Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 18:40:42 EDT
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: The Castaway Hotel - book 5  chapter 16

Legal Notice:
The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts.
The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality.

Don't read this story if:
**You're not 18 or over,
**If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live,
**Or if you don't want to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex.

The author retains copyright to this story.  Placing this story on a
website or reproducing this story for distribution without the author's
permission is a violation of that copyright.  Legal action will be taken
against violators.

I wish to extend my thank you to Ed for his editorial assistance with this
chapter and to Ataan for his suggestions about the storyline.

If you have enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me at
http://members.tripod.de/wolfslair, in the 'Other Stories' section.

E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions, or other 'constructive'
comments or advice may be sent to: bwstories8@aol.com.

                 *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Although the boys in these stories have unprotected sex, I strongly urge
all of you out there to be smart and protect yourselves from various
sexually transmitted diseases by using condoms when having intercourse.

                 *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The Castaway Hotel-Book 5-by BW (Young-Friends).  Copyright 2002 by billwstories
Chapter 16 - My day in court.                     March 2002

Steve arranged for a meeting with Ms. Van Cott and her lawyer, so we could
discuss a compromise.  I'm not sure if they saw the report the same way
Steve did, so he was going to make sure they understood the way he saw it
before we were through.

"After reading the DSS report," Steve began, "it is my impression that we
don't have many options here.  If we are not careful and don't settle this
disagreement on our own, there's a very good chance that neither side will
see Cole or Graham again.  I don't think any of us wants that, do we?"  He
paused and looked at Ms. Van Cott and her lawyer.

"My client will agree to letting Mr. Currie have some visitation rights,
after she gets her sons back," her lawyer announced.

"Aren't we being a little presumptuous here?" Steve asked them.  "There is
no way she'll get custody.  What we're offering is visitation rights for
her.  It seems like either she accepts that or gives up all hope of ever
seeing her boys again."

"Now I think you're the one being presumptuous," her lawyer responded.
"They are her children."

"Not legally, and nothing will change that, unless the judge takes them
away from Mr. Currie too.  However, if that should happen, the chances are
virtually nonexistent that she'd get custody after the judge looks at that
report.  Let's face it, the only hope she has of spending ANY time with her
boys is if she agrees to accept the visitation arrangement."

Her lawyer got ready to speak, but I interrupted him.  "Look, I know you
think I'm the problem here," I said directly to Ms. Van Cott, "but I did
nothing to poison your boys against you.  Cole has stated very plainly that
he can't forgive you letting them go hungry like you did or for just
abandoning them in the end.  He has made it very clear that he'll never go
live with you, that he'd run away first, even though I've tried to
discourage that attitude."

"Yeah, I'm sure you've tried really hard.  Let's face facts, you just want
my boys with you.  You've got all those other boys, yet you still won't
give me back mine.  What do you need them for?"

"Look, I took them in because they needed me, and I've worked through many
tough times with them and tried to set them up with some sort of a future.
They are my sons and I don't care how many of them there are, I'd never
give any of them up.  I do what's best for them, not what's best for me,
and they don't feel that being with you would be best for them.  However,
if you'd like to be able to see them, so you can make amends for what you
did to them and get to know them better, I'd be willing to do that, but I
won't ever give them up."

After a period of silence, then some whispering back and forth, her lawyer
responded.  "Well, I think we're at an impasse here and there is nothing
more for us to talk about."  With that they got up and exited the room.

After they left, I waited a few seconds before I spoke to Steve, so there
wouldn't be any chance of them hearing what we said.  "So, what do we do
next?"

"I don't think we have any other options, unless you want to give the boys
back to her."

"No, I couldn't do that to Cole.  I'm not sure what he'd do if that
actually happened.  I can go home and try to talk to him about it again,
but I really don't see that as an option."

"Well, then, we'll just have to wait and see what the judge rules," Steve
said, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, to let me know that he
had no idea what that might be.

When I got home, I spoke to Cole and Graham again, trying to work this out.
After I told them what happened at our meeting, we discussed the
alternatives.  When I broached the subject of them possibly going to live
with their mother, Cole got upset.  "Look, I've told you over and over that
I won't go to live with her, no matter what.  I don't want to leave you or
my other brothers, but I'd rather try to live on the streets than go with
her."  At this point I thought it might be best to deflect some of his
hostility, by focusing on his brother.

"What about you, Graham, how do you feel about all of this?"

"Well, I always wanted to get to know her, I'm just not sure about living
with her.  I'd go wherever Cole did, even if it was to run away.  He's the
only one I won't leave."  After he said this, he looked up at me, with a
shocked look on his face, like he didn't mean to say it exactly like that.
"That doesn't mean I want to leave you," he quickly corrected, "it's just
that if we have to choose, I'll go with Cole."

"I understand, and I'm glad you feel that way.  You two should always stick
together, no matter what else happens," I told them, and the boys quickly
acknowledged my comment.  First they looked at each other and nodded, and
then they came over and gave me a hug.

"Dad, we're still hoping that it works out so all of us can stay together,
though," Graham added.

"Me too," I agreed.

Later that afternoon I received a call from Steve, telling me that Ms. Van
Cott and her lawyer had contacted him and wanted to have another meeting,
but this time they also wanted us to bring the boys with us.  I asked him
why they would make that request, and Steve suggested it might be to verify
what I had told them earlier.  Maybe she needed to hear that from the boys
themselves.  I agreed to attend the meeting, and then I went to inform the
boys.  They were anxious to get involved, so they could make sure their
opinions were heard.

Also that afternoon, Kevin got a letter in the mail.  When he opened it, he
got very excited, and ran to find me.  It was a letter notifying us that
Kevin was a finalist for a scholarship granted by the Pennsylvania
Association of Pharmacists.  At first he didn't even remember having
applied for it, but now he felt that didn't matter.  It said he was a
finalist and he and his parents were invited to attend the banquet where
the scholarship winners would be announced.  After thinking about it later,
however, he concluded this was something his guidance counselor had
submitted his name for, and all he had to do was write a short essay on why
he wanted to become a pharmacist.  That essay must have done the trick,
because now he was a finalist for the scholarship.  The banquet would be
held on the last weekend in May, and that's when they would announce the
winner(s).  I was very proud of Kevin and told him so, no matter what the
final outcome of this would be, and he thanked me for being there for him.
I told him we'd discuss this in more detail later, but now I had to get
ready for another meeting with Cole and Graham's mother.  He said he
understood, and I went to find the other boys.

We went to the meeting, but we remained silent and waited for the other
side to make the first offer, as they were the ones who asked us to attend
this time.  We didn't have long to wait before Ms. Van Cott made her intent
known.  "Thank you for coming and for bringing the boys.  I just needed to
hear from them, to see if what you told me about them was true."  Now she
focused on Cole and Graham.  "Cole, honey, is it true you said you'd run
away, if you had to come live with me?"

"Yep, and I will too."  He was looking very defiant.

"Who suggested that you do that?" she asked him, point blank.

"No one told me to do that, it's just the way I feel."  Cole was beginning
to look mad now.

"But I'm your mother, why would you run away from me?"

"You're not my mother, and you ran away and left Graham and me.  Why would
I want anything to do with you now?"

"But I AM your mother."

"NO, YOU'RE NOT.  Can't you get that through your head?  I hate what you
did and that means I hate you, so why don't you just go away and leave us
alone."  Cole was standing now, getting right in her face, and she was
visibly shaken by his outburst.  She was starting to break down and cry,
but she turned to Graham and spoke to him next.

"Do you feel the same way?"

He looked at her, saw the tears rolling down her cheeks, and I knew he felt
her pain.  "I would think about you a lot and wonder where you were, but I
also wondered why you left us like you did.  I thought I might want to talk
to you some time, and maybe get to know you again, but I don't want to come
live with you either.  We have a home and a dad now.  We're happy there,
and I don't want that to change."

"And what if the judge were to say that you had have to come live with me?"

"I don't know," he answered, sincerely, "but if Cole left, I'd go with
him."

Now she looked at me, and I could easily read the pain in her face.  "Okay,
I'll go along with your offer, but do my visits need to be supervised?"

"I think that best to start, until the boys feel comfortable with you
again," I replied, honestly.  "After that maybe we could work something
else out, with the boys' input as well."  Both boys grinned, knowing that I
had included them in on the decision-making process and they'd have some
say over what would happen in the future.  This pleased them to a point,
but Cole still didn't look all that happy.

"Okay, I guess I can accept that.  Is that okay with you, Cole and Graham?"
Both boys nodded, but Cole felt he had to say something.

"I want you to know, I'm only doing this is to let Graham get to know you,
and so we can stay with Dad, but don't expect me to be real happy when you
come to visit."

"Okay, that sounds fair," she responded, but looking very hurt, "as long as
you will be there and try to give me a chance to make up for what I did."

"I will, I promise that, so Dad won't get into any trouble."

"I guess you really do love him, don't you?"

"Yes, more than I love anyone else.  Well, except maybe for Graham," he
added.  She nodded in understanding, but she couldn't hide her pain.  We
agreed to let the lawyers work out the details, and we prepared to leave,
but not before I let Ms. Van Cott have a little more time with her boys.
It wasn't great, but they were able to clear the air a little more, making
it easier for the next time they were to meet.

It looked like this was now behind us, and we could drop the case in court,
having worked out our own agreement.  Now we just had to wait to make it
official, and that would be done when we went to court in three more days.
When the court date came up, we all marched into court, confident in what
we were about to do.  When the case was called, Ms. Van Cott's lawyer stood
up and announced that his client was dropping her case, and that we had
reached an agreement on our own.  We thought that would end the matter,
except the judge announced it would not be that easy.  He determined that
this case was now a question of my fitness as a parent, and whether the
adoptions should have been allowed in the first place, or whether those
proceedings should all now be vacated.  Steve was incensed.

"The court has no grounds on which to get involved in this case, now that
Ms. Van Cott's suit has been dropped," he stated in his most firm, yet
official voice.

"I'm sorry, but I disagree," the judge stated.  "This report from DSS gives
the court the right to intercede at this point."

"However that report is unfounded and filled with inaccuracies.  Before you
can use that report to make any judgments, I want a chance to rebut its
findings and question its author."

"This is just a standard investigation report, one that the DSS does all
the time.  We use these reports to recommend the handling of many of our
cases.  Why should this one be any less valid?"

"Well, primarily because this report is based on innuendo and inaccuracies.
For example, it suggests that Mr. Currie has promoted or enticed various
boys to become gay or bisexual, once they were in his custody.  It has been
clearly documented that some of these boys were already gay or bisexual
before he took them in, and his only role in that was that he was willing
to accept them for who and what they were."

"And how did you come by that information?"

"I was involved with helping him adopt his family, and I know of at least
three of the boys who were kicked out of there home situation because of
that very fact, that it was discovered that they were gay or bisexual."

"Interesting, but that's only part of what's reported there."

"Well, it's not the only incorrect statement made in that report.  It also
suggests that Mr. Currie has a gay lover.  First of all, Mr. Currie was
married for many years, and has four children as a result of that marriage,
and the only reason that marriage ended was because his wife died.  I
assume the investigator made his decision he had a gay lover, only because
another man also lives in the house.  However, that man is also divorced
and raising his son, and he moved in to assist Mr. Currie, after he
suffered from a heart attack.  The two now split the responsibilities of
taking care of all the boys, but that does not make them gay lovers."

"Well, I think we'll need to clear up these facts before I can reach a
decision.  We'll meet again tomorrow, same time, but this time I will have
the investigator here to defend his report.  Will that satisfy you?"

"Yes, your honor.  We will be here and prepared to continue at that time."

After Steve and I left the courtroom, we began discussing our strategy.  We
talked about whom we might be able to get to come to the courthouse as
character witnesses, especially on such short notice, and then we discussed
what other strategy we might use.  I could see the fire in Steve's eyes,
the kind that he gets when he's determined to protect a friend or right a
wrong, and I knew this meant I was in good hands.  Hopefully this judge
wouldn't pull one of his unexpected and unfounded decisions, and we could
nip this in the bud here and now, before it had time to spread and take
root.  There's nothing harder to defend against than rumors, and I didn't
want to have to do that.

That night I didn't say anything to the boys about any of this, but Jake
and I did discuss it in private.  At least for the short term, I thought it
best we not sleep together, so he said he'd share Shannon's room until this
was over.  Of course the boys wanted to know if we'd had a fight or if
something was wrong, but we told them it was just a precautionary measure
we were taking, until this case was settled.  They seemed to accept that
explanation, so we said no more about that subject.

The next day we were back in court, with several witnesses lined up behind
us.  There was Sally and Mary, Steve's wife.  There were also the Spences
and Jake, and the High School principal even agreed to take a late lunch
hour, so he could come support us.  The investigator for DSS was also
there, and he was immediately called forward and sworn in, and then Steve
immediately began to attack his report.

"Sir, you stated in your report that you believe Mr. Currie promoted a gay
or bisexual lifestyle for the boys, causing them to become either gay or
bisexual.  Is that true?"

"After talking to teachers, fellow students, and the boys themselves, I
discovered that a disproportionate number of them considered themselves to
be gay or bisexual.  The only explanation for that would be that they were
encouraged at home to accept that type of lifestyle."

"Then why aren't all the boys gay or bisexual?"

"Obviously, some didn't buy into what he was promoting."

"Did it ever occur to you that the boys were either gay or bisexual before
they came to live there?"

"Not really.  They would have been too young at that point to have made
such a decision."

"Really?  And at what age do you think they would decide?"

"Probably between sixteen to eighteen, somewhere in that age range."

"Wow, that's interesting.  And where did you get your degree in deviant
psychology from?"

"Mr. Shay, that's enough of that," the judge advised Steve.

"Sorry, your honor.  But getting back to my point, did you know that some
of the boys came to live with Mr. Currie because they had previously been
kicked out of their homes, after it was discovered that they were gay or
bisexual."

The investigator blushed at this point, knowing he had missed some
information during his investigation.  "No, I'm afraid I didn't learn about
that, if that were in fact what had happened."

"Believe me, it was.  The local DSS has records indicating those facts in
detail."  Steve paused again, so he could glare at this guy, and the guy
turned even a brighter shade of red, this time more from anger than
embarrassment.  "Well, maybe if you'd have done your job more thoroughly,
you'd have discovered these facts."  This comment only pissed the guy off
even more.

"Well, you also stated that you thought Mr. Currie had a gay lover.  Who
might that be?"

"Well, obviously the other guy who lives in his house."

"Oh, did you see them kissing, making out, or something of that nature to
cause you to jump to that conclusion?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Well, on what did you base this assumption?"  Steve intentionally used
that word, and I thought he might be going to explain the old adage that
when you ASSUME, it makes an ASS out of U and ME, but he didn't.

"Come on!  What two guys would live in a house with all those boys and no
females around, if they weren't gay?"

"Oh, so now just because two guys share a house and raise a group of boys,
that automatically makes them gay?"

"Well, no, but."

"Did you know Mr. Currie had been married and had four children from that
marriage?"

"Well, some gay guys try to hide the fact they're gay by getting married
and having children."

"Or that the other man was divorced?"

"No."

"Or that Mr. Currie is well respected in the community and a valued leader.
He was a principal at the middle school, until he retired."

"Well, he could still be gay."

"But you have no proof of that, or for any of the other conclusions you
state as facts in your report?"

"I think all those comments are justified."

"Maybe to your own homophobic, narrow mind."  The judge rapped his gavel at
that point, and then he spoke to Steve.

"That will be enough, Mr. Shay.  You've made your point.  Do you have any
more questions for this witness?"

"No, your honor, but I do have rebuttal witnesses who will attest to
Mr. Currie's character and fitness as a parent."

"Okay, you may call them, but don't make this a long or drawn out affair."

Steve then paraded our witnesses forward, asking them questions about my
parenting skills, my fitness as a person, and then he allowed them to show
their support for my family and me.  After they all got to express their
opinions, the judge took a short recess, to have time to weigh everything
he had heard.  Steve thought it might be because he still wanted to accept
the report, but now he didn't have a legal basis on which to do it.  After
a few minutes he returned and announced his decision.

"After weighing all the information provided here today, I have decided not
to pursue this matter further and to allow the adoptions to stand.  I will
also honor any arrangement you worked out with Ms. Van Cott.  This case is
now adjourned."

With that he rapped his gavel, got up and left, and the rest of us
celebrated.  I think Steve had been right.  I think the judge might have
been tempted to still listen to that investigator, and I got that feeling
just from the look on his face as he announced his decision.  Maybe I was
wrong, but it sure did look that way.  I hadn't noticed that Ms. Van Cott
had entered after the proceedings had begun, and she was now sitting in the
back corner of the courtroom.  After my friends and I finished our brief
celebration, I got ready to leave, but she walked up to me and asked if she
might have a moment of my time, in private.  I agreed and we walked to the
far side of the courtroom.

"Mr. Currie, I hope you'll forgive me for all the trouble I caused you, and
that you're still willing to let me visit with my boys?"

"Of course.  I never had intended to keep you away from them totally, I
just didn't want you to force them to come live with you, unless that's
what THEY wanted to do."

"I understand that now, and I sorely misjudged you.  Please accept my
apologies and my thanks for letting me back into their lives."

"You don't have to thank me, just don't hurt them like that again.  I
promise you that if you blow this opportunity, you'll never see them until
they're fully-grown and able to make that decision for themselves.  I also
promise you that I will protect them with all my strength and resources, so
they won't have to face such pain again."

"I know you will, you're that kind of a man.  I'm glad my boys are in such
good hands."

We finished by agreeing that she could call any time to see them, and we
would start off with only visits at the house, until both boys were
comfortable enough with her to go other places with her.  She agreed and
this nightmare was now over.  Hopefully it will be the last one we'll have
to face.

                  *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

If you have enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me at
http://members.tripod.de/wolfslair, in the 'Other Stories' section.
E-mails may be sent to: bwstories8@aol.com.