Bill W

Castaway Hotel II

Chapters 21-30

Chapter 21
Coping With the Hand You're Dealt

Nothing more was said about Frankie until later that evening. The boys had finished showering and we were sitting in the family room, when Trey spoke up. "I just want to thank all of you for coming to help me earlier. I was really scared when Frankie came after me like that."

"That's what brothers are for," Dustin told him.

"Trey," Ricky added, "one thing we all agree on is that no one has to do anything they don't want to do, except for chores, of course." He made a face when he added the last part and directed it at me.

"But I feel like I made you send Frankie away," Trey acknowledged, admitting that he felt guilty about the whole incident.

"No, Frankie was the one who made me send Frankie away," I countered. "At first I attempted to reason with him and then I made an effort to explain what type of things are expected and what isn't allowed. When that didn't work, I even tried to just make demands of him, letting him know how he was to behave, but Frankie just didn't want to listen. I only sent him away because I was afraid he might harm someone if he continued living here. That, along with the other things he was involved with."

"What do you mean?" Trey asked, still slightly confused.

"Look, I eventually realized that Frankie had been the one who organized the party at the house and you guys just covered for him," I began.

"That's not quite right," Danny corrected.

"Yeah, we all agreed to go along with him," Pat confessed. "We thought it might be fun."

"Even if that's true," I countered, "I don't think such a thing would have ever occurred, without his input and influence." The boys just seemed to nod their heads, while looking back and forth at each other.

"But that wasn't all he did," I added, "but I've come to accept that Frankie caused his own misfortune."

"Wait, what else did he do?" Ricky asked, picking up on my earlier comment.

"Just wait here," I told them. "I'll be back in a minute."

I left the room, went upstairs, and soon came back to the family room. I walked in and handed the boom box to Kevin and Dustin. "I believe this is yours," I informed them.

They looked it over and their faces lit up. "Yes, it is. Where did you find it?" Kevin asked.

"I found it in Frankie's room, while I was packing his things up for him to leave," I explained.

"Did you find my chain there too?" Danny asked, looking hopeful.

"No, I'm afraid I didn't," I admitted. "I also didn't notice him wearing it either, so I'm afraid he probably sold it and spent the cash. I'll get you a new one to replace it, though, and Ricky, Cole and Graham, this is to cover your losses." I held out my hand and gave them a $50 bill. "This should replace the rest of the money he took from you."

"I think it's too much, Dad," Ricky said. "You already gave us $20.00 and I don't think we had that much more."

"Keep the extra for the trouble and inconvenience," I suggested. Hearing my reply, they smiled and eagerly accepted the money.

It was unusually quiet for the rest of the evening, as we all somehow still felt we had failed Frankie. The boys had always said we were there to help whoever needed it, and this was the first time we hadn't succeeded. I think they were learning failure is something you have to live with from time to time, but it's still never easy to accept. I looked at it optimistically, as one of life's important lessons for them.

Before long, the boys began leaving me, as they headed up to bed. Dustin talked Trey into helping him assist Kevin, as our wounded warrior climbed up the stairs to my room. Too bad the new master bedroom wasn't ready yet, or he wouldn't have had to go through this. When Kevin finally got there, he sat on the side of the bed to rest.

"Trey, did you really mean the things that you wrote on the computer," Kevin asked him, point blank.

Trey looked at Kevin, and for some reason he wasn't afraid to admit the truth to either Kevin or Dustin any longer. "Yeah, I did," he confessed, although he still couldn't quite look them squarely in the eyes as he did so. "After we started doing things together, I wanted to do more, but I wasn't sure how you'd react if I asked. I hope that doesn't bother you."

"No, not at all," Kevin assured him. "I won't be doing much for a while, but if you don't mind waiting, Dustin and I will do whatever you want when I get better. We've already talked it over earlier and we've both agreed to it."

Trey began to beam. "You mean that?" he bubbled, hardly believing his ears. "You two would really do that for me?"

"Yeah, if that's what you want," Dustin confirmed. "Heck, we'd be nuts to turn down an offer like that. You're cute, maybe a little skinny, but you've got a nice butt and you're probably really tight."

Trey blushed. "I suppose I am," Trey agreed. "I've never had anything up there before. It won't hurt, will it?"

"We'll loosen you up first," Kevin assured him. "It may hurt just a little at first, but not for very long. After a short time, it will be feeling great."

"Trey, we'd never hurt you," Dustin added, "and we wouldn't do it, unless we thought you'd enjoy it. We're all brothers and we take care of each other and protect each other, so we'll be as gentle as we can."

"I've already found out that you guys protect each other," Trey acknowledged, while thinking back to how they came to his rescue earlier, "and now I'm extremely glad I have so many wonderful brothers. When my parents and sister died, I spent most of the time feeling sorry for myself, because I had lost all of the people I cared about and who cared about me. I was totally alone and I was still feeling this way when I first came here. Actually, I'd even kind of convinced myself that I wasn't going to like living here either. Then after learning only boys lived here, I didn't want to leave. Being gay, I can only compare it to a person with a very big sweet tooth getting locked in a candy factory. The problem was, I couldn't go around and sample the treats. I didn't dare tell anyone and couldn't act on my feelings, because I didn't know how you guys would react. I was scared to death you'd find out and afraid I'd make some kind of a mistake, which would cause you to want me to leave."

"Why did you think that?" Kevin asked. "I thought we were all pretty nice to you."

"You were," Trey agreed, "but I was scared that if you found out I was queer you'd hate me and throw me out. The longer I was here, the more I began to like being here. Then that night in your room, when we did those things, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Then earlier, after Frankie told everyone I was gay and wanted to have sex with you two, I just knew everyone was going to hate me after that. I was prepared to be taken away, instead of Frankie, or maybe even with Frankie. I was so shocked when Mr. Currie wanted me to stay, and now you two just offered to make my dreams come true. I'm so happy I'm living here that I can't even begin to describe it."

"Well, we're happy you're here too, Trey," Kevin told him. "Trey, may I ask you a question though?"

"Sure, anything," Trey responded, enthusiastically.

"Why do you still call Dad Mr. Currie or Josh?" Kevin followed. "I know he thinks you're pretty swell and loves you as much as he does the rest of us."

"I know he does and I've thought about calling him 'Dad,' but I just can't get myself do it," he confessed. "For some reason, every time I do, I think of my own dad and I loved him a lot. I just can't see me calling anyone else that."

"Well, how about this then?" Kevin began to suggest. "Brandon and Jay call him 'Pop,' heck so do Michael and Robert, now that I think of it. Do you think you might be able to do that, instead of calling him 'Dad'?"

"Michael and Robert?" Trey asked, when those names didn't ring a bell.

"Yes, Dad's older sons," Kevin told him.

"Oh, yeah, I remember hearing about them," Trey mused. "And they call him Pop?"

"Yep," Kevin responded, while also nodding his head. "I'm not sure why, but they do."

"Oh, okay," Trey mumbled, as he thought about that possibility. "Yeah, I guess I could," he finally agreed. "I never called my dad that, so I guess it would be all right."

"I think that would make Dad feel better too," Dustin told him. "I know he says he doesn't mind what we call him, but he loves us all like sons and treats us so well that I think the rest of us feel bad for him, when you and Frankie called him 'Josh' or 'Mr. Currie.' I mean, just look at all he's done for us. He adopted the whole bunch of us boys and I'd be surprised if he didn't offer to adopt you and Pat too. I guess maybe it's more like the rest of us want everyone to call him either 'Dad' or 'Pop'. That way, we'll also feel more like a family too."

"You're probably right," Trey conceded, "so I'll try to remember to call him 'Pop' from now on, but remind me if I forget. Okay?"

"Yeah, bro," Dustin said, with a huge smile on his face, "we can do that."

The three boys sat on the bed, talked some more and were still chatting when I came up to bed. "Okay, I'll see you both in the morning," Kevin told them, as I entered the room.

"Sure thing, bro," Dustin quipped back.

"Yeah, Kev, I'll see you right after I wake up," Trey confirmed, and then he walked over to me, which came as a surprise. He gave me a big hug and looked up at me, fluttering his eyes. "Good night, Pop, and thanks for earlier," he told me.

I immediately caught what he said, but I wasn't sure about his change in attitude. I must admit I might not have caught it if he had called me 'Dad,' but the word 'Pop' stuck out, because outside of my oldest sons, only Brandon and Jay called me that. In response, I smiled at him and kissed him on the forehead.

"Good night and I would have done that for any of my sons," I explained, hoping he would catch the full meaning of my statement.

He must have, because he immediately gave me another hug right after I said it. As soon as he released his grip on me, Dustin and he went off to bed and I changed Kevin's bandage, before I crawled into bed beside him. Before we fell asleep, Kevin eagerly filled me in on what the three of them had talked about, before I arrived, at least as far as the sex was concerned. After he did that, he also told me about what motivated Trey to start calling me 'Pop.'

Concerned about how this had come to pass, I explained they hadn't needed to force Trey into doing it, if he wasn't ready yet, but Kevin insisted Trey was ready. "It wasn't that he didn't think of you as his dad and even wanted to call you that," Kevin informed me, "It was just that he needed another option for the word 'Dad', because of his own father and all. The only thing Dustin or I did was to give him that option."

I thanked him and assured him I'd also thank Dustin later. We positioned ourselves to go to sleep and I made sure we stayed on opposite sides of the large bed, so I wouldn't accidentally bump against his healing region. Fortunately, we made it through the night without incident.

Kevin seemed to progress nicely throughout the week. Each morning, Dustin and Trey would help him get down the stairs, so he could be where I and everyone else would be. Then, once they got home from school they tried to stay downstairs, around Kevin, unless they needed to use the computer.

On Wednesday, I took him back to the physician's office, for his next examination. After being led to the examination room, the doctor came in, examined him and announced Kevin was doing nicely and should be able to return to school the following week, with a few restrictions, of course. We were already planning on the restrictions, but were surprised at how soon the doctor was going to let him go back to class.

Kevin's physician also informed us that the biopsy on his testicle, plus the other test they ran after his surgery in the hospital, had all come back. The testicle had indeed been cancerous, but the other tests indicated they had caught it in time, before it had spread to other areas. The doctor wanted to run another series of tests on Kevin in a month, but was confident the problem was now behind us.

Kevin and I were both greatly relieved, after hearing the news, so I took him out for a banana split, to celebrate. The other boys were also pleased to hear about the test results later, so it looked as if we would soon be able to resume our normal lives.

As ironic as it might seem, the following day the contractor finished up work on the new master bedroom and bath, which meant that Kevin wouldn't have to walk up and down the stairs any longer, even though it was no longer a major problem. I thought it would also be appropriate for me to purchase a new bedroom set, to complete the transition, so I went and did some shopping Friday after work. I picked out a king-sized bed, dresser, chest of drawers and two nightstands, all in a dark walnut finish. I had them delivered and set up the following day, so I officially moved in to my new digs that evening.

For the time being, I would leave two rooms that had been created from the upstairs master bedroom unoccupied, until I could decide how we were going to utilize them. I also donated my old bedroom set to the terrible trio, to replace the two twin beds they had pushed together. They wanted to continue to spend most of their time together anyway, and my grandsons would most likely be joining them over the holidays, and this way, no one would have to sleep in the crack between the mattresses.

We placed their old twin beds in the two newest rooms, along with splitting up their other furniture and adding a few more pieces to those areas. Now, it would be easier to plan out the Christmas sleeping arrangements, for when my older children came to stay for about a week or so.

I also explained to the boys that I doubted they would need to use those recently installed locks any longer, since we were fairly certain our culprit was gone. There was no longer any reason to turn the house into Fort Knox, so the open door policy was back in force, unless they needed a little additional privacy for certain other activities. They all chuckled at my implication, but were nonetheless relieved. Each had secretly worried they'd lose their keys or something worse, and now they wouldn't have to think about such things any longer.

"Does this also mean we're no longer grounded?" Ricky asked, hopefully.

"Sorry, champ, but that still stands," I informed him.

"But, Dad," Cole whined. "You know now that it was Frankie's idea and he was the one who had somebody else buy the beer, so why are we still grounded.

"Because you still went along with him," I replied. "Not only that, but you also covered for him, when I asked whose idea it was."

"We were kind of scared of him," Ricky admitted. "He threatened to beat the crap out of anyone who told you about it. I don't think he could have really done that to Dustin or Pat… or maybe even Danny, but the rest of us were scared shitless he'd do that to us, if we told on him."

"That may be true," I agreed, "but now you have to pay the piper. I'm not going to beat you up, but you still have to finish your punishment."

"Daddy, does it still have to be for so long?" Graham asked, but I think the others had coaxed him into doing it. I believe they felt his cuteness would make me vulnerable to his suggestion, so I think my next statement surprised them even more.

"Punishment ends December 17th, as originally sentence by the court."

They all hung their heads and slunk out of the room, disappointed that a cute young boy and the Christmas Spirit had not gotten me to relent. Chalk that up to another of life's valuable lessons for them.

Chapter 22
A Holiday Wish Comes True

December went by quickly. Except for the problems the boys had to cope with concerning their grounding, most of the time went by smoothly. I had given all of them some extra money, which they could use to buy Christmas presents with, and then we talked about how they were going to do this, with so many people to buy for.

After considerable discussion, they finally agreed it would be best to pull names from a hat. That way, they could buy that person one really nice gift or a couple of nice gifts, instead of buying a bunch of cheaper gifts for everyone. They all knew they wouldn't get as many presents that way, but they could get something they would appreciate much more. We also decided we'd include my older children in this process as well, to save them from having to buy and lug so many gifts for this monstrous brood, but each group of brothers wanted to buy their own gifts for my grandsons. That would mean three presents for each of the nephews from their uncles. That would be one present from Ricky, Cole, and Graham, one from Dustin, Kevin, and Trey, and one from Danny and Pat. Everyone agreed to this idea and I called the older kids to tell them whose name we had drawn for them. I think they all were quite relieved, and enthused, about our new arrangement too.

A little over a week before Christmas, Trey got an early present. It was a Friday night and the boys had finished their showers and just gone up to bed. Kevin had completely healed from his surgery and was back to sleeping with Dustin and Trey. When they walked into the room, Kevin turned toward Trey and smiled.

"Do you still want us to make love to you?" he asked. Hearing this simple question caused Trey's eyes to pop out, his mouth to drop open and his face to light up.

"You know I do," he squealed in delight. "It's something I've wanted to try for a really long time. I've even been practicing with a carrot." He blushed after admitting this.

"Well, how about tonight?" Dustin inquired. "Are you up to it?"

"Absolutely, but is Kevin well enough to do it, after his operation and all?" Trey asked, concerned.

"I'm fine and all healed," Kevin assured him. "I won't have any problems at all and I'm ready and raring to go. Dusty and I have been talking about this and here's what we think we should do. We've decided I should do it to you first, as I'm not quite as big as Dusty is, then you could do me and then Dusty can do you. Is that too much for your first time?"

"Oh, no, that sounds great to me," Trey cooed, before running up and hugging both of the other boys. "You two make me so happy," he gushed.

"And we're going to make you feel special too," Dustin added. "After tonight you'll definitely know whether you're gay or not," he teased.

"I don't think there's any doubt for me," Trey responded, while giving him a wink.

The boys placed Trey on the center of the bed and Dustin began to kiss him, while Kevin took out the baby oil and began to grease up his rear. At first, Kevin placed one finger against Trey's rosebud and slowly traced the oil around the puckered opening. Then he slipped the finger in, but not until Trey received some coaching on relaxation techniques. Instinctively, Trey's body had at first reacted to the invader and tried to keep it out, but Kevin taught him how to take deep breaths and accept it. Trey's body was trembling, either from excitement or pleasure, as Kevin began to slowly stroke his finger in and out of Trey's hot hole.

Once Trey began to relax even more, Kevin also made sure to graze Trey's magic button with his invading digit, to increase his pleasure and get him ready for phase two. After that, Kevin inserted a second finger into him and slowly worked it around before he slipped the third digit in as well. Once the trio of fingers had been manipulating in Trey's rectum for a while, Kevin knew he was ready for the big event. Quickly, Kevin lubed his own tool up and then placed himself between the prone boy's spread legs.

"Are you ready, Trey?" Kevin asked, to make sure he hadn't had second thoughts about this.

"Yeah, real ready," Trey replied. Upon hearing that, Kevin took a pillow, folded it in half and placed it under Trey's hips. This would give him a better angle for entry and thrusting.

"Okay. I'm going to push my dick against your hole, so stay relaxed," Kevin warned him. "If it seems like it isn't going to slip in on its own, then push down with your butt muscles, like you're trying to push out a fart." Trey giggled and nodded his head. "Okay, here it goes," Kevin murmured.

Kevin pushed the head of his prick against the small opening. Slowly, it gave way and the head of Kevin's pole popped in. Trey groaned slightly, but quickly smiled, to let Kevin know he was fine. Kevin took that as a favorable sign and continued to inch his way into Trey's hot chute. The kid was tight and, even going slowly, Kevin had to fight back the sensations that might bring about an early release. Gradually he worked himself all the way into that tight passage and lay prone across Trey's body, looking into his eyes.

"How are you doing?" Kevin asked with some concern.

"Wonderful," Trey confirmed. "It hurt a little at first, but it's great to feel you inside me." Kevin bent down and gave him a quick kiss. "I'm going to start sliding in and out of you now, so enjoy the ride. Dustin, you should work on his tits at the same time."

Dustin bent down and began to lick and suck on Trey's erect nubs, as Kevin began to utilize a moderately slow pace, as he thrust back and forth. Trey was really moaning and squirming under the double assault and both boys were doing their best to make this as memorable an experience for him as they could. The first time is always memorable, but they wanted to leave him with the impression of the best they had to offer.

Kevin had calmed down a little before he started, but he was still extremely aroused. Due to his highly agitated state, it was only a couple of minutes before he felt the pressure of his oncoming discharge. He tried to stop for a while, to let these sensations die down, but as soon as he resumed, they quickly reappeared. Giving in to the inevitable, he made his final thrust home. Once his penis hit bottom and he was all the way in, Kevin's body began to twitch and shudder, just before he unleashed several volleys of his hot boy juice deep into Trey's interior. Trey was screaming in delight, once he felt Kevin's warm juices painting the walls of his intestines, not to mention the wonderful feelings he was getting from Dustin's glorious work on his pecs, and shot off like a rocket. Soon, Kevin collapsed on Trey's abdomen and Dustin found himself having to extricate his head from between the two heaving chests.

Trey and Kevin stayed that way for a few more minutes, before Kevin pulled his shrinking violet out of Trey's ass and crashed down beside him. Both boys were still panting, while slowly coming down from that sexual high, so Dustin just sat beside them and stroked their chests.

Before he had completely recovered, Kevin asked Dustin to get him ready for Trey, so they'd be ready to go, once Trey recovered. Kevin didn't want to ask Trey to do this, since he wished to allow the now ex-virgin to enjoy the last remnants of his post-orgasmic afterglow. Dustin agreed to do this instead and soon Kevin was ready for Trey, whenever he was also ready.

Slowly, Trey returned to earth and began to refocus on things around him. Once Kevin saw he was regaining his sense, he spoke to him. "Well, how was it?" he asked.

"I can't even think of any words to tell you how great that was," Trey admitted. "It was so neat, feeling you in there, and you kept hitting something inside me, which sent tingles throughout my whole body. Thank you so much."

At that point Trey stopped talking, because he began to get choked up, as tears of joy started to roll down his cheeks. Both boys hugged him, until he was once again in control.

"Are you ready for your turn?" Kevin wanted to know, once he seemed to have recovered.

"Uh huh," Trey responded simply, while also nodding his head.

Dustin helped Trey get up and showed him where to go, as Kevin repositioned himself on the center of the bed. He pushed the pillow under his back and Dustin helped get Trey lined up and ready to go.

"You do exactly what Kevin did to you and you'll do fine," Dustin advised him. "I'll kiss him and work on his chest, while you concentrate on what you're supposed to be doing."

Trey nodded and moved forward slightly, so his dickhead came into contact with Kevin's skin. At that instant, Kevin quickly reached down and help him line up his cock properly, and then Trey pushed it all the way in. Kevin had no trouble accepting him, because Dustin had stretched him out well beforehand and he was already used to taking Dustin's thicker member. Trey let out a little yelp of delight, as he felt Kevin's hot, smooth lining engulf his throbbing meat, and he had a huge grin on his face, as he looked down at Kevin.

Once he got accustomed to this new feeling, Kevin urged him to continue, and soon Trey's hips began thrusting back and forth. As is common with a novice lover, Trey's strokes were short and fairly fast. He was focusing solely on the pleasure of his upcoming release, as he hadn't become aware about how pleasurable the journey can be. He was soon panting and giving a blow-by-blow account of his feelings.

"Oh my god, this is so great!" he exclaimed. "This is awesome. Ohhhh, it feels so good. Man… oh, man… I'm going to explode. Oh, god. Oh, god. Here… oh, here it comes. I'm… I'm going to… oh, god I'm going to shoot…ahhhhhhhh, yes, yes. I'm cuuuuuuuuuuuuuming."

With that pronouncement, Trey unloosed his hot boy spunk into Kevin's bowels. Wave after wave of the warm liquid filled Kevin's gut and he willingly accepted everything Trey had to offer. Soon his young friend was crashing down on top of him, so Kevin wrapped his arms around Trey's upper body, squeezed him to his chest and kissed him all around his face and neck. Dustin had been more alert to what the other two were doing this time and had pulled back, as soon as Trey began his commentary.

Kevin held Trey until he had recovered and then let the boy roll off of him and onto the bed beside him. Dustin and Kevin would give him sufficient time to recover, before Dustin gave him one final ride. About twenty minutes later, Trey seemed to be ready for his next experience, so Dustin jokingly asked him if he was ready for the 'main event'. Kevin took exception to Dustin's choice of words and Trey just chuckled at their little, puffed up, bickering episode.

Trey finally acknowledged he was not only ready, but also eager to continue, so Dustin oiled up his rod and moved into position. Trey didn't need any more preparation, as he was loose from his session with Kevin, and he was well lubed from the creamy filling Kevin had pumped into his cavity.

Dustin proceeded very slowly, because he realized he was considerably thicker than Kevin and Trey would need time to adjust. Trey gasped when Dustin's large head made his sphincter muscles expand farther than they had previously had to, but after a second or two he urged Dustin to keep going. Finally, Dustin worked his entire mast into Trey's hot, willing hole and he looked down at his partner to make certain he was okay.

Trey's eyes were slightly glassy, but there was still a thin smile pressed onto his lips, so Dustin began to make a long, slow withdrawal from Trey's chute, before he rammed his monster back home. He continued this slow, steady attack on the boy's arse, as Kevin worked on Trey's upper body, and soon Trey was taking another magic carpet ride.

Trey's mind was exploding with flashes of brilliant colors and he was somehow enjoying this experience even more than the first. It wasn't because Dustin was better at it, but mostly due to the fact that the first time everything was so new and all consuming. Not only that, but it happened so quickly that he wasn't able to focus or enjoy all those little pieces that made up the whole. This time he was alert to all of it.

Dustin was enjoying the hot, tight ride as well. It was like Trey's channel was embracing every inch of his manhood and literally squeezing the life out of him. Every small movement he made sent pounding waves of pleasure crashing against his shores, which in turn brought him ever so much closer to his eruption. Trey was even beginning to learn how to thrust back to meet Dustin's movements and that only meant Dustin would cum even sooner. Dustin's breathing was becoming very labored as his orgasm neared, and soon he could hold out no longer. He unwillingly gave in and his prick burst open, spewing its thick, gooey load inside his partner.

Trey had been nearly as vocal this time as he was the last, and made certain he let his partners know he was enjoying this immensely. "Oh, my god. Oh, my god. I can't take much more. This is fantastic. It's wonderful. Don't stop. Please don't stop. Oh, yes… yes… ohhhhhhhhh… I feel it… I feel your spunk inside me… oh, god. Yessssssssssssssssssssss," he hissed, as both of them collapsed from exhaustion.

There was nearly total silence in the room for the next several minutes, as all of the boys lay panting and sweating on the bed. For quite a while after that, their chests continued to heave, as their bodies trembled from pure enjoyment. They remained like this until they had all fully recovered and then they repositioned themselves, with Trey in the middle, and fell asleep.

The next morning the three of them left their room, only to run into Danny and Pat in the hall.

"What the hell were you guys doing in there last night?" Danny grinned. "It sounded like you were torturing poor Trey." Trey immediately turned red, but Dustin and Kevin only laughed.

"I don't think he'd call it torture," Dustin answered, "although he did get a little loud. We didn't hurt you or anything, did we, Trey?"

Trey was nearly unable to answer, because he was so embarrassed when he realized the other two knew what they had been up to. "No. No one hurt me at all," he stammered.

"Well, it sounded like someone was either being killed or having one hell of a good time," Pat added. "So I guess, if you weren't getting hurt, you must have been having a great deal of fun."

Trey couldn't answer, but his face was so red he could have camouflaged himself on a fire truck at that moment. Kevin took up the slack and responded for him. "I can't speak for the others, but I know I had fun. What about you two? Did you enjoy last night or what?"

"I sure did," Dustin responded. "I haven't had that much fun in a long time. How about you, Trey? You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

Trey only nodded his head up and down, as he looked at the floor. Danny and Pat decided to let him off of the hook and went downstairs laughing and still joking with each other.

"Why did you guys do that to me?" Trey asked them.

"You mean last night?" Dustin wondered.

"No, just now," Trey clarified. "You might as well have just told them what we did, because I think you just about confirmed it for them."

"Heck, they don't care," Kevin informed him. "The same thing goes on in Danny's room from time to time. They were just having a little fun with you."

"Well, it didn't feel like fun," Trey replied. "I was so embarrassed, because they knew what we did."

"Why?" Dustin asked simply. "They do it too."

"Just because," Trey responded, not knowing how to put his feelings into words.

"Don't worry about it," Kevin told him. "No one cares what we do in the privacy of our own rooms, as long as everyone is a willing participant. They just like to tease people and watch them squirm and blush, whenever someone new does something. You did a real good job at that." Dustin and Kevin started laughing, as Trey tried to figure out a way to get back at them.

"Well, you two certainly weren't any help," he informed them. "You should have warned me or something."

"We didn't know they'd be out here," Dustin replied, "and I don't think they planned it that way. It was just pure luck."

"With that kind of luck, I guess there's no need for me to play the lottery," Trey joked.

"You're too young anyway," Dusting shot back. "Your luck's not that bad, though. You ended up here with us, didn't you?"

"Yeah, you're right," Trey admitted, while starting to loosen up. "I guess I was pretty lucky at that. Thanks for last night, guys, but I still have to think about how I can get even with all of you for this morning."

"You better not," Dustin chortled, "or we'll tell the three little monsters what happened and then sick them on you too."

"Okay, you win," Trey conceded. "I won't do anything to you and you won't tell them. Agreed?'

"Well, if we have to," Kevin teased.

"You have to," Trey stated, firmly. "Now, let's go eat."

Chapter 23
I'll be home for Christmas

A few days before Christmas, all of my older children began to arrive home for the holiday. It was great to have them all back again. Everyone would be there, except for Robert. As soon as the last of them arrived, I briefed everyone on the sleeping arrangements. We were all excited that this year there were plenty of rooms to go around. I had moved Graham and Cole's old twin beds into one of the rooms that were created from the upstairs master bedroom and picked up a double bed to go in the other room. Now, we'd just have to do a little finagling, in order to make sure everyone was settled.

This is how it worked out. Michael and Andrea took the bedroom with the double bed and Marie and Adrian took the room with the twin beds. Pat volunteered to bunk in with Danny, so Elizabeth and Tim stayed in his room.

As everyone suspected, my grandsons announced they wanted to sleep in the jungle room, with Ricky, Cole and Graham, on the old master bedroom's king-size bed. Since their parents were happy to have them out of their hair, and the two little ones preferred it that way, the adults happily agreed to the idea. Now, we just had to make bathroom assignments.

Michael, Andrea, Marie and Adrian would share the old master bathroom, and the other upstairs bathroom would be reserved for Elizabeth, Tim, Danny and Pat. The Fabulous Five, which now included my grandsons, would share the downstairs bathroom, while Dustin, Kevin and Trey shared my new master bathroom with me. Everything was now settled and we were ready to start enjoying ourselves.

During our first group discussion, my older children wanted to know how we had decided on drawing names for buying presents, so I gave the boys their due. After all, it was their idea and the others told them it was a fantastic suggestion and helped them immensely. Not only didn't they have to lug a lot of little presents with them when they came, everyone would benefit by not getting a lot of smaller gifts, usually things a person wasn't overly fond of in the first place. The boys were all quite pleased that their older siblings approved of their idea.

After that discussion ended, all the different groups filled the others in on what had been happening in their lives since we had last talked. It was a wonderful discussion and we all felt closer to each other when it was over. We were just one humongous, happy family.

I had also taken the easy way out and made dinner arrangements for that evening, so we were soon loading into multiple vehicles, to make the short drive to the restaurant. I think the people at the establishment had thought we were some kind of office party, when I made the reservation for seventeen people, because I could read the shocked expressions on their faces, when I announced who we were.

It was a wonderful meal and we all had a great time. My four-year-old grandson sat next to Graham and the five-year-old sat between Cole and Ricky. Their parents didn't mind the break from having to deal with them and the older boys were happy to cut up their food and do whatever else was needed. Those three uncles were absolutely great with their nephews and everyone noticed it too. Of course, once we were ready to leave, I picked up the tab.

After we got home, my grandsons couldn't wait to take their baths with their barely older uncles. Graham and Nicky took a bath together, while Ricky and Cole took Jordan into the shower with them. Of course, everyone knew they would have to wear at least shorts and a tee shirt around the house for the rest of the evening, so that wasn't a problem. However, the fabulous five were thicker than thieves for the rest of the night.

We did a lot of other things over the next two days as well, such as playing games with the kids, some last minute shopping, taking the boys to a movie matinee and just enjoying each other's company. Christmas Eve the ladies helped me prepare a big dinner, before we retired to the family room. The tree had been set up and decorated previous to their arrival, so we all joined around it to sing Christmas carols and then I and Michael read Christmas stories to everyone. He and I shared the parts when reading 'A Christmas Carol,' but he let me read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' all alone. It was a good, old-fashioned Christmas celebration.

After the boys went to bed, the rest of us surrounded the tree with presents. The packages filled about half of the room once they were displayed. It was a good thing we drew names to buy gifts or there wouldn't have been enough space in the room for the people. I stayed up after my other children and their spouses went to bed too, so I could sneak their presents into place. I know I could have done it while they were there, but I guess I'm still a kid at heart when it comes to Christmas surprises, and didn't want them to see their gifts in advance.

The five holy terrors had the whole household up shortly after five the next morning. Slowly, the rest of us dragged our weary bodies into the family room, where some of the older boys were trying to restrain the younger ones from getting into the gifts prematurely. I assigned my two son-in-laws, Adrian and Tim, as official package deliverers and within a few minutes everyone had a present to open. Before long, there was wrapping paper scattered all over the room, as the collection of presents was opened, and it was difficult for me to see and keep track of who got what. After everyone had opened all of their gifts, we readily agreed that each of us had received more than enough for one holiday.

I had purchased a collection of hand-held computer games for the boys to share, and each boy was given his own 'personal' CD player. They also received some clothes and other items from me as well, and I had purchased an air hockey table for the rec room, which all of them could enjoy. Pat and Trey got one additional gift that the other boys didn't. They received the same type of certificate I had given the others the year before, pledging I would adopt them, if they so wished. I guess they did, because I was soon covered with kisses and hugs, and they were surrounded by choruses of 'see I told you so'.

Between Christmas and the following Saturday, we more or less let the boys entertain each other, which gave the older couples a chance to go out and do things alone. I think that, by itself, was the best Christmas gift we could have given them. Sometimes they would just go someplace with their spouse, while on other occasions the couples might go out in pairs or as a group. When they did things with their sons, they always included the uncles their sons were so closely attached to as well. I'm not sure they could have gotten their own sons to join them for any of those excursions, if they hadn't.

My older children stayed until the following Friday and then left to go back home. There were a couple of reasons for this decision. First, they could celebrate the New Year at home and still have an extra day to rest up and recuperate before they returned to their jobs. The other reason was just a precautionary measure. Since we'd be ringing in the year 2000, and with all the dire predictions about all the catastrophes this would bring – including planes falling from the sky, my children felt it might be best to reach their homes before New Year's Eve. It's not that any of us put much stock in those rumors, but they felt it was best to err on the side of caution, just in case.

Before they left, however, I had also made arrangements for my grandsons to come and stay with us as soon as school was out in the summer. My older children and I had also discussed and agreed upon our joint vacation plans, two additional weeks this whole mob would spend together as a family. It had been a wonderful week, but I think it had been more than enough to tide us all over for now. It's not that we didn't enjoy our time together, but it had also been very hectic, as well as being pleasurable. It also gave us all time to bond with the other members of the family, those whom we didn't see nearly enough.

Brandon and Jay came over too, between Christmas and New Years, while my older children were still there. When they did, Trey would go in and join Dustin and Kevin in their room, so Pat could use his bedroom, in order to give Brandon and Danny some time alone. Sometimes the three of them would stay together, but I knew that had to be a tight fit on the double bed.

However, once the others had left, there was plenty of room again and all of the boys could go back to their regular routines. Brandon and Jay literally moved in to take their place, from that point on. Friday night there was also plenty of sexual activities taking place in the various bedrooms. The boys had managed to hold off for as long as they could, while my older children and grandsons were in residence, but now they were making up for lost time.

During their stay with us, Jay opted to stay with the terrible trio, but whenever Danny and Brandon invited Pat to join them, Ricky and Jay would take over Pat's room for the night. This also allowed Cole and Graham some private time to entertain each other, which they hadn't had much of, in recent times.

The first time Danny and Brandon asked Pat to join them, I was somewhat surprised. Although I hadn't anticipated anything of that nature happening, I was pleasantly surprised and pleased that Brandon was willing to share Danny with Pat on these occasions. I think we all had viewed Brandon as the jealous type, but in reality, he was the one who suggested they should consider including Pat, so he wouldn't be alone. Brandon obviously wasn't threatened by Pat's presence with them. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the extra person. That left Dustin, Kevin and Trey to enjoy their time together, and I knew there would be no breaking up of that threesome at this point, now that all of those past battles were behind them.

Brandon and Jay also joined us for our private New Year's Eve celebration. Their parents didn't mind, as they had plans of their own, which didn't include their children. This way, they would know where their sons were and what they were up to, or at least they thought they did.

All of us, including Brandon and Jay's parents, Steve Shay and his wife, Mary, and Aunt Sally all enjoyed an early dinner together. We invited Steve and Mary Shay to join us, not knowing if they would or not, but they quickly accepted our invitation, without hesitation. Steve told me later that he had wanted Mary to get to know us better for quite some time, especially after all the things Steve had told her about us. I was looking forward to this opportunity to get closer to them too.

Needless to say, we had reserved nearly half of one of the small dining rooms at my favorite restaurant, since there would be eighteen of us. We meet there at 6:00 p.m., so we could spend an hour or so together first, before splitting off to go pursue our other plans. The staff had set us up at two long tables, with a break in between, but there was plenty of room to get up and move about, so we could spend time with everyone.

The boys immediately took to Mary Shay, who was very delightful in her own right, although she preferred to stay in the background when it came to her husband's professional life and obligations. I was actually quite impressed and pleased, when about halfway through our time together, the boys started referring to the Shays as Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary. In fact, I think they were also thrilled by this simple gesture and I knew they would now remain an inseparable part of our extended family.

Once dinner was over, we said our good-byes and parted company. I took the boys home, since they had planned their own elaborate New Year's Eve entertainment. First, they had set up two activities to start. Some of the boys chose to conduct a pool tournament in the rec room, playing eight ball, while the rest gathered to play a cutthroat Monopoly game on the dining room table. To make the Monopoly game more interesting, the boys playing agreed to split the winner's chores among them for the entire month of January. This game suddenly became intense. An hour or so later, we had our winners. Brandon won the pool tournament, and he doesn't even have a table to practice on at home, while Trey won the Monopoly game. He may be quiet, but he was ruthless when it came to wheeling and dealing on the board.

After those two events were over, some of the boys went into the family room and set up their own video game tournament on our large-screen television. There was definitely a lot of yelling and screaming coming from that room, as the earlier rounds were concluded and some of the boys eliminated. The noise level was deafening in that room as the final three contests took place and they ultimately crowned their champion. It was Ricky who outlasted them all and whose manual dexterity had eclipsed that of his peers.

In the dining room, I set up a high stakes poker game. Each boy was given $250,000 in poker chips, strictly without any real currency backing, and we played a sky's-the-limit game. I only served as the dealer and didn't participate myself, as I didn't think that would be fair, since I had much more experience at the game than they had. I was there to provide judgments about who had the better hand and to settle any other minor disputes as they arose, so no one could be accused of cheating. It actually turned out to be a very exciting experience and the boys became very adept at betting, bluffing and calling.

Some of them still had to work on their poker faces, however, although some of the ones who lacked that ability used it to their advantage as well. When bluffing, and knowing that the others could read their expressions, sometimes they showed a greater enthusiasm for their hand than it really warranted. That often worked to scare off some of the others and increased their odds at winning the hand. The poker game was eventually won by Dustin, who told us later that he had played a great deal of strip poker with his old friends, before he moved in with Kevin's family. With the skill he displayed, I assumed he was seldom naked in front of the others.

It was now nearly midnight, so the games ended. We turned on one of those big time New Year's Eve celebrations on the tube and I went out to the kitchen to get my special little treat for the gang. I brought in a tray with a bottle of Champagne and the appropriate number of glasses, so each boy could have a taste of the bubbly as we welcomed in the New Year. When the witching hour arrived, it was welcomed with streamers being tossed to and fro, noisemakers doing what they were made to do, and boys shouting and making other irritating noises. In our own way, we brought in the New Year in grand style. We carried on with our little revelry for another half hour, before the boys went up to the bedrooms for some private celebrations of their own.

Ricky, Cole, Graham and Jay went to the jungle room and locked the door behind them. Once naked, the boys split into partners for a little sixty-nine action. Ricky took Graham first, while Jay and Cole teamed up. Pretty soon there were mouths wrapped around penises and the sounds of slurping and moans of enjoyment filled the air. Graham was eagerly swallowing Ricky's cut pole, while Ricky was bobbing up and down on Graham's uncut boner, after playing with his foreskin for a brief time. On the other side of the bed, Cole had been toying with the extra skin on Jay's cock, before he crammed it into his mouth, and Jay was busy licking and sucking off Cole's own circumcised erection. Soon the boys were shooting their loads into their partner's mouth, as they panted and groaned in pleasure.

After they recovered, Ricky and Jay changed partners and the boys were soon going at each other once more. This time it took a little longer than before, but eventually each boy reached his second climax during the early morning hours. After they rested for a while longer, Jay and Ricky paired up, while Cole and Graham worked on each other. The final loads of the morning were much smaller in quantity, with Graham's orgasm being nearly dry, but they did manage to crawl into position to go to sleep, after they had all cum that one final time. Cole and Graham were situated between the two older boys, and before long the four of them cuddled into one large mass of flesh, until later that morning.

In a room down the hall, a second group had a different way to achieve the same results. These three had formed their bodies into a triangle so they could begin with a little oral sex. Trey took Kevin's uncut hard-on into his mouth, while Kevin swallowed Dustin's circumcised monster and Dustin bent over to nibble on Trey's generous foreskin, before he began nodding up and down on his mast. The trio continued their actions until they had each received a generous reward of thick cream for their efforts and then they swung back around, in the opposite direction. This time Trey worked on Dustin's large sausage, Dustin was presented with Kevin's familiar stalk, and Kevin got to enjoy Trey's long, slender joystick. They were more aggressive in their actions this time around, knowing it would take a greater effort to achieve that second orgasm, but soon they were swallowing another's load of male-milk, as their partner's juices exploded into their oral cavities.

They took a brief respite before they continued, making a quick run down to the kitchen to get drinks, but eventually they came back to their room for one final encounter. This encounter would include full penetration. After the boys had loosened each other up and greased their partner's holes, Dustin knelt down near the head of the bed, so Kevin could crawl up behind him and penetrate his rosebud, while Trey moved in behind Kevin and slipped into him. After they were in position, the boys then worked to develop a smooth rhythm, which all of them could enjoy.

Kevin would first make his thrust into Dustin's backside and Trey would make his thrust every time Kevin withdrew his tool from Dustin's butt. It took a few tries to get used to this method, but soon they fell into a smooth pace until both boys' cocks swelled and erupted into their partner's bowels. When they had recovered from this joint effort, Kevin rested on the bed while he watched Dustin slip into Trey's willing opening and pounded away until he doused the fire in Trey's intestinal tract, when his extinguisher shot out its syrupy contents.

The boys were now exhausted after having deposited three strong loads this morning, so they positioned themselves for sleep. This time they made sure that Dustin was in the middle and the other two wrapped themselves around his sturdy frame and slowly gave into their weariness. Soon their breathing became less labored, their heart rates slowed and the three of them drifted off into oblivion. They crashed like that until sometime after the fiery four had made their way downstairs for breakfast.

In the other front bedroom a whole different scene was taking place, but for the same reason. Danny, Brandon, and Pat had agreed to play a slightly different version of the game monkey-in-the-middle to get their sexual release. The three circumcised boys had agreed to this in advance and now they got into position. For the first go around, Danny took his position on all fours in the middle of the bed. Pat climbed up in front of him and inserted his cock in Danny's mouth, while Brandon moved in from behind and slid his meat home in Danny's rear. Now, Brandon and Pat began their rocking motions back and forth, slowly fucking Danny in both ends.

Pat was in front, easing his weapon in and out of Danny's throat, as Danny used his tongue to add to his pleasure. Every time Pat slipped his cock into Danny's mouth, it brought back memories of that first night of consensual boy-on-boy sex that they had enjoyed together. He had been hesitant to try it, because of the forced sex he had been made to have with one of his mother's old boyfriends, but it had been so wonderful that he had never regretted making that decision. Now, here he was working his way closer to his next release, and the suction that Danny was applying was pulling him over the edge. He felt that powerful surge building up in his groin, so he arched his back, drove his penis deep into Danny's throat and unleashed his torrent of boy seed into Danny's mouth. Pat felt every spurt, as it left his prick, and became weak as the last of his juices left his body. He managed to maintain his balance and remained upright as he slowly recovered from his orgasm.

While Pat had been enjoying himself upfront, Brandon had been plowing Danny's ass with his steady strokes. Danny was voluntarily contracting his rectal muscles every time Brandon's pecker would start to withdraw from his sheath and the intense pressure was causing Brandon to reach his flash point earlier than he would have wished. Knowing he was close, Brandon picked up his pace and jack hammered Danny's anus. Within a few more strokes, Brandon buried his hot poker as far into his friend as he could and bathed Danny's satiny lining with his boiling spunk. After a final couple of thrusts, to finish draining his weasel, Brandon fell forward onto Danny's back. When he had recovered from the exertion, Brandon pushed back and withdrew his deflating love muscle from Danny's backside, with an audible plop.

The boys all took a few minutes to collect themselves, use the toilet, grab a drink and clean off a bit, before they switched around and got into the next arrangement. This time Brandon would get the center position, with Danny at his head and Pat working on his tail. When the boys finally agreed they were ready to resume, they moved into their assigned positions on the bed.

Danny moved up in front of Brandon, but he was no longer erect. Brandon steadied himself on three appendages while he used his extra arm and hand to grab hold of Danny's peter long enough to lick and suck it back to its maximum length and hardness. Now, Brandon could use that arm and hand to keep his balance steady, as he started lunging to and fro on his lover's wand. Brandon's mouth was extremely full as Danny's monster slid in and out, and he could only work his tongue on Danny's tip when that was all that remained in his mouth. Brandon would suck hard, as the weapon was withdrawn, and flick his tongue at the slit quickly before that tube slammed back inside. Brandon's ministrations were working Danny into a sexual frenzy and Danny was rapidly nearing the summit of that mountain. As the highest peak in that range neared, Danny shuddered from his head to his toes, released his slushy concoction into Brandon's mouth, and slouched backwards, as Brandon sucked the remaining juices from his hose.

Pat was being no less effective, as he enjoyed the feeling of Brandon's warm, moist lining, which engulfed his own boyhood. Brandon had learned how to contract his rectal muscles from Danny and used that technique to squeeze Pat's light pole each and every time it tried to withdraw from the depths of his bowels. Brandon's whole body was rocking back and forth, meeting Danny's thrusts when he leaned forward and matching Pat's thrusts when he slammed back. Pat was in seventh-heaven from this combination of movements and was soon racing toward his own finish line, as he slammed faster and harder into the lanky blonde. Pat was huffing and puffing from the exertion, sometimes sounding like a steam driven engine climbing a steep grade, and his heart was beating so rapidly that he thought it was going to pop right out of his chest. Suddenly all of the muscles in his body went rigid and several strings of his sticky, alabaster liquid gushed from his dickhead and filled the hollow cavity deep within Brandon's body. He kept his hands on Brandon's hips, to keep himself from falling forward, and remained like this until he finally release his cock from Brandon's grip and rested up for the final round.

This time the three boys lay panting and limp on Danny's bed as they waited for their bodies to recuperate. It took slightly longer for Pat this time, as he had just enjoyed his second climax of the wee-morning hours, and Danny and Brandon were very patient with him. In the end, both boys gave Pat plenty of time to regain his strength, but they then took a short break to run to the toilet, get another drink and wash off a bit, before they returned. When they did, they were all more than ready to get started again. This time Pat would be the middleman in this trio, with Brandon enjoying his mouth and Danny plowing his boy pussy.

Brandon was only semi-erect when he hoisted his body up in front of Pat's head, so he guided his own pecker forward, as he waited for Pat to use his tongue and lips to bring him back to a state of full arousal. In less than a minute, Brandon was once again rock-hard and ready for business. Willingly, Pat let Brandon's rod slide between his lips and over his tongue. Once he was fully in, Brandon pumped his hips back and forth, working his member inside Pat's oral cavity, as Pat applied a vacuum-like suction. Even though he'd had a breather since his first release, it still didn't take Brandon all that long to reach the point of no return. Soon, every fiber in his being told him he was ready to spew forth his load and his body reacted accordingly. Brandon threw his head and shoulders back, as he jerked his hips forward, driving his steel girder into the depths of Pat's oral cavern, before hosing him down with his pearly white custard. After the last of the six volleys spurted from his granite pole, Brandon's legs gave out from under him and he crumpled onto the mattress, like yesterday's bath towel.

Danny had been very careful to enter Pat's fairly inexperienced love canal slowly and easily. He didn't want to tear the boy open with a rapid assault, so he let Pat adjust to the intrusion gradually, as he slid his beast home. Even though Pat was fairly busy at the time, he still appreciated Danny's care, after having previously been the victim of a rape-like assault. That is why Pat had reacted so strongly to the groups' nudity that first evening, as the mental and emotional scars he carried sent fearful warnings to his psyche. It actually took a great deal of effort on his part to overcome that learned behavior.

Now that he was past it, he reveled in the feel of Danny's tool sliding back and forth in his intestinal tract, more so each time Danny's prick brushed against his joy button. Every time it happened, it caused Pat to moan on Brandon's cock, which passed along the pleasurable sensation. Danny took slightly longer than Brandon this time, as he had just cum in Brandon's mouth on the previous grouping, and it was just the two of them when Danny finally finished up.

Slowly, Danny continued to increase his pace, until he looked like a dog on a bitch in heat. Frantically he would piston into Pat's opening, until he made that final thrust and flooded Pat's gut with his gooey jism. Once he was certain every drop had been deposited into the vault, Danny slowly let his cock slip out of Pat's tunnel. The withdrawal of his penis from Pat's tight chute caused a wet-fart sound upon breaking free and then the duo fell onto the bed, along with Brandon, swooning in the ecstasy of their labors.

The boys took their time enjoying the afterglow from their multiple orgasms, but eventually worked their way around on the bed so their heads were on the pillows and they were spread out, side-by-side. Those three slept soundly, until just before noon the next day, and their sexual needs had not only been met, but totally surpassed from that session. What a hell of a way to ring in the New Year.

The next morning, I met each group as they staggered downstairs and supplied them all with a big breakfast to start their day. The boys watched a couple of football games together, before Brandon and Jay had to return home, but they all echoed their sentiments that this was the best New Year's Eve celebration they had ever had the pleasure of taking part in. The boys unanimously agreed that one of our New Year's resolutions should be that we would have another private celebration again next year, one that would be as good, if not better, than this one had been.

Chapter 24
Looking Through a Crystal Ball

It was Sunday, January 13th, and some of the boys were reading the Sunday paper on the dining room table. "Listen to this," Danny said, referring to a headline he was reading. "It says here that a 'Father of two kills wife and self.' I've got to read this story to you."

"SCRANTON- A Japanese immigrant, who had married a US citizen, killed his wife and then himself shortly after noon Saturday. Another man was also injured in the attack. There were reportedly several witnesses to this crime.

According to police reports, Fumitake Yamada, 33, went to visit his wife Debra, 31, at her job. When he arrived where she worked, he entered her office and apparently discovered her having sexual relations with another man. He reportedly left the building, went out to his car, retrieved a revolver from his glove box and then he went back to her office. According to witnesses, he burst into the room the second time, screamed at both of them, then shot his wife once in the head. He then shot the other man, Steven James, 30, also from the Scranton area, once in the chest. James is reported in critical, but stable condition at the local hospital.

After Yamada had shot both his wife and the other man, reports indicate he then turned the gun on himself and fired a single shot through the side of his head. He and his wife were both pronounced dead at the scene by Joseph Bertini, county coroner.

Mrs. Yamada worked in a family owned and operated business, which police are also investigating. According to informed sources, while at the crime scene, investigators discovered the family automotive car care business was merely a front for a chop shop. This garage was being used to cut up stolen vehicles into parts, so those items could be resold on the black market. It is estimated this ring cleared hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from this illegal activity.

Government files indicate Mr. Yamada first came to this country to attend college and reportedly met his wife during that time period. After the two dated for a while, he suddenly dropped out of school and married her. He was currently employed as the produce manager at a local grocery store and had worked there for the past several years. Mr. Yamada has no previous police record and those who worked with him described him as a very likable and competent person.

The couple is survived by two children, ages nine and eleven, who were taken into custody by Child Protective Services later the same day. The children will remain wards of the state, until suitable placement for them can be made."

* * *

"Daddy," Graham said as Danny finished reading the article, "you've got to call somebody and get them sent here. They need our help."

"Whoa there partner. They're in a totally different part of the state," I informed him. "I don't even know if it would be allowed, even if I did make the offer."

"But they need us, Daddy," Graham insisted. "Their parents are dead and they have no place to live. They need us to take them in. I just know they do."

"I'm sure they are feeling very badly about losing their parents," I admitted, "but they do have other relatives in the area. It said so in the paper."

"But they're in trouble too, Daddy," Graham persisted, "and the police aren't going to let them have the boys."

"How do you even know they ARE boys, Graham?" I pressed, totally perplexed by this whole situation. "The newspaper article didn't say anything about their sex."

"I don't know how, but I just know it, Daddy," he replied. "Promise me you'll call Aunt Sally and have her check to see if they have a new home. I just feel they don't and need us to help them."

"I'll tell you what, Graham. Tomorrow morning, after Aunt Sally and I are both at work, I'll call and ask her to check on this for us. Will that make you happy?"

"Yes, Daddy. I just need to know they're okay," he agreed. "I just have this feeling they're not."

After this little discussion, the boys went off to do their own thing, but I began to wonder about Graham and the passion he felt about this situation. He was so insistent about what he wanted me to do and it was as if he had some information the rest of us were lacking. It almost made me wonder if he were psychic or something? I was definitely going to check this out with Sally, as I was curious to see if Graham's intuition was correct.

The rest of day was somewhat strange, as Graham would mention other things about this family from time to time, before reminding me about my promise to check on them for him. After continually reassuring him I would, he finally let it drop.

Monday morning, after classes had begun and everything seemed to be running smoothly, I went to my office so I could call Sally.

"Sally, it's Josh. How are you today?" I began.

"Fine, Josh. How are you and my favorite group of young men doing?" she asked, being polite.

"Everything is going quite well right now and the boys are fine," I agreed. "Thank you for asking. The reason for this call, however, is that I have a favor to ask of you."

"Well that sounds fair, after all of the favors I've asked of you," she joked. "What may I do for you today?"

"This favor involves a situation the boys read about in yesterday's newspaper," I explained. "It was an article about a murder-suicide in Scranton. The column stated that the deceased couple had two children, nine and eleven. Graham made me promise to check on the children's current status with you, to make sure they had a home and decent family they could live with. Graham seems to feel they need our help and he wants them to come live with us. Would you be able to check on this for me? I know I'm asking a lot, but this is very important to Graham."

"Certainly, Josh, I'd be happy to help," she assured me. "It just so happens I have a friend who is head of the children's unit in that office. We once shared a room together at a professional conference and have stayed in touch ever since. I'll call her immediately and then get back to you."

"Thanks, Sally. I wouldn't ask, but it was so very important to Graham," I told her. "It was as if he had a sixth sense about these kids. In fact, he said they were two boys, even though the paper didn't give that information."

"It's no problem, Josh. I'd like to chat with Ann anyway," Sally replied. "Even if this turns out to be nothing, it's a good excuse for me to call her at work."

"Thanks again, Sally. Please, call me as soon as you learn anything," I added.

"I will, Josh. Good-bye," she stated, before hanging up.

Well, now I'm covered. If I happen to run into Graham in the halls, I can at least tell him I've spoken to his Aunt Sally and she's agreed to check into the matter for us. Damn. I suddenly realized the boys have BOTH Sally and me working for them.

It was after lunch before Sally called me back, and I was curious to discover what she had learned.

"Josh, you won't believe what I found out," she began. "Graham was correct. The children are both boys and they most certainly need your help. Ann was delighted that I called, and she was ecstatic when she learned that the family she had been reading about in a magazine and admired from a distance, was one of my foster homes. Are you definitely interested in taking in these boys, because Ann would love your assistance?"

"Well, yes, Sally. If they need us, we'll take them in," I agreed. "I'm confused, however. The paper said they had relatives in the area. Why aren't the children being placed with them?"

"They do have relatives there, but according to Ann, the whole extended family is under investigation for illegal activities and the authorities want to remove the boys from their influence," she explained. "In fact, when Ann had the chance to send them here, she jumped at it. They wanted to move the boys as far away from that group as possible, at least until they determine their fitness to raise the boys."

"Then this would be a temporary placement?" I asked, as I wondered if I wanted to become involved in something short term.

"It's possible," she admitted. "We just won't know for some time. Ann was wondering if you might be able to travel there this Saturday, to meet her and the two boys? If things go well, she indicated you might even be able to bring them back with you when you return."

"That would be fine, Sally," I agreed. "I'll drive up Friday after school, with all of the boys, and we'll spend the night in Scranton. That way we can meet them fairly early, spend the day with the boys and make our return trip on Sunday."

"Josh, you and your boys are amazing," she told me, sappily. "I can't even begin to tell you how many people are indebted to all of you for your generosity and caring nature."

"Sally, you're making me blush," I teased. "If you would just ask Ann when and where she would like to meet, we'll be all set. I'll call and make the hotel reservations in Scranton."

"I'll call her back, and then I'll let you know what she has to say," she confirmed. "Thanks, Josh, from both of us."

Now, I just sat in my office and thought about the remarkable coincidences between what Graham had said and what turned out to be the truth. The children WERE both boys and they DID need our help, even though they had relatives in the area. How in the world could he have possibly known that?

The first question Graham asked me, when he and Cole met me at the van after school, was if I had checked about the boys. I told them that I had followed-up on that and would tell everyone what I found out at dinner this evening. He seemed satisfied just to know that I had called, and was willing to wait and learn what I discovered at the same time I told his brothers. It also made me wonder if he somehow already knew what I was going to announce.

After we got home, I prepared our meal and puttered around in the kitchen for a while. When we sat down to eat, Graham was about at the end of his patience. "Daddy, what did you find out from Aunt Sally?" he pleaded.

"Okay, here's the whole story," I began, before telling them how I had called Sally and how she, in turn, called her friend. I explained there WERE two boys involved and that the local welfare agency didn't want the children to stay with their relatives, at least for now. Next, I informed them that we would drive to Scranton on Friday evening, spend the night there, and then meet the boys on Saturday. I explained we would spend most of Saturday with the boys, stay overnight again, and then return home on Sunday, possibly with the boys.

Everyone was excited about the trip, but they were totally in awe of Graham and his 'ability' to sense all that from the newspaper's account of the tragedy. Suddenly, Graham found himself held in much higher regard by his brothers, but it seemed not to affect him at all, since he was incredibly focused on the plight of the two young boys, whom he had never met.

By Friday, I had all the boys excused from all of their other commitments for the weekend, so there would be no conflicts. When the final classes ended, we loaded into the van and were on our way to Scranton. I had planned out our trip the previous evening at home and calculated it would take a few hours for us to drive there from our home in south central Pennsylvania, not including a stop for dinner. After an exhausting drive, we rolled into the parking lot of our hotel sometime after nine that evening.

We unloaded from the van and took the suitcases to our rooms. I had the boys get their things together Thursday night and pack them by room assignments. Once they had completed that task, I immediately asked them to put their luggage into the back of the van, so we wouldn't have to fool with it in the morning.

Ricky, Cole and Graham would be staying together in one room, and therefore shared a suitcase. Dustin, Kevin and Trey were in another room, so they had their own suitcase. That left Danny, Pat and me to team up in the last room, so we packed our things in the final piece of luggage. I had also arranged for me to be in the center room, so I could also monitor the others' activities while they were in their own rooms. We were all very tired by the time we arrived, so we merely freshened up a bit and relaxed for a short time, before going to bed.

The next day we were up, dressed and ready for our 10:00 a.m. appointment, with plenty of time to spare. After enjoying a substantial breakfast, we drove to the county office building and had just barely exited the van, before a red haired woman, about my age, greeted us. "Hi, I'm Ann Getz, and you must be Mr. Currie," she began.

"Yes, but please call me Josh," I informed her, which caused her to nod, signifying her understanding. "If you don't mind my asking, I'm interested in knowing how you concluded I was the person you were waiting for?" I asked this question rather naively, as it turned out.

"Well, I had seen your pictures in the magazine, but even without that I would have figured it had to be you," she sort of chuckled. "Either that or I'd discovered the Pied Piper, with all of those boys following you." I should have realized, before I even asked the question, we were not the type of family that could blend in, unseen, into any community.

"Quite right. I guess my question was rather silly," I confessed. "I'm very happy to meet you, Ann. Sally told me a little about you."

"It's nice to meet you and your boys, Josh. Sally told me about you, as well," she countered. "Needless to say, I've been hoping for this opportunity since reading about you and the boys in the magazine article that was published a few months ago. You're all celebrities of sorts, especially with people in my profession."

"Not too loudly, Ann. I've just managed to get the swelling in their heads to go down, so they can fit into their hats again," I joked.

"Oh, Josh, I find that hard to believe," he countered. "They look like such wonderful young men. If you don't mind, I'd like to meet and chat with them all later, but for now, I need to speak with you alone. We need to discuss some background information about this case, in private. The boys may remain in the waiting room, if they wouldn't mind?"

"They certainly wouldn't and that won't be a problem," I quickly assured her, before informing the boys about what was expected. They had brought along the hand-held video games I bought them for Christmas, so I knew they'd keep occupied. Once they were situated, I followed Ann into her office.

"I was thrilled when Sally called me," she began, "and told me about your offer. It couldn't have come at a better time. I had just left a big meeting, where we had discussed the dilemma about placing the boys. The consensus of the agencies involved with this situation was that we did not want them to move in with their mother's relatives, as we were concerned those people might try to flee, in an attempt to evade criminal prosecution. They still might take off, but this way they won't have the boys and won't know where the children are, either. I just want to make sure you and your family hit it off with Sammy and Andrew, first. Those poor little creatures don't need any more unhappiness in their young lives and I want to be certain they fit in with your other young men."

"A wise precaution," I offered, "but I don't foresee any problems on this side. Hopefully, Sammy and Andrew, I believe those are the names you just used, will bond with my boys when we go out later."

"That would be wonderful," Ann exclaimed. "Maybe I should start at the beginning and fill you in about what we know. This whole mess started because their parents had been having marital problems. From what we've discovered from other sources, that afternoon Mr. Yamada went over to where his wife worked, to make amends and ask her out to lunch. When he arrived, he went directly to her office and opened the door cautiously, in order to surprise her, but he was the one who was surprised. When he glanced in, he saw this other guy and his wife having sex on her desk. The husband left as quietly as he'd entered, and there is no indication his wife or her gentleman friend had even known he'd been there, before Mr. Yamada went out to his car, got his pistol out of his glove compartment and then burst into her office the second time.

"Apparently, the two lovebirds jumped off the desk and tried to cover the evidence of their indiscretion. According to witnesses, Mr. Yamada screamed at his wife, telling her that she had shamed herself, her family and him, before lifting his weapon and firing a single shot into her head, right between the eyes. The other guy tried to flee, but Mr. Yamada shot him in the back as he attempted to bolt through the door. The bullet did some damage, but he did survive. Maybe now he won't be so quick to mess around with a married woman.

"Back to the story, however," Ann interjected. "Mr. Yamada then lifted the pistol to his own head and pulled the trigger. One of the employees in the shop raced to a phone and dialed 911, but by the time the police and ambulances arrived, it was too late to save either him or his wife. The paramedics managed to stabilize the other man and transport him to the hospital, while the police went around taking statements from the employees who had witnessed what had happened.

"As an officer was interviewing one of the gentlemen who worked in the shop, but had been in the office at the time of the attack, he recognized an expensive vehicle that had been reported stolen earlier in the day. It was sitting in the back of the shop, only partially covered by a tarp. He called the station and had some detectives sent over, with a warrant, to check out his find. When they arrived, the investigators discovered another stolen vehicle and some other assorted property that had been reported as stolen from throughout the surrounding area.

"The business was immediately closed down and seized by the police department. One of the detectives then went to court to get an injunction to freeze all of the family's assets, until things could be sorted out and the case was presented in a court of law. If the various law enforcement agencies now involved in this case can prove any of the business' assets were acquired due to illicit activities, then nearly everything the family has could be confiscated by the state.

"It was left up to my agency to decide what to do with the two boys, who were now orphans. The mother's family was immediately excluded as undesirable and unfit, some because of the current allegations and others because of prior criminal records. We tried to find out what we could about the father's family, only to discover he had left Japan against his parents' wishes and they had disowned him and still mourn him as if he were dead. They've had no contact with each other since that day, so his parents don't even know they have grandsons.

"This meant the boys were now wards of the state and under my supervision. We were debating their future when Sally told me about you and your offer. The two boys are in an adjoining office, with one of my caseworkers, and I'd like for them to meet you and your sons. If you're willing, they are prepared to spend the rest of the day with you."

"That's sort of what we had planned on too, Ann," I admitted. "My boys are looking forward to meeting them."

"Great! Let's go out in the waiting room and I'll fill all of you in about them."

Chapter 25
The Phoenix, Rising From the Ashes

After Ann and I walked out to where my boys were sitting, she sat and chatted with them for a while, in order to get to know them better. She also told them about reading about us in Time and said she admired our family for the way we handled the interview and what we'd accomplished. After that, Ann readily gave us a few more details about the orphans.

"Let me tell you about the boys and then I'll bring them out here to meet you," she told everyone. "The older boy is Tsukimo Yamada, but he goes by 'Sammy', the English equivalent of his name. He is eleven years old, in the sixth grade and does quite well in school. Both boys are half Japanese, from their father's side, and half Anglo-American, from their mother's side.

"The younger boy's name is Furuhata Yamada or 'Andrew'. He is nine years old, in the fourth grade and also does very well in school. Both boys are quite small in stature and have very oriental-looking features. They are also quite meek and very well behaved. I have no idea about their hobbies or other interests, but maybe the caseworker that has been assigned to them can tell you more along this line. She is with them now, in another office, and they're waiting for me to come and get them. Do any of you have any questions that you'd like answered first?"

"They do speak English, don't they?" Cole asked.

"Yes they do and very well," Ann confirmed. "They were both born in this country, attend schools here and are both U.S. citizens."

"Do they know how their parents died?" Trey asked. I think his question came about because of the way he had lost his own family and the unresolved issues he was still dealing with.

"They know that both of their parents were shot to death, but they have not been told the details surrounding that event," Ann informed them. "We didn't think they were old enough to deal with that kind of information yet."

"I think that was a wise decision," I told her. "It would be difficult enough to learn their parents had been murdered, but to discover their father was responsible might be too much for them to handle."

"Our thoughts, precisely. Any other questions?" she asked, but there were none. "In that case, I'll go get the boys and bring them out for introductions."

Ann left and returned a minute later. Following her into the room were two small oriental youths and another lady. The boys both had straight black hair, very dark eyes (almost black), were quite cute and both looked scared out of their wits. Ann stood behind them and began the introductions.

"Josh, boys. This is Sammy Yamada and this is his brother, Andrew." She pointed to each boy as she introduced him. "Sammy and Andrew, this is Mr. Currie and these are his sons. I'll have to let him tell you their names."

Little Andrew looked around the room, his eyes wide and his mouth open. "These are all your sons?" he asked, totally surprise.

"Yes, Andrew, they are," I informed him. "They all came to me in various ways and I have taken them into my home, to raise as my sons."

"Wow," exclaimed Sammy, awestruck. "I don't think I've ever known anyone with that many children before."

"Yes, I must admit we're sort of an oddity these days," I confirmed. "But it wasn't really that long ago when eight children in a family wouldn't have been considered quite as unusual. However, nowadays even four children is a rarity and considered a lot by most standards. By the way, I also have four grown children who are living on their own and two grandsons."

"You are a glutton for punishment, aren't you, Josh?" Ann said in jest.

"Yes, I guess maybe I am," I agreed.

At that point I introduced all of my sons to Sammy and Andrew. I told them their names, their ages and a brief story about how we came to be together. I could see the two youngsters were fascinated by my account of how some of the boys had been treated in their former homes and by their families.

"Well, Sammy and Andrew," I asked them after the introductions were completed, "how would you like to join us for the afternoon? We will go wherever you'd like and do whatever you'd like to do, so you can get to know us better. How would you like that?"

"Can we go to Chuck E. Cheese?" Andrew asked excitedly.

"If that's where you'd like to go, then we'll go there," I agreed. "Is that okay with you, Sammy?"

"Yes, I like that place too," he assured me. "We have a lot of fun when we go there."

"Then it's settled. Say good-bye to Ms. Getz and Ms. …" I looked at the caseworker. "I'm not sure I caught your last name, I'm sorry."

"Weinberg, Sandy Weinberg," she told me.

"Fine. Say good-bye to Ms. Getz and Ms. Weinberg and we'll be on our way."

As our new little friends said their farewells, Ann gave me directions to Chuck E. Cheese, before we went out to the van. I strapped Sammy and Andrew into the front passenger seat together, and the other boys hopped into the back, some sitting on the laps of some of the others. We made our way through the city and were soon in the parking lot of the establishment, with everyone scrambling to get out the various van doors. It was like an invasion force, as the boys rushed the building and crashed (not literally) through the front doors.

We decided to eat first, so I ordered three large pizzas and plenty of drinks. I also purchased a slew of tokens for the boys to use to play the assortment of carnival and video type games, located throughout the building. As we soon discovered, they would play the games to win tickets, which could be exchanged for prizes later, so I went to the counter and got four plastic bags to collect and hold the tickets in.

Once they finished eating, I doled out the tokens and soon there were ten boys running from game to game to game. Ricky, Cole and Graham also talked Sammy and Andrew into going up the collection of tubes and play areas that shot up from the floor and loomed above the other furnishings. Only the younger children were allowed to use this, so I sat and watched as the younger boys climbed through these translucent, colored tubes, going from area to another. Watching them, I projected a visual image of them as hamsters in their cages, scooting through the maze of tubing that was provided for their pleasure. They actually did look like those animals at play.

The boys played around in Chuck E. Cheese for over five hours. They were all having a good time and took turns introducing themselves and taking the new boys with them for a while. When we finally decided to call it a day, we had many, many bags of tickets from the games. As we got ready to take them over to redeem them, my boys announced they wanted Sammy and Andrew to split the tickets between just the two of them and then get whatever they wanted. Needless to say, our two new friends were thrilled by their good fortune, yet amazed that the other boys didn't want something for themselves. They couldn't believe everyone was willing to give them all of their tickets.

After much thought on the issue, Sammy and Andrew each selected what they wanted from the shelf that reflected the correct level for the number of tickets they had turned in. From watching Sammy and Andrew's reaction as their prize was handed to them, you would have thought we had just given each of them a million dollars. We all sat down and talked a little longer, before deciding how we were going to spend the rest of the day. We agreed we should go out for dinner next, as it had been a few hours since we'd had lunch, and then we would go to a movie.

I called Ann at the number she had given me before we left and told her about our plans. She wanted to know how the boys were getting along and I replied 'fabulously'. I then asked her if it would be permissible for them to stay with us at the hotel, as they could bunk in with my three youngest hoodlums, and she said that would also be fine.

Before I rejoined the boys, I asked some of the older customers about a good place to dine with my brood and they happily gave me the name, address and phone number of a family style restaurant nearby. I quickly called the place and made reservations for 6:00 p.m. That would give us a little over an hour before we had to go there. One of the customers had also drawn me a map, while I was on the phone, and eagerly gave it to me, explaining in detail how to get there. I thanked him and led the boys out to the van.

After leaving Chuck E. Cheese, we stopped along the way and picked up a newspaper from one of those vending machines, so I could look over the movie selection while we parked along the street. After telling them what was playing, the boys let Sammy and Andrew choose what we'd see, so now that was also set. Surprisingly, it was already twenty minutes to six, so we headed for the restaurant. As we got out, I suspected I looked like the good shepherd, leading his flock into the building to graze.

The hostess wanted to know if we were some kind of school group or chorus and I told her no, it was just my family. She looked at the various sizes, hair colorings and nationalities of all the boys, and then looked back at me. I merely answered her questioning look by responding; "It's because they don't all have the same mother."

I think that comment just about blew her mind and the boys quickly joined in the fun by making sure to call me 'dad' whenever they wanted something. After several minutes of listening to that, as we waited for our table to be prepared, I think she finally believed me and gave up on the notion that I was just pulling her leg.

We were seated at this large, basically circular table, in the middle of the dining room. I felt like King Arthur with his knights at the Round Table, although I had some very small and puny knights. The boys each ordered what they wanted and we enjoyed a very nice meal with some good conversation to go along with it. My boys answered many questions about themselves while they ate, as Sammy and Andrew seemed to want to know everything about them. When they had finished grilling my boys, they turned their attention to me.

They asked me why I had taken in so many boys, how I had selected the ones I wanted and then they wanted to know where we lived and what it was like there? I answered all of their questions, as we finished dinner and enjoyed our dessert, and then it was time for me to pay the bill, so we could leave for the theater. As we prepared to make our way to the exit, we received several compliments, from both the help and some of the other customers, about how well behaved the boys were and how they were such little gentlemen. I explained they were on their best behavior tonight, but were still capable of letting loose, from time to time. The people laughed, reiterated they were still impressed and the boys thanked them for not letting me give them the wrong impression about their manners.

I asked for directions to the movie theater before we loaded into the van, and we were soon on our way. We arrived at the theater, purchased our tickets and went in to take our seats. After the large meal, no one needed popcorn, candy or sodas. The movie was also quite enjoyable. It was an animated film that would appeal to all age groups, since there was humor that only the older and more mature audience would pick up on, while at the same time there was enough action and slapstick for the kids to enjoy.

When it was over, we headed back to the hotel, much to everyone's surprise. Sammy and Andrew were thrilled that they were going to be allowed to stay with us overnight and they were even happier when they found out they would be bunking in with my three terrors, who were currently on their best behavior. I tucked the five of them into the two beds; Sammy slept with Ricky, while Andrew slept with Graham and Cole, and then I went back to my own room. As I drifted off to sleep that evening, I still couldn't get it out of my mind how Graham had somehow known that all of this was somehow meant to be. It made me wonder if the same problems that had cause his learning disabilities had also given him an additional sense, which very few others ever share. I guess I might never know the answer to that question.

The next morning, I went in and made sure that Sammy and Andrew got cleaned up before we left. I gave them each a bath, although they had a tub mate or two at the time, and they looked good, even though they had to wear the same clothing they had on yesterday. They were so cute when they were nude, as they were so small, fragile, hairless and also uncut. I would attribute that last fact to their father's heritage and cultural beliefs.

Once we were ready to leave, the older boys carried the luggage down to the lobby for me and then loaded it into the van, while I checked out and paid the bill. They were all situated in their seats by the time I arrived. I had also called Ann before we left our room and she said she would meet us at her office. The boys were all singing along to some rock song that was playing on the radio, as we made our way there. Ann was opening the door to the building as we pulled into one of the front parking spaces. The boys were still laughing and singing as they exited the van.

"Well, it looks and sounds like everyone had a good time," Ann observed.

"Yeah, we did," Andrew told her. "Look what we won." He held up his prize from Chuck E. Cheese.

"My, that's pretty nice. What did you win, Sammy?" Sammy held out his prize, while at the same time sporting a monster grin. "Why don't we go inside and you can tell me all about your visit?"

We all entered the building and made our way through the halls to Ann's office. The boys were chatting all the way and Ann was watching them with the eye of a skilled evaluator. We filed into the waiting area and Ann told us that she wanted to speak with Sammy and Andrew first, alone. The three of them entered her office and were in there for about twenty minutes, before I was summoned in to join them.

"Josh," Ann began, "the boys tell me that they had a wonderful time with you yesterday. Are you still interested in what we talked about earlier?"

"Definitely, and I know my boys concur," I assured her.

"Well, I'll let you discuss that with Sammy and Andrew then," she replied, throwing the ball back into my court.

"I think I already know how they feel and what they're going to decide," I informed her, "but maybe this will convince you of what I am so confident of." Both boys were staring at me, confused by what I had just said to Ann and waiting to see what I was going to say to them.

"Sammy, Andrew," I began, looking directly at both of them. "I know you've both been through some very rough times recently and that you are now pretty much all alone. That's why we, the boys and I, want to know if you'd like to come live with us and be part of our family?"

The two boys looked at each other as soon as I finished speaking, quickly nodded their heads toward each other, while flashing toothy grins, and then turned toward me. "Yes," they shouted out in unison, which not only made my heart leap with joy, but also lit up Ann's face as well.

"We were worried where we were going to live now," Sammy continued. "Our father never wanted us to spend time with our mother's family, so we don't really know them very well. It didn't matter though, because they were always kind of mean to us, anyway. I don't think they liked our father, because he was Japanese, and I don't think they liked us, because we were part Japanese. Besides, they didn't have any children around our age and we'd rather be in a home with other kids."

"Yes," Andrew continued, "and we know that we'd like it if we could live with you. We had so much fun yesterday and we like all of you. You don't treat us differently because we are part Japanese or because we look different than your other boys."

"That doesn't bother us at all," I confirmed. "We like you for who you are, not just what you look like. As long as you both remember that it won't be fun like that all of the time, we'd love to have you join us. We do spend most of our time doing some pretty normal and boring things, too. The boys all have chores to do around the house and are all expected to do well in school. Speaking of school, I am also the principal of the school you will be attending, if you come to live with us."

"Neat," squealed Andrew.

"Do any of the other boys go to that school too?" Sammy wanted to know.

"Yes, Graham, Cole and Trey all go there as well. Most of the others did too, for a while, but now they are at the high school."

"I take it that you are both agreeing to Mr. Currie's offer?" Ann asked them, just to be certain.

"Yes," Sammy said, "if it's all right with you."

"Oh, that it is," she replied with a grin.

We immediately went back into the other area, to inform my boys about the decision. They all cheered when they heard it.

"I was hoping it would work out this way, so I had all of Sammy and Andrew's belongings placed in the other office, just in case they were ready to go home with you. Do you think I can get someone to help me carry them out to your car, so you can be on your way."

I think everyone of my boys immediately volunteered for that duty, along with Sammy and Andrew. Ann was chuckling at everyone's enthusiasm. "Well, it looks like I won't have to lift a finger then," she added, while showing the boys were the items were.

"Thank you," Sammy and Andrew said, first to Ann and then to me, before bestowing me with a very special hug.

"We'll be very good," Sammy told me, "and we'll do everything you say. Thank you for letting us come live with you."

"It's my pleasure. That's why we drove here to meet you," I explained. "However, you'll have to thank Graham, too, since this was mostly his idea, after we read about your parents. He said we had to come here and get you, so you could live with us."

"But how did he know?" Andrew wondered.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that question," I admitted. "He just had a very strong feeling about it and insisted we check it out. So, if you're ready to go, the boys can start taking you things out to the van, while you say good-bye to Mrs. Getz. After that, we'll be on our way."

Both boys gave Ann a hug, a thank you and then said farewell. Ann kissed them both on the top of their heads and told them to write or call. They agreed and then followed their new brothers outside.

"Ann, thank you for everything," I told her, from the heart. "They seem like wonderful boys and I'm sure we'll be able to make them feel right at home. I'll keep in touch and I'll have Sally keep you advised, as well. Thanks again, for taking a chance on someone outside of your jurisdiction."

"No, Josh, I should be thanking you," she corrected. "I'm not sure what I would have done without your offer. There are still plenty of people out there who would have trouble taking the boys in because of their race. I'm not sure if I could have found a home locally, even if we didn't want to get them away from their relatives. The worse part about this is, I think the relatives would only want them so they can get their hands on their father's accounts and possessions. I don't think they were ever really interested in the boys themselves. No matter what, I want you to keep in touch. Here's my business card with my address, phone number and email address. I'll let you know about any and all developments concerning them. Drive safely and take care of my precious little angels."

"I will, Ann, and thanks, again," I assured her, before we left.

Chapter 26
I win with a pair

Sammy and Andrew wanted to ride in the back with the other boys, so I let Danny ride up front with me. It was another long ride and we stopped only once, for gas and a late lunch. Once again, our entrance into the restaurant caused somewhat of a minor disturbance, as they hurriedly tried to prepare a place large enough to accommodate us all. Once again, we were asked what kind of a group this was, but I didn't have time to answer that question, as the boys starting firing their own questions at me.

"Dad, may I have this?" or "Dad, may so and so and I go to the toilet?" were the types of queries I felt were more pressing and in need of my attention.

The waitress just stared at me, before asking the obvious question, "Are these boys all your sons?"

"Yes, they are, but they are not ALL of my children," I admitted. "I have others who are older and living on their own already." I was getting a kick out of shocking people and just couldn't resist adding the last part, to let them know there were even more to this brood. I know, it's cruel, but the temptation was just too great to ignore. Once she got over her initial shock about my disclosure, I soon saw her running around, whispering to everyone about our situation. The boys were also starting to really enjoy this little game and made sure to call me 'dad' loudly enough for everyone else to hear, each and every time we played it on another unsuspecting group.

After we finished our meal, I took care of the tab and made sure everyone used the toilet (which took some time), before we got under way again. After another monotonous drive, we finally arrived home just before 5:00 p.m. While the older boys were unloading everything from the van, I took Sammy and Andrew up and showed them their bedroom. It was one of the two rooms we had made out of the upstairs master bedroom, the one with the twin beds in it. Both boys were very excited they would be sharing their own room, and later confessed they thought they might be in with up to four or five of the boys, in a big dormitory like room. That was because they had never seen a house with this many bedrooms before.

Ricky and Cole volunteered to help them unpack their things and organize their belongings into the dressers and closet. They finished this task quite quickly and then joined Graham to give the boys a tour of the place, while the rest of us began to unwind.

Sammy and Andrew were in awe of our house, explaining that one floor of our place had more rooms than the whole house they lived in with their parents. I told them it was because we needed that many rooms, with so many boys, and they quickly agreed.

After fixing the boys a light dinner, since we had such a late lunch, we watched a little television before bedtime. Once I informed everyone it was time to get cleaned up and ready for bed, Graham asked if he could bathe with his newest brothers. Sammy and Andrew liked that idea too, so I filled the tub with warm water and scrubbed them down quickly. He was thrilled that both of the boys were uncut, like him, and immediately bonded with them. By the time the boys exited the old master bathroom, the other boys were already parading naked up and down the hallway. Sammy and Andrew laughed and blushed when they saw them.

"They've got big pee pees," Andrew observed.

"Yes, they do," I replied, "and they aren't afraid to be seen naked by their brothers. They tend to do this a lot, so I hope it doesn't bother you."

"No," Sammy answered immediately. "We used to go without clothes at our house, too. We even took baths with our parents, in a large tub. My father said it was an old Japanese custom."

"I've heard about the Japanese public baths," I admitted, "but I didn't know some people still followed that practice. I'm just glad you're both okay with the fact that the boys like to run around without clothes on too, that's all."

"Why do some of them have different looking pee pees?" Andrew asked, looking at me bewildered, so I quickly explained to them about circumcision and why it is sometimes done. Their limited knowledge was because they had never seen any other boys naked before, as their family had very little social contact with other people. Their parents never invited anyone from work or school into their home and the mother's family mostly shunned them. Even at the school they attended there was very little chance of seeing anyone else, even on the sly, as there were partitions between the urinals and around the commodes. Since the only place they ever went naked was in front of their parents, they had very little exposure to other cultural practices.

Now that they understood the differences and realized some of the boys were like them, while others weren't, they gave it very little additional attention. In fact, they didn't act any differently with the boys than they had when they were all fully dressed. It was a very refreshing transition.

An hour or so later, I sent all of the younger boys up to bed. After giving them a few minutes to get situated, I checked on them and made sure they were all tucked into bed. I gave Sammy and Andrew a kiss good night and they each gave me a huge hug in return. I told them they needed to get a good night's sleep, because I would be registering them in school in the morning. They were excited about this and I could tell it would take them some time before they calmed down enough to fall asleep. Hoping it would help settle them down, I decided to push the beds back together, so I could crawl in between and lie with them for a while. I stayed with them like that until they drifted into dreamland and then I crawled back out and went downstairs. After chasing the older boys off to bed too, I gave in to my own fatigue and slipped off to my own room.

The next morning I fixed breakfast and then went up to wake Sammy and Andrew. They smiled at me when they opened their eyes. "I was afraid I had just dreamed this," Sammy told me, through an ear-to-ear grin.

"It's no dream," I countered, before kissing them both on the forehead. "You're home where you belong. Let's get you two dressed and then we'll go down for breakfast."

We selected the clothes the boys wanted to wear for the first day at their new school and then went down to eat. It was then that I realized they were most likely accustomed to an oriental diet and much of what I had to offer them might seem strange. They had eaten other 'American' type foods while they were with us, for lunch and dinner, but from what they later informed me, they were mostly used to eating large quantities of rice, certain cooked vegetables and fish. They also confided to me that their mother would also feed them American dishes from time-to-time, when their father wasn't around and without his knowledge. They also stated they also ate the cafeteria food at school most of the time too. This meant they weren't totally unaccustomed to some of the same things we ate, but I would try to be more accommodating and offer them a blend of the various cuisines, at least until they told me it wasn't necessary

I gave them corn flakes for their first breakfast with us and then made some scrambled eggs to go with it, figuring those might be a palatable compromise. While they ate, the boys told me how the caseworker, with whom they had been staying on a temporary basis, had handled the problem. She had a Japanese friend who worked at the college and asked him to come over and prepare meals for the boys during their stay. Therefore, they had been able to stick to nearly the same types of foods they were most accustomed to. It was too bad the caseworker had failed to mention that little fact to Ms. Getz or to me.

When we arrived at school, I immediately began to fill out the appropriate forms to enroll them. I assigned them to the classrooms of two of my finest teachers and gave the boys a tour of the building. I showed them where their classrooms were located, where the toilets and cafeteria were, and then introduced them to their teachers. They were very excited and extremely polite to everyone they met.

Throughout the day, I was pleased to see that the entire school body welcomed the pair with open arms. In fact, they were sort of curious, as we had no other oriental students enrolled. I checked on them several times during the day and they seemed to be happy and doing well.

I asked Trey, Cole and Graham to meet them after school and keep them occupied until I was ready to leave, which they readily agreed to. On the ride home, neither Sammy nor Andrew could wait to tell us about their first day. They talked as rapidly as old-time auctioneers and their hands and arms flailed about, as they animatedly spoke about the things they had done. They nearly knocked Cole out when they were telling us about a game they had played at recess, when both of their arms shot out and caught Cole, one on the chin and the other on the side of his head, at almost the same instant. They apologized profusely and Cole hammed it up by begging them not to beat him any more. We were all having a good laugh, as we pulled into the high school to pick the others up.

After dinner that night, I went into my bedroom to work on the computer. I wanted to send Ann a quick email telling her about the boys' first day at school. I had just sent it off when Sammy asked to speak to me.

"What may I do for you?" I asked him.

"I want you to tell me about my parents," he stated, emphatically. "I want to know how they died. I know people aren't telling us things and I want to know what they are hiding and why they don't want us to know."

I was afraid this might happen and made impromptu plans for this possibility. I held out my arms toward him, so he walked in my direction. As soon as he was close enough, I reached out and pulled him onto my lap. I looked into his large, dark eyes, swallowed hard and prepared to answer his question.

"Sammy, both of your parents were shot and people didn't want you to know everything about it, because it wasn't a pleasant scene," I explained. "They were only trying to protect you from the gruesome details of their deaths." I could see Sammy thinking about my answer and possibly forming his next question.

"Who killed them?" he asked, succinctly. I looked him in the eyes and took a deep breath before I spoke.

"A very distraught man," I told him. I didn't lie to him, but I didn't think he was ready for the whole truth. "He was very upset and reacted out of frustration."

"What happened to him?" Sammy pressed.

"He's also dead," I answered, simply.

"Why did he do it?" Sammy continued.

"Sammy, I'm not sure that anyone will ever know the true answer to that question," I explained. "Let's just say that all of them were in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

I wrapped my arms around his tiny body and hugged him against my chest. I kissed his forehead, stroked his hair and then spoke to him again. "You and your brother are safe with us," I told him, anticipating his next reaction, "and you have a home here, for as long as you want."

"Are you our father now?" he asked me directly, as he looked up at me with a sad, questioning expression on his handsome face.

"Right now I'm your foster father," I told him. "That's the way Mrs. Getz set it up when we left her. I'm not sure if you and Andrew want me to be more than that, but I am willing to adopt both of you, if you want me to."

"I'll have to see what Andrew says, but I think we will want that," he stated, quite calmly. "After we found out our parents had been killed, we talked about how scared we were and how we were all alone. We didn't like that at all. We don't want to be alone." He sat quietly thinking for a short time, before he continued. "I think we will want to be part of this family and we will want others to know that we are your sons. Me and Andrew have already talked about how nice it is to have so many brothers to help us and look out for us and they have been really nice. We like you too and we like it that we can see you all day long at school. We feel very good here, like we belong."

"You do belong," I confirmed. "The boys and I all agree on that."

"We know. You've always made us feel that way since we first met you," he agreed. "You treated us just like all of the other boys. You never treated us differently and you always made us feel we were wanted. Our brothers made us feel wanted too. Andrew told me at recess that we are very lucky and he loves it here. I do too." He looked very pensive now. It was another minute or two before he spoke again. "Should we call you 'father' or 'dad' now?"

"You may call me whatever you wish, but only if you want to," I agreed. "I don't want to make you feel that you have to call me that or make you think that you are doing anything to dishonor the memory of your own father. Which name did you use for him?"

"We usually called him the Japanese word for father, but sometimes we would call him father, too," he explained.

"Look, you don't have to decide this right away and it's probably best that you talk this over with Andrew first, before you decide anything," I suggested. "When you two think you're ready to make up your minds, we'll sit down and the three of us will talk about it together. Is that all right with you?"

"Yes, I like that," he confessed. "I'll go and find Andrew, so I can see what he thinks." I gave him another squeeze and kissed him on the forehead again. He smiled at me, just before he got off of my lap, and then he went to look for his brother.

I thought that went well, but I was still shaking like a leaf from answering his questions about his family. While he was grilling me, I was as tense as an anchor cable during a hurricane, trying to tiptoe with the truth about what happened. I was afraid I was going to say something wrong and make things worse for him. I'm glad I had gone over some of those responses in my head, prior to his coming to me about his feelings, as it had made it easier for me to respond.

When bath time rolled around, Cole and Ricky volunteered to give the boys their baths this time. Ricky washed Sammy and Cole washed both Graham and Andrew. I think Graham was getting a bent nose about the attention his brothers were giving to the other two and I'm sure Cole recognized that too. Cole did his duty without any fuss and you could see it made Graham feel a great deal better afterwards. They all came back to the family room, sans clothing, and walked up to me. "Can we sit on your lap?" Andrew asked me.

"Certainly. It's definitely big enough for two… or three," I added, when I saw Graham begin to scowl. After hearing my addendum, he cracked a smile and the three of them wasted no time in scrambling into position on my lap. Ricky and Cole then took up positions on either side of me, once the others were settled in. Sammy and Graham rested their heads against my shoulders, while Andrew rested the back of his head against my chest. It seemed as if we spent most of our time just feeling close to each other, rather than watching whatever was on the tube. They actually even fell asleep that way, long before I felt it was time for them to go to their room.

Seeing my predicament, Dustin and Trey helped me get them into position, so I could carry them upstairs, while Graham, Cole and Ricky walked up with me. They gave me a hand laying both boys down and tucking them in and then the rest of us went back downstairs for a while longer.

The rest of the week passed by very quickly and the older boys invited Brandon and Jay over for the weekend, so they could get to know their two newest brothers too. Sammy and Andrew received a great deal of attention Friday night and I got a kick out of watching Brandon and Jay carrying the pair around on their shoulders. It was as if the boys had been together for ages. I was very proud of my 'other' sons.

Saturday morning, I was enjoying a blissful slumber when something landed on me and made me feel like I was being mauled. I opened my eyes, looked around and found what I suspected, but there was an added surprise. It wasn't just my trio of terrors plus one (Jay); they had also added to their membership. It looked as if Sammy and Andrew were being initiated into the group of holy terrors.

At that point, several little hands were busy trying to tickle me, as they tried to suppress their own giggles.

"Hey, what's going on here?" I bellowed, trying to sound mad.

"It's time for you to get up, lazybones," Andrew announced, in between giggles.

"Lazybones! Who are you calling lazybones?" I challenged, before reaching out and tickling him in return. Once I had him laughing hysterically, I grabbed Sammy and started in on him too. I was busy tickling the pair when a total free-for-all broke out on my bed. Now, I was busy tickling any and everyone I could get my hands on, and there were multiple fingers wriggling around my neck, armpits, stomach and feet, desperately trying to do the same thing to me. I finally got my hands on the ringleader, Ricky, and set about getting even with him. I straddled his hips with my legs, used my weight to hold him in place, and began to tickle him unmercifully.

"Dad, stop. Please, stop," Ricky begged me, but I continued to tickle him.

"I wasn't the one who started this," I answered him. "What's the matter? Can't you take it, as well as you can dish it out?"

"I'm sorry, Dad," he said through fits of laughter. "I'll stop and not do it again."

"Yeah, sure. Like I believe you," I mocked.

"Honest, Dad. I won't ever do this again," he promised, although I suspected he was crossing something to keep from having to keep that bargain.

"I still don't believe you, but call off your troops and I'll stop," I offered.

"Okay guys, no more," Ricky urged and the others quit, at his behest. They all stood around my bed and I finally pulled my body from over Ricky's.

"That was fun," Andrew chortled.

"Yeah, do you guys do this all of the time?" Sammy wanted to know.

"Far too often," I told him. "They have a tendency to do this to me and their brothers, but their brothers have started fighting back. I guess I'll have to start fighting back as well. We'll see how often it happens in the future, now that we all have their number."

Ricky looked over at me with a sly grin. "Yeah, we'll see all right," he challenged.

I made a move to get off the bed and he immediately fled from my room, soon to be followed by his cohorts. This made me wonder if they had merely retreated to the jungle room or were they planning their next attack?

Chapter 27
New Understandings

Things were going very smoothly and Sammy and Andrew were fitting in nicely. We were trying to make some concessions with the food, but we didn't know all that much about Japanese meals. I did fix more fish and eggplant, tried to add rice as a side dish and made other similar changes in our diet, hoping that would help. Also, after talking to both boys, we agreed we'd eat Chinese once or twice a week too, which they also seemed to like, and I always ordered plenty of extra rice and vegetables when we did this.

It wasn't until several days after Sammy had cornered me in my bedroom that he and his brother returned to approach me about my previous discussion with Sammy. "We've made a decision," Sammy announced without any preliminary formalities.

"Why don't we go into my room and discuss this in private?" I suggested.

"We don't need to," Sammy replied honestly. "We don't mind if our brothers hear what we have to tell you." I smiled at them, reading this clue as a signal about their decision. "Andrew and I want you to adopt us, so we are really your sons and brothers to the other boys."

"You are anyway," I quickly assured them, "but I will include you on the next adoption process, if that's what you want."

"We do," Andrew added, "and we want to call you Daddy, like Graham does," he added.

"I'll just call you Dad, if that's all right," Sammy corrected.

"Are you sure?" I asked them both.

"Yes," Sammy answered. "We talked about this with Graham, Cole and Ricky, and we all think it's the right thing to do."

"I hope they didn't talk you into anything," I countered, wondering if any undue outside pressure had been applied.

"No. They just helped us consider our choices," Sammy explained. "They told us about all of the different names you had told them they could call you when they first arrived here, and they told us why they decided to call you Dad. We agreed with what they said, so we want to do the same."

"And you don't feel that this would be disrespectful to your father?"

"No. He knew we loved him very much, but we only called him 'father', in Japanese or English," he explained. "We never called him Dad, so we don't see anything wrong with calling you that. You don't mind, do you?"

"Absolutely not. I will be proud to have you call me Dad and I will be proud to call each of you son," I added, drawing another smile in response. "If that is truly your decision, then it is fine with me."

"Thank you," Sammy added. "Now we really feel like we belong and are part of this family."

We all hugged and I also shed a few tears, so I immediately sent them off to play, as I needed a few minutes alone to compose myself. While I was doing that, I also whipped off emails to Ann and Sally, telling them about the boys' decision. I was sure they would both be happy for all of us. I would call my attorney in the morning and have him include the pair into the adoption process, along with Pat and Trey.

I often think back to that time, just a few short years ago, when I sat in this house, sad and lonely. I think back to my decision to take in foster children and how frightened I was about what I was getting myself into. Now, in retrospect, I realize that day and that decision was one of the finest of my life. I couldn't be any happier than I am about how things have turned out since then. I have all of these wonderful sons, am filled with so much happiness and am surrounded by all of this love. It only goes to prove that life is wonderful and precious, every minute of every day.

Throughout the weeks to come, things continued to go very well with the new boys and my attorney was working hard to clear up all of the loose ends for the adoptions to take place. I hoped we could have the ceremony in April or May, but I did encounter one major disappointment, when Judge Shay told me he wouldn't be able to preside over this proceeding this time. Since we had gotten to know each other better, after I had taken in Frankie, we had become almost as close as brothers. Now, the boys were even calling him Uncle Steve and his wife Aunty Mary, so he felt it could be viewed as a conflict of interest, if he were to formalize the adoptions. Therefore, he would let another Family Court judge, from a neighboring jurisdiction; have the honor of helping me increase the size of my brood.

I thought I also noticed another small problem, which concerned Pat. It might have been just my imagination, but it seemed as if Patrick were acting differently toward Sammy and Andrew when we were out in public. There didn't seem to be any change in how they got along at home, but I just had a strange feeling that something was different with Pat, at least when the family was around others. Before I make any rash judgment, though, I would first make certain to rule out the chance it was just paranoia on my part. However, I would also definitely be watching Pat more closely from now on, looking for signs of trouble or anything else out of the ordinary.

I also had one regret. Due to all of the time I had spent dealing with various situations, such as the addition of all the new boys, Dustin's stay in the hospital and Kevin's operation, I had been neglectful of making sure to attend the boys' sporting functions. I had been to some of these events, but in the past I had made sure I attended nearly all of them. However, as the number of boys increased and the more unexpected occurrences took place, the number of times I was able to go seemed to diminish. Even though I could justify my absence, it didn't make me feel any less guilty about letting my boys down.

In this light, I went to attend a wrestling match, in which both Dustin and Cole were competing. I think they were thrilled when they heard I was going and most of the boys would be accompanying me. Cole wrestled first, since he was in a lower weight class. He did well, winning on points, but I was still quite impressed with his performance. Not only that, but I was somewhat taken aback with how the skimpy wrestling singlet he wore not only showed off his lean, hard body, but that everyone in attendance could see through the tight fabric how he was hung. I guess you couldn't be modest and still wrestle.

When Dustin's turn came, I was even more impressed, not with his physique or how well he was hung, but by how accomplished he had become at this sport. I heard a couple of girls gasp, as he removed his sweats and got ready to take to the mat, and then he disposed of his opponent in a rather efficient manner. Not only did he take him down quickly, but he also managed to get him on his back and pin him, before the first period was even halfway over. I think that feat impressed more than just me.

After the match was over, which our high school won, I went down and stood along the edge of the mat, as the other boys went roaming about, chatting with their friends and other classmates. As I waited for Dustin and Cole to come back out, after cleaning up and changing, his coach came over to me.

"Josh, you must be really proud of your boys," he announced, with a grin. "They are both doing extremely well."

"Yes, I was impressed with their performance tonight," I agreed.

"Well, you should be especially proud of Dustin," he replied. "Even though I had my doubts about whether to put him on the team this year, I'm certainly glad I did. He's come along way and has the potential of doing well in the post-season tournaments."

I looked at him, thinking about my response, before I finally addressed him. "Was your hesitation to place him on the team due to his skills as a wrestler or something else."

"Josh, let's be honest here," the coach answered. "After that little episode at the end of football season and his stay in the hospital, the entire athletic staff was debating whether he should be allowed to play sports for the remainder of the year. You know our stance on drug use and ecstasy is definitely a drug."

"I couldn't agree more," I told him. "So what made you change your mind?" I was just curious, not trying in any way to defend my son.

"I think it was the allergic reaction that convinced us that this was most likely a one-time mistake on his part," he informed me. "If he had been using it right along, we felt he would have suffered from other such reactions, and because of that we decided to give him another chance. All of us screw up from time to time, and high school boys aren't immune to that either, and we knew him as being a great kid otherwise, so it was an easy choice."

"I hope his being my son didn't factor into the decision," I prodded.

"Actually, it might have a little," he admitted, "but not in the way you think. I think we'd have given the same chance to any of our athletes who might have be surrounded by the same mitigating circumstances as Dustin, but because you were an administrator, we looked longer and harder at Dustin's case, than we might have with another boy. We all agreed that we didn't want to appear to be ignoring our own rules to bail out a colleague's son. Therefore, we probably judged his case more harshly than we would have, had he come from a different family."

"Actually, I'm very glad to hear that," I acknowledged, which caused a momentary look of confusion to cross his face. "It's because I don't want the boys to think they can get away with things just because I'm their father. I've told them when they attended my school that I would come down harder on them than anyone else, because I knew what they were capable of and would expect more from them. I expect the same to apply as they go through their entire school experience. Once they are at college, no one will no me and they will be treated like everyone else, but here I, and hopefully everyone else in the district, will be holding them to a higher standard."

"Josh, it's refreshing to hear you say that," he told me, "since last year a fellow teacher expected us to give her son more leeway, rather than expect more from him. I think your approach is not only more in line with the athletic department's philosophy, but will also benefit your sons more in the long run."

I thanked him for his comments and then he left, and a few minutes later Dustin was coming out of the locker room toward me, along with Cole. "Well, what did you think, Dad?" Cole asked me, as he approached.

"I think you both did a remarkable job out there tonight," I told him.

"Oh, I did okay, but Dustin was really awesome," Cole enthused, while looking with great admiration at his older brother. "Did you know that other guy was also undefeated before tonight?" he pressed.

"No, that I didn't know," I quickly answered, before looking at Dustin with a great deal more respect.

"Yep, they were the last two in their weight class who hadn't been beaten," Cole informed me, "and everyone thought it was going to go down to points, at the end of a long and hard fought match. Boy, were they wrong. Dustin polished him off so quickly and so convincingly that he's going to be ranked first in his weight class for all the tournaments now."

"Maybe," Dustin corrected him, showing a bit of modesty. "We still have a couple of matches to go, before the tournaments start. Who knows what will happen between now and then."

"You'll win twice more," Cole quickly told him, "and THEN you'll be ranked first for the tourneys." I could see Dustin think about arguing this point with Cole, but instead let it drop, realizing he wasn't going to find a way to dampen Cole's enthusiasm and rosy outlook concerning his wrestling future.

As we drove home, all of the other boys were congratulating both of our heroes and Cole was still telling the story about how great his older brother was. I think Dustin was both slightly embarrassed, yet pleased by Cole's adoration, and I think it brought the two of them a little closer than they were before.

As January ground to a halt, I turned my attention to the next big event on our social calendar, Trey's fourteenth birthday, which would happen on February 16th. That was still a couple of weeks away, but it would be his first birthday since he came to live with us, so I wanted to make it special. I started making plans with Danny, Dustin, Ricky and Kevin, but I made them promise they would keep this secret from everyone else. I understood I needed their help to pull this party off, but I was afraid the other boys might let something slip, if they were also privy to our plans. The boys rapidly agreed to my terms, and we began to brainstorm about what type of party we should have and what we should get Trey for his birthday. Within an hour we had a rough idea about what we wanted to do, but this plan would need much refinement before it would be acceptable.

To my complete surprise and absolute delight, the boys almost completely took over the planning operation from me, as they considered how important this was going to be to Trey. Dustin and Kevin offered to do most of this work, since they were the closest to Trey and felt it would go a long way to ease some of Trey's lingering doubts about being totally accepted, along with possibly burying his last reminders of the incident with Frankie and putting it totally out of his mind.

While the boys did that for me, it gave me some additional time to bond with all the latest additions to our family. In an effort to keep him occupied so the others would not have to worry about him coming into the room where they were making plans for his party, I would take Trey places with me or do things for him. During that time, Trey opened up more and more about himself and gave me greater insights into the young man inside.

Besides his fondness for reading, Trey also had a latent desire to write. Although he hadn't really acted upon this, other than keeping his journal, he told me how he either wanted to write a story or a play, but he wasn't sure which. I told him that was a fine ambition and suggested I would like to read whatever he did, which caused him to blush, slightly.

"It probably won't be that good," he informed me. "It's just that I want to give it a try."

"Well, I won't read it, if you don't want me to," I agreed, "but I won't be overly critical. Maybe I can even give you some suggestions or offer places you can go to make it even better."

"Maybe," he compromised, "but I'll see after I finish it, whatever it is."

I was also able to spend time with Pat, Sammy and Andrew, although I never did it at the same time. Not only was there a large age difference between them, but Pat also seemed to become more aloof, whenever he was part of a group. Therefore, I would do things with him alone, in an attempt to find out more about him as well.

At times, Pat was quite happy being with me and fairly open, but he was turning out to be quite a complicated young man. Despite his solid, somewhat athletic build, he wasn't really interested in sports. That may be a by-product of his moving around so much as a child and never having an opportunity to participate in such things. His academics were improving, now that he was attending classes frequently and had a stable school schedule, and now that his appetite for knowledge had been whet, he seemed eager to learn as much as he could. I was pleased with that aspect of his development, yet knew there were other areas we also needed to focus on.

Pat's social skills weren't as developed as they should be for someone his age, but again, that was probably due to the fact he had always been mainly around adults for much of his life, although his contact with them had been limited, often negative and sometimes inappropriate. He sometimes overreacted to minor situations with the boys, like the first time he saw them parading around nude, yet at other times he could be very patient and understanding. I wasn't sure why I was getting all of these mixed signals from him, but he was still somewhat of an enigma to me.

I also got to spend more time with Sammy and Andrew too, learning more about their past and their hopes for the future. They were both very bright and more than eager to work hard at almost anything they did. Although they had those characteristics in common, it was quite obvious they were two very unique and distinct individuals. Sammy seemed to be more analytical than his brother, being able to look at something and figure it out, where Andrew seemed to be more creative and artsy than his sibling. Together, however, they were a pure joy to be around.

Both boys had bonded more with Graham than the others, on several levels. Some of this might have had to do with the fact that they were closest in age, had rough and isolated beginnings and were all physically similar. By that I mean, they were all quite small in stature, had slender builds and were all uncircumcised. I wasn't certain as to how much that affected their closeness, but Graham's mothering over them when they first arrived only added to it. Even though Cole and Ricky had also lent a hand, Graham seemed to take over the majority of the load when watching out for the pair and both boys realized and appreciated that fact.

As February began, I was glad I'd had this time with the boys and got to know them a little better, but I would work hard to make sure I didn't get out of touch with them again.

Chapter 28
Sally Keeps a Promise to a Friend

On Friday, February 1st, I got an early phone call from Sally. I had just walked into my office when the telephone rang. "Hello."

"Hello, Josh. It's Sally. I've been reading your emails about Sammy and Andrew and I can't wait to meet them," she informed me. "What would you say to a visit after school?"

"I'd say that sounds great," I agreed. "It's been too long since we've been able to spend much time together. What if you stop by the house after you get off work and maybe the boys can persuade you to also join us for dinner."

"That sounds very nice," she replied, "but I was hoping I might be able to bring along a guest for all of you to meet. However, I wouldn't wish to impose on you like that."

"Nonsense," I countered. "By chance, might this be anyone I know?"

"No, but it's someone I'd like you to meet," she admitted, which suddenly caused other questions to pop into my mind.

"On a social or professional level?" I asked, hoping to narrow down the possibility.

"Maybe a combination of both," she responded, while sounding a little nervous, possibly even a touch guilty.

"Why do I have the feeling there's more to this visit than just a social call?" I teased, while acknowledging I was most likely being set up for another 'Sally Sting Operation.'

Sally hesitated, before she answered my last question. "Probably because there is," she admitted, reluctantly. "I have another young man I'd like you to meet, but I want to introduce him to you in person, rather than discuss his situation over the phone with you."

"Why are you handling this one differently, Sally?" I questioned. "We've always discussed the boys over the phone first."

"I realize that," she agreed, "but I thought we could do it in person this time, especially since I wanted to meet Sammy and Andrew too."

"That would be fine, but I'm still curious about your reasons," I announced. "This isn't Damien Thorn, is it?" I teased, but Sally missed the joke.

"No, his name isn't Damien," she admitted, thinking I might be referring to a young man from my school. "In fact, I don't think we have a boy by that name in the system."

"Sally, I was referring to Damien from the movie 'The Omen,' I explained. "You know, the son of the devil, destined to become the Antichrist."

"Oh, Josh, quit teasing me," she chortled into the phone. "It's nothing like that and I'll explain everything after I arrive. I sorry, but I have to get going now. I have a meeting in just a couple of minutes and it's down the hall. We'll talk more when I see you later."

"You win," I conceded. "I'll see you at the house later."

I hung up, but was still very curious about this. Was there something wrong with this boy that she thought I might overlook once I'd met him. Could he possibly be physically or mentally handicapped? Maybe he has a disease, possibly terminal? I was going to be thinking about this for the rest of the day, wondering why Sally wouldn't tell me more about this boy in advance.

Due to all these unanswered questions, the day seemed to drag on forever, but even this school day had to eventually come to an end. I quickly picked up all of the boys and headed home, after informing them their Aunt Sally was coming for a visit. The other boys had to explain to Sammy and Andrew about our special relationship to Sally, after which Andrew concluded she was our Mrs. Getz. I guess that was a very appropriate description of her, except we were much closer than that. I started dinner and was getting everything together when the doorbell rang. Kevin answered it.

I went over to greet our guests and welcome them to our home. Sally came in and a young boy followed close behind her. Now I understood Sally's reasoning, although I was dismayed by her attitude and understanding of what we were about. The boy was black. Not a dark black. He had more of a deep, toffee colored skin. His black hair was cut very short and he stood about 5' 2" [1.57 m] tall. He was looking down at his feet, so I couldn't really get a good look at his face.

"Josh, this is Dion Jackson. Dion, this is Mr. Currie and his boys," she introduced us. We shook hands and I led them into the living room to sit and talk.

"It's nice to meet you, Dion. Are you from around here?" I asked, in order to start the conversation.

"Kind of," was the only answer I received in reply.

"Boys, why don't you show Dion around a bit?" I suggested. "You can start outside and then show him the house, once he's seen everything out there."

The boys enthusiastically agreed and took off, giving Sally and I time to talk in private. "Sally, I'm surprised at you," I announced, once we were alone. "I thought you knew me better than that."

"Josh, what are you talking about?" she replied, feigning innocence.

"I can't believe you wouldn't tell me about him, just because he's Afro-American," I protested, getting right to the point.

"That's not why I didn't tell you about him," she countered. "I wanted to talk to you in person about him, because his grandmother was a close personal friend of mine. This young man is very special to me and is now my responsibility."

"Sally, I'm so sorry to have misjudged your intentions," I apologized, feeling silly that I had jumped to that conclusion. "Is it a half-dozen or a dozen?"

"Josh, what do you mean?" she asked, looking completely befuddled.

"The egg on my face," I explained. "Is it a from a half-dozen or a full dozen eggs?"

"Oh, don't be silly," she chuckled, once she understood my little jest. "I can see how you might have seen it that way, though. I guess I could have given you more information about him when we spoke earlier, but I really wanted to let you know how important it was to me that Dion got the best home possible." She paused here, studying my reaction and collecting her thoughts.

"His grandmother worked in the same office I did, when I first went to work for the county," she continued. "Mabel took me under her wing there and we became very close, both inside and outside of the workplace." Sally looked at me with this very pained expression on her face, like her emotional dam was about to burst.

"She was my mentor and helped me work my way up into my present position," she informed me. "We even kept in contact after she retired." Sally reached up and brushed a tear from her eye.

"Mabel must have been in her mid to late fifties when her fifteen year old son, Cal, got his fourteen year old girlfriend pregnant," she explained. "Cal was her second child and had been a late-life pregnancy. Mabel's first child had died at seventeen, from Cystic Fibrosis, so Mabel wasn't sure she wanted to have any more children, seeing both she and her husband must carry the recessive Cystic Fibrosis gene. However, even good planning goes awry and Cal was born about four or five years after her other child had passed away." Sally looked at me, and I think she thought I was questioning how someone who works in her profession could make such a mistake, so she tried to explain.

"Josh, his birth was indeed accidental," she assured me, "but by the time Mabel realized she was pregnant, and not just suffering some digestive malady, she was already well into her second trimester and abortion was no longer an option. Therefore, she welcomed his arrival joyously, especially after discovering he was healthy. She now had a second chance to be a mother, after her previous prolonged tragedy.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, Calvin resented the fact that his parents were so old and became quite rebellious and got into all sorts of trouble. When he got his girlfriend pregnant, he hid the fact, until she was about to give birth. Neither the girlfriend, nor her family, wanted the child, so after she had her baby, Mabel talked her into signing guardianship over to her. She did it so the child wouldn't grow up in an institution or be passed around from home to home, as we'd seen happen with so many other minority children. She was planning to raise the child until the parents accepted their moral obligation to assume parental responsibility for him, but as it turned out, that day never came.

"Within a year or so, the mother disappeared completely. Rumor has it that she met another guy and ran off to marry him. Cal graduated from high school and then took a job as a fireman in Harrisburg. He would come home and spend his weekends with his mother and began to help raise his son. That was, until he was killed in a warehouse fire. He was on the roof when it collapsed and the rescuers couldn't get to him in time. Dion was three or four when that happened, so he really doesn't remember his father. The only person he could remember ever being in his life was his grandmother. She died last week and had named me temporary guardian for him." Sally stopped and reached in her purse for a handkerchief, to wipe her eyes.

"Josh, I'm all alone, live in a small apartment and spend about seventy hours a week at my job. I would not be the right person to raise that poor child. I had only agreed to it because Mabel was such a good friend and I never expected anything to happen to her before he was old enough to be on his own. He's twelve and a really good kid, but kind of a loner. I mean, there was only his grandmother and him and they lived out in the country with very few neighbors, so he's never socialized much. I realize you don't know him, because they lived in the next county over, but I was hoping you might be willing to take him in, as a special favor to me. This place would be so much better for him than my place or any other home I might be able to locate for him."

"Sally, enough said," I announced. "I'd be happy to take him in with us, if he's willing to live here. What would you say about letting me talk to him alone, when he comes back with the boys?"

"That would be wonderful, Josh," she blubbered. "Oh, thank you. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"I think I have a rough idea and I'd be glad to help, if I'm able," I assured her.

We continued to talk until the boys returned. As they came in, we listened briefly to all their excited utterances, before I stood up and asked Dion to follow me. I took him into the family room and shut the door behind us. When I next focused on him, he was looking very nervous, like he thought he had done something wrong, so I thought it was best to get right to the point.

"Dion, Mrs. Swarthout has told me a little bit about your situation," I began. "She thought that you might prefer to live here, with my sons and me, instead of having to be stuck with just her. We're willing to have you join us, if you'd like that?"

"How can those boys all be your sons?" he asked, without answering my question. "They're all so different and hardly any of them look alike."

"Well, they're adopted or I'm in the process of adopting them," I explained. "They came to live with me at various times and some of them came from bad situations. They either had no place to live or no one who wanted to take them in, so they ended up here instead. Would you like to do the same?"

"Would that mean that you'd adopt me too and I'd be your son?" he countered, and I couldn't tell if it was because he wanted it to happen or afraid it would.

"Only if you want to be," I assured. "If that's what you want, then I'd be happy to have you for my son."

"Even though I'm… well, I'm… black," he stammered.

"That doesn't matter to me," I confirmed. "I may not be able to help you understand all there is to know about the black culture or what it's like to be black, but I will help you find information in the library, the Internet or I'll help you meet other black people who can help you, if you want to learn more about your heritage. All I can offer you here is a good home, lots of love and a bunch of crazy brothers, who will probably drive you nuts. If you decide you'd like to live here, you'll just need to tell me if there is anything you're missing from your old life, things that you'd like for us to try and make up for. I don't care if it's certain foods you like to eat, activities you like to do or maybe even holidays we don't observe. That reminds me, did you celebrate Kwanza or Christmas?"

"I celebrated Christmas with my grandma," he replied.

"Well, that's just what we do, but it wouldn't have made a difference either way," I stated. "What do you say? Would you like to give it a try here?"

"I think it would be fun to have other kids around," he admitted, after taking all of two seconds to think about it. "There was only my grandma at home and it got pretty boring sometimes. There were no kids close by for me to play with, either. I guess it would be kind of neat to be able to have other boys around my age to do things with."

"So, you'll give us a try?" I pressed.

"Yeah, I guess I will. I like Aunt Sally and all," he informed me, "and she and my grandma were good friends. She used to visit us a lot, but I really didn't want to live with just her. She tries hard to do things for me, but I don't want to live alone with another woman. They don't always understand about guy stuff."

"Yes, I know what you mean," I commiserated. "I don't think that will be a problem here. Let's go out and tell your Aunt Sally and the boys the good news." He flashed me a shy grin, just before we walked back into the living room.

"Sally, Dion has agreed to give us a try," I informed her. She immediately let out a small sigh, but quickly recovered, before Dion realized what it was about.

"Oh, that's wonderful. Dion, you'll really like these guys," she told him, with as much zest and sincerity as she could muster. "They're the greatest family I know. Why don't I run back to my apartment and get your things, so you can try it out for the weekend? What do you say?"

"Yeah, I could use some of my things here," he agreed, before turning and looking at me. "Do you want me to sleep on the sofa in the other room?"

"Heck, no." I told him. "There's a bedroom upstairs with your name on it. It's been empty and waiting for you to arrive."

An amazed expression came over his face. "You have an empty bedroom with all of these boys?" he asked, not fully believing my statement. "How big is this place?" I forgot the boys had only taken him on a walk around outside and he'd only seen a portion of the downstairs of the house so far.

"Come with me and I'll show you," I suggested. He followed me upstairs and I showed him the other bedroom that had been created from the old master bedroom. He walked in and stood there speechless.

"You mean this would be MY bedroom?" he asked, not believing his eyes.

"Yes, sir. This will be your bedroom, if you plan to stay here," I confirmed.

"This is neat. I've never had my own room before!" he exclaimed. "My grandmother had a very small, house in the country and it only had one bedroom. I always slept on the sofa in the living room, cuz there wasn't anyplace else for me. But this place is huge!"

"You're right there. This is a very large house," I admitted, "even though it doesn't appear that big from the outside. Why don't I show you around and point out the other boys' rooms to you too, so you can see the rest of the place. Some of the boys share a bedroom, but it was their own choice to do so," I added, just in case he wondered about such things.

We walked to the room next door and I told him that room belonged to Sammy and Andrew. After I pointed out the old master bath, we went across the hall to Trey's room and then the jungle room. "This room is shared by Ricky, Cole and Graham," I explained, as he looked around.

"That's the biggest bed I've ever seen!" he exclaimed, while looking at their king-size bed. "No wonder they don't mind sharing a room." The expression on his face was priceless. The boy was truly amazed by some of the things he was seeing.

After we left there, I showed him the rest of the bedrooms, and the small office, with the computer in it that the boys shared.

"Will I be able to use that too?" he wondered.

"Of course you will," I agreed, and immediately his face lit up.

"I've never had a computer to use before," he informed me. "I used one at school, a couple of times, but there is never much time to get on it."

"You'll have more time here and the boys or I will teach you what you need to know," I assured him.

Before we went back downstairs, I also pointed out the other upstairs bathroom to him. He looked around it for a few seconds, amazed that we had two bathrooms upstairs, before I explained that there were also two more downstairs. As we finally approached the top of the stairs, he looked around again, before he announced, "This place is like a motel. You have so many bedrooms and nearly as many bathrooms."

"We need them with all of these boys. Otherwise, we'd probably have a lot of accidents when the bathroom was in use by someone else. Besides, I'd never be able to get them all ready for school in the morning without them." Dion merely nodded his head in agreement.

After that, I took him downstairs and showed him my bedroom. He couldn't believe that I also had a monstrous king-size bed. "Who sleeps with you?" he asked.

"Generally, I sleep alone," I admitted, although the loneliness of that point did get to me for a second, "but on occasion, one of the boys might come in with me, if they're having some sort of problem."

"What sort of a problem?" he pressed.

"Maybe they aren't feeling well or had an argument with one of the others," I explained, "or maybe just because they need good old dad to make them feel loved."

"Wow, that's really nice!" Dion exclaimed, while looking at me like I had a big red 'S' on my chest.

In an attempt to keep him from making too much out of this, I showed him the bathroom that opened off of my bedroom. I also pointed out the second computer, which sat on my desk, and explained the boys were also allowed to use it when I was not on it. As we left my bedroom, I led him to the other downstairs bathroom, just so he'd know where everything was.

He then followed me into the kitchen, as I went back in to check on dinner. Danny had been keeping an eye on it for me. I had a small ham in the oven, which I had coated with brown sugar and pineapple, and I also planned on having yams, peas and a salad to go with it. It was just about ready, when Sally pulled back into the driveway. I sent Dustin and Trey out to see if she could use a hand and Dion went with them.

They came back in lugging Dion's belongings and I told them to take them directly to his room. Dion dragged Sally up the stairs to show her his bedroom, because he was so exited about it and proud that he was going to have a room of his own. He was just bubbling over with joy, as he was telling her about it on the way up. Eventually they came down and I told them all to take a seat at the dining room table, because dinner was now ready. I pointed out Sally's seat, which was located next to mine, and Dion's, which was on the other side of me, after informing them we had plenty for all. Once we sat down to eat, they were both immediately involved in the family conversation.

I watched the boys as they asked Dion questions about himself, like what he liked to do, did he play any sports and what grade he was in at school. When he informed them about the grade he was in, Andrew was the one who told him that I was the principal of the building where he would be going to school. Dion looked up at me after this pronouncement, his eyes bulging and his jaw hanging slack. "You're really the principal?"

"Yes, sir. Guilty as charged," I agreed.

"I guess I've never thought that teachers and principals did things away from school," he admitted. "I never saw any of them, except at school, so I guess I never thought about them having homes and families, like everyone else."

"You're not the only one," I assured him. "Every time I'm in the grocery store and run into one of the students from my school, they always look at me funny, like they're wondering why I'm there. I take it they don't think I have to eat or anything. Most of them know I have a family, because they know some of my sons, but it still seems to amaze many of them when they see me out and away from school."

Sally was asking Dion about what he thought of the place and I used that time to look around the table. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, except for Pat. He had a nasty looking scowl plastered across his face. I'm not sure what was up, but I made a mental note to check it out later. Maybe he was beginning to feel slighted, as I seemed to be adding more bodies to our burgeoning brood.

I heard Dion tell Sally that he thought this was a neat place and he liked the idea of having the other boys around to talk to and do things with. He seemed very excited about the whole idea of living here, which was a good sign. I think it also relieved Sally of some of the guilt she might have still been feeling about pawning him off on a family he didn't know beforehand.

When we finished dinner, Sally excused herself, explaining she had things to do, and got ready to head home. She told Dion she would come back Sunday to see how he was doing and he gave her a hug, before thanking her for bringing him to our place. She hugged him back and kissed him on the cheek, before reminding him to behave. He told her he would, but made a face that implied, 'why do grown-ups always have to say such dumb things?'

After Sally said her good-byes to the rest of the boys, and then to me (at which time she thanked me once again), we followed her out to her vehicle. We stood and waved at her as she backed out of the driveway and drove away, and then I placed an arm over Dion's shoulder and walked him back inside.

Chapter 29
Walk a Mile in His Shoes

As we entered the house, after seeing Sally off, the boys went into the family room to watch their favorite Friday night sit-coms, so I went to my office to check my email. I was just reading one of my messages when Pat walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked me, seeming more than just a little agitated.

"Doing what?" I countered, totally confused by his question.

"Taking their kind in," he screeched back. "First, you bring home a couple of chinks and now you welcome a nigger. They don't belong in our family." I was completely shocked by Pat's statement. I had never seen any indication that he was a bigot, well, maybe that first night he was with us when he called all of the boys 'fags'. But that was based on a hurtful experience with one of his mother's boyfriends. I had no idea what brought this on.

"Pat, why don't you think they belong here with us?" I pressed, trying to clarify the problem.

"Are you kidding? They're not white," he informed me, quite forcefully, while looking at me like I was out of my mind. "They're not like us and they don't belong here."

"Patrick, I don't know what you've been told or what brought this on," I countered, "but they're just boys like the rest of you. They may be a different color and they may look a little different, but they're still boys who need a home and plenty of love."

"But they need to be with their own kind," he replied.

"They are with their own kind," I said defiantly. "They're human and we're human."

"You know what I mean," he spat back. You could almost see the venom in his words.

"I do, but I wish I didn't," I responded. "I thought you boys knew how I felt about things like this. I don't turn boys down because they're gay, I don't turn boys down because they have a different religion than mine and I certainly don't and WON'T turn down a boy because of his eye, hair or skin color." He glared at me and I knew he wasn't buying into what I was telling him. I stood up, put my arm over his shoulder, guided him over to the bed and forced him to sit down next to me.

"Patrick, do you remember the first day you came here?" He shook his head up and down, while he continued to glare at me.

"I didn't ask you if you were Hispanic, Mediterranean or Native American, did I?" He shook his head from side to side, although his expression never softened.

"I didn't ask you if you were Protestant, Catholic or Jewish either, did I?" Again, he shook his head from side to side, but I could tell he was becoming slightly exasperated.

"And I didn't ask you if you'd been raped by an older man, did I?" Suddenly, a look of horror crossed his face.

"But that's not the same. I… I… I couldn't help that," he stammered. "I didn't want to do it with him. He made me."

"And Sammy and Andrew can't help that they're part oriental and Dion can't help it if he's black," I informed him, hoping he'd see the similarity in their situations. "They shouldn't be penalized because of an accident of birth, any more than you should have been penalized for whom your mother chose as her friends. None of those things should play a part in any decision about helping someone else."

"But some of the boys at school have been giving me grief, because they say I have chink brothers," he explained, which suddenly gave me a different perspective on the situation.

"Then they have a problem, not us," I stated. "Let me make something else perfectly clear to you. I will not accept derogatory comments about anybody else, nor will I tolerate any type of racial or ethical slurs being used in my house or in my presence. I don't want to hear you refer to Sammy and Andrew as chinks, gooks, slant-eyes or any other such things, nor do I want to discover that you called Dion a mud-person, jungle bunny, nigger or anything else to put him down. Is that clear?"

"But they are…" Pat began to protest, but I cut him off.

"No, Sammy and Andrew are Japanese or oriental and Dion is black or Afro-American and that is the only acceptable way for you to refer to them and their heritage. NOW, do you understand?" This time he meekly nodded his head up and down, but his expression had barely changed.

"Good," I announced. "Pat, I know there are people in this world that feel the same way you just indicated, but I hope by now they are in the minority of the population. Whatever they might say or do is usually a reflection of their upbringing. I often find that people who feel that way are either responding to a lack of contact with other groups or a bad experience with a member of that group that they've blown out of proportion and then use to label the entire group. It could also have been caused by their being brainwashed by others or merely from a lack of education about such things. I sincerely hope you don't fall into one of those groups." He looked up at me, but there wasn't really any indication that his position had changed, so I continued.

"Over time, I have learned you can find good and bad in any group you look at, whether it be a race of people, a religious group or an entire nationality. You can't label the whole group, because of a few bad apples. What would you think if people labeled all white people as rapists, because of what your mother's old boyfriend did to you?"

"That wouldn't be fair. He was only one person," Pat snapped back.

"Exactly, and you can't label whole groups as bad or want to stay away from them because of what a few of their group have done or because of what others say about them," I informed him. "You are nearly a man now, and you need to learn to think for yourself and not let your friends make up your mind for you. They are reacting only to how the boys look, but I'm asking you to base your judgment on the individual. Get to know them first, so you'll be able to judge them for whom they truly are. You seem to like Sammy and Andrew well enough when you're home and it's only in public when I see you acting differently. You do like those boys, don't you?"

"Yes, they're nice enough and I don't mind playing with them when we're here. It's just…" but I interrupted him again. I knew what he was going to say next and I didn't want to give him the chance to spit it out.

"Would you promise me that you'll give them a chance, spend time with them and learn who they are on the inside and then judge them on their own merits?"

"I'll try, but it will be hard," he acknowledged. "What I am going to say to those other guys when they find out I also have a nig… a black for a brother?"

"You can tell them what I told you," I suggested. "You could also tell them that they are your brothers and you don't want anyone speaking that way about them, or you can just stop hanging around people who are so narrow-minded. If you make that choice, I would still hope you would let them know why you no longer wish to be their friend."

"Okay, I'll do this for you," he offered, "but I want you to know I'm only doing this because all of the other boys say you are usually right about most things. It's not going to be easy, but I'll try to do what you ask."

"Just do me one favor though, will you?" I asked him.

"What's that?" he quickly countered.

"Just promise me that you'll do this for yourself, and not for me." He looked at me slightly puzzled, so I explained.

"I want you to do it because you now think it's the right thing to do, not just because you're trying to humor me," I added. "If you do that much, I know you'll make me as proud of you as you have in the past. Just keep an open mind. I think you'll discover those three boys may look a little different from the rest of us, but down deep we're all pretty much the same."

"Okay, I'll try," he conceded. "I guess if you can give all of us a chance, then I can too."

"That's all I ask," I explained. "Maybe it's time for you to join the others, so you can see if you can get to know who Dion really is." He nodded his head and left my room. I knew this was only the beginning in our fight against bigotry, but I hoped, from the very core of my being, that the rest of these types of battles would take place away from our home and not include my sons.

I stayed in my room and didn't get to the family room for nearly an hour, as I was kept going over the discussion with Pat in my mind. Since he gave in so quickly and was willing to do as I asked, I suspected these views hadn't been instilled in him since childhood. Yes, he could have heard comments like that while he was growing up, but since he lived with so many different people, I have a feeling this is more about peer pressure. I think at least one of the groups he's been hanging around with might be racially paranoid and had made comments to Pat about the situation. Since most teens tend to prefer to listen to their peer group about such things, rather than to adults, I suspect he had succumbed to their pressure. That doesn't take him off the hook for what he said by any means, but it does tend to make it clearer why he reacted the way he did.

This caused me to wonder if some of the others might be inclined to think along those same lines or if people they knew at school might start making comments to them about our newest additions. I now thought about each of my sons and attempted to see if I had a gut feeling about how they might react to such things and considered what I'd do if more of these types of issues arose in the future. After I had reflected upon all of the possible scenarios and considered how to best respond to each of them, I went out to join the boys. When I walked into the family room, I noticed Dion wasn't there and immediately began to wonder why.

"Where's Dion?" I asked calmly, yet still somewhat forcefully.

"Oh, he and Trey went up to work on the computer," Kevin informed me. "Trey was going to teach him some things on it." My body relaxed slightly.

"Oh, the two of them hit it off?" I asked, wanting to learn more.

"Yeah, big time," Dustin added. "We were talking and they found out that they like a lot of the same things. They both like to read and they've both even read many of the same books. Besides that, neither one of them care for sports, they're both shy and kind of loners at times and they're only about a year apart in age. Not only that, but Dion wants to learn more about the computer and Trey was willing to teach him."

"Well, that's sounds like a good start," I responded. "I'm glad they've found someone they can share their interests with."

"You should have seen them," Ricky added. "They couldn't shut up and just kept talking about books and stuff. We had to ask them to leave the room, just so we could hear our show."

I could just picture Ricky doing that in his whiny, little child voice that he liked to use to make his point. They probably felt they had to leave or suffer the consequences. I decided to go upstairs and see what they were up to. As I walked up to the door of the little office, I could hear Trey explaining to Dion how to navigate the Internet. I peeked through the door and they were sitting close together and Dion was listening intently to every word Trey was saying.

"Well, it looks like you two are hitting it off," I stated, as I walked in the door.

"Yeah, Trey was teaching me about the computer," Dion offered, enthusiastically.

"Well, that's very nice of you, Trey. I hear you two have a lot in common," I added, to see what else they might tell me.

"We do, Pop. We've even read most of the same books. It's really great," Trey confessed. "Now, I have someone to talk to about some of the other things I enjoy the most and stuff most of the other guys aren't interested in."

"That's fantastic," I assured him. "I guess I'll leave you two alone, so you can get back to whatever you were doing."

"You don't have to," Dion chirped. "You can join us, if you want." I thought that was very sweet of him.

"Thanks for the offer, but you don't look like you need my help," I replied, gracefully backing out of his offer. "I'll see you both later."

"Pop," Trey added, "would you mind if Dion and I showered together tonight?"

"I don't mind, but what does Dion think about that idea?" I responded, wondering whose idea this really was and if it had been discussed before I arrived.

"I don't mind," Dion confirmed. "I've showered a few times with the other guys at school and I think it would be neat to try it here. I've never had anyone I could do that with before."

"Well, have fun then," I answered, implying my consent, "but remember that no one does anything unless the other person agrees."

"I know, Pop," Trey responded. "I already told Dion that, too, when I asked him if he wanted to shower together." That answered my earlier question, about whether or not they'd discussed that particular issue before I arrived on the scene.

"Good. I just wanted to make sure both of you understood that. I'll see you after you're done," I informed them, as I went back downstairs. I heard the two of them scurry down the hallway behind me, hurrying toward the old master bathroom. I could also hear someone in the other upstairs bathroom and assumed shower time had officially begun.

I went back into the family room and rejoined the others, and no sooner had I sat down in my chair, when Andrew came over and crawled onto my lap.

"What's up, kid?" I asked him, wondering what had precipitated his action.

"I just wanted to sit with you for a while. Okay?" he asked me.

"Sure it's okay, little man," I told him. That's all he needed to hear and he immediately rested the side of his head against my chest and draped his legs over my lap. I put my arms around him and gave him a hug.

"This is nice," I told him.

"Yeah, it is," he answered. I think my littlest and youngest son is going to be a cuddler, but that certainly isn't going to be a problem.

Andrew felt so small and vulnerable in my embrace and I could only think about the pain he had already been made to endure in his young life. I rested my cheek on the top of head and we sat like that through a couple of shows. I saw Ricky, Cole and Graham grinning at us on several different occasions, as they noted how close Andrew was getting to me. After the second program ended, they asked Andrew if he wanted to join them for a shower. He looked up at me, as if he were silently asking for my permission, and I smacked him on his tiny bottom and told him to go ahead. He smiled up at me, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and then jumped off of my lap. He waved back at me, as he headed through the doorway.

Chapter 30
Ripples in the Pond

I looked around and realized that Trey and Dion hadn't come back down to join us after their shower, so I thought I'd walk upstairs to check on them. After all, it was Dion's first night here. I heard them talking in Dion's room, so I went down to see what they were up to. They were both walking around the room naked, arranging things and putting away Dion's clothes. I was shocked when I looked at Dion, as he moved about. The little shit was hung. He must have been 5" [12½ cm] soft and his circumcised pole swung back and forth under his small pubic patch as he moved about.

"Are you getting settled?" I asked, startling them. Dion looked up quickly, having not noticed me peeking into the room earlier.

"You scared me!" he exclaimed, before looking down at his unclothed body and then at Trey. "You aren't mad because we don't have any clothes on, are you?"

"No. Should I be?" I asked.

"I guess not," he said dryly. "Trey told me the other boys usually did this after their showers. I just wasn't sure, since I've never done anything like this before."

"Well, you've nothing to be afraid of," I explained, "and there's certainly no need to hide that great body of yours." He looked down at the floor when I said that. I think I embarrassed him. "You sure are well endowed for a little dude."

"I know. Some of the guys at my old school used to joke with me about how big my dick is, compared to theirs," he admitted. "It kind of made me proud that I was bigger there than the rest of them."

"Yes, I can understand that," I agreed. "Well, you'll fit in well here, if you're not embarrassed about running around without your clothes on. I'm sure most of the boys will be dressed the same way as the two of you, as soon as they finish their showers."

"I was hoping this place would be fun and it is," Dion told me, while sporting a huge grin. "I was worried at first, when I didn't see any other black boys, but this is cool. Everyone has been real nice to me."

"And I'm sure they will continue to be," I informed him, although there was still one doubt in my mind. "Welcome to the family, Dion." He looked up at me and smiled again, and then he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Thank you for asking me to live here. I think Trey and I are going to be really good friends and I like you a lot too. I'm so happy that I'm not alone any more."

"In this house there isn't a chance of your ever being alone," I joked. "You might come to wish you had more time to be by yourself."

"Never. I've had enough of that already," he stated, defiantly. "Now I want to see what I can do with all of these guys to help me. I think it's gonna be great."

"Well, I hope you still feel that way a month from now and then a year from now," I told him. "I'm sure your Aunt Sally will be happy to learn how you feel about this place." He nodded and I left the two boys alone to finish getting Dion settled.

Trey and Dion spent the rest of their night upstairs and I think they even slept together in his single bed, although Trey told me later that nothing sexual happened. Trey didn't want to push him too quickly. He thought he'd let him get used to running around the house naked first, before he questioned if he might like to experiment some. I told him I thought that was a very good idea.

Sally came back on Sunday and I think she was amazed at how well Dion had adjusted to living with us. He just rattled on and on, telling her about all the things he had done since he had been there. He also told her about Trey and all the things they had in common. When she asked him if he liked it here and wanted to stay, his eyes lit up and a grin spread from ear to ear, as he told her 'yes'. She stayed for quite a while and watched him play and frolic about with the others and I think her guilt from abandoning him had now disappeared completely.

At one point during the day, she pulled me aside and asked me my take on how he was fitting in. I told her everything had gone smoothly and that he and Trey had bonded quickly, which made it even easier for him. I didn't, however, tell her about the little outburst Pat had that first night. Sally seemed thrilled at how he was doing and thanked me numerous times for doing this for her. "Sally, although my allowing you to bring him here to meet us was done as a favor to you, my taking him in was done as a favor to he and I. I think I'm going to really enjoy having him around."

When she was finally ready to leave, Sally hugged him good-bye and kissed him on the cheek, along with doing the same to all the other boys, before she left. She even gave the old timer a squeeze and a peck on the cheek too, which caused some giggling from the boys – Dion in particular. Dion waved at her as she drove away, but I saw no regrets concerning his decision to stay with us.

On Monday, I enrolled Dion in school and one of the guidance counselors gave him his schedule. Trey showed him around the place and filled him in on the gossip about his teachers. I checked up on him a couple of times that first day and he seemed to be doing just fine. He also seemed to always have a big smile for me, whenever he noticed me looking in his direction. Later that evening, he mentioned it was nice to know that I really cared about how he was doing.

The next few days were quite uneventful for Dion. He was bogged down with homework in the evening, because his old school was slightly behind the pace our school was setting in his studies. Trey offered to help him when he needed it, so he could catch up, and Dion gratefully accepted his offer. I was noticing this invisible bond forming between those two boys, but from what I could tell, it was strictly on a platonic level for now.

Thursday I got another surprise. When I picked up the boys from the high school, Pat was not in very good shape. His shirt was torn, he had scrapes and bruises on his face and he wasn't in a particularly good mood. When I asked up what had happened, he merely responded he would tell me when we got home. I left it at that and decided I would give him time to come to me about whatever had happened. As soon as I got home, I started to fix dinner and was quite busy in the kitchen. About a half an hour later, Pat showed up and asked me if we could go into my bedroom to talk. After turning down the fire on the things I was preparing, he followed me into my room and we sat down on the bed beside each other. He looked up at me and took a deep breath, before he began his account.

"Dad, I got in a fight at school today," he announced.

"I suspected as much from your appearance," I commented. "What was it about?"

"Remember when we talked the other day?" he asked.

"Do you mean our chat about our newest family members?" I countered, trying to clarify what he meant.

"Yeah, that one," he agreed. "Well, Monday a couple of the guys made a remark at lunch about Sammy and Andrew and I told them I didn't want to hear any more comments like that. I told them they were my brothers and if anyone said anything bad or mean about them, I'd punch their lights out. They looked shocked, but accepted what I told them and no one said anything more… until today." Pat paused briefly and glanced toward the door, even though it was closed. I guess he was a little nervous about what he was going to tell me next. After a few seconds, he began again,

"I guess word got around about Dion and one of the guys started asking me what I thought of my nigger brother. I told him the same thing I had said the other day, but this time he didn't listen. He kept making nasty comments about Dion and I warned him two more times. Then he made a comment that Dion and all the other niggers should be shipped back to Africa, so I belted him." I was a little shocked Pat had stuck up for them like that, but I wasn't going to chastise him for defending his brothers in that manner… just yet.

"Two of our friends came after me next and there were a lot of punches being thrown," he continued. "Then, the first guy joined back in, after the effects of my punch wore off, and I was kind of outnumbered. One of my other friends stuck up for me and started to help me fight the other three. We held our own for most of the time, maybe even better than that. I think two of them are going to have nice shiners and the other one had a gash on his cheek, where my friend Tommy's ring cut into him, when Tommy punched him."

"Did you get into any trouble over this fight?" I asked, wondering why I hadn't received a call about it.

"No. It happened during lunch and took place outside," he informed. "None of the teachers were around at the time and I think those guys were afraid they'd get in trouble over what they said, so they didn't tell anyone either. The guy with the cut was telling people he got it from a piece of chain link fence that was sticking out. What bull crap. The asshole just didn't want to admit that he got his ass whipped for having such a big mouth."

"Do any of your brothers know about this?" I asked, concerned that word might filter down to Dion, Sammy and Andrew about this incident. I was willing to ignore a little of what Pat said and did at this point, because I was more concerned at how the other three were handling what happened.

"Yeah, Danny, Dustin and Ricky know," he informed me. "Some of their friends told them they thought I had been in a fight, so they asked me about it. I told them what happened, but I told them not to let Dion, Sammy or Andrew find out about it. I don't want them to feel bad because of my stupid ex-friends."

"That's quite a turn-around from the other day," I stated, "and I'm very proud of you. I'm not proud of you for fighting, but as I told Danny the time he got in his fight, there are always other options. However, I am pleased that you defended your brothers and then were wise enough to try to protect them further by not letting them know what happened."

"I'm sorry it happened that way, but I didn't know what else to do," he admitted. "He just wouldn't shut up, even after I warned him. You really got to me the other day and I spent a whole bunch of time thinking about what you said. I even made sure I spent some time with all three of them over the weekend, so I could do like you asked and get to know who they were. You know something, they're all pretty cool and I found out a lot more about them. You were right. Except for the color of their skin being different, they're pretty much just like the rest of us." Pat looked me directly in the eyes, before he made his final comment. "You know, I feel really stupid now. That's two dumb things that I've done since I've been here."

"Pat, there's no way any of us can keep from doing silly things from time to time," I consoled. "The important thing is that you have grown considerably after each of those incidents. I can forgive your outbursts, because we were able to talk about what bothered you, and both times you've grown as a human being. Actually, I'm quite proud of you and I imagine Danny, Dustin and Ricky are too, especially since you did it to defend your brothers. I'm sure they would have made you a hero today and told how you and your other friend beat those guys up, if they weren't worried it would let the cat out of the bag for the three who were the focal point of that incident."

"You really think so?" he asked, not realizing that possibly his older brother admired what he'd done more than he thought.

"I'm positive!" I exclaimed, in order to leave no doubt in his mind. As his grin broadened, I wrapped my arms around his upper body and drew him tightly against me. I thought about what I was going to do next for a minute, as I evaluated Pat's age and possible reaction to what I had planned, but then I went ahead and did it anyway. I kissed him on his forehead. His reaction wasn't what I expected. I expected him to pull away and tell me he was too old for that, but he merely looked up at me, grinning from ear-to-ear, and then he spoke.

"Thanks, I needed that," he informed me, which was more than a little surprising to me. "I knew you'd like it that I stood up for my brothers," he continued, "but I wasn't sure how you'd feel about my getting into a fight at school. That just let me know that everything's cool. It means a lot to me that you'd kiss me like that, especially after some of the dumb things I've said and done."

"Pat, I might not always like the things you say and do, but I will always love you, in spite of everything else," I assured him. "You're my son and that will become official in a couple of months. That means no matter how many disagreements we might have, I will love you until the day I die. Even if you get too old for an occasional kiss or hug, it won't mean that I love you any less than I do right now."

"Thanks, Dad. I'll make sure that I do the same for you and my brothers… ALL OF THEM," he emphasized. "Even if the next one has three arms and two heads, I will still love him and protect him from people outside the family who would try to do anything to hurt him."

"I'd say you just took a giant step toward becoming a man, and I'm proud of you for it," I announced, joyously.

After Pat and I finished our discussion, I thought about an old saying. They say that wars are won by winning little battles. I can only relate to the two victories Pat had won, over his homophobia and his racial bias, and I know he is on his way to winning his struggle to become a fine man and a valuable member of our family and the community.

Nothing more was said about Pat's encounter, but I did notice he was spending much more time with his three newest brothers. It may have been due to a partial attack of conscience, but whatever caused it, Pat seemed to be making up for lost time and the others seemed to appreciate his attention, as well. None of them had many, if any, playmates before they came to live here and Pat was keeping them busy and teaching them many new things. He taught them board games, card games and patiently showed them how to use the collection of electronic games I had purchased for all the boys to use this past Christmas. I was still amazed, but totally pleased by his 180-degree turnabout.

Nothing further happened at school on Friday. I spent the whole day expecting some sort of phone call from the high school, either telling me Pat had been in another fight or informing me about his punishment for the previous one. However, that phone call never came. Pat did tell me later that evening that three of his former friends now hated him, but that some of the others had apologized to him for what they had done. They said they never thought much about it, before Pat stood up to them. They just thought that protecting their own race was something they should do.

"In a way, your right," Pat agreed, "but it's not the white race or black race you should be protecting. You should be doing it for the human race – all of it." I think he got that from something I had said to him when we first discussed his reaction to his new brothers, but he said it more eloquently than I had.

After hearing what Pat had to say, the other boys announced they'd learned that, if anything, they were just embarrassing their own race by pushing a narrow-minded, hateful attitude. They thought about it Thursday night and realized that if blacks, oriental or other minority groups acted the same way, all there would be was hatred and fighting. They asked Pat to forgive them and to apologize to his brothers for them, and Pat said he'd forgive them, but informed them he'd never told his brothers about their hurtful comments. After hearing that, the boys told Pat that maybe they could include his brothers in on some of their activities in the future, as a gesture of reconciliation. Pat quickly accepted their offer and thanked them for remaining his friends.

I think Pat had learned another lesson from this incident, which was that people CAN change. He was willing to accept the fact they had come to realize their previous stance and actions had been misguided and he was happy to keep them as his friends. I thought his acceptance of their remorse showed as much growth and maturity on his part, as accepting his brothers for who they were.

Things were fairly uneventful from that point on. During the week, the boys invited Brandon and Jay to come to the house on Saturday and spend the night, in order to give them a chance to get to know our newest additions better. Once both boys arrived, they decided to have a big kickball game in the side yard. They chose to play kickball, over their other options, because they knew Dion, Sammy and Andrew weren't very athletic. None of those boys had ever had a chance to play sports or other such games, and therefore never developed an interest.

Even since they had been with us, none of them had given us any indication that they might like to try something along that line, so the other boys felt this might be a good opportunity to judge if they might be interested in athletic endeavors. The others also figured this would be the ideal game for our three newbies to get some exercise and do things with the rest of them. Not only that, but it didn't take a whole lot of coordination to play the game, it was easy to learn and you used a decent sized rubber ball, which was easy to handle and didn't hurt badly if you got hit with it.

Sammy, Andrew and Dion were a little nervous about playing, since they were afraid they'd mess up, but you could tell they were very pleased they had been asked to join in, especially since this whole thing had been orchestrated on their behalf. There were six boys on one team and seven on the other, Andrew being the additional boy on the second team.

Due to the time of year, the boys were all dressed warmly, and that extra padding would also take any sting out of getting hit with the ball. It was a little cold out, but there was no snow, since it seldom snowed in the southern part of our state. Bundled up as they were, they started their game.

The boys played for well over an hour and a half, as I did some chores inside, while still trying to keep tabs on the game. During that time, I could hear their yells of excitement, as well as the arguments over the close calls. I could also hear the encouragement they were offering those who were new to this game and the suggestions they were giving them about what to do to improve. When it eventually ended, the boys came back in, laughing and talking about things that happened while they were playing, and I starting whipping up some hot chocolate to warm them up.

Some of the boys made it a point to tell me about all the highlights of the game, as they downed their drinks. Andrew was bursting as he told me about his 'homerun,' although I was later informed it was the result of some rather inaccurate and poorly timed throws by some of the other boys. Sammy then told me about the great catch he made in the outfield and the boys quickly verified it was a rather impressive and difficult catch at that.

Dion was just thrilled he had others to play with, after confiding the only other time he could play games like that was at school, but he was seldom selected for a team, because of his lack of athleticism. He said it was nice to be able to play just for fun and not have to worry about being really good at it. We told him his skills would improve over time, especially if he continued playing against his brothers, but Dion said that didn't really matter to him, as long as they still let him join in the fun.

I was pleased to see that everyone had accepted the activity for what it was – a good time.

NEXT PART