Centennial Park

by FreeThinker

Chapter Six

            Come on! Come on! Hurry up! Let's go! Get a move on!

            I would not, of course, say these things out load as the members of the congregation slowly, oh so agonizingly slowly, moved toward the communion rail and as Father Partridge, followed by Stephen, moved from communicant to communicant as they knelt and then slowly stood up and slowly walked away. I was shifting back and forth from one foot to the other, trying not to show my eagerness to escape into the sunshine of Independence Day! What rotten luck that the Fourth of July should land on a Sunday this year!

            I looked over at Ryan, who seemed just as impatient as me for the service to end. He, too, was shifting back and forth; how ever, from the way he was doing it, I realized suddenly it had less to do with eagerness to begin the days festivities as with the need to avoid wetting his pants. At one point, as Dr. McAdam and Mrs. Dr. McAdam ostentatiously took their time kneeling, receiving, crossing themselves, and then standing, making certain everyone could see how devout they were, I thought Ryan's eyes were going to pop out of his head. It got so bad that Stephen finally signaled to him to escape through the side door to the choir room.

            By the time Ryan returned, the last of the Dark Side had arrived at the rail and soon all were seated. Ryan grinned at me and whispered, "That was close." I grinned back until I heard a rather insistent clearing of the throat from the other side of the sanctuary. Man, for such a cool guy, Stephen could be a real pain in the rear sometimes.

            It wasn't long before the three of us were finally leading Father Partridge and the choir down the nave. When we were done, Ryan and I nearly ran with our tapers to the sacristy. By the time Stephen arrived, we had both removed our robes and were just opening the door to leave.

            "Hey, slow down there!" he said, as he jumped out of the way. "The fireworks don't go off 'til sundown!"

            Brian was hanging upside down on the handrail at the side door of the rectory as we ran out. I yelled, "Tell Mother and Daddy that I'm over at Alex's!"

            "Hey, no fair!" he yelled back. "If I gotta stay, you gotta stay!"

            The Clarkesville Jaycees always sponsored the Fourth of July celebrations in Centennial Park. Volunteers had hung patriotic bunting from the street lights all around the park and planted small American flags all around the sidewalks. There were banners all over the bandstand in the center and several barbecues all over the park were being set up to charcoal hamburgers and hot dogs. The ice cream man had parked his truck along Tenth Street and there was a tent selling Freezies setting up beside the Army Tank, on which a banner declaring "God Bless America" had been strung to cover up the latest anti-war protest painted on it Friday night. It was going to be a great Fourth.

            Ryan took off to the left; I had no idea where he was running off to. I took off diagonally across the park toward Alex's house in the middle of the west edge of the park. As I ran past some men setting up one of the barbecues, one of them yelled, "Hey, Chris! Where's the fire?"

            It was a lawyer that Daddy knew. I grinned and answered, "Donald Partridge's!"

            He laughed and yelled back, "Yeah, I'll bet! Stay away from those burning flags!"

            They laughed as I ran on and I kind of understood. But, it bothered me a little, as well. Donald was really a pretty nice guy.

            In fact, he was sitting on the front porch drinking coffee and watching the preparations in the park.

            "Well, if it isn't Junior Fascist!"

            I rolled my eyes, but knew he was kidding by the twinkle in his eye.

            "Hi, Donald. How are you doing, today?"

            Donald took a sip of his coffee, thought for a moment, and then replied, "Not good. Not good, at all. It seems you and this town have had a profound effect on my progeny. In short... "

            He turned and pointed to the screen door just as Alex opened it.

            He wasn't wearing one of his psychedelic t-shirts today. Instead, he was wearing a normal looking yellow short-sleeved pullover and some normal looking khaki shorts.

            I was a bit surprised.

            "Hey."

            "Hey."

            "You, uh, you almost look normal."

            "You, uh, you almost make that sound like a bad thing."

            Donald grunted. "Maybe Junior Fascist's got a little rebel in him."

            Alex looked at his dad with irritation and then asked me, "So, you gonna stay in your Sunday Funeral clothes all day?"

            I grinned.

            "Nah. Come on!"

            We were halfway down the block before I turned and asked, "So what's up with the normal clothes?"

            Alex shrugged.

            "Well, I needed some clothes anyway because I was outgrowing everything. I'm a lot taller than was last summer. And, where are you going to get tie-dyes in Clarkesville? Besides, I still have my sandals and my long hair."

            "Good."

            "You mean you want me to look radical?"

            I shrugged.

            "I don't know. I kind of think your long hair is, well, pretty. Its beautiful. I love it. When we were making out yesterday, I just couldn't stop running my fingers through it. I think it makes you look beautiful."

            I paused for a moment as we came to the corner of Tenth Street. Alex stopped. I turned around and he looked at me with his Mona grin.

            "What?" I asked.

            "You're blushing."

            I looked down at the curb in embarrassment.

            "I dunno. I guess it's still kinda weird to me to tell another guy that I think he's beautiful."

            I started off across the street. Alex followed and said, "Well, I guess you're making me more normal and I'm making you more abnormal."

            I stopped on the sidewalk in front of our house and smiled at him.

            "Cool."

            As we walked through the yard to the front porch, Alex asked, "So where's your family?"

            "They're still at church socializing," replied. "They won't be back probably for another half hour.

            As soon as I said that, I froze on the top step and turned. Alex was grinning at me and said, "So what are we waiting for?"

            "Awright!"

            Quickly, I unlocked the front door as I felt that first rush of excitement. We hurried in and as Alex closed the door I ran up the stairs. By the time I reached the top of the stairs, I had already ripped off my tie and I was totally hard. When I got to my bedroom I threw my blazer and tie on the bed, kicked off my loafers and was already unbuttoning my shirt as Alex ran in, panting. He had a wild grin on his face before he whipped his shirt off over his head. In seconds were both naked.

            I swept my jacket and tie off the bed and onto the floor as I jumped up on it and lay naked and hard. Alex climbed up and on top of me. He settled himself down on my body, his rigid dick pressed against my abdomen next to my own hard-on. His face was inches above mine, his beautiful hair falling down toward me, as his hypnotic eyes gazed into mine. His manic smile slowly mellowed as he lowered his head. Our lips met, our mouths opened, our tongues plunged against each other. We both moaned.

            After a moment, Alex moved his mouth to my cheek, kissing it all over before moving al over my face. Soon, his kisses moved down to my neck and, suddenly, I discovered something new to turn me on. His tongue liked my throat, sending chills all over my body and causing me to cry out. He was groaning as his hips thrust against me and his mouth devoured my throat.

            Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and I rolled us over onto our sides. Our arms wrapped around each other, our eyes met, and he gave me a hungry, loving smile.

            "I love you, Alex," I whispered.

            "I love you, Chris."

            Our mouths crushed together again and we began frantically writhing against each other, desperate to feel as much of the other as possible, deliriously trying to make the other feel as good as possible. My right hand swept down Alex's back and felt all over his soft butt. I pulled his hips to me tighter and he moaned.

            "Chrisser?! You home?"

            We both jerked away, terror in both our eyes.

            "Um, yeah! I'm in my room!"

            Frantically, we jumped up. As Alex desperately climbed into his khakis and ran to my dresser and yanked a pair of Bermuda shorts from the drawer. I could hear Mother and Daddy climbing the stairs. Quickly pulling a shirt out and whipping it over my head, I heard Daddy knock on the door.

            "Chrisser? Why is your door closed? May I come in?"

            We both looked around to make sure everything was OK. Alex threw my blazer over the wrinkled section of the bed where we have been laying and I kicked his underwear, which he had forgotten to put on, under the bed.

            "Um, sure Daddy."

            Slowly, the door opened to reveal my curious father looking around the room. When he saw Alex sitting on the bed, he nodded.

            "Alex," he said by way of greeting.

            "Hi, Mr. C." my boyfriend replied with what I knew was a too innocent smile.

            "Um, I was just changing out of my church clothes."

            "Yes, I see. Well, carry on."

            He gave a weak smile and closed the door.

            Alex silently went, "Whooo!" as I held my finger to my lips. I picked up his underwear and handed them to him. He rolled his eyes sheepishly.

ooo

            Alex and I were walking through the crowd eating our hot dogs as the Clarkesville Community Band regaled the celebrants with the theme from Hawaii Five-0, not exactly my idea of patriotic music, but everyone was having fun. I had given up trying to convince Brian not to climb up on old Zack Clarke's statue.

            "Man," Alex said with wonderment as we strolled toward the rec center, where the Boy Scouts had set up a dunking pool. "What's that kid going to be like when his hormones kick in?"

            I shuddered and we both chuckled.

            We stopped at the dunking pool and saw the pastor of the Presbyterian church sitting in the hot seat.

            "Come on, folks! Let's raise some money for the Boy Scouts! It's only a quarter to... yaaaaaaaa!"

            One of Ryan Corcoran's many freckled siblings apparently hit the bull's eye as the pastor was drumming up business. He fall into the water was accompanied by loud cheers from all around.

            "This is great," Alex said warmly. "I never got to do anything like this back home. I thought it was going to be real corny and hokey, you know. But, its really pretty cool!"

            I smiled at him. Apparently, the son of the fearsome Donald Partridge was a normal American boy after all! Well, maybe not totally normal...

            We turned and walked toward the bandstand, where Hawaii Five-0 had been replaced by The Association's Windy. Alex giggled, which made me giggle, which sent him into chuckles, which made me drop the wiener out of my bun.

            "I dropped my wiener!" I declared dramatically.

            "Aw, should I kiss your wiener and make it feel better?"

            I started to make a sarcastic reply when I heard Stephen behind us say, "Well not here in front of God and everyone!"

            We spun around in surprise to find Stephen and Jack grinning broadly. Stephen's thick blond hair was glowing in the sun and looked so beautiful. Jack's dark curls seemed to glow as well.

            "Kids today!" said Jack, shaking his head. "No sense of propriety."

            "I know what you mean," Stephen replied. "Now in our day, kids did what they were supposed to. We did it behind the garage!"

            "Or up in the attic!"

            "There you go! Or, in the storm cellar!"

            "Well!" Alex declared, "We're liberated! We do it where ever we want!"

            "Yeah!" I added. "Power to the people!" I announced as I raised a defiant fist into the air.

            Stephen and Jack both laughed and Jack said, "Stevie, I think you've created a monster!"

            Alex and I joined in the laughter as Stephen squeezed my shoulder and said, "Chris, I'm so happy for you two. I haven't seen you smile like this for an awfully long time. Its nice."

            "Yeah, I guess I am pretty happy, now."

            I looked at Alex and my heart melted when I saw his his smile. Suddenly, however, Alex's face clouded. He was looking off behind me.

            "Oh, no," he said.

            We all turned in the direction he was looking and saw his parents slowly walking along the row of arts and crafts booths.

            "What is it?" I asked.

            "Dad said he wasn't going to come out here today. He said he didn't want to be part of any bourgeois jingoism."

            "Well, how much trouble can he cause here?" Stephen asked.

            Alex and I both slowly turned to him.

            "Have you forgotten who we're talking about here?" Alex replied. "This is the guy who hired four pregnant black women to march in front of the White House with signs saying 'Nixon's The One.' This is the guy who hung a banner outside our apartment with a picture of the President saying 'Tricky Dick,' except the word 'dick' was really a picture! This is the man..."

            "OK, OK." Stephen interupted. "I get the picture. Well, we'll hope for the best."

            Then it was my turn to say, "Oh, no," as I saw Mother and Daddy strolling over toward Donald and Emily and waving at Alex and me to come over.

            Stephen chuckled and said, "Go fulfill your family responsibilities."

            Alex and I both rolled our eyes and trudged over to face the music.

            By the time we arrived, all the adults seemed to be getting along swimmingly. Even Mother seemed to smile almost sincerely at Emily, who was describing how to properly brew her favorite herbal tea.

            "Well," said Donald, "this may be the first Fourth of July I don't get arrested!"

            Alex groaned.

            "Well," Daddy replied heartily, "it's still early. We've got all day! Don't give up, yet! Besides, I'm the D.A. I can call the police chief."

            As everyone laughed, Alex said, dryly, "Believe me, he doesn't need any help."

            Donald looked at his son askance in the awkward silence.

            "Teenage rebellion. How do you rebel against Donald Partridge? Most kids rebel against their parents by becoming liberal. Mine? I get a Republican."

            Alex was flushing with fury and I was about to retort angrily when Daddy interjected, "Well, I sincerely doubt that anyone in Clarkesville would mistake Alex for a Republican. He is a fine boy, though. And, he has done a world of good for Chris, bringing him out of his shell. We very grateful to him."

            Daddy gave Alex a warm smile and added, "I'm proud he's my son's friend."

            Alex gave my father a look of such gratitude, as did I. I was proud of him.

            "That's what bothers me," said Donald. We all looked at him in shock.

            "Donald!" Emily declared.

            He immediately looked remorseful.

            "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Look, this is tough for me, leaving The Cause and moving to this... this town and... look, I love Alex and I've always believed in letting kids be themselves, letting them have the freedom to develop their own belief structure independent of heirarchical structures... well, before this turns into a sociology lecture at Columbia, I guess I have to take my own medicine and let Alex be who Alex wants to be."

            Emily took Donald's arm and squeezed it. Daddy gave him an encouraging smile. Alex looked down at the ground and said, softly, "Thanks, Dad."

            "Hey, Chrisser, why don't you and Alex check out what Matt and Jason are trying to do over there!"

            He was pointing to a group of people on the other side of the bandstand, where it appeared a three legged race was being organized.

            "Hey!" I said with excitement, "come on! Let's do it!"

            I dragged Alex away, but after a second or two, he awoke and ran with me. As the band struck up a new song, people standing around began to sing along, "Na na nah nah, na na nah nah, hey hey-ey, good-by!"

            We both paid fifty cents to join and stood in line next to Jason and Matt, who both gave us evil looks.

            Matt leaned over and said, "Let's see you beat us both, this time!"

            "We're gonna cream your butt!" I declared and when the referee blew his whistle, we were, indeed doing fairly well, until Alex stepped on my shoelaces and we both tumbled forward on our faces. Everyone laughed good-naturedly and Jason and Matt ended up beating not only us, but the new starting quarterback of the Clarkesville High Patriots and his girlfriend, as well as Ryan Corcoran's older brother and his friend. After we struggled up and attempted to regain what little dignity was left to us, Matt and Jason strolled by and, looking at us with grins, said, "Checkmate in three steps!"