The Castaway Hotel - 1 - 38. Chapter 38 - Autumn Memories

Things quieted down substantially when thoughts of the incident were replaced by more pressing and current issues. But as Danny’s fifteen-minutes of fame fell by the wayside, his athletic prowess became highlighted, along with that of his brothers and the other members of the soccer team. The school suddenly sat up and took notice, as their season neared its end, as the JV team was on a tear and finished 11-1. An assembly was held to applaud their accomplishments, which meant Danny, Brandon, Dustin and Kevin all got to be acknowledged for their contributions to the team’s success.

Jay and Ricky’s modified team didn’t do quite as well, but they still ended up at 7-3 and were proud of what they had accomplished. All of the boys were not only satisfied with how their teams had done, but also with their personal efforts and progress throughout the season. However, their attempt to hone their skills didn’t stop there, as they continued to kick the ball around at home and played pick-up games on the weekends, so they would be ready to advance to the next level.

Somewhere during that time something else happened, but this breakthrough occurred with our latest arrivals. One night, while we were enjoying some quiet time together, Cole made a comment. “All the other boys call you Dad,” Cole said, while studying my reaction. “Do you think it would be all right if me and Graham did that too?” he wanted to know. I could tell he wasn’t sure what my reaction was going to be, so I winked at him, before I answered.

“I would like that very much,” I agreed, “but you will both have to continue to call me Mr. Currie at school,” I added. “All of the other boys have to do that too.”

“I know,” he stated simply.

“You’re both my sons now too,” I continued, looking at both of these young men in the eye, “just like the others, and they’ll also be your brothers. It doesn’t matter if we have different last names for the time being, we’re still one big happy family. We all love each other and will look out for each other, and that will never change. You’ll just have to get used to having four more brothers.” That must have been exactly what they hoped to hear, because both boys wrapped their arms around me, Cole around my waist and Graham around one of my legs, and I think they were even crying. Tears of joy, I hoped. It was another sign that they appreciated being here with us.

The next big date on our calendar before Halloween, that is, just happened to be Cole’s birthday. He was going to turn thirteen on October 22nd. One evening after dinner, I sat him down and asked what he wanted for his birthday and what kind of party he would like. After thinking about this for a few minutes, he rattled off a litany of ideas for gifts, but he was a little slower about addressing the question of what he wanted to do at his party and whom he wished to invite.

“This is hard,” he admitted, after a while. “I’m not sure what to do. I’ve never had a party and the only ones I’ve been to, except for Kevin’s, are the ones they hold in class, when it’s your birthday.”

Once more, my heart broke, as I listened to another story of neglect from his past. After I got past my emotional reaction to this information, I gave him some ideas for what he might like to do for his birthday celebration, trying to help him narrow it down and make this a special event for him. I also suggested that we should hold his party on Saturday the 24th, which would give him the whole day to enjoy this special event. Once he agreed, we then went on to discuss if there was anyone special he wanted to invite.

“You know I want all seven of my brothers to come,” he informed me, which meant he was including Jay and Brandon in on the count. I nodded my head to assure him that I knew they were to be included too. “I also want Aunt Sally and you there, but do you think I could ask two of my friends from school to come too? I mean, we hang around together all day through our classes and breaks, but we never get to do anything together besides that. I think it would be fun to have them come to the house and meet everyone.”
I told him that would be fine, so we spent the next few minutes ironing out the remaining details.

Watching Cole’s behavior leading up to his birthday was worth a thousand times what this party was going to cost me. I had never seen him so happy or excited since he came to live with us. He began strutting around home and school, as if he were someone important. It was almost like watching a monarch during the days preceding his coronation. Cole was instantly the king of his world.

Besides continually asking me how many more days were left until his party, Cole took great pleasure in preparing his invitations and he gave each of us one. However, he was especially careful about how he worded the ones for his two friends from school. He wrote the information neatly, but made sure to add to theirs that ‘no gifts are needed.’ He felt he had to include that information, so the boys wouldn’t stay away, if they or their family felt they couldn’t afford to buy him a present. He just wanted them to come and was ecstatic when they told him they would be happy to attend.

When that Saturday finally rolled around, I followed the agenda Cole had helped me lay out. We started by taking everyone to tour the local cider mill, as part of the party plans. Only Jay, Brandon, Kevin and Dustin had ever been there before, which came as a major surprise to me. I thought nearly every elementary teacher took their classes to the cider mill around Halloween, to see the process and sample the treats, but most of my boys had no idea how to even get cider from apples. Therefore, I was immensely pleased to see them all enjoying this visit and having a good time.

After we had seen everything, I bought several gallons of cider to take home and a candy apple for each boy, Sally and myself, before we drove back to the house. Once we unloaded, the boys stayed outdoors, so they could play a game of kickball, while Sally offered to assist me inside. As I got the grill ready to cook up some hot dogs and hamburgers, Sally helped put the finishing touches on the other items and then assisted me in carrying everything out to our two picnic tables.

After calling the boys to eat, Sally and I stepped out of the way, as the stampede came charging in our direction. Watching them approach reminded me of a swarm of locust landing to devour some poor farmer’s crops, as the boys began eating everything in sight. I nearly lost a finger or two in the deal, as I handed out the meat. To my great delight, this eating frenzy also included Cole and Graham, who had been steadily building a healthy appetite and putting on a few, well-needed pounds.

After everyone finished the meal, we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Cole. He seemed pleased, yet embarrassed, from all of this attention and I wondered if anyone had ever sung to him on his birthday before. Once that concluded, he went around and took orders of the flavor(s) of ice cream everyone wanted, while Sally cut the cake and I scooped out the various requests. After everyone was given an ample share of the treats, Cole finally sat down to enjoy his own choices.

Once everyone was done, I told Cole it was time to open his presents. The first gift he grabbed to open happened to be from the boys and me. We had purchased a CD player for him, similar to the one Kevin got for his birthday, because Cole had commented several times how much he liked it. We also bought him a few CD’s of his own, which he could keep in his room.

He opened his gifts from the others next. As expected, Sally gave her typically wonderful gift, which Cole showed to everyone, with as much gusto as he could manage. After thanking her several times, he also gave her a kiss on the cheek. I think that meant as much to Sally, as her gift had meant to Cole.

His friends had also brought him presents, which Cole thanked them for, but even though he didn’t know it, he wasn’t done yet. Once he had opened his other gifts, I had Dustin bring out his last present. Cole’s eyes lit up the minute he saw it and I thought he was going to do back flips and hand springs as he ran toward his new bike. Instead, he raced around and hugged each one of us, as his way of saying thank you.

He was one happy and excited kid, and we were all very pleased for him. However, I also took a moment to think ahead, birthday-wise that is, and considered Graham’s birthday. I realized it would be the next one we’d celebrate, but that wouldn’t happen until the following March. I hoped he could hold out until then and not become jealous about Cole temporarily having more than he did. I would discuss that with him later, when I could get him alone.

Cole enjoyed his special day and it helped to cement his friendship with his two young friends. These were the first people he had shown any interest in, outside of our family circle, and that, in itself, was a huge deal. This was because Cole was very shy at school – a situation brought about by a combination of factors. The first, of course, was his past, but the second was due to the fact that he also had some learning disabilities, which sometimes became a focal point for ridicule. From time to time, Cole would admit to me that some of the other kids teased him about being dumb or derided him about not being able to read or do math as well as they did, so it was nice to see his two friends who were willing to look beyond his limitations.

Of course, I knew who these boys were before they came here, since they also attended my school, but I must admit I don’t remember ever meeting their parents or knowing very much about them, other than the fact that they weren’t troublemakers in the classroom. I wasn’t sure where they lived or much about their background, but they seemed quite nice, were very good to Cole and got along well with the others while they were here, especially with Graham. All in all, they fit in well and I thought the party was a huge success.

Since that event was now behind us, the next big occasion was Halloween. Only Graham, Cole, Ricky and Jay decided they wanted to go trick-or-treating this year, as the others felt they were too old for such things. I let each of the boys decide what type of costume they wanted and then helped to provide it for them, by either purchasing it or helping them to make their own. That evening, we ate early and then the boys donned their ‘ghoulish’ attire, so I could take them, door to door, around the neighborhood.

It didn’t come as a surprise when Graham and Cole said they could only remembered doing this a couple of times, but only when they were really little. They said they didn’t know why their mother stopped taking them out, but they thanked me for allowing them to go trick-or-treating tonight. They also made sure to let me know they never had as nice of a costume as they were wearing tonight and it made them feel really good. Hearing this pleased me immensely, but the other information they’d just shared merely gave me one more reason to despise their mother.

The other boys didn’t merely sit around home that evening, because they had made plans to go out with some of their other friends to mess around. They still wanted to have some fun, but just didn’t think it was cool to go from house to house begging for candy any longer. They felt they were too old and sophisticated for such things. I didn’t have a problem with this and told them they could have a good time, but warned them not to get into mischief. Over the past few years, I’d heard about some older kids stealing the younger children’s candy, spray painting houses or doing other damage, so I made sure to point this out and warn them about getting involved in such things. I reminded them there were tricks that were amusing, but others were not, such as vandalizing someone else’s property. They said I didn’t have to worry, because the worse they might do is toilet paper some trees or spray each other with shaving cream, so I told them to have a good time.

Once Halloween was behind us, the next few weeks seemed to fly by. The boys moved on to their next sport’s season, with Danny, Brandon, Kevin, Jay and Ricky all trying out for their respective basketball teams. Dustin and Cole followed their own hearts and decided to wrestle instead. Graham would also try his hand at basketball, but the fifth and sixth grade season was much shorter, so that would allow him to wrestle too, after we got back from Christmas break. The elementary program intentionally split the winter season into two halves, so the children could participate in both sports.

Not only did we sail through the early weeks of basketball and wrestling season, but Thanksgiving was also upon us before we knew it. This is always a very special time for me, since my older children come home either for Thanksgiving or for Christmas. Most of them now live too far away to come home for both, so they generally alternate the holidays with their in-laws and me, at least the ones who are married. The single ones might come home both times, although sometimes the expense or hassle discouraged this from occurring.

This would also provide the first opportunity for the boys to finally get to meet the rest of the family. This year, my older daughter and both of my sons would be joining us, along with my two grandsons. My younger daughter and son-in-law would be spending time with his family this year, so the boys wouldn’t get to meet them until Christmas.

It was quite exciting as they arrived, with two of them coming in Wednesday evening, while the third showed up early Thursday morning. After the introductions were made, everyone sat down and got to know each other better, breaking off into small groups and filtering around from one to another. I spent much of the time fixing our special dinner, with rotating sets of helping hands filtering in to assist me on a nearly constant basis. I was pleased with the amount of support everyone was giving me.

Dinner went well and everyone was getting along fantastically. Brandon and Jay also came over, after eating dinner with their families, and spent the rest of the evening with us. They had managed to talk their parents into letting them come over to meet the rest of my family, after their family celebrations started to die down. They were even planning to spend the night and share a room with one of my boys.

My older children eagerly welcomed their new brothers with open arms, and the boys seemed thrilled by their reaction. Not only that, but they took great pleasure in taking the time needed to get to know each other better and learn the details of their life. The boys also took great enjoyment in spoiling their nephews and we all got a kick out of watching them roughhouse and play games with each other. I was very proud of all of them.

Later in the evening, my elder son pulled me aside, so we could speak privately. “Pop, what you’re doing is really wonderful,” he began. Hearing him call me ‘Pop’ again, like Jay and Brandon do, also gave me a special feeling. He had done this since he was little, although I was never sure why, as had my other son. The girls, however, had always called me ‘Dad.’

“I suspect you know that we, my sisters, Robert and me, all talked about this after you first told us about taking the boys in to live with you,” he continued. “I must admit, we were all kind of relieved when you broke the news, but it was only because we’d all been worried about you living alone. All of us had thought we noticed signs that you were becoming depressed, as time passed after mom’s death, so we were pleased to hear the excitement return to your voice, as you began telling us about Danny and Ricky.”

I knew he was right and I had lost much of my zest for life during that time, but I think I might have blushed a bit as he continued. “You’ve always been good with children, and we think that’s how you came to select being a teacher in the first place, and then a principal. We’ve also always been proud of you, even when we attended your school. It was kind of neat to have the other kids recognize that you were our father.” I think I blushed some more.

“The more you told us, the happier you sounded, but we called or IM’d each other after you told us about taking in Dustin and Kevin, and then Cole and Graham. We were afraid you might be going overboard, taking in so many boys in such a short period of time.” I was getting concerned now, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I thought I detected a negative tone in his last statement.

“However, after meeting the boys and hearing the stories of abuse they’d been through before coming here,” Michael continued, “we are positive you’re doing the right thing. In fact, I think we’re all beginning to enjoy having more little brothers, and I know both my son and Elizabeth’s sure like having younger uncles. They’re both pretty tired right now, after playing so hard with their new uncles all day long.”

I thanked him for his support, and told him I’d thank the others as well, just as soon as I got the chance, but he had more to tell me. “We also looked toward the future a bit,” he informed me. “We discussed that we each have our own careers right now and are all doing quite well, financially. We also know the credit for much of this is due to your guidance when we were younger. Therefore, we’ve also decided that we want you to use your money on the newest members of our family and not worry about us. There’s no need for you to continue buying us things for our birthdays or Christmas, but we won’t mind if you want to do a little something for your grandchildren, because we know how much you like to spoil them. The rest of us will be happy with phone calls from time to time, an occasional card and the possibility of spending more time with you and the boys.”

That last part really touched me. I thanked him again, impressed by how much thought he and his siblings had put into this. It was nice to see that the nurturing my wife and I invested in them as they were growing up was now paying dividends. They were obviously able to think of others, and not just about themselves.

Now that worry was behind me, juggling the sleeping arrangements for the four-day holiday was my next big challenge. Jay and Ricky suggested they could sleep with me, so my younger son could use Ricky’s room. Danny and Brandon offered to sleep on the sofa/bed in the family room, so my older son and daughter-in-law could use his room. That left my older daughter and son-in-law in the guest bedroom, while my two grandsons, ages three and five, teased their parents until they agreed to let them sleep with Cole and Graham, in the jungle room.

These four had become very close over the short period of time they had been together. Even though I had stopped bathing Cole and Graham by this time, they asked me if I would do it again, while my grandsons were here, so they could each bathe with one of their nephews. After talking it over with the boys parents, they all agreed that would be fine and I think I got as much pleasure from that time with them as they did. I loved watching them interact and playing in the tub and I think this was probably better for Cole and Graham, than the littlest pair. They had never had an opportunity such as this before, since they were still kind of weak and unable to derive any pleasure from my bathing them, after they first came to live with me. Now, however, they were able to focus upon just being kids and using my grandsons as a pretext to also play with the toys in the tub. I marveled at their innocence, as they uninhibitedly frolicked like boys much younger than their years.

The holiday seemed to pass by too quickly. Jay and Brandon went home on Friday, but came back to spend Saturday night with us too. Rather than be constantly fixing meals, we would go out to eat, parading into places like some social group on an outing. It was remarkable seeing how others observed us, once we entered each facility.

The boys and my grandsons continued to grow closer, as they spent more time together. The boys were very good about finding activities the younger ones could also participate in, including pulling out old, well-worn versions of ‘Chutes and Ladders’ and ‘Candy Land’ games my older children had played with when they were little. Throughout the weekend, they also gave their nephews, ‘horsey’ and ‘piggy-back’ rides and took them out to play in the leaves and enjoy the nippy, late-fall weather.

When it came time for my older children to return to their own homes and lives, there were quite a few tears shed, as we exchanged our sad good-byes. My grandsons were especially hard hit by having to leave and asked their parents when they could come back again. They told the boys ‘soon,’ even though the little ones pressed them for a more specific time, but that was the best response they got. After giving hugs and kisses all around, everyone departed and the house went back to being its old, quiet self, but as you might remember, it was never really all that quiet.