Summer 1983: Viju and Cousin Joe Hit It Off

In May 1983, at the end of my first year of graduate school in Bloomington, my sister Tammy graduated from Rocky High.  She was the baby of my father's family, so it was a big deal, and everyone would be there: Aunt Nora, Aunt Edna and her husband, Cousin Joe, my Kentucky Kinfolk, my brother and his wife.  I invited my South Asian friend Viju, who competed with me over pecs.

I told him him about all of my relatives, but especially 29-year old Cousin Joe, who had spectacular beneath-the-belt gifts.  I had seen him naked several times.

"Is he gay?" Viju asked.  "And more important, is he available?"

"Cool it -- he's straight.  One Christmastime I caught him in the act with with his girlfriend.even caught him "in the act" with a girl."


"Hmph...that doesn't mean a thing.  Under the right circumstances, any guy is available."

"Please don't cruise my cousin," I said.  "Look, but don't touch."
I was hoping that Cousin Joe would share the attic room with Viju and me, to make glimpses easier to come by. But no, we got the Kentucky boys, Eldon (age 24) and Seth (age 17).   They were cute, too, especially in the morning when their pale muscular bodies peeked out over the covers.

But Viju found his own way to experience Cousin Joe's gifts.

On the Sunday morning after graduation, I left Viju asleep upstairs.  Eldon and Seth were in the back yard playing with the dogs, and Mom, Dad, and Tammy were already at church.  I went jogging.

When I returned, Aunt Nora, Eldon, and Seth were sitting in the living room, reading the Sunday paper and drinking coffee.

"There you are!" Aunt Nora exclaimed.  "I thought you were still in bed!  We wanted to take you and the boys to the Belgian Inn for breakfast -- your parents and Tammy can't come, of course." They were staunch Nazarenes who couldn't eat out on Sunday, even if someone else was paying.

I showered and made my way upstairs to the attic room to change clothes and wake Viju.  I didn't feel the tiniest bit of deja vu.

This time my footsteps on the stairs triggered my approach.

Viju was lying in our bed with the covers pulled up to his neck, a mysterious man-shaped bulge next to him. I saw a pile of clothes on the floor next to the bed.

"Um...what's going on?" I asked, thinking nonsensically that Viju had picked up a guy last night, forgetting that I had just gotten out of that bed an hour before.

"Joe came upstairs to wake me up. I tried to look but not touch, but..." He pulled the covers away with a triumphant flourish to reveal Joe, naked, trying unsuccessfully to hide his private parts.  He grinned sheepishly.

Turns out that Joe was straight,  but he was open to suggestions, especially from a slim, cute, exotic South Asian guy who knew lots of ancient Hindu sex secrets.

Too bad I didn't find out about that before -- it would have made visits even more interesting.

Viju never stopped bragging about how he landed a man-god in a small town in the Midwest.