Chapter 2 – Chapter 2

The train ride from Santa Fe to the end of the rails was a grueling one as far as Edward and Alo were concerned, entailing boarding the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe line, headed north to Chicago; getting off in Omaha; and picking up the Union Pacific line, aboard the Overland Limited, headed west. The journey by rail took five days in 1915, and the closest rail stop to the Idaho side of the Grand Tetons was Green River, Wyoming, in the south of that new state. Green River had burgeoned in size – but was still not large – with the passage of the railroad through there having been completed in 1868. From Green River it was another five-day ride by stagecoach over rough dirt tracks north to Driggs, Idaho. The Eremenos Ranch, tucked into a finger of the Teton Valley, projecting into the Grand Tetons on their western slope, was another five-hour ride on horseback.

Fully private compartments and carriages were a rarity on the run north and existed on the Union Pacific run west primarily to serve industrial and railroad magnates. So, semiprivate compartments were the best that Edward could obtain.

When he and Alo were the only ones in such a compartment during segments of travel between station stops, though, Edward would lower the curtains to the corridor; turn the lock in the door; pull Alo onto his lap, with the young man's trousers on the floor at his feet; and finger fuck and stroke Alo to an ejaculation. In this way he kept the young man keyed up for him and continuing to beg for a fuck that Edward would not provide.

Edward fully expected to make Alo his. He just felt he had good reason to fully prepare for it. For years he had intended to make Alo his when the lad reached his majority, and everything he had done in relating to Alo as the young man grew up was to prepare for this relationship without scaring the young man away. In this situation, so near to his goal, though, he needed to exercise supreme restraint, no matter how hard that was for him to do. He needed to do it right so as not to ruin it altogether.

On the stagecoach ride north from Green River, there was a driver and relief driver in the driver's box and a young Mexican man to do the hauling chores, who sometimes sat on top of the stage coach, amongst the luggage, and sometimes in the stagecoach, when it was raining. There were two other paying passengers, in addition to Edward and Alo, composed of an elderly missionary couple en route to working on and spreading the gospel to an Indian reservation.

It rained during the first day of travel, and the Mexican, Pedro, rode inside the carriage, sitting beside the missionary couple, with the massively large Edward sitting across from Pedro and Alo sitting beside Edward. During the trip Edward and Pedro exchanged several glances that Alo didn't particularly appreciate, but he wanted Edward so badly that he wouldn't say anything.

That night they camped on the north bank of the Muddy River, which honestly earned its name. They camped near the home compound of a ranch by arrangement. The ranch family provided meals, although the passengers and drivers slept in tents by a campfire.

The second day of the journey took them to the small town of Kemmerer, where, once again, they camped in a small grove of trees at a ranch that provided meals. Edward had been moody the whole day, even though the weather was good. Pedro was riding on top of the stagecoach.

That evening, as the passengers and drivers gathered from walks they had taken after their evening meal to stretch their aching limbs from a full day's ride in a lurching coach with inadequate springs, Alo noticed that Edward and Pedro had not yet returned. First Pedro returned, stumbling and looking distressed, and lurched into the tent he was to share with the drivers. Edward entered the camp soon thereafter, whistling and almost strutting.

Edward and Alo shared a tent. The previous night, Edward had managed to embrace Alo and quietly stroke him to ejaculation. This second night, though, he merely turned over, with his back to Alo, after a furtive kiss on the lips, and drifted off into snoring.

The next morning, as they were loading the stagecoach, Alo noticed there was no Pedro. So did the missionary couple. The husband of the couple asked the driver about this, and the driver gave a scowl and said that Pedro had taken ill in the night and would be left at the hosting ranch to recover. When the missionaries turned away, though, Alo saw the driver's scowl turn toward Edward, who was in good spirits and not paying much attention to the loading at all.

Alo felt tense the entire day of the ride northwest, across the Idaho state line, and to an encampment on the banks of Bear Lake. The tail end of the Tetons now clearly were in sight to the north. Edward continued humming to himself and engaging in discussions with the missionary couple that Alo knew didn't really interest the novelist at all – and weren't providing anything he could use in his writing, which was normally the only topics that could loosen Edward's tongue.

It also seemed to Alo that Edward didn't want to be engaging in discussions with him.

But that evening, after the meal and while the drivers were setting the tents up, Edward asked Alo to take a walk with him along the banks of Bear Lake.

In a hidden little forested ravine leading down to the shore of the lake, Alo disrobed at Edward's request and took a dip in the water. Edward remained dressed, watching Alo from the bank. When Alo came out of the water and had dried off with his shirt, Edward pulled the young man into his lap and finger fucked and stroked him to an ejaculation, while covering his face with kisses.

Alo had tried to be standoffish and certainly was showing Edward he was ticked about something, but Edward ignored this until after he had made the young man come for him – an activity that Alo was lost to as soon as Edward initiated it.

"Tell me what's wrong, Allen," Edward said.

"Pedro. You – "

"Yes, I fucked him. And we might as well establish right now that I will fuck other men during our relationship. But if you wind up living with me, as I hope you will, I will always be coming home to you. That doesn't mean I will tolerate you fucking other men after this summer. That is just the way it will be. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Alo answered, trying to keep the whine out of his voice. "But, why would you fuck Pedro and not -?"

"I established that Pedro let men fuck him. He was experienced. I needed the relief. You can't imagine how frustrating it is to be near you like I have been on this journey and not to find sexual relief."

"But . . . anytime you wanted me, you could . . . and Pedro, when he returned . . . Oh, Edward. Oh!"

Edward had moved down Alo's body and taken the young man's cock in his mouth and was sucking it. Alo was lost to him. Edward had only rarely done this for him before, and Alo was transported to the clouds overhead, completely lost to any more questions he might have about Pedro.