Back then, we didn’t have the Internet. We didn’t have cell phones. There were no chat rooms, or text messages. If you needed to talk to someone, you did this – you walked to their house or met up somewhere; you mailed them a letter in the box for what’s now called ‘snail mail’, or you used a landline phone and called them. There was cable TV in town, and some people had a huge high-priced dish, but a computer was something at the office with a tiny black screen with green letters that didn’t do much of anything for you. No one had one in his house, and the printers were the size of washing machines! That is, unless you were a retail clerk, you might have one at work. And even they hated them! Looking back at those days, I’m surprised that Canyon and his father were so well connected to…uhhh…others like them, let’s say, for right NOW.

But back to the diving board, the day I met Canyon’s father:

***

I really thought I was going to drown, I was so shocked.

Seeing Canyon’s dad standing there – naked – was something I never expected! I know, you’re thinking ‘well dumbass, he told you they were nudists’! And he did, OK, yeah, but he DIDN’T tell me when his dad would be home. Maybe I should have expected those kinds of surprises out of a boy who didn’t think it was a big deal to invite a strange boy over, when he was naked, and who wasn’t bothered by the fact that he didn’t have any balls?

Canyon had a lot more surprises for me, other than this, but we’ll get to those later.

So there I was, splashing around and trying to get back to the surface, when I was suddenly pulled up out of the water. The next thing I knew, I was upside down, and Canyon’s dad had me over this shoulder, bouncing me, and slapping my back while I coughed and spit out water.

“OK, OK!” I managed, and he put me down

“Well, I see you’re breathing?” This big, hairy brute of a man asked me, “No need for mouth-to-mouth, then?”

I wasn’t sure what to say.

I was looking up at this man who was so big he made a shadow over me. If Canyon was muscular for a kid, then his dad was built like a pro wrestler! I thought of Hulk Hogan or somebody, but he had black hair – and a lot of it. He had a black beard, neatly trimmed, and his hair was a man-cut, but thick and neat. He had hair just about everywhere else, too, but it wasn’t the bushy type that looked like a rug. It was trimmed to all the same length – neat. But it was black, and he looked like a ‘neat bear’ to me. Looking back, he wasn’t bad looking, but I was like 12 – and he scared me. I remembered Canyon saying that his dad was all about neatness when he’d had him fixed up at the hospital.

‘Neat?’

The word kept coming up.

I could see him telling the doctors, something like: “Just go ahead and neatly cut off all that extra skin. Make it look nice and neat, yes!’ With that faint accent of his.

One thing was certain, as I glanced at Canyon again – his crotch was neat with just that little bump of a dick there and nothing else – not a single hair – on all that smooth, ‘neat’ skin.

I wondered what I’d look like, like that…

I tried to put that thought out of my head, but it was no good. As soon as I thought about Canyon and his lack of ‘bits’, my own little cock stood up again. And this big, naked man laughed at me.

“Th-thanks for p-pulling me out,” I spluttered, as Canyon brought me a towel. I wiped my face off with it, and intentionally let it fall over my front to try and hide my little erection.

“Nice to finally meet you,” Canyon’s dad replied with a big smile, offering his hand.

But I didn’t look at his hand.

I was looking at his dick.

OK, you remember it, don’t deny it. When you were that age, you tried to sneak a peek at the man or boy next to you in the public restroom, didn’t you? And you were surprised at how big a grown man’s dick could get?

I know I was.

So there he was, and I had NO clue what to do when he started getting hard as well. I mean, good God, he was HUGE! I’d never seen a dick that big, not even on cable TV or at Scott’s when we’d sneaked down one night to watch a porno on his dad’s VCR! (We didn’t have MP4 or DVD’s back then; we had video tape. VHS. Beta had just died.)

I could have sworn his dick was as big as my forearm, no kidding. Looking back, I’d say it was a good, thick 10 inches, though. If I had to guess. But since I was just about 5 feet tall, and my dick was all of 2 inches hard, he looked like a monster!

It didn’t help that he had a gold ring in it, either. It looked like a fat key ring, that wide, and it went into his pee-hole and came out the bottom side. I didn’t see how it closed; it looked solid to me, but him taking it out wasn’t something I was thinking about just then. I was also looking at his balls, which weren’t as big or low as I thought they’d be, and how there wasn’t any hair on his scrotum at all.

“They DO have a mind of their own, don’t they?” He joked, touching his dick for just a second to make it kinda ‘sproing’ up and down once. “Not that we can just say ‘don’t do that right now’!”

“Y-yeah,” I fumbled, unsure of what to do since he seemed to want to talk about dicks. I changed the subject, even though I could feel my face burning again. “Th-thanks,” I said again, and I shook his hand. After all, he was huge – I didn’t want him mad at me! What was I supposed to do? I mean, heck, he’d just pulled me out of the pool and I might have drowned.

“You two just go sit over there,” he then told us in a flat tone. “It’s been an hour?” He asked, and Canyon nodded at him. “I’ll go get you something to drink, then. Sit!”

“Yes, sir!” Canyon answered at once, so we did that.

“That’s your dad?” I had to ask, once he was inside.

Canyon just nodded.

“I told you we were nudists,” he repeated.

“Isn’t this illegal, or something?” I had to ask.

Canyon just shrugged. “I don’t know, Benny. If you’re bothered, you can leave? I’m sure Father won’t be angry? It takes a lot, you know.”

“I…I don’t wanna be rude,” I replied.

OK, so I was wanting to get another look at him, I admit it! My little dick might have gone down some, but I was still just entranced by the sight of Canyon’s dad. It made me wonder what my own absent dad looked like. Not like him, I bet, I thought.

When he came back out, Canyon’s dad introduced himself as “Mr. Poore, but we’re anything but!” He laughed. He handed us both tall, frosted glasses full of what like frothy chocolate milk with straws.

“Thank you, sir,” Canyon said, and so did I.

“Mannerly,” Mr. Poore observed. “So, Canyon, my boy,” he asked with that same very faint accent, “How did you chance to meet Mr…ahh…?”

“Father, this is Benny, from next door,” Canyon introduced us. “I heard him having a scrap with the mower, and I had to see if he was quite all right!” Canyon quickly added, his brown eyes going a bit wide as he nodded as squirmed on his deck chair.

I sipped at my drink. It wasn’t chocolate milk, but it tasted really good. It was thick and minty and really sweet, and it had a sort of bite to it. I’d even forgot that I was sitting there naked, still, with the towel over my now-pink shoulders.

“We’ll talk about that later, boy,” Mr. Poore said sternly, and I saw Canyon flinch just a little bit. “Of course, you had to find out if he was all right. And I must say, it was a good idea to have him over so you two could swim. I thought I’d be back by now, but Mar-…my business associate…ran a bit long.”

“Yes, sir,” Canyon repeated, and I almost laughed at how he talked to his dad. None of my friends talked like that to their folks.

“You see, Benny, Canyon has a strict routine. That’s why you’ve not seen much of him, until now. He’s a very busy boy, what with his schooling, exercise, studying, and chores.”

“But school’s out?”

“Canyon is home-schooled, by me,” Mr. Poore informed me, and that confirmed that suspicion.

“Yes, sir,” I replied automatically, surprising myself as I did, and continuing to suck on my drink. I was starting to feel a little dizzy, though, and my back was beginning to sting as we just sat there.

Mr. Poore wanted to hear all about me, though, so I told him about my mom, my friends, and my absent dad. I was giving him a full run-down on the neighborhood in general when I saw him glance once at Canyon. The boy was fidgeting with his necklace, and when he pulled at it, I could see it was leaving a red imprint in the skin of his neck.

“Oh, yes,” Mr. Poore then seemed to realize, “Uncomfortable?”

Canyon nodded, looking nervous. His eyes were wide again.

“I almost forgot! Excuse me!” He then got up, and came right back with a set of keys. He used a small one to unlock the tiny padlock on Canyon’s necklace and removed it. Canyon just sat there, rubbing at the indented form of the material on his neck.

“Thank you,” Canyon smiled at him.

“That can happen when you’re distracted,” Mr. Poore told him, and I had to wonder. I’d read somewhere that Indians used to soak leather in cold water, then strap it tight around their vicitms’ necks, so that the hot sun would shrink it and strangle them. But I didn’t ask. Surely he didn’t do that to his kid on purpose?

But then again, why did that necklace have an itty-bitty little padlock on it, through the little woven-in metal rings? I could see that there was no way Canyon could have removed it, without a knife, and then he’d probably cut his own neck if he tried.

“Father, Benny has a sunburn,” Canyon then offered, “And he’s quite tense. Do you have something for it?”

“I have just the thing. Come along, boys. We’ll go in where it’s cool, and we’ll get something for that sunburn.”

So I was finally going to get a look inside the house, it seemed. We went on in, and the patio exited right into their living room. There was that huge TV, and a stereo system that took up the whole south wall. There was video equipment, too, and a lot of it. They even had movie projectors, a slide machine, and a silk white screen on the opposite wall. It was better stocked than the A/V center at school, even!

Back then, no one would have thought a thing about going inside with the new kid and his folks, or just his dad. You didn’t see stuff all over the news all the time about some weirdo luring a kid into his house then killing him to bury him under the lilac bushes, or something! So that’s why I just went in – I was a kid, Canyon was a kid, and his dad was home from work. That, and I had a sunburn. Big deal?

“Finish those drinks,” he ordered us, and he was ordering. We did that, and he took the glasses to the kitchen while I looked around, careful not to touch anything. The last thing I wanted was for mom to have to pay for some of this stuff if I broke it.

“Follow me,” Mr. Poore then told us, and we followed him down the hall to a door that apparently led to the basement. I looked all around the hallway, but every single door was closed. He then flicked a switch, and one little light came on down there. It made me dizzy to look down, and I almost fell.

“Ho, there!” Mr. Poore exclaimed, grabbing my arm in a tight grip that made my hand go numb at once. “Have to fix these narrow steps, what?”

“Yeah,” I sort of slurred, and yawned, thinking that I wasn’t used to swimming for the season yet. I must have been really tired.

“Sunburn gel, Father?” Canyon then asked, as we arrived in the dark basement.

“Yes, boy,” Mr. Poore told him curtly.

I couldn’t see much past the washer/dryer or the water heater, but it looked like the basement was dry and finished into a nice utility room. There seemed to be a full bathroom off to the side, which was where Canyon had come from with the gel.

“Why don’t you get the bench?” Mr. Poore then asked, and Canyon dashed off to somewhere in the dark. There was a bump, a gasp, and then Canyon was back pulling what looked like a padded bench that had mated with a barber’s chair and had a weird looking offspring on wheels.

Canyon parked it under the light, then bent down to lock the wheels.

I was wanting to figure out a way to ask Mr. Poore about Canyon’s not having any balls, but I yawned again. He then grabbed me up, putting me on the bench on my stomach. I looked down, as he got me into position, and I could have sworn there were leather straps, like belts, on the ends of the legs of the thing.

About then, though, he spread some gel on my back and started to rub it in.

Boy, did it feel good!

“Are you…a massage therapist?” I asked, yawning again, hardly able to keep my eyes open.

“Feel good?” Mr. Poore asked me, as Canyon just looked on. Was it me, me being tired, or the light? I thought Canyon looked very nervous and fidgety, shifting from foot to foot with his hands behind his back as he watched me.

“Oh, yeah,” I moaned, as my back cooled and his hands began to loosen up my muscles. I started to drift off.

Then I felt a slap to my bare ass!

It wasn’t hard, more like a ‘get your attention’ thing.

But I just couldn’t react.

All I wanted to do was lay there and go to sleep, whatever he was doing felt so good. I was just limp, and my dick wasn’t even hard anymore.

“It’s so nice that Canyon made a new friend, so soon,” Mr. Poore said.

“Yeah.”

“I have to admit, it’s very open of you to not be upset about our lifestyle,” he went on.

“Yeah,” I repeated. I think it was the only word that I could manage just then.

“You seemed to have picked a good one, Canyon,” he was saying, as my head started to spin, “The perfect friend?”

“Yes, sir!” Canyon said in that same obedient tone.

And the next thing I knew, I was waking up on my own couch later that evening.

“What the…?” I remember thinking, as I got up. I was wearing my shorts again, and someone had put me on the couch, on my stomach, with a pillow. I looked at the clock, saw that it was like 7, and heard mom turning on the TV. “Mom?” I called out, thinking that I had to go to the bathroom.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Mom greeted me, sounding like she was talking to someone at work, which was how she usually talked to me. “Mr. Poore said you boys were just exhausted.” She then came over and gave me a peck on the cheek, and went back to the kitchen to make dinner – something frozen, no doubt. TV dinners. To this day, I can’t look at one!

“I…I…” I started, trying to remember. But the last thing that came to mind was the sunburn gel and me getting what Canyon must have been referring to before as ‘a good rub.’ He was right on that – I felt pretty good, if not a bit wobbly. But I was hungry. I was so hungry that even TV dinner sounded good just then.

“It’s so nice you made a new friend,” Mom was going on, “Mr. Poore brought you over, you know. Said you fell asleep watching TV with Canyon after all that swimming?”

“I…I guess?” I wondered, since I didn’t remember the TV being on. A TV that big, I think I would have remembered watching! The last thing I did remember was laying on the bench having gel put on my back.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I began to realize that the whole afternoon was kind of blurry. I remembered mowing the grass, spying on Canyon, climbing the fence, and swimming. I remembered his dad, and how big he was, like a WWF star, the burn gel, but beyond that? And the drinks we had…

‘The drinks?’ I wondered. Could have Canyon’s dad have drugged me?

But why would he do that?

I was sure I hadn’t done anything to make him mad, I didn’t think, and if mom was right, he’d carried me home when I’d fallen asleep. But why didn’t I remember things, then? We watched TV, she said?

No.

“M-mom,” I asked, “Did Canyon come over, too?”

“No, sweetheart,” she replied, shoving the aluminum trays into the oven, “Mr. Poore carried you in. He said Canyon had to have his nap. Lovely man, isn’t he?” She then went off on a tangent. “That black hair, the beard, and those muscles? He must really work out!” Mom mused, her face a bit flushed.

“Canyon works out, too,” I offered.

“You know, Mr. Poore said you looked thin,” mom was saying then, “He said he hopes you’ll come back tomorrow after lunch, 1 hour after, so that you and Canyon can swim some more? He’s also invited you to come and work out with his son. Isn’t that lovely?” She pitched it like she was trying to sell me a used car or something. Then again, that was my mom.

Class-A dingbat, if you wanna know!

“Lovely man,” she repeated. “And raising that boy all alone. Poor little thing, doesn’t have any friends, and he’s so shy. Shame about the wife, really.” She then paused, and I could hear the wheels turning in her head.

I’d never thought to ask about Canyon’s mom. I’d told them all about me, and living here, but I realized that they hadn’t told me a thing about them!

Then I remembered Canyon’s…condition.

Well, OK, Canyon had told me about his ‘neat’ dad and the bike wreck that almost turned him into a girl!

But that was it.

“What about his mom?” I had to ask.

“She died in childbirth,” mom told me, dabbing at her eyes with the dishtowel – the usual drama…

“Oh,” I just huffed, as I looked at the TV. Mom’s favorite game show was coming on, and I saw that I’d slept for two hours. “Canyon takes naps?” I said to myself.

“Well, you must have needed one, too,” mom cut in, “And I see you got some color?” She patted me on the shoulder.

“MOM!” I yelled.

“Sorry,” she laughed, then said, “Where’d you get that beautiful necklace?”

I just looked at her.

I reached up, felt at my neck, and sure enough, there was something there.

“Dunno,” I blew her off, as I headed for the bathroom mirror.

It was a woven necklace, made of that fuzzy, hemp-looking stuff and leather strips too. It had a few colored stone beads woven into it, and a white flat porcelain square at my Adam’s apple with a black Japanese symbol on it. I thought it was Japanese. That was the style, you remember: T-shirts with Asian letters on them, and you wore it without knowing what it really said?

The necklace was soft though, like it had been washed in Downey and it didn’t itch. I was glad of that when I started turning it around, looking for the clasp.

There wasn’t one.

There wasn’t any metal rings it, either, like Canyon’s.

But there was no clasp.

It was woven into one piece, and I couldn’t even find the knots where the ends joined! It was snug, too.

Very snug.

“What the…?” I gasped, as I noticed more of that ‘gotta go’ feeling. I forgot the necklace for a minute, and pissed about a gallon, I think. Then I felt something else, and yanked my shorts down to sit.

But nothing happened.

“Thought I had to shit?” I wondered, since my butt felt like it. It felt funny, though, like maybe I’d already went. Did I go at Canyon’s and not remember that, either? How rude would that have been? ‘Pardon me, where’s the john? I gotta shit, buddy!’

“Take a bath while you’re up there,” mom was yelling through the door, “You smell like chlorine!”

I looked in the mirror again, and tugged on the necklace.

It wasn’t just snug – it was tight.

“No way am I getting’ this thing wet,” I muttered, remembering Canyon fiddling with his when his dad had unlocked it. “It’ll shrink when it dries!”

Then I remember the lock on Canyon’s.

Mine didn’t have one, and I figured the only way it had got around my neck was if I was asleep long enough for someone to have woven it into place there. I didn’t know what time it had been when I’d gone over the fence, but it had been hot out. Maybe noon? Now it was 7?

I went to get a T-shirt, since Mom had this thing about ‘eating naked’. I wondered if she knew about Canyon and his dad, though?! ‘Lovely man’? What would she think about him and a kid being naked 24/7?

The phone was ringing.

“Yes?” Mom was saying, “Oh, why, yes, he’s up. No, no, he’s fine, thanks so much for calling! What? Oh, I’m sure he’ll want to, yes, I’ll tell him. Thank you, Mr. Poore, thank you so much. He can certainly use it! You know, we should have a late house-warming party for you!” Mom was going on and on with her ‘hook a man’ speech.

It gave me chills, and I didn’t know why.

“Ben?” She was yelling at me, as I came back down. “Mr. Poore would like to know if you can come over tomorrow? Canyon has a doctor’s checkup at ten, but Mr. Poore has to work late, and I think I will too. He doesn’t want Canyon home alone all day long.”

I know I was thinking, ‘Hell every kid around here is home alone all day long, what’s it matter?’ But I just nodded. If nothing else, I could ask Canyon about the necklace that was woven around my neck, why I passed out all afternoon, and just what the heck had been in that drink!

It was the only explanation, I’d worked it out – Mr. Poore had slipped me a mickey!

But why?

“Dinner’s almost ready,” mom then informed me, as she hung up the phone. “I told him you’d be over as soon as they got back. Maybe you could introduce poor little Canyon to some of your friends?” She suggested.

I thought about Canyon’s lack of balls, and his lack of clothes. I figured if they made fun of me, they’d have a heyday with Canyon.

Not a good idea.

Besides, I wanted to find out more.

“I don’t think so,” I replied, “He’s…he’s been sick,” I said, and it wasn’t really a lie. After all, he’d had major surgery on his boy-parts! If that wasn’t sick, I didn’t know what was! “I don’t think his dad wants him to leave the house.”

Or doesn’t let him leave the house? I wondered.

“I’m so proud of you!” Mom then declared, clapping me on the shoulder again.

I howled.

Mom laughed.

“Sorry! Oh, and Mr. Poore’s right, I think,” she added, “I think it’s time you had a summer haircut, Benny!” She ruffled my hair. “I wonder if you still have ears under all that?”

‘Benny?’

Mom NEVER called me ‘Benny’; just ‘Ben’, or ‘Benja-MIN!’ when she was pissed.

I thought about telling her about how weird Canyon and his dad were just then, but when I swallowed, I could feel the necklace rubbing my Adam’s apple.

I kept quiet about it instead.

I had to find out what was going on with new, weird, ball-less, new neighbor boy next door.