Friday, April 07, 2006

248. Dick

Houston, TX

I knealt there, horny as hell--and suddenly alone. Ollie had walked over to a coffee table to examine one of the bar rags we'd picked up earlier. The entire back page was an ad for a huge party. GAY MEN OF TEXAS, the text screamed, JOIN US FOR THE BIGGEST BASH THIS STATE HAS EVER SEEN. It went on and on in that hyperbolic tone, the promises of unsurpassed hedonism punctuated by pictures of buff young bodies, all to be unveiled in just a couple of days.

By the time I got up off my knees and read the thing myself, Oliver looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

"I don't get it," I said. "I've seen thousands of ads like this over the years. Surely you've heard of circuit parties--oh, wait, you don't get out much, do you?"

"Don't you SEE it?!" he practically shrieked, his face growing red with exasperation.

I said nothing.

"The promoters. The organization," he insisted. "Look at the logo."

"'Houston Male,' I read aloud. "What's the big d-- Ohhhh...."

"H.M.," he nearly shouted. "And look at the logo!"

"Nearly identical to the one on the robes of those men who tried to kill us!" I said, finally catching on.

"I've been seeing it all over the country," Oliv--the Green Arrow told me. "This whole thing is a trap of some kind. That term 'bash' looks like a hint at their darker intentions. I don't know for certain what they've got in mind, but I suspect that if we don't act soon, hundreds--thousands--of innocent men could meet their doom."

"You mean... someone who hates them is rounding them up in order to stage some kind of mass slaughter?" I asked, my mind racing at the possibility. It seemed unbelievable, and yet...

I'm typing these notes as Oliver gathers a few tools, then we're heading out to investigate. I thought we might want to change clothes first--I mean, why bother with secret identities when no one around here knows who we are?--but Oliver reminded me that the whole point of donning these uniforms in the first place was to give us the upper hand in battle, and besides we'll have whatever weapons we may need in easy reach...

Battle. Weapons. Investigation. I have a bad feeling about all of this. All I wanted to do was to bring a little mystery back into our sex life for a night, and now it's all getting real all over again. I don't like what happens when I get roped into these little adventures with these men I love; I don't like the realization that I could be dead in a matter of hours. But I'm beginning to realize I may have no other choice.