Charlie sat on the plane staring straight ahead. To his right was his younger brother Joey. It was their first plane ride. To his left was his Uncle Ben. Waves of emotion tumbled through Charlie’s mind and heart as he sat. He was sad, angry, and scared, and he couldn’t sort those emotions out. One thing he did know was that he wasn’t happy, and he thought he never would be again.
Charlie and Joey lived in Waco, Texas. The boys had friends there, and their parents were reasonably caring, although secretly, both boys preferred their mother, because their father tended to be harsh and judgmental.
At fourteen, Charlie was well into puberty. He had heard about mood swings, and he certainly had them. Joey was four years younger, and Charlie often considered him a pain. Joey looked up to his brother and followed him everywhere. Even when Charlie grew angry and told him to go home, Joey just walked a little bit away and watched whatever his brother was doing.
Charlie thought back to that night nearly a month before, when a policeman came to the door. He told the boys none too gently that their parents were dead.
Recovering from the first shock, Charlie asked what had happened. He was told that their parents had been driving and had somehow stalled out on the railroad tracks. The train engineer saw them too late, and the train demolished the car.
Soon another knock came at the door. The policeman answered, and a man entered, saying he was a social worker and would see that the boys were taken care of. He asked if the boys knew of any relatives they had.
Charlie knew of three. One was his mother’s sister, a cloistered nun. His father had had two brothers. The older, Garry, had moved to Mexico and had died there. The other was Ben. His father had said many times that Ben was queer and was no longer considered a member of the family.
Charlie knew he had to tell the social worker about Ben, but he didn’t say that Ben was queer, only that he had never met the man.
When he was asked if he knew where Ben lived, he said he didn’t, but there might be something in his father’s desk about him. He reluctantly showed the man his father’s desk.
The man went through it methodically and eventually found an old address book. Looking through it, he found the name, Ben Webster with an address in Truro, Massachusetts. Like many Texans, the social worker had only a general idea of where Massachusetts was, and no idea at all of where Truro was.
There was a phone number in the book, so the man tried calling. A voice answered with a sleepy, “Hello?”
“Is this Ben Webster?” the man asked.
“No. He’s asleep. Is this important?”
“Yes. Could I speak with him please?”
The man heard the phone being put down and some muffled talking, and then a voice asked, “Who is this?”
“I’m from the welfare office in Waco, Texas, and I’m trying to reach Ben Webster, the brother of Max Webster.”
Suddenly alert, Ben asked, “What’s happened?”
The social worker told him about the accident and about the two boys, saying that as far as he knew, he, Ben, was their only living relative.
There was silence on the phone. At last, Ben said, “Shit. So what do you want with me?”
“We need you to take the boys.”
“That’s not convenient.”
“But the boys need you.”
“I don’t need them. My life here is fine without them.”
The man heard a muffled voice in the background and then an argument. When Ben came back on the phone, he said, “Give me your number and I’ll call you back.” He took down the number and hung up without another word.
During the conversation, Charlie and Joey had been standing in the doorway, listening to the social worker.
“Is he coming?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t know yet,” the man replied.
“If he doesn’t come, what will happen to us?”
The man didn’t like that option, although he knew it could happen. “You’ll be put in foster care and quite possibly separated.”
Joey clung to Charlie.
“I know a few kids in foster care,” said Charlie, “and I can’t think of one of them who’s happy.”
The man told the boys to pack some clothes for a few days because they would have to stay in a temporary foster home until he heard from Ben.
Charlie was worried, especially about Joey. He figured that at fourteen, he could run away from a foster home, but that would leave Joey, and even though the boy could be a pill, he wouldn’t do that to his brother, who was after all his pill and now, perhaps, his responsibility.
The boys were temporarily given a room in a foster group home. Space was tight, so there was just one bed which they had to share. They had never shared a bed before, and Charlie wondered how he could continue his nightly masturbation. Of course, that wasn’t the word he used or even knew.
The social worker returned to the home the next day and told the boys that their Uncle Ben was flying down from Truro, wherever that was, and would arrive the following day.
Joey seemed relieved, but Charlie knew what his father had said about Ben and was afraid of what might happen if they went with him.
The next day the social worker took the boys to the airport in the late afternoon. The plane carrying Ben landed on time, and when the passengers began to file through the door, Charlie watched them, thinking he’d be able to spot his uncle. He expected that Ben would be weird in some way, but he saw no weird people getting off the plane.
The social worker was holding a sign that read “Ben Webster”.
A man walked up to them and said, “I’m Ben Webster.” He looked at the boys and continued, “I don’t even know your names.”
The social worker introduced them, and they all went to the baggage carousels, where the wait seemed endless. Eventually though, Ben found his luggage and they all went out to the social worker’s car. The man advised Ben that he’d need to rent a car as he’d be staying long enough to empty the Websters’ house and arrange for its sale after the will was probated. Ben grumbled some but nodded.
The social worker took them to the car rental agency and Ben went in to see what he could rent. While he was there, he asked about a hotel because he had no desire to stay in his brother’s house. He received directions to one the agent recommended. He emerged in a few moments as a car was driven up. He and the boys transferred his luggage to the car. Ben thanked the social worker, who said he’d be in touch before he drove off.
As the boys and Ben climbed into the rental, Joey asked, “Sir, what should we call you?”
“Uncle Ben will be fine.” The boys were not used to calling adults by their first names but arguing with the man never crossed their minds. ‘Uncle Ben’ was what he’d asked of them, and that was what they accepted.
Charlie gave Uncle Ben directions to the house, and when they arrived, the boys and Ben went inside. At first, Charlie felt a tug of homesickness, even though he’d only been out of the house for a couple of days.
Ben looked around, thinking it was rather strange to be looking at his brother’s belongings, a brother who hated him and someone he hadn’t seen since before Charlie was born.
“What do you want to do with this stuff?” he asked the boys.
“We’ll be living here so we’ll keep most of it,” Charlie replied.
Ben stared at him and then said flatly, “You won’t be living here. If you lived here, I’d have to also, and I have no intention of doing that.”
He fanned himself with his baseball cap and added, “I don’t even know how people survive in this heat.”
Charlie informed him that since it was only spring, it wasn’t hot yet, to which Ben just grumped.
After looking around a bit, Ben said, “You boys need to pick out what you want to take with you. I guess the rest will be sold. So will the house.”
“Who gets the money?” asked Charlie, suspiciously.
Ben frowned. “Your question is legitimate, I guess, but I don’t like your tone of voice.”
Charlie repeated, “Who gets the money, sir?” in a saccharine voice.
“I’m also not fond of sarcasm. Anyway, everything will be put into a trust fund for the two of you which you will receive when you’re old enough, minus any that is spent for things like school or college. And,” he added, “you both can do away with the ‘sir’. If you say that where you’re going, you’ll probably get ostracized by the other kids. Massachusetts is much different from Texas.”
Neither boy knew what ‘ostracized’ meant, but it didn’t sound good.
The boys went to their rooms and began to pick out what they would take with them. Ben told them the furniture and the house would be sold, but any things they were especially fond of they could set aside. They would be shipped to their new home. “Pack separately what clothes you’ll need for a few days. We’ll take those with us,” he said. Charlie was careful to place his guitar and laptop with the items to be shipped.
“Where’s Truro?” asked Joey.
“It’s in Massachusetts, on a spit of land called Cape Cod, and,” he added, “it couldn’t be more different from here.”
“But I like it here,” Joey insisted.
“You’ll just have to get used to it,” Ben replied. He sighed and sat on Joey’s bed, facing the two boys. “Look, we’ll all have a lot of adjusting to do. I’ve never lived with kids, and frankly, I’ve never really wanted to. So, I’ll have to get used to that. I’ll do the best I can, but it’ll be a big adjustment for all of us. You’ll have to get used to me and my husband and living in Massachusetts. Sometimes we don’t like the cards we’re dealt, but they’re the only ones we get, so we have to learn to live with them.”
All Charlie really heard from Ben’s little lecture was the word ‘husband’.
“Did you say ‘husband’?” Charlie asked. “Are you married? How is that possible?”
“Yup,” said Ben. “I don’t know if it’s allowed in Texas yet, but gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts.” He realized he might have said something he shouldn’t, so he looked at Charlie and asked, “Did your father ever tell you that I was gay?”
Charlie nodded, thinking that wasn’t the word his father had used.
At least that’s a hurdle I won’t need to cross, Ben thought.
The boys continued to go through their belongings while Ben looked around the rest of the house, searching for anything which should be saved. He found some photo albums of the family and thought the boys might like to have those. He found bills for the mortgage, the utilities, homeowners’ and automobile insurance, and for a couple of charge cards. Laying all those aside he knew he’d have to deal with them or hire a lawyer who would.
After the boys finished putting aside what they wanted to keep as well as packing some clothes, they all got in the car. Ben pulled out his phone and used the GPS to get directions to the hotel which had been suggested. When he pulled up to the curb, a doorman opened the car doors for them. Another man came and put their luggage on a cart.
Ben and the boys followed their luggage into the building and stopped at the front desk. Ben told the clerk what they needed, and soon they were registered and on their way to their rooms.
They rode the elevator to the seventh floor and the man with the luggage took them to a door which he opened before handing the electronic keys to Ben.
The boys looked around in awe while the man unloaded the luggage and Ben tipped him. They were on the top floor, so the boys had a view of Waco that they’d never seen before. There were two bedrooms and a living room and even a small kitchen.
Joey, who seemed unable to close his mouth as he gazed about, asked at last, “Isn’t this expensive?”
“It would be more than twice as much where I come from, but I doubt that you could even get this kind of accommodation on Cape Cod.”
Charlie was relieved that there were two bedrooms. He believed that at some point he’d need to confront his uncle about keeping hands off Joey, but so far he had seen nothing suspicious, so he said nothing.
The three of them ate in the hotel restaurant. When they returned to their rooms, the boys watched TV while Ben announced that he was going to take a shower.
Finished with his shower, Ben walked back into the living room with a towel draped around him.
Glancing at Ben, Charlie did a double take. Their uncle had a nicely toned body, not super muscular, but fit. For the first time, Charlie realized that Ben looked a bit like his father. Which of course made sense, he thought.
When the movie they were watching ended, Ben told the boys to go to their room and get ready for bed. They did what they needed to in the bathroom and then put on their pajamas. After saying good night to their uncle, they flopped onto their king-sized bed.
“This is cool!” said Joey.
“Yeah. At least the bed’s big enough that you won’t lie half on top of me like you did at the home.”
Joey giggled before saying, “I think I’m gonna like Uncle Ben. Would that be disloyal to Dad?”
“You’ll have to decide that for yourself,” replied his brother. “Now go to sleep.”
It had been a long, stressful day, so Joey was asleep almost instantly. Charlie lay in the dark, thinking. He wasn’t at all sure he liked Ben. After all, in addition to being queer, Ben had said that he hadn’t wanted to live with children. At all costs, Charlie knew he would have to protect Joey and himself from any threat that came their way.
He sighed, turned on his side, and began to fondle himself. Knowing that he couldn’t do much with Joey so close, he went into the bathroom to finish.
Coming out of the bathroom, he met Ben, who was just going in. Charlie didn’t say anything, but he saw what was protruding out of the man’s boxers. As he got into bed he thought, Damn, Ben’s sure got a big cock. I hope he doesn’t try to stick it into me!
With that thought and the vision of Ben’s equipment in his head, he fell asleep and had the most erotic dream he’d ever had.