Chapter 22-1
Life Is Messy
Stringham was as good as his word as he put me and my brother along with my friends that were in danger on the first helicopter. Sparky didn't like the idea much as he whined a little as Mr. Stringham handed him to me. Telling me he'll be just fine once we got in the air.
That he most likely he would want to stick his head out the window to feel the breeze like he does riding in the car, but he wouldn't recommend it. After all, it isn't the first time a dog has ridden in a helicopter, the President of the United States' dogs ride in them all the time and some police dogs as well. The noise lessened the moment the door closed as everyone took their seats for the long forty-minute flight.
We all waved at our parents on the ground and watched as the ground below us got smaller. I never realized how small Santaquin truly was from the air. I could have put the whole town in the palm of my hand. Stringham was right. Sparky settled down the moment we got underway. I fell asleep listening to the hypnotic rhythm of the helicopter. It had seemed I had just barely closed my eyes when we landed at Stringham's estate. It was still breathtaking. Even Aaron gasped when he saw the size of it, and so did everyone else.
It was almost dawn seeing the sun peeking over the mountains as the sky started to get light, watching the stars disappear. Landan greeted us with some servants as they quickly unloaded our luggage so the Helicopter could take off and return for the rest of our family and friends that were waiting.
Landan reintroduced himself to my friends who have never been here with a quick, elegant bow, all dressed up in his gray penguin suit, and said. "My name is Landan. I will be your manservant if you follow me. I will show you to your rooms. I have run you all a hot bath… and breakfast will be waiting when you're done. I have also been instructed to put you to bed and tuck you in if you need me to. So, if you would be so kind as to follow me."
I waited for someone to tell me that Sparky wasn't allowed inside. Instead, Landan reached down and petted him, telling him if he was a good boy he was going to get a very nice bone after his bath and quick examination. Sparky loved baths as much as a cat does, but once he was inside the tub, he was fine. It was just getting him inside that was the problem.
Unlike last time, we weren't told to remove our shoes, and I did it anyway and my friends followed my example as I took my sneakers off and carried them in my hands. Our mothers followed right behind us as they gasped at the size and how pristine and expensive the place looked. They also quickly took off their shoes mostly likely because we did, or they were afraid of dirtying the red-carpet runner that was laid on the stone tiled floor as it glistened, showing their reflection. Several Moms told their boys not to touch anything. My adoptive Mom couldn't resist feeling the curtains and silk drapes as we climbed the stairs.
Landan opened the door telling my adoptive Mom that this would be her and her husband's room, and the next two rooms would be for me and my brothers when they arrived. My mother's room would be on the other side with all of us in the middle. Aaron was given the choice to share his room with my brothers or Michael and Robert. I wasn't surprised by the fact he shared his room with my brothers. I didn't question his decision because I really didn't know the Cranny's all that well. Other than knowing, Paul was a dick and a jackass.
Even though I could have had my own room or shared it with my brothers. Landan put Greg, Chad, and Adam with me. Letting Jake and his brother Billy share a room across the hall from us, and the girls choosing for themselves who they were going to bunk with. The other parents had their own rooms and their own personal servants. While Landan was strictly ours and the Rothwell's and my mother's as well as my brother's, he was also told to take care of Jake's family, Michael, and Robert.
True, we could have all had our own rooms if we really wanted to with thirty guests' bedrooms in total. Fifteen on the north wing and fifteen more on the south wing with two large tub rooms somewhere in the middle with a mud room next to it. The main lobby, dining room, and offices are on the main floor and in the basement. Where there was a rec room an indoor pool and a sauna. The servant rooms were all on the east and west wings. Stringham and Dave's room were on the third floor with ten more private rooms that were only used when they have other guests that required more privacy.
I placed my shoes near the door unpacked my suitcase and my bunkmates did likewise. Sparky was already adjusting to his new pampered life. Finding a nice soft dog bed and several chew toys, with a large food and water dish, near the window where he could let the warm sunshine down on his back or roll on his back with his paws moaning how good it feels. Until Landan came into our room and collected him, handing him to the person who was going to see to his special care like a nice bath. Which I didn't envy them when they tried to get Sparky inside a tub of water.
We were about to undress and put on our waist robes so we could go take a nice long hot bath when Landan said not to just come as we are, that the girls wanted that privilege. He frowned, opening our wardrobe tisking at the state that our clothes were in. We were boys; it didn't bother us to find a few wrinkles in our shirts or small holes in our jeans or our knees. When they got big enough for our Moms always cut the legs off and turned them into shorts.
Landan took our clothes and started shoving them inside a huge laundry bag and told us that our bath was getting cold. Most parents would be freaking out if they knew that some girl that wasn't a family member was about to undress us and gives us a soothing and sexual bath, but we didn't have normal parents. We had nudist parents who believed sex is good for the soul. We went one way as our parents either came with us or waited for their husbands and the rest of their family to arrive.
There was no hiding the fact from my adoptive Mom that Aaron's affiliation with our nudist club was not complete, but she was open about engaging in sexual activities with me multiple times. Jody and Kerry, my two sisters, had the same experience as well. At certain moments, she would take the responsibility of bathing Aaron, sometimes doing so alone and other times with the presence of my three brothers, all while he stayed with us during the summer. This secret was so openly acknowledged that he, like the rest of us, would run around naked. The Rothwells did not shy away from the fact that she and everyone else would provide oral stimulation to my brothers and my two adoptive sisters. Aaron had expressed a desire to be included in these activities, as he was aware of what they did to me. Let's just say he has a strong preference for a nice, tasty penis and a voracious appetite for breasts and can indulge as much as he wanted.
So, she gave Aaron a choice, she could bathe him, or he could join my brothers and the Cranny's boys in the other tub room. Knowing perfectly well that until my mother arrived, he was hers and my responsibility and so were the Cranny boys. Aaron was by no means shy and had seen my adoptive Mom and my sisters naked numerous times. He simply said. "He didn't care as long as it included a full body massage, and she stimulates him orally, and he can taste her as well rubbing her sweet spot and cupping one of her breasts." She giggled, nodding. I smiled when he said it and kissed him like she kissed me.
I didn't have a problem having my adoptive Mom stimulating him. I had a problem with my mother stimulating him when I was not present because I was unsure how far she would go. I know the same thing could be said for my adoptive Mom, but I knew she would ask first before she did anything more than stimulate him. And she knew that when it came to sex Aaron was off limits regardless of if he and Jared were the same age and said he could have sex when he turned fifteen or sixteen if he was a good boy, but everything else was allowed.
I watched as she walked the boys down to the other tub room, telling Landan to bring her the three boys and her husband down to the tub room when they arrived. Jody and Cindy grabbed my arms and pulled me with them as they whispered all the things they were going to do to me and the other boys.
I smiled, feeling completely safe, knowing that no one here would harm me or my brother Aaron. My father would have to be Superman to get to us inside these walls. We weren't given any horny pills because it wasn't a wild sex party it was just a simple sensual bath to relax us before breakfast and before we were tucked in our beds after a very long day for a long much-needed nap, as I yawned stating how tired I truly was.
The girls quickly removed their robes as we watched them fall around them. We smiled seeing them naked. The rules were simple, as they told us not to help them unless they asked. As they took turns kissing us and undressing us, one article of clothing at a time. Stroking us as they took turns letting us massage their breasts with our hands and mouths until we were all completely naked.
I noticed Billy and Jake, being our newest members had lost their shyness around naked girls as they quickly shared a breast, letting them stroke them. Billy moaned in pleasure as each of the girls had their way with him. Letting them do whatever they wanted, as Jody claimed him as hers. Letting the other girls fight over the rest of us boys who they wanted to bathe.
Again, we weren't allowed to help as they took their time pleasuring us with torture as they bathed us in pure bliss. We watched the girls pleasure each other as they bathed each other in front of us. Letting us rub their sweet spots and feel their breasts as they stroked us. When we were close, they finished us off orally. Promising us we could have as much sex as we wanted later after we all had rested.
I closed my eyes as Heidi and Sandy bathed me. I had thought I had died and gone to heaven not wanting to open my eyes and find it all just a dream. Yet sooner or later I had to wake and moan and grumble, saying "Just a little longer." Being pulled out of the dream and out of the soothing water. So, they could dry us off and dress us in a waist robes. Leaving our clothes behind in the hamper with our wet towels.
I don't remember much other than I ate and climbed into bed and curled up next to my friends, Adam, Greg, and Chad. I just know I died and went to heaven. Feeling Sparky jump onto the bed and curl at the bottom of our feet. I don't even remember our parents coming in and kissing us goodnight.
All I remember was the dream as I woke up in a cold sweat screaming, seeing Sparky nailed to my bedroom wall at my mother's house gutted and my father holding the knife, he used to do it. And I was next as watched him walk his way towards me to kill me. I woke up screaming, as I searched my room watching his phantom ghost fade back into the shadows as Greg and Adam were holding me down the best they could until I was me again and fully awake.
I cringed seeing Greg's and Adam's black eyes and fat lips as Mom and Dad quickly came to my side the moment; they opened the door with Chad behind them. Dad placed me in his arms as I told him what I had dreamed. Letting the tears fall down my cheeks as Mom stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head. While she rubbed my back, soothing me that they wouldn't let anything, or anyone harm me ever again. I was never ashamed of crying like a baby when I lived in any of my foster homes that really cared about me or treated me like a meal ticket.
It was always my mother and my father who teased me about it or smacked me around because I or my brother did. Not even my friends teased me about it. I wish I could say my mother didn't after she had turned over a new leaf. She would always tell me to stop acting like a big baby and grow up. Telling me there is time for crying and there was a time not to. Having a bad dream counted as nothing to cry about. She never calmed my fears or soothed me. I wasn't sure if it was because she was more afraid if she came near me, I would kill her. Knowing that she and my father were always the source of my nightmares, but not all of them.
I have had many nightmares that weren't about them. I had nightmares of Jeff watching the gun go off as he falls dead on the floor in front of me. I had nightmares of the Rothwells sometimes when my adoptive Mom tried to drown me, and Dad whipped me with the cattail whip or put me inside the hot box or the turntable. I had nightmares about finding all my animal friends slaughtered and nailed to our walls and in our barn. And many more, which we will get to, or would spoil the mystery of things to come.
It was nearly noon when I woke up after the nightmare. Everyone was dressed in either a full robe or a waist robe. My mother still hadn't arrived, yet which concerned me a little. Because she should have been here by now since when we left Bishop Earl's place, she was only three hours away. Dad said not to worry, she was most likely tying up some loose ends.
I knew he was right, and I knew it had to do with her house. I cringed, thinking about what she was going to find walking through that front door. Plus, she had to deal with my father and my two sisters. It was safe to say that my home-visit was over, and I was more than fine with that. I had everything I needed right here, my friends and my family.
It hurt seeing my brother knowing he really wasn't part of my life anymore; I questioned if he ever really was. I still questioned if I made the right choice coming back just so I could say goodbye. A mistake that haunts me still, knowing I should have listened to Jeff. I should have just stayed with Ma, and my sisters in Arizona and left my life here behind like the Downings did and disappeared where no one would ever find me.
Like Grandma always says, 'You made your bed. You might as well sleep in it.' Grandma told me not to come home. She told me it was a bad idea. Yet I couldn't let go, and now here I am with a target on my back, my father was one thing, but now I had more enemies that wanted to do me harm and as well as my Rothwell family and friends, all because we said no to Crawford and his followers. Dad was right. Life is cruel and messy; it always has been.