I would have took a bath, but I was afraid that the necklace would shrink it if got wet. I still had no idea how it got there, but the more I thought, it was pretty obvious – Canyon’s dad must have put it there while I was asleep, and when I’d tried to test cut it with a butter knife when I was doin’ dishes, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to cut it without slashing my own throat.

And he must have put something in my drink. That’s all there was to it. I hadn’t taken a nap since I was like 7 or 8, and I couldn’t believe Canyon still did.

But there was more:

Canyon was 12, and he didn’t have any balls.

OK, so he said he’d had a bike crash. I’d racked myself enough, and it hurt like heck, so I figured if you hit the handlebars right, or the brakes or the gear shifters on a 10 speed, you might tear your balls off or smash ‘em on that stupid crossbar on boys’ bikes.

Then he said he’d had something called a ‘foreskin’ that got trimmed off, ‘neat.’

And him and his dad were nudists.

OK, maybe that was normal where they moved in from, but not around here! Then again, if the neighbors were nudists, would you know unless they invited you over?! I guess not.

But it was OK to invite me over, when they’re naked? Was that even legal? I thought about telling mom, but I figured she’d freak – and I had to know more about Canyon.

I mean, geez, what kind of kid was he? The next “Mr. Universe” in training?

And a schedule? What was that? What kid had a schedule for his day?

I thought about it. He had an alarm watch, an expensive one. He sunned for an hour, swam for an hour, then his dad got home. Mr. Poore said he had a rigid schedule, and he was obsessed, Canyon said, with being ‘neat’.

I figured I’d look in my encyclopedia to see what a ‘foreskin’ was, since I didn’t remember that from the film at school. “Birds and the Bees.” Right…(Remember, there wasn’t any Internet back then. I couldn’t just Google the word and get a billion pages to tell me what it was!)

I got the ol’ Britannia set out, turned to “F”, and got something like “the skin covering the end of the penis, bell-shaped. Sometimes removed via circumcision.” There wasn’t a picture, either.

“Shit,” I muttered, putting up “F” and going for “C”. Actually, it was probably the first time I’d ever opened the silly things. Mom wanted me to be a scholar, you know, but I was just lucky to have a C+ on my report card.

I was muttering about Canyon being a smart kid when I started feeing hot. “Damn AC,” I thought, and sure enough the central air was blowing just ‘air’ again – not cold air.

“MOM!” I yelled down the stairs.

“Yes, Ben?”

-Ben, not Benny, like before?-

“The AC’s quit again!”

“Then open the window, smart guy!” She yelled back up.

I did that, but it was already getting hot, even in early June, and muggy. My room was gonna get stuffy, and fast. I peeled off my shirt before it got sweaty, and tossed my shorts on the floor. You remember shorts back then? Short pants, not down to your knees, and usually light material in color, with the white trim that just did cover your butt? That’s them.

So I sat down on the bed with the volume “C” book and started looking.

That was my first look at what a ‘circumcision’ was!

OK, you know what it is, I don’t need to tell you. Needless to say, I’d just found out I’d been born with some skin – maybe a lot – that had covered the end of my dick like a bell or something. There was even a sketch of ‘before’ and ‘after’, and the ‘after’ looked like my dick!

“The hell?” I muttered, as my little dick started to get hard again. I moved the book. “Common procedure on newborn boys?” I read aloud. “Nobody asked ME if I wanted the end of my dick cut off?!” I complained.

But then, I knew what Canyon had meant. He’d had that skin and remembered it, and now he didn’t have it. He had a dick like mine. OK, not like mine – his was a lot smaller. Yeah, I liked that idea.

“Shrimp…Tiny…’ or ‘when you gonna hit puberty, Ben?’ Is your dick ever gonna grow?’”

Geez, I hated that kind of teasing from Scott and them.

“Hehe,” I snorted, as it hit me, “I wonder if Scott knows somebody chopped off the end of his dick when was a baby?” I had to laugh. After all, we used to swim naked, remember? In fact, as my room got stuffy, a pool started to sound good again.

Then I realized the Mr. Poore’s dick looked circumcised, too. Why? But he had that big gold ring in it. I wondered if it had a name, but I didn’t know it, so I couldn’t look it up.

On impulse, I put the book aside and slid out of my underwear.

My little dick was still hard, and I was rubbing it when I remembered Canyon saying “cawh-STRAY-ted” in that accent of his, and calling himself a “eunuch.” I flipped back in my book “C” for the word “castrated,” and there was a whole page of fine print on it.

What it came down to was when a male animal, or person, had their balls cut off, and there a few ways to do it to livestock. One way was with little green rubber bands and this thing that looked like pliers. There were even sketches. The more I read, too, the more my dick throbbed until it almost hurt.

Right under ‘castration’ was ‘castrato’.

“They used to cut little boys’ balls off so they could sing better?” I gasped, reading back to the side effects of being castrated. I knew what puberty was, and the book said a boy castrated before puberty would never hit puberty without drugs to make up for him not having balls.

Canyon wasn’t lying – impotence, or no erections. Sterility, as in, no havin’ kids.

Impotence, as in – “you can’t fuck,” I thought, “’cause you can’t get hard!”

Hell, it just made my dick get harder!

I started rubbing it while I went and got the “E” volume to look for ‘eunuch.’

OK, you know what a eunuch is. I didn’t, until I read it in the book.

“Ohhhh, man,” I thought, realizing what Canyon was gonna miss out on:

He couldn’t get hard and fuck a girl. His dick was never gonna grow. He couldn’t get a blowjob like those guys in the porno we’d watched at Scott’s house. He’d never have any kids, either. Hell, he couldn’t even ‘masturbate’.

I went for volume “M”.

“Any artificial stimulation which produces an orgasm?” I read. And then it hit me – “Jackin’ off!”

That girl in the porno had jacked the guy off! That’s what it was!

“Hell, I gotta try this!” I thought, taking my newfound knowledge (thank you, Mr. Britannia!) of sex back to my bed.

Now before you get all unwound, I’ll tell ya’s, it didn’t work.

I stayed hard, I rubbed it for a while, it felt real good, better, funny, then it started to get sore and red.

So I quit.

“Shit, you must have to be a grown up,” I muttered, wondering if I’d hurt myself if I did it wrong. I mean, after all, Mr. Britannia had just said that going blind or getting hair on your palms was a myth! (Talk about a relief!)

One thing it did do, though, was make my erection go down. I guess my dick got scared or something, I didn’t know. I laid down on top of my blanket, since it was getting hot in there, and just stared at the ceiling.

“Why not?” I thought. “Canyon swims naked. He doesn’t care.” So I decided to sleep naked for the first time.

I mean, I’d walked around the house naked before, when I was home alone, or usually to and from the bathroom, but I’d never went to sleep naked before.

It made me feel funny inside, as I squirmed around on the blanket, feeling it on my bare butt.

I started thinking about Canyon again, and thought about him until I went to sleep. I didn’t think I would, since I’d had that nap and my mind was going full tilt with all the weird shit that day, but I did.

I had weird dreams that night about Canyon, and he kept asking me how come I had balls. “It’s so much better without them,” he told me, and I woke up scared.

“Stupid,” I told myself, but I did check and make sure my balls were still there!

***

The phone woke me up the next morning, and it was mom at work calling to remind me not to forget my appointment. I had an appointment? It was kinda funny, really.

On impulse, I asked her, “Mom, why’d you call me ‘Benny’ last night? You ain’t called me that since I was little?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” mom sighed, “I guess since Mr. Poore did. Now don’t forget, I gave him our number, and Canyon’s going to call when he gets home from the doctor. Mr. Poore has to go back to work, so we want you to go right over.”

“OK,” I said, and thought of Canyon saying ‘yes, sir!’ all the time. “Yes, Ma’am,” I added for some reason.

“Oh, that’s so sweet, Benny! Love you!” and then she hung up.

There it was again – ‘Benny’.

I looked at the clock, and the numbers had just flipped over to 10:00 on the Midland radio. I turned it on to my favorite station, hoping that DD would on singing “Girls on Film” or something, but it was news time. Hourly news. I hated that, wondering how Canyon was doing at the doctor’s office.

“Probably something about having had his nuts cut,” I said to myself, amused a bit at the rhyme. I went to pee, with the usual ‘wake up-hard on’, but it went down pretty quick like it always did. I hated that. Every morning, almost, made it so hard to piss.

I went downstairs, very much aware that I was still naked, and got myself a bowl of cereal. I turned on the TV, and broke the big rule – I ate in the living room! I had to watch out the window, though, for Canyon’s van. No more than it ever moved, it was something, you know.

Remember, a van back then was a big thing. Dodge had just invented the minivan, and it wasn’t catching on yet. You could stuff two-dozen guys in a van-van back then.

I watched game shows until 11.

Then it was 11:30.

Still no Canyon.

‘Hope he’s OK,’ I wondered.

Then the phone rang again.

Mom.

“Ben, they’re running a bit late, and I wanted to tell you since I forgot earlier! Go get a bath and wash your hair. Mr. Poore is going trim up your hair this afternoon.”

I froze.

“MOMMMMM!” I whined, thinking about Canyon’s GI-Joe haircut and how silly I’d look with one. That, and the necklace.

What if it shrank?

My dick was getting hard again.

“Don’t argue, Benny!” She snapped back at me, which sorta surprised me. “I told you, you need a haircut, and you still smell like bleach! I won’t have you embarrassing me going over there dirty and smelly!”

“OK, OK,” I complained.

I did wash up, but it was in the shower with a washrag and soap, more like a sponge bath. I washed my head in the sink. I was REALLY careful to not get that necklace wet. I was feeling like I was gonna puke when I brushed my wet hair, wondering how much he was gonna cut off.

The phone rang again.

This time, it was Canyon.

“Benny, I’ve just got home,” he said happily.

“You OK?” I blurted.

He laughed. “Of course, I’m quite all right. Just a checkup, a booster shot, and a blood and piss test, the usual. Are you coming right over?”

“Yeah,” I said, and he must have heard my worry.

“I’ll explain,” he promised, “Oh, and Father’s made a gate in the fence. When he leaves, the front door is locked and so is the front gate. You can come over through our fence, this time, though, mate.”

‘Mate’? Now I was ‘mate’?

“Be right there,” I promised, looking forward to that explanation. And what kind of shot did he get? The last shot I had was when I’d stepped on a rusty nail in March, punched it right through my tennis shoe, and had to get 2 shots.

I don’t know why I did it, but I didn’t even put my shorts on when I walked out the back door. I did look to see that no one was in the Smith’s yard, though. I figured ol’ Mrs. Smith, who was about 200 years old, would have had heart failure if she saw me naked! I guess it was exciting, and as soon as I got out in the sun, my dick was hard again and my heart was racing. I went around the border hedge next to the house, figured that stupid bush mom loved so much would hide me, and stopped.

Sure enough, there was a handle on my side of the fence, and a set of hinges that made a door about 3 planks wide. There was even a brass latch. Mr. Poore had, I guess, made a real door for us sometime yesterday evening.

“While I was napping,” I thought, as I squeezed the handle, which clicked loudly, and pulled the gate open. It shut behind me when I let go of it.

“There’s the spirit!” Canyon greeted me, standing there on the patio wearing only his padlocked necklace and mirrored sunglasses.

I wasn’t ready for what he did next.

He came over and hugged me!

I sort of hugged him back.

Canyon took a step back, and his smile fell. “I…I’m sorry?” He offered.

“No, s’OK,” I answered fast, “We just don’t hug each other a lot around here, you know?”

“Oh, I didn’t know,” Canyon replied, “I won’t do it again, all right?” Then he snickered. “I thought you were glad to see me, Benny?” He pointed at my dick.

I looked down at it, and my dick was just pulsing. It was even starting to hurt again. I felt my face getting hot.

“So, uhhh, how was the doc’s?” I asked, to change the subject.

Canyon smiled again, but I think he looked at my dick again too. I couldn’t really tell with the glasses, though.

“Fine, fine,” he explained. “They drew some blood, took a piss sample, examined me for hernias, checked my bowels, the usual things.”

“You have to turn your head and cough while the doctor feels your nuts?” I asked without thinking.

Canyon laughed. I felt about as tall as an ant. What had I just said?!

“Honestly, Benny, I don’t know how you could have forgot about me being a eunuch already?”

“Well,” I offered, “It’s not like a lot of us around here are castrated, you know. I just didn’t think about it, I guess. I hate it when the doctor does that!”

“I had to get checked out down there, though,” Canyon went on, “To make sure everything is staying where they put it. Eunuchs can still get hernias, you know. Did you know that years ago, castration was used to cure and even prevent hernias?”

I just looked at him.

“They cut boys’ balls off so they wouldn’t get hernias?” I had to ask, remembering something like from the encyclopedia the night before. “Is there anything you don’t know?”

“Cut off their bollocks and scrotum, too, make it nice and tight and neat,” Canyon explained.

“That’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face,” I replied, remembering my aunt liked to say that.

“Anyhow, we should get some sunblock on us, you know. Father’s given us a rather lax schedule for the afternoon, until he gets home around 7.”

“Seven?” I gasped. “What do we do until then?”

Canyon turned around to get a paper from the stack of books on the patio table, but when he did, I saw how red his butt was.

It looked like he’d been spanked, but good!

Hell, the last time I’d had a spanking was when I was like 9.

“Canyon, why’s your ass so red?” I had to ask.

He turned around, and his face was now just as red in embarrassment.

‘Uh oh,’ I thought, ‘we made his dad mad last night after all!’

Then Canyon sort of grinned.

“Father spanks me when I make mistakes,” Canyon explained. “He wasn’t too happy about me contacting you yesterday, Benny,” he said in that ‘smart voice’ of his, like he was going to make speech. “Or having you over.”

“What did I do?” I asked, because it made me feel guilty that I’d got him in trouble. “Canyon, I’m sorry!” I pleaded, looking at his butt again.

Man, it was REALLY red!

“Oh, it wasn’t you, Benny, it was me. You see, I wasn’t supposed to leave the yard, or talk to strangers.”

“But we’re kids?”

“Yes, but some people might not like the idea of a naked eunuch, you know,” Canyon added, “Or a nudist family.”

“Then how come you yelled at me?” I asked.

“Because I thought you might be hurt,” he replied. “And…and I do so want a friend?” He seemed to ask.

‘God,’ I thought, ‘he sounds pathetic! Hasn’t he ever had any friends?’

“I…I don’t have many friends, much less any that come over regularly,” Canyon informed me. “Some, but not a lot. Acquaintances, actually. It’s nice to meet someone new, you see, especially someone who…who,” he seemed at a loss for words.

“Won’t make fun of you?” I helped him.

“Yes,” he nodded, “or understand us. You don’t know how glad I was when you just walked in naked! It was like you were so accepting of us!”

“But you got spanked?” I repeated.

“Oh yes, but it wasn’t so bad,” Canyon told me, doing a complete 180 turn. “And I know I deserved it. Now, if I’d left the yard, I’d have probably have welts!” He laughed.

“He beats you like that?!” I gasped.

“Only if I’m bad,” Canyon held up his hand, grabbing up the bottle of sun-block as he gave me the paper. “And sometimes, I’m very bad. All boys are. Didn’t your mum ever spank your bare arse?”

“No, I kept my pants on and she hit me with her hand,” I offered, “But that was like 2 or 3 years ago?”

“You must be a good boy, then,” Canyon smiled. “Read that while I do your back!”

I looked at the paper:

-SPF, all over, then lay out for one hour. Turn over, do one more hour.

-no eating

-drink all the water you want

-listen to Spanish lessons for those 2 hours

-practice diving for 1 hour

-swim for 1 hour (real swimming!)

-dry off, go inside and stay there

-drink protein shakes

-nap for 2 hours

-find 2 meals in the fridge, eat

-you may watch VCR until I get home

Love, Dad

***

It seemed that Mr. Poore had our afternoon all planned out, right down to the minute. “What about the necklaces, though?” I had to ask, remembering that I wanted some answers. “Won’t they shrink?”

“Not if we go in and stay in where it’s cool,” Canyon replied. “Do you like yours?”

“That’s what I wanna know,” I retorted, as Canyon put the lotion on my back. I had to admit, it felt nice, but funny, having him touching me like that. “Why’d I go to sleep, and how’d this thing get around my neck? How do I take it off?” I demanded.

Canyon shrugged. “Do me now, please,” he said, turning his red backside to me again. I couldn’t help but look at his butt. Man, if he was that red, still, after all night, his dad must have whipped the shit outta him!

I started rubbing his back with the oil, and asked again. “How do I get this thing off’a my neck?”

“You don’t,” Canyon replied simply. “Father can undo it, if you don’t like it. Did your mum like it?”

“She said it was beautiful,” I admitted.

“Well, jolly good!” he replied, smiling at me, “I made it for you, you know! Then what’s the problem, Benny?”

“He drugged me, didn’t he?” I snapped. “I never fall asleep in the daytime! I haven’t had a nap since I was like 7! And why do you call me Benny? My name’s ‘Ben’!” I stopped. “You made this? And put it on me while I was out cold?”

“I didn’t think. It was a surprise.” Canyon just looked crushed, and I knew I’d screwed up. He was actually trembling, and he dropped the bottle of SPF.

“Look, I…I’m sorry,” I offered lamely, “It’s a great necklace, but it’s so damn weird! It…it scares me, OK? I mean, I got like a 2 hour blank in my memory?”

“You just fell asleep, we were tired,” Canyon offered in a very small voice, turning away. “Father wouldn’t harm you.”

“I didn’t say he did,” I tried to cover myself, but I knew I’d just said I thought he’d drugged me.

“I…I have to lay out and study now,” Canyon said nervously.

“M-maybe I should just go home?” I asked. “Wait for them to get home, so he can talk to Mom?”

But Canyon just shook his head as he got out the boombox and laid down. He patted the towel beside him. “We can’t deviate from the schedule,” he told me seriously. “Not unless you want a spanking.”

“What?!”

That was it, I thought, I was outta there! Mom saying that Mr. Poore could cut my hair? Telling me I was going to stay with Canyon, whether I wanted to or not? And then saying he was going to spank me if I didn’t do his schedule like he wanted? I wasn’t HIS kid! He couldn’t make ME do anything! He wasn’t MY dad!

“I think I better go home,” I repeated, and headed for the gate.

“You can’t,” Canyon then informed me.

Sure enough, the gate was locked.

There was no latch – just a keyhole.

I looked around.

The picnic table was gone.

Canyon’s back yard was surrounded by the wood fence, and his side of it was sanded and varnished smooth as glass. I looked up at the six foot tall fence, knowing I couldn’t get over it. I saw that it met the house at its front corners, so there was no going around it, either. That left cutting through the house, and going down Canyon’s front drive, around the front hedge, and out onto the sidewalk and down 2 yard widths to get to my own drive. Then it was up my drive, around the back, and into my own house.

One problem – I was naked.

It was also near noon, and there was traffic on the cul de sac.

“I need to borrow a pair of your shorts,” I told Canyon, as he just laid there and got his pencil and paper out.

“I don’t have any, sorry,” he answered.

“You don’t have any clothes?”

“No.”

“None?!”

“None. We’re nudists, remember?”

“Well what do you wear when you go somewhere?” I had to ask, thinking he just couldn’t ride around in the van all day, naked!

Canyon didn’t answer right off.

“I usually don’t leave the house, Benny.”

I stopped right there, with my hand on the door handle.

“The front door is locked, and it’s key-only. We’re not allowed to go inside yet, either,” Canyon informed me. “The windows don’t open. If you break one, an alarm will go off, and Father will be very angry.”

“So I’m trapped?” I asked.

Canyon nodded.

“Why?”

He looked so innocent, and so upset just then. He just looked at me, like a lost puppy or something, and said, “So I can have a playmate! And besides, it’s safe! If we can’t get out, no one else can get in!”

Playmate?

“Look, Canyon,” I said, figuring I might as well sit back down. “This is too weird. You move in, no one sees you for a month. You don’t come to school, then I find out you’re a nudist – you and your dad – and you got no balls! Next thing I know, I conk out for 2 hours and wake up at home! Now I’m here, locked in, naked, with a collar of some kind on my neck I can’t get off, and with a schedule of stuff to do? What the hell is THAT?!”

“My life,” Canyon said simply. “It’s grand, really. I can tell, Benny – I think you’ll like it. Just wait until we’ve swum, and watch the video tape! That’ll explain it all, I’m sure of it!”

"Canyon, I wanna know," I told him.

"I promise, Father can explain. Please just do this, and then come eat and watch TV with me, Benny?" He begged, and I thought he was gonna cry.

OK, I caved. Well, I did want to see that big screen TV, and I like movies. And there was food for us, and the drinks yesterday were good. I figured I’d stay awake this time, for sure! I’d pinch myself if I had to!

“You know, you’d best put some lotion on that awful prick of yours, unless you want it burnt!” Canyon warned me.

“Huh?”

Then he just reached over, squirted some onto his palm, and started rubbing it on for me! He was touching my dick!

I was so shocked, I didn’t move!

I didn’t know what to do, but hell’s bells…it felt good!

“Canyon, I’m n-not….” I fumbled, but by then, he was done and saying something like “Gracias,” and writing his name and the time on his note paper. Then he took his watch off.

“Spanish isn’t that bad,” He said, like nothing at all had happened. “It’s maths I hate! Say, I didn’t hurt your balls, did I?” He added.

“Uh, no, they’re OK,” I mumbled, not sure what to say to him. For just a second, he’d been jacking me off – and I thought of something: what if I used lotion to jack off with? Would that work?

“You shouldn’t play with your cock, Benny,” Canyon then warned me, “It’s red, I see, so you were doing it wrong. You’ll hurt it, you know.”

“You know how to jack off?” I had to ask him.

Canyon nodded, as the tape said something about when to say ‘por favor’ or something like that.

“I know how to do it, but I can’t do it,” Canyon grinned. “Now, on your stomach for an hour! Goodness, but I don’t want to have to turn over later!”

I could see why.

I looked at Canyon’s little red butt again, and I saw something like a small clear ring just showing between his butt-cheeks.

“Canyon?” I asked, thinking that things could NOT get any weirder than they were, “What’s that thing between your cheeks?”

“Oh, that?” Canyon grinned, as he just made more notes and said something in Spanish that the tape said meant ‘you are very welcome, sir.’