2012: HOW HE SAILED

                                    AUTUMN 

        Joshua had grown into a fine man. At eighteen, his face still had some of the delicacy of boyhood, but the strength of the man showed in his high broad forehead, the full cheekbones, the strong jaw. His eyebrows were thick and well-formed and his eyes were deep-set, blue, and his lips were full. 

      Since he left home, he had been hunting down jobs. He had saved quite some money from his pocket money from the last ten years that he had nurtured the dream of running away from home. The only thing he didn't fulfil in that dream was taking his sister along and for the past three weeks he left home, sometimes, he had the sudden and almost uncontrollable urge to go and get his sister, steal her away from that hell their father called home. 

      But each time, he was stopped by the thought that she had betrayed him. She had told on him and even if he wanted to overlook it and go to bring her, she won't go anywhere with him, to her he was a sinner and she was not to be equally yoked with sinners. 

      The first week he left home had been difficult for him, he had used the money he had saved to feed himself and he had slept from one junk house to another and had looked for jobs to keep feeding himself at least. His breakthrough had come when he had gone to a construction site and applied to do some little works that would earn him meagre wages. 

        The man, Mr Pablo had been kind enough to give him a dingy room to lay his head at night provided he watched over the site and the equipment placed in the room he stays. He got another job at the junkyard and he worked at the construction site in the morning and work at the junkyard in the evening. Since he was a man set to be free in life, he had started saving up for college, the little amount he made. 

        He never knew how long it would take him to save enough to go to college. Months, maybe years but he was determined to do it, so he had started saving up.  He liked to work bare-chested while at the construction site and he never ceases to work out every morning. He had broad shoulders, a deep chest well-padded with firm muscles, and a belly hard-looking and flat. He liked staying that way because the other construction workers were always marvelled at the sight of his body. 

       Tanned by the harsh weather and condition, yet it suited him well. He had worked hard and had searched for someone to fall in love with, since he was free in a free town, he could find someone like him out here, not in a small religious town where everyone knew everyone and condemned you for the things you do. He had never known what it was like to love someone, someone the same as himself.  At first, he had been shy about his sexuality and refused to come out, but then one of the guys had seen how he stared at him and had known right away. 

        He had called him one night and they had drank and talked about it over drinks. He had come out to the guy and had told him it was the reason he had left home. To his surprise, the guy never judged him nor made him feel demon-possessed although he was straight. He made him understand that a lot of people were like him and that the owner of the job they were doing was gay too. He had thought it was the poor old Pablo, and he had scowled and ewwed. 

   He had thought Pablo was into men and he had hidden his interest, so as not to attract the old man. He wore clothes now, even though those clothes hardly stayed on his body. He had changed his name to Oscar and had stayed hidden from Pablo until one day, the real owner that his colleague talked about arrived from California. 

       He was the only one at the site that morning when the car pulled up. He glanced behind him and saw a handsome man in his early forties coming out of the Maserati. 

       "Holla, boy," the man called. 

       Joshua eyed the man and continued what he was doing.  "They are not yet here!" 

        The man walked up to him and when Joshua saw him up close, his heart thumped. The man was more handsome when he was closer, with a Western face, grey eyes and lips that looked so good. He was still handsome at his age. Joshua was so carried away that he didn't know that he was staring. 

       "I am Brandon Foster by the way, but just call me Foster," the man said and stretched out his hand. 

      Joshua caught himself and looked at the man's hand for a while and took it.  "Oscar Prescott," he said. 

         Foster held his hand longer than usual and Joshua wondered why. Their eyes locked. 

        "Is that not Foster?" Pablo asked bringing them back to reality. 

       "Hey, Pablo!" Foster hollered and left Joshua's hand. 

     He went over to Pablo and Joshua went back to work, but he overheard them. 

        "I haven't seen him before, is he new around here?" Foster asked. 

       "Yeah, some kid from Oak Park, ran away from home for some reason." 

       "Must have been rebellious," Foster said. 

       "He is a good lad." 

     Foster glanced over at Joshua who concentrated on his work and pretended not to hear them, while his heart thumped. He later learnt from his colleagues that he was the real owner of the construction site. 

      Foster came to the site every day from that day and always tried to get Joshua to spend time with him. But Joshua who was still a little naive and afraid to come out to just anyone wouldn't let him in. Joshua would always keep to himself and won't even talk much although he adored Foster. 

        One day, Foster had waited for him until everyone was gone. When Joshua was about to go to the storehouse that served as his room, Foster had followed him. 

        "Why are you so reclined?" Foster called after him when he saw that Joshua was not ready to give him an audience. 

          "What do you want from me?" Joshua asked and unlocked the door to his room cum store. 

         "I want to get to know you." 

    Joshua went into the room, Foster followed him and stood by the door. Joshua took his packed bags for the junkyard and turned to look at Foster.  "There is nothing to know about me." 

     Foster looked around.  "Is this where you sleep." 

       "At least I sleep somewhere," Joshua mumbled. 

        "Why did you leave home?" 

         "It's none of your business. Are you some cop or something? Why are you asking me these questions?" Joshua asked and started walking away from him. 

      Foster followed him. "Let me help you." 

    Joshua halted and turned to look at him.  "Why?!" 

      "Because I am like you. I know who you are." 

       "You don't know shit about me." Joshua started to walk off. 

       "Why are you so angry?! I understand! Life is not friendly at all, I know that you want to go to college!" 

      Joshua halted again and turned to look at him.  "How did you know that?" 

      "I am sorry but I have been gathering stuff about you from your colleagues, but that's because I like you, I liked you from the first day we met and so I want to help you, just let me do it." 

      "I am saving up for college," Joshua said. 

       "For how long do you plan to save? We can move away from here, I will take you to Los Angeles and you can go to college and you can pay me back if you want." 

       Joshua stood there staring at the man helplessly. This was an opportunity knocking for him, but why was he offering to help him just like that? 

       Joshua had asked about Foster for the following weeks, he had investigated him and found out the kind of work he did. He found out that Foster was into real estate and he was not a criminal. He had agreed to date him even though Foster was twenty-five years older than him. He loved Foster and they dated for a while before he agreed to follow Foster back to LA where he resided. Even as he left Illinois, all he had in his mind was to make it and come back for his sister. 

       Foster had kept to his promise and had trained him in college, Joshua being a bright student, never disappointed Foster. They dated until Joshua was done with school. Throughout those years, Joshua tried to reach out to Faith and when he finally made up his mind to go and take her, he realised she was gone. She no longer lived in Oak Park and his father was dead. 

       One faithful day, he had decided to come back from college without informing Foster, he wanted to surprise him on his birthday. That was the day he met his worst nightmare. He had come back to the house and it was unusually quiet except for muffled music coming from up the stairs. He had quietly climbed up the stairs and realized it was coming from a room that Foster never opens when he was around.  He tried the handle and the door clicked open. 

      He slowly pushed it back and saw a sight he couldn't behold. It was a sex orgy and Foster was at the centre of it, with both men and women. His eyes met with Foster's and he shut the door and ran away without looking back. 

        A knock came at his door bringing him back to the present, he glanced up, and his assistant came in.  

       "Sir, the board members are waiting for the meeting to start."

       "I will be there," he said and stood up from his seat. 

    The assi stant genuflected and left. He took his suit jacket from the hanger, wore it and set out of the office.