Jacques helped the innkeeper and Kurt went to work for the baker. And they continued to sleep and make love in the inn, before the great fireplace. The innkeeper had found for them a wider and more comfortable pallet that during the day they rolled up and moved to the storeroom.
Asking the innkeeper, Jacques tried to find the Etienne about whom Junot had talked with the Parisian. But the man said he didn't know anything about the officer, besides the fact he wanted to reach Brussels.
Spring came. The innkeeper asked the two boys if they still wanted to find a job in a farm or if they would have liked better to go on working there in the village. Jacques and Kurt decided to carry on the jobs they had done up to then.
At the end of April, Junot arrived at the inn and was surprised to find Jacques still there, but also happy to meet him again. The boy, taking him aside, told him about the accident happened to the officer and asked him if he knew how to find out his family, to "tell them about the accident". He didn't tell Junot about the gold they had taken, but only of the portrait they had seen. Junot said he didn't know anything about the Parisian, not even his name, thus it was impossible to inform anybody.
When at night Jacques was alone with Kurt, he told him about his conversation with Junot.
"Then now we can keep all the gold for us, no?" Kurt gladly commented.
"Yes, I really think we can. We did all we could to give it back."
"We are rich, true, Jacques?"
"Yes, very rich. But if we all of a sudden show all that gold, I'm afraid people here would become suspicious..."
"Well, we have just to move away, no?"
"Yes, but where? And what can we do with all that gold?"
"In a big town. We can buy a house, a shop all ours."
"Yes, right. What kind of shop would you like to have, Kurt?"
"I know not. We start going far from here. We can go to Brussels. It is the capital, no?"
"Yes. I've heard that it is just three days walk from here."
"Good. We go, then?"
"Yes. You have to inform master Didier, and I master Nazaire, then we can go. We can possibly leave already tomorrow or the day after."
"Yes! I not can wait to go."
"I can't wait to go." Jacques smiling corrected him.
The next day they informed their masters about their decision to try their luck in Brussels. Their masters tried to persuade them to stay there, but at the end they resigned themselves to let them go. So, at the beginning of May, taking some provisions for the day's journey, they loaded their panniers onto their shoulders and left going towards the capital city.
Neither of the two boys had ever seen a so wide and beautiful city, and they spent all the first day touring it, looking around filled with amazement, their eyes wide like two kids.
On the Grande Place they saw a luxurious restaurant.
"Let's go to eat there, like... like two lords?" Jacques asked, his eyes shining.
"Yes!" Kurt enthusiastically answered.
But when they went to enter, a waiter blocked them at the door.
"You cannot enter here dressed like that and with those panniers. Here is not a place for country people!" He said severely, but not rudely.
Jacques then showed him a gold coin, "But we can pay!"
The waiter looked at it, "Yes, without any doubt. But above all you have to be dressed as city-dwellers, and then, this coin... you have to change it with the local money. We don't accept foreign currency, here."
"They have no value, here, these coins?" Jacques asked, alarmed.
"No, you have just to change it. It's gold, of course it has a value. But you have to go to an exchange office."
"And where is an exchange office?"
"Here on this square. Do you see that building with a dome? On the ground floor there is a money changer."
"Ah, thank you mister." Jacques said.
They went away.
"Should we change three coins, for a start?" Jacques asked.
"Do not know... perhaps also five? If we must also buy elegant clothes..."
"Why not! We have ten in our pockets. Let's exchange five."
They entered the money changer's shop. The man, at first, looked at them somewhat suspiciously. But when Jacques pulled out of his pocket five gold coins, he became at once kind and ceremonious.
"I want to change these five for local money..." Jacques said.
"Certainly, young gentlemen, straightaway. May I just check them?"
He took the coins, made them bounce on a marble surface, weighed, measured, tested them one after the other with his teeth...
Then said, "Perfect gold Napoleons. Do you want to change all five of them?"
"Yes..."
"So, the change rate now is... this, you see? Therefore..." he scribbled some numbers on a piece of paper, then he counted several silver and copper coins and pushed them towards the boys. "This is the equivalent in Belgian currency, gentlemen. Do you have a purse?"
"A purse?" Jacques asked knitting his forehead.
"A pouch to keep them safely..."
"Ah, no... we just keep them in our pocket..."
"Permit me to give you one, then..." the exchanger said giving them also a purse of wine colour good cloth.
Jacques counted the Belgian coins, then put them in the purse, closed and knotted it at his belt. "Can I also ask you a courtesy, mister?" Jacques then asked.
"At your service..."
They asked him where there was a good tailor. They went to the shop and when they saw that the prices were low compared with the money they had changed, they asked the tailor to take their measurements, and ordered several items, following his advice. Then they went in a nearby shop where they also bought shoes and a suitcase. And then, asking information, they found a board and lodging house where they rented a room.
The city life was bewildering but also intrigued them greatly.
Talking with the boarding house keeper, he advised them it was convenient to deposit their money in a bank. They asked the man to explain to them what a bank was and how it worked. Then, carrying with them all the rolls of coins, they decided that each of them had to open a separate account, and in different banks, so as not to show they were so rich. At the end of the morning they had ten deposit certificates, in five different banks. And the banks, besides taking their coins in deposit, opened their accounts in local currency, so that they no longer had to change coins each time.
They didn't have an exact idea how much rich they were, but the five coins they had exchanged on the previous day allowed them to pay for all their clothes, their shoes and the suitcase, the room for two weeks and they still had some in their pockets!
At the end of the week, they got their new clothes. They ordered a good warm bath at the boarding house. They then threw away their old country clothes and wore the new ones. Then went to a barber's shop asking to have the lastest fashion cut. And finally, cleaned, tidied up and with their new clothes, they went back to the elegant restaurant on the Grande Place and this time they were admitted without any problem.
"Kurt, are you aware? We are terribly rich!"
"Yes, I really have the impression so..."
"But... I was asking myself... you see... we two are not able to read or write and nor to calculate. And here in the city, life is so complicated. I fear that two country boys like us... they can twist us round their little finger just as they like and cheat us like two dunces."
"You say?"
"I say."
"And then?"
"And then I got an idea - we have to pay somebody to teach us to read and write and to understand figures! I think it would be money well spent, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, but who can we ask it?"
"A priest. Priests always know a lot of things..."
"Yes, I think is a good thought."
They went to the church near their boarding house and asked for the parish priest.
When the priest received them, Jacques said him, "You see, father, we are just two poor, ignorant country boys. But we have some savings we would like to use to open a shop here downtown and start a trade. But we don't know how to write and read and manage the figures. Therefore we would like to know if you, who have studied a lot, can teach us..."
The priest looked at them kindly and smiled, "Not I. I am already too busy with my parish. But I know a good young man, a teacher, who right now is looking for some work. He is a good teacher, and he could really teach you all you need, and if you give him a fair pay he would be happy to help you. He is a clever and honest young man. If you want I can send to tell him to come at your boarding room, so you can come to an agreement..."
The day after, when they went back to the boarding house for lunch, they found the teacher waiting for them. His name was Leopold and was twenty-six years old. They at once felt a liking for him. They talked and the young man offered to give them four hours of lesson a day, and what he asked for one month was just the equivalent of three gold coins. They at once accepted. They so started the lessons, and soon they became friends with Leopold and also met his wife and his two small children of two and four years - they were a delightful family.
They gradually understood that they could trust Leopold. So they told him all their story, except for the nature of their relationship, and the origin and the amount of their fortune. Thus, little by little, Leopold became also their advisor.
First of all, he told them, they needed to purchase some documents, and he explained to them how they could do so. They of course had to get false documents, for a start, to hide the fact that they were deserters. Leopold was a pacifist, therefore didn't hesitate to help them. They managed to buy two passes of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, where they had as identities the names Jacques and Kurt Mayer, cousins. Thank to these fake documents, they obtained residence certificates released by the Brussels municipality.
With these documents, always with Leopold's help, they looked for a lodging. They found a very nice apartment in an old but elegant house in the Anderlecht, on the second floor, which they bought already furnished. There were two bedrooms, both with a wide double bed. Of course they used only one of them. On the first night in their new apartment, they went to the big bed with white and soft sheets and also white pillows, almost with awe. They undressed completely and climbed on it.
"Feel it... it is soft as a cloud! It seems to be in paradise!" Jacques exclaimed lying down and bouncing up and down.
"Really! Here on it, yes, it will be good making love!" Kurt said merrily, rolling on it.
"Is that all you ever think about?" Jacques asked, playfully.
"Of course, with you near and also all naked!" Kurt answered embracing and kissing him.
They made love for a long time, feeling as if really in paradise. The bed, besides being really soft with the sheets of caressing fine muslin, was also wider than they had ever had. In the bedroom they also had disposed plenty of lamps that were lighting it up sufficiently to look at each other while they were making love on the spotless sheets. And after they made love, they could fall asleep still naked, embraced, without fearing to be caught by somebody on the following morning - they were really happy.
Every day Leopold went to their home to give them lessons. The two boys, thanks to their ready intelligence and good will, were improving fast.
Around September, Kurt said to Leopold, "We would like to buy a shop and to start a trade. What would you advise us? What pays well here in the capital?"
"Well... many things... it depends also on how much money you can invest..."
"A lot, yes, a lot of money..." Jacques answered vaguely.
"Well, you could buy a grocer's shop, as you both know country products very well. Or else a coffee shop, which are now in fashion... or also a restaurant... but then you would need to hire a good staff and a good cook... It also depends on whether you want to manage the business by yourselves, or just buy it and give it to other people to manage ..."
"No, we would like to manage it." Kurt said. "I would like a shop like the one I saw in the Grande Place, the one that sells pens and paper and all one needs to write and draw..."
"Ah, yes, a stationery shop... It could be interesting and you two could manage it alone without problems."
They discussed some more then Leopold offered to go with them to see which premises were for sale.
While they were looking, he said, "If you have to manage a shop, you would need a person at home to clean and keep it tidy, to cook your meals, do your laundry..."
"Is it possible to find such a person?"
"Certainly yes."
"But... without marrying her?" Kurt asked.
Leopold laughed, "Of course! A hourly paid home help, or else a housekeeper who stays at your home from morning to evening and leaves- you alone at night..."
"That would be good!" Kurt said.
"But... such a person... should be very discreet and trustworthy and... you would have to be careful to... to do so that she doesn't..." Leopold said then stopped, embarrassed.
"That she doesn't... what?" Jacques asked, curious.
"Well, I hope you will not feel offended but... coming to your place every day, I casually noticed that... well... that you two... use only one bed. And here in Belgium the law is very harsh with... with two men who..."
At this point Kurt blushed.
Jacques on the contrary nodded, "You, Leopold, have understood that we are not just friends." He quietly stated.
"Yes, it is so. I know that this is none of my business. That's just your choice. I will keep it to myself; it's natural, and I have never told it and will never tell it to anybody. But if you have a person working in your house..."
"But then, what can we do?" Kurt asked.
"Well, I don't know. Possibly... possibly finding a man who... one like you, I mean, would make things smoother. It would be something like a... an accomplice."
"Do you know somebody like that? Somebody who wants to work as a housekeeper?"
"I don't know... I don't really think so."
Kurt intervened, "But you, Leopold, how do you judge us?"
"Who am I to judge you? To me, you are two very dear people, two good friends. If you love each other... and show it also physically... for me it's just good. I am a free thinker, you know."
Kurt then said, "And what do you think if we took a shop us three, with you as a partner? So you, Leopold, could be always in he shop with one of us and the other could care for the apartment. All would be set, so, wouldn't it?"
"But I don't have a capital sum to become your partner..."
"We have the needed capital. And we would like having you as our business partner, isn't it so, Jacques?"
"Yes, sure, that's a very good idea. And you can also go on teaching us and make use more cultivated... What shop would you like to have, Leopold?"
"I... I never thought about it, but... I think I would like working in a library."
"Good! Yes, wonderful! So we two can also read all we like and learn a lot of things both from you and the books... Accept our proposal, Leopold, please!" Kurt said enthusiast.
"My god... you are catching me unawares..."
"You said you would like, didn't you?"
"Yes but it is not fair if you put up all the capital and I..."
"You, first of all, would be in the shop all the time and us only half of the time. And then you will go on teaching us when we have no clients. And then you know about books, and we don't... And then you have a family to support, and we haven't... Accept, Leopold!"
The young teacher at last agreed. They found a nice shop just one block from the Grande Place. They saw a notary and signed a deed. Leopold ordered a first stock of books. They had decided to call the shop "Le Petit Luxembourg". Jacques and Kurt, to buy and furnish it, had spent only half of their capital and they were very pleased with their new activity.
When in the evening they withdrew to their nice apartment, they were in tender intimacy, and were feeling more and more in love.
"Would you ever have thought, Kurt, that life was going to treat us so well?"
"No, my love."
"We are rich, have a nice apartment and a beautiful library, and are learning a lot of new things..."
"But above all I have you and you have me. This is the real wealth."
"Yes it is so. And then also Leopold and his family... I like when the children call us uncle... We have a gained a family, so, right?"
"Yes, it's true."
"And I like a lot staying with you in my arms, here in front of our fireplace..."
"Yes... and go ing the other room on our wonderful bed..."
"And to have become so elegant... Ah, if our families could see us..."
"Do you miss your family?"
"Yes, a little. How about you?" Kurt asked.
"I do too. But we cannot see them again. They certainly think we are dead... possibly as heroes... Or they got to know we are deserters and are ashamed of us..."
"Yes, Kurt, that's so. But our new family is Leopold with his wife and children."
"Yes, it is. But above all, you are my true family. You, my wonderful lover."
"I, wonderful? You are wonderful!"
"Well, Jacques, we don't have to start fighting on this subject, now. Jacques Mayer..." Kurt said laughing and turned to kiss his friend. "Why don't we make love here before the fireplace?"
"Like when I was working at the inn?" Jacques jested.
"Yes... on the bed is great, of course, but... I now feel like doing it here... and you do so too, I can feel it..." Kurt slyly said, caressing his swollen fly.
He unbuttoned his elegant trousers and pulled it out, starting at once to kiss, lick, suck it.
"Jacques, I want to sit here, on your lap, and be fucked so... Can we try?" Kurt murmured, then continued to lick it.
"Undress, then. I'll go to take the lube..."
"I've got it here already..." Kurt said giving him the small silver container.
"Ah, little rogue, it was all premeditated, then!" Jacques joked opening it while Kurt hurriedly undressed.
"Yes, sure. Do you remember when we used butter?"
"Yes... it also worked well, but made everything greasy... This cream is extraordinary, and also scented. But you never told me how you found it..."
"Thanks to one of our clients..."
"A client? A man?"
"No, a woman..."
"Do I know her?"
"I don't know. She's Madame Marguerite. She is the owner of a brothel..."
"But... and how do you know that?"
"Talking..."
"But... does she know about us?"
"Oh, we will talk about that later, alright? I now want to sit on your beautiful rod..."
"Yes, love, come... I'm ready..."
Kurt sat astride his legs, embraced his neck and hoisted himself on Jacques lap, impaling then himself on the erect stake that Jacques guided with his hand.
"Oh, that's so good! I will never get tired having you inside me!" Kurt panted abandoning himself bodily on that splendid erect pole.
"Hey, no, it wouldn't be fair! I too want you in me!"
"Yes, yes, sure... bat later... now kiss me..." Kurt murmured leaning on his lover and starting to spring up and down.
"Oh, Kurt, my Kurt! I like taking you from in front, being able to look in your eyes, to kiss you..."
"I too like doing it so. But any position provided I can feel you inside me or to enter inside you." The boy sweetly answered.
After a long ride in that position until he made his man enjoy a good orgasm, Kurt was very excited said, "And now I want to take you, Jacques!"
"Yes, sure, my love. How do you want to take me, this time?"
"However you like best..."
"Lying on the bed then... on my belly... and you on top of me. I love feeling your body all on top of mine, and..."
"Let's go, then."
They went fast to their bedroom and Jacques finished undressing himself. He laid down and Kurt laid on top of him. Prepared him and went before his hole, quivering.
"Tell me you want me..."
"Yes, Kurt, take me!"
"Tell me..."
"I want you, put it all inside me..." Jacques begged, incredibly excited.
"What do you want all inside you?" Kurt asked raising himself on his arms and knees.
"Your beautiful, hard cock!"
"And where do you want it, love?"
"Into my tight, soft, little ass!"
"Yes... here it is... love!" Kurt said suddenly letting himself go down in one go and slipping all it inside, straight, hard, to the base.
They moaned in unison at their pleasure. Jacques raised his torso arching back and Kurt profited from it to slip his hands under his chest and tease his nipples. Then, leaning elbows and knees on the mattress, he started to vigorously move up and down making the whole bed jump.
"Oh, yes, so, my love! Hard, Kurt, harder..." Jacques panted enjoying that virile and passionate assault.
Kurt licked his neck and shoulders, continuing to vigorously toss up and down. They were telling each other words of love, of passion, of desire. Words that they could repeat the same way for years and that each time would sound as new, beautiful, extraordinary. Words that in another context could seem devoid of modesty or poesy, but that for them were the expression of the most true and pure love.
The big mirror of the closet that was beside the bed was reflecting the most beautiful image of the world - that of two people loving each other.
