For Your Eyes Only
by Eliot Moore

 

Chapter 4 (October 31, 2006)

Halloween is a night of mayhem in our neighbourhood. Fall games of capture the flag are only the swelling creek lapping at the soft banks. Halloween is the surging flood that breaks over the banks leaving carnage in its wake. Halloween could be a dangerous night. The neighbourhood toughs came out to play on October 31st. Games like capture the flag were too pansy for these boys, but on Halloween they could play at being Bangers and jump little kids. The toughs kept to their own neighbourhoods and preyed on the tricksters or stole candy from the kids. They wouldn’t cross the tracks because that might mean a faceoff with some likeminded criminals. I guess there would not be much fun in that. Brandon Vachon and I were pretty good friends. He crossed the tracks about eleven with a bar of soap and a few rolls of toilet paper. About the time that he and a few friends were writing Simon is a pussy on mom’s kitchen window and festooning our backyard trees with paper, I was imitating a shrimp on the sidewalk. I was shielding my bloody face with my arms while three high school boys used me for a soccer ball in front of Brandon’s house. Justin pounded desperately on Brandon’s door until his dad came out and chased the thugs away. Brandon’s dad was a good sport. He never commented on the glutinous mess in my hair that matched the egg on his front door. I sat crying in Brandon’s kitchen waiting for Peter to come get me.

I’m sure Pino expected me to catch him back at my house. I had put a great deal of effort into the map and I saw no reason to blow it all on one night. I planned to meet him at the book shop, and then we could take it back to the house another time. Pino dropped by the shop the Saturday before Halloween. The used books, movies and games never drew enough business so dad tried throwing in some computers. That worked until the downtown went wireless. Dad was thinking about a coffee shop. Mom was thinking about retirement. Pino brought some friends along. They goofed on the old computers for free and checked out the used games while I took Pino on a quick tour. I showed him the security. “Just you inside Pino; dad would skin me alive if I let in this crew and the police showed up, and no lights.” Pino understood. This was our game.

“Don’t worry Si. Nobody is ever going to know I was here.”

“Be careful on the streets too.” He was such a great kid. For the first time I worried he might get jumped as I had. We didn’t have to do it on the 31st. I didn’t have to send him all the way down town. I almost gave him the combination to the box at my back door and told him to forget the first part. I didn’t. I could only think of two places where we could have any privacy. The store was one and I wasn’t ready to show him our attic room. My birthday gift included the risk.

“We’re going to take off. I’ll see you later.” Pino turned to leave. I put my hand on his chest.

“I forgot. You were only supposed to take the store key. You took my house key and my bike key. I need those back.”

He stared at me with innocent surprise. “Si I left those keys at your house.” My hand drifted down to his belly.

“Sure Pino, but where in my house?”

“I really have to go Si. I’m sure you’ll find them if you look a bit.”

“I have looked.” My hand dropped to his waist and I grabbed a belt loop and tugged it gently. “It would be easier if you just told me. I can’t use my bike until I find them.”

“That must be frustrating Si. I wish I could help.” I glanced at his friends to see what they were doing and then I patted his pockets. There was a lump in one. “Those are mine Si.” I slipped my hand into his pocket. My fingers probed a bit before they pulled free with his keys. The store key was on the ring. I returned them to his pocket. “I’m sure you will get them back.” His voice was childlike in its innocence. I wanted to strangle him.

“I’m sure I will.”

***

We started early. I should not have worried so much. Pino quite sensibly took a bus downtown. Pino came through the back door of dad’s store at about 8:00 PM. I watched him from the end of the alley. He needed some time before I disturbed him. There were files on each of the computers I had left running in the shop. This was nothing elaborate. Pino might have been a computer geek, we had never talked about it; but I was just a lazy user. I simply placed three pictures on the desktops where he could find them. All he needed to do was count. I had no way of knowing how long he would take. The easiest thing to do was to wait for him outside the back door. When he stepped out I grabbed him around the neck.

Perhaps I should have thought that through before I tried it. Pino elbowed me in the stomach, twisted around and then slammed a knee into my groin. I went down at his feet. “Oh shit, shit, shit Simon. I’m sorry! I didn’t expect you to be here.” He dropped his bag and fell on me. “Are you okay?”

I got to my knees and rested my forehead on the frozen pavement. Pino petted my back as if it would extinguish the pain. I answered his question after a minute, “Fuck Pino that hurt.” Second Halloween in a row, it occurred to me that I had not had much luck on Halloween since I became a teenager. Pino left me and fumbled to reopen the shop door. When he had it open he turned back and helped me into the shop. I sat down on the floor to catch my breath. Pino went back out into the alley to grab his book bag. He dropped it on the floor and rushed back to my side.

I managed another word, “Alarm.”

“What?”

“Did you set the alarm?”

“Oh sure don’t worry Si, I remembered to set it. Everything is fine.” He almost hugged me. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be back at the house.”

“The alarm”

“It’s fine Si,” and then Pino heard the warning beep as the alarm began to activate. “Oh my God,” Pino exclaimed and rushed to the key pad. I fell back on floor. The pain had eased considerably. When he returned and peered anxiously into my upturned face I flipped him across my body and onto his back. He didn’t fight me as I straddled him and held his arms at the wrists. “Are you okay?” He asked in a small voice. I had to laugh. He could so easily have upset my careful plans. I brought his hands down and onto his stomach. He held them crossed as I let go and sat on him. “Si?”

“Yes?”

“I I noticed it’s kind of hard keeping my hands crossed like this all the time. I thought maybe you could tie me up for real. It would be much easier.” He spoke hesitantly. Perhaps he was unsure of how I would feel about our game after he hurt me, or perhaps he was simply shy about asking to be tied up.

“I don’t have any rope Pino.”

“I brought some in my pack over there.” I fetched his bag and sat back on his lap while I looked through it. Pino had brought a collection of soft nylon ropes. It was dark in the shop. I couldn’t see his face. “What about the house?”

“Next time,” I selected a length and considered him for a moment. “Stand up.” I got up and then helped Pino to his feet. “You’re sure about this Pino?” He nodded back. I bound his hands across the front.

“What about my coat?” I spun him around and caught his shoulders.

“You foolish young soldier, your words are simply the whisper of sand across the desert. They are of no consequence. All I need to know is where you have hidden the keys and what you learned from your pathetic attempt to raid this installation.” Pino met this pronouncement with silence. I pushed him in the direction of the basement door.

I thought Pino would be completely at home in the basement. Away from home and in his domain dad was content to pile things randomly and I thought that echoed the Fleming home. It was finished after a fashion. Generations of businessmen had left their stamp on the space. At some time part of it had been office space and we still used the dilapidated washroom. The rest was left to storage and the building utilities. Dad had no need for an office, so the room was just another space to collect junk. Dad never commented when I shifted things around and cleared the front room. Pino took in the gloomy space and called it cool, he wondered if I was feeling better, and then asked me if there was any coke in the old fridge in the corner.

Pino had a few lengths of rope in his bag. I used one to tie his arms above his head. “Happy birthday Pino, I know it is a little late.” I had raided mom’s endless collection for thirteen candles. Pino watched me as I distributed them around the room. When I had them in place I turned the lights off. There were no windows so we were left in pitch darkness. “What were you looking for? Where are the ignition keys?” I barked at him.

“Where’s Osama?”

Pino’s young voice cracked a little when said this. It worried me a little. I flicked the lighter and found one of the candles. After it was lit I came over to him. The boy looked a little panicked. I had come to like Pino and I didn’t want to hurt him. It was all supposed to be fun. “Are you okay? Should I untie you?” The words came out far softer than I expected. His eyes seemed to glitter in the weak light. The thing that worried me the most was that Pino might be scared of me. That thought was a twist in my stomach.

“No, I’m fine.” He sounded a little better.

“What’s wrong?”

“The dark got to me. I don’t like it.” He reassured me with a smile. “Please, keep going. I know this is all pretty silly, but I’ve been looking forward to it.”

“Sure? We could go do something else; check out the action on the street, go for pizza.”

“Please Si; this is what I want to do.”

I nodded. “Okay, no darkness.” I turned away and went back to lighting the candles. When I was finished I spread a sleeping bag on the floor. I untied Pino and helped him take his coat off. I taunted him with questions about the keys. When he talked back to me I pretended to punch him in the stomach and slap him in the face. He responded to this shadow boxing with a few jerks and then caught my fist in his hand. I was conscious of how his fingers wrapped around my fist. He released his grip and paced away from me. “What’s wrong?” Pino put his head against the wall. I stood at a loss waiting for his response. He turned around and leaned against the wall looking at me with a pensive expression.

“I don’t know how to say this. I don’t want you to freak or be grossed out. It’s just …” Pino sighed in exasperation. I was uncertain if he was frustrated with me or with himself. “Look, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to get beaten up or anything. That wouldn’t be much fun. I was just thinking that it would maybe be a little more fun if you did a little more stuff; if this was all a little more real.” He looked at me sideways to gage my reaction. Pino picked up a candle and looked at the melted wax pooling around the flame. He continued to study the dancing light as he spoke. “Like when you pretend to hit me, it would be better if you actually touched me.”

“I don’t want to hit you Pino.”

“You mean even after I sacked you?” He grinned sheepishly at the memory. “No, I mean just lightly so I can feel it. Not a real punch.” Pino tipped the candle over his palm. He winced slightly and then tipped it again. I watched him test the intensity of the burn. “Is that dumb?” From the look he gave me I think he worried I might think it was sick.

Justin and I once watched as some neighbourhood kids burned each other with cigarettes. It was not something I wanted to try. In the science lab we once jolted ourselves with a small generator. My brothers were big and they loved the crush of football. Nate was a member of a boxing club. I think he liked the fact he could take the beating even if the rules said they had to use gloves and safety pads. I concluded Pino just wanted to test himself a little that was all.

“No I agree. It would make it more interesting.” Pino came back to where I was standing. I brushed my fist across the hard surface of his stomach and followed it up with a light contact to his side. I ended it with a slow right hook to the smooth surface of his chin. He turned his head slightly and I let my knuckles rest against his warm flesh.

“Yes, like that; a little harder maybe.” I punched him in the arm, “Ack! That was too hard Si.” I grinned. His reaction reassured me. I pummelled his body lightly with a flurry of pretend punches. I was close enough to smell his hard body as my knuckles explored the length of his torso. Pino retreated to the wall trying to protect his face from mu mock attack. Finally, I grabbed him by the wrists and brought his arms behind his back. I could feel his breath on me. I was excited, but I knew it had nothing to do with the light blows to his body. I liked touching Pino. I was beginning to recognize my attraction. Pino was breathing as heavily as I.

I drew him across the floor to where the old sleeping bag offered some minor insulation from the cold floor. He was content to be in my control. I went back to asking him about my keys. Every time he joked or evaded my question. I pushed his shirt a little farther up his body. I pulled it over his head and used it to pull his arms back. The fabric rolled and twisted as be played the game. His exposed flesh was amber in the candle light. The questions and answers were getting boring, but the tone of his voice captivated me. Pino dropped to his knees when I pushed down on his makeshift bonds. I guided him onto the quilted bag. He rested with his eyes closed as I moved the candles so that they formed a glowing ring around his head. One candle dripped on his shoulder. He gasped slightly.

“Shit, sorry. That was an accident.”

“Do it again, let me feel what it is like.” So I sat on his butt with his hands brushing the spread fabric of my crotch and dripped a little wax on him. I started with his shoulders. I had thirteen candles so I traded off. We forgot to play the game for a while as we explored. If I brought the candle too close Pino would flinch. Before long, I had a good idea how far away to hold it. “If you were twenty-five I could cover your body in wax.”

“Do you suppose that’s how the guys take their hair off?”

“I don’t really know.” I picked a few blobs off his back. Pino was not hairy enough. I left the rest of the wax alone. It looked interesting, “Upstairs or down stairs?” I asked returning to the question of the missing keys.

“Downstairs”

“If it was obvious my mother would have told me.”

“I guess.”

“But not in your house Pino.”

“Nope”

There was enough rope to stretch his arms out and tie him off against a table on one side and a heavy shelf on the other. He made no comment as I rearranged his bonds. I retrieved a candle and let a little wax dribble down his arm pit. Pino pressed his forehead into the padding. “Which room is it in?” A bit more wax did not loosen his tongue. “It’s going to get worse you farengi.”

“Farengi?”

“It means foreigner Pino. You are a foreigner in my country. You frighten my people and loot our property.” I sat back on his bum and examined the contours of his back with the fingers of one hand.

“We are just trying to free you.”

I did not have an answer for that. His answer was what I had been taught to believe. If the people fighting my sister were not just insane or evil, then I had no idea why they resented Canada’s help. Schools for girls, no more chopping off hands, democracy, I did not know why these people resent our help. I retreated to my earlier question, “Which room?” I slid down onto the back of his thighs and grabbed his belt. I was sure he would cave if I threatened to pull his pants down. “What do you say Pino?” There was laughter in my voice.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Yet there was a hint of excitement in his answer and it seemed he was ready for this. I tugged at the pants slowly working them down. He had briefs on and they came down slightly as I pulled the pants past his hips. “Bastard,” he growled and then he laughed. I pulled his shoes off and slipped the pants off. Pino parted his legs slightly and from my position at his feet I had a good view of his long, thin muscular thighs and the curves beneath the fabric of his briefs. I realised I was hard. “The floor is cold.”

“Sorry, I’ll warm you up a bit.” Enough time had passed to allow the candles to melt down. “So what did you do for your birthday Pino?” I splashed a red trail of wax along the back of his thigh. Half way up his thigh he jerked his leg out of the way. “That is not going to do Pino.” I checked his bag and found the rest of the rope. He let me reorient him so I could tie his arms to the table and his legs to the shelf. I experimented by dripping some wax on my arm. When I was satisfied with a height that balanced safety with sensation, I dribbled a line up his thigh again. He flinched a little but the rope held him stretched across the room. “So what did you do?”

Pino’s butt cheeks tensed as he tried to anticipate the next contact. “Ummm …. Just family Si, grandma is still here. She took us out to dinner.” He gasped when I let a few drops fall on the small of his back. I rubbed the soft wax away to check his skin.

“That’s nice, where is the key you Canadian bastard?”

“I can’t tell you. You’ll never gain control of the weapons.”

“Too bad,” I tried to spell Simon with wax across his lower back. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, stop asking questions.” He was grinding his hips into the floor as each drop fell. His briefs caught my attention. I pulled a tight band circling his leg up to expose a bubble of hairless cheek. I watched the pale flesh shift as Pino waited for the next spill of hot wax. I didn’t want to get wax on his underwear so I hooked the fabric in his cleft. Pino groaned slightly as I began dropping the wax on his flesh. It dripped from his cheek down his thigh. I exposed the other cheek, switched to a bigger candle, lowered it and watched the wax flow across his body. “God, okay it’s in the kitchen.”

“Better,” I experimented with a small river of wax that wended its way close to the recesses of his hidden groin. His leg and buttocks shivered. “Tell me where Pino.”

“Too many lives are at stake.”

“Your life is at stake.”

“My life doesn’t matter.” Pino said this with passion. I put the candle I was holding down and began tickling him. Small flakes of wax broke free as my fingers probed his flesh. He couldn’t help himself. His laughter bubbled over. “I’m going to piss in a minute.”

“It’s an old sleeping bag, go ahead if you like.”

“You’re so gross Si.” I stopped. He rested a moment while I went to the old fridge and pulled out a ginger ale. Pino watched me take a sip. I walked back and put a foot on his exposed cheeks and jiggled them. He giggled. I noticed the weight of my cock and stopped. “You Al-Quida bastard,” Pino contributed, “I cracked your pathetic code and I know where your secret mountain cave is located.”

“Faithless dog,” I put the can down and sat beside him. I picked at the wax on his body. “The Mujahidin will bury you all. We have always buried invaders and sent them running.” I had been doing some research on Afghanistan and the history surprised me. I was a little frightened for my sister. “You have no knowledge of my people or of the country you think you control. You drive your pathetic technology along one highway or another, scurrying like the rats you are from one hole to another. You control the ground beneath your wheels and nothing more.”

“I’ll infiltrate your cave, kill everyone, strip your secrets from you, and then we will capture Osama just like we got Sadam.”

“You spoiled British …”

“I’m Canadian Si.” I wondered how often he had to tell people that. Pino had broad shoulders. I traced the line of his shoulder blades. He wasn’t ticklish there, but a boy rarely got to explore another boy’s body. I had always been curious.

“Sorry; you spoiled Canadians. You follow the Americans like little children.”

“Yeah dad says that too.” I noticed I could feel each of Pino’s vertebrae when I ran my finger down his back. Pino’s body was well muscled for a wiry thirteen-year old.

“So you will kill even Wasim?”

“Wasim?”

I had actually just tossed out the name. I need a minute to think about it. I untied his wrists and drew them behind his back. I experimented with more of a handcuff arrangement. Pino sensibly kept silent. He knew the game stumbled from time to time. “Wasim is my boy.”

“You have a son? How cute Si! How old is he?”

I patted his ass lightly, “No child-murdering crusader.”

“Look, that only happened once, well okay twice; but I swear I thought the kid had a grenade the first time and the second time I was drunk on Pilsner.” Pino managed to sound hurt as he said this. I guess Jasmine, caught in the real thing as she was, might think her little brother and his smart-mouthed friend insensitive jerks. We were kids thinking ourselves funny. “Well then, who is Wasim?”

My hand was still resting on Pino’s buttocks. I picked a blob of wax off one cheek. “Wasim is my boy. He keeps me warm at night. The cave is cold you see.”

“I see.”

“I told Wasim about you. He thinks I should cut your throat. Wasim thinks you are a danger to me.” I untied Pino’s ankles. He had fine blond hair on his calves.

“I don’t think I like your Wasim.”

I wrapped my hands around Pino’s ankles and then ran them up over his calves and thighs. “He’s a kid. He doesn’t understand war. He doesn’t understand I need the keys.”

“I’ll never tell you. You might as well kill me and make Wasim happy.”

“Downstairs, in the kitchen, tell me more MI5 agent masquerading as a soldier. I won’t kill you 004; you will simply beg me to. Where is my key?”

“Do your worst.” Pino taunted me. I slid a hand under his body. His chest was warm and smooth beneath my palm. I was sure I could feel his heart pounding. “Wait Si, not yet I need a minute.” I ignored his plea. I pulled him off the ground and onto his knees. I realized with a thrill that Pino’s cock was as hard as mine.

“For Queen and Country Pino?” in my head I said his name, James, “Where?”

“For Queen and Country” he answered bravely.

I pulled his briefs half way down his bum.

I held him up with one hand. I held the biggest candle above the tempting target. Finally Pino blurted out, “Okay, you win. I left the keys in the flour canister.”

“I know. Mom found them. She gave me a hard time about that.” I poured a pool of hot wax onto the tight cleft between his cheeks. The wax filled his channel and began flowed down beneath the constricting band of his briefs. Pino arched his back and groaned. His body vibrated against me and he strained against the ropes binding him. His head fell forward and then his leg muscles gave out. I lay Pino down after that. Pino didn’t say anything as I picked the wax off his body. When I untied his hands he adjusted his briefs so they covered him again. When I had most of the bits off and I had reassured myself that his skin was fine, I sat quietly massaging his back. I still had an erection so I was glad he had not turned to look at me. At the time, I didn’t know what to think about that. Something was bothering him but I couldn’t tell what it was. “Are you okay?”

Pino sat up and quickly ran to the washroom and closed the door. I heard water running and assumed he needed to go. I waited patiently for him to return. I waited a long time. Seeing Pino almost naked had excited me. My cock was still a little hard. I went to the washroom door and leaned against the jam. I slipped a hand down my pants and felt a small wet spot where my cock had leaked against the fabric. “Pino, is everything okay? Did I hurt you?” That possibility made me miserable. He didn’t answer so I opened the door.

Pino was sitting on the toilet cover with his arms wrapped around one knee. I was struck again by how well built he was. He had been crying. He looked at me. “I messed myself, okay?” I looked at his crotch and saw the wet spot where he had tried to clean himself.

“You peed?” The thought made me want to laugh.

“No I came.” Pino buried his face in his arm. He didn’t want to look at me.

“Oh,” I replied weakly.

This left a silence between us. I found it painful. I liked Glyn’s brother. We had spent very little time together and almost always in Glyn’s company. Pino was just the kid brother, but we connected in the games we had fabricated together. We were two strangers mysteriously pulled together. We could be a world in ourselves. I guess he was still an enigma to me. He might have lied about what had happened to him. I wondered why he told me the truth.

I leaned against the door jam. I got erections all the time. It happened. I suppose being younger than me, he found it embarrassing. I didn’t want Pino to feel bad about it. “We were fooling around. I was goofing with your gotch. I kept sitting on you. You would just have to bone up and pop. Just a bit of friction I think. It was the game Pino. Don’t worry.” Pino finally looked at me. “Hey Pino, I got a hard-on too. I get them wrestling in gym with the guys as much as I get them looking at the girls walking by. I guess a couple of bodies rubbing together can do it every time.” I tried to laugh it off, conscious that my confession was not completely honest. Pino smiled a little, but I couldn’t get him to laugh and I had to admit to myself that there might be something more going on. “Come here man.”

Pino rose and came toward me. I tried not to stare at the translucent spot on his briefs or the tube of pink flesh pressed against it. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. I turned him around gently and returned to picking the wax off his arms and back. Pino reached into the back of his briefs and worked on the wax I had dumped on his cleft. “I can’t believe you did that Si.”

“Too much?”

“Maybe,” I had an image of turning Pino around and pressing him close while I probed for the remnants of the wax. I did that with Brittany. Her soft body molded against mine, her feminine scent not completely lost in the perfume she loved to wear. I could press her belly into my crotch as my fingers explored her soft mounds. Justin and Nate lusted after Brittany’s tits. I preferred the slim curves of her butt. I looked down the curve of Pino’s back and caught a peek of his hard buns. He confused me.

I missed Pino’s closeness when he moved away to dress. He paused when he had his pants on and pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. He looked at it and then balled it up. After a hesitation he put it back in his pocket. When he was dressed we armed the alarm and left. Pino answered me when I asked him a question, but otherwise he seemed content to listen to me talk. As we walked the long distance back to the park that divided our homes we watched the children scampering from one house to another. I told Pino stories about other Halloweens and the pranks we had played. Pino said Glyn was out somewhere. I moved a little closer to him as we moved down the sidewalk. He moved away.

When we reached the Heights I drew him up a sidewalk that led to a wide porch flanked by overgrown spruce. He stood beside me and when the door opened, I chorused “Trick or Treat.” Old Mrs. Knox gave us each a chocolate bar. I walked with him as far as the tracks. We stood shivering in a cold wind for a moment. I didn’t want the night to end the way it had. Pino was so quiet. The ropes and wax had been a mistake and I was desperately miserable we had done it. “I’m sorry, Pino.” I’m sorry James, just a soft whisper in my head.

“Do you know why Glyn calls me Pino?” I shook my head mutely. “I was maybe nine and he was eleven. I went for a haircut. I tried a mushroom cut. The lady said it was cute on me.” Pino shrugged before he continued, “Glyn told me my head looked like a penis. Pino, get it? I went right back and got my hair cropped short. The name stuck.”

“That’s mean. So it must bug you that he still calls you that.” I wondered why he pushed me into using the name.

“It did for a while. Then it stopped bothering me. The way someone says a name sometimes matters more than the name itself.” His eyes looked at me with this renewed intensity. “Does that make any sense?”

“Yes, it does.” I thought of the way Glyn and Pino were together and how much closer they were to each other than I was with my brothers.

“So what’s your real name?” Pino simply looked at me, waved goodbye and headed down the embankment and up the slope toward his home.

 

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