Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:21:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: BR
Subject: Two Boys A Love Story Part 8

This story is fiction with fictional characters and situations. Please
don't read if you're under 18 or live in a restrictive jurisdiction.


			  Two Boys: A Love Story
				 Part VIII


Mom and I drove to Adam's the next morning. I was so upset the night before
after Adam broke the news, that I ran downstairs to Mom and begged her in
tears to drive me out to his house so that I could be with him right up
until he left. Don had no idea either and called Sherry. Sherry herself
apparently didn't even know about it until then, everyone was in absolute
shock. Mom was also really sad, both for me, and also because she liked
Adam too, and she was going to miss him just as much as I was. She told me
while I sobbed that the family needed to be by themselves tonight to get
ready, but that she would drive me by there in the morning. I went upstairs
and tried texting and calling Adam again, but got no response. I lay down
on my bed and cried myself to sleep.

We drove to the house and there was a tractor trailer at the front, and men
were going in and out of the front door carrying lamps, chairs, furniture,
and other items. A Realtor was pushing a "For Sale" sign into the ground by
the driveway. Mom parked along the curb and we both walked to the
house. Sherry was in the front foyer directing the movers. She saw us and
came over and gave us both a big hug.

"Thanks for coming." She said with a sad look. "Buyer, Adam's in his
room. I know he's going to want to see you." She said.

She hadn't even finished what she was saying before I was running up the
stairs and dodging two movers who were coming down with a rolled up
carpet. Adam's door was slightly open so I pushed my way in. Adam was
filling a box up with some books and things. His room was already almost
empty, with only the bed, the couch, and the desks remaining. Several taped
boxes marked "Adam's room" in black magic marker were stacked near the
door. He also had two packed suitcases. Adam dropped what he was doing and
rushed over to where I was and threw his arms around me. I embraced him
back and we stayed that way until a couple of movers came in to take the
small desk out.

"What the fuck?" I said after the movers left.

Adam looked tired and sad, like he hadn't slept. "Gerald is selling his
company and he bought a place in Malibu, so we're going to move to Malibu,
I guess." He said.

"I didn't read anywhere that Gerald was selling Lintronix." I said.

"It hasn't been announced yet." Adam said. "He's selling it to
Microsoft. We're going to be super rich." This should have been good news
but Adam sounded like he was talking about a favorite pet dying.

"I'm going to miss you, Adam..." I said as tears swelled up in my eyes.

Adam burst into tears and grabbed me in another embrace. Never in my life
had I ever felt as sad as I did then while we hugged.

Maddie then came down the stairs and into the room. She was just as upset
as Adam was. Maddie and I hugged and cried just as Adam and I had.

"I can't believe Gerald did this to us." She sniffled as she wiped a tear
away and sat on Adam's bed.

"I'm never going to forget you, Maddie." I said. Maddie and Adam were
sitting on his bed clutching each others hand, and they both looked so
unhappy and miserable.

"When do you guys leave?" I asked.

"Soon. Our flight is at one but we need to be at the airport by eleven to
get checked in." Maddie said.

I checked my Droid and it was 10:45. "My God, that's right now." I said.

I helped Adam box up the rest of his stuff. We cried and hugged a couple
more times and made promises over and over to each other to call and email
and text each other everyday. My stomach felt like it had a lead weight in
it. As we finished taping up a box, Sherry called from downstairs to say
the airport van was there, so this was it.

We went downstairs. Sherry stood and watched sadly as we descended the
stairs. She came over to me when I got to the bottom and gave me a big
hug. Mom hugged Adam too, and both of them were crying. Sherry then asked
me if she could talk to me in private. We went over to Gerald's study,
which was curiously intact. She sat on a chair and put her hands on my
shoulders.

"Byron, I just want to thank you for being such a wonderful friend to my
son. You are a terrific, terrific, sweet young man. I'm so sorry that this
had to end up this way." She said.

"I love Adam." I said, and then burst into tears.

"I know." She said. "And I think that's wonderful." She smiled, and then
hugged me again.

"I'm going to miss Maddie and you too. You were always really nice to me
when I came over here." I said as I wiped away a tear.

We hugged again and went back out to the lobby. Don had arrived for the
print shop. Maddie was crying and being consoled by Mom. Don was hugging
Adam. When Sherry came out, Don gave her a big hug and they went into
Gerald's study to talk. We helped Maddie and Adam get all the luggage into
the van and waited for Don and Sherry to come out.

Once Sherry and Don emerged, Adam and Maddie both went into the van and put
their seat belts on. Sherry gave me and Mom and Don once last hug, and then
got into the car. Adam then pulled off his seat belt and rushed out into
Don's arms, then Mom's. Finally he got to me. We just looked in each others
eyes for a few seconds, and then we hugged one last time. I smelled his
shirt, and his breathe, and his shampoo, trying to take it all in so that I
could remember it forever. He then got back in the van, and the driver got
out and shut the door. I could see Adam and Maddie both looking at me from
the inside. Just then I saw a little boy riding up on a bike, it was
Roger. He parked his bike by the driveway. The van began pulling out and I
started running after it down the driveway.

"Adam...?" Said Roger with a puzzled tone as the van pulled out past
him. Adam waved at him and Roger waved back with a puzzled look on his
face. I ran down to the street, waving at the van. I saw Maddie and Adam
and Sherry all waving at me from from the inside. The van made a semi
circle, went into drive, and disappeared down the road. I stood there
silently. Mom came over and put her hand on my shoulder. Don got in his car
and drove off after the van, as he was going to see them off at the
airport. Just like that, my very best friend was gone. I teared up again,
and Mom squeezed my shoulder. We then got into our car and started to drive
off. As we pulled away I saw Roger standing there on his bike, looking
confused and sad. I waved to him and he waved back, and I felt miserable
because I knew that I probably would not see him again.  On the way home I
didn't stop crying once, and neither did Mom.

During that whole summer, Adam and I kept in constant contact on text,
email, and through phone calls. Adam spent the first week in California
depressed and holed up in his room, but soon discovered that he had the
Pacific Ocean as his backyard. By the end of the summer, he had taken up
surfing and was getting regular lessons in it. I spent most of August with
my Dad back up in Maryland. Adam said in an email that Sherry and Don
worked out an arrangement to where he and Maddie would spend the Christmas
holidays and summers with Don in lieu of the fortnightly visits, so that
meant I would get to have extended visits with them then. When I got back
from Dad's at the end of August, I discovered that Mom and Don were
starting to not get along so well. Instead of being kept up at night by the
sounds of love making, and Don partying downstairs, I was starting to be
kept up by the sounds of fighting and arguing.

I started Junior High in the fall at Rio Flora Junior High, the same Junior
High school that Adam used to have his soccer games at. The first day was
rough, I had my schedule and I was trying to get used to where every room
was. In my homeroom I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and a
gorgeous girl with strawberry blond hair and freckles was asking to borrow
a piece of paper. I removed one of the sheets from my Trapper Keeper,
handed it to her, and she told me her name was Kari. Kari became my steady
girlfriend, and she and a group of other kids became my closest, best
friends in school. I finally settled down and accepted Lakeland as my
home. The only problems I had were at back at Don's house.

Mom and Don were starting to fight more and more. After his kids moved
away, Don became depressed and started drinking and binging more and
more. He was starting to not bother to open the print shop. He would sleep
until noon, with Rich and James frantically calling him to find out where
he was. He would then start drinking, or worse, at noon or earlier.

I buried myself in my schoolwork to escape from the thickening tension at
home. I tried to avoid telling Adam in our communications about the
deteriorating situation, but he seemed to sense that all was not well, and
he started suggesting that I figure out a way to join him out in
California. it also turned out that Kari had been emailing him about it.

One Friday night in late October, Mom, Don, and I were having dinner. Don
was staggering around drunk. The print shop had not been open for over a
week sue to Don having been at home on a booze and drugs binge. Mom was
irritated due to having discovered all this earlier in the day after
returning home from work when Rich called her about it.

"So how was your week at the shop, Don?" Mom asked as she pulled some
spaghetti out of the big bowl with her fork and spoon.

"It was ok." He said as he slurped some spaghetti into his mouth, followed
by a big swig of PBR.

"What if I said I knew you were full of shit?" She said angrily, without
looking at him.

"I don't know, what if you said that?" He said with half closed eyes.

Mom slammed her fork onto her plate. "Dammit Don! You haven't even opened
the shop all week! You've sat around here all day stuffing yourself with
booze and drugs!"

"What does that matter to you?" he slurred.

"It matters because I can't support both of us in this house!"

"Well maybe then you should talk to that Sherry cunt and see if she'll pay
me back all the goddam alimony and child support she's reamed out of my
ass! How about you do that!"  Don yelled.

"Your alimony and your child support is not my business, Don! And if you
really knew me and gave a shit about you and me, you would already know
that!" She yelled.

Don's eyes blazed up as though a roman candle had been lit.  He then pushed
all the dishes off the table with a loud snarl.

"Well fuck you then!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. He then rushed
over and threw Mom to the ground off of her chair. He got on top of her and
started pounding her in her face while she screamed. I got up and pushed
him down onto his side, which allowed Mom to get up and onto her feet.

"You piece of shit!" He yelled as he pounced up at me and knocked me down
to the ground. He then tried to punch me in my face but I blocked his first
shot with my hand. He then hit me with his other fist and connected with
the side of my neck. A third punch landed on my right jaw and a burst of
pain radiated through my face. Mom then came up behind him and grabbed Don
by his hair and threw him off of me. I got up to my feet as Mom kicked Don
in the groin hard. He started coughing and sputtering, She then grabbed my
arm and said "let's go let's go!!" as she grabbed her purse and we ran out
the door. We didn't stop until we got to the car. "Get in the car get in
the car!" Mom said as she unlocked her door and reached in to unlock
mine. As I got into the car, Don came running out of the house towards us
full speed. Mom started the car just as Don grabbed the latch on my door,
which I had immediately locked as soon as I got in the car. Mom sped off as
Don
banged on the back window, and we fled into the night. Mom was crying and
asked if I was hurt. I said I wasn't, but my jaw was hurting pretty bad
from where Don had popped me. We then realized that we didn't have any of
our stuff with us, everything was back at Don's house.

We found a filthy little motel outside of town and checked in. Mom was
weeping so inconsolably that I had to help her check us in at the front
desk. Once we got to the room, I checked out her face and saw that she had
a cut over her left eye, some bruises, and a swollen lip. I went to the
bathroom and got some wet toilet paper and rubbed her face with it. She
grabbed her purse and took out some anti depressants. Soon she was asleep
on the bed. I was upset because I had no way of reaching Adam or Kari. My
computer and my Droid were both in my room at Don's. Mom didn't have her
cell phone with her either.  I picked up the phone and tried to dial Adam's
number, but it was long distance and was asking for a credit card, and
Mom's card was at the front desk. I called Kari and told her what had
happened. She told me to call her tomorrow and that she would see if her
Dad would accompany us to the house so that we could get our stuff. Her dad
was a 300 pound martial arts instructor and would provide more than enough
protection if we needed it, so I told her I would call them tomorrow when
Mom woke up. I was secretly worried about what kind of mental state Mom
would be in when she woke up. After I hung up, I watched TV and eventually
slipped into a troubled sleep.



The next day Mom woke up and immediately said we were going back to
Don's. I told her that I had talked to Kari, and that she and her Dad were
willing to accompany us back to the house to help out in case Don flew into
another rage. She agreed, and I called Kari. Soon, she, her dad, and her
older brother all showed up. We all went back to the house and walked to
the front door. Don's car was there, but Marco's was not. Marco usually
worked on Saturday's, as did Don. Mom knocked on the door a few times and
there was no answer. She then called Don's number and there was till no
answer. She called the house line and we could hear the phone ringing from
the outside, but again still, no answer. We then figured that Don was
either completely passed out or not at home. Mom took her key, unlocked the
door, and we all stepped inside. To the stunned horror of us all, we saw
the TV on with no sound, the place cleaner than any of us had ever seen it,
and Don lying dead on the floor.

			     End of part VIII