Home Away From Home - 33. Chapter 33

The meeting with Doug Thornton was interesting. I'd judge him as a hard man on the outside but an old softy on the inside. At least I was counting on that being the case. “Your son has been tutoring our son and doing a fine job. Has he ever indicating an interest in teaching?”

“No. he hasn’t shown any interest in anything. His mother is a lot closer to him than I am. He’s 18 now so I think he'll sign up. There are no job prospects for him here.”

“Would you support him if he decides to get a college degree in teaching?”

“Yes, I think I would. The military is not really for him, it would be a choice of last resort.”

“Why would say that?”

“Carlo I think you know. The military is not for a gay man.”

“So, if I told you I could get him into a university on a scholarship, you would support that?”

“Yes, if it's something he wanted to do. But being a gay teacher has it’s limitations.”

“Yes, prejudice is hard to combat. Well, do you mind if I talk to him about becoming a teacher. He certainly has the knack for it, Carlos is moving fast.”

“Carlos, I thought his name was Chago.”

“No, when we adopted him we change his name. He’s very happy with his name change. You probably wouldn’t recognize him if you saw him now.”

We left the meeting on good terms and an agreement not only concerning his son but also the business with Tony’s firm. I thought it was a good afternoon.

“Hey, we’re home.” There were two guys glad to see us. Puppy as well as David. I had taken Larry with me to the meeting.

“Hey Pop” Then I had a young man jumping on me.

“How were the studies? Did you get a good grade on the tests that Doug gave you?”

“Yep, he said I did very well.”

“Good, any tea?” I noticed an improvement in his language the last two weeks. “Hey Doug, how is tutoring coming with Carlos?”

“He's doing very well. He really is a smart kid. I think he'll do well in class and you can enroll him at semester break. I’ll stay here and tutor him during that semester and then I guess I'll enlist.”

“I promised you a birthday present. Do you want it now?”

“Yes.”

“Ok let me get my tea. Puppy, I’m going to give Doug his birthday present. Can you go set up my table while I drink my tea?” I whispered, “Tell him to take a shower, wrap a towel around himself and pick an oil. I’ll be up in 10 minutes.”

“Do you want me to stay?”

“Yes, we have some business to discuss.”

I heard him call Doug and then I heard the footsteps on the staircase. I grabbed a snack to eat with my tea. When I heard the shower start, I went to our bedroom where I had the table set up. I gave Puppy a massage last night and just left the table up.

“I should take one of the other bedrooms and set up the table on a permanent basis. What do you think?”

“You could do that or we could build a sunroom off the kitchen and you could give massages there.”

“I’m not sure about off the kitchen. But we could put a sun room off the pool.”

“We don’t have a pool.”

“But I have a construction company. We have the space and Dad just bought this place. So should we do it? Good they start tomorrow. It was going to be a surprise for you.”

I got a big kiss out of that. It probably would've been a true make out session, but we heard the shower turn off and figured we should stop. “Want to bet he rubbed one off.”

“No. I’d lose.”

We were chuckling, “What's funny?”

“Nothing concerning you, I just told Puppy his surprise. Now drop the towel and get on the table face down.” Puppy and I noticed his appendage that made him male. I looked at Puppy and mouthed, ‘not bad’.

As I began the massage, “I talked to your dad today and he's glad that you want to be a teacher. He didn’t really feel the service was best for you being gay.” I felt the tension in his shoulders when I said that. “So, he's willing to support the idea of you going to college and becoming a teacher. I’ll arrange a scholarship for you at the University Puppy, Roy, Joe and I attended. It’s a very good school and the teachers are some of the best in the world. If you study, you’ll not only become an excellent teacher but you’ll learn teaching techniques not taught anywhere else.”

“Carlo is right. This school’s top notch. They have dorms so you will stay on campus and like stories you might have heard about cafeteria food, their’s provide class A food. Even the college staff eat there. Their sport program is lacking, only because they have no school close to enter into competition. However, you'll enjoy any sport program you choose that they offer.”

“Puppy, I think he has fallen asleep. I haven’t done his front yet.”

“I’ll help you to place him in our bed.”

Leaving him to sleep, we went and had another cup of tea while we discuss the swimming pool. We met up with Joe and Larry having a coffee. “Hey guys, good news. Doug will be going to school so I hope you'll take him under your wing. And we're going to put in a swimming pool.”

“Your dad called. They'll be over next week. Roy and I will go back with them. I still have a business to run, I have several pictures that need to be painted and Roy has his accounting clients to see.”

“What do you guys do?” I didn't see Dan when I came into the kitchen.

“I have an art gallery that does very well. I display and sell a lot of my paintings there. Roy has his own private accounting business. He's a CPA and has a few business accounts, as well as personal accounts. He has his office in our home. That's also where I have my studio.”

“That sounds great. I wouldn’t mind having a business some day.”

“Well, Dan, you can always go to school to learn.”

“Maybe I’ll be a masseur like you. I'd only massage gay guys, no women.”

We were laughing when David entered . “What's so funny?”

“Dan was telling us what he would like to do for a living. He wants to be a gay masseur and no women.”

When Joe and Roy leave I will miss them. They are close to our age and we were close while we were in college. They are like the brothers we never had.

“We're going to have a swimming pool. Carlo has already got it in motion. We need to pick a spot for it.”

“I got just the right spot, overlooking the ocean.”

We all nodded picturing that in our head. The back property extends to a cliff that overlooks the ocean. The ocean is quite far away from the cliff, but you can see it in the background and that would be a perfect backdrop for a pool. “That would be great and I can set up my massage table in the pool cabana.”

“You know what would really be great. If we could somehow have one wall of glass and a large fish tank with fishes. Then it would be like swimming with the fishes, a project for Mario.”

Then we decided to include a large fish tank on one side of the pool, a diving board, a cabana, a pool house with showers and a storage place for towels. “We need to put all of this down and Joe, if you could render a sketch, I can show it to the builder tomorrow.”

Hey sleepy, did you have a nice nap?”

“I was so relax I fell asleep. Does that happen often?”

“It happens. Everyone here fell asleep the first time and some even more. Next time we’ll start with the front and you won’t fall asleep till I do your back.”

“When will that be?”

We all chuckled. “I understand you'll be joining us in Wyoming?”

“Yes, but that place is cold, right.”

“Don’t worry the first year is the hardest. But we’ll see that you have enough warm clothes.”

“I hope we get the pool finished before Mom and Dad get here. Did they say when they were coming?”

“Your dad said in a couple month. He wanted Doc to know because he expects some Italian food.”

“I should send him a note to bring items the PX doesn’t handle.”

“I bet you could get the PX to order for you.”

“That’s a good idea, I’ll try that before I tell Dad.”

“I’m going to take a nap. I have a 24 starting at 12 tonight.”

“I’ll tuck you in.”

There were a lot of laughs and innuendos shouting at us as we headed for the bedroom. “You know from the Captains Walk, we'll be able to see the pool.”

“I can’t wait for the pool to be finish. Can I have a massage. It really helps me get that deep sleep I need for a 24 hour pull.”

He got his deep massage as well as a relaxing loving. He was sound asleep when I moved him from the table to the bed. It was warm, so I kissed him and covered him with a sheet. I'd stay up to see him off and be awake when he comes home. I’ll give him another massage to work out the 24 hour kinks. Sometimes before the massage, we’ll have a cup of tea while he tells me about some of his patients. No names, but general conversations.

I sat in the dining room going through my reports. “Who's cooking tonight?”

“I think it’s Larry and David’s turn. Maybe we should hire a cook. Just for week days, not the week-ends. Didn’t your dad say we'd have a staff and grounds crew?”

“Yes, but we arrived earlier than plan. I thought with all of us, we didn’t need a staff. It would infringe on our privacy.”

“That’s true. It would help to have a someone, or place, where we could take our clothes to be cleaned and pressed.”

“That would be a good idea.”

“What would be a good idea?”

“Doug, you popped in at the right time. Has your dad said anything abut the bus?”

“Bus? Oh you mean the van.”

“Yes”

“He said it should be ready next week. They put a new motor in it and some other stuff. He said it's better than brand new.”

After the first month, life settled down into a routine. Mario kept us supplied with fish and lobster. I was afraid he'd eliminate all of the seafood in that section of the ocean. He came home one day after being out all day, I assumed diving, but later found out he had scored a photograph assignment. He received his check and was very pleased. “The best news is, they want more. “I think if Tony let’s me, I’m going to resign. I enjoyed working with you all, but this is my career and being a body guard has a limited time.”

“You don’t have to feel bad about leaving Mario. This is your career, although we'll miss the fresh fish and lobsters. Have you notified Tony?”

“I thought I would do that when he's here. I have some more photography to do off the coast, so I’ll be busy.”

“We're happy for you. Be sure to send us pictures. Joe, you might be able to show his pictures in your gallery.”

“That's a great idea. Mario, if you can send us the negatives, we'll have blow up’s made and shown in the gallery. You can price them, if they sell, we take 15 % and you get the rest. Depending on the number or requests, we may need to make more. You'll have to sign each print. What do you say?”

“It’s a deal. I have several photos that the magazine didn’t want. But I think they're great.”

“I’ll bet that it won’t before long Joe will be painting those photos.”

“The pool is almost finished, Mario before you leave we have to set up the fish tank. You also need to tell us what we need to have to feed them.”

“Yea, I can do that. We need to get some ocean water to fill the tank and then a way to seal it while making sure the water is aerated.”

“That is your forte, tell me what you need, I'll see that we get it.”

It took another 3 weeks before the pool was complete. It looked fantastic and I knew Tony and Rita would be amazed at what was done. “Tony and Rita will be here tomorrow. Let’s not say anything about the pool. Play it cool.”

“Good, I’ll get some lobsters. Do you want lobsters in the fish tank?”

“Yes, That would be cool.”

“What is Doc’s schedule? Will he get some time off?”

“Generally he gets a day and half off after pulling a 24 hour schedule. But part of that time is giving him a massage so he can sleep. So he only has one day, unless he has a different shift.”

“Doesn’t he sleep there at all?”

“They have a lounge that the doctors used, but it isn’t a good sleep. He”s on call and must be able to react on a moment’s notice. His best sleep is after a massage.”

“Yea, I can attest to that. Your massages really relaxes you.”

“Is that a hint?”

“Well, I wouldn’t turn one down.”

“Ok, meet me in the cabana in 30 minutes.”

“This is cool. Having a cabana by the pool for massages is really plush. Do you think Rita will want one in her new Resort.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Just as we finished, we were called to dinner. The fish was grilled and very good. After all the dishes were put away, we all separated. I went to my bedroom where I had mine and Puppy’s office. I took a corner of the room and had two desks and chairs installed. Desks facing each other so that if we both were there, I could look at him in front of me. Next to the desks we had two drawer file cabinets. I started to work on reports for Tony, updated the progress on projects. I grew tired but Puppy wasn’t home yet. I went to the kitchen for a cup of tea. “Joe, why are you up so late?”

“Roy wants to stay longer. He thinks he can handle his business from here.”

“Look, this place has a charm, but you two are married. Why don’t you propose that you go home for a month and then return for a few weeks. Do this, you get both worlds. Tony will be flying over a lot, you can come with him. Puppy and I consider you two closer than if we had real brothers. We may not be blood brothers, but in a way we are. We would like to see both of you often. Don’t let this be a big issue.”

“It won’t. I’m sorry Joe. It’s just that this feels like family. I don’t want to lose that or you. I like the idea of frequent visits. Maybe you could paint here and I could handle the little stuff. Let’s work it out.”

I watched as these two brothers, kiss and head to bed. I wonder how Larry and David feel, their assignment is a little different. Maybe they would like some alone time once in a while.

Time seems to fly when you are not focusing on it. Tony and Rita were due to arrive this morning, We prepared their room on the second floor but knew if they wanted the one of the other rooms, we could change without a problem. Brenda had given us a name of a woman to cook for us but she didn't show up the first day and didn’t appear to enthusiastic when she knew she had to cook for so many. We decided we'd cook ourselves. As to house cleaning, we agreed to take turns. We were pretty neat guys, gays are always neat, it's the straight guys who are messy. Dan pitched in and said he'd handle the laundry. We were set.

Carlos was bouncy around. ”Carlos, settle down. You keep bouncing you’ll get hurt,”

“I can’t wait to meet my grandparents.” I guess I understood a little, coming from nothing to a family is a big step. I laughed, he was dressed to the nines. “Who dressed you?”

“Larry laid out my clothes, I dressed my self.”

“Is your room clean? Grandmother is going to want to see your room.”

He shook his head yes, I looked at Larry he nodded yes as well.

“OK, guys. Who is coming with me to the airport?” You can bet it would be Carlos and our security minus Mario.

“Doug’s dad did a good job on this van. The new paint job really helps.”

“He told the guys that this was the new Doc’s. He said that’s all it took.”

“What time will Doc be home today?”

“He should be home at 6, in time for dinner. He reports at 4 tomorrow for the second shift at the hospital.”

“Does he talk about his cases?”

“Yes, he does, but he doesn’t tell me their names. Just like ‘I had a patient today that we operated on to remove his appendix’ or we lost a patient today; he had cancer. I don’t want to know their names, I asked so I can better provide comfort for him. Doctors have to make hard decisions, sometime life and death decisions. I want him to know I’m there for him and will support him.”

“So he gets a lot of massages”

“Oh yea” laughing.

“Carlos are you excited?”

“Yes, I’m a little nervous. What if they don’t like me?”

“What is your full name?”

“Carlos Tomas Romano Wyman.”

“Right who are your parents?”

“Carlo Tomas Wyman Romano and Anthony Marco Romano Wyman.”

“Now, if you have that name, who is going to say they won’t love you. Who dare say that.”

We heard the giggles as Larry tickled him.