes," Greg told the boys. "Groundswork is usually racking leaves, picking up palm fronds or coconuts, combing the beach, washing vehicles. Anything that isn't fun after an hour or two," Greg told the boys.

Larry was bold, but he wasn't stupid.

"Does that sound like a good idea to you Uncle Kevin?" the boy asked his former disciplinarian (He hoped). Kevin smiled a little. Larry always was the first one in trouble.

"It sounds like you're going to be washing a lot of pots and pans soon Larry," Kevin replied. If you were outside in front of Coquina, you heard the first group giggles coming out of the house from boys who were on a very fast learning curve.

Greg looked outside. The shadows on the ground told him it was just about breakfast time and he was starving.

"Uncle Kevin, we need to get to breakfast," Greg said as he arose from the bed and walked out towards the porch.

"Quite right," Kevin said as he stood up.

"Ready?" Greg said to Bruce as he approached the boy.

"I'm not going to Vespers," Bruce said without being asked.

"I'm going with you to talk with Uncle Bert," he informed Greg.

"I'm going to live with you," he told the boy matter of factly. Bruce then got up and took Greg's hand in his. Bruce wasn't looking for discussion.

All meals at Green Tree were substantial; Sunday breakfast and dinner were always much more so. While Dinner was always served family style, breakfast and lunch were served buffet style because of the variety of foods available. As the boys now lined up along the buffet line to chose their food, Beachview and Bay Watch sat together for the most part and Sid had told the kitchen to combine Coquina's table with theirs. Three houses now sat together and it was by design, not by chance. Sid's talk with Kevin convinced the man that he wanted Kevin's feelings of loss and isolation ended sooner rather than later and he advised the rest of Beachview and Bay Watch as to his intentions. Adam and Dan as well as all of their boys readily agreed to bring into the fold the new boys as well as their staff member. Sid ordered similar consolidations of the other Albemarle houses, the new boys and especially their staff would be wrapped in the warmth and camaraderie of Green Tree even if their staff had to be taken in kicking and screaming every step of the way.

Kevin and Greg came to the end of the line as Sid greeted the two.

"Please come and eat with us, We'd welcome the company," he told Kevin as he steered the two to the tables.

After introductions, Kevin looked around him at a scene that was now becoming familiar, but still slightly strange to him. Green Tree boys, and now some of his own, conversed while they ate, and even got up from time to time and talked to another boy eating. The noise level was much greater than what he was used to, but, not overly rowdy or out of control. The boys eating habits were something else again. Half a plate of eggs or pancakes or waffles would be discarded for a bowl of cereal half eaten or visa versa. Most boys had a glass of orange juice, a glass of milk and a glass of chocolate milk all half drunk when a boy would return with a glass of pineapple juice. Two jelly donuts and a cheese Danish would be sitting in front of a boy while a bowl of fresh fruit lay dormant inches away. No Green Tree staff seemed to notice that 3/4 of the food was never eaten. Then again Kevin had learned that at Green Tree, no boy could be denied food, no boy could be made to eat food, and the boy could take whatever he wanted.

While most boys ate without assistance, many, especially the younger boys sat with staff. Kevin sat next to Adam and the man watched as Sammy repeatedly climbed on and off Adam's lap to go to talk to another boy and then to return for more food. Sid likewise had several boys join him for a time and one boy actually grabbed a piece of ham off Sid's fork as the man was about to eat it and popped it into his own mouth. Kevin watched as Sid didn't flinch and cut another piece and offered it to the boy who pushed Sid's hand away. Across the table Dan sat eating as a boy on his lap accidentally spilled a glass of orange juice which landed in Dan's and the boy's lap. Kevin watched as Dan stood the boy up on his chair and took off his shorts and underpants and dried the boy off with a towel the kitchen brought to him. Never stopping his conversation with an older boy, Dan sat the now naked boy back down without comment as the boy resumed eating.

NONE of this would ever have taken place at Albemarle. Towards the end of the meal, Kevin's biggest surprise came from one of his own boys. Kevin was not the only person at the table doing a lot of observing, so was Bruce. Greg sat across the table from Kevin and Bruce sat at his side. Bruce had dabbled at his food all meal long not really eating. Now, the boy said nothing as he slid his body sideways and got into Greg's lap. Once there he took Greg's hand in his that held some scrambled eggs on a fork and fed himself. Greg then proceeded to continue to feed the boy without direction from the little boy who wasn't looking at anything or anybody in particular, he was just eating as Greg fed him.

"Good Morning Guys," Bert said as he drew up in back of Sid and put his hands on Sid's shoulders.

"Everybody have a good time last night." He asked the boys. A loud chorus of "Yeah" greeted the man as he picked up a piece of Sid's toast and ate it.

"Great," Bert said.

The man looked around the table and spotted several boys from Albemarle.

"How are you doing Mike?" Bert asked the startled boy.

"You know me?" Mike asked the man. Bert smiled.

"I know you, I know Andy, Kenny, Larry and Michael," Bert said as he pointed to each boy individually.

The boys all looked at each other. Kevin was impressed. As a teacher it took him a few weeks to know each and every boy's name individually. Bert obviously learned 50 new names almost overnight. Kevin didn't think his old Administrator knew any of his boys' names.

"After Vespers," Bert said as he tapped Sid on the shoulder twice.

"Greg, After breakfast. and bring Bruce with you," he told the senior boy as he winked at Bruce who up to that point figured the man didn't know who he was.

"Kevin, my door never closes," he told the man as he patted him on the shoulder.

"Sid, good to see you showering on a regular basis again!" Bert said as he left the table. The ball was now in Sid's corner.

"I got me a baby gator last night about this long," Sid said as he held his fingers up.

"I'm gonna drop that sucker right down that man's short's tonight when he goes to sleep," the man told the boys. Even Bruce ended his breakfast in laughter.

With Sunday services now an option and not obligatory, no Green Tree staff were surprised when out of 40 boys, eight new boys chose to attend. As time would pass, more would attend, and as usual, it really depended upon a boy's attachment to a staff member who chose to attend. Green Tree encouraged it, but never pressured the boys or staff in any way. None of Kevin's boy's chose to attend and Kevin, for the first time in his life unless he was ill, chose to remain with his boys instead of attending services. With Greg and Bruce now scheduled for a meeting with Bert, Sid suggested Kevin and the rest of his boys join Adam and Dan and their boys for a Sunday morning tour of the activities and campus. Kevin accepted.

Bruce's Bracelet

Bert returned to his office after breakfast with the usual 15 or 20 'most immediate' matters that needed to be dealt with. Like a juggler, he had almost 500 balls up in the air at all times and his job was to see to it that none dropped to the ground. Unlike most Federal Employees, Bert wasn't there for the pension, he was there for life. Maybe many. Weighing most heavily on his mind right now were Caleb, Anthony and Spencer, a senior boy who fell out of a tree, a hurricane coming off the Cape Verde Islands, 40 new boys, six of which could be a suicide threat, ten new staff, two of which could be a suicide threat, and a chef who wanted to disembowel a cook.

In the meantime, he received a note from a senior boy who requested 'Talk Time' 'now' with a new boy, an eight year old named Bruce. Any boy or staff could request a meeting with Bert, and there was a priority set for the scheduling. It was either set for 'now' which meant is was critically important and needed to be held as soon as possible, or 'soon' which meant it could wait. Most of the requests from the boys came as 'soon' requests; they were taught that 'now' was reserved for emergencies.

In probably 15 minutes or less Greg would be arriving with the boy and Bert was relatively blind sided by whatever conversation was about to take place. Usually, he knew what was about to be discussed and had a pretty fair handle on how to deal with it. He could sit there and speculate all day, he decided that his best course of action was to review the new boys file and at least have some kind of a clue who and what he was dealing with. Greg was already known by Bert, better than his own son.

Bruce was an eight year old boy who had attended Albemarle since he was almost four years old. The first 3½ years of his life were spent in eight foster homes. Bruce's first years of life read like a horror story only the most depraved and perverted mind in the country could conjure up in his wildest imagination. In other words, Bruce was a very typical foster child being brought up by Social Services. If someone where to follow Bruce around for a day or two with a tape recorder his most common phrases were "It doesn't matter," "I don't care," "I don't know" and "OK". None of his foster parents saw or heard anything wrong, None of his Social Workers saw or heard anything wrong. Bruce was a nice, quiet, shy little boy who was very 'affable' in the records arriving from Albemarle. Bert couldn't figure out how the boy reached his eighth birthday without finding a car to walk in front of.

A knock on his door screen told Bert he had better be a fucking lot smarter than people around always told him he was, or his 15 year record of no suicides was going up in smoke and he'd be burying his second boy.

Greg came in holding Bruce's hand. Bert noticed the hand holding, he also noted the hickey on the boy's neck.

"We can sit in here, but it's a lot nicer out on the porch," Bert began as he moved to the screened in porch that overlooked the entire campus on the highest point of land on Green Tree. Bert sat down passing out three glasses of ice tea as Bruce sat on Greg's lap facing the man in a swing glider. As with many Geppetto boys, Bruce was in the habit of holding himself when under stress or in uncertain situations, and the boy had his genitals in a vice grip fist as his hand went into the waist band of his shorts. Green Tree ignored the habit, Albemarle had always forbid it, even if they had to restrain a boy with a specially built harness that kept a boy's hands attached by the wrists to the harness preventing the boy from reaching his groin or anus. Now Bruce knew he could clutch himself at will, and wasn't loosing time making up for lost opportunities.

"So Bruce, what do you think of your new school so far?" Bert asked hoping to try and figure out where the conversation was going to lead them.

"Uncle Greg says that you can tell anybody here what to do and say yes or no," Bruce said to the man.

As Greg squirmed a little, Bert studied the boys remark. First, he'd let the 'Uncle' remark go for now and talk to Greg later, but he knew that 'Tell anybody what to do' meant the boy was trying to figure out who the ultimate authority figure was, but the 'Yes or no' had him a little baffled.

"Say yes or no to what Bruce?" Bert asked the boy.

"I want to live with Uncle Greg," Bruce responded.

"Where?" Bert asked as he looked at Greg.

"It doesn't matter," Bruce responded.

"Bruce, if it doesn't matter, why live with him?" Bert asked. The little boy sat back a little, more annoyed Bert thought than thinking.

"No, it matters that he lives with me, but not where we live," the boy responded reproachfully.

"Greg is a very nice boy, and I understand why you think he is so nice," Bert began, "But Greg is a senior boy, not an Uncle yet Bruce," Bert tried to council the boy.

"You can say he is can't you!" the boy now asked. Bert sat back. He wished he knew what transpired between these two for the past two days to give him some direction.

"This is very important to you Bruce, I need to know why it's so important" Bert told the boy.

"I don't know!" the boy responded. "It doesn't matter! Why does it always have to matter?" Bruce almost screamed at Bert as he emotionally fell apart and started sobbing.

Bert got up and went inside and came out with a cold compress. Handing it to Greg, He sat back down.

"Bruce, Greg will stay with you in Coquina and I will not remove him from the house, but the three of us have to talk every morning and every afternoon until we figure out why it's so important. I can't make Greg an Uncle if I don't know why it's being done, and only you can tell me that," Bert told the boy.

"Bruce, I have just one more question and I want you to answer it very honestly because it's very important. OK?" Bert asked the boy. Bruce nodded his head.

"Everybody thinks and a lot of people even asked themselves questions in their heads and 'talk' to themselves. Sometimes, we even get answers from our heads. I do it, Greg does and probably even you do it," Bert told the boy.

"Did you ever talk to yourself and hear an answer that you didn't like or hear a voice that said things to you that you knew could hurt you or was mean?"

"Sometimes," Bruce said.

"OK, I'll make a deal with you. I promise that you will remain with Greg if you promise me that the next time you hear any voice, you come immediately to me and tell me what the voice said. OK?" Bert asked the boy. Bruce nodded his head. Bert smiled at the boy.

"Lunch is a little over an hour away, Greg, why don't you two go back to the house and take a nice cool shower," Bert suggested to the Senior Boy emphasizing 'cool.'

Bert's smile vanished the second Greg and Bruce left the house. Bert spent the next half hour going over every page in the boy's file and eventually throwing it into the corner in disgust. It was all bullshit. Bert sent a message for the crisis team to assemble and waited for Sid.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, he's an 8" Bert began the meeting.

"He's hearing fucking voices and his speech is depressed enough to make Vlad the Impaler cry. I'm going to keep him with Greg, but if he jumps, we've got Greg to deal with so let's start working on Greg today. He's on a Must Special immediately, he's with a warm body 24 seven until further notice. Sid, he's been with Kevin four fucking years, pick Kevin's brain, I want to know when this kid farted for the past four years."

"What about his first four years?" Sid asked.

"Foster care. Need I say more?" Bert asked the group.

"By the way, there's a hurricane coming off Cape Verde," Bert told the group as they left.

Hurricane Isabel was on her way west, and if she got within 500 miles of Green Tree, the entire school would be evacuated to the North Carolina mountains.

As a potential jumper, the entire staff was notified concerning Bruce. The little boy was unaware of it, but he had close to 200 pairs of eyes watching his every move. He wasn't the only one, but he was deemed at greatest risk. Bert had never lost a boy, but the man also knew that five seconds of inattention was more than enough to have to bury a boy. More than a few staff slept very lightly for the next two weeks.

"Are we having fun yet?" Adam asked Sid as the two walked down Bert's stairs and climbed into Sid's cart.

"Bert always takes this shit very hard because of Robbie," Sid told his friend without cracking a smile.

"He'll pull Bruce through, but he'll lose a lot of sleep and weight doing it," the man told his friend.

"I'm going to speak with Kevin.I want you to talk to Greg. Tell him Bruce is on a Must Special at Bert's order and he'll cooperate to the max," Sid said.

"What was that about Foster Care?" Adam asked.

"Apparently, Bruce was in the foster care system for his first four years," Sid replied.

"So?" Adam asked.

"Twins in Auschwitz were better off than a kid in foster care is," Sid replied.

"Nobody in the world can fuck up a kid better or faster than social services."

As the morning progressed, Dan and Kevin eventually found themselves alone with very close to 20 some odd boys from the three houses, Beachview, Bay Watch and Coquina. Most of the morning found the group at the Rec hall with the men watching the boys either skateboard, play video games or pool of one kind or another.

"Why don't they play outside?" Kevin asked Dan. Dan shook his head.

"They're much too smart for that, it's hot out there and they much prefer air conditioning," Dan told the man.

"After lunch, they'll go to the pool, but even that's air conditioned," Dan told Kevin.

"You won't find them outside until after dinner," Kevin listened, but he didn't fully understand.

"What do you teach?" Kevin asked Dan.

"History. Sid got me interested in it as a boy and it stuck I guess," Dan replied.

"Sid's a history teacher?" Kevin asked.

"No, Social Studies, but he knows them all. That was his Major?" Kevin asked.

Dan smiled.

"No, he's a Psyc. Major," Dan responded.

"Next to Bert, Sid can get into your brain faster than Sigmond.," Dan chuckled.

"Why do you say next to Bert?" Kevin asked.

"Bert's A PhD. In Early Childhood Education," Dan told the man.

"He's a doctor and doesn't use the title?" Kevin asked.

"Bert doesn't give a shit about the paper; his only concern is for the boys and his staff," Dan replied.

"Sid's the same way. All he had to do was submit his Doctoral Thesis to graduate when he left Georgetown because some of his boys got into trouble and needed him."

"You like them a lot don't you?" Kevin asked the man. Dan shook his head.

"No, I love them," he told Kevin without hesitation.

***

Greg turned on the shower as Bruce took off his clothes and sat back down on the toilet seat waiting for Greg to get naked.

"Uncle Bert said you could stay with me. That's good, right Uncle Greg?" Bruce asked the boy.

"Yes, that's good, but Uncle Bert still doesn't want senior boys to play with intermediate boys Bruce. I went to see Uncle Bert about that and never got the chance to talk about it," Greg told the boy. Greg sat down at the feet of the little boy.

"Bruce, why is it so important for me to stay with you?" Greg asked the boy as he held the boys hands in his.

"Because you're nice to me," Bruce responded.

"Bruce, everybody here is nice to you, I'm not nicer than anybody else."

"Yes you are, you're my best friend!" the little boy said as he teared up.

At 16, the senior boy really had no clue how to talk to the boy to get through to him. Greg liked the little boy immensely, but the boy seemed to have latched onto the senior boy and Greg didn't know where the boy was coming from. Greg pulled the little boy into his lap and sat on the floor holding the boy and soothing him as Bruce clutched his arms around Greg's neck almost in a strangle hold as he sobbed softly into Greg's shoulder.

"SShh, Bruce, We are best friend's and Uncle Bert said you will stay with me," he told the boy as he rocked him and soothed the back of the boys head.

"You won't leave me?" Bruce asked as Greg felt the boy's tears dropping on his shoulder.

"No Bruce, I won't leave you, I promise."

Greg damned near broke into tears himself as his Uncle Adam came into the house and called upstairs.

"Anybody home?"

"We're upstairs Uncle Adam in the bathroom. Come on up," Greg shouted as he got up still holding Bruce in his lap. Greg sat down on the toilet seat as Adam came in.

"Hi Guys," Adam said as he saw the boys.

"Uncle Adam, Bruce is a little upset because he thought I wouldn't be staying with him, but I told him Uncle Bert said that we would be," Greg said. Adam shook his head at Greg and was damned glad the boy had the savvy to clue him in on what he just walked into.

"Well, I just came back from a meeting with Uncle Bert myself, and that's exactly what he told me!" Adam said.

"What did he tell you?" Bruce now asked still attached to Greg's neck.

"Uncle Bert told me that you and Greg were going to be staying together and that you and Uncle Bert and Greg will be meeting with him," Adam told the boy.

"It looks to me, like you two are just about ready to take a shower."

"Uncle Bert thought it would be good for us to take a cool shower," Greg informed Adam.

"Super idea! It's hot enough outside to fry an egg. Does that sound like a good idea to you Bruce?" the man asked. A nod of the head had Adam setting the shower on warm.

"You guys can lower the temperature once you get use to the water. Nothing sooths someone like a cool shower," Adam said as he sent a message to Adam. Greg nodded his head.

"On a day like today, the best medicine is a nice cool shower and nice short nap. Don't you think so Greg?" Adam asked sending another message.

"It sounds great to me Uncle Adam, what do you think Bruce?" the senior boy asked his little charge. Bruce said nothing, he nodded his head. Adam gave Greg the Ok sign.

"I have some work downstairs, I'll be there if you need me," Adam said as Greg nodded back.

With Greg and Bruce upstairs showering in cool water to lower not only Bruce's body temperature, but his anxiety, Adam went downstairs and within two minutes had sent a groundskeeper to Bert to tell him about the encounter and also to send a Must Special to the house. Adam would need a relief to attend to his boys for lunch and Adam didn't know where Bruce was at emotionally.

While Bruce was in crisis, his bunkmates were in anything but. Almost everything they touched was forbidden to them at Albemarle, their toys and games were always educational and therapeutic. In other words, fucking boring. Now, they had race car sets, model planes, trains, skates, skateboards and video games. While it was mid September outside, it was Christmas inside the Rec. Hall as far as they were concerned. In the bathroom, it was Christmas, New Year's and the 4th of July all rolled into one. Achieving sexual gratification at Albemarle was either very clinical (boring) or done in utmost secrecy. Here, the boys were pulling their pudding with not only boys their own age, but with boys of all ages in ways they never knew existed before. The boys had never even heard of, let alone seen a bidet before, and Larry was more than a bit shocked when he found out it wasn't just a weird water fountain he had taken a drink from. There were many ways to masturbate they now were learning and the boys from Albemarle wanted to explore each and every one of them! Sunday morning was two and a half hours of Chapel for them at Albemarle, at Green Tree, two and a half hours of Disneyworld. Kevin watched the boys with Dan as his education progressed.

Adam sat on the living room which was now quiet. Greg and Bruce had showered, and then the teacher heard the boys retreat to the bedroom and close the door. In his experience, when two Geppetto boys went into a bedroom and closed the door, they were engaging. In this situation, was that a good idea? Adam wished to hell he knew. He wished to hell either Sid or Bert were there, he wished he knew one hell of a lot more than he did about everything!

The familiar jingle of a Good Humor Ice Cream Truck's bells brought a sigh of relief to Adam.

He didn't know if Greg heard them; the two boys were upstairs now for a good half hour. Sid came into the house followed by three members of the maintenance crew. Bert had notified the crew that the house held a potential 'jumper' and they now went about their task with no outward sign of direction 'jump proofing, the house against any suicide attempt. By 5:00 that night, the house had security set in place, and Coquina wasn't the house you would choose if you wanted to keep your activities unobserved. Until Bert said otherwise, two people were sitting in front of screens monitoring every room that Bruce entered around the clock. At night, they watched him sleep and recorded every twitch and sound he made for Bert's later review. Adam watched as the men began to set up their equipment.

"Remember Cabin 3 at Camp?" Sid asked his friend.

"Sure," Adam replied.

"This is a little more intense. In Cabin 3 we didn't know what somebody was doing in the broom closet. Here, we do," he told his friend.

Adam relayed to Sid the entire conversation between him and Greg. Sid listened to Adam as his fingers stroked his forehead.

"As soon as we can, we need to separate the two of them so we can talk to Greg and find out what triggered this," Sid said.

"So far, the only info we have is from Bruce. Greg's a smart boy; he also knows Bruce is off limits. Have you seen anything that tells you otherwise?" Sid asked.

"Other than the closed bedroom door, No," Adam told his friend. Sid thought about it for awhile and then shook his head.

"Greg was sitting there when Bruce admitted hearing voices. Every fucking Geppetto boy in the world over 12 knows that's a recipe for disaster," Sid said.

"Greg knows Bruce is in trouble and he knows Bert knows about it. He's holding Bruce in check, he ain't screwing him," Sid told Adam.

"And if he is?" Adam asked. Sid looked at his friend and held up his hand.

"Geppetto boys hang it up for two reasons," Sid told his friend. "One, if they can't get sex. Two, if they're fucking tired of it!" Sid told his friend as the second finger pointed skyward.

"The question of the day is; where's Bruce? Greg may very well hold the clue," Adam shook his head: he had a lot to learn.

Bruce's shower took place in Greg's lap as the senior boy propped himself up against the shower wall. Both boys sat on the floor and Bruce sat in between Greg's legs and rested his head and back against Greg's chest as the senior boy shampooed his hair and lathered him up with suds in what was now becoming very familiar to Bruce as well as the rest of the Albemarle boys. At Green Tree, showers weren't merely a process to get clean. They were a very deliberate process, to communicate love, acceptance and even gratification. Only rarely did a Green Tree boy participate in a shower that didn't leave him both clean and with an empty well. The two were synonymous and fully encouraged by staff and boy alike. Even in the cool water, Bruce knew this to be the case and now sat in front of Greg kneading a very firm erection as Greg scrubbed his body.

"I need to go," Bruce told the senior boy.

"Can we do it the same way we did last night?" he asked Greg. The truth was, Greg also needed to go. He was in full erection with his penis lying between him and Bruce. His penis was sitting upright sandwiched between Bruce's buttocks, and the soft smooth texture of Bruce's cheeks weren't doing a damned thing to make his job any easier. To make matters worse, when the boy's butt moved, his penis was completely aware of it and reacting of it's own accord.

"You got a boner, I can feel it," Bruce told Greg. Greg shook his head. His body and his mind was screaming at him to lift the boy up and enter him. He was doing that before he was potty trained! He was still breast feeding when he lost his heterosexual virginity! Taking Bruce wouldn't have been nice or felt good, it would be fucking heaven to Greg.

Greg smiled and looked down at Bruce's penis. At nine, Bruce had about two and a half inches [6½ cm] with a pink mushroom head that was very neatly circumcised. He had a pink white sack that was fairly small because of the water temperature and both testicles withdrew to their protective pouches getting out of the cold. A small bump on each side of his groin betrayed their hiding spot as his penis twitched with his beating heart. Bruce had long ago discovered that inserting a pinky fingernail into his urethra made things a little more interesting and the boy made himself happy as he lay back and twitched his finger back and forth. Greg reached his face down and kissed the boy on the side of his neck.

"I still have to speak to Uncle Sid, but if you want, I'll do it for you," he told the boy. Bruce laid his head to one side and took Greg's hand in his. Bringing the senior boy's hand down to his penis, he put his penis in Greg's hand and wrapped his friend's fingers around the small shaft and closed his eyes as Greg took the boy's neck in his mouth and began sucking on his soft flesh. Neither boy was in any hurry as Bruce spent the next ten minutes being brought to the brink and then retreating back as Greg gave the boy his second hicky. Bruce studied the feelings his brain was analizing by his friend kissing him on the neck. Bruce most certainly knew he was in a vulnerable position, but moved his head further sideways and lifted his hand up to feel Greg's face as the bigger boy continued to suck on his neck and caress his penis in a way he had never been accustomed to before. Greg was in no hurry, and neither was he for this to end too soon. Greg knew well the three beats per minute that would make Bruce climax in double quick time but he didn't want Bruce to get fucked, he wanted Bruce to be made love to. There's one hell of a difference, and Bruce learned the difference at his friend's expert hand.

Bruce was sound asleep ten minutes later as Greg took care of himself standing at the toilet with his mind full of the little boy sleeping in the bedroom. Being an Uncle was a little tougher than he thought it would be as his semen dropped to the bottom of the toilet bowl for the first time since the boy was 13 and newly ejaculating. Like Sammy, Greg never thought about sex before; get laid and go out and play he had always practiced. Now something was damned different and he didn't know what it was.

Sunday lunch on the lawn was usually a light meal mainly because Sunday dinner was a full blown turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Adam had rejoined his boys along with Dan and Kevin and their boys. Bruce and Greg were down for a nap, and Sid would remain at Coquina until Greg awoke and try to get a few minutes to talk with the boy without Bruce being there. The Must Special sat in the living room with Sid, a man would be one room away from Bruce until Bert recalled him.

Bert joined the group for lunch, he wanted to talk to Kevin. Bert told the teacher of his concerns and also of the 'watch' now put into place for not only Bruce, but the other boys and staff that he considered potential jumpers. Kevin doubted that there was cause for concern, but Bert also knew that Albemarle lost three residents per year to suicide on average, and frankly didn't really give a fuck what anybody else thought.

"You also need to be aware that the houses that hold potential threats are under very tight surveillance," Bert told the man.

"Our only interest is in seeing that nobody harms themselves, what individuals do is none of our business unless it's a threat to the boy's safety and well being." Coquina is bugged from wall to wall and it will stay that way until I'm satisfied I'm not going to lose Bruce," Bert told the houseparent.

Sid hadn't gotten the opportunity to talk to Kevin, and as much as Bert felt that the man would respond to another Geppetto boy faster than he would to him, Bert needed as much information concerning Bruce as fast as he could get it. Kevin didn't shed a whole lot of light on the situation, but he did relate Bruce's history of being 'used' far more often than the average boy. If Bruce were told to drop his pants, he would without hesitation, but it was more of a submissive act than an act of sexual acting out on his part. Bert would have much preferred to hear that the boy was fucking everybody and his brother with gusto. Geppetto boys were invented to fuck, if they were, everything was all right with the Universe as far as Bert was concerned. At least that part that he gave any shit about!

Bert also knew the boy was being engaged by staff. That got a little tricky for the Administrator, you don't exactly walk up to a teacher and ask him how many times he bopped his pupil. To Bert's surprise, Kevin was very forthcoming. Kevin walked into Green Tree pretending he was the Pope. Bert knew that even the fucking Pope jerked off and that Kevin was a Geppetto boy.

At Albemarle, Kevin had 15 boys in his dorm and six of them regularly spent time with their teacher. The six boys Kevin brought to Green Tree were those boys and Bruce was one of them. For Bert's part, he had no problem whatsoever with the fact that the man was taking the boys to bed, that was a given. Bert's problem was that it was being done behind closed doors.

"He's been told to sneak around the corners now for nine years. I think he's had enough of sneaking and wants it to end," Bert told the teacher.

"Sex is as much a part of these boys lives as breathing Kevin and we don't tell them to hide their breathing. If they want to get laid on the living room rug, move the god damned couch.out of their way," Bert told the man.

"Kevin, you're 44 years old. You've been fucking for at least 43 of them, skip the bullshit and let yourself go before you die with a secret nobody but you believes anymore!" Bert told the man.

Lunch for Kevin as well as for the rest of his old staff, was a continuing education. While the meal itself was little different than any other meal the men had attended with the exception of Beach Dinner the night before, Sunday lunch was once again outside, and not all that far from the water once the boys finished eating. Green Tree boys swam almost daily, winter and summer, and were not particularly concerned about bothering with trifles like bathing suits. As a general rule, when they got wet, they got naked. Additionally, once they got tired of the sun and salt water, a short trot to the pool house found them there for just about the balance of the afternoon. Bert wanted the old staff brought up to speed as quickly as possible, and wall to wall balls, bats and buns on the Green Tree boys said more and accomplished more than 50 staff meetings that Bert didn't particularly have time for.

The intermediate boys had their own pool facilities, as did the senior boys and Camp Kenny children. All pools were air conditioned; heated to about 85 degrees [30°C] and had an adjoining sauna and Jacuzzi. As the newer boys would learn, the pool area itself was considered a public area by the staff, and like the Rec. Hall or Dining Room, decorum didn't allow extra curricular activity in those areas. The sauna, jacuzzi, bathrooms and houses however were not deemed as public places, and probably half of the new boys education would take place there on that Sunday afternoon. Those who remained as 'virgins' as far as the Green Tree boys were concerned would lose their virginity that night.

It was fair to say that concerning climaxing, the Albemarle boys were up to speed. Staff intervention notwithstanding, these weren't your average boys who maybe tossed one off with a pal or maybe even let his buddy do it for him, these boys were institutionalized all their lives, and those boys have a knack for figuring out how to make the tool very happy. On the other hand, nobody ever knew about it and nobody ever spoke about it. They just fucked when the lights were very low. Now, not only were the lights not very low, they may have been on a sand bar in the bay at 10:00 in the morning, or in a sauna with six to eight other boys, or in their room with four to six other boys all happily dancing as fast as they were. The Albemarle boys found themselves in a nudist colony of boys who were exactly like them and even though they were the only ones with the boners on the beach, nobody gave a shit, nobody said anything, and nobody punished them.

In groups of four, six and eight boys each, after lunch the boys made their way to the lagoon. Once there, the Green Tree boys clothing was shed, and the new boys education was about to begin in extreme earnest. The lagoon was a man made affair thanks to the Corp of Engineers, and it was an enclosed beach with powder soft sugar sand. The lagoon was protected by a man made reef of corral and limestone that was put in for privacy from the outside world and for protection from sharks, jelly fish and sting ray. In the center, the Corps had put in a horseshoe shaped island that opened to the barrier reef and once a swimmer reached the island and walked over the sand dune, he was invisible to anyone on the beach. Years earlier the boys decided to come up with a name for the little hideaway, they named it Bare Back Key.

"Want to go out to the Island?" Jesse asked Andy and Larry as his shorts dropped to the sand at the waters edge.

"What's out there?" Andy asked as a few boys around him giggled.

"It's a really neat place. But there is one rule about going out there," Jesse told the two boys.

"If a boy goes out to the Island, he's automatically saying yes to playing. Any boy going out there can't go back to staff and tell them that someone played with them without permission." David interjected.

"How come?" Larry asked.

"Because that's what everybody does out there, and that's why they're there," Jesse told the boys.

Larry watched as David's shorts now hit the sand. Jesse had no boner. The same couldn't be said for David as the boy spun around and dove into the water swimming for the Island followed by Jesse. Both Andy and Kevin stood looking at each other for two, maybe three seconds.

"You going?" Andy asked Larry.

"Look," Larry said as he approached his bunk mate and sucked in his stomach and pulled his shorts away. Andy didn't need an answer as he stared down at a four inch boner [10 cm] on Larry that he knew very, very well. It might have taken both boys five seconds to be naked and a little less to slid their boners under the water and swim for the Island.

In broad daylight, Andy was a little self conscious about walking out of the water with a stiffy leading the way, Larry much less so. Of Kevin's six boys, he held the title in his domain, he was the longest and he was the fattest penis in town. At nine, he had a package that even Bruce found hard to fully swallow, and when his friends invited him inside, they knew they better have recently made number two to make plenty of room for him.

Cresting the dune expecting to see Jesse and David on the other side waiting for them, the boys stood staring at probably three dozen boys, and all of them had a friend underneath them.

"Welcome to Bare Back Key," David said as he took Larry by the hand and led him down to a vacant patch of sand. Andy walked with Jesse following his friend as he studied the scene beneath his feet. Andy had seen a lot of positions in his nine years, he now glanced at a few more and took some mental notes.

"What if a staff member comes out here?" he asked Jesse.

"It wouldn't really matter, because everybody here agrees to be here," Jesse told the new boy.

"But it can't happen anyway. Staff aren't allowed to come here during the day, only at night if they want to," the boy told him.

"This Island and the fort are off limits to staff, it's our place to play and Bert doesn't allow staff," Jesse told the new boys.

"What fort?" Larry asked.

"There's a fort over by the mangroves," David replied as he sat down with his legs bent underneath him. Directing Andy to lay down flat on the sand in front of him. David took Andy's legs and moved the boys body towards him with Andy's ass now sitting on top of David's legs and up against David's stomach.

"Close your eyes." David told the boy as he began massaging Andy's lower torso.

"Why?" Andy asked.

"Because doing pussy's more fun that way!" David replied as he bent forward and kissed the head of Andy's penis that stretched for the sun.

"You're going to fuck right here?" Larry now asked.

"No, of course not silly," David told Larry.

"We all are!"

Andy closed his eyes as David lifted Andy up by the cheeks and guided himself onto his erection. Once Andy was once again fully sitting on David's groin, David took Andy's penis in his hand and massaged it with two hands as Andy got use to the idea of David being inside him.

It took the boys sphincter muscle a few seconds to fully cooperate, but once Andy relaxed enough to enjoy the ride, David turned to Jesse.

"I'm in," David said to his friend.

Jesse now straddled Andy and sat down on Andy's chest and directed Larry to stand in front of him. Even with his eyes closed, Andy knew he had a penis on his chin, and as he opened his eyes, Larry's penis disappeared into Jesse's mouth as Larry stood over Andy's head. Andy needed no direction as he swallowed Jesse for the first time that afternoon and matched the rhythm being dictated by David.

During school recesses, the Green Tree boys took care of business in two to three minutes. When not in school, fast and quick wasn't in their repertoire. Andy and Larry spent almost an hour and a half on the Island and when they swam to shore they were no longer virgins as far as the Green Tree boys were concerned. To both boys, the most exhilarating experience wasn't the acts of intimacy they were engaging in, it was the feeling of freedom that gave them the biggest memory. Both boys were now hooked on outdoor sex. Andy had a great time, but he wanted to know more about the fort!

Bruce awoke to the sounds of boys playing outside between Coquina and Bay Watch. It was close to 2:00 and at first, the boy wasn't exactly sure where he was as he lay there listening and then looking around. Greg lay next to him still sound asleep as the boy reached over and stroked the boys arm watching the air spring back after his hand passed over it. Greg was now stirring as he opened his eyes to the little boy concentrating on his arm and moving his hand up and down it.

Greg smiled and reached over and kissed Bruce on his cheek.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Greg asked the boy. Bruce nodded as he now looked into Greg's eye's.

"Hungry?" Greg asked the boy.

"I gotta pee first," Bruce replied. Greg smiled and sat up and lifted Bruce to his lap and carried the boy into the bathroom. Greg had to go too, so he sat down and had Bruce sit in his lap and held the boys penis down as they both went.

"Is that a broken pipe, or just a leaky faucet?" Sid said as the man entered the bathroom. Both Greg and Bruce giggled as greg flushed the toilet and stood up.

"Hi Uncle Sid," Greg said as he turned Bruce back around and went back into the bedroom.

"Hungry?" Sid asked.

"Starved!" Greg replied as he stood Bruce on a bed and went for a pair of the boy's underpants.

"Good, there's plenty of food downstairs and as soon as we get some drawers on the peanut here, we can dig in!" he told the senior boy. Bruce once again giggled and Sid for the first time in about five hours felt a very dark cloud lifting up and off his shoulders.

"What's this?" Sid asked as he turned the little boys neck to one side.

"Looks like a snake bite!"

"You know what that is Uncle Sid," Greg replied.

"Well, I know that a boy with one of these is pretty special to somebody else!" Sid replied. Bruce felt his neck and felt nothing.

"What is it?" Bruce asked the man. Sid picked up the boy and took him to a dresser mirror.

"Uncle Greg did that by sucking on my neck," Bruce told the man.

"And was that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Sid asked the boy.

"Good," Bruce replied with a small smile.

Sid was happy with the response. It didn't answer a whole lot of question the man still had of the senior boy, but whatever was going on, wasn't negatively effecting the child, and that was all that mattered.

"Well I tell you what, anytime you want a matching tattoo, you come see Uncle Sid and he'll give you a doozy!" Sid told the boy.

Bruce's smile broadened. He had met Sid a few times, and decided the man was nice. He wasn't Greg, but he was nice. Sid took the boy back to the bed and Greg put the boy's underpants on him. He knew he had some explaining to do, and he knew that his Uncle Sid would know bullshit from the truth. The problem for Greg was that he didn't know what the truth was himself yet!

For Sid, the senior boy held the key to a lot of questions and he needed these two separated.

"After lunch Bruce, there is a very nice, and very pretty girl who's here to take you to Camp Kenny next door to give you a very fast physical for the doctor. She has a little boy with her named Kenny, and her name is Jeanette," Sid told the boy as the three filed downstairs.

"She'll bring you right back after the physical, and it won't take longer than 15 or 20 minutes. OK?" the man asked the boy.

"Will I have to get shots?" Bruce asked.

"No shots, she's not licensed to give boys shots, she doesn't know what they are!" Sid told the boy as he once again giggled.

Walking into the living room, Bruce met Jeanette formally as the girl sat on the rug and put a fresh diaper on the little boy that Bruce had seen before with the girl in the Dining Hall. He remembered the two vividly, he had never seen a nursing baby before, he had never seen a woman's breast before.

Lunch was a fairly quick affair, and Jeanette left with both boys within a half hour. Bruce needed no physical and Jeanette was no nurse. But, Sid's goal had nothing to do with any physical. Sid's questioning began on the front porch as the two waved goodbye.

"The hickey?" Sid asked the boy as he returned inside and took out a soda and a beer for himself and the two sat down on the side porch.

"He had to go and I masturbated him before we went to sleep. I gave him the hickey while I played with him sitting in my lap Uncle Sid," Greg told the man as he hung his head.

"Uncle Bert told me he told you no sex. Is that right?" Sid asked the boy.

"Have you two made pussy since he arrived?"

"No Uncle Sid," Greg responded.

"69?" Sid asked.

"No," Greg again replied.

"Some folks may see it differently, but bopping the bologna ain't sex in your Uncle Bert's book or in mine. As far as we're concerned, you followed directions Greg," Sid told the boy. Now Greg felt a dark cloud rising.

"Bruce is on a Must Special, and it's very important that he is watched very carefully for the next few days," Sid told the boy.

"Until we get a handle on his problems, there will be no pussy and anything else that he does must be initiated by him. Not by you, and not by the other boys. Do you understand that?" Sid told the boy. Greg nodded his head.

"Security is lit up in Coquina Greg, the cameras are rolling," Sid told the boy.

Greg understood the implications.

"Uncle Bert and I are very concerned about you too Greg. Taking on a Must Special is a very difficult thing for anybody to do, even a full grown adult. Bruce needs a lot of help, and in the end, it might not be enough," Sid told the boy.

"The both of us will fully understand if you want Bruce to attach himself to someone else, and we can start working on that immediately," he said.

"No Uncle Sid!" Greg said instantly. The man now knew he had a two-way attachment going as he sat back in his chair.

"OK Greg, unless Uncle Bert says differently, you'll stay with Bruce except for school, and then return to Coquina after your classes."

"Now, tell me everything that's transpired between you two since he came, the more details I can get, the faster Uncle Bert and I can help him," Sid told the boy.

As far as Bruce was concerned, his trip with Jeanette was accepted at face value. He was going for a physical. As he climbed into the cart, Jeanette asked the boy if he ever drove one before. Bruce smiled. He had never seen one before coming to Green Tree.

"Ok, you sit next to me a steer and I'll do the gas and brake," Jeanette said as she put Kenny in his car seat and strapped him in.

The three arrived back in Camp Kenny with no new dents on the cart which kind of surprised Jeanette, but Bruce was thrilled to the core as he went from one side of the path to the other in a never ending zig zag. Once at Jeanette's house the three went inside to a house that looked exactly like Bruce's, but this one had every imaginable toy strewn about as two other girls and five other boys, all 2, 3, and 4 years old. The two year old was in a diaper, and another boy was in Superman underpants, but other than that, the boys were naked and playing either alone or with a friend. Bruce looked at the scene and decided he liked what he saw, especially the girls who were taking care of the boys. The very relaxed attitude of the boys, and the tender care the girls were providing to them told Bruce that these boys were very happy being where they were. Bruce himself might even be very happy living here if he could bring Greg along with him.

"Bruce, this is Gloria and this is Andrea. They live here with all of us." Jeanette said to the boy.

"Bruce is here for a physical," she told the girls as she introduced them to the boy.

A rip of a sound had all three girls now looking towards Kenny who was after the tabs on his diaper. It was still dry, but Kenny preferred playing naked, it was cooler that way. Jeanette look at the clock on the kitchen wall as she walked over to the dropped diaper and went over to Kenny and laid him down on the carpet.

"Not time for nakey yet Kenny, you make big poops first, then we have nakey time," she gently told the baby as he fussed and pushed at the diaper to keep it off. With the diaper back on, Jeanette bent down and blew air on the boy's stomach as he writhed in giggles. With a pat on the ass, he went waddling off. Jeanette hoped he'd become involved in play fast, accidents were a pain in the ass to get out of the carpets and Kenny wasn't enamored with diapers as of late. Bruce watched in a deep and growing envy.

Bruce's 'physical' was performed in the living room. Gloria brought out a stethoscope, blood pressure kit, flashlight, otiscope, and tongue depressor. As Bruce took off his shirt, the other boys now noticed the game of 'doctor' going on around them, and one by one, as Jeanette or Gloria finished with their 'examination', the boys all took their turns. Bruce had his heart and chest examined six times, his blood pressure eight times, his ears once and his tonsils six times. Close to a half hour later the boys were ready to return to their toys and Bruce was basking in the presence of attention.

"I think that's it," Jeanette said as she jotted down the number of tongues the boy had.

"Don't you want to check in my pants?" Bruce asked the girl.

"The doctor always checked all the boys there," he told her. Jeanette smiled a little.

"You mean 'Turn your head and cough'?" she asked Bruce.

Bruce turned a slight shade of pink as he nodded his head.

"Well, we already have that information from the last time, but if you want, we can check to make sure everything's all right," she told him.

"OK," Bruce replied.

Jeanette pulled the boy closer to her and pulled the front of his shorts open. Looking down, the girl and Bruce looked at his genitals. Snapping them shut she picked up her pencil and began writing.

"Two testicles and one penis. Very big," she said and put down the pencil.

It took Bruce a few seconds to figure out exactly what was just said. With a growing smile on the girl's faces, he finally figured it out and giggled with another pink face.

"You're fine!" Jeanette said she brought Bruce to her and hugged the boy with an intensity that told the boy she meant it and she liked him.

"There is one thing that needs to be done," Jeanette said to Bruce as she took out a plastic hospital type bracelet from her pocket and attached it to the boy's right wrist.

"According to the records, you may be allergic to bee stings. If you get stung by a bee, we'll know that you might be allergic to them and can give you the proper medicine," she told Bruce as the boy looked at the bracelet that had a star design on it with his name printed on the front.

"If this bracelet somehow falls off, I want you to report it to a staff member immediately, OK?" she asked. Bruce nodded his head.

"How come I never had to wear one before?" Bruce asked the girl.

Jeanette was a very quick thinker. "Because Green Tree bees are stronger than Albemarle bees," she told Bruce. Bruce nodded his head as Gloria's eyes rolled to the ceiling. Six boys at Green Tree had an allergy to bee stings and they just happened to be the same six boys on the Must Special list. Probably a coincidence.

The balance of Bruce's first visit to Camp Kenny didn't focus on him as it had all afternoon, Kenny had moved into the spotlight. Bruce and Jeanette sat on the couch in the living room as Kenny lay on his back on the carpet in front of the couch playing with a toy truck in his hands as Jeanette heard a slight grunt and looked at a slightly red faced boy laying in front of her.

"Poopy time Kenny!" Jeanette said to the boy as she got up and went over to a corner of the living room and picked up a potty chair.

"Want to use the potty like the big boys do?" she asked him. Kenny said nothing as he continued to grunt but did shake his head yes. Bruce watched as Jeanenette unsnapped the diaper in lightening speed.

'Too late,' Bruce said to himself as the diaper now lay flat on the rug. As Gloria lifted the toilet seat cover, Jeannette lifted Kenny off the diaper and onto the potty chair as Kenny's face lost no red color at all. Bruce watched in amusement as the next five minutes became a party on the potty as Kenny had to stand up and turn around and examine every single one of his contributions and watched as the girls pretended to be looking at a pot of pure gold.

Kenny's roommates didn't mind, half of them dragged over potty chairs as well to see if they could add to the wonderful new gifts. They made a few squirts, but no brass rings. Kenny called it quits a few times towards the end, but Jeanette seemed to know the boy's capacity fairly well as she coaxed two more red faced pushes from the boy and finally, it was time to bring the poops to the water and see if they could swim. The party convened at the toilet as Kenny did the honors and sent the poops to the ocean to go swimming with the other poops with everybody waving goodbye to them.

Bruce was quiet, but at the same time he was very busy studying the relationship between these boys and their house parents. He wondered if he was ever in the same position they were in right now. If he was, why wouldn't he remember such a nice warm place?

"Come on pal, let's get your bummy all cleaned up," Jeanette said as the other boys now headed back to their toys.

Bruce stayed with the girl as she laid the boy down on a high table in the bathroom and reached for a box of diaper wipes and a fresh diaper. Bruce watched as the boy lay there almost dormant knowing what was coming. Jeanette said little as she first wiped down the boys groin, penis and testicles. Then reaching for a new wipe, she picked up the little boys leg like the leg on a turkey and brought it up and over the boy exposing his bottom to the cleaning.

"That's messy!" Bruce exclaimed as the boy's anus came in to view.

Jeanette smiled. "And stinky too!" she said as she bent over and kissed the little boy on his stomach as he giggled. Once Kenny's ass returned to a golden tan color, Jeanette picked up a jar of Desitan and coated the boy's genitals and anus very liberally with it and reached for a diaper.

"No dipey," the boy now said.

"OK, but no pee pee on the rug!" Jeanette said as she lifted the boy up and kissed him at least three or four times and then put him back down to the floor.

"It's time we get you back to Uncle Sid Bruce, he's going to think we kidnapped you!" the girl said to Bruce as the two left the bathroom. Bruce smiled outwardly but that didn't sound like a bad idea he thought to himself.

"Come on Kenny, we're going to go for a ride in the cart again," Jeanette said to the little boy as she picked him up.

"Mik," the little boy said to Jeanette.

"We'll have mik once we get to Uncle Sid's," the girl said to the little boy.

"No, mik!" he said again.

"Right now?" the girl asked the boy who nodded his head.

"Wait a minute Bruce, Kenny is hungry," the girl said as she walked out to the porch and sat down in a rocker.

Bruce followed the girl and sat down on a glider and watched as the girl shifted the boy in her lap and Kenny now sat across her legs and lowered his head to her breast that the girl exposed for the boy. Kenny latched on instantly as he wrapped one arm around the girl's back and brought the other one up to her other breast and took it in his little fist. The girl had one arm around the boy's waist holding his body to hers as she cradled his buttocks in her hand and the other arm across his stomach as she held the boy's lower body by the groin. Kenny's eyes closed once his genitals felt the safety and comfort of her hand as he drank, and a small dribble of milk appeared from a corner of his mouth as his lips locked around her areola and drew his nurses nipple deeply into his mouth as he increased the suction that would take her warm milk and fill his tummy up.

Bruce sat and watched as the nursing boy drew deeply on Jeanette's breast and swallowed her milk with enough gusto to be heard as it traveled to his stomach.

"Are you his mother?" Bruce asked the girl.

Jeanette smiled. "We don't talk about that in front of him," the girl said.

"I take care of him and make sure he is very loved." she told Bruce very quietly. "Talk very low or he'll stop concentrating on drinking and want to listen to you," Jeanette told the boy. Bruce nodded his head as the boy's sucking slowed down, but kept a steady flow of milk traveling to his tummy.

Bruce continued to watch as the girl started rocking slowly and began to hum softly to the boy. The nine year old would have traded places with the baby in a heart beat as he watched with envy and a touch of home sickness that he didn't quite understand.

After four or five minutes, Jeanette leaned forward in the chair and put her finger between her breast and the boys lips breaking the suction the boy had built up. Bruce watched as she reversed the boy's body and now presented her other breast to him that the boy instantly latched onto without opening his eyes. Bruce watched as the boy settled back down and also looked at the girl's free breast that was noticeably red and swollen and seemed to have teeth marks. Other than pictures, Bruce had never seen breasts before and he didn't remember seeing nipples that big and almost flat from the boy's sucking.

"He's biting you to get milk?" Bruce asked the girl as she returned her breast inside her blouse.

Jeanette smiled. "No, Kenny can't bite me. When he's nursing his tongue is between his teeth and my nipple so if he tried, he'd be biting his own tongue," the girl told the curious boy.

"But you have teeth marks on your boob," Bruce told the girl. Jeanette again smiled and nodded her head.

"Kenny has teeth and when he nurses his top teeth are against my breast so they leave marks, but he's not trying to bite me and he's not hurting me," she assured the boy. When the girl returned her hand to the boys groin she picked up a cloth diaper and placed it over Kenny's genitals. Bruce observed but said nothing as he watched the little boy nurse at a much reduced pace and almost seemed to be sleeping as his throat continued to swallow. About three minutes into the second breast Kenny's dam broke and Bruce figured out why the diaper was on his genitals as the sound of a damned good flow of water arose from the diaper as it very quickly became soaked as Jeanette adjusted it as best as possible. A good 20 second flow overwhelmed the diaper, Kenny's lap, and a great deal of Jeanette's shorts as the boy continued his nursing unconcerned about the flood down below. Jeanette removed the now soaked diaper when she figured the shower was over and dropped it to the porch floor with a very squishy thud. Reaching for another dry diaper, she dried off the boys stomach, legs and genitals and then returned her hand to the boy's crotch.

"He got you all wet," Bruce whispered to the girl.

Jeanette again smiled. "Nobody can make pee pee like Kenny," she told Bruce as she kissed the little boy on the forehead.

After probably another five minutes Jeanette looked down at the boy.

"He's had just about enough," she told Bruce as she again broke the suction and lifted the now sleeping baby up to her shoulder.

"Come on, let's get changed and get you back," Jeanette said as she got up from the rocker. Bruce followed the girl upstairs to her room where she put the sleeping boy down on the bed.

"I need to take a very quick shower and then we go back," the girl said as she now undressed and took out a clean pair of underpants, blouse and shorts from the dresser. At nine, Bruce now saw his first live naked girl.

"Keep an eye on Kenny, he'll most probably stay asleep, but if he gets up, don't let him fall of the bed," the girl told Bruce who was now needing an adjustment in his underpants.

Bruce had absolutely nothing to compare her to, but if this was what all girls looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and behaved like, he figured he was going to like girls when he grew big enough to make them happy. In defense of Bruce, Jeanette was petite, very cute, very fair skinned, completely shaved from neck to toes, as clean as a whistle and had personality, poise, charm and a brain. Her body didn't scare boys 0 through 8, and boys 9 through 16 spent a great deal of time in bathroom stalls thinking about. Being in the latter group, Bruce would have his first fantasy about five minutes after he returned to Coquina.

The jingle of Sid's cart bells signaling the return of Jeanette with Bruce came a few minutes faster than the man would have hoped for, but the boy was gone for over an hour, so Jeanette did very well as far as Sid was concerned. He had picked Greg's brain almost clean, and Sid knew about as much of Bruce's problems as he did Greg's. In the hand's of the wrong people, Bruce and Greg might have been in very deep shit. In the hands of Sid and Bert, Sid's blood pressure decreased to normal levels.

Walking back up the steps of Coquina, Sid and Greg smiled as Bruce struggled up the stairs with a cherub with a very fat ass.

"Isn't she afraid he's going to poop?" Greg asked Sid as the group mounted the stairs.

"No, Kenny's a very regular boy. He fills his diaper to the brim between three and four in the afternoon, after that, it's smooth sailing!" Sid told the senior boy. For Bruce's sake, Greg hoped so. Sid also noticed that both his major goals were accomplished; He had his private talk with Greg and Bruce had a wristband on that screamed 'Watch me!' to almost two hundred adults within one square mile of the boy.

By Sunday afternoon, things had ratcheted themselves up for Bert. With Bruce and the rest of the jumpers on Must Special, his priorities were being re-arranged by events he didn't control. Namely, a storm called Isabel who had just been named a hurricane and was coming off the Cape Verde Islands. Those are the most deadly of all storms and one's that had a very nasty habit of striking the 'big wang' known as Florida. Getting out of a hurricane's way presents no particular problems in and of itself, move a few hundred miles north or south, and you have a few days to decide. It works very well when you live in Orlando. When you live in the Keys, when you don't really exist to the 'normal' world, and when you have 500 people, the logistics of the thing can get a tad stressful.

If the storm got within 500 miles [800 km] of the school, evacuation was mandatory, and the only place they could disappear to was North Carolina and Camp Green Tree. 500 people and a few belongings didn't fit in the Volkswagen camper van, so coordination of 15 Greyhound style Prevost busses and five tractor trailer trucks needed to be made with two ferry boats that carried 15 passengers at a time off the island. Then Bert had to get them down half the length of the Keys without anybody asking "Who the fuck are they?"

Projections were that the storm was going to turn to the north, but it was already 300 miles [500 km] west of where the turn was projected to be made by the National Weather Service, and Bert was losing faith in Mr. Sheets very quickly. Since Friday it was making a bee line for Marathon, and that was much too close to home for Bert. By Sunday afternoon, he had no more than 48 hours to pull the plug and get those busses off the keys before the gang from Key West closed the bars and clogged the only road out of town, a two lane nothing highway. Bert's first request to Alexandria was to have the National Guard open up Camp Green Tree as an evacuation center (Officially).

Sid walked into Bert's house in a much better mood than when he first left but it didn't hold for long. As he entered Bert's office, Bert had four television screens going and he was on the phone talking about cots, and hot water heaters, and water hook ups and Port-O-Sans. Sid knew that Bert hated the tv, he never watched it. With four screens going, Sid knew Bert was gearing up.

"They keep telling me it's turning," Bert said as he dropped the phone back down on his desk.

"Well then that's good news," Sid responded.

"They've been telling me that since yesterday morning, 32 hours ago. You see that fucker making any turn?" Bert asked his friend. Sid looked at the screen. From the middle of the Atlantic to now just off Antigua, the path could have been an arrow.

"So what's the call boss?" Sid asked his friend.

"If she passes Great Inagua heading west, we're outta here! that gives us less than 24 hours to evacuate before the goonies start flying," Bert told his friend.

"What's Alexandria doing?" Sid asked.

"We'll have 15 busses and five trucks sitting in Fort Myers tomorrow afternoon. If the bitch keeps coming, they arrive here Tuesday by noon and sit out in the mangroves waiting," Bert told the man.

"We'll use Tuesday for getting supplies off the Island, if we pull the plug, we start moving out busses as they're loaded on Wednesday morning. If we go, you're on the first bus out; I want you coordinating the arrivals at Camp," Bert said.

"What about Bruce?" Bert asked the man as he looked down at a list of things to do.

"Bruce is covered boss, he's being watched like a hawk and I'll stay on it," Sid replied.

"What's Greg up to?" Bert asked.

"He's handling himself well, I have them both in school tomorrow and then Greg will return back to him," Sid responded. Bert sat back and listened to his assistant.

"Where are we on the new boys and staff?" Bert asked.

"They're progressing well boss, we'll be all Green Tree again in less than week," Sid responded.

"That include Kevin?" Bert asked.

"Leader of the pack boss," Sid said as he smiled.

"Dinner is in less than an hour Bert. Give Isabel a little rest and take some time out. We've been through this shit before and we'll do it dozens of times in the future."

"A million things can go wrong," Bert responded almost dejectedly. Sid had no answer for his friend; he knew Bert took his responsibilities deadly seriously.

"See you at dinner!"

Sunday dinner was dress formal for the boys, they put on their best clothing and it usually stayed on until they returned to their houses. Green Tree boys had wardrobes full of top designer clothing. Albemarle boys came with clothing that was much more conservative. It was in very good condition and there was plenty of it, but compared to Green Tree, it was flat out fucking boring and nothing any Green Tree boy would even consider. There was no question in anyone's mind that the new boys would abandon Penny's, Sears and Montgomery Ward for Tommy Hillfiger, Old Navy and Izod, but it couldn't be done by Sunday night dinner, and the monitors with the new boys knew it.

Green Tree had plenty of boys who were the same size as the new boys and Sunday afternoon each new boy was paired up with a Green Tree boy his size and the two shared wardrobes for the night. At lunch, you could pick out a Green Tree boy from a new boy without problem by his clothing. At dinner, that option was lost. Sunday night dinner was a full blown sit down Turkey Dinner that was always held in the Dining Hall. All week long the houses ate breakfast and dinner separately, only lunches during school days were eaten together. Sunday dinner was 'family' night as far as Green Tree was concerned. Everyone had smelled the cooking all day, now it was time to devour it!

What Sid had started autonomously concerning merging Beachview, Coquina and Bay Watch had by late Sunday afternoon become routine. A Green Tree houses would 'adopt' one of the eight Albemarle houses to assimilate them faster and easier for the boys. Now at dinner, the boys didn't eat with their house, they ate with their group. In Coquina's case, Kevin sat at a table with six adults and 21 boys. Kevin was learning names slowly, but his boys were learning at warp speed.

Sunday dinner for Kevin was yet one more surprise in a never ending string that began barely three days earlier. So far, meals were either a high frequency social event, or a party scene. Now, Kevin came into the Dining Hall with Michael who asked to stay with his teacher, to a scene that was once again, something unexpected. Like all of his boys, Michael was beaming with pride at his newly borrowed set of clothes and Kevin watched quietly as his boys sat down looking no less contented than the Green Tree boys. He couldn't have said that a day earlier. Adam sat down next to Kevin with Sammy very quickly climbing into Adam's lap. Kevin had seen the boy before, always with Adam.

"Hi Uncle Kevin!" the little boy said as he picked up a handful of black olives and started to pop them into his mouth.

"Want some?" the little boy said as he held out his hand. Kevin took one and ate it as Adam reached into the boy's hand and took the rest from Sammy's hand.

"Hey Uncle Adam!" Sammy protested as he reached for the bowl and took another handful. Adam smiled and kissed Sammy on the top of the head.

"Luckily for Uncle Kevin, your hands are as clean as your face!" Adam said as he reached around and kissed Sammy on the temple.

"That's because you keep drowning us Uncle Adam!" Sammy replied in mock annoyance. Kevin smiled.

"Boys and soap never did get along very well," he told Adam.

"How are the boys coming along?" Adam asked the man now ready to engage in a serious conversation.

"I think things are moving very quickly. Our boys are taking to Green Tree like ducks to water," Kevin told Adam.

"It's been a mutual acceptance. It's been my experience that when you put a bunch of boys together, there's usually tension, arguments, disagreements and even fight's. I haven't seen or heard about one single problem yet between our boys," Adam said.

Kevin nodded his head as Sid arrived in the Dining Hall along with Greg, Bruce, Jesse and Brian.

"Oh boy! Uncle Sid's here. Pretend you don't know him and maybe he'll go away," Adam told the boys around him. The boys all giggled as they went back to their salad, pickles and olive bowls. Uncle Bert wanted the meal kept formal and dignified, but Uncle Sid just came in and there was no such thing in his book as every Green Tree boy knew.

Joey and Trevor sat side by side at the table as Sid came in back of the boys and lifted his leg over the bench between the two of them.

"S'cuse me, pardon me," Sid said as he wiggled his way between the two boys and sat down with both boys giggling almost as loud as the boys around them.

"Hey Uncle Sid, Uncle Adam says we should ignore you," Sammy told the man across the table from him.

"Traitor!" Adam said as he tickled Sammy in his ribs until the boy was on the floor under the table writhing in giggles. As Greg and Bruce sat down across from Adam and Kevin, Jesse and Brian put the four bottles of wine they carried into the Dining Hall and put it on the table in front of Sid.

"Let's see, this is yours," Sid said as he put a bottle in the middle of the table.

"And these are mine!" he said as the remaining three sat in front of him with the man surrounding the bottles in his arms. The boys all once again giggled.

As far as alcohol was concerned, Green Tree's policy was that a staff member could give a boy a taste, or even a glass of beer or wine. Sunday dinner was no different; a small glass of wine with dinner was expected. Getting a boy drunk however was not acceptable, not to Bert, not to Sid, and not to any other staff member.

"Come on Uncle Sid, let go of the wine so we can put it on ice," a kitchen boy said as he put a bowl of salad in front of the man and began picking up the bottles. As Sammy's head appeared back from under the table and the boy got back on Adam's lap, Sid winked.

"Thank you pal, I owe you one!" He told the boy as Sammy giggled once again. Kevin watched as Adam once again kissed the top of the boy's head as Sammy lifted his hands up behind him and cradled his teacher's neck in his hands in an embrace that screamed its innocence, its openness and it's acceptance. Kevin wanted more than anything else in his life to be a part of that embrace.

Kevin looked down at Michael sitting alongside him who was smiling at Sid's antics. Kevin kissed Michael on the top of the boy's head as he realized he had a lot to learn and a long way to go. The boy looked up to his teacher as he felt the kiss on his head.

"I like this place!" the boy said to his teacher. Kevin rapped his arms around the boy's chest as tightly as he dared.

"I like this place too!" he whispered in the boy's ear. Sid never slept, and he now had one more reason to smile.

Sunday dinner was already well underway when Bert entered the Dining Hall. He was bone weary having to deal with the threat of an evacuation of the school because of a hurricane and he wasn't getting any answers from the 'experts' who were supposed to tell him if the school was about to be wiped off the map. Temporarily putting Hurricane Isabel to bed, Bert was now going to have dinner as non stressfully as possible. For the man, that usually meant being knee deep in his kids. Table by table by table, Bert traveled through the Dining Hall touching base with the people he loved and who he knew by name, almost 500 of them.

"Good evening Gentlemen. You too Sid," Bert said as he reached the table holding Caleb in his arms. The 21 boys that comprised the three houses of Beachview, Coquina and Bay Watch all erupted in laughter and giggles as the 'war' between Bert and Sid would now continue to the boy's never ending delight. Sid was halfway through his soup as he leaned over to Trevor sitting beside him.

"Did you hear that?" Sid said to the boy so all could hear.

"Did that sound like a snake or a baboon to you?" he asked the boy in mock seriousness. The laughter from Sid's table told the rest of the Dining Hall that the two men were at it again as the noise level went down so that they might pick up a jab or two. Bert reached down and picked up a sweet gherkin from Adam's plate as he handed it to the four year old.

"So, other than the fact that you boys have to tolerate Uncle Sid's snoring, how's everything going?" Bert asked the boys. Choruses of "Fine" after the giggles had Bert ready to take his leave and join the tables from Camp Kenny. Sid of course wasn't done and wound up a toy alligator under the table and put it on the top as it 'walked' itself towards Bert and Caleb.

"Got a present for you boss," Sid said as the boys from eight tables around now all surrounded the group to see the toy and share in the joke. Bert remained silent as he picked up the toy and gave it to Caleb and walked away.

As it almost always did, it took the Dining Hall about five minutes to calm back down to a reasonable level once 'The Bert and Sid Show' ended and it served it's intended purpose as superbly as it always did. They boys were in a happy, relaxed and in a festive mood, and even those boys who had very serious thoughts in their heads took some time out to laugh and enjoy.

Sunday dinner was a formal event, but formal doesn't have to be morbid.

Bruce watched intently as he watched Bert make his way to Camp Kenny tables and sat down with Caleb alongside Jeanette and little Kenny. Sunday Dinner came complete with candles on the tables, and Bruce now watched Jeanette in the glow of candlelight bouncing off her hair and skin. Nine year old boys certainly wouldn't dream of approaching a girl, or even a woman, but they do have a propensity of 'falling in love' at a safe distance. Bruce didn't have the faintest clue in the world why, but Jeanette fascinated him and seeing or being near her was becoming more and more important to him.

Since Saturday nights talk with Greg, the boys of Coquina were also now on a mission of sorts. They had learned that sleepover visits were allowed by their new school and sleepovers usually meant beds and those beds would have other boys in them. Andy, Kenny, Larry and Mike were no strangers to sleeping with each other, but on a scale of 1 to 10, their interactions were a 1 while these Green Tree boys were up in the 9 to 10 range! The new boys knew the leash was off, now they wanted to taste the freedom they were never allowed to consider at their own school.

Since Greg was their Green Tree monitor, they sought both his advice and approval. He could make things happen, he could get them into Green Tree boys beds.

"You said we could have sleepovers Uncle Greg," Andy told the monitor after the boys returned from dinner and began their showers.

"Yes, and I also told you that sleepovers were done on non school nights." The senior boy replied.

"Tomorrow morning is school. This isn't a non school night," he reminded the boys.

"What's the difference?" Larry now asked.

"We don't go to school until 9:00 and we'd all be up and dressed by then anyway," he told Greg. The senior boy thought about it for a few seconds and really had no response.

"I don't know, it's never been done before, Uncle Sid or Uncle Bert would have to approve of it," he told the boys.

"So go ask Uncle Sid!" Mike replied.

"On a school night? What for?" Sid asked the senior boy as Greg put the question to him. Greg rolled his eyes up.

"Uncle Sid, don't be stupid!" he told the man. Sid sat back.

"You've been an Uncle one day and I'm getting shit from you?" Sid asked. "What for as in why can't it wait until the weekend?" he asked the boy.

"Why should they? Uncle Bert wants them turned into Green Tree boys as fast as possible," Greg told his teacher.

"Two nights with Jesse, David, Jeffrey, Danny and Jackie will have them up to speed before Wednesday," Sid smiled as he cradled his chin in his hands.

"You sure you ain't a fucking midget?" he asked the senior boy. Greg smiled as he shook his head.

"OK, but I don't want 21 boys in one house. I assume that Andy, Kenny, Larry and Mike want to sow their wild oats," Sid said to the boy.

"Yes, and Andy and Kenny have already been on the Island with David and Jesse," Greg replied.

"Really!" Sid responded. Greg nodded.

"So what do they want to do now?" Sid asked the boy.

"Uncle Sid, I said David and Jesse!" he told the man. Sid shook his head once again.

"Ok, so Andy and Kenny want to sleep with David and Jesse. That leaves two spots in Coquina and Larry and Mike pulling their pudding all alone. If Joey and Trevor want to go, let them. If not, find a couple from Bay Watch and have Joey and Trevor stay there for tonight," Sid told the boy.

"I assume Michael is covered? Sid asked the boy.

"Yes, he's sleeping with Uncle Kevin," Greg replied.

"And Bruce?" Sid asked.

"You know where he's sleeping Uncle Sid!" Greg told the man.

"I also know that he has a band on his wrist that tells us we're carrying a dozen eggs riding on a roller coaster!" Sid told the boy.

"Your Uncle Bert is going to be very busy during the next few days, and you and I are going to have to be his eyes and ears when it comes to Bruce," Sid said to the boy.

"I understand Uncle Sid," Greg told the teacher.

"I know you do Greg, if I didn't you'd be back with the senior boys doing what senior boys like to do best!" Sid said as he stood up. Greg smiled and shook his head.

After his meeting with Sid, Greg went upstairs and spoke to David and Jesse. Both boys had finished showering and were heavily into a video game as Greg sat down on the bed.

"Uncle Sid has given permission for sleepovers tonight. Andy and Kenny want to sleepover at Beachview," he told both boys.

"Cool!" David responded. Greg wasn't 100% sure why, but he felt a little protective of the boys from Coquina that he was now responsible for.

"We're a little advanced for some of these boys, guys. Maybe you need to take it a little slow with them," he suggested.

"Greg, we spent two hours with them this afternoon on the Island. They know how to fuck their brains out!" Jesse told the senior boy.

"They got dicks as big as ours."

Feeling slightly less paternal, Greg now approached Joey and Trevor as both boys laid on the bed reading comics. Explaining the plan neither boy was all that interested in going to Coquina for the night. The idea of Bay Watch intrigued them since they could 'camp out' with Billy, Ethan and Arthur, three eight year olds who were one hell of a lot of fun in the sauna. All Greg needed now was to find two boys from Bay Watch to join Larry and Mike and he could retire for the night. Bobby and Jackie were the only boys in Bay Watch who weren't already bedded down or committed and with pillows and personal blankets in arms, the three of them returned to Coquina to meet and greet.

Walking up the steps to the house, all four Coquina boys pretty much held their breath as they awaited the verdict.

"Uncle Adam is waiting for you two at Beachview," Greg told Andy and Kenny.

"Make sure you let him know you're there and that you have permission," Greg told the two boys as they flew down the steps in their underpants. Greg now turned to the boys remaining

"This is Bobby and this is Jackie," Greg said as he introduced the boys.

"They live in Bay Watch and they'd like to sleepover," Greg told Larry and Mike.

"It's almost bedtime, so let's figure out where you're going to sleep he told the boys as he walked inside.

Greg had left Bruce and Michael playing checkers at Coquina as he talked to Sid and arranged the night's festivities, and by the time he returned, Bruce was about done with checkers as he saw the senior boy and immediately returned to his arms without comment or permission. Larry and Mike looked at each other, Bobby and Jackie didn't blink. After introductions to Uncle Kevin who was now sitting with Michael in the living room, the boys followed Greg upstairs.

"Where's your bed Greg?" Bobby asked the senior boy. Greg pointed and both boys threw their stuff on the other two beds.

"We're tired Greg. Can we go to bed now?" Jackie asked the senior boy.

"Whenever you want," Greg told the boys. Both boys now pulled down their underpants and looked at their hosts.

"You tired too?" Bobby asked as he headed for the toilet. Both Larry and Mike looked at Greg.

"What do we do now?" Mike whispered to the senior boy.

"If I were you, I'd take off my pants, go to the bathroom and crawl into bed and see what happens!" Greg whispered back.

"I wet the bed!" Bobby whispered to the senior boy.

"So do they!" he whispered back.

"I don't!" Mike said proudly and no longer whispering.

"Do you know how to swim?" Greg asked the boy. Even Bruce now giggled.

"Good Night Guys!" Greg said as he shut off the bedroom light and returned downstairs with Bruce still in his arms.

"I know what's gonna happen!" Bruce said to Greg as the two returned downstairs.

"Something private right?" Greg asked the boy.

"They're gonna fuck!" Bruce told Greg.

"Like I said Bruce, something private," Greg said as he kissed the boy on the nose.

Andy and Kenny arrived at Beachview with their expectations only slightly higher than their erections. Underpants or no, Stevie Wonder would have seen the bulges that tested the elasticity of the waistbands surrounding both boy's stomachs as they notified Adam of their arrival. As both boys raced upstairs to begin the debauchery Adam shook his head.

"David and Jesse must be getting better!" Adam said to Sammy as the boy laid in the man's lap with his thumb firmly placed in his mouth. Sammy giggled, but only faintly, he was trying to stave off the turkey snooze and was losing the battle fast.

"Come on little man, time for bed!" Adam said as he arose from the chair and turned Sammy around. Sammy was sound asleep before Adam got to the bedroom.

Adam's entrance into the bedroom went over like a lead balloon with Andy and Kenny as the two new boys were just about ready to start the party with David and Jesse. Adam sat down and laid Sammy down on the bed and took the boy's underpants off while Andy and Kenny sat up.

"You sleep in this room Uncle Adam?" Kenny asked.

"Right here," Adam replied as he lifted Sammy back up and put the sleeping boy's head on his pillow. Both Andy and Kenny looked at each other and then lowered themselves back down to the pillows. Adam got into bed and snuggled himself up with Sammy as he heard very hushed whispers coming from the adjacent beds. A good two minutes passed and then Jesse spoke.

"Uncle Adam?"

"Yes Jesse," Adam said.

"Andy and Kenny want to sleep out on the porch with us. Is that all right?" the boy asked.

Adam sat up.

"The porch?" he asked the boy.

"Yeah, they want to camp out on the porch," Jesse told his teacher.

"Is that allowed? You guys never did that before!" Adam said to the boy.

"They don't want to play with you in the same room," David now said.

Adam thought about it for a few seconds, then started laughing.

"Wait a minute; didn't I just go through this stuff with Sammy just a few days ago?" Adam asked the boys.

"Uncle Adam, they're new and feel funny about it!" Jesse replied. Adam shook his head as he wondered if Sid knew about this situation. "Are you safe from weather out there?" Adam asked Jesse.

"Yes Uncle Adam, the whole house is protected including the porches," the boy replied.

"Go!" Adam replied as he laid his head back down. Adam watched as four boys with fairly substantial boners took bedclothes and mattresses out the sliding glass doors. Adam needed a long talk with Sid in the morning.

Leaving Bay Watch and returning to Coquina, Greg and Bruce took a detour to the beach which was a very few hundred feet away from both houses. Walking along the shore and shuffling his feet in the very warm waters, Bruce looked around and took Greg's hand in his.

"Did you ever think of running away?" the little boy asked.

The fact was, Greg had not. He had never had anything he wanted to run away from. He loved Green Tree, he loved the people around him, it never occurred to him. At the same time, he knew even at 16 years of age that Bruce came from another place that he knew absolutely nothing about. The boy was on a suicide watch, and in all probability, he was being watched at that very second by invisible adults around him.

"No, did you?" Greg asked the little boy.

"Sometimes," Bruce replied.

"Why?" Greg asked him.

"Sometimes people would be mean to me, or make me do things I didn't like. Sometimes they would hit me or make me cry. Sometimes, they would say bad things to me and tell me to go away," Bruce replied unemotionally.

"At your school?" Greg asked the boy. Bruce shook his head.

"No, not at Albemarle, before I went to Albemarle," Bruce replied.

"Where?" Greg asked the boy.

"I don't know," Bruce said after a short pause.

"If you ran away Bruce, where would you have gone?" Greg asked as he sat down on the beach and sat Bruce in front of himself. Bruce looked down at the sand for a long time and drew his fingers in the sand.

"I don't know," he replied.

"I guess if I wanted to run away, I would run to Disneyworld or maybe to a carnival. Is that where you would go?" Greg asked the boy. Bruce thought for a long while.

"I guess so," he said just as unemotionally.

"Is that where you want to go?" Bruce asked.

"No Bruce, I want to stay here, and I want you to stay here with me," Greg told the little boy.

"You asked Uncle Bert to stay with me and he said you could. I want you to stay with me. I want you to promise me you won't try to go away without me," Greg told the boy.

"OK," Bruce said.

"No, Bruce, not OK," Greg told the boy as he lifted his face to look into the boys eyes.

"Tell me you won't try to go away without me," Greg said to the little boy.

"OK," Bruce said. Greg shook his head.

"Say the words Bruce!" Greg almost demanded.

"I won't go away," Bruce told the senior boy.

It was very dark out by now, and the two boys sat on the beach almost nose to nose. At 16 Greg really didn't remember when he shed tears last, maybe when he was hurt in some sports game or something. He shed tears tonight, but not for a misplaced kick or accident.

Geppetto boys are like diamonds, they have many facets. Some sparkle in the light and some are still uncut. Regardless, they're all very precious as anyone who ever came into contact with them knew.

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