Brandon Dowling left the new Dowling Fine Arts Center on the campus of the University of Clifton on Tuesday, November 18, 2008. At that time of year, by the time he completed his class and spent a few minutes talking with the students and collecting his materials, it was dark out. As usual, he started to walk towards his home a few blocks from campus. As he crossed Oak Street, the eastern boundary of campus, he was approached by a boy he did not know.
“Please, Sir, can you spare a few bucks for a hungry boy?”
The kid looked genuine, and very down and out. But Brandon was cautious. He did not want to contribute to someone’s drug habit or alcoholism.
“I don’t know. What are you willing to do for me in return?” he asked.
The boy got a distressed look on his face, but took a deep breath and plunged in. “I’m getting desperate, so I’ll do anything you want, short of actually hurting myself. I’ve done it before. I know what to do. You want me to suck you off?”
“No. I was just testing you. If you’re serious about being hungry, come with me, and I’ll see you get supper. I live only a few blocks from here,” Brandon said.
“I don’t know .... I don’t know you,” the boy hesitated.
“It’s good to be cautious. If it will make you feel any better, you can walk a little bit behind me. And you can leave any time you feel like it,” Brandon offered.
Giving another sigh, the boy made up his mind. “I think I can trust you enough to walk with you. But I’m pretty quick on my feet if I need to be,” he said with a grin. The grin was about the only thing on him which was attractive.
Along the way, Brandon was told that the boy’s name was Daniel. Maybe it was his real name, and maybe it was what might be termed his professional name, but it would do for now. He hesitated again when Brandon turned down the alley behind his house.
“Only the second house, where you see the light over the doorway there,” Brandon pointed out. “If it will make you feel better, we can go around to the front door.”
Again the boy decided he could trust Brandon, and indicated he would follow, so they went in the back way, and into the kitchen, where Aunt Luisa, the cook and housekeeper, was busy with preparations for dinner.
“Aunt Luisa, this is Daniel. He’ll be having dinner with us,” Brandon introduced his latest find.
Luisa Chavez looked at the dirty lad before her. “Well, you look like you could use a good meal. But wash up good,” she admonished him.
“Would you like a real wash-up? There’s time for a shower before we eat if you want,” Brandon offered. Then, seeing that cautious look in Daniel’s eyes, he added, “Alone.”
Daniel smiled again. “I’d like that. It’s been a while.”
Brandon led him up to the second floor, and showed him the guest bathroom, with towels, shampoo, and the like available. “Take everything out of your pockets. I’ll have your clothes washed while you’re washing yourself,” he offered. The boy put a variety of things on a small table in the bathroom, and left his clothes on the floor. Brandon was tempted to check out his wallet, both for verification of his identity and to see whether he really was destitute, but he resisted the temptation. The boy’s clothing was in pretty bad shape, and smelled terrible. Brandon carried them down to the basement laundry room, but he also sought out his partner Chris on the way.
After kissing his lover, Brandon told him about Daniel, and asked if there were any clothes which might fit a boy about 15, maybe five foot six, and definitely underweight. Chris replied that he thought Jeremy left some things there at the house when he moved in with Dermot. Given more time, he could get something from his parents’ home across the street. Chris ran upstairs, and scrounged out a pair of jeans, a tee shirt, and some underwear and socks. He dropped these off in the guest bathroom, calling to Daniel in the shower that he could borrow those clothes while his were washing. A confused “okay” came from the shower. The boy was taking his time, and obviously enjoying the hot water.
A little while later, as Brandon and Chris relaxed in the parlor along while awaiting Aunt Luisa’s call to dinner, a considerably better looking Daniel appeared in stocking feet.
“Sorry,” he apologized, “but my shoes seem to have disappeared.”
Brandon and Chris looked at each other.
“My fault,” Brandon said. “I asked Chris to get you some clothes, but I did not mention shoes. Yours are being washed. You’re fine for dinner.”
Daniel grinned again. “I’m sure they could use the washing, just like the rest of me.”
Cleaned up, Daniel was an ordinary boy, with brown hair obviously in need of a barber’s attention, hanging down in his eyes. There were several spots on his face where he might have been hurt, but they did not look serious. He had the usual acne of the teenager who did not have the benefit of creams and monitored diet. He was thin, and there were additional marks on his hands and arms indicating a far from luxurious life. No serious questions were put to Daniel during the pre-prandial period or dinner itself. He ate ravenously, indicating he really was hungry. When the meal was over, however, Brandon invited him to step into the library along with Chris.
“Now, Daniel, I think maybe you have come to trust us just a little, and you seem like a nice boy, so maybe you will be willing to give us some information about yourself,” Brandon began.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you want information about me?” Daniel asked.
“Well, I was thinking that we might be able to help you out with something more than a meal and a shower,” Brandon answered him.
“Look, I been on the streets for a while, and I know I’m not exactly hoity-toity, but I will not go with any welfare person.”
“What do you have against welfare workers?” Chris asked.
“I heard some stories about foster homes where they fuck you raw and make you work like slaves,” Daniel answered.
“Okay, then. No welfare agents,” Brandon promised. “What are we going to do with you, then?”
“Like I told you back on the street, I’ll do most anything that won’t really hurt me. I’ve sucked a lot of cock, and my ass hasn’t been a virgin for a long time,” Daniel insisted.
“Daniel, we are not going to have sex with you. In case you have not figured it out yet, Chris and I are partners. We don’t have sex with anyone else. I’m asking for information, not sex,” Brandon assured him.
“What do you want to know?” the boy asked.
“Well, I’ll accept Daniel as your name for now, but can you tell me how old you are?” Brandon asked.
“Fifteen,” Daniel replied.
“Okay, now, how long have you been on the streets?”
“Uh, more than a year. It was early October when I got kicked out,” Daniel said with some bitterness.
“And why was that?” Brandon continued.
“Because my step-dad is a fucking homophobe,” Daniel heatedly replied. “He caught me making out with a buddy from school, and right then sent me out the door with nothing except what I had on.”
“So, you’re gay?” Chris asked.
“Yeah. I kind of think you two are, too, right?”
“Yes. As I said, Chris and I are partners, kind of like being married. We are fortunate in that our families have accepted us. So, we’d kind of like to give you a little boost, just to help out a fellow gay. How about it? Would you like to spend the night here?” Brandon asked.
“Uh, well, yeah. But there’s a problem,” Daniel said.
“What’s the problem?” Chris asked.
“I‘ve got ... well, maybe not a partner, like you two, but a buddy. We’ve been together for a while. If I don’t show up at a certain spot at ten o’clock, like we agreed, he’ll think something bad happened to me,” Daniel told them.
“In that case, how about if we take you to your meeting place, and invite your buddy to spend the night, too?” Chris proposed.
“That would be great. It’s been a while since either one of us could spend the night without working, if you know what I mean,” Daniel agreed.
“You’ve made it pretty clear what you mean. We won’t be taking you up on any kind of business arrangement, as I said. But we do realize that sometimes a guy has to do things just to keep going,” Brandon said.
Daniel relaxed a bit. It was great to be understood.
“Look,” Chris proposed, “it’s only a little after eight. Let’s take a trip to the mall, and see about getting you some decent clothes. Those of Jeremy just don’t suit you.”
“What? Why would you get me clothes?” a cautious Daniel asked.
“Just because we’re good guys,” Chris replied with a grin of his own. “We’re gay. You’re gay. We have money. You don’t. We’d like to give you a helping hand, okay?”
“I’m not used to helping hands without a lot of strings attached. But what the hey? I’ll go along, unless things turn nasty,” Daniel acquiesced.
And so Chris took Daniel to a medium range mall, and spent well over an hour outfitting him with everything from the skin out. As it was November, and definitely turning cold, especially in evenings, that included a warm jacket, gloves, and a toboggan. Chris put it all on his credit card. Then, they returned in time to make the trip downtown, to the rendezvous place known to Daniel. They were tooling about in Chris’s Cabriolet smart car, and so Brandon did not accompany them to the mall or the meeting place, as the car was not designed for many people.
Following Daniel’s instructions, Chris pulled into a parking lot at a downtown location at a few minutes before ten. They waited, with the heater running, as it was cold out. A minute or two after ten, a figure appeared, darting between cars.
“That’s Colby,” Daniel declared, and exited the car.
In the light of street lamps, Chris watched as the two boys met. Colby was clearly interested in Daniel’s new jacket. He chuckled as Daniel lifted his feet, showing off his new shoes. Then the other boy agreed to accompany Daniel, and they approached the car.
Daniel opened the door, and said, “Chris, this is my buddy Colby. He agreed to come with us tonight.”
“Hi, Colby. I’m Chris. Get in. You don’t have to work tonight.”
“Sounds great,” Colby said, as he crawled into the limited space in the rear.
On the way to the house on Chestnut Street, Chris discovered that Colby was also 15, and had been on the streets even longer than Daniel. When they got back home, Chris escorted the two boys up to the guest bathroom.
“Daniel, you talk to Colby, and try to convince him that we’re not engaged in the white slave trade or something. And Colby, you take a shower, and let us have your clothes to wash. Frankly, you stink. I’m going to have to fumigate my car,” Chris announced.
That evoked a laugh from Daniel. Colby did not say anything, as he knew what Chris said was probably true. So, first thing, Colby stripped and got in the shower, while Daniel took his clothes to Chris, who led him down to the basement, where they retrieved Daniel’s original clothes, and put Colby’s in the wash. Colby was a little taller than Daniel, but just as thin, so he would be given the borrowed clothes from Jeremy. But he did not need anything for now. After being fed with leftovers from their dinner, he and Daniel were shown to a guest room, and told they were free to have a good night’s sleep.
As both boys expected to work during the night, and had slept in the morning, they were not really sleepy at that time. They talked. Daniel, who had spent several hours with Brandon and Chris, told his pal that, while he did not understand them, he thought his patrons were on the up and up, and really wanted to help. One thing which really confused the boys was that, with the exception of the cook and housekeeper, Aunt Luisa, there was no adult in the house, meaning someone older than Brandon or Chris, even though those two were legally adults. This was not the typical lodgings of young men. They decided to go along for now, and see what happened.
Then, taking advantage of free time in a comfortable location, Daniel and Colby engaged in sex. They stripped and sat on the bed as they began to kiss and make out. It was a lot more pleasant than the last time they did this, as then both boys were dirty and smelly, and had to be aware of possible danger the whole time. Now they were clean and well fed, and smelled like shampoo. Before long, they were in a 69 arrangement, eagerly sucking each other’s cock. When they came, they swallowed most of the other guy’s cum, but were happy to find tissue on the table next to the bed. Such little conveniences were appreciated by those who had done without for some time.
Tired by the sex, and by their wasted condition in general, they then managed to fall asleep in each other’s arms.
The next morning, Brandon called Todd Farm and told Scott MacKenzie, the farm manager, he would not be coming out that day. Scott replied that he thought the Farm could survive without him for another day. Chris went off to his classes, but Brandon gave serious thought to the two boys still asleep upstairs. He actually prayed over his decision. He and Chris had discussed it over their breakfast. They would do what they could to help Daniel and Colby.
A little after nine the two boys appeared. Daniel was in his new wardrobe, but Colby was in the clothing borrowed from Jeremy. They did not fit him very well, but his own were still in the laundry room in the basement, and they were in as bad a shape as Daniel’s original duds. As the boys put away a hearty breakfast, readily supplied by Aunt Luisa along with a spate of admonitions and tisk-tisking, Brandon discussed what he had in mind for the morning.
Colby was studying Brandon as he spoke. Ignoring Brandon’s talk about another visit to the mall and then to doctors’ offices, he blurted out, “I know you. You’re that actor dude.”
“Yeah!” Daniel suddenly enthused. “I knew I’d seen you somewhere.”
“Okay, my cover is blown,” Brandon played along. “Yes, I was an actor. But no more. But that means I did make some money, so how about letting me help you guys?”
“Did you make a lot of money acting?” Colby enviously asked.
“Yeah, a lot. So I can help you guys, and not feel it, okay?” Brandon replied.
“We can leave any time we don’t like what’s going down, right?” Daniel remembered from the night before.
“Absolutely,” Brandon assured them.
“What do we have to do in return for something like this?” Colby asked, enviously fingering Daniel’s new clothing.
“Mainly just answer some questions,” Brandon told them.
“Okay, we’ll go along for now,” Daniel cautiously agreed after looking to Colby for confirmation.
And so about the time the mall stores opened at ten, Brandon and the two boys were back in the stores. Colby was outfitted in much the same manner as Daniel, with jeans, tees, athletic shoes, underwear and socks, and winter gear. They also stopped at the cosmetics counter, and obtained deodorant, fingernail clippers, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and hair brushes and gel for both boys. Then, Brandon bought a backpack for each of them. As the underwear and socks came in packets of six, they had a change and now someplace to keep it.
They returned to the Neighborhood, but not yet to Brandon’s place. Instead, they were taken to the Todd Medical Clinic, where they were seen by Dr. Joshua Castleman. He gave both boys a thorough check-up, and wrote prescriptions for some of the infections, all minor but unsightly and potentially dangerous if left untreated. They would have to come back on Saturday to get the results of the blood tests. From there, they went by the O’Malley Pharmacy and picked up the creams prescribed by Josh, and then finally got back to Brandon’s place.
There, Aunt Luisa had lunch waiting for the three of them. Chris had been there and gone back to campus. The boys ate ravenously, as thought they were packing it away in case they did not find anything to eat again for a while.
“Now that you’re feeling better, how about answering some more questions?” Brandon asked.
“You can ask us anything, but we might not answer some of your questions,” Daniel said.
“Okay. Let’s make a deal. You give me straight answers, or, if you don’t want to answer something, just say you won’t answer, but no lying or covering up, okay?” Brandon proposed.
“Sounds reasonable,” Colby agreed.
They adjourned to the library once more, and, with the guys’ permission, Brandon turned on a recorder. Then he began the search for answers.
“Are Daniel and Colby your real names?”
“No, but we won’t tell you the real ones.”
“Okay, now Daniel, you said you have been on the streets since October of last year. Can you pinpoint that more closely?”
“Yeah. It was October 13, a Saturday.”
“And you, Colby, have been out longer. Can you give me an exact date?”
“Not as exact as Daniel. It was August of last year.”
“Daniel told us he was kicked out by his father ....”
“Not my father. He’s dead. My step-father,” Daniel interrupted.
“Sorry, your step-father. Now, Colby, can you tell me why you’re on the streets?”
“Yeah. Okay, it’s like this. My dad disappeared from the scene when I was real little, like about three. My mom died when I was nearly eleven. They couldn’t find any relatives, so I was taken in by the welfare system, and farmed out to foster homes. The first one was real religious, and made me go to church every Sunday and Wednesday, and beat me when I used a bad word. I ran away, but was picked up by the system again. Then, in my second foster family, the father fucked my ass a couple of times each week, until he was caught at it by his wife. They divorced, but I was back in the system. My last foster family didn’t fuck me, but they made me work like the devil, kind of like a household slave. Mop the floors, clean the windows, take out the garbage, do the laundry, run the vacuum, clean the bathrooms. All the time. While they sat and watched television. And if I didn’t do what they wanted when they wanted it, I got beat. So, back in August of last year, I ran. I’ve been running ever since.”
“I can see why you don’t trust the welfare system,” Brandon commented. “How about school?”
“I was going until I got kicked out. Most of the time. Sometimes, my step-dad kept me home so I could run errands for him, and sometimes I skipped. I guess I’m not too smart,” Daniel said.
“Me either. I was in a different school when my mom was alive and for each of my foster families. Never did all that well,” Colby admitted.
“Both of you have sold it, right?”
Colby looked at Daniel, who nodded. “Yeah.”
“I know, sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to if we get hungry enough or cold enough. Daniel told us last night he was gay. How about you, Colby?”
“Yeah. I like doing it with Daniel. I don’t like having my butt fucked like my second foster dad did, though. That left me bleeding most of the time.”
“Dr. Castleman noted that. He said you would not heal properly unless you stop having anal sex,” Brandon warned.
“Man, I wish I could. But I’ve got to live,” Colby anguished.
“Look, I don’t know where this is leading, but, like I said, Chris and I want to help. How about you two plan on staying here until we can figure out something better?”
The two boys looked at each other. “No butt fucking?” Colby asked.
“No sex with us at all. And I really advise you not to have anal sex with each other, especially you, Colby, until the doctor says you’re okay,” Brandon proposed.
“That sounds good. What do we have to do?” Daniel asked.
“Stay out of trouble. Don’t be a pain in the ass for Aunt Luisa. Help out around here. Keep answering questions. And, I’m going to check on schooling. I don’t know what the possibilities are, but I won’t do anything to alert the welfare system, okay?”
“Sounds good,” Colby agreed, as Daniel nodded his consent.
“Just to be sure,” Colby pursued the relationship, “Daniel and I can have sex in our room, right?”
“Yes. That’s entirely up to you. Two things, though. First, no pressure. If one of you says no, then no sex. The other is, as I said, no anal sex for Colby until the doctor gives you the green light,” Brandon told them.
‘Best deal yet. That first foster family I had thought sex came from the devil, I think,” Colby said.
“Oh, that reminds me. Chris and I are Catholic. We go to church on Sundays. You don’t have to go with us, but you’re welcome. Either of you have much of a church background?”
“My mom went to some church where there was lots of shouting and clapping and such. I had to go until I was about ten, when I put up such a fuss she let me stay home. All that kind of scared me,” Colby said.
Daniel looked a little hesitant. “Um, my mom is Catholic. I guess my step-dad is, too. Until I got kicked out, we went most Sundays.”
“Like I said, Daniel, you don’t have to go with us if you don’t want, but I think you’ll find our church more welcoming if you do want to try it out,” Brandon said.
“You and Chris are gay, right?”
“Right.”
“And you still go to church every Sunday?”
“Yes.”
“And they know about you?”
“Well, we never asked Father to make an announcement from the pulpit,” Brandon replied, “but a lot of the people know we’re gay, and the priests definitely know.”
Daniel grinned. “I think you should have them announce it from the pulpit.” he teased.
Brandon swatted him.
Then, Brandon took the boys down to the rec room, and got them started on the video games, while he went back upstairs to consult with others who might be able to give him some guidance on what to do with two gay fifteen year olds.