Sebastion's Folly

The Big Eight +2 Charles  Eric  Liam  Noah Oliver Elijah  James  William  Benjamin  Lucas  It took a couple of weeks before it all fell into place but when it did it was a thing of beauty for sure. I had been part of a four that melded really well when we were all first semester novice rowers - the coach put us together with a good coxswain and told us to "Make it happen!"  We went on to have a great fall season, long head races,  and then the Spring season, short sprints, was really something. We used to row with the pack until about midway and then we'd start pulling away further and further ahead of them all.  We were pretty notorious too - all five of us were poorly closeted gay boys - as long as we weren't too obvious about it in public no one cared much. We were roommates  and boat mates and we spent a lot of time together on and off the water.  We weren't able to stay together beyond our novice season though - deman...

Winter training had gotten underway - it was just after Thanksgiving and not exactly the "dead of winter" just yet but it was cold and wet and gray. The rowing team had participated in the last regatta of the Fall season and now we just got ourselves ready to take on the last weeks of the semester - grades were first priority but working out, conditioning, rehabbing sore bodies, became our emphasis.  Recruiting was another priority. If the fellas knew anyone who might be interested in joining and might actually want to sign up they would bring them to the student gym/field house and see what we could do to hook them in.   The squad worked out hard - sweat dripping, huffing and puffing, the occasional collapse to the floor - it was an odd sort of recruiting dance that the other coaches would watch and shake their heads. "I don't know how the hell you get away with torturing these boys this way and still keep getting them to join!"  "It's my sincere smile...

I met Peter in the gym in late December. The rowing teams "Holiday workout season" was pretty much done but we had caught his attention. He approached me one day as I was finishing up my personal workout. We chatted about crew and about how things were run - the fact that we'd be breaking up for Christmas and then coming back in January and doing a lot of hard core workouts - conditioning, strength, strategies - race and competition etc...   We quickly established he was a coffee lover and we'd gotten together a few times in the evening to compare notes. A lot of flirting and teasing went on and he had me wondering if I had misread the signals. He worked out with me a few afternoons in the last week before I left town - he wore short black shorts and a dark gray, long sleeved, shirt that zippered up the front.  "Are these the kind of shorts you want us to wear in the boat?" he asked with a sly smile on his handsome, boyish, face.  "Yes - those would do ...

 Joseph had a way of looking right at you and never looking away - if he ever did look away he got you to look with him. As if it wasn't his fault you caught him looking - it was yours. He had eyes that pierced your brain - a smile that was just enough to make you want more but never too much. He had a body that was slender with budding muscles. He was a swimmer originally but I managed to recruit him away from the team - his would be coach wasn't too happy about that but he took it in stride.  "Joseph's a hot little fellow. Where do you think you'l use him?"  "Anywhere he wants me too!"  "You're am evil person."  I just smiled and nodded my head. Joseph came into the office with his gym bag in hand.  "Ok. I guess I have everything." He said and stood next to me.  We walked out of the office and through the locker room and as we headed down the main hall to exit he asked about getting some coffee. "Are we still on for cof...