Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 10:37:10 EDT
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: The Castaway Hotel - Book 8, chapter 2

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 Emoe57 for his editorial assistance with
this chapter, and Art, the real Vinnie and John for their additional input
on each chapter.

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 8-by BW (Young-Friends).  Copyright 2004 by billwstories
Chapter 2 - Where in the world is Vinnie?         February 2004

Monday started off no better than the weekend had gone, as far as learning
anything more about Vinnie was concerned.  I couldn't imagine what had
happened to him, as there hadn't been a sign of him anywhere.  If he were
younger, I'd be even more worried than I was now, because the longer a
child is missing the less chance there is of finding him.  However, seeing
Vinnie was older, there was still hope he went off on his own and nothing
more sinister was involved.

Throughout the entire day at work, I was totally distracted.  Every time
the phone rang, all I could think about was that it might be news
concerning him, and I'd hold my breath until I discovered otherwise.  That
was the primary reason I wasn't getting much accomplished.  I think some of
the boys were suffering a similar fate, as I got a call from a couple of
their teachers, wanting to know why the boys seemed to be daydreaming and
out of touch with what was going on in class.  Once I explained the
situation, the teachers would comment they understood, apologize for
calling and then offer their support and prayers for a happy resolution to
the problem.  After thanking them, I went back to hoping something would
develop soon.

While looking at my calendar, I realized tomorrow was Trey's birthday and I
was glad we generally planned to hold their parties on the weekend, and not
during the week.  Due to the fact this past weekend had been Valentine's
Day, we had scheduled Trey's party for the following weekend, so there
wouldn't be so many other distractions.  This time that seemed to work out
for the best, and hopefully we'll have heard from Vinnie by then, so Trey's
gathering will be joyous and he won't end up getting shortchanged.

That evening, I reminded the boys that Trey's big day was tomorrow, so
they'd all remember to wish him a 'Happy Birthday.'  Even though I
understood most of our attention would still be focused on our 'missing'
family member, I didn't want Trey to feel neglected or less important.
Birthdays are major social functions until you reach middle age, if that
feeling ever ends, so I wanted to keep things as 'normal' as I could, under
the circumstances.

Once I got to work, however, I was focused on our missing family member
again.  Each hour that passed caused me to become more and more concerned
about where he was and what condition he might be in, and I thought of
something else we might be able to do to help locate him.  I took a picture
of Vinnie and another of his 4Runner and used them to make a 'Missing'
poster on my computer.  After composing it, I printed out a couple hundred
copies of it, and later I would talk to Jake about distributing it between
Temple University and our home, hoping it might produce some leads as to
Vinnie's whereabouts.  I had put the phrase 'call collect', followed by my
cell number, on the flier, so I wouldn't discourage anyone from calling to
give us news, due to the expense.  I also added a $1,000 reward for
information leading to his safe return, as an additional incentive.

Later that evening, after Jake and I discussed this in detail, he decided
he'd call in and take the day off from his job to help distribute them.  He
felt I should stay close to home, to remain available for any calls I might
get from the Vinnie or the State Police, or to be able to go wherever I
might be needed.  I didn't argue with him, but I did suggest he stop and
see Kevin, so he could leave about thirty copies of the missing notice with
him, so he could post them on and around the campus.  That way, Jake could
focus on distributing these leaflets off each of the exits and at the
various rest areas, hoping someone would see them and be able to supply us
with a new lead.  Who knows, it was also possible Vinnie might even see one
of these and then realize he needed to call home.  I thanked Jake for doing
this for me, to which I got this response.  "Am I not one of his parents
too?  Why WOULDN'T I be willing to do this for him?  I'm just as worried
about him as you are."
  
After apologizing for my seeming lack of understanding on this matter, I
gave Jake a very passionate kiss, which caused him to drag me off to our
bedroom.  For many wonderful minutes he took my mind off worrying about
Vinnie, but once our lovemaking session had ended, thoughts of our missing
young man popped back into my head and I started to fret, yet again.

The following morning, Jake took off early, but he did manage to pass along
his birthday wishes to Trey before he left.  The rest of us all did the
same and I let Trey open one of his gifts after we finished breakfast, to
punctuate the significance of this day.  He thanked us all, but said it
would be better if Vinnie were here too, so again I hoped that our
A.W.O.L. young man would turn up before Trey's party was held this weekend.

The morning dragged on for me, but after lunch I received a phone call from
Captain De Luca.  "Mr. Currie, this is Charles De Luca.  I have some news
for you, but I'm not sure how you're going to take it.  We have found your
4Runner."

"Great!  I told him, but you didn't mention Vinnie.  What about him?"

"That's the thing.  The 4Runner was pulled over by one of our patrol cars,
but your son wasn't in it.  Another young man was driving it, and after a
lengthy interrogation, he admitted to stealing the vehicle from a rest area
on I-76.  At first, he claimed your son had loaned him the vehicle, but
when he couldn't give the interrogators a description of the boy, they knew
he was lying.  He finally admitted that he found the keys in the ignition,
after he and his friend checked it out, so he just hopped in it and drove
it away, following his friend back home.  Your son's cell phone and luggage
were recovered too, but we have no idea what happened to him.  We are
charging that young man with grand larceny, but more charges may be added
later."

"So, this guy couldn't give you any information about Vinnie?"

"I'm afraid not.  He said it was late and the car was parked with no one
around, but the keys were in the ignition.  He said he didn't wait around
to see whom it belonged to and just jumped in it and took off.  He figured
the owner was probably in one of the rest rooms, using the toilet or
something."

"But that must have been one of the rest areas we stopped at and no one was
there.  Where in the hell could Vinnie have disappeared to?"

"I don't know, but we are keying in on that rest stop and surrounding
areas, and we'll have search teams go over every inch of ground there.
I'll let you know if we discover anything more."  I didn't like the sounds
of that.  Did it mean he thought they'd find Vinnie's body somewhere around
that area or what?

"Do you suspect this guy and his friend might have done something to my
son?" I asked directly.

"No, not at all.  We just want to be thorough when looking for clues.
Don't read more into it than what is there.  We're just doing our job, and
that's all there is to it."

"Okay, I hope so.  By the way, thank you for all you're doing," I told him,
but now I was even more confused.  Sure, now I understood why Vinnie hadn't
called any of us from his cell phone, but where had he gone to and how had
he gotten there?  Did something else happen to him or did he try to walk or
hitchhike home?  Had he been picked up by a Good Samaritan or grabbed by
some unscrupulous scoundrel?  He knows he can always call home collect, so
why haven't we heard from him?  The only reason I could think of why he
wouldn't have called us by now was because he was UNABLE to, and that was
not a pleasant thought to have.

The news I had just received troubled me for the rest of the day and that
evening I discussed all the ramifications of what I had learned with the
boys.  I talked it over with them during dinner, and they came up with
various suggestions as to what they thought might have happened.  Jake
didn't get back until much later that evening, so we discussed the
situation in bed.  "What do you think has happened to him?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, Josh," Jake responded, "but maybe Steve was right.  Maybe
Vinnie just couldn't stand the thought of facing us all right now, because
he's angry and embarrassed about what happened."

"That may be, but he should understand he can come to us about anything,
regardless of the situation.  I still can't image where could he be,
though?"

"Do you think he might have gone back to his old neighborhood?" Jake asked.
"You know, to stay with an old friend or something?"

That gave me an idea, because Jake might be right about Vinnie doing
something like that.  It was indeed a possibility the rest of us hadn't
thought about.  I quickly got out of bed and jumped online, immediately
going to www.switchboard.com, so I could begin to look up a couple of names
I remembered from having gone with Vinnie to the old neighborhood, shortly
after he first came to live with us.  I jotted down a few phone numbers,
but I knew I couldn't call these people until tomorrow.  It was too late to
disturb them now, but it did provide me with a ray of hope.  I went back to
bed, thanked Jake for the wonderful idea and then we made out a little,
before we snuggled together for the night.

The next evening, after work, I called all of these people, but none of
them had seen or heard from Vinnie recently.  They did tell me they would
check with some of Vinnie's other friends in their area and get back to me,
if they discovered anything.  After having them take down my phone number,
I thanked them and said good-bye, but I had no better understanding of what
happened to my boy than I had before.  The only consolation was, we now had
a few more people looking for him.

We didn't hear anything new for the rest of the week, but now I realized I
had other concerns that I should address too.  Little Ricky was still
dealing with problems of his own, and this lull would give me a chance to
spend some time and possibly help him deal with his own issues.  He was not
only continuing to have difficulty coming to grips with his father's
untimely death, but he was having even more difficulty with his mother's
condition, as her situation seemed to be getting worse as every week
passed.  She would go long stretches of time not recognizing any of us, not
even John or Margaret Spence, even though she was living with them now and
they were with her all day long.  Little Ricky continued to go see her
every day, without fail, but on the vast majority of those visits Arlene
didn't seem to have any idea who he was.  I could see this hurt him deeply,
both when I went with him to visit her or when he'd come home after
stopping at the Spences on his way home from school, and I did all I could
to console him.  He'd tell me that his mother would end up spending most of
her time talking about her parents or something from her childhood, as if
her memory was slowly being erased, from her most recent memories and
working backward.  This was more than he could deal with.

"I can tell this isn't easy for you," I told him, while pulling him onto my
lap one afternoon, shortly after he got back from visiting her.

"Pop, it's just that she doesn't even know who I am any more.  She doesn't
even seem to know she has a son, let alone that's who I am."  His eyes told
me how much pain he felt and how deeply this hurt him.  I could feel his
body trembling as he fought to hold back the flood of tears that were
building inside of him.  No matter how hard he fought it, his emotions
finally got the best of him and he broke down completely, bawling
hysterically into my chest.

I did my best to comfort him, but there is little you can say to someone
whose whole world has crumbled so completely and in such a relatively short
period of time.  Even though we were all there for him, he had built his
hopes and dreams on being a part of the Becker family, with his father and
mother, and now he was having to redefine his expectations, with a whole
different group of people.  I let him cry himself out, feeling the release
would be good for him, and once he began to calm down again, I tried to
talk the problem out with him.

"I don't have any answers for you or no magic wand I can wave to make
everything better," I began, "but I and your brothers will be here for you,
to help in any way we can."  He looked up at me, over his tear-streaked
face.

"I know that and I don't know how I'd feel if I wasn't able to come live
here.  I was scared when all this happened.  Hell, I'm still scared, but
I'd be terrified if you weren't here to help me when I needed you most.  I
know things will work out and I'll get through this, even though it may not
be easy or go like I want it to.  The good thing is, I know I don't have to
worry about what will happen to me and that you'll make sure I'm taken care
of.  It's not that I don't appreciate that, but I really loved my mom and
dad too, and now I don't have either of them.  I can't even stand to go
visit her any more, because of how she is now, and that makes me feel even
worse - like I'm letting her down or something."  He began to cry again, so
I gave him some time to release this new wave of guilt and pain.  Once he
started to calm down again, I spoke to him.

"We all understand how hard this must be on you, though I won't say we know
exactly how it feels.  All I can tell you is that you've done as much, or
more, than your parents, or anyone else, could ever expect of you.  You've
been a terrific son to both of them, and if you'd like for me to go with
you to visit your mother from now on, I will.  If that will make it a
little easier for you to deal with things, then I'll be right by your side
every time you go see her.  If you'd prefer not to go at all, I'll support
that decision too, and no one will fault you for that, but only you can
make that decision."

"I won't stop seeing her," he countered, adamantly.  "I can't do that, but
I think it might help if you went with me.  Would you really do that for
me?"  He looked hopeful, yet I could still see he doubted that I would be
able to go with him on a daily basis.

"Absolutely," I assured him.  "We may have to change the times of your
visits though, to fit in with my schedule, but I will go with you each and
every day, for as long as you wish."  He hugged my neck and kissed me on
the cheek in response, and then I just sat there and held him, until HE
decided he was ready to move on.  It was several minutes later before his
grip on me began to ease up and he finally spoke.

"I've already gone to see her today," he told me, "so can we start this
tomorrow?"

"Certainly.  As soon as I get home, we'll decide if we should go then or
wait until after dinner, but we will go together."  He gave me a weak
smile.

"Thanks, Pop.  I think that will make it a little easier."

The next night, Little Ricky chose to go after dinner, but I think he did
that more for my benefit, than for his own.  I believe he felt I was tired
and worn out after working all day, so he wanted to give me a chance to
relax and eat first, before we fulfilled his daily obligation.  I thought
that was very considerate of him, seeing his previous schedule had him
going after he got home from school, so I let him know how much I
appreciated his thoughtfulness.

"It is very kind of you to change your schedule to suit me," I told him,
"but you won't have to do it this late every night, if earlier is better
for you."

"We'll see," he responded, succinctly, while giving me one of his special
little grins.

After dinner, I drove him down to the Spences, as I was too tired to walk
and it was quite dark out.  John and Margaret greeted us enthusiastically
when they answered the door, but things cooled from there.  Arlene was in
her room and didn't recognize either of us as we entered.  Hell, she even
thought John and Margaret were her parents and she began asking them
questions about some of her childhood friends and pets from years gone by.
I could feel Little Ricky tense up, as she continued to carry on that way,
so I just hugged him against my chest, to will some of my strength into his
body.

He did try to start a conversation with her, though she responded like a
small child to a playmate, rather than like a mother to her son.  Little
Ricky didn't let this get him down or deter his efforts either, and I was
very proud of how he continued to handle himself, no matter how much this
tore him up inside.  While he talking to his mother, John and Margaret left
the room and I took a seat in the lone chair in the room.  Eventually I
pulled Little Ricky onto my lap, thinking physical contact would help him
keep his spirits up, no matter how unbearable the other circumstances.  We
stayed with Arlene for nearly an hour, before I suggested it was time for
us to go home, so he said good-bye to his mother.  Although she merely bid
him a good night, with no kiss or hug, he didn't let it depress him
further.  As we drove home, he made sure he thanked me for my support.

His visits went about the same for the rest of the week, with some days
being better for Arlene than others, but none of them were ever very good.
It was during this time that Graham decided to talk to Little Ricky too, as
he had some issues he wanted to discuss with him.  I wasn't sure what was
up, but Graham asked me to sit in with them as well.  "Little Ricky, he
began, I've been waiting a long time to talk to you about this, because I
was never sure what to say."

"About what?" Little Ricky asked him.

"About your father dying," Graham told him, but that only brought a
confused look to Little Ricky's face.

"I don't understand," he told Graham simply, which caused Graham to eye him
carefully.

"Well, you know about my special gift, don't you?" Graham wondered.

"You mean that you can tell when people are sick or something is going to
happen to them?" Little Ricky responded.

"Yes, that's it."

"So, what about it?" Little Ricky wanted to know.

"Didn't you ever wonder why I never said anything about your father, before
he died?" Graham asked him.

"I guess I never really thought much about it or just figured it was
probably because you never saw us very often."

"That was part of it," Graham admitted, "but I kept hearing everyone
talking about how tired and worn down he was getting taking care of your
mother, so when I saw the gray haze starting to form around him, I thought
it was just because of that.  It really never got black, like it did with
Cody or Brent, so I didn't think it was anything that serious, but I guess
it was because I didn't see him when it got worse.  I'm sorry for not
saying anything, because maybe he could have gone to the doctor and got
help and he'd still be alive now."  Graham broke down in tears now, feeling
guilty, thinking he'd let Little Ricky and Albert down.

"But there was nothing you could have done," Little Ricky advised him, and
then I broke in before Graham could disagree.

"Graham, he's right.  Even if you had said something, Albert was a very
stubborn man and I doubt he would have gone to see a doctor just because
you told him you saw a gray shadow around him.  I actually think Albert
would have laughed it off and still done nothing.  Don't blame yourself,
Graham.  You had nothing to do with what happened to him."

"Pop's right," Little Ricky confirmed.  "I never thought that, because I
knew you weren't responsible and probably couldn't have helped.  And like
Pop says, my dad wouldn't have believed you.  He didn't believe in psycho
things."

"I think you mean psychic things, Little Ricky," I corrected him, hoping I
didn't embarrass him.  He seemed to brush it off.

"Yeah, that's what I meant.  My dad didn't believe in that stuff, so it
wouldn't have helped if you told him, Graham.  I don't blame you.  I
actually kind of blame him.  He cancelled the night help Pop got him and I
think that's really what killed him.  If anyone is to blame, it's just him.
I tried to tell him that myself, but he didn't listen to me either, so I
don't think there's any way he'd have listened to you."

Hearing this made Graham feel better and cleared his guilty conscience.
Now, we could all move on and I think this was good for Little Ricky too,
now that he had admitted that he blamed his father for what happened was a
big step.  At least I knew he wasn't blaming himself for his father's
death, and that had been bothering me, it was just that I didn't know how
to confront him about that.  Inadvertently, Graham had helped me with my
problem too, so he had done us all a big service.

By the time the weekend finally arrived, I was actually glad for the
distraction of Trey's party.  It also gave me a chance to visit with some
of the most important people in my life, our extended family.  I took this
opportunity to discuss many things with them, beginning with Vinnie's
disappearance and Little Ricky's emotional conflict over Arlene's current
situation.  Steve, Mary, Jake and I did spend some time alone, so we could
discuss the Vinnie situation in private and wouldn't accidentally alarm the
others or cause them undue stress.  During that conversation, Steve
informed me of something I did not yet know.  He had called Captain De Luca
before coming to the party and had discovered that a waitress from
Somerset, Pennsylvania had reported waiting on Vinnie and another young man
the previous weekend.  She claimed the two seemed friendly and that the boy
on crutches didn't seem distressed, coerced or there against his will.
This information confused me, as Vinnie car was stolen from a rest area
east of our home, between here and Philly, while Somerset is west of us,
between here and Pittsburgh.  I could not imagine why he would be seen
heading in that direction.

Steve thought it was most likely a false sighting, but I doubted that.  How
many guys fitting Vinnie's description and using crutches could there be?
I don't think too many.  This caused me to wonder why he was there, who the
guy was he had been seen with, and where they were heading.  If it was
Vinnie, then this couldn't have been a planned meeting, because he had
intended spending the whole weekend with Kevin.  So, how did this guy get
involved and was it a voluntary pairing or was there something more
sinister involved?  I had no answers for any of these questions, which only
heightened my sense of dread.

In an attempt not to ruin the party for Trey, I moved our discussion on to
other topics, hoping that would distract me long enough to keep me from
making a fool of myself or bringing this affair to a crashing halt.  I
didn't want my doubt to become too apparent or my fears too obvious, for
most of the boys seemed to be able to read me like a book.  Due to that
fact, I had to keep my emotions under control and focus on making another
son happy today.  It also helped that I found some solace in learning about
the waitress who had seen Vinnie and hearing that she claimed he didn't
seem distressed or fearful.

Getting back to the task at hand, we sat down to enjoy Trey's birthday
dinner, which he had personally selected.  He had asked for Blue Cheese
Chicken, which is a chopped chicken breast, served over bow tie pasta, and
covered with a blue cheese sauce, which also contained bits of bacon.  In
addition to that, we also served everyone a Caesar salad and we had trays
of raw vegetables placed on each table, giving everyone the opportunity to
dip the various items in the extra sauce.

Once the meal was completed, Trey and the rest of the boys put on their
coats, hats, and gloves and went outside to have a snowball fight.  I guess
they figured they could work off their restless energy that way and have a
little fun in the process.  This was especially therapeutic for Little
Ricky, who had been so tense over the past few days that I sometimes
thought he might snap.  It was nice to watch him carry on like a kid again
and have some fun with his new brothers.  The boys hadn't been treating him
with kid gloves, although they were taking it a little easy on him, but I
enjoyed standing in front of the picture window and seeing them all
laughing and having such a good time.  When Little Ricky noticed me
watching him, he smiled and then threw a snowball at the window, not hard
enough to break it, but with enough force to let me know it was intended
for me.

After shaking my finger at him, I ran and put on my own outdoor gear and
sneaked out the backdoor, but I took the time to stop and make a snowball
before I slipped around front.  I peeked around the corner of the house, so
I could locate Little Ricky first, before moving into the open.  Once I had
seen where he was, I stepped forward and let my snowball fly.  I was amazed
at my own aim, when the snowball hit him in the left shoulder, causing him
to look up to see who had assaulted him.  When he saw me standing there
laughing at him, he took the snowball in his hand and threw it at me,
quickly stooping down to make another before charging me.  His first
projectile missed me, but I wasn't about to give him a second chance, so I
raced forward and tackled him, putting us both on the ground in the snow.

Little Ricky was laughing hysterically now, trying desperately to get away
from me, so I started to scoop snow off the ground and throw it on him,
using one hand to hold him down and the other hand to continue to brush
snow all over him.  The more snow that landed on his body, the harder he
laughed, and soon he had me laughing so hard that I could no longer hold
him down.  That's when he got away from me and began to use both of his
hands to heap snow upon me.  By this time, the other boys saw what was
happening and came over to assist Little Ricky, and before long I had snow
flying at me from several directions.  Having to save face and not be
bested by my boys, I began to grab them one at a time, pulling them down
into the snow, in one big pile.  Then I managed to get up and position my
body across the heap of wiggling forms, trying to keep them all pinned to
the ground.

We were all laughing so much that we hardly heard the rapping on the
picture window, but when we looked up, there stood the rest of the family
enjoying our antics.  They were all smiling, waving, or pointing at us, and
we could tell they were getting as much enjoyment watching us, as we were
having taking part in this madness.  Discovering they now had an audience
only spurred the boys on and soon they had all escaped my grasp and were
multilaterally renewing their attack on my person.  Before long, I was
beginning to look like Frosty the Snowman, because I had so much snow
clinging to my body and clothes.

Totally soaked and beginning to get chilled, I surrendered to their
magnanimous good will, hoping they would take pity on an old man.  I should
have known better than to do that, because it just encouraged them to
utilize more devious plans against me, making the most of one of the rare
occasions they had bested me.  Using this new superiority against me, they
made me get on my knees and stretch out prone before them, so I could beg
their forgiveness for every perceived grievance they had against me.  They
weren't about to let me get off that easily, however, and they wanted to
watch me suffer a little more, so Andrew and Little Ricky decided I deserve
a spanking for my affront.  With me bent over on the ground, the two moved
behind me, one on each side, and began whacking me playfully on the butt,
eliciting even more laughter from their brothers and those watching from
inside the house.  Once they felt I had been appropriately punished, they
let me up, and we all went to the back of the house to reenter, so we
wouldn't track snow throughout the entire house.

Once we rejoined the others in the family room, everyone else had to give
us his or her view of how they saw our little spectacle, but mostly I heard
that I probably deserved that spanking or it had been a long time in
coming.  Seeing I wasn't going to get any sympathy or any support from
anyone here, I excused myself to go dry off and change, as did many of the
boys.  When I had finished toweling off and putting on dry clothes, I
opened the door to my room, but all I saw was a blur, before I felt two
arms wrap around my body and squeeze me.

"Thanks, Pop," I heard a voice say, before I looked down to see it was
Little Ricky who was now entwined around me, like a constrictor.  "That was
great!  I loved it.  Thanks for coming out and doing that for me.  I love
you, Pop."

Words escaped me at that point, so I just hugged him back, letting him know
that I appreciated his comments and loved him too.  He didn't seem to want
to let go of me right away, so I stood there holding him until he decided
it was time to break our embrace.  As we walked back to join the others, I
put my arm around his shoulders and we walked to the family room like that,
but as soon as we were in sight of everyone else, I put him in a headlock
and gave him a nuggy.  That's when you rub your knuckles back and forth
across the top of a person's head, so the friction causes some discomfort,
but not unbearable pain.  As I did this, I told him, "I always get in the
last word or action," which caused another round of laughter in the room,
from those watching us.

"You cheat," Little Ricky wailed, before he began to laugh again.

"Nope.  I just have impeccable timing," I replied, letting go of his head
and pulling his whole body against mine, giving him another affectionate
hug.  He responded in kind, though he did have his own comment to make as
he did so.

"I'll get even with you for this," he threatened, lightheartedly, which
elicited a feigned hurt expression and then a pout from me, which caused
him to cuff me playfully on the shoulder.

Once we ended our frolicsome exchange, we turned our attention back to
Trey, who had been enjoying all of our antics, even though this was
supposed to be his day and he should have been the center of attention.  I
pulled him aside, to apologize for getting carried away during his party,
but he didn't seem to want to hear it.

"I loved it," he assured me, trying to put my mind at ease.  "I haven't had
that much fun in ages and wouldn't mind doing it again sometime.  Don't
worry, Dad.  All of us had a great time."

At that point, I felt it was a good time to have his cake and ice cream and
let Trey open his presents, and my announcement met with the approval of
all, especially the boys.  I guess they had burned off enough calories
outdoors to take care of the meal that they had only recently devoured, so
I made sure to give each of them a little larger portion than was normal.
It was lucky that Jake and I had mistakenly each ordered a cake, so we had
more than enough to go around.

After the presents were unwrapped and all those who had given the gifts had
been thanked, the topic of Vinnie was broached again.  After telling them
all I could, some of the extended family tried to think of things we might
be able to do to locate him, something we hadn't thought of before.  After
a lengthy discussion, it was decided the best thing we could do was to
start putting out more fliers along I-76 and I-70, the ones with Vinnie's
picture and our phone number on it.  Seeing the last report we had about
him was that he had been seen heading west, traveling with some other guy,
we decided to put the majority of the leaflets out along the westbound
lanes of those two interstates.  That way, we might be able to generate
more information as to his whereabouts.  Although we weren't sure how
successful that effort would be, it was definitely worth a try.

We also decided that we'd notify the State Police in both Ohio and West
Virginia too, in case Vinnie and this other guy decided to head out of
Pennsylvania.  None of us had any idea why Vinnie might be with this
person, especially since he could have asked him to drop him off at the
exit close to our home on the way.  Did this suggest Vinnie was a captive
of sorts, possibly abducted from the rest area?  The waitress had said
Vinnie seemed to be in a good mood and with the guy voluntarily, if it had
in deed been Vinnie she had seen.  Then again, what's the possibility of
another young man on crutches and looking like Vinnie being in that area?

This caused me to think about that situation again.  Could this possibly be
someone Vinnie had known in the past?  Is it possible he called the guy
after he saw Kevin with that other boy?  There were so many questions and
so few answers that it was driving me nuts.  I didn't think this was like
Vinnie, because he'd never done anything like this before, but maybe it was
just his way of dealing with Kevin's infidelity.  Was this an attempt to
run away for good, or was he just trying to run away from a hurtful
situation?  No matter what his reasons for doing this, the one thing that
bothered me the most was that he didn't bother to call me to let me know
where he was, what he was doing or that he never tried to discuss what had
happened with me.  I thought we had a better relationship than this.

After we had beaten this issue to death, the others went home, and I set
about printing more of those fliers.  Jake and I would head out tomorrow,
and seeing the two routes ran together for quite a while, we agreed that
I'd stop at all the even numbered exits, while Jake got off at the odd
numbered off-ramps.  We'd also take turns stopping at the rest areas too,
making sure we left a poster on the bulletin board there, before we left.
We'd do that until I-76 and I-70 split, and then Jake would continue on
I-76, and I'd follow I-70.  From that point on, we'd stop at all the exits
and continue on until we hit the state border.

While we were finishing getting things ready for our trips, Kevin phoned
and wanted to speak with me.  "Dad, have you heard from Vinnie yet?"

"No, Kevin, I haven't?"

"Dad, I feel soooo bad.  This is all my fault."  His voice was choked and
full of emotion.

"I won't argue that point now, but we have heard a report that he was seen
at a restaurant west of here, so there's still hope.  Don't get too
discouraged yet."

"I know, but I'm sooooo worried about him."

"I understand and Jake and I are going out tomorrow to put out some more
posters, hoping that will generate some new information about him."

"You have to let me come home and help.  I can't just stay here and do
nothing.  I have to help find him and apologize for what I've done."

"Kevin, we won't have time to come get you and still have time to do this
tomorrow.  I think it's more important that we get these fliers out where
people can see them, so you'll just have to stay put and let us do what we
can."

"What if I take the bus home or find another ride?"  He sounded hopeful.

"Kevin, there isn't time for that and I don't want you just taking off with
anyone.  That's why it's important for you to stay where you are for now."

"But this would never have happened, if it hadn't have been for me and what
I did."

"That might be, but it won't change the fact that you probably couldn't get
here in time. Therefore, I want you to stay at school."

"But, Dad." Kevin began to whine, before I stopped him.

"No, this stops here and now.  I will do this much for you though.  If
Vinnie isn't home by next weekend, someone will come to get you next Friday
and bring you home or I'll let you take the bus then.  Deal?"

"But, Dad." I cut him off again.

"It's that or you stay where you are, so is it a deal or not?"  There was a
pause and I knew he was thinking it over.

"I can't come home before that?" he finally asked.

"No.  I'll let you come home next weekend, but not before.  There's nothing
you'd be able to do here and the rest of us will still be going to school
and work, so you might as well just stay there and attend classes.  Like I
said, next weekend you can come home and then one of us will take you back
before Monday."

"Dad!!!" he bellowed into the phone, but I didn't let him continue.

"Kevin, there's nothing you can do by staying here.  I will let you come
back for the weekend, but only for the weekend.  If you can live with that,
then I'll call you Wednesday and tell you what arrangements I've made.
Otherwise, you can just stay there.  What's your choice?"

"Okay, I'll do it your way, but I'm not happy about it."

"I know, but that's the best I can do for you.  And I suggest you don't
goof around with your studies during that time either.  If you do, you'll
regret your actions later, when Vinnie is back home and everything is back
to normal."

"Okay, okay.  I'll do what you want."  There was a pause on the other end
of the line.  "And just so you know," he began again, "I understand that
you think you're doing what's best for both Vinnie and me, so thanks...but
I still don't agree with you."  He did manage to get in his final shot, but
I decided to ignore it.

"Okay.  I love you and I'll talk to you Wednesday then.  If you need to
talk, just call, but we'll call you if there are any changes."

"Bye, Dad, and I love you too."

'Yes,' I thought to myself, 'sometimes you do have to put your foot down
and be a son-of-a-bitch to be a good parent.'

                 *    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

If you have enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me
at 'BW's Rainbow Youth Connection,' at http://bwsryc.gayauthors.org/ 

You can also locate my stories by clicking on the Nifty author link and
scrolling down to "BW".  This will give you the links for everything I have
posted there.

I also love to hear from my readers and get their reaction to my stories.
If you don't mind, please share whatever information you feel comfortable
with, because it helps knowing my readers better when I decide what to
write or how to gear it.  Please email me at bwstories8@aol.com and let me
know what you thought, so I can do even better in the future.  Thanks,
Bill.