WHERE THE BOYS ARE.....(part 1).

Where the boys are, some one waits for me.
A smiling face, a warm embrace
Two arms to hold me tenderly.....

A romantic song I know, but one which perfectly fits our 'family' at Brett's Boys.  Over the 3 or so years I spent there I would meet many boys.  Some would stay a few days or weeks while others were there from the day I started until the day I finished.  But we were a family and as the words say no matter how low we felt, how hard times were, we were there for each other.

Graham, the owner, was nothing like the stand over stereo-type pimp most of us imagine.  He was a gentle guy, friendly and caring and although he didn't spend a lot of time with us, he seemed to know us all personally.  If we were in trouble or needed a reference (to rent a flat) he provided any assistance we needed.  However he was a ruthless businessman and we knew that he had his hands in many other illegal businesses and also knew exactly what went on in all of them.  None of us tried to cheat him as we were all sure of the consequences.

There were 3 Receptionists.

Tony, who was Graham's right hand man.  He ran the business, the bookwork, staff rosters, hiring and occasionally firing and was always on call when needed.  I spent most of my time working on Tony's shifts and got to know him really well.  He was a 'leather queen' and used to delight in telling new boys about his sexual perversions.  He and his partner (who was a pharmacist) were into body piercing during sex.  His stories didn't bother me, it was only one day when he left me his laundry to do and I started putting his bed sheets into the machine that I noticed they were all covered in tiny pin pricks of blood.  That was a bit much for me as the stories suddenly became reality and quite sickened me.

Michael, was a beautiful guy.  In his late 30's and had never quite evolved from the hippy era. Working with him was always fun and we were all constantly stoned on his shifts. He always brought in home baked goods to share with us.  He was the mother figure that none of us had.

Colin was a different kettle of fish altogether.  He was an ex worker and was fat, pretentious and extremely lazy.  He chose his favourites among the boys and regardless of the clients requests he would always try and sell his 'friends' first.  We never really got along and he would be the cause of serious trouble for me twice during my time there.

As for the boys themselves, well they came and went.  They were from all backgrounds, most like me were simply middle class suburban gay boys who wanted to escape their boring environments and live the good life.  Selling yourself was not a good way to get sexual gratification, but it ensured you could live well and life the lifestyle you wanted.

A few came from welfare backgrounds, the type of families my mother would have shunned.  Some were simply poor families, but most came from dysfunctional families where drug and alcohol abuse was common.  One boy had even spent half his life in and out of boys homes - his father was a petty thief and would hide stolen goods in the boys room.  When caught his father would deny all knowledge and as the stolen property was found in the boys room he was the one arrested.

Another boy was a really sad case.  He was angelic looking but had such low self esteem that he was willing to do anything with the clients no matter how base their fantasies were. One day we got stoned together and slept in bed that night.  Just chatting and cuddling each other while he told me that his father had repeatedly raped not only him but also his 3 younger brothers for as long as he could remember.  His father was then currently in jail for this offense, his mother a heroin addict and his only choice was to live on the streets or work in  a brothel.  His brothers, all being under age had been fostered and he had no knowledge of what had happened to them once he left home.

Then there was the gorgeous Peter.  We all knew that he was under-age but Graham had no issue with hiring him (or being caught out as he was paying off the police, proof of which I will detail later).  Anyway he was a lovely boy who still lived at home with his single mother. I felt sorry for him and very often would invite him to my apartment for a home cooked meal and a sleep over after work.  Even though he was keen to have sex, I had certain morals, and as much as I would have liked to have sex with him his age prevented me from taking advantage...you can choose to believe that or not.

Anyhow he was just a kid who needed tender, loving, care.  He was a smart kid in many ways, able to look after himself, cope with the not always enjoyable aspects of the job and hold his own amongst boys much older and world wise than him.

To end this section of my story I will relate an incident which happened one evening.  Most of us rarely talked about our former families, but on this night about 6 or 7 of us were sitting in the back room.  It was a quiet mid-week evening and we were all smoking grass.  One of us would put a 'stick' in the bowl and mull up and the bong would get passed around until the bowl was empty.  Then some one else would do the same and so the evening progressed until the early hours of the morning.

We somehow got onto the topic of families and one of us was talking about their mother.  Peter, innocently said, 'you know when you suck your mothers tit.....?'  There were a lot of puzzled gazes amongst us before some one said, 'you mean when your were a baby?'.. 'No' said Peter, 'like when you sit on your mum's lap and she lets you suck on her tit'.  It suddenly dawned upon as all that he was talking in the present!  His mother was obviously interfering with him sexually and probably had done so for many years.......