Clarion - 10. Chapter 10

Cody’s vacation came to an end and we were on our way to the diner to meet Ralph. I hated to see Cody leave and from the tears in his eyes, he hated to leave as well. Pulling into the diner, we saw Ralph’s truck. Entering, we saw Ralph at a table flitting with the waitress. “Hey Ralph, how was the trip?”

“Hey Alan how are you? Where’s Cody?”

“He made a pit stop he should be here shortly. How do you like the short haul?”

“It was great. I'd snap up a short haul any time. I have a family with a couple of kids. A short haul like this would allow me to spend more time a home.”

“So if I could talk Cody to leave and stay here, you’d be willing to take over his short haul.”

“You do that and I’ll give you anything you like. My family would be so glad.”

I just smiled. “What are you smiling about? You look like a Cheshire cat and in fact you both do.”

“Ralph was telling me that he thought you were a lucky guy to have short hauls. He said his family would think he was the greatest if he could have one.”

Hmm. “Maybe I can make him a hero. His wife makes a chocolate raspberry cake to die for.”

“There you go Ralph. Now you know what you have to do.”

Soon it became time for them to leave; I didn’t like this parting very much.”Cody, here is a list of wine that you can bring back on your next trip. Call and let me know what you can find and how much you can bring. Take this credit card to pay for it. I’ll miss you and can’t wait until you get back. Drive safely, call me when you get home.”

Arriving back home seemed strange. I already missed Cody and he hasn’t been gone more than 30 minutes. I needed to do something. I picked up a bushel basket and headed to the woods. As soon as I left the house I heard, ‘Hey Mr. Bradley.’ I looked toward the sound and there was Andy on his bike heading in my direction.

“Where are you going, Mr. Bradley?”

“I thought I’d go and gather up some nuts. Want to come along?”

“Sure where’s Cody?” I smiled, I’m Mr. Bradley but Cody is Cody.

“Cody had to go back to work. We won’t see him for a few weeks.”

“I like Cody, he’s a nice guy. He doesn’t treat me like a kid.”

I just smiled and patted Andy on the head as we walked toward the woods. We started to pick up the black walnuts that had fallen, “Mr. Bradley. What kind of nut is this?”

“That is called a butternut. They are good and have a nice flavor. Pick them up as well as the walnuts.”

Within two hours we had our baskets full. When we arrived at home I put the baskets in the pantry. I got an ice tea for me and a soda for Andy. “Let’s go and sit on the patio and relax.”

We sat there and casually drank our drinks. I looked at Andy, he was a cute kid. “Mr. Bradley, may I ask you a question?”

“Sure Andy, you can ask me anything.”

“Well, I don’t want you to get mad, but is Cody your boyfriend?”

How to answer that? After thinking for a while, I decided to tell the truth. If it offended Andy then there’s nothing I can do, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t. “Yes, Andy, Cody is my boyfriend. Right now I wished he was here.”

“Does that mean you like boys rather than girls?”

I was wondering where these questions where leading.”Yes, that is true.”

“How did you know you liked boys rather than girls?”

“Well, when I reached the age of 15, I found that I had no interest in girls. All of my friends seem to talk about nothing else except this girl or that girl. I saw nothing of interest there. Oh, I had friends who were girls, but nothing romantic. When I graduate from high school, I hadn’t changed. All though college, I never once showed any interest in girls and I was too busy studying to get involved with boys. I had a few affairs, but there was always something that didn’t seem to click, until I met Cody. Do you mind me asking why you’re interested in this?”

“I think I may like boys more than girls.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m 14 but I will be 15 next month.”

I’m thinking birthday gift. “Do your parents or Jeff know that you like boys?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Do you know how they’ll react if you told them?”

“No, I never heard them say anything about gay people. Jeff probably won‘t have a problem. His best friend is gay and is out at school.”

That evening I put Andy’s bike in the trunk and took him home. On the way, we chatted as if we were friends for a long, long time. Andy was totally at ease with me, telling me about this boy in his class. “He really is a nice kid, quiet and smart. I think I like him but I’m afraid to talk to him.”

“Can you think of a reason where you would need to ask him a question? Maybe explain a math problem, you can pretend you don’t understand something and ask him to explain it to you. Do your teachers assign joint projects? If they do try and get a joint project with him.”

The smile on Andy’s face, you could almost hear his brain working. Arriving at Andy’s home, “Andy, any time you have a question, I’m always there to answer it. You can talk to me about anything, ok?”

Two weeks later, Ron called and said he had some meat for me. I was glad that Montgomery Ward had delivered the new freezer the day before. I was getting ready to drive to get the meat, when Noah showed up with the patio furniture. It was perfect, I had to try out the chairs and they were comfortable and looked perfect on the patio. I paid Noah and told him if I had anymore brilliant ideas, I’d let him know.

When I arrived at Ron’s store, he had a smile when he saw me. “I have the cheese, sausages and salamis. I’ll have the lamb in two weeks.”

“That’s great Ron, I wonder if you could get me 100 lbs of potatoes, 50 lbs of onions and carrots. I figure that should hold me through the winter; also a 10 lb sack of flour. Do you think I could freeze butter?”

“I’m not sure. Jeff said you had a pantry built into the hill side, I'd guess that it would keep in there. They said the pioneers would pack stuff like that in straw to keep it cold and prevent it from freezing.”

“I think I’ll take a pound of butter and freeze it just to see what it’ll look like once I have thawed it out. Also there is a milk product that can be stored outside of the refrigerator. Once it is opened, you need to refrigerate it. Think you can find out what it’s called?”

“Sure I’ll ask around. That might be a good product to sell, with all of the campers it just might be a winner.”

As I was leaving the store I saw Jeff, “Jeff, when’s Andy’s birthday?”

“It is the 18^th of next month.”

“When’s yours?”

“Smiling, the 18^th of next month”

“You’re joking. The same month and the same day, how old are you?”

“I’m 16 but I’ll be 17 next month.”

“How old must you be to drive?”

“To drive a vehicle like a car or truck, you have to be 16 but to drive a motorbike or ATV, 15.”

“Thanks Jeff. Take care and I’ll see you.”

Cody called me later that evening saying he’ll be at the diner in the morning. I was excited to see him again. He has worked every day since he left and when he wasn’t working he said he was taking care of some last minute business.