Chapter 18

Mom was in the kitchen when I got home. I was going to say hello, but the itch in my crotch was getting so bad that I went into the bathroom to check it out. There were specks of blood in my shorts and around my balls when I pulled my pants down. I panicked! What did I have? Was it VD? Was I going to die of some dreaded disease? The itch was killing me, and I looked in the medicine cabinet for something to stop it. The only thing I could find was some athlete’s foot spray, so I grabbed it and sprayed myself. The cool spray felt good for a split second, then it started to BURN! My crotch suddenly was on fire, so I turned the shower on to wash it off, but the water was freezing! I ran around fanning myself with my hands while I waited for the water to get warm. I finally couldn’t stand it anymore and just ran into the shower. It wasn’t hot yet and the cold water hit me like a knife. I jumped and my feet slipped on the floor and I fell, hitting my head. I quickly got up, grabbed the soap, and started washing. It immediately started to feel better, but the itch was still there, and then I noticed blood running down my arm. I crouched in the shower. The water was warm now, but I was miserable. I itched, my head hurt, and I was dying from the clap, VD, or something. I was scared! The bathroom door flew open just then and Mom rushed in.

“What’s happening? Is that you, Pete? I heard a noise! Did you fall?” She opened the shower door and saw me huddled on the floor.

“Are you OK, Pete? What happened?”

I jumped up and threw my arms around her. She grabbed a towel and started drying me off, then she checked out the bump on my head and stuck a Band-Aid on it. “OK, let’s talk,” she said, as she led me into the bedroom and handed me my robe.

I said, “Mom, I think that I have a disease!”

Her face went white and she said, “Tell me exactly what’s wrong!” I told her about the itching and the blood in my shorts. “Let me see” she said, and she opened my robe and started looking at me. She took hold of my penis and closely looked at my balls. I started to get hard. She smiled at first, then she got a disgusted look on her face and said, “Well, I see the problem.” Still looking at my hardening penis, she said, “You’ll have to tell me where this has been after we get your problem taken care of. Get dressed, we have to go for a ride.”

We drove to the drugstore and she took me to the pharmacy. A girl stepped up when we got to the counter. It was Karen, someone who I recognized from school. I was mortified! Mom saw the look on my face and said, “May we speak to a druggist?”

Karen said, “Of course,” and went to the rear. Out came a tall man. He had sandy hair and was well-built. He came up to Mom, gave her a look and a smile and said, “Hi, Beth, how can I help?”

Mom said to me, “Go ahead and tell him your problem.” I plaintively looked at her, “MOM!”

She said, “You got yourself into this, now tell him your problem.” Dying from embarrassment, I started to describe my itching and the blood in my shorts. He stopped me after a few sentences, and said, “Follow me.” He took me to a counter, handed me a small box, and said, “Read the directions.”

He smiled at Mom when we went back to the counter, and said, “He’ll be fine.” Mom handed me some money and I went to pay the bill while she chatted with the druggist. We drove back to the house in silence. Mom kept shaking her head and making “Tsk, tsk, tsk” noises. She said, “Do what it says on the box, then we have to talk,” when we got home. I went to the bathroom and read the directions. They said that the product was for body lice, commonly known as ‘Crabs’. Reading farther, it said, ‘The infected area is generally around the genitals, but infestation can also occur in the eyebrows, underarms, and facial hair. Shave the infested area for immediate results.’

Well, I didn’t have a beard or mustache, and my pits and eyebrows felt OK, so I got Dad’s shaving cream out and soaped up my crotch. Shaving was tough, and I was being very careful. The front part went easy. I held my dick up and began shaving my balls until I started to get hard. That made things easier because I could use both hands. I was feeling a lot better and I thought about getting myself off, but I knew that Mom was waiting to talk to me, so I took a quick shower and rubbed the ointment on.

Mom was waiting for me in the den and I sat down beside her. “You were in there a long time. Did you follow the directions?”

“Yeah, It just took me a while to clean things up.”

“Clean things up? What did you do?” She leaned over, opened my robe, and started laughing.

“Why did you shave?”

“Because the directions said to.”

“That’s only for severe cases! It’s going to tickle when it starts to grow back.” then she laughed some more. She got serious when she finished. “OK, fun’s over. I want you to tell me who you’ve been with lately, and I don’t want you to leave anything out.” I don’t lie to my mom, so I told her about Amy and Gladys even though I was embarrassed. I may have left out a few things about Gladys, but I think I gave her enough information.

“Well, it could be either one, but it sounds like it was Gladys from the way you describe her. You’ll have to talk to her about it. This should be a lesson to you. What you caught is relatively minor; but, just remember that it could have been a whole lot worse. I want you to get some condoms and keep them with you at all times. It wouldn’t have helped you with this problem, but it could prevent something worse from happening.”

“OK Mom.” I said, and I started to get up.

“Whoa!” she said, “You have a lot of work to do.”

“What?”

“I want you to strip your bed, find all the clothes you’ve had on lately and wash everything, then I want you to thoroughly clean your room and spray disinfectant on everything.” So much for my weekend!

I was in homeroom Monday morning when the coach came in. He went to the teacher, said a few words, and they called me to the desk. The teacher said, “Coach tells me that he needs you every day before and after classes, so you are released from attending homeroom until he lets you go.”

I was tickled! I hated homeroom. All we did was gather and take roll. It was a waste of time. Now I could sleep in. Boy, was I wrong. There was an assembly after lunch. I saw Amy on the other side of the crowded room as we all filed in. I tried to get her attention, but there was too much noise. The assembly was about general school concerns -- tardiness, neatness, hall passes, etc. Then the talk was about various athletic programs and how we should all support them. They said there were openings on the cheerleading squad and asked for volunteers. Much to the delight of everyone, several members of the men’s basketball squad jumped up to volunteer. They then mentioned that a pro football player was going to stop by and visit the school. They finally said that the school board has passed a condom program, and that we should see our homeroom teachers about where to go to pick up the condoms and an information kit after the assembly.

I stopped by my homeroom after lunch where I was told to see Ms. Garmin because she was passing out the kits, so I stopped by to see her on the way to my next class. I was the last in line, so we were alone when I got to Ms. Garmin. She handed me the kit then asked me, “Do you know anything about carpentry?”

I was surprised, but I said, “Actually, I do. My dad’s hobby is carpentry and we have lots of tools -- why?” “The fence at my house needs repair and I have some other things that need fixing. I’ll be happy to pay you. Are you interested?” The thought of earning some extra money was great, so I said yes, and she told me she would let me know.

Science was my last class and I shared it with Amy. I wanted to talk to her, but she disappeared when it was over. I stepped out of the building and saw her just up the block, so I ran up and stepped in front of her. I said, “Are you ignoring me?”

Avoiding my gaze, she said, “No,” in a small voice.

“Did you ... uhh ... get your period?” I sheepishly asked.

She didn’t say anything for a minute. She finally said, “Yes.”

I sighed in relief and said, “See, I told you everything would be OK. I have to get to practice now, but I’ll talk to you later.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran off.

Football practice was tough. I had to be at school at seven every morning. The school had paved a lot next to the school, and opened it for kids to park, so I drove there now. We practiced till first period, and I was back on the field after classes almost till dark, then it was home, eat dinner, do homework, and fall into bed. The coach had decided that I was a running back. Vince, our quarterback, was throwing pass patterns to several of us at practice early in the week, when the coach called him over. I was close to him, so he flipped the ball to me, and said, “Try to hit some of the guys.”

I was throwing passes at them as they made cross-field runs when a guy quite a way downfield called for the ball. He was already 30 yards away and running fast, so I let a long one go. He made a leaping circus catch, and all the guys cheered for him, but I saw both Vince and the coach looking at me. The coach called me over and said, “Do you think you can do that again?” I said, “I think so.” Then he described a special play called a ‘Flea-Flicker’. It’s a play where the quarterback receives the snap of the ball and one of the running backs heads downfield. The other back (me) circles around behind him and the QB flips me the ball, but I throw a pass to the other back instead of running. It’s a good play, and the pros even use it, but it requires timing. We practiced it a bunch of times. The guys all felt ready by Thursday. The first game was after school the next day, and we were all excited. The coach let us go after a short practice session. He said that we were as ready as we were going to get.

Dad was home from his trip. He was excited about watching me play when I told him about the game, and said that he and Mom would be at the game. I asked if I could go to the drive-in to meet the guys after dinner. Dad said, “Sure, but be home early. You need your rest for tomorrow. Bill was sitting at a back booth with some people when I got to the drive-in. He motioned me over when he saw me. One of them had a laptop computer and they were looking at pictures of some gorgeous naked girls, and talking about a party. Bill said, “The Gilroys hold a party after every game. It’s for the first string players, but they’ll include a new guy once in a while if he does well,” when I asked about it. He then leaned over to me and quietly said, “Do your best tomorrow, the parties are great.”

A girl walked up to me. I recognized with horror that it was Karen from the pharmacy. She saw the laptop and said, “You guys are all sick.” The guys laughed and one guy said, “Gee, Karen, we were just looking for pictures of you!” She laughed and said, “Fat chance,” then she looked at me and asked, “Is your Mom gonna be OK?” I said, “Uhh, yes she is, thanks for asking.” I was much relieved that she didn’t know that the problem was mine. She said, “That’s good! Have a good game tomorrow.” and she walked away.

We hung around for a while, and Tess, the girl who pointed Amy’s house out to me, saw me and walked over when I got up to leave.

“Have you talked to Amy?”

“No.”

“Well, don’t give up on her. She’s going through a lot with her mother and her brother.”

I gave her a puzzled look and asked, “What’s the problem?”

“Don’t you know?”

I shook my head. “I’d better let Amy tell you,” as she walked away.

I saw Gladys once or twice, but she was always with some of the older guys. It was just as well, since I didn’t know what to say to her anyway.

The game started at 4 o’clock Friday, and we got to the field right after class. The team plays 8 regular games during the semester. They are played after school on Fridays. The first four are with teams outside our league, and are called ‘practice’ games. The last four are league games, and we go into the finals if we win, and will probably play against one of the first four teams. So even if they’re practice games, the first ones are important because, aside from getting practice, we that also learn about the strengths of the other teams we might be playing if we make the finals. Last year had been a good one for the team, but one of the two best backs had graduated and the coach was trying to fill his position. One of the other backs who also tried out is named Lyle. He and I are both about the same skill level. I had worked especially hard over the last few weeks to get myself in the best possible shape because I knew that coach was looking at one of us as a first stringer. The coach decided to put both of us in for the first few plays so that we could get a taste of a regular game.

We won the coin toss and elected to receive. I looked over as we got set for the kickoff, and saw Mom, Dad, and Erin in the stands, and Amy was sitting with Tess a couple of rows below them. I was still looking at them when the crowd cheered. The next thing I knew, the ball was in the air coming toward me. I took off running to meet it and there was a flash to my right. Lyle had cut in front of me and caught the ball. An opposing player hit him just as he caught it, and the ball flew out of his hands --right into mine. The blockers were already there and I followed them down the field for a touchdown. A huge cheer went up from our stands. Mom and Dad were both on their feet, and so was Amy. We lined up for the extra point, but the kick was blocked and caught in the air by an opposing player. He took off with it. I went after him and tackled him on his ten-yard line. The game was a good one. Lyle caught a pass and ran for a TD, and so did I later.

The score was pretty close till the closing play. We were on our 40 yard line. It was 3rd and long – time for the ‘Flea Flicker’, the play we’d worked on so hard. The center handed the ball to the quarterback, who dropped back as Lyle took off for the end zone.

I looped behind the quarterback and he tried to flip the ball to me, but he got trapped by some onrushing defensive linemen. He fought free, but by the time he shook the tackler off and flipped the ball to me, Lyle was almost into the end zone. I took a deep breath and threw the ball as hard as I could. They later told me that it traveled almost 50 yards and it hit Lyle right in the chest. He walked over for an easy TD, and we won the game. Everyone was suddenly cheering, and my guys were banging me on my back as we ran to the locker room. We were getting undressed when the coach told both Lyle and me to see him after we got cleaned up. Several of the guys came over and congratulated me after the shower, so Lyle left before me. I was on the way to coach’s office just as Lyle came out. He yelled to a couple of the guys, “Hey, I made the team.”

I was devastated! I thought sure that I had done well in the game. I knocked at coach’s door and he said, “C’mon in and sit down, I’m on the phone.” He talked on the phone for what seemed like an hour. I sat there feeling sorry for myself all that time. He finally hung up and turned to me. “Good game -- how do you feel?”

“Gee, Coach, I’m kinda disappointed. I thought I had a good game, but you told Lyle that he made the team.” He laughed, got out of his chair and came over to me. He put his big paw on my shoulder and said, “He did make the team -- he’s your backup. You’re our new first-stringer, now go home and put on 20 pounds and grow 2 inches, and do it by Monday cause those league guys are gonna kick your ass!”

I was in heaven. I ran out the door and Mom, Dad, and Erin were waiting for me. I told them the news. Dad said that he was impressed and Mom said how happy she was for me. Even Erin said that she thought I did a great job. I was delirious. They asked me if I was coming right home, but I said I had some things to do. They said goodbye and I went looking for Amy. Bill called out as I was went outside, “You goin home?” I nodded yes and he said, “I’ll call you later.”

I didn’t see Amy anywhere so I started walking home. I went up and knocked on the door when I got to her house. Amy’s mother opened the door, but she didn’t look at me. She just turned and walked into the kitchen. The front door was wide open so that anyone walking by could see in. I stepped in and closed the door. “Uhh ... is Amy home?”

There was no answer, so I stepped into the kitchen. Amy’s mom was standing at the counter, staring out the window. She had a head of lettuce in her hand and was tearing off small pieces and putting them in a bowl. I heard a noise and looked into another room. There was a play crib on the floor and there was someone in it. It was a boy. He looked to be in his late teens. All he had on was a diaper. He was staring at me and shaking the bars on the crib. I looked back at Amy’s mom and she was staring at me too.

I said, “Uhh ... I’m Pete.”

“Amy likes Pete.”

“I like Amy too, is she here?”

“Amy’s not here. Mae’s not here either.” I slowly backed toward the front door and said, “Please tell Amy I was here”, and left.

Mom and Dad both came and gave me hugs and told me how happy they were for me when I got home. I told them what I had seen at Amy’s house. Dad looked at Mom for a minute, then he said to me, “Something is seriously wrong, Son. Is this Amy someone who you really like?” I thought for a while and finally made a decision.

“Yes, Dad, I haven’t known her for long, but I like her a lot.”

“Well, you need to talk to her about it. Let your mom and me know if there’s something we can do to help.”

The phone rang a while later. It was Bill. I told him what the coach had said and he said, “Yeah, that’s what I heard. You’re invited to the Gilroys’ party by the way.” I put my hand over the phone and asked, “Dad, can I go to a party at the Gilroys’ tonight?” Dad looked at Mom and they started laughing, then he said, “Sure, Son.” I told Bill and he said “We’ll pick you up around seven.” I was tired, so I lay down for a while, and Mom was shaking me the next thing I knew. “It’s after five, Son. You’d better have something to eat if you’re going to go out.”

I noticed that Mom had on a long dress with a low cut top, and I said, “Gee, Mom, you look great. Are you and Dad going out?” Yes, we’re having dinner with the Elkins and some friends, so we’ll probably be late. Your sister is spending the night at Kelly’s. Call Dad on his cell if you need anything.” She kissed me and left. I thought to myself that her ass, even at 35, was as cute as any girl at school as she walked away. I actually started to get hard when I was thinking about her, but I looked at the clock and decided that I’d better get up and get ready.

The phone rang around seven, but Bill and the guys honked out front just as it did, so I let the machine get it. We drove to an expensive part of town and pulled in front of a huge house. All the lights were on and there were cars everywhere. I said to Bill, “Who is this Gilroy guy, and why does he have these parties?” “He was a star player on the football team years ago. He donates money to the school, but he especially likes football, and he has a party after the first game of the season, another after the first league game, and another if we get into the finals. He throws a huge party and invites the other team too if we win the championship.” “What kind of business is he in?” “I think that he owns some hospitals or something.”

We went inside and the place was beautiful. It was very modern with lots of windows. There were tables of food everywhere and a disk jockey was playing records. I went to one of the tables and was picking through some food, when I heard someone say “Pete?” I looked around and didn’t see anyone familiar, but my eye was drawn to a girl in a black dress with gold trim. She was absolutely stunning. Her hair was long, black, and shimmered in the lights -- and her body was sensational! Her waist was tiny. Her hips formed a beautiful arch around an ass that could have been in a painting. Her breasts were large, but not too big. Her dress was cut just low enough that the house lights accentuated them. She walked toward me and and I saw flecks of gold in her dark eyes as she got near. I suddenly realized that it was Kristen! I must have been staring, because she walked up, and with a slight smile, she said, “You can close your mouth now, it’s really me.”