Weird weather we've been havin here in New York. A brutal winter followed by no spring - then all of a sudden…SUMMER! Throw in some rain like damn near every day, put all of the ingredients in the oven at 98 degrees and what do you get? SUMMER 2003 in New York City! Life for me has become one of "ritual" once again, but instead of the ritual involving a burnt spoon, a belt and syringe, it has become a ritual of sobriety! A ritual of going to my program, hittin some assorted NA meetings, and hittin as much skin as I possibly can!

My motorcycle was in the shop a few days longer than I expected, so instead of wasting my hard to come by cash on a gypsy cab, I decided on above ground mass transit! I usually go for the subway, but for some reason I was drawn yesterday morning to the M-101 - a bus that leaves me almost right at the front door of Beth Israel. The bleak 6 story building that fills my cup with 90 mg of methadone every morning. Me and the rest of the *MURDOCK zombies that fill the strip of 125th street "central Harlem" every morning. Coffee cup in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I medicated like any other day and went right back to the bus stop to get back to 160th street. If you start hanging out around the streets of the program you can end up with an Administrative Detox for loitering! See, we are all junkies so through the eyes of EVERYONE we are GUILTY of something! OR at least, up to something - if we are hanging out! So if a counselor or a security guard spots you, you might not be getting your full dose the next morning. You just may be in for a steady 10mg a week drop till you find yourself off the program, and back on the streets tryin to cop bags of dope as your ritual!

Well, to make a short story long, as I usually tend to do so well, I smoked my cigarette and waited for my M-100 bus to take me back uptown. {That way I can ride 2 ways for the price of 1 token - by getting a transfer on the 101 on the way down and riding the 100 back up} I call it junky ingenuity. I spotted my bus way down 125th by Lennox Ave., so I huffed and puffed my cigarette till I was clutching nothing but a filter between my fingers. I climbed up the stairs to the bus, slid my transfer into the machine and walked down the crowded aisle towards the back. As I got around to the middle I felt some eyes on me and looked down to spot a kid about 12 wearing a shirt that would have a special meaning only to the gods and me. A message of some sort. I felt a cold draft breeze by me and had immediate goose bumps. The kid looked at me and smiled a crooked tooth smile my way. His shirt had a big number 16 on it. Not only is 16 my birthday number, but it is also my number with the SANTOS. My number! The number that makes me the SON of ELEGGUA. [Hijo de Eleggua} I stood behind where the kid was sitting, and held the pole as I stared down at the nape of his neck. His hair was scraggly, unwashed even. His shirt stained. Pants looked like they were maybe his older brothers, cousins, friends. Sneakers begging me to buy some new one to replace them. We rode the bus up Amsterdam Avenue, and I went into a methadone daydream. My eyes were shut, and I stood with one hand holding the pole and my other arm to my side. Dreaming a dream of nothingness. I heard the bell ring signaling the driver to stop. Somewhere around City College. 135th street. I felt a hand on mine. A small hand. The kid must've risen for the stop. The bus was slowing as I expected the hand to leave as soon as it came, but it didn't. It lingered. It just stayed there. I felt the fingers rubbing mine very lightly. The kid then got fully up and as he squeezed past me to exit through the back door he made sure he pressed his body into my other hand which was at my side. He stopped and waited for the bus to come to a stop with his crotch resting right into my knuckles. He moved himself slightly back and forth allowing my knuckles to feel both nuts and a hard cock to go along. I pressed outward to meet his inward thrust. Thank god for crowded busses. I just stood there with my eyes still shut. Too scared to see who was watching me. Scared to see the judge's eyes down upon me. The bus stopped, and shorty stepped down and off. The back doors shut and I looked out the window and saw that the kid was just standing there smiling up at me. He has a wave and a wink and I almost had to change my boxers. I reached out and pressed the bell frantically. I had to get off that bus immediately and see what ELEGGUA the TRICKSTER sent my way! The bus pulled over at the light and opened the door. It was about 1000 feet from the stop that left the kid waving and winking up at me. I ran out the doors and off of the bus. Looked to my left, to my right, but didn't see him anywhere! I sat at the benches across from City College and looked around but saw no one! FUCK! As I shut my eyes and threw my head back, I heard a raspy voice that could only belong to a 12 year old boy. "What took you so long? I was wondering why you didn't just get off with me!?"

I looked up astonished, "It's YOU! You sneaky lil devil! Where were you?" I asked, perplexed that he appeared out of nowhere like a mirage.

"I went over to the bodega for a cold drink. What's your name?"

I answered him and asked him the same. "Julio" what a perfect name for this kid. Julio.

We small talked and before I knew it we were in a cab headed to my place. The moral of this beginning of the story ROADTRIP is that although the gods gave me a HELL life as a kid and a HELL upbringing. I basically raised myself as you all know. One thing I got as a consolation prize is this ability to meet people and end up in bed in record time. Julio still stays with us most of the time. At least every weekend, but usually during the week as well.

Some close friends of mine recently decided to move to Florida against everyone's advice. They have 2 cars and asked me if I would be willing to drive one of their cars, a 2003 Volvo S-60 down for them. They would cover all expenses, motels along the way, as well as a return flight. I agreed without any hesitation. I needed a vacation, and really love road trips. Manuel and Tito have summer school so they couldn't take the trip with me, but Julio was able. I met with his mom and she gave me a letter giving him permission to travel with me and giving me emergency rights - just in case. We packed up the car and were ready to leave right after I got medicated on a Saturday. They gave me a few bottles to take with me and made arrangements for me to be medicated in Orlando. I spent a few days teaching Julio how to read a map, being he was riding shotgun - his job was to navigate. I at least expected him to be able to keep track of our progress in case I needed to stop. It was easy for him to follow the directions of "MapQuest" along the paper map. I gave him a hi-liter, and he got busy. He took to his job like white takes to rice…

The morning of the trip I was the first one at my program. I was medicated and out their door by 6:04am. When I got back home I decided to climb back into bed with Manuel, Tito, and Julito. It was a cloudy morning, and the sky was heavy with rain. There was no need for us to run out the door. It was Saturday, and there would be no "rush hour" traffic. I stripped down and slid between warm, interwoven bodies. By the time my head came out by the pillows, I was equally as wrapped up and interwoven. I took a quick pit stop as I slid between everyone, and decided on sliding other things, other places before settling in on a comfy spot to snooze the next few hours away. Eeny - meeny - miny - moe… take your pick… where the jism will flow…

I woke up to Manuel nibbling my ear and giving the side of my face a sloppy erotic tongue bath. God… I could lie in that bed with that company FOREVER and EVER! Or, I could die at that moment, at the PEAK of my HAPPINESS!! I can tell you this; I have never enjoyed life so much as I do now that I am clean. Every smell is a new experience. Everything I do, I savor the moments and extract as much joy as possible. We all know that life is oh-so-short, and could end at -any-given -minute. I spent so many years in a Heroin OPIUM dazed haze - and everything I did… I was kinda going through the motions. I didn't experience anything…I just did things…maybe extracting pleasure of some sorts, but never JOY! I was one sad, depressed, miserable, fucked up dude! Thank GOD that is a thing of the past!

We got up and showered. I had to wait for my cousin to come. She was going to spend the next week watchin my kids as me and Julio went down south. The car was loaded, we said our hugs and kissloads of good-byes, and we were on our way towards the Highway.

The first day we drove all the way to Richmond Virginia. We took a room at the Holiday Inn, almost next door to where the Atlanta Braves minor league team played. The Richmond Braves. It was directly off Interstate 95, so I had no worries that we maybe get lost. We took our overnight bags and made our way to the room, which was on the 3rd floor. The only requirements that Julito had was that "could there PLEASE be a pool?!" wherever we decided to lay our bones for the night! It was only about 5pm, but we were practically crawling out of the elevator to our room. I slid the "creditcard" style room key and we entered the room. Julio sprinted from the door, leapt up onto the bed, jumped up and down about a dozen times, jumped over to the recliner, slid across the desk on his slippery boxershort bum, and was somehow standing on his feet before my astonished eyes…. I was still standing there with a backpack swung over one arm, and a small piece of luggage clutched in my left hand. I hadn't even put down the bags, as this OLYMPIC style performance unfolded before my eyes. Julio slipped his sweatpants down and left them on the floor with his sneakers, flew into his performance, and finished his three ring act before I could put down my bags, flick on the t.v. and light a Newport. AMAZING! TRULY AMAZING!

I went over to the a/c. unit, lifted the door that covered the controls, found the knobs I was looking for, and "cranked" that mutha fucka till the curtains were blowing and frost collected on the metal vents that ran along the length of the huge hotel windows. We both were too bushed to do much more than flip thru the channels of the 19" standard issue Holiday Inn bolted to the table RCA t.v. "You hungry like me, bugger?" I asked Julito, who was flipping through hundreds of channels of nothing, and looking at the t.v. through half closed, sleepy boy eyes. He lifted his head and his eyes sprung open. "Hells yeah I'm hungry! Could eat a moose with 2 slices of bread! Can't we order somethin like Dominoes so we don't gotta go nowheres?"

"BLING" a lightbulb went on above my head.

"ROOMSERVICE!" I yelled half crazily. I got up and went over to the desk to pick up the Holiday Inn "roomservice menu" I flipped through the pages of overpriced food, but didn't care! This was onetime I didn't have to worry about prices. The bills were being paid from my "Travel Allowance" envelope that was stuffed with hundreds and fifties. I didn't bother to count cause I trusted my friends as much as myself. This was my one childhood friend that I kept. Yeah I drifted in and out of his life, but never drifted too far. He's 4 years older than I am, and I have known him since I was about 11. [it's a long story] I picked out a couple of "sirloin" burgers and banana shakes for us, along with two orders of steak fries and an onion loaf. With a tip the bill came to just under $40. Not bad for not havin to leave the room, let alone the bed!

The food came delivered on a cart on silver platters that were covered. I truly felt like Scarface! We ate, ate some more, then ate just a little bit more. Then I decided it was time to break the law. I went to my backpack, dug around a bit before I pulled out a pack of Newport 100's and my Zippo. This was a "no smoking" room, but the way I saw it, my whole life I broke the law! I mean REALLY broke the law! What the hell! What's one cigarette? Especially after a meal like that?! Before I finished my cigarette, I heard Julio snoring lightly as he lay sprawled across the king size bed. I snuffed out the butt and walked towards the bathroom, peeling off what was left of my clothes as I went in and ran a hot bath. I went to the sink top and found a hotel-sized bottle of shampoo, which would now become my bubble bath. I climbed in then flicked on the shower so the water would beat down on me as the tub filled, then reached out and flicked off the light. I'm not sure for how long I dozed, but I awoke when I felt his leg stepping into the tub to join me. Julio laid on top of me and nestled his head into my shoulder.

"I got scared Lui, I thought maybe you went out or somethin!" He said to me in a hushed tone. Almost a whisper.

"Baby boy, would I ever leave you alone? You know me better than that! I didn't wanna wake you! You were sleeping so good and I wanted to relax in the bath! You know damn well that I'd rather take a special bath with you, than bathe alone ANY DAY of the WEEK! I'm sorry if I scared you!"

Julio rubbed his nose with mine, then pressed his lips to my lips and kissed! He kissed an innocent kiss at first, then opened his mouth and shoved his tongue past my lips and into my waiting mouth. The sexy kiss had an immediate effect on us both! He took my excitement as a cue and swung his wet body around into a 68 position! That's our special routine in the bath. He scooted down and grabbed my dick by the base and started kissing it all over until he took half of it into his hellfire hot mouth. Without missing a beat, I took a cheek into each hand and separated them as I shoved my face between the wet, slippery mounds! As Julio worked my orgasm closer and closer, I ate out his perfectly smooth, round ass. I had my tongue in as far as it would go then twirled, slurped, nibbled, and stretched his hole to heaven! Wave after wave of orgasm pumped through my nuts, up my shaft, into his mouth and down his throat! No sooner than my cock stopped it's lovely twitching, my baby spun around, straddled my face, and fucked my mouth for 15 seconds until he too was twitching, and squirting between my lips. I could see his head thrown back and his eyes clamped tightly down as he cummed and deposited his sweet, smoky jism all over my tongue where I savored it as I jerked my still hard love muscle to orgasm #2! Even though the lights were still out, my pupils must've adjusted in the darkness, cause I could see his pleasurably pained expression as plain as day. Julito kissed my face 50 or 60 times before he climbed out the tub. He yanked a towel off the rack and dried himself halfway. He ran out of the bathroom and re-appeared in seconds with my pack of cigarettes, lighter and ashtray! Smart lil guy! Perfect lil lover! He lit the cigarette for me as I dried my hands. He knows I don't approve of him putting a cigarette between his lips, but he only did it to please me! He didn't light the smoke in some sneaky little effort to steal himself a puff or two. His intentions were pure!

After I finished the Newport, I climbed out and dried myself off. Just as I figured. He was fast asleep. I laughed to myself and thought, "maybe the sex didn't even happen! Maybe it was nothing more than a great jerk-off fantasy?" I laughed out loud at the absurdity of the thought. OK, I kicked drugs, but I was still a burnt out, dopey fool!…

We woke up at the crack of dawn, checked out, and started the day's journey. Julio slept most of the morning, and by noon we had driven as many miles as the whole previous day! We were on a roll! I only stopped to refuel, and to check cigarette prices in each state. Being I was flying home, I brought at least one carton of Newport 100's each stop. Being I would have the chance to go back to whichever of the stops ultimately had the cheapest price. Strangely enough, it turned out to be Virginia! At $19 a carton, it was a steal, as opposed to New York City's $7.50 a pack - $75 a carton rate, which was the real Highway Robbery! Can you imagine? $75.00 a carton? I would have thought that North Carolina would be the cheapest place because that is where Newports are manufactured, but it wasn't even second! Georgia was!

I stopped at the ever so famous "South of the Border" rest stop, just because it is sort of MANDATORY! You absolutely can't miss the place. Billboards start their "Technicolor" advertisements along I-95 about 20 miles from the place. Then once you start getting closer, they are at every single mile… as sort of a "twilight zone" countdown! You feel as if you are nearing Disney or Six Flags. Then, once you arrive, a 20-foot statue of "Pedro" greets you! A huge plaster pastel colored comic book stereotypical Mexican complete with a sombrero and a blanket swung over his shoulder for his "siesta!" The place is utterly ridiculous! Yet, every single passerby insists on snapping picture after picture of little Billy, Timmy, and Barbie in front of "Pedro" using their "disposable" cameras! Sunglasses, tacky shirts, flip-flop sandals and all! I'd be willing to bet the house that you don't catch any little Fernandos, Enriques or Juanitas daring to even stand next to tacky 20 foot Pedro, let alone let their parents or spouses snap any insulting pictures!

Then, South of the Border has "adobe" style building after building offering the same exact souvenirs and fireworks, burritos and burgers! The only thing we brought from the place was a 3 pack of "tums" to cure the heartburn and nausea we both left the rest stop with! I was sure Julito was going to ask me to buy him some firecrackers or bottlerockets, but that wasn't gonna happen if he did. The last thing we needed was to get pulled over with New York plates and have a trunk full of explosives! Especially after that whole 9-11 incident! The authorities were eagerly seeking any brown skinned "terrorists" they could find during their "witch hunt!" I was really really surprised that he didn't ask though. I guess he was as anxious as I was to finally reach our destination. Can anyone out there spell "CARSICK?"

I continued on I-95 until before I realized we were crossing the Florida border. We were both exhausted and our stomachs were communicating back and forth with dueling growls. I pulled off of the first exit that had a sign for hotels on it. I came to a sort of Hotel mall. It was one huge drive with a large circle and a fountain in the middle. Off of the circle fed 5 large hotels. A Holiday Inn, La Quinta, Ramada Inn, a Marriott, and a Best Western. I chose la Quinta. I liked one I had stayed in in Houston a few years before. They are always clean, well maintained, have large rooms and not expensive. I signed us in and left Julio in the car snoring loudly. After I got the keys and brought up our bags, I went back to the car and carried Julito up to the room. I could tell he was faking sleep as I reached the door. He had a smile spread across his full lips and his eyes were clamped tightly. I knew he loved the special treatment, just as I did at his age. I laid him carefully down on the bed and began to undress him. I paid little attention to the "tent pole" in his boxers and just batted him a few times on his firm butt as he scooted up and under the covers. I joined him and within minutes we were snoring loudly side by side.

When I got up and went down to the lobby shortly after dawn, I was quickly reminded why it was I liked la Quinta so much. Spread out before me was a huge breakfast display free to all guests. Included was a do-it-yourself Belgian waffle kit. I made myself two fluffy treats, had some fresh fruit, coffee, juice and a bagel! A breakfast of champions! I headed back to the room to wake up Julio so he can ready himself for the end of our journey! He was still asleep and covered head to toe in the hotels thick comforter. I didn't blame him because the room was frigid! I had the a/c set to the max and the room was truly arctic!

I reached down and pulled the comforter gently from my sleeping boy. Just as I realized I was trying to wake a few pillows and sheets balled up, my naked boy jumped onto my back and clung to me with his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist. He leapt from the dresser top yelling,

"Super Boy!"

I swung him over my shoulders and onto the bed and laid on top of him. He was still clinging to my neck and brought his face to mine. His lips to my cheeks, nose, eyes and lips. He covered my face with little wet sloppy kisses, spreading Skittle scented saliva all over me. He obviously had dipped into our candy stash for breakfast. "Breakfast of Boy Super heroes around the World! Skittles!" I savored every moment of every millisecond that we spend together! If kicking dope has taught me anything, it taught me that life is absolutely precious and way way too short!

We rolled around on the bed for a few minutes, then began a bit of the old - cat and mouse! Kinda like tag! He'd poke me, then jump off the bed and run, baiting me to chase him. I'd catch him and throw him onto the huge hotel sized ultra king size bed. He'd roll across, then lay still with his eyes closed, as if he were dead! I'd then pounce and tickle - causing him to squirm around in hysterics until he was ready to absolutely piss all over the bed.

Then start all over again. Poke, chase, catch, throw, tickle, squirm, laugh. Poke, chase, catch, throw, tickle, squirm, laugh! Then we got tired of the whole game, and changed the rules of the game a bit. It turned into; poke, chase, catch, throw, tickle, squirm, suck, lick, fuck, bust, lick, kiss, hug, bath!

We dried off and dressed. I put our bags back into the car as Julito devoured 3 waffles, 2 bowls of cereal, a bagel with jelly and two oranges! If I didn't spend every breathing second of my life with people his age, then I would have absolutely been in shock at such barbaric, Viking feeding frenzies. It didn't even faze me the least bit, but there were quite a few spectators with their eyes wide opened and their mouths agape in awe!

"God bless him! You have such a strong, healthy boy! Said an elderly woman sitting next to the buffet.

"Why thank you kindly ma'am, and God bless you too!" I said as I grabbed Julio to leave and a handful of fruit and muffins for the journey. Thank god we only had a few hours left. We were somewhere around Jacksonville!

Julio got into the car and looked at me with pain stricken eyes as he clutched his stomach. I knew what that meant! I ran back inside and asked the clerk for the keys again, saying I left a few things in the room by accident. He didn't even look up as he handed them back to me. It wasn't even 9:00am and checkout time was at 11:30, so what could he say? I paid already, so technically the room was ours until then! I ran back to the car and handed my lover boy the credit card key.

"Hurry up baby boy, and make sure you flush!" I said with a laugh, but Julio wasn't laughing. He was clutching his stomach with one hand, grabbing the key with the other, and running for his life to reach the toilet! Twenty minutes later I started to get worried. He still hadn't returned. I went up to the room to see if he was okay, but before I reached the door he came out shutting the door behind him.

"Better not go in there for a few days if you know what's good for you!" Says my crazy Julito with an ear to ear smile.

"Damn boy, I was starting to think maybe you fell in!"

Julio put his arm around my waist giving my left cheek a love pinch as he passed it. I reached down and took a hand full of his ass. I squeezed the pliant meaty cheeks and kissed him on the top of his head as we neared the elevator.

"I love you Lui!"

"I love you too baby boy! Shit, if we weren't expected in Tavares yesterday I sure as shit would turn rite the hell around and go back to the room for round two! You make me so fuckin' horny! I swear to god!"

"Look papi, I'm hard just from you sayin that!" replied Julio.

"C'mon, let's get to the damn car already, otherwise I'll end up bookin that room for another nite!"

We both laughed as we entered the elevator. As soon as the doors shut I seized his lips and kissed him a deep, long, passionate kiss. I knew damn well that there was a good chance there was a camera watching our every move. I didn't care! It made my heart race. I felt like a sneaky thief. I knew that the three clerks behind the desk watched our kiss because they were all doing their best to look busy, and to NOT look at us as we passed. Then as soon as we walked through the exit, I could feel their stares on the back of my head. Burning! I turned to them quickly and all three looked away as fast as they could!

B-U-S-T-E-D!

We got in the car and hit the road. Before we realized it, we reached the complex. Our destination! I almost didn't want the road trip to be over but...it was. We still had damn near a week left to kill in Florida, but the "mission" aspect of the journey had come to an abrupt halt! Julito and me drove in circles in the "Pringle" development. Funny it should be named after his favorite potato chips! Well, in this "Pringle" development, not all the homes looked the same, actually on the contrary, every single house was completely different, but it was a maze of roads with stupid names and numbers. It went from First Street to Butterfly, to Second Avenue to Gull Way, from Third Street to Pelican View then 4th Avenue to Sunset Court...I was struggling to find the crumpled up piece of paper that had my buddies cell phone number. Or the used tissue that some of Julio on it, some of me on it and some of the address we were supposed to bring the car to!! Man...AM I EVER GONNA GROW UP?

We spent the rest of the week "tourist" style. We went to "Disney" then to "Universal" We really had a relaxing, good, old fashioned, vacation! Of course my friends insisted we stay in their newly built house, but Julio felt self-conscious. He wanted us to have privacy. I didn't feel the least bit awkward, as I had spent many different times with many different boys with my friends. They were happy that I was such a helpful member of society...actually I wonder what they really thought...they never spoke out of line, and never made separate beds...I guess they knew enough about the way I grew up to figure "old habits are just hard to break" or something! Well anyways, Me and Julio found another LaQuinta in Tavares. Well, actually it was in Leesburg. Close enough to Orlando without having to pay Orlando prices! Anyway, We spent the rest of the days carryin on like two fools! We met a couple a friends by the pool, nuthin serious, just pool buddies. We flew home at the end of the week, and were greeted to open arms! God, I missed New York!!! I love to travel! But I think once you live in New York, everywhere else is just - BACKWARD!!! ...Like they say..."Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't wanna live there!"

Summer in New York ended just how it came...it snuck up and it snuck away...Weird year! I'm scared to see what the winter brings! Last winter was the worst winter we had in a long long time!! And me, I'm a Tropical Guy! I hate the cold!! I'm all about palm trees, sunny skys, beaches, water...everything the summer brings! Here we are in September and it already smells like Halloween outside! The leaves are fallin, less and less people are on their stoops uptown...HERE WE GO AGAIN....