The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 38. Summertime Festivities

The weekend after we celebrated Elliot’s birthday at the restaurant, Danny and Brandon had a cookout in his honor, which amounted to Elliot’s second birthday party. However, this time the extended family was going to be there too, along with Hayden. Danny and Brandon had also asked Hayden to invite a few of the others Elliot had become friendly with. They told Hayden to advise them presents were NOT required, although they felt Hayden was planning on bringing something for Elliot.

The cookout was well attended and we got to meet some of Elliot’s other friends. Three of them were members of the tennis team whom he’d become close to, and there were also two members of the swim team that Elliot had hit it off with. It was nice to see that he had made other friends too.

The party went off nicely, and after we had the cake and ice cream, Hayden presented Elliot with a gift. After a brief discussion that he shouldn’t have done this, Elliot unwrapped the package. Inside, he found two separate gifts. First, there were two cans of tennis balls and the second was a new Speedo, in the school colors and with the school logo on it. I guess Hayden was telling him he had no excuse not to join the swim team in the fall.

I believe Elliot really enjoyed the cookout and then he took his friends inside for a brief time, so they could challenge each other on the Wii, air hockey or table tennis. I think his new friends had a good time too.

As we got closer to the Fourth of July, Jake and I began planning and preparing for our big celebration at home. It was party time again and a large percentage of the family was going to be here. Fortunately, the boys were cooperative when I asked them to help get the bedrooms ready and it didn’t take us long to finish up.

Now that the rooms were ready, I began to look forward to celebrating with everyone again. Since the Fourth was on a Monday this year, it meant the family would begin arriving on Friday. Those who were currently employed had opted to take an extra day off from work on Tuesday, so they could return home without having to rush or miss out on the fireworks. This also meant we’d get to enjoy the entire holiday with them.

Mark and his girlfriend were coming in from New York this year, which made Susan very happy. Mark was bringing Jay with them and they were also stopping to pick up Ricky in Philadelphia, so they’ll have a full car.

What this also meant was that Sammy and Graham had to drive themselves this time, since Ricky was the one who normally carpooled with them. Although they’ve also done this with Frankie, he would be working over the holiday and unable to attend as well. Pat was coming too, but he would be driving in from the west, so that wouldn’t help them either. Besides, Pat was bringing Duck and his new bride with him.

Each of these groups left to come here right after they finished work on Friday and arrived at different times throughout the evening. We greeted them as they came in and then quickly got them settled into a room, so they wouldn’t have to do that later. Once they had their belongings in the room they’d be staying in, they came back to the family room to visit with us for a while.

Most of them went to bed fairly early that evening, since they were all tired from working that day, followed by the long ride, and we could understand how they felt. We bid them sweet dreams and sent them off to bed, although we stayed up a little longer.

Most of our guests also slept in Saturday morning, with some of them staying in bed longer than others. We weren’t sure if they’d been sleeping the whole time or just enjoying some quiet moments with their partners, but none of us cared. We were just happy they were with us for the holiday.

Just before noon on Saturday, Ted and his boyfriend pulled in. After I gave Ted an affectionate hug and a warm greeting, I welcomed him to our home again. Once we broke our hold on each other, he quickly introduced me to his partner.

“Pop, this is my boyfriend, Gavin Finch,” Ted stated. “Well, we’re actually more than boyfriends, but we’re not married or anything.”

“Gavin, I want you to meet my Pop, Mr. Josh Currie,” he told his partner.

After we exchanged hellos, I gave Gavin a hug and welcomed him not only to our home, but also into our family. I think he was surprised by this, but I explained that Ted was just another of my sons, even if he lived far away and we didn’t get to see him as often as we’d like. He thanked me for the wonderful greeting and then paid attention, as Ted took him around to meet the others.

Ted introduced Gavin to Jake next, and then the boys who had also come out to greet him. Ted looked great and Gavin was cute, so the attraction between them was obvious. I also noticed that Gavin was a little shorter than Ted and had a slender build. That’s when I realized he was built like Sammy. Since Sammy was Ted’s first crush and infatuation when he came to visit us, I wondered if this had anything to do with Ted’s choice of his current partner. I couldn’t help but wonder if his decision had been influenced on either a conscious or unconscious level.

Throughout most of Saturday, we just sat and chatted, as everyone caught the others up on what they’d been up to. Dion and Trey got to tell anyone who didn’t already know about their upcoming addition, while Danny, Brandon and Kevin filled everyone in on the progress toward starting their own businesses.

Jake, Danny and Brandon offered to fix dinner Saturday night and urged me to stay in with our guests. They said most of them came to see me anyway, although I countered that they’d come to see all of us. No matter how persuasively I argued this point, they were still insistent that I stay out there. Therefore, I acceded to their request.

After we finished eating, the boys began playing games and were challenging each other to various competitions. It didn’t matter if it was on the Wii, air hockey, table tennis, cards or one of the board games. The rest of the evening was filled with shouts of ‘I won,’ ‘you lose,’ ‘gotcha’ or other similar exclamations. Fortunately, it was all good-natured and no one took it the wrong way.

After being involved in several of these challenges, Ted asked if Gavin and he could chat with Jake and me in the family room for a while. He really wanted us to move into the other room – just the four of us, but I told him we needed to do something else first. Somewhat confused, Ted agreed to hold off for a bit and I called everyone together. Once they were all present, I went out to the rec room quickly and then came into the dining room carrying a cake with a ‘2’ and ‘5’ candles lit on top. Then, we started singing Happy Birthday to Ted.

“You remembered?” Ted asked, possibly rhetorically, but I answered him anyways.

“I certainly did,” I agreed. “I know your birthday was yesterday, but since you didn’t arrive until today, I wish you a belated happy birthday.”

“Thanks, Pop!” Ted exclaimed. “I really wasn’t expecting anything like this.”

“Wow, this place is wild!” Gavin announced. “Ted told me I’d enjoy my time here, but I wasn’t so sure. You guys really are as neat as he said you were.”

“Thank you for that compliment,” I responded, “but most of it is due to the boys.”

“Only because you raised them to be that way,” Ted corrected me, and I elected not to argue the point.

Once we all had a piece of his cake and some ice cream, I signaled Jake and we went out on the front porch with Ted and Gavin. I know they’d asked to speak with us in the family room, but since it was such a lovely evening and the boys were playing on the Wii in there, I thought this would be better. We let Ted and Gavin sit on the porch swing, while Jake and I sat on two of the lawn chairs.

“You know, I still wish I could have grown up here, even though I’m getting along much better with my parents now,” he began. “Heck, my dad even treats Gavin like a son too. In fact, Gavin is getting treated better than I did when I was growing up.”

“Well, your parents have come a long way since then and I hope you have forgiven them and don’t bring this up,” I remarked. “I wouldn’t want anything so silly to jeopardize your current favorable relationship with your parents.”

“No, it’s all cool now,” Ted admitted. “I do still kind of wish that it could have happened earlier, but I guess it’s better late than never.”

“I would agree with that,” I responded, with Jake doing the same.

Ted and Gavin then went on to tell us about how they’d met, fell in love and broke the news to both of their families. Then, they filled us in about how they had found their jobs, what type of work they do and about their apartment. It really was an informative and interesting conversation. We stayed out on the porch with them for quite some time, before they told us they were getting tired. Since we understood how they were feeling, we went inside and let them head off to the room they were using.

Most of us turned in fairly early that night, since I’d gotten them all settled into a room shortly after they’d arrived. I warned everyone that I’d be going around and pounding on doors in the morning, since I expected them all to go to church with us. They all answered, “We know,” so I didn’t have to argue with them.

Sunday morning I got everyone up, and while they were getting ready, I called the restaurant where we usually had brunch. I then asked if they could reserve one of their three dining areas for our group and told them we’d probably fill the room up. Hearing this, they agreed, but probably because we ate there on a regular basis – nearly every Sunday.

We also ended up filling a large section of the church, because we met most of our extended family there as well. They wanted to see everyone again and were going out to brunch with us afterward, so they could chat with the boys and their mates.

The service moved right along and I didn’t notice anyone falling asleep during the sermon. Ted did comment when Dion sang a solo with the choir, and Gavin and he were both impressed with Dion’s voice. I think it was the first time Ted had heard Dion sing, because when he first came to visit us, Dion hadn’t yet developed the beautiful voice he has now.

The pastor greeted us warmly on the way out and said it was nice to see the visitors once again. The family then told him they had enjoyed the service and most thanked him for his continued support of each of our couples. He merely smiled and said he believed ‘it was what Jesus would have done.’

When we arrived at the restaurant, we certainly had enough bodies to fill up the room they had reserved for us. Once we were seated, we squeezed together even more tightly, so we could free up a couple of tables for their other patrons. They thanked us for doing this and then served us quite quickly, considering the large number in our group.

Once we were done, we all went back to the house, so the extended family could chat with those who had returned. Around that same time, Sally pulled me aside.

“Where’s Richard?” she asked. “I was hoping to see him today, because I have some good news for him.”

“He went back for the summer session at college, so he could finish the requirements for his degree,” I explained. “He felt he’d rather do that over the summer, than go back for the fall semester.”

“When will he be coming home?” she asked next.

“He’ll be home for good in August,” I told her.

“Fantastic! That will work out perfectly,” she replied.

“Work out perfectly for what?” I wondered.

“For me to hire him,” Sally announced. “One of the girls who works for me is pregnant and is going on maternity leave in September. I’ll be able to hire Richard to fill the job temporarily, so he can gain some hands-on experience. Rumor has it that she might not be returning and will stay home with her baby for the first few years, so it may turn into a permanent position. Will you tell Richard that for me?”

“I’ll be happy to and I’m certain Little Ricky will be thrilled to hear this,” I agreed. “One thing he’s always told me is that he wants to work for you.”

I think this made Sally blush, but I’d told her the truth.

The rest of the day went perfectly, with Ted filling the extended family in about his good news. I saw each of them going up to welcome him and say how nice it was to see him again. In fact, Steve and Mary spent quite a bit of time chatting with Ted and Gavin, since they were the ones who had inquired about him the previous year. I was glad they had a chance to spend some quality time together.

I was just getting up to make a quick run into the house when Graham approached me.

“It’s happening again,” he told me. “I’m seeing someone standing near Elliot, but this times it’s a woman. I can only assume it’s his mother, but I can’t be sure. Elliot doesn’t have any photos in his room with a woman in them. It usually happens when he’s standing by or playing his piano.”

“Unfortunately, his mother died when he was born,” I agreed. “That would explain the lack of pictures and link her to the piano too. She was the pianist in the family before Elliot learned to play.”

“Do you think I should tell him?” Graham asked.

“Does it look like she’s giving him a positive sign?” I questioned.

“Yes, she is,” Graham confirmed.

“Well, he took the other message okay, so we might as well tell him about this one too,” I suggested. “Let me just get Danny and Brandon first and explain this to them. I think they should be there when Elliot hears what you have to tell him.”

I went off to find Danny and Brandon, so I could advise them that Graham has had another vision. Then I asked them to find Elliot and meet us back in the house. This time we went in the family room and shut the door.

“What’s up? Did you see my dad again?” Elliot asked, as soon as he saw who was in the room with him.

“No, this time I’m seeing a woman,” Graham told him. “I assume it’s your mother, although I’m not sure.”

“I’ve got to go,” Elliot said, as he bolted out the door.

Elliot was looking pale as he moved toward the door, but Brandon blocked his way.

“What’s wrong? Why don’t you want to hear this?” he asked.

“It’s nothing. I just have to go,” Elliot responded, as he tried to get past his father.

“Elliot, hang on a second,” Graham told him. “Your dad just returned and now he’s holding this woman’s hand. They’re both smiling and each one is holding out a rose to you.”

“Just stop! Please. I don’t want to hear this,” Elliot insisted. “Just let me go to my room.”

After saying this, he pushed past Brandon and got the door open far enough to slip out. Then I heard his footsteps, as he stormed up the stairs.

“What’s wrong with him?” Graham asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Danny answered.

He left the family room too and was heading up the stairs. Danny went directly to Elliot’s room, but the door was locked. Danny knocked on it, but received no response.

“Elliot, please let me in. We need to talk,” Danny told him.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Elliot responded.

“Elliot, please open the door. I really think we need to discuss this,” Danny insisted.

“No!” was all he said in return.

Danny knew Elliot wasn’t about to change his mind, so he headed back downstairs. Instead of going back to the family room, he remained in the foyer, as he tried to come up with a way to approach Elliot. That’s when he noticed movement on the stairs. When he turned to look, Elliot was coming down in his gym shorts and running shoes.

“Elliot, we need to talk,” he told him.

“There’s nothing to talk about! I’m going for a run,” Elliot replied.

“No! You’re not going anywhere until we hash this out,” Danny countered. “You’re clearly upset and I don’t think you should be going out just now.”

Since Danny was between the door and him, Elliot saw no way he was getting past his father. Therefore, he turned around and went back upstairs, with Danny in hot pursuit. Elliot tried to lock the door again, but Danny prevented him from closing it before he could accomplish that task. Frustrated, Elliot threw himself onto the bed and lay face down.

“What’s up, sport?” Danny asked. “Why are you acting this way? This isn’t like you.”

“Just leave me alone. Please,” Elliot whined.

“Son, you know by now that you can tell Brandon and me anything,” Danny told him. “Just tell me what’s wrong. I’m sure you’ll feel better once you get it off your chest.”

“I can’t. I just want to go,” Elliot announced, as he attempted to get up and move past Danny again.

This time, Danny wrapped him in a powerful hug and held him against his chest. In part, this was meant to keep him from making a break for the door, but it was also meant to give him comfort.

“Look, you’re not going anywhere until you calm down,” Danny stated, gently. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know what’s going on here.”

Danny waited patiently for him to say something, but he never did. Finally, Danny felt he had to push the issue.

“Look, I don’t know what’s wrong,” he began, “but both of your parents seem to be supporting you. Graham’s had this ability for a long time now and he’s certain the roses are a very good sign.”

Elliot turned and looked at Danny, as he tried to gauge if he was telling the truth. After a few moments, he finally responded.

“I can’t believe that,” Elliot stated. “I’m sure she hates me, because I’m a bad son. I don’t miss her like I do my dad. Sometimes I go weeks, even months, without thinking of her.”

“I’m sure she understands that you don’t feel as strongly about her, because you never really had a chance to know your mother and your dad isn’t here to tell you about her,” Danny told him. “She’s just pleased to see that you’re happy and healthy. She knows you love her and she loves you too, even if those feeling aren’t as strong as they are for your father. She knows how you feel about her. She’s your mother. The person who gave you life.”

“Yeah, and it cost her hers,” Elliot replied, sarcastically.

“That doesn’t matter,” Danny told him. “I’ve met dozens of pregnant women through my work and I don’t think any of them would act any differently than yours did. It’s what moms do for their babies. It appears she’s obviously proud of you too or she wouldn’t have appeared to Graham, so he could relay her message. No one has ever come back to tell Graham they were upset with their loved on. They only do it to show their support and allow that person to go on with his own life.”

Elliot looked up and studied Danny’s face.

“Do you really think that’s what she’s doing?” he asked.

“I do or she wouldn’t have shown up carrying a rose,” Danny answered. “Maybe that’s why your father showed up when we were downstairs, so you’d know who she was and understand that they are together again and will always be with you.”

Elliot spent the next few minutes mulling over his father’s words. Eventually, he must have agreed that this was what his parents were trying to tell him, so he got up and hugged his father. He returned to the family room with Danny a few minutes later, but this time he was ready to listen to what Graham had to tell him.

Graham didn’t reveal much more to him, except that both Elliot’s parents were there and they seemed to be showing their support for their son. Finally, Elliot accepted this for what it was and lost his concerns that his mother was upset with him, because he didn’t have the same deep feelings for her, as he did for his father. I think this little encounter made him feel significantly better and helped him cope with some of the demons that had been lingering within his soul.

Now that this crisis had been handled, we went back outside and rejoined the others. No one asked where we’d gone or what we’d been doing, so we didn’t bring it up either, but Danny, Brandon and I did keep an eye on Elliot over the next hour.

Most of the extended family opted to leave before dinner, even though we told them they were welcome to stay. They then stated that they’d be attending the cookout the following day and providing them with one meal, along with today’s brunch, was more than enough. We still argued with them that one more meal wouldn’t break us, but they left anyways.

Once the rest of us finished eating, everyone agreed we should go to the movies. Since this was fine with me, it’s what we did. Elliot even asked if he could call Hayden and invite him to go with us, and his fathers told him that would be fine.

I didn’t think the selection was that great, but we ended up splitting up into four different theaters. Joshie wanted to see ‘Mr. Popper’s Penguins’ with Jim Carey, because he thought the penguins were cute. Therefore, Dion and Trey ended up taking him to see that movie. The rest of us split up between three different theaters and saw ‘Larry Crowne’ with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, ‘The Green Lantern’ or ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon.’

Jake went with me to see ‘The Green Lantern,’ and to my mild surprise, so did Ted and Gavin. We had chosen this movie, because I think I’d read every Green Lantern comic book as a kid and both Jake and I had watched the TV series with the same name. Now, we wanted to see how this film compared to the other two. Neither of us were blown away by it, but we didn’t hate it either, so I’d say that, overall, we enjoyed it.

Of course, Jesse, Elliot and Hayden went to see the Transformer movie, along with Elliot’s fathers. However, I understood they didn’t sit very close to each other, since Danny and Brandon had agreed to let the boys have their space. A few of the others also went to see that movie as well.

Most of the girls dragged their boyfriends off to see ‘Larry Crowne,’ but I wasn’t sure if they had chosen that particular movie because of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts or if they thought the storyline sounded good. Unfortunately, I could tell their boyfriends weren’t as excited about seeing it as the girls were.

Although Hayden had wanted to spend the night, his parents wouldn’t let him, so Danny and Brandon dropped him off on the way home. I know Elliot was disappointed too, because this meant Hayden wouldn’t be with us tomorrow either, but I could understand why his family wanted him to be with them for the holiday.

After we got back to the house, everyone went off to do his own thing, whether it was in the privacy of one of the bedrooms or with some of the others in one of the family areas. Whichever they chose, they seemed satisfied with their choices.