The Castaway Hotel - 8 - 1. Chapter 1 - Seeing Green

Since Vinnie returned home, he and Kevin spent most of their time making up. Seeing things were pretty much normal again, I felt I could leave them alone and go with Jake to run a few errands. When we returned home later, Andrew rushed out to greet us. He was all excited because he had been talking to Barry, the boy he had met on our camping trip, and once we entered the house, he filled me in about something he was told during their conversation.

“Dad, Barry said his father is going to call you soon, so be ready,” he advised me. No sooner had the words escaped his lips than the phone rang. I answered it immediately.

“Hello.”

“Hello, may I speak with Josh Currie please?” the voice on the other end said.

“This is he,” I replied.

“Josh, this is Farrell Flannery. My family and I spent some time on an island with you this past summer, waiting out a storm. I hope you haven’t forgotten us already.”

“No, Farrell, I haven’t forgotten and vividly remember each of you. What might I do for you?” There was a momentary hesitation on the other end of the line and I wondered if it had something to do with the way I phrased my question. I soon realized that was probably the case, because of the way he worded his response.

“Hopefully, it’s something we might be able to do for you,” he advised me. “You know Barry and Andrew have kept in contact since the camping trip.”

“Yes, I’ve been aware of it,” I confirmed, while wondering what he was getting at.

“Well, Barry would like your family to participate in the St. Patrick’s Day parade with him. It will be held here, in Chicago,” Farrell informed me. “You see, the parent company I work for is headquartered in Ireland and they always sponsor a huge float in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. I was going to have Barry ask some of his friends from school to dress as leprechauns and ride on the float this year, but he seems to have his mind made up that he’d rather see if your boys would prefer to do this with him instead.” Farrell paused after saying this, to gauge my reaction, but since he didn’t hear any negative response, he continued.

“I know this is short notice,” he continued, “but I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for a couple of weeks now. Andrew said you were consumed by other matters at the time, so what do you say? We’ll even put you up. If you could come early, that would be even better and give our sons a chance to spend some time together.”

“It does sound interesting,” I told him, “and my sons haven’t done anything like that before. I must admit, I do love a good St. Patrick’s Day parade, but it depends on when it’s going to be held.”

“It will be a week from this coming Saturday, on the thirteenth,” he informed me. “I’ll understand if you can’t make it this year, because of the short notice, but if not, I want you to promise you’ll reserve next year’s date to attend.” I looked at my calendar quickly, to see if we had anything scheduled for the thirteenth that would prevent us from attending.

“It just happens that we have a four-day weekend then,” I informed him. “The boys have Friday off because of parent conferences and Monday they don’t have classes, because it’s a teacher workday.”

“Will that take you away from talking to your sons’ teachers?” he wanted to know. I guess he didn’t understand my situation.

“No, it won’t,” I offered. “I take it you aren’t aware of my position, but I’m superintendent for the local school district. My job allows me to speak with my sons’ teachers any time, so that won’t be a problem.” There was a short pause before he said anything more.

“I guess that’s good then,” he responded, somewhat confused or possibly overwhelmed by my revelation. “Then you’ll join us?” he added.

“That depends,” I shot back quickly. “Are there any age or size limitations on these leprechauns?” He chuckled.

“We have a very liberal policy concerning the leprechauns,” he stated. “I even dressed up as one a few years ago.” He laughed again.

“Well, I do have seven boys at home, from my eighth grader, Andrew, on up to a couple of high school seniors. If you remember, one of them is on crutches, so I hope that won’t create a problem. I also have an exchange student from Australia living with us and hope it’s all right to bring him along too, if we decide to come.”

“Bringing your exchange student along will be fine and the leprechauns don’t generally speak, so his accent won’t arouse suspicion.” Farrell laughed after saying this, while thinking of a leprechaun with an Australian accent. “I can also arrange for your son on crutches to sit on the float, near the side, so he can still throw goodies to the crowd.

“We also have a large collection of costumes they can try on, in assorted sizes,” he assured me. “We try to have ten to twelve leprechauns on the float, so I’ll have Barry ask a few of his friends too, to make up the difference, unless you and the other father would like to fill in?”

“Oh, no thank you,” I replied, quickly. I dreaded the thought of Jake and I dressed up as oversized leprechauns. “I’ll check with the boys though, to see if they want to do this, and then I’ll call you back, to give you our answer.” I put my hand over the mouthpiece, so I could ask Andrew a question.

“You do have Barry’s phone number, right?” He nodded that he did.

“Do you have my number?” Farrell asked, almost at the same moment.

“Yes, I do,” I informed him.

“Great!” he exclaimed. “Tell the boys they’ll be throwing candy and a few other trinkets to the children along the parade route. I think they’ll enjoy that.”

Farrell and I stayed on the line and discussed a few other items, before I thanked him for his call and hung up. Once I was off the phone, I sent Andrew to round up the boys, so I could see if they were interested in being in the parade.

When I first mentioned the idea to them and explained they’d be leprechauns, the older ones laughed and said, “Yeah, right,” or “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Undeterred, I continued and pointed out this was a major parade, at least as far as anything we’d ever been part of. I also told them they’d be tossing items from the float to the children lining the street and this tidbit seemed to interest them. They liked the idea of tossing candy and various items to other kids along the way and were suddenly more agreeable to discussing this further.

“Are we going to be able to see some of the other sights if we go?” Trey wanted to know. “I wouldn’t mind going up the Sears Tower.”

“Yes, Mr. Flannery mentioned doing some sightseeing too,” I replied, after which I noticed a few more pleased expressions.

“We don’t celebrate this saint’s day in Australia,” Peter informed me. “So what is it all about?”

I quickly gave him the abbreviated rundown about St. Patrick. I explained he was Ireland’s patron saint and supposedly responsible for driving all of the snakes out of the country. I also advised him that many non-Irish people also dress in green for this occasion and it often turns into quite a party.

“What does it mean if we agree to be leprechauns?” Peter pressed.

As I started to explain the concept to him, Andrew raced out to the kitchen and came back carrying a box of Lucky Charms. “It means you’ll dress like this,” he stated, while pointing at the picture on the box.

“No bloody way I’m dressing like that!” Peter exclaimed. “I’d look bloody ridiculous.”

“No one’s going to know us there,” Dion responded, “and what would look more ridiculous than me dressed as a leprechaun? I don’t think they have any black leprechauns in Ireland, but I’m willing to do it. I think it will be fun.” Peter thought about it for a few seconds and then responded.

“Well, I don’t have any mates here and won’t know any other blokes, other than all of you, so if you’re going to do it, then I will too. That is, as long as no one nags about me having the wrong accent.”

“That won’t happen,” I assured him, “and you won’t be required to speak. However, your accent probably comes closer to an Irish accent than any of ours.” Peter laughed after he thought about it.

“We could practice and come up with an Irish accent, if you want us to,” he suggested.

“You boys can, if you’d like, but it isn’t required,” I answered.

“I’m willing to be in the parade then,” Peter agreed. “Besides, I’ll get to see more of your country, so I guess it will be worth looking like a bloody fool.”

The other boys chuckled at his statement, but I suspect they all had similar feelings about getting dressed up this way. I doubted they’d be willing to do it if the parade were being held closer to home, where people they knew might see them, but since it was in Chicago, they felt fairly safe that there would be no repercussions.

“Where are we going to stay?” Andrew asked.

“I’m not sure, but Barry’s father did say he’d put us up, if we agreed to come,” I replied. “I’m not sure what that means, but I’ll ask for more details when I call him back, if everyone agrees to do this.”

The boys were all nodding their heads or responding in the affirmative, so it looked as if they were going to go along with the plan. Since I had their approval, I told them we would leave Thursday afternoon, after classes ended for the day. That would, in turn, leave us more time to check out Chicago. Since this had now been settled, I called Farrell back to inform him of our decision.

“Hello,” I heard a female voice answer.

“Hello, this is Josh Currie,” I informed her. “How are you?”

“Oh, Josh, it’s so nice to hear your voice again,” she answered. “I hope your family is well.”

“Yes, they are and eager to come see your lovely city,” I responded. “That’s why I’m calling, to give Farrell the good news. Is he available?”

“Yes, he is Josh. Just one second please,” came her reply, and then there was a slight delay until Farrell got to the phone.

“Josh, thank you for getting back to me so promptly,” he answered. “From my wife’s reaction, I think I know what you and your boys have decided. I take it they’re willing to do this with us.”

“The boys are looking forward to being on your float,” I said. “We’re thinking of leaving on Thursday, the eleventh, once the boys get out of school. We’ll drive partway there and get a room Thursday night, and then we’ll make the rest of the drive and meet up with you on Friday.”

“That would work out nicely,” he hummed in response. “Is there anything I can do to help out or make this easier for you?”

“Yes, there is,” I informed him. “Would you please do me the favor of making reservations at a hotel for us for Friday and Saturday nights? Three rooms with two queen or king-size beds in each would work nicely.”

“Josh, if your boys don’t mind roughing it a bit, but nothing too drastic, you could all stay with us,” he offered.

“That’s very kind of you, but I’m not sure your house could survive so many guests,” I added, “especially my boys.” I didn’t want him to think they were ruffians or anything, but he had already seen them in semi-action on the camping trip.

“But my family would be more than happy to accommodate yours,” he reiterated, trying to convince me of his sincerity.

“You’d have to have a pretty big place to do that,” I responded. “We can fit in three double-rooms in a hotel, but we’d probably need six rooms at your house, or a very large room where we could camp out on the floor.” I heard a sudden intake of air on the other end.

“We’d never allow you to sleep on the floor,” he stated, shocked and apologetic, “but if you’d prefer hotel rooms, I’ll have the company cover the bill for them.”

“You don’t need to do that,” I quickly countered. “We can pay our own way.”

“Nonsense,” was his comeback. “I’ll put it on the company’s expense account, since you’re doing this for them. I’ll have them cover both evenings and my family will take you out to dinner both nights.”

“Tell you what,” I told him. “You may cover one night at the hotel and take us out one evening to dinner, but no more than that. I will pay for the second night and you will allow us to take your family out to dinner that evening, or we may have to reconsider this.” I heard him clear his throat slightly, before responding.

“Josh, you are a tough man to deal with, but I’ll go along with your proposal, if you’ll agree to let my family show you around Chicago too,” he added. “Have you and your boys ever visited our fine city before?”

“Not that I remember,” I replied, since I sometimes have difficulty remembering what areas I’ve visited or whether I did it with my first or second family.

“Great, then it’s set. You’ll be able to head back on Sunday, if you wish,” Farrell pointed out. “That way you’ll have Monday to rest up, before you return to work or school.”

“That sounds like a plan, Farrell,” I agreed. “I’ll tell the boys and we’ll see you Friday.”

“Great, Josh, and this will make Barry very happy.” We ended our conversation and I told Andrew our plans. Although he had heard most of it already, since he was standing beside me the entire time, he was thrilled by the prospect of seeing Barry again. It also didn’t take him long to rush off and fill his brothers in about my conversation.

Over the intervening days, we returned to our normal routines. I think everyone was looking forward to this new experience, but some of the boys were more eager than the others. Andrew was obviously one of those, but others had different reasons for anticipating this event.

Since he returned, Vinnie had been struggling to make up all the work he had missed while he had been gone, so he was glad to do something other than schoolwork for a few days. He had been moaning about all he had to do, but I was actually enjoying watching him suffer. I think his teachers took my words to heart and really piled the assignments on him, maybe even more than he’d actually missed. However, seeing him having to work so hard to get caught up, I knew it would be quite some time before he’d do anything so foolish again.

Although all of the boys were looking forward to seeing Chicago, Peter and Trey seemed to be the most enthusiastic about doing this. Trey even did some research and pointed out a few places he’d like to visit. I told him I’d see what I could do and that seemed to suffice.

During this time, I also got another email from Nick. It seems he had just returned from his second trip and wanted to let me know how it went.

Hi Pop,

I just got back from the tour of the Amazon and it was really wild. It started in Manaus and I got to see the city first, but it was a lot like my tour of Rio, just not as nice. The fun began the next day, when we left on the boat. We took off from one of the floating docks on the river.

Along the way, we passed a floating market and some really huge lumber mills. I guess those places cut up all the trees that get chopped down in the rainforest. Later, we passed a river village where the Caboclos live. That’s the name for the local people down here. Anyway, they live in houses built on stilts, so they don’t flood or get washed away during the rainy season. I got to spend the night with one of the families there and slept in a hammock. It wasn’t as easy as I thought and I fell out a few times while getting used to it. The family laughed at me, but I didn’t mind though and it was really wild staying with them.

The next day, we got back on the boat and I got to see a bunch of boto, which are Amazon River dolphins. There were also lots of giant water lilies and I even got to go piranha fishing. That was neat, but I had to be really careful. The piranha can still be dangerous, even out of the water, at least for a short time.

That night I also got to go on an alligator-flashing trip. That’s where you go out in a boat in the dark and the guide flashes the alligators with his flashlight, so everyone can see them. Don’t worry, it was really safe for us AND the alligators. hehehe

The next day we took a walk in the jungle and it was really cool. We saw all kinds of monkeys, some really colorful butterflies, some macaws (those are birds, kind of like a parrot – you know, like on the Fruit Loop commercials :-P), and some strange frogs and caimans, which are a type of crocodile. I even got to take a canoe ride up some of the creeks and smaller rivers that empty into the Amazon. It reminded me of the vacation you told me you took with the rest of the family.

That afternoon we went to a market where some of the local Indians were selling stuff they made. I got to know one of the native men pretty well, after I negotiated a price with him on a mounted piranha. I bought it, so I could bring it home to show all of you. The man’s son was working with him, so I started to talk with him afterward. We got to really like each other; so later he and his father invited me to go with them to their village for the night. It wasn’t easy talking the tour guide into letting me do this, but he eventually did and I was glad.

It was really strange, though. They live in these huts way out in the jungle and no one wears much clothing. They only do that when they go to the market to sell the things they make, so they don’t offend the people they’re trying to get to buy them. Most of the children run around completely naked, while the men just wear loincloths and the women wear something like a skirt, but nothing on top, so their boobs are uncovered.

Anyway, I had fun staying with them and I ran around naked all night too. My being cut made them ask many questions about why my penis looked different than theirs, so I tried to explain it to them. I actually grabbed some of the boys’ cocks and skinned them back; just to show them it really wasn’t different. A couple of them even popped boners when I did it, so later we got together again and jerked each other off.

The next day I went back and met up with the tour group. When I did, we got back on the boat and went to check out a bunch of islands that sit in the middle of the river. When we stopped at these islands, we all got to wander around and were given a chance to check out the beaches and spend some time on them. It was soooo different from the beaches at Rio and I almost felt like I was one of the first people to ever be there.

I’m heading back to Sao Paulo now, and I’m going to take my host brothers on the next trip with me, to Iguacu Falls. I’ll be home in a few weeks, so I’ll see you then. This being an exchange student has been really awesome, so thanks for helping me get accepted. I probably would never have thought of doing such a thing, if it wasn’t for you and Ricky.

Tell everyone I send my love, especially Shannon, and I can’t wait to get back there and show you everything from down here.

Love you all,
Nick

I found his email very upbeat and was glad to see Nick was enjoying himself so much. It looked as if he made sure to get to do as many things as he could, besides the traditional exchange student activities. Not only that, but I see he even managed to do a few things outside the scope of a traditional tour too – like staying in that Indian village. I hope he took some pictures.

I shared his email with Jake and the boys, who seemed to be as interested in it as I was. I want to have a discussion with Shannon the next time he’s home, just to make sure he understands that Nick operates on a moral plain different from our own. I’ve tried to get Nick to change, but he always reverts back to his former ways, so I’m not sure he will ever reform. By speaking with Shannon about this, I hope it will prevent him from getting hurt, as some of the others have been by Nick. As long as Shannon realizes this fact and is willing to accept it, maybe he can enjoy the time they are together, without being devastated by Nick’s dallying ways.