The Castaway Hotel - 5 - 12. Chapter 12 - A Time For Concern And Healing

Since I wanted to get the Jacuzzi installed and the other changes made before the holidays, I got a hold of my contractor on Monday, to see when he might be able to do the work. It just so happened that his business was slow at the moment, so he agreed to meet with me almost immediately. After we discussed my ideas for the changes I wanted to make to the house, we started making diagrams of what I wanted the new rooms to look like, and then he went to secure the appropriate work permits to begin construction. A couple of days later, he had a crew working on the foundations, while he and I finalized the design and fixtures for the two rooms.

The new bedroom would be built off of the family room, while the spa room would jut out from the downstairs bathroom. There would be two doors into the spa, one from the new bedroom and the other through the bathroom. This would give Vinnie direct access to the spa and would make it much easier for him to workout and give him the extra privacy he might need at these times. The only problem was, the contractor was going to be on a very tight schedule to be able to complete all of the work by Christmas, so we would have to pray everything went smoothly.

I also spoke to Vinnie, Sally and her contact from Massachusetts during this time, so we could work out the details for his joining us permanently. He had been able to arrange things with the teachers at his current school, so he could complete his second marking period assignments either before he left or they would allow him to submit them via the mail or internet after he moved in with us. That way, he would have completed the first half of his school year there, before he transferred to the local school district, and this would help make his transition easier. In fact, I learned later that most of his teachers went out of their way to help him work out these arrangements and make things easier for him, since they didn’t want to cause him any more problems; especially after all he’d been through already. It was good to see educators who were so compassionate and flexible.

This, however, wasn’t the only thing happening during this time. Besides, Vinnie’s coming to live with us, Ricky unexpectedly announced he intended to apply to become a foreign exchange student. He later explained to me that there were several factors that had sparked his interest in this program. First, he had become acquainted with the foreign exchange students who had attended the high school during the past couple of years, but more importantly I believe it was more closely tied to the attractive young girl from New Zealand who was currently attending our high school with him.

Another consideration was that Ricky had always been one of my more adventurous sons, probably because of all he went through before he came to live with me, and our extensive travels had helped to whet his appetite for visiting and exploring new places. After he told me of his intentions, we discussed the possibility at great length, before beginning our investigation into what he would need to do to apply and get accepted into the program. Once we completed our preliminary investigation, we started exploring his options, as far as his choice of countries was concerned.

It was during this time that we also got word that Sammy and Andrew’s Japanese grandparents were planning on joining us for Christmas again, if that was agreeable with us. It wasn’t actually their turn to visit the U.S., but they concluded it was too soon for me to be making those types of trips with my family yet, in light of my recent health scare, but they very much wanted to see the boys again. I immediately let them know this would be fine with us, although I didn’t let on that it might create one minor problem, such as where to put them while they were here. This year, all of my children were planning on returning home for Christmas and our place would be bursting at the seams, once my older children and their families arrived for the holidays. The others were eager for the opportunity to meet Megan while they were all here, as well as looking forward to their seeing the rest us again too. It would also give them the chance to become acquainted with Vinnie and for him to do the same with each of them. I really hated to think I might have to make any of them stay at a hotel or motel while they were here, especially any of our out of town guests, but I was running short on options here. It appeared that I would probably be forced to pick one group or another to stay somewhere else, but now I had to decide whom and then make arrangements for this to happen.

In addition to all of that, I received another surprise of sorts, but this one had to do with Frankie. He phoned me late one evening from college because he was very concerned about his roommate, Tom. He quickly explained to me that Tom had met another freshman in one of his classes and this guy was into AEA, or auto-erotic asphyxiation. Even though Frankie had tried to talk him out of it, Tom was now messing with this potentially deadly game and Frankie was worried about what might happen to him. What these guys were doing was to intentionally cut off the blood supply to their brains while masturbating, to intensify the sensation of orgasm. This technique lessens the flow of oxygen getting to the brain cells and thus producing a giddiness, lightheadedness and exhilaration not usually experienced during ejaculation. This activity seemed to be an increasing favorite among adolescents and young adult males, but the problem was, it was also their feelings of helplessness and self-endangerment that added to their sexual gratification.

Frankie also told me that one of his professors had explained that doing this can also weaken a person’s self control and judgment, which could then increase their chance of the session culminating with a fatal result. He told Frankie that it was estimated that between 500 and 1000 youths die annually in the U.S. from this dangerous form of masturbation, and Frankie could see Tom was more than happy to place himself in such jeopardy.

Frankie’s concern finally reached the breaking point, and was the reason for his calling home, because he had recently returned to his dorm room and found Tom unconscious on his bed after one of these episodes. When he first saw Tom lying there, Frankie believed for a few seconds that Tom was dead, but fortunately that wasn’t the case – at least not this time. However, it didn’t mean this wouldn’t happen sometime in the future.

I immediately told Frankie to discuss the seriousness of these actions with Tom NOW, and then I’d talk to him too, when I took Frankie back to campus after the holidays. At that time, the three of us would sit down and chat about this potentially fatal game he was playing, and pressure him into giving it up. If we couldn’t do that, I wanted to get Tom to at least promise he wouldn’t do it when he was alone, so there would be someone there to step in, if the situation got out of hand. This seemed to make Frankie feel a little better, so he promised me he’d follow through with his part of this assignment, as long as I would have a long talk with Tom, the next time I met up with him again.

As Christmas drew closer, I also had to think hard about what I wanted to get the boys this year. Even though I wasn’t trying to spoil them, they didn’t really lack for much and it wasn’t easy to find just the right gifts for them any longer. Yes, I know that many of these things I’ve provided for them are luxuries they have to share, however, they still had access to them. It isn’t like they are deprived of much, so it was going to be very difficult to find something for each of them – something they would appreciate AND enjoy. Somewhat panicked, I began to research my options, while also listening and noticing the boys’ reactions whenever they discussed such things, saw a commercial for something or I dropped the occasional hint. Although they were used to this approach from me and weren’t exactly surprised by my attempt at subtle prodding, they also weren’t particularly helpful. They each had their own ideas about what an appropriate gift would be and it just made the situation seem even more impossible for me to solve, since none of the options were inexpensive. Arrrrrrrgh.

On the sixteenth of December I was able to forget about these problems briefly, while we celebrated Shannon’s first birthday with us. He was turning sixteen too, so we did this celebration up big time, since we didn’t want him to think he was any less important than anyone else. Although I can’t claim he was surprised by our efforts, he did seem to really enjoy his time in the spotlight. We began things off by taking him out to eat first, something his father had told me Shannon had mentioned to him, and then had the extended family came over for cake and ice cream afterward. Even though he was also given a chance to invite a few others, Shannon made it clear that there was no one else he wanted to include. I guess that didn’t come as a surprise to me, considering the rough start he had when he first arrived at our school, so it was easy to see why he preferred to keep this gathering to just those he felt the most comfortable with – and that was our family. We honored his wishes and did as he requested, and I found out later that he had told his father that he really enjoyed himself and hoped they’d always be able to live here with us.

The next night I called Vinnie, after I remembered it was his sixteenth birthday as well. As soon as he answered, I wished him a happy birthday from all of us, with the boys hollering their own personal greetings to him in the background, so I decided to pass the phone around, so everyone could give do this with him personally. I think it made him feel good to think we had remembered his special day, and he thanked us several times for thinking of him.

Kevin had asked to go last, but then requested we allow him some privacy, so he could speak with Vinnie alone. Although some of the boys were beginning to tease him about the secrecy, I got them all to go somewhere else, so Kevin could pass along his own birthday greetings without interruption or interference. I did ask him to call me back to the room before he hung up, since I wanted to say a final good-bye to Vinnie. When he did, I made sure to tell Vinnie we were looking forward to his joining us for the holidays and that I’d be picking him up at the airport in a little over a week, at which time he’d be joining us for good. After squealing his delight about how things had worked out, we said our farewells, with both of us looking forward to the next time we would be together.

During the interim, work on the new rooms was going well, but moving more slowly than any of us had wished. The problems started when we were told we would have to wait for the Jacuzzi to be shipped from the manufacturer, which moved the completion date back a couple of days. This was because the contractor wanted the Jacuzzi to be in before he closed in the walls, since he doubted he could get it into the room any other way. That put the project in limbo until the Jacuzzi arrived, which was going to take a couple of days longer than we were first told, due to holiday related hold-ups. Once I realized the area wouldn’t be completed in time for Vinnie’s arrival, I suddenly had to make other arrangements to accommodate him while he was here. Although I could show him what we were doing, that wouldn’t help solve my current dilemma.

After thinking about this for some time, I finally concluded I would have to let Vinnie use my room again, although I had originally planned to put my son, daughter-in-law and Megan there when they arrived. It was obvious there will be too much activity going on in the house for anyone to use the sleeper-sofa, since that was also the room where the Christmas tree was located, so that eliminated another option from my list. That’s when another thought struck me! I still hadn’t made any arrangements for our Japanese grandparents. Where in the world was I going to put them up?

About that time, John and Margaret Spence called to learn what we planned for the holidays, so I discussed the situation with them fully. I began by mentioning how badly things were working out this year, and once they heard me describe my problems, they immediately came to my rescue. To my surprise and delight, they offered to have Sammy and Andrew’s grandparents stay with them and use their spare bedroom, seeing the four of them had gotten along so well on their previous visit.

I instantly recognized this was a far better alternative than anything I could come up with, since I didn’t want our elderly guests to have to negotiate the stairs or stay by themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, so I agreed to accept their generous offer. Doing this also gave me one less thing to worry about. Sammy and Andrew’s grandparents would have the Spences for company, whenever they weren’t with us, and they’d be in a home and not in some nondescript and sterile environment. Most importantly, they’d also be with others they knew and liked. I’d just have to see to it that Sammy and Andrew went to visit them at the Spences some of the time, to prevent them from constantly having to come to our place to see their grandsons.

Shortly thereafter, I also came up with what I thought would be a great idea for Christmas presents for the boys. It was practical, a gift they could use and something I thought they’d really appreciate. I still wanted to talk this idea over with Jake first, to get his take on it, especially since I planned on including Shannon in on this gift idea as well. I was pretty sure Jake would agree with my suggestion, but I didn’t want to do anything without talking it over with him first. After all, we are a team now.

Ricky also received the rest of the paperwork for the exchange student program during this time, so I had to sit down with him and help him fill it all out. When we came to the place where it asked for his choice of destinations, he selected New Zealand and Australia as his primary choices. He did this because he wasn’t sure his foreign language skills were good enough to allow him to function in a country where he would have to rely on a second-language to survive. Even though we’d read that his chances of getting either of those destinations was slim, he didn’t feel he had any other options, so he wrote them down on his application. Even with the odds stacked against him, he felt he had to stick to his guns and stay with those two choices. I do believe there might have been other factors that weighed in on his decision, including that cute little brunette from New Zealand, but I didn’t pressure him about changing his mind.

As Christmas drew closer, our family schedule became very hectic. That was due to the fact that the boys were in various Christmas programs both at school and church, so we had to squeeze those events in with all of our other activities. Nick had done very well with his guitar lessons and was going to accompany a few of his friends when they sang in one of the concerts and some of the younger boys were also in their school’s choir, so we all went to watch them perform when they put on their special holiday program.

Christmas was also a time of firsts, in this case another first for Andrew. Although he had been involved in some simple sexual activities with Graham and Sammy, he had been basically the recipient of much of the action. Yes, there were times when he had sucked his partners off as well, but he always finished them off by hand and masturbated them to climax. However, for some reason unknown to the rest of us, he apparently decided it was now time to try something new. It happened one evening when he was with Graham, now that Sammy had finally worked his way through his jealousy over sharing his brother.

Graham ended up telling me about this incident, because he thought it had been kind of humorous and he was aware that I wanted to keep track of Andrew’s activities. It seems that Andrew had made the move on his own to take Graham orally and Graham wasn’t about to dissuade his initiative or do anything to stop him. With the aggressiveness of a hungry scavenger, Andrew swung around and devoured Graham’s organ, pumping up and down on it with his lips, like a thirsty man using an old hand pump to get water. Graham had merely suspected that once he got close, Andrew would just use his hand to bring him off, as he had done in the past, so he thought nothing more of it. However, this time when Graham warned him he was getting close, Andrew wouldn’t quit his oral suctioning, so Graham gave him a second warning, and then a third, but Andrew still wouldn’t stop. It finally reached the point where Graham couldn’t hold his ejaculation back any longer, and due to his extreme state of arousal, he released a huge load into Andrew’s sucking mouth.

It turned out to be an exceptionally large load, as his penis released volley after volley of his hot cream, and considering Andrew had never taken a climax orally before, Graham was concerned he might choke on the sheer volume. Like a little trooper, however, Andrew kept going and proved he was up to the task. When he finally finished his greedy assault on Graham’s pulsing organ, he sat up and looked directly into Graham’s eyes, and Graham told me Andrew had a grin that spread from ear to ear. He was evidently pleased about what he had just done, but Graham had to stifle his laughter after noticing the strands of pearly cum dripping from each corner of Andrew’s mouth and running down his chin. As Graham studied the telltale traces of what had just taken place, he told me that he’d wished he’d had a camera to snap a lasting memento of that special moment, to remind him just how pleased little Andrew was about his accomplishment.

After this happened, Graham made sure he returned the favor, to show his appreciation, even though my baby couldn’t shoot his own load yet. Graham did make sure that his young partner enjoyed a thunderous dry orgasm and enjoyed watching him squirm and wiggle around, as he felt that special tingle radiate throughout Andrew’s tiny frame. He then made sure to kiss Andrew and thank him when they were done, so he would know how special that experience had been for him too. I heard that Andrew did the same thing for Sammy the following night, so there wouldn’t be a chance of having any hard feelings between them. Even though Sammy enjoyed his brother’s efforts, it hadn’t been something Andrew had necessarily been required to do, in order to keep the peace. Instead, it was just another way for Andrew to demonstrate his love for his brother.

A couple of days later, it was time for Vinnie to board his flight and make the trip to stay with us for good. Fortunately, he wasn’t going to be encumbered with a great deal of luggage, since we’d arranged for most of his belongings to be shipped directly to the house, so he would only be carrying the basic essentials with him now. This would make it much easier for him to manage on his own, so he would require only minimal assistance when boarding or disembarking from his flight.

Kevin again asked in advance if I’d allow him to accompany Jake and myself when we drove to the airport to pick Vinnie up, while emphasizing he wanted to be the first person to greet Vinnie when he moved here for good. I saw no reason why he shouldn’t be allowed to do this, since he was the only person who had made such a request, but I also felt more strongly that Brent might have foreseen something happening between the two of them and I certainly didn’t want to discourage it.

The drive was uneventful, except for Kevin’s impatience over how long it took to get to the airport. He kept bouncing around on the backseat, constantly asking how long it would be before we got there, which made him sound much younger than he actually was. However, I could understand his eagerness to be reunited with Vinnie again, so Jake and I had a slight chuckle over his situation, while thinking how cute it was that he was so anxious to be with Vinnie again.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare and had to wait nearly forty minutes before his plane landed. When we finally spotted Vinnie making his way toward us, Kevin sprinted off in his direction and quickly wrapped his arms around Vinnie and lifted him off of the ground. This not only surprised Vinnie, but concerned him as well, as he was worried he might lose his balance when Kevin set him down. He was also afraid this might cause Kevin to become unsteady too, especially if he tried to help keep Vinnie from falling, and was concerned that this would result in both of them tumbling in a heap together. However, that didn’t happen, because Kevin was very careful when he eventually placed Vinnie back on the ground.

Jake and I nearly dropped to the floor laughing as we observed the spectacle before us, as the contrasting reactions of Kevin’s huge grin and youthful exuberance compared with Vinnie’s bulging eyes and worried countenance. Once Kevin settled down and Vinnie had regained his composure, we collected Vinnie’s belongings and loaded them into the Grand Am.

I decided we should stop for lunch before making the long drive back, so I directed Jake to stop at T.G.I. Fridays, where we were instantly led to a table in the far corner of the room. As I watched Vinnie, I could tell he was more than a little nervous about something, even though I wasn’t sure it was due to the move or because he was sitting next to Kevin. However, I figured he’d get over his jitters eventually, no matter what the cause.

After we ordered our meals, I went to use the restroom before the food arrived. When I got back, Jake’s and my coffee had been delivered and the little creamers were sitting in a bowl in the center of the table. Absentmindedly, Vinnie picked one up and nervously played with it, but I didn’t think much about it until I heard a dull ‘pop.’ When I looked up, Kevin had cream dripping from his face and the coat of the lady sitting at the table next to us was also splattered with similar white spots. Her garment was hanging on the back of her chair and Kevin was attempting to frantically wipe the liquid off his face and her garment, while Vinnie sat frozen in embarrassment and was slowly turning a bright red.

We apologized profusely to the woman, and I even offered to pay to have her coat cleaned, but she merely acted as of it weren’t a big deal. Luckily for all of us, it was a cloth coat and cleaned up fairly easily, so she wasn’t really too put out by what happened. As I looked back in the direction of the newest member of our family, I thought Vinnie was going to slide under the table and die of shame, when the woman suddenly rose to her feet. I think he thought she was going to make a scene, but she was merely getting up to leave and smiled at us, as she said good-bye. Needless to say, we didn’t say anything more about this in the restaurant, but we teased Vinnie mercilessly about this, nearly all the way home.

When we arrived at the house, the whole family was there waiting for us. As I had requested, they had a cake ready to celebrate Vinnie’s 16th birthday, which had unfortunately passed while he was still living in Massachusetts. Vinnie appeared quite moved by this small gesture, but not as much as he was a few moments later. That’s when he discovered the boys and I had given him a laptop computer as his birthday present, to make his life a little easier.

After he thanked us all profusely, he gave me a big hug and then did the same to all of the boys. Once he settled down from the shock of his gift, I explained to Vinnie he was going to stay in my room until his was finished. What I didn’t know was that he and Kevin had already worked out other arrangements between themselves, while they sat whispering in the backseat, just before we arrived home.

After thanking me for my offer, Vinnie announced he preferred staying with Kevin for now, which would free up my room for some of the other visitors. I questioned him about having to negotiate the stairs, since I was a little anxious about him taking a tumble down them when he was tired or not quite awake, but the two boys assured me everything would be fine for the short time he would need to be upstairs. After considering their assurances and knowing Kevin would probably never be far from Vinnie’s side during this period, I gave them my okay and let it go at that. Now that they had my approval, they took Vinnie’s things up to Kevin’s room, so he could get unpacked.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention one other thing. The day before, I also received a Christmas card from Nigel and his boys, the group we had met at the nude beach in England. Besides wishing us a wonderful holiday, Nigel told me he and his family were planning to visit the States this summer, for a whole month. They had all been saving whatever money they could, so they’d be able do this, and they wanted to know if we’d mind if they visited while they were here. I wrote him back immediately and told him not only could they visit, but they were more than welcome to stay with us and we’d take some short trips together, so they could see at least the eastern part of the country and save a few quid in the process. I was hoping they’d accept my offer and not feel they were putting us out or imposing, because I felt we’d all benefit from the experience. Now, all I had to do was await his reply.