(by Edward Zeusgany, copyright 2001, all rights reserved)

Bob had attended the same camp since he was eleven. After he reached the age of 16, he was made a member of the junior staff. These boys were assigned the role of cabin leaders, in charge of a group of from six to nine campers, depending upon total enrollment. Bob was assigned to lead the Huron Cabin. He also had duties on the waterfront, where he taught swimming, canoeing, and boating.

Now that Bob is eighteen and has earned his Water Safety Instructor’s Certificate, he is on the Camp’s Senior Staff and is the Assistant Waterfront Director. Along with the Director, he is an instructor for the Junior and Senior Life Guard program, he also teaches the beginning swimmers. This is an assignment traditionally given to an experienced counselor. His goal is to have every boy in camp learn to swim at least 50 feet, so that at the end of the week there are no non swimmers left. This is a feat that he usually accomplishes.

Although he has no responsibility for a cabin, Bob continues to be interested in the fortunes of those assigned to the Huron Cabin. The current cabin leader, whose name is Devin, is a competent, if quiet leader. He is quite tall, a good five inches above Bob, although two years younger. The youngster has short black hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. If his features were not so soft, he would be considered handsome.

In the evening, after taps, Bob often goes to the Huron Cabin, a book of short stories in hand, where he reads a bedtime story for the campers. He sits on the edge of Devin’s bunk and the cabin leader holds the flashlight as he reads. On this particular night, however, Devin complains of being uncomfortable.

“I feel so hot,” he says to Bob.

Bob put his hand on Devin’s forehead, finding it damp with sweat. “You’d better get out from under these covers,” he suggested. Devin sat up and drew off the blanket and sheet, pushing them toward the cabin wall where the bunk bed was placed.

Bob felt the material of the boy’s flannel pajamas. They were quite wet as well. “You should take these off, too. They’re soaked.” Devin removed them. He was wearing briefs underneath. Then he lay back down.

Bob wiped the perspiration from Devin’s face with his hands. “You’re really dripping,” he said. The youth continued on to the boy’s neck and shoulders. At the same time, he started a conversation with Devin, whatever small talk came into his mind. Bob figured that if the younger boy did not want what he was doing, he would object or say that he had had enough or just pull the covers back over himself.

Devin did not protest. He engaged actively in the chat, bringing in other topics as well as expanding on those that the older boy mentioned. Bob stroked the boy’s arms and chest, even rubbing Devin’s armpits. With the encouragement provided by the boy allowing this intimacy, Bob moved to Devin’s legs. When he had finished touching the kid from toes to briefs, he told Devin to turn over. The lad did so. Bob sensed that the should not come into contact with those parts of Devin that were covered by the briefs. Perhaps he did not have the nerve, right then anyway. After feeling all of the exposed parts, he told the kid to turn once more. It was then that Devin said he was starting to feel the cold and Bob wrapped him back up with the bed covers. They talked a while longer, before Bob left.

When Bob returned to the staff cabin, he deliberately did not wash his hands. Once in bed, he lifted his hands to his face and breathed in the lingering odor of the boy’s body. A little later he smelt that again but mingled with a scent of his own.

*****

The following night, Bob returned to the Huron Cabin. He sat down on the edge of Devin’s bed as he always did, but he did not start to read anything. He spoke quietly to Devin, and with no pretext or explanation, began to unbutton the boy’s pajama top. Bob caressed the youth’s chest as he had done the evening before. Now the teenager’s body felt warm and dry, until Bob’s right hand moved down Devin’s abdomen to the top of the pajama bottoms, where he felt something damp. Bob moved his hand back a little, then he realized that what he had touched was the tip of Devin’s penis. This meant that the kid had an erection, that he was aroused, that he was not wearing briefs under his pajamas, that he liked having the older boy touch him.

Bob moved both of his hands lower and under the elastic waist band of Devin’s pajama bottoms. He stoked the boy’s hips and then slid his hands toward the youngster’s crotch. Bob felt Devin’s balls with his left hand and his dick with the right. He fondled each testicle then the entire warm, soft scrotum. He felt along the length of the erect, stiff shaft; becoming familiar with every undulation.

Removing his hands from below, Bob placed them on Devin’s face. He stroked the youth’s cheeks and, bending over, kissed the younger boy gently on the lips. Devin then put his arms around Bob and moved his hands over the older boy’s back. Bob pulled his shirt tail out so that the kid could touch his skin.

Bob put both hands on Devin’s hips and asked him to lift up. Bob slid the boy’s pajamas down to his ankles. He kept the bed covers over the kid in case someone should come in, or one of the campers put on a flashlight. He masturbated Devin slowly, because he did not want to wake the boy in the top bunk. After Devin came, Bob cleaned him up with his handkerchief. Then he took out his own cock and placed Devin’s hand on it.

*****

The following day was Sunday. There were few activities scheduled in the morning. There were Protestant and Catholic services for those who wanted to go. Bob went looking for Devin. He found him sitting on a bench where a covered deck overlooks the waterfront. Devin was there waiting for Bob to appear.

They spent as much of the day together as they could, just looking at each other, finding ways to touch without people taking too much notice. They had to learn how to be in love in an environment that would become hostile if the people around them had to acknowledge that they knew what was going on. And, there was no one to teach them.

It was not long before everyone was aware of the special friendship that had developed between these two members of the staff. There were those who were envious, those who were amused, those who were disinterested and those who were disgusted. One of the adult leaders made it a point to check on the Huron Cabin at night at random times. One of the other cabin leaders told Devin that some of the guys were saying that he was queer, and that he was only telling him for his own good.

These interventions had a disheartening effect on the two boys’ spirits. They were sad that what they wanted to celebrate openly, had to be hidden ever deeper. There were other facts to face as well. In the fall, Bob was going to a college in another state. Devin would be returning to his parents and ten sisters. He was the only boy in a very Catholic family. By the end of the summer, they were not spending much time together. Devin was becoming depressed. Bob was angry at a world that would hurt his friend so badly, that would steal from them the joy of love.

At college, Bob was on the swimming team and majored in physical education. Upon being graduated, he obtained a position at a private boys’ secondary school in New England. There he served as a physical education teacher and swimming coach, before becoming the head coach at the college level. Bob loved coaching swimming and diving, he loved nearly naked young men.

Devin eventually went to Northeastern University, where he majored in business administration. He returned to Salem and became a bank executive. Soon he married a girl he had been best friends with in high school. They had eight children, all boys. The boys would bring their male and female chums home in hordes, because Devin’s wife, with his assistance, made the place and the family so welcoming.

Two of Devin’s sons, the second and the sixth, turned out to be gay. They and their boy friends were accepted by their parents and their siblings. Devin and his wife had successfully instilled in their children the values of love and respect for others, regardless of their differences, as long as they didn’t hut anyone else.

Devin’s wife died of breast cancer at the age of fifty-seven. A year later, Devin and a lawyer, who he had known for many years, started living together. None of the grandchildren seemed to mind having an extra grandfather.

In reality, reality set in much sooner than in the story. On the Sunday morning that followed our evening, when I (Bob) found “Devin,” he was already in a state of dejection. He seemed to be very distant. Not knowing what else to think, I asked him if he was mad at me. He said that he was not, but this admission changed nothing about his demeanor.

It seemed that he had gone to confession. The priest had wanted details, had wanted to know with whom he had committed this sin. Before last night, “Devin” had not known that he wanted men. He had been raised to be a good boy, and he was. He told the priest everything. He was ashamed of what he had done, and he was ashamed of having told it. Life was a mess. It was all his fault, he knew.

The next day, “Devin” was in the infirmary with flu-like symptoms. He was ill for most of the next week. I brought him some craft materials, because “Devin” wanted to make me a lanyard for the whistle I used at the waterfront. The following Sunday, his folks were there for parents day. As soon as that was over, they took “Devin” home. He did not say goodbye.

I did not return to that place the next summer, nor did the campers. The owners of Camp Masconomet had purchased a new property further north, in Maine. I never saw it, nor did I want to.