Saguaro Sky - Part Three - You can lead a horse to water
#3 of Saguaro Sky
Howdy y'all! Ready for another episode of Saguaro Sky? In today's episode, we have adult situations and language, so no kiddies, please. Also, I don't want any bandits stealing my characters without permission! Now pop some popcorn and plop yourself down in front of your computer monitor as we join our two young cowboys right where we left them last week! Yee haw!
Saguaro Sky
Part Three - You can lead a horse to water
The coyote looked up at the horse who was still looking off to the fire on the edge of the ranch.
"What should we do?" Don asked, looking back at the flickering light in the darkness.
"We check it out, that's what," Hal said, unlatching the gate and walking out, still dripping from the shower.
"Tonight? Now?" Don said, reluctant to follow the horse who was making his way to the house. As the coyote walked up to the door, he heard Hal stumbling around in the dark. "Should I turn on the generator?" Don said, opening the screen door again.
"No, they probably think we're asleep since we blew out the candles."
Don heard the sound of jeans sliding up legs, so he walked over and rummaged for some clothes too.
Eventually, Hal clicked on a flashlight to make sure it worked, and shone it on the rifle on the wall and walked over to it.
"Do you really think that is necessary?" Don said as he slipped on a shirt.
"The letter said we'd need it." Hal pulled the gun off the rack and held it, turning off the flashlight.
"Do you even know how to shoot one of those?"
"No idea, but it's mostly for show. I'm not going to load it."
"Good idea. I don't think anyone is going to mess with you with a gun."
They walked outside and started in the direction of the fire. As they passed the shower stall, Don picked up the hat and plopped it back onto Hal's head.
"For luck?" the coyote said in the darkness. He could see a slight nod from Hal's silhouette and they kept moving.
As the clearing of the complex started to become more rugged and filled with plants, Hal turned on the flashlight again.
"Don't walk into any cactuses, ok?" he said as he tried to keep the light low to the ground so it was less noticeable from a distance
They walked along the quiet desert landscape, Hal leading the way and Don following, passing tall saguaro cactuses, and getting brushed with low thorny bushes.
"I can see why people wear boots around here," Don said after getting a particularly deep scratch.
Something moved in front of them and hid behind a bush and Don jumped.
"It's probably just some critter, don't worry," Hal said, trying to hide that his hand was shaking, but the jittering flashlight wasn't helping. "Keep moving."
As they walked along the bumpy earth, Don walked up to Hal's side.
"So, I didn't know you knew how to deep throat," Hal said, awkwardly trying to get a conversation going to calm his nerves.
"I didn't. It just kind of happened."
"Oh," Hal said, stepping over a small barrel cactus.
"I didn't know you could suck yourself off."
"Yeah. I have been able to since ninth grade."
"Lucky you."
"I guess. So, what is with the knot thing?"
"I don't know; it's just what canines have. Guess I never really thought anything of it."
"Kinda kinky, don't you think," Hal said, chuckling.
"I'll show you kinky, just get me some chains," Don said. Hal wasn't sure if he was joking or not so he just nervously laughed.
"I think we're getting close," Hal said, looking off and seeing a tent near the fire.
"Better turn off the flashlight."
Hal switched off the light and the two crept quietly through the desert to the camp. They hid behind a bush, looking at the setup. There was an old canvas tent with a clothesline connecting to a pole off in the distance with some drying long johns on it.
"It looks like a movie," Don whispered in Hal's ear.
"Yeah, but where is the guy?" he whispered back.
The flap of the tent violently flew open, and they both jumped and hid a little farther behind the bush. An old, gruff looking bobcat in a pair of overalls tottered towards them with a bottle of whisky in his paw. He groaned as he squatted down on a stool next to the fire with his back to them.
"What do we do?" Don whispered as the cat bent down and poked the fire with a large stick.
"I don't know."
They watched as the cat leaned a little too far forward and almost fell face first into the fire, but caught himself, dropping the bottle. He frantically picked the slowly empting piece of glass from the dusty ground and brushed it off before taking a few gulps.
"Does everyone drink constantly around here?" Don asked.
Hal just looked forward and started to walk out from behind the bushes. Don looked on nervously before quickly joining him.
Hal's heavy hoof's crushed the gravel on the ground loudly, letting the inebriated cat know of his presence. The bobcat quickly turned around on his stool and looked at the horse and coyote silently. He was just a silhouette against the fire.
"Can I help you?" Hal said, hiding the fear in his voice.
"Well, look what we have here," The cat said with a deep, gravelly voice. "S'pose you twos the ones who moved inta Pety's old cabin now, huh? Recognize that hat. Well, I was here first, so back off. Only room for one squatter here."
They watched as the cat almost fell off the small stool again.
"We're not squatters. Now get off my land," Hal said, lifting the riffle at his side just enough for the cat to notice.
The cat looked down.
"Ahh, is that how this is going to play?" The cat reached down into his overalls and pulled out a pistol and held it up in the air next to his head.
Don's fist clenched tight enough that it cracked his knuckles, but he dared not show anything close to fear.
"Just leave old man," Hal said in a very stern voice. "This isn't your land."
"Old man?" the cat said, seemingly offended by the comment. "I ain't old... I'm... I'm mature." He pulled on the one strap holding his overalls up with his thumb and puffed out his chest proudly.
Hal just cocked the gun. "Last chance."
The cat clicked his pistol too and they lifted it to each other. Don stood frozen, not sure what to do. The two duelers stood there for what seemed like hours, staring each other down, waiting for the other to do something.
"Yerr a stubern one, I can tell," Said the cat, breaking the silence as his hand started to wobble from the strain of holding the pistol.
"Damn straight. Now get off my land, because one of us is leaving here in a box, and it's not going to be me."
"Hal," Don said, reaching over to the Horse's arm, startling him.
The blast of light and the loud bang spooked them all, and the sound of a ricocheting bullet hitting the ground made the cat dive for cover. But, being drunk, he just flailed on his stool, landing backwards into the fire, his left ear catching fire.
Don covered his ears as the bobcat's screams pierced through the night. The flaming creature rolled out of the fire, patting down his head, shrieking in pain. As he stopped the flame, the smell of burn fur hit Don and Hal's noses and Hal lifted up his gun again and aimed it towards the bobcat as he laid there. Don just looked over at the horse, stunned.
"Don't shoot!" The bobcat sobbed. "I ain't got no bullets; I'm too poor. I'm just a sad, fat old man."
"Then get!" Hal said, not lowering the rifle.
The bobcat clutched his bloody ear and stood up, stumbling to the clothesline where he grabbed a pair of long underwear and held it to his head and scampered off.
"And don't you think about coming back here! You got it!?" Hal yelled as the cat disappeared into the darkness.
Hal finally breathed and lowered the rifle, placing it on the ground with disgust and looked at Don.
"Holy shit," was all the shaking coyote had to say. "Think he'll be back?"
"No, but I hope he sees a doctor."
"Well, he did it to himself, really."
Don looked over at the horse as they stood next to the fire.
"Are..." Don said, squinting. "Are you hard?"
Hal looked down at the sizable lump in his pants.
"Oh," he said, laughing. "No. I just never untied the ribbon so everything is all pushed forward."
"You didn't untie it?" Don said walking over to get a better look. "Doesn't it hurt?" He peeked inside the horse's jeans and saw the bow.
"Nope. Feels kinda good, actually."
"Well, no wonder the guy ran away, it looks like you have a cannon in your pants. ...Not that you don't, but jeese!" Don said, rubbing the bulge, only making it larger.
"Yeah..." Hal chuckled. "Now help me put out this fire."
They both kicked the loose dirt around the fire into the flames until it was just a smoking pile.
"I don't think it is the rainy season," Don said, walking towards the creek, not hearing any water. "So, why do you think he was here?"
"Probably just to mark his claim. You heard him; he thought we were squatters too. And the letter said that Peter thought there would be a lot of them now that he's gone. I'm sure there will be more."
"Great. Maybe you should learn how to shoot that thing so you don't accidentally kill him next time."
"Might be a good idea," he said, laughing tensely. "We'll practice tomorrow."
Don yawned. As Hal picked the rifle up again and turned on the flashlight.
"Crap," Hal said looking around. "Which way is the house?"
Don looked around at the even darkness around them. "I don't know."
Hal flashed the light around them. "Well, this is the bush we hid behind, so it should be just a straight shot that way," he said, pointing off in a vague direction.
"I hope you're right," Don said as they walked off into the brush again. He looked back at the camp. "Are we just going to leave this stuff here?"
"Might as well. Maybe the next squatter will think that someone else has already moved in."
"Good point."
They stumbled back through the desert with the flashlight guiding their way. Eventually, the ground turned into the clearing, and they made it back to the house. Hal walked to the door, looked inside to make sure no one had moved in while they were gone and locked it. They walked up to the roof and climbed into bed. Hal put the rifle on the floor next to them and took off his hat. He pulled the sleeping bag over and Don cuddled up along side of him.
"It's been a long night," Don said, yawning again.
"You can say that again. My heart is still racing."
"I can feel. You're also really warm."
"Well, we normally don't sleep in our clothes."
"That is true," Don said, turning around to face the radiating horse. "Let me fix that."
Don's hand slipped down between them and slowly unzipped the horse's fly and popping his button. He felt the warm flesh of the cock as he untied the ribbon and pulled down the front of his pants, letting his package flop out.
Hal returned the favor for the coyote as they both slipped out of their clothes and giggled. Hal rolled Don onto him, sending the sleeping bag off the side and exposing their bodies to the cold air. The coyote kissed the horse as he pulled his legs up along his sides.
"You're going to wear me out, you big, brave horse stud," Don said in a campy, overdone tone as he pressed his hardening member into the horse's stomach.
"You're the one rubbing into me," Hal said, laughing as he placed his hands on the coyote's waist.
"I can't help it, seeing you tell off that guy without even flinching just..." Don leaned down and kissed the horse's neck. "Puts me in the mood. I mean," he moved down to the horse's pecks, "he had a pistol aimed at you and you didn't even blink."
"Well," Hal chuckled as the coyote's whiskers tickled him, "the alcohol helped a bit with my nerves."
Don paused and sat up, looking down at the horse in the dark.
"Alcohol?"
"...Shit," Hal said looking up at the silhouette of the coyote, feeling his burning glare.
"When did you drink?"
"Don't get mad."
"When did you drink!?" Don asked louder.
"Umm... right before you came up," Hal said, looking away in shame. "But it wasn't very much.
He felt the coyote get up from the bed, leaving the warm spot on his stomach to the freezing night air.
"Do it again sober, huh?" Don said, walking to the other side of the roof. "Good to know you have a liberal definition of 'sober.'"
"Don," Hal said, sitting up. "It was just to get the jitters out. I didn't get drunk."
"You played with me again, and you didn't even have the decency to commit to your promise. You're all talk, Hal." Don walked over to the bed, picked up the unused, rolled up sleeping bag next to it, and walked over to the stairs. "Fuck you."
Don sighed as he heard the coyote climb down the creaking steps.
He laid down on the bed and put his hands on his face. "Idiot," he said to himself.
He jumped as he heard the screen door slam shut and Don yell "Damn it!" He pulled the sleeping bag over him again and curled up, looking at the night sky. He heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and he looked over.
Don was standing there, and Hal's spirit rose.
"Give me the damn keys," the irate coyote said harshly.
"Not before we talk," Hal said, sitting up.
"Hal, I am tired and angry and I just want to sleep. Give me the keys."
"Well, I'm sorry and tired too, and I want to talk."
Don grunted and walked over. "So, you're a lying ass and I hate you. There, we talked, can I have the keys?" He held out his paw.
Hal grabbed the paw and gently pulled Don down next to him.
"Look, I was sitting up here in absolutely nothing, the sun was still out, and there were three bottles of booze sitting right in front of me. I wanted to impress you, and I was nervous. I knew you wouldn't like it if I drank, especially since I said I wouldn't. But as I sat up here waiting for you, my weaknesses got the best of me and I took a few sips. I'm really sorry; I didn't mean to harm you."
Don sat there in the dark. "You were nervous about impressing me?"
"Well... yeah. I didn't want to let you down; it was our first date."
"That's sweet, but you still lied to me."
"I know," Hal said, holding Don's paw with both hands. "And I'm really sorry. We can lock up the cellar, I won't drink anymore."
Don sat and thought before saying "Would you have done everything the same if you hadn't drunk?
"Yes. It was just to get me to stop shaking."
Don squeezed Hal's hand.
"I'm still mad at you, but I forgive you."
Hal smiled and caught the coyote off guard with a tight hug.
"I'll lock up the cellar tomorrow morning," Hal said, letting the squirming coyote free.
"Nah," Don said, pushing the horse back down on the bed. "I may use it to my advantage later." Don crawled under the sleeping bag. "You know, in case I want to try the kinky stuff." He nestled against the muscular, warm horse. He reached down and placed Hal's cock between his thighs. "I think I remember seeing some chains near the generator."
Hal just chuckled nervously, once again not knowing if Don was serious or not.
"Night Hal!" Don said, smiling to himself.
"Night Don," Hal said, resting his nose against the back of the coyote's neck.
The horse lay awake, feeling the warm, fuzzy thighs around his cock but trying to stay soft to not wake the sleeping coyote. Eventually he dozed off in the cool desert night.
***
The next morning Hal woke up and rolled over, gathering the sleeping bag up as a pillow before remembering that he was sharing with someone else.
"Oh, sorry," Hal said, pulling the bag back and looking over, but he was alone. He sat up and looked around, seeing no signs of Don. He reached down for his pants, only to realize they were missing too. He stood up with the sleeping bag wrapped around him and made sure they weren't under the bed or behind the table.
He noticed smoke coming from the stove pipe, and mumbled to himself as he walked down the steps. Through the screen door he could see Don cooking what looked like pancakes over the stove and he reached for the handle. With a rattle, the door stayed put. He looked through the screen on the side and saw that the little hook latch had been locked. He knocked and looked back at the coyote.
"Umm, Don, could you let me in?" Hal said, shifting the sleeping bag around him.
"Not at the moment, I'm making breakfast!" he said without looking over. "Got to make a lot, we have a busy day today. Don't know when I'll finish." He placed the pancakes on a plate next to him and lifted up a rather large bowl almost filled to the brim with batter and poured some more circles on the skillet.
Hal huffed as he turned around. "Could you at least give me my clothes?"
"Sorry, have to make sure these don't burn!"
The horse rolled his eyes and sat down on the rickety old chair on the porch.
"Hal dear," Don yelled through the door. "Could you not use the sleeping bag to sit on down here, I don't want it getting dirty. Thank you!"
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Yep, you're such a sweetie! Now take it back upstairs for me, would you?"
"Yes, mom," Hal said, grumbling as he stood up and walked back past the showers. He looked over and noticed that there was a perfect view of the coyote in the window from the stall, and smiled as he quickly ran upstairs.
Don's eye was caught as the horse walked past the window and tapped.
"I'm going to take a shower, ok?" Hal yelled through the glass giving a thumbs up.
Don just nodded as he looked back down at the skillet.
Hal walked over to the stall in his birthday suit and bent down, stretching his legs out, letting his package dangle freely. He peeked over at the window and saw Don with a smirk looking down at his cooking. After a few more stretches making his cock slap against his thighs with the movement, he stood back up and turned around, leaning backwards and landing on his hands, arching his back up, and putting his hips far into the air. Not getting enough of a reaction from the coyote as he wanted, he got back up on his feet, went into the shack, and dug around a bit.
He returned with a bar of old fur soap and got into the stall. He tugged on the water release and stood under just long enough to get wet before turning it back off. He rubbed the soap against his dripping chest slowly, looking at the coyote who kept discretely stealing peeks. As the soap began to lather, he moved up to his shoulders and along his arms, letting the foam cover his sleek muscles.
The coyote tried to hide a smile as the horse attempted to soap up his back rather unsuccessfully. After Hal gave up on that, he hiked up a leg against the fence and ran the bar of soap down the toned limb, rubbing the suds in well before repeating it again with the other leg. He watched as the coyote poured too much batter into the skillet from not paying attention and the horse chuckled to himself. He turned around and stood up on the cross beams of the fence so that his ass was perfectly on display. He lathered up his cheeks, giving extra attention to his crack and hole before jumping back down and turning around. The coyote had disappeared, and Hal shifted to see where he had gone, but stopped as he appeared again with a knife of butter and plopped it in the pan, pretending he didn't see the horse.
Hal grabbed the bar of soap and slid it down his chest again, only continuing all the way down to his groin. He soaped up his crotch just out of view for the coyote because of the fence, running his hand down his slippery cock, getting it hard. He gave an over exaggerated look down and put on a pleasured face as he slowly jerked his cock. He soaped up his large balls and peeked up at the coyote, who quickly looked back down and suddenly got shorter as he got off his tip-toes.
Hal took a few steps back and started to move his hips, making his cock start to spin. He placed his hands on the back of his head as he moved his hips even more, sending his long cock rotating around, sending soap suds flying everywhere as his heavy package whipped around. Don turned his back to the window and Hal stopped and put the soap down.
He reached up and pulled the release, sending the cold water down his body. His nipples got hard as the suds ran down to the ground. He slowly rubbed his hands down his chest to his crotch again and lifted up his hard cock. He pulled up along its length and held the tip in front of him. He arched his back a little and licked the tip, watching the coyote, who had turned facing him again, with a visible lump in his pants. Don snuck peeks frequently, but tried to cover it up by flipping an underdone pancake, sending molten batter all over.
Hal chuckled as his tongue rotated around the head of his cock before he plunged it into his mouth. He began sucking as one hand fondled his heavy balls and the other ran up and down his length. His wet, shiny body glistened in the sun as he arched his back more and took in another two inches. His hand squeezed his cock as he moaned loudly, hoping Don would hear. He stepped back away from the falling water and leaned against the side of the fence, grabbing it for support as he pulled the cock from his mouth
A thick rope of white cum erupted from his tip, shooting into the air and landing on his chest. The horse moaned, leaning back more as another long rope shot from him, landing across his face. Load after load spewed from his cock, covering his dark chest as he panted. Finally, he brought a fist up along his cock, squeezing the last bit of cum out, spilling it down his shaft as he licked up what he could. He brought his cum covered hand to his mouth and licked it clean, eyeing the coyote who gave up being discrete and was now full-on staring.
Hal saw smoke billow next to the coyote as he looked down and jumped, bringing a flaming skillet to the other side of the kitchen and dropping its condense in the sink, turning on the water. As he did, the shower slowly began to die and the last few drops fell as the cum covered horse leaned forward. Don looked up as he noticed his water supply run out too and began to chuckle as the horse looked down at the mess on his chest.
Hal just glared at the laughing coyote behind the glass as he hit the water spout, making it creak. He cringed as he heard another rusty creak come from the window as Don cracked the ill-used opening.
"Breakfast is ready, clean up and come in." He tossed a towel at the horse who caught it, thanking the coyote as Don fanned out some smoke before closing the window again.
Hal looked down at the small hand towel. "Yeah, thanks a lot." He wiped himself down as best he could before handing the soaking wet towel covered in cum on the side of the fence. "That's never going to be as soft again," he said leaving and walking over to the door, cupping his crotch.
He reached for the handle, hearing the rattle, telling him it was still locked. "Oh, come on!" he said as Don walked up.
"What's the password?" Don said, smiling.
"Just let me in."
Don made a negative buzzer sound.
"Uhh... Don is the best?" Hal said.
"Close, but not close enough."
"Don is the best in bed?" Hal said with a big grin on his face.
"True, but..." Don repeated the buzzer noise.
"Oh, come on..." Hal though for a few seconds before uncovering his crotch and pressing his cock against the screen door. "How about that?"
Don flicked the hook off the door and Hal quickly grabbed the handle and charged the coyote, wrapping his arms around him, lifting him up and spinning the coyote around a few times.
"You have fun, having fun?" Hal said, squeezing the coyote as he giggled.
"Yep. Almost burnt down the place."
"I saw that," Hal said, putting the coyote back on the ground. "You really should be more careful."
"And you should waste less water!"
"Touché," Hal said, walking over to his chair which had a full sized towel sitting neatly folded on top of it. He grabbed it and dried off properly. "So, is this going to happen every time we fight?"
"We seemed to both benefit from it," Don said, bringing a large plate of pancakes to the table with a bottle of syrup.
"I guess we can't argue with that. How long were you planning it all out?" Hal asked as he ruffled the towel through his mane, making his package wobble, which was a view not lost to the attentive coyote.
"Well, I woke up just as the sun rose thanks to a certain hard thing poking between my legs. Did you know you hump in your sleep?" Hal pulled the towel off his head and smiled.
"Well, anyways" Don continued, "I woke up and there was just enough sun in my eyes to not be able to get back to sleep, so I carefully, slowly, as gently as I could, pulled your cock from between my legs and ... maybe... went down on you. I can't really remember." The coyote smirked at the horse rested the towel on the back of the chair and sat down. "But, since you didn't wake up, I had to find the keys on my own, which were in your pants. So, naturally, I just took them, and my clothes, and the blankets and everything else down and started making breakfast. Then, the thought of you being locked outside seemed like a good little revenge, so I put the hook in place and waited.
"Aren't you a little schemer? And no wonder I felt so good waking up this morning," Hal laughed.
"Anyways, eat up! We're walking the fence today to see if we need to make any fixes. As well as doing a quick check around the complex to see if we need to buy any supplies in town."
"... The whole fence?"
"Yep. We're in charge of the ranch, remember? We can't just lie around, having sex all day and watch the place fall apart."
"I don't see the problem in that," Hal said chuckling.
Don just tossed a hot pancake into his uncovered lap, making him jump and gasp. He grabbed the warm, flat cake and held it up to Don threateningly before taking a bite.
Don just laughed as he pulled a few pancakes onto his plate and poured syrup over them.
***
When the two had finished most of the breakfast, Hal put on a pair of pants and his hat and they walked outside. Don looked around.
"Where should we start?" the coyote said, looking over at the horse.
"I say we drive to the gate and start there. At least we'd know where we should stop."
"Good plan."
They both got into the car and drove down the dusty road to the saguaro patch. Hal parked the car in the dirt road and they got out.
The tall cactuses dwarfed the two. Don looked at the beams of the ranch sign, which had become part of the plants.
"I wonder how long these have been here," Don said, carefully poking the green skin between the spikes.
"I think I remember my dad saying they can live well past 100 years," Hal said looking up at the tallest one. Then he looked down at where the barbed wire fence used to be. A tangled mess of rusted wire and crooked wooden poles remained squeezed amongst the thorny cactuses. "We don't have to worry about that part of the fence, right?"
Don looked at the mess too. "Uh... I won't tell anyone about it if you don't."
"Deal."
Don looked down at his feet and kicked the ground. He bent over and picked up a corroded piece of metal. Hal walked over.
"What's that?" the horse said, trying to get a better look.
"I think it used to be part of a gun," Don said, holding it like a pistol. The barrel was missing, and the wooden handle had disintegrated, but the rest was all there in its rusted glory.
"Cool. Can we keep it?"
Don handed it over to the horse who looked it over. "Maybe it was from a shoot out or something." He walked over to the car and put it in the cup holder. He looked down at his hands which we covered in dark orange rust. He brushed it off on his pants and walked over to Don who had already started looking at the fence.
"Got your water?" Don said as he poked at one of the wires.
Hal patted the two bottles he had sticking out of his back pockets and they started walking.
The sun beat down on their shoulders as their feet crunched through the desert. They walked past thorny bushes that caught on their pants, and tall saguaros that threatened to fall over. In a few places the fence post has been replaced by a cactus with the rusting wires wrapped around its base; the cactus slowly growing around it.
"Do you even know how to fix a fence if we find something broken?" Hal asked. "Because I sure don't."
"Well, no, but you see here?" Don said, walking over to a part of the fence where the wire was two different colors. "The two wires are attached here, so I figure they just do that."
Hal just nodded as Don got up and kept walking.
They got to the point where they couldn't see the car anymore and Hal stopped and looked up.
"Damn it's hot out here," he said, tipping his hat up and wiping away the sweat with his forearm.
"I'd tell you to take off more, but we're next to the highway, and we're surrounded by thorny plants and barbed wire, not something you want to get caught on."
Hal subtlety covered his crotch with the thought in his mind as Don peeled off his shirt and tied it into a head covering then took a sip of water. They kept moving.
"The fence looks pretty good so far," Don said as they reached the corner, which had a large mesquite tree growing over it.
"Yeah, Peter took good care of it, I guess," Hal said, leaning against a post. He looked down the straight endless line of posts ahead of them. "Do we really have to do this?"
"Yes, but just once. Then we can forget we even have a fence."
Hal sighed as he leaned back up from the wood and wire barrier and continued to walk.
"So," Don said as his eyes streamed along the wire as he passed. "What do you think your parents would say if they found out what we've been doing up here?"
"Well..." Hal said, having to think about it. "I don't know if Dad would be very happy about it all, but my mom would probably think it's cute."
"That we're fucking?" Don said, looking up at the horse.
"No, that we're a couple."
"Oh," Don said, smiling. "So, we're a couple now?" He playfully bumped into the horse.
"Well," Hal chuckled, "I figured, yeah."
Don slipped his paw into Hal's hand and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and giggled. Hal blushed.
"What do you think you're mom would say?" Hal said, looking back at the wire.
"Bahh, my mom loves gay guys," Don said laughing, "like my dad. Besides, she already pretty much kicked me out of the house without saying goodbye, what else could she do? If anything, knowing would probably make her like me more."
"Whatever happened to your dad?" Hal asked. "If it's not too personal."
"Well," Don started, "from what my mom has told me, they met in a theater program in college, and feel deeply in love. They got married, and eventually he came out as gay. My mom was crushed, they filed for divorce, and he left. She didn't have the heart to tell him she was pregnant with me."
"So, he doesn't even know about you?"
"Actually, he does. My mom invited him and his new boyfriend over for dinner when I was five. He did the math and started to freak out and left before she could even serve the food. I remember it, but I didn't understand."
"That's harsh, I'm sorry," Hal said, rubbing Don's paw.
"It's ok. I've gotten over it. Mom tried to have a few more boyfriends through the years, but they were either freaked out by the fact that she had a kid or were just as flaming as my dad."
"I see what you mean about her loving gay guys."
"Yeah, it made for an interesting childhood. I learned to walk in heels by age eight."
"How come I never knew any of this before?"
"I've just learned to hide it, but you've seen how that ends up."
Hal looked down at his feet as they crunched along the ground. The silence of the desert become very apparent as they walked along the fence.
"My dad asked me if I was gay once," Hal said apprehensively. "It was after that boy scout camp trip, actually. I didn't really know what being gay meant... so I just denied it. He didn't believe me and told me to get a girlfriend."
"Is that why you hooked up with Julie for the rest of that summer?"
"Yeah, she was the only one I could find on such short notice. I didn't really like her at all, and she didn't like me."
"Why did you stay with her then?"
"Because when I told my dad I was going to break up with her, he..." Hal looked away.
They stopped walking.
"What did he do?" Don said, holding Hal's other hand.
"He hit me," Hal looked at Don with a tear rolling down his cheek. "He called me a fag and said I was going to hell. He said he heard the neighbors talking about me, and that I needed to act straighter."
Don wrapped his arms around the horse, patting him on the back. "I'm so sorry that happened to you."
"When Julie said she wanted to leave me, I begged her to stay with me, but I could only get her to stay until the end of summer. Apparently it had been long enough that the neighbors stopped talking because my dad didn't hit me again when he found out."
Hal pushed his face into Don's soft neck and sniffled. "Things were fine until a few years later when he asked me again. I knew better this time and told him I was seeing a girl but we weren't official so I had never told him. That is when I dated Anne."
Hal sniffled again and pulled back from the hug a little. "As you know, she was a lesbian trying to hide it from her parents too, so it worked out for a few years until she came out."
"I remember that," Don said, wiping a tear off of Hal's cheek.
"I told dad that we broke up on mutual terms and he believed me. When he started to ask about it again, it was senior year and I pulled the 'I don't want to do a long distance relationship during college' card, but told him there was a girl I liked. It got me through the rest of the year and through summer, and I was free in college. He hasn't asked me since."
Don looked into his eyes. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I didn't want to put it on you, and since you're the only guy I've ever been with, I would have felt guilty making you a part of it."
"Oh, Hal..." Don said, embracing the horse again. "You can tell me anything; I'm your best friend."
The two stood there quietly feeling the other in their arms. Hal kissed Don and he looked up at the buzzards circling above them.
"We should start moving," Hal said, reluctantly breaking the hug and drying his eyes.
Don nodded in agreement and they separated and continued walking down the endless fence as they held hands. The disappointed buzzards flew their separate ways in the cloudless desert sky.
That's all we have this week, kids! Tune in next time to see more action from your favorite wonder duo!