Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 16:51:47 -0800 From: fritz@nehalemtel.net Subject: I Love Corey, Chapter Ninety Good heavens, it is once again time for another disclaimer. Since I know you can't wait for it, I'll get started on it. Those of you who are young should leave. Sorry, but that is the way it is. I know you are curious and want to know what is in adult stories, but perhaps your parents would be upset if you read this story. Now I remember upset parents, and I don't think you wish to have to go through all that again. Instead, just slink off and don't let them find out you were reading things like this story. That way you won't have to listen to the things parents always say, like `I thought I could trust you' or `what were you thinking of?' or `Don't you know better?' or any of a number of parent phrases. I swear, parents must get a handbook of phrases to use on their children. Of course there are other stock parent answers, such as `because I said so.' When parents pull that one out, there really isn't much you can do or say that will be effective. Believe me, I tried everything I could think of and none of it worked. Then there are those individuals who are upset with descriptions of gay sex acts. My question to them is simply this. If such things bother you, why do you read them? Unless you have a good answer to that question, I don't wish to hear from you about how evil such descriptions are. Should you happen to live in one of the backward areas of the world where individual rights are usurped by the government, perhaps it best that you leave this site. Truthfully, I've never understood what makes people think that governments, composed of people, are smarter than the people they rule. That any governmental entity thinks it is smarter, and therefore needs to protect the people it rules by controlling what they read is a concept I fail to understand. Not only that, when I see some of the ideas that those in government come up with, I'm forced to wonder if they are not only not smarter than those they rule, but might even be dumber. Let's take just one small example. Someone commits a crime, and our trusty government leaders decide that is bad. So, they pass another law expecting the second law to stop the illegal behavior. Now really, if the criminal was breaking the first law, why would he suddenly obey the second? After all, the criminal has already shown he cares nothing for the law by willfully breaking the first one, so it would appear to me that even if there were another ten thousand laws passed, he would not bother to obey them either. To my knowledge Sam and Corey don't exist except somewhere in the twisted recesses of my mind. Not only that, they are not based on anyone I know or have ever heard of or about. That makes the story complete fiction. If you think otherwise, that puts you in the same class as people who pass laws covering things that are already against the law with the silly hope that it will make a difference. So my suggestion is this, if you believe that Sam and Corey represent actual people, then you need to take a logic course and read the disclaimers better. Don't quote from the story without crediting me. I am well aware that there is nothing to quote, but it makes me feel important to write those words. As far as that goes, you must share the riches you gain from a commercial use of this story. While I have been waiting for several years for that money to show up, so far no one has shared and I'm about ready to cry. Perhaps thinking of my tears will cause you to re-think your selfishness at not sharing all the wealth you have derived from this story. Poor Don. He gets a chapter edited and I send him another. His work is never done and yet he never complains. He is a true gentleman and helps make this story much better. To him I extend my thanks for all his help. So you found some things in the story to complain about. All I can offer is the advice to just send those complaints to "fritz@nehalemtel.net" with "I Love Corey" in the subject line. You may also offer suggestions, ask questions, or even offer comments. Someday I will get around to answering you, provided your email makes it through cyberspace. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the following chapter. Fritz *********************************************************** I Love Corey, Chapter Ninety Talk about a rude awakening. I was attacked by two squirming and giggling bodies. Now that was bad enough and I was losing, but they soon had a helper, so I had not four, but six hands to try to defend myself against. Obviously, I lost. As I finally escaped and stumbled to the bathroom, I was plotting my revenge against Corey. Why only Corey? The answer is simple and easily explained. The giggle boxes were merely happy; whereas Corey looked positively smug about the way the morning was starting. I could hear the three of them giggling like a flock of chickens clucking about fresh straw in the chicken house as I closed the door and hurried to the toilet. That thought got me to thinking. I remembered a classmate whose folks had a flock of chickens and I wondered if the boys needed something like chickens to take care of with the idea of teaching them responsibility. I'd been out to his house a few times and when I learned where eggs came from, it was a couple of weeks before I could eat them again. While everyone might know eggs come from chickens, they conveniently forget what part of the chicken the eggs emerge from. When you are in the second grade, such things are best left unknown. It didn't help that the folks were less than impressed with my graphic description of the whole process, and they made it quite clear that I was not allowed to use those kinds of words in public. They reinforced their message about my use of certain words by withholding my ice cream for a period of time. The lesson was effective, and even to this day I couldn't bring myself to tell where eggs emerged from in terms most people would understand. At least I thought that way due to all the strange looks I received when talking about the discharge orifice of the alimentary tract. I made it to the kitchen and got the coffee pot plugged in and collapsed in a chair. I might be up and moving, but my mind wasn't really awake yet. Corey squeezed some juice for the giggle boxes and I finally got my first cup of coffee. By the time I finished it, I was actually able to understand what was being said. Some things came through loud and clear, like French toast. I turned the griddle on as I refilled my coffee cup. This time I didn't bother with an ice cube to hurry its cooling. While I was peering in the fridge, looking to see what I should serve along with the French toast, Corey was reading the funnies to the giggle boxes. They were having a grand time and I was finally waking up enough to think. Obviously Kath wouldn't want to shoot because she would be too busy arranging furniture, so that meant the afternoon would be free. As for church, I wasn't sure I could stall her long enough for us to attend, so it looked like it would be another missed Sunday for us. While the boys seemed to enjoy church, it wasn't the highest thing on their list of things to do. That meant that most of us could go with Uncle Matt and Vern to look at Ralph's property. That was an excellent idea as it would get me away from Kath and having to move furniture seven million times while she looked to see if it was exactly where she wanted it. That thought made my day brighter since there is nothing better than coming up with a good excuse before you need it. Hopefully by the time we got back she would be calmed down enough to where we only had to move it five million times. People started waking up so it was time to get cooking. Even with the thirty-six inch griddle there was no way I could cook for everyone at one time. That meant that Dog got extended rations for breakfast. Normally he cadged a few bites and gave up, but this time he made the rounds twice. By the time the second group was eating, he was becoming very selective and only wanted bites of sausage. Apparently, he'd had all the French toast he wanted from the giggle boxes. At least Kevin didn't insist that Dog drink part of his orange juice this morning. There were times I wondered if it might not be easier to fix a place at the table for Dog. He was a much neater eater than Kevin or Kristin and never played with his food. After the kitchen was cleaned up, it was time to get started. The problem was I couldn't think of any job David could do. I wanted him to feel like part of the family, but with his missing hand there wasn't any way for him to pack boxes or furniture. Anyhow, we started transferring things from my shop to Kath's house. I had worried needlessly about David as Kath quickly set him to work unpacking boxes of dishes. That was something he could do with one hand, and she suggested that Mark and Danny help him. The rest of us were busy moving things like beds and chairs and tables. We would load a bunch of stuff in the back of the pickup, drive around the block and pack it in the house. Kath and Aunt Sandy were there directing traffic every time we walked in with another load and it went more efficiently than I had ever imagined possible. In just over two hours everything was out of the shop. It wasn't all unpacked and put away, but it was moved. The only things left to be moved were the clothes and personal items which the three of them had at my house. I was looking around, thinking I was light a few kids when Andrea, Kyle, and Corey showed up with most of Andrea's things. Most of her stuff was still in boxes, so it was easy to move. As they were putting her things away, I noticed she had few clothes. That was easy; I would take her with us tomorrow when I took David shopping. If I handled it right I wouldn't even get any flack from Kath. Danny was pretty well stocked for clothes because of our trip to Disneyland, so he didn't need to go, and as far as that went, most of the other boys had more than enough clothes. Maybe we could keep this down to just part of them. That way David wouldn't feel so intimidated. He was still uncomfortable with all the boys, but he no longer looked scared and was beginning to adjust to them. I didn't know anything about his past life, but I could well understand that walking into a houseful of exuberant boys could be somewhat overpowering. That thought made me realize that yes, now they were exuberant, but they had not always been that way. I could remember how quiet Corey had first been, and the same had been true of JJ and LT. Kyle was still pretty quiet and Mark was the only one who had never seemed to miss a beat when he moved in. LT had warmed up quickly, but JJ was much slower. Yet now the boys were always teasing each other and me, and they all seemed happy. Even Kyle was starting to open up a little and join with them needling each other, especially if it was directed at me. Since there were more than enough hands to help with the unpacking, I retreated to my house and contemplated what to fix for lunch. That turned out to be easy and some diced bacon, diced onion, minced clams, clam juice, and diced potatoes solved that problem. When the potatoes were cooked I would add some evaporated milk and a little butter. A little pepper, perhaps some salt, and some instant mashed potatoes to thicken would complete the chowder. As I was finishing up making the chowder, I was wondering how so many people could screw up such a simple dish. The less is more and more is less theory came to mind. Some people wanted to add things like spices and chopped celery and all kinds of things and they ruined it that way. Then there was the group that tried to get by with too few clams. While I liked potato soup, when it was supposed to be clam chowder you needed plenty of clams in it. No matter, I was in a good mood as I checked the doneness of the potatoes. The reason I was in a good mood was that I had finally recognized what I was. Strange how things work out. Had it not been for Reverend Langston I might have continued on, unwilling to face reality, all the while trying to convince myself I was something I was not. Yet now that I had been forced to honestly look at myself, I was much happier than I could remember being. It was kind of like the worst is over, now it can only get better sort of feeling and I was really upbeat about the future. I knew there would always be problems to solve, and life would sometimes be difficult, but now it looked surmountable. The chowder was now cooked and only required the evaporated milk and instant mashed potatoes to finish it, so I walked back down to Kath's to see how things were going. Big mistake. I got there just in time to start moving the chairs and stuff around, and around, and around some more. Kath and Aunt Sandy were standing in the middle of the living room and Uncle Matt and I were taking orders on where to place things. Once we had placed things where ordered, then the two women would hold a short debate and the whole thing would start again. First the sofa was next to the window facing in, and then it was across the room, so people could see out when sitting on it. Then it made a trip to the end of the room so people could turn their heads and look out. Then it made it back to the window again. Of course all the other pieces of furniture had to be moved each time so those two could get a feel for how it would look. They finally settled on the suggestion I had made some time back about the sofa being used to divide the living area from the dinning area. It only took an hour for that to become apparent to Kath and Aunt Sandy. Fortunately, the rest of the rooms didn't require quite as much shuffling of furniture. The bedrooms were easy as the beds pretty much had to be placed the way the designers had planned, owing to the size and shape of the rooms. Then I refused to get involved with how the kitchen supplies should be stored, so Kath and Aunt Sandy finally agreed that everyone could have lunch. I told them to give me twenty minutes to finish the chowder and escaped. I noticed I had a flock of kids join me as I beat a retreat to my house. However, poor Uncle Matt was not as lucky. Just when he was heading for the door to join me, Aunt Sandy asked him to help her shift the sofa a few inches. I about got stuck in the doorway with all the kids as we all tried to escape at once. While the chowder was re-heating I changed the dressing on David's arm. Maybe it was a good idea that the doctor had insisted on me knowing how to do it. This way I could avoid taking him to the emergency room to have it done. It looked like it was healing and I could see no signs of infection. I had to take him to see Dr. Logan Monday morning, but there didn't appear any reason to bother the emergency room crew today. The chowder was a big hit with the boys, each having two big bowls. So did Andrea, but the rest of us got by on one. David had a slight problem figuring out how to crush his crackers in it, but he solved that quickly. I was out of oyster crackers so we had to use regular saltines instead. We were about through with lunch when David accidentally knocked over his glass of milk. I jumped up to get a towel and David ran from the room. I threw the towel to Corey and went looking for him. He wasn't hard to find. Dog was standing at the door to JJ and LT's room and the door was closed. When I stepped in I couldn't see him, but I could hear him. He was on the floor behind the bed and was curled up crying. When I started to pick him up, he flinched and tried to get away. Then he vomited all over the floor and me, with plenty left over to cover himself. The poor kid was terrified. It took me close to ten minutes to calm him down enough to where he would let me touch him and then another ten to convince him I wasn't going to punish him. Even then I don't think he believed me about the lack of punishment. I finally got him into my bathroom and stripped so I could get him in the shower. Then the matter of his bandaged arm came up and Corey got us a plastic bag and some tape. When I finally got him in the shower, he sank down and just sat on the floor and continued softly crying. Since I needed a shower also, I just gave up, finished undressing, opened the shower door, and stepped in with him. It took a few minutes, but finally he was on his feet and I could scrub him. This was the first time I had really gotten a chance to look him over. I knew he was thin, but looking at him I now realized how thin. He was about five foot two inches tall and couldn't have weighed much over ninety to ninety-five pounds. That weight wouldn't have been bad on an eleven or twelve year old of his height, but his frame had grown and I could count every rib and there were still the remains of some bruises visible. I just wanted to beat whoever had abused him. Maybe even beat them to death. No, I wanted them to suffer and death was too good for them. Things were going fairly well, and I was scrubbing away when the inevitable happened. Once again I was faced with a crisis. Warm water and someone washing him, along with hormones produced the normal result and an erection soon appeared. It was not David's day so far. He was crying and apologizing and no matter what I said, he wouldn't listen. I finally gave up. The shower was plenty big so I sat down and pulled him into my lap and just held him and let him cry. His crying finally slowed, his erection went down, and we finally got back to bathing. As I resumed washing him I talked about erections being one of those things that no one could control and that they happened, normally at the most embarrassing time, but should be ignored. I kept stressing that no one would laugh at him and that such things had happened to all of us. When I started washing his crack, once again he responded, but at least this time he didn't fall apart. However, when I handed him the washcloth and suggested he wash his gentiles, he was still shaking so badly he couldn't even hold the washcloth. When he dropped it the third time I gave up and finished bathing him. He jerked and twitched a few times when I was washing his quite nice five incher, but I managed to finish before anything more happened. Corey had brought in fresh clothes, so after drying him and replacing the dressing on his arm I helped him dress. He was a basket case and just stood there and trembled. Not having any better ideas, I placed him on my bed and lay down with him. I was holding him and telling him he was safe and had nothing to be afraid of when Corey joined us. He lay down on David's other side and the two of us tried to convince him he was safe and all of us would help him and look out for him. A few minutes later he fell asleep. "What's going to happen to him?" Corey whispered. "Don't know," I whispered back. "I've got him for the week. Judy will be back next Sunday and hopefully I'll get some information out of him so she can figure out what to do." About then Aunt Sandy stuck her head in and told me that she and Kath had cleaned up the mess in JJ and LT's room. She gathered up the soiled clothes and headed for the washer. She had no more than left when Kevin came sneaking in. "What's wrong with Davy?" he asked. "Davy's scared Kev," I answered. "What's he scared of?" "Davy's had some bad things happen to him. He's scared some more bad things might happen to him and doesn't know he's safe now," I answered. "What kind of bad things?" Kevin was not about to let it drop. "Some people beat him and hurt him. Now he thinks everyone will hurt him." "But you won't hurt him Uncca Sammy," Kevin said. "I know that, and you know that, but Davy doesn't understand that yet," I answered. "Well tell him Uncca Sammy. Tell him he don't got to be afraid." "I've been telling him that, but he doesn't believe it yet," I said. "That's stupit," Kevin answered. "The word is stupid, not stupit Kev. And no Kev, Davy isn't stupid. He just hasn't learned to trust anyone yet," I said. "Give him a little time and he'll learn." By now Kevin had climbed up on the bed and wormed his way in between Corey and David. As I lay there with David in my arms and looking right at Kevin, all I could think of was how different their lives had been. Kevin had a bunch of adults who loved him and protected him while it appeared that David didn't. What a difference it makes in the life of a child when the adults he depends on love and cherish him. What would David have been like had he been shown the same love and affection as Kevin? I was left with no answer to that question. All I could do was try to show David that not everyone was going to hurt him, and that some adults were willing to help him. I wondered if he would, or even if he could respond to love. The doorbell rang and I figured it was about time for Vern to show up. Kevin immediately got down and dashed off to see what was going on. As soon as Kevin left, Corey started in. "Are you going to keep him?" he asked, referring to David I supposed. "You mean David? I don't know. That depends on Judy. Besides, if he stays I'll have even less time for you and your brothers. David has a lot of problems and it's going to take a lot of time and effort from everyone around him to help him overcome them," I answered him. Corey was silent for a minute or so. Then his blue eyes looked deep into mine. "I'll help. He needs us." There it was, a flat statement. He had thought about it and was willing to give up part of his time with me to help David. "I don't know," I answered. "Even if everyone is willing to work at it, I'm not sure any of us have the skills to help him. He needs a lot more help than any of you did, and I don't know where to start." Corey stared at me like I was some kind of idiot. I could see he didn't believe me that we might not be able to help David, but I couldn't figure out how to explain it to him. I was pretty sure David would need extensive counseling to help him overcome his fear of people. So far Judy kept insisting that there were no counselors in the area who were good with kids, especially gay kids. I wasn't sure what the answer was, but I knew we couldn't solve it now. David moved, like he was trying to roll over in his sleep, so I carefully let go of him and moved away from him. He straightened out some and flopped over onto his stomach. He was definitely asleep. I debated about whether I should stay until he woke up, or leave. I couldn't see that staying would help anything so I got up, spread a blanket over him, and headed for the family room where I could hear some conversation going on. Corey followed me. Uncle Matt and Vern were talking about Ralph's property when I stepped into the room. Everyone except for Kath, Danny, and Andrea were also there and I figured that Kath was back to unpacking stuff. I wondered if I should try to rescue Danny and Andrea, but they were the ones who had to get along with Kath so I just snickered to myself and decided to let them learn how to deal with her. I was pretty sure that in a few days she would calm down on the house thing, but for now I was thankful to be out of her sight. A couple more times of moving the sofa and I would have come unglued. "So," Vern said turning to me. "Are you ready to go look at a piece of land?" "Maybe I ought to stay and wait for David to wake up," I replied. "Who is this David? I heard something about another boy being here, but that's about all. What are you doing, starting a shelter?" Vern asked. "You know almost as much as I do. He was found in a house he didn't belong in. The people who own the house were off at their winter home and when they got back it was apparent that some people had broken in and had been staying there, but the only one still there was David. He had a compound fracture of his wrist and blood poisoning had set in so the doctors had to amputate his arm a little above his wrist to save his life. So far he won't give us any more information than a name and Children's Services hasn't tracked down who he is or where he's from. About the only other thing I can add is he's been pretty badly abused." I could see Vern's fists clench and his jaws clamp together. He took a breath and said, "Jesus, what's wrong with people? The kid lost a hand just because no one would take him to the doctor?" "That's what it appears," I answered. There followed several comments about bad parents and what should be done with them, but none of us had any ideas on how to solve the problem. After a few minutes Vern asked if everyone was ready to leave. I handed him the keys to the Gator, telling him that it would hold more people. Then I had to go dig out my chainsaw since Vern said he would likely have to cut some trees or limbs out of the road. With that they all took off. The Gator was stuffed with so many people in it, but the boys had to go along and see what there was to see. If anything they were acting worse than Uncle Matt, and he was acting like a kid. The only two who seemed to be reasonably calm were Vern and Aunt Sandy. When they had left, I picked up a Tom Clancy novel I was reading and returned to my bedroom to read and wait for David to wake up. I'd been reading for about an hour when I heard some sniffling and David said, "I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me." He was awake and now curled up in a fetal position. "I'm not going to hurt you and you don't have anything to apologize for," I told him while reaching out and putting my hand on his shoulder. He flinched like he'd been kicked so I lay down behind him and wrapped my arms around him. "No one's going to hurt you David. Just relax. I promise things are going to be better." After a while he stopped crying. When I thought he was calm enough I asked him if he would like something to eat. At first he said no, but I kept after him and soon we were in the kitchen and I was heating up the remains of the clam chowder. Two bowls of chowder later I led him into the family room and got him on the sofa. When I sat down beside him, he tried to pull away, but I wrapped my arm around him and gently pulled him next to me. With my other hand I grabbed the remote and started channel surfing. David was once again in his no-talk mode and I was going to give him all the time I could before trying to get information out of him. As usual there wasn't much on, but I finally found a movie he seemed to be interested in, so I slouched down, kicked off my shoes and put my feet up on the coffee table. I could feel that David was tense, but I ignored it and kept my arm around him. After a while I could feel him relax and lean into me. Then Dog got up on the sofa and put his head on David's leg. It wasn't long until Dog's eyes were closed and David was scratching his ears. Every once in a while Dog would groan with pleasure and David seemed to be enjoying that. The movie was over, Dog was asleep, and David was nodding off every few minutes. He was totally relaxed against me. Then the giggle boxes came charging in. "Fine watchdog you are," I told Dog as he jumped up to greet his kids. He had decided that Kristen and Kevin were his and as long as they were close, none of the rest of us mattered. David started to get up, but I squeezed his shoulder gently and told him he didn't have to move if he didn't want to. He sagged back against me and then watched the giggle boxes and Dog roll around on the floor. Kevin and Kristen were living up to my term `giggle boxes' and every time Dog's tongue made a swipe across their faces, more giggles erupted from them. Dog's tongue was busy so there were lots of giggles. All the while Kevin and Kristen were dodging Dog's tongue, there was a steady stream of chatter coming out of them about all the things they had seen. There were the fishes in the creek; the three deers, one of which had thingies sticking out of its head; the old building with the holes in the roof; and of course the car. When I asked what car, they didn't know, but there was a car and it was big. Both of them were talking at the same time and it was difficult for me to keep everything straight. I knew I would be in trouble if I didn't remember everything they told me, so I kept listening and trying to file it all away for when they asked me about it. The boys came in with cans of pop in their hands, followed by the adults with cups of coffee. Vern sat in my chair and the rest of the adults scattered out around the room seeking somewhere comfortable to sit. "You're looking mighty comfortable there David," Uncle Matt said. I could feel David start to stiffen up, but he relaxed again when I continued to hold him and rub his shoulder. "Well, what do you think?" I tossed out for a question. That was like opening the floodgates on a dam. Uncle Matt took off like a rocket, all the while telling me about the good points of the property. Every time he took a breath Aunt Sandy jumped in with how perfect it was and what a lovely setting for a home. Vern wisely kept his mouth shut, although he had no chance of getting a word it edgewise with the way Uncle Matt and Aunt Sandy were going on. It was funny because I could see the boys wanted to join in, but Uncle Matt and Aunt Sandy weren't giving them a chance. When they started to slow down, the boys took over. The boys didn't see things the same as Uncle Matt and Aunt Sandy did. Instead of nice views and the fine old orchard, they saw things like a creek which was big enough to swim and fish in, fruit trees which would have fresh fruit to eat, and the car, which they agreed was big and dark blue. They also thought the old barn was neat and there were some nice trails to bike through the woods on. Vern managed to get his first words in and explained that the trails were game trails made by the deer in the area. According to the boys, the single best thing was the remains of an old tree house. They had it all figured out that with only a little work by Uncle Matt and myself, they could all sleep in it at night. I wondered how long they would last without a refrigerator. I decided not to mention that drawback for fear the boys would want the tree house wired and a fridge installed. Kevin and Kristen jumped right in by demanding they be allowed to sleep in the tree house also. So far it appeared that everyone was in favor of buying the property. About that time Aunt Sandy got her second wind, or perhaps she just caught her breath. She took off with what kind of house she wanted. The more she talked, the more it sounded like a plantation house out of the old South. Uncle Matt listened for a few minutes and then mentioned the fact that she had told him she would never live in a two-story house. Aunt Sandy blushed and changed her house plans quickly. Now it was going to be a hacienda with a courtyard in the middle. When she moved on to describing all the things which would be in the courtyard, like a swimming pool and a barbecue, along with plenty of room for tables and chairs, I got to wondering just how big the courtyard would be. My mind was adding up the room it would take for everything and it soon reached a number that I found staggering. Her courtyard was going to be bigger than three building lots, that is if everything she mentioned was installed. There was the pool, which had to be pretty good sized since it needed both a swimming area and a diving area plus a shallow area for little kids, then there was the tennis court, and of course the barbecue area with plenty of room to entertain guests. As Aunt Sandy continued to prattle on I finally got a question in. "Excuse me, but how big is the house going to be?" I asked. "You've already got a courtyard bigger than my back yard, and by the time you build a house all the way around it, the sucker's going to be huge." What I was saying was true as my actual back yard was only sixteen feet deep by one hundred feet wide. The other lots are what gave me all the room. My house was situated in the middle of two lots which was the only reason it was one hundred feet wide. Aunt Sandy never missed a beat. "It won't be that big by the time we're all there. Each family will only have one wing." She kept chattering along and it took a while for the meaning of what she'd said to soak in as I was trying to follow the conversation and think at the same time. "Hold it!" I shouted. "What do you mean each family will have a wing? Who's going to live there?" Aunt Sandy turned beet red, but finally answered. "Matt and I will have one wing, you and Corey will have another, Kath a third, and Bruno and Sarah will have the forth." I couldn't think of anything to say. I was totally blindsided. I opened and closed my mouth several times and finally managed to say, "I didn't know Bruno and Sarah were moving here. When was that all decided?" Aunt Sandy just turned redder before Uncle Matt decided to rescue her. "Bruno and I have been talking about going into business together for the last several months. He's tired of working where he is, and then he got a new boss he doesn't like. Between the two of us we can probably make more than both of us now do. That really doesn't make any difference because I've got plenty, and so have you, but Bruno needs an income and this way he can finally earn what he's worth. It's a win-win deal. He takes part of the load off of me and we both make a pot of money. If you'd join in I'm sure you could make ten times as much as you now do, probably a lot more." "But—but—but," I sputtered. "But I like teaching." "Yeah, I know. Sarah and Sandy said you'd never give that up. You'd probably be happy living in a shack and eating oatmeal three times a day as long as you could teach." "But—but I like oatmeal," I managed to blurt out. My mind still wasn't understanding just what was going on. There had been a bunch of plans made that included me and I hadn't known anything about them. "And I like my house," I finished. "Isn't there anything you would change if you could build your house over?" Aunt Sandy asked. I was so rattled that I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Sure, I'd have the laundry facilities on the ground floor. I hate running up and down the stairs all the time to do laundry." "Anyhow," Uncle Matt interrupted, "Bruno and Sarah will be here Tuesday. He quit his job and I probably should have asked, but I told him they could stay with you for a few months. If you don't want them, we'll have to find something for them to rent." I was getting ticked off. "Don't you think it would have been nice to at least talk to me about some of this?" "Sorry Sammy," Uncle Matt said. "I didn't know Bruno had quit until I called him this afternoon to tell him about the property. He and his boss got into it Friday and I guess it got ugly. He was pretty down in the dumps over it, and I told him to get his ass out here and be with his family. We'd been talking about forming a partnership, but this speeded it up. Then things got out of control before we had a chance to tell you." That put a somewhat different light on it, but I still wished they had talked to me before making all those plans. On the other hand, I really liked Bruno and Sarah, and their rug rats were cute as all get out. Uncle Matt was right in that I would have offered to let them stay with me had I known, so why was I mad about it? When looked at that way it didn't seem logical that I should be upset, but I was. "If you don't want to live there, you don't have to," Aunt Sandy said. "We just thought it would be nice to all be together and have lots of room for you and your boys. I'm sorry I didn't ask before springing it on you." I looked around and could see boys staring at me intently, worried looks on their faces. That same look was on Uncle Matt's and Aunt Sandy's face. They had all been so happy just a few minutes before, telling me about their plans, and I'd put a damper on their enthusiasm. The only face without a worried look was Vern's, and he was maintaining a neutral expression. "It is a nice piece of property Sam," Vern said. "You ought to go look at it for yourself." "We can talk about this later," I said. "I have to get dinner started. Bob's coming over to give Corey a lesson and if I don't get dinner cooking now we'll all go hungry." Mainly, I needed to get away from them and have a few minutes to calm down and think. They must have known they had gone too far, because no one bothered me in the kitchen. I put the steaks in some marinade and the potatoes in the oven. Dinner was going to be pretty simple, steaks, twice baked potatoes, some corn, and a salad. I was going to fix the potatoes with sour cream, a little minced and sautéed onion, along with some Parmesan cheese. I started cutting up the onion while the frying pan heated. I knew I could do it later, but right now I wanted to be busy so no one would bother me. It didn't take long to dice up a couple of onions and sauté them in some butter. I set them aside and started on the salad. I finely chopped some broccoli, thinly sliced up a red onion, cut a bunch of grape tomatoes into two pieces, and washed some Romaine lettuce and tore it into bite-sized pieces. It would get tossed with a vinaigrette dressing. I was now down to waiting for the potatoes to finish baking and lighting the barbecue. Since I was out of things to do I poured myself the last of the coffee, put another pot on, and sat down to do some thinking. Vern stopped and said goodbye as he headed home. He also told me that Uncle Matt had called and talked for a while with Bruno, then talked with Aunt Sandy, and then called Bruno back. To hear Vern tell it, the whole thing was a sort of spur of the moment thing and it wasn't like they were trying to keep anything from me. In the end I was left with the thought that if they had told me about it in a slightly different order, and not assumed I would be happy to move out there, I wouldn't have gotten upset. I still wasn't sure if I wanted to move out there since I was perfectly happy in my house, but still it would be fun to be around the giggle boxes and rug rats all the time. The timer rang to indicate the potatoes were done, so I got out a mitt and started on them. As usual I managed to tear a couple of the skins so badly they couldn't be used, but that is why I always baked several extra potatoes. Before long I had the potatoes mashed and the cheese, sour cream, and onions mixed in. Then I got out my big pastry bag and started filling the potato skins. What mashed potatoes I couldn't get in the skins I put in three ramekins and would pop them in the oven to heat also. While the steaks and potatoes were big, I wasn't worried about leftovers. What they didn't eat at dinner, the boys would finish off before they went to sleep. At least I rarely discovered any strange looking things in the fridge anymore. I could remember finding some gray or greenish things in there and wondering what they had been before boys. Now I only found an occasional empty dish which they had forgotten to put in the sink or dishwasher. It was time to start the barbecue. Since there was a bigger than normal crowd, I filled the three starter chimneys I had and torched them off. Normally I could get by with two, but tonight it would take the whole barbecue to cook all the steaks. I'd bought the biggest barbecue I could find, thinking it would be necessary for entertaining parents and students, never dreaming I would need it just to feed my family. The three chimneys took most of a small bag of charcoal to fill, and I was beginning to think I needed to buy stock in the charcoal factory. Perhaps I could get by with just ordering it by the truckload. It was now approaching the time of year when I moved a lot of my cooking outside because I enjoyed the flavor imparted by a charcoal fire. Next fall, when the rains set in, I would once again be forced to do most of the cooking inside, but for now it was time to enjoy the outdoors and the barbecue. Bob showed up just as I was opening the wine to let it breathe. We visited for a couple of minutes and he went to find Corey. I told him that dinner would be in about a half hour, but he decided to start Corey's lesson rather than visit. I got the coals raked out and put the steaks on. I'd sent the giggle boxes down to get Kath's bunch and things were going great. The potatoes were in the oven heating as I tossed the salad and I could smell the steaks through the open patio door. Now if I just didn't drown in my own saliva before I finished cooking, things would be great. Granted it was a mite crowded for fifteen New York strip steaks on the barbecue, but I'd gotten them all on and they were lovely steaks, weighing over a pound apiece and were a little under an inch and a half thick. I knew the steaks were bigger than anyone needed, but in order to get them thick enough to cook right, that was the price I paid. We could eat the leftover steak later. Things were going fine until I started cutting David's steak. I hadn't thought and just cooked all of them the same since I knew everyone else liked them rare to medium rare. Well not David. He started drawing back from the table as soon as he saw the pink in the first cut. When that pink turned pretty red by the second cut I made, and his eyes were about to bug out, I figured out what the problem was. A little coaxing on my part and he said the steak was raw. I tried to get him to try bite, telling him it wasn't raw, but with no success. So back outside to the barbecue for some more cooking time I went. By the time he was satisfied that his steak was cooked, the poor thing was cremated. While cooking meat well-done wouldn't present any problems for steaks, I was at a loss for how to prepare things like roasts so they would be acceptable to both David and the rest of us. Then I remembered the microwave and hoped that a little time in it would solve the problem. After getting David's steak cut so he could eat, I got down to a serious attack on my own. I surprised myself by eating over half of it before giving up, and even though I was full, just thinking about steak sandwiches for lunch tomorrow made me drool. The steaks were superb and we were all stuffed by the time we finished eating. I handed around pieces of foil for people to wrap their remaining steak in, and then the marker pens to identify their package. When all the packets had names on them, into the fridge they went. After dinner Bob and Corey continued the art lesson while the rest of the boys cleaned up the kitchen. We adults retired to the living room and took up the discussion on the property again, something I wasn't looking forward to. I was still slightly ticked off over everyone assuming I would follow meekly along with whatever they wanted to do. My house was more than adequate and I'd dumped a bunch of money into it. I now had a shop to store things in, and there was even the remains of an old orchard which badly needed pruning. I got along well with my neighbors and was close to town and didn't see any reason I needed to move. Give Uncle Matt credit, he saw they had pushed too far and when I didn't show much enthusiasm for moving out there with them, he dropped the subject. Aunt Sandy acted like she wished to pursue it, but Uncle Matt shut her off every time she approached the subject. Bob finished the lesson and stopped and visited for a few minutes. Then pleading he had lessons to grade, he headed home after commenting on how much he had enjoyed dinner. Somewhere along the way things had changed and he no longer charged for the lessons, saying the dinners were worth more than the lessons. He finally won that argument when he told me that friends helped friends and didn't pay them for the help unless it was something out of the ordinary. After Bob left, the conversation moved on to Bruno and Sarah and the new business. I found out that whether I liked it or not, I was part owner because Uncle Matt and Bruno were going to take over and run the company, which had failed and that we were going to buy the other investors out. It was a software consulting company, or rather a company which tried to fix software problems which tied in with what Uncle Matt was now doing. Uncle Matt had built a very successful business by fixing other peoples screw-ups. Some company would hire someone to design a software package, and when they couldn't solve the problems with it, Uncle Matt would look it over and figure out how to make it work. Several times he had been forced to tell people the programming was so bad there was no way to save it, but for the most part, he said, the problems were usually simple little things which required only minor changes to fix. The thing was, most people couldn't see what was wrong and that was what made Uncle Matt so in demand and able to charge as much as he did. He liked working from home because it gave him plenty of time to pursue his favorite hobby which was making money through investments. I knew it wasn't so much the money he wanted, but rather he wanted to outsmart people and that was a good way of proving he could. About the biggest difference would be that the new company would also do such things as set up systems and networks, so it didn't depend completely on fixing glitches. "So," I laughed, "Is Bruno going to learn to fly also?" "I hadn't thought of that," Uncle Matt said while whipping out his cell phone. "I'll call him and find out." "Hold it, why don't we use the landline, so I can put it on speakerphone and we all can hear and talk," I said. Soon we were all gabbing away. Bruno sounded like he was looking forward to moving back to California, and Sarah sounded thrilled with the idea. I noticed that Uncle Matt was quick to deflect any questions about where everyone was going to live, but other than that we had a great visit. About halfway through the conversation David came in and slipped under my arm and just leaned against me. He didn't appear to be paying much attention to what everyone was saying, but he seemed to want contact with me. Hopefully, this would lead to getting him to talk about himself. In the meantime Uncle Matt, Sarah, and I polished off a second bottle of wine while visiting with Bruno and Sarah. Somewhere along the way the giggle boxes had joined us, or should I say joined me. I had them in my lap and David tucked under my arm. That meant that it was a good thing the wine was gone or I would have not been able to drink my share. Since it was an excellent wine, that would have upset me. As it was, I was enjoying the contact with them. Kevin and Kristen were running out of energy and were happy to just relax and be held and David still wasn't saying anything. Aunt Sandy decided it was bedtime for the giggle boxes and they whined some, but she was unyielding and they soon gave up and headed for bed. Somewhere along the way I had promised to read to them, so I had to follow along. David followed me. Once Kevin and Kristen were ensconced in the middle of my bed, David lay down beside them and I started reading some more of "Huckleberry Finn", picking up where Corey had stopped. It wasn't long until I had three kids sleeping in the middle of my bed, two under the covers and one on top. Marking the book, I turned the lights off and returned to the living room. I could hear the television in the family room and figured the boys were watching something. It did feel strange not to have Kath and Danny in the house. They had taken off shortly after dinner saying they still needed to put things away and finish making the beds. Aunt Sandy filled me in on some of the problems which Bruno had been having with his new and now former boss. I'd heard a little about some of them, but Sarah had told Aunt Sandy much more than Bruno had told me. I knew that the two sisters were always calling each other and wondered what Uncle Matt's phone bill ran, but since it was not something I needed to know I had never asked. We batted the breeze for a while until everyone started yawning and it was time for bed. My only problem was who was going to sleep where. The television had gone silent which meant the boys had given up for the night, but something told me I still had an extra body in my bed. Actually, I had two extra bodies, although Dog had been sleeping there for the last few nights. Corey was in his usual place with Kristen was right next to him. Then Kevin was next to her with David, still on top of the covers, next to him. I looked at the tangled mass of kids and decided it was easier to put up with it than fight it. David hardly stirred while I undressed him and stuffed him under the covers, and surprisingly enough there was still appeared to be enough room for me. There was no room to move, but as long as I was careful there was just room enough for all of us. Thank God for king-sized beds. The only reason I'd got one was because the bedroom was big and it looked right. At first I'd had a queen-sized bed, but it looked slightly small in the room and so had been replaced with a king. It was a pain to buy bedding for because so many stores in the area stocked only for the California King, rather than the Eastern or Standard King, but it fit the area perfectly. Tonight I was thankful for that additional four inches of width. I needed every one of them. Even so, I felt like I was about to fall on the floor. As long as we didn't all inhale at the same time, things should be fine. After about fifteen minutes of worrying about falling out of bed I decided that wasn't going to work. As big as my king-sized bed was, it was never intended to sleep five people across even if two of them were little kids. Dog raised his head and looked at me as I got out of bed and stood there, trying to decide what to do. I could grab a blanket and sleep on any of the several sofas in the house, but dang it all, it was my bedroom and I didn't like the idea of being forced from it. I thought about grabbing a sleeping bag and sleeping on the floor, but that meant an air mattress and I wasn't in the mood to blow one up. As I watched, kid bodies redistributed themselves to where they fit the space better and even so there wasn't any extra room for them. I sighed and grabbed a blanket, thinking it looked like Dog was going to get his back hugged. Dog gave me a couple of swipes with his tongue as I arranged myself across the foot of the bed. He seemed really happy to have me there and was more than willing to share his part of the bed. Once I'd gotten comfortable, Dog stood up, turned around about three times, and flopped down tight against me. I reached out and draped my arm across him, gave his belly a quick scratch, and we drifted off to sleep together. At least I no longer felt like I was about to fall out of bed. To be continued...