Lifebonded

Glossary of Australian terms used in this chapter

Poofter: Homosexual

Cut Lunch: Sandwiches

Damper: A Bush Loaf. Flour n' Water cooked in a camp oven

Dinky Di: Real Thing.

Stands out like Dog's Balls: Very obvious

Wowser: Very Straight, Conservative

Opened their lunch: passed wind. Farted.

Ocker: Uncultivated or boorish Australian

No Drama: Not to worry

I hate the winter months. It gets so damp and cold out here on the coast, and we almost never ever see any snow. Just rain, rain and then more rain.

Makes a person just downright sad at times. If that wasn't enough to put a poor sod down, I was stuck in Brother Mathis' math class. Last class in the

day and he has got to be the most boring teacher in all of Good Counsel's School for Boys, and there is quite a lot of competition for that title, I am afraid.

I really hated school so much more, especially since my mate Tay attended the local public school on the other side of town. At least if Tay had been there with me, school would have been a bit more bearable, but my parents wanted all their children to get a good Catholic Education. I can't imagine how that is going to help any of us to land decent employment later on in life. I have never once heard or read about someone with a degree in Religious History ever finding themselves in a well paying job. There are only three things you can do with such a degree.

1) Become a Catholic Priest.

2) Help re-write the Bible or other religious texts. Or

3) Teach the subject.

No way Raol. After what I have found with Tay, I definitely am not giving that up for God or Country. I turned my head slightly and spotted Jody. He's the new boy in our scout patrol and I had a meeting scheduled with him and Jon after school that day. I wanted Jody to start working on his awards along with Jon and Conner, but I also wanted to start planning our patrol's next outing. We hadn't been camping in quite some time, mostly due to me. But I didn't want my problems to stop our patrol. We had a reputation to uphold. Our patrol was known throughout the territory as the most active scouting patrol around. And we had to keep up that rep or else.

I looked at my watch. The Gods, 25 minutes left in this class. I had no idea if I could stay awake that long. I truly hoped so. I had been down to see Father John one too many times that year. I was seriously considering just camping out in his outer office after the last reprimand...I mean he couldn't prove that it was

Jerry and me who started that little misunderstanding out on the sports field.

Thank the Gods Brother Bill was facing the wrong way when I let Seth Cummins have one directly in the groin. He deserved it after what he did to Terry, but I am getting carried away.

24 minutes left. Sheesh.

Ever since I became a diabetic, I have had to be very careful about my diet. At first, that really put a crimp in our camp meals, and that really sucked. So after that first campout, a vote was taken and I was elected permanent camp cook and provisioner. In other words, I planned the meals and purchased the necessary items at the green grocer. And believe me; I have come up with some very weird variations of the menu.

22 minutes.

Everything was quiet. I looked up and saw Brother Mathis staring over towards the windows. Then I heard it. Someone was actually snoring. Every head turned toward the perpetrator. Sheesh. It was Colin. That boy needed some serious talking to, and he was definitely going to get it now. There was some soft giggling going on and it was slowly getting louder, but Brother M was shushing everyone and slowly walking towards Colin. Well, this should take up a few minutes, I thought, but I felt really sorry for Colin. I knew for a fact that he was out late the night before helping his dad with his garage business, sweeping up the dirt and dust...

...I got to thinking about the last campout we had, back in the fall when the weather was a bit decent ...it was just like it was the other day ...

"The air is getting hotter
There's a rumbling in the skies
I've been wading through the high muddy water
With the heat rising in my eyes
Every day your memory grows dimmer
It doesn't haunt me like it did before
I've been walking through the middle of nowhere
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door"

(Trying to get to Heaven - © Bob Dylan, all rights reserved)

"Lukas... Lukas! Will you put down that damn guitar and stir the stew? And check on the damper while you are up. I put some of that strong cheese in it with heaps of them strong hot peppers you are so fond of. OH MY GOD! How you can stand that stuff is beyond me, but it is your and Tay's stomachs!"

"Lukas! Get your head out of your arse and put another stack of wood on the fire!"

"Listen guys. I am trying to give you all some mood music to set up camp, and all I hear is complaints. Sheesh."

I laid the guitar against the log I was sitting on and got up and walked over to the wood pile and grabbed a few sticks to place on the fire. I grabbed a heap of dry wood and brought it over to the cook fire, carefully placing a few around and under the iron pot. Then I took the tongs and opened the lid and checked out the stew we were having for supper. Gods, it smelled so fine. I could tell we were making some mighty fine eats especially with the cheese biscuits Tay had made earlier. Everything was as it was supposed to be, so I got up straight and headed back over to my log.

I love camping with my scout patrol, love getting out of doors and embracing nature at her best. Gods, I was really getting to be a poet of sorts. I guess that's what love will do to a guy.

I looked around me as I sat my arse back down. It was fall, so there was not too much vegetation and most of the animals had gone to ground. But it was still quite beautiful there, up in the hills, and so quiet and restful. The others didn't seem as attuned to it as I was, but I guess it's the way I have been raised. I love the great out of doors, even in the middle of the winter season; it's still so very beautiful.

I felt the log move slightly, and a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked around and up into the smiling face of Tay just a few centimeters away from mine. I guess I smiled back because all of a sudden, Tay's eyes lit up like rare jewels. Then he parked his butt right down besides me really hard and upset my guitar and almost landed my arse on the cold ground.

"Hey watch it mate! You almost put a nick in ole 'Rosebud'!" I said to Tay as I scrambled to snatch my guitar from certain peril.

"Only the likes of you would name a piece of wood after a flower." Tay said to me as he quickly slid over towards me and gave a little peck on my ear.

"Tay. How many time's have I told you. Not out here in public, someone might see." I carefully looked around while whispering my admonishment to Tay. "And you know by now my passion for Old Cinemas and Music. Growing up with 'The Ancients' (that's how I refer to my parents) has been quite interesting so far."

"Yeah Yeah Yeah! I have heard that a bazillion times Thump. But crickey, there are other artists out there besides those oldsters and other music to listen to beside folk. I mean, like you have heard of HIPHOP and COUNTRY and may the Gods forbid. RAP."

"Give it a break Tay. You know yourself you just love it when I drag out my old six string and start playing that world famous Chinese love song, 'Tu-ning.'"

It always goes this way when Tay and I sit down and talk about any subject. If I say blue, he will say red. If I say hot, he will say cold. He just loves to torque my bolts to the extreme and to him, its all a game. But I truly know it is all in play with him. At first, maybe not, but now he knows the words to every song I sing and play and you can tell he is in 7th Heaven when we are together.

I place 'Rosebud' upon my knee and start working out some notes, which seems to upset Tay in all the worst ways.

"And that's another thing Thump. Why can't you play the guitar like a normal boy? Is that so hard?"

I love doing that, and he knows it too. I have done a bit of researching and after checking all the boys at school, in our scout troop and even at church. Tay and I are the only left handed people I know of, and we both are gay. Go figure? Can it be that all left handed people are gay? I really should do some research on that subject. It should prove quite interesting.

Tay got up and moved around to my other side so he could get a little closer, I am sure. He got as close as possible almost to the point of embarrassment, sheesh, I really have to have a talk with him about public outings.

"Mate! You really ought to be careful you know. I mean as much as I love our little cuddle sessions, I think you could pick a better venue."

"Thump. You definitely worry way too much. We are out here, up at our very secluded camping site. Who is ever going to find out about us?" He is looking directly at me and batting those baby blues of his. Gods. I can so lose myself in there, but I have to shake my head...

"Well, for one thing," answering Tay's question, "they can!" I pointed with my chin over my shoulder to the line of boys who made up our patrol. Gods. How can six boys move so quietly around us? I definitely have to have my hearing checked. Or is it that I was just too engrossed in something more interesting? Ah, well.

There they were. Conner and Brian. Josh and Ralph. Kevin and Jon. All six of them at arms length, leaning on their shovels and rakes with the biggest grins on their faces as they stared at us quietly. Sheesh.

"Oi!. How disgusting. Thumper. You let him stick that dirty old tongue in your ear? Mate! You have any idea where that's been recently?" Conner asked.

"Lukas. Close your mouth; you could catch bugs in there if it were the season."

That was from Josh.

And from Brian and Kevin. "Will you guys go get a room or something? Not everyone cares to look at you two all hot and bothered."

I didn't know what to say. I looked over at Tay and he had this huge grin spread across his face. I swear it was blinding.

"C'mon Thump. You think we never noticed the way you were both acting towards each other?" That was Jon asking. "We may be slow at times, but we aren't blind, you know. You two stand out like my dogs balls."

"Hey Tay, did you bring the cut lunch this trip? I hope you did, my stomach thinks I forgot all about it. Can't you hear it from there?"

We all got real quiet and yes, we could really hear Kevin's stomach from where we sat.

That Kevin. All he ever thinks about is food. Thank the gods for that. Right this moment I just wanted to turn into liquid and ooze and seep into the ground beneath our feet. They knew. They all knew that Tay and I were poofter's. What is going to happen to us? I mean, Taylor wasn't as religious as me, even though his da was a deacon of his church. He didn't attend a religious school like the rest of us, or attend mass on Holy Days and get it drummed into his head that being different is not God's will. But these guys. Every single one of them from our patrol were Altar Boys and attended Daily Mass. They said their prayers before every meal, just as I was taught. Bow their head and cross themselves when we walk past a church or a graveyard. Any church, any graveyard for that matter. These guys take their religion and family very seriously, and the last time I looked up the reg's on this one, Tay and I were looking forward to some serious down time with 'He who is'. In a very warm, dark and unpleasant place. Sheesh! What can go wrong now? I think that there are six too many boys to know this secret.

"Guy's. Take a seat" I murmured, knowing where this was going to go especially with the likes of Conner.

"Seat! Take my seat? Who took my seat? Had it around here just a sec ago.

Mostly we got boulders and logs. Seats? Wouldn't carry one up here on a bet."

Let me explain. Conner is our patrol clown. Well, that's not right, he's the school clown. No. That is putting it mildly. Town Clown? Naw! City Clown? Getting warmer...let me just say, that without Conner, our daily lives would be so much more peaceful and quiet. With over 10,000 Aussie comics on assistance, we get stuck with him. Sheesh! So we can hope and pray, even a few novenas with multiple candles, anything. Regardless, I don't think any one of us would trade him off.

"Okay guys. Enough!!! Pull up a rock and park your buttz. I guess it is time we had a sit down and talked about this. I don't know how you guys found out, but I want it to stay here. Understand?" As I am saying this, I am looking round from one to another, making it pretty clear I was serious about this topic. Neither Tay nor I needed to be put up for review because of our orientation. I was shaking a little because this was really upsetting me, and I had no idea where this was all going to wind up.

Ralph continued standing and stared right back at me. "You know Lukas, sometimes you can be such a wowser. You take all the fun out of life, you know!

Can't you just kick back and leave the drama to the rest of us? You just don't understand, do you?"

Jon stood up and walked over to Ralph. "He's right Thump, you just don't get it! We love you mate. You and that Kiwi mug you call a friend." Jon turned around, getting a nod from everyone in the patrol, then turning back to face Tay

and I. "We've known about you two for some time Lukas, I mean, you two stand out like dog's balls. Its surprising to all of us you haven't been found out sooner."

Again, Jon glances around for support. "Maybe because we know you better then our own sibs, maybe that is why we knew."

I was just at a loss for words, something that's quite unusual for me, at least so

I've been told. Everything became rather cloudy then, and I had to blink a few times to clear my vision. That's when I realized I had been crying. Sheesh! These guys are more than my mates, I thought to myself. They're really my brothers. Dinky di, I said under my breath.

Kevin, who had been silent all this time, jumped up off the log he'd been parked on and looked around as his hand came up and gave the Aussie Salute.

"Who's the ocker who opened their lunch?" Then he took off like he was on fire. I near fall off the log I was sitting on as Brian took off after him. Go figure.

I took a second to survey the campsite. Everything looked good. Everything was clean and in perfect order. I walked over to the campfire to add a bit of wood and check Tay's damper, nice and brown and ready to be taken off. Straightening up

I glanced around and a sensation of contentment washed over me, and then I felt

a hand upon my shoulder and I turned to face the one thing in my life that makes it all worth while. I stared lovingly into my Life Bonded's eyes.

WHACK!!!

Brother Mathis slamming his maths text on Colin's desk brings me back to the present, and I look at the clock on the wall ... SHEESH! 21 minutes left...

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Author's note: Well, that's it. A day in the life. Not very interesting I guess. I mean like no train wrecks. No earth shattering world events. (Actually, that comes in another chapter). But basically this is how our lives went, Tay's and mine. I took care of the ponies and dogs. Went to school attended and ran patrol meetings, went camping and just generally was a young Australian boy coming into his own. But the one thing that was forming, that was becoming a part of my life. Our lives, Tay's and mine, together. And of course others, our mates. Our closest friends. There was a bond of pure love and affection that was growing, springing into being. And that bond is still with us, still holding us together as we grow older and wiser.

Tay and I would like to say a special thanx to our most loved Big Brother, Jon. Who is also our editor. If it wasn't for him, we would never have had the nerve to write this story, much less have it published. Jon! Huggz n' Cuddlez.

To all the guys at CSU and Jeff's Fort. Codey's World and wherever. Thanx heaps mates for being there and believing in us all this time. Your support means more than life itself at times. Extra Huggz n' Cuddlez to all you guys too.

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Host's Note:

Brad will post his note as soon as he is online again TSL

Boi From Aus

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Sub Host Note:

This is a much more important chapter than the boys lead you to believe. The scenes with the Scoutmates is a very pivotal on.

Good Job guys.

TSL

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Comments welcomed and appreciated at aussie-brats@acannex.us. No flames please.