Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 10:50:01 -0700 (PDT) From: T. Chase McPhee Subject: Natures Way 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's Way" 08 wriTten by T. Chase McPhee % "Whew! Toughest exam I've ever taken!" Justin had just breezed in from WRCC. "Hey! What's going on around here?" "Remodeling," Christian replied, furthering, "What about the exam?" "We had to assemble on a staff the first movement of a Sonata, without going into too much detail." "You lost me after you said `staff'!" "Oh, so you did learn something at choir practice?" "Lots more. I know all the lined notes: `Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge!" "Cool!" "What about the spaces?" Justin questions his lover. "The word `FACE'. Antonio gave me that hint." "Sounds good. So, what are you up to?" Justin asks of the current status of Birdy's Cafe. "Working the counter. For the most part all the heavy cooking is suspended, til the renovations are done." "I see the dining room is getting an overhaul. What else?" "I'm not sure. I walked in here this morning and Michael tells me about the lite menu," Christian says. Just then, Michael walks in, with the foreman. "Hey, Justin." "Michael, what's happening here?" "A bit of a renovation. Hey, Tony, Justin here is choirmaster at the church." "Really? I've done some singing in my days..." Posing, Tony lets loose a rendition of `Addio, fiorito asil', from `Madama Butterfly'. "Impressive!" "Thanks. Do you think you can find a place for me in your tenor section?" "We sure can use a magnificent voice as yours. Can you be at rehearsal Thursday nights, at 7pm?" "I can make it. Can I bring a friend?" "Sure. All are welcome." "He really can't sing," Tony adds. Christian says, "He's not the only one!" Suddenly they get interrupted, "Tony, we need your help back here." "What do you say, eh Justin?" "I think it will be okay. Sometimes the tough part is a director having to tell someone `not' to belt it out," Justin confesses. Christian says, "I'm sure with your expertise, you'll be able to handle it. Hmm.. I wonder what his friend is like?" "I hope he can sing better than you!" "Now that's just wrong!" "I was only kidding, Christian." "I know you were." "I've got to get over to the church and practice." "Okay. See ya later." After a quick kiss on the lips, Justin adds "Bye!" % "Ai, do you think those guys on the swim team are handsome?" "They are," Aidan replies to Philip. "I think you're handsome," Diego says to Philip. "Do you like being my boyfriend?" Philip asks Diego. "Sometimes." "Cool!" Caleb, twelve years old asks, "How long have you been boyfriends?" "Ever since Aidan stopped being my boyfriend." "Aidan?" James cuts in. "Yeah, James?" "How does a guy know if he is gay?" Seth replies, instead of Aidan, "He's gotta like other boys." "That's a start, Philip says, adding, "You've gotta more than like a guy. You have to want to kiss him," Philip says. Diego adds, "I more than like Philip and someday we're going to get married." "Cool! Then you'll be just like my dads," Caleb replies. "And my dads," Diego says. "Don't forget about our dads," Aidan answers for him and Philip. Jeremy, new to the clan wanders over by Chad and Matty. "Hey, dads." "What's up, Jeremy?" "I was wondering something." "Ask and it shall be given." "Huh?" "In other words, what Matty is saying, is `what's up'?" Chad asks. "The guys are talking over there and I was wondering... are you two are married?" "Yup," Matty replies. Chad adds, "What was it, two years ago?" "That long ago?" Matty asks, joking. "Thanks," Jeremy says, instantly running back to the other guys, yelling, "My dads are married too, guys!" The day whittles away super-fast, though it seems and soon, the seven of the younger set are ready to head for home and TV. They are not the only ones. Denis and Mark, hanging out with the college crowd are ready to crash as well. "I didn't know college took so much out of a guy," Mark says. Denis adds, "How does a guy find the time to study?" Barry, hearing his sons talk, in the middle row of the van, throws his two cents in, "By not overextending yourself with indulging in pleasures?" "Huh?" Both eighteen year olds ask. "College is a serious thing." "Your dad's right." Barry speaks for Steve, "Not only are you learning things you'll utilize your whole life through, but you're paying out those big bucks!" "Correction!" Steve says, "'We' are paying out all those big bucks?" Barry looks across the middle of the van, catching Steve's eye, as he turns his attention from the road for a split second, and smiles. The teens become silent, as if they've heard the same words spoken before. "I wonder how the clean up crews made out today, at the schools?" Steve smiling, says, "Yeah, it's Tom's and Eric's last day on the `church chaingang'!" "All kidding aside, I think it's been a good experience for them, especially at the price of all work and no monetary pay," Barry says. "True. As Pastor Jack puts it, the boys are building up their credit in Heaven!" Even though it's the umpteenth time they've heard it, Barry and Steve get a giggle out of the remark. "It's good for community rapport for Pastor Jack to have the church sponsor the youth groups at these cleanups," Barry says. "Good for the boys, too," Steve says, adding, "Oh, I guess I'm repeating myself." Barry leans over and gives Steve a peck on the cheek. "What's that for?" "Because you're so cute, even when you're wrong!" Steve smiles, breaks out in whistling a no name tune. Soon, they are pulling up, into James Kitchner's driveway. Diego says, "James? We're home," nudging him awake. After a completed yawn, James barrels out of the side of the van, aided by Mark, manning the door. Farewells are given, by those still awake. Next stop, the same repetitions, as they bid their goodbyes to Caleb Kendall-Johnson. "See you guys on Monday," Caleb turns to say. Even though Chad, Matty and Jeremy found their way to WRCC, Jeremy begged to ride home with them, so the next stop became the Barr-Bridges homestead. "Want to come in for some pizza?" Chad talked into the driver's side of the van. Hearing the word, `pizza', acted like candy to the ears of the passengers. Soon the kids, young and older, were begging for their dads, "Can we please?" As when they were even two years younger, the same manner, clasping their hands, as if praying, ensued the clan, Diego and Seth catching on. Looking in the rearview, Steve smiled at the gesture of pleading. "Why not?" Barry answered for them all. Steve added, "We better make a call to Callan and Alonzo." Barry laughed, saying, "Food? You're kidding Steve. Them mind?" Going back a year, both dads recalled how Diego always started showing up at breakfast time, because the `rents didn't feel like getting out of bed to make breakfast, on Saturday mornings. Of course it still continues, with another mouth to feed, when Seth came on board. "Will you look at those two?" "Who?" Steve questioned. "Who? Your son and his lover, the way they are acting now." "Oh? How's that?" As they circled the van, Barry fills Steve in, "The proud parents, with Jeremy in the middle?" "Would you have ever thought parenthood would come this quickly." "Or ever?" Barry states. "Now why would you think they would never have children?" "You're right, Steve," Barry says, grabbing his lover's arm, as they walk towards the door of the large house. "They keep the shrubs up nicely," Steve comments. "Yeah. Matty tells me there's a new landscaping outfit in town." "Maybe we should try them?" "Think of it, Steve..." "Oh, that's right. Now that Berk has finished with the barn, he's taken up the landscaping." "Yeah, he's having a ball pruning our yard in his own fashion." "Doing a good job at it too!" Steve says. "I have to say I like the way it looks, too." "I wondered about have that boulder removed from the front." Barry says, "Leave it. Berk has managed to fit it right in with the pebbles and wild grasses." "Do you think he'll ever go back to law enforcement full time?" "I think he likes sitting on the desk. He's more a people person." "Yet," Steve adds, "He did an excellent job at detective work." "So the captain says." "Maybe he should see about joining up with the new landscaping company?" "Could be a good `in' for him, Steve. I'll ask Matty for their card." "Yeah. Good idea. Pass it on." "Well, we better get in there," Barry says, walking up the flight of stairs to the back deck. Going inside, it's typical. Quiet fills the room, until the kids get through their second slice. "I was sooooo hungry from swimming so much," Philip says. Aidan adds, "I think I'm waterlogged!" "I don't think I want to swim for a week," Diego says. Both Steve and Barry say, in unison, "Yeah, right!" They know, by Saturday afternoon, Diego and Seth will be over, clad in their swimshorts! "Dad?" "Yes, Jeremy?" Matty answers, being closer. "The guys were talking about a `nature walk'. Can we go, too?" Chad asks, facetiously, "Is it almost Saturday, already?" Steve jokes, "Welcome to Friday night pizza!" "Oh yeah. How can I forget today?" "Why, Chad? What happened?" "Had a beast of an exam in Marketing today. I can only keep my fingers crossed that I passed it!" "I would think running Barr's & Bridges, is enough of a test!" "Not the way Professor Wells looks at it. He kind of made it an issue at the beginning of class." "He wasn't being nasty about it, was he?" Barry asks. "Oh no. Not at all. In fact, he was wondering if sometimes the class could make tie-in field trips to the store." "And?" "We had one, which is good." "Oh? How's that go, Chad?" Steve asks. "Not only was it a good, constructive field experience, but after the move, even Professor Wells said it would be good as a comparison, for growth and other aspects." Barry inquires, "Just when is this move supposed to take place?" Matty, after sending the kids off to watch some TV, enters the conversation, saying, "Talking about the new facilities?" "Yeah," Chad answers. "Our dads were wondering when the move is." "Didn't Tom Letterli mention within the next two weeks?" "Is that what he said?" Chad asks Matty. "As far as I know. We're supposed to start liquidation this Monday." "Liquidation?" Barry questions, "I thought you were moving everything?" "Not according to Tom. He says the grand opening would be spiffed up by all new product." "Well, do you have a lot to get rid of?" Steve asks. "Uh oh," Matty suddenly says, "I think I hear a war coming on over who controls the remote!" He excuses himself. Very quickly the subject changes. "How are you two getting it on, being daddies?" Barry asks. "Well, I'd say," Chad fills them in. "I know lots of instances this week when we gave in to Jeremy's wishes, but one cool thing is he's a very polite young man!" "I suppose whomever raised him up to this point," Barry says, "thought it a good part of a rounded education." "Hee hee," Steve muses, "spoken like a true education professional." "It's true," Barry comes back with, "and I wish all parents saw to it to fit manners into part of a child's growing up." "Dads, we're ready to go home!" Aidan says, rather sternly. "Are we having problems with the remote?" Steve asks his son. "Um, no," Aidan fibs. But Philip spells out the truth, saying, "Jeremy says it's his house, so he holds the remote!" Chad skims over, "So much for what we were talking about!" Barry states, "And there goes my theory right out the window!" "I think I'm ready to go anyway," Steve pushes the decision towards the door. When the extra two boxes of pizza are offered, the young guys voice their opinions for taking it home with them. Already, Diego is taking the rib-tickling in stride. Aidan says, "Yeah, you can come over for breakfast tomorrow, Diego and Seth." Seth replies, "Pizza for breakfast? Yech!" "I think we'll be meeting you on the nature walk tomorrow," Chad tells the dads. "Well, I think I'm going to make it my business to drag Callan and Alonzo out of bed!" Barry says. Steve offers, "Can I help?" Eleven year old Seth says, "We can get our daddies up, if you want us to?" Barry says to Steve, "Case closed!" On the way out, right at the back door, Barry asks Chad, softly, incognito, "By the way, Bernice tells me to remind you of Matty's birthday, next month?" "Oh sh-ugar! I'm glad you reminded me. I think it's the twenty-third?" "Bingo!" Barry exclaims, adding, "And I'd suggest you include Bernice in your preparations of you will never hear the end of it!" "Thanks, dad," Chad says, seeing them out. % Copyright 2007 T. Chase McPhee This story may not be sold, nor made part of any collection, without prior consent from the author.