Bill W

Castaway Hotel V

Chapters 24-32

Chapter 24
Responding to Bigotry

After the situation had been settled with Trey's attacker, we hoped things might quiet down for a while. We were still vigilant, especially where Trey was concerned, but the situation surrounding his coming out was pretty low-key after that. We found out later that the second boy who had been with Trey's attacker when Frankie confronted him at the mall, sort of deserted him after he was humiliated so badly. However, the other boy was his cousin and they lived together, so he didn't have that option. However, both boys had been unimpressed with how quickly he backed down when confronted and realized he wasn't as worthy of their adoration as they once thought.

Not only that, but when the second boy's parents found out about some of the things the bully had done, they put some pressure on their son to disassociate himself from his newfound friend. His parents did this because they didn't want him ending up in trouble with the law too.

We also heard rumors that the primary bully had also become the brunt of some jokes at school, especially concerning his time in jail. Some of the jocks had jokingly started a rumor that he had become one of the other prisoner's girlfriend while he had been locked up, which was even more humiliating for him than anything else they could have said or thought. He certainly didn't want anyone to consider he might have done anything of that nature while he was in jail, but since the gossip had started, it would be difficult to dissuade the notion he had participated in such activities. Not only that, but the shadows conjured up by the rumors would follow him for years to come – at least whenever he was around those he went to school with. That's not what we wanted to happen, but it appears you DO reap what you sow.

During that same period of time, Trey worked really hard on his project and made some good progress on it. The play was about a young Japanese pilot who survived his plane crashing into the ocean and then struggled to save himself by doing anything he could to make his way to a small island in the Pacific.

At nearly the same time, a young black American seaman was enduring his own struggles to survive, after his ship was torpedoed. Once the vessel sank, he found himself clinging to some debris to stay afloat, but was unable to locate any other survivors, so it quickly became apparent he was totally alone. He spent several days holding tightly to the flotsam that kept him from slipping below the surface of the water and finally washed up on a desolate island.

As unbelievable as it might seem, it was the same small, lonely island where the Japanese aviator had come ashore a few weeks earlier. Once they'd discovered they'd ended up in the same place, it created a great deal of apprehension and distrust between them. Each had been led to believe, at least in recent times, that people from the other country were evil and not to be trusted. Now, they suddenly found themselves thrust together at a very traumatic time, but their main concern was for their own survival.

At first they elected to try to avoid one another, but both of them considered the possibility he might have to kill the other or defend against a similar attack upon himself. After much consideration about this situation, they independently decided it would be best to cooperate and try to survive together, rather than perish alone.

Before they could do this, though, the pair had to overcome a couple of major obstacles. The first was the lack of a common language and the second was their natural distrust of each other. However, since each of them questioned his ability to make it alone, both concluded their ultimate survival would hinge on their ability to cooperate. They both understood their chance of being rescued was slim, since the island was of no strategic value and nothing of significance was located nearby. In order to survive, they would not only have to provide themselves with food and shelter, but also find suitable quantities of fresh water for drinking and be able to protect themselves from any surprises Mother Nature might throw at them. This would be best accomplished by working together.

Before this could happen, however, Trey had to effectively show how they made initial contact and eventually broke down the other's inherent distrust. He did this by having each of them signal the other they meant no harm, but they still had to come up with a way to communicate or this effort would still prove fruitless. In order to do this, he showed how each attempted to teach the other a few words in his own language. First, one would point at something and then say its name in his language several times, and then the other would repeat it until his teacher indicated he was saying it correctly. They would practice like this over and over again, until the vocabulary became second nature to them, and gradually they built the basis for understanding each other by using an amalgam of the English and Japanese language of their own design.

In order to make this realistic, Trey used Sammy, Andrew and their Japanese grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Yamada had come over to spend some time with their grandsons during the boys' spring break and had decided to stay a bit longer, so they could spend a little more time with them. Trey took advantage of their being here, even though he didn't want to take away from the time they had with their grandsons, but once he explained what he was trying to do, they were eager to help.

Trey would tell them what word he needed the Japanese equivalent for and then they would pronounce it several times for him, until he could say it correctly and write it phonetically. Once he had mastered that, they would show him how to spell it correctly using the English alphabet, and then the elder couple would even show him how it looked using traditional Japanese characters. Not only were they pleased that Trey was so attentive to their instruction, but they were most pleased by how he tried to remain true to what it might have actually been like, if this had actually happened. Trey understood he probably couldn't have pulled this off without them, so thanked each of them multiple times for their invaluable assistance.

Trey had not only learned a great deal from this project, but he also managed to keep everything historically accurate. This included how both warriors would have been raised during the Great Depression, which was the period in history that immediately preceded World War II.

For example, once the pair was able to communicate sufficiently, Trey had the Japanese pilot explain that he had been raised in a fishing village as a youngster and then had him teach the American how to fish, using a net the pair had constructed from vines and seaweed. Along that same vein, Trey also had the Japanese pilot show his counterpart how to search for other forms of seafood, like digging for clams and catching crabs as well.

In return, the American, who had been raised as a southern farm boy, taught his Japanese counterpart how to hunt and trap what few birds, reptiles and other animal life inhabited the island. The black sailor had also been a cook in the highly segregated navy of World War II, so he did much of the cooking too. Trey did a very good job showing how they began to trust and learn from each other and even how they survived a devastating typhoon, something they might not have lived through on their own. By using these adversities, Trey was able to show how they began to let down their guard and came to respect one another as equals.

As they bonded, each of them began to worry about what would happen to his new friend or himself after they were rescued, depending on whose troops were the first to arrive and discover them. Each wondered if this might happen before the war ended and if their captors would be generous enough to take into account what they had done to benefit the other, in order to live. In the end, they concluded only time would tell and it wasn't worth wasting more time worrying about it.

As fate would have it, an American ship discovered them and came to their rescue, when someone onboard spotted them along the water's edge. One of the sailors saw them as he used his binoculars to search for signs of the Japanese submarine they were chasing. Once his countrymen came ashore, the sailor did his best to make sure his new friend would be treated fairly. Seeing he also had limited rights during this period, he wasn't sure if he could be effective in ensuring this, but it didn't stop him from trying his hardest. Despite the fact he was also discriminated against, he tried to explain to their rescuers that even the politics of war, which were formulated by aggressive and egotistical leaders, couldn't prevent ordinary people from learning to trust each other and even become friends. It was a nice portrayal of how the world could, and probably should, be.

After reading his rough draft, I offered a few suggestions for some minor changes, besides correcting some spelling and grammar usage along the way, but the story content was entirely Trey's. I was impressed with the level of understanding and maturity he showed in writing it, as well as the detailed research he did concerning the planes, ships, uniforms and other information he referred to in his play. It was really looking good, so I suggested it was time for him to meet with his teachers, so he could let them see what he had so far.

Trey was a little concerned it might be too soon to do this, but after I told him it would give him time to make any changes either of them thought it might need, he agreed. He was still quite nervous the day these meetings were scheduled and nearly wet himself as they read their copies of his script. However, once they'd finished and looked up and smiled at him, he knew everything was all right.

Both teachers told him how impressed they were with what he'd done, but his English teacher even went a bit further with her encouragement. "Trey, do you think there might be some way you could do this on a stage or videotape the story, so it might be shared with more than just our class?"

"Well, I don't know how I'd be able do that," he answered, honestly. "I mean, it's set on an island in the Pacific, where they hunt lizards, birds, snakes and things like that. Besides, whom would I get to play the parts?"

"Well, I know it won't be easy, and you'd have to pull off a minor miracle to make this work," his history teacher added, "but don't you have a brother who's black and another who is of Japanese descent?"

"I do, but they're hardly old enough to play these roles," he cautioned.

"Well, for the time being they might be your best hope," his English teacher suggested, "at least if we have any chance of getting this done. I really think this play is good enough to have it shared with others in the school. Won't you please try to do that for me?"

"I agree," his history teacher added. "This is definitely something that should be shared with as many others as possible. You've done a remarkable job meeting both of our requirements and it would serve as a valuable example to others."

"Okay, I'll talk to my dad about it and see what he thinks," Trey agreed. "Maybe he can come up with some ideas to help me out. He's usually pretty good in the 'idea' department."

His teachers concurred with his comment, satisfied that Trey and I would be able to work something out. When Trey came home and told me what they had discussed, he asked if I had any ideas that might help him overcome the foreseeable problems. I told him I'd have to make a few phone calls, since I needed to discuss some things with a few other people I knew, but I might be able to come up with a viable solution. In the meantime, I suggested he talk to Dion and Sammy, to see if they were interested in playing the roles of the two main characters. He agreed and went on his way.

Trey had no trouble talking Dion into helping him, since they were lovers and Dion would do anything to help Trey out. However, Sammy was a different story. Sammy wanted to know exactly what he'd have to do, how long it would take and why he would want to be part of this. In response, Trey explained to him about what he hoped to accomplish with this play, which was to get people to accept others as they are. Trey explained that he didn't want people treated differently just because of their nationality, religion or sexual orientation, and hoped this play might help to open their eyes, so they could see that everyone was basically the same. Trey's explanation impressed Sammy so much that he finally agreed to participate.

I used the next couple of days to contact a few of the people I knew who might be able to assist Trey with this matter, to see what they could do to help him pull this off. During the course of these conversations, I had some success in getting volunteers for various tasks. A tailor friend offered to make the costumes we'd need, while promising to make them look authentic for the time period, if I would provide the material he would need to accomplish the task. Once I assured him that would not be a problem, I told him Trey would make copies of what he wanted the uniforms to look like and he assured me he'd complete them as quickly as he could.

I then approached another person I knew, who worked at the local cable company, and asked him to help me talk their Community Cable Access Department into videotaping this performance, as well as helping create whatever sets might also be needed. Although it was a hard sell and I had to agree to pay for the materials they would use to improvise the various props Trey would need, as well as get Trey to give them permission to air it, once the school was finished with it. After talking this over with Trey, he consented, so CCAD agreed to work with us. It now appeared that videotaping the play was going to be possible after all.

Even though this part of his project was going well, some other developments occurred during this same time that weren't as positive. The problems began one day after school, while the boys were waiting for Trey to finish doing some more of his research. A boy, who was friends with some of my sons, came running up to them in the hall. "Hey, do you guys remember the kid who beat up Trey?" he asked, nearly breathless.

"Of course we do," Nick told him, wondering how the boy thought they could forget about the other kid.

"Well, I heard him after school asking some other guys to help him with something," the young man announced.

"Do you know what SORT of thing he was asking for help with?" Danny asked him.

"Yeah, he was trying to get them to help him trash somebody's car," the boys stated, rather unemotionally. "I didn't hear whose car they were after, but after I thought about it for a while, I suspected it might be yours, so I came here to warn you."

"Did those other guys agree to help him?" Shannon wondered.

"I don't think they did, but I'm not positive," he confirmed.

"Well, maybe we'd better go out and check on the car then," Danny told his brothers.

Without hesitating, the three boys headed out to where the Grand Am was parked, with each taking a slightly different route to get there. Just as Nick approached the car, he saw our friend the bully trying to puncture one of the tires on the Grand Am with a screwdriver or knife, he couldn't tell which.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Nick screamed at the kid.

The boy hadn't heard him approach and was totally shocked that he had been caught. The car was parked in an isolated location, and since he didn't expect the boys to be out here this early, he wasn't as vigilant as he probably should have been. He figured that since they usually stayed until Kevin had helped Vinnie finish his workout, which he calculated should take another half hour to forty-five minutes to complete, he hadn't expected them any time soon. That was his first mistake.

After hearing the challenge and not yet knowing who made it, he dropped the tool he was using and leapt up to defend himself. It was apparent he wasn't going to get away with carrying out his plan, so he figured his best defense was a good offense. With that in mind, he stepped toward Nick and threw a punch. That was his second mistake.

Since Nick expected he might try something like that, he was able to sidestep the blow. This meant the force of the attacker's swing threw him temporarily off balance, but he quickly righted himself, before lowering his shoulder and charging at Nick. That was his third mistake.

Oh, it wasn't because his charge was ineffective, since he was able to tackle Nick and slam him backward onto the ground. However, by the time that had happened, Danny and Brandon were close enough to see what was going on and immediately darted to Nick's assistance. After grabbing the attacker and throwing him off of Nick, Danny took control of the situation.

"Are you really this fucking dumb?" Danny asked him, rhetorically. "Don't you ever learn?"

The boy just glared at Danny and then leapt at him, while throwing his next series of punches. Danny took a couple of blows to the body, but was able to duck the punch to his head. Instinctively, he countered with his own quick series of punches, which landed upon the boy's head and face. Unready for the ferocity of Danny's counterattack, the boy faltered and began giving ground. Unmoved by his opponent's situation and vowing not to show him any more mercy than was necessary to keep this from becoming a criminal matter, Danny pursued him and landed a couple more punches to his body, before his final blow caught the kid squarely in the center of his face. Dumbfounded and dazed, the boy fell backward and landed against the car, where he remained while trying to come to his senses and figure out what to do next.

"Look!" Shannon exclaimed, "The dumb bastard spray-painted the windshield too."

This remark caused the other two to look up to see the word 'FAGMOBILE' scrawled in silver paint across the glass. As they turned to face the culprit again, they spotted the can on the ground and noticed the small splotches of silver paint on the fingers of the kid's right hand. By this time the boy started to get up again, but Danny offered him a warning.

"Stay right where you are, if you don't want your ass kicked again," he hissed.

"Don't tell me what to do," the boy protested, as he tried to scramble to his feet. That was his next mistake.

Danny wasn't about to back down or show him any mercy, so he hit him twice more as he tried to stand. The first blow landed against the side of the boy's head, while the second connected with his jaw. It was the last blow that was responsible for knocking him down again.

"Now stay there this time!" Danny shouted at him.

Stupidly, the boy made another move to get up, but when he saw Danny getting ready to pummel him again, he thought better of it and stayed where he was.

"Good boy," Brandon mocked, when he noticed their nemesis remaining on the ground.

While keeping a watchful eye on him, the brothers talked amongst themselves to determine what to do next with him now. Eventually, they decided to turn him in.

Danny and Brandon each grabbed one of the boy's arms, lifted him to his feet and then escorted him into the school. Nick followed closely behind them, in case the boy tried something else or attempted to run. However, the boy merely continued to struggle with Danny and Brandon, while trying to break free of them. Since he was becoming tired with the boy's continued defiance, Brandon twisted his left arm behind his back, in a half-Nelson, as a way to motivate him to do as they wanted. At nearly the same time, Danny was eagerly digging his fingers into the flesh of the boy's arm, as his way of letting him know that he wasn't about to get away. When they finally got the perpetrator into the school, they dragged him to the principal's office, so they could explain what had happened.

"We caught him in the act this time," Danny announced to the principal. "He was slashing the tires on our car, after he'd spray-painted a derogatory comment on the windshield. You can even see some of the paint on his fingers." The boy tried to hide his hand, but Danny yanked his arm away from his body and thrust it out into the open, where the principal could see it.

"Well, it's obvious you screwed up again," the principal said, while eyeing the boy, "and I doubt you'll get any breaks this time around."

At this point the principal called a couple of teachers into his office, so they could watch the boy while he went out to look at what he'd done to the car. He was disgusted when he saw the damaged tire and what was written on the glass, before noticing the materials the boy had used lying nearby. He quickly withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to pick up the knife and can of paint, and then took this evidence back to his office for safekeeping. Once he reentered the school, he immediately called the police and asked them to send someone over, so he could file an official report.

A short time later, a squad car pulled up in front of the main entrance to the school and two officers jumped out and strode quickly toward the principal's office. After a brief greeting, they jotted down all of the appropriate information and took statements from everyone who had witnessed any part of this crime, which included the boy who had overheard the culprit trying to recruit others to help him. After they finished doing that, they went out to the parking lot and took pictures of the damage done to the car, before returning to the school, so they could bag the evidence the principal had confiscated.

After all of this had been accomplished, they slapped a pair of handcuffs on the boy's wrists and led him out to their vehicle, where they carefully placed him in the back seat. Before they left, they radioed in and had the desk sergeant call our house, so he could advise me about what had happened. After giving me a few of the details, he asked if I wanted to pick up my sons or if I preferred he assign someone to drive them home. After assuring him I'd drive down to get them, he suggested I check out the damage to the Grand Am first, and then arrange for my mechanic to tow the car to the garage. He thought it would be a good idea to have him do a thorough examination of the damage, in case there were other problems that weren't as obvious, and then have the mechanic turn in a list of what damage had been done, along with a written estimate of what it would cost to repair it. That way, the authorities could determine the severity of the charge they would lodge against the young man, depending on the total dollar amount of the damage.

Once this message was passed along, the arresting officer advised my sons that I'd be down shortly to pick them up, and then he and his partner drove off. As they were leaving, Nick also slipped away to find Kevin and Vinnie. It was quite a bit later than he would have normally met up with them, so he knew they'd be concerned, but now he could tell them what had happened and let them know where everyone was.

All the boys were standing outside the principal's office by the time I arrived, so after I finished with the principal, I loaded all of them into the van and we headed over to fill my mechanic in about what I needed. The boys also informed me of the details about what had happened as we drove there, while admitting they couldn't believe the boy was dumb enough to try something like this again. They almost felt sorry for him now, knowing both the school and the courts would come down hard on him this time, but I reminded them it wasn't our problem any longer. We had done our best to help him once, but this time he'd have to take whatever punishment the judicial system dished out to him.

As the boys had often heard expressed on television and in the movies many times before, they understood that he did the crime, so now he'd also have to do the time. They just hoped he didn't come out worse than he was before he went in.

Chapter 25
Making Choices

What had happened at the school dominated the discussion at home that evening. Each of the boys was eager to share his opinion about why the boy had acted so rashly and what was going to happen to him next. Although I gave them some time to talk these things over, I eventually did my best to get them to focus on other topics, but they continually kept coming back to the bully and his inadequate attempts to harm our family. Therefore, I let them continue this discussion until bedtime, while hoping it would be enough to sate their fascination with the boy's obsession with their sexual orientation. I could only imagine what thoughts and visions consumed their dreams that evening.

The young man was going to be arraigned the next morning, and by the time I arrived his public defender was scrambling about trying to make a deal with the prosecutor. He understood his client had used up all of his 'get out of jail free' cards after his previous run in with us, so we were all pretty sure the P.D. would never let this go to trial. He was smart enough to realize the boy couldn't take the chance a judge would be lenient on him, seeing this was a repeat offense. However, we all realized that no matter what deal the lawyers struck, it would most likely include a significant jail sentence this time around.

As he was being led from the court, his uncle walked beside him and tried to talk to him. "What's the matter with you? I thought you were smarter than your father. Didn't you learn from our talks about how he ended up the way he did? Didn't it scare you to know he's going to be spending ten years or more of his life in prison, for spreading his hatred? We thought you would learn from that. What were you thinking?"

Hearing this, I realized we had all been misled about the details behind how the boy came to live with them. Although they officially claimed the boy's father was locked up as a repeat D.U.I offender, it was now evident the reason for his incarceration was much darker than that. He had most likely been convicted of some sort of hate crime too, so now we understood how the boy came by his attitude.

I could see his aunt and uncle were in anguish over this situation, so I went over to see if I could comfort them. As soon as they saw me, they started apologizing and trying to explain the situation to me.

"Mr. Currie, we're so sorry about what our nephew did again," his uncle began. "We really thought he had learned his lesson after the last time. I guess he spent too much time around his father when he was little, which gave my brother time to pass his brand of hatred on to his son. That idiot belongs to one of those white supremacist groups and is currently doing time in prison for attacking and harming an innocent couple." After admitting this, the boy's uncle was nearly in tears. I could see this troubled him deeply.

"What are they going to do to our nephew now?" his aunt asked, looking older than she had the last time I'd seen her in court. It was clearly apparent her ward's actions had taken its own toll on her.

"I'm not sure, but I would be willing to wager he'll be spending some time in jail for this," I replied, "and I also suspect he'll be expelled from school as well, since this took place on school property. If he hadn't painted that particular comment on the windshield, it might not have been so bad for him, but that will have a big impact on what punishment they'll dole out this time." His guardians looked confused, so I explained.

"He used another derogatory term, but this time he put it in written form, by painting it across the windshield of our car," I admitted

After hearing this, his aunt and uncle apologized to me once more and then attempted to comfort one another, as they turned to leave the courtroom. Their nephew had been escorted out several minutes earlier by a couple of sheriff's deputies, so they just left and went home to try to rationalize what had happened for themselves. I didn't envy what they were going through. Lord knows I would never want to endure anything like that myself, but I couldn't blame them for what their nephew did. Although they seemed like honest, caring people who had tried to do their best to rectify a bad situation, I knew they were blaming themselves for not having a greater influence on their nephew and preventing him from following in his father's footsteps.

No matter how hard we try to get those we're responsible for to see the errors of their ways or learn from others' mistakes, many other factors come into play and exert influence over them too. Due to these other factors, there are times that no matter what we as adults do or say, we lose a certain amount of control over what concepts are presented to our children and how they respond to those ideas.

Unfortunately, these outside influences are expanding all of the time. It wasn't so long ago that the family, church, school and peer groups were the biggest influences on a child's behavior. However, as technology expands, so do these other influences. We have now reached the point where our children are also influenced by what they see on television, the movies and their games, as well as what they can potentially be exposed to on the Internet. Who knows how many more of these outside factors will crop up in the future, but parents will need to be increasingly vigilant about what takes place between their children and these outside sources, but sometimes this will still take place without their knowledge.

On some occasions, these external influences may be people or sources we consider to be harmless, until something like this happens, and then it's too late to undo the damage. I could empathize with what his aunt and uncle were currently going through and share their pain, but I also suspected that what they were feeling and having to deal with would go on much longer than anything we had to handle, due to their nephew's actions. Not only did they feel bad about what he had done, but now they also had to worry their own son might have been irreversibly influenced by his cousin's antics and beliefs.

As I suspected, the school board also moved quickly and expelled the boy for his actions. It was kind of a moot gesture, seeing he would be in jail and wouldn't be able to attend anyway, but they weren't about to let this opportunity slip by without taking an official stand. The Board had been in close contact with the police department and already knew this kid was going to be out of circulation for several months, but they felt they had to protect themselves and the district, as well as make a statement to the other students by doing their part. The district also issued stricter guidelines concerning harassment of all types and outlined harsher consequences for such actions, including the mandatory reporting of all such cases to legal authorities.

A couple of days later, we heard the two sides had reached a plea agreement and this kid would spend a year in jail as a result of the deal. He would start off by being segregated from the general population, but since he would be turning eighteen in a month and a half, he would then be moved in with the rest of the inmates at that time. I thought about what might happen to him after he was thrust in with some of the more hardened criminals and also wondered if any of those whom he had mouthed off to before would still be there and recognize him.

Besides worrying about the possibility of him being abused, I was afraid such a move might also put him in contact with others who shared his views, which might possibly serve to reinforce his beliefs and raise him up to the next level of violence and hatred. I really hoped that didn't happen, but too often it seemed to be the rule, rather than the exception. In turn, many of those coming out of jail or prison are more dangerous than when they went in, since they were able to learn more tricks of the trade inside and had been exposed to contacts they might not have otherwise been aware of. However, for the time being that wasn't our concern.

Since this episode was now behind us, we moved on with the other demands in our lives. Trey had already met with the contacts I had made for him and was able to explain what he would need from each of them. After he presented his wish lists, those making the final decision would tell him if they could do it, offer him alternatives or explain why they couldn't help, unless he made some changes.

During this same time, Sammy and Dion met with the tailor, in order to allow him to take their measurements, so he could make their uniforms fit correctly. Of course, he would have to make several different variations of what they would wear, to accommodate for the passage of time. The first of these outfits would be the one they would be wearing when the ship sank and the plane crashed, but then there would be a variety of 'aged' versions of the same thing, with each showing more wear and deterioration than the one before. The main characters were supposed to have spent many months marooned on the island before their rescue, so the last of their uniforms would be mostly rags.

The boys were also working with Trey to learn their lines and practice the non-verbal skills they would need to pull off the early part of the play – the time before the main characters were able to learn enough of the other's language to communicate with words. They were also instructed as to how they should respond to different situations and what actions and phrases would be appropriate for that time period, but Trey also made certain they understood some of the history too, so they wouldn't do or say things which were too modern for their roles. The boys would also be required to alter their hairstyles for this as well, using a cut that could be converted to look like what might have been worn during the 1940's. Neither boy had a problem with any of the things Trey was asking of them, as they were beginning to get into their roles and looking forwarded to pulling this off. Now, my only worry was that Trey might have two hams to deal with before he completed his project.

During this same period, Ricky received another phone call about the exchange student program. The primary purpose of the call was to ask if he'd have any problem giving up his summer vacation to be able to take part in it. However, before Ricky answered this query, he was quick enough to try to find out the reason it was being asked. Ricky was then informed it was because the seasons south of the equator were the opposite of those north of the equator, so the schools in those countries would be in session while our schools were on vacation. Therefore, the students interested in being part of the program and heading to one of those countries would have to also be willing to leave almost immediately after they got out for the summer. They would attend class at their new school throughout OUR summer and the first half of the next school year, and then have the option of staying there for their host school's summer vacation or return home to finish up with their own graduating class.

Once this was explained to him, Ricky asked if he could have time to think about it and talk it over with me, so the caller told him he would allow him forty-eight hours to make up his mind. Before concluding the call, he also gave Ricky a number where he could leave a message, once he'd made his decision. After jotting down that information, Ricky thanked him and hung up, before coming to explain everything to me.

"Dad, I just got another call about being an exchange student!" he exclaimed. "They didn't say I'd been chosen, but I don't see why they'd call if I wasn't," he added, realizing he must be one of the leading candidates to be asked such a direct question.

"Why do you say that? What did they tell you?" I wanted to know, even though I had my suspicions.

"Well, the guy asked me if I'd be willing to give up my summer vacation to do this, because of the different seasons on the other side of the equator," he explained. "Why would he ask me that question, if they weren't planning to send me?"

"Well, maybe they're asking everyone that same question, to weed out those who aren't really committed to doing this," I offered. "Did you even consider that possibility?"

"Not really, but it still means about the same thing," he replied. "I guess if I really want to do this, I'll have to tell them I'll be willing to give up my summer vacation."

"That assumption seems correct," I confirmed.

"So, do you think I should call them back and tell them 'yes'?" he asked me.

"That has to be your decision, Ricky, and the answer depends on how badly you want to do this," I explained.

"Oh, I think you know how much I want to do this, Dad," he asserted, without hesitation. "This would really mean a lot to me, if I were able to go."

"Then I think you've answered that question for yourself," I shot back. My response caused him to look at me thoughtfully for a couple of seconds, as he considered what I'd said. Once he had gone over everything in his mind, he spoke again.

"He asked me other questions too," he added, catching me slightly off-guard.

"Like what?" I pressed.

"Well, he also read me a list of countries that might have openings and asked me which ones I might be interested in going to," he explained.

"So which ones did you tell them?" I wondered, aloud.

"Well, New Zealand wasn't on the list, but I told him Australia or South Africa would be okay, since I think many people speak English there too."

"Okay, I can understand your choices," I agreed. "Did they ask you anything else?"

"Not asked, but told me something," he informed me, before pausing.

"And am I supposed to guess what that was?" I teased.

Ricky smiled at me, amused by my comment. "No, but the guy told me I'd have to attend classes during our summer and the first half of our school year, and then I'd have the choice of staying there for their vacation or returning home to graduate with my class."

"That's interesting," I commented. "Do you know which you might like to do?"

"Not for sure," he informed me. "It would be fun to stay a while longer, wherever I go, so I could see some other parts of the country during that time, but it would also be nice to come back and finish with my brothers and other friends too. I mean, Pat and Jay will be graduating at that same time and I wouldn't mind being in the same ceremony as they're in."

"Yes, I think I figured that out," I said dryly, referring to the fact that I knew Pat and Jay would be graduating too. This time, however, Ricky gave me an annoyed look, rather than being amused.

"What would you do if you were me?" he finally asked, once he got over being sidetracked by my last comment.

"Well, I'm not you, so I'm not sure what you might want to do," I began, "but I might be able to offer you a third option."

"Really? Like what?" Ricky wanted to know.

"Well, I might be able to arrange it so you could stay for an extra month, which would give you a chance to have a short vacation and see more of whatever country you're in," I began, "and then still be able to come back here in time to finish up with your class. If you chose that option, you'd have to be willing to make up any of the work you missed during the extra month you spend away."

"That would be awesome," Ricky shrieked, almost immediately. "I like that idea a lot."

"Even the part about making up the missed work?" I teased.

"Yes, even that," he confirmed, "if it means I'll be able to see more of the country I'm in than just the city or village where I'll be living. That was the only thing I wasn't happy about."

"Well, it would clear that problem up for you," I added.

"It sure would," he agreed. "I think I'm going to call the guy back and tell him what we've decided. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, if that's what YOU'VE decided," I emphasized, because he'd said 'what we've decided' when asking his question. I wanted him to understand this was his decision, not mine or ours. "It is, Dad, and I'm glad I've got you to think up all these great ideas," he told me, before throwing his arms around my neck. "Thanks." "Hey, what else do I have to do with all my free time, now that I'm retired?" I joked in reply. "My only responsibility is to take care of a house full of boys, but they do most of the work."

"No way!" Ricky nearly screamed. "We couldn't do it without you."

"You're kind, even if you are stretching the truth," I challenged, which caused Ricky to glare at me, but I could see the wheels turning in his head.

"Are you calling me a liar?" he asked, with an evil grin on his face.

"Far be it from me to do that," I replied, while trying to avoid his challenge.

"I hope not," he warned me, "because then I might have to think up a way to get even with you, if you were."

"Oh, really? And how might you do that?" I countered. "Oh, I have my ways," he insinuated.

"Yes, and I think I still remember most of them," I replied, sarcastically, "like how you used to harass all of us when you were younger."

"Who, me?" Ricky whined, while flashing me his patented 'injured feelings' look.

"Yes, you, but I was hoping you'd outgrown that stage," I challenged, hoping to shock him and play off of his ego.

"Well, you never know," he shot back without hesitation. Having said that, he gave me a smile and a wink before he left the room, leaving me to wonder what he might be planning.

Chapter 26
Kudos

By mid-April, Trey, Dion and Sammy had all became very involved in what they were doing and were eager to drag me into the family room to watch them perform and listen to my critique. They spent most evenings and quite a bit of time on the weekends preparing for taping the play, because they wanted it to be perfect. Dion and Sammy got very personally involved in their roles, after realizing this was more than just acting in a play. They were making a statement, a very strong statement, by showing how labeling every member of a group the same way is wrong and that prejudice has no place in this world. Even though the video was only going to be shown to a select few, they still felt that if they could get this message across, it might make life a little better for everyone.

In order to make this production look authentic, we planned to take a four-day weekend and traveled to South Carolina to do some of the taping. We took a portion of the cable company's production crew with us to do the actual filming and we felt it would look more authentic if it were filmed near the ocean. During the time we were there, we videotaped the supposed accidents that put each of the main characters in the ocean, showed their struggle to get to the island and then taped all the scenes that needed to be done with an ocean background or beach setting.

One of the guys on the production crew was from Long Island and proved to be a valuable asset. He taught Sammy how to dig clams, so he could in turn show Dion how to do it on the video. That same gentleman also instructed Sammy how to catch crabs, so he would be able to do that during the taping as well, and these lessons proved to be not only very helpful, but also very valuable, as it gave an added touch of realism to the production.

Once we finished the scenes where Sammy taught Dion how to fish, dig clams and catch crabs, we had both boys put on the last of their costumes, so we could film their rescue from the island. In order to carry this out, we needed to come up with the naval crew that would discover them and return them to society. With that in mind, Trey had previously recruited and cast me to play the ship's captain, so I donned the appropriate naval uniform that our tailor friend had made for my benefit. Then we recruited a few of the locals as extras, selected primarily because they fit into the additional uniforms we had for this purpose, and thus ended up filling out the rest of my crew.

To my great surprise, I learned that some of these people actually believed we were producing scenes that were going to be included in either a movie or made for television special. I'm not sure WHO or WHAT gave them that impression, but we understood how rumors had a way of starting and felt we should deal with it before it grew out of proportion. Although we tried to dispel this notion, primarily by telling them this was a non-profit venture and they wouldn't be paid for their assistance, they merely acted as if we were trying to mislead them and throw them off track. Even as we began to pack up to leave there, they still believed they might some day see themselves on television or in the theater.

In order to fill in some of the gaps, the cable company provided us with copies of tapes of World War II battles, so Trey could splice some of the original action into his production, to give it an even greater sense of authenticity. He was going to use various clips to show the Japanese pilot's plane being shot down and crashing into the ocean, as well as the sailor's ship being torpedoed and sinking, which resulted in the two young men being brought together on the island. He would also use this same technique to splice scenes of the battleship into his production, to show how the two survivors were liberated from the island. All in all, I thought things were progressing quite well.

During the two weeks following our trip to South Carolina, we filmed some of the other scenes on a small sound stage the cable company allowed us to use, but the remaining scenes were going to be filmed in the fields surrounding our home. One of my friends even carried out some 'creative landscaping,' on his own initiative, to make the area local more tropical and fit the concept of a Pacific island locale. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do for our purposes, and he also showed the 'survivors' how to construct their temporary shelter using some of those materials, for when they needed to do it for one of the scenes.

The structure they were going to build was quite important and there was one very crucial and emotional scene that would be filmed in it. It was scheduled to happen somewhere around the middle of the story, while the two still weren't convinced just how far they could trust the other. The crucial moment occurs late one evening, when the American happens to awake in the middle of the night. As he tentatively opens his eyes, he spies the Japanese pilot moving slowly toward him, gripping his knife in one hand. His first thought is that the pilot is trying to kill him, so he very slowly reaches down, grips his own knife and starts to move it into position to strike back, as he gets ready to defend himself. He was fully prepared to kill his attacker and was nearly ready to leap up and stab the other guy, when he noticed the pilot's eyes and realized the aviator wasn't focusing directly on him, but on something near him. When the pilot eventually made his lunge, it was to stab a snake that had slipped inside of the hut, and not to kill the sailor.

The snake must have slithered in there during the daytime and found a hiding place near where the American normally bedded down. However, sometime during the night the American's restless slumber must have disturbed it and the pilot just happened to be drawn toward its movement. This happened when he awoke and was about to go outside to water a tree. Once he spotted it, the pilot recognized the snake was one of the poisonous species that inhabited the island and it would likely strike the American, if he tossed suddenly in his sleep, so he concluded he had to eliminate the threat.

Once the snake had been killed and the sailor realized the pilot had saved his life, he began thinking about how close he had come to nearly killing the guy for his efforts. This caused him to suffer through a prolonged period of guilt over doubting his new friend's intentions and nearly stabbing his new friend for his kindness. However, besides that, his movement would have most likely caused the snake to strike him, so they might both be dead now.

After thanking his friend for what he'd done, he spent a great deal of energy trying to make up for how badly he had misjudged the situation and his lack of faith in his fellow man. This catharsis was the primary turning point in the play, where the two really began to become friends and trust one another. Although it took several takes to get the close-ups of the faces, eyes, as movement of the snake (which of course was harmless species and replaced by a rubber snake for the stabling), the boys pulled it off nearly flawlessly.

Another emotional scene took place on the rescue ship. The Japanese pilot was being treated very poorly as a captive and had been tossed into a cell. Not only was he treated shoddily and taunted by the crew, both men were afraid someone might try to kill him before they reached a port. When the black sailor finally realized how much danger his friend was in, he came to the pilot's rescue by placing himself just outside of the cell, where he stayed 24/7, to make sure no one treated him poorly. As someone else would come around, he would use the opportunity to get that particular sailor to understand it was a man, not an animal they were dealing with, and he should be treated with the same amount of respect they'd expect to receive, if the roles were reversed. He even went one step further and warned them he would personally deal with anyone who harmed this man, no matter how slightly.

Since this request was coming from the guy who had survived with the prisoner and now considered him a friend, it carried more weight than if it came from someone else. The other sailors eventually began to honor his request, but not merely because Dion's character stayed in the brig with him, to calm his friend's fears and keep him company. Watching the two men interact, they also began to see the Japanese prisoner as a human being and not the uncaring animal the War Department portrayed his countrymen as being. Over time, his message spread and the crew took pity on him, eventually releasing him from the brig. From that point on, the two men then shared a somewhat private area together, with minimal restrictions, until they eventually reached port.

In carrying out their roles, Dion and Sammy also bonded in ways they never had before and showed an even greater level of trust and understanding had developed between them, as it had between the two characters they were portraying. This was an added benefit that none of us had foreseen or expected.

Overall, it seemed that everything was coming together quite nicely. Not only was the production turning out well, but the values Trey had put forth in his play had been picked up by those working on the project, which included his actors and the crew from the cable company. They had also become more empathetic with those they were working with or around.

As we moved closer to the end of April and the last of the scenes had been filmed, it was time for Trey to move on to the next phase of his project. Although Dion and Sammy had finished their roles, Trey still had to work with the editing group, to make sure he got exactly what he wanted to appear to others who viewed this tape. After working very hard to get the right effect, he had a finished product and was ready to turn it in for his grade. He gave a copy of the script and videotape to each of his teachers, since they would grade his efforts independently. Actually, it would only be the script that would be graded, as the videotape was to be used for only the class presentation portion, which was to account for just a small part of his grade.

Although it was a secondary part of his project, the video was quite well received by each class, so both teachers were anxious to show it to the rest of their classes. In fact, they also had a special showing of the video after school for any faculty members who wanted to see it too, and the very next day Trey received several nice cards telling him how much the teacher or student writing the message had enjoyed it. After walking on air most of the day, he came home and shared the cards with his actor-brothers, because they deserved a lion's share of credit too, and that small gesture meant a great deal to each of those boys.

Later that evening, we also received a few phone calls, where the caller would compliment Trey on the fine job he had done and some even suggested it was something he should share with more than just a small portion of the school community. After thanking each caller, he would advise him/her that he appreciated the input and had already consented to allow the local cable company to show it on their Community Access Channel. Even though all of this attention placed him somewhere between being embarrassed by all the kudos, while at the same time had him bursting with pride, he would share each of these conversations with Dion, Sammy and me. Not only did this make the other pair feel good, but I was also busting a gut with pride over just how much they had accomplished.

This little episode even brought Dion and Trey a little closer by giving them something they could feel good about doing together. When they went to bed later that evening, they were so pumped up from all of the accolades they had received that they were just glowing and feeling great about themselves. Trey thanked Dion for having taken part in his project and for making the video such a success, and Dion thanked Trey for letting him have the chance to play such a strong and wonderful role. After this, they began to kiss, with each trying to show each other the gratitude he felt, in a very intimate fashion. Of course things escalated from there and heated up even more.

The boys slowly undressed each other, making sure to show their love of every part of the other's body by stroking, kissing, licking or sucking each piece of flesh they uncovered. By this time, they were both in a highly aroused state, so Trey positioned himself on his back, pulled his legs back to his chest and offered Dion his most intimate prize. Even though Dion had expected this to happen, there was still a twinkle in his eye as he realized what he was being offered, so he was determined to show Trey all the love he could muster. After positioning himself for entry, he eased his way inside, with both of them feeling the love the other was offering.

Trey suddenly experienced an extreme fullness in his gut, once Dion's oversized pole had entered him, but he loved the feel of his lover's rigid, yet soft tool once it was fully seated inside of his love canal. He could sense the warmth emanating from his partner's throbbing penis, as it caressed the moist lining of his channel, but he looked forward to the friction that would soon follow and the glancing blows Dion's glans made against his prostate. In appreciation, he pulled Dion closer to him, covered him in kisses, embraced his upper torso and then encouraged him to continue, which Dion was happy to do.

Dion, on the other hand, loved the feel of Trey's warm, smooth tissue as it enveloped his above-average phallus and gripped it like a soft, velvety glove. Trey's anal muscles would continue to relax as he entered and then constrict and grip his appendage as it withdrew, and this process would continue over and over again, as Dion thrust it in and out of his love tunnel. This action would slowly milk the juices from Dion's loins, like a tube of toothpaste slowly being drained of its contents, but the release would be more like a soda bottle exploding, rather than a gradual squeezing out. Eventually Dion would reach his sexual climax and pump the results of their lovemaking deep inside his partner, leaving them both with a glow that would last long after the actual act had been completed. It was this love that kept them both strongly committed to each other, even though other temptations still crossed their path from time to time.

Once he had experienced his release, Dion brought Trey off too, since there was no way he was going to let him remain unfulfilled. In order to do this, Dion used both of his hand and mouth to bring Trey even more pleasure than he had already experienced, until he savored the sweet taste of Trey's seed, like a scrumptious dessert after a magnificent main course. After the session ended, the boys fell asleep in each other's embrace, realizing they had enjoyed more love in this one outing than many people get to experience in an entire lifetime.

Over the next few days, word about Trey's project spread throughout the community, just as the local cable access channel planned to air it on the community local access channel. It was gong to be shown in several different time slots and the cable company was running numerous commercials about its airing, so it would attract the largest possible audience.

I guess between the scuttlebutt from the members of the production crew, who had helped film this little venture, and accolades in the Letters to the Editor section of the local newspaper, sent by various faculty members and staff who had already viewed it, all worked to ensure that more members of the community would watch it as well. Regardless of the how it came about, all of this was quite nice for Trey and his actors, since it gave them a great deal recognition for their effort. It was also a major feather in Trey's cap and would look great on his college application, when it was time for him to start applying.

Aside from Trey and Dion's romantic interlude after their recent recognition and the closeness they felt, there was another couple in the house who were becoming more attached to each other as each day passed, and that was Kevin and Vinnie. Since Vinnie had moved in with us, Kevin had become his constant and devoted companion, going out of his way to spend time with him and do whatever he could to help. Besides spending his afternoons working out beside Vinnie, he would spend equal amounts of time massaging Vinnie's muscles and helping him with his studies, so you seldom saw one without the other. It was almost becoming a joke around the house, as the boys would ask, "Has anyone seen Kev-Vin?"

By now it was obvious to everyone that Vinnie was definitely gay and it looked as if Kevin had finally found his partner for life. Vinnie was equally devoted to Kevin, but none of us believed it was just out of gratitude or a sense of obligation. This relationship was definitely built on admiration and love. You could see it in the way they looked at, spoke to and touched each other. You could also see it when they were working, playing and even when they were asleep, because one was always cuddled around the other. I felt relieved that Kevin had finally found someone who could help make up for the pain he felt when he lost Dustin to a girl, Nick to almost any guy in pants and Brent to the hereafter. He deserved to find someone like Vinnie and be this happy, and now it had happened.

The reason I knew this relationship had a chance of lasting was because it wasn't built solely upon sex. That doesn't mean they didn't have sex, but that sex was not the basis or foundation upon which this relationship had begun. It all started with two boys who enjoyed each other's company, had many things in common and cared as much, if not more, about the other than they did about themselves.

Over the years I had offered my older children, and then the boys, one major piece of advice, and that was that you had to have a great deal in common with someone to give a relationship a chance to survive. The reason for this was simple. As we grow older, we also grow and change in other ways, and not everyone grows in the same way. If you don't start with a great deal in common, and then grow in different ways, the gap that forms can often be the size of the Grand Canyon, rather than a small gorge. That's expanding chasm is what causes people to end relationships and leave each other, because they no longer have enough in common to keep the relationship afloat. I knew these two were starting out on solid ground, so this relationship should survive for a very long time.

In their case, the sex was just the icing on the cake, not the meat and potatoes of the relationship. Their evenings together weren't just wild nights filled with unbridled sex, but hours filled with slow and passionate expressions of love. Maybe I should give you an example, to show you what I mean.

The night after the second run in with the boy who had attacked Trey, and after the kid had vandalized our car, Kevin and Vinnie spent a great deal of their time trying to calm Trey and the younger boys. It was because the others were worried this boy would get out of jail and try something else or someone else would come along to take his place. Once Kevin and Vinnie had helped to reassure them we could handle any problem that came along, as long as we did it together, as a family, they went to their room to sleep.

Although they hadn't planned on anything happening that evening, they did cuddle as usual and were complimenting each other on the way they had explained things to the others. In doing this, they convinced each other that no one else could have gotten the message across in quite the same way, while constantly stroking the other's ego, but not without reason. They would point out how masterfully their partner had handled a particular situation or would comment on how they had focused on just the right point to ease their brothers' concerns, so this quickly turned into a mutual adoration society.

This, in turn, led to more cuddling, and then to some kissing, but not the aggressive kissing of a couple in heat. This was the 'take your time and enjoy the moment' type of kissing, where they would relish the taste and feel of each other's lips, not even using their tongues until all of the other techniques had been savored and explored. Once they had spent a sufficient amount of time to complete this sensory oral exploration, they would move on to other parts of the body, using a very similar technique.

Over time, this pair touched and explored every inch of each other's body, while exchanging massages, back rubs and other similar contacts. Although they had done this many times before, they now took it a step further. This time, they used all of their senses to accomplish this – beginning with examining each other with their eyes, then smelling the other's boyish scent, which was not yet quite that of a man, before tasting the other's distinctive flavor, while swirling their tongues over the surface of various intimate areas. They then followed this up by touching those same soft and responsive areas with their sensitive fingers, as they also listened to their partner express his appreciation through the soft sighs, moans and other expressions of appreciation that would escape his lips.

These two not only enjoyed stimulating each other with their hands and mouths, but they seemed to have two favorite positions when it came to sharing the ultimate act of love. Sometimes, once would choose to sit on their lover's erect shaft, slowly impaling himself on it and then doing all the work, while letting his partner lie there and enjoy the ride. This was when the receiver would control the action and do most of the work.

Over time, they had both consciously practiced controlling their anal muscles and had eventually learned how to relax them as they were lowering themselves upon the other's fleshy skewer. At the same time, they were also becoming more proficient at tightening those same muscles when rising up, so their lining would grip the blood-engorged muscle and milk it of its juices. In reality, this process simulated the same types of sensations they'd feel if they were able to use their hand and mouth to work the penis at the same time. Not only would it imitate the same kind of pressure they'd enjoy from the grip of their partner's hand, but it would also mimic the feeling of being enveloped in the warm, moist interior of the mouth. The thing that made this so special was the fact that they did all the work to bring their partner bliss, thus allowing him to relax and merely enjoy the ultimate orgasm.

At other times, they would do the work themselves, to show their partner how much they cared. When this happened, they would utilize the standard missionary position, with one of them on their back and facing the other. In this arrangement, the person who was doing the giving would be controlling the action, but this alignment also allowed them to kiss as they made love. When using this alignment, they would usually explore the rest of the body first, before initiating penetration, and would use this time to loosen the other sufficiently, before entering him slowly, so as not to cause their partner any discomfort.

Once one was fully seated within the other, he would begin his pelvic grind by withdrawing slowly, and almost completely, before thrusting back in again and burying himself to the hilt. He would use long, steady strokes to please the other, rather than the short, rapid thrusts used by those who were mainly trying to please themselves. He might also place a pillow under his partner's hips; in order to provide himself a better angle to hit the prostate, and this would give his lover added pleasure. At other times he might merely alter his own body position slightly, to adjust the angle of penetration to achieve the same purpose. They were both learning how to go slowly, delay ejaculation and prolong the tingling that would increasingly radiate outward from their groins, as they inched their way up the mountain of pleasure and before exploding in a mind-blowing release of hot bodily fluids.

No matter which position they used, once they'd finished they would not merely pull apart and go to sleep. Instead, they would continue to cuddle and hug afterward, continuing to express their love through prolonged embraces, but they would also continue to kiss, touch and stimulate other erogenous zones, as sort of a warm-down period after their love making. I guess Kevin had learned a great deal from his previous partners and incorporated the best of what he had enjoyed with them, and then passed this knowledge along to his newest partner, to their mutual benefit.

Chapter 27
A Tense Situation

Dustin's birthday was at the end of April, so I made sure to call him a few weeks before that to see how he wanted to celebrate his big day this year. I suggested we could all come to see him at college, go out to eat and give him his gifts there, but he said it wouldn't be necessary. He informed me that having a birthday was no big deal and it might be best for us to wait until he got home for summer vacation, and then just do a little something, but nothing big. He also explained he wouldn't really have the time to party so late in the semester, since he had a couple of big assignments that would be coming due around that time. Not only that, but it would also only be a week or so away from finals, depending on which week-end we would come out, so he determined his time would be best spent studying, writing his term papers and finishing his projects instead. He explained it wouldn't bother him to wait a couple of extra weeks to celebrate his birthday at home, as long as I didn't mind.

I quickly assured him I understood and we'd merely call him on his birthday, so we could send along our best wishes. He said that would be fine, and then I asked him if he wanted me to do anything special or send him anything to make up for our not being there with him. He said that wouldn't be necessary and he'd enjoy the delayed party even more, once he didn't have all the pressures of his coursework to deal with. I agreed with him on that point and planned accordingly.

That's how things stood as April reached its final few days, but it's also when an unexpected visitor suddenly popped into our lives. It all began one afternoon while the boys were at school and a woman showed up at our door. I was the only one home at the time and had no idea who she was or what she wanted. After questioning her briefly at the door, she insisted she had an important matter to discuss with me, so I let her in and guided her to the living room, where we could talk.

"May I get you anything?" I asked, trying to be a polite host and giving me a chance to figure out who she was. "Perhaps you'd like a cup of coffee, a soda, a glass of water or possibly a snack of some sort?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine, just a bit nervous," she admitted, and at about the same time I concluded her gaunt body and haggard features made it appear as if she'd led a rough life. "You really don't have any idea about who I am, do you?" she asked, with a puzzled expression on her face.

I'm sure her last comment caused me to look even more perplexed than she did, as I searched my memory to see if I could conjure up a spark of recognition. While I thought back upon my life, trying to determine if she were a former student, someone my wife or I might have known or if she had possibly even been a friend of one of my older children, I drew a blank. However, after thinking it through, I eventually realized the last choice was the least likely, since she appeared to be older than any of my biological sons or daughters.

"No, I'm afraid not," I finally admitted. "I apologize if I should know you, but the memory is one of the first things that goes with age." I added that to bring a little levity into the conversation, but my comment didn't seem to amuse her.

"Don't worry about it," she reassured me. "I know we have never met in person, but I thought you might have possibly seen my picture or recognized a similarity in my appearance. But then again, I guess I really don't know what I thought would happen, but that doesn't matter any longer."

As I listened to her ramble like that, I just sat there staring at her and eventually noticed something vaguely familiar about her features. However, I just couldn't put a finger on exactly what it was. As I sat thinking about it, I also hoped she would take the initiative and enlighten me as to her identity; at least before too much more time elapsed.

The problem was, she was too lost in her own thoughts, so I decided it was up to me to bring her back to the matter at hand. "I beg your pardon," I said, breaking her train of thought, "but I still don't know who you are. Might you care to share that information with me?" This brought her back to the issue at hand, but now she was the one who looked puzzled again.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, apologetically, "it's just that I'm so nervous about doing this. It's probably because I realize I don't have any right to come here and ask you this, but I know in my heart that I must. I just won't be able to live with myself unless I get this matter settled, once and for all." Having said this, she studied me apprehensively, as if she were waiting for a response, however I hadn't heard any questions and she hadn't said anything that would require a reply. Instead, I concluded it was time for her to stop beating around the bush.

"Excuse me, but I think maybe we should back up and start over again," I informed her. "Why don't you begin by telling me who you are and why you're here?" She nodded her head as I said this, as if she were agreeing with my suggestion, so I paused to let her fill in the blanks.

"Yes, you're right. I apologize for not doing that before," she concurred. "My name is… well, it's Melissa Van Cott. I'm Cole and Graham's mother."

At this moment, I must have been the one who looked as if I were in shock. I suspect my mouth must have fallen open, while my eyes bulged from their sockets after she made her announcement, and now my mind began to whirl with a thousand questions. 'Why had she shown up now? What did she want and what was she after?' However, these were just a few of the questions that invaded my thoughts.

Carefully, I studied her and noted her features. That's when I realized the glimmer of recognition I had felt before was because Graham shared a great many of his mother's physical attributes, but his weren't nearly as hard. Actually, they looked better on him than they did her, but that might be due to the fact that she looked worn and far older than her years, which was most like caused by the prolonged rough living and heavy drinking she had indulged in.

"Well, I guess the next question I should ask you is, why are you here?" I managed to choke out. I was sure my adoption of her sons was perfectly legal and irreversible, but that didn't stop me from wondering what she hoped to accomplish by showing up like this.

Ms. Van Cott merely looked at me and licked her lips tentatively. This was most likely because she was suffering from cottonmouth, not only due to the tension and unpredictability of this meeting, but also a result of her intended purpose. After a lengthy delay, she finally answered.

"I've come here to let you know that I would like to take my sons back," she replied, looking hopeful. "I appreciate what you've done for them, but I want to have my boys back."

Hearing this, I nearly jumped out of my seat. I was more than ready to challenge how she dared show up with such expectations, especially after how she had treated her sons when they were in her custody. To my credit, though, I managed to maintain my composure.

As I thought back upon her words, I realized she hadn't said this with very much feeling, other than a very bad case of nerves. It certainly wasn't the impassioned plea of a doting parent and fell far short of showing any depth of concern, as she made her case. Although I still wasn't exactly sure of her reasons at this point, I WAS convinced it was time to nip this notion in the bud.

"Look, I've adopted these boys and they are no longer your sons, in the legal sense," I explained, as bluntly as I could. "You signed all the paperwork to allow me to adopt them, so you can't just show up whenever you wish and announce that you want to take them back."

"I know all of that," she admitted, suddenly looking nervous, "but I was hoping you'd understand why I need this to happen. Back then, and even when the boys were little, I was really into booze and drugs, and my boyfriend wasn't thrilled about having children around, so I kind of gave in to him and we took off and left them. I knew the school would eventually check up on them and then they'd be taken into custody and placed in a good home, but now I regret my actions."

"Well, you should," I challenged her, "and not just about leaving them. These boys were both badly malnourished before you deserted them and still suffer to some degree from fetal-alcohol syndrome."

She seemed totally surprised by my latest revelation and hung her head briefly, but remained undaunted in her mission. "I know I've made a lot of mistakes in the past," she agreed, "but I'm clean now and off the booze and drugs. I've been clean and sober for over a year and I did it so I could make a fresh start with my sons. I feel I'm finally ready to be their mother now and take care of them, like I should have done before."

"Look, lady," I began, totally unsympathetic, "you can't just waltz in here and disrupt the boys' lives again, especially after what you did to them. I'm happy that you've cleaned up your act and you're sober now, but I don't think a year is long enough to prove that you won't end up doing the same sort of things all over again. It certainly doesn't convince me that you'd be a good parent now or that the boys would even want to see you again. I don't wish to sound cruel, but the boys were able to move on mainly because they believed you no longer existed. If, by some strange chance, they did still want to see you again, I'd be willing to let you visit them occasionally, but there is no way I will give them up."

After hearing my latest comment, she suddenly straightened up, almost in a defiant gesture, and then spoke again. "I was afraid you were going to say something like that, and I really don't want to have to fight with you, but I did talk to legal aid before I came and they are willing to help me try to get my boys back again. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm determined to have my family back."

"It won't come to that, unless YOU'RE the one to push this and try to get custody," I spat back, venomously. "And to clarify another point, I wouldn't even consider letting you see them either, unless the boys agreed to it first, because it was very hard for them to deal with your abandoning them the way you did. They had many deep emotional scars from that experience, wounds that took a long time to heal. They were very insecure and emotionally wrought for many months after I took them in, but it was even worse than just that, if that weren't enough. They also had to heal physically.

"Even though they were so badly malnourished that we cringed looking at their hallowed faces and skeletal bodies," I announced, as forcefully as I could, "we were able to correct most of those problems with good nutrition and vitamins. However, their emotional wounds and the lingering effects they suffered from fetal-alcohol syndrome have taken much longer to deal with and I'm not convinced those problems are behind us even now. Let's face it, you just took off one day and left them to fend for themselves. What's even worse, they were old enough to understand this, even if they couldn't fathom WHY you would do such a thing. They came here thinking you had left them because they were bad or unlovable, and they looked like two concentration camp survivors. If you want a fight, I'll give you one, but if you just want to see the boys and get to know them again, then I'll discuss it with them when they get home from school, to see what they think. You'll have to make up your mind which way you want it, because other than that, we have nothing more to discuss."

She looked disappointed by my response, and I suspect she had hoped I'd just give in to her demands. To her benefit, though, she did consider what I said, before she spoke again. "WOULD you ask the boys if they'd like to see me again?" she asked, with a touch more humility than she had shown up to this point.

"That would depend on whether or not you're planning to continue to push your previous demands on us," I responded, quite bluntly. She thought some more about this momentarily, before she responded.

"Look, I can't say that I absolutely won't do that," she admitted, "but maybe if I see the boys again, I'll know for sure whether or not they would want me in their lives."

"And if you were able to see that they really didn't want you in their lives any more," I challenged, "would you be able to accept it and leave them alone?"

"How can I answer that, until I see and talk to them?" she asked. "Since I've been sober, I've realized how much I miss them, and I want so much to be a REAL mother to them now. Can't you understand that?"

"Yes, I understand how YOU feel, but do you really understand how THEY might feel?" I posed, in an effort to get her to look at this situation from the boys' perspective. "You hurt them deeply and made them feel unwanted and unloved. It took them a long time to overcome all of that baggage, and now you want to reopen those old wounds and step back into their lives. How do you think they're going to feel? How do you think they might react? I'm not sure if even I can predict what this will do to them or how they'll respond."

"I know this is going to be hard on all of us," she agreed, "but I really need to see them. Can't you understand that? You have to realize that they are still my sons and I miss them?"

"The key here is that they may be your biological sons," I conceded, "but they are my sons legally. You abandoned them and gave up all your rights long ago, but I'm still willing to ask the boys if they want to see you. However, I will stick to my guns and deny you visitation, if you are planning to disrupt their lives and put them through hell again."

She took a few seconds to think about my last comments before she answered. Finally, she made her next move. "I don't know what to say, because I really don't want to give up on this," she explained. "If you would please ask them if they'd want to see me again, I'll go by what they decide. If you give me your phone number, I'll call you later to find out what they've agreed to and then we can talk about this more. In the meantime, I'll think about everything you've said."

"That's a start, but I still really hate to throw this at them, without knowing what it's going to do to them," I confessed, "but I guess either way they'll have to know you've returned and are trying to get back into the picture. All right, I'll ask them after dinner if they'd be interested in seeing you, and then you can call me back after 9:00 to see what they've said. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, that will be fine," she concurred, while smiling slightly. I believe she felt she had won a minor, first-round victory.

"Okay, I'll do that much for you then," I agreed, before showing her out. As she was leaving, I handed her a card with our telephone number on it and then hurried her outside. It was getting close to the time the boys would be returning home from school and I didn't want her still hanging around when they arrived. I needed time to prepare for how I was going to tell them this news, so they didn't think I was trying to give them back or no longer wanted them.

Once she was gone, I sat down to consider how I was going to handle this. First of all, how was I going to tell the boys their mother had suddenly reappeared? Worse than that, how was I going to tell them she wanted to get back into their lives or that she wanted them back totally? How would I bring all of this up without disrupting their lives or sending them into another tailspin? No matter how difficult this was going to be, I certainly had a great many decisions to make before they returned home.

When they arrived, I tried very hard not to let on that anything was wrong, and as far as I could tell, no one suspected a thing. When dinner ended, I asked Cole and Graham to join me in my bedroom, telling them that something came up that I needed to talk to them about. My request didn't seem to faze Cole at all, but Graham seemed a little nervous. Surprisingly, though, he didn't ask any questions and followed me to my room, but once the door was closed, Graham nervously confronted the issue head-on.

"What's the matter, Dad? Is something wrong?" he asked. I was surprised he would even consider such a thing, since we frequently had these sorts of meetings to discuss various matters.

"No. Why would you think that?" I countered. "Have you done something wrong – something I don't know about?" I smiled after saying this, as a way of breaking the tension.

"No, but I had a feeling there might be a problem or that something might happen," he told me.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. It was my way of finding out if his sixth sense had given him a warning about what was going to take place.

"Well, Brent has been showing me Cole and myself, and we have this gray haze around us," he explained. "It's not the black outline like Brent had, or the dark gray cloud that surrounded you before you had your heart attack, it's just a light gray ring around our bodies. I haven't been able to figure out what it means, but I kind of figured it wouldn't be good, whatever it was."

His observation signaled me that I would need to reassure him before I got to the point of this meeting, so I thought maybe I'd try to turn the focus of this around a bit. "Well, what I have to tell you is not anything bad, so it's nothing to be scared about. It's just something I need to get your opinion on. In fact, you might think this is a good thing, once you find out what it's about." They both stared at me now, trying to read past my words and expressions.

"Well, what is it, Dad?" Cole asked, directly, trying to cut to the chase. "Why don't you just tell us why you called us in here?"

"Okay, I will," I agreed. "I had a visitor this afternoon, someone from your past." I paused again, to see if they might guess whom I meant.

"Who is it?" Graham wanted to know. "Was it our mom?" He seemed almost excited as he said this, almost as if he were expecting her to show up again.

"I hope not," Cole stated, sarcastically. "I don't care if I ever see her again."

"Why?" Graham asked his brother, not understanding how he could feel that way. "She is our mother. Why wouldn't you want to see her?"

"She might be your mother, but she's not mine any more," he spat out, defiantly. "She left us and we could have died, but she didn't care. Why would I want to see her again, when she didn't care enough about us to make sure we had food or someone to look after us?"

"But don't you ever think about her and wonder where she is or what she's doing?" Graham reasoned. "I do. Sometimes I really miss her and hope she'll come back." Graham had this really sad, yet hopeful expression on his face as he explained this.

"Not me," Cole said mockingly. "I hope she never shows up again." Now Cole turned to face me. "Please tell me it wasn't her, Dad. Please tell me it's someone else."

I didn't respond right away, since I wasn't sure how to word my response. Cole immediately picked up on that small foible and sensed it to mean it was his mother who had shown up. "No way! Tell me it's not her. Why the hell would she come back now?" he screamed.

"She came here," I told him, looking him directly in the eyes, "to tell me she wanted to take you back. She wants you to be a family again."

At this point Cole sprang from the bed, his face turning red and his body going rigid, as if he were preparing to fight. "No way!" he bellowed. "I won't go with her. I'm not leaving you. She can go to hell, for all I care." He was extremely adamant with his message and then suddenly turned toward Graham. "You can do whatever the hell you want, but I just want you to know that if it includes her, I won't be a part of it."

Chapter 28
A Storm is Brewing

Graham was caught in a really awkward situation now. He didn't understanding his brother's intense reaction and, therefore, wasn't sure if he dared to utter his own feelings about this matter. I could see he was really struggling with this, so I butted in and took him off the hook.

"Don't worry about that just yet," I suggested. "I told your mother I wouldn't give you boys up without a fight, so right now all she wants to do is see you again. Would you be willing to at least meet with her and hear her out?"

"No way, no how!" Cole announced, glaring at me for emphasis as he said this.

"She says she's changed," I informed him, "and she told me she's been clean and sober for over a year now."

"I wouldn't care if she were a rock star now," Cole challenged. "I still wouldn't want to see her again."

"And you don't think you'll change your mind about this?" I pressed.

"Never!" he shouted back.

"What about Graham?" I followed, knowing that I had to help Graham out with this. "Are you going to try to stop him from seeing her too, if he wants to?"

"He can do whatever the hell he wants, as long as I don't have to be a part of it," Cole stated, with a little less venom that he had used in his previous comments.

"And you won't change how you feel about him or how you act toward him?" I pushed, to clarify Cole's position for his brother.

"No, I'll always love Graham, no matter what he decides," Cole admitted in a soothing tone, while glancing at his brother. "I'd just convinced myself a long time ago that she was dead, so I'm not going to have her come back now and change that."

Graham looked relieved when he heard his brother admit that he didn't mind if he saw his mother and I think he felt better to know that he wouldn't have to change how he felt about her, just to please Cole. Now that I knew how Cole felt, I turned to face Graham, to see what he wanted to do. "Well, she's going to call back a little later, so what do you want me to tell her, Graham?"

He thought for a minute, before he responded. As he did so, he continually alternated between looking at his brother and me, as if he were waiting for one of us to give him our approval. I think Cole sensed this too, so he tried to help him out. "Go ahead and see her, if that's what you want," he urged. "You won't hurt my feelings if you do, it's just that I won't be going with you."

"Are you sure?" Graham asked, still uncertain of Cole's true feelings about his intentions. I could tell he really wanted to be certain his decision wouldn't damage their relationship in the future.

"Yes, I'm very sure," Cole replied, convincingly. "I know you don't remember what it was like back then, and that's probably because you were too little, and maybe I'd feel the same way as you do if I'd been younger too. The difference is, I do remember what it was REALLY like. I can still remember that she never spent any time with us, not even to fix meals, and I never felt she loved or wanted either of us. I just can't forget that, and I won't either, but I also won't stop you from seeing her and making up your own mind about her now."

"Thanks, Cole," Graham told him, somewhat cheerfully, before moving over to give his brother a hug. "It's just that I've been thinking about her more and more as I get older, and I guess I've kind of pictured her coming back and telling us she loved us and that she was sorry for what she had done. I just want to see if she'll really do that. Is that okay with you?" "Whatever you want is okay with me," Cole agreed, while smiling at Graham. "In fact, if you don't want to be alone with her, I'll go with you, but I just won't talk to her or anything."

"No, you don't have to do that," Graham conceded. I was convinced he responded in that manner because he didn't want to press his luck any further than he already had. "I'm sure Dad will be with me when I meet her, won't you, Dad?" Now, he turned in my direction and stared at me, to make sure this was the way it would be.

"Of course I'll be with you, if that's what you want," I agreed, trying to ease his concerns. "We can even have her come to the house, if that would make you feel better. She knows where we live, and then you can feel totally safe, because you know we'll all be here for you then. How does that sound to you?"

"Perfect," he announced, while flashing me his special smile. "Just let me know when it will be."

"I will," I told him, and then I sent him out of the room, so I could speak with Cole alone.

"You know, you don't have to go anywhere with her," I announced, once Graham had shut the door. "You could just meet her here and tell her how you feel. It might help if you say those things to her too, so she knows how you feel about her suddenly showing up again."

Cole now looked at me, as if I'd lost the rest of my marbles, but then he responded to what I had said. "You WANT me to meet with her and tell her off?"

"No, that's not exactly what I meant," I clarified. "What I want is for you to do whatever it is that would make you feel better about everything and help you put this behind you."

"So you really think I should meet with her," he reiterated, "just so I can tell her I hate her and never want to see her again?"

"Well, I think she should know how you feel and hear it directly from you, and not from Graham or me," I explained. "I'm not sure she's going to believe either of us, even if we tried to relay your message."

Cole looked at his lap for a few seconds, while he thought things over. Once he had made up his mind, he looked up at me again. "Okay, I'll meet with her and tell her what I feel," he agreed, "but don't expect me to be nice about it."

"I won't, but I think this will be good for you too," I explained. "It will give you a chance to get this off your chest and out in the open."

Even though he still looked at me strangely, I pulled him over and gave him a hug before he left the room. I felt I needed to do that to let him know I still loved him and wasn't trying to get rid of him, before he went out to tell Graham about his modified decision.

I think Graham was happy when he learned that Cole would be there with him, even if he was probably going to end up screaming at their mother, but the three of them would be together again, even if it wasn't on the best of terms. I was happy that Graham seemed pleased about his brother's change of heart, while at the same time being hopeful that Graham wasn't reading more into Cole's reversal than was actually there.

As I continued watching the boys, I noticed them beginning to move about the house, so they could inform the rest of their brothers about this new development. This news sent a shockwave of concern throughout the ranks, as the boys now began to wonder if she might really try to take their brothers away. When they came to me about this, I told everyone not to worry about such things. I assured them we wouldn't give up without a fight and we'd handle this as a family and do whatever was best for everyone.

My answer seemed to relieve some of the tension that had built up since everyone found out about Ms. Van Cott's reemergence, and I think some of them hoped she might disappear and not call or come back again. However, they were all jerked back to reality when the phone rang. It was indeed the boys' mother, and I explained the boys had agreed to meet with her, although she might not get the reception she was hoping for. She said she understood and thanked me for allowing this to happen, before we arranged for her to come back to the house the following afternoon, to meet with her sons after they returned home from school.

Once the boys went to bed, Jake and I sat down and discussed the matter at great length, because I wanted his input before anything else happened. I hadn't been able to do this earlier, since he had to work late, but I thought he might have a slightly different perspective about this, especially since something similar might happen in the future between his ex and Shannon. I wanted to see if he had any ideas I might have overlooked or failed to consider.

During our conversation, Jake brought up something I hadn't thought of. He suggested he was concerned that she might decide it would be easier to just kidnap the boys and take off with them. However, after I explained how adamant Cole was about how he felt, we concluded there was no way she could physically overpower him and take him against his will. Graham, however, was a totally different situation.

Jake also told me he thought I was right to ask the boys if THEY wanted to see her first, rather than making that decision for them, and he was glad to hear the meeting would also take place at the house. I told him I was a little concerned about how Cole might respond to being around her, but Jake told me to just let the chips fall where they may. He said the only way she'd be convinced that he didn't want to go with her would be if she saw it for herself, so he told me to just go with the flow and not try to stifle his anger. I told him that's what I was planning to do, but I wasn't looking forward to what I knew was going to be an extremely tense, and possibly hostile, reunion.

The next day, while the boys were at school, I called my friend Steve (Judge Shay), to see where I stood legally. Although I knew he was firmly in my corner, he explained that in recent times various courts had ruled in favor of the biological parents and tried to keep them united with their children. He also explained her claims that she might not have fully understood her rights, since she was using drugs and/or alcohol, had some legal justification. He informed me that a person under the influence cannot legally enter into a contract and be judged to have been of sound mind at that time, so she might be able to use that to her advantage.

Not only that, but he also reminded me he would have to recuse himself, if this case were assigned to his court, but he would be happy to represent our interests as our attorney. I thanked him for his offer and insight, although I was more nervous now, after hearing what he had to say. Somehow, I now had to prepare myself for what might happen during our afternoon encounter.

The boys arrived home first and immediately went into the living room to wait until she arrived. When the doorbell rang, they both walked out to join me, as I opened the door, but Graham moved a little more quickly in doing so than his brother. When I opened the door, she was standing on the other side, but she looked a little different than she had at our initial encounter. She had obviously had her hair done in the interim and used some make-up, but she also wore a much nicer outfit than she had the previous day.

After inviting her in, I noticed she froze momentarily while staring at the boys. I wasn't sure what she was thinking, but I was convinced they must look different than she had pictured. Once she got over this initial shock, I lead her into the living room again and asked her if she wanted a drink. She said something cold would be nice, so I sent the boys out to get us all a drink, while she and I went in and got comfortable.

"I can't believe how much they've grown and changed," she told me, nervously, expressing the shock that caused her to stand transfixed before crossing our threshold.

"Well, it has been about four years since you last saw them," I replied, while delivering a jab of my own. "They aren't little boys any more. Cole is sixteen and Graham is fifteen now."

"And they're both very fine looking young men," she gushed, obviously pleased by what she saw. "I knew they'd be older, but I guess I hadn't considered how much they might have grown or changed."

"Well, you may be in for some other surprises too," I announced dryly, in a not so veiled warning.

"I suppose you're right," she agreed, before we were interrupted. At that moment the boys reentered the room, this time with each of them carrying two glasses of lemonade. Graham had one for his mother and himself, while Cole had his and one for me. We accepted our drinks and took a sip, before I cleared my throat and got the discussion started.

"All right, who wants to begin?" I asked, looking from one to the other.

"May I," their mother asked, while glancing between her two sons. They both nodded, so she continued. "I'm not sure what you boys think of me any more, and I know I don't have any legal claims to you, but I'd really like for us to become a family again, so I can make up for what I did in the past." Now she looked at them, waiting for their response.

"It won't ever happen," Cole announced, defiantly. "We have a new home, with a new dad, and there's no place in it for you." Now, he stared at her, while also noticing the anguish on her face.

"I was hoping you'd be more excited than this, about seeing me again," she told him, while not hiding her disappointment. It was very apparent that she had been hurt deeply by Cole's last comment.

"Well, Graham may be, but I'm definitely not," he clarified. "Why should I be? What did you ever do for me that would make me want you back in my life? Unless you think leaving us like that, without food or anything, would make me love you more."

By this point, his mother was in tears, totally shocked by how harshly Cole was speaking to her. I guess this was one reaction she hadn't anticipated, at least not this quickly or strongly. Graham did make a move to get closer to her and then began to rub her back, as his way of trying to make her feel better, but Cole just sat passively by, not caring that his comments had wounded her. After she calmed down, she looked up at him, and then she tried to explain things a little more clearly.

"Look, I know I did some bad things in the past," she confirmed, "but it was only because I wasn't thinking straight. I was too consumed by all the booze and drugs." She didn't have time to say more, since Cole interrupted her.

"And you couldn't have been thinking straight when you decided to use those either," he spat out, very coldly. "No one made you do any of those things, you chose to do that too, because you thought they were more important than we were. And if it wasn't those things, it was your current boyfriend, whoever he might be. Graham might not remember those times, but I do, and I won't forgive you for what you did to us. You knew what you were doing and you just didn't care."

"You're wrong! I did care!" she challenged, very strongly.

"Well, then you couldn't have cared very much," he contradicted. "Did you leave us all alone or didn't you? Did you leave us any food when you took off or didn't you? Did you have anyone checking on us or didn't you? You didn't do any of those things, so how can you tell us now you cared? Until we came here to live, we didn't even know what it was like for someone to love us and do things just for us. If we know anything about love and caring now, it isn't because you taught us those things, it's because Dad showed us what they mean."

She was sobbing hysterically now, not just crying, because she now knew the extent of Cole's scorn for her. However, he made no move to soften anything he'd said, by either saying something else or touching her physically, so she finally got up and prepared to leave.

"I'm sorry, maybe I should go now," she choked out. "I can see this isn't the time to bring these issues up, so I'll leave now." After saying this, she turned and looked at me, while addressing her next comment for my benefit. "Thank you for letting me come and see them."

As she walked out the door, Graham just sat there and watched her leave, and then looked over at Cole. I'm not sure he knew what he should do or even what he wanted to do, at that point, so he just sat motionless. I merely observed them, as they continued to stare at the door. I wasn't sure if they were thinking about the way she left or if they were expecting her to return again, but after a few more awkward minutes of sitting like this, I got up, walked over to the picture window and looked out. I wanted to make sure she really did leave and wasn't just standing on the stoop, waiting for someone to chase after her.

Once I had satisfied my curiosity, I went over and sat between the boys. It was obvious this was far from being settled.

Chapter 29
The Aftermath

"Do you want to talk about any of this?" I asked them, now that their mother was gone. I thought it might be best to clear the air completely and see how each of them was feeling about what had just taken place. I looked at Cole first and was surprised to note that he seemed pretty calm and unfazed by what had transpired, but Graham didn't look as comfortable. I knew he was dealing with issues he hadn't voiced yet.

"What's up, Graham?" I asked, trying to draw it out of him.

"She's all alone and has no one," he began, "and we pretty much told her that's all she'll ever have. I feel sorry for her, that's all."

"Why, she never felt sorry for us?" Cole challenged, while expressing his anger.

"That's not quite true, Graham," I told him. "This doesn't mean she'll be alone now. I told her before, that I'd be willing to let her visit one or both of you, but I wasn't about to give either of you up."

"I know, but Cole pretty much told her we didn't want to see her again – ever," he explained.

"I did not!" Cole disagreed. "I just told her I didn't want to see her, but I told both of you that you had to speak for yourself. Don't blame me if you didn't say anything."

"I didn't, because I didn't want to hurt you either," Graham admitting, while looking both sad and hurt. "You just seemed so angry, so unforgiving, that I didn't want you to feel like that about me too." Cole suddenly realized that his brother had misread his anger and thought it was directed at him too, after which he seemed surprised that Graham would even think he would do that to him. It was apparent he now had to convince his brother that wasn't the case.

"Graham, I would never hate you. Never, ever!" he emphasized. "We're brothers and I'll always love you. No matter what."

"But she's your mother, and you don't love her," Graham pointed out.

"But I do love her, it's just that I don't like her or trust her any more," Cole explained. "I don't care what excuses she makes, because she knew what she was doing and she either chose her boyfriend or the drugs and alcohol over us. I'll never forgive her for that."

"Not even to give her a second chance?" Graham pressed.

"Do you really think she deserves one?" Cole asked. I wasn't sure he really wanted to hear Graham's answer, until he leaned forward and moved slightly closer to Graham, to let him know he was serious.

"Doesn't everyone?" Graham asked, very innocently. "Dad always says we all make mistakes, and the only thing he asks is that we learn from them. What if she has learned from her mistakes? Doesn't that mean she would deserve another chance?"

Cole didn't answer right away, because he knew he had to think about this before he dared respond. Graham had really put him on the spot, since Cole understood that I had previously given them and their brothers more than one chance to prove to me they had learned from a mistake, so he didn't want to say anything to upset me or make Graham question what I had done for them. Once he had considered all of the alternatives, he finally responded to his brother.

"If it was a minor mistake, maybe I'd be willing to do that," Cole told him. "But her mistakes weren't minor. Don't you realize what she did, Graham? We could have starved to death in that apartment or have been badly hurt by being left on our own? Don't you remember how skinny we were and how we didn't even know what cereal was when we first came to live here?"

"I remember some of that stuff, but…" Graham never got to finish, because Cole jumped up and raced out of the room before he could continue. Neither Graham nor I understood why Cole had left so suddenly or what had upset him so badly, so Graham looked at me, before turning toward the doorway and wondering if he should chase after his brother. Instead, he came over and sat on my lap.

"Do you think I'm wrong, Dad?" he asked, very simply. I pulled him tightly against me, before I answered.

"No, Graham, I don't think you're wrong, but Cole sees this from a slightly different perspective," I explained. "He was older, so he remembers more things than you do, and some of those things hurt him very deeply. You'll each have to make up your own mind about this, and neither of us can do it for you."

"I know, but she's still my mother," Graham stated, as if that was all we needed to know.

"And she always will be, no matter which way you decide," I assured him, "so there's no argument about that. It's just that you can't just make your decision based solely on that fact. You also have to consider how much you want to do with her from this point on and how much input she'll have concerning your future."

We were about to continue our discussion when Cole came bursting back into the room, carrying something in his hand. As he approached, he reached out and handed the items he had to Graham. I could immediately see they were photos of the two of them when they first came here to live with us. "See, this is what we looked like," he stated, emphatically. "It looks to me as if she hardly ever fed us at all. Now do you remember?"

Graham looked at the pictures and studied them closely for a few seconds. When he looked up, there were tears in his eyes. "Yes, I remember, but I didn't want to," he admitted. "But she IS still our mother."

"In name only," Cole snarled. "She never took care of us or protected us like a mother should do."

"So you'll never forgive her?" Graham asked again.

"I don't know, maybe some day, but not just yet," Cole admitted, while leaving the door open concerning a future reconciliation. "It's still too fresh in my mind to forgive and forget just yet."

"But maybe just to spend some time with her?" Graham offered, hopefully.

"I'd only do it to make you happy, not her," Cole stated. "If you'd feel better if we let her visit, then I'll do it for you. Just don't expect me to be nice or pretend I'm happy about it."

"I won't," Graham agreed, "but I don't want to make you do this, if you really don't want to."

"Like I said," Cole replied, "I'm willing to do it for you, not for her. I'd do anything for you, like she should have done for us, but I'll never agree to go live with her or anything like that."

"Okay, I understand and thank you, Cole," Graham told him, before he scooted off of my lap. "I really do love you," he added, before he embraced his brother, with Cole eagerly returning the affection. After a second they turned toward me, to see if I concurred.

"Is that okay with you, Dad?" Graham asked, in his little boyish, pleading voice.

"Whatever you want is fine with me," I assured him. "I only want what's best for you boys and my biggest wish is that you are both happy with what you decide. It's not up to me to forgive or accept her apology. Only you two can do that. However, if you want to spend time with her, either here or so you can go other places with her, I'd be willing to try to get in touch with your mother and set it up."

Graham thought about this briefly, before he responded. Once he had a chance to consider the matter further, he answered. "Only if she calls or comes back on her own," he stated. "If this isn't important enough for her to do that much, then we'll just forget about the whole idea. I guess I still need for her to prove that she really has changed and does care about us. Okay?"

"Whatever you say, big guy," I concurred, while tousling his hair. He smiled in response, so I pulled him closer, so I could give him a hug. "You know, you're pretty smart for someone your age," I added. He merely smiled more broadly at me, but said no more.

I concluded he might be right about this, so that's the way I left it with them, while wondering what might happen next and when.

The problem with having a large family is, you can never concentrate on just one matter at a time. It seems something is constantly happening with one or another, or many of the boys at once, so I knew I couldn't focus all of my effort on just this one issue. That became even more evident at the beginning of May, when Ricky got another phone call from one of the members of the exchange program selection committee.

Since I had an inkling about who was calling and what it was about, I went to get Ricky. He suggested we take the call in my room and put it on speakerphone, so I could also hear what was going on and then he wouldn't have to explain everything to me later. When he suggested this, I told him it wouldn't be a problem, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The gentleman merely wanted to set up a face-to-face conference with us, so we agreed to meet with him, and the rest of the selection committee, two nights later.

When we arrived at the appointed location, several committee members were already present and quickly began to ask Ricky a series of questions. "Hi, Ricky," the chairperson began. "We just wanted to check with you again, to make sure you'd still didn't have a problem with giving up your summer vacation to become an exchange student."

"No, sir, I don't have a problem with that," Ricky concurred. "My dad and I have already talked this over, and if I get to go, I'll stay an additional month at the end of the exchange program, so I can take a little vacation there, before I come back home. That way I'll also have a chance to travel around and see more of the country I'm in, but I still want to get back in time so I can graduate with my class."

"Well, it sounds like you have things all worked out," he agreed, "so we can get down to the remaining business. I'm pleased to inform you that you are the committee's top candidate and we have an opening for an exchange student in Australia. We wanted to use this opportunity to see if you'd be interested in going there and, if so, we have a few follow-up questions for you."

Ricky was so excited he could barely contain himself from leaping around the room, but somehow he did manage to control his excitement. However, he did flash that irresistible Ricky smile, which seemed to light up the whole room and everyone in it. "Yeah, that really sounds great," he finally blurted out. "Australia would be a great country to go to. Do you think I'll get to see kangaroos out in the wild?"

"Well, I'm not sure about that, but I'm glad you're willing to go there and are accepting our offer," the chairperson agreed. "Here is what we have planned for you. You will be going to a city called Penrith, in New South Wales. Penrith is just west of Sydney, about an hour and a half away, and it's in the southeastern part of the country. Penrith is also only a couple of hours away from Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory, and not all that far from Melbourne or Brisbane either. Therefore, you should be able to travel to all of those places, as that part of the country has fairly good bus and air service. Therefore, you should be able to explore at least that much of the country."

"That's really great," Ricky agreed, "but what about the school I'll be going to. What is that like?"

"That's a very good question," another committee member agreed. "We have an opening in Kingswood High School in Penrith, and judging from what we've seen from your records and from talking to your teachers, the committee thinks you would fit in well there."

"Well, I guess that sounds pretty good," Ricky confirmed. "I'll check it out on a map and then look it up online too. I want to know all there is to know before I go there."

"That would be an excellent idea, but there is one more thing I need to make clear to you," the chairperson informed him. "You'll have to leave the last week of May, in order to get there on time, since they expect you to be ready to begin classes during the first week of June. Their school year runs from the end of January to mid-December, so you'll be getting there to start the second half of their school year. You'll be staying with a family in Penrith and they have a son about your age, or maybe a few months younger. Would you have a problem with any of that?"

"Heck, no. That sounds great," Ricky told them. "What grade will I be in? Will I still be a senior when I get there?"

"You'll be in what they call year twelve, or the equivalent of your senior year," he was advised. "You'll also be expected to pass whatever courses you take and we have a tentative class schedule set up for you."

After learning that much, they talked about the tentative schedule, before discussing the community and surrounding areas in more detail. Once that had been completed, they went over what other types of things he might expect to find or see there and explained a little more about the family he would be staying with. Once they finished going over all of this information, Ricky formally accepted their offer and was congratulated by the entire selection committee.

Ricky was so excited about having been chosen that he could barely contain himself all the way home. He was ranting on about everything he had learned up to this point, while also speculating about what it might be like there and what he hoped to do. When we arrived at the house, he raced inside to tell his brothers all about it, because he wanted them to know everything he'd been told about the school, the family he'd be living with and the area in general.

The boys were all eager to hear about this too and many of them found it very interesting. It was really kind of cute to see Ricky so excited and I could tell his enthusiasm was rubbing off on the others, as they were beginning to pepper him with all sorts of questions in return. Even Jake got involved in this, but I think he was basically trying to get Shannon excited about the possibility of being an exchange student the following year. I got the impression he was hoping that Shannon might want to try to do something like this following his graduation from high school and before going to college, since he hadn't had the opportunity to visit any other places. This way he could afford to get to see another part of the world, without it costing quite as much as if he had to pay for everything on his own.

It took nearly an hour before things began to settle down, and then Ricky went up to use the computer, to look up the various sites the committee had given him about the area. After he did that, he also did a general search, using his favorite search engine, so he could look up more facts about the community and surrounding areas. When he had finished with all of his searches, he came back to share more of this information with me and was even more excited now than he was before, which I didn't think possible.

After he filled me in on all of the new information he had discovered, I tried to get him to calm down, so he would actually be able to go to bed and fall asleep. Even though I attempted to do this for him, I was pretty sure my efforts would be in vain and he wouldn't be getting very much sleep tonight. The thing was, I might not either, but I also didn't have to attend classes the following day.

In getting caught up in Ricky's excitement, the rest of us had kind of forgotten about some of the other things that were going on in our lives. During the day or two that had passed since our encounter with Cole and Graham's mother, we still hadn't heard back from her, so we had no idea about what she might do next. Due to her lack of contact with us, both boys began to assume that maybe she had decided we wouldn't give in to her demands or she had changed her mind altogether. They even began to wonder if maybe she had already left town.

I know Graham was slightly hurt by this thought, since he was hoping to get to know her a little better, but I think Cole was relieved this ordeal might be over. I did speak to Graham about his feelings on this topic and at that time he shared his suspicions with me. Once he brought his fears out in the open, I asked him how he'd feel if she had changed her mind and left town, and he told me quite frankly that if she didn't bother to return or try to get in touch with either of them again, then he would just assume Cole had been right about her in the first place and that she didn't really care about them. I tried to explain this might not necessarily be the case, even if she didn't come back right away, but I think by that time his mind had been made up.

It was just a day or two later, however, when someone else came to our door. This also happened while the boys were at school and when I opened the door, I found a fairly young man standing there. He was probably in his mid-twenties and dressed in business-casual clothing. He merely asked me if I was Josh Currie, and after I answered in the affirmative, he served me with a summons and left.

I was somewhat stunned, but took the paperwork inside and examined it. The summons indicated I was to appear in family court on a specific date and time, as well as indicating a judge would determine if I had strong-armed Cole and Graham's mother into giving up her sons. This document alleged that I had tried to poison the boys' minds against her, causing one of her sons to hate her and the other to be uncertain if he wanted to get to know her again. I was a little surprised at how it was worded and what was inferred, but I concluded she must be desperate to try something like this.

Immediately, I picked up the phone and called Steve (Judge Shay), but he informed me he already knew about the summons. It had come across his desk, to be placed on his calendar. Of course, he had already recused himself from the case, on the grounds that he was our attorney, so this matter would now be presided over by a judge from a neighboring county. He wasn't sure who that would be just yet, but told me he'd let me know, just as soon as he found out anything specific.

Chapter 30
Dreams and Concerns

Before the boys got home from school, I spent part of my time trying to decide just how I was going to break the news to them. Would I just sit down with the entire family and explain about the summons to all of them at the same time, or would I just get together with Cole and Graham first, and then wait to fill the others in after I had apprised them?

Eventually, I concluded it would just be best, and maybe even easier, to tell everyone at once. I would explain what was alleged in the summons and how I was planning to respond to it. After that, we'd just play it by ear, as I wasn't sure if I could predict how either Cole or Graham was going to react to this news.

In the end, I also waited for Jake to get home from work, since I wanted his input on this as well. After dinner, I asked everyone to join me in the living room, so I could apprise them of the situation. Since this was going to affect all of us, in one way or another and to varying degrees, I felt it would be best to do this as soon as I could.

"What's up, Dad?" somebody asked, but I didn't even take notice of who had made the comment.

"Well, I got a summons today, to appear in court," I replied.

"It's her, isn't it?" Cole asked, in a very hostile tone.

"Yes, it's your mother who's taking me to court," I responded meekly, in an attempt to take the edge off of the situation. Cole just stared at me, mulling things over in his mind.

"Is she still asking for us to come live with her?" Graham wanted to know.

"Yes, she is," I answered, very simply.

"So what does she think is going to happen?" Cole asked, defiantly. "I already told her there's no way I will go live with her."

"Well, that's part of the problem, Cole," I explained. "She's claiming that not only did I take advantage of her being under the influence when I adopted you, but that I've also brainwashed you boys, making you hate her too."

"I hate her because of what she did to us, not because of anything you've done or said," he countered, although I think we already knew why he felt the way he did.

"WE both know that, but she doesn't," I explained, "so that's what she claiming. She's hoping this will help her to get you both back. I'm not worried, though, and I'm sure this will all work out in the end."

"But I'm telling you now, I'm not going with her," Cole stated, defiantly, "even if the court says I have to."

"Well, let's not fret about that quite yet," I cautioned, "as nothing has been officially decided yet. We'll just continue on as normal and wait and see what happens."

"Won't Uncle Steve be the judge?" Graham asked, naively.

"No, I'm afraid he can't," I replied. "He's had to remove himself from the case as judge, because he's our friend and lawyer."

"Then who will the judge be?" Graham followed up.

"We don't know yet, but it will probably be a judge from another county," I informed him,

"That's not fair," Cole protested. "Uncle Steve knows us and would make the right decision. He wouldn't make us go live with her."

I opened my mouth to answer him, but then hesitated and looked toward Jake for support. It was obvious Cole had already heard all of my arguments and wasn't buying it. Jake immediately understood my plight and jumped to my assistance.

"Well, when you know someone that well, you can't be the judge on any of their cases," Jake advised him. "That's only so it's also fair to the other side. How would you feel if the judge was your mother's friend, instead of our friend?"

"Well, I'd think that wasn't fair, but why do we have to worry about doing things fairly?" Cole asked, bluntly. "She's saying things that aren't true or fair."

"Well, regardless of what she claims," Jake tried to assure him, "the system is set up to be fair to both sides. We have to go on the assumption it is and both sides have to act accordingly. Your Uncle Steve will be there, but just as our lawyer, not the judge. That will work just as well for us."

Some of the other boys had questions to ask about this too, since they were worried an unwanted decision would break up the family. Worse than that, I suspected more than one of them wondered if their parents might come back and try the same thing. After explaining I doubted anything as drastic as that would happen, I said we'd do our best to make sure things turned out in our favor and take this 'one day at a time.'

Once Jake and I had answered all of their questions and the boys felt reassured, everything returned to normal, at least for the time being. However, that all changed the following day when Steve called.

"Josh, I found out who the judge will be," he began. "It's going to be Judge Mullen, from Indiana County."

"How is he as a judge?" I asked, innocently.

"Well, let me put it this way, he's not known for having a sharp legal mind," Steve explained. Since I'd never known him to speak disrespectfully of any of his colleagues, I began to worry. "He's an old country lawyer who got elected through the efforts of his 'good old boy' supporters," Steve went on, "and he does a lot of things that have no legal basis and sometimes makes decisions most normal people would never even have considered. He's had many of his decisions challenged, and some overturned, due to his lack of following precedent."

"Damn, what will that mean to us?" I wanted to know.

"Well, I'm hoping he'll react favorably to you, because of me," he replied. "He knows my reputation and I don't think he'll try to challenge my knowledge of family court law. I've heard he is easily impressed by reputation, so hopefully that will work in our favor. Therefore, I think we'll do fine."

"Well, I'll trust your judgment on that," I conceded, "but do you know what time we're expected to be in court?"

"Yes, it's set for 2:00 p.m., so we'll get together this weekend and go over everything in advance," he suggested. "Does that sound alright to you?"

"Yes, perfect. Thanks, Steve," I replied. "You're a great friend and I'm proud that you're going to be representing us."

Steve thanked me for placing my trust in him and then promised he'd do everything possible to keep our family in tact. After agreeing that I knew he would, we set up a time to get together on the weekend, so we could plan our strategy and discuss all of our options. We planned to have Cole and Graham sit in for at least part of this, so Steve could also get their input and judge their reactions for himself, but we would make any and all decisions about how to proceed. It was going to be an interesting time.

Steve showed up right on schedule on Saturday, and he and I discussed many things. He also took some time to chat with Cole and Graham alone, to get their input for this hearing, before we brought them in with the two of us, so we could explain what we thought might happen. Steve told them he didn't think much would be decided at this initial court date, since the appearance would be mostly for the lawyers to make their motions and set the tone and groundwork for what might take place later. It might also give us some indication of what types of surprises Ms. Van Cott's lawyers might try to spring later, while also giving the judge an opportunity to weigh some of the issues, before the real battle began.

We ended up spending slightly more than two hours discussing the issues and answering questions. By the time we finished, I think we all had a little more confidence about our chances and a better understanding about what to expect. Now, we just had to get through the rest of the weekend without worrying ourselves to death.

When Monday came, I went alone to the courthouse, since Steve and I agreed it would probably be best not to bring the boys along. This decision seemed to really upset Cole though, since he figured he'd be there to tell his mother AND the judge why he felt the way he did and that I had nothing to do with his attitude toward his mother, but that wasn't to be. Since I knew very little would be accomplished at this first meeting, I thought it best that Cole, Graham and the others go to school instead. Therefore, they went to class, while we went to court.

I drove down and met Steve at his office and then walked to the courtroom with him. We went inside, took seats in the gallery and waited for our case to be called. When it was, Steve and I walked up and sat at the defense table and waited, while Ms. Van Cott and her lawyer went to the table on the other side of the room.

"All rise. The Honorable Richard Mullen presiding," the bailiff announced. We all stood as the judge walked into the room and took his place behind the bench, and then we took our seats when he told us to do so. The case was announced and things got underway. First, her lawyer requested that his client be given temporary custody of her children while the case was being heard, but the judge denied that motion on the grounds that she had made no effort to contact them for over four years.

Steve countered, saying that we were prepared to allow her to have visitation rights to see the boys, either at our house or under the supervision of DSS, but her lawyer quickly claimed that wasn't acceptable. He countered that she shouldn't need to have her visits supervised by anyone, since she was their biological mother, so Steve quickly withdrew our offer, by saying that he was concerned she might try to take the boys outside the jurisdiction of the court if the visits were unsupervised.

He had made this offer knowing it probably wouldn't be acceptable to the other side, seeing she had rejected a similar offer shortly after we first met. The thing was, we wanted the judge to understand we were willing to make an attempt to work things out with her, but she was unwilling to compromise. Since I was intensely watching the judge during this exchange, I could see he quickly caught on to that fact.

In return, Steve asked for an immediate dismissal of the case. He explained that the adoption, and everything preceding it, had been done according to the letter of the law and suggested this indicated there was absolutely no basis for this suit. The judge denied this motion as well, saying that particular issue was what we were here to decide. He did say he would have someone investigate both parties, to determine our fitness as guardians. He also stated he would use someone from the county he was from to do this, seeing I was extremely close to various members of the local DSS and that might influence their appraisal of the situation.

Steve immediately objected to his bringing someone in from another area, saying the local department was more familiar with the circumstances surrounding the case, but was quickly overruled. After that, the judge instructed both Ms. Van Cott and me that we'd both be contacted within the next few days, to arrange for such a meeting. That person would also meet with the boys separately, then talk to the administrators at their schools, and finally question their teachers and possibly a few of their classmates. We didn't see any of that as posing a problem, so we didn't object.

Steve and I discussed the situation further before we parted company and he assured me everything went basically as he expected, with the exception of the outside investigator, but he saw that as no big deal. He explained that the report from DSS would carry considerable weight, but also the testimony of those indicating what Ms. Van Cott's mental status was at the time she made the decision to give up the boys. It would be up to her lawyer to convince the judge that she didn't have the requisite ability to make an informed and unclouded judgment about what she was doing at the time, otherwise the adoption would stand. However, if she could open that door successfully and was able to convince the judge she couldn't possibly have made an informed decision at that time, she'd still have to convince the investigator she was now totally clean and capable of being a fit parent. He told me that wouldn't be easy for her to do, especially with her history, but quickly added that almost anything could happen at that point. I didn't really want to hear she had a chance to win, but I knew Steve spoke the truth and it was better I realized what could happen up front.

On Wednesday, the investigator showed up unexpectedly at the house, as they seemed to like to do, so you couldn't put on a show for them. He interviewed me first, alone, but it might have been because I was the only one there at the time. He asked me a great many questions, some of which I couldn't see as being relevant to the case, but I cooperated and answered them just the same.

When the boys arrived home after school, he questioned Cole and Graham separately, and then he also spoke to some of the other boys. Once he'd finished with that, he merely announced he was finished and left rather hurriedly, without giving us any indication about what he thought. He seemed like an odd little man, at least to me, and after he left the boys told me much of what had taken place with them. They informed me about some of the questions he asked them, and it didn't seem as if those questions were very probing or even relevant, so we weren't sure what his angle was. Maybe I had misjudged him and he was already leaning in our favor, and that's why his questions didn't seem to be drawing out anything damaging against us.

A couple of days later, Steve called me, but I wasn't expecting to hear from him again so soon. "Josh, I just got a copy of the DSS report and we've got a problem."

"Really? What kind of a problem?" I asked, surprised by his pronouncement.

"A major problem," he countered, which startled me even more.

"How can that be?" I wondered, aloud. "The guy didn't really do or ask anything while he was here."

"I think that's because he had made up his mind before he arrived there," he explained, "but after he talked to various people at the school. May I come over right now?"

"Of course you may," I replied, "unless you'd prefer I come to your office."

"Well, that might be better," he agreed. "Maybe the boys shouldn't know what he's said just yet."

"Okay, I'll be right down," I assured him. I quickly grabbed my keys and headed for the van, after which I hurriedly drove down to Steve's office. As I entered, I could see he had a very worried expression on his face.

"Is it really THAT bad?" I asked him, while beginning to panic myself.

"Yes, it couldn't be much worse," he explained. "The investigator is saying that neither of you is a suitable parent and the boys shouldn't be with either one of you." I was shocked to hear this news.

"Why the hell would he say anything like that?" I nearly screamed. "What the hell could he have seen or heard that was that bad?"

"Maybe I should read you an excerpt from his report," he offered, while looking at me to gauge my reaction. "The Currie household is male dominated, with no female influence at all, and the head of the household clearly promotes something other than traditional values. It is my understanding that many of these boys are openly gay or bisexual, probably at the prompting and encouragement from Mr. Currie, who may also have his own gay lover. It is my belief that he has promoted his own warped ideas of sexuality to these boys, thus encouraging them to become gay or bisexual themselves. This is clearly not something the Department wants to support, so we strongly recommend that the court re-evaluate all placements made here, with the idea of rescinding all prior adoptions and removing said minors from the premises and away from his influence."

I was too stunned by what he read to say a word. Instead, I just sat there and stared at Steve. It was a few minutes before I could put my feelings into words. "Could that little shit really be recommending that they take away all my sons?" I asked. "Who made him the moral guardian of our society and gave him the authority to do such a thing? That wasn't even part of this case and wasn't something he had any grounds to get into. Can he really take all of my boys away from me?"

"I don't think all of them, but possibly he could get Cole and Graham removed," Steve explained. "I'll do all I can to keep that from happening, but this judge is just so damn unpredictable. I don't know what to tell you and I can't even venture a guess as to what will happen."

"What's our next move then?" I wanted to know.

"Well, we'll start lining up character witnesses, like Sally and my wife, and I'll have a group of different psychologists interview the boys," Steve explained. "Once the psychologists have written their reports and I have read their opinions, then I'll know what to do next. If they support our position, as I suspect they will, we'll parade them to the witness stand to speak on your behalf, but we'll also line up some of the boys' teachers too, so they can state how well they're doing in school and how they relate to their peers. That should help to negate much of what the investigator has said in his report."

"Do you think that will be enough?" I wondered, concerned that maybe we should be doing even more.

"With any other judge, yes, but with this one, I'm not sure," Steve admitted.

"Damn, haven't you got any GOOD news for me?" I shot back.

"Josh, you know I'll do my best to keep you all together," Steve explained, "but I think it's time we met with Ms. Van Cott and tried to reach an agreement outside of court, if it's not already too late for that. If we can agree to something, maybe we can prevent any of his bias from getting into the public record."

"Do you think she'll listen and cooperate?" I posed.

"She will, if she wants to be in her boys' lives," he replied, "because the recommendation is equally harsh on her. It refers to her as a 'chronic drunk and a long-term junkie,' so she won't have a leg to stand on, to get the boys on her own." Steve had read the part about her being a drunk and junkie directly from the report. "If she doesn't want to cooperate with us and reach a compromise, then she probably won't ever see the boys again either."

"Okay, set up a meeting with her, so we can work this out," I agreed. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep my family together."

Steve acknowledged my comment and then I headed back home, to sort out my concerns and talk things over with Jake.

Chapter 31
My Day in Court

Steve arranged for a meeting with Ms. Van Cott and her lawyer, so we could discuss a compromise. I'm not sure if they saw the report the same way Steve did, so he was going to make sure they understood his take on it before we were through.

"After reading the DSS report," Steve began, "it is my impression that we don't have many options here. If we are not careful and don't settle this disagreement on our own, there's a very good chance that neither side will see Cole or Graham again. I don't think any of us wants that, do we?" He paused and looked at Ms. Van Cott and her lawyer.

"My client will agree to letting Mr. Currie have some visitation rights, after she gets her sons back," her lawyer announced.

"Aren't we being a little presumptuous here?" Steve asked them. "There is no way she'll ever get custody, so we're offering visitation rights for her. It seems like either she accepts this or gives up all hope of ever seeing her sons again."

"Now I think you're the one being presumptuous," her lawyer responded, sarcastically. "They are her children, after all."

"Not legally, and nothing will change that, unless the judge takes them away from Mr. Currie too," Steve countered. "However, if that should happen, the chances are virtually nonexistent that she'd get custody after the judge looks at the report. Let's face it, the only hope she has of spending ANY time with her boys is if she agrees to accept the visitation arrangement we are offering."

Her lawyer got ready to speak, but I interrupted him. "Look, I know you think I'm the problem here," I said directly to Ms. Van Cott, "but I did nothing to poison your boys against you. Cole has stated very plainly that he can't, and won't, forgive you letting them go hungry like you did or for abandoning them the way you did in the end. He has made it very clear that he'll never live with you and that he'd run away first, even though I've tried to discourage that attitude."

"Yeah, I'm sure you've tried really hard," she hissed, sarcastically. "Let's face facts here. You just want my boys with you. You've got all those other boys to keep you company, so I don't understand why you still won't give me back my sons. What do you need them for?"

"Look, my family is not like a coin or stamp collection," I responded, mocking her assertion. "I took each of them in because they needed someone to take care of them and I've worked through many tough times with them and tried to set them up with some sort of a future. Cole and Graham are my sons and I don't care how many other children I have, I'd never give any of them up. I do what's best for them, not what's best for me, and they don't feel that being with you would be best for them. However, if you'd like to be able to see them, so you can make amends for what you did to them and get to know them better, I'd be willing to do that for you, but I won't just turn them over to you."

After a period of silence and some whispering back and forth between her and her attorney, her lawyer responded. "Well, I think we're at an impasse here and there is nothing more for us to talk about." With that they got up and exited the room.

After they left, I waited a few seconds before I spoke to Steve, so there wouldn't be any chance of them hearing what we said. "So, what do we do next?"

"I don't think we have any other options," he stated, quite bluntly, "unless you want to give the boys back to her."

"No, I couldn't do that to Cole," I explained. "I'm not sure what he'd do if that actually happened. I can go home and try to talk to him about it again, but I really don't see that as an option."

"Well, then we'll just have to wait and see how the judge rules," Steve offered, while shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, to let me know he had no idea what that might be. I wasn't encouraged, but I didn't have many alternatives, so we parted company and I started searching for my next alternative.

When I got home, I spoke to Cole and Graham again, in an effort to work this out satisfactorily for all of us. After I told them what happened at our meeting with their mother and her lawyer, we discussed the alternatives. When I broached the subject of them possibly going to live with her, Cole got extremely upset.

"Look, I've told you over and over again that I won't go to live with her, no matter what," he announced, in a rather loud voice. "I don't want to leave you or my other brothers, but I'd rather try to live on the streets than go with her." At this point I thought it might be best to deflect some of his hostility, by focusing on his brother.

"What about you, Graham, how do you feel about all of this?" I asked.

"Well, I always wanted to get to know her," he admitted, "but I'm just not sure about living with her. I'll do wherever Cole does, even if it means we have to run away. He's the only one I won't leave." After he said this, he looked up at me, with a shocked look on his face, like he didn't word it exactly as he had. "That doesn't mean I want to leave you," he quickly corrected, "it's just that if we have to choose, I'll go with Cole."

"I understand, and I'm glad you feel that way," I agreed, reassuringly. "You two should always stick together, no matter what else happens."

After hearing what I had to say, the boys looked at each other and nodded, and then they came over to give me a hug. "Dad, we're still hoping it works out so we can stay here with you, though," Graham added.

"Me too," I agreed.

Later that afternoon, I received a call from Steve, telling me that Ms. Van Cott and her lawyer had contacted him and wanted to have another meeting, but this time they also wanted me to bring the boys along. I asked him why they would make that request, and Steve suggested it might be to verify what I had told them earlier. Maybe she just needed to hear it from the boys themselves. I agreed to attend the meeting, and then went to inform the boys. They were anxious to get involved, so they could make sure their opinions were also heard.

After I told Steve they had agreed and to make the arrangements, we waited to hear back from him. While we waited, I went to get the mail and was surprised to see that Kevin had received a letter. When I gave it to him, he opened it quickly and then got very excited. It was a letter notifying him that he was a finalist for a scholarship granted by the Pennsylvania Association of Pharmacists. At first he didn't even remember having applied for it, but now he felt it didn't matter. It said he was a finalist and he and his parents were invited to attend the banquet where the announcements would be made.

After thinking about it later, however, he concluded this was something his guidance counselor had submitted his name for, and all he had done was write a short essay about why he wanted to become a pharmacist. That essay must have done the trick, because now he was a finalist for the scholarship. The banquet was going to be held on the last weekend in May, and that's when they would announce the winners. I was very proud of Kevin and told him so, no matter the final outcome, and he thanked me for being there for him again.

At that moment, the phone rang. It was Steve and he told me Ms. Van Cott had agreed to meet with us in an hour. I told him the boys and I would be there and then hung up. Before going to get Cole and Graham, I apologized to Kevin and told him we'd discuss this in more detail later, but now I had to get ready for another meeting with Cole and Graham's mother. He said he understood, so I went to find the other boys.

We went to the meeting, but I told the boys we were going to remain silent and wait for their mother or her lawyer to make the first offer, since they were the ones who asked us to attend this time. As it turned out, we didn't have long to wait before Ms. Van Cott made her intent known.

"Thank you for coming and for bringing the boys," she began, with more sweetness than I had ever heard in her voice before. "I just needed to hear from Cole and Graham, to see if what you told me about them was true." Now, she focused on her sons. "Cole, honey, is it true you said you'd run away, if you had to come live with me?"

"Yep, and I will too." He was looking very defiant.

"Who suggested that you do that?" she asked him, point blank.

"No one told me to do that, it's just the way I feel." Cole was beginning to look mad now.

"But I'm your mother, why would you run away from me?" she pressed, still not comprehending how much he despised her.

"You're not my mother, not since you left Graham and me all alone," he challenged. "Why would I want anything to do with you now?"

"But I AM your mother," she repeated, as if that were all he needed to know.

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" Cole screamed. "Can't you get that through your head? I hate what you did, so that means I also hate you. Why don't you just go away again and leave us alone." Cole was standing now, getting right in her face, and she was visibly shaken by his outburst. She was starting to break down and cry, but she turned to Graham and spoke to him next.

"Do you feel the same way?" she sobbed.

He looked at her, saw the tears rolling down her cheeks, and I knew he felt her pain. "After you left us, I would think about you a lot and wonder where you were, but I also wondered why you just left us like you did," he explained. "I thought I might want to talk to you some time, and maybe get to know you again, but I don't want to come live with you either. We have a home and a dad now. We're happy there and I don't want that to change."

"And what if the judge were to say that you had to come live with me?" she asked, hoping that would sway his decision.

"I don't know," he answered, sincerely, "but if Cole left, I'd go with him."

Now she looked at me, and I could easily read the pain in her face. "Okay, I'll go along with your offer," she confirmed, "but do my visits need to be supervised?"

"I think that might be best to start, at least until the boys feel comfortable with you again," I replied, honestly. "After you all become reacquainted and more relaxed in each other's company, maybe we could work something else out, if the boys agree to it." Both Cole and Graham grinned at me, knowing I had made sure to include them in the decision-making process, so now they'd have some say over what would happen in the future. This pleased them to a point, but Cole still didn't look very happy.

"Okay, I guess I can accept that," their mother stated. "Is that okay with you, Cole and Graham?" Both boys nodded, but Cole felt he had to say something more.

"I want you to know, I'm only doing this is to let Graham get to know you, and so we can stay with Dad," he told her, "but don't expect me to be real happy to see you when you come to visit." Although his mother seemed very hurt by his comments, she forced a smile on her face and responded.

"Okay, that sounds fair," she told him, but it was obvious she felt as though Cole had just stabbed her with a knife. "As long as you'll be there and are willing to give me a chance to make up for what I did, then I can handle that."

"I will promise to do that," Cole confirmed, "so Dad won't get into any trouble."

"I guess you really do love him, don't you?" she asked, almost as if she found it difficult to believe.

"Yes, more than I've ever loved anyone else… well, except for Graham," he added. She nodded in understanding, but was unable to conceal her pain this time. We agreed to let the lawyers work out the details as we prepared to leave, but not before I let Ms. Van Cott have a little more time with her boys. It wasn't great, but they were able to clear the air a little more and made it slightly easier for the next time they were to meet.

It looked like this was now behind us and we could drop the court case, since we'd worked out our own agreement. Now, we just had to wait to make it official, and that would be done when we went back to court in three more days.

When the court date came up, we all marched into courtroom, confident in what we were about to do. When the case was called, Ms. Van Cott's lawyer stood up and announced his client was dropping her case, since we had reached an agreement on our own. We thought that would end the matter, except the judge stated it was not going to be that simple or easy. He determined this case was now a question of my fitness as a parent, and whether the adoptions should have been allowed in the first place. He went on to suggest these proceedings would now determine if the adoptions should now be vacated. Steve was incensed.

"The court has no grounds on which to get involved in this case, now that Ms. Van Cott's suit has been dropped," he stated in his most firm, yet official voice.

"I'm sorry, but I disagree," the judge stated. "This report from DSS gives the court the right to intercede at this point."

"That report is unfounded and filled with inaccuracies," Steve challenged. "Before you use that report to make any judgments about Mr. Currie's fitness as a parent, I want a chance to rebut its findings and question its author."

"This is just a standard investigation report, one that the DSS does all the time," the judge stated. "We use these reports to recommend the handling of many of our cases. Why should this one be any less valid?"

"Well, primarily because this report is based on innuendo and inaccuracies," Steve informed him. "For example, it suggests that Mr. Currie has promoted or enticed various boys to become gay or bisexual, once they were in his custody. It has been clearly documented that some of these boys were already gay or bisexual before he took them in, and his only role was that he was willing to accept them for who and what they were."

"And how did you come by that information?" the judge inquired.

"I was involved with helping him adopt his family," Steve admitted, "and I know at least three of the boys were kicked out of their home situation because it was discovered they were either gay or bisexual."

"Interesting, but that's only part of what's reported," the judge countered.

"That may be, but it's not the only inaccurate statement made in the report," Steve reiterated. "It also suggests that Mr. Currie has a gay lover. First of all, Mr. Currie was married for many years and has four children as a result of that marriage. The only reason his marriage ended was due to the death of his wife. I assume the investigator made his decision he had a gay lover, only because another man also lives in the house. However, that man is also divorced and raising his own son, and he merely moved in to assist Mr. Currie, after Mr. Currie suffered a heart attack. The two now split the responsibilities of taking care of all of the boys, but that does not make them gay lovers."

"Well, in light of what you've said, I think we'll need to clear up these facts before I can reach a decision," the judge announcement, visibly shaken that Steve had so easily punched holes in a report produced by someone he had assigned to the case. "We'll meet again tomorrow at the same time, but on that occasion I will have the investigator here to defend his report. Will that satisfy you?"

"Yes, your honor," Steve agreed. "We will be here and prepared to continue at that time."

After Steve and I left the courtroom, we began to discuss our strategy. We talked about whom we might be able to get to come to the courthouse as character witnesses, especially on such short notice, and then we discussed what other strategies we might use. I could see the fire in Steve's eyes, the kind he gets when he's determined to protect a friend or client when they have been unfairly accused, and I knew this meant I was in good hands. Hopefully this judge wouldn't pull one of his unexpected and unfounded decisions, and we'd finally be able to nip this in the bud, here and now. I didn't want the insinuations to have time to spread and take root, before we were able to dispel them. There's nothing harder to defend against than rumors and I didn't want to be forced to have to do that.

Once we got home, I didn't mention anything to the boys about what had happened in court, but Jake and I discussed it in private. I suggested that, at least for the short term, it might be best if we did not sleep together, so he said he'd share Shannon's room until this was over. Of course the boys immediately wanted to know if we'd had a fight or if something was wrong, so we explained it was merely a precautionary measure, until the matter with Cole and Graham's mother was settled. They seemed to accept that explanation, so no more was said about Jake moving out of the master bedroom.

Chapter 32
Vindication

The next day we were back in court, with several witnesses lined up behind us. There was Sally and Mary, Steve's wife, but there was also the Spences, Jake and the High School principal. He had agreed to take a late lunch hour so he could come to support us and testify on our behalf. The investigator for DSS was also there and was immediately called forward and sworn in. Once this had been completed, Steve immediately stepped forward and began to attack his report.

"Sir, you stated in your report that you believe Mr. Currie promoted a gay or bisexual lifestyle for the boys, causing them to become either gay or bisexual. Is that true?" he began.

"After talking to teachers, fellow students, and the boys themselves, I discovered there is a disproportionate number of boys residing there who consider themselves to be either gay or bisexual," he concurred. "The only explanation for that would be that they were encouraged at home to participate in that sort of lifestyle."

"Then why aren't all of the boys gay or bisexual?" Steve challenged.

"Obviously, some didn't buy into what he was promoting," the man scoffed.

"Did it ever occur to you that the boys were either gay or bisexual before they came to live with Mr. Currie?" Steve pressed.

"Not really," the gentleman admitted. "They would have been too young at that point to have made such a decision."

"Really? And at what age do you think they would decide their orientation?" Steve asked.

"Probably between sixteen to eighteen, somewhere in that age range," the man volunteered.

"Wow, that's interesting," Steve announced, as if he were astounded. "And where did you get your degree in deviant psychology from?"

"Mr. Shay, that's enough of that," the judge advised Steve.

"I'm sorry, your honor," he apologized, "but please let me get back to my point. Sir, did you know that some of the boys came to live with Mr. Currie because they had previously been kicked out of their homes after it was discovered they were already gay or bisexual."

The investigator blushed at this point, knowing he had missed some information during his hurried and incomplete investigation. "No, I'm afraid I didn't learn about any of that information, if that is truly what happened."

"Believe me, it is," Steve sneered. "The local DSS has records denoting those facts in great detail." Steve paused again, so he could glare at the social worker, and the guy turned even a brighter shade of red, this time more out of anger than embarrassment.

"Maybe if you'd have done your job more thoroughly, you might have discovered these facts on your own," Steve announced, in his best accusatory tone. This comment only pissed the gentleman off even more.

"In your report," Steve continued, "you also stated that you thought Mr. Currie had a gay lover. Who might that be?"

"Well, obviously the other guy who lives in his house with him," the man spat back.

"Oh, did you see them kissing, making out or something of that nature to cause you to jump to that conclusion?" Steve wondered, aloud.

"No, nothing like that," the guy stuttered.

"Well, on what did you base your assumption then?" Steve asked, intentionally using that specific word. I thought Steve might even go as far as to explain the old adage that when you ASSUME, it makes an ASS out of U and ME, but he didn't.

"Come on!" the unnerved social worker screamed. "What two guys would live in a house with all of those boys and no females around, if they weren't gay?"

"Oh, so now just because two guys share a house and raise a group of boys," Steve paraphrased, "that automatically makes them gay?"

"Well, no, but…" the man stammered.

"Did you know Mr. Currie had been married and had four children from that marriage?" Steve asked, while looking quite smug.

"Well, some gay guys try to hide the fact they're gay by getting married and having children," the man challenged.

"Or that the other man was divorced?" Steve continued,

"No." the social worked replied, meekly.

"Or that Mr. Currie is well respected in the community and a valued community leader," Steve pressed on. "He was the principal of the middle school until he retired, due to health related issues." "Well, he could still be gay," the man charged.

"But you have no specific proof of that, or for any of the other conclusions you state as facts in your report. Is that correct?" Steve followed, while verbally backing the guy into a corner.

"I think all those comments are accurate," he replied, in an attempt to justify his accusations.

"Maybe to your own homophobic, narrow mind," Steve quipped back, before the judge rapped his gavel on the desk and addressed Steve.

"That will be enough, Mr. Shay," he warned. "You've made your point. Do you have any more questions for this witness?"

"No, your honor, but I do have rebuttal witnesses who will attest to Mr. Currie's character and fitness as a parent," he announced.

"Okay, you may call them then," the judge agreed, "but don't make this a long or drawn out affair."

Steve then paraded our witnesses forward, asking them questions about my parenting skills and fitness as a person, as a way of allowing them to show their support for my family and me. After they all got to express their opinions, the judge took a short recess, to give him time to weigh everything he had just heard. Steve thought it might be because he still wanted to accept the report, but now he didn't have a legal basis on which to do it. After a few minutes he returned and announced his decision.

"After weighing all of the information provided here today," the judge began, "I have decided not to pursue this matter further and will allow the adoptions to stand. I will also honor any arrangement you have worked out with Ms. Van Cott concerning her biological sons. This case is now closed."

With that, he rapped his gavel and then got up and left, as the rest of us celebrated. I think Steve had been right. I think the judge might have been more than a little tempted to continue accepting his investigator's accusations, but feared a higher court would overrule him. I got that feeling from studying his facial expressions as he announced his decision. Maybe I was wrong, but it sure did appear that way to me. It looked as if he had swallowed a bunch of lemons while he was announcing his decision, so I think he would have preferred to find a way to separate me from my sons.

I hadn't noticed that Ms. Van Cott had entered and taken a seat after the proceedings had begun, but I now noticed her sitting in the back corner of the courtroom. After my friends and I finished our brief celebration and we got ready to leave, she walked up to me and asked if she might have a moment of my time, in private. I agreed and we walked to the far side of the courtroom.

"Mr. Currie, I hope you'll forgive me for all the trouble I've caused you," she began, "and I'm grateful you've agreed to allow me to visit with my boys, from time to time."

"Of course, I forgive you," I told her, "and I also want you to know that I never intended to keep you completely away from Cole and Graham. I just didn't want you to try to force them to come live with you, unless that's what THEY wanted to do."

"I understand that now," she admitted, "and I sorely misjudged you. Please accept my apologies and my thanks for letting me back into their lives."

"You don't have to thank me, just don't hurt them ever again," I cautioned. "I promise that if you blow this opportunity, you won't see them until they're fully-grown and able to make that decision for themselves. I also promise that I will protect them with all my strength and full resources, so they won't have to face such pain again."

"I know you will, since you're that kind of a person," she confirmed. "I'm glad my boys are in such good hands now."

We finished by agreeing that she could call any time to see them, but we would start off with only allowing the visits to take place at the house, until both boys were comfortable enough to go other places with her. She agreed and this nightmare was now over. Hopefully, it will be the last one we'll have to endure.

By the time I arrived home, the boys were already there, so I was able to tell them what had happened in court. Once they heard the news, all of them got very excited and began to celebrate. I guess they had been just as worried as I was, if not more so, about the family being broken up, and now they let loose and rejoiced, because it was clear that wouldn't happen.

While the others were whooping it up, Cole came over to me and asked when they'd have to meet with his mother. I told him she would call first, to set something up, but I hoped he would give her a chance to atone for her past mistakes. I explained that sometimes people do things they are ashamed of later, especially when they are under the influence of other things, like drugs or alcohol, so I was hoping he might give her a chance to prove she had really changed.

Cole did argue with me briefly, about not wanting to forgive her for all the hurt she had caused his brother and him. He was still very sensitive about this, but after I explained that if she hadn't done what she did, then he would have never ended up with me, or his brothers. Hearing that, he finally decided that maybe her actions did benefit his brother and him in some way and he ended our conversation by saying he'd try not to be too hard on her.

Later Graham came to me, with some observations of his own. "Well, Dad, I guess I'm beginning to understand the messages from Brent better."

"Why? What do you mean?" I asked, wondering what he was referring to this time. I was curious as to whether he'd been shown something more?

"Well, I now know the gray haze around someone means something bad is going to happen to them, but it's something that can be worked out," he announced, pleased by his discovery. "The dark gray haze means something bad is going to happen, but it's not fatal, and the black means something really bad is going to happen."

"Well, it sounds like you have it figured out," I agreed. "Does that mean you're becoming more comfortable with your gift then?"

"Yes, I guess I am," he confirmed. "It still bothers me sometimes, because most of the messages aren't very good, but I know now it's a part of me and I've got to learn to live with it. It's not as bad as I first thought it was going to be, though."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," I told him. "It makes me feel better."

"Yeah, me too," he concurred.

That night, once they went to their rooms, some of the boys continued their little celebration, but I think most of it was just to release the tension that had built up during our minor crisis. Most of the boys were able to unwind quickly, but of course it took Cole and Graham a little longer to get past all of their concerns. Fortunately, that pair was able to find other ways to relax, which began when Sammy and Andrew asked them to spend the night with them. The four of them had become fairly close, once things settled down after Sammy blew up at Graham over the Andrew incident. Since then, Sammy and Graham had made peace and the four of them had become very tight.

Over the past few days, Sammy and Andrew could see just how upset and nervous Cole and Graham had been during this confrontation with their mother, so that pair had made their own plans to help them forget about their troubles. Once the four of them were in the room together, they put their plan into action.

Sammy and Andrew had talked it over in private and were prepared to do all the work, so the other pair could just relax and enjoy. That duo took the initiative, as each of them began to stroke their partners and get them aroused. Of course Andrew had chosen Graham, so Sammy ended up with Cole, and the two boys took a great deal of enjoyment in bringing pleasure to the other pair.

Once they had them erect and wanting more, they began to work on them orally, using their tongues and mouths to bring them even more pleasure. In the dim-light of the moon, a casual observer might have been able to make out two little heads bobbing up and down, as their mouths were impaled by their partner's rigid organ, which brought the other pair a tremendous amount of pleasure and slowly brought them to the brink of ecstasy.

As the younger pair continued to nod up and down, while suctioning the shafts of their older partners, the older pair began to buck in rhythm, while trying to mirror the younger ones' movements. This activity continued until each of the older boys released his own load of cream into his benefactor's mouth, and then they got to enjoy the warm, glowing feeling that makes every boy feel so good.

Once they had recovered, they decided it would only be fair to return the favor to the ones who gave them so much pleasure, so Cole and Graham switched places with their partners. This time the older pair licked and sucked on the other two, until they also had the opportunity to enjoy the same pleasurable release, even if it was a dry orgasm for Andrew. When that session ended, they cuddled with each other, fell asleep and stayed that way until the next morning. When I checked on them in the middle of the night, they looked like a litter of puppies, all tangled together for warmth and security.

In the light of the new day, everything began to look better and we were able to reevaluate our current circumstances. In an effort to find out more about the DSS investigator who had written that horrid report about us, I asked Sally if she would contact some of her friends at the state level, and she agreed. Although she didn't disclose WHY she was seeking this information, she began to ask questions about him and learn as much as she could. She even had one of her contacts investigate his professional credentials, to discern if he was actually certified to do that job.

Sally also filed a formal complaint about some of the things he had done and the unsubstantiated accusations he had made. She stated that she thought he had let his personal feelings interfere with his professional judgment, thus unfairly appraising the situation. Although it probably wouldn't cost him his job, it might get him a slap on the wrist, which might prevent him from doing something similar to someone else.

After the review board conducted a formal investigation of this matter, the state panel agreed with Sally and reopened all his old cases, so they could look for similar signs of his use of guilt by innuendo. I guess they eventually found many discrepancies in those records as well, so many in fact, that they had to reevaluate or correct the dispositions on a great many of his previous investigations.

Due to all these irregularities, he was suspended without pay, while the panel tried to decide what should be done to correct all of the biased reports he had filed. I guess his days of using his own prejudice to influence official decisions were over, at least for now. As a result of our inquiry, the state was forced to correct numerous past wrongs, which had been inflicted on others he despised for some unexplainable reason.

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