Bobby and Clyde by Etienne

Bobby and Clyde by Etienne

Author:Etienne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mm contemporary fiction
Publisher: Etienne


Chapter 37

Western NC

November 1968-Saturday

BOBBY AND Clyde were up early Saturday morning. Bobby used the last of the liniment on Clyde’s back, and they were dressed for hiking when they walked into the kitchen.

“You boys headed up the mountain this morning?” Bobby’s father said.

“Yes, Sir,” Bobby said. “We’ll stop by the cave, then Clyde wants to show me another cave on the other side of the ridge.”

“Excuse me a minute,” Bobby’s father said, and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with a bundle in his hands. “Put these in your pockets, just in case, boys.” He handed each of them a handgun and a quantity of ammunition. “I know both of you are well-qualified to use firearms, and it’s better to have a gun and not need it, than to need a gun and not have one.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Bobby said. “Let’s hope we won’t need them.”

“I hope so, too, Son, but there’s nothing wrong with being prepared.”

“How’s your back today, Clyde?” Bobby’s mother asked from the island, where she was busy cooking.

“It’s a lot better thanks, Mrs. B,” Clyde said.

“I used up the last of the Absorbine Jr. this morning,” Bobby said. “I’ll go get some more of it this evening.”

“Don’t worry about it,” his mother said, “I have to go grocery shopping later, so I’ll add it to my shopping list.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Bobby said.

They ate a huge breakfast, and headed up the mountain without stopping, until they were inside the cave. They flashed their torches around the inside of the cave, and Bobby said, “This will always be a special place for us, won’t it?”

“Yeah. Lots of good memories here… and one bad one.”

“True, but the good trumps the bad, doesn’t it?” Bobby said.

“Man, you said a mouthful there,” Clyde said. He grabbed Bobby and kissed him thoroughly.

They kissed for a long time, until Bobby released Clyde’s mouth long enough to say, “I wish we had those sleeping bags with us this morning.”

“Yeah. That dirt floor might be okay for a bed in the summertime, but not now.”

“That’s okay. We’ll be back in my bed soon enough.”

“Not soon enough for me, but it’ll have to do,” Clyde said.

“Meanwhile, let’s record our presence.”

“Yeah.”

They found a blackened stick in the remains of the old fire, and took turns inscribing their names and the date on the wall.

“What’s this?” Clyde said, as he retrieved a slip of paper from under a pebble.

“When I saw you’d been here after only one year, I left you a note.”

Clyde opened the note and read what it said. “Clever. You didn’t give anything away that a stranger would understand.”

“That was the idea, buddy. Clyde, I just thought of something.”

“Yeah?”

“How did your father find us in this cave back then? Did he know about it?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he did,” Clyde said. “He used to spend a lot of time on the ridge hunting, even when it wasn’t legal to do so. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn he’d somehow stumbled onto the cave, pretty much the same way I did.



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