Welcome, Charlie! (m/m)

[drawscore]

WELCOME, CHARLIE

A sad eyed teenager watched as his parents' car rolled down the street, then disappeared around the corner. He forced a smile, and hugged his aunt, and said "I wish I was going with them."

"Charlie, you know your mom and dad would take you if they could, but if they did, you'd miss a year of school, and be behind all of your friends." said his aunt.

"I don't have any friends here." Charlie grumbled.

"No," his aunt replied. "But you do have your cousins, Allen and Scott." and pointed to the two boys with brownish-blond hair, like his own

A third boy, with Allen and Scott, stepped up, and said "I'm Doug, and a month ago, I felt the same way. I just moved here, and was really down about it, but after I made some friends, I got over it."

"C'mon, let's get your stuff up to our bedroom." said Allen. "Mom moved a new bed and dresser in, and we cleared some space in the closet for you." Allen grabbed one of the three small bags, while the other two were grabbed by Scott and Doug. Charlie lifted a heavy duffel bag to his shoulder, and followed them upstairs to the bedroom.

Charlie worked in silence to get his clothing and belongings stowed away, and it took about an hour. He was still a little down, but decided he'd try and make the best of it. His uncle Jim and aunt Mary, and his cousins, Scott and Allen, would be his family for the next year, while his father worked overseas in an area where no schools were available.

Once unpacked, Charlie seemed to brighten a little. "Two years ago, there was this kid with dark curly hair." he said. "Is he still around? And what about the other one with the straight black hair, who wore corduroys all the time?"

"Ronnie is still here." Scott said. "Donnie Simmons moved to Hawaii. Doug lives in his old house now."

The doorbell rang, and Scott's mother called "It's Ronnie and Mark!"

"Send 'em up, Mom." Allen called back, and a moment later, Ronnie and his little brother were in the bedroom with the others. "I'd heard you were coming." he said. "It's good to see you again."

"You, too." Charlie replied. "And it looks like the termite has grown."

"I'll termite you right upside your head." Mark snarled, and Charlie smiled.

"The munchkin don't take no crap, does he?" Charlie mused.

Ronnie laughed, and said "He's feisty, but sometimes he lets his mouth overload his butt, and he pays for it."

Charlie changed the subject, and asked "You guys still play 'hide and go seek' like you used to the last time I was here?"

"Oh, yeah." Scott said. "And we've made a few refinements."

"Yeah? Like what?" Charlie asked.

"Well, every time 'it' catches someone and ties him up at the base, the captive gets gagged." Allen answered.

"That's cool!" Charlie answered. "Anything else?"

"Not with the game, but Mike Hayworth and Mike Houghton are still around, and they're still a pair of weasels. Maybe more so since the last time you were here." Allen said.

"Let's ambush 'em, take 'em to our scout house, and tie 'em up." Mark suggested.

"That's not a half bad idea." said Doug.

"Yeah, but we tried that last week, and you blew it." Allen said. "And it was us that wound up tied and gagged."

"Hey, mistakes happen." Doug shot back. "How was I to know I was gonna get stung by a bee?"

"Funny, I never saw a bump or a red mark." Allen grumped. "I'l bet a dollar to a doughnut that you did it on purpose so we'd get caught and tied, just so you could show off getting loose."

"Who? Me?" Doug said mockingly.

"Yeah, you!" Allen retorted.

"What's with him?" Charlie asked, and Scott said that Doug was a bit brash, and even had an abrasive personality at times. "He thinks he's the greatest escape artist since Harry Houdini." Scott continued. "But I think my brother's better."

Doug scowled at Scott, and said "Thanks for the vote of confidence, putz."

Scott laughed, and said "The truth is the truth."

"Yeah? Prove it!" Doug growled.

"How?" Scott asked.

"I got an idea!" Charlie said. "You guys get me some rope, and I'll tie 'em both up, and whoever gets loose first wins."

"You gotta tie 'em up the same way." Ronnie said. "You can't hog tie one, and only tie the hands and feet of the other."

"He's right." said Doug. "We both gotta be tied the same."

Charlie nodded, and Scott scarfed up a bag from the closet. There were several pieces of rope of varying lengths, and an assortment of brightly colored scout neckerchiefs and bandanas. With a grin, Charlie said "I'll do you first, Allen." and Allen turned his back to Charlie, and crossed his hands behind him.

Both boys had on sweat shirts, and both agreed that it didn't make any difference that Doug's was grey and hooded, while Allen's was yellow and crew neck. Both further agreed that it was not significant that Allen was wearing corduroys, and Doug had on jeans. What was important, was that Charlie tied both of them at the wrists, ankles, arms, and legs.

Charlie was about to give the start signal, when Mark spoke up and said "You forgot something! We got a rule that says tied up prisoners have to be gagged, and you didn't gag them."

Charlie handed the bag to Mark, and said "Here, you do it."

Mark's eyes brightened as he fished a pair of scout neckerchiefs out of the bag, and gagged Doug first, then Allen. "Thanks, Charlie." he said. "I owe you one."

"And I'll remember it." Charlie thought, as he counted down "3 - 2 - 1 - GO!!", and watched with the others as Allen and Doug struggled to get loose.

Doug was good, but Allen was better. He was loose in less than three minutes, while Doug took nearly four and a half. Frustrated and angry at being defeated, Doug demanded an immediate rematch. Allen wasn't exactly thrilled over it, but agreed, and Charlie tied them both up again, this time in hog ties. Again, he allowed Mark to apply the gags to the "contestents," but it did not matter. For a second time, Allen won convincingly, although it did take both boys a bit longer to free themselves.

Doug was really frustrated now, and started to demand a third rematch, but Scott cut him off. "Let it go, Doug." he said. "He's better than you, and he's proved it twice."

Mark grinned, and said "What you need, is practice."

"Cool idea, Mark." Allen said. “Since he lost, he owes four penalties to each of us, but I'm willing to give one to Mark and one to Little Kevin, too.”

"I don't know Little Kevin, but if he's Mark's friend, I'll toss one in for him." chimed in Charlie, "But I should get eight 'cause I'm the one that tied them up."

"And I should get four on you 'cause I got loose from your ties." Allen said. "Hey, I got loose, too." Doug chimed in

"Yeah, but Allen beat you, so if you get any on Charlie, it should just be one for each time you got loose." Ronnie said.

Doug was certainly going to get the practice he needed. Allen and Charlie each wound up with four penalties on Doug, and Ronnie, Kevin, Mark, and Scott got two each. Doug got two on Charlie. There were some trade offs, and Little Kevin and Mark did come away with a few extras, plus Mark extracted a promise from Doug that he would invite them to sleep over within a month. "We're gonna tie him up with his own rope, and gag him with his own bandanas and neckerchiefs.” he said. “That's gonna be fun!"

The pain of being apart from his parents for a year had left Charlie, and it had only taken a little more than three hours. For all intents and purposes, he had gained two "brothers" for the coming year, had renewed his friendship with Ronnie, and had made a new friend in Doug. As soon as he established himself in his cousins' scout troop, there would be more, and it would continue to grow in another six weeks, when he entered the ninth grade with Allen at the nearby junior high school.

The next thing, was camp. In another ten days, Allen, Scott, Doug, Ronnie, and Kevin would be off to scout camp for a week, and Charlie wanted in on it. That meant he had to join the troop quickly, and fortunately, there were two more meetings before the troop gathered for the week long camping trip. Suddenly, there was so much going on, that Charlie was going to have very little time to worry about being away from his parents for the next year.

Mark suggested that they go play "hide and go seek" for the rest of the afternoon, and everyone seemed to be up for it except Allen and Ronnie. Allen felt like baseball, and it would have been unusual, to say the least, if Ronnie and Mark ever agreed with each other in public.

Outvoted, Ronnie and Allen went along with the rest, and for the next two and a half hours, the six boys chased each other through the woods, and tried to escape from each other's knots, or tried to keep them from doing so.

At one point during the game, Charlie had been caught, and was being marched back to the base, when some loud voices were heard from the far end of the woods. "Who or what's that?" Charlie asked Scott, who was beaming at having captured his older cousin.

"Sounds like Mike Hayworth." Scott answered. "He's in another scout troop, and they're our biggest rivals. He and his friends keep to their side of the woods, and we keep to ours."

"And what happens if they come here, or if we go there?" Charlie asked.

"If you get caught, you get held 'hostage' for 'ransom.'" Scott answered.

"What sort of 'ransom?'" Charlie asked.

"Whatever somebody comes up with." Scott answered. "We caught Little Chris about six weeks ago, and got a can of Coke for him. When they caught me, my brother traded them a red sweat shirt for me, but we fooled 'em! It was four sizes too big."

Charlie laughed. "My little cousin." he said. "And all he's worth, is a red sweat shirt."

"For that, you get hog tied." Scott retorted as they reached the base.

Scott made good on his word, and hog tied Charlie. When he was done, he held up several neckerchiefs and bandanas of varying colors, and asked "Which one's your favorite?"

The tied captive shot his captor a dirty look, and said "The one I tie over your mouth the first chance I get."

Scott selected a red bandana, and gagged his prisoner. "I think red's your color." he laughed, then ran off to try and find another player.

When the game ended, Charlie's qualms and doubts were gone. "I think I'm gonna like it here." he thought. "I just hope I don't like it so much that I don't want to leave when Mom and Dad get back from overseas." Then, he quickly ran to catch up with his friends.

END

[Xtc]

Keep 'em coming.
Such stories are just about the right length to be read in one sitting.