Home Away From Home - 41. Chapter 41

When we got to the villas, Charles had everything sorted. One of the Disney staff led us to our rooms. He handed us brochures that told us about Disney, places to eat and the rides in each park. The kids went out on the balcony, “Dad, look there are animals here.” Tony was excited. Of course, we had to go out and there was a giraffe walking nonchalantly around the grounds.

But nothing beats the next morning. Charles had booked ‘Breakfast with Disney’ for us. It started off with everyone being given a menu. I nudged Puppy, he looked up and saw Mickey come walking up to the table. Tony was the first to see him. His mouth dropped open, stuttering, “Mickey.” That caused the other kids to look. Joe started to snap pictures as Mickey gave each of the kids a hug. Puppy stood up and wanted a picture with Mickey as well. He also got a hug. The kids had a big smile on their faces. Before breakfast was finish, Maria spotted Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

“Dad, is she going to come here?”

“I think so.”

“Isn’t she pretty?”

“Yes, but not as pretty as you Marie.”

“Thanks Pop, but you are suppose to say that.” He reached over and tickled her.

Alice did make it to our table and pictures were taken again, not only with Maria but also Carlos and Douglas. I think some of our security wanted pictures as well.

After breakfast we were off to the parks. At the end of the seven day, we hit all of the parks and a few twice. I bought two additional suitcases to take all of the souvenirs and clothes home. Going home was very quiet. I think all three kids slept most of the way.

“I think the high light of each day were the Breakfasts with Disney. Even you enjoyed them, Puppy.”

“We'll relive this trip over and over you watch.”

We were met at the base by Colonel Haskins. He was thrilled to see his son, “I’ll bring him over tomorrow morning if that's ok?”

“Yes, that'll be fine. Douglas, do you want us to take your suitcases with us?”

“Yes, I'd appreciate you taking this one. I’ll bring the other one with me in the morning.”

We said goodbye to Douglas and the Colonel, boarded the bus and headed home. “Brian, it was nice of you to meet us with the bus.”

“Your dad need some things at the PX, so we have been using it while you were gone. Al and I took them on a tour of the Island, well we took them part way, then we had to return to duty so Jimmy and Chris took them the rest of the way. They are cool people and boy can your mother cook. If she wasn’t married, I’d marry her just for her cooking.”

“Don’t let Dad hear you say that. He idolizes my mom.”

“Yes, you can see it. How was the trip?”

That did it, three kids all trying to talk at once. Puppy looked at me and we smiled. There was no question that the trip was a success. “I wonder what you're going to do next year.”

“Let’s wait until next year to discuss that. A lot could happen in a year's time.”

It took 3 days for the kids to settle down. I think Mom and Dad were just as excited listening to the kids as we were. “Puppy, how many times have we heard these stories?”

“I don’t know but each time one of the guys asked the kids about their surprise, we hear the stories again. Did you notice they seem to grow a little?”

I laughed, “That's human nature. If you listen carefully, you'll know what they wished happen.”

It took about a week for things to return to normal. “Larry, didn’t you say you had a degree in business management?”

“Yes, why?”

“I was thinking of expanding my business staff. Now that I have a larger area, I think I need help managing that area, I have Doug who has taken on some of the load, but Charles is becoming overloaded. Do you think you would like to help him?”

“Does that mean I wouldn't be part of the security force?”

“Yes, you can’t do two things. Of course, if we came under attack, I'd expect you to help defend our home.”

“What about David?”

“Head Chef”

“When do you need an answer?”

“How about in 1 hour.”

Larry laughed, “I hour?”

I nodded my head yes. I already had discussed this with Tony. He agreed and said he'd provide replacements for David and Larry.

I fixed myself a cup of tea and headed to the pool. Douglas was swimming with one of the base guys, I think his name was Marvin, they called him Marv.

I was drinking my tea and keeping my eye on my watch. Puppy and I had a bet, I said it would take 15 minutes, he said it would take at least 30. I already lost my bet, now we’ll see if Puppy is correct. I was getting up to get another cup of tea, when I literally bumped into Larry.

“Carlo, I talked your offer over with David. The question we have, will we still be a part of your household and not in the capacity of being hired help?”

“Larry, you and David have been with us the longest. You know Puppy and I consider you both to be brothers, just like we do Joe and Roy. We'd be very disappointed if your left this house. I recognize the need to have your own place and your desire to adopt. If I can build residences for my family, I could build one for you, David, and your family as well.”

I saw tears in Larry’s eyes and looking behind him there was David wiping his eyes. “So I take that as a yes?”

Larry and David didn’t answer. Didn’t have to the hugs that followed spoke a thousand words. I did lose the bet with Puppy.

I told Charles that Larry would assist him and I told the rest of the guys that David was now in charge of the kitchen. I called Tony and brought him up to date.

“Carlos, how do you think your group would react to an African-American?”

“That's hard to say, I know how Puppy and I would react. We'd have only one question, is he qualified as a security agent.”

“There's one guy on the base who’s enlistment is up in one month. He's more than qualified.”

“He has no ties back home?”

“Not according to his records.”

“There have been no African-Americans that come here when they are off duty. Do you know why?”

“I don’t. What are you thinking?”

“It just seems strange, with all of guys coming here, no single African-American has made a visit. I'd like to know why. I or Puppy has never turned anyone away. Can you do some more digging?”

“Will you be ok until I find the answer to your concerns?”

“Yes, we normally have at minimum 6 to 8 guys here all the time. I’m sure they would defend this place like home.”

You never notice an oddity until someone mentions it. Then you review the past and realize that the oddity existed all of the time.

Larry took his new job like a duck to water. He must have excelled in college. Charles had a smile on his face more now, instead the haggard look of being over worked. Doug had arranged to get a piano and now we had music thanks to Troy. Even a few sing-a-longs and some of the guys had a great voice. I did ask Troy to give piano lessons to Maria. She'd sit next to him when he played.

Tony did get back to me about my concerns. It seemed like the base was divided into two groups, not intentionally but people of the same ethnic background seemed to feel more comfortable among their own kind. I told Tony that's about to end. At first he didn’t fully understand until I explained. I knew that the first time an African-American came to the house and were made to feel welcome, more would come. It's only human nature to avoid a perceived hurt.

It was 3 weeks later, Marcus came and presented himself to us as the new security replacement for Larry. I asked Larry to show him the ropes, introduce him to the staff and give him a tour of the facility. Two days later he moved into the house. He was wowed with the pool and the fish tank. He hit it off with my dad when he started to talk about farms and gardens. At the end of three months, no one noticed any difference, essentially everyone became colored blind.

On one of Tony’s visit he asked how Marcus was working out. I told him he was fine. The guys accepted him and he was providing security for Puppy. “In fact we had two Afro-Americans come to the house on their two day leave. I think we’ll see more. We may have broken the cliques at the base as well.”

Time really flies, school started, the kids were anxious to get back to school, Carlos asked if he could invites some school friends over for a swim. He was a freshman and social groups among kids in high school is very important. We limited it to no more than 5. It just so happened that the first day they came we had 10 base guys on site. I think the kids were a little scared until one of the guys picked up Carlos and threw him into the pool. That was when they noticed the fish tank, instant popularity.

The following Monday Carlos came home from school, “Pop, everyone at school was talking about our pool and fish tank. Now the whole class wants to come.”

Laying in bed with Puppy, “Carlos was a big hit at school today. I guess the word got out about our fish tank. He said the whole school wants to come and see it.”

“Don’t be surprised if you get a call from a teacher asking to make a class trip.”

For some people life can become boring, the same routine day in and day out. That never happened for Puppy and I. In many ways there are days when we wish there was a little routine, just knowing ahead of time what was going to happen or what we were going to do. There was no forward planning in our life. Puppy being a doctor had a hospital routine that comes with the job, but even that routine is filled with upsets, an emergency, discharge, death or just the medical visits by base personnel provides some breaks to a routine. Charles was the one to provide breaks to my routine. He would put a weekly schedule on my desk, there was always at least one trip, either a new business opportunity or a problem that needed addressing.

It was a good thing that we enjoyed our home and those that visit. The base guys, that is what we called the boys from the base that visit quite often, provide a distraction that would break any one’s monotonous time. Being gay allowed us to perv on some very attractive young men. One of our past-times was to predict who would ask to stay with us after their enlistment was up. We all readily agreed Al would ask to stay. He was a gentle soul and the military really wasn’t a career path for him. Puppy and I agreed that if he asked, we would say yes. What he would bring to the mix wasn’t known, we'd find something for him to feel like he's earning his keep.

We had one more wedding in Amsterdam. Yes, Doug and Troy decided to get married. I was surprised that his mother and dad wanted to go as well, Doug was glad and so were we. When I mentioned we would treat them to lunch at the Five Flies restaurant, they laughed until Hans pulled in front of the restaurant. Puppy and I left the next morning with the Thornton’s leaving Doug and Troy in the capable hands of Hans. I made arrangements to send the plane back to pick them up the following week-end.

Mom has made contact with her family in Italy. They have been mailing back and forth for about 3 months now. I promised them that as soon as we had a break, I'd fly them there. I told Charles to try and get a few weeks with a break in my schedule so we could fly them there. Somehow he managed it and we'll leaving this coming Friday. Mom is really excited, as well as the kids. “Puppy, after we spend a few days with the family, let’s complete the Italian and Greek plans we had when we got married.”

“Yes, but we would have to ask Joe, Roy, Larry and David. They would have been with us.”

“Let’s do that in the morning. Troy can cook for the guys when we're gone. I think Mom may be teaching him the sauce.”

I rose at my usual 5 am to start breakfast for Puppy who normally leaves at 6 for the hospital. Marcus replaced David so it wasn’t unusual to find Marcus in the kitchen when I got there. “Good morning, Marcus, thanks for making the tea. With your help we can get breakfast going because you and I know when one comes they all come.”

“Have you ever had grits or sausage gravy?”

“No, do you know who to make them?”

“Well, we would need to get the grits, but if you have sausage I can make sausage and gravy.”

“What are grits?”

“It's the white inside a kernel of the corn. You buy it like you do oats, generally in similar package and you make it as if you are making oats.”

“I suppose the PX doesn’t carry it?”

“No I’ll get someone from home to send me some.”

“Ok, here's the sausage. Go to town.”

As Marcus began to make sausage and gravy, Puppy and Mom entered the kitchen at the same time. I quickly poured tea for Puppy with one hand and coffee for mom with the other hand.”

“Mom, have you ever had sausage gravy?”

“Yes, one time before you were born, we took a trip south. One of the restaurants we stopped at for breakfast had sausage gravy with biscuits on the menu, we tried it. It was good but something we felt you shouldn’t eat too often.”

“Well, Marcus is making sausage gravy but we have no biscuits.”

I really shouldn’t say anything like that with Mom around. She opened the fridge, took out some milk, then looked into the cupboard and got the ingredients she needed, and began to prepare biscuits. By the time I had the potatoes ready to fry, she had a pan of biscuits ready for the oven. It was amazing what we had done in the short time we were in the kitchen.

“What is that smell?”

“Good morning David, Marcus is making sausage gravy, Mom’s biscuits are in the oven and I’m making home fries. You can finish breakfast, so I can enjoy a cup of tea with Puppy.”

David stepped right up and took over for me. As soon as the biscuits were done, Marcus took one, split in two and ladled a helping of sausage and gravy over it. Set it front of Puppy and waited for his reaction. We all stood around looking at him. He broke off a piece and tasted it.

“This is very good but we shouldn’t eat this too often. It must be loaded with calories which means we need to run this week.”

We all chuckled, “Guys, we better listen to Doc.”

There's something about a kitchen, it seems to be a family gathering place. “Do they make these French presses in a larger size?”

“Tired of making, pot after pot of coffee in the morning?”

“Well, yes. It takes time. How about if I buy a large coffee urn and we make coffee in that each morning and use the press doing the day if someone wants a coffee.”

“Joe, we need to discuss something. Come with me to my office.”

Joe grabbed a cup of coffee, I took my tea, kissed Puppy goodbye and walked to my office with Joe. “I’m flying my mom and dad to Italy next week-end to see some family. Puppy would like to continue the plans we had made when we got married. We’ll already be in Italy so we'd like for you and Roy to come with us. I’m going to ask Larry and David as well. While Mom visits family, we’ll do some sight seeing in Italy and then fly to Greece. Are you in?”

The answer was a hug from Joe. I knew we'd be visiting a lot of art galleries and I was ok with that. Mom’s family was in the north of Italy, we'll fly to Rome, Venice and Florence, then to Greece.

“Charles, have you blocked out the time for the trip?”

“I have most of it blocked, you'll need to meet with your agent from Germany and Belgium. Other than that, unless you want to meet more of your agents you're clear.”

“Instead of me flying to them, see if you can book them a flight to Rome when I’m there, do it on different days. Is Larry here?”

“Yes, he’s in my office, need him?”

“Yes, please.”

“Charles said you wanted to see me.”

“Yes, sit down. Do you remember the trip we planned when we got married?”

“Yes, because of the situation we cut it short.”

“Well, Puppy and I thought while Mom and Dad visit family, we'd continue with our plans. We could do a tour of Italy and then Greece, fly back and pick up Mom and Dad and fly home. Are you and David in?”

“Yes, definitely, Charles said you may have to meet some agents, I could help you there as well.”

“Do you think David will have a problem?”

“The only problem he'll have is containing his excitement. He’ll love it.”

“Great, we’ll have our security with us. Going away from home presents a potential danger. We still don’t know if we're being targeted or not.”

I called Tony and told him of our plans, also about meeting the agents from Germany and Brussels. He said he would send some reports and projects that were started when they reported to him. "They'll probably want to discuss finishing those projects and maybe new ones." Before hanging up, he told me to make sure I had security with me.

That evening, Puppy and looked over the itinerary Charles and Larry had put together. “This looks pretty complete. I like the way you accommodate Joe. He’ll have plenty of time to browse museums.”

“Yep, Italy has some very famous museums featuring the art and sculpture of the Italian masters. We'll have to visit some Cathedrals and the Vatican to see all of the art and sculptures. The Church was very prominent in encouraging art.”