The Tit

Mark was the first one to see the tit, but Travis was the one that waded in to get it.  Jamie just leaned against the fence; his eyes locked on the odd white orb floating in the duckweed.  It was a white tit, that much they could tell from afar.  But as Travis wiped the duckweed from the soft plump organ with his red paisley handkerchief, they could see that it was just a pale tit and not a dead tit.
 
“Do you think it came from a... you know?” said Mark
 
“A girl? God, man act like you’ve seen one before!” said Travis.  “It didn’t come from no girl you dumbass!  Look at how smooth it is on the back,”
 
Travis turned the tit nipple-down in his hands and the boys could see no signs of injury.  It was just a smooth orb all the way round; except, of course, for the beige areola of the nipple, which had a slightly granular texture compared to the rest of the tit. 
 
“Well, let me hold it.  I saw it first!” said Mark.
 
“Yeah, but I’m the one that had to stomp around in that nasty-ass rain water!  I’ll let you have it in a minute,” said Travis.
 
“Come on, man!  You’re being too rough with it!  You have to be gentle with those things...” said Mark.
 
“Like you would know butt-pirate!” said Travis.
 
“Hey screw you fart-knocker!” said Mark.
 
“You wanna screw me?  You really are a fag!” said Travis. 
 
Mark snatched the slippery tit from Travis’s hand before he could realize what was happening.  Cradling it against his body like a football, Mark charged the embankment of the retention pond.  By the time Travis caught up, Jamie’s wall-like frame stood between him and the tit.
 
“Let him hold it...” said Jamie.  “If he hadn’t seen it, we would have just kept walking...”
 
Mark was eyeball to nipple with the thing, scrutinizing it.  He gave it a squeeze.  Inconclusive; he didn’t know what tits felt like.  He’d felt them in hugs of course, but that didn’t count.  That was just his chest.  Now, in his hand, he just couldn’t tell if it was real.
 
“You think it’s a whatchacallit... you know, a fake titty?”  said Mark.
 
“They’re called implants,” said Jamie.  “And they look like water balloons...when they're not inside someone...”
 
“Then why does that titty look like a titty?” asked Travis.
 
“How the hell should I know?” said Jamie.
 
Jamie was a nice guy, but he could be scary sometimes too.  He was easily a head taller than all the other freshman that attended Maplewood High and with wide shoulders that had already caught the attention of Coach Yeardley, head football coach of the Maplewood Manatees.  But what was scary about Jamie wasn’t his size; it was his words.  Or rather, his lack of words.  Jamie was so quiet that when he spoke, you had no choice but to listen.
 
Momentarily distracted by the hitch in Jamie’s voice, the slightest hint of annoyance, Travis had taken his eyes off of Mark, who now had the tit just millimeters from his open mouth.
 
“Dude!  What are you doing?” shouted Travis.
 
“What?  I was just gonna suck the nipple a little bit.  What’s the big deal?” said Mark.
 
“Gross man, I don’t want to be squeezing on some titty that’s been in your mouth,” said Travis.
 
“Who said you were going to get it back... It’s Jamie’s turn next anyway.  Right Jamie?” said Mark.
 
Jamie didn’t answer; he just watched as his two friends fought over the self-contained sex organ.  It wasn’t a particularly big tit; barely a C-cup.  Certainly nothing to write home about, but enticing, nonetheless.  It had that tit-next-door quality that drove some guys wild: coquettish, perky. 
 
Mark started to rudely flick the nipple in an attempt to make it erect.  His efforts paid off as the areola tightened into a round protuberance, not unlike the eraser on the end of a pencil.  His victory was both crudely obtained and short-lived as Jamie deftly plucked the tit from Mark’s abusive grasp.
 
Jamie held the warm plump tit in the palm of his right hand.  There was a pulse, almost imperceptibly faint, that quickened in Jamie’s broad, strong hand.  His pulse quickened as well, and he suddenly felt embarrassed to be holding the thing while other people were watching him.
 
“We should set up a rotation,” said Mark.  “It’s the only fair way to do it.  And since I saw it first, I should get first dibs.”
 
“Nuh-uh.  I’m the one who got wet.  I should get it first.” said Travis.
 
“Yeah, but you’re wearing shorts,” said Jamie, and that ended the discussion.  “Just don’t put it in your mouth, weirdo!”
 
Mark took the tit back to his house, careful to keep it tucked just behind him in the small of his back while he snuck past his mom.  He took it into the bathroom and gave it a proper bath.  But afterwards, he realized it smelled like a dude because he used his own bodywash; so, he stuck the tit in the back of his sock drawer for safe keeping.
 
The socks were warm and comfortable, but it was very dark in that drawer, and the air was so stagnant.  The tit longed to see the sun again, longed to be held and played with; though not as rough as that awful boy had been playing.  Most of all, the tit longed to be loved.  In a way, it felt like that was its purpose in life, to love and be loved. 
 
But teenage boys have had little time to ponder the mysteries of the heart.  At his age, Mark was just starting to explore the mysteries of the flesh.  Within 48 hours he had gone back on his word to Jamie.  The tit was saltier than he had expected, but overall, it was a pleasant experience.  He figured he must have been a bottle-fed baby.  Without asking his mother, he had no way of knowing for sure.  But he remembered that he helped feed Madison when she was a baby and he was in kindergarten, and they used a bottle back then.  Still, it felt comforting to put it in his mouth from time to time and give the nipple a light suck.  He found himself doing it more and more frequently as Saturday loomed and he knew he’d have to let Travis take the tit for a week.
 
Mark bathed the tit before delivering it to Travis, but he made sure to use his bodywash so it would smell like a dude.  Travis nuzzled the tit like it was a kitten before squeezing it like the bulb of a bike horn.  He stuffed it into the Jansport backpack that he carried slung over only his right shoulder in an effort to look cool, despite the obvious mechanical disadvantage that this posture entailed. 

“DON’T suck on it!” said Mark
 
“Like you didn’t do it already....” said Travis.
 
Travis didn’t have to sneak the tit past his mom.  Travis’s mom was dead.  But he did have to get the tit past Sprinkles, his dad’s bloodhound.  This proved to be an unforeseen and largely unmitigated challenge for Travis, as Sprinkles kept finding the tit no matter where Travis hid it.  Between school, chores, and Sprinkles, he barely got to cop a feel before it was lights out.  He was just starting to get to know the tit when he had to bring it to Jamie, worse for wear after spending half the week living as a chew toy.
 
At Jamie’s house, it was different.  Jamie washed the tit with warm water and baby shampoo.  Then he rubbed ointment on the places that Sprinkles had bit down too hard on.  He dried the tit off with a fresh towel and sat it next to him on his bed while he watched T.V.  Jamie didn’t talk to the tit, but Jamie didn’t really talk to anyone.  The tit felt safe at Jamie’s house.  And even though he still had to hide the tit from the prying eyes of his mother, Jamie still let it sleep next to him in bed, and he never got too handsy in the night. 
 
The tit wanted to stay with Jamie, but at the end of the week he still gave it back, but not before establishing a few ground rules.  The tit was to be treated with respect.  If it found its way into anyone’s mouth, human or canine, that would be the end of it.  They’d return the tit to the wild.  And they had to take care of the tit when it was their turn; not just leave it where a parent or a damn dog could easily find it.  They promised to honor the rotation and treat the tit with the care and dignity it deserved.
 
And so, their rotation continued.  Most of the time, it was just the four of them anyway.  They rode bikes and rented movies from Blockbuster, and debated the relative hotness of the girls in Scream versus I Know What You Did Last Summer.  They took the tit to the movies and the mall.  Travis had a picnic with the tit on one of his weeks and Mark even let the tit pick out a bra at Victoria’s Secret.  They had to cut it in half to make it work, but it was the thought that counted..
 
For a while, the tit seemed to bring the boys together.  It had a calming influence on Travis, who now wore his Jansport like a normal person because he knew it made it more comfortable for the tit to ride like that.  Mark wasn’t such a spazz when the tit was around, seeming more mature now, or at least doing his best imitation of maturity.  Jamie even came out of his shell a little bit.  He brought the tit to school with him in his backpack on the day of his first oral presentation.  It was supposed to be for emotional support, but it just made him more nervous.  The tit was so proud of him that day.
 
As they entered their sophomore year, they held their chests high when they walked through the halls of Maplewood.  They smiled more and cursed less and dressed like they cared about what they looked like.  It was only a matter of time before they caught the attention of a female classmate.
 
Truthfully, Jamie could have had his pick of any number of girls who harbored secret crushes for the silent giant; he was just too blind to see it.  It was Mark that was the first of the three to have a girlfriend; just as it was Mark, that was the first to get a car.  Though Travis would soon one-up Mark’s hand-me-down Chevy Astro with the ‘86 Camaro that he had helped his dad restore and modify over countless nights and weekends.  It was his baby.  He used to set the tit in the cup holder while he played Crazy Train and drove like an asshole. 
 
Meanwhile, Mark was so distracted by Lydia that he barely paid any attention to the tit on his weeks anymore.  But sometimes, late at night, after the tit thought he had already fallen asleep, Mark would take the tit out from the back of his sock drawer.  He’d put the tit in his mouth, but he sucked a lot harder now.  The tit didn’t like when Mark did this... didn’t like it at all.  And though the sock drawer was dark and lonely, it was still better than being woken up in the middle of the night. 
 
Travis’s house was much better now that Sprinkles was gone.  The tit never liked that dog, but it knew he wasn’t trying to hurt it when he took the tit in his floppy lips and nuzzled it with his wise snout.  Travis cried when Sprinkles died; he’d been with him every day of his life.  He cuddled with the tit that night and he was thankful to still have it in his life. 
 
Jamie’s weeks were always the tit’s favorites, but as the school year progressed, the tit started to worry about Jamie.  He never went out for the football team, nor any other sports despite his obvious aptitude.  He also didn’t seem to watch sports so maybe it just wasn’t his thing.  “But what was his thing?” the tit wondered.  The tit worried that it was his commitment to taking care of titself that was preventing Jamie from pursuing any extracurricular activities.  It didn’t want to stifle such a promising and talented young man.  Was the tit too much of a distraction? 
 
Jamie didn’t seem to mind.  He liked hanging out with the tit, staying up late watching monster movies with it, or taking it hiking down a trail that he found that no one else knew about.  He’d put the tit on his shoulder when he was sure no one was around.  The tit felt like a giant, sitting on Jamie’s broad muscular shoulder.  The air was fresh and the sun felt good on its skin.  The world felt so much bigger when the tit was with Jamie, even though he was bound by the limits of his bicycle.
 
One day, when Mark was on the phone with Lydia, he took the tit out of his sock drawer and started to play absent-mindedly with its nipple.  After a few minutes, his voice changed and he started to pinch and tease the tit until its nipple was firm and alert.  He squeezed the tit hard and made disgusting sounds into the phone.  It hurt when he squeezed, and the tit wanted to be bathed but couldn’t stand the idea of smelling like that wretched boy.  Mark saw the bruises the next day but hoped they would be gone by Saturday.
 
“What did you do, man!?” said Travis when he picked up the tit still stained with olive and violet bruises. 
 
“Oh, lighten up, man.  I just got a little handsy when I was on the phone with Lydia.  You know how it is with girlfriends....  Oh, that’s right.  You’ve never had a girlfriend,” said Mark.
 
“Fuck you, man....  You don’t deserve to have a girlfriend... or the tit,”
 
The Sunday before the accident, Travis, the tit, and Jamie met on the hiking trail to discuss Mark’s abuse.  They all agreed that he could no longer be trusted with the tit, but they knew that confronting him wouldn’t be easy.  He could tell the whole school.  Everyone would think they were perverts.  Maybe he’d be mature about it; he had a girlfriend now after all.  Why did he need the tit when he had Lydia?
 
Jamie was not expecting a call from Mark and was in the shower the first time that he called.  By the time Jamie got to the phone, Mark had worked himself into a full lather of hysteria.
 
“She found them, man! Oh fuck! Oh shit!... I’m such an idiot!” said Mark.
 
“Wait, what?  Who found what, Mark?” said Jamie.
 
“The pictures man... She fucking found them and now it’s all over!” said Mark.
 
“Pictures?” said Jamie.  “What pictures?”
 
“The pictures I took of me and the tit...” said Mark, before breaking into a fresh round of wails and obscenities.
 
“So now there was physical evidence of the tit” thought Jamie.  He suddenly wished it was his week with the tit.  He wanted to hold it and tell it that it was safe with him because he felt safe with it.
 
“She took one of them, man...” said Mark.  “Jamie, I... I...I had it in my mouth, man...”
 
“Look, man...  It’s going to be alright.  She’ll calm down.  You can tell her it was fake.  I’ll back you up.  We’ll get through this.” said Jamie.
 
 “NO!” cried Mark.  “It’s not gonna be alright!  She’s in the yearbook club!  She said she was going to put it in the yearbook!  Fuck, Jamie.  She was so mad at me...”
 
“Mark?”
 
“...” 
 
“Mark?  Come on man, don’t do anything stupid...  Mark?” said Jamie, but by that point he had already hung up the phone. 
 
He wasn’t supposed to drive the van at night because the headlights needed to be replaced and the only way to see was to put on the brights.  But Mark didn’t care if he blinded other people on the way to Lydia’s house; he was blind himself after all.  Blind with rage or shame; he knew not what.  It was so embarrassing; his mind was everywhere but that van. 
 
Lydia lived out in horse country, where the roads were long and little travelled.  Travis loved driving up and down those roads in his Camaro, the tit by his side; metal playing loud enough to rattle the panels of his T-top in their frames.  The tit felt its pulse flutter when Travis would hit a bump, and the tit would float momentarily weightless in the cupholder.  It was exhilarating for the tit, but also a little scary.  And though the tit shared the same taste in music, it thought Travis played it way too loud to be safe. 
 
When they first found the tit, Mark had been looking at just the right time, in just the right place to see it.  By all rights, it should have been Jamie who saw it first, but it was Mark, and he liked it like that.  He liked going first.  And on those old country roads with the yearbook clock ticking in the back of his head, Mark was prepared to make bold decisions; life-altering bold decisions.
 
Between the fully engaged high beams of Mark’s Astro and the shredding guitars blaring from Travis’s custom-built sound system, you would be forgiven for assuming that they saw each other coming.  But it would seem that both boys had there eyes on the traffic light and not the road.  A bright orb floating in a sea of black.
 
In the end, the police determined Mark to be at fault.  He didn’t have the right of way.  But even if they did find Travis to be responsible for the accident that left Mark in a wheelchair, they couldn’t charge him.  Travis was dead.
 
Jamie saw less of Mark after the accident.  It wasn’t meant to be spiteful; he just had less free time since joining the football team.  Yeardley finally talked him into it.  He was a born tight end; built like a brick shithouse but with surprisingly good hands for a boy his size.  He caught the pass that won the district championship that year.
 
After high school, Jamie was offered a scholarship to play football at Appalachian State University.  He sent Mark pictures of the mountains that he took while hiking.  He said the trails were like something out of a fairy tale.
 
But Mark and Jamie soon drifted apart as they took their separate paths through life.  And though they had very different outlooks on life, they both could agree on one thing.  That first summer they all shared with the tit had been the best summer of their lives.
 
When they met again, they both had a touch of grey in their hair.  Jamie towered even higher over Mark than he had when they were kids now that Mark was in his chair.  The tit looked good for its age.  It had a tan now and was a little less perky than when he last saw it, but it looked happy.  Mark couldn’t help but get emotional when he saw the tit again after all those years, but his tears were actually for Jamie.  He had never seen his friend look so comfortable being the center of attention.  People definitely looked too.  Jamie was still handsome of course, but the tit was absolutely stunning.
 
As high school reunions go, the 20-year reunion of the Maplewood Manatees class of ‘01 was nothing to write home about, but it had a certain charm that was all its own.  At the end of the night, Jamie offered to drive Mark home, but he told him he’d already called for a cab.  The three of them kind of lingered for a while, reminiscing about old times, but eventually they had to say goodbye.
 
Mark watched Jamie and the tit walk to the passenger side of Jamie’s truck.  Jamie opened the door with a broad smile on his face, beaming at his beautiful tit.  He placed the tit lovingly in a custom-made seat, then buckled it safely in place. 
 
“Jamie really loves that tit,” thought Mark, and he was right.