Chase of a Lifetime by Ryan Field Page A

dick and patted it down.
“I’d rather not do this, dad. Can’t I come out like a normal person and enjoy
the party.” He didn’t mention the fact that there were no people his age there
and it would be impossible to enjoy the party.
    His father laughed. “C’mon, son. Don’t be so
uptight. This is going to be a huge hit. We’ve been practicing it over and over
all month. Show them what you’ve got.”
    Although Jim had never been much of a
swimmer, his father had been on the swim team in high school and in college.
He’d been encouraging Jim to swim and learn to dive since he was old enough to
walk. “Okay, dad,” Jim said. He spoke with a dejected, downtrodden tone. “I’ll
do this once. But only once. And if I screw it up, it’s not my fault.”
    As his father introduced him to the party
guests, Jim walked to the door and opened it wide, making his grand entrance,
wishing he could disappear. He stepped out in the hot sun to applause from
thirty middle aged people had hadn’t seen in years. His stomach jumped; his
throat tightened. He walked to the end of the pool, climbed up to the diving
board, and walked out to the end. Everyone went silent while he found his
stance. He pressed his feet together as his father had taught him. He started
rocking up and down to gain momentum, concentrating on what he was about to do.
    Then he made one quick leap into the air,
twirled backward twice in such an awkward way he thought he might vomit in
mid-air, and landed flat on his back against the warm blue water. The impact
stung and he knew he’d screwed up the dive. As he sank to the bottom of the
pool, he imagined how his arms and legs must have looked flying around every
which way. He closed his eyes and wondered how long he could remain down there
without taking a breath so he wouldn’t have to face anyone. A minute later, he
had no choice but to swim to the surface. When he did, his father and mother
were leaning over, gaping down at him with huge smiles. The rest of the crowd
was applauding and cheering him on.
    He climbed out of the pool and reached for a
towel his mother was holding. He hugged his father and turned around to face
the guests. While his father shouted and praised the awkward dive he’d just
made, he forced a smile and nodded a few times. As he glanced around the outdoor
area at the guests, he wondered why Len Mayfield wasn’t there. Len always
attended all their parties. He saw Mrs. Mayfield at the other end of the pool
standing beside a group of women his mother knew. But Len wasn’t anywhere in
sight and he didn’t dare ask where Len was.
    *****
    Later that night, his mother and father went
out to play bridge with friends who lived a few miles away. He knew they’d
return laughing, smelling of pot. It was a Friday night and Jim didn’t feel like
sitting home alone again. He was tired of jacking to porn on his computer and
bored with riding a dildo. He wanted to find out what it was like to be with a
real man, and at twenty-one years old he didn’t think he had a moment to waste.
    For an instant, he considered going to an adult
bookstore he knew about on the edge of town. He’d read enough about gay life
online to know that gay men often frequented adult book stores for anonymous
sex. Though he’d never seen a glory hole up close, he knew what they were. He
also considered driving out to a rest stop along the interstate. He’d read
about those places, too. Gay men often cruised rest stops and public parks for
anonymous sex. They went to bathhouses, too.
    But he hesitated when he thought about all
the things that could happen to him at one of these clandestine places. He
could wind up with an STD. He’d read about gay men getting crabs and just the
thought of this horror made him scratch his dick and clamp his knees together.
He’d also read about something even more disturbing. Evidently, there was this
thing called “stealthing.” He’d looked this one up in the online