Panama Ch. 02: The Canal Zone

(This story takes off where Panama stopped. If you have not read 'Panama' this tale will seem to start in the middle. If you click on Mikey2Much it will show you a listing of all my stories, and you will have no trouble finding the first installment. It was fun to write and I hope that it will be fun to read. As with every other writer on this site we all would like a vote or even better a comment.)

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The day started hard for Scotty. Four o-clock had happened within seconds of his head hitting the pillow. It seemed as though he had barely got into the bunk before his alarm went off in his ear. Unsuccessfully, the young man tried to blink the sleep from his eyes as he sat up in his bunk. He fell back onto his back after hitting the light switch, an arm thrown across his eyes as the light burned a path to his brain.

Then he remembered Francesca, the events of last night. Her skin had been so smooth and warm. Her smile filled his thoughts as he slipped back into sleep.

"Wake up," the voice hammered into his head like a blunt nail. A hand the size of a catcher's mitt shook his shoulder. His wide opened eyes were looking at a giant black face full of white teeth. "Cookie will have your hide if you late."

Scotty drew back in fear and then recognized the ship's steward, Gus. In a flash he realized that he had gone back to sleep. A quick glance at the clock told him that he should've been in the galley ten minutes ago. The old negro man was right.

"Thanks, Gus, I owe you one," Scotty said as Gus gave him a helping hand, pulling the younger man up and out of bed. He was surprised to see that Scotty slept in the nude, equally surprised at how hairless his body was.

"No problem, Mister Scotty," Gus replied as he headed off down the passageway.

Scotty was late. He could come back and dress right when he got a chance. Right now he had to shit and get! He inserted his legs into his jeans without benefit of underwear. Slipping on his Keds without benefit of socks, he was buttoning his shirt as he left his room. He rushed down the passageway to the crew's restroom where he took a leak and splashed water on his face, combing his hair with his fingers. Everything else would have to wait. Half awake he made his way up to the galley where Cookie was waiting. . Cookie had seen this all before, he was wise in the ways of men and knew exactly what was going on with the boy. Last night had been his first drunk and first woman, this morning he was enjoying his first hangover.

"Scotty make a pot of coffee and then get started chopping up these onions and bell peppers". Cookie waited to see that the boy was paying attention and then continued. "When you are through with those things let me know and I will give you other jobs. Go now, you are starting the day running behind, we don't have much time." Turning to go about his own duties, Cookie couldn't help the way the boy felt, breakfast had to be ready when the men arrived and it didn't matter how you felt.

Scotty started with the coffee pot, a huge stainless steel urn that held enough coffee to fill the cups of the twenty men who would have their breakfast that morning. His mind was so busy remembering the events of last night that he had a hard time concentrating on the task at hand. "Francesca," he said the word aloud, wondering what she was doing right this minute. She would still be in her bed, warm and soft beneath her blankets. God! If only he could be there with her.

When he had managed to fill the tank with water and to fill the basket with the right amount of coffee, he hit the button. Instead of going to his next job he decided to wait just a moment and get a cup of java for himself. This had the extra attraction of giving him a few minutes to think of Francesca. The memory of her skin beneath his hand, the feel of her breast, he let his mind wander over her body the way his hands and eyes had the night before. He felt his erection as it tried to force its way down his leg.

Grabbing a mug he filled it with the hot brew and took a careful sip. Coffee was still new to the boy since his father wouldn't let him drink it until after he had passed his eighteenth birthday. Too hot, after burning his tongue he cooled it down with some cold milk and took another mouthful. His head seemed to be throbbing with his heartbeat, his eyes wouldn't focus clearly, the brightly lit galley was too much for them to handle this morning. Someone had told him that sugar helped a hangover. He dumped a generous amount into his coffee, grabbed a large knife and went to the cutting board where the onions and peppers waited for him.

Cookie had two other young men to supervise but he had been doing this for years. He was everywhere, looking over shoulders as well as watching from across the room. He was aware of what each man under his control was doing at all times. It was a small miracle the new boy still had all his fingers. He rushed over to where Scotty was working.

"Stop!" Cookie spoke the word into the young mans ear as he reached around him to hold the hand with the knife. "Stop, you watch, "he stepped next to the boy, "never make knife come to body. Knife always go away, always cut away." Scotty let the older man's hand slip inside his own to take the knife handle. The words that the cook spoke were a bit awkward but his hands in motion, the knife flashing brightly, was art in action. Using a rocking and chopping motion the cook had finished the task in a minute that would have taken Scotty much longer to do. "I finish here, you go to officer's mess, check on fruit and set up side board."

Scotty squeezed by the cook, painfully aware of his erection as it rubbed across the cook's ass. Once free of the small space he moved as quickly as he could to get around the corner into the small hallway that separated the officer's dining room from the hustle and bustle of the galley. Once he passed into the shadowy privacy of that small space, his hand went down the front of his pants and grabbed his cock. It started as a simple rearrangement but somehow he still had his hard dick in his hand and his hand deep in his pants when he entered the officer's dinning room. No big deal if the room was empty like he thought it would be.

But on this morning it wasn't.

The Boatswain, Frenchy, and a stranger sat at a table having a cup of coffee. The night was hot and the air thick with humidity and insects. The three men had sought refuge here in this dark room, with the light out they could leave the screen less portholes and door-hatches open. A floor fan waved the air around in the room creating a cooling breeze but it made such a rattling racket that it discouraged conversation. Enjoying the respite from the bugs and the warm comfort of the hot mug of coffee, the three friends had lapsed into silence when the boy came in.

The boatswain watched the youngster walk bowlegged into the room, his hand stroking his dick inside his pants. The kid took three steps into the room and stopped. He was perfectly backlit by the light from the galley as he began to slowly stroke himself. The boatswain quietly sat back and smiled contently. He was willing to let the boy make a fool out of himself, even willing to take advantage of the fact. The boy leaned against the bulkhead and opened his jeans, pulling his hard cock and his balls through the opening. He made a gentle thrusting motion with his pelvis as he slowly and sensuously stroked his smallish cock. Even though he was stroking his dick, he still came across as being very feminine. The boatswain found himself looking forward to this trip more and more.

Frenchy knew it was his new friend, Scotty, as soon as he walked into the room. He didn't know why he held his voice but he did. In silence he just sat there and let the boy go, knowing what this might mean to his future here on the ship. This kind of thing always had a price to be paid and it was always a high price. Frenchy had seen this kind of thing before. Well, there are friends and there are friends with fringe benefits. As Frenchy watched Scotty sway and thrust as he stroked his cock, he mentally moved him from the former to the latter designation.

The pilot was surprised into silence when the boy walked into the room, even more surprised when the boy's shipmates let the kid continue. However he was not disappointed, he enjoyed watching the young man pleasure himself. The graceful way he let his body move while he stroked his little dick was very enchanting. The light played on his face revealing the passion the boy was feeling. It was very sexy and the pilot was not the least bit surprised when he felt his own erection start to rise. He made no move to adjust his cock for fear of alerting the boy to the fact of his audience.

Scotty could hear Cookie talking to Joey, their voices coming from the galley. Stevie had gone down two decks and a long passageway to the walk in cooler. He was safe for the moment here in this dark room. His hand tried to work the magic that her body had preformed on him. His mind re-lived the moments when she held him in her hands. He thought of her small fingers wrapped around his dick so tight. The smile in her eyes as she looked up at him, knowing he was about to cum. The thought of the way she had thrust her body up to meet his own as he fucked her so deep. The memories of her were too much for Scotty and he began to shoot gobs of spunk out onto the floor. He let himself relax against the wall continuing to stroke himself until he was finished.

Scotty stood there awash in the after glow of his climax. He could see the wet spots shining on the floor where his cum had flown. His hand still gripped his softening dick; it was shiny with his cum. He raised his hand to his mouth, she had tasted cum many times, and he had kissed her. He wanted her to taste his cum but they had run out of time. He was all by himself he thought as he raised his hand to his mouth. His tongue reached out to touch the syrupy mess on his index finger and thumb.

He was pretending to lick the sweet crevice between her legs as his tongue licked between his finger and thumb. He had no idea why he sucked his fingers into his mouth to clean them. It just seemed to be the thing to do at the time. Finished he put his privates back into his pants and returned to the galley to get a mop. He needed a refill on his coffee and a cigarette too.

The three men sat there, silent, each having his own thoughts about what they had just witnessed. After a moment the pilot spoke first. "I want to have a shot at that. You guys have him for weeks, I only have a few hours," The pilot's eyes crinkled with good humor as he finished. "Besides, neither one of you two know how to break a boy in right."

The boatswain looked at Frenchy and then back at the pilot. "You gonna have to be on the bridge through the canal, you are the fucking pilot ain't you?"

"I know." The pilot replied. "I know, but I will have forty minutes while we go through each one of the locks. This kid is ready; this is going to be easy."

Frenchy looked at the boatswain and said," I don't mind waiting for Pete here to break her in. As a matter of fact I think that is the best way to do it, somebody that is not a member of the crew. Somebody who the kid thinks he will never see again. He will think that nobody will ever know. When he finds out that we do know he will be putty in our hands."

Frenchy didn't notice the way he was sometimes referring to his friend as a female. Watching Scotty's act of masturbation had changed the way he thought of the boy. That act had changed the way that they all viewed the boy. Scotty had become sexual prey in each of their eyes.

It made sense, the boatswain and Frenchy agreed to let the pilot run it the way he wanted to. There would be plenty left for them later, they had the entire Pacific Ocean to cross. Plenty of time to do whatever they wanted to do.

The pact made, the pilot asked his friends to leave him along to talk with the boy. Without another word they both got up and left out the side door to the deck.

A few minutes passed before Scotty returned, he had set his coffee on a table and hit the light switch before he saw the man seated behind the table watching him. Thinking that he was there to place an order, Scotty approached the man with his order book out of his pocket. "Good morning sir, what can I get for you?"

"What is your name boy?" The pilot made no reply to the boy's question as he arrived at the side of the table.

"Scotty, Scotty Jackson, I am the dining room orderly". Scotty found himself feeling a bit uneasy. The stranger had a very direct way of looking at you.

The pilot, Pete, watched the boy as he spoke. "I saw you do your little jack off boogie just now. How do your shipmates feel about having a little faggot on board?"

Stunned by the thought that someone had watched him while he had beat his meat Scotty just stood there like the proverbial deer in the headlights. He didn't know how to reply to the accusation, by the time he came up with something to say, it was too late. His silence had served as his confession.

"Come over here and stand by my chair." It was clearly a command not a request. Scotty obeyed. The stranger's hand reached out to the boy's crotch, he let his fingers trace the outline of the boy's soft dick.

Scotty had no idea how to deal with this situation. He couldn't piss the guy off for fear that he would tell about what he had seen, but he was very uncomfortable with the way things were going now. His growing erection only added to his embarrassment.

"Well Scotty, I am the pilot. I know this canal like the back of my hand, after I see you guys through safely I get off and ride another ship back through tomorrow. I will only be on board for a few hours after that I am gone forever. Now the question for you is this, how bad do you want to keep you little dance a secret from your mates?" All the time that he was talking the pilot kept stroking his finger against the boys hardening dick.

Scotty stepped back and away from the man. "I am so sorry. I had no idea that anybody was in here. Please don't tell anyone about this."

Anger flared in the man's eyes. "Get your ass back over here where I can reach you." When the kid hesitated he added, "right fucking now."

Scotty was forced to step closer to the man, who ran his hand between the boy's legs. Holding the young man's thigh with his fingers he let his thumb push upwards into the boys ass crack. "Spread your legs boy."

Almost by reflex Scotty did as the man told him to. He could hear Cookie in the galley, any minute he could be coming in here to check on how he was doing. The pilot didn't seem to be concerned at all by the danger of getting caught. He was using his free hand to unbutton and unzip the boy's pants; he let the pants fall to just above the boy's knees, where the spread of his legs stopped them. For all practical purposed the boy was naked from the waist down. His cock, while a bit on the small side, was hard and waved around before the kid. The pilot started to stroke the boy's cock at the same time as he probed the lad's puckered asshole with his thumb. "Boy what room are you in?"

Scotty tried to go up on his toes to avoid the pressing thumb but the man growled at him to stand still and he obeyed once again. The thumb broke through the muscular little ring and sunk into the boys bowels at the same time that the man demanded an answer to his question.

"Room two twenty two on B deck" the boy answered, his voice strained by the feelings he was having.

"Boy you got a hard decision to make. Would you rather be a queer and keep it a secret or would you rather be straight and everybody think you are a queer." The pilot was very sure of himself as he held the rigid little cock in his hand.

"Shit! I don't know what to say. I don't want anybody to know about what I did. But I ain't no queer either." The boy couldn't help but be sexually aroused by the attention that his dick was receiving and the thumb in his ass seemed to be making itself at home. He knew what the guy wanted to hear so he gave it to him. "I don't want anyone to know."

"Good, when I pull my thumb from your tight little ass I want you to get on your knees." Both of them knew that Scotty would obey him and he did. When the thumb was withdrawn from his ass , Scotty dropped to his knees beside the man's chair.

The pilot brought the thumb that had been in his ass up to the boy's lips. "Suck it," he said. The boy resisted he did not want to do this. "Suck it," the man commanded again but the boy kept his lips pressed together. The thumb pressed hard against his lips, the pilot leaned over to speak softly to the boy. "If you want your little dance to be our secret you better get your fucking lips wrapped around this thumb and suck on it like it was a lolly- pop."

Defeated, Scotty let the soiled thumb enter his mouth.

"That's a good boy, now suck it." The pilot said. "Don't stop sucking until I tell you to. Now when you get off work I want you to go to your room and strip naked. When I get the chance I will come and visit you. When I come you will do exactly as I tell you to or I will have a very funny story to tell around the mess table today."

Scotty sucked the thumb deep into his mouth cleaning his ass juices from the man's hand while he listened.

"Look at me boy, are you going to do what I tell you to do?"

With his mouth full of thumb Scotty looked up at the man and nodded his head as best as he could.

"Good, now I would like two eggs over well with grits and white toast. I will look forward to seeing you later. Remember what I said." The man pulled his thumb from the boy's mouth. "Get moving boy, I find that I have worked up an appetite."

In a daze Scotty left for the safety of the galley where he called in the order. How the hell was he going to get out of this, he wondered. When he came back with the food the man was sitting with the boatswain and Frenchy and acted as if nothing had happened.

The breakfast rush saved him from worrying too much about the strange man and his even stranger demands. Before he knew it they were into clean up mode and then it was time to rest until the pre lunch rush. Cookie told him to be ready to start fixing the salad bowl at eleven thirty. Scotty had an hour to rest up or catch a cat-nap, but instead he went to his room and stripped naked and waited for a man he hoped would not show up.

The time slowly passed and the feeling of expectation and dread was replaced with the feeling of relief when it was time to go back to work. With a bit more time than he had had that morning Scotty put on his underwear and socks this time. Maybe, he thought as he walked to the galley, the pilot was just playing a prank on him. Scotty had discovered that men on the ship had a very crude and sometimes cruel sense of humor.

When they first left New Orleans they had to go six hours down the river and hit the Gulf of Mexico. The river was fine but when they hit the Gulf the swells make him get the beginnings of sea-sickness. Goat and Frenchy had told him not to drink any liquid and to eat as many apples as he could and it would settle his stomach. Later when he was throwing-up over the side, the apples came up like huge turds. His 'new friends' were tickled over this and watched with glee as he puked his guts out, spewing great chunks of apple stuck together into turd- like logs. It had been terrible to him but his 'friends' seemed to really enjoy watching him go through it.

With a feeling of relief, Scotty figured that the pilot had just been fucking with the new guy like everybody else did. He reported to the galley and began preparing the salad for lunch. He overheard several conversations concerning problems that the canal had been having that morning. Apparently one of the 'mules', a machine similar to a train engine, had broken down and caused a delay while another had to be brought in to replace it. But as lunch was finishing up the ship had entered the Gatun Lock to be raised almost nine stories high to the level of Lake Gatun. Cookie let Scotty step outside to watch as the ship was pulled into the first of the two locks. The machinery was all so large, the gates standing as tall as a five story building. The electric locomotives or mules moving slowly along the side of the ship on rails eased the ship into the slot while the giant gates closed behind it. Water lifted the ship as it was allowed to flow into the closed section of the lock. He could've watched for hours but he had to get back to work.