Raleigh's Folly

Chapter 5

2018—late March

The grounds had been prepared for planting of new shrubbery, and the installation of a sprinkler system was scheduled to begin first thing the following Monday morning. Meanwhile, it was an unseasonably hot Friday afternoon, and Eric and Rusty had let their crews go home earlier than usual, because they had plans to beat the heat.

They climbed in Eric’s truck, leaving Rusty’s vehicle behind, and drove across the fields to a small tributary of the Savannah River. It was a fairly deep stream, and even though their favorite swimming hole was only a hundred yards or so from the river, a corkscrew twist in the stream’s bed made the spot totally invisible to passing river traffic.

‘I’ve been looking forward to this all day,” Eric said as he shed his clothes.

“Me, too,” Rusty said. “Last one in buys dinner tomorrow night.”

Eric’s feet hit the water a few seconds before Rusty’s did, and when he surfaced, he said, “I win.”

“This time, buddy. This time.”

They swam some, horsed around in the water for quite a while, and were so distracted that they jumped when they heard someone say, “Mind if I join you?”

The two men looked up just in time to see Carlton Perry remove his last garment and dive into the creek. He swam underwater for several yards, only to surface in front of them.

“Fancy meeting you here, boss man,” Eric said.

“I come here a lot,” Carlton said. “And from the look of things, so do a lot of other people.” He was looking up at the tire on a rope hanging from a tree limb perhaps twenty-five feet above the water.

“Local kids have been using this swimming spot for generations,” Eric said.

The three men splashed around in the water for a while, until Rusty looked at his watch. “Sorry, guys, but I’ve got to get going. I promised my mother I’d drive her down to Savannah this evening to visit her sister.”

Eric and Carlton followed Rusty out of the stream, which allowed the two friends to get a really good look at Carlton’s physique. Eric noted the absence of hair on Carlton’s body, and said, “What’s with the smooth look, Carlton?”

“I was on the swim team all through high school and college, and a lot of the guys kept themselves smooth. I liked the look, and still keep it. Mutual genital shaving with a friend can be kind of exciting and erotic—you guys should try it sometime.”

“Us?” Rusty said.

“Why not?” Carlton said. “I have pretty good gaydar, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that if you guys aren’t a couple, you are at least coupling, as they say.”

“No argument there,” Eric said. “We’ve been taking care of each other’s needs off and on since we were kids.”

“On the other hand, that hasn’t stopped either one of us from having exclusive relationships with boyfriends from time to time,” Rusty said.

The nudity had done its work, and all three men were starting to become aroused, and Carlton said, “If we had time, I wouldn’t mind a threesome with the two of you.”

“Rusty has to go, so how about a twosome?” Eric said.

“Sounds good to me,” Carlton said.

“Take my truck back to the house, Rusty,” Eric said. “You know where to leave the keys. I’m sure Carlton will give me a ride.”

“From the look of things, I think he’ll probably give you the ride of your life,” Rusty said, and grinned. “Meanwhile, I’m gonna get dry, dressed, and gone, in that order. I’ll leave your towel on the hood of Carlton’s truck.”

Rusty took off, and the two remaining men looked at each other. “I’m ready now, and so are you,” Eric said. “But that stream is muddy and we’re not exactly clean.”

“I moved into the new manufactured home last week,” Carlton said. “It has a stall shower big enough for two.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Eric said, as he retrieved his towel and began to dry himself. He was reaching for his clothes when he suddenly felt surrounded by a wave of cold air.

* * * *

1854

Wade Raleigh was celebrating his twenty-first birthday by riding his new horse—a birthday present from his father—through the cotton fields, when he spotted a young slave he’d been keeping special track of. The slave was Wade’s age and was busily applying his hoe to the weeds growing around the cotton plants. The only thing that made him stand out from the other field hands was his mulatto skin and slight build. Wade raised his voice, and said, “Come over here, Moses.” The slave stood, dropped his hoe, and walked over to Wade. Wade reached down, grabbed Moses’ hand, and pulled him up behind him on the horse. Then he quickly rode the horse down toward the creek. When they’d reached his favorite totally secluded spot, he dismounted. He gave Moses a hand down; then he tied the reins of the horse to a low-growing bush.

Moses looked inquiringly at Wade.

“It’s hot, and I think a quick swim will do us both a world of good.”

With that, Wade began to shed his clothes, and Moses slowly followed suit.

“I knew you’d have a great body underneath those clothes,” Wade said as he watched Moses undress, then he jumped into the creek.

As Moses pulled off his garments, he’d begun to lose his shyness, and they were soon splashing water at each other like young men do. Their time in the water included a fair amount of ‘accidental’ groping, and finally, when they exited the river and embraced, there was no doubt in either man’s mind as to what would happen next.

They settled down on the grass on the bank of the creek and began the affair that would eventually set everything else in motion.

* * * *

2018—late March

Eric began to shiver, and Carlton said, “What’s the matter?”

“All of a sudden I’m freezing cold, and I had the strangest sort of…I don’t really know what to call it. It was like a waking dream, but it also felt like a flashback to another experience.”

“What can you tell me about it?”

“I was riding a horse through cotton fields, watching the field hands chopping cotton, and I seemed to be almost lusting after a young mulatto guy.”

“So?”

“I’ve never ridden a horse in my entire life, and I’ve never been attracted to, for want of a better term, dark meat. Then the two of us got naked and went swimming in the creek, and after that, we…we had sex.”

Carlton looked down at Eric’s groin. “It must have been one hell of a dream,” he said. “You’re half-hard, and It looks like you’re dripping semen.”

Eric looked down at his body, then he gave Carlton’s torso a thorough inspection. “You seem to have the same problem.”

“Yeah, and that’s because I had the same experience, only I was the field hand.”

“That’s almost too crazy for words,” Eric said. “And what the hell does it mean?”

They’d been dressing while they talked and had just gotten into Carlton’s truck.

“Tell me about your dream,” Carlton said as he started the truck and put it in gear, “and I mean every little detail you can remember.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, please?”

“Okay,” Eric said, and began to describe in detail what he remembered of the dream.

“Did the field hand have a name?” Carlton said. “And for the record, he wasn’t a field hand, he was a slave.”

“Say what?”

“Think about what you were wearing. It was mid-nineteenth century clothing, wasn’t it?”

“Geez, I don’t know. It felt odd, but the dream was so fleeting that I didn’t have time to analyze everything. And no, I don’t remember thinking about the guy’s name. Where’s this coming from, Carlton?”

“It’s coming from the fact that I had the same dream, and I do mean the same dream—except that I was the slave looking up at the master on his horse.”

“No way.”

“I kid you not. In fact, ever since I started living on the property, I’ve been having odd little flashbacks. Just bits and pieces here and there, and until the horse dream just now, nothing that I could wrap my brain around.”

“All of which means that you’ve thought about this a lot,” Eric said.

“More than a lot. I’ve applied some serious gray matter time to the problem.”

“And have you reached any conclusions?”

“Maybe,” Carlton said as he guided his truck across the fields.

“Don’t be evasive, Carlton.”

“Okay, then. I think we are both experiencing some sort of memories. Memories of things that happened a very long time ago to two men.”

“You mean, like reincarnation?”

“Not exactly.”

“What, then?”

“I’m not sure, and I really don’t want to speculate until I’ve done more research. Meanwhile, here we are at my humble, but temporary, abode, and I hear the hot water calling.”

“No argument there. Give me a minute to get a change of clothes out of my truck.”

Eric retrieved a gym bag from his truck and followed Carlton into the manufactured home. The place was a pleasant surprise. “It’s really nice in here,” he said.

“The master suite is even nicer,” Carlton said.

In a matter of minutes, they were enjoying the spacious stall shower, and each other. Later, they moved things to the king-size bed, and enjoyed them even more.

Later still, they were distracted by the rumbling of a stomach.

“Was that you?” Carlton said.

“I’m afraid so. It’s been a long, active day, and I only had a sandwich for lunch.”

“Then let’s take a quick shower and go visit the local diner.”

“Works for me.”