As it turned out, I didn’t have to tell Robert anything. When I picked Robert and Ted up at the train station, Robert was walking on crutches with a cast on his right leg. “What the hell happened?”
“My asshole father pushed me off Grandma’s front porch, when he was slapping me around. Ted wasn’t there to stop him. When I hit the ground I heard a crack like a tree branch breaking in an ice storm. At the hospital the doctor said I broke my fibula. He said I’d be in this cast for six weeks. Randy, I’m so fucking sorry. I know I screwed up our plans. What’d ya goin’ do?” Tears were running down his face, as I hugged him.
“Blame your fucking father, don’t blame yourself. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” Secretly, I was delighted and couldn’t wait to tell Violet.
Next morning, bright and early, Violet and I had Zack in the safety harness with Robert on the rope. That began three weeks of intense practice with the safety rig, until I felt comfortable that Zack could safely perform without it. Because Zack and I were the same size, we dropped the idea of me riding on his shoulders and, instead, perfected a synchronized headstand on the back of our respective mounts. Stella, then, followed with a flying leap and proceeded to crawl up my back for the double. Without discussion, Zack also replaced Robert in my bed. During classes in Normal, the three of us stayed in Zack’s one bedroom apartment. Robert slept with his leg propped up on the arm of the sofa. Zack and I were not shy about our lovemaking. Robert didn’t seem to care.
The closer we got to opening, the more irritable Violet became. She insisted on making new costumes, which she personally fitted, including our ballet straps. Zack’s pouch seemed bigger than mine, which he pointed out by brushing his hand over my strap. He teased, “Nice, but small.” I slapped his hand away knowing I was bigger.
The day arrived when we packed and readied ourselves to find the Dilly Show in Decatur. It was a four hour drive for our caravan of two trailers—mine pulled by my old Plymouth and Stella’s behind a red, three year old Ford pickup, which she won in a strip poker game - and the horse truck, which Ralph said we could use for the tour. Ted was going to stay behind to manage the farm, but decided to drive the horses down, since Robert still had his cast on. Robert and Violet agreed to care for the horses on the road.
The Dilly Show was a small, tented circus with half a dozen scratched maroon semis. We found Dennis and May Dilly first thing when we drove onto the lot. Dennis wanted to see the act as soon as we got settled. I persuaded him to wait until the following morning. They recognized Violet and welcomed her like a long lost sister, even though they had never met. We parked near the other trailers. We left enough room to erect the horse tent, which we brought in the back of Stella’s pickup. The two sixteen-foot poles and twelve-foot side poles stuck out of the truck bed, so we had to attach red bandanas on them. We told Dennis that we would need two bales of straw and two twenty pound bags of oats in each town. He said, “If I like the act, I’ll do it.”
The next morning was cloudy and cool. Violet had us up and costumed for our premier. We were surprised when we entered the tent, to find Violet outfitted in a bright scarlet coat with tails, white jodhpurs and a woman’s black top hat, accented with a flurry of gold netting. The horses were at liberty and she had a slender black whip in each hand as the horses circled. Stella called, “Violet you look better than we do.”
She smiled and said, “Let’s get going.” Robert stood with the portable tape recorder ready. Dennis, May and about half the performers were standing watching, as Robert hit the “Play” button. That would have been the signal to bring the horses in, but Violet already had them in the ring. On cue, Stella ran into the ring, hit the spring board and was on top of Regal. On the next round, I did the same, ending squarely on the back of Temp. Simultaneously, we did shoulder stands, first on our left shoulders and then, right. Stella and I dismounted. Next, I ran across the ring and hit the spring board, almost overshooting my take off, before landing on Regal’s haunches. No one seemed to notice. The music built to crescendo and I did my back somersault onto Temp without a flaw. There was applause.
Next it was Zack’s turn. I knew he was nervous, but it was show time. He stepped off a little early, hitting the spring board hard and putting him higher than he should have been. Luckily the two mistakes cancelled each other out and he landed squarely on Regal’s rump. He faltered slightly, but righted himself. I flew up onto Temp’s back. On our second trip around the ring, we placed our heads squarely on each horse’s back and pushed forward. I made it upside down on the first push. It took Zack a second push but he managed to stabilize before falling back. Following our head stands we jumped down. The finale was mine and Shella’s double mount for a full ride around the ring. After dismounting, Violet brought the horses behind us, as we took our bows. There was loud hooting from the crowd. I could tell by the look on Dennis and May’s faces, that they liked what they saw. However, I was more interested in what Violet thought. She was stoic, as we walked the horses back to the tent.
Once the horses were wiped and settled with their grain, Violet started. “OK, but sloppy on the entrance. Remember, you are happy, so smile at your audience. It’s supposed to look easy to the rubes.” She proceeded to analyze each portion of the act, but she was pleased that the premier had gone well. Dennis came into the tent smiling, and announced that he and May had decided that our act would be the one immediately before the intermission. He felt that our act would give the rubes plenty of reasons to buy from the concessions.
That started our summer of two performances a day, first in Decatur. Then the schedule had us moving west into Missouri, Arkansas, eastern Kansas, Iowa and ending up back in Illinois. Our living arrangements changed after we got on the road. As soon as Robert had the cast off his leg, he joined Zack and me in the double bed. Neither Zack nor I liked the arrangement, but Robert had to sleep someplace. We talked about outfitting the truck with a bed in the front, which seemed to appeal to him. After the evening performance someplace in central Missouri, Zack found Robert in the truck with the burly Bulgarian Risley guy, furiously pounding his ass. Zack came to get me. We cracked the truck door and watched the animalistic, physical sex, which was the kind Robert loved. We didn’t mention what we saw, but shortly thereafter, Robert moved into the big trailer shared by the three Bulgarian brothers.
By mid-season, I could tell Violet was worn out. One stifling hot Iowa morning, sitting outside of our trailer having coffee, I said, “Violet, why don’t you take the bus home and rest. You look beat.”
“I’m fine. Besides, who’ll watch the horses in the ring?”
“Maybe Ted can come and relieve you. He did a good job when we were practicing. Want me to call him?”
“You’re right. I’m tired. I forgot how hard it is being on the road. But, Ralph probably needs Ted on the farm.” She paused thinking, “OK, call him and see if he’s interested. Remember, I signed on for the season. If he doesn’t want to come, then I’ll stay. Stella and I are doing fine together.”
Late that afternoon, when I thought Ted would be out of the field, I called from the pay phone in the drug store. After twelve rings, Ralph answered. I said, “How’s it going? This is Randy.”
“Well, what can I do for you?”
“Violet needs a break. I called to see if you could spare Ted for a couple of weeks, so Violet could rest.”
“She’s OK, ain’t she?”
“Yeah, for sure, just tired of the grind on the road. Is Ted around?”
“He’s out front mowing the grass. I’ll get him for you. I’d like Violet to come home. I really miss her.”
Minutes passed before Ted picked up the receiver. “Hello. Is this famous circus star, Randy Hershfeld?”
“Yes, it is, you yahoo. How’s it going?”
“We’re watching the crops grow and tending to Bess.”
“So, she’s pregnant?”
“Yep. The doc said things are going fine. He was out day before yesterday. If I was into guys, I would be all over him. What a body!”
“Maybe you and I can invite him over for a three-way, when we get home.” We both laughed. I explained our plan, which sounded fine to him. He admitted he was bored. We decided he would take a bus to Des Moines, where I would meet him, and put Violet on a bus to return home. He asked a logical question, that hadn’t occurred to me. “Does Violet have a costume in mind for me, if I have ring duties?”
I didn’t know the answer. I mentioned his question to Violet. She assured me that we would have something worked out by the time he arrived. Violet had anticipated the question and had his red jacket almost completed. We went to J.C. Penney’s in Ames to buy summer weight white pants and white shoes. Violet said a fresh haircut would suffice for his head gear.
The transfer took place as planned. Zack, Stella and I waved, as Violet boarded the bus, knowing that she probably wouldn’t be back. We were happy to see Ted, who was happy to be doing something other than watching the crops grow. By the time we got back to the show grounds, we had only a brief window to run Ted through the routine. He got it, and acted like he had been doing the act all summer.
From the outset, Ted was concerned that his brother wasn’t paying enough attention to the horses. Robert had had some run-ins with Dennis over his tardiness in opening the popcorn stand. On Ted’s third or fourth day, Dennis told Robert he was done. Robert angrily announced that he was returning to Normal. We agreed to get back together, once classes started.
When he said “Normal”, I realized that I hadn’t thought about my leaping class all summer. Dennis hadn’t been able to hire the Spinelli troupe, so I didn’t get to leap. He was plenty happy with our act, which he featured in his advertising. We told him we would have to leave in time to return to school by September 12th, which did not make him too happy. He had plenty of warning and was able to secure another act to take our place.
We got back to Normal, as scheduled, and were exhausted. Stella drove her trailer to Florida and Ted took the horses to the farm. Zack had rented a bigger, two bedroom apartment. That made it easier, if Robert decided to join us. We hadn’t seen or heard from him since he left the show. If he returned to Normal, he was invisible.
After we unpacked the Plymouth, we sat down on the slightly soiled and sunken sofa. We smelled of hard work. I kissed Zack, who vigorously returned my gesture. I had a tingling feeling; something I’d never had when I was with Robert. I was falling in love with Zack, but couldn’t tell him. I didn’t know if he felt the same way. We showed our affection with kisses behind the ear, pats on the butt and vocal affirmations after a particularly good performance. We were back in a different place, where we could really make a home, even though we couldn’t tell the neighbors.
I pulled Zack up from the sofa. He knew, without me saying anything, that we were headed to the shower. Neither of us had noticed that the apartment had a tiled shower stall, rather than a tub. It had two shower heads, something I’d never seen before. I pulled Zack’s T-shirt over his head and was aware of his pungent male odor. He was intoxicating. I unbuttoned his jeans and pulled both his jeans and dirty-grey underpants down to the floor. He stepped out of them, so I could look at all of him. His physique had matured over the summer. But his skin was pasty white, since we had no time to be out in the sun. I stripped off my clothes and adjusted the water temperature. The warm water felt so good. I knew we could stay as long as we wanted, and the warm water would not run out.
Zack stepped up to me with his lips ready and his hands soaped. I let a deep sigh escape as he grabbed my dick and pulled me into him. Water splashed down the backsides of our bodies. He slowly pulled my foreskin back and slid his hand up and down. Occasionally, I felt his hand slide over my balls and under my crotch to my asshole. He massaged it gently, as I attempted to keep from fainting. His tongue played in my mouth until he turned me around. I knew where he was going, and spread my legs. He turned off my shower, which was washing off the soap, to get me ready. I could feel his rippled chest muscles against my back, as he slid his dick up and down my crack. He hesitated, and lined up to push himself inside my body. I pushed back, impatient for his entry.
I pulled him in, and he slowly slid back and forth, as he held me tightly with his right arm. I thought I heard the door close, but didn’t care. I was not going to disturb this moment. He had his hand on my dick and was timing his moves inside me with his hand action. I was not going to last long, and let him have control. His body tensed. I could not hold back. I could feel his warm sperm shrugging inside me, as I covered the wall with my own. We didn’t move, savoring the moment. Finally, I felt him soften and slide out. He proceeded to wash me and we rinsed off. As we dried, I had an overwhelming desire for a beer and offered to get Zack one.
I hung up the towel and started out of the bathroom, with Zack right behind me. We turned the corner into the living room to find Mr. and Mrs. Lipinski sitting there. We automatically covered ourselves. They smiled. “Didn’t mean to surprise you. Door was unlocked, so we came in. Could hear the shower, so we just waited.”
“Sorry we aren’t dressed. On our way to get a beer. Do you want one? We’ll get dressed. Around the circus, modesty is the order of the day. When we got here we let our hair down.”
Zack’s dad said, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen my son naked, but I like what I see.”
“Me, too,” added his mom.
“I’ll get the beers.” After serving four beers and noticing how quiet Zack was, I said, “I guess you know Zack and I are pretty close.”
Zack stuttered, “Are you OK with that?”
His mom said, “If you’re happy, we’re happy. We want you two to love each other. You know your sister is pregnant?”
“When’d she get married? Why wasn’t I invited?”
“Well, I didn’t say she was married. Apparently, she and George weren’t too careful. Now she’s pregnant.”
Zack spurted, “I’ll kill the son-of-a-bitch.”
“No, you won’t,” his mother said soothingly. “After the baby is born, they’re going to have a proper wedding. I told her I wasn’t going to be rushed. I want it done right.”
Zack calmed down and got up. “I don’t feel right sitting naked in front of my mother. I’m going to get some shorts. Do you want another beer?”
“Sure.” After pulling on our shorts, the conversation turned to starting the semester. I told them I was taking two academic courses and an education course. Zack was taking a full load of science courses, because he wanted to try for medical school. After about two hours of conversation, Zack’s dad said, “Let’s find something to eat.” Sitting in the driveway was Zack’s red Corvette and, behind it, a Lincoln Continental. Mr. Lipinski threw Zack the keys to the big car. We drove to our favorite Italian restaurant. The four of us had a truly pleasant evening. Zack’s parents seemed comfortable with our relationship. I noticed a formal, stiffness in their interactions with each other. That puzzled me, but I didn’t say anything to Zack. They drove us back, before driving to a new Holiday Inn near Route 66.
After a lengthy discussion Zack and I agreed that Coach should be aware of our relationship, just in case someone said something. I agreed to make an appointment for us to meet with him on Tuesday afternoon after gymnastics practice. When we arrived I could tell Coach was nervous about such a formal meeting. I guess he thought I wasn’t going to teach leaping or something. I didn’t want to surprise him when Zack showed up together.
He greeted us as we stood outside his office. He welcomed us in, but didn’t close the door, which I noticed. He said, “What’s up guys?”
“Before we get started with the leaping class, Zack and I wanted you to know that our relationship is more than ‘instructor and student’. We are a couple, so if you hear rumors, they are true. We aren’t going around flaunting our relationship, but didn’t want to cause a problem for you.”
“Phew, I’m relieved. I was afraid it was something important.” We laughed with him. I went on to explain that our friendship started long ago and had intensified as we performed together over the summer.”
“OK, I presume Zack is not only going to take gymnastics, but also leaping.” Coach looked at Zack, “Are you going to try out for the team?”
Zack looked at me, “I don’t know. I never thought about it. Do you want me to?”
“It’s your choice, but you are skilled and really excellent on the parallel bars. We don’t have anyone in the wings as good as you. One kid thinks he is, but he doesn’t have the strength.”
Zack said, “Coach, you know my real interest is leaping. I have a full, tough load of courses. I’ll work out with the team. Then, we’ll see if there is a consensus among the guys that I be on the team. You know someone is going to notice Randy and me outside of the gym.”
“You’re probably right. Let’s see what happens during the next few weeks.”
As Coach and I expected, no one came close to Zack’s ability, not only on the parallel bars, but the balance beam, as well. In fact, he wasn’t bad on the pommel horse or execution of flips on the floor exercise either. Coach agreed that I wouldn’t do much coaching of Zack in public, because a couple of the guys were already aware of our living arrangement. That living arrangement changed radically one Saturday morning, when Robert showed up with the Bulgarian, Boris, trailing him. I wasn’t sure how they found us, since Robert had never been to the new apartment. Robert had long stingy hair and a scraggily beard. His pasty white skin was the same, except that it needed to be scrubbed to get rid of layers of dirt and grime. Boris, on the other hand, was the same bear of a guy he was at the Dilly show. His chest was a barrel and his short, muscular legs were like tree trunks covered with thick black hair. He followed Robert around like a puppy.
Where we ‘posed to sleep?” Robert demanded.
“You weren’t invited to stay.
Zack was more forgiving and offered, “We’ve got a second bedroom with a bed, so you don’t have to sleep on the floor.”
“Wherever! Doesn’t matter to us.”
Boris stood waiting for his next order from Robert. He had a cute grin and piercing black eyes. I said to Robert, “Where’ve you been? You look like shit.”
“Where’s the john?”
“Straight ahead, to the left.” He trotted off. Boris followed him down the hall. I heard the toilet flush and the shower come on.
A few minutes later Robert came out of the bathroom toweling his straggly hair, “I got a job in a service station in Bloomington, but that didn’t last ‘cause the owner caught me smoking dope. I got another job, washing dishes in a downtown diner. I kept that job ‘til Boris finished with Dilly. We been bumming around, but the cops in Chicago are like the Gestapo.”
Boris came into the living room dripping wet and naked, “Can I use towel?”
“Sure, the striped one is fine.” My eyes couldn’t help but notice the monster cock hanging between his hairy legs.
Robert laughed, “Yeah, it’s really something. You should try it sometime. My asshole is much bigger than it used to be.”
Forcefully, I said, “You can stay two weeks, no more. Find your own place during that time.”
“That’s not very friendly, you cocksucker.” At which point, I grabbed Zack’s fist, which was moving toward Robert’s chin.
“No more than two weeks. We have too many things going to worry about you.”
That began two torturous weeks, with those guys in the apartment. They were slobs, never picking anything up and leaving dirty dishes in the sink. Robert was more annoying than Boris. Boris turned out to be a pretty good cook of rich saucy meat dishes, like goulash and beef bourgeon. Near the end of the two weeks, I was ready to send Robert on his way and keep Boris. We couldn’t take their sex, which was loud, smelly and never with the door closed. We saw plenty of Boris’ hairy butt and the soles of Robert’s feet.
Neither Zack nor I was aware that Robert was trying to find a place to live. We didn’t say anything. Exactly two weeks to the day, Robert announced, “We’re out of here. Going to live at the farm. Ted said we could stay in the bunkhouse. Are you guys coming out to train?”
“No, but we’ll be out to see Bess give birth. Doc told Violet it should be in the next two or three weeks. And, by the way, our bedroom is still our bedroom. You guys take the other room. I don’t want your smell disturbing my sleep.”
“Fuck you, you inconsiderate fuck.” I smiled, but thought that is exactly how it felt. I wasn’t anything to Robert, except a fuck buddy. Boris took my place and I was happy for him. I had Zack, which was a thousand times better deal. When they were gone, we immediately washed all the sheets and towels to rid the apartment of their unpleasant odors. I took Zack in my arms and hugged him tightly. “You’re wonderful. I’m so happy I came to my senses.”
He teased “You better take good care of me or I’ll call Robert.” With that comment, I pulled his shorts down and dropped to my knees, taking his flaccid cock in my mouth. He took in a deep breath. In moments he was hard. He grabbed my chin and lifted me up into a kiss. I could feel his smile, as our tongues played with each other. He took my hand and walked me to our bedroom. Even though we were finally alone, he closed the door. “Don’t want to be disturbed.” I loved this guy and he seemed to be equally in love with me.
Unfortunately, times like that didn’t happen often. We were so busy with school work and workouts. Coach and I agreed that I could invite five students to be the first leapers. Many students were going to be disappointed, because there were twenty boys and girls who signed up for the class. After observing for several weeks, Coach and I shared opinions of each person’s potential. We knew Zack was one of the five, and each wrote down four other names. When we compared the names, we agreed on three, but the fourth was different. We discussed both and agreed that each had advantages, so kept both on the list. When I posted the list on Coach’s door, there were many disappointed faces. One angry face was on a guy named Mike. Mike was a short, Italian guy with a nice build, who thought he was God’s gift to gymnastics. Coach called me at the apartment that evening, and filled me in. He told me that Mike came to him, ranting about how I showed preference for Zack, when he was sure he was better. Actually, neither Coach nor I had even named him as a good prospect. He was too short, and his arms weren’t nearly long enough.
The next morning at 8am, there was an unexpected knock on the apartment door. I got out of bed and pulled on my T-shirt and boxers. I stumbled into the living room and opened the door to the length of the chain. There stood Boris with a black eye and blood running out of his nose. I pushed the door closed to release the chain and opened it. “What happened to you?”
“Robert bust my nose. I had to get away.”
I sat him down in the big chair, as Zack walked in sporting his morning woody. He saw Boris and said, “That bastard, Robert. He’s crazy.”
Boris looked up and down at Zack’s body, as I washed the blood off of his face. His eyes were red, like he had been crying. “How’d you get here?”
“Walkin’.”
“From the farm?”
“Yes. He made me leave. He got a new friend, better than me.”
Zack looked at me. “And you thought you could love him? Wrong, wrong, wrong.”
I led Boris to the bathroom to show him his eye. I proceeded to get him out of his clothes, and led him to the bed. There, I put some ice cubes, wrapped in a towel, on his puffy eye. Minutes later, I heard soft snoring. “What in the hell are we going to do with him?”
When Boris woke up, he wandered in, as Zack was studying at the dining room table and I was reading my history assignment. He started to turn, not wanting to disturb us. “Where my clothes? Got to go.”
“In the washing machine, downstairs. Need to be dried. I found one of your T-shirts in the laundry after you and Robert left. Let me get it for you.”
“I’ll go, when clothes dry.”
“Go where?”
“Can’t stay. You told us so. Family somewhere in California. Can I call?
“Listen, we have a proposition for you. You can live with us, if you cook and clean the place. We will ask Coach, if you can come to the gym and help coach some guys.”
“Why you do this for me?”
“’Cause you’re a good guy, and we think, a good instructor, too. We saw you that day, you went with us.”
Zack piped up, “Oh, you have to cook and clean naked.” Boris looked confused. I shook my head at his humor. To our surprise, Boris stripped naked and went into the kitchen to start looking for something to cook.
“Look at what you’ve done,” I said, looking as Zack’s smirk. “I bet we’ll have to look at that hairy ass from now on.”
“Sorry, I was joking. He took me seriously. Oh, well, there are worst things to look at. I hope he doesn’t burn his manhood or get it in the soup.”
An hour later, naked Boris came back in to announce that he had made soup for lunch. It was ham and split pea soup with toast, which was delicious. I didn’t even know we had the ingredients.
As we ate, I repeated to Boris, “We will ask Coach if you can personally coach Mike, an Italian kid and some other gymnasts. We will tell Coach you are a circus friend, who is visiting and would like to help with the tumblers, as we get the leaping class started.” He smiled, and I knew good fortune had come our way.
As Boris cleaned the dishes, Zack whispered, “Sounds like Boris might solve several problems. We could divert Mike’s attention away from leaping and give Boris something to do. Are we going to let him stay here?”
“Only if he’ll cook and clean, naked.”
Even though it was Saturday, I called Coach and shared our idea. Typical of Coach, his first words were: “Is it going to cost me money?” I assured him that Boris was here for a limited time, until he joined up with his troupe. He agreed to give him a try.