Going Whaling

Chapter 7
Home in New Bedford

As we settled into our homes once more, Mother began to talk about Jessica and me returning to school. Jessica was eager to go back, because school meant friends to her, and she had missed them for a long time. I too had missed my friends, but I had no desire to return to the classroom.

Mother, Father, and I argued about that. Mother said I needed to finish my high school education, and I argued that it would not do me any good.

After nearly a week of off and on discussions, Father asked me what I intended to do if I did not go to school.

Taking a deep breath, I said, “Adam and I want to get jobs and live together.”

Well, that upset them! Both of them knew that Adam and I had grown very close during the voyage, but neither of them had thought of us living together and what that implied. After all, grown men did not do that. They married, had children, and provided for their families.

We did not discuss the question again for a few days. Then Father said he wanted to talk with me.

When we were alone together, he asked point blank if my relationship with Adam was more than friendship.

Again taking a deep breath, I replied, “Yes, Father, we love each other.”

He nodded his head slowly before saying, “I’ve heard of such relationships before. I don’t know whether you noticed or not, but in some of the places we put into port, men were clearly together, even holding hands.”

I told him that Adam and I had noticed and that we envied them.

“May I ask if your love has a physical element to it?”

I was very embarrassed. I replied that it did but that it was much more than a merely physical relationship.

Again he nodded. “Well, I can’t stop you in this, so I won’t try, but heaven knows how I’ll explain this to your mother.” With that he put an arm around my shoulder and we left the room together.

I walked to Adam’s house, where he met me at the door. I told him about my conversation with Father and he said that he had told his parents what we wanted to do, but his father did not seem to be nearly as understanding.

It took Adam three more days to finally get his father’s reluctant approval. He had pointed out that he was no longer a minor so he could legally be on his own and do whatever he wanted, but he said he would be much happier if he had his parents’ support.

The next day, Adam and I began to look for jobs. I quickly found one in a chandlery, a store which sold everything necessary to outfit ships. The job required that I be on my feet all day and some physical labor as well.

Adam needed a job that did not have those requirements. He hunted for several days before he found a job working in a bank. Fortunately, math had been his strongest subject.

Settled with jobs, we began to look for a place to live. That was more difficult. We certainly could not buy or rent a house. We did not want a rooming house which had other boarders, and we needed a place where the owner would accept us with no questions about our relationship.

We read the newspaper daily, hoping that something would open up.

One of my co-workers saw me consulting the newspaper one day and asked what I was looking for. I told him without mentioning my relationship with Adam. He said that his father owned a building where he had a dry-goods store on the ground floor. Above the store was a small apartment which had just become vacant.

My friend went with me and Adam that evening to ask his father about the apartment. At first the man looked back and forth from me to Adam and frowned, but eventually he agreed to show us the apartment. It was small and unfurnished, with a tiny kitchen, a small parlor, and one bedroom with a closet off it. The kitchen had an icebox and a coal-burning stove. Also off the bedroom was a tiny bathroom with a tub. I looked at Adam and he nodded, so we signed a lease.

The next day we went shopping for the basic furniture necessities. Our first priority was a double bed which we were able to find in a used furniture store. Soon, in addition to the bed, we had a table and two chairs as well as an old sofa for the parlor. We found a used dresser which we thought we could share. That would be enough to get us started.

On the day we moved in, our parents came to see the apartment. It was certainly a come down from the houses we had grown up in, and both fathers expressed the hope that in time we could do better, but they were pleased to see that we were settling in happily.

The first night we were in the apartment, we stripped naked and fell into bed together. It was the first time we had actually been in a bed together since before the voyage, which seemed a lifetime ago.

We faced each other and began slowly moving our hands over each other’s bodies, inflaming our sexual hunger. Adam pulled me to him and soon we were kissing passionately. We were hard but we wanted to take our time. Adam nuzzled my ears, which I found very arousing. I licked his neck between his collarbones, and he groaned. We simultaneously found each other’s nipples, tweaking them as they grew hard and then nibbling on them.

We paused a few moments, simply hugging each other. Then Adam moved to my hardness and began rubbing the shaft as I lay back, reveling in the excitement in my cock. At last his mouth took me in and he moved up and down my shaft with his mouth and his tongue. As he worked, my emotions rose to a white-hot frenzy, and it was not long before I arched my back and shot into his mouth. When he had licked up the remainder of my juice, he lay back and I moved to his groin, performing similar ministrations on him.

We fell asleep in each other’s arms. In the middle of the night, I awoke and was hard again. Exploring carefully, I found that he was hard too. I began kissing him until he was also awake, and we brought each other to exciting climaxes again.

We woke in the late morning and repeated our love making of the night before.

While we wanted to get into the bathtub together, it was not big enough for two grown young men, so I bathed and then Adam did while I prepared breakfast.

Over a simple breakfast of eggs, ham, and coffee, we talked more about plans for the future, which involved saving enough money so we could get a bigger place.

By the middle of the day, we were eyeing each other and hoping for sex again. We returned to the bedroom, stripped, and loved each other.

Could life be any better?