The Castaway Hotel - 1 - 6. Chapter 6 - Growing Closer As A Family

“Now, is there anything you want to know about me?” I asked Danny, to give him a chance to resolve any unanswered questions he might still have.

“Yes,” he answered quickly. “Where’s your wife and kids?”

I thought maybe Sally or Ricky had told him about my situation, but I guess they hadn’t, so I took a few minutes to tell Danny my story. He listened very intently and seemed sincerely interested in what I had to say. “I’m sorry about your wife,” he told me, once I had finished.

“Thank you, Danny. That means a great deal to me,” I informed him.

“Will Ricky and me get to meet our ‘other’ brothers and sisters?” he asked, his words touching me deeply. His innocence and sweetness were nicely expressed in this simple question.

“Yes, you’ll get to meet them the next time they visit,” I assured him. I went on to tell him that I would write or call each of my older children and tell them about my two newest sons – their new brothers. He seemed pleased with my response, and now that everything was settled, he had something else to ask me.

“Do you mind if I go find Ricky?” he wanted to know, looking a little more upbeat than he had when we first began our conversation. “Maybe we can go for another walk or something.”

“Sure, that sounds like a good idea,” I told him. “Why don’t you go have some fun?” Danny didn’t run off right away, however, and it took me a second to figure out why. I think he wanted to thank me in some way, but he wasn’t sure how to go about doing it. Taking matters in my own hands, I pulled him toward me and gave him another hug, which he eagerly returned. When I felt him starting to release his grip, I relaxed my hold on him and he ran off to find his new brother.

After Danny left the room, I took time to think about my situation and my new family. It didn’t take me long to realize how lucky I was and I couldn’t believe my good fortune. Not only did I end up with two decent young men as my first two foster sons, but they also seem to have taken to me quite rapidly, as well as to each other.

I knew this wasn’t ‘normal’ and I wondered if Sally had played more than a small part in these seemingly seamless transitions. I suspect she told both boys more about me than she had let on and I’d even venture to guess she had also asked them not to let me know anything about what she discussed with them too. Maybe some day I will be able to get the boys to confide in me about what happened between Sally and them, before they arrived at my house. I’ve heard she can be quite devious when she needs to be, but it’s a good kind of devious. Sally only does things like that to benefit others, not harm them, so I wasn’t about to question my good fortune further. I’d just continue to try to bond even more with both boys and cement our relationships, before the first storm hits our sea of tranquility.

I could hear Danny and Ricky laughing in the other room and had to force myself to give them a little space. My first instinct was to rush into my office and see what they were up to, but right now, I think it would be best if I tried to build some trust with them instead. Keeping that in mind, I stayed where I was, and before long they came rushing into the living room together, to see me.

“I just e-mailed one of my friends,” Danny began, between giggles, “and he must have been on his computer, because he answered me right away. He was shocked when I told him that I had a new dad and a brother.”

“By the language he used,” Ricky added, laughing even harder than Danny, “I’d say he was more than just shocked.” Upon hearing this, Danny punched Ricky in the arm, as if to say he wasn’t supposed to mention the language part.

“It’s okay,” Ricky informed him. “Dad’s cool about it.” Danny just glared at Ricky, still not believing.

“It IS,” Ricky insisted. “He only said damn, shit and the ‘f’ word once. Besides, Dad doesn’t even mind if we slip and say those words sometimes, as long as we don’t use them all the time or when we’re with other people.” Danny looked at me, to gauge my reaction to what Ricky had told him.

“As long as the language isn’t totally vulgar, I expect there might be a few slip ups,” I informed them. “I know boys your age tend to use a few cuss words, from time to time. Just try to keep it at home and to a minimum, and I won’t hold it against you.”

“See, I told you so!” Ricky exclaimed, before he punched Danny back.

Shocked by Ricky’s boldness, Danny turned toward his brother and a free-for-all broke out in my living room. I let the two boys wrestle with each other until they got tired, as it was all in fun. I just made sure they didn’t break anything during their ‘struggle.’ Once they tired of that activity, they went back into my office, to work on the computer again.

After dinner, both boys joined me in the family room to watch television. I had one of them on either side of me, with my arms draped over their shoulders. “You know, Danny, you’ll be attending classes at my school tomorrow,” I reminded him. “I’ll register you as soon as we get there and then we’ll get you a copy of your class schedule. You boys will have to decide if you want to take a lunch or buy something in the cafeteria. Don’t let me forget, though. I did that to Ricky his first day here.”

“Yeah, he almost made me starve,” Ricky added with all the gusto and animation he could muster. At that moment, both of them looked across my chest, toward each other, and then burst out laughing again.

“With all the food you eat at home,” I shot back, “there’s no way you could ever starve.” Ricky elbowed me lightly in the ribs, so I let my hand drop down to his side and began to tickle him. Danny saw what was going on and jumped to his brother’s defense, so I wrestled both boys to the floor and started to tickle them simultaneously. I kept this up for a few minutes, making both boys laugh hysterically, and then I let them up.

“That’s no fair,” Ricky began. “You’re bigger than both of us.”

“Well, if I put the two of you together,” I explained, “then you’d be nearly as big as me.”

“It’s still not fair,” Ricky continued to object, while emphasizing his displeasure by displaying a mock pout.

“Well, you’ve got to learn that life’s not fair,” I explained. “The sooner you learn that lesson, the easier it will be for you to achieve great things in life.”

“I think we both know life’s not fair already,” Danny added with a slight twinge of sadness to his voice and a dour expression on his face. “We just didn’t want to believe it was true.”

“You’ll get over that soon enough,” I informed him. “Now, upstairs and get ready for bed, both of you, and I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Come on, Danny,” Ricky said, while tugging on Danny’s arm and pulling him toward the stairs. “Dad reads me a chapter from this book every night. I’ll tell you what you’ve missed.”

“We’ll meet in Ricky’s room tonight,” I advised them, as they moved toward the doorway. “We’ll change back and forth after that. I’ll see you upstairs, and don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

Once I had finished giving them their instructions, they raced from the room and took the steps two at a time. I held my breath as they did that, fearing one of them would miss one of the risers and crash, head first, into the wall or floor, but fortunately, that didn’t happen. They both made it safely upstairs and began getting ready for bed. A few minutes later, I went up to join them.

When I got to Ricky’s room, Danny was commenting about Ricky’s sexy underpants. “Wow, those are really cool. Where did you get them?”

“Dad bought them for me,” Ricky informed him. Danny looked up, somewhat startled that I had bought such things for his brother.

“Can I get some of those too, Dad?” Danny pleaded, the second he saw me enter the room.

“Yes, we’ll do a little shopping for you after school tomorrow,” I advised him. “Just remind me to look your things over in the morning, so I can determine what you’ll need.”

“Thanks, Dad. I won’t forget,” Danny advised me, looking like the proverbial cat that had just swallowed the canary.

“I’ll help, too. Just in case he forgets,” our blond-haired third party told us, and we both thanked him for his offer.

I picked up the book and wondered how this was going to work out. We were nearly half way through ‘The Hobbit’ already, but I didn’t have to worry. Ricky gave Danny a quick run down about the chapters he’d missed, because he didn’t get a chance to do it before I came upstairs, and then I filled Danny in about the few gaps Ricky had omitted during his retelling of the story. Once Danny was brought up to speed, I began to read the next chapter.

I wasn’t sure what Danny’s reaction was going to be about being read to, seeing he was older than Ricky. I thought he might feel this was babyish, but he seemed to enjoy it as much as Ricky did. After I finished reading, he removed the final doubts I had from my mind.

“That was pretty neat, Dad,” Danny advised me. “My parents never read to me, even when I was little, but this is kind of fun.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” I told him. “By the way, are you in the habit of saying your prayers before you go to bed at night?”

“No, I’ve never done that before,” he answered. My mother was kind of religious, but my father wasn’t, so Mom usually went off to church by herself. I’m not sure why she didn’t take me though. Maybe my dad wouldn’t let her or something. I’m not sure.”

“Well, you’ll probably have the opportunity to do both here,” I informed him. “Do you have any problems with giving it a trying?” I continued, trying to see how he was going to respond.

“Nah, I don’t mind. It’s no big deal,” Danny assured me. “I’ll try it, if you want me to. I guess it couldn’t hurt none.”

“Why don’t we all kneel on the floor then,” I advised him, “and Ricky can say the prayer tonight, for all of us.” I looked in Ricky’s direction to make certain he was okay with this.

“Yeah, I’ll do it,” Ricky said, jumping down to the floor. Once we were all in position, Ricky began. “Dear God, it’s me, Ricky Glover, again. I’ve got my dad and my new brother, Danny, here with me.” I saw Danny smile at the inclusion of his name. “I want to thank you for bringing Danny here. He’s a lot of fun and he’s going to make a swell brother. Thanks again for Dad too. I know I’ve said that a lot before, but this time I’m saying it for Danny too. I know he feels the same way I do about our new home. God bless Danny and Dad. Amen.”

Once Ricky had finished, another voice chimed in, “And God bless Ricky, too,” as Danny added his two-cents worth. I gave them both a big hug before we got off of the floor.

“Dad, can Danny sleep in here with me tonight?” Ricky asked, while giving me that pleading look he had perfected, since he first began trying to weasel favors from me.

“Don’t you think it will be a little crowded?” I wanted to know. “You boys only have single beds.”

“But I don’t want him to have to sleep alone on his first night,” he explained. “You remember what happened on my first night, right?”

“Yes, you ended up in my bed about halfway through the night,” I answered, thinking back to his first evening with me.

“That’s what we’ll do!” Ricky exclaimed, coming up with another idea. “We can both sleep with you. Your bed is huge.” I wasn’t sure I was happy with where this was going, so I looked at Danny, to see what his reaction was. As I studied his face, I realized I couldn’t read his response.

“Danny, you don’t have to do what Ricky is suggesting, if you don’t want to,” I explained. “I guess I could just let you boys have my bed and I could sleep in one of your beds for the night.”

“No, you’re not going to move just for us,” Danny responded, adamantly. “If your bed is as big as Ricky says, I guess we could all share it.”

“Are you both sure?” I asked, still not convinced they wanted this or if it was the right way to handle the situation. However, they were both nodding their agreement, so I decided not to make an issue of it.

“Okay, but you boys decide how we’re going to do this,” I informed them, giving them the chance to decide who slept next to whom.

“I sleep next to Dad,” they each yelled, almost at the same moment. I studied both of them intently, as they turned toward each other. Fearing this might lead to an argument, I decided to intervene.

“I guess that means I’m in the middle,” I joked, causing each of them to turn toward me, their heads nodding vigorously. “You guys go hop into bed, but I’ve got to brush my teeth first. I’ll be in to join you in a little while. I am more tired than usual tonight, so I’ll turn in early too.”

After I finished my nightly preparations, I came back into the room and got into bed between them. Danny was on my left and Ricky on my right. At first, I just lay on my back, between the two boys, but before long they began to move closer to me, so I wrapped an arm around each one of them and let them cuddle up against me.

“Don’t forget, this doesn’t become habit forming,” I advised them about our temporary sleeping arrangement.

“We know,” they both chirped back and then quickly fell asleep.

It was a long night for me. First of all, I don’t like sleeping on my back. Not only am I uncomfortable in that position, but it also tends to make me snore. I must have managed to get enough rest, though, and I guess I didn’t snore too badly, because I woke up the next morning with the two boys still pressed tightly against my sides. I think they might have gone back to their own rooms, if I had ‘sawed wood’ too loudly that evening.

Studying their sleeping forms, I thought the boys looked like two little angels lying next to me - one blond and one brunet. Not only did they both have the most contented expressions on their faces, but I also found them to be very handsome lying there, even in that unkempt state. Unable to break my stare, I remained watching them a while longer, before I decided I HAD to wake them up and get them moving.

I sent Ricky into my shower and Danny into the other one, while I checked out Danny’s clothing situation. After a quick look, I decided he didn’t need much, as his mother must have helped pack most of his things for him to take, including his better clothing. Everything seemed to be in decent shape, so I concluded all we needed to buy him were some hiking boots and the bikini underwear Danny wanted, after he saw Ricky wearing them.

I’d also decided to buy some dress clothes for both boys, things they could wear on special occasions, as I wanted them to look especially nice when we went places, like to church and special school functions. Once those decisions had been made, I quickly noted the label on a pair of Danny’s trousers and a pair of his briefs, so I’d know what size to purchase for him. It looked as if our shopping excursion wasn’t going to take us very long.