Bill W

Castaway Hotel V

Chapters 16-23

Chapter 16
Dealing With Our Losses

The high school and younger boys had already returned to classes after the holidays, although the college boys had a couple more weeks to enjoy at home before their courses resumed. That allowed Dustin and Frankie to see the addition to the house completed, before it was time to take them back to their respective campuses and Vinnie was delighted he could move into his new room. He was very happy with everything that had been done, including his direct access to the Jacuzzi, and he immediately began to invite groups of two or three of the others to join him for a little time in the water. They all seemed to enjoy themselves doing this and it gave them some additional time to bond with their newest brother. All and all, I'd say it was well worth the effort and expense and was turning out to be a great thing.

Unfortunately, the fact that Vinnie now had his own room was both a source of pride and annoyance for him, but I figured that wouldn't last for long. I concluded Kevin would most likely be spending much of his time in Vinnie's room from this point on, and eventually Kevin might even decide to move in with him.

Although nothing of importance would be happening for any of us for a while, I knew the following weekend was Carlos' birthday and I wanted to make it special for him. Therefore, I called his mother and advised her that we'd like to drive out and help him celebrate turning 16. Even though Carlos and his mother live on their own in Philadelphia, we still considered them part of our family. Over time they have also become close to others where they lived, so they aren't as dependent on us now, as they once were. Even so, we all still wanted to help Carlos celebrate this big event in his life.

When we arrived there, Carlos seemed excited to see us and raced about to greet everyone individually. Once he had finished his rounds, Carlos asked if he could take the boys out for a tour of his neighborhood, because he wanted to show them around and possibly introduce them to a few of his friends, if they were also out and about. I agreed, so while they did that, Jake and I stayed and talked to Carlos' mother and quickly caught up on everything that had happened to them since our last visit.

Once she had brought us up to date on their lives, we talked briefly about Brent's death and my heart attack, before she began telling us about some of the new people in their lives. That's when we discovered she had a gentleman friend, whom she'd been seeing on a fairly regular basis, and explained that Carlos had also grown close to this guy, which I was glad to hear. I even began to get the impression that we might be called upon to attend a wedding in the near future.

After this discussion, I asked the boys who hadn't gone off with Carlos to go out to the van and carry in the belated Christmas presents we brought for them from our family, as well as a few additional gifts for Carlos' big day. I then had the boys stack Carlos' Christmas and birthday presents off to one side, so they'd all be in one place when he returned. His mother told us she hadn't planned a very big or fancy party, but she had allowed Carlos to invite a few of his friends from school and the neighborhood over to help him celebrate and to meet us. I told her that was fine and I looked forward to meeting some of these other people in their lives. She seemed pleased by my response, although I think she knew us well enough to realize whatever she had planned probably wouldn't bother us, but she still appeared relieved to know it for certain.

I'm sure she'd known of other instances, possibly within her own family or she'd seen it happen with others, when the family who had traveled from out of town was somewhat annoyed once they'd discovered they weren't the center of attention during their visit. Therefore, I went out of my way to reassure her this was Carlos' special time and we were just there to support him and share in his joy. She gave me a hug in response and then we waited for the boys to return.

A short time later Carlos and the others arrived back at the apartment, including the friends he had invited to the party. They came tagging along behind him and he quickly introduced us. It was kind of neat when he told them we were 'his other family' and then referred to me as his dad. I think it was important for him to have a father figure in his life, but it also gave me a warm glow to know he felt that way about me. It wasn't so much what he said, but the way in which he told them that convinced us all of his sincerity.

Carlos' mother and I allowed the boys to entertain themselves for a while, to give the two groups time to get to know each other better, but eventually I suggested taking everyone out to eat. At first Carlos' mother balked at the idea, because she didn't want me spending any more money on them, especially after seeing everything we'd brought with us, but I wasn't about to take 'no' for an answer. After several minutes of explaining my reasons to her, she finally relented and we took them and their other guests to a restaurant. Carlos' other friends weren't used to frequenting establishments as nice as the one we picked out, and were possibly a bit underdressed for the occasion, but the employees were extremely understanding and treated us all very well. We had a great time there and I enjoyed watching the other kids pack the food away.

On our way back to the apartment, Carlos' friends shyly explained how this had been a major treat and thanked us for including them on the outing. This only improved Carlos's stature among his peers and he took full advantage of this opportunity by reveling in his role as host and being the center of attention.

When we arrived back at their place, we had cake and ice cream while watching Carlos open his gifts. I think his friends were impressed when they saw what he got, as they might have also liked to have some of those items themselves, but couldn't afford them. Once Carlos finished opening his presents, I talked them into letting me take everyone to the movies, as one more special treat. Again I received some protestations from Carlos' mother, but she quickly understood she was fighting a losing battle, especially after seeing the boys' initial reaction to the idea, so she gave in. I had the boys look in the newspaper and select a movie all of them would enjoy, and once they'd agreed on something, we rode to the theater, took our seats and waited for the film to begin.

Although it was a bit juvenile at times, the feature was still humorous and made us laugh. This was due to the fact that some of the circumstances portrayed could be interpreted differently, depending upon your maturity level, so everyone ended up having a good time. When the movie let out, we dropped Carlos' friends off at their own homes, before taking his mother and him back to their place. When we arrived, we said our good-byes, exchanged hugs and listened to many thank yous before we made the long trip home, still feeling good about the day and ourselves.

Once we were back, the boys began to resume their normal activities. The only exception to this was Frankie and Dustin, who were enjoying their final week at home before returning to college. When it came time to drive them back to their campuses, I asked Jake to take Dustin, since the two colleges weren't very close together. This would allow me to not only drive Frankie back, but it would also provide me with the opportunity to stay for a while, so he and I could spend time talking to Tom about his recent hi-jinks.

Frankie and I arrived shortly after noon on Sunday, but Tom hadn't arrived as of yet. While we waited for him to show up, I helped Frankie take his things to his room, and then we wandered around the campus for a while, before we went back to his dorm. We were surprised to discover that Tom still wasn't there and wondered why he was delayed. We waited in the room a little longer, still thinking he would walk through the door at any moment, but he still didn't turn up. By this time we were getting quite hungry, so we decided to go out to eat, figuring he'd be there when we got back from dinner.

After a nice, but quick time away, we returned to Frankie's room, but Tom still wasn't there. I was becoming concerned about his tardiness when I was distracted by a knock on the door. Frankie opened it, only to be greeted by the Dean of Students.

"Mr. Currie?" he asked, making sure he had the right room and person.

"Well, my dad is Mr. Currie," Frankie told him, "but I'm a Currie too." The man didn't seem to see any humor in Frankie's comment.

"I'm sorry that I have to be the one to inform you about this sad news," he continued, "but your roommate will not be returning to school."

"Why not?" Frankie asked him, quite shocked by this disclosure. After seeing the man's expressions, Frankie began to panic. "What happened?" he demanded.

The gentleman looked at me before he responded. "It seems he passed away from some sort of accident over the holidays," he informed us, quite dryly. It was almost as if he was telling us Tom was sick with a cold or something minor like that. I jumped up at this point and walked over to Frankie, who was beginning to react somewhat negatively to this news and the method it had been presented to us. After I calmed him down, I questioned the man further.

"Can you tell me what happened to him and when?" I inquired. The man's eyes immediately dropped slightly downward, as he intentionally avoided looking directly at either of us, and I saw him swallow with some difficulty, before he lifted his head up again. This time he looked toward me, although he still avoided my eyes, and began to share what information he had.

"We were first led to believe it was a suicide," he admitted, "but then we were informed it was an accidental hanging," he stated, again in a very unemotional, matter-of-fact manner. "I'm under the impression it happened either on New Year's Eve or early New Year's Day. I'm sorry I had to be the one to inform you of this and I'd like to offer you my sincerest condolences."

Needless to say, I was still quite stunned by this news, but I had to have more information. "Excuse me, but do you know if they've had the services for him yet?"

"I believe they have," he responded. "I was led to understand that the viewing and services were held a few days later."

"Why didn't they call us at home and tell us this information, so we could have attended the funeral?" I followed, somewhat perturbed. "My son was quite close to this boy and he had been to our home over the Thanksgiving break."

"I'm afraid we were only notified about all of this a few days ago ourselves," he confided. "In fact, it basically started off as a call to inform us that the young man wouldn't be returning to classes. We only learned of his death when the secretary questioned the caller about the reason he was dropping out. I believe it was a friend or neighbor who phoned us, and they weren't very forthcoming with any details until we pursued the issue."

"That seems to fit in with what I know about the family," I added, dryly, "because Tom informed us that he didn't think his parents were very concerned about him. He indicated to us that he longed for their love and attention, but they were too wrapped up in their own lives to care. I think that's why Tom got involved in such a dangerous activity."

"You knew about this unusual proclivity?" the man asked, astonished.

"We knew a little about it, since Frankie had discovered him unconscious in his dorm bed one day," I replied. "When Frankie told me about this, I had him talk to Tom about the seriousness of continuing this activity and that's the reason I came here with Frankie today. We were planning to confront Tom about this together, hoping we could convince him this wasn't something he should be messing around with."

"But why didn't you inform the administration about any of this?" he asked us pointedly.

"Primarily because all of this came to our attention just before the Christmas break and we thought Frankie's discussion with Tom would be enough until they returned for classes. There was another student who got him involved in this in the first place, or so we understand."

"Do you know this student's name?" the gentleman pressed.

I looked at Frankie and nodded at him to signify he should divulge this information. Frankie was still reticent to do as we requested, so I made my next comments aloud. "Frankie, tell the Dean this other boy's name, before anything like this happens to him. This is dangerous stuff they're messing with and it's bad enough we lost Tom before we could convince him to give up this activity. Let's not make the same mistake twice."

This seemed to convince Frankie to do as I asked and he told the Dean the boy's identity. Once Frankie had shared this information, I made my next request to the administrator. "Would you mind if I take Frankie with me for a few of days, to help him get through this? I'm sure he won't be able to focus on his studies right away."

"Under the circumstances, that might be best," he agreed. "I'll clear everything with his professors, but he'll have to make up all missed work, once he returns."

"And do you think you might be able to share Tom's home address with us," I asked the Dean, "as we'd like to visit his parents and offer our sympathy."

"That would be highly irregular, but under the circumstances I don't see the harm," he stated, rather dryly. "Just remember that the school never gave you this information, so Tom must have given it to your son before any of this happened."

I assured him we would protect the school and not divulge our source, and then followed him to his office to get the information, while Frankie gathered up whatever else he felt he might need to bring with him this time. I also called home from the Dean's office to tell the boys I'd be away for a couple of extra days and why, and then I went back to meet up with Frankie, so we could visit Tom's home.

By the time we arrived where they lived, it was already quite late – much too late to call on them, so we took a room at a local motel and waited until morning to give them a buzz. Hopefully, they would allow us to visit after we spoke to them, and I promised myself I would try my hardest not to prejudge or make assumptions about how they would react to our contacting them.

We didn't get up very early the next morning, primarily due to the fact that neither of us had been able to fall asleep very easily. This was because we were both feeling a little guilty that we had not acted sooner or more forcefully to prevent the tragedy that followed. By the time we did drift off, it was really quite late, so we also ended up sleeping in later than normal. After having a late breakfast, I dialed Tom's parents' phone number and Tom's mother answered the phone. It didn't take me long to realize that she didn't sound as if she was holding up too well. After explaining who I was, I asked if she would mind if Frankie and I stopped by. After a slight hesitation, she agreed and then gave me directions to get to their house. It was a short ride, so we were there in a matter of minutes, and the door opened shortly after I rang the bell.

Tom's mother was also the one to let us in, but she was a bit of a mess. It appeared as though she hadn't been sleeping very well and had obviously hurried to try to make herself presentable for our visit. She quickly invited us inside and asked if we'd like something to drink. She said she'd just made a fresh pot of coffee, so Frankie and I agreed to join her in the kitchen for a cup. After we settled in, she apologized that Tom's father wasn't around and explained he had already left for work before we called.

"He went back to work, not only because he's already used up his vacation time," she explained, "but also because he feels it helps keep him from dwelling upon our son's death. He has been harboring a great deal of guilt about not knowing what Tom was up to or being around when he needed us most. He's taken this even harder than I have."

Although Tom's mother was very gracious host, you could tell our visit was dredging up memories she might not have wanted to deal with. I also began to feel we were interrupting her solitude and attempts to come to grips with what had befallen her family. This certainly didn't agree with the impression Tom had given us about her and her husband. Possibly, as had happened with some of my boys and their biological families, Tom had read more into his situation than was actually there. Either that or his parents hadn't come to realize how much he meant to them until after he was gone. Either way, it seems they were both struggling to get through this horrible time and apparently had cared more about Tom than he had suspected or been willing to admit.

As we chatted, Tom's mother admitted that she knew who we were even before we'd called, because Tom had mentioned us, and the rest of our family, to her during both the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. She then thanked us for letting him visit our home at Thanksgiving, which we weren't certain she had even known about, and explained that his time with us had meant a great deal to him. In return, we told her we had been fond of Tom as well and were saddened to learn of his death. Once that was behind us, she began to open up even more.

"I realize now that my husband and I were never very good at being his parents," she sobbed. "We had become so involved with our own lives and careers that Tom must have thought we'd forgotten about him. We made excuses for our actions by telling ourselves he was old enough to not need us any longer, but I now suspect that was more for our own peace of mind, rather than being the truth. It appears he still needed us, but we let him down. That's why I haven't been able to go back to work since it happened. I can't shake the feeling I might have been able to prevent what happened to him, if I'd only given him a little bit more of my time."

"You can't beat yourself up over this," I advised her. "Even if you talked to him on a regular basis, you might not have been able to keep him from doing such things. Tom was a great kid, so you must have had some positive influence on him while he was growing up."

"Maybe when he was younger, but I'm afraid not since he reached his teens," she confessed. "Looking back now, I think he had pretty much taken care of himself, from that point on."

"I wish we could have been here for his funeral," I told her. "I think all my boys would have wanted to attend and say their good-byes to him."

"We were too upset to think straight after it happened," she explained, "and we were busy blaming ourselves for his death. I'm sure there were many people we forgot to notify."

"Well, there's nothing we can do to change that now," I agreed, "so I hope you will accept our heart-felt sympathy and our offer to be here for you, should you need anything in the future."

"You're so very kind to offer," she replied, while looking at us through very moist eyes, "and I'm glad Tom had you in his life, if only for a short time."

"Well, my son and I have been talking, and there's something we'd like to do in Tom's memory," I suggested. "Maybe we can use his accident to alert others of the dangers of the activity that took him from us and keep someone else from making a similar mistake."

"Then you know how he died?" She looked puzzled now.

"Not exactly, but we have our suspicions," I reluctantly informed her. "It's something that seems to be gaining popularity at schools and college campuses right now."

"Really? I'd never even heard about it before," she stated, while looking confused.

She went on to explain that she and her husband had gone out on New Year's Eve, while Tom remained at home, alone. They thought he had told them he was going to go out with some friends later, after they left for dinner, and possibly even stay over with one of them. That's why they were surprised to see the light on in his room and hear the music playing when they arrived home around 3:00 a.m. His father went to his room, thinking Tom had merely forgotten to turn off those things when he left, but he quickly discovered the door seemed to be blocked. He tried to push it open, but something appeared to be wedged behind it. After struggling with it for several minutes, Tom's father was able to get it open far enough to squeeze through the space he had made, and once he was on the other side, he discovered Tom's naked, discolored body. There was a rope tied around the doorknob and then around his neck, so at first his father suspected he had committed suicide. She began to sob quite loudly at this point and Frankie and I both tried to comfort and help calm her down. When she regained her composure again, she continued.

She told us the medical examiner informed them of the real cause of death, after he completed an autopsy. He said Tom had ejaculated shortly before he died and that's what helped him put the pieces of the puzzle together. They were shocked to learn that such an unusual gratification technique existed and they were even more surprised that Tom had been practicing it. I used that opportunity to tell her about our idea to honor Tom, which Frankie and I had discussed as we drove here and as we sat in our motel room the previous evening. We wanted to form a foundation of sorts, to warn young people about the dangers of AEA (auto-erotic asphyxiation).

I advised her we wanted to name the foundation in Tom's memory, with her and her husband's permission of course, and we'd do all we could to make sure no other young person died in the same manner as her son. She thanked us and gave us her blessing, before inviting us to return for dinner, so we could meet her husband and explain this to him as well. We accepted her offer, especially since it seemed so important to her, and then we excused ourselves for now, so we could run some errands. One of these was to call home, so we could tell the family we were going to arrive home even later than we had first told them and make certain they understood everything was fine.

Frankie and I arrived back at Tom's parents' home around six and were greeted by both of them, even before we reached their door. That's because they had been watching for us and stepped outside to welcome us as soon as they saw us pull in their driveway. After escorting us into their home, where we exchanged the usual pleasantries, they each thanked us for taking the time to return to their house again. Once we finished the small talk, they led us to their dining room, where we sat down to eat.

Tom's mother must have really hustled to prepare such a wonderful meal on such short notice, and we all enjoyed her efforts. After the meal was completed, we moved to their living room, where we sat down to talk. There were a few awkward moments, during which they fought to control their emotions as they told us stories about Tom, in particular his pre-teen years. Once they felt we understood both Tom and them better, Tom's father questioned us about our plans for the foundation and what we hoped to accomplish.

After explaining our ideas to him, they both gave us their blessing to use their son's name, and then handed me a copy of his 'Memorial' and showed us his obituary clippings. After talking a bit longer, we offered our condolences once again and explained we had to leave and return home, in order to take care of our own family. We parted, but only after making assurances that we would get together again soon and confirming this was not just some expression tossed about lightly, but a sincere promise we intended to keep.

On the ride home, Frankie and I discussed our ideas for the foundation in even greater detail, including tossing around suggestions about how we would fund it, what strategies we would use to educate teens about the dangers of AEA and how far we were prepared to go to ensure its success. By the time we arrived home, we were both satisfied we had covered all of the bases, so I jotted down a few notes about our session, to make certain I wouldn't forget what we had agreed upon.

The boys greeted us when we came in and immediately asked Frankie if he was all right. Once they were assured that he was, they each added their own personal touches to let him know how much they cared and how badly they felt for him. I think these simple gestures helped to deepen Frankie's appreciation not only for his brothers, but also about having such a close-knit family.

Chapter 17
A New Ray of Hope

The new foundation and my general duties of taking care of the family were only a couple of the demands on my time now. A few days after we arrived back home, I received a phone call from a Boston attorney, who informed me that Vinnie's parents' estate had been settled and everything now belonged to Vinnie. We discussed the particulars of what this meant and what should happen next, and then I informed him I'd discuss the details with Vinnie later that evening. I also promised to get back to him the following day, once Vinnie and I had talked this over, since the lawyer felt there were some significant time constraints on how soon certain things needed to be taken care of. When those issues were settled, I waited for Vinnie to arrive, so I could discuss all of this with him.

I had made a decision to take my time explaining the particulars to Vinnie, since I wanted to make sure I had the opportunity to discuss each item thoroughly. I felt it was imperative that Vinnie understand what was involved and what he was agreeing to. Therefore, I waited until after we'd finished dinner before I broached the subject with him. As he was leaving the table, I told him there was something we needed to talk about and he immediately looked concerned. After assuring him it was nothing bad and he hadn't done anything wrong, he followed me to my room, so we could discuss things in private.

"Vinnie," I began, once we were alone, "I got a call today from the lawyer in Boston who was probating your parents' will. He advised me that your mother and father's estate had been settled and everything now belongs to you. Do you have any idea what you'd like to do with the house and everything in it?"

"Actually, I do," he confirmed, without hesitation. "I've been thinking about this for quite some time and I have made up my mind about how I want to handle this. I think it would be best to sell the house and all the furniture, and then I'll give the money to you, to use for the family."

"Vinnie, that is your money, not ours," I urged him, since I felt he had made this decision because he believed it was what I wanted him to do. I had to make it clear to him this wasn't the case. "We have enough money for the family, so we can put the proceeds into an account for you to use later, for such things as furthering your education or getting a clean start on your own."

"No, I want to do this, I really do," he insisted. "I want to help pay for things around here. You've done so much for me already, so I want to do something back."

"I appreciate your offer, but it just isn't necessary," I persisted. "Let's put the money away, in your mutual fund or even a CD, something with limited risk, and then you can think about this some more and decide what you want to do with it later."

"Please? It's really important for me to do this for the family," he insisted. "You've all been so good to me, by taking me in and treating me so well, so now I want to do something in return, since I can afford to. Won't you please let me do this for you?"

"Let's think about it some more and we can discuss it again after you have the money," I offered, as a compromise. "I don't want you to rush into anything or make any definite decisions just yet. Okay?" Reluctantly, he agreed, but he wasn't done yet.

"But I want to give my parents' Toyota 4-Runner to you to use as another family car," he offered, hopefully. "It will be my Christmas present to the entire family. Okay?"

"All right, we'll use the car," I agreed, "but the money will go into an account for you, for now. What about the possessions in the house? Are you going to want to keep any of those things as reminders?"

"Maybe a few, but I'd have to go there to determine what I might want to keep," he explained.

"That sounds fair," I conceded. "What would you think of the idea of you and I going there this weekend, to check things out and meet with the lawyer? Does that sound good to you?"

"Yeah, it sounds fine," he confirmed, but then hesitated briefly, before he finished, "as long as Kevin can come with us." He then smiled at me, giving me his most pathetic, yet pleading expression, figuring that might help to make me give in to his request. "Please? I really want him to see where I lived and everything."

"Okay, as long as Kevin wants to go," I agreed. Vinnie now beamed with pride, knowing he had won that round, but I had kind of assumed his request even before he had made it. I had considered in advance of his suggestion that he would probably want to include Kevin on this trip, so I had previously decided it would be fine with me.

Now that we were finished, I could start making plans for our trip. The first thing I did was to call the lawyer back the next day, so I could explain our plans to him. He told me he'd have a car waiting for us at the airport, which would transport us directly to his office. At that time, he would have Vinnie and I sign the paperwork to give him power-of-attorney, which he would then use to handle the more mundane transactions on Vinnie's behalf. This way, we wouldn't have to mail or fax items back and forth, nor would we be required to fly to and from Boston in order to clear up trivial matters.

After that, he also informed me he had learned Vinnie would also be receiving some monies from the 9/11 survivors fund, on top of everything else. He also hinted this might be a substantial sum, due to the fact that Vinnie was disabled and had lost BOTH of his parents due to the events of that horrific day. We then discussed what else he might need to get everything settled quickly, and once we'd gone over each detail we could think of, I informed him I'd also be providing him with an account number, which would be in Vinnie's name, so he could wire transfer the funds directly. The lawyer said that would be the last item he would need and then assured us he would see to it that everything was accomplished in a timely fashion.

After concluding our conversation, I made another quick call, but this time to make our hotel reservations. When the boys got home, I notified Vinnie and Kevin that I had called the school and advised the secretary they would not be in attendance on Friday, so we could leave early that morning. After we finished our business there, we would drive back in the 4-Runner, after filling it with whatever items Vinnie wanted to bring back with him. If he wanted to bring back more items than we could fit in it, I suggested we could rent a small trailer, since Vinnie had informed me earlier that the 4-Runner was already equipped with a trailer hitch. Neither had a problem with anything I'd mentioned, so I just had to finalize our arrangements.

In fact, Vinnie seemed quite excited about all of this, yet I could also sense he was a bit sad. I think he realized this trip would officially close one part of his life and he'd be leaving nearly everything he knew and held dear behind. Not only that, but it would also remove any faint hope he might still harbor about some day resuming that chapter of his life, because the house and nearly everything in it would be sold and belong to someone else. However, I suspected he was doing this intentionally, in order to force himself to move on and not look back. Friday morning, Jake drove us to the airport to catch our flight, and then he returned home, after seeing us off. Vinnie was a bit uneasy on the plane, because he knew it was on a similar flight that his parents had died. I kept reminding him of the differences between the two events, beginning with the fact that this was a smaller plane, carried less fuel and many of the security measures we'd passed through had been improved and tightened since then. I think that once all of this sank in, it did make him feel a little safer, but I could see he was still a little on edge until we landed.

We arrived in Boston just after noon and quickly spotted the driver who was waiting for us, since he was displaying a large, white card with our surname on it. Once we identified ourselves, he led us to a limo and drove us to the lawyer's office, where we were immediately led into a formal conference room. After making ourselves comfortable, the attorney entered, introduced himself and shook each of our hands. Once we got down to business, we hurried through the necessary tasks, which included signing the appropriate paperwork and exchanging the needed information. Once we had finished with all of that, he gave us the keys to both the house and the 4-Runner and wished us all luck in the future. Not only did he seem to be very competent, but also quite friendly and appeared sincerely concerned, which made us feel good about him representing Vinnie's interests.

Now that our meeting was nearly over, I told the boys I planned to take them out to eat next. The lawyer overheard me and told us the driver was at our disposal for the remainder of the day. He explained that we could use him for whatever we needed, as the limo company was quite accommodating, since his firm used them quite frequently. I thanked him for taking care of that detail, since it would definitely make it easier for us, because I didn't know the area at all and didn't want to rely on Vinnie's memory of how to get around. Before we left, however, the lawyer explained we could just leave the house keys on the kitchen counter and lock the doors behind us as we left, because he had two other sets that would suffice in the interim.

As we were getting up to go, he suddenly remembered something else, so we sat down again. The attorney quickly dug out some additional paperwork, which he had Vinnie sign, after explaining this was to transfer the title of the 4-Runner over to me, since Vinnie was a minor. He said he'd have the vehicle registered and have the new license plates before we returned, since I had previously told him we were planning on driving it back home. Now that the last item of business had been concluded, we left the office and explained our plans to the driver.

Lunch was more than a bit strange. Oh, the establishment was very nice and the meal quite good, but the mood at the table was more than a little bizarre. For one thing, Vinnie was very quiet and even Kevin couldn't seem to draw him out of his shell. We tried our best to discover what was going on in his mind, since we knew he was thinking about the task ahead of him – entering his boyhood home and going through every item in it. At that time, he would have to decide which memories he wished to keep and hold on to and which ones he wanted to leave behind. Eventually, we left him to his thoughts, since our probing and trying to draw him out was doing no good at that point. Therefore, the rest of our meal was consumed in almost total silence, although Kevin and I did talk about a few other topics while we ate.

From there we went back to the lawyer's office, but we had to wait about thirty more minutes before one of his staff returned with the registration and new license plates for the 4-runner. We were then informed the car was now ours and the title would be mailed to us within thirty to sixty days. Relieved that we could finally get the rest of what we had to do over with, we thanked the attorney again and then went back to the limo. The driver was going to drop us off at Vinnie's old home and would put the new tags on the 4-Runner while we did what we had to do inside.

The ride to Peabody seemed quite long, but it was very interesting and I was intrigued with the various areas we passed along the way. First, we went through some poorer areas, before getting to the nicer suburban setting, eventually pulling up in front of the house. After all of us climbed out of the limo, I took the key out of my pocket and used it to unlock the front door. Once I'd pushed it open, Kevin and I stepped off to one side and let Vinnie go inside alone. We knew he'd need a few minutes on his own to deal with the ghosts dwelling within, before we disturbed his solitude. Even after we entered, we still gave Vinnie plenty of leeway to go off on his own or spend time by himself, if that's what he desired. We figured we had to let him deal with things at his own pace and in his own way, but after twenty minutes of such private contemplation and examination, Vinnie came back to get us. That's when he suggested giving us the official tour of his childhood haunt.

Vinnie seemed to nearly glow, as he filled us in about random memories he had of things that had happened in the various rooms. He was extremely eager to share this anecdotal information with us, as we made our way from one end of the home to the other, and was very animated whenever he pointed out something he felt was important for us to know. Along the way, he also started collecting the items he wanted to take back with him, so we gathered these belongings and stacked them in the living room, where we would pack them later. Most of the items he selected were pictures or other personal effects from his youth, but he made certain to take the lamp from his bedroom, since he had been using it for most of his life and desired to use it in his new room as well.

After we had gone completely through the house, we made one final trek from front to back, just to make sure he hadn't missed anything of importance. Once he confirmed he had everything he wanted, we took the items Vinnie had chosen, wrapped them carefully and packed them into the boxes that had been stored there for our use. Once everything was taped shut, Kevin and I began loading the boxes into the 4-Runner. When Vinnie decided he had everything he wanted and was ready to leave, I made sure all the doors to the house were locked, tossed the house key on the counter and then we all hopped into the 4-Runner.

As we drove away, I glanced into the rearview mirror to check on the boys and see how Vinnie was holding up. They had asked previously if I'd mind if they sat together in the back together as we made our way home, which was no big deal to me. However, as I looked at them, I could see a tear rolling down Vinnie's cheek as we drove down the street, leaving his old home behind us. He had gone through much during this short visit, since he had to deal with the mishmash of good and bad memories that resided there.

The visit had reminded him not only of the fun times he'd had with his parents, but it also forced him to confront the reality that they were now gone forever. He knew he had to deal with whatever ties he felt to that place, if he wanted to feel comfortable living with us, although I reminded him he should never forget the great times he'd had there. I explained that those memories would always make him feel as if his parents were still close by and remind him about how much they loved him.

It's never easy going through situations like these, even when you're older and more mature, so I knew how difficult it must be for Vinnie right now, especially since the loss was still fresh in his mind. However, as I watched him and considered all of the obstacles he had already faced during the short duration of his life, it only served to reinforce the notion of what an emotionally and mentally tough kid he was. It probably had something to do with the various situations he's had to endure just to survive, but it was clearly obvious he was far stronger than most kids his age. If ever they gave Olympic medals for courage, Vinnie would definitely deserve a gold.

The trip home seemed extremely long and solemn, even though Vinnie started to liven up a bit the closer we got to our destination. We spent Friday night at a motel just outside of Albany, NY, with Kevin and Vinnie sharing one of the two beds in the room. Before we went to sleep, we all agreed we wanted to get back sometime on Saturday, so we'd have Sunday to rest up before the boys had to go back to school.

We still made frequent stops along the way, so Vinnie could stretch and we could all use the toilet, and our meal breaks were quite long too, considering there were only the three of us. We finally pulled into our own driveway well after dark, yet we still had a bunch of the boys run out to greet us. Well, I'm not sure if they came out to greet us or just to check out the 4-Runner, but it was nice either way.

The boys helped Vinnie carry his things back to his room, so he could arrange them as he wished or put them in storage, if that is what he desired. He seemed pleased to have these mementos with him and asked me if I would put some picture hooks in the wall for him, so he could hang some of these mementos now. I was happy to do it for him and took care of it right away, as I knew what it was like to have to wait, especially when something means that much to you. Once he'd finished placing things where he wanted them, his new room had a homey feel and contained many reminders of the good times from his past. I was pleased it had all worked out so well.

I think we all slept well that night, so I was refreshed when I began my Sunday routine. After taking the family to church and then out to brunch, Frankie and I sat down to discuss the foundation. As we got underway, we both understood we'd have to walk a fine line between enlightening people and giving them ideas about something new to try – thoughts they might not otherwise have. Our hope was to keep people from getting involved in this dangerous practice, while trying to ensure no one else would think it sounded like a glamorous or fun thing to try. Our biggest problem would be trying to figure out how to walk this tightrope and provide the necessary information, without causing more harm. I could tell this wasn't going to be easy.

We continued working on this over the next few hours before the Dean from Frankie's college called the house, to share some additional information with us. It seemed he had verified the college had a policy that stated if your roommate died during the school year you were given straight A's in your courses, without having to meet the course requirements. This was due to the psychological repercussions such an event would have on the surviving roommate. He explained he didn't inform us about this us at first, because he wasn't sure if this rule applied in Frankie's case, since Tom had died at home during a break. However, the administration decided that since Frankie didn't learn about Tom's death until he returned for classes, it should be applied in his favor. I thanked the Dean for this information, told him I'd discuss it with Frankie and then let him know whether Frankie would be back to attend classes.

After hanging up, I went and looked for Frankie, so I could discuss this possibility with him. Once I'd told him the information the Dean had shared with me, he asked a few questions and then spent a few more minutes thinking it over. When he decided what course of action he wished to follow, he explained his decision to me.

"Dad, they can give me A's for the courses if they want, but I'm still going back and doing the work," he insisted. "I look at it this way, I might need some of the information I learn in those courses and I wouldn't want to have to think later that I messed up a situation or maybe cost someone his life just because I took the easy way out. Sure, Tom's death has affected me and I may not be able to focus as well as I would have if this hadn't have happened, so that's why I said they could give me the A's if they wanted to. The thing is, even if they do, I still want to go back and give it my best shot, so I won't have any regrets about my actions later."

After hearing his reasoning, I told him I was pleased with his decision and he was taking a very mature approach to this situation. He was not fully relying on the school policy, yet he wasn't shirking his own responsibilities either. I reiterated I was proud of him and his reasoning, and would call the Dean back and relay this information to him, if that's what he really wanted. Frankie said it was, so we left it like that.

When I spoke to the Dean and explained Frankie's decision, he admitted he was a bit surprised that Frankie didn't jump at the opportunity to use the time to goof off, as many of the other students might have done. He said he admired Frankie's stand and would talk to his superiors about how they thought they should handle this situation, but told me to tell Frankie that he was enormously impressed by his judgment and reasoning skills.

Once we concluded that discussion, I told him we'd be leaving the house shortly, so I could drive Frankie back to campus. This way, he could return to classes the next day, and the Dean said he'd see us then. I really didn't want to go on another trip, but I knew it was something I had to do, and I wasn't about to ask Jake to do it, since he had to work early the next day.

It was a tedious drive, but we made it there safely and I helped Frankie take his things to his dorm room. We hadn't been there very long before there was a knock on the door and Frankie opened it and discovered the Dean standing there. He quickly informed us that he had made a few calls after he spoke to us, to inform his superiors about Frankie's intentions. He then informed us that the powers that be were also impressed by Frankie's stance and had decided to grant him A's in each of his classes, even though he still wanted to take the courses. They said they wouldn't tell his professors about this until the end of the semester, so Frankie could see how he fared without any assistance. The Dean also added that his colleagues were adamant that they weren't about to penalize my son for choosing the honorable approach, hence their decision. Of course, Frankie was pleased to learn how this had worked out and was now eager to return to his classes.

Chapter 18
Discoveries and Goals

Shortly after I got back from taking Frankie to his college, Graham approached me about another situation. It seemed that Brent had appeared to him again, but this time Brent was projecting impressions of Vinnie, a picture in a decorative frame and, oddly enough, me. Since neither of us could figure out what these things meant, I decided to include Vinnie in on our discussion, in hopes that he'd be able to shed some light on the situation.

Once Graham explained about the picture and what it looked like, Vinnie immediately announced he recognized what it was. That picture had hung on the wall in his room in Peabody and was currently on display in his new room. Seeing this appeared to be important, I suggested we all go and inspect it carefully, to see if it might help to solve this conundrum. It turned out to be a picture of Vinnie's mother from her first teaching assignment. I looked at the picture, studied it carefully, and then turned to Vinnie.

"Your mother was a teacher?" I wanted to know.

"Yes, she taught fourth grade," he told me, and Graham and I could see how proud he was of her.

"Do you know where she went to college and got her teaching degree?" I followed, wondering if this might play a part in solving this puzzle.

"Yes, she went to Villanova," Vinnie told me, without hesitation.

"What was her name?" I pressed, thinking I had discovered the key.

"Rita," he responded, simply.

"No, Vinnie, I mean, what was her maiden name?" I pressed.

"Oh, that was Callindona. Rita Callindona," he informed us.

"I don't believe this!" I exclaimed, as the connection suddenly began to form in my mind.

"You don't believe what?" both Vinnie and Graham chimed, almost in unison.

"That I knew his mother," I informed them, while noting the looks of shock that readily appeared on each of their faces. "She was my wife's roommate at college. Of course, she wasn't my wife at the time, but that's where we met, and your mother used to join us once in a while, when we went places. My wife and your mother were very good friends."

"Really, you knew my mom?" Vinnie asked, as if he were unable to believe what I'd just told him.

"Yes, and my wife and I kept in touch with her for quite a while after we graduated and even after we were married," I explained. "I even remember learning that your mother was engaged and we were invited to the wedding, but my wife and I had two small children and another on the way by then and were in the process of moving, because I had just received a better job offer. Unfortunately, that prevented us from going, and after that we just kind of lost touch with each other. Now, I am beginning to doubt it was a coincidence that you came to my attention. I think your mother and Brent, and maybe even my wife, were all acting in collusion to bring us together."

"What do you mean by that?" Vinnie asked, confused.

"What I mean is," I began, "somehow your mother, along with my wife and adopted son are working together to get us the messages we used to locate you and eventually bring you here, to live with us. I have my suspicions that maybe your mother, in cooperation with my wife, selected me to take care of you and then worked with Brent to pull it off."

Both boys looked at me for a moment, almost as if I had just lost my mind, but I knew Graham was just startled by all of these connections. However, I was pretty sure Vinnie was wondering how dead people could have pulled such a thing off and, therefore, I wasn't sure if he agreed with my logic. After we discussed this a little more, and with Graham's additional input, I began to persuade him to see it from my point of view.

Graham was very persuasive in getting Vinnie to agree with me, as he explained some of the stranger things that had happened because of his ability, but Vinnie wasn't as quick to come over to our way of thinking. His first problem with our theory was with the fact that Graham had first told us about this even before it had happened. That's when I tried to explain to him that the other side seems to view time in quite different ways than we do. Somehow, they are able to view our future, past and present with equal ease, which allows them to have knowledge of events long since forgotten or be aware of situations that had not yet happened.

It wasn't an easy concept for him to grasp, as it dealt with very abstract concepts, and let's face it, it wasn't an easy concept for me to grasp or fully understand either. I think this idea might have had its basis in Einstein's theory of relativity, so I wasn't sure if there were many people who could fully understand how this happened, let alone explain how it worked. If there was, it was no more than a handful of the brightest in the world, so how could I hope to explain it to him. Nonetheless, Vinnie finally gave in and agreed with us, concluding that our coming together as a family had somehow been the result of a cosmic insider fix.

Over the course of the next several days, Vinnie tried to wheedle out of me all of the information I knew about his mother. He wanted to know what we had done, what she was like in college and my impressions of her, as he tried to piece together what she was like before she met his father. After getting this information from me, he then confided that his mother and father had waited to establish their careers first and for his mother to be granted tenure, before they decided to start a family. However, after they had him and had dealt all of the problems he had suffered, they agreed not to have any other children.

Over time, I guess Vinnie was satisfied with what he'd discovered and now had a better understanding of not only his mother, but possibly even the how and why we had been drawn together. It was quite a remarkable time for him.

During late-January we had another remarkable, if not unprecedented event. Sunday afternoon, all the local radio and television stations were telling us to brace ourselves for a major bout of bad weather, but they were unsure as to exactly how it would play out. The only thing they seemed to agree on was that we were about to receive a massive amount of precipitation, however they disagreed as to whether this would be in the form of snow, ice or merely rain. Let me see if I can explain the reasons for this.

The local meteorologists all agreed there was a major storm moving up the eastern seaboard, which would bring a great deal of moisture into areas even miles away from the ocean. However, this was also playing into another variable, which was a major dip in an arctic cold front that was also anticipated to skirt the area. Therefore, none of the forecasters were certain if the two would touch, or maybe even collide, which would make a major difference in the way we received the expected precipitation. As it turned out, the two independent weather fronts did overlap slightly and resulted in a major ice storm.

Sometime during the night the power went out, due to the weight of the accumulating ice bringing down the power lines. I became aware of it when Andrew came in and crawled into bed with Jake and me. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me he was cold and the house was freezing, and that's when I noticed the condensation of my breath as we spoke. Immediately, I wondered it the furnace went out, but then I noticed the bedside clock was dark and I wasn't able to turn on the lamp. That's when it dawned on me that we had lost power.

Hesitantly, I nudged Jake and explained the situation to him, so we decided it might be best if we got a fire going in the woodstove and the fireplace in the family room. I must admit, we'd grown lazy and complacent and didn't use either of them often any longer, since it was easier and less trouble to rely on the furnace and central heating, but this was different. I was afraid the dropping temperature might cause the plumbing to freeze up, or worse yet, the pipes to freeze and burst, so we both got out of bed, dressed warmly and went out to haul in some wood, much to Andrew's disappointment. I think he was hoping to share our body heat a little longer first.

As Jake and I carried armloads of wood to each device and attempted to ignite the logs and kindling, some of the other boys began to come downstairs to see what was going on. They had either awoken because they were also cold or they had heard us moving about below them, so we soon had some help bringing in extra wood to dry out, so it could be used later. Within the hour we had two nice fires started, which were beginning to throw off enough heat to warm up some of the downstairs. Before long, most of the boys were sprawled out in the living room, although dressed in sweats or thermal underwear and bundled in blankets. It was as if we were now living in a single room abode and the boys were even hesitant to venture out into the colder areas, even to use the toilet, which they only did when they couldn't hold it any longer.

Since I wanted to know what was going on in the outside world, I asked one of the boys if I could use his battery-operated boom box to listen to the news, and he told me that would be fine, as long as he didn't have to get it. Understanding his hesitation to leave the warmth we were now surrounded in, I left and went to his room to fetch the desired object. I hurried back to the family room, since there was quite a difference in temperature between the two places, and came back in and turned it on. Thank God some of the local stations had generators that kept them on the air during such emergencies, so we were able to listened to stories of what was happening around us.

Everyone was being advised to stay home and not go anywhere, as the roads were very treacherous and most places were without power. Schools had been closed, most businesses were shut down and the traffic lights weren't even working, which increased the driving hazards, if the icy roads weren't enough to deter you already. It looked as if we were going to be staying put for several hours minimum, if not a day or more.

The boys cheered when the heard the schools were closed, but their delight rapidly faded once they realized how little there was for them to do. Without electricity, they couldn't do most of the things they enjoyed – such as watching television, using the computer or enjoying movies, and outside of this one room, it was too cold to go out and be affectionate with their partner, or at least that's how they looked at it. If only they'd realized how much heat you could generate under a pile of covers when making love.

They did eventually slip out a few at a time, to retrieve their battery operated personal CD players, the handheld games and their laptops, although they weren't able to get online. A few even asked Trey and Dion if they could borrow some of their books, when the pair went to their room to fetch something to read. Now that the sun was providing enough light for this activity, I saw several of my sons with their noses buried in the pages of various books. Maybe this was the silver lining in this cloud – getting them to read.

In due time the boys became hungry, so I encouraged them to dine on the cold cereals, pop-tarts and breakfast bars we kept in the pantry. We certainly didn't have to worry about the items in the refrigerator or freezer, since mother nature was taking care of keeping the foods in them from spoiling, but we had no way of cooking anything. Before long, the boys came back into the family room carrying their breakfast, so they could enjoy it in the warmth generated from the fireplace, although the woodstove was now warming up some of the other parts of the downstairs. However, since there was no electricity to run the circulating pumps, the heat was limited to the area surrounding its location.

By late afternoon, power had been restored to the main sections of our little community, although some of the outlying areas wouldn't benefit from the utility crews feverish effort for another day or two. The local schools remained closed for two days, since the superintendent was worried about driving conditions in the more rural areas of the county and didn't want to risk the lives of the students, staff or faculty just for the sake of opening the buildings. Therefore, we enjoyed a minor holiday, although it wasn't totally festive.

Once that crisis had passed, we returned to our daily lives. By the end of January, we had some more excitement, but this was the type we were eager to get. It began when Danny received his letter of acceptance from Penn State in the mail, followed closely behind by Brandon receiving his letter from the University of Pittsburgh, and finally with Temple University sending Kevin his acceptance the following week. It was quite an exciting time.

Danny had chosen Penn State, because he planned on being a pre-med major, eventually specializing in pediatrics, and felt Penn State offered the best course selection for his particular needs. Brandon, however, was intent upon pursuing a career in dentistry and felt the University of Pittsburgh offered the best program for him. Although Danny and Brandon had originally considered attending the same university, they soon realized that neither school offered exactly what each of them desired. Since they also realized their choice of institutions would greatly impact their future and they would need to remain focused on their studies if they hoped to achieve their goals, they eventually agreed that being together would only be a distraction, which might prove more costly than advantageous. They concluded it would be best if they spent this time apart and utilize their vacations and summers to more than make up for missing each other during the academic year. They were both determined to do well in school, and then in their chosen professions, and this would be the first step they would need to take in order to attain this goal.

Kevin had applied to Temple University, because he wanted to become a pharmacist. After studying the programs at several different colleges, he concluded the program at Temple best suited his needs and provided him with the atmosphere he desired. All three of the boys had always been excellent students, with a special aptitude for the sciences, and they had specifically chosen their majors so they could best utilize those abilities. Needless to say, I was very proud of all three of them.

After we had celebrated the news thoroughly and come down from the euphoric feelings that had enveloped us, I started to think about other things as well. For one, I not only considered what this was going to mean to the three individuals involved, but I also began to question how this was also going to affect those left behind, which most directly effected Vinnie. How was he going to react and handle things, once Kevin went away to school? The two of them had become extremely close and nearly inseparable since Vinnie's arrival and Kevin had chosen to do almost everything with his newest brother. Kevin spent nearly every minute he had just to help him and assisted Vinnie in doing his exercises, both in and out of the water, and would spend the majority of his waking moments at Vinnie's side.

He also made it easier for Vinnie to adjust to his new school by showing him around, introducing him to those he felt wouldn't make fun of Vinnie's handicaps and finally by giving Vinnie the inside scoop on each of his teachers. Kevin even helped him with his studies, by tutoring him whenever he needed it, and made certain that Vinnie kept on top of all his coursework. It didn't require a great deal of Kevin's time, since Vinnie was a very capable student in his own right, but sometimes I think he would ask Kevin to help him, just to provide them with another opportunity to be close and make Kevin feel that he was doing something else special for him. They had a very good relationship building here, which I felt also had some very definite romantic underpinnings.

I also spent a great deal of time working with Frankie, as we attempted to come up with the best way to honor Tom's memory and get this important information out where it was needed most. We also began to solicit donations from corporations, using our notoriety as a family to our advantage and by spreading word of what we hoped to accomplish, in order to gain their monetary support. As the foundation's funds began to accumulate, we built a coalition of educators, medical personnel and other professionals, to help work out a suitable plan of action. After a couple of meetings with assorted members from these groups, we had devised a rough outline of how we were going to proceed and what we hoped to accomplish.

The first thing we were going to focus on was to devise an instructional unit for the school curriculum, which would be sent free-of-charge to any school district or college that requested it. This would be designed to be included in a sex education or general health course, where issues like this were normally discussed and dealt with. There would be three distinct units – one for middle school, one for high school and a third for colleges, because we felt the amount of material included and the focus of the discussion would vary slightly between these three distinct sections of the population.

In each of these packets, we would include materials to explain the medical effects that came about when AEA was used and the scientific explanation for how and why it brought about these results, without giving the specifics about how people actually did such things. We hoped this would enlighten the young people, without giving them too much information, which might actually tempt them into trying such things. We would provide the unit plans, statistical charts and any other teaching aids we determined might be needed by using the donations from our sponsors. This would make it available at no charge to any educational facility that wanted to incorporate this topic as part of their course work.

The next dilemma was how we would spread the word about what we were doing and let the various educational facilities know what we offered. After much discussion, we finally agreed to do this by sending letters out first, to school superintendents, school principals, college deans and department heads, as well as to the health/science teachers and professors. We would do this as part of a nationwide mailing barrage, which we hoped would enlighten the various institutions and individuals about what we were offering and explaining what they would need to do to get this material. All it would require was for them to send back a written request on the school's or colleges stationery, letting us know which level of materials they were seeking. Once we received this letter, the package would be shipped directly to them, as soon as it could be arranged.

We didn't see how this program could fail. Since educators love nearly anything that is free and will save them time preparing lessons, we felt we had hit upon a win-win situation for everyone involved. We also realized there might be certain groups that would view our efforts negatively, since what we were trying to accomplish might conflict with their religious or moral beliefs about either trying AEA or discussing it with others. To address this, we prepared other information packets for our critics, hoping not so much to silence them, but to address their concerns and lessen their thunder instead. Along this same vein and with the hope it might give added impact to the seriousness of our mission, the entire program was going to be carried out under the sponsorship and direction of the Thomas Cole AEA Memorial Foundation, which would be listed on every piece of material that was sent out.

A special packet was assembled containing all of the items that had been prepared and sent off to Tom's parents. We not only wanted them to see the good that was being done in Tom's name, but we also hoped they would give us their blessing to continue. Within days, I received a phone call from them thanking me for my thoughtfulness and acknowledging their approval of what we had done thus far. It was a very emotional call for all of us. Now that I felt assured that everything was in order, we waited.

Within weeks, requests for the materials began to flow in. All my sons readily helped as much as they could, in order to make sure each order was shipped in a timely fashion. The boys eventually even asked some of their friends and classmates to assist us with this endeavor, seeing our program caught on more quickly than we anticipated and there was more than enough work to go around. I think everyone who participated felt good about what we were doing.

Once these packets were on their way, we all prayed our effort would prevent anyone else from dying or losing a loved one due to this dangerous 'high.' I think our goal was most wonderfully expressed by Sammy, when he asked me one day why anyone would have to try making an orgasm feel any better, when it was already awesome enough.

Chapter 19
Love is All Around

February held other surprises for me as well. While I was able to see some of these coming, others caught me completely unaware. The first was that the boys wanted to have another Valentine's Day party, but this was one of those things I kind of foresaw. They skillfully and diplomatically told me how much they enjoyed that special event the previous year, but then let me know that this year they wanted to do most of the planning themselves. They insisted they wanted to keep it as close to what we had done the year before, but they had some of their own touches they wanted to add this time around.

To their surprise, I had no problem with this request. I think they expected me to feel slighted about them doing it on their own, but since I felt I had used up most of my ideas on the first go around, I quickly agreed it would be better if they relied on their own suggestions this year. Once I consented, they immediately informed me they also wanted to select the menu, choose the music and take care of all of the decorating and other details too, so I gave them my blessings and stepped aside.

The couples involved with this were very busy, and I think they were intentionally keeping Vinnie in the dark about what was going on, so it would be more of a surprise for him. I only helped out when they came to me for a suggestion or to work out a problem they encountered, but for the most part this was their baby.

As the big day approached, I was glad to see they were responsible for 99% of the planning and execution of what was going to happen. They had drafted and sweet-talked their younger brothers into helping them again, serving as waiters and to be responsible for keeping the music playing, but I could tell those boys were pleased to be able to help out. As Valentine's Day grew closer, everyone was a bundle of nerves and worried they had forgotten something important, but this was just the typical response to planning such a big event.

When Valentine's Day finally arrived, everything became quite hectic. After helping the straight boys who had dates handle the little details before they went out to dinner, and then attended the dance at the school, Brandon came to me in a very agitated state. He was almost in tears as he asked me if I'd take him to the store to pick up some last minute items, things it seemed he had forgotten. It was nearly 4:30 already, and the dinner was scheduled to begin between 5:30 and 6:00, but Brandon was convinced he needed to do this, or the evening would be a bust for him.

"Pop, you've got to take me," he told me. "Please? I'm too nervous to drive myself right now, but I forgot to get one CD with a song I want them to play for Danny tonight and I can't find the card I bought for him, so I'll have to get another one."

"Calm down, Brandon. I'll take you," I assured him. "Come on, we'll take the car and be back before anyone misses us."

Before I left, however, I asked Vinnie to join us on this little excursion, so he wouldn't see what the others were doing as they went about their preparations. This was something I had planned on doing anyway, since Kevin had asked me previously to find an excuse to get Vinnie out of the house for a while. Seeing this seemed as good an excuse as any, I asked him join me.

At first Vinnie seemed confused by my offer, since he had already purchased Kevin's card and gift, but that soon changed. After thinking about this briefly, he decided it might be a good opportunity to buy something extra to surprise Kevin with, so he eagerly agreed to join us.

As we entered the store, Brandon decided he wanted to find the CD first, so we followed him over to that department and watched as he pawed through the various packages. However, he was having a great deal of trouble locating what he was looking for quickly. It was quite a few minutes before he finally put his hands on it, and then we had to pay for it there, before we went over to the card section.

The cards had been pretty well picked over by this time, so once more he waded through the various selections, reading each one carefully, until he found one he liked. While Brandon was pawing through the cards, Vinnie managed to find some sweets for his sweetie, a little something extra to make the evening even more special for them. Now that everyone had what they wanted, we went to the checkout to pay for our purchases. By this time, we had been gone for nearly an hour, and now I was worried about getting them back in time to get ready. Brandon seemed more relaxed now, even though he was going to be a little late for his date, so I guessed the relief he felt from finding those two items made him forget about the time.

When we walked into the house, I was the one to be surprised. Jake was standing there, all dressed up, holding out a single red rose, a card and a small package. Now, it suddenly occurred to me that Brandon's 'emergency' had just been a sham, one designed to get me out of the house and catch me off guard. Kevin and Danny also stood there, all dressed up, holding out similar items for Vinnie and Brandon. However, judging by the look on his face, I think Vinnie was even more overwhelmed than I was.

I took the various items from Jake, put the rose in water, read the card and then opened the gift. It was a little brown teddy bear, holding a big red heart, and on the heart was pinned a handwritten note that read, "I wanted to make sure you had a spare, because I don't ever want to lose you."

Needless to say, this got me very emotional and all I could do was give Jake a big hug and a kiss. Now I felt bad, because I had only bought him a card and a box of chocolates, which would look somewhat hollow and superficial when compared to his gift. I also understood why the boys had decided to plan this event and had kept me in the dark, for the most part. I had never suspected they were planning on including Jake in on this special night. I thought it was solely for them.

When I looked over at Vinnie, he was hugging Kevin as hard as he could, but then he would smother Kevin in kisses, whenever he would ease up on the embrace. It was plain to see that Vinnie was becoming very emotional due to this totally unexpected surprise. Although he knew we were going to have a party, he had no idea how elaborate those plans would turn out to be.

Suddenly, we three broke away from our lovers and hurried to our rooms, so we could get cleaned up and changed, and soon we were re-joining the others, while noting that everything else had already been arranged. The boys began the meal with some appetizers. They had three offerings, which our little waiters passed around, so everyone could take a sample of each. There were two very large onion blossoms, with a horseradish sauce to dip it in, mozzarella sticks with a salsa dip, and little cocktail wieners wrapped in bacon and a biscuit. I caught the boys making some lewd and provocative antics with the wieners, licking them seductively and sliding them back and forth between their lips, which caused their partners to respond in much the same manner. This merely added to the erotic nature of their use and it was quite obvious what this might lead up to later.

Our little waiters were dressed in the same outfits they wore the previous year, but the garments appeared a smidge tighter on them this time around. However, this only added to the ambiance, so to speak.

The boys had also asked Jake to purchase some wine for the occasion, a sweeter one for them and a nice dry wine for us. As we sipped our gifts from Bacchus, or if you would prefer, Dionysus, the meal was served. Once again, this had been delivered to our home by one of the finer local establishments and they did a wonderful job.

We began with a nice Caesar salad, followed by jumbo stuffed shrimp and a pasta primavera. The food was very tasty and the boys had even ordered extra, to make sure everyone had plenty to eat. After we finished the main course, the meal was topped off with a very nice Crème de Menthe parfait. Jake told me later that this was designed to help cover the bad breath caused by the onion blossoms, in hopes it wouldn't deter the possibility of a romantic evening for those who had indulged.

After the meal was completed, the room was cleared of furniture and the music began to play, but this year's selections were songs I wasn't all that familiar with, definitely a generational difference. The first song that was played was N Sync's 'This I Promise You', from the CD that Brandon had found it necessary to run out and buy. Now everyone began to sway back and forth to this lovely song, while getting close to his partner so they could kiss or he could whisper sweet nothings in the other's ear. Since I was unfamiliar with this particular song, I listened carefully to the lyrics and was quite impressed, once I made out what was being said.

When visions around you,
Bring tears to your eyes
And all that surrounds you,
Are secrets and lies

I'll be your strength,
I'll give you hope,
Keeping your faith when it's gone
The one you should call,
Was standing here all along…

And I will take
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
'Til the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you

I've loved you forever,
In lifetimes before
And I promise you never
Will you hurt anymore

I give you my word
I give you my heart (give you my heart)
This is a battle we've won
And with this vow,
Forever has now begun…

Just close your eyes
Each loving day (each loving day)
I know this feeling won't go away
'Til the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you

Over and over I fall (over and over I fall)
When I hear you call
Without you in my life baby
I just wouldn't be living at all…

And I will take (I will take you in my arms)
You in my arms
And hold you right where you belong (right where you belong)
'Til the day my life is through
This I promise you baby

Just close your eyes
Each loving day (each loving day)
I know this feeling won't go away
Every word I say is true
This I promise you

Every word I say is true
This I promise you
Ooh, I promise you…

After that song ended, the next one played was a sweet love song by LeAnn Rimes. As I looked about the room, I could see the boys holding each other tightly, some even singing the lyrics of this tune into their partner's ear. As they danced they sang…

I don't like to be alone at night
And I don't like to hear I'm wrong when I'm right
And I don't like to have the rain on my shoes
But I do love you
But I do love you

I don't like to see the sky painted gray
And I don't like when nothing's going my way
And I don't like to be the one with the blues
But I do love you
But I do love you

I love everything about the way you're loving me
The way you lay your head upon my shoulder when you sleep
And I love to kiss you in the rain
I love every thing you do, oh I do

And I don't like to turn the radio on
Just to find I missed my favorite song
And I don't like to be the last with the news
But I do love you
But I do love you

I love everything about the way you're loving me
The way you lay your head upon my shoulder when you sleep
And I love to kiss you in the rain
I love every thing you do, oh I do

I don't like to be alone at night
And I don't like to hear I'm wrong when I'm right
And I don't like to have the rain on my shoes
But I do love you
But I do love you
But I do love you
But I do love you

The boys seemed to hang onto each other a little longer after this song ended and I saw a few kisses being exchanged during the interlude. It was so uplifting to see them enjoying themselves in this manner and not have to watch what they did or said, since they were in the privacy of our home. Here, they could enjoy each other's love and companionship, while expressing themselves in ways they couldn't do in public. It's a real shame the world is like that.

My thoughts were interrupted when the next song began. It was also a pretty sounding tune, but as I listened to the lyrics, I wasn't sure it was appropriate for tonight. It was 'Fallin' by Alicia Keys. Maybe Trey had suggested this one, to let Dion know how he felt from time to time in their relationship. I got this impression after hearing verses like this.

I keep on fallin'
In and out of love with you
Sometime I love ya
Sometimes you make me blue
Sometimes I feel good
At times I feel used
Lovin' you darlin'
Makes me so confused

I keep on Fallin'
In and out of love with you
I never loved someone
The way that I love you

It came to me that these lyrics might be Trey's way of expressing what it was like to have to deal with Dion swinging both ways and enjoying both sexes with equal relish. I may be wrong, but that was the impression I got once I'd heard it.

The next song was nice too, 'God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You' by N Sync, as it featured some nice lyrics like…

I never thought that love could feel like this,
Then you changed my world with just one kiss…
How can it be,
That right here with me,
There's an angel,
It's a miracle

After that, we all danced to several other songs, including 'Cruisin', by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis; 'Don't Laugh at Me', by Mark Willis and 'Turn Out the Lights', by Nelly Furtado. The boys seemed to have a wonderful time, but I know for certain that Jake and I did. When the final song ended, those who were left began to head to their rooms for some private time together. I said 'those who were left' because I had seen various pairs slowly disappearing for the past half hour or so. I was certain that tonight there would be a considerable amount of lovemaking going on, not just sex, and we wouldn't be seeing any of these boys again until morning.

I think Danny and Brandon were the first to slip away, because I noticed them making their way up the stairs and toward their room while the rest of us were still dancing. I discovered later that Danny had a special surprise for Brandon and he talked him into going to their room early, so they could have some privacy. Once they were alone, Danny handed Brandon a small box, which Brandon opened hesitantly, because he was unsure about what was going on. Before long, he was staring at a very expensive man's gold band, inset with a diamond, and he looked up at Danny, while trying to formulate what to say. However, Danny did it for him.

"Brandon, this is my way to pledge my love for you and let you know that I am committing myself to this relationship completely. I'm also asking you to spend the rest of your life with me. Are you willing to accept me as your partner for life?"

Brandon was in tears at this point, since he hadn't been expecting anything quite this special. Seeing he was too choked up to speak, Brandon merely nodded his acceptance, which made Danny beam in response. When Brandon finally regained his composure and was able to respond, this is what he said.

"Danny, you know I've always planned to, you know, spend my life with you, but I really didn't expect anything like… like this," he stammered, while gazing at the ring. "I love you so much, Danny. Of course I want to be your partner for life."

Once this had been agreed upon, they began to kiss and hug each other, while slowly moving the action over to their bed. Each was thoroughly enjoying these precious moments of being alone with each other. They must have continued on like that for a half hour or more, before they helped each other get undressed and moved to the next level of lovemaking.

This time, Brandon took the initiative and was able to arouse Danny first, by using both his lips and tongue to stimulate as much of his lover's body as he could. Then he used his mouth to make sure that Danny was completely hard, before Brandon turned and lifted his butt erotically in the air, wiggling it seductively in the process. Reflexively, Danny took this as his cue and did what he felt he had just been invited to do. Once Danny was fully inside of his partner, he began a slow steady rhythm, making sure each of them enjoyed this very special ride.

While Danny was slowly and passionately making love to his soul mate, he was also alternating between running his hands over Brandon's back and chest. He was working hard to stimulate those areas as well and make the overall effect as pleasurable as he could. After many minutes of this slow, seductive ritual, Danny deposited his love deep inside of Brandon, and then they took a slight rest, before they continued.

It wasn't really a rest, merely a chance to kiss and snuggle a bit, before Danny returned the favor to Brandon. Willingly he gave himself to his lover, in much the same manner as Brandon had done for him. After paying attention to all of Brandon's other needs and stimulating those places that made him feel so good, Danny laid on his side, and lifted one leg up, slowly pulling it toward himself. This was done to allow Brandon easy entry. In this position, while Brandon was stroking his poker into Danny's hot interior, the pair could continue to kiss and do much more than just having sex. Obviously, they were not about to hurry or race through this, because they wanted to savor every wonderful moment of this night before it ended. Brandon's juices were already flowing freely and coating his erection, thus eliminating the need for artificial lubrication.

Once he had entered Danny, they made slow, passionate love. After Brandon reached his climax and spewed his seed inside his partner, they continued to hold on to each other for the rest of the night and remained as close as two bodies could possibly get, without becoming one.

Down the hall, Trey and Dion had also slipped into their room, but they weren't ready for the magic to end either. They were both more than satisfied with the evening and where their relationship stood at this particular moment, and although Dion still had occasional trysts with female partners, he had also attempted to make it perfectly clear to Trey that they would be together for life. Although Trey wasn't totally happy with these brief affairs and they probably hurt him in ways Dion couldn't fathom, he understood it was probably best not to push the issue and jeopardize his future. He was convinced Dion was going to remain true to his word, so he was willing to ignore these brief flings to appease his lover.

Now, after all of the tender kissing and touching that had occupied their time on the dance floor and aroused them completely, they finally were alone in their room. Immediately they undressed each other, before Trey took his position on the bed, pulled his legs up to his chest and offered Dion the ultimate prize. Nearly drooling at the sight, Dion quickly moved into position and worked his long slender rod inside of his true love. Over the course of the next many minutes, the duo made mad, erotic love to each other. Since Dion knew what Trey liked best, he reached down and grasped Trey's organ and slowly stroked it to the same rhythm he was using while sliding in and out of his love canal. He did this so they could come off together, in one powerful explosion. When Dion finally reached the point of no return, and emptied his love inside of Trey, as Trey erupted too, spewing his juices between them – cementing their love for each other.

In another room, Nick and Shannon were doing a repeat of Shannon's first night with Nick, but from what I heard later, Nick was not the aggressor this time. It was Shannon who made all the moves and suggested what they could and should do. Somewhat uncharacteristically for him, Shannon took charge once they were alone and managed to subdue the usually assertive Nick. In fact, I also came to understand that Nick seemed to enjoy the role reversal and being the pursued, instead of being the pursuer, so possibly this relationship might turn out differently than the others. I don't think any of us counted on that happening, though, especially Shannon, but he did manage to make the most of his evening. Not only did he enjoy making love to Nick and then having Nick make love to him in return, but he also seemed to revel in the closeness they shared as a result of it.

However, as you might suspect, those boys were not alone in their after party activities. At some point, Kevin and Vinnie also disappeared and made their way to Vinnie's room, which was located on the first floor. Kevin was a perfect gentleman and made sure he didn't move any faster than Vinnie wanted, mainly due to the fact that he didn't want to scare Vinnie off or otherwise lose another lover. After undressing Vinnie and helping him onto the bed, Kevin slowly showed Vinnie all the erotic spots the body had to offer, before he prepared both of them for even more.

With Vinnie lying prone and his erection covered in latex, Kevin straddled Vinnie's hips and lowered his body down until his love canal swallowed up Vinnie's penis. Now that he was in position to do so, Kevin gave Vinnie his first lesson in the wonderful pleasures of male-to-male intercourse. This proved to be a bit more than Vinnie could handle, and he quickly surrendered to the warmth, tightness and other wonderful sensations that now engulfed his entire being. That's the reason it didn't take long before his loins exploded and his body shuddered from the most powerful orgasm he could ever remember having. From that moment forward, he lay as limp as a rag doll on the bed, while enjoying the wonderful afterglow that resulted from losing his virginity.

Once he'd recovered, Vinnie made sure to get Kevin off too, but he did him orally, since he wasn't sure he was quite ready for anything more than that. However, each of them was satisfied and happy concerning the way things had turned out. Therefore, they spent the rest of the night in each other's arms and content with this new arrangement.

I also heard that our four waiters spent the night together in one room, now that they were fully inspired from watching everything that went on during the evening. They helped bring each other off a couple of times before they went to sleep too, although it was all done either manually or orally, but they each of them got a good workout before it was over.

In fact, Sammy didn't even do anything with Andrew, and instead allowed both Graham and Cole to take turns bringing him off instead. Sammy spent time with each of them too, while knowing that he and Andrew would have plenty of opportunities later. I was pleased to learn that the boys had all gotten along so well.

And yes, I know you're curious about my evening as well. Once we were sure that everyone was safely tucked in for the night, including the straight boys, Jake and I also shared some special time together. After apologizing for not being as thoughtful about the holiday as he had been, I tried to make up for it. Although he insisted it wasn't that big of a deal to him, I allowed him to make love to me, with us both getting off in the process. Even though we might not have had as much energy as the boys, we did enjoy ourselves and had a wonderful time alone. We continued to bond even more closely than we had up until this moment, and we both knew this was going to be a lifelong commitment – truly until death do us part.

I'll have to remember to thank the boys tomorrow for that wonderful evening and their thoughtfulness in bringing Jake up to speed on what they had planned, so he could follow suit.

Chapter 20
Love and Hatred

The day after Valentine's Day, Danny and Brandon came to talk to me, to explain about the ring and their commitment to each other. I was thrilled for both of him, especially since I knew how much they truly cared for each other, and I gave them my best wishes and my blessings. That's when they decided to tell me there was more to this commitment than met the eye.

"Dad," Danny told me, "we've also made some other promises to each other too, things that are going to affect you and everyone else."

"Really?" I responded, due to his pausing at that point. "That would have to be a major decision of sorts, to affect all of us?"

"Well, it is," he agreed. "We, I mean Brandon and I, have decided that after we get through with our studies, we're absolutely going to come back here and help you take care of all the boys."

"I know, you told me that before," I reminded him, "but most of the boys will be grown by then."

"I know, but this time we're making you a promise," he stated, quite adamantly, "and this means you can take in other boys, since Uncle Jake is here too and we'll be coming back to help. Not only that, but we'll also give everyone free medical and dental treatments and help support the family, as well as taking care of everything else. That means we'll also take care of the house and the grounds, with the younger boys' help of course, so you won't have to worry about it anymore."

"Hey, I'm not dead or decrepit yet," I replied, with a touch of sarcasm in my voice. "You're almost making it sound like I'm 80 or 90 and can't look after the boys or myself any longer. I know I've had a heart attack, but I'm not that bad off." I added a little chuckle after I said this, so they would know I wasn't upset or anything.

"We know that," Danny insisted, very sincerely, "but we want to help take care of you too, so we can make sure you'll be able to help as many boys as possible, like you've helped all of us."

"Yeah, Pop," Brandon added, "without you who knows what would have happened to any of us, even me. When you let me stay here after my parents moved away, it allowed Danny and me to stay close. We might not still be together if it weren't for you and we just want to make sure others have those same kinds of opportunities, so they can be who they are and not what others want or expect them to be."

"Well, I appreciate that, boys," I assured them, "and I'm sure your brothers will too, but is that what you really want to do with your lives? I mean, it won't give you very much privacy if you stay here and it will certainly take up most of your time outside of your jobs."

"That's okay, we'll be surrounded with love and we really don't care how much we'll have to do," Brandon concurred. "Danny and I have talked about this a lot and agree that this is what we want to do. We know we won't be able to have any kids of our own, so this will allow us to be like parents too. We can help raise the boys that are added later and be more than just big brothers to them. We both think this is the best thing for all of us."

"Hey, if you're both sure, I won't turn down your offer," I told them, sincerely impressed by their reasoning and the thought they'd given this. "It's not like I wouldn't appreciate your help and enjoy having you here, because I know I'll benefit from both." I paused momentarily after saying this, so I could look directly into both boys' faces, as I tried to assess if they truly understood what they were getting into. Once I was fairly confident they did, I continued. "You know, this does something for me too, besides just getting rid of some of the work. It will also give me some peace of mind."

"You mean because someone will always be here with the boys?" Danny asked.

"Not just that, because Jake has assured me that he'd take care of all of you, if something happened to me," I explained. "However, you boys will be doing something even more than that for me. You will be providing my legacy."

"Legacy? What do you mean by that?" Brandon wondered.

"Well, I think many people get to a point when they get older," I began, "where they begin to wonder if their life has really amounted to anything. What I mean by that is, when you reach a certain point in your life you begin to wonder if your time on this earth has left any lasting impression or been a benefit to anyone but yourself. What I'm talking about here is making a contribution that lasts long after you're gone, and not merely for just a few years after you die. Although not everyone feels this way, there are still many of us who hope that somewhere down the road, say seventy or even one hundred years from now, that the things we did while we were alive will have a lasting impact and be remembered by at least a small percentage of future generations. Well, I guess I won't have to worry about that now. If you two are really certain you want to help others like I have and want to come back here so we can take in more boys and do whatever we can to make their lives better, then I will bequeath you everything you'll need to carry on. That will be my legacy. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

"I guess," Brandon replied. "I think you mean others will remember what you've done here because we'll be carrying on what you've started."

"Exactly," I agreed. "Now I'll know the progress we've made here won't stop with my death. If you and Danny continue this after I'm gone, then maybe someone else will do the same thing, once you two are no longer capable of doing it either. That gives me hope that one day people will recall everyone who had been a part of this endeavor, which would give added meaning to all of our lives."

"Wow, I never thought of it like that," Danny told me.

"No, and we never considered anything about that when we decided to move back and help, after we got out of college," Brandon added.

"Yeah, we only wanted to do it to help you and some other boys," Danny continued. "We don't care if anyone remembers us later."

"Well, I didn't do it to be remembered either," I responded, "but knowing this won't die with me gives me a sense of pride and some peace of mind. Now, I no longer worry about what will happen to the rest of you boys, if something should happen to me in the near future, and I won't have to turn down taking in others for fear I won't live long enough to get them established on their own."

"Don't talk like that, Dad," Danny scolded. "You're going to be with us a long, long time and we're going to help to make sure that happens."

"Yeah, Pop," Brandon added, "and maybe we're being selfish here, but we just don't want to lose you and…" he hesitated, trying to decide how he wanted to word his next comment. When he knew how he wanted to phrase it, he continued. "And maybe we want to be like you. Almost everyone around here likes and respects what you stand for, so we wouldn't mind having others think as much of us, as they think of you."

To say I was stunned, yet extremely honored by his last comment would be a vast understatement. So much, in fact, that I wasn't sure how to respond to it. Since I was undecided about what to do next, I merely reached out and drew Brandon toward me, so I could give him a tremendous hug. Before we broke apart, we pulled Danny into the act too, since he was also a big part of their decision. After we finished our embrace, demonstrating how much we cared about each other, Brandon whispered something else in my ear, before he moved away.

"I'm going to get Danny a ring for his birthday, but it's a surprise, so don't say anything." He winked at me after saying this, and I nodded in response, which caught Danny's attention.

"Hey, what are you telling Dad?" Danny wanted to know.

"Oh, nothing," Brandon teased, while trying to play innocent. "I just thanked him and told him I loved him, that's all." Danny wasn't sure if he believed him or not, especially after Brandon winked at me and Danny had seen that too, but he let it drop, because he knew he could trust him, especially on important matters.

Later that night, once everyone was in bed, Jake and I had a private conversation of our own. Jake quickly reiterated his desire to take care of the family, if ever I wasn't able to, but at the same time he confirmed how impressed he was concerning Danny and Brandon's offer.

"You know, I am just amazed that anyone as young as those two would be willing to volunteer for such a long-term commitment," he told me. "I guess it must have a lot to do with their upbringing," he added, while grinning in my direction.

"Well, I only raised one of them, and I didn't get him until he was already a teenager," I argued.

"No, you raised them both, whether you'll admit it or not," Jake scoffed, "and although they may have only been around you for a short time, you've obviously made a lasting impression on them."

"Come on, I can't take credit for that," I countered.

"You can, because it's true and you deserve it," Jake argued, and rather than continue this discussion until morning, I merely leaned in his direction and kissed him. This, of course, led to something more, so you might say we both went to bed relaxed and with our biggest concerns behind us.

Now that the big day was behind us, we began to move on to other things, and the first of those was the winter Olympics. Although the opening ceremony and some of the events had started before Valentine's Day, we had been so consumed with planning for that special evening that we didn't have the time to get involved in watching the games until the holiday for lovers had passed. Starting the very next day, though, a large part of our family immediately became addicted to watching the telecast of the various competitions and greedily focused on nearly every event being contested.

We had a great deal of fun viewing the various sports and there was a lot of excitement throughout the final ten days of the winter games. It was also nice to be able to do this as a family, so we could share the excitement. We also enjoyed watching the various countries interact with each other and took note of their ability to compete aggressively against one another at one span, yet for the most part still remain friendly and willingly give each other his due, regardless of the outcome. For example, after the controversy in the skating competition, it was reassuring to watch the Russian and Canadian dance pairs maintain a close relationship and interact so nicely, especially during the final skating event. It helped to reaffirm that the athletes were more focused on their love for their sport, rather than about the politics of the Olympics. It's unfortunate that such posturing can ruin or cast considerable tarnish on such a noble competition.

For some of the boys, it was also their first opportunity to watch some of the more unusual sports, such as the luge, skeleton and curling, but they also got to see other seldom broadcast competitions, such as snowboarding, ski jumping and cross country skiing. We not only enjoyed these activities, but we were also totally engrossed by these nightly spectacles and remained glued to the TV each evening from start to finish of the coverage. The younger boys were even willing to take a short nap after school, so I'd allow them to stay up to watch all of the televised activities. That was fine with me, since it allowed us to enjoy them together and cheer as a family unit.

The end of the games was also the start of something else for our family. It came about when Trey and Nick announced they had both decided to come out to their friends. They explained that this had not been an easy decision for them, as they knew it would probably cast aspersions on the rest of the family, once their sexual preference was out in the open. Similar things had happened in the past, when it was just assumed that different members of the family were gay, including Shannon, and some sort of repercussions usually followed these supposed revelations. The boys were acutely attuned to this fact and didn't want to make matters worse for anyone else, but they felt they had to be true to themselves and let the chips fall where they may.

Trey had asked Dion to come out at the same time and announce he was bi, but Dion wasn't ready to make that move, at least not just yet. Even though the shadow might also fall across him, he felt he had enough success with female companions that any rumors alluding that he was gay wouldn't last for long. He assured Trey it would not change things between them, but he just wasn't ready to make such an announcement just yet. Maybe some day, but this wasn't it.

The pair started disseminating this information slowly at first, by telling only those they felt might be most open to accepting them for who they were. Ironically, most of these friends were female, and those girls didn't seem to have much of a reaction about the boys' announcements, other than to indicate they were wondering how long it would take them to finally admit it to them. They explained that they had suspected for some time about each of them, but gave them the benefit of the doubt and waited for them to open up on their own. Now, they felt satisfied, because it had finally happened.

The general response from the male friends who had been told about this was 'whatever floats your boat' or 'hey, you've never tried anything with me, so whatever makes you happy.' The boys were thrilled it was going so well at the start, but they knew this good fortune wouldn't last forever. They knew somewhere down the line waited a bigot or other narrow-minded person, who wouldn't accept anyone who was different from himself. However, they were happy to enjoy the good times and take a wait and see approach to what might happen somewhere down the road.

As February came to a close, Trey came to me asking my opinion about an altogether different matter. He had two different teachers that were requiring a major project from each student before the end of the semester. He explained that he had an idea about how he could combine the two projects into one, so he could satisfy both course requirements at the same time. Once he explained exactly what he had in mind, I advised him on a few minor points, before I told him he would now have to run this by both of his teachers, to see if they would agree to accept his idea as well. I think he was hoping I would intercede on his behalf with the faculty members involved, but I explained to him they were his courses, it was his idea and they were his teachers, not mine. Therefore he would have to convince them on his own, and not rely on someone else to do it for him.

Trey wasn't fully convinced he could be persuasive enough to pull it off, but he made appointments to meet with them anyway. After speaking with each of them individually and explaining what he had in mind, they agreed to allow him to do one project to meet the requirements for both classes. They also told him they would need to monitor his progress along the way, to ensure he was staying true to their particular requirements. He agreed to this stipulation, so now he could begin.

The two courses were English and history, and what Trey had proposed was this. He wanted to write a play, which was immediately acceptable to the English teacher to meet the writing requirement. The play, however, would be about a black American World War II sailor and a Japanese pilot who had been marooned together on the same small island. He promised the history teacher that he would research the time period and keep all the details authentic, so his history teacher also agreed to his plan as well. He was going to use the play to show that bigotry and preconceptions can be overcome, even during times of great stress. He told me privately that he hoped this concept would be translated into other areas of life too, such the current state of affairs with racial equality and gay rights, themes he and Dion were very concerned about.

I promised to help him with any problems he might encounter along the way, even agreeing to proofread it for him, but the work would have to be his own and I wouldn't do it for him. He said that was exactly what he expected me to say, but he just wanted my support, because he knew this wasn't going to be easy to pull off successfully. He had decided to try it because he enjoyed writing, since he'd written several stories for his English classes before and all had been well received. He then concluded he could use the historical setting to hopefully kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, without also killing his grades. I told him I admired his ingenuity and knew he would do his best, and then he went off to do his research into the historical aspects of this assignment.

In very early March, I got an email from Nigel and his boys, happily accepting our offer to have them stay with us, so we could take them on short trips. They also gave me the timeline for their stay, so I could start planning what we might do during that time. When I informed the boys of this, I asked for volunteers to help me figure out what we could do while they were here, and then we set about arranging things for their stay. Of course I included Jake on the planning committee, along with four of the boys, the four who had formed the closest attachment to Nigel's sons when we were together in England. This meant Danny, Brandon, Ricky and Kevin would be helping Jake and me plan what we'd do during their stay, since they knew the other boys' interests better than we did. They had maintained contact with them in between via email, so they were more in tune with what they might like to do while they were here.

A few days later, our first problem occurred, concerning Trey and Nick's coming out. Someone had scratched a message on Nick's locker, which read 'death to all faggits'. The spelling error was that of the author of the profound insult. Obviously he wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack. I was chagrined to learn about this, not from Nick, but from Shannon. In speaking with Nick about this later, I learned he felt it was an isolated incident and it would be best if it weren't made into a big deal. I finally conceded he might be right, but I still chided him for not informing me about what had happened. He apologized for not doing so, and then promised he would not make that same oversight again, and he would tell me if anything else like that were to occur.

After dinner I called one of the night custodians at the high school, one I knew personally, and filled him in about what had happened. Without hesitation, he asked me for the locker number and told me he'd scratch out the rest of the message, before he repainted it. He promised it would be done before the boys returned for classes, and by scratching it out first, it wouldn't show through the fresh coat of paint. I thanked him and advised him I now owed him for his help. He laughed and said this one was a freebie. I didn't tell Nick about having done this, however, since I thought it was best to let him think it was someone else's idea. In fact, I was actually glad I did keep my involvement a secret, because Shannon told me Nick was both pleasantly surprised and appreciative that someone had gone out of his way to cover up the offensive graffiti.

Although Nick was pleased, I was wondering how long it would be before something else happened.

Chapter 21
Bullies

Things went well for the next week, so we began to think the graffiti on Nick's locker was an isolated prank – that was until something else happened. This time Trey was the target of the abuse. He was leaving the library after finishing some research for his project and was heading out to meet Kevin and Vinnie, to get a ride home. Kevin always worked out with Vinnie in the gym and training room after school, so I had allowed him to use the Grand Am everyday, to get them back and forth. Trey had already told them he'd need a ride home, so they were expecting him to join them as soon as they finished their workout. As Trey made his way from the library to the gym, a young man approached and began to harass him.

"Hey, if it isn't one of the faggy sissy boys," he said, mockingly. Trey tried to ignore him and keep going, but this guy wasn't about to allow that to happen. He moved around and got in front of Trey and was immediately in Trey's face, renewing his attack. "Hey, you freakin' homo, don't think I'm just going to go away. Just cuz your old man was a big shot with the school, don't mean you're protected or anything special."

Trey just glared at him this time and the guy began to grin, obviously pleased with himself and what he'd said.

"Look, I'm not bothering you, so just leave me alone," Trey advised him.

"You bother me by just being alive, you fucking queer!" the boy exclaimed, in an attempt to impress the group that was beginning to gather around them.

"Look, layoff. Okay?" Trey chirped back, with as much assertiveness as he could muster.

"No, it's not okay. I hate little fairy cock suckers, so I hate you," the boy challenged.

"I don't even know you," Trey countered.

"Doesn't matter," the kid sneered. "All I need to know is that you're queer. Are you the fudge-packer or the fudge-packee?" After he asked his question, he began to laugh and look to his peers for support. A couple of his friends were laughing with him and egging him on, but most were just observing silently from the sidelines. Noting his distraction, Trey tried to walk away again, but the bully saw him and escalated the situation. As Trey turned away from him, the guy sucker-punched Trey in the back of the head. A sharp pain shot through Trey's skull, but he was still had enough wits about him to bend forward to protect himself, but that didn't work out the way he hoped. Instead of leaving him alone, his attacker began to throw a series of punches at Trey's body and then kneed him for added emphasis, knocking Trey to the floor.

As you might suspect, Trey had never been a very physical person and had little hope of defending himself. He was hurt, scared and confused, and this combination of feelings made it nearly impossible for him to figure out what he should do next. Although he knew he wasn't very muscular or coordinated, he felt he had to try to fight back, since no one was making a move to help him. When he did try to ward of his attacker, his efforts were, to say the least, quite ineffective and only served to embolden his tormentor. This, in turn, caused the bully to become even more aggressive, stopping only long enough in his attack to mock Trey.

"Oh, that almost hurt me, you little fairy," he taunted, while adding a little laugh for emphasis. "That might be a punch to your boyfriend, but I've been hit harder by a three year-old."

His tormentor continued chuckling, even as Trey tried to get up and escape, but that's when the boy decided kicking was a masculine attack style. Without warning, he began to use Trey like a large soccer ball, kicking him with one foot and then the other, as if he were trying to dribble him down the hall. He kicked Trey in the ribs, groin, legs and even in the head. One kick to the face almost knocked Trey out completely, but still no one stepped in to help defend him.

At this point, the boy began to gloat and think himself vastly superior. He even figured those who were watching would shower him with their adoration for his efforts, but only a couple of his buddies gave him any noticeable signs of acknowledgement. The others merely stared or turned to leave, most disgusted by what they'd witnessed and ashamed they lacked the guts to do anything about it, but still no one came to Trey's rescue.

Disappointed by the crowd's reaction, the young man turned his anger back at Trey, giving him one more kick before he left. Since Trey was lying almost motionless, it was easy for his attacker to slam his foot firmly into Trey's ribs, and when this happened, Trey felt something snap. There was no doubt in his mind that one of his ribs was now broken, so he rolled onto that side, ignoring the nearly unbearable pain, to protect the area from further harm. Luckily, it turned out he didn't have to go to that trouble, since his attacker had decided he was through with him now. Trey merely watched as his abuser left with his friends, laughing about what he had done as they strode down the hall.

Trey continued to lie there for a few minutes longer, while he struggled to cope with the pain and gather enough strength to stand up. Still, no one came to help him. Instead, they all went their own way, leaving Trey to fend for himself.

After several minutes of sustained effort, Trey forced himself to get up and then slowly made his way to the gym, to find Kevin and Vinnie. Due to the excruciating pain he was in, Trey was walking slightly hunched over. He also felt it would help to protect his fractured rib, but that wasn't his only injury.

By now, Trey's face was also starting to show signs of bruising and swelling, but those weren't the only reasons it was becoming fairly noticeable. There were also a myriad of small specks of blood drying on his face and clothing, from where his life-juices had splattered when he received the numerous cuts in and around his mouth. His brothers looked shocked when they saw him and immediately began to question him about it.

"Holy shit, Trey! What in the hell happened to you?" Kevin asked him. Trey looked at him and started to speak, but it wasn't easy with all the swelling and the soreness he was feeling. Eventually he managed to get out a few words.

"Some guy… giving shit… calling names… then attacked," he forced out. Both boys then eyed his injuries carefully, noting how badly he'd been beaten.

"Man, he really messed you up," Vinnie told him. "Were you alone?" Again, Trey had some trouble getting out an answer to this question, but was finally able to respond.

"Kind of… other people there… no one helped," he stammered, before taking another breath. Both of the boys could see the tears forming in his eyes, as he thought back upon what had happened. "Two… my friends…" he paused, knowing that wasn't the right word for them any longer, "just watched," he finished, this time wincing as he took a deeper breath.

The boys wanted to sympathize with him and make him feel better, but they felt a greater need to find out what had actually taken place. "What was wrong with them?" Kevin spat out. "Why didn't they help you?"

"Scared…" he muttered, "maybe worried… labeled gay too." After he got that out, he realized he'd probably never know the truth, since he didn't plan on speaking to either of them again.

By this point, Trey was in tears and the sobbing was causing him even more pain. Kevin and Vinnie tried to comfort him, but there was little they could do. Once he was able to get his emotions back under control, they helped him to the car and drove him home, so he could tell me what had happened.

I was shocked when I noticed the other two boys giving Trey a helping hand to get from the car to the house, but I was dumbfounded when I got a good look at Trey's appearance. Immediately I began to question them about what had happened, hoping there was a logical explanation for it. Once I had gotten a rough idea about what had taken place, I told Trey to get back in the car, so I could drive him to the hospital and get his injuries treated. I wanted to know exactly how much damage had been done to him and make sure he was going to be all right.

When we walked into the emergency room, the receptionist immediately asked if he'd been in a car or motorcycle accident. Once I explained what had happened, I filled out the required forms, while Trey was taken to get x-rays. After taking several images of various parts of his body, they brought him back to the E.R. and placed him in an examination room, where we waited for a doctor to come and look at him.

It was quite a while before anyone showed up, but the physician did a thorough examination of Trey, once he started. After the examination, he left the room without saying a word, taking the x-rays with him. A few minutes later, a nurse came in and asked me to come with her, as they wanted to show me a few things on the x-rays. I thought this odd, because the doctor could have done that in the examination room while he was looking at them, but possibly he didn't want to alarm Trey about what he suspected. Therefore, I followed her out of the room, down the corridor and into another room, where she began pointing out areas on the negatives to me. This surprised me, since I was expecting the doctor to do this, but I didn't say anything and merely observed what she was indicating.

It became immediately apparent Trey had a fractured rib, as he suspected, but fortunately there were no other broken bones. Once we'd finished going over the negatives, the nurse asked me to wait there a little longer, so the doctor could come and explain more about my son's injuries and advise me as to what I'd need to do for Trey. This seemed highly irregular to me too, so I asked her why I couldn't just rejoin my son and have the doctor tell both of us together. She said she didn't know, but that is what she'd been told to do, so I gave in and waited patiently.

What I didn't know was that while I was with the nurse, the doctor had gone back to see Trey alone, to question him about what had happened. I guess he or another member of the staff felt there was a chance that I, or another family member, had beaten him, but suspected Trey wouldn't open up and tell them the truth while I was present. Once they were convinced no one in our household had done this to him, I was told I could rejoin Trey and the doctor would explain everything. Once again, I thought this a bit odd, seeing as how I had waited several minutes for the doctor in the other room, but the nurse explained it had suddenly gotten busy in the E.R. and the doctor felt this would save him a little time. More bureaucratic red tape! Why can't they just do things the simplest way to begin with?

When I got back to the examination room, I found Trey in a highly agitated state and it was obvious he was glad to see me. He quickly explained the types of questions the doctor and others had been asking him and the insinuations they had made. This caused him to become visibly shaken, because he couldn't understand how they could even suggest such outrageous things.

After I got over my initial shock about what had taken place during my absence, I explained to Trey that they were only doing their jobs and their actions weren't personal in nature. If they didn't do this whenever there was a possibility that something of this nature had actually taken place, they would never be able to protect kids who were being abused – physically, sexually or emotionally. Once he understood this, he started to calm down.

A short time later, the doctor rejoined us and handed me a couple of prescriptions for Trey, before explaining what Trey would need to do to take care of himself, so he would satisfactorily recover from his injuries. Once he'd finished, we asked him a few questions, listened to his answers and then thanked him for his help.

On the way home, I asked Trey many of the same questions he had been asked by the medical staff, including if he knew this boy or why he had singled Trey out. First of all, Trey said he didn't recognize the kid and didn't remember seeing him before, but he was sure he'd recognize him now, if he ever saw him again. Trey said the only thing he could think of as to why the boy attacked him was because he had just come out – especially since that was what the guy kept referring to. He felt it might have also had something to do with the fact that he wasn't much of a fighter either, like Nick, so he also didn't pose any type of threat.

I told him he was probably right and suggested it might be wise to learn some type of self-defense. He wasn't happy with that suggestion, but I told him to think about it and possibly he'd begin to see the benefit of being able to ward off such attackers, which he reluctantly agreed to do.

Once we got home, some of the boys wanted to run down to the school, so they could see if the kid was still around. It was obvious they wanted to settle the score NOW. In fact, Danny, Brandon and Shannon finally admitted they wanted to go down to the school and kick some ass, as they so graphically put it, but I kept them under control and at home. I told them that Trey and I would handle this, even though we hadn't discussed just how we were going to do it yet, but I knew Trey's primary concern was to prevent it from making it worse for himself and his brothers. With this in mind, I assured the boys it would definitely be handled a bit differently than they would like, but we also had to think about the types of repercussions such actions might generate. Not only that, but I certainly didn't want them sinking to the same level as Trey's attacker.

After dinner I talked to Trey about what had taken place again, while making sure I did so while we were alone. I felt I needed to get as many details about what had occurred, which included finding out who had been there, either actively or passively, and then I discussed with him about how he felt we should handle the situation. At this point, he still wasn't sure about how we should approach this, but he did have strong feelings about what he wanted to accomplish.

First, he wanted to get even with the boy and make him suffer in some way too, but at the same time, he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself or the family. He was adamant that we had to be careful with whatever we did, so we didn't end up making any of the other boys a target. He told me he would feel awful if one of his brothers, especially any of the younger ones, were victimized due to his attempts to get even. He also let me know that if it looked like anything of that sort might happen then we'd just leave this where it was now, with the boy getting away with what he'd done. He'd rather see that happen than witness someone he loved go through a similar beating or worse.

Keeping this in mind, we discussed some possible ways to handle the situation, but didn't make any definite decision. Trey wanted time to think his choices over, so he could analyze them thoroughly, but he also thought it might give us a chance to come up with a better plan of action as well.

I didn't want to rush him and I certainly didn't want him to be uncomfortable with whatever we decided to do, but I also didn't want to see this young man get away with what he'd done either. I felt if we gave even the slightest indication that we weren't going to seek some sort of justice for this vicious attack, then it would send out a message to this particular bully, and others like him, that it was open season on anyone who was different or considered deviant. It would more or less signal that they could beat people up, or do other equally despicable things to them as well, without having to worry about any repercussions coming about due to their actions.

Not only did Trey and I struggle to come up with a way to handle this situation, but we also discussed ways to end all types of harassment. After much debate, we finally concluded we would file reports with both the police and the school district, with Trey making statements about the events that took place. He would give as many details as he could remember, but he was reluctant to provide the names of any of the witnesses he recognized, but who failed to come to his aid. He was concerned that doing so would only alienate him further and possibly cause some of those people to retaliate too, for pointing them out.

As a way to get past this, Trey would just admit he didn't know the boy who attacked him, but then he would stretch the truth a bit by saying he didn't have a chance to see who else might have been there. Trey was especially hesitant to drag his former friends into this, figuring they had already proven they weren't friends, but he still wanted to give them the opportunity to come forward on their own. Maybe they would even come to him and apologize for letting him down. I think if they did that, he might even forgive them for their inaction, but it would have to be their initiative, not his, which started that process.

During our discussion, we also agreed to make this a sexual harassment issue, because the boy had admitted targeting Trey because he was gay. Not only that, but it would draw more attention to the incident this way, especially with the school district. The district had compiled a very rigid harassment policy, which included a whole section on sexual harassment, so I was going to utilize that knowledge to our benefit.

Trey understood by doing this his orientation would be made a primary issue and many more people would hear about him, but no matter how much he wanted to avoid drawing more attention to himself, he felt this attack had already brought so much notoriety to this fact that it couldn't get much worse. What had happened to him didn't fit neatly under the express guidelines of sexual harassment, although I was going to insist he was singled out solely because of his sexual orientation. I was doing this because I knew those provisions could be used to bring more pressure to bear to locate and punish the culprit responsible for the attack. We also felt it was our best option, so that's what we planned on going with.

When Trey went to make his statements, both the school investigators and the police wanted him to look through the past couple of yearbooks, to see if he could recognize his attacker, but those efforts proved unsuccessful. We concluded this guy must have been absent on the day the pictures were taken, made a conscious decision not to be included in the yearbook or had just moved into the district, so his picture wasn't available for identification purposes. Although we weren't sure which case it was, it didn't really make of a difference. Without a picture, it would just be that much harder to locate him.

Out of desperation, I finally decided to offer a $1,000 reward to anyone who could identify Trey's assailant, as long as it was sufficient to lead to an arrest. Although the police suggested this would bring the nut cases out of the woodwork as they sought to make a quick buck, I knew that no matter what person anyone pointed to, Trey would be the one to confirm if that was indeed the correct individual. With that in mind, we made the reward announcement public.

Chapter 22
Confronting Problems

At the end of March, my two college boys came home to celebrate Easter with us. The holiday fell early this year, with Good Friday on the 29th and Easter on the very last day of the month. Not only that, but Passover and Easter also coincided this year, so their campuses had scheduled a few days off from classes, so those who were inclined could observe their chosen religious holiday. It was nice to have them home again, but Frankie and Dustin became upset when they discovered what had happened to Trey, because we hadn't shared this information with them previously.

Although Trey's injuries had mostly healed by this time, except for his broken rib, the bruises were still somewhat noticeable, even though most of the swelling had gone down. Both Frankie and Dustin quizzed him about what had occurred and what we had done about it, so Trey and I took turns filling them in. However, they didn't seem satisfied that what we'd done was enough. Especially Frankie. I guess he still felt a twinge of guilt about his attack on Trey, back when he first joined the family, and I think he looked at this as a chance to atone for that transgression.

We explained to him that even offering the reward had done little to discover the identity of the attacker. It was believed the boy didn't even attend our school, because no one had come forward. The only link to him was the two boys who seemed to be his buddies, but they both claimed they didn't know his name and had only just met prior to the incident. Even though we doubted their veracity, there was no evidence available to prove they were lying to us.

Although Frankie and Dustin were as frustrated as we were, they understood we had done as much as we could, but they still couldn't help feeling there must be something else we could try. In order to get their mind off of the attacker and get in a better mood for Easter, the boys decided to go to the mall Saturday afternoon, to do some shopping and just hang out together. As they were walking around checking out the sights, Trey suddenly froze and wouldn't move. When the others asked him what was wrong, all he could do was lift his arm, point his finger and whisper, "that's him." As luck would have it, Trey had spotted his former attacker.

Frankie and Dustin wanted to race over and confront the boy, but Shannon was able to keep them from running off by mentioning he knew who the boy was. "He's one of the boy scouts who harassed me at scout camp the last time I went," he announced. "Don't tell me he's moved here too!"

No one knew the answer to his question, but they quickly made an educated guess, once they saw whom he was with. One of the boys with him were a friend of the scoutmaster's son, the one who had attacked Shannon nearly a year before, and Trey quickly pointed out they were also the same pair who was with this kid when he was attacked. This made my sons realize the boys had been lying about not really knowing him and the attacker was either a friend or relative of one or both.

Frankie and Dustin continued to watch the others for a few minutes, to see what they were up to, and then quickly talked things over with their brothers and discussed what they were going to do next. As the trio began to move away, Frankie followed behind them closely. He wasn't worried about being spotted, because he didn't think any of the boys he was following would recognize him. The rest of my sons followed a short distance behind Frankie and remained far enough away so they wouldn't be seen or recognized by the group they were following. They certainly didn't want to spook them at this point. They kept up this game of cat and mouse for nearly an hour before the other boys left the mall, and my boys kept following them – even out into the parking lot. Once they were away from the buildings, Frankie made his move and approached the trio, as they made their way to their car.

"Hey," Frankie yelled out to the kid who had attacked Trey, "I hear you think you're pretty tough. How about trying your hand with me? Let's see if you can take someone who's ready for you, without giving you the chance to attack them from behind."

The boy turned and was shocked to see the well-built Frankie staring him down, but he still had enough bravado left to reply. It appeared his confidence came from the fact that there were three of them and only one of Frankie. "Look, man," the boy told him, "I don't know who you are and I really don't want to fight."

"Why? Are you a coward?" Frankie egged him on. "Do you only attack those whom you don't think can defend themselves?"

"Look, man, I really don't know what you're talking about," the boy replied, while looking a little nervous.

"I'm talking about you beating up one of my brothers just because he's gay," Frankie informed him. This caused the boy's mouth to immediately drop open, now that he had finally put two and two together.

"You mean you have a brother who's a fag?" the boy blurted out, before he had a chance to think about what he was saying.

"Look, asshole," Frankie told him, emphatically, while glaring at him as he did so. "I don't like your smart mouth and I don't want to hear any more of that kind of shit coming out of it, unless you plan on backing it up with your fists."

The boy looked back at him for a second, before he responded. "Hey, there's three of us here and only one of you, mother-fucker," he announced defiantly, looking from side to side, at each of his companions.

"Not exactly," Frankie announced, causing the boys to wonder what he was talking about. By the time he figured it out, the other boys had been able to come up from behind and surround the trio. Suddenly, the bully and his two friends found themselves surrounded AND outnumbered.

"I know you know at least one of my brothers," Frankie said mockingly, while pointing at Trey, "but now let me introduce you to some of the others." The boys looked around very nervously now, knowing they'd been played to perfection. While they were looking for any opportunity to get away, Frankie 'introduced' some of the others to him, more precisely Dustin, Danny, Brandon, Shannon and Nick, and then Frankie got in that kid's face and started to make his next point.

"Unless you'd like to finish this now, I've got some advice for you," he offered, while poking his index finger quite firmly against the boy's chest, in an attempt to see if he could provoke him into action. The boy was either too scared to respond or didn't like the odds this time, so he just stood there and took the abuse.

"The next time you attack one of my brothers," Frankie continued, "or anyone else for that matter, I'm going to find you, rip your balls off and shove them down your throat, before I dance on your skull. Do I make myself clear?"

The boy nodded, but Frankie wanted to embarrass him further in front of his friends and make sure they all knew their friend wasn't really as tough as he'd like them all to believe. "I'm sorry," Frankie mocked him, "but I couldn't hear what you said. I could only hear the rocks banging around in your empty head. What was it you said?"

"I said I understand," the boy repeated a little louder, while looking totally embarrassed.

"You understand what?" Frankie continued, not wanting to let this opportunity slip by.

"I understand what you're going to do to me, if I fight any of your brothers," the bully replied, timidly.

"You called that a fight?" Frankie sneered. "I heard you punched him from behind and kicked him like some girl. Is that true?"

By now a bunch of school age kids had begun to gather around them, curious to see what was happening. This only added to the boy's embarrassment, but played right into Frankie's hands. "Well, not exactly," the boy stated, trying to save some face.

"Then what exactly did you do? Did you hit him from behind or not?" Frankie pressed.

"Well, that only happened because he turned around," the boy responded.

"Yes, he turned around," Frankie agreed. "He was walking away from you when you sucker-punched him, right?

"If that's what you say," the boy tossed back, somewhat nonchalantly.

"It's not just what I say, it's what happened," Frankie shouted back. "Isn't that so?"

"I guess," the kid responded, meekly.

"And you kicked him like a little girl after that, didn't you?" Frankie persisted.

"I kicked him like a kick boxer or someone who knows karate," the boy replied, trying to make it sound better to those listening in.

"Oh, really?" Frankie challenged. "Would you like to demonstrate those moves on me?"

"Uhmm, not really," the boy replied, doing everything he could to prevent having to fight Frankie.

"Why not?" Frankie sneered. "Is it because you don't really kick like a kick boxer or someone using karate?" Frankie taunted. "I think it's because you kick like the little pussy boy you are – one who can only attack those he knows are weaker than him."

The boy was turning red now, because he realized Frankie wasn't going to let this drop.

"I'm willing to bet it's because you weren't actually kicking like a kick boxer or someone using karate," Frankie pressed on, "but instead was kicking like a little sissy or some girl in a cat fight. I'm surprised you didn't try to scratch him too."

By now, Frankie knew he definitely had the upper hand, so he just kept ragging on this kid and egging him on. In fact, he even went a step further and began to push him, trying to get him to react. "Admit it," Frankie jeered, "you're just a little pussy-boy, aren't you? And you can only beat up on people who are smaller or weaker."

"That's not true," the boy insisted.

"Okay then, come on and show me what you can do," Frankie challenged him again, before shoving him backward, but the boy somehow managed to keep his balance and merely continued to back away from his tormentor. One of his friends made a move to step in and help, but Dustin got in his way and let him know he'd have to get past him first. The young man wasn't about to tangle with the larger Dustin and backed off immediately.

"Either fight me here and now," Frankie screamed, "or admit to everyone that you're just a little pussy-boy." By now, the people in the crowd were snickering and even laughing out loud. Hearing this, the boy glared at them, while at the same time wishing Frankie would just go away. He knew that wasn't about to happen, so he struggled to decide what he was going to do. After looking at Frankie and his muscular build, he concluded he'd get his ass kicked if he tried to fight, so he decided to just wait him out, but Frankie was being uncooperative.

"Well, which will it be?" Frankie asked him again, only this time much louder. "Are you going to fight me or admit to everyone that you're just a little pussy-boy?" The kid just glared at Frankie, but didn't make a move. He knew Frankie wasn't going to let this drop until he was beaten or humiliated, so he quickly considered his options. In the end, he determined he wasn't ready to get his ass kicked, so he chose the other option.

"I guess I'm a pussy-boy," he whispered, barely audibly. However, his two friends heard him and his simple pronouncement shocked them completely, while Frankie and my other sons gloated over his admission.

"What was that, I don't think we all heard you. Squeak up," Frankie goaded him even more. He was going to make this boy say it loud enough for everyone to hear, to humiliate him even more than he had embarrassed Trey.

Unable to believe that Frankie was going to make him say it again, only louder this time, the boy just stared in his direction for a few seconds, unable to respond. Sensing Trey's former tormentor's uncomfortable predicament, Frankie merely glared back, before flashing him an evil grin.

"Well, which is it?" Frankie repeated.

You could see the boy biting his lip, trying to decide if he wanted to fight instead, but eventually he decided against it. "I'm a pussy-boy," he said a little louder.

"So, you're a pussy-boy," Frankie announced in his loudest voice, pausing to let the full impact sink in, both for the bystanders and the boy himself. "So, pussy-boy, are you going to promise me to be a good little pussy-boy and not pick on people weaker than yourself any more?" Frankie's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he said this.

"Yes," the boy responded in a normal tone of voice, but Frankie decided not to push him further. He knew he had already sufficiently belittled him in front of his friends and the other students who had stopped by to witness this spectacle.

"Okay, pussy-boy. Run off with your pussy-boy friends and behave," Frankie told him, while sounding more like a mother telling her two or three year-old child to play nice. The effect wasn't lost on anyone. The boy and his two friends looked equally embarrassed now, although the other two had only been implicated through their friendship, but each of them realized they were going to have a tough time living this down. However, they were all happy they were getting out of there and quickly made their way over to their car. Hurriedly, they climbed inside and then sped off, since they wanted to put as much distance between them and the Curries as they could.

Some of the bystanders began to whistle, clap and cheer as the boys drove away, and Trey and the others went over to congratulate Frankie for the marvelous show he had orchestrated.

"Thanks, bro," Trey told him succinctly, but the words weren't really necessary. Any observant bystander could easily read the admiration and thanks etched upon Trey's face.

"No, problem, little bro. I owed you that one," Frankie replied, drawing a puzzled look from Trey. After thinking about Frankie's comment briefly, he began to absorb the implication of Frankie's remark.

While that was going on, the others took their turns congratulating Frankie too, as Dustin went around asking some of the other bystanders if they knew the boy's name. Although he didn't get the antagonist's name, he did learn the names of his two companions, and someone else told him he thought the bully was an out-of-town cousin of one of the other boys. Dustin thanked those who had provided him with this information and then went back to share it with the others.

Once everyone had stopped patting Frankie on the back, they listened to what Dustin had discovered and then headed home to share this news with me. I got a full recounting of this story when they got back, with different boys adding their own touches to the retelling. I thanked Frankie for sticking up for his brother, even though I hoped it wouldn't mean further retaliation from the other side somewhere down the road. However, Frankie quickly assured me that wouldn't happen.

"Dad, that kid was so scared he was nearly pissing himself today," he told me. "He doesn't want to see me again, so he'll leave Trey and the others alone now."

"I hope you're right, but I'm glad we've also discovered who he was," I announced. "I'll call the police and give them the two boys' names and let them get the attackers name from them. Once they give me that information, I'll notify the school about his identity. They might not be able to do anything to him, except file their own charges for criminal trespass, but they might be able to put some pressure on the other two. That should help to close this episode for the time being."

The boys all went their separate ways now that this had been settled, but I think they all felt a little bit closer to each other than they had before. They made a statement today, as a family, and let the others in the area know the Curries would stick together, no matter what. It was a reassuring gesture for all of the younger boys, since they now understood their brothers had their backs covered, and a major statement to the community. Not only would my boys protect each other, but they would also consider a similar attack on other weaker members of society the same way as if it had been made on one of them. It was quite a powerful statement to make.

Since Easter is considered a time for hope and new beginnings, this also gave Trey a chance to start over after his attack. He was no longer scared to go on with his life, especially since it was also readily apparent that someone would be keeping a watchful eye on him in the future. He would continue to do his research at the library, but from that point on one of his other brothers would just happen to have something to work on there as well. Funny how that works out, isn't it? Trey understood what was happening, but didn't think any more of it, other than his brothers cared about him and were doing their best to protect him. They all understood this and it became just another unspoken family truth.

That Monday, I got a call from the police telling me the identity of Trey's attacker, so I relayed his identity and that of his two companions to the school. Although the high school principal didn't know the boy who had done the fighting, he did recognize one of the other names. That young man had been in trouble before, for various infractions, but the third boy had never been involved in any disciplinary problems.

I then asked him what actions he anticipated taking against them, to see if I agreed with his decision. He replied that since the other two hadn't actually done anything, there was nothing he could do to them, but he would file a formal complaint on the third boy and would do as much as the law allowed.

A short time later, I received an additional call from the high school principal. "Josh, I've learned some more information," he announced. "Although I didn't realize it at the time, the boy who attacked Trey had come in that very day to enroll for the remainder of the year. It seems he'd been sent to live with his aunt and uncle, after the cops busted his father for D.U.I. His father was a repeat offender and looking at prolonged jail time, and since the boy's mother had died a few years earlier, he had no other option but to send his son to live with relatives. As I understand it now, the boy was brought to live with his aunt and uncle the previous weekend, but took a few days getting acclimated to the area, before coming to enroll. I also suspect his cousin or the other boy was the one who filled him in about your family and that's what led to the attack. I'm sorry I didn't recognize his name sooner and piece this together for you."

"Don't worry about it," I told him. "You can't be expected to remember the name of every student in your school, especially those who have just enrolled."

He thanked me for my understanding and informed me he'd investigate the situation thoroughly, so he would be able to determine how best to handle the incident. I told him I was sure he would and then returned to my own thoughts about the matter.

After school, Trey finished gathering the rest of the background information he needed in order to begin writing his play. A few days later, he handed me a rough draft of the first act, which he had just completed. I proofread it for him and made a few comments and suggestions about problems I'd noticed, and then gave it back to him, so he could make whatever changes he felt were needed. It was going to be a very long and time-consuming process, so it was good he had gotten an early start on it.

Chapter 23
Repercussions

April's arrival also brought with it some interesting news. Near the end of the first week, Ricky was called and notified that he was among the finalists for the exchange program. The caller informed him he now had to write a short essay about himself, telling in more detail why he wanted to be an exchange student and why he considered himself the best candidate to represent our nation while living in another culture. Ricky was happy he was being considered a finalist, but he wasn't thrilled about having to write more about himself. He knew he'd have to do it if he wanted to be selected, so with that in mind, he began to write the first draft of his essay.

Ricky put a great deal of thought into how he wanted to word his statement, since he really wanted to become an exchange student, but he was also worried he wasn't the most qualified candidate. Although his grades were slightly above average, he understood he was not a great student and probably not even the best qualified to represent the U.S. Sure he was outgoing, but he also liked to goof off and joke around more than most of his peers, and he suspected this might not be exactly what the selection committee was looking for. With that in mind, he understood he had to look deep inside himself to see what made him special, and then somehow convey that information to the committee that would select those who would actually get to go. When he finished his letter, he gave it to me to look over. Here's what I read.

To the selection committee:

I know I am supposed to tell you about myself, so I will. It's just that I don't think there is very much to say. When I was little, I wished my life would get better, because I wasn't very happy. Sometimes I even felt sorry for myself, because my mom used drugs and slept around a lot. I still loved her, but I didn't like the things she did or how we had to live. I wanted to live in a normal family and do things like other kids, but I guess I knew that would never happen.

That all changed when my mom died. At first I was really sad, mostly because I didn't know what was going to happen to me, because I didn't have any other family. Fortunately, I went to live with my principal, because he was also a foster parent. I loved living with him right away and a little later he took in another boy, so I had a brother. It was awesome. Later, he even adopted us. Not only did that make me really happy, but I also felt safer and more loved than I had ever felt before.

I still don't live in a normal family, because my dad's wife had died before I went to live with him, so there's no mother. He's also adopted many other boys since I came to live with him, which means I'm now part of a really big family and have lots of brothers. I like that a lot and I love my dad and brothers, but now I want to be part of an even bigger family and get to meet and live with others from around the world.

I know my grades aren't the best, but it's not from lack of trying. I wasn't a very good student until I went to live with my dad and he's helped me do a lot better. My grades have really improved, but I'm still trying to do even better, but it isn't always easy, so I hope you won't hold that against me.

If I'm selected, I'll do my best to represent my school and the country as well as I can, so you won't be disappointed. I really want the people where I go to realize that Americans aren't bad people, no matter what they've been told. I want them to see we're just like them. We can laugh, joke around and have fun, but most of all I want them to understand Americans are not just bullies who try to get everyone else to do what they want. I hope you think that's as important as I do and one of the things you'll be looking for in the person you choose to send somewhere.

Thank you for taking the time to consider me as an exchange student.

Sincerely, Ricky Currie

After I finished reading it, I sat down and talked to him about it. He quickly asked what he should change and I told him nothing. I explained it was from his heart, did what it was meant to do and there was nothing I could suggest to improve it. He looked at me funny, like he wasn't sure I was being honest, but then told me he trusted my judgment and would send it out the way it was. I just gave him a wink and said I thought he was a shoo-in, but he told me I was prejudiced because I was his dad. I told him that might be true, but I'd think it was a great letter even if it hadn't come from my son. He thanked me and went off to print a clean copy, so he could send it out.

A couple of days later, I received other news. I was informed that the local sheriff's department had picked up the young man who had attacked Trey and charged him with aggravated assault. The guy then ended up spending the next couple of nights in the local jail, which I hadn't expected to happen. It seems he spent the first night there because no judge would be available to arraign him until the following morning, but his second evening in jail was due to the fact that his uncle couldn't come up with the bail money.

Even though this kid was separated from the general population, the others inmates saw him being brought in and noticed his defiant attitude when he noticed any of them looking in his direction. He even gave a few of them the finger, which upset them terribly, so they yelled a myriad of taunts at him, to intimidate and strip him of his cockiness. As I understood later, the inmates usually try to scare any young person brought into jail, as their method of trying to get them to change their ways before it's too late, so I guess there is still some good in all of us. However, in this boy's case, this was being done more to put him in his place, rather than scare him out of a life of crime.

In the jail, there was a door between the areas where the boy was being kept and where the rest of the inmates were housed. Even though the door between the two locations was shut, the older inmates' shouts could still be heard in the other section. Those who had been incarcerated for some time used this fact to their advantage and did everything they could to spook the young man and prove he wasn't so tough. They began by hinting that they'd like to get to know him better and even went as far as to ask him if he'd like a boyfriend. They teased him, unmercifully, that a cute young guy like him could have lots of boyfriends in there, if he wanted to, and made kissing sounds to emphasize that point.

I learned from a corrections officer friend of mine that this treatment really bothered the boy and he was definitely concerned about what might happen to him, after hearing those repeated taunts. Not only that, but his apprehension was magnified even more by his previous claims that he despised gays and what they did. This helped to increase his fears that he was going to be dragged into some of those acts, even though he'd try to fight them off, if anyone ever tried anything of that nature.

My friend wasn't certain if the boy responded so drastically because of his level of anxiety, lack of maturity or minimal intelligence, but he did his best to try to convince the other inmates he wasn't concerned about their threats. In reply, he yelled back his own rude comments and managed to insult their parentage, and his inability to keep his mouth shut only fanned the flames of their dislike for him even brighter. In turn, they shouted back even worse threats and greater obscenities. I guess some people never learn.

Luckily for him, none of the prisoners could get to him for the time being, but they made sure to let him know he didn't have the upper hand and promised to tame his foul mouth, if he were ever put anywhere near them. They also advised him they'd make sure the next time he really would have something to complain about, like a dick up his ass. They said they would request he be allowed to take showers with them, so he could pick up the soap, and then they all laughed. I guess that finally deflated the boy's defiance a little, because the correction officer said he was very quiet for the rest of the evening. After spending those two nights in jail, he was finally released to his uncle's custody, but I think his short stay there gave him a taste for what it would be like if he got sentenced and ended up confined there longer for what he had done. Maybe it would give him a new perspective on things, especially about how it felt to be bullied.

During this same time, the school district was addressing the issue of what action it should take, so I asked one of my friends to keep me informed about what was going on. I also requested he try to delay their decision until the court handled all of the legal issues, and he said he'd see what he could do.

I knew from watching other cases in the past that this would probably drag on for a month or more in the courts, but I was hoping the boy might just accept a plea bargain and get it over with. I even met with the D.A., to let him know what we'd consider acceptable, although I wasn't sure he cared about what I had to say. Eventually, the D.A. did make him an offer. If the young man agreed to plead guilty to criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, and spend twelve weekends in jail, then the D.A. would classify him as a 'juvenile offender,' provided he didn't get into trouble again before he turned 21. This meant his conviction would be sealed, so it would appear as though it had never happened. This also meant it wouldn't show up on his adult record and, therefore, couldn't be used against him again later, unless he failed to live up to his end of the bargain.

The young man finally accepted the deal and I believe we were relieved he didn't try to fight it. I truly believe the D.A. only agreed to this after my impassioned plea that the young man not be forced to miss any school time, since I suspected he might drop out if he fell behind. Whereas, I felt if he was able to finish his education, it might afford him his only chance at having a decent lot in life. In fact, I emphasized this point several times by suggesting that if he were given this break, he might not end up as a repeat offender and this might prevent the judicial system from having to deal with him again in the future.

In addition to this, the D.A. also agreed to make certain the boy would be kept separate from the adult inmates while doing his time, but he would be required to show up each Friday by 6:00 p.m. and wouldn't be released until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. This would ruin a few of his weekends, but that fell far short of ruining his life.

Once this agreement was reached, the situation at the school progressed quickly too. I heard the district planned to expel him for his actions, so I asked to meet privately with the Superintendent and members of the school board. During this meeting, I expressed my sincere hope they would merely give the young man a month of in-house suspension, where he could keep up with his schoolwork and not be out roaming the streets. I even volunteered to oversee this duty, so it wouldn't cost the district anything extra.

The board members were quick to express their surprise that I didn't want the student expelled, since he had never formally attended any classes in the district and especially after what he had done to Trey. In reply, I explained we merely wanted the young man to learn there were consequences for his actions, but we didn't want to ruin his life. I was concerned that if he were expelled for any length of time he might not return and then become a burden on the community, in one way or another. I also felt doing something of that nature would also increase his bitterness toward gays, as he would blame them, not himself, for what happened. After hearing me out, they agreed to consider this matter further and take my recommendation into account, before they made their final decision. I then thanked them for their time and expressed my confidence that they would do what was best for all concerned.

The evening the board met to make their final decision, I chose to attend it alone. I didn't want the boys there, just in case others showed up to support this boy and possibly have come there looking for trouble. It turned out that very few people, other than the board members and school officials, had shown up. There were only a couple of others in attendance, outside of the boy, his aunt, uncle and myself, but they were there to speak about other matters. Once the board told the boy and his guardians of their decision, his aunt and uncle looked relieved. However, I waited quietly until the meeting ended, before walking over to them and asking if we could speak alone.

"Why?" the boy said defiantly. "Are you here to pass on more threats from your other sons?"

"Don't you know when to shut up and listen?" his uncle asked him. "You're so much like my brother, all mouth and no ears. From what the judge and board president have told us, this man has already done you a couple of favors, so I think he deserves to be heard."

"What favors?" the boy followed. "Favors like sending his other sons to threaten me?"

"Didn't you hear anything the Judge or the school board president told you?" his uncle wanted to know. "The Judge said the D.A. had recommend you do at least 90 days in jail, until Mr. Currie persuaded him to only make you do weekends. And the school board president told you they were going to expel you from school, but Mr. Currie suggested they only give you a month's suspension instead."

"Wow, big favors," the boy responded, mockingly.

"They were," his aunt interjected. "After you told us about those first two nights at the jail, would you really want to spend 90 days in there?" This time the boy didn't have any wisecrack response, but instead just glared at his aunt, like she'd just divulged his most closely guarded secret.

"Let's put it this way," his uncle advised him, "we can either sit down and let Mr. Currie say his piece or you can deal with me when we get home." I think the boy caught his uncle's implication and meekly walked over and sat down to listen to what I had to say. Before I could begin, however, his aunt thanked me for asking both groups to go lightly on her ward.

"Look, we have nothing against your nephew," I informed her, "and we didn't want to see his life ruined over this one mistake." I got that much out, before the boy interrupted me.

"No, you just sent your other sons to threaten me at the mall and make me look like a fool in front of my friends," he spat out.

"I had nothing to do with that," I replied, "but my other sons were just letting you know they were going to protect their brother and not let anyone harm him. They also used it to teach you what he felt like when you embarrassed him in front of a group of his peers. If they had meant to get even for what you'd done, they wouldn't have just threatened you that day. They could have beaten the crap out of you and your buddies instead. You have to agree several of them are quite capable of doing that, if they had wanted to." The boy didn't respond to my comment, and his aunt and uncle meekly sat there giving him dirty looks.

"If you'll just let me say my peace, then we can all go home," I added, and his uncle nodded for me to continue. "Look, I just want you to know that none of my boys will go out of their way to do anything to you, unless you decide to do something like this again. They will defend their own, but they won't come after you unless you do something first. I just want you to understand that none of these boys chose to be gay, bi or straight. Most people agree the determination for sexual orientation is at least partly genetic, although there may also be some environmental influences involved as well. However, none of them made a conscious decision to be the way they are."

"Yeah, sure," the boy scoffed.

"Well, did you choose to be straight?" I asked him, bluntly.

"No, man, but I'm normal," he replied quickly, like that was all I needed to know.

"How about your height, did you choose that?" I followed. "Or maybe your eye color or skin-tone then?"

"No, you know you can't choose things like that," he responded, with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"Exactly, and people who are gay didn't choose to be that way either," I explained. "It's just as they grew up, they discovered they were attracted to other boys, not girls. They didn't choose to be like that, it was just who they were. If it were a choice, why would anyone choose to be harassed and become a target for every bigot?" The young man looked at me for a few seconds after I asked him this, but could find no words to respond.

"Exactly," I replied for him. "Some of them even tried dating girls and wanted to become straight, but there was just no attraction, no spark. If they had continued with such a fraud, knowing they really had no feelings for those girls, it would have been unfair to both them AND the girls they were with." The boy didn't seem to really hear what I was saying and tried to turn away from me, but his uncle wouldn't allow that to happen. Since his uncle seemed interested in what I had to say, he was going to pursue this topic, even if his nephew didn't want to do so.

"Do you really believe this?" he wanted to know.

"Absolutely!" I responded. "I've spent many hours talking to my boys and to others about this, and I believe that being gay is in their genes, so to speak. There may also be some environmental factors that trigger this genetic switch, but whatever ends up bringing it about, the boys don't seem to have any say in the matter."

"I didn't realize that," his uncle admitted. "I think we've all been led to believe this is a choice people make, not something that was thrust upon them."

"Look at it this way," I continued. "Just as nature makes differences in how animals look and act, it also makes a difference in whom they're attracted to. Even straight people aren't all attracted to the same types of partners, so why should everyone be attracted to just the opposite sex? Maybe at one time it was important for the survival of the species, but that doesn't seem to be the case any more, and history is full of examples, both in humans and other animals, about individual members of various species being attracted to members of their own sex. It's just something that happens, but they shouldn't be hassled for how they were born." After saying this, I focused directly on his son, before I made my next statement.

"Let me ask you this," I began, while staring directly in his eyes. "How would you feel if most of the world was gay and you were the one being picked on for being born straight? Would you want them treating you the same way you treat them?"

He didn't even take time to think before he responded. "There's no way that would ever happen!"

"Maybe not," I stated, so as not to tune him out completely, "but would you want to be made fun of or attacked just because you were different?" The boy didn't have a smart comeback this time and I think he might have even considered what that situation might have been like. Maybe he was finally beginning to see my point.

We talked for a little while longer, but most of the rest of the conversation went on between his guardians and myself. They made sure he continued to listen, as one or the other would nudge him whenever they thought he wasn't paying attention, so I felt some headway had been made.

"Mr. Currie, thank you for your help and for taking the time to explain things to our nephew," his aunt told me, before we parted. "We're going to go home and talk about this more with him and we appreciate your help. I don't think you'll have to worry about him repeating his actions. Please tell your son, the one who was attacked by our nephew, how sorry we are and that we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

I told her I would and then we parted company. Although he might have learned his prejudice from his parents, it was also possible he was merely mimicking actions he had seen or heard others make. His aunt and uncle seemed pretty open-minded and I felt I might have helped to open a dialogue between his guardians and him, so they might be able to continue opening his eyes as well. There still might be hope for him yet.

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