ARROW - 115. Chapter 115

Returning to the hotel, there was a message from Colin saying they were taking the night flight and would arrive in the morning. I told Mom and I knew she was relieved.

The boys took a nap, well that is what they said but Marie said they laid down but didn’t go to sleep. They talked about the zoo and were making comparisons between the zoo in New York and the zoo today. I knew once I tell them that Colin was coming tomorrow morning they will be excited. I also knew whose bed they would be sleeping in.

We had dinner at the hotel, I knew the Grands had enough walking for the day. During dinner I mentioned that Colin and John would be returning and would arrive in the morning. That got the boys excited. The talk that evening was about telling Pop about the museum and zoo. I was anxious to see Colin and I knew Mom was anxious to see Dad. My parents said it would be noice to have everyone together again.

“After Colin and Dad have a chance to rest, we will go to Spain. I have the plane tickets and will make the arrangements after Colin and Dad arrive.”

“Dad, we will need new cameras.”

“Pop will have cameras for you.” You could see the excitement in the boys eyes, Pop arriving with cameras.

Dinner over, we just sat and talked for a while until Marie mentioned that the boys were getting sleepy, bed time.

I was anxious to see Colin and find out about John’s doctor appointment. I no sooner got in bed, when the door to my room, opened and four boys in their pajamas entered. “Dad” I pulled the cover back, and I was surrounded by boys, two on each side.

It took me a while to get to sleep. We were cutting our Paris vacation a few days short but we can always make up for it next year.

Waking in the morning with four boys is something else. Those that slept next to me had exchanged places with the others so each boy had the chance to sleep next to me. Extracting myself from this cocoon was going to be a problem. I went to move the arm around my neck and awoke Tommy. “I have to get up but you can sleep longer.” I really had to go to the bathroom or there would have been an accident.

After my bathroom break getting back in bed was something else. I decided to give up, so I went and took my shower, shaved and dressed for the day. I was sitting in the chair in my room when the boys realized I wasn’t in bed.

“Dad, is it time to get up?”

“No, go back to sleep. I’m just reading what I had written about what we will be doing the next few weeks.” I watched as they pulled up the cover and went back to sleep. I knew they would be in our bed when Colin arrived. He will want to sleep. The trick will be to keep Colin and John awake until late afternoon. I’ll depend on the boys to help with that.

I think the boys gave up, they went to their room. It was early but if we hit the breakfast buffet we will have something close to soft boiled eggs. I heard Mom and Dad in the hall, a knock on a door and then Colin’s mom. After a hushed discussion they headed to the dining room for breakfast. I checked on the boys, Marie was dressed. “When the boys are ready, bring them to the dining room for breakfast.”

“We are ready now.”

I laughed, they slept in the small room and had showered and dressed. So now we headed downstairs for breakfast. Tommy and Richie held Marie’s hands and Ronny and Ivan held mine.

Walking into the dining room, the boys saw the Grands and headed to their table, Marie and I headed to the buffet. I checked the eggs, they were hot, so I quickly put 6 on my plate and headed to the boys’ table. I placed one egg on their plate. Marie followed and placed one of her eggs on their plate. Mom handed me the coffee pot, the Dad got up and brought over the pitcher of orange juice, he started to bring the juice but the young man attending the breakfast buffet took the pitcher from him and filled our glasses. The boys headed to the buffet and brought a plate of sausage and bread to the table. “What do you think Marie? It’s nice to be served by four young men.” She gave each boy a kiss on their cheek as they offered her the plates with the sausage and bread. Breakfast was quiet this morning. No chatting about what were we going to do today. Pop and Grandfather was on their minds.

After breakfast, I decided we would go for a walk. At first we headed toward the Arc de Triumph but the boys wanted to go toward the Seine. I was okay with that, we could stop at the park, maybe stop at the Eiffel Tower and watch the river. My idea was to get them tired so when Colin decided to go to sleep, they will be tired as well. Walking with the boys is always interesting for me. They see things an adult doesn’t. In the park they saw a bird pulling a worm from it’s hole. I walked right by it and they called me back to see the bird. We got to close and the bird flew away with a part of the worm.

At the Seine, we had to get our hands wet and then we had to dry them on our pants. At the Tower, we had to go to the first platform and check out the sights.

We walked slowly, like we weren’t in a hurry, and we weren’t. On the way back to the hotel, we took a different path. We walked to the Louvre and they had to show me the Egyptian exhibit. We stopped at the cafe and had something to drink and we watched a street artist draw a caricature of a young girl. They wanted to know if I could do that. I told them no and then why not. I had explained that this artist saw something in a person that I didn’t. The boys wanted individual drawings. They had one done as a group done when we were first here. Now individual, I was okay with that and maybe they would see the difference between my paintings of them and this artists.

So we sat there and waited until he was finished. He looked at me, I told him each boy wanted an drawing. Smiling, he had each boy sit on a stool he had for his clients, and began to draw them. Ronny he drew as a fighter, he had a black eye and was in a soccer outfit. The boys and I watched. Ronny wasn’t afraid of anything, he was sport orientated and I knew if he got hurt playing a sport he would wear it as a badge of honor. The question I had, how did this artist pick that up only looking at Ronnie once.

Ivan he painted with his head behind a door, as if he was afraid to come out. Shy, unsure of himself. I knew that but I’d never see it as he did. Richie was a business man holding French francs. I knew Richie would be successful but I wouldn’t know to paint him with French francs instead of dollars. French francs were no longer legal currency, so how did he know about Richie’s French connection. Tommy was seen as a sensitive young man, his face showed concern and his eyes were wet from tears as he held a bird that appeared to be hurt. Tommy’s sensitivity I have known since I first saw him at my gallery. But to show him weeping over a dead animal, would never have occurred to me. As I watched, I learned.

When all of these caricatures were finished, I paid the artist. He wanted to do one of me, the boys insisted so I was and let him paint one of me. When he was done, I looked at it. My face was normal but he painted my heart on my arm. I couldn’t make the tie in as I had for the boys. I thanks him, paid him.

We started to walk back to the hotel. The boys were anxious to show the Grands and Marie their painting. I was still thinking about mine. Did I really wear my heart on my sleeve? I wonder what Colin will say and I wonder what his picture would look like.

Arriving at the hotel, we headed to our rooms. I put my picture in my suitcase. I’ll show Colin later. The boys went to their room and showed Maria. She laughed at their caricatures commenting the artist did a fine job.

Heading back to my room, there was Colin standing in the door way. Checking my watch, he was on time. I moved away as he entered the room, and then mayhem. The boys jumped on him, “Pop, were glad to see you.” I don’t think Colin could have gotten way off he tried. The boys were all over him.

“You were truly missed.” He hugged the boys kissing their cheeks. He hugged Marie and kissed her on her cheek. Then he looked at me, I turned my head so he kissed my cheek, although that wasn’t the intended target. From that moment on, Colin was the boys. Maria and I watched, they had to tell him everything we did while he was gone. I was glad to see Ivan participating. I think he was beginning to accept us as parents rather than guardians. I knew when we got home, the first thing on my agenda, after seeing the new building for the kids, is to adopt Ivan.

The Grands joined us and I was glad to see John. I hugged him, “We missed you and I’m glad you are back.” He was going to say something when Mom said it’s lunch time. It really wasn’t, we had about 30 minutes until the hotel served lunch. But Mom had other ideas. We headed to the crepe cafe which would take about 20 minute walk. Arriving and getting seated would take another 10-15 minutes so it would be lunch time, she was right.

“Where is your luggage?”

“In our room.”

“Did you bring pictures?”

“Yes, I’ll get them we can look at them over lunch.”

“Did you bring something for the boys?”

“Yes, and you can give them to them after lunch.”

These were silly questions and I knew the answer, I just wanted to occupy his time, I missed him and if the others weren’t around I’d show him how much I missed him.

He went and got the pictures, handed me a bag, “Let’s go. Aren’t you guys hungry?”

The boys swamped him again as the took his hands and if not his hand the sleeve of his jacket.

Walking to the Crepe restaurant, the boys had to tell him about the museum and the zoo. Boys being boys, they were quite explicit in their description of the exhibits in the Gallery of Evolution and the Galley of Paleontology. Listening to them they had learned a lot.

Arriving at the restaurant, the greeted us as we have been there several mornings. It took a while to get the tables together so we could all sit together. As soon as Colin sat down, the boys either sat beside him or across from him. He was all smiles.

There was no question, we would have a crepe machine at home. I could see Colin getting tired. We took at walk to the Arc de Triumph and then headed back to the hotel.

The boys wanted to occupy his time, but I could see he was tired.

“Let’s let Pop get some sleep and then when he is rested you can tell him more about what we did when he was gone.” I started to laugh, the boys started to yawn. I knew they weren’t tired but I also knew they needed to be with Colin.

Colin got ready for bed, he was almost asleep when the door opened and four boys joined him in bed. I don’’t think he knew he had bed buddies.

I went back to the hotel lobby, Mom and Dad where having a coffee with Marie. I joined them and soon Mary came down as well.

“John is asleep and I guess Colin is as well.”

“Yes, they will feel it tomorrow. It takes about three days to get you body clock in time.”

“Mom, did Dad say anything about this medical problem?”

“No, just that he was tired. He acted normal.”

We decided that we would wake them after a three hour nap. They will still be tired but they will adjust faster that way.

“The flight time from here to Madrid is about 2 hours. I have booked us into a hotel that Colin and I stayed the last time we were in Spain. I thought we could leave tomorrow morning, we would arrive about lunch time.”

“Are we on schedule?”

“A few days ahead, but we can change our schedule as long as we make the plane home.”

“We are flying home from Rome?”

“Yes”

I watched Maria as we discussed these arrangements. “Marie, have you ever been in Madrid?”

“No, I had the opportunity once as a child but for some reason I wasn’t permitted to go. I’m looking forward to going there.”

“So is Colin. He has a friend south west of Madrid who we will see before moving on to Barcelona.”

Looking at the time, we saw the boys coming into the hotel lobby. “Is Pop still sleeping?”

“Yes, we tried to wake him but we couldn’t.”

“I think he is awake, look.”

They turned and looked where I pointed , there was Colin with his brief case.

“I got cold, my bed buddies left me.” The boys went and led Colin to a sofa, then they sat around him with a two boys sitting on the floor in front of him.

Colin opened his brief case and handed each boy a camera like ours. The boys had to try them out. Each boy sat on Colin’s lap as the other boys took a photo. Then it was photo time as we all had to pose with the boys while they took our photos.

I kept looking at Colin and he knew it and also why. I wanted to see the photos of the new building.

Laughing, he handed me a photo album. Of course, the tease had the first picture of the current orphanage. Then the following pictures were of the new building. “What is this?”

There was a sign out front on the road in front of the building. “We tossed around a name for the building and Pat said no to orphanage. One of the kids wanted to know when Uncle was coming home. So Pat said we will call it Uncle’s House.”

“Why Uncle’s House? I thought something like House of Angels.”

“Think a minute, a child is in school and is asked where does he live.”

I thought for a minute, he couldn’t say I live in the House of Angels. He would be laughed at. But if he said I live at Uncle’s house, it would sound more normal. I smiled, “I knew you would see it.”

“Yes, but Uncle’s House is full of angels.” Okay.

Now that was settled, I looked at the rest of the pictures.

“What is that?”

“Charles has some of the boys helping him. One of them said something to him about being a carpenter when he grows up. Charles built that building for a school to teach carpentry.”

“What about the others, that building is to large for a carpentry school?”

“The cooks said they wanted a place to teach the girls how to cook and take care of a home. They also wanted to teach them how to make clothing. Before you ask, that last shed is where the barbecue grill will be stored. And for the record, those buildings are being donated by the men who work for Charles and the contractors.”

I didn’t know what to say. I would never expect the contractors to pitch in although I knew Charles would.

“Dad, we’re hungry.”

“Okay, let’s eat here. Dad, isn’t that the American couple you know.”

“Yes, maybe we will join them.”

“Or ask them to join us.”

So the Grands sat with the American couple leaving Marie and the boys sitting with us.

“Colin, we are flying to Madrid in the morning. We will get their for lunch. I have the arrangements upstairs. Will leave right after breakfast.”

From that moment on, I didn’t need to say anything more to Colin. Couldn’t if I wanted to, the boys took over. I looked at Marie, she just smiled.