The Music in the Painting

As they saddled up, Drew couldn’t help but notice that both Polly and Davey had revolvers on their hips and that Bobby was tying a rifle scabbard to Drew’s mount as well as his own.

"We thought we would go up to the range and have a little target practice," Bobby told Drew. Unless you think your Mom will be unhappy.

"No she’ll be fine, I’ve had invitations to go shooting before and she said it would be good for me to learn. I just never followed through," responded Drew. "I think it was the creepiness of her boyfriend that made me skip it."

"Your instant best buddy type eh?" said Davey.

"Exactly, did you get the same thing? I mean if it’s not too personal."

"No, it's okay, Mom had a couple that just tried too hard and one that was just really creepy. I always had my bat handy when he was in the house. I think maybe he was more interested in me than my Mom," Davey said.

"There were a couple good guys in there too but Mom had a lot of problems herself, when she died all that crap ended."

"After that I just had to deal with the one creep; my actual Dad. Uncle Mac saw to him.

My Mom was hit by a car before noon, Uncle Mac was in our living room at eight that evening. He gave me the news."

 "My Dad came snooping around the next morning to "Check on me" and see what he could grab real quick.  He didn’t know Uncle Mac was there. He tried to claim there was a bunch of his stuff in the house."

"Uncle Mac told him that my Mom had a will and he wasn’t in it and that he should leave while he still had the ability to walk."

"Mac and I took a long drive to Boise and told Wes. His school gave him the time off to help with the funeral and then Mac borrowed a plane from a friend and we spread Mom’s ashes over Puget Sound."

Drew walked over to where Davey and Polly were standing and wrapped his arms around Davey’s waist.   "I’m sorry Davey; I didn’t mean to make you sad."

"It’s okay Drew, I’m not sad. I miss my Mom of course but I got to live with Uncle Mac and the boys and Aunt Katey. It was great growing up with them," Davey ruffled Drew’s hair and returned the hug. "I have a lot of great memories growing up here."

Bobby and Polly stood and watched and smiled at the sight.

"Are we all ready?" asked Davey. "Let’s hit the trail then."

Riding east towards the valley the group came upon an arbor of wisteria that nearly obscured a narrow spur trail. Everyone dismounted and walked the horses a short way, through the natural archway. Dried blossoms fell like rain on the riders and mounts alike. The party remounted and followed the trail to the mouth of a box canyon. This was where the shooting range had been set up. The area was devoid of brush and a large dirt berm was set up as a target back stop. A small tidy looking shack sat off to the side of the entrance. This held the shooting supplies; targets, tape, benches and spotting scopes. A number of other supplies and implements were hanging from the walls. There was also an old refrigerator stocked with sodas and juices, but no alcohol. In Mac’s opinion guns and booze didn’t mix.

"Let’s drag out the benches guys," said Davey "put your gloves on though and check underneath for widows. They love to nest in stuff like that."

Sure enough Bobby found one under the bench he was pulling out and mushed it with a stick. These were not cute little orb weavers, they could be deadly and he had seen the effects on a family friend of a Black Widow bite.

Once the benches and general environment had been deemed safe the group set up the benches and Bobby took Drew off to the side for a little "Range Safety" lecture. Drew was a quick study and had pretty good common sense so he picked up on the rules quickly.

Bobby picked up the other model 73 in .32/40 caliber for Drew to practice with. After targets were set up he showed Drew how to load the rifle and gave some basic lessons in shooting and marksmanship. Drew did very well right off the bat. He was able to hold a five inch pattern once he mastered the sighting.

"This is great!" he yelled to Bobby.

After the initial round of firing, they all went up to inspect the targets. Polly had a two and a half inch group with one stray. Davey had a three inch group with no strays. Bobby’s first eight shot group could be covered with a half dollar, the second by a quarter.

"You win this one Bobby," said Davey patting him on the back.

"But look at Drew’s grouping," Bobby said. "His first time and he’s better than most people. With a little practice he can beat me."

"Why don’t you two give us a demonstration of fancy pistol shooting?" asked Bobby of Davey and Polly. "I’m going to work with Drew and see if we can tighten that group a bit.

Polly and Davey squared off on two pistol targets that were set up at twenty feet from the firing line. On the count of three they drew and fired their revolvers at the targets, just as Mac had taught them. And their targets bore the proof of their training. Tight groupings right on the ten ring.

"It would be hard to pick a winner." Polly said. "I’m going to get a coke do you want one honey?" she asked Davey.

"No thanks Darlin'."

"Okay Drew, we need to work on trigger control, you’ve got the sights down so breathing is next. You need to squeeze the trigger gradually. It’s a fluid movement so just gently squeeze." Bobby instructed. He picked up the rifle Drew was using and checked the chamber. He placed a spent round in the chamber to protect the firing pin and closed the action. He instructed Drew to try dry firing for a bit.

"After observing a bit he told Drew, "Just squeeze, first with your little finger and just slowly close your hand around the stock one finger at a time and just slowly tighten your grip."

Drew followed Bobby’s instruction and after a short while the only thing moving was the rifles hammer.

"I just thought of something I like squeezing," Drew grinned at Bobby. "But when I squeeze this I don’t get all wet and sticky."

This caused Polly to spray Davey with a mouthful of Coke.

The two boys faced her direction blushing. "I’m sorry, I kind of forgot you were there," said Drew sheepishly.

"It’s okay sweetie," Polly said, "It’s just that I haven’t really gotten used to the idea that you two are in love, and all that entails. To be fair, I would have done that if you were boy and girl, it just caught me off guard and it was so funny. And in light of what you saw this morning, well you know"

"Does it bother you that we’re in love?" asked Bobby, with a somewhat puzzled look on his face.

"No Sweetie," Polly said "I just haven’t been around many people like you. You love who you love, none of us can control that. It’s who we are that determines who we love. At least that’s what I think".

"Um, Polly?" said Drew, "I didn’t tell him what I saw, you asked me not to. Did you think I wouldn’t keep my word?"

"Oh Shit!" stammered Polly, she went to where the boys were now standing and put her arms around them.

"No Drew, of course not. We agreed if Bobby asked you’d tell him you interrupted us. Remember?"

"Oh yeah; sorry Polly, I guess I forgot. Bobby never asked though. He doesn’t seem to be real nosey that way."

"I don’t really need to know," said Bobby. "It’s not really my business anyway. I try to be discrete, it’s something I’ve learned going to an all boy school. "

During this time Davey stood by and said nothing. But he finally chimed in. "Bobby got an eyeful the other morning if I’m not mistaken."

Now it was Bobby’s turn to blush. "Yeah I did. It’s pretty impressive."

"I thought so," Davey continued. "I left the door open so the dog wouldn’t pester me to go out and Bobby came up to wake me for breakfast. Except he pulled the door closed and then knocked so it would appear that he didn’t see anything."

"Just trying to preserve your dignity," Bobby smiled back.

"And I appreciate it," said Davey

"Well," said Polly. "Now that’s sorted, I need a pee. Could one of you brave lads check the outhouse for spiders and snakes and other creepy things?"

"I checked it when we got here," said Bobby. "I lifted the deck and the seat to make sure nothing is living under it."

"Thanks sweetie," said Polly and walked off.

Davey watched her walk away and smiled. He turned to Bobby.

"So you were impressed eh?"

"It is kind of big," said Drew

"No kidding, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do," added Bobby.

"I don’t know," said Davey. "You’re bigger than I was at your age and I mean hard."

Bobby looked puzzled. "When did you see me hard?"

"Last Saturday, I went looking for you to see if you wanted lunch after your swim. You were stretched out on your bed naked and you were ready for business. You looked so peaceful I couldn’t wake you so I went back down."

The conversation was cut short by Polly’s approach.

"Okay Bobby," she Said, "I want a demonstration. I want to see some of this trick shooting Davey tells me you can do."

"Okay, I’ll go get a dozen or so clays and we can both show off."

Bobby left Drew to continue his target practice and went to the shed to get the targets and a hand launcher.

Davey walked over to Drew and said, "You’re going want to watch this.

They stood back from where Bobby and Polly were and watched as Polly launched a clay target into the air. Bobby brought his rifle up, cycled the action and fired in one fluid motion. The target disintegrated at the peak of its arc. Bobby held up two fingers and Polly launched two targets. They were dispatched the very same way. Bobby asked Polly to put one on the upper cradle and one on the lower so they would take different arcs. She obliged and again the targets were turned to dust.

"Let’s get Davey to throw three; I don’t want your arm to get tired before you show off for us." Suggested Bobby

"Happy to be of service," said Davey and he took the launcher from Polly and loaded the maximum number of targets onto the launcher.

"Whenever you’re ready let them fly."

Davey gave a mighty heave and the targets whizzed across the range much faster than earlier. Bobby took the low one first and then shot the other two just after they reached the peak of their arc.

"Geez!" exclaimed Drew. "I’ve never seen anything like that before. How’d you learn to do that?"

"Practice; lots and lots of practice,"

"That’s so cool. I’d like to learn to shoot like that."

"I think you could in time, we’ll need to build up those arms of yours a bit but there’s no reason you can’t learn to do it."

"How long did it take you?"

"About eight months, but I already knew how to shoot," Bobby replied.

"How many can you shoot in one go?"

"Eight is the most I ever shot at one round. Grampa ran the big launcher and Davey had to throw two more on top of that. Ordinarily, you would use a shotgun to shoot clays and three rounds is the max you can load in a pump-gun or a semi-auto. So six is the max on the launcher."

"Maybe I could try a shotgun next time," suggested Drew.

"Sure, we have a .410 over under that you could try it out with. We should have brought it along."

"Oww crap!" exclaimed Polly as she doubled over.

"Davey ran to her side "What’s wrong Honey?! Can I help?"

"Calm down," Polly said "It’s just a cramp; it will pass off in a moment. I think it’s coming on my time."

"Okay," said Davey "I understand now. Let’s get you back to the house for some heat packs and whatever else you figure you need."

"Thanks sweetie, can you and Bobby clear up here? I’d like Drew to ride back with me," asked Polly

"Whatever you need Darlin’, you two go on ahead and we’ll catch up."

Drew was apprised of the situation and he did what was asked of him. He unloaded his rifle and put the unfired rounds back in the box. Then he laid the rifle on the bench with the action open.

"Is it okay if I pee before we leave?" he inquired of Polly.

"Sure sweetie, we have plenty of time, I’m not going to turn into a slathering beast for at least a couple hours yet."

"I’ll be quick all the same," Drew said as he headed for the outhouse.

"I’m sorry to spoil you boy’s fun," Polly said

"Aw Polly, there’s no need to feel sorry. We’ll always take care of you first, we can goof off anytime," said Bobby

"You boys are so sweet."

When Drew returned he had their horses in tow.

"Did somebody call a Cob?" he grinned, referring to the stout little horse that Polly had been riding that morning.

Everyone groaned but agreed that it was a very clever pun. He would get top marks for that one.

Bobby took the reins for Polly’s horse and held the stirrup for her to mount. Once she was mounted he handed her the reins.

Geez guys!" Polly said, "I’m not crippled, just a little uncomfortable. But thank you. You’re both very sweet.

Bobby walked to Drew’s left side and pulled Drew’s foot from the stirrup; replacing it with his own, he raised himself up to Drew and planted a kiss on his lips. Drew blushed but kissed back.

"See you back at the house sexy," Bobby said as he hopped down.

Drew grinned and wheeled the horse around to follow Polly. When he caught up to her she smiled at him.

"I asked for you to come along with me so we could have a talk," she said.

"Um okay, What about?"  Drew asked.

"Two things, I want you to know I value you as a friend and I’m very sorry if I made you feel bad earlier. I’d trust you with any secret I have. I just don’t have that many. So we are okay on that score I hope. And besides I feel bad about asking you to lie. That was wrong of me. And especially to Bobby, he obviously loves you to pieces.

Considering what he did for strangers imagine what he would do to keep you safe. He’s got that same protector mentality that his Grampa has. Understand that he will always put himself at risk for you. It's part of him, Davey’s the same way. None of them would willingly hurt anyone but they will if they have to, do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand," said Drew gravely. "It means I could lose him or you could lose Davey because they would give themselves to make us safe. I figured that out earlier with the bear. What was the second thing? You said there were two things you wanted to talk about."

"Oh right." said Polly. "I wanted to answer your question from this morning; if you really want to know. As you know Davey is pretty large in that department and I expect Bobby is headed the same way. I couldn’t get much of Davey in my mouth without gagging, so I gave it some thought."

"You know you can’t go into the library and ask for a book about accommodating your boyfriend’s big cock, so I asked for a book on sword swallowing. It had a couple of methods of defeating the gag reflex like practicing on bananas or carrots. It took me a week of practicing but man was Davey happy. He is the only guy I ever had sex with but I have brothers so I know what an average size erection looks like."

"Wow thanks Polly!" Drew said excitedly." I didn’t think you would really answer that question. I would never have thought of sword swallowing though, but now it seems obvious. Most people would say we shouldn’t be doing it anyway. I just want you to know how much I appreciate what you just told me. Bobby is the first boy I ever did this sort of thing with."

"What do you like best about him, if you had to pick just one thing?" Polly asked.

"That’s easy, his smell," said Drew "I love the smell of him, especially after he’s been working and built up a sweat. After I used my shirt to bandage that little boy Grampa handed me Bobby’s shirt that he left in the jeep. It really smelled like he’d been working hard and I loved it."

"I know what you mean," said Polly. Davey smells so wonderful at the end of the day I just want to crawl all over him."

"I really like it when Bobby showers early in the evening and then gets a little sweaty and comes to bed because he smells more like him than soap. It’s such a major flag for me. But he’s so fastidious I won't get to have him that way very often. Maybe if I told him how good he smells to me he’d cool it with the showers a little. It’s kind of unfair to expect him to read my mind."

"That’s how I got Davey to tone it down a little with the soap. I told him flat out how horny his smell made me so he stopped showering at the college before coming over. I think Bobby will be willing to accommodate you on that point. I think maybe he’s afraid of offending you with his sweaty body smell." 

"Thanks, for telling me all this Polly, it really means a lot to me."

"You’re a sweet boy Drew, and you and Bobby deserve all the happiness you can get."

They rode together past the stables and up to the gate. Drew hopped down and opened the gate. Polly rode through and led Drew’s mount through the gate as well. Drew closed the gate and walked along with Polly and the horses the short distance to the house.

Once Polly was safely inside the house Drew led the horses back to the stables and as Bobby had shown him took care of their needs. And put all the tack away. By the time he had finished tending to the horses his arms ached but he decided he kind of liked that. It felt good to do something physical and useful. And the horses that two days ago made him nervous were now his friends. He thought he could get used to this. It would be nice. He helped as much as he could at the hospital but there’s only so much a boy his age will be allowed to do. He was bored there a lot of the time. The little cob Polly had been riding nuzzled him as he leaned on the fence. So he scratched her head and then Gypsy moved in for some attention as well. Both horses looked up as Bobby and Davey approached. Drew turned to see his lover slide out of his saddle with practiced grace. He led Sherpa over and hugged Drew and kissed him.

"Is Polly okay?" Bobby asked.

"She’s fine; she’s up at the house. She said it was just menstrual cramps. My Mom gets them; they can be very unpleasant I guess. Kind of like getting kicked in the nuts every fifteen minutes. It tends to make women a bit cranky."

"Oww! That sounds very unpleasant. Davey better keep his head down around her."

"Oh I’ve been through this before." Davey offered." I rub her feet and feed her ice cream and do whatever she tells me."

Drew giggled. "That’s what I do for Mom plus I take care of dinner and any chores that need doing. But mostly I try to leave her be. She doesn’t get them every time but when she does, look out!"                                                                

"Pardon me for sounding stupid but what is cramping, their belly muscles?" asked Bobby

"Oh no Bobby," said Drew. "You see the uterus is really a muscular pouch that expands and contracts and sometimes it spasms, causing pain. Mom says it’s not that different from labor pains, just not as intense."

"I didn’t know; I’ve never been around that before."

The boys chatted a bit longer and then set about getting the horses stabled and the tack put away. Between the three of them they lugged all the rifles and ammo back to the house.

When Polly and Drew had arrived at the house Polly dismounted and gave Drew a kiss on the cheek for being so gallant and protective. She paused to watch Drew lead the horses away and then went inside.

On the service porch she unloaded her revolver and removed the gun belt, then she sat in a chair with a boot jack attached and removed her riding boots and carried them with her to the kitchen.