When our guests began to arrive for Danny and Dustin’s combined birthday party, we joined them outside, so we could sit and talk. Once the last person had shown up, Jake and I excused ourselves, so we could start the grill. We quickly scooted into the house and grabbed the marinated steaks, BBQ chicken, sausages, hot dogs and hamburgers, which we put on the grill, just as soon as the fire was going. Once the meat was cooking, we went back inside to bring out the salads, condiments and drinks, so everyone could sit down and begin to eat.
We had a great time catching up on things while we ate and I filled Sally and Steve in about our visit to the farms the previous day. They were both interested in Jake’s and my observations and pleased to hear that we thought things were going well. After we finished that conversation, we began to talk about the family, so before long, they were asking me how Jesse was doing. I quickly brought them up to speed on his progress, including his bike rides with Andrew and the ones he dragged Jake and me on. The others thought this was great and would do all of us some good, but they also hoped it might be a motivating factor that would get Jesse to speak again.
By the time we finished eating, Danny and Dustin were anxious to show off their new toys to those who hadn’t seen them yet. After I explained to our guests why I had purchased the vehicles and how they would be used, Danny and Dustin began taking various groups out for short rides. Once each of our guests had a chance to ride with each of the boys, we all gathered in back of the house for the party. Jake and I then brought out the cakes and ice cream, and by this time everyone was more than ready for dessert.
After telling them the choices, we took their orders and the boys helped pass out the treats. Once that was done, Jake and I took what we wanted and sat down to join them. After the desserts had been eaten and the dishes taken back into the house, the boys were given the last of their presents to open. They received some nice things, although I won’t bore you with the details, but I think at that point they would have been satisfied with whatever they got.
When the party broke up and the guests began to return to their homes, we went inside. As it grew later, I asked everyone except the college boys get ready for bed. Those not in college still had one more week of school to attend and I didn’t want them dragging through the day. Next weekend, Cole, Trey, Nick and Vinnie would be graduating, so we had another week full of activities to keep us busy. While they prepared for bed, I went to \sit and relax in the living room with Jake and some of the older boys. A short time later, Dion came up to me.
“Dad, may I speak with you alone, please?” he asked.
“Certainly,” I responded, before getting up. Dion and I then walked out to the front porch where we could speak privately. Once we were by ourselves, he began to inform me about what was troubling him.
“Dad, something’s up with Sammy and I think you need to talk to him about it?” I was confused.
“And what’s up with him?” I wondered aloud.
“I don’t know, but he’s been acting really strange lately,” Dion confided. “And I think something was up when we ran into him at the movies. I don’t think the guys he was with were happy that we offered to bring him home with us.”
“What gave you that impression?” I followed.
“Well, none of them looked very happy and Sammy seemed to be doing a lot of explaining about why he had to go,” Dion answered.
“Anything else?” I countered.
“Nothing specific, but I do think you need to talk to him about this,” he added.
“I see and thanks for the heads up,” I told him. “I will try my best to learn about what’s going on, but please let me know if you discover anything more. Okay?”
“I will, Dad, and thanks,” Dion responded. “I’m kind of worried about him. He’s small and I think those guys were taking advantage of the fact that he isn’t physically capable of fighting back. I’m not sure what they were up to, but I’m really worried about Sammy.”
“I understand and thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will do my best to see if I can get to the bottom of what’s going on,” I agreed.
I didn’t have time to speak with Sammy about it that evening, but I also though it might be best to put the conversation off for a bit anyway. I was afraid if I went to confront him right after some of the others heard Dion ask to speak with me alone, Sammy might hear about it and put two and two together. I was concerned he might get upset with Dion about spilling the beans, although I had nothing specific to go on. Therefore, I decided to wait until the next day, after school. I would confront Sammy alone, since I was convinced it would be the easiest way to get him to admit to having a problem and confide in me as to what it was about.
I didn’t sleep well that night, because I began to ask myself many questions about the boys Sammy was with that evening. Was I wrong in letting him go with them? What was going on that I wasn’t seeing? Was Sammy getting involved in something illegal?
All day Monday my thoughts were consumed with what Sammy might have gotten himself into, so the meetings I attended after school only prolonged the suspense. I couldn’t wait to get home, so I could question him about what was going on. I had barely pulled in our driveway when Cole bolted from the house and raced to the passenger’s side of the Yukon. He opened the door, stuck his head inside and let me know what he wanted.
“Dad, could you take me for a short ride, so we can talk?” I was intrigued by his approached.
“Yes, sure, Cole,” I agreed, although I was still eager to confront Sammy. Cole’s approach had me slightly confused, but my curiosity was aroused. “It sounds important.”
“It is, Dad,” he confirmed, “but I don’t want to discuss this at home.” This comment baffled me even more, but I decided to do as he requested. Slowly, I backed out of the driveway and headed down the street, without any specific destination in mind.
“What’s up, Cole?” I asked, once we were out of sight of the house. He hesitated briefly before responding.
“It’s Sammy,” he told me. “I heard something about him in school today and I think you’re going to freak out when I tell you about it.” He had piqued my interest, especially since he wasn’t the first person to come to me about Sammy in the past couple of days.
“So, what did you hear?” I pressed, in my attempt to discover more.
“I heard that this group of guys is going to make Sammy do this girl, to prove he isn’t gay,” Cole stated. “She’s a real slut and will do it with anyone.”
“I take it when you say ‘do’ this girl, you’re referring to having intercourse?” I asked, in order to clarify his comment.
“Yeah,” he responded. “That’s what they told him.”
“But why would Sammy go along with this and not come to me about it?” I wanted to know.
“I think he’s scared. The guy who told me about this said he thinks those guys have threatened to beat the crap out of Sammy if he says anything,” he clarified, which made things begin to add up even more.
“Do you know who these boys are?” I followed, as I tried to pry more information from him.
“Yeah,” he responded, and then quickly rattled off the names of the fellows Sammy went to the movies with on Friday. “But that’s not the worst part, Dad,” he quickly added.
“Oh? What can be worse than that?” I shot back.
“Dad, they’ve told him he can’t use a rubber,” Cole added.
“What? Why would they do that?” I was becoming furious.
“I was told he was supposed to do this a few days ago and something happened or he backed out. I’m not sure which, but now they’ve told him he can’t use a rubber or they’ll rip his dick off. I’m not sure that’s exactly what they said, but that’s what everyone seems to be saying,” he clarified. Cole was right. I didn’t like what I was hearing.
“This makes no sense at all,” I nearly screamed. “What is their reason for making him risk catching some disease, especially since you’ve said the girl sleeps around, or have him risk getting her pregnant?”
“Do you think these guys are trying to make sense, Dad?” Cole asked, eying me curiously. “They just hate gays and I’ll bet they think they’ll embarrass Sammy this way. They don’t care whether either of them catches anything or if she gets pregnant,” he added, and I had to agree with his observation.
After thanking Cole for alerting me about the problem, I turned the Yukon around and headed home. I knew I had to confront Sammy about this, but felt it would be best if I waited until after dinner now. That would give me time to collect my composure and decide how I wanted to tackle this problem. I had a thousand questions running through my mind, but they only added to my confusion.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to go back out again this evening, since there was nothing on my schedule. In fact, this was the first night in two weeks that I didn’t have to leave again after dinner and it was the only night this week I would be able to enjoy such a luxury. It also left me free to deal with this situation, but I had to figure out how I was going to do it first.
While we were fixing dinner, I whispered to Jake about what I’d been told, so I could get his take on the problem. He immediately told me this sounded similar to the problems he’d heard Brandon had suffered at school, before Jake and Shannon had come to live with us. He told me Brandon and Danny had told Shannon and him about those things, in an attempt to make Shannon feel better about the problems he was facing at the time. I had nearly forgotten about what Brandon had endured and I certainly didn’t think of it when I learned about what was happening to Sammy, but it all began to make sense now. It also gave me another perspective about what Sammy might be going through.
Dinner seemed to drag on tonight and I felt the conversation was much more subdued than normal, even with all of the boys at home. Maybe it only seemed that way because I had so many things going through my mind, including the suspicions Cole and Dion had confided to me about their brother. Whatever the reason, I was happy when the boys began to ask to be excused from the table. However, when Sammy asked to leave, I felt it was time to make my move.
“Sammy, you may be excused, but I need to speak with you before you do anything else. Would you mind joining me in my room for a few minutes?” He looked nervous and possibly scared, so I wasn’t sure if he’d guessed what I wanted to see him about. He nodded weakly, to let me know he would do as I asked, and then followed me to my room. Once inside, I closed the door and turned to face him.
“Sammy, I heard some alarming rumors today,” I began, which elicited a shocked reaction from him. He stood frozen in place, his eyes bulging and his mouth hanging open. He was completely transfixed, but eventually found his tongue again.
“Who told you these things?” he mumbled, totally uncertain about what was going to happen next.
“Does it matter whom I heard it from?” I asked, in an effort to avoid his question. “I think the important thing is WHAT I heard. Is it true?” I was hoping to trick him in to giving me his reaction before I disclosed what I had learned, but he just stood there, staring at me blankly. Finally, he responded.
“What did you hear?” he asked, as he cautiously tried to discover how much I already knew. I felt I wasn’t going to gain anything with this cat and mouse game, so I took the bull by the horns.
“I heard you’re involved in sexual activities with a girl from school, in an attempt to prove you aren’t gay.” This comment seemed to put him in a catatonic state, so I spoke again, hoping that would be enough to bring him out of it. “Well, is this true?” I prodded.
Sammy hemmed and hawed for a few seconds, as he attempted to respond to my question. Even before he found his tongue, I could see his eyes begin to water, so I knew the rumors were true. I reached out and pulled him against my chest, so I could give him a hug. I felt it was imperative that I let him know it was okay and I wasn’t going to turn on him too. As soon as he was wrapped up in my arms, he began to spill his guts.
“Dad, these are the guys who are writing on the posters and tearing them down,” he blurted out. “They said all of us Currie’s were fags and I told them it wasn’t true. They didn’t believe me and called me a fag again, so I repeated that I liked girls. I didn’t tell them I was bi, because I thought they would have felt that was pretty much the same thing.”
“I understand, Sammy,” I said soothingly, with my arms still entwined around him. “So what happened after that?”
“They told me I had to prove I liked girls, so they made me do things with this friend of theirs,” he informed me.
“And what did they make you do and when?” I wondered.
“Well, do you remember the second time I stayed after school and walked home?” he asked.
“Yes, I do,” I replied.
“Well, that night they made me show up after school, so that girl could give me a blow-job, while they watched.” He seemed a little uneasy as he thought about what had happened that evening.
“So, I take it that didn’t end it?” I prodded again.
“No. One of them said even a fag would blow his wad if someone sucked him off, so they told me I’d have to do more. They didn’t tell me what, but that’s why I had to go to the movies with them on Friday.” I thought I saw what was coming next, but allowed him to continue.
“At the movie, they had the same girl sit next to me, and I had to finger her, while she jerked me off. I was supposed to fuck her after the movie, but as we were coming out of the theater, we ran into Kevin, Vinnie, Trey and Dion. Kevin told me I could ride home with them, so I wouldn’t be late, but those guys didn’t want me to leave. They were really pissed when I told them I’d better go with my brothers, or I might have to tell you why I couldn’t. After that things got kind of nasty.”
“How so?” I wondered.
“Well, now they’ve told me I have to fuck her, but I can’t use a condom,” he admitted. “They said that’s what I get for taking off on them Friday night.”
“But why would you do that?” I countered, and once again he let his chin drop to his chest before he responded.
“They said they’d make me really sorry if I didn’t,” he finally replied.
“And how would they do that?” I followed.
“They said they’d not only beat me up, but they’d do the same to all of my brothers who were still in school, which includes Andrew and Jesse. And they’ll do it too, so I can’t let that happen,” he tried to reason.
“I can understand how you got dragged into this, Sammy,” I reassured him, “but you should have come to me and let me know what was going on.”
“I couldn’t, Dad,” he whined and nearly began to cry. “They threatened if I told ANYONE, they’d start beating up the fags in our family. They said fags don’t deserve to live.” That comment sent a chill down my spine.
“Well, we’re going to have to take care of this problem now,” I advised him.
“But, Dad, if they find out you know… that I told you…” he began, but I cut him off.
“Don’t worry. They won’t find out,” I assured him. “We’ll do this very secretively. When are you supposed to meet up with them again?”
“They’re going to let me know,” he responded, hesitantly.
“Well, when they do, I want you to tell me immediately,” I advised him. Sammy merely nodded in response and then we left my room. I knew I’d have to find a way to handle this before he was forced to take that final step, but this week was already going to be hectic. I hoped I’d get enough lead time to deal with whatever those boys came up with, so Sammy didn’t have to suffer further.
Even though I was still greatly concerned about what was happening to Sammy, I had to find a distraction to keep me from thinking about it constantly. I did that by burying myself in my work. It was a good thing too, since this was the final week before graduation. It ended up being a long and tiring day, but thankfully the last meeting I had to attend ran smoothly and ended quickly. I was anxious to leave and get home.
I pulled in the driveway just as Andrew and Jesse were returning from their bike ride. They were both smiling broadly, although I could tell they were a bit tired too. They were still enjoying their daily outings and I was glad they had this time together. After chatting with them briefly, they left to put their bikes away and I went into the house. I wanted to find Sammy and see if he’d learned anything more. I found him alone in his room, so I went in to speak with him.
“Hey, Sammy. Have a good day?” I asked, in an attempt to break the ice.
“It was okay,” he told me, without offering up any additional information.
“Did you hear anything new about what you’re supposed to do?” I prodded. I needed to determine if those boys were still pushing him to go through with their previous threat.
“Yeah, they said it would happen on Friday or Saturday, but they didn’t know exactly when yet. They said they’d tell me tomorrow for sure. I told them this weekend would be hard for me to get away, with graduation and everything we had going on,” Sammy continued. “I explained we had to spend most of Friday helping get the house ready for the graduation party, which would be held after the ceremony on Saturday. I also told them we had church and Pat’s birthday party on Sunday, in case they were thinking about doing it then. I thought hearing all of this would make them lay off, but they said they’d let me know when I was to do it and if I wussed out this time, I wouldn’t like what happened afterward.” That was an ominous threat for Sammy to have to deal with.
“Look, let me know when you hear more,” I repeated. “I think I have an idea about how we might end this for you.”
Sammy seemed pleased to hear I might have a plan to get rid of this problem. The news did seem to take a little of the weight off of his shoulders, but I could also tell he was still uneasy. I wasn’t sure if this was due to the fact that he still might have to go through with it or if he was still worried these guys were going to find out I knew what was going on. Sammy did try to get me to tell him what I was going to do, but I wasn’t about to share any specific information about my plan with him. I hoped just knowing I had an idea would keep him from worrying so much about having to do anything more.
Wednesday went about the same as Tuesday, except my day seemed to last even longer than the one before. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, but my duties weren’t over yet. I found Sammy shortly after entering the house and struck up a conversation. A few minutes later, he informed me that those boys weren’t about to let up on their demands.
“Dad, I had to really argue with them, but I finally got them to agree to wait until Monday. After telling them over and over again about how hard it would be for me to get away this weekend, without having to tell you where I was going, what I’d be doing and whom I’d be with, they finally gave in. They said we’d do it Monday, in the small woods by the athletic fields at school.”
I thanked Sammy for the information and told him I’d refine what I had in mind, so we could make certain those boys were going to pay for what they were trying to do to him.