Copyright 2024 Woodsmudder All rights reserved

My New Life, Chapter 4: Luke, brother in mud

Rain fell gently on the trailer's roof. It was going to be a warm, wet Sunday of steady rain. Sandy had gotten me into hiking on Sundays. She was a real athlete, lifting weights and jogging. She could never get me into any of that stuff. I worked hard enough all week moving around engines and transmissions. That kept me in shape. I didn't need weights or to run around like a damned fool in silly shorts. But hiking with Sandy was fun. She knew the good trails, and a day like today was perfect for a hike, enough of a gentle, steady rain that not many other people would be out, and warm enough that we could just wear a tee shirt and jeans letting them get soaked without us getting too cold. A perfect day. But she was away doing something with her folks.

As I lay there dreaming of a wet hike with Sandy, someone knocked on the door. "You awake in there?" It was Luke. He came in, his hair wet with rain, holding two cups of coffee. He handed one to me. It was hot and strong, just what I needed. I got out of bed naked and sat on the bed. Luke sat down next to me. He'd never just come in like this. Something was strange about it.

"Tito, you've been here six months now," he said to me.

"Yeah. I've loved it."

"You've become like a brother to me."

I was feeling like he was my brother too, I wanted to say I loved him like a brother, but I didn't know how to say it. I already had a weird vibe about where this conversation was going, so I just mumbled, "yeah."

"You know that Wendy's away this weekend." Wendy was his lover. She was away on some sort of job training this weekend. "I think Sandy's doing something with her folks this weekend. Right?"

This was getting weirder. "Yeah."

"My folks are away for the weekend. Even Walt's away, hunting with his brother. We've got the yard to ourselves."

I got up and slipped on my jeans and a tee shirt. I suddenly wasn't feeling comfortable sitting there naked. Maybe I was just being paranoid from living in a city for so long before coming here, but defensive habits can be hard to break. "Where's this going, Luke?"

"Some things are just hard to come out and say."

"You gay, Luke? That what you're trying to say?"

"Hell no, Tito. Some things are just tough for a guy to talk about."

"Come out and say it." I'd never seen Luke so flustered. He wasn't a talker, it's true, but he usually talked straight and to the point. He never dithered like this.

"OK. I'll try. But it's not easy."

"Just say it."

"You remember that day we met, when you helped with my truck? The day you were soaked and muddy all night. I'll never forget how you helped me that night. I owe you big time." He paused. I waited for him to continue. Finally he said, "getting muddy like that, it was all new for you. And you loved it. It aroused you. It was sexual for you. I say you trying to hide it, but I knew."

"If this is going where I think it is Luke..."

"No, hear me out. This is tough. I'm not much of a talker. And that day you met Sandy, when you were dripping drain oil all over the place, you didn't have to get so filthy. Walt and my dad just wanted you to show you could take it. Just pouring some oil over your shirt would have been enough. But you did your whole body. Every stitch of your clothes was black with oil. You did because you loved it. It aroused you. You felt sexually aroused. Am I right?"

I didn't say anything.

"I know you've always tried to hide it from me, but I see.'

It was true, all of it. "Come on, Luke, just come out and say whatever it is you want to say".

"OK. You and me are different than most people. We love this stuff. We get off on it. Walt's not like us. Neither is my dad. Walt gets dirty at work, but goes home, showers, and stays clean. He's been working for my dad since I was five. He's never changed. My dad's the same way. Gets dirty working with us, but then showers and watches tv with my mother."

"And you?"

"You know me," Luke replied, "I'm always out there, in the dirt, in the mud, or working under my truck. I love it. You love it now too, don't you."

"Yeah. I never imagined I would. You've changed me, Luke."

"In the city, are there other guys like us? Guys who like to get messy?"

"I don't know. I never thought about getting messy before I met you."

"OK, here's what I been trying to say. We're all alone today. We can get as messy as we want, do whatever we want. No one will know."

"This is sounding pretty weird, Luke."

"Hell no, it's not weird. We both love being out the in the mud and grease and water. We love it. We've always just hidden it from each other, we pretended it was just part of the job. Today, let's do it together, for the hell of it, as brothers, because we love it."

"Oh man, Luke. I can't believe I'm hearing this. I'll tell you now. I'm not having sex with a guy. You're my best friend Luke, but fuck no."

"We don't have to have sex. Let's just make breakfast and then go out in the rain and spend the day getting soaked and muddy and love it like we always do on the job. But just playing this time. For fun."

"No sex?"

"You and me, we're men. We both have women we love. We can stay faithful to them. Let's just love how the mud feels. Together."

"And when we get hard?"

"We'll do whatever you want. This can be a beautiful day, just between us. No one else will know."

Luke made a fantastic breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and sausages, while I made a new pot of coffee. I was nervous. I was scared, to be truthful. When I was first here, I was was afraid Luke would see how hard I got when I was muddy and wet, but today, we'd be getting hard together. It was like my world was turning upside down.

After breakfast, we went outside, letting the warm rain soak our jeans and tee shirts. Walking around the wrecking yard, we searched for the best mud. I'd never looked at the yard in this way. Just searching for the perfect mud. Finally we found a good spot, thick oozy clay. Luke mixed in some drain oil to make it just the right consistency,

Then we kneeled in it, rolled around in it a few times, and then took turns pouring it over each other and rubbing it in to each other. Luke was so gentle. It was sensual. Was this really the same tough wrecking yard worker I'd gotten to know over the past six months? He was a new person. He said I was too. It was truly amazing. Finally we hosed each other down and when we got as much mud off as we could, we wrestled in the mud.

I hadn't wrestled since high school and even back then I was lousy at it. But Luke was strong. I already knew he was strong, but trying to wrestle him down, I realized just how incredibly strong he was. He didn't look especially strong, but he was. I grew up playing with toys, but Like grew up in the wrecking lifting heavy auto parts for his dad. It makes a difference. Still, I was able to wrestle him into the mud a bunch of times, but I know it was only because he let me. Not because he was trying to be nice, but because it was the only way he could get his share of being slimed with the clay-oil mud mixture we were wrestling in. Man it was fun!

We finally broke for lunch. We showered, changed into dry, clean clothes, and had a slow lunch, feeling alive and more than ever like brothers, then we hit the mud again. But this time we took it more slowly, more sensually, each of us making more effort to give pleasure to the other, rolling around in the mud, then so gently smearing it around each other, rubbing it in. Luke kept his promise. There was no sex, we were faithful to our women, but it wasn't easy, for him or for me. It was hard in more ways than one

We'll do it again sometime, when no one's around, or maybe we can find a private spot somewhere. Or maybe we'll just do it. Openly. The hell with what people think. Show them we don't give a damn. We love what we love, we are what we are, and we aren't afraid to hide. This time I'm looking forward to it.