Survivors IX

[aurelius]

Survivors IX:  41-43

 

 

41

 

It took Zuberi, Xander, Garin, Lateef, me and Abari to carry the snake out of the jungle.  Men along the way congratulated us, and Garin finally was able to boast a little: “My little brother Abari has become a man today!”  But there was no boasting from Amare or the rest of us.  We were just glad to have survived and protected the life of our youngest brother.

 

As before, we took the snake to the fireplace.  But Amare and my dad had to rearrange the boulders and stones again, since this snake was bigger than mine.  And all of us sons had to scour the hill and the trees all the way to Zuberi and Xander’s house to find wood for the fireplace.

 

As if knowing what we were thinking, Garin said, “But we have to invite Akhom and Tafari, Menes and Shakir, and Aki and Babu—we have to invite at least those guys!”

 

“Yes, of course,” said Amare.  And so Garin ran off up the hill.  And then Amare turned to Zuberi and Xander:  “And perhaps there are some of your defense force friends who would like to help Abari celebrate his manhood.”

 

“Of course there are, Dad,”  Zuberi said, and he and Xander headed off to the training field.  Meanwhile, Lateef and I were sent to the pool to fill up five jugs of water.

 

“Are you over your shock?”  he asked on the way.

 

“I’m getting over it.  Like Abari, I thought his snake would be the size of my snake.  I was not prepared for how much danger he was in.  I felt like I could lose him—that we would fail to protect him, and—“ and I couldn’t finish.  I turned and grabbed on to Lateef.  He hugged me.  I didn’t cry, but I was close to it.  I let out several big breaths before finally saying, quietly, “I’ve built so much of my life around him.  I was afraid I would lose him.”

 

Lateef held me at arm’s length:  “But you didn’t.  It was a scare, but our brothers are strong young men and Amare is probably the strongest man on the island.  That big snake never had a chance.”

 

“So,” I said, smiling, “has living with Garin meant that you’ve learned to boast like him?”

 

“Probably.”  Lateef smiled and put his arm around my shoulders.  I put my arm on his.  We walked that way most of our way to the pool.

 

We came back to a beach filled with the strong young men of the defense force.  They all wanted to help Abari celebrate becoming a man.  We heard repeated versions of “Congratulations on becoming a man!”  And in the middle of the host of muscle men stood Abari, smiling as if this was the present he most wanted in his young life.  We set down our jugs of water and joined the throng.

 

Amare had already cut out a cock pouch for his son.  Abari wore it proudly.  He already had more muscle than when I first wore my cock pouch.  He wasn’t self-conscious at all.  Of course, it helps if you’re standing next to your dad and your dad is the biggest man on the island.  

 

It appeared that Zuberi, Xander and my dad were tending the fires and roasting the snake.  And the snake was taking a while to roast.   Zuberi and Xander turned the snake so that it would cook.  Amare had already cut out several other cock pouches, which were drying on a boulder near the fireplace.  Akhom and Tafari were chatting with Menes and Shakir, Aki and Babu; they went over to offer congratulations to Abari—and for Babu to hand Abari another wooden carving.  It was of a boy with a slingshot—very well done, with excellent detail.  And yes, it looked like the boy was Abari; his lips were full and he looked Nubian.  Abari gave Babu a big hug:  “Look, Jabar!  Babu made a toy of me with my slingshot!”  Of course we hugged.  The dangerous snake was fading away.

 

And yes, someone said we should play a game of coconut again.  They asked Zuberi and Xander if they would choose teams, and Zuberi said: “Why not the same teams?  We’re pretty evenly matched.  But this time, we’ll win!”  To which Xander said, “You really think so?  Same teams—same result!”  But he smiled as he said it and then he kissed his lover.  As someone went to knock down a coconut and the two teams formed, one of Xander’s teammates said to him, “Since your little brother is now a man, you have no reason to hold yourself back—bring your brother down!”

 

As before, my dad was asked to start the game and settle disputes.  The two teams lined up and faced each other.  My dad threw the coconut in between the lines and the game began.  I once again sat with Lateef and my dad.  But this time Abari sat next to his dad—he was no longer a child.  I could see a bit of sadness in Amare’s eyes.  He turned to my dad who put his arm around his lover’s shoulders.

 

Once again, Lateef and I smiled as we saw the muscled arms of young men straining to latch on to an opponent’s arm.   And we smiled at each other as we watched the coconut being carried and young men trying to bring down the runner.  But this time I felt a difference: the strong young men before me—some of them had been captured and were on their way to being slaves; and all of us could have been killed.  So it was important both to think about the dangers and also to enjoy the power and strength of all these bodies before us.  And, once again, Abari enjoyed it most.  He was the guest of honor.  He said “Go Garin!” when his brother got the coconut, but he didn’t seem to mind it when Xander did indeed bring Zuberi down and stole the coconut away.  And Abari didn’t jump up and down; he stayed seated next to his dad, his hand on his dad’s massive leg.  That was a crucial image—as if Abari knew that his dad saved him; that he was alive because of his dad.

 

As the sun started to go down, the game had not been decided.  The score was tied.  But everyone was tired, so the game ended.  Once again, men embraced, kissed, laughed with each other.  Xander and Zuberi shared a long, passionate kiss in the middle of the beach.  Abari looked at me and pointed his thumb at them, but that was all.  I simply smiled back.

 

As the guests left, we went up to our fathers’ house.  We sat down for evening water.  Amare raised his cup and said,  “I drink to your manhood, Abari!”  My dad was next, followed by Zuberi and Xander and Garin and Lateef.  I hesitated.  I wanted to say more than the standard phrase, so I stood up:  “Abari, my brother,” I said; I wanted to do this right and not break into tears: “I learned today that one of my greatest fears is losing you.  We have been through a lot together.  We have found wonderful fathers and we have wonderful brothers.”—but I could feel the tears filling up my eyes.  “I drink to your manhood, my brother; I hope we will always be together!”  It seemed like Abari was just waiting for me to shut up.  He leaped to his feet and threw his arms around my neck.  Of course we cried together.

 

Later, after the goodbye rituals, after Xander and Zuberi, Lateef and Garin had left, it was clear that Abari was anxious to go to the lookout.  I could only imagine what he and his dad had said to each other, although I had a pretty good idea about what would happen in the lookout.  Abari came over to me as Amare stood in the doorway with a torch.  “Jabar, you know I want muscle; you know I will grow big.  But I want to repeat what I said before: you will always be my big brother.  I love you!”  We hugged and kissed and he left with his dad.

 

“That was a beautiful, what you said to Abari at evening water,” my dad said.

 

“I had to say it; the regular words wouldn’t do.  I was deeply scared today when it looked like the snake would crush him.  Lateef knows how deeply scared was.”

 

“I can imagine,” my dad said.  “But I think I know how to help.  Come here; we’ll cuddle.”

 

“Oh, Dad!“  And I ran to my dad; he put his big arm around me and we cuddled on his bed for awhile.  I finally felt at peace after a scary day.  My dad knew me and knew what I needed.  It was a relief!

 

I must have fallen asleep in my dad’s arms.  I woke up in my own bed.  I noticed that there was a large young man sleeping in Amare’s bed.  Amare was over at the table, pouring water into cups.  My dad had his arms around his lover; he was kissing Amare’s neck, and they seemed to be swaying.  I finally figured out that the large young man in Amare’s bed was Abari.

 

I got up, walked over to my fathers and whispered, “Is that—?”

 

Yes,” Amare also whispered, “That large young man used to be your little brother.”

 

My dad said softy, “Pick your jaw up from the floor, Jabar.  You knew this day would come.  Well, it’s here.  Your little brother is now bigger than you!“

 

I went over and looked down at Abari.  He was beautiful—even more beautiful than Xander.  His muscles were everywhere: big legs, big arms, and although he was curled up on his side, it seemed he would have a big chest too.

 

“Come here, Jabar,” my dad whispered.  “Let him sleep.  He grew a lot last night and he needs his sleep.”  So the three of us sat on the floor and started to drink morning water.

 

 

42

 

We were quiet for as long as we could be.  But some things never change.  Eventually Lateef and Garin came over and Garin poked his head in and said. “Is he big?”  And of course he said it in his normal voice.  We all shushed him, but it didn’t matter.  Soon the large young man in Amare’s bed moved, then moved some more, then started to stretch.  I suddenly wondered if he would still want to play with his toys from Babu.

 

“Good morning, my son!” Amare said as he got up and went over to Abari.  “How are you feeling?”

 

Abari mumbled something that sounded like, “Fine, Dad.”  But then he rolled over and looked up at his dad.  Amare was smiling.  “Dad, why are you smiling?”

 

“Because you have changed a lot since you sucked my cock at the lookout.”

 

“I have?”

 

“Yes.  Here, let me help you to get up.  You’re going to have to take your time today and learn about your bigger body.”

 

Amare extended his hand.  Abari took his dad’s hand and tried to get up—and sat down again. “This is harder than I thought,” he said.

 

“And it will be for awhile.  You are lot bigger than you were yesterday.”  The rest of us, seated for morning water, were all smiles.

 

Finally, Amare was able to help Abari up, and I could see just how much bigger Abari was—he was nearly as tall as his dad.  And he nearly had as much muscle.  He was actually bigger than Garin, who let out one of his expressions: “Whoa!”

 

“My lover and our sons, let me present to you our new man—Abari!”

 

“Welcome, Abari!”  we said, nearly in unison.  It seemed Garin was having some difficulty as he learned that Abari was bigger than he was.  Lateef poked my arm and nodded his head toward his lover.  He smiled; I smiled.

 

Amare guided Abari over to the rest of us.  He said, “Take your time sitting down,” and Abari did that.

 

“Look, Jabar,” said a deeper voice coming out of my once-little brother, “I’m bigger!”

 

“You certainly are,” I said.  “And you are beautiful!”  Abari dipped his head and smiled.  I turned to Amare and said, “I doubt if you can throw your youngest son like you used to.”

 

“No, I can’t.  But—“  and here he smiled a devilish grin, “I’ll bet he could throw you!”  I laughed.  “Of that I have little doubt!”

 

But the idea landed in Abari’s head:  “Jabar!  Will you let me throw you?”  He asked with such innocence.  My dad learned over to me and said, “Just go with it.  As someone whose lover has done this to me several times, just go with it.”

 

“Promise you won’t throw me too high or too far?”

 

“Of course not!  I love you, Jabar!”  My now-big brother was all innocence.  I couldn’t say “No”.

 

So, after morning water—and after Abari drank several cups of water—we all went down to the shore and out into the water.  Amare had his hand on Abari’s shoulder the whole way from the house to the water—which wasn’t all that encouraging.  But since we’d be in the water, I didn’t think I’d get hurt.

 

I went in the water first; Abari came in after me.  “I promise I won’t hurt you, Jabar.”  Then he put his big hands on my body—and suddenly I was lifted up.  And just as suddenly, I was launched into the air!  I splashed into the water and hit my butt on the bottom of the bay.  I snorted and struggled to get up.  “Maybe if you do that again, we should be further out in the bay.” 

 

“Oh!  I’m sorry!  I didn’t think of that!  I didn’t mean to hurt you!  Can I try to throw you again?”  Abari was all innocence—a part of him was still six years old.  He was all smiles.  And I loved him.

 

After I had gotten up, I went over to Abari.  Instead of turning around for him to throw me again, I put my lips against his and kissed him.  And I felt his big, powerful muscles with my hands.  And I felt Abari kissing me deeply: his tongue went into my mouth and for a few moments we were lost to the rest of the world.  

 

Our brothers and fathers were all smiling when we finally broke.  Abari looked a little shocked.  I softly said to him: “I love you and you are so beautiful—I just had to do that.  Besides, I don’t want be thrown again, so I thought maybe a kiss would be almost as good.”

 

Abari looked at me and said, “I loved throwing you, but this was pretty good, too!”  And we both smiled and hugged.

 

“But I still want to throw you again!”  And he picked me up, carried me further into the bay, and did just that.  At least this time I didn’t hit my butt against the bottom of the bay.

 

And so I swam to him, stood up, and splashed him ferociously.  He loved it, trying to splash me back, but soon he was doubled over, laughing.  I kept walking toward him, still splashing him until I reached him and pulled him up by his arm.  And we hugged and kissed again.

 

Our brothers and fathers were soon in the water, with everyone splashing everyone else, with Garin throwing Lateef in the air and Xander and Zuberi wrestling to see if either of them could throw the other in the air.  However, I noticed that Amare did not try to throw my dad in the air.  Instead, they splashed a little and put their arms around each other, enjoying the spectacle of all their sons splashing and playing in the water.

 

 

43

 

Abari and I chose the place for our new house.  It was a little ways up the hill, a little higher than Lateef and Garin’s house, a little ways toward Xander and Zuberi’s house.  We could easily walk to the Lookout Tree, but I didn’t want to climb too high, and Abari—now heavier than Garin—couldn’t climb too high without damaging the tree.  The Lookout Tree was to be Lateef’s place, and his alone, from now on.

 

I don’t know if we were curious or if it was just fun for Lateef and me to watch our fathers and brothers pulling young trees out by their roots to make room for our new house.  I remembered Amare saying that the men who were new to the island did “childish things” like pulling up trees.  Lateef and I watched our more muscular brothers and fathers make a clearing for the house in a few minutes.  Abari was sure I could pull up a tree too: “Come on, Jabar!  I’m sure you can do it too!”

 

“No, my love, Lateef and I are having too much pleasure watching you guys flex your muscles!”  Instead of destroying trees, Lateef and I gathered the young wood and took a few trips down the hill, putting the young wood behind the fireplace, in the spot where we had spent the night before the invasion. The wood would dry out and be ready the next time a shark attacked or someone wanted to use the fireplace to cook a snake.  

 

But Lateef and I were strong enough to break off several branches we could use to dig trenches for the stone slabs.  Our fathers mainly did this chore, since they had built three houses together.  Our fathers were very fast in digging trenches.  Lateef and I tried to keep up but we kept hearing “Keep it straight, Lateef” and “Dig deeper, Jabar” several times.  I learned the trench had to be at least three hands deep, so that the slab wouldn’t fall over easily.  Lateef and I were no match for our fathers: they each finished two trenches while we only finished one each.

 

But our fathers had finished enough trenches so that stone slabs carried by Xander, Zuberi and Garin could be put in the earth right away.  I wasn’t sure why Zuberi was wearing a small rope wrapped around his wrist, but I would learn why later.  Abari had to wait to put his in the earth—which I think was probably fine with him.  He was big and strong, but he was still pretty young.  As he leaned his slab against a larger tree, he panted some.  But once Lateef and I had finished our trenches, Abari put his slab in the earth.   Then he ran off to join his older brothers, to bring back a couple more slabs for the walls and some slabs for the roof.

 

I loved watching Abari.  I loved watching his powerful muscles shine in the sun or flex as he carried stone slabs.  And Amare said that he would probably put on even more muscle.  It took a few days for Garin to accept that Abari was bigger than he was.  But he, Abari, Xander and Zuberi formed their own wrestling club: they would spend hours on the beach, trying out new wrestling moves, seeing which one could take the other down.  And at evening water a few days after Abari’s snake feast, Zuberi and Xander finally brought over the necklaces Zuberi had made for our fathers: an ankh for Amare and a lightning bolt for my dad.  Our fathers were actually surprised—you could see it in their faces and as they looked at each other with tears in their eyes.  Zuberi tied the necklace around his dad; Xander tied the necklace around his dad.  And as they embraced and kissed their sons, I felt an extra pride that I had helped free Xander and Zuberi from slavery.

 

As our family was putting up our new house, Akhom and Tafari came over for a visit.  Akhom carried a stone table top for our house; Tafari carried the supports.  We were so far up the hill and along the way, we were nearly neighbors to them.  And of course, Akhom welcomed Abari to come by the quarry any time he liked—and Garin too—to lift slabs and learn more about the quarry.  It seemed that Abari and I were quickly becoming a foursome with Lateef and Garin: Lateef was my closest brother, and Abari wanted to be closer to Garin.  All of us loved Zuberi and Xander, but Abari and I simply felt more at home with Lateef and Garin.  However, Abari never did start playing pranks on me, the way Garin still liked to do with Lateef.

 

We received another visit as we were putting up our house: Aki and Babu came across the grassy field.  Babu was carrying something dark.  Lateef signaled Babu to hold back for a while, and they did.   Then I suggested we all take a break and take some water back at our fathers’ house.  “Why?” said our dad.  “Because you’re an old man—you said so yourself!”  Lateef said with a grin.  Amare agreed with Lateef, so we gathered the slab-bearers and went down to our father’s house.  Garin looked out toward the grassy field and figured out what was going on, but Lateef gave him look and Garin kept his mouth shut.

 

When we were settled, Aki and Babu came in, with Babu carrying the carved shark before him.  It was splendid.  “And look!”  Abari said, “the shark’s teeth are sharp and scary!”  Sometimes he just couldn’t help being a six year old.  We all chuckled.  Amare and our dad stood up to receive the shark.  They complimented Babu on his skill.  Zuberi unwound the small rope he had on his wrist and showed how it would hold up the shark.  He and Babu took the shark over to the table, took down one of the water jugs that hung there and placed the shark.  Zuberi turned and said, “To remind you of your strength and teamwork!”  Cups of water were found for Aki and Babu and we brothers all toasted our fathers.

 

The position of our house was also useful in another way; when Amare came over to have Abari suck his cock, I went down to Garin and Lateef’s—and Abari did the same when my dad came by.  I took things very slowly with Abari and our sex life.  We talked about it.  Abari was eager to suck my cock—as I was to suck his—but he was not eager to fuck me or be fucked.  As Lateef had said, it would take some time for Abari to want to take that step; the soldiers had hurt him too much.   I understood, of course—and he loved me for my understanding.

 

I brought my bed up from our fathers’ house, and Abari brought up his—a bed which Zuberi had brought from the ship.  But we put our beds together and most nights we ended up on one or the other bed.  Because we always went to sleep with either Abari holding me, or me holding him.  Both of us loved and missed the feel of our fathers holding us, and so we went to sleep with one of us holding the other.  We loved the feel of the other’s arm around us.  In many ways, it was the most important thing we did; we always wanted to wake up in each other’s arms.

 

 

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