Sunshine Days - Chapter 29
Pastor Durham couldn't have been in a better mood that evening. While everything else seemed to be falling apart around him and his congregation, at least one thing had finally become manageable. Every year since he'd taken up responsibility in handling the youth camp, he'd been trying to shut down the Shindig and now he finally had individual names to attach to the unofficial camp tradition.
Avery had come through with getting the information he needed. He didn't inquire how Avery got it, though he speculated that Jonathan was probably harmed in the process. While he felt a little remorseful for it, he knew that it was necessary. It was the ends that justified the means.
Earlier in the day, Durham had received a phone call from Deacon Paul, who was the head of finances for Redding's First Baptist. Durham loathed Paul as much as he did the other deacons that served in his ministry. There was Paul, Stephens, Carmichael, Jeffries, Brody, and Mitchell. He generally despised them as a collective but he also had individual bones to pick with each of them.
Paul had called because Durham had put in a formal request to have his "Minister's Package" replaced with an actual salary. And once again, it had been rejected. When pressed, Paul had told him that it was bad enough that they were paying for his health insurance and travel reimbursement; on top of that, they were still underfunded for constructing the new youth building and general repairs around the old main building. The news had already put the elder fox into a foul mood.
To Durham, Paul was just another stupid old prick among older and stupider pricks in his ministry. And quite frankly, he knew they didn't like him either. Back in '95, Durham had stirred controversy in his church by selling the house that the church had provided for him for over a quarter of the original selling price, which he then used to buy himself a bigger, better house for himself. Despite pissing off some members of the church, he was still well loved and received by most of the community. He was charismatic and paternal to those who didn't really know him behind the scenes.
In the last few years, Durham had been growing increasingly suspicious of his deacons. Not that they were doing anything shady or dishonest behind his back but that they were aware of his own misconduct.
Because he wasn't getting paid as much as he felt he should, Durham had taken to skimming money off the top of discretionary funds. He always tried to keep it small and unnoticeable, taking a little extra more than what was needed. He didn't intend to get bold or take risks by taking more than what he required, though he did often treat that little extra dosh as 'vacation' money for when he went down to San Francisco or San Jose for conferences. He would upgrade his hotel rooms and hire male escorts he found online among other things.
As far as he knew, the other gentlemen knew nothing of his transgressions although he sometimes suspected that they might. If they did, they were damn good at not showing that they did.
'Maybe if they paid me a goddamn salary, I wouldn't have to resort to that,' Durham thought bitterly to himself before dismissing the thought. He smiled. Tonight was supposed to be a good night for him. For everything that was going wrong, he knew that the one thing he could control was finally in his court. He'd been trying to shut down the Shindig for the better part of a decade when he was in charge of running the camp. Better yet, Vince's grandfather, Bartholomew Mitchell, was among his deacons. It would feel so good to finally stick it to that old coprolite and humiliate him before the entire church. He had nothing against Vince's parents but he definitely had a problem with their troublemaker son. He'd suspected that Vince had been in charge all along but now he had testimony to prove it. At the very least, he could keep it hush-hush and let the parents deal with him. Either way, Vince would not be welcomed back to Sunshine Days ever again.
As for the rest of the boys involved with the Shindig, they would be punished as well. David was among the names he'd received. He'd heard the rumors a long while ago about he and Avery and had always suspected that David was different from the other boys. He was disruptive and hyperactive too, which he didn't care for. He liked David about as much as he liked Vince, which was to say hardly at all. To him, they were both a couple of troublemakers.
He planned to call the boys in one by one for a stern little chat, then call each of their parents to come in and have a word with him before requesting that they take their cubs home. He would finally get the message across that he does not tolerate that kind of perversion in his camp.
But until then, he was going to relish his triumph that evening. He reached into the mini fridge beneath his desk and pulled out a cold bottle of beer, then opened the bottom drawer of his desk and lifted a false panel bottom to fetch a stack of magazines labelled "BARE". The top one featured a rather built, handsome ursine flexing his back muscles and showing off his naked rear.
A knock on the door made him pause and set the magazines back down, hiding them beneath the panel again.
"Come in." He said cautiously.
Leader Eddie poked his head in the door and said, "Pastor Durham?"
The fox smiled warmly and welcomed him in. "Eddie. Have a seat." He reached down into his mini fridge again and pulled out another beer, setting it out for Eddie as he sat himself down in front of him. Eddie grinned and took it, twisting the cap off with his paw, and downing half the bottle in a few swigs.
"I've got good news regarding this whole 'Shindig' business," Durham said, beaming quite proudly.
"Yeah?" The bear said, smiling and cocking an eyebrow.
"Yes. The good news is...I'm finally putting an end to it." Durham pushed his swivel chair around his desk. "I think I've finally caught the culprits who've been desecrating this camp and spreading perversion and sin."
Eddie grinned wide and took another drink. "Yeah? Who're we talkin' about?"
"From what I've been told, it's the Mitchell's boy. He and Roy, Jamie, David, and Charles are apparently the ones organizing the thing. That Jonathan is also involved too."
Eddie nodded. "So you've got proof that they're the ones doing it?"
The fox shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat, still smiling. "I have testimony...someone who has the information."
Eddie frowned and nodded a bit. "So what're you gonna do?"
"Well..." Durham said with a sly smile, "I'm going to need you to call those boys into my office tomorrow so that I may have a word with them. All I need is one of them to admit that the Shindig is being planned. Jonathan will probably be the most likely to confess. But once I get them in to talk, I'll start making calls and have their parents come to retrieve them." He leaned forward, placed a paw on Eddie's thigh and gave it a squeeze.
Eddie's eyes met the elder fox's and he gave a sultry little smile.
"How'd you like to celebrate this occasion with a little...fun?" Durham said, leaning in closer and sliding his paw up the leg of the bear's shorts.
Eddie rumbled deeply, chuckling, "I dunno...Don't you think it's a little hypocritical? Talking about desecrating your camp an' all...?"
Durham's paw massaged the warm bulge in the bear's briefs. "My office doesn't count. Whatever happens in here stays here." He chuckled.
Eddie leaned back in his chair while Durham's paw stroked over his groin, letting the last of his beer trickle down his throat before setting the bottle on the desk. "Maybe get me another beer an' out of those clothes then."
Durham grinned and got up, going back around to get another couple bottles from the fridge. Eddie got up as well, unbuttoning his shirt as he went to the door to pull it almost shut. He flicked off the light as Durham was popping the caps off both bottles and setting them to the edge of the desk.
The room was dark but not pitch-black. The dull orange glow from the lamp posts outside gave the room just enough light for them to see each other through the darkness. The fox stripped down completely naked while the bear left on his shoes and socks and leaned against the pastor's desk.
Durham knelt down in front of the bear and saw the outline of his large, thick cock in the darkness. He thought to himself, 'Dear Lord, my Savior, please forgive me for what I'm about to do...' before taking every inch into his muzzle. He closed his eyes and moaned in bliss. Of all his earthly vices, the savory, spicy flavor of bear cock was by far the most addictive. He didn't do drugs, he didn't 'party and play', he didn't drink, and he certainly didn't have an emotionally or financially crippling addiction to pornography. But the taste and smell of raw masculinity was something he just couldn't live without.
~~~
After the lights had gone out for the campers, David and Jonathan snuck out of their cabin and waited outside. Vince and Jamie came running around the corner a couple minutes later to meet them.
"You got the camera?" Vince said, keeping his voice to a whisper.
David grinned and nodded, swinging his large black Polaroid camera around and holding it up.
"Atta boy." Vince said with a grin. He gestured them all to kneel down on the dirt to go over the plan one more time.
"Alright guys, here's what's going down tonight. Right now Durham should be putting the moves on Leader Eddie. Pretty soon that light will go out. And that's when we make our move. Jonathan, you and David will wait outside the Leader's Cabin after we go in. Jamie and I are going to catch him off guard and snap a couple of pictures of them in the act. With me so far?"
Jonathan shivered and nodded. The night wasn't cold at all but the prospect of what they were about to do made him incredibly nervous.
"This is where it gets important, guys. Durham's going to be pissed as hell so he's probably going to chase after us. As soon as we run out, we're going to ram these doorstops..." He said, holding up a couple wedges of wood, "Under the door. It should hold him off long enough for us to run all the way back to our cabins and pretend to be asleep. I'm going to hand one photo to Jonathan and one to David. It's absolutely important that you two protect the photos until tomorrow."
Jonathan could see the fire that was alight in his older cousin's eyes. Vince was trembling a little with excitement but there wasn't a hint of apprehension anywhere on his face.
"And run like your ass is on fire! If Durham is naked, that should give us some extra time to get back to our cabins but don't count on it. Stick to the shadows if you can. And try not to be seen, okay? We're only going to get one shot at this." Vince took a deep breath and said, "I'm counting on you guys. We can't fuck this up. Phase one of Operation Closure..."
Jamie, David, and Jonathan all nodded solemnly. While Jonathan was glad that he wasn't given the task of taking the pictures, he was not looking forward to running. He pulled his inhaler out and took a quick blast into his lungs. They felt like they were starting to tighten.
"Alright...let's go."
They went off together, moving together swiftly across the camp in a huddle. They went around the Main Lodge and headed straight up to the Leader's Cabin. The Helper's Cabin was right next to it, giving Vince and Jamie a better chance of getting back into bed before David and Jonathan did.
Jonathan figured they were probably going to come looking for Vince first, since he'd told Avery that Vince was in charge of setting it up. His mind got to worrying though, thinking up worst case scenarios as they went along. What if Durham decided to wake up all the Helpers and campers to search for the photos? It seemed plausible if Durham was livid enough to force everyone awake. But that would mean waking up the other Leaders as well. They'd be suspicious about why Durham was suddenly going on a manhunt.
It seemed more likely that Durham, and possibly Eddie, would come searching quietly for them, or not at all. He imagined Durham going from cabin to cabin, searching for anyone who looked like they were still awake. His breath tightened up again but he held off on giving himself a pull on the inhaler. He would no doubt be unable to control his wheezing and coughing if Durham or Eddie decided to search their cabin. Would they even think to look for either him or David?
They reached the Leader's Cabin, pausing outside the screen door. They waited several minutes for the light in Durham's office on the other side of the hall to turn off before carefully opening the screen door. Jamie and Vince slipped inside, Vince holding the camera and Jaime wielding a flashlight. Jonathan watched as Vince turned back and gave David a thumbs-up before venturing down the hallway.
Then they waited.