the dorm from one of the other people working the show. He said “Fuggheddaboudit. My Uncle Frank dropped me off, and he can come pick us both up. Why don’t you stay tonight out at his place with me? He has a really great cabin out in the woods.”

I vaguely remembered meeting his Uncle Frank at some school function once, but only vaguely. I would have given anything to stay with Todd, and the idea of a sleepover with him was something that I would walk over hot coals for. I asked, “You sure he won’t mind?”

Todd said “No problem, buddy – just let me call.” He did and said that Uncle Frank would be here in about 20 minutes.

We chatted a bit and then picked at a few more desserts – they had a double-chocolate fudge/brownie/cake thingie that was deadly, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce…

Uncle Frank walked in about 20 minutes later, and saw us and waved. Todd and I stood up, and my woody had subsided enough that I could walk. I was swaying a bit from the wine, but not much. We walked outside with Uncle Frank and climbed into his pickup, all three of us on the front (the only) seat, with Todd in the middle. He said to me, “Wait’ll you see Frank’s place – it is so cool. You’re gonna love it!” With that, his hand fell to my thigh, and he didn’t remove it.

I was still reeling from seeing Todd again, and our conversation, and now having him so close, so squeezed in next to me, with his hand on my thigh, and heading for a sleepover with him. We drove out of town a ways and turned off the highway onto a dirt road that wound up into the hills, and then arrived at Uncle Frank’s cabin.

It was much more than a cabin, but it was made of rough-hewn logs, so I guess that qualifies. It was a two-story A-Frame, with one-story wings on either side – quite a large place, actually. I couldn’t see much in the dark, but when I got inside I saw that it was well-built and well-decorated. Lots of rustic cowboy-themed stuff but a lot of good Mission-style furniture as well.

Uncle Frank was built very different from Todd – big, thick-muscled, neck like a brahma bull, flowing mane of tawny blonde hair, with glittering green eyes. I remembered now that he was the youngest in the family, and Todd’s father was the oldest, so he was not that much older than Todd and me. He said to me, “I sleep upstairs, and Todd sleeps on the pull-out couch down here. It’s a double, so you can either sleep with him or on the floor. Your choice. I’m turnin’ in.” With that, he turned on his heel and went upstairs.

Todd said, “You want the couch or the floor?” His snapping black eyes glittered in the dim light.

“The couch sounds fine.”

“OK – you pull out the couch while I get a fire going – it’s a bit cool tonight.”

I thought about the fire that Todd had already started but did not voice my thoughts. I pulled out the couch, which was already made up, but Todd told me to strip those