18 Weeks of Twoey - 55. Week Eight Saturday, October 25, 2014: Bronding

“Methinks you are my glass, and not my brother.”

CoE - WS

***

During our run, I found out Gary came in first and his JV also beat Dennis - Of course in Dennis, cuz it was an away race. I congratulated him and the win and mentioned it was probably ugly with all the hills. I told him we won. He was unnaturally quiet for the remainder of the time.

When we were finished, he asked, “Why didn't you tell me you beat Jacobs?”

“You know then, huh?”

“Jesus David, for a smart guy you're a little thick sometimes! It's all everybody is talking about. You've become a running superstar!”

I cringed. “Gary, I don't want to be a superstar and I don't want to rub my victory in, anywhere. OK? I love you too, OK?”

He chuckled and gave me a soft Gary punch on the arm. “You are a piece of work, my friend.”

I told him about my plans for the day and he said he'd see me at the game. “Sit near us!”

“I'm only 15, I can't watch X-rated stuff!” That got me another punch.

After showering I discovered a text from an unknown number on my phone. I usually delete those and never answer calls from numbers not in my contacts. The notification had the first line of the text though, and I saw Aunt Sarah. The text said:

< This is Aunt Sarah. Please call me! >

Aunt Sarah is my father’s sister. She only lives about an hour or two away. I remember her visiting a lot when I was a kid. If I remember correctly, her husband was Uncle Toby, who died when I was little. We never see Aunt Sarah anymore. I think she doesn’t like Tommy’s mother either. It’s too bad because I really liked her.

“Hi Aunt Sarah. This is David. What’s up?”

“David honey. I’m so glad you called me. Your Grampa said I should call you. Is something wrong?”

“No, everything’s fine! Um ...except my close friend died and another one was shot and is in the hospital, but he’s OK now and will be coming home ...actually today. Oh and the creepy church kid who was stalking my house and praying for me, but that’s all OK too cuz I threatened to kill him. Then Tommy’s mother is trying to poison me with her horrible food, but that’s OK too cuz a found a new mother who feeds me great food. Tommy’s mother doesn’t talk to me anymore but that’s OK cuz I don’t much like what she says, especially when she tells me who my friends can and can’t be, but that’s OK cuz I ignore her too. Oh yeah ...I’m in therapy for a bunch of stuff, but that’s OK cuz I like the doctor and he says I’m making progress. I forgot to tell you my girlfriend dumped me this week, but that’s OK cuz I didn’t really like her too much anyway. So, you see everything’s fine!”

There was a strange long pause. I thought maybe she hung up. “Are you still there Aunt Sarah?”

“Yes honey. I’m still here. I’m glad everything’s fine. I’ll probably be calling your dad to catch up with him too. I really miss seeing you. You know I love you.”

“I know Aunt Sarah. I miss you too. Thanks for asking me to call.”

“Ok honey. Keep my number. If you ever need me, just call. Goodbye honey.”

“Bye.”

That was a neat surprise. Well one more adult to add to my side. I checked the clock.

I saw there was lots of time, so I got in my yoga position on the bed, in my usual naked condition and started counting down. It only took five countdowns to be comfortably in my healing place. I sat next to Putin. “The computer trap was very good, my young friend. I think you'll catch the spy!” From a former KGB, it was good enough for me.

“Now you must change your strategy! It will confuse your enemies and make them fear you a little. This will ultimately work in your favor. This is not a brief campaign we are in. We need to think long term. First, you will not be confrontational if it is not necessary! If what they ask of you is merely tedious and doesn't make you break your spirit, then comply! Don't make an issue, just say yes and comply. No other words are necessary. Your lack of explanation will make your enemies try to fill their knowledge gap, but it will be with their own thoughts, and not yours. You will have confused them and forced them to reconsider their plans. That is good. It shows they are weak and you are strong. After this happens many times, they will be doing absurd things. You will be on the way to victory!”

He continued. “If they require you to do something which will break your spirit, simply refuse. Offer no explanation. Leave the room if you must. Make no scene. If they make a scene you can give them a strange look and shake your head, especially if there are others present. It will make you look strong and they will look weak. Do you understand what I am saying, my young friend?”

I smiled and said, “You bet. Thanks Vovochka!”

Leaving the matter in good hands, I turned my attention to Twoey's dollar and meeting Mike. I won't need a helper for this, just clear thinking. I envisioned the screen with the relationships which drove this conflict. There were four corners of a quadrilateral: Twoey, Me, Mike and Gary. But it was out of balance. There was a strong connection between Twoey and me, a strong connection between Gary and me, and a strong connection between Mike and Twoey. There was a weaker connection between Gary and Twoey and no connection at all between Mike with either me or Gary.

It looked ugly, and I knew it couldn't be stabilized in this configuration. So I called upon the screen to reconfigure into what could be stable. The vertices began spinning around, with the bonds stretching like rubber bands until everything stopped. Now I was looking at a ‘Y’ shape with me in the middle. Twoey was on the upper left point, Mike on the right and Gary below me. There was a strong bond between me and each other person, a strong bond across the top between Twoey and Mike, and weaker bonds between Gary and each of Twoey and Mike. The strong bond between me and Mike was red as was the weak bond between Gary and Mike.

I had to think for a while before I realized what the red bonds meant. They need to be created. There are no bonds there yet. So tomorrow’s job is going to be for me to start creating a strong bond with Mike. Gary's not there tomorrow, so it'll have to wait until I can get them together. I don't anticipate any trouble there at all. Gary makes friends with everyone. There will be a bond.

To bond with Mike is going to require me to give him the dollar back. No question about it. That's step one. Then he has to know I want him for a friend. I have to do that. He also has to know I want and expect him to become Twoey's brother, again. No question about it.

Which only leaves me with the dollar problem. Shit, we don't have a big enough dollar ...WAIT! OK, problem solved! I can't wait for tomorrow to arrive!

I returned to consciousness with a naked kid sitting yoga-style next to me. He bashfully smiled at me and said, “Good, you're back. Here eat this. We gotta go in an hour, it's one o'clock already.” Tommy had two PBJ sandwiches on a plate with a bottle of vitamin water.

“How long have you been sitting here?”

“Since ...mmm about 11”

“TWO HOURS? Why didn't you wake me up?”

“I figured you hada do whichever you were doin in there, specially cuz you'd spring a boner now and then ...musta been thinking about Twoey, huh?”

I just stared at him in disbelief. Then I started eating and told him to scram, but with a smile on my face. I finished eating, brushed my teeth, threw on some khakis and a polo and we were off to pick up Sam and Mark to head for the indoor mini-golf emporium.

Sam and Tommy were teamed against Mark and me. We had a blast, playing a five round tournament. Mark is just as touchy-feely as his brother Matty! It must be a family thing. He's a cute kid. He must be here a lot because he’s sure better than me. But he was joking and laughing all the time, trying to help me navigate the course.

“No! Take your shot when the blade is blocking the little door! By the time your ball gets there, it’ll be clear.

“Don’t pull the putter back so far!”

“Here, let me show you.” That was the one he used the most, usually standing behind me, putting his hands over mine on the club to change my grip or swing or whatever else I was doing wrong. My game even got a little better, but next to those three guys, I really sucked at this.

After the first four rounds we were all even. Sam's good!! He was making holes in one through windmills and clocks and all kinds of shit! It's a good thing I had Mark on my team or I would never have been tied after four rounds.

The fifth round was about to start when we broke for a drink. I was talking to Sam and he motioned with his eyes. So I looked in the direction he was pointing and there was Tommy and Mark over by the first tee. Tommy was talking real seriously to Mark and gesticulating with the putter. “I wonder what they're talking about?”

Sam said, “Ask Tommy tonight when you get home ...but not until.” Sam always says strange shit, but he's almost always right, so I just filed it away. When their conversation was ending, Sam and I walked over and started the final round. Wow, Mark was really serious and concentrating on each shot. He hardly talked to me at all. I mean, Jeez, this is a fun game! I don't give a shit who wins. But Mark was quiet the whole round. It didn't matter though, Sam is simply too good and we got beat by two strokes. Maybe it was the silly Scottish tam he was wearing.

After golf, we went to Kory's and had a good time. Tommy sat with Mark; Sam and I shared the other booth seat. Finally the awkward seriousness was over and we fell into our usual clowning around.

We walked to the game and found Gary and Mel. I sat next to Gary and Sam grabbed the seat next to me with Tommy and Mark next to him. Matty even showed up and sat next to his brother Mark. I spotted Wendy, Biggy’s new crush, and made a quick descent over fifteen bleacher rows to land next to her. I greeted her and told her to watch how good Biggy was. She never lost her huge smile. She’s really taken with him. I’m so excited for them.

I returned to a strange look from Gary, until I explained. He probably thought I was hitting on some random girl! Then he grinned big-time too. The football game, with Ron Grady as the right side wide receiver and Biggy on the left was a blowout. They just dominated the other team who couldn't figure out which one to cover. Every time they put double coverage on one, Larry threw to the other who would make a fantastic catch. With Greg smashing through the line anytime we needed a short gain, it was no contest.

After the game I made sure to go down on the field and bang Biggy's shoulder pad telling him he was just too good. He gave me a real, real smile. Then I congratulated anybody else I knew on the team.

Finally we got home, and as I was walking into my room I motioned Tommy in. “Well Tommy, how was bonding time? I had a ball.”

“Yeah, it was sweet. We shoulda been doing this lots already, way before today.”

“You're right brother, so we shouldn't stop now. We'll do it again in a couple of weeks.” He smiled at me. Of course, I knew I might not even be here in a couple of weeks. Then I asked, “Hey, what did you say to Mark just before the last round at mini-golf? You looked real serious.”

“Oh that. I just told him to stop hittin’ on you or I'd break his fingers and wrap my fucking putter around his neck.”

I stared at him as he smiled, kissed my cheek and went into his room.

Twoey

Shit! I never knew it was so complicated to get out of a hospital! The doctors had like a million instructions too. I hope Mom understood them, because I only caught half of what they were saying. The one big thing I heard was I had to stay inside for a few weeks! That makes no sense to me at all, but they were pretty insistent. So I go from one prison to another. At least I lose the IV guy. I even gave him a brief kiss goodbye! He didn’t return it though.

Home never felt so good. We got here about four and I was beat. It felt so good to be in my own bed, I fell immediately to sleep. Waking up a few hours later, Erik was sitting in my room, smiling at me.

“Erik! what are you doing here?”

“Watching you sleep.”

“That must have been boring. Wait a minute, I have to pee.”

It felt so nice getting out of my own bed and walking into my own bathroom and peeing into my own toilet ...well maybe that last thing was a bit too weird. I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I was rejuvenated! Erik and I walked into the kitchen and he even stayed for supper.

In fact he stayed all evening, as we watched some TV and talked. He and Mom hit it off pretty well. It felt nice having a friend around my first night at home. I was a lot less lonely than at the hospital. He even gave me a peck on the lips before he left.

“What’s happening between you and David?”

“It’s difficult for me Mom. I love him more each day. I’m sure he feels love for me, but he’s afraid of that very same love. I guess it’s why he’s in therapy.”

“You know Erik has feelings for you.”

“Yes.”

“How are you going to navigate between Erik and David?”

“I don’t know. I want it to be only David.”

“Then don’t kiss Erik.”

Mom’s right, of course.