The American Prince 2: Colin's Early Life

Colin Frank was born to a hard working middle class couple in the suburbs of Chicago. Wallace Frank, Colin’s father, was a computer technician and programmer in the days when such a profession was a bit unusual, and carried with it the promise of a great future. Colin’s mom, Marty Frank, was a dental hygienist, but had retired to bring up her son. She’d had a very difficult pregnancy; so difficult that the doctor had warned her that another pregnancy might very well kill her, so she’d had her tubes tied. Colin was the only child they would ever have.

They lived in a rented house, which they had hoped to buy some day; now with only one parent working that dream would have to be postponed a few more years. No matter though, the adorable little boy with the reddish blonde hair and the flashing green eyes made any amount of hardship and struggle well worth it. He had his mother at home all day, and she played with him constantly like a little girl plays with a favorite doll. She taught him good manners, respect, and love; she taught him all she knew about music, so by the time he started public school at age 5 he could already read music and play astonishingly well.

Wallace rode the “L” to downtown Chicago every day, arriving home by 6 PM. They had their evening meal together, and then father and son had their time together as Mom cleaned up the kitchen. In good weather Wallace had Colin outside, teaching him to throw or bat a ball, shoot baskets, or roughhouse on the grass. In winter they could be found inside while Wallace taught the little boy everything he knew about computers, the Internet, or the finer points of basketball or hockey rules. Everything Colin did, it seemed, was not only fun but a learning experience. Colin’s teachers often told the proud parents that Colin was every teacher’s dream come true: happy and well adjusted, showing the enthusiasm that only a child with the total support of both parents could display, bright, and a friend to all.

At school, Colin attacked every challenge the teachers could give him with a vengeance. He was a very happy child, he loved school and all it had to offer. By the time he was seven he was a valued member of a swim team at the local Y, he played basketball, soccer and baseball at school, and was beginning to show an interest in hockey and wrestling. His mom often explained in a good natured way that she spent all her waking hours taxiing her little boy to all his various activities, but she loved every minute of it.

When Colin was eight, his entire world was turned upside down. Wallace had always dabbled a little in the stock market until one day he made a real killing. He literally made millions! Added to his sudden wealth, he became the outright owner of a very promising software business with worldwide distribution. The problem was, the business was based in Jacksonville, Florida. That meant that the family would have to move and Wallace knew that Colin would not want to leave all his friends, all his involvements, his enviable position at school.

Determined to soften the blow to his son as much as possible, Wallace spent much more than he’d ever thought possible to buy a very large house, an estate really, on the outskirts of Jacksonville. It sat on fifty acres of prime land, most of it manicured lawn with lots of trees everywhere. There were small forests here and there, a citrus grove, and a large lake with a boathouse and two motorboats. The house itself was a mansion! There were seven bedrooms, each with its own bathroom; there were two formal living rooms, a huge dining room and a library amply stocked with all the classics. There was an olympic size swimming pool with a deck large enough to accommodate all the teenage swim parties they knew Colin would have when the time came, changing rooms and shower facilities to rival any athletic center, and a rollback top for bad weather. Then to complete the picture, Colin was enrolled in one of the best private schools in the country: Willowcrest.

If Colin had thrived in his former environment, he absolutely blossomed in his new setting. By the end of his first year at Willowcrest he was captain of the swim team, a valued member of the basketball, soccer and baseball teams, and was working much harder than any other nine year old in the weight room. He seemed to have no end of energy, even finding time to attend the occasional school dance. He was becoming a very good dancer which put him in great demand with the girls, since most nine year old’s simply had no interest in such activities. In addition to everything else, Willowcrest had a very active music program, and it wasn’t long before Colin was playing piano or organ for school functions, even branching out to local radio and TV productions.

Colin had been a very happy little boy anyway, but after his dad came into all the money he’d ever dreamed of, Colin’s life got even better. He was filthy rich but not spoiled; he went to one of the best schools in the country where he was popular and a straight A student; he had an athletic ability that just wouldn’t quit, and looks that got him all the attention any boy could ever want. But shortly after his ninth birthday, things took another turn for Colin.

He was on summer vacation, and thoroughly enjoying the freedom that goes with having finished a successful year at school. He was planning to spend the day at a friend’s house, but they hadn’t bothered to mention their plans to the friend’s parents. As they were eating lunch, Mrs. Allen informed Colin that he would have to go home soon as they finished because Ronnie had a dental appointment. No problem, Colin thought, he would just go home and swim some laps, practice on his brand new concert grand piano, perhaps even do some fishing in the lake.

He noticed a strange car in the driveway, one that he’d seen several times before. It was a friend of his mother’s: one of her doctors, she had told him. He had often noticed the car just leaving as he arrived home from school on the school van. On entering the house on these occasions, Colin would find his mother either in her room dressing, or wandering about the house in her housecoat, usually with a drink in her hand. Drinking had become something of a problem for Mrs. Frank, but of course Colin hadn’t particularly thought about it as a problem. Colin’s relationship with his mother had deteriorated a good deal from what it had been. His mom was often out when he got home from school, or she was so drunk that she weaved the car from one side of the road to the other as she drove him to one of his many activities. But Colin was so busy these days with his various activities he didn’t need his mom nearly as much anyway.

Colin entered the house and looked around for his mom. Not finding her, he assumed that she was upstairs. He went up to his room to get a bathing suit, but he heard a loud sound, almost a scream coming from his mother’s bedroom. Curious, he went to the open doorway and stood watching as his mom and the doctor moved around on the bed, his mother emitting moans and squeals as if in pain. He had no idea what they were doing, but he somehow had sensed that he was not a welcome spectator. So he quietly went to his own room, retrieved his bathing suit and went down the back stairs and out to the pool. Once there, he realized that he would not be disturbed so he quickly stripped and, forgetting the bathing suit, dove in the pool naked.

Colin loved to swim naked. For him it wasn’t an erotic act, but the feel of his naked body slipping through the water gracefully was just such a delicious feeling that he could not resist. After all, wasn’t that one of the benefits of having one’s own private pool, so one could do whatever one wanted? His parents knew of his habit and tolerated it, even encouraged it when he was alone. They enjoyed the sight of his small lithe body skimming through the water as much as he enjoyed doing it. Neither of them were terribly interested in the pool even though Wallace was an excellent swimmer. In fact it had been Wallace, When Colin was only 5, who had taught his son to swim and swim well. Now both mother and father took great delight, or at least they had when they first got the pool, watching Colin so much at home in the water.

Colin was expecting his father home that evening, and that was a special event for Colin. He adored his dad, but since their entry into the world of the very wealthy, Wallace had spent more and more of his time out of town. He had discovered to his own surprise that he was something of a financial wizard, quickly turning his already large fortune into one that could easily have paid off the national debt. So Wallace Frank was away more than he was home, and even when he was home he was often on the phone or checking out securities and web sites on the Internet.

Tonight would be different though. Tonight, Colin had time trials in the pool at Willowcrest and his father had promised to take him. Tomorrow, there was a swim meet at the school, and Colin had great expectations of breaking the state record in his age class for his favorite stroke: the butterfly. At 3:30, Colin got out of the pool and dried off. Not bothering to dress, he gathered his clothes and went up the back stairs to his room where he shaved down.

Colin had no noticeable body hair, but his coach had encouraged the team to shave down before a meet anyway. He told them that after shaving their skin was more sensitive, and the increased sensation of their freshly shaved bodies gliding through the water helped to increase their speed. Colin wasn’t convinced, but he did love the tingly feeling the shaving afforded, so he always did as the coach had suggested. Those parts of his body that he couldn’t reach, he would have one of his teammates shave tonight before the meet.

After shaving, Colin dressed in a fresh pair of boxer shorts, then a pair of bright green shorts and a brown golf shirt and leather sandals. This was one part of being filthy rich that Colin never tired of: always having lots of nice clothes to wear. His mom had often told him that he was a very handsome boy, and that he should always look his best. He liked looking good, and he even had his own very generous clothing allowance in the form of a credit card. He could order his own clothes online, charging the credit card and having them delivered to the house.

When he heard the car pull into the driveway, Colin rushed down the stairs to greet his father. “Hi, Dad!” he called cheerfully as Wallace walked in the back door.
“Hi, Champ!” Wallace called back. “You’re looking very freshly scrubbed today.”
“Yeah,” Colin said, “I spent most of the afternoon in the pool. Tonight’s the time trials.”
“Oh, yeah,” Wallace said. “I had forgotten.” Colin’s heart sank. Did that mean he was going to be busy and not be able to go? “I got a few things to finish up,” Wallace went on. “Where’s your mom?”

“I think she’s still in bed,” Colin replied innocently. “I don’t think she’s feeling very well.”
“Oh, really? Has she been sick?”
“Yeah, I think so. When I got home shortly after noon she was upstairs with the doctor. He was on top of her like he was tryin’ to keep her warm or somethin’, and she was making all sorts of moans and screams an’ stuff. So I just left them and didn’t bother them.”
“What doctor?” Wallace demanded.
“I dunno, just the doctor I see quite often. Is Mom ok, Dad?”

Wallace didn’t answer. He brushed by his son, almost knocking him down in the process, and headed up the stairs. Moments later Colin heard the screaming. This wasn’t a new event by any means, but it was by far the most violent. Colin knew from past experience that his father would not be taking him to the time trials now, so he quietly called a friend and asked for a ride. While he waited, he caught snatches of the conversation. “You’re nothing but a common slut!” he heard his father scream. “Maybe if you were home a little more...” his mother yelled. “You don’t seem to mind when you go shopping...” his father retorted. When his ride arrived, Colin was relieved to get out of the house.

Colin did well at the time trial, but not as well as he’d hoped. When he got home, his mother was gone along with all her clothes. His father told him that she had moved out, and that she and her boyfriend were moving out of the state and would not be back. “Never?” the distressed boy questioned.
“Never!” his father replied emphatically. He didn’t bother to tell Colin, who only learned years later, that he had threatened his wife with prosecution for child abuse and endangerment after having allowed him to witness her little indiscretion. “That’s ok, Champ,” his father said cheerfully. “We got each other, and we’ll make out just fine, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Colin said doubtfully. There was no doubt that he and his mother had grown apart, but to never see her again! What had he done to make her hate him so much?

Wallace Frank continued to be away for days at a time, but he couldn’t really leave a nine year old home alone so he hired a housekeeper, who doubled as Colin’s taxi driver to take him to school, plus the various activities that never seemed to end with the enthusiastic boy. Mrs. Morgan was a pleasant enough person and she took good care of the boy, but eventually she got disgusted at how much the boy was left alone, and she finally quit when Colin was 11. No problem, Dad said. He had a new idea.

Tony was a college student in his second year. He was on a scholarship and hoping to eventually go into child psychology, but he was finding that the scholarship, plus his meager savings, just weren’t enough to sustain him. Wallace Frank had appeared out of nowhere and offered Tony more money than he’d ever dreamed of to take care of his son. Tony would be required to move into the very large house this man shared with his 11 year old brat. He would drive the kid to what seemed to Tony like an endless list of activities, then prepare his evening meal and put the kid to bed. He would have the Frank’s Lincoln at his disposal, the only condition being that he drive this kid to swim practice, baseball and soccer practice, Boy Scouts, Karate lessons, music lessons, and on and on.... Sure, the kid led a busy life, but how hard could it be?

Tony found out very quickly that the job wasn’t nearly as simple as it had first sounded. His first big surprise came on his first day. Wallace had picked him up on campus and driven him to the house. Colin would be there, he said, when they arrived home. He parked the car in the driveway and ushered the nineteen year old into the house, stopping by the pool in case Colin was there. Not finding him, they entered the house to find Colin busy making dinner. “Colin,” Wallace said, “this is Tony. He’ll be living with us for a while, and driving you where you need to go in the afternoons. Tony, this is my son Colin.”

Two boys, almost eight years apart in age, stood and gaped at each other. Each had formed a very definite opinion what the other would be like, and each was totally off the mark. Each had already decided not to like the other, but each had to now rethink that attitude. Each was totally in awe of the other, taken completely by surprise that a boy could display such beauty! “I... I’m...” Colin stammered, “I’m... Unhh... I hope you like steak an’ french fries ‘cause that’s what I’m fixin.”
“Unh... well, yeah, that’s fine,” Tony stammered back. “I’m pleased to meet you, Colin.” He offered his hand to the boy, who took it and squeezed mightily as they shook. Already Tony was impressed. This kid had a grip of steel!

Colin was totally unprepared for his own reaction to the new addition to the Frank household. When his father told him of his plans, Colin had been less than enthusiastic. He hadn’t had a lot of experience interacting with older boys, or young men, and those he had come in contact with had been less than a pleasant experience. There had been teaching assistants, coach assistants and scout masters, and all, it seemed to him, were so full of themselves that they really had little time for an eleven year old. But somehow Colin knew that this guy was different. In that first five minutes Colin seemed to know that this Tony guy was going to be one of the best things that had happened to the young boy in a long, long time. Why he felt that way he didn’t know, but he did. So he set about from the very start to get to know this guy, to get close to him.

Tony could almost feel the warmth, the sincerity, the openness flowing from Colin as they shook hands and Colin smiled that bright, beaming smile at him. Tony was confused by his reaction to this little adonis, half his size and yet seemingly equal to him intellectually, emotionally, and... well, he was more like a peer than a kid he was supposed to take care of. Tony knew instantly that Colin was quite capable of taking care of himself and would probably be just as comfortable being left alone, except that he legally could not drive and so he needed someone older to get him to all the things that were a part of his life. Wallace had already told him that his son was very self-sufficient, but Tony had ignored the statement, thinking that any proud father would say the same thing. But yet, here was this little over-achiever making a complete dinner for the three of them, and a complete and good one at that!

The three sat and ate the dinner Colin had prepared. He had shooed his father and Tony out of the kitchen, suggesting that they get Tony settled in his room while he finished getting things ready. That done, Tony was surprised to find the table set perfectly, three perfectly done steaks with french fries, vegetables and even a salad, all done as well as anyone could do. Tony found himself thinking that this job might very well become more than just a job. Tony looked forward to spending time with Colin, but he wasn’t sure why. He had never thought of himself as gay, and certainly not a boy lover; but he could not ignore the feelings that were now coursing through his system rampantly. What in the world was happening to him?

By the time Colin turned 12, he and Tony were inseparable. Wallace was now out of town for weeks at a time, so Colin just turned to Tony more and more for things a boy needed from his father. Tony found himself driving Colin everywhere, helping him pick out clothes, helping him with his homework, spotting him in the weight room, even giving fatherly advice in day to day situations. Tony knew what he was feeling now, but he resisted it. To admit that he was in love with Colin, even if he knew it was true, would be admitting that he was gay! That, Tony was simply not prepared to do. In his fantasies, in an attempt to avoid or explain away the truth, Tony looked upon Colin as his little brother. That worked for a while, until the big swim meet.

Tony and Colin had driven over 200 miles to a state championship swim meet. It was a two day event, so Tony had picked up Colin at school as soon as his classes were done, and they had left without even going home. In the hotel room that night, Colin had asked Tony to help him shave down. Colin had stripped naked and laid himself on towels on the bed with no hesitation or embarrassment. As Tony shaved his perfect little body, he noticed Colin’s angelic face looking up at him. He noticed the boy’s breathing seem to become more labored, almost ragged. Most of all he noticed the boys tiny penis, still showing no signs of growth, as it stood at full attention. Tony tried to act nonchalant, tried not to stare. But inside he was feeling more turmoil than he’d ever felt in his life. There was a light dusting of blond colored pubic hair beginning to show, but Tony knew that it didn’t need to be shaved and he was glad for small mercies. He just didn’t think he could work that closely to Colin’s genitals without totally losing control.

Tony got through the shaving successfully, then they went to bed. Colin wanted to sleep with Tony even though there were two double beds. Tony felt a very unwelcome lurch in his loins. “You’ve got a very busy day tomorrow,” he said helplessly. “Wouldn’t you rest better in a bed by yourself?”
“No,” Colin said with determination. “I think I’ll rest better bein’ close. Sometimes I get cold at night, especially after I just shaved down. Besides, you can rub my back till I go to sleep. It helps me relax.”

Another lurch in Tony’s loins! He loved to touch the firm yet soft body of his little friend/brother, but he wasn’t crazy about the affect it always had on his own. Was Colin trying to bait him? Did Colin know what he was doing to him? Was he perhaps even trying to get something started? If he did have ulterior motives, there was certainly no hint in anything he said or did. His body language, his constant enthusiasm, his absolute honesty suggested that Colin had no thoughts other than what he had stated, and those thoughts were completely innocent. So he agreed to allow Colin to sleep with him. Nothing happened, but Tony had to be very careful of his position so he wouldn’t poke his young friend with his raging erection.

The swim meet was a huge success. Colin managed to improve his personal best times in three different events; he won the 50 and 100 meter butterfly events by a wide margin, and his relay team won their event, with Colin being the one credited with the win. Colin’s team, actually the school swim team, missed the championship by a few points, but it was the closest the school had ever come and everyone was pleased with the results. Saturday night, after a great meal with the entire team and all the parents or others in attendance, a very tired Colin stripped to his boxers and climbed into bed with Tony without even asking.

Now it was early Sunday evening and they were on their way home. They had stopped just before they left town and had dinner, and now an exhausted Colin had folded up the arm rest between the two front seats and was curled up, his head on Tony’s lap, getting ready for sleep. Fortunately Colin was facing the front of the car, otherwise he would have had his face directly in the line of fire of a very large, engorged penis. As it was, Tony was somewhat concerned he might poke the back of the boy’s head, so he dropped one hand and began stroking the head, and the silky, golden hair, a task he found anything but unpleasant. There was absolutely no part of this kid’s body that wasn’t absolutely heavenly to touch! “I love you, Tony,” Colin whispered sleepily. Tony wasn’t even sure he’d heard it, or if he had, what exactly it had meant. “I love you too, Buddy,” Tony answered as he ran his fingers through the silky hair, marveled for the millionth time at the exquisitely tiny, perfectly formed ear.

“Do ya, Tony?” Colin said suddenly, turning onto his back, his eyes wide open now and looking directly up into Tony’s face.
“Uhhh... well... Unhhh... of course I do, Colin,” Tony stammered.
“I mean, do ya REALLY love me?” Colin pressed. “I mean, like... like... like I’m your boyfriend?”
“Colin,” Tony gasped desperately, “we’re both guys! How can you be my boyfriend?” Tony realized that, despite his shock at where this conversation was going, he was still caressing Colin’s silky hair with one hand.
“Well, maybe we’re both gay,” Colin suggested with more calm than Tony could ever have mustered. He had thought about such a possibility ever since he’d met this little adonis, but he had never uttered the G-word out loud, at least not in reference to himself. In something of a panic now, he pulled the Lincoln into a rest area on the pretext of having to use the bathroom, then pulled into a parking spot that was more or less isolated. It was late fall and traffic was light, so there was no need to park where he did except that he knew he and Colin needed to talk undisturbed.

“Colin, where do you get such ideas?” Tony said desperately, the boy’s head still in his lap. He was still wearing his Adidas warmup suit with nothing under it. The suit covered his entire body except for head, hands and feet, but Tony was still taken by the boy’s beauty. It seemed to him that Colin was beautiful beyond description no matter what he was or wasn’t wearing.

“Maybe you think I’m just a little kid,” Colin said, his deep green eyes looking up at him, as wide as Tony had ever seen them. “I’m not near as stupid as you think.”
“Colin, there are a lot of adjectives that can be used to describe you,” Tony said with a nervous chuckle, “but ‘stupid’ is most certainly not one of them.”
“Yeah, but you think I’m too young to know about love an’ stuff, don’t you?”
“No, Colin, I don’t think that at all. I know kids at school talk, and I know they sometimes experiment. I know you spend a lot of time on the Internet, and... well you’re just too intelligent not to have explored and investigated. But Colin, you’re only 12! And I’m 20, almost 21!”

To Tony’s great surprise and dismay, Colin’s beautiful green eyes filled to overflowing with tears. Tony knew instinctively what had just happened. Colin had been rejected by his mother, then his father, and now Tony! “I’m sorry, Colin,” he said, trying desperately to backtrack. “I didn’t mean I didn’t love you, ‘cause I do. I love you a lot! Anyone with any sense would love you. You’re... you’re smart, and fun to be with, and talented, dedicated...”
“But I’m too young for you to LOVE me!” he sobbed. “You think I’m just a little kid an’ you’re gonna be my big brother like everyone thinks you are. I don’t want a big brother, Tony. I’m... I’m in love with you! An’ I thought you were in love with me.”

Tony sputtered and gasped, tried to deny what he knew was the truth, tried to explain about puppy love, youthful infatuations, but he knew, and now he knew that Colin knew as well. “Tony, I told ya, I’m not stupid,” Colin countered. “Do you think I’ve never noticed how you gasp every time you touch me? Have you never noticed that every time you touch me, shave me down, rub my back the way you do, that I always get a... a hard on? An’ you think I’ve never noticed that you’re always hard too? You think I’ve never noticed that you’re always touching me, an’ that touch! When you touch me I get goose bumps all over. An’ you do too! I thought you were different, Tony. I know I’m only 12 an’ I know you got too much honor to mess with me the way some men mess with boys, but you can’t tell me you don’t want to.”

“Colin,” Tony said desperately, “I can’t... I mean, you... you’ve had a hard time of it. I know underneath that boy that’s always cheerful, always smiling, and doing great at everything you do, there’s a broken heart. Your mother left you, and your father doesn’t have time for you... I know all that, Colin. You’ve kinda latched onto me and I consider it a real honor. You can latch onto me just as much as you want, because I really do love you. You’re the little brother I never had. But you’re so damned intelligent you’re more than just a little brother. You’re my best friend, Colin.”
“But not your lover.”
“Colin, we can’t... I mean, if we ever got caught I’d go to jail, and you’d never see me again! I know you need me, Colin. And I need you. I could never take the chance of being ripped out of your life. Believe it or not, I need you just as much as you need me.”

“I know about sex,” Colin said in a fresh volley of tears. “An’ I know it’s not time for me yet. Lots of guys at school do stuff with each other, an’ some of ‘em have older brothers and they do stuff with them, but I’m not ready. I want to do sex with you, Tony, but not yet. I’ll know when I’m ready, an’ I’m not ready yet. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be boy friends, does it?”
“But I thought... I mean... I thought that’s what you were saying, that you wanted to be my lover, in a sexual way.”
“I do, Tony. I want that more than anything in the world! But I’m not ready yet, an’ I don’t wanna take the chance of losing you either. Please say we can be lovers. Please?”

Tony would have said more, thought of more objections, but he could no longer speak. Colin’s lips had descended on his in one of the most passionate kisses he’d ever had in his life. There were no tongues involved; there’s a good chance that Colin didn’t even know about French kisses, but they weren’t needed. Colin expressed very adequately with that kiss just how deeply he loved Tony, and Tony found himself responding and kissing the young boy back just as tenderly, lovingly, passionately. “Now I know,” Colin said with a wide grin when they’d broken the kiss. “You can say what you want now, an’ it don’t matter ‘cause I know!”
“We’d better get home,” Tony said breathlessly. He knew that if they stayed parked here much longer he would soon be doing precisely what he’d told Colin that he absolutely could not, would not do.
“One more kiss?” Colin pleaded, “please?”

When they were back on the road Colin was happier, more animated than Tony had ever seen him. He chattered happily about just about every aspect of his life, sharing little anecdotes that had happened during the meet, repeating a couple of jokes, and even sharing some of the details that he had heretofore kept to himself. He told Tony that the team often have shavedown parties, where a half dozen or more of the boys got together to shave each other down before a meet, but it was really an excuse to have a giant sexual free-for-all. Tony was shocked, not so much that such things happened because it hadn’t been that long since he went through puberty, but that Colin had always found an excuse not to participate. “I’m not interested in playin’ around that way,” he stated confidently when Tony questioned him about it. “I’m savin’ myself for you!”

Tony felt his entire body shudder when he heard that. He had never consciously thought about sex with Colin, although he knew that his body had very definite ideas in that direction. Now this perfectly formed, beautiful boy had made it very clear that he would be receptive to any advance. And Tony’s body had made it very clear that any advances from Colin would be greatly appreciated and probably acted upon. Now the task was to stand by his commitment to leave the boy alone at the very least until he was sexually mature.

Colin slept with Tony that night, and a good many nights thereafter. There was no sexual play and a minimum of touching. Colin insisted on kissing his new lover good-night, and sometimes the kisses became pretty deep and passionate; but Tony didn’t mind, except for the inevitable affect it had on certain parts of his body. They had soon made an agreement that they would keep their new relationship from Wallace, at least for the time being. That would be pretty easy because Wallace was home on average no more than five or six nights a month, and even when he was he was too preoccupied to pay much attention to what his son was doing or where he was.

As time went on, the relationship between Colin and Tony grew closer while Colin’s relationship with his dad became more distant. Colin was chosen by his swim coach to go into extensive training for the Olympics, and Colin could not wait to tell his dad. Tony had reacted with obvious pride, but Wallace seemed not to even hear, let alone respond. Colin was visibly devastated, thinking that this would be one achievement that would get his father’s attention. So he vowed not to even bother reporting such things in the future. By now Tony was signing all the report cards, teacher’s notes and even parental consent forms that Colin brought home. He attended parent teacher interviews, consulted with various coaches and other authorities in Colin’s life, even had power of attorney for medical consents, should one ever be needed.

Tony accompanied Colin to father/son banquets held each year at Boy Scouts; he attended all of Colin’s swim meets, ball games, Karate tournaments. When Colin received his first degree black belt, when still only 13, it was Tony who witnessed the event and took him out to a celebration meal, not Wallace. Colin was confident that he’d be an Eagle Scout soon after he was 14, and he made it very clear that it was Tony he wanted with him, not his dad. “You’ve got to invite him,” Tony insisted.
“Why bother?” Colin countered. “He’ll just disappoint me and say he’s too busy, or whatever.”
“Just the same, you’ve got to give him the chance,” Tony said. “You never know, he might surprise you.”

Wallace didn’t surprise Colin. He had to be in Japan for a big deal, he said, and there was no way out of it. When Colin started to cry, Tony vowed that he would never again push his young lover toward his father, or anyone else for that matter. Colin seemed quite content with Tony’s role as lover, big brother, best friend, and father; at least he was content until some incident reminded him why this was the case. So Tony, and Tony alone, witnessed Colin’s investiture into the exclusive group of Eagle Scouts. He also witnessed alone Colin’s graduation from Junior High into High School, his time trials to qualify as a candidate for the US Olympic Swim team, and his debut as interim organist at a large Methodist church.

To be continued...