FLASHBACK: Summer 1973

"Sex. S-E-X. You never heard of sex?"

"No. What is it?"

"This is sex."

My best friend John C. and I were practically inseparable. We had become fast friends a year or two earlier, and hung out together at school and home. He was my first best friend.

One day, while we were playing in the woods near his house, John found a tattered copy of an adult magazine. In it were pictures of women in assorted poses. Most were fully naked but some had pantyhose and high heels. All had huge breasts with saucer-sized nipples, big round butts and gaping red vaginas surrounded by a jungle of hair. I was immediately disgusted and felt as if I were going to puke. But some of the shots revealed men as well. They too were naked...and they all had big dicks. This didn't cause that much revulsion...

It's funny how some of the most exciting or seemingly-monumental moments of your life happen without one spoken word.

Within a few minutes of leafing through this porn rag, John and I looked at each other and, wordlessly, we knew we were going to try it. With each other.

We made our way quickly back to John's house, trying to hide our little budding boy boners that were tenting our pants. His mom and dad were both out and so we were alone. (Funny how, back then, you could leave your 9-year-old kid home alone and it wasn't the "child neglect" it would be perceived as today.) But, shoot, now I remember! I was wondering why I was recalling we had to be quiet...we weren't alone...his 18-year-old big brother was up in his room. That's right. (Now all you conservatives can stop harking about how John's parents left him home alone at his age...nothin' you could do about it now anyway, being 35 years later!)

We quickly stripped and got behind the couch which was positioned kitty-corner so there was room back there, but it would be outta sight if his brother happened to come downstairs. We examined each others smooth hairless crotches and fondled each others boy cock. (Wow, this is turning into outright kiddie-porn! Yikes!) We laid down on the floor and took turns being "on top", but never got farther than humping our dicks together. We had no clue what to do. It just felt good.

We repeated this "sex" a couple or three more times that summer. We treated this as just another game, just something else to pass the time.

One day, towards the end of summer, we played our dry hump game, then decided to go for a swim in his pool. I had forgotten to bring my swim trunks, so John let me borrow a pair of his. They were just a bit tight on me though and I had to squeeze into them. They clearly showed off my little dick and balls. After we were done swimming, I walked home, but for some reason I wore his swim suit rather than change back into my clothes. I think I got off on the tightness, and the fact that these trunks also, at one time, held John's dick and balls. When I got home, my mother saw what I was wearing and asked who's they were. I told her I had to borrow John's suit to go swimming. My mother paused a beat or two, then looked me in the eye and said, "Are you two playing with your pee-pees?"

Still to this day, I have no clue how she picked that up from me wearing a buddy's spare swim trunks.

I immediately bawled and told her everything. She, of course, commanded I never see him again.

"It was a sin."

And when you're 9, your mother's commandments are law...especially when backed by the dogma of the Church.

After many days of avoiding John, he finally called and asked what was up. I told him I couldn't see him again and why.

I told him my mother said it was a sin.

The new school year started, and, because his last name also began with C, he was seated right next to me in the alphabetically arranged classroom desks we were assigned to. But I couldn't speak to him. Though I wanted to, though I loved him, I had to ignore his very existence. It was my mother's commandment.

It was a sin.

Our mutual friends asked why weren't speaking to one another. Neither of us supplied any info to them. Because of my mother's commandment, I eventually fell out of friendship with the others in our group since they still hung out with John. And I couldn't. It was forbidden.

It was a sin.

My family eventually moved away to another part of town. Another school district. But when it came time for me to enter Junior High, I saw John again. We got together and talked. He forgave me. We became good friends again and hung out frequently like we did years earlier. It wasn't as close a friendship as it had been though...too much time apart had taken it's toll. We never talked about sex or what we did back then. Later that year, John's family moved to Shrewsbury, Mass. Before the move, we promised each other that we'd keep in touch. We never did. I never saw him again.