Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 17:58:10 -0700 (PDT) From: T. Chase McPhee Subject: Nature Takes Its Course 08 The story below is a work of fiction, set in the format of reality. Any resemblances to real people, alive or in the hereafter, is entirely coincidental in nature. It is not meant to accurately reflect upon persons, in towns, cities, countries, nor governmental areas, which the story is staged. If a sexual scene involving male-to-male relationships offends you, then you should not read this story. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age, in most state and countries, you are not allowed to read this story, by law. Check with your local laws regarding such. % Sexual safety matters. Remember guys, this is fiction. In real life, use protection. % "Nature Takes Its Course" 08 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee % With the schools empty, except for the custodial staff, a few teachers who came in to clean out, the higherarchy of the school system, principals and such, the mix of commuter traffic remained light. "Thank you so much for putting me up for the night," Richard Stahl said to Barry as he wove around a few cars. "No imposition at all Richard." "And for Griffin," Richard said of his son's longer stay. "I don't know a soul of whom I could trust." Barry knew of Richard's predicament, responding, "Stay as long as you care to in Atlanta. Griffin is a fine boy. The kids are tickled with another boy their age around the house, not to mention Diego and Seth living across the backyard." "Yes, they all seem to have a good time together. One of the reasons I suppose I thank my lucky stars for choosing this area on moving." "And just what `was' your reason for settling down here, Richard?" He cracked a thinline smile, telling, "The one and only Dr. Scalia?" "I didn't know you knew her, prior to moving here?" Barry asked as he passed time at a red light. "Yeah," Richard said. "I didn't know her directly but my folks and her go way back. In a way I suppose you can say `they' and `her' are solely responsible for the move." Forgeting about his reasons for making the trip to the airport, next town over, Richard exhales when his thoughts change back to his son. "Yep, Griffin sure is having a good time with your kids." "And the others?" "Yeah. And the others," Richard agrees. "It has even reflected on his grades." "Oh?" Figuring Barry was the closest he had towards a good friend, he details, "When we were last in contact with Griffin's mother it wasn't a good scene for him." "Mother? I... I thought you adopted him." "It's what most people assume when a gay man has a child," Richard stated. "Well, from my own perspective I should not assume." A little different circumstances, but at least his own family fostered by a mother, he decided to put off telling about his past family life. "Oh? How's that go?" Richard probed. Instead, Barry derailed the train of thought, "So what of Griffin's mother?" Exhaling, Richard had a lot to tell, but narrowed it to, "We were both very young, child born out of wedlock, forced to marry almost at `gunpoint' by both families, she fell into drugs and alcohol, divorce... get the picture?" "Not so uncommon, Richard. I have to admit, being principal takes on the role of family shrink sometimes. I've heard my share of family-life gone sour." Listening to Barry, Richard's thoughts were still on his family-badluck story. "For awhile, after Griffin was born, things seem to fall into place. After a year, things started to deteriorate. Come to find out, her parents didn't want to have anything to do with Judy. Shame, because I think its what really made her turn to drink. After that, drugs came into play." Barry slowed the car. There was plenty of time before Richard's flight to Atlanta, so he took the opportunity to listen, thinking Richard had some extra baggage to unleash besides the physical ones in the trunk. "I can remember her coming homw one day... thank goodness I was there. If not, I'm not sure what would have happened to Griffin. He was still a baby when Judy showed up with these two burly looking guys." He stabbed his head into the seat headrest, nodding back and forth. "I have no fucking idea what the hell she was thinking." In an instant Richard's blood pressure seemed to elevate, along with his tone of voice, that of ridicule. "She was high on something. Coke, meth... whatever, it wasn't a pretty scene with her in it. Plus, these two long-haired, unshaven, leather clad guys didn't exactly sit straight with me, welcoming them into our home." "I can imagine," Barry imagined. "So what did you do?" "Fortunately Griffin was asleep in the other room. I suppose my mistake was trying to talk sense to three individuals who didn't have their wits about them. Like any parent who is out to protect their nest, I strongly suggested the two men take their leave." Barry interjected, "They were on drugs too?" "You got it and it didn't make things any easier. One of them says, `fuck you' and hauls off with a punch to my stomach." "Knocked you out I suppose?" "I was as lithe then as I am now," Richard said. "Only older." "Right." "So, did you eventually get them to leave?" "Not til after they had their fun with me. Tell ya, they were hardcore sadism to the root, plus the drugs taking it up a few notches. I... I would have been dead if Judy hadn't been as worse off as them. I know she took some heat from the two, trying to break up the beating." At the stop sign, Barry's face showed the signs of a guy taking it as if happening right in front of him. Richard's perception was right on the money. "Yeah. If you had been watching it, you would be thinking that. There wasn't much I could do with one of them holding me in a full nelson and the other one using my gut for a punching bag, alternating above and below the belt." "But Judy finally got through to them?" "Not til after my bod was flatlined to the floor. Fortunately they listened to her, leaving, one saying to the other as I faintly recall, `Let's go find some beer.' The other responded, `Plenty of life left in the bastard. We can come back later for some more fun!'" "So Judy went off with them?" "I'm not sure if it was of own choice or theirs, but for sure I wasn't going to be around when they came back." "Wise choice. But how did you make it from almost being passed out to...." Traffic let up, so Barry inched on. "I don't know how, but... my gut ached like hell but I managed to make it to the jon. Turning on the faucets I inched over the tub wall, falling into the water clothes and all. I knew I was on a timed schedule; between now and them coming back to work me over some more, but it felt so good lying there in the cool water." Barry pulled into the parking lot of the small airport. At this point he knew his role came to be the `listener'. "I must've lay there for what seemed like hours, but I knew it wasn't. As my gut stopped aching so much my mind focused. My first attempt at getting out of the tub wound up with my ass making waves as it plopped right on back in. I didn't give a damn when the towel bar I grabbed onto pulled out of the wall with failed attempt number two. Finally I went the way out of which I found myself in. From there I stripped off my clothes, which alleviated my weight somewhat from being so wet. The towel was already there on the floor so I had no problem wiping myself down except for my tender abs." "And balls?" Barry recalls from Richard's play-by-play story. "How could I forget?" As Barry parked he said, "Probably your focus was on Griffin?" >From there, Richard made the last part of the story quick, stating, "I packed a few things in his bag, grabbed him up in my arms and drove away." "To a motel?" "My parents home. We didn't live far even thought they had offered up the small cottage on their estate. Funny thing is that little cottage became our home for close to three years. Until I met...." Caught up into reality, Richard's mind fast-forwarded to the reason he and Barry were situated in the parking lot of a local airport. "I wouldn't jump to conclusions Richard. You don't know the real situation happening right now in Atlanta," Barry comforted with words and a hand to shoulder response. Both hands cradled Richard's head as if a mix of a headache, old memories and thoughts of what was happening on the eastern coast. "We were going to be so happy being a family, the three of us. I... I don't know what I'm going to tell Griffin." A hand slipping behind Richard's back, Barry tried to comfort as much as he could between the gap in car seats. "What I think is first you need to take care of `Richard'." With one hand over his right eye, Richard peered over towards Barry, his face almost in his. "You're right. If.. if I'm not right with coming back, then how am I going to approach my own son." "I really wish I could help you.. be with you to help you in any way I could through this tough time in your life, Richard. But..." "You already are helping me, Barry. I'll be forever in your debt for taking care of Griffin." Reaching for the door handle, Richard thought this the opportune time to make his getaway. Only, when he opened his door, it slammed into the car next to them. "That car wasn't there..." Richard stare to his right. Barry right away deduced, "You're right. It wasn't." Getting out, Barry peered through both open windows. "Eric?" "Hi guys. Am I on time?" Standing between cars, Barry showed slight interest in his car door. "Don't worry about it," Eric said of his own car. "It's a piece of junk on it's last legs." "Hardly the status of my year old model," Barry retorted. Richard, overriding both their thoughts intervenes, "I thought Riley was joking when he said you were coming to Atlanta with me?" "Not a problem." Then looking around the immediate surrounding area, asks, "There's a bus stop around here someplace isn't there?" Barry and Richard exchange glances with question on their minds. Being he's made the trip a few times to the airport, Barry tells him, "Over in front of the terminal. See the little glass `house'?" "Oh yeah," Eric replies, then unfolds the mystery, "Alac Davalos. I invited him to come with us. You don't mind do you? He's kind of drained from all the courtroom drama and I told him it would be good for him to get away for a few days." With his main concern, his own son on his mind, Richard asks, "And Davide?" Seeing the bus pull up, Eric sets himself in jogging mode, yelling back, "You kidding? Living with Riley and a bunch of horses, he's as happy as a pig in...." They didn't hear the finale as Eric's lungs weren't cooperating with his stride! % "So? What do you think?" Berk sat there at the table occupied by himself, Sal and Sal's partner, Bernardo, annexed to the relationship unconditionally, three weeks ago. Berk responds, "The truck. That is good. Rakes and shovels, also. One thing is missing..." "Gimme that," Bernardo steals the list away from Berk, Sal's eyes following. Harshly clicking on the ball point pen, he voices his opinion as he writes, "There's more than one thing missing. First, if you ever plan on slicking grass at any of these high-falutin' places up in West Hills, ya gotta have one of them ride-around-lawnmowers." While writing it in all Sal can think of is Riley's trip to the store yesterday, Juan maxxing out his credit card. "I was thinking we could start out small." "Right," Bernardo agrees, "start out small and that's what you make. What're you going to do when the other two or three guys start cutting lawns?" "What `two or three' guys?" Sal asks him. Slapping his big hand on the table, the six foot two inch bear states, "I can't belive you Sal! You mean to tell me you're having Berk here work alone?" Berk wondered the same but kept it to his humble self. "Well I..." "It's inhuman!" Bernardo pounded his words into the air between them. Sal's idea about starting out small began to fizzle. To the side of the paper, Bernardo wrote, "First man... second... third, maybe... nah, if you're going to rake in the bucks up on West hill you're going to need three or four dudes." "But that's going to cost me plenty!" Instead of responding to Sal, Bernardo asks Berk, "When you were hired, Sal `did' mention you as manager, didn't he?" Giving a sketch, as Berk perceived it, "Well yes, but I did get the impression..." Boldly, Bernardo began lashing into his `omega-male' partner, "There. That settles it then. Two teams of two men and Berk as overseer." "Oh really?" Sal replied facetiously. "Anyone would think those shoes have already been filled?" "Get real Sal. I'm a writer, not into the great outdoors. Well, except for a little camping and fishing. Besides, you've got a smart, caring guy right here to take on the challenge. Betcha by the end of summer you'll have enough for..." then gleaming, "our first camping and fishing trip to Wyoming?" On the other side of the coin, Sal replies, "Or the pond up the road?" % "How did your meeting go?" Ethan asked as Tom and three others poured out of the hospital meeting room. "They want to take Kev away from me," the thirty-two year old responded. "What happened to your brother wasn't your fault!" Ethan protested. "I didn't mean in `that' way Ethan. Kev's in an awful mental state. You saw it. The only one he comes to recognize is me and then his mind goes blank." "I noticed," Ethan responds. Their walk down the hospital corridor is slow, at conversational pace. Sensing Ethan's disappointment, Tom says, "Kev hardly got to know you before..." Right away Ethan detected Tom's thoughts to the reports the police gave him regarding Kev being sexually molested, tortured and left for dead. He sniffed. Rather than revert to the incident, Ethan asks, "So what plans do they have for Kev?" It worked! "They've got this facility up in woods, a few miles over the hill called `Pacific Northwest Experience'. The psychiatrist, Dr. Singh, himself on staff, claims patients check in less than half the man they are and check out having it all together. Dr. Singh's assistant `looked' capable." "And why wouldn't he be?" Ethan interjected thought, being he thought Tom knew something he didn't. "He's fresh out of grad school. New to the facility. I don't know Ethan, but it's Kev we're talking about here and...." "New? How new? If this Dr. Singh assigned this guy to Kev then he's got to have confidence in the guy?" Ethan tried adding comfort. Stopping, Ethan had to put on his brakes as Tom stood in front of him. "That's just the thing. Kev will be this guy's guinea pig!" "Oh," is all Ethan was left with. "Exactly," Tom agreed with the unsaid thought hanging in thin air. Being his past career as CEO of a moderate company which focused on the minds of men, what they thought and how he interpeted their ideals, Ethan drew on his experience, "This is not the first time I've heard of `Pacific Northwest'." Tom shot back with, "Oh, so you know of them? What have you heard? Do you think they are worth of Kev's care?" Ethan said in retrospect, "Back in the nineties when I worked for my father, he was one of the companies considering backing the facility when it ran into dire straits, financially." "Well then that says it all," Tom was quick to react. "About what?" Then getting the gist of Tom's remark, "Oh no. That's not how it goes. Pacific Northwest had some shady financial doings since nearly its inception. Don't worry though. They got the perpetrators behind bars and prosecuted. Unfortuantely the embezzled monies never were able to be recovered." Same time, Ethan informed, "That's the reason for the facility's solicitation for funding. Other than the business area of Pacific Northwest, anyone who attended came away experiencing miraculous recoveries. I'm only sorry my father didn't get a crack at refinancing the institution." Wrapped up in Ethan's story, Tom's curiosity provokes, "Who did?" "One of the locals. Gagliardi?" Tom, not from the area thought on it but turned up zilch. "Doesn't matter. All I'm saying is the facility could be a good turnaround for Kev," Ethan returned to the present situation. "But Cortada reinforced Dr. Singh's position, stating I would not be able to visit Kev for the first month. Doesn't that sound fishy to you?" His two hands to Tom's shoulders, sliding down, grasping wrist, Ethan comforted him with not only actions, saying with calm, "Sometimes we have to put things into others hands, others who know more than we do. I don't know of any answer right now which would be beneficial to Kev. I think we should give it a try." He reinforced his answer with a kiss to Tom's cheek. "I don't know," Tom replied, yet still kept his attention affixed on Ethan's face, gazing into his eyes as if looking for answers. "I have a good feeling about this, Tom. Why don't we go ahead and trust... what's his name?" "Dr. Singh?" "Yeah and the other guy?" "Mario Cortada. He sort of acts as not only Kev's shrink but also his social worker. As Mario explained to me, after he gets to know Kev more he becomes a liason between the family and facility. That's one thing I'm not sure of." "What?" Ethan asked after they started walking and stopped. "Once we admit Kev for treatment we will have a tough time getting him back." So filled with this being right for Kev, Ethan says, "It's not like Kev is going to prison." Then injecting food for thought, "Did they tell you you could take a ride out there and check the place out?" It was one small detail Tom had forgot. Instantly it lifted his disposition as he said, "Yes. How about tonight?" "How about tomorrow? At night you can't see much anyway." "I suppose," Tom reluctantly agreed. "Besides," Ethan took on a different tone of voice, "I think tonight we should be thinking about ways of making you lose all this tension." "I'm only thinking of Kev." "I know. Kev is in good hands here at the hospital and tomorrow we'll scout out what benefit Pacific Northwest holds for him. You do agree there's nothing more satisfying we can do for him, right?" "I suppose." "Good. Then lets get you home, out of those clothes and into my arms!" % Copyright 2008 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author.