It was a warm afternoon in July, 1908 when John Carlton consulted his physician, Dr. Nelson, about his son, Thomas.

"It's about Thomas. This morning I caught him buggering another youth of about his own age behind the carriage house. I slapped him and sent him to his room. What ought I to do about this ?"

"That would depend on whether he is actually a sodomite or whether he was merely using the other lad as a surrogate woman. Has he manifested any interest in the fair sex ?"

"Not much. He seems mainly to be interested in hunting, fishing, and sports. I don't think that he has ever kissed a girl."

"Ah, had you ?"

"At fifteen ? Definitely."

"You say you slapped him. Did you exchange any words ?"

"Yes. I told him that what he was doing is the sin of Sodom, for which God destroyed two whole cities and all of their inhabitants. He rep[lied that the description of the behaviour of the Sodomites is so vague in the Biblical story that it is impossible to determine what they intended to do with the angels and furthermore that nothing is known of the anatomy

of angels so that it is uncertain if it is even possible to sodomize them.

"Well, both statements are true, though it was certainly a flippant reply. However, nothing which you have told me convinces me that he is actually a sodomite. The only certain way to determine whether his basic inclination is to the female or the male sex is to put him to a woman. I recommend that you take him to a brothel."

"AT FIFTEEN ?"

"If he is old enough to commit sodomy, he is old enough to avail himself of the services of a whore. "

"I don't even know where there is a brothel in town."

"Well, I do. It's at 423 Spencer Lane. The madam is a Mrs. du Toit. In French, that would be pronounced 'dü Twah', but, perhaps in reference to her profession, she pronounces it 'do Twat'. Tell her I sent you; she knows me.

Oh, don't look so shocked . What do you expect a healthy widower of 40

to do ? Play with himself like a little boy ?

Have her report to you on how he does."

At dinner, Tommy was sullen and silent. After dessert, his father told him

"Get your duster and goggles and meet me in the back yard."

There, he found his father cranking the engine of the Stoddard-Dayton. As soon as it started, he lighted the acetylene headlamps with a kitchen match , followed by the kerosene side lamps and tail-light.

Tommy was very surprised, knowing that his father hated driving at night.

"ER, WHERE ARE WE GOING ?" His father waited until they were well out of earshot from the house before answering, probably an unnecessary precaution considering the racket made by the Stoddard-Dayton, which, like many 1907 cars, had no muffler.

"TO A WHOREHOUSE. DR.NELSON WANTS TO FIND OUT IF YOU CAN ENJOY SEX WITH WOMEN." he bellowed.

"WHAT'S AT STAKE ?" shouted Tommy.

"WE'LL DISCUSS THAT LATER." yelled Mr. Carlton over the roar of the unmuffled exhaust explosions. It was no great distance to Spencer Lane, though too far to walk, and soon, they arrived in front of 423.

Mr. Carlton turned off the acetylene to the headlights but left the side lights and tail-light burning. He turned the wheels sharply to the right and into the curb and then fetched a couple of chocks from under the seat and shoved one each under the left front and rear wheels so that the car was safely parked.

Mrs. duToit proved to be an overly made-up, "well-upholstered" woman of a certain age. She stared doubtfully at the obviously underaged Tommy until his father explained.

"Dr. Nelson sent us to find out whether Tommy is queer."

"Oh yes. He's done that before. Well, I'll pick a patient and sympathetic girl who won't scare him . Even if he isn't queer, the first time can be frightening. Come along, deary."

Mr. Carlton noticed a door marked "Waiting Parlour" and went in. There was no one else in the room. After glancing through several magazines which he had seen already, he began to wonder what was taking Thomas so long. He had a long time to wonder. It was over an hour after they arrived before Thomas, weary but smiling slightly, entered the parlor.

"You rest there, deary. I want to talk to your father." They retired to her office where she gave Mr. Carlton her report. "He managed to do it, though it took him a long time and he didn't seem to be enjoying himself much. I don't think he's queer though. He was shy, VERY nervous, and frightened. Lots of boys are. I think he's alright. He just needs to get used to women. That'll be five dollars."

Out in the car before cranking the engine, John Carlton told his son how things stood. "You have saved your testicles. Had you failed the test, I would have had you castrated. HOWEVER, if I ever catch you in flagrante delicto with another male again, your testicles will be forfeit."

The return trip was uneventful except that the left acetylene headlight exploded when ignited, as occasionally happened, and burnt the hair off the back of Mr. Carlton's hand, occasioning a fine display of the colorful profanity which he had learned in the Navy in his youth.

Now that his own manhood was no longer imperilled, for the time being, at least, Tommy was concerned about his friend, Sidney whom he had been buggering when Mr. Carlton surprised them.

As soon as his father had left for work the next day, Tommy telephoned Sidney Howard's home and asked his mother to call him to the phone. Sid, he discovered, had been worried sick over what might have happened to Tommy.

"Tommy, are you alright ?"

"Yes, fine. I'll tell you all about it, but not on the phone. Can you meet me at the trail head behind the pond house in Henley Park ?"

"Yes, sure."

"Okay, I'll meet you there in about fifteen minutes."

Tommy was early, but Sid was already there. He looked concerned. "Oh, Tommy, I've been worried sick about what your father might have done to you."

"Let's get to a more secluded place and I'll tell you all about it." The trail ran deep into the woods. Off it, to the right ran another trail, a barely visible track, which ended in a thicket of laurel. In that thicket, there was a rude wooden bench. Its grey patina suggested that it had been there for ages, though it was still sound.

They sat on the bench and Tommy told Sid about everything which had happened at Madam "do Twat's" whorehouse. Sid was astonished.

"You mean you actually fucked a women ?"

"Yeah, I sure did. I thought I'd never come off, but finally I managed to work some gism out. Madam "do Twat" thinks I'm just shy and nervous and need to have more experience with women."

"How does it feel to fuck a woman ?"

"Well. a cunt's nowhere near as tight as an ass, but it feels good, sorta like bein' jerked off by somebody else."

"You don't think you'll come to prefer it, do you ?" Sid asked apprehensively.

"Hell, no. That thing's still part of a woman, and an ugly part at that.

I'm glad I don't have to look at it, just fuck it. Look, we've gotta be very discrete about meeting. Dad knows what you look like, but not who you are. God forbid he should ever find out and tell your dad what he saw us doing."

"I don't think he would, 'cause that could get you in trouble. My dad would probably want to call the cops on you. But there's one thing I'm

worried about. Your big cock has loosened my asshole a lot. I've got a

physical coming up soon. Suppose the doctor looks back there and notices it ? "

"Let's hope he doesn't.......unless you can think of some plausible explanation, like you've been sticking things up there, like candles or a

pickle bottle, or something. "

"Hell, that's no good. If I'm doin' stuff like that, I must be queer. Normal boys don't do stuff like that."

"They might, as an aid to jerkin' off."

"He doesn't want me doin' that either."

"Well, if you don't complain about piles or anything like that, maybe he won't look back there. "

"Well. it's Friday. I'll let ya know what happens."

By Monday, Sid still not having called, Tom was getting worried. After lunch, he phoned the Howard residence and asked for Sid . Mrs. Howard told him that Sid was in bed and couldn't come to the telephone and to call again later in the week.

On Wednesday morning, Sid called Tommy . He sounded as if he had been crying but said only. "I can't explain on the phone. I'll see you in the park on Monday, at the usual place about 11:00."

Tommy was early, but Sid was already there, sitting on the bench with his face in his hands. "Sid, what's wrong ?"

"Oh, Tommy < sniff > the doctor looked back there and < sob > saw how deformed my asshole was and knew EXACTLY what causes it . He told me that it's prima facie evidence that would stand up in a court of law that somebody has been fucking my ass . He asked me who it was and, of course, I wouldn't tell him.

Then he told Dad and he exploded . He asked 'What do you do with a boy like this ?' And that BASTARD said 'Oh, you should definitely have him castrated.'

Dad asked 'Have you enough time now ?' and Dr. Ransome nodded.

'THEN,DO IT !' So, he did it. He made me take off my clothes and get up on the operating table. Then he gave me ether or chloroform ; I can't tell one from the other. When I woke up my balls were.......GONE ! I haven't spoken to my father since, and, except in answer to a direct question, I never shall ."

Tommy, sitting on the bench beside Sid, hugged him and kissed him and then told him. Sid, honey, this isn't as bad as you think. The main thing castration is going to do to you is to take the starch out of your prick. Aside from pissing, what else do you used it for? "

"J-jerking off."

"I've got good news for you. It doesn't need to be stiff for that. Old men who can't get it up any more still jerk off. Of course, you can't come off any more, but that's an advantage. When you shoot, the pleasure is over. If you can't shoot, it goes on as long as you keep jerkin' the gherkin. And I'll bet anything that cocksucking and gettin' cornholed are gonna feel just as good as ever. "

"Golly, do you think so ?"

"Let's find out." said Tommy with a wink. Tommy unbottoned his fly and hauled out his rigid prick and Sid leaned over and took it into his mouth. Tommy was loaded for bear and shot his load sooner than he would have liked, but Sid gulped it all down greedily, licked his lips, and sighed contentedly.

"You're right. It's just as heavenly as it was when I had balls. I don't need 'em for that."

"Okay. I'll need about a half hour to build up another load and then I'll fuck you to a fare-thee-well and prove that you don't need balls to enjoy that either."

It took a little more than a half hour, but, as soon as Tommy's prick touched Sid's prostate gland and Sid shivered, they both knew that it was going to be all right. It was. Soon, Sid was sighing and moaning and tightening and relaxing his sphincter on Tommy's very virile member as if nothing had happened to him. Being passive, he had lost nothing from an operation which would have been ruinous to Tommy.

Afterward, they kissed asgain and Tommy told Sid "I love you, Sid and I want to be your lover for the rest of our lives. Dad is having me go the whorehouse every week to train me to enjoy fucking women to make me fit for marriage. Believe me, I don't intend to get married.

I've arranged a 4-year reprieve by telling him that I want to go to college to study surveying. He wouldn't want me to marry before I finished college, and by then, I'd be 'free, white, and over 21'. By the way, a surveyor needs an assistant . You could be my rod-man."

"What's a rod-man do ?"

"Holds the surveyor's rod."

"Oh, I'd be GOOD at that."

Tommy laughed. "This rod is about eight feel tall, made of wood, with a scale marked on it. The rod-man holds it upright as the surveyor motions him to tilt it left, right, forward, or backward. "

"Well, guess I could learn to hold that rod, too.

My father wants to send me to a military school. I put the kibosh on that, though. told him that, if he did, I'd tell them why he had me castrated. They wouldn't keep me for five minutes."

"Good for you ! Does that mean you'll still be going to Claremont High ? "

"I guess so, so we'll see each other there, but I'd better not walk home with you since your father knows what I look like."

"Well, he probably wouldn't be home that early, but you're probably right. Until there's snow on the ground, we can meet here right after school. We'll have to work something else out for the winter.

I just thought of something. You don't suppose that your old man would have you followed by a detective to find out who's been fucking you, do you ?

"I wouldn't put it past him. We'll have to be very careful not to be seen together outside of school. I'll watch for anyone following me and we can approach this thicket from different directions.

I'll go up to Camden St. and enter the park from the north. You can come in through the Greenville St. entrance. The trail that starts behind the pond house ends on Camden St. Almost nobody ever uses the trail, especially that end of it, so I can sure tell if somebody's following me.

If so, I won't show up. I'll lead him a merry chase through the woods."

Despite the danger of discovery, the boys were not frightened, but, rather thrilled by the prospect of adventure. It was like acting out a spy story.

Actually, John Carlton had been rather surprised when Thomas told him that he wanted to be a surveyor. "Why on Earth do you want to be a surveyor ? he had asked.

"Why on Earth not ?" replied Tommy. "It's good, healthy, outdoor work, better than being cooped up in an office. And, you can't deny that it's an honorable profession . After all, two illustrious American presidents were surveyors."

"Yes, that's right." replied Mr. Carlton. "Both Washington and Lincoln were surveyors in their youth."

"Not to mention" added Tommy "a certain famous ne'er-do-well sponger who later made a name for himself as an author, on those rare occasions when he actually had to do some real work." When his father looked puzzled, Tommy added "Henry David Thoreau."

The Carlton family owned a cabin on Lake Oquossotopaug and, when

Tommy decided, during the ensuing winter, to take up ice fishing, he got the key so that he could have a place to warm up. Mr. Carlton had no inkling that Tommy's real use for the cabin was as a love nest with Sidney. Of course, he had to do some ice fishing to make his use of the cabin plausible.

It was hard on both of them when Tommy went off to college and Sidney went to business school . They met during summer vacations, though, when Tommy worked as an assistant to a surveyor and lived in the cabin on Lake Oquossotopaug which was closer to his work than his home was.

Tommy received his B.S. in surveying from the School of Engineering

of Hale University in 1914 and attained his majority at age 21 a week before receiving his degree. His father expected him to court a young woman and marry within the next year or so.

To his dismay, John Carlton found his son to be utterly uninterested in marriage. He set up a surveying business in a nearby city, hired Sidney as his assistant and never did propagate the Carlton blood line, his seed being, instead, "wasted" in the stomach and bowels of his beloved eunuch.

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