"Tonight?" I asked, being in the dark.

"Metropolitan Opera. We need to catch a nap, shower, dress, and go to dinner before going to the Met."

"Opera?"

"Opera. Mozart. Don Giovanni. Don't tell me, you've never been to an opera either. My word. You haven't lived. Good thing I found you."

"I've never been to an opera. I've never heard opera," I confessed.

"It's an acquired taste, but if you like music, you'll love opera."

The clothes were as foreign as opera was to me. Marty had dress clothes he'd bought for me to fit in at places he took me to. For dinner and the opera, it was formal clothes. Evening dress was a tuxedo, brilliantly shined black shoes, and silk socks. A man came from the hotel's men's shop to dress me, after I showered.

I'd never been dressed before. I usually put one leg in my pants and then the other. Same with my shirt, only with arms. Being dressed for the Met had to be a little like being put in a straight jacket for your trip to the funny farm, but I wasn't laughing. I was way out of my league.

Marty helped me tie ties and he usually bought me the right clothes for the right occasion. It was a little like being caught in a whirlwind. I tried to keep up. It took work.

I rarely felt out of place, because Marty was so relaxed. He never acted like I was a bumbling companion. I watch Marty to know what to do, and he made sure I didn't make too big a fool of myself. I might never see most of these people again, but Marty would.

Where we ate, everyone was dressed as we were. I'd never seen such a formal group of people. How did you move around.

"How do you eat without getting stains on your tux?"

"Don't order sauces or slippery food," Marty said.

I laughed.

You could dress me up, but you couldn't take me out. I had a guy dress me. I was looking for the guy who showed me how to eat.

"Everyone eats here before going to the opera," Marty explained.

"I feel like I'm in a straight jacket. How do you get away with scratching an itch in this monkey suit?" I asked.

"One does not itch when he's going to the opera," Marty said.

I cracked up. I'd always thought rich people were a bit on the odd side, but Marty confirmed it as he laughed along with me, and all the stuffed shirts looked at us like we were crazy. They were all dressed just like we were.

Who was crazy?

The opera was abrupt, loud, and it moved fast. Once the second act started, and after we'd taken an intermission, my head was better prepared to hear what I was listening to. I didn't understand a word, but Marty gave me a soft play-by-play narration as we watched. I became fascinated by the costumes, the motion, the voices and the orchestra as it all blended together in an unusual way.

I wouldn't say I didn't like it. I might find an English version of the opera and see how close Marty came to explaining it to me. I knew Mozart, like Beethoven, was a genius. I didn't know he wrote an opera.

In school I learned that Beethoven sawed the legs off of his piano, and he put his ear to the floor while he played his latest symphony. He heard the vibrations of the piano through the floor's vibration. Some of the greatest symphonies he wrote, he never heard a single note. They are some of the greatest music ever composed.

Mozart was writing mature works of art as a teenager. That's amazing. Yes, Mozart and Beethoven met. In fact, Mozart was regarded as the greatest composer of all time, but as Beethoven took over as Vienna's greatest composer, people claimed he was the genius that would take Mozart's place among the royalty already in Vienna, and he could not hear the music he composed.

I knew about both of them without knowing their music. Now that I was hearing it, I had to admit, The Beatles and the Beach Boys had a little competition, but I wouldn't tell Marty that.

I could tie my shoes as a teenager. Write an opera? I don't think so.

After the final act, people were all abuzz about what they'd just seen and heard. Some people were so excited it was difficult to follow what excited them. I did listen and I was surprised that everyone seemed to know the play by heart.

I'd just heard my first opera, and I still wasn't sure what I heard.

It was back on the Lear Jet after breakfast in the morning. We left New York City at nine in the morning, and we arrived in Honolulu at one in the afternoon. We'd made one stop to fuel before going out over the Pacific.

I had no idea what time it was.

We spent much of the rest of the day in Honolulu. We were driven to Pearl Harbor and we were given a special tour of the entire area. A historian explained what happened the morning of December 7, 1941. As an addendum to a tour that took several hours, we were played President Roosevelts speech to Congress when he declared war on Japan.

While on a small boat and sitting near the sunken battleship Arizona, there were drops of oil that came to the surface from time to time. The man giving us the tour called them, "Arizona's tears." Over a thousand men went down with the ship. It was difficult to explain how powerful that place was.

The day of the attack, on a lazy Sunday morning for the military men, at 7:48 a.m. the peace was shattered by over 350 Japanese planes. In one hour and fifteen minutes, 2500 men were killed and 18 war ships and 200 hundred planes were destroyed.

"It's a day that will live in infamy," said FDR.

On the way back into Honolulu, Martin and I held hands, but nothing was said as we processed what we'd just experienced. I still found it hard to believe that civilized men still killed each other in droves.

I was a simple boy from a small town in Oregon. There was a lot that I didn't understand. It would take a special kind of guy to grow up in a civilized culture, and then go off and start killing people because someone said, 'they're the ones. They need killing. Kill! Kill! Kill!"

I don't think so.

I spent the morning with Kalani on my new surfboard. I still hadn't gotten up on the thing yet, but I knew what to do. I just hadn't done it yet. It might take some more lessons, but the Infinity was leaving for San Francisco the next day. I was sorry to be leaving Kalani. He was nice.

Our time in Hawaii was cut short by the meetings in New York, but being on board the boat was as relaxing as it got, and I had a lot to think about as we left the harbor in Honolulu. I stood on deck and watched the other yachts and boats moving past.

The sky was a brilliant blue and the seas were calm as we headed for open water. I could get used to being on a yacht, living in penthouses. And eating too rich food. It was all new to me and while Marty spent thousands of dollars dressing me, I was most comfortable in my shorts and tank top. It was Marty's favorite too.

Some of his guests had flown back after we left for New York. There were half the people at meals and roaming the decks as we moved casually along on Pacific waters. We were heading east and it would take the same week to get back as it took to get to Honolulu. That's if we didn't hit weather, according to the captain.

I didn't want it to end, but all good things do end, and there was no telling what came next. One thing was for certain, it would most likely be something I'd never done before. Marty had a habit of introducing me to things I never had an opportunity to know anything about. It wasn't hard to come up with something new, because there was nothing to do in Eagle Point, once you did the Kanes.

Marty was a reserved man with good taste. In San Diego we stayed in his suites at the US Grant. We were met by Andre at the airport, and once we showered and got a change of clothes, we were whisked off to La Jolla for dinner and drinks. My drink was still ginger ale. No one carded me so I didn't have a chance to prove that I was twenty-one, rushing fast toward twenty-two.

Where had a year gotten off to since I left Eagle Point?

I'd left home to find myself, and I found myself with a man who had more money than God, and he treated me like I was the second coming. Marty showered me with attention and I was with him most of the time. There were some business meetings that I didn't attend with him. He'd tell me that he was dealing with men who did everything in private, and didn't leave room at the table for Marty's protégé.

We did visit the beaches along the coast of San Diego, and we ate at places that only had the finest food I'd ever put in my mouth. I didn't do a lot of eating out before I took my act on the road, but I ate at places nearby anywhere Marty and I stayed. He seemed to know them all, and if we were somewhere that he hadn't been before, he asked Andre to take us to the most popular eatery in the city.

San Diego was a big little town. It was a navy town. We walked to the Bayou and had clam chowder, the fresh grilled fish of the day, and we were started off with gumbo that was a feast in a bowl. We walked to the water front and saw navy ships parked all along the shore line. It was another balmy night in paradise. We had lots of company on our walk.

The next morning we were awakened by a phone call before it was daylight. Marty listened without speaking and he didn't look happy after slamming the phone down.

"We need to go. I've got to be in Boston before the end of business hours. They've got the Lear Jet waiting and Andre is downstairs.

This time we moved too fast for me to wake up completely, and I found out that I can sleep on a jet. Before we left the ground around sunrise, I was fast asleep. When I woke up, we were half way across the country and moving way faster than we moved before. We were like a streak cutting across a beautiful blue sky above the clouds.

It was while we were visiting Boston, on business of course, Marty asked me an unusual question.

"How do you feel about racing?"

"I like taking my time," I assured him. "You take your time."

"Auto racing?"

"Auto racing? I don't know," I assured him.

"I want to go to Watkins Glen. They have a little race track there and I like to see how fast I can get around there. What do you think?"

"About how long it takes you to get around it?"

"What do you think about going to drive a race car."

"I have a driver's license. It's my ID. I've never had a car."

"Do you want a car? I'll buy you a car if you want one," Marty said.

"No, I don't drive. I can drive. I don't drive."

Sometimes things moved too fast for me to keep up.

"Watkins Glen?"

"I'll go with you. Driving, not so much."

Marty laughed. He wasn't laughing at my ignorance. He was laughing at how innocent I was. We flew into Boston and we went to a high rise that bordered Boston Harbor. There was a wonderful view out toward the Atlantic Ocean.

In a couple of weeks I had gone from being in the deep Pacific Ocean to being at the doorway of the Atlantic Ocean. Andre drove us to a restaurant that was right on the Atlantic Ocean that evening.

"How is it Andre is always where we are? I mean he doesn't fly with us. How does he get the car to where we're going?"

"Drives it," Marty said. "If we have a car in a place he can't drive, he flies there to make sure the car is ready once we arrive. He was on a plane to Boston before they called me. They often call him before they call me. They'll have a driver waiting downstairs when we're ready."

"When does the poor guy sleep? He's always waiting for you."

"No, there are places I don't take him. Some countries are difficult on foreigners. He stays home and I hire a car in that kind of situation."

"Who notifies you of such things and calls Andre, you, and has everything ready for you so you don't need to do it?"

"I have a division that gets called whenever something pops up that I must attend to myself. They go into action when such an event arises. They position our pilots, the Lear Jet, and cars to get me where I'm going. They also do maintenance, do the hiring to staff the yacht, staff my penthouses and different homes around the world. They always know where I am. I pick up the phone and say I'm going to Honolulu. I'm taking the yacht. They do the rest. It saves me a lot of headaches"

"You do live in rare air, Marty. Does Andre always know the best places to eat? You don't usually tell him where to go. He knows where to take you."

"He does. If there's a place I like and go to often, he knows that. If I ask him to find a place, he already knows where he'll take me. Andre is quite handy. He takes me to places in Paris I'd never stumble on to in a thousand years. He kicked around Europe after college. He was not hired in any of the usual ways. I met him at a party. I liked him. I told him I could find something for him to do, and he was broke, tired of his vagabond life. He'd never been a driver, but he's a good one."

"I wondered how it was he took us to places that has food that's always wonderful. I've never had wonderful food before."

"I do have a little to do with it, Joshua."

"I know that. I just wondered about Andre."

"Do you like Andre?"

"He's fine. I don't know him."

"Do you want to know him?"

"No. I don't like the sound of it. You trying to get rid of me?"

Marty leaned to kiss me.

"Darling, I want you to be happy. If you see someone you like. It's not a problem for me. You are with me and that's what I want. I'm not a wild crazy lover, and you're young and might want a bit more passion than I offer. Because we are together doesn't mean I own you. You have needs. It's my job to see your needs are met. You might say, it has become my advocation."

"You already take care of all my needs. Even a tuxedo. How could a boy ask for more? I've never been dressed by a man before."

"I bet you've been undressed a few times," Marty suspected.

I laughed.

"I'm new at all of this, Marty. I come from a conservative place and I guess I'm conservative because of it. The only unconventional thing about me was my friendship with the Kanes. I'd have been perfectly happy with Kerry Kane, but his brothers came in a package deal. You can't eat just one. I couldn't."

"Yes, and that's pretty far out there if you slept with five brothers. Not all at the same time I hope," he said.

"No. Actually they spaced themselves out. I loved Kerry but he wasn't available, then he was, and then he wasn't again. I didn't know anything about love, except I knew I loved Kerry Kane. I also loved sex, and the Kanes loved sex."

"It's the kind of thing I couldn't have been involved in because of how I looked. I was a nebbish. I'm still rather staid. You are about as exciting as my life has been in years. Exciting as in stimulating. I was afraid I was getting old. I didn't enjoy boys as much as I once did. Then along came, Joshua and you knocked my socks off."

I laughed.

"You are a wonderful man, Marty. I like being with you. You're as exciting as I need. You want to take me to drive a race car. That's exciting. Not driving, but going with you."

"I didn't think you were that interested," he said.

"It takes a few minutes to process the fast lane you travel in. I haven't done much, doing something sounds good to me. Since I've never had a car, driving hasn't been on my mind."

"Watkins Glen isn't far. From time to time I like to try my hand with the Formula OneFerrari or Mercedes racing race teams. When I was younger, I raced some, but I was both mechanic and driver. My success was nothing to write home about, but the experience excited me. If you don't want to come with me to Watkins Glen, I'll leave you here to take in some shows or something you would like," Marty said.

"I'd rather take in Watkins Glen, if that's where you intend to go. You can show me how racing is done," I told him.

"You are a good sport about it, Joshua. I do have some excentric tastes, and if they run against the grain where you are concerned, I wish you'd tell me and we'll formulate a different plan."

"Once again, I have little to go on, Marty. When I left home, I was looking to find myself. It seems with most things I've tried, it has turned out well. The more I try the better prepared I'll be for the next thing."

"I don't want you to do a thing because I want to do it," he said.

"Whatever you do, I want to be there. You're my security blanket."

Marty leaned to kiss me. He wasn't an overly affectionate man. Like most men in his fifties, passion was muted at most times. In bed at night, once I get him going, his youthful passion returns to him, and we enjoy a good roll in the hay most nights. I like sex, and with Marty, I'm the one that gets the ball rolling. One is quite enough for him, but if we take our time, one is enough, which is nothing like the hard and fast moving Kanes, who figured if you got one out of the way, you could get in two or three more. I couldn't always keep up, but I did my best.

All the Kanes were built that way, and they had a lot of practice among themselves long before they included me in their reindeer games. Each Kane had his own particular outstanding features, which separated them. When I was in bed with one, if he got in bed with me after I'd been sleeping a while, it didn't take but a minute to know which one would take me to the moon tonight. My sex life was something to write home about. I've never told anyone that.

I suppose not as much sleeping was done at the Kane house that might appear to be done by the way they all went to bed early and got up late. It worked for me, and I turned in when the five brothers turned in. I knew before the night was over, I'd meet more than one of them among my bedding, without me knowing when he arrived on the scene.

I suppose having the adventure of loving the Kanes literally and figuratively, explained my wide ability to take or leave sex with whatever man who took me for a test run. I didn't end up in bed with Marty for some time after he was busy sweeping me off my feet. Like with new experiences, being wined and dined with a gift often appearing beside my plate while I wasn't looking,

Marty was a man I enjoyed being with. I often took the bull by the horns, and pleasured Marty without him requesting I do such a thing.

I'd been at the hotel for long enough to be able to give pleasure without a man knowing how to hold up his end. Sex is a funny commodity and if you let him, your partner will give you plenty of hints about what he likes best of all. As complicated as Marty's life was, he liked sex to come slow and easy, and I found I could drive him crazy, which is nothing like driving the road course at Watkins Glen.

Marty liked me to rub his shoulders and neck. As a businessman, situations he was in were stressful, and as soon as we were alone, I knew what to do to get him to relax. Once I was done, he was ready to continue with whatever plans we had for the day.

When a day ended and we finally got to bed, he was tentative until I got his engine warmed up. Then, he could stay with me for a round and at times, if we spent some time between rounds, he was good to go again, but this was the exception and not the rule.

Marty was conservative in every way, except for liking boys instead of girls. It was my benefit that he liked boys. He always had liked boys, but he hadn't done much about it until he'd already left his mark on the businesses he started. It was after a lot of sweat and hard work, Marty decided he'd earned some pleasure.

He'd had other boys, and usually he met them the same way he met me. He ordered a boy to keep him warm in the night, and if it was a particularly nice boy, he wined and dined them. Most were good for some laughs, some sex, and some companionship, but most wore out their welcome by wanting more than they were worth to Martin. That's when he sent them off on a vacation they'd never return from.

When he returned, Marty was gone from all the familiar places.

When you had money, you could be as particular as you wanted. Marty was particular to me and my inexperience. Yes, I'd had sex with men I didn't particularly fancy, but my drawer at the hotel was filled with cash I'd been given by men I took care of.

My room at the hotel belonged to someone else now, but Marty had me put my bundle of cash in a safer place, but he hadn't contributed to my handsome cash flow. Marty preferred to give me gifts. I had golden chains, an expensive watch, and several gold bracelets.

"Marty, I do love how thoughtful you are, but I don't like wearing much jewelry. Please, and I'm merely suggesting you not keep buying me such expensive gifts."

Marty took to buying me roses and chocolates, which I did enjoy a bit too much, and my boyish figure needed to be given attention if I didn't want to blow up like a balloon. I was sure Marty wouldn't fancy me as much if I got fat, and there was the whole health deal. I'd always been healthy, and I wanted to stay that way.

Surprisingly, Marty was more than happy to join a spa with me, and we went together, which gave him an opportunity to keep his slim body slim. For a man his age, he was well designed. He was neither fat nor hairy, and he did have places he went where he got his entire body worked on to keep his skin healthy and smooth.

He paid enough for a haircut to make a downpayment to send me to a good college, if I wanted to go to one, but I didn't and he told me, "The first thing someone in business observes, is your look. If you look like a heavy weight slob, it turns some businessman off you. When I was young, and I was never as young as you, I went with a body builder. I didn't want to build my body, because I'd seen body builders after they quit building, and it wasn't pretty. Zack was pretty and not one of those huge body builders, and he taught me a lot about physical exercise. He was fun for a while, but like with most boys, they have places to go and people to do. He faded out of my life while I was busy doing business somewhere. I did like Zack."

"Will I fade out of your life, while you are doing business?"

"In case you haven't noticed, when I do business, you're with me. I've never had a boy as bright and as open a book as you are. I introduce you as my protégé . I've been looking for someone who could keep up with me and my business dealings, and you fit the bill, Joshua. I'm no spring chicken, and I need someone to help me keep my business dealings straight. I need someone who can listen to what's said, and then remind me of what I might have missed, or simply to give me an opinion on a presentation I've just heard. You will never fade away, unless you decide to fade away."


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"To Woo"

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"Pride Pix"

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