Tossed Away Kid - Chapter 9
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to anyone in real life is a coincidence.
A special thanks to Ed for his editorial help. Please let me know what you think - wep363@myexcel.com My Web Site http://wpstories.tripod.com/
This is a story of love, hope, and trust. It also deals with rejection, false hope, and mistrust. It is not a sex story. However, this story deals with love between two male teenagers. If you are offended by stories involving love between two teenage boys, please do not read this story. There may be some sex scenes in this story; however, sex is not the main theme and will not be graphically described. If you are under age 18 or 21 or it is illegal to read this story where you live, don't get caught reading it. Reproducing this story for distribution without the owner's permission is a violation of that copyright.
I woke up early again Sunday morning. Everyone was still asleep. I decided to make my journal entries and study my notes from the previous week. Mr. Smith was the first one up. Sunday is his only day off. He wasn't nearly as talkative as the previous day but we did talk some. We talked more about making adult decisions. I felt like going for a run but remembered what Mark had said about not going anywhere by myself. I explained my problem with Mr. Smith and he shocked me by deciding to go running with me.
We didn't run far but it really seemed to bring us even closer together. When we got back Mrs. Smith was up and making breakfast. "Why don't you get Danny up out of bed, Tommy? Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."
I went to Danny's room and saw he was already up. We hugged, kissed, and then took a shower together. We went to breakfast and enjoyed a well-prepared meal. Danny and I then spent some quiet time together just talking about general things. The Smiths aren't big on going to church so Sunday mornings are usually just spent as quiet time. Around lunch time Mike and Mark arrived and we went over to Rick's house. Mr. Mitchell answered the door and led all of us to the backyard pool. Introductions were made and when Mike and Mark were introduced, Bill spoke up.
"I know you guys. My dad's a State Police Officer and he had me read the paper last winter when you took out those muggers. He also had me read the paper when it was announced that you two would be leading a student police training program for Chicago schools and when you took down some muggers a few weeks ago. I saw your picture in the paper. Omigod, Tommy and Danny were the names of the guys with them at the latest attempted robbery. And if Tommy is staying with Mike and Mark that must mean that..."
"That's enough, Bill," said Don Miller, Bill's father. "Bill, Rick, Tommy, I need to talk to the three of you for a minute." Mr. Miller took us over to a corner in the back yard. "Now that the cat is out of the bag we need to make some rules. Yes, Tommy is training during the week to be an undercover State Police Officer. For that reason I don't want you to talk about it with any of your other friends. This needs to remain a secret. You could compromise Tommy's safety if this gets out. Do I have your word that you will not discuss Tommy, Mike, or Mark with anyone?"
"Yes," both Rick and Bill agreed.
"That's good enough for me, I trust you and you can trust them too, Tommy. Now I need to talk to Tommy alone for a bit." Bill and Rick left us and Mr. Miller looked me in the eye and smiled. "Did you enjoy your run this morning, Tommy?"
"You're watching me. You have me under surveillance, don't you?"
"Very good, Tommy. You're going to make a good police officer. Yes, I do have you under surveillance. I know everything about you. I've read your file. You have guts. I wish Bill were more like you, at least in some ways. You didn't run this morning because you had to but because you wanted to. Also you followed the rules and didn't go alone. Which brings me to this. I know about your relationship with Danny. It's really none of my business unless you two are engaged in activities which are against the law. Last I checked, hugging, kissing, holding hands, and loving each other is not against the law in this state. I don't mind you being friends with my son as long as you keep the relationship between you and Danny to yourself. I know Bill is tight with Rick and both me and my wife and the Mitchells have our suspicions that more is going on there than meets the eye. However I don't want you encouraging them. Don't show any displays of affection in front of them. I can tell you that neither my son nor Rick are bigots. Perhaps they are like you. If that is the case then we'll support them. Should they come out to you or Danny, then you can talk about your relationship with Danny if you both feel comfortable doing that."
"I'm very proud of you, Tommy. In some ways I envy you. You have a tough row to hoe. I would like to see you make it. We could really use 100 officers just like you in different places around the state. How you do is going to possibly bring that into reality. The City of Chicago has already made a large investment in this program but the Governor is waiting to see how they do and how YOU do before committing any more state resources to this project. Make good decisions, Tommy. Here's my cell phone number. If you find yourself in a situation and you're not sure what to do, give me a call and I'll try to help you. And remember big brother is watching. Now why don't you go have some fun with your friends."
Surprisingly even all the revelations didn't keep us from having fun. Six teenagers and a pool, plus food, always equals fun. The water temperature was perfect and so was the weather. The old folks seemed to get along together really well too. The men had several private talks, looking at us once in a while. The ladies also talked to themselves. All too soon it was time to go to the train station. Bill and Rick made Danny promise to hang out with them all week. This made me feel better, knowing that Danny would have some friends to keep him company.
The train ride back to Great Lakes was uneventful. I told Mike and Mark all about my weekend and they told me about theirs. Then Mark explained to me that last week was just preliminary stuff. This week things will get more serious. He also said that a serious infraction of the rules could result in dismissal.
After arriving back at the barracks I took a shower and changed into my working uniform. I then made sure that my locker was squared away with nothing out of place. More and more of our fellow recruits were arriving. I sat down and worked on my journal until lights out. After lights out there were lots of restless recruits talking. Finally Mark got pissed. He turned on the lights and shouted, "IT SEEMS TO ME THAT NONE OF YOU ARE TIRED. I'M GOING TO TURN THE LIGHT BACK OFF AND IF I HEAR ONE MORE SOUND WE'RE ALL GOING TO RUN UNTIL YOU DROP. NOW BE QUIET!"
Mark turned the lights back off and as soon as the lights went off a recruit named Peterson said, "We don't have to listen to you, Mark."
"OK THAT'S IT." Mark turned the lights back on. "EVEYONE GET YOUR RUNNING SHOES ON. WE'RE GOING TO RUN AROUND THE INSIDE OF THE BARRACKS UNTIL YOU CAN'T RUN ANY MORE."
The barracks is about 50 yards long and 25 yards across. There is about 4 feet between the racks and the wall, which gives us more than enough room to run. Everyone got up and started getting their running shoes on, including Mark, except Peterson. He just remained on his rack with a defiant look on his face. Mark walked over to him.
"I said everyone, Peterson, and that includes me and you!"
"Like I said, I don't have to do what you say. You're no better than me."
"Suit yourself."
Mark walked into Sergeant Brooks' office. I still hadn't seen him. He came back out a minute later and we started running - everyone except Peterson. It was really hot and humid in the barracks. In no time we were all sweating like crazy. After about 10 minutes two SPs (Shore Patrol) appeared.
"Where is the recruit that needs to be escorted off the base?" one of them asked.
Mark came up to them and pointed to Peterson. "He's right there."
"Get up and pack your things. You're out of here."
"You can't do this to me."
"We can and will. There are two ways to handle this," said the SP. "We can do it the hard way or the easy way."
"He doesn't have the authority to do this to me," Peterson said, pointing at Mark.
"You can talk to Capt. Wright tomorrow about what I have the authority to do. But right now you are out of here," replied Mark.
Peterson put on his clothes and Mark got his ID and the SPs escorted him out the door. Mark started running with us again. Someone asked if we could stop seeing as how the person who caused us to run was no longer there. Mark just said nope. We ran for about another half hour until we were all totally wiped. Then we all jumped in the shower quickly just to wash off the sweat. By the time we got back to bed and turned off the lights it was almost midnight. There was no more talking and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
WHAM, BANG, BOOM - GET UP, YOU SCUM BAG PUKE! NOW!!!
What the hell? It seemed like I just closed my eyes. I saw a metal trash can sitting in the middle of the barracks with a big dent in it. I looked at the clock and saw it was only 4:30 AM.
"EVERYONE AT ATTENTION AT THE FRONT OF YOUR RACKS RIGHT NOW. I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF HAVING SOME FUN WITH MY WIFE LAST NIGHT WHEN I GOT A CALL FROM BASE SECURITY. THEY SAID THAT ONE OF US WAS INSUBORDINATE TO MARK AND HAD TO BE ESCORTED OFF THE BASE. I WOKE MARK UP FIRST AND GOT THE FACTS BEFORE WAKING YOU UP. APPARENTLY HE ALREADY DID A GOOD JOB OF BUSTING YOUR BALLS LAST NIGHT OR ELSE THERE WOULD REALLY BE HELL TO PAY. AS IT IS YOU'RE ALL IN TROUBLE. YOU WON'T BE SEEING PETERSON BACK ON THIS BASE AND IT'S ALL OF YOUR FAULT. DAMN-IT, YOU ARE A TEAM. IF MARK GIVES ONE OF YOU INSTRUCTIONS AND THAT PERSON DON'T FOLLOW HIS INSTRUCTIONS IT'S UP TO ALL OF YOU TO GET IN HIS FACE AND FORCE HIM TO OBEY. IF ANY OF YOU FEEL YOU CAN'T FOLLOW SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS LIKE BEING QUIET WHEN TOLD, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOUR PROBLEM RIGHT NOW. GET CLEANED UP AND GET DRESSED IN SOME WORKOUT CLOTHS. WE'LL HAVE A RACK AND LOCKER INSPECTION IN 10 MINUTES."
I quickly got cleaned up and dressed. We stood at attention at the front of our racks while Sergeant Brooks inspected our racks and lockers. If he found one little thing wrong he tore the sheets off the bed and all the clothes out of the locker. Then he chewed out the recruit for the condition of his stuff and had him do 50 pushups and redo their racks and lockers. When he got to me he looked as hard as he could to find something or create something wrong. But he found nothing.
"DAMN IT, TUCKER! GIVE ME 25 PUSHUPS FOR NOT SHAVING THIS MORNING. EVEN IF YOU DON'T SHAVE YET."
Sergeant Brooks was really on a roll. He found something wrong with everyone, including Mike and Mark. I got off easy. Most everyone had to redo their rack and lockers. Perhaps I need to start shaving just so he can't find anything wrong. By the time we finished it was time to go do our morning exercises and running. It started raining about halfway through. We went back in the barracks and changed into our uniforms and raingear when Sergeant Brooks told us to leave our raingear behind. He said we could use some cooling off. He didn't come with us, leaving Mark to take us to chow.
By the time we got to the chow hall we were all totally soaked. All the Navy recruits had raingear on so they were basically dry. We no more than got into the chow hall when two really big (but not as big as Mark) Navy company commanders decided to get in Mark's face. They were saying we had no right to be in the chow hall in the condition we were in. They said that Mark had to march us back to the barracks and have everyone change clothes with raingear and then march back if we expected to eat. Or we had to eat outside in the rain. Mark just pretended that they didn't exist. Finally one grabbed Mark by the arm and forced Mark to look at him.
Mark calmly shrugged off his hand and said, "You're not allowed to touch your own recruits so why are you touching me and if you ever touch me again I'll go to the Provost-Marshal and file assault charges.
"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A SMART ASS PUSSY WITH NO BALLS," replied the petty officer that had grabbed Mark.
"If you would like to settle this like men I'm sure something can be arranged," calmly replied Mark.
"YOU'RE NO MAN, YOU'RE JUST A PUNK ASS KID. I'D LOVE TO TEACH YOU A LESSON."
By now everyone in the chow hall was looking at us. The mess hall Master at Arms came over and told Mark that we wouldn't be able to eat in wet uniforms. Mark reached down and lifted up his pant leg, producing a cell phone and pistol. The big company commander who had been giving Mark so much trouble went kind of white when he saw the pistol. Mark pulled out his cell phone and a state police shield, explaining that he was required to carry a weapon every place he goes because he's both an active duty Chicago and State of Illinois Police officer. Then he called Capt. Wright and talked for about a minute.
Our wait in line was usually about 30 minutes to get to the food anyway so we still weren't up to the food. Mark continued to get harassed by the petty officers when the chow hall Master at Arms was called away. He returned in about one minute, saying that the Base Commander, Captain Shaft, had called, saying that we were allowed to eat and that the two company commanders, Mark, and the Mess Hall Master at Arms were to wait for him in the Master at Arms' office. We were almost up to the food when I saw Captain Shaft, Capt. Wright, and Sergeant Brooks walk by and go into the Master at Arms' office. I could tell by the look on the Captain's face that someone was going to get shafted!
They weren't in there long when everyone but Captain Shaft and Capt. Wright came out of the office. After about two minutes the door opened and everyone went back in the office. Then everybody came out of the office and Mark rejoined us. After getting our food I managed to sit near Mark. We all ate really fast so we could get the story out of Mark. Finally he spoke.
"So you know, my instructions are to not pay any attention to anyone in the Navy under the rank of Lieutenant. So I followed orders. I knew they were just trying to get my goat. Apparently they instructed their recruits not to talk to us but no one told them that the company commanders couldn't talk to us. This is the first time Sergeant Brooks has not been with us so I think even if we weren't all wet they still would have found a reason to come after us. Regardless, Captain Shaft was pissed as hell at the company commander and praised my behavior. This just seemed to piss them off more and they said that I challenged them to a fight. I explained the assault thing and the Captain almost blew a gasket. At this point Capt. Wright asked to speak with the Captain for a few minutes privately. When we went back inside we were told that we would fight a boxing match in a drill hall at 5:00 PM tonight and settle our differences without me pressing charges. The loud mouth company commander bragged that he was fleet champion 6 years ago. I asked him if he could put money where his mouth is, that I could cover any bet he could come up with. Capt. Wright just smiled and said that the event will be open to all CPD officers and that none of them would have empty wallets."
To Be Continued...