WARNING: If it is illegal for you to be reading these stories or you find them disgusting or immoral, please refrain from reading further. Must be 18+ to read! Any characters, places, or people depicted in this story is entirely in the fantasy and imagination of the writer and in no way reflects his/her personal morals or beliefs when relating to relationships between minors and adults. Any people, places, or actions depicted in this story that reflect real life events or situations is entirely by accident or coincidence.

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Chapter Sixteen

 

        Andrew started by saying since I am Randy's uncle, and that his parents have given up custody, it should be a cake walk. But, (there's always a but) the parents have granted me custody. To get the adoption approved, it would mean both would have to give up all parental rights. I figured there would be no problem with that from James, but I honestly didn't know if Deena would go that far with it. Also, the judge said there was a boatload of other factors. There was no problem on material means testing, I easily had enough fiscally to support Randy. We also had to have complete medical history on file and I would have to be evaluated by a state psychiatrist. In addition, Randy would have to be screened about a million ways too. The whole adoption hearing today had basically been a list of things we had to do to be considered. A social worker was assigned to our case and was scheduled for a home visit the first of next week. Andrew said this list was a good bit more extensive than ones he had handled before. It could be because both birth parents were still living, it could be because I was gay and had my partner living in the home. That second one sounded like perfect fodder for a discrimination lawsuit, but I agreed we would try it their way first. I was just wishing that my friend `Teddy Bear' was the presiding judge.

        To add to the steaming pile of stress I already had, the court, who was usually glacially slow, wasted no time contacting my sister and Satan. Deena didn't waste any time in calling me to ask "What the fuck is going on?" when her call waiting beeped in. When she tried to switch over to the other line, she ended up accidently making a three-way conversation. The woman on the other line identified herself as Eileen Burke, the social worker assigned to our case. I quickly hit the button to record the call and muted my phone. Ms. Burke, for all the world, sounded like she was badgering my sister. She asked Deena if it wasn't in the best interest of the child to be in the home with his parents. Deena said, not in this case, he is better off with my brother. Ms. Burke pushed the issue, "do you really want your child to be living with two homosexuals" with acidic emphasis on the `homosexuals'. Deena upped it another level when she told the woman, my son is a faggot too, so he is right at home with those faggots over there. Now, Mrs. Hall, the social worker continued, what if those quote faggots unquote are sexually abusing him? Deena laughed out loud at that, "it would be more likely that he was abusing them" she said. James must have walked in the room about then, and in the background, I could hear him ask Deena what was going on. She said I have a social worker on the phone trying to talk me into taking Randy back from Jack. James took the phone from her and shouted at the social worker "STOP CALLING HERE, WE GAVE THE QUEER CUSTODY OF THE LITTLE FAGGOT!! CASE CLOSED!" The social worker didn't have a chance to say anything else as James hung up the phone. I hit stop on the recording and hung up.

        Deena called back in a few minutes, I hit record and said hello, she asked "Now what is going on and why are these social services people calling us?" I told her I had petitioned the court to adopt Randy, but she and James would have to sign papers terminating all parental rights. "FINE!" she yelled "Send the papers to us so we can get on with our lives!" Then she hung up on me, I ended this recording too. I would have never in a million years believed I could hate my sister and her husband more than I already did, but I was proven wrong tonight.

        A few minutes later, the phone rang again. This time it was Ms. Burke, the social worker.

        "Hello, Mr. Oliver, I'm Eileen Burke. I was calling to schedule a home visit with you" she said in a saccharine sweet voice.

        "Are you sure you want to come into a house of sinful homosexuals" I asked her in the same tone of voice she had used when talking to my sister.

        "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Mr. Oliver" she sounded nervous.

        "I'm sure you do, Ms. Burke" I replied.

        "In any case, when would be a good time for you?" she continued.

        "As soon as possible" I said "do you make weekend house calls?"

        "No, sir" she said "but I can put you down for first thing Monday morning, how does...8:30 sound?"

        "Fine" I said "call me when you get to the gate and I'll let you in."

 

        Luis had overheard my conversation and came up behind me where I was sitting in a kitchen chair. He started rubbing my shoulders.

        "Damn baby, you are so tense, what's going on?" he asked.

        "I'm just so tired of all these shitty people; my shitty, fucked up family, the piece of shit government bureaucrats, everybody who's out to make my life miserable" I said breaking down a little.

        "I won't let `em" he said.

        "You won't let `em what?" I said.

        "I won't let `em make your life miserable" he said.

        "I know you care, amado, but in this case we are at the whim of the court. You can't fight city hall and all that" I said.

        "The hell you can't! You have friends, use them. Call Teddy Bear and get him to intercede for you" he said.

        "Where the hell did you come up with the word `intercede'" I said, kind of chuckling.

        "We were all raised good Catholic boys, we all know what intercession is, Mother Mary intercedes for us" he said with a smile.

        "When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be" I replied, in song form.

        Luis had a point. I looked through my contacts and called Judge Melton. I asked if there was any way he could talk to Judge Drummond about my case, as a friend. He said he would try, but Judge Drummond was a tough cookie. I told him whatever intercession he could provide would be very appreciated. Luis winked and smiled at me, and went back to massaging the knots out of my neck. I looked at the time on my phone, it was 5:05. I told Luis we wouldn't be bothered any more because everybody knows bureaucracy does not operate after 5pm, and especially not on a weekend.

 

        Around 7:30 I got another call; this one was from Wayne. He texted me a photo of him and Remy standing on the balcony at Remy's apartment.

        "I like him a lot, like I told you before y'all left" he said. "It's got me so confused. I want to run back home one minute, and the next I never want to leave here. If this is what you're calling `love' then I don't see the attraction. I don't know what the hell to do."

        "You'll figure it out" I said "growing up is scary, even when you're in your 30s."

        "All I've been able to think about is your speech about settling down and going to the Cracker Barrel to eat. I had a dream of me and Remy, but we were two old men. We were standing over the bathroom sink putting Poligrip on our teeth, getting ready for dinner at the Cracker Barrel."

        "That's kind of sweet, actually" I said.

        "In my dream, the clock said it was 4:30. We were getting ready to go to Cracker Barrel at 4:30, for God's sake!" he said.

        I couldn't help but laugh. Luis was sitting close enough he could hear the conversation; he was laughing too.

        "Well, I'm glad y'all think my anxiety is funny!" he said.

        "Wayne, if you would sit back and go with the flow, the anxiety will go away" I told him. "You're making too big a deal of your first love, nothing's to say it will even last."

        Heavy sigh. "Well, it's my first...you know...love. I don't have anything to compare it to, but I'm too old to live through this more than once" he said.

        "Maybe you won't have to if you don't blow it by overthinking it and self-sabotaging it" I told him.

        "Remy's out of the shower, I gotta go, talk to you later" he said, hanging up on me. Third hang up today. I clicked the phone on silent mode.

 

        It was about 8pm. I looked down the hall and saw lights on in both bedrooms and both doors closed. I guess the hormones had settled down for a little bit.

        "Let's go start the fire pit and sit outside for a while" I said. We went out and lit the gas fire pit and pulled up a couple of chairs and listened to the cicadas; a sure sign summer was winding down. We sat and looked at the stars, holding hands for a while. I'm not sure which one of us started yawning first, but it was contagious. It was only about 9:30 but I was exhausted and ready for bed.

        "Tomorrow we can go to Cracker Barrel" Luis cracked. We both laughed as we turned off the fire pit and made our way back inside. The lights were still on in both bedrooms down the hall. Thank goodness for headphones. We turned out the lights and started to call it a night. We were getting in bed when it hit me that Randy had told me he'd be 16 on the 10th. The 10th is Monday, social worker day. What a shitty way to spend his birthday. Luis said "we'll make it up to him. Wanna take him to Cancun?" he said sarcastically, then laughed like a hyena again. I cut off the lamp and ignored his continuing chuckles.

 

Lambodara 9/21/20

lambodara@protonmail.com