Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:23:52 -0600
From: dnrock@rock.com
Subject: Jason Adonis 11

Jason Adonis
by: dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)


11:  Settling Into Calgary

Over the next week or so Drew began to heal.  His wound was very serious,
damaging nerves and muscles.  He had lost a lot of blood.  The kid is a
fighter and Klass refused to leave his bedside until he was convinced the
boy would make it.

His left arm is in a tightly bound sling.  For the first week or so it was
hard to bath and even dress.  We all assisted him as best we could.  It
hurts to move too quickly or stretch in the wrong direction.  Drew is a
relatively small boy, being just 13 he has lots of growing to do.  He is
quite thin with spindly legs.  He has medium sized smooth testicles, below
a smallish looking penis, covered by a large foreskin.  At first he was a
bit uncomfortable being naked or hanging out, but after about a week of no
one paying any attention to his condition, seams to have relaxed.  We, all
of us except Klass and Herman, tend to parade around mostly undressed.
Drew seamed to accept this as normal, at least normal in this place.  After
that first week I began to wonder if our open sexuality would become an
issue.  I knew Drew would need to come to some terms with us and we with
him.

At first he was sleeping a lot but by the end of the week, except for his
physical limitations, was interacting with us like a normal teen.  Between
the cops, lawyers, social workers, psychologists and well wishers, that
first week was general chaos.  I had only once before, seen Klass focus his
attention on any subject as intensely, as he did Drew.  I wanted to tell
him to back off and give the boy a chance to breath.  I didn't, I could
not, when he smothered me in an attempt to hide his own grief, I could not,
now in his attempt to hide his rage, I could not either.
.....................

It was Friday late morning, when I walked the six or so blocks east on
Forth Avenue Southwest, to meet with our legal team.  I wanted assurances
that Klass would be granted guardianship of Drew.  Not that being a ward of
the court would necessarily be all that bad but he had already been in
Foster Care, only to be returned to his mother.  Klass was very concerned;
he would not press the issue.  Were we in the Netherlands or Switzerland he
would have had no such hesitation; not being a citizen of Canada he was
less sure of himself.

I was not liking the suggestions coming from Social Services and did not
feel our council was fighting hard enough.  These people may be the best
corporate lawyers in the city, at least they charge the most, I did not
have the feeling they were experienced, in family matters.  They were
treating this, like it was getting the contract language acceptable to both
sides.  I guess, in part it is; however, in a greater part the boy's future
lay in the balance.  Getting that right, was more important then the
language, to me.

As the meeting progressed I was not getting the warm and fuzzy feelings I
had hoped for.  Smitwit, for all his German speaking Swiss detachment,
always left me with the confidence that our objectives could and would be
met.  Never before had a family organization headed by two men, adopted six
children and done so at once.  Granted they were teenagers and not little
ones.  All Klass is asking for is guardianship.  Social Services wants to
have Drew declared a ward of the court and Klass to apply to be a Foster
Parent in Alberta.  Klass wants him to become his ward and even adopt him.
That is how I found out how many children he now Fosters.  But since this
is done in third world places, through NGO's, in Alberta that does not
count for all that much.

These people just could not get their minds around the whole thing.  All
they understood was contracts and fine points of language.  They could not
seam to understand, that best interest of the boy or the man, lay someplace
outside the letter of the law and the court.  Our discussion was not going
well, as I had feared.

"Jason will now have to play Alexander and with my intellectual sword, cut
the Gordian Knot, once and for all," I thought.  I marched up the spiral
staircase to the top floor of this 30 plus office tower, with two lawyers
and one aid in tow.  Presenting my card to the managing director's
secretary.  They were, shall we say, dumbfounded when we were immediately
ushered into the great man's office.  After introducing our selves to each
other he commented that, "Smitwit said you had a flare for the dramatic
Jason.  Please sit down and tell me exactly what you want us to do."  I
explained.

Setting up the trust fund for Drew, through Acan, was a no brainier and
they could do that by Monday.  He would personally serve as Drew's
advocate.  Smitwit had filled him in on how he handled the brother's
adoptions.  He was sure they could get everything organized here with no
problems.  He would come to our apartment right after lunch to meet with
his new client.  "You realize Jason; you may pay the bills but Drew gives
me instructions and I do have a reputation for being a hard bargainer."

Drew was quite taken that a former Primer came from semi retirement to
represent him.  Klass was a bit shocked too, when Drew told him who his
council was.  He squeezed the hand of this new son but said nothing.

Over dinner I managed to get Drew into the conversation.  "Drew are you in
agreement with Klass' plan to become your legal guardian?"

"You know it dude."

"You realize you are now stuck with the seven of us?"

"You realize your all now stuck with me."  Oh ya, I forgot 13, some how
society need to find a way to skip it.  Everyone laughed, except Drew, he
just smiled, still can't laugh without pulling his stitches.

Later that evening most of us were watching a CFL football game on TV.
Ziggy came in and settled close to me.  "Jason, we have a problem."

"What is it little man?"  I asked, putting my arm around his shoulders and
pulling him against my body.

"Not me, Drew.  We need to talk about it, all of us."

I interrupted the game, the Stampeders were loosing anyway and asked for
everyone to assemble.  Klass was not here, he was visiting Helga, over at
Dane's.  I sent Ziggy in to get Drew.  "Be gentle but firm, he must come to
the meeting."  You could see his eyes were red, and he looked sheepish as I
asked him to sit between Ziggy and I.  Everyone assembled and when the
talking stopped, I called the meeting to order.

"This is the first formal family meeting for Drew.  I want all of you to
remember how you felt in your first family meeting.  Drew, Ziggy tells me
you have been crying.  Your eyes tell me you have been crying.  Now crying
is OK, it is not prohibited and it is not a sign of weakness.  We are all
free to express our emotions, in our own way and as long as that way does
not cause harm or pain to someone else, that way will be respected."

He just looked down at the floor.

"You need not be embarrassed with us, brothers don't judge each other as
persons.  We do judge each others actions and intentions, everyone must do
that.  Brothers are always here for each other and to support and help each
other.  You are never alone, not any more, in fact you will from time to
time wish you were alone.  Given our numbers, aloneness will almost become
an endangered species."  He was starting to tear again and snivel a bit.

"I ... I ... I'm just so happy and so afraid and so ...  I don't know,
scared I guess."  I signaled for them not to respond.

"Drew, you are coming out of a hounders situation that none of us can ever
fully understand, because no one has ever tried to kill us in such a
personal way.  But we have all experienced all the other emotions: doubts,
concerns, joys and sorrows.  We are all orphans, even me, my parents were
killed five years ago.  Your other brothers never knew their parents, ever.
Klass too was an orphan."

"But you all knew each other." pointing to the brothers.

"True, but none of us knew Jason or Klass or Helga."  Ziggy interjected,
taking his friends hand.

"We just want you to know that you can talk to us about anything.  Your
opinions, fears, triumphs, wants, hopes and desires are respected, and will
be respected."

"But you will not want me, Klass will think I am not grateful?"

"That is where you are mistaken but it is an honest mistake.  You have not
been with us long enough, that's all.  Tell him Jason."  Stan offered.

"Klass is not looking for gratitude.  Your love and respect for him as a
person, is all he would ever want.  I am sure of that.  You have no idea,
nor could you, of how proud you make us feel, knowing you want to be a part
of our family.  You do us honer."

"But I can't, I mean I don't think I can ever be a true part of your
brotherhood."  The light came on in Ziggy's eyes.  He knew or at least
thought he knew, what the kid was driving at.

"Is it because we are always kissing and fooling around with each other?"

"Yes, partly but you all sleep with each other, except for Klass."

"True enough, but that does not mean you need to do that.  In fact, you
have my word and theirs too, that you will never be forced or tricked, or
shamed or anything, to have sex with any of us, ever.  If you just want to
be physically close to someone, anyone of us is at your service."  Everyone
agreed with that.

"But how can I ever belong if I don't....?"

"That is a very good question.  I think you will just have to trust us a
bit when we say to you, the bedrock of this family is love, trust and
respect.  Respect for your humanity is automatic, love is learned, trust
and respect for you the person, is earned.  That means in both directions.
We don't expect you to truly trust us in, that deep unquestioning way
brothers should, until we have demonstrated our ability to deliver.  Nor us
you.  That will take some time.  The sex bit is more complex.  We use it as
a way of bonding or gluing ourselves together.

They may not know but I fostered the idea of sex between the brothers, as a
way of speeding up the formation of the brother's bond.  I did that while
they were still at the orphanage; that's because I had to create something
which normally would take years to grow, in a matter of months, once they
were adopted.  Otherwise, this enterprise of taking seven brothers, six of
who are not yet old enough to drive a car, and making an instant,
responsible and functioning family, would fail.  I don't do failure very
well, non of us do.

You are a special case.  First, you are younger, have more time to grow
into the mode and the responsibility.  Second, you are or will be Klass'
new son.  He has some say, one hell of a lot to say, about how you are
integrated into this family.  That is to say, what and when and how, you
are given responsibilities and duties in the family.  My job is to manage
the business, Klass's manages our facilities and the family, your new
brothers all have duties.  You are all students, so your first duty is to
be the best student you can be.  The only expectation, any of us has of the
others, is we will do our best.  Nothing more but nothing less."

"I think I understand but..."

"Drew lets take it one day at a time.  Remember anticipation is often, in
fact usually, is greater than realization."

"Klass always tells me that.  I want to be just like you but I'm not sure I
know how."

"You are just like us in a lot of ways already and you can emulate any one
or all of us as time goes on.  In fact, you will do that, it is only
normal.  I suspect you will emulate Klass the most.  That is called
maturing and growing.  You can never be me or Ziggy or Eric... it is not
possible to be someone else, just as none of us can ever be you.  That is
the origin or our greatest strength, that is what makes us what we are and
what we will become.  Nine individuals, nine unique people, making
contributions with a more or less common purpose and a strong, iron clad
common bond.  As to your sexuality.  Please experiment, dream about it,
learn about it, explore it.  Share with whom ever you choose, as long as it
is safe and consensual.  Over time, like you, most of these guys will find
life partners outside the family, even me and that is normal and natural.
We are an affectionate bunch, we hug and touch and kiss a lot, that you
will just have to get accustomed to.

At 13, you probably don't have many clues about your own sexual feelings
yet.  Nor should you, remember, all good things come to those who wait."

"Feel better," Geoff asked?

"Ja, a lot better, please don't tell Klass I was upset, that I was afraid.
He thinks I am brave."  Those assurances were firmly given by all.

"He thinks right you know, being brave isn't the absence of fear, it is
doing what you must, when you must, in the face of that fear."

The next morning brought us to decision time.  With all the excitement of
the past week, we had not had time to discuss and vote on our future home
city.  Klass was prepared to lead the discussions and conduct the vote.
The idea of six, well now seven teenagers, having more than a passing say
in our locational future and several million dollars of investment, was
foreign to him.  Not that he was opposed or thought the concept wrong
headed.  He just lacked the experience of doing things this way.  In fact
so did I.  Over all, I had just accepted the status quo created in my youth
and before and I guess, so did Klass.  But if we were serious about
integrating the bothers into running this business and changing the model
left to us, which we were, then some kind of "new think" was required.
Evolution not revolution has always been my mode.  Klass was in agreement
with that too.

"You sit right here at the table Drew."

"Are you sitting next to me?"

"No, I sit over here by the door.  Remember I am not a family member, just
an employee.  I don't have a vote but the family often wants my input and
opinions."

"I'm not a family member yet, why do I get a vote?"

"I think it has to do with the subject, in this case the family will be
deciding on where it will be living and what school you boys will be
attending, for the next few years.  I guess they want your views and
opinions."

"But I'm just a kid, what do I know?"

"You know a lot more than you think you do son, please don't sell yourself
short."  Klass had entered the room at that point.  He sat next to Drew.

Each city was reviewed with maps, charts, graphs and so on.  Lots of
photographs and its rankings.  Museums, zoos, libraries, sports facilities,
and so on were all quantified and evaluated, along with climatic and
geographic/geological settings.  Herman reviewed the general crime
statistical information and local transportation options.  Calgary was
placed in the mix on exactly the same basis.  For each city the living and
schooling options were also identified, along with potential costs.

The field was narrowed to three, Calgary, Vancouver, B. C. and Denver.  For
Vancouver and Denver, Klass showed pictures of houses on the market, that
would meet our needs, including floor plans.  In Calgary's case, he would
build and showed several potential locations and architect's sketches.

The schooling options were all about equal, in everything but size.
Calgary's was smaller, i.e. fewer students.

When the discussion about money started, Klass had to remind them our total
budget was not the issue, value for money was.  "Its just my Dutch
heritage, I guess."  He wanted things compared on a square meter basis.
This included property taxes and utilities.  The three cities were all very
close.  Calgary offered the opportunity to influence the building design
and would be the most rural location.  Denver being a close second but that
would place the home a long way from city centre.  Calgary's location is
quiet a bit closer, having a smaller over all metro area.

Ziggy ask the question that was on most of our minds.  "Has anyone ask
Helga where she wants to live, besides Amsterdam?"

"Yes, I did, she has forbid me from telling you," Klass reported.

Drew was obviously a bit confused by this, only having met Helga once or
twice, on her brief visits to the apartment.  He said nothing, in fact he
said very little during the entire discussion, just asking a few questions
for clarification.  Klass finally asked him for his opinion.

"I have only ever lived in Calgary.  Sure Denver and Vancouver have better
hockey teams and this year a better football team I think, but not a reason
to move.  As long as I am with you dad," he looked up at Klass, "I'm not
sure I care."

Klass called for the vote.  One for Vancouver, two for Denver, five for
Calgary.  "Someone did not vote?"

"You," I said, "and no abstentions."

Six for Calgary.  Drew looked a bit relieved.  Just then Herman answered
the door and Helga entered the room with two boxes.  One with chocolate
chip cookies, my favorite and one with gingersnaps, Drew's.  She of course,
rushed over to Drew in an effort to begin winning him over.  Between the
gingersnaps and her now practised grandmotherlyness, a simple task.  Drew
was just a bit hesitant with women.

Not that I blame him.  His mom was no winner, even before she tried to kill
him.  I guess her sister and his grandmother were only a little kinder
toward him and simply hated his mom.  Female authority figures, teachers,
social workers, foster mothers, even female cops, had been giving him a
hard time most of his life, at least that is how he viewed them.  Helga
probably didn't know that but I doubt she would have hesitated anyway.  It
was just killing her not to crush him to her body, as she so often did to
me and well all of us.  Drew still needed to heal a bit more for that.

Klass had identified several properties just south and west of the city,
that he thought would be suitable.  We were not being given a vote on which
one would be purchased.  He did want our views on the design concepts and
facilities.  He also thought Trevor should advise on engineering, Geoff on
geology and geotechnical questions, Helga and Stan on layout, and the Will
and Eric team on cost control, Ziggy and Drew on special needs and
requests.

Someone needed to tell the designers how many bathrooms, of what size and
so on, would be required.  What we wanted for furniture in our rooms and of
course what the kitchen would look like.  How many staff and.......

"I want to have all the land purchased, design work underway, facilities
development: water, power and so on by the end of next week.  I have our
realtor coming in this afternoon with maps and air photos.  Before you men
go to your camp, I want a good schedule and more or less firm budget.  Now
let us talk about schooling, Ja."

Klass was getting right into this.  I have not seen him so excited since I
was a boy.  He pushed his lap top over to Drew and showed him the GIS and
3D building design software.

"Unlike the usual mode of democracy in the family, your secondary school
has been chosen by me.  I had chosen schools in each city, just in case.
You will be attending Strathmore Academy; the Adonis brothers in grade
eleven, not you Jason, you are in Klass' post grad school of business, and
my son Drew Henderson in grade 8."  I guess some other decisions have been
made too.  "You boys will be enrolled on Monday and should visit the tailor
next Tuesday, the school has uniforms.  Herman will organize your
transportation to and from the campus.  You are all encouraged to engage in
one or more extra circular activities, as many and what ever you desire.
The only caveat is, a minimum academic achievement level of 85% and one
hour a day working for Jason.  I suggest your organizational and scheduling
skills will be tested come September."

"Any questions?"  Of course their were questions, many of them.  Drew was
mostly silent, though.  One idea put forward by Helga is to have a working
language of the day, so we could all keep up, or learn in Drew's case, our
skill base.  I don't know why I was so surprised at Klass' performance but
I was.  I guess I had never noticed his skills, after all he was always
there.  I never realized just how involved he had been with my father in
building and organizing what we are.  I never realized just how tuned in
the old fellow was before this summer.  Klass was always quiet unlike me or
my father, we just forge ahead.  Klass, quietly goes about doing what he
understands his role and job to be.  His is a quiet directional leader,
while I go marching ahead, showing the way.  I guess that is an advantage,
I lead from the front and Klass leads from behind, we keep the boys in the
middle.

The following week was an absolute frenzied, I get ahead of my self.  After
the realtor's presentations Drew and Ziggy made up a number of GIS based
analysis presentations for Klass.  They are both quite computer literate,
they must have learned something at that computer camp.

By Monday, Klass was ready to make his decision.  After returning from the
school registration the boys were buzzing and talking, laughing and just
carrying on.  I thought they were impressed with the campus.  It turned out
they were more impressed with the girls.  Even Ziggy was impressed.  Not
that they met any of them but the head master showed them pictures of all
the students, most of the grade ten and elevens were girls.  Usually the
years are more or less balanced but for some strange reason these two years
were 65% female.  The grade seven and eight classes were 51% boys.  With
the addition of six grade elevens things would be in better balance.  Ah
yes, I remember how excited I was to leave an all boys school for a coed
situation.  Somehow live girls, even clothed live girls, are way better
then images in magazines or porn films.

Dane and Helga joined us for lunch.  Klass wanted Dane's views on the land
and Helga's input was critical.  If she was to be the queen of this castle,
she had better like the place.  Klass knew Helga's input and acceptance
would be critical to a happy life in this new land, for himself and all of
us.

After lunch, which he had sent in, and which Helga thought was substandard,
she obviously wanted to be supervising the kitchen, Klass outlined his real
estate plans.  He had his eye on three sections, one was mostly grain
fields, one mixed pasture and hay and one mostly woods with a high hill, a
stream and small pond. (A section is 1 square mile or 2.6 square
kilometers, 640 acres or 259 hectares) The place came with a large but old
farm house, a barn, out buildings and so on.  He thought it best to keep
the farm stead, perhaps renovating it and build a new home for us.  The
farm or ranch in these parts, would need a resident manager anyway.  Helga
thought we could raise our own meat and have a real Dutch style garden.
Klass told her to give Drew and Ziggy her special requests, after the
meeting.  I figured one or more of the boys would want a horse.

Klass had the boys display the proposed house and garage locations, the
views that would be available and so on.  I was most impressed with the
view of the mountains.  Nothing like it in Switzerland either.  This was
even more spectacular.  Calgary is just east of the foothills geological
structures.  The foothills are not all that large, so the Front Range of
the Rockies seam to rise up from nothing, it is truly spectacular.  He
showed how the road in would be laid out, so it could not be seen from the
highway or the house and Herman discussed what the security systems would
look like and so on.  Dane's wife, Georgia would supervise the landscaping,
she was part of the Master Gardener program at the zoo.  It is her hobby.

Having selected the site, Klass would see that the architect designs
something to take advantage of the landscape and maximize our mountain
view.  Water would be an issue as well as slope stability.  Geoff was to
work with the geotechnical engineers on that issue.  Since he was
interested in earth science this would be a true learning experience.  We
would all meet Tuesday afternoon with the architect's staff.  Trevor would
work with them, Geoff and Stan on the planning and design.  ACan would
underwrite the capital costs of this project.  Operations would come from
Klass' facilities budget.  He and I would have offices attached to the
residence.