The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 16. A Symphony In Laughter

Before Elliot’s things arrived at the house, Aunt Sally contacted Danny and told him that Brandon and he had been formally approved as foster parents.

“I’ve also transferred Elliot’s custody from your father’s name to yours,” she added, “so now you’re officially Elliot’s guardians.”

”That’s great news, Aunt Sally,” Danny confirmed. “I’m sure Brandon will be happy to hear this too.”

After he ended the call with her, Danny called Brandon to tell him, and then he called home to inform me. He said he would tell Elliot the good news tonight, at dinner, but I’m not sure if it will hold much meaning for him. As far as he was concerned, they’d been his foster fathers all along.

That evening at dinner, the boys continued their tradition of asking Elliot about his day.

“So how did your day go, Elliot?” Danny asked.

“It was good,” Elliot told him.

“How about your new friend?” Brandon followed. “Did you spend more time with him?”

“I did! Hayden’s really nice and I like him a lot,” Elliot confirmed. “He seems to like me too and when we got talking about things, we discovered that we’re both into swimming, although I’m more into diving. He swims on the school team and we were thinking I could join and start diving again, once I get the cast off.”

Elliot then held up his arm for all of us to see, even though we were well aware of what he was talking about. However, this wasn’t going to be as easy as he expected.

“I think you might have to wait until next year,” Brandon advised.

“Nah. I’ll be fine, once I get this stupid thing off,” Elliot stated. “When do you think that will be?”

“We should be able to remove it before Christmas,” Danny confirmed, “but you’ll still have to take it easy on your wrist for a while after that. If you try to do too much too soon, then you’ll be taking a huge risk that it might get injured again. Since the swim team’s season ends in January, I think it will probably be best for you to wait until next year.”

Elliot looked crushed and had trouble hiding his disappointment. He was hoping to be able to join the team, if only for a short time.

“Sorry, bud, but you don’t want to risk doing permanent damage to your wrist, do you?” Danny asked, apologetically, once he saw Elliot’s reaction to his previous statement.

“You know, Elliot, I thought you might be an athlete when I first saw you,” Brandon stated, as a way to change the subject. “Do you play any other sports?”

“Just tennis,” Elliot confirmed. “I like to run too, but I’m not much for team sports, so I’d say diving is what I’m best at.”

“I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but the school has a tennis team too,” Danny explained. “It starts up in the spring and your wrist should be healed enough by then, so maybe you could sign up to play tennis.”

Elliot began to perk up a bit.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” he agreed. He was looking slightly less disappointed.

That seemed to put an end to this minor crisis, but it forced us to realize that we didn’t know very much about Elliot. We haven’t wanted to push him, in order to get more information about his life, but that has merely put us at a severe disadvantage. So far, Elliot hasn’t revealed a great deal about himself, and since he hasn’t been much of a self-promoter, we are still in the dark about many of the details concerning him. We’re hoping he’ll be more forthcoming in the future, but I guess he’ll reveal more to us when he’s ready.

“By the way, Elliot,” I began, while grinning at him, “I don’t know if you realize this, but Danny and Brandon received some great news today. They are now officially your foster parents.”

Danny and Brandon were beaming, but Elliot was looking wary.

“But I thought they were already!” Elliot countered.

Now, he glanced from one to the other, as he sought an answer to this dilemma.

“We were, but not officially,” Danny told him. “Our application to become foster parents hadn’t been approved yet,”

“Then how did I get to come to live here?” Elliot wanted to know next.

“It was because we were able to pull a rabbit out of the hat first,” Danny said, with a chuckle. “Since my dad was already approved as a foster parent, I suggested that you could be assigned to him temporarily, so you could come to live with us immediately. It would also give us time to have our application approved. When that happened, we intended on having guardianship switched over to us and we were informed that happened earlier today. Since we’ve successfully passed the final hurdle, we are now legally your foster fathers.”

Elliot flashed them a huge grin.

“So now I can stay with you for good. Right?” he asked.

“Most definitely,” Brandon answered. “We want that very much.”

“Yes, Brandon and I have always wanted to be parents,” Danny explained, “so this is the first step in making you our son.”

At this point, all three of them were smiling broadly, as if they had just won the lottery. Heck, in a way, maybe they had. They each were getting what they wanted and that’s what really counts. Isn’t it?

That night, I finished calling my other children – the ones that didn’t live at home, to confirm their holiday plans. While I was doing this, I also took the opportunity to remind them about Elliot, so they wouldn’t be too surprised by his presence when they came home. In a way, I was looking forward to introducing them.

I also thought there was a possibility that they’d help us learn more about Elliot while they were here. I’m positive the others will ask him a ton of questions during their stay, so I’m hoping he’ll open up a bit about his own life. It’s possible that while he’s learning about them, he will, in turn, share more about himself. I’m optimistic that the conversations might spark memories of things he hasn’t divulged to us yet and this will get him to talk about things he hadn’t previously thought of. Anyways, that is what I am praying will happen.

The next afternoon, Elliot came home in a good mood. I didn’t question him about his day and saved that honor for his dads. They really liked to find out how he had been doing while we were eating dinner. True to form, that’s exactly what happened.

“Elliot, did you have a good day at school?” Brandon asked, shortly after we began eating.

“It was great, and guess what?” he replied.

”What?” Brandon responded.

“Well I told Hayden I wouldn’t be able to join the swim team until next year, but I might try out for the tennis team in the spring,” Elliot confided. “As it turns out, he plays tennis too.”

“What a wonderful surprise!” Danny mused. “It looks as if you and your new friend have quite a bit in common. Maybe you can even become doubles partners.”

“I’ve never played doubles, but I’d give it a try, if Hayden wanted to be partners,” Elliot agreed. “I like Hayden a lot and I think we’re going to be really good friends.”

“That’s great!” Brandon stated. “See, I told you that you wouldn’t be alone for long. You’ve made a new friend and not only does that give you someone to hang out with at school, but now you also have someone to play sports with too.”

“I guess you were right, but back then I was kind of afraid that you were going to leave me for good,” he confessed. “It was silly, but I thought if you left me, well maybe you might never come back.”

“Don’t worry,” Danny assured him, “that will never happen. As far as we’re concerned, we’re together for the long haul.”

Elliot smiled in response and it appeared as if he had just received the reassurance he wanted, and possibly even needed. I think it also made Danny and Brandon feel good too, since they now understood Elliot was just as eager to be with them, as they were to have him.

The following day, while the boys were in school, Elliot’s things arrived at the house. The moving company called first, to make certain someone would be home, and it gave me time to prepare for the truck’s arrival. After getting off the phone, I immediately went up to Elliot’s room and started taking apart the bed that was already in there. I then moved the various pieces into the hallway and did the same with the rest of the furniture that was in there, except for the dresser. I left it there, so Elliot could transfer his belonging out of it first, but I knew Elliot would be eager to use the bedroom set he had shipped here.

I answered the door when the truck pulled in and directed the movers where I wanted each item. First, I had them take all the bedroom furniture up to Elliot’s room. They placed his dresser next to the one he’d been using and then put his grandfather’s desk in there too. They even assembled the bed for me before they were done, so I thanked them for their effort.

The piano came next and was the most difficult piece they had to deal with. I had already made room for it in the family room, so they very carefully brought it in and placed it where I wanted. It looked very nice there and I felt Elliot would be very pleased about its location. Elliot had been telling us about the piano ever since he came back from Fox Chapel. He was nearly gushing as he explained that he had taken lessons for many years and could play fairly well. Now, we’d put him to the test and make him actually show us.

Once the piano was set up, the movers brought in the remaining pieces and then I made a quick phone call. I had called this person earlier, once I’d learned the movers were on the way, but now I was calling him back, so I could advise him the item he was going to work on was in place. It was the same man who tuned the pianos for the school district, but this time I was going to have him tune Elliot’s piano. This way, everything would be perfect when the boys got home from school.

Jesse, Elliot and Joshie arrived home about an hour after the piano tuner left and I greeted them as they walked through the door. However, before they raced off for their snack or to change, I wanted to spring this surprise on Elliot.

“Elliot, I have something to show you,” I announced, and then asked him to follow me.

As soon as we walked into the family room and he saw the piano, he practically burst with excitement. He raced over to it and began to tap the keys. I think he wanted to see if it was in tune.

“Oh, sweet! It’s finally here!” he shouted, while also uttering a maniacal laugh. “It looks great where you put it and sounds great too.”

“It does look good in here,” I agreed, “and I had a man come and tune it, shortly after it was delivered.”

“You did? Thank you,” Elliot told me, as he gave me a hug. He was really appreciative that I had done it for him.

“Okay, everyone come here,” he requested. “I might be a little rusty, but I’ll be able to get through a song. I’ve been practicing a little on a piano at school, so I’d be ready when mine finally arrived.”

Jesse, Joshie and I all made ourselves comfortable and smiled in anticipation.

Elliot walked over and sat down at the keyboard. He then cracked his knuckles dramatically, just before he reached out to the keyboard and banged out the worst version of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ any of us had ever heard. After he started playing, Jesse and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. We were certain if any of the neighbors were passing by they would have thought we were torturing cats.

When I saw that Joshie was about to say something, I placed my hand over his mouth and put my finger in front of my lips, to signal him not to say anything. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait for Elliot to finish.

“Was that great or was it great?” Elliot asked, grinning from ear-to-ear. “What did you think?”

We were all too stunned to answer, but we also didn’t want to hurt his feelings. However, before we could think of a graceful way to escape this awkward situation, Elliot spoke again.

“Wait! I’ll play another song for you,” he suggested, much to our dismay.

“No, that’s okay,” Jesse replied, before Elliot could begin. “I’ve got a ton of homework I need to do, so I’ve got to get going.” Elliot looked at me next.

“I’m sorry, Elliot, but I, uh, have to get dinner started,” I blurted out.

As quickly as our legs would carry us, Jesse, Joshie and I got up and began to charge out of the room. Before we reached the door and completed our escape, Elliot began playing again.

We all stopped dead in our tracks this time. Even Joshie recognized the tune Elliot was playing now and commented on it immediately. It was George Winston’s ‘Peanuts Theme.’ Joshie knew it because of the specials he had watched on television during the holidays.

I know my mouth was hanging open at this point, but I wasn’t certain about the other pair. I was still too stunned to see how they were doing. Elliot was playing this upbeat melody flawlessly. Slowly, we turned around and made our way back toward the piano. We then stood beside it until Elliot finished playing. Once the song ended, Elliot looked up at us and started laughing.

“The looks on your faces were priceless when I played that first piece,” he stated, with a chuckle. Then we all began to laugh too.

“That was mean!” Joshie shouted.

“I thought you were crazy, if you thought you had talent, at least when I first heard you playing,” Jesse interjected.

After saying this, Jesse flashed Elliot the finger, hoping I wouldn’t notice, but I did. Rather than say something about that, I had something else I wanted to arrange first. However, I would need Elliot’s help.

“I want you to do that again when your dads, Jake and the others get home from work,” I urged. “I want you to do it exactly the same way that you did for us, so we can see their reactions too.”

“Okay. I can do that,” Elliot agreed.

I then explained to Joshie what we were going to do later, so he wouldn’t accidentally give Elliot’s little joke away prematurely. Once I thought he understood, I sent him off to play.

While we waited for the others to arrive home, Elliot went up to his room and started to get it organized. He seemed just as thrilled to have his old bedroom set, as he had been about having the piano. Eagerly, he moved things from the dresser he had been using and put them into the dresser that was just delivered. He then had Jesse help him move the old dresser out of the room, so he could arrange his bedroom the way he wanted it. He had Jesse help him place his grandfather’s desk catty-corner, and when he showed me what he had done later, I told him I’d buy a floor lamp he could place in the void behind it, so he’d have plenty of light to do his work.

Once his dresser was also where he wanted it, Elliot made his bed and then just stood in the doorway, so he could admire how everything looked. I think having his furniture in the room made him feel as if he really belonged here now. He also felt more comfortable knowing he was going to be able to sleep in his old bed again.

Later that evening, during dinner, Elliot announced that he wanted to play something for us on the piano after we’d finished eating. When everyone agreed, he made it sound as if this was the first time he was going to play since it had arrived. For that reason, we all followed him into the family room, along with Joshie and Jesse. We took our seats, to listen to him play and Elliot sat down at the keyboard. After going through precisely the same knuckle cracking warm-up, he then proceeded to play the second worst version of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ I have ever heard.

“What did you think?” he asked his unsuspecting audience when he’d finished. “Pretty good, huh?”

Joshie, Jesse and I were trying hard to keep from laughing as we scanned the others’ faces. Danny looked as if he’d just swallowed a whole lemon and Brandon’s eyes were bugging out of his head, while his mouth hung open. The others looked equally horrified.

“Holy shit!” Jake exclaimed, before he could catch himself.

“Here. I’ll play another song for you,” Elliot added, before anyone else responded.

Elliot, Joshie, Jesse and I were nearly busting a gut, trying to contain our mirth. I had Joshie sitting with me and had to place my hand over his mouth on occasion, to keep him from giving us away. The others merely thought I was trying to keep him from saying anything about how poorly Elliot had played.

“That’s all right,” Danny commented, after he finally found his voice again. “You can do that another time.”

The others were slowly getting up and moving toward the door, but Elliot ignored their protests. This time he selected a more formal piece of music and began playing Beethoven’s ‘Fur Elise.’

The rest of them were nearly out of the room when the first notes began to waft through the room and suddenly Danny, Brandon, Jake and the others came to an abrupt halt. As they turned to look back at Elliot, to make sure he was the one actually playing, their mouths were all hanging open. Once they recovered from their surprise, they began looking at the rest of us, to see how we were reacting too. When they looked toward me, I could no longer contain myself and burst out laughing. As soon as I did that, Elliot, Joshie and Jesse began laughing too. The others were still looking bewildered, at least for a few more seconds.

“You set us up, didn’t you?” Danny asked, as the rest of them began to catch on.

“I didn’t,” I responded. “Elliot did. He did the same thing to Jesse, Joshie and me shortly after he got home from school. I just suggested he might want to play the same trick on you.”

Everyone was laughing loudly now.

“You did have me going for a minute,” Brandon admitted. “I was beginning to think your father had wasted a lot of money on piano lessons for you.” Elliot feigned a pout.

“Yes, and I was beginning to wonder why we had Dad make room for the piano in our house,” Danny added, “if it was only going to be used to torture us.”

“Hey!” Elliot whined, mockingly. “It wasn’t torture, just a tease.”

Elliot then sat down and started playing Pachelbel’s ‘Cannon in D’ for them, followed by Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata. As the notes drifted through the house, we were all swept away by Elliot’s talent and the beautiful music he was producing.

“I think you’ve found your accompanist,” I told Dion, once Elliot finished. “You’ll even be able to practice at home now and won’t have to rely on so many others to help you out.”

“Damn, he’s good,” Dion agreed. “I think you’re right. He can play for me anytime, if he’s willing.”

“Maybe,” was all Elliot said, smugly, in reply.

“Play the other song. I liked it better,” Joshie chirped in. “It was more fun.”

That brought a grin to Elliot’s face and he began playing the ‘Peanuts Theme’ again, but this time it was meant only for Joshie. My little man knew this too, so he walked over and sat beside Elliot on the piano bench, just as if he belonged there. It was really cute to see.

Elliot had now successfully proven to us what an accomplished pianist he was and managed to have a little fun with us in the process. We could also see how great he felt, now that he had been reunited with his piano. It was almost as if he’d just hooked up with a long-lost friend, and in a way, I guess he had.