Jumping Into Things

The landscape looked like a miniature train set, with its hills and valleys dotted with scrub brush and cottonwood trees. When Eli told Jed that it got a laugh and a shake of the head. They were buzzing to the fire site now in the little two-seater Jed had at the airfield, and while the puny plane was noisy, they could still manage a conversation.

He'd found out that while Jed was born in the Cedaredge area, he'd gone all over in an eight year stint in the Army before settling back in Colorado. Now he flew whenever and whatever was needed, from search and rescue to crop dusting. And he'd told Jed about his five years as a city fireman in Portland and his three years as a ground crew liner, digging firelines and running like Hell when the flames got too close. They talked about why Delta stank (beet sugar plant, apparently) and how amazing it was that the place still had a drive in theater that was open to the public. And they talked about other things too.

"You got a girlfriend?" Jed asked him and he wanted to cringe, because if he needed proof that the guy didn't do other guys, there it was.

"No. Don't really have time. You?"

"Don't swing that way myself."

Eli almost swallowed his tongue. He was staring, he knew he was, but he thought maybe he was hearing things because he desperately wanted to or maybe he was on Candid Camera or something. Then Jed spared a glance away from the controls and quirked an eyebrow at him.

"That bother you?"

"Never took you for the type is all."

"Yeah, well. Women are nice, but there's nothing better than a man's mouth on your dick, you know?"

Jesus. Now was not the time for the hard dick he suddenly had. And he was afraid to open his mouth because he might babble. Or maybe just whimper. So he settled for a non-committal, "That right?"

And Jed just nodded cheerfully and said, "Sure enough. Men aren't afraid to suck. There's your big red monster."

Following Jed's pointing finger, Eli saw the beginning glow of the fire they would be in the thick of the next day and felt a familiar surge in his gut, the one that came with the anticipation of facing down a wall of flame higher than his fucking head. Time to go to work, and Eli pulled out the binoculars and his charts and got ready to make his spotter's notations. But Jed's oh-so-casual comments were not forgotten. And as soon as he got his job done Eli'd see about reminding him about them.

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