The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 4 - 44. Chapter 44 – The Holiday Comes to an End

Nearly everyone slept in a little later the next morning, and after we ate, the younger kids went to watch the parades on TV. They did that until lunchtime, and after Elliot got back from taking Ian home, the kids talked him, Noah, and Holly into taking them tobogganing again.

While they were doing that, some of the others began watching the football games in the family room, while still others watched a movie in the living room. We did those things until the kids returned, and when the movie ended, Dad, Brandon, and I went out to the kitchen so we could start preparing dinner. We had decided on having ham and cabbage for our New Year’s Day meal, although we also had hamburgers and French fries ready to cook for any of the kids that didn’t want to eat what the rest of us were having.

During the meal, Andrew started talking to Jordan and Nicky. “I didn’t mention this before, but how old are you guys now? You’ve both gotten huge.”

“Yeah, that’s what Grandpa Josh said too,” replied Jordan. “I’m twenty-five now.”

“And I’m twenty-four,” added Nicky.

“Are you both going to college, or have you graduated.”

“I got my degree in mechanical engineering, but I haven’t been able to get a job yet,” answered Jordan.

“Damn, that should pay pretty well when you do get hired,” stated Sammy.

“Yes, and I’ll probably end up with a job at a big corporation, so it looks like I’m going to have to move away from the area. Mom and Dad aren’t very happy about that.”

“Yes, I’m sure they’re not,” agreed Andrew. “What about you, Nicky?”

“I just graduated in May with a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration, and I haven’t started looking for a job yet. I wanted to take a little time off first, after four years of having my nose in the books.”

“I can understand that. Do you know what you want to do when you’re ready?”

“Yeah, I was thinking of contacting Mark to see if I could work with him as an intern. Grandpa Josh says he’s really good at what he does and I figured I could learn a lot from him. I’m hoping to become a Financial Planner or an Investment Counselor.”

“Wow, those are good paying jobs too, so I wish you both well.”

As their conversation was winding down, Benny made a comment about something completely different. “Damn, everyone who’s eating the ham and cabbage is gonna be farting like crazy tonight, cuz the cabbage will give them serious gas problems.”

“Yes, so I suggest no one lights any matches in the house later,” Pop teased.

“Yeah, the explosion would blow out all the windows in the house,” added Elliot, playing along.

“I bet the guys going back to watch the football games in the family room will have it the worst, because that room is pretty much closed off from the rest of the house,” I teased.

“Then we’ll watch TV in the livin’ room,” stated Hunter, and the rest of the younger boys agreed. “That will be better, cuz we’re not eating that stuff.”

“I think they’re just playing with you, if you want to watch the football games,” said Dion.

“Nah, we’ll just stay out here,” replied Wyatt.

“I hope you all left room for dessert,” commented Dad. “I made an Eggnog Cake, a Candy Cane Cheesecake, and a Black Forrest Cake.”

“Those sound really good,” responded Graham. “I’m sure everyone will make room for a slice of one of those.”

“Yeah, we got room,” the boys agreed.

“I’m glad to hear that,” replied Dad.

Once we finished, the table was cleared, and Brandon and I helped Dad carry the desserts to the table. If you aren’t familiar with the Candy Cane Cheesecake, Dad crushed up the traditional candy canes that were left over from Christmas and sprinkled them over the cheesecake. Each slice could also be topped with whipped cream if that’s what the person wanted. They could add whipped cream to the cakes if so desired, but only the boys opted to add the whipped cream to their choices.

We were enjoying our desserts when Kylie asked a question. “Is tomorrow gonna be our last day here?”

“It will be your last full day,” answered Dad, “because you’ll be leaving for home right after breakfast the next day.”

“Dang, I wish we could stay here longer,” said Lucas.

“I’m afraid that isn’t possible because your parents want to spend the weekend with you, and then you’ll be returning to school on Monday.”

“I’m just glad we got to stay here for the extra time,” added Megan, “because I had a blast on the toboggans and doin’ other stuff while I was here.”

“I think we all did,” agreed Jordan.

“And we should thank our grandpas and uncles for letting us stay here so we could do all those things,” suggested Nicky.

“Yeah, thank you,” the others all chimed in together.

“Maybe we can do this next year too,” offered Kylie.

“I’m afraid not,” replied Dad. “Next year you’ll be here for Thanksgiving, not Christmas.”

“That sucks,” groaned Lucas. “I would’ve liked to be able to do this again.”

“Maybe the year after then,” countered Dad, “if you haven’t changed your minds by then.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t,” stated Lucas.

The kids then did their best to enjoy the rest of the night together, but they were mostly looking forward to tobogganing down the hill again tomorrow. They seemed determined to make the most of the time they had left and headed up to bed in a better mood than we anticipated.

Sammy, Andrew, and Graham had already headed upstairs to take their showers, so they’d be done before the boys went up to do the same. They were just finishing up as the boys were heading upstairs, and since those three were used to walking around naked after they showered, Xander got to see all three of them without anything on.

“Hey, your pee-pees are just like mine,” he stated while pointing at their groins.

“I guess that means they left you natural too,” responded Sammy.

“Yeah, I’ll show ya,” offered Xander.

He then started to undress for his shower, and even though the others noticed his special underpants, they didn’t say anything about them. When he was also naked, he thrust his hips forward so they could see.

“Yep, we’re all the same,” confirmed Graham. “Your Uncle Trey, Uncle Kevin, and Uncle Vinnie are like us too.”

“And Benny,” added Xander.

“Yes, so you’re not alone, if that’s what you were thinking,” added Andrew.

“Yeah, I was until Benny showed me his pee-pee,” confessed Xander.

“Well now you know you’re not the only one and there are plenty of other men who remain natural as well,” stated Andrew, and then the three of them headed to their rooms while Xander went to shower with one of the twins.

As soon as the kids finished breakfast the next morning, they were ready to head off to the hill. Elliot was reluctant to go, because he wanted to spend more time with Ian, so Jordan volunteered to take his place.

“I think I know the hill well enough that I can do it as well as you did.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” said a relieved Elliot.

“And I’ll help out too, if anyone else wants to take a break,” added Nicky.

“Or we can just switch off,” offered Jordan. “Doing this actually turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected when the younger kids first suggested it. I just went along to make sure none of them got hurt, but then I had a good time doing it too.”

Now that Elliot was no longer required to go with them, the others all dressed warmly before taking off for the hill. It was enjoyable seeing all of Dad’s grandchildren doing this together, even without Elliot today, and with the big age difference between them. They obviously were having a good time, though, because they were late getting back for lunch. It wasn’t a problem, however, since we didn’t have anything else planned.

“It was a lot colder when we started out this morning,” stated Megan while we were eating, “but it’s not as bad now.”

“So, are you going out again after you eat?” asked Dion.

“Yeah, I think we all want to,” answered Nicky.

“Ok, just come back here when it starts getting dark.”

After we finished eating, the kids headed out to the hill again, and then Sammy, Andrew, and Graham announced it was time for them to go home.

“Thanks for letting us spend the New Year with you guys. I had a great time!” stated Sammy.

“Yes, I really enjoyed myself too,” added Andrew.

“It was nice doing those things with all of you this year,” agreed Graham, “but we’ve got to go home so we can get ready to go back to school on Monday.”

“Yes, Dion, myself, and the kids have to get ready as well,” I agreed.

“And we enjoyed having you here,” added Dad. “I’m glad you decided to join us.”

“Just tell Pop, Danny, and Brandon we said goodbye. It was too bad they had to go into work today.”

“Yes, they only had a half day off on Tuesday for New Year’s Eve and then New Year’s Day, but they have to work today and tomorrow.”

“And Danny and Brandon will also be working a half-day on Saturday,” added Dion.

“And tell the kids we said goodbye too,” added Andrew.

“We will,” Dad agreed, and then Sammy, Andrew, and Graham went outside to get in their car, and we waved at them as they drove off.

The kids pushed it again that evening and didn’t come back when it started getting dark. It was completely dark by the time they reached the house, which had the rest of us slightly concerned.

“Why are you so late?” I nearly screamed at them.

“We knew this was gonna be our last chance to do this,” answered Lucas, “so we tried to make it last for as long as we could.”

“Ok, I can see why you wanted to do that, but you had the rest of us worried and we were nearly ready to send out a search party.”

“Weren’t you afraid of being out there when it was this dark?” asked Dion.

“Nah, we just stayed together, cuz we knew Noah, Jordan, and Nicky would protect us if anything bad happened,” answered Kylie.

“As long as you didn’t run into a bear or a wolf,” teased Dad.

“We didn’t see any of those animals out there,” replied Wyatt.

“It’s a good thing, because you wouldn’t have been able to run very fast in the deep snow. About all you could have done was to throw snowballs at them.”

“Yeah, that would have worked out great,” scoffed Benny.

“My point exactly,” responded Dad, and that seemed to end the conversation.

We then told the kids to take off their heavy jackets and damp clothes before washing up for dinner. To our surprise, Danny and Brandon were also later than usual tonight, as was Pop.

“Was there a problem?” asked Dad when they finally arrived home.

“Yes, there was a pretty big fire and traffic was moving at a snail’s pace due to the fire trucks blocking part of the roads and other drivers rubbernecking to see what was going on,” replied Pop.

“Was it a house or a business fire?” followed Dion.

“It was a house,” said Pop. “It could have started as a chimney fire or happened when they were fixing dinner, but it might have been that their Christmas decorations shorted out and caused the fire.”

“How bad was it?” I wanted to know.

“The house looked pretty bad, but I don’t think anyone was hurt, because the ambulances were still at the scene. They probably lost most of their Christmas presents, though, and will have to find someplace else to stay for a while.”

“That’s a shame,” said Dad, “but I’m glad no one was hurt.”

Once those three had changed and washed up, we sat down to eat. While we were eating, Dion explained to Jordan, Nicky, Megan, Kylie, and Lucas what would be happening tonight and the following day.

“We want each of you to pack up your things tonight, so you’re ready to leave right after breakfast tomorrow,” Dion told them. “I want to get an early start, since it’s such a long drive and I have to make a round trip. I’m sure Elliot will feel the same way.”

“Can we go with you?” asked Tristan.

“No, I’m taking the car and there won’t be enough room, since three of them will be riding with me.”

Dinner was a little subdued this evening, since all of the kids were down about the others leaving, but things perked up a bit when we brought out the desserts. I helped Dad remake the three desserts that we’d enjoyed the previous day, and Dion ran out to purchase more whipped cream, so there were smiles on the kids’ faces once again.

As soon as those leaving had finished eating, we sent them to their rooms to pack up their things. We advised them to double-check to make sure they weren’t leaving anything behind, and once they finished, we let them come down and watch a movie with us. Before they went up to bed, they said goodbye to Pop, Danny, and Brandon, because those three will probably have left for work before the kids got up.

When Elliot returned home a little while later with Ian, Dion advised him about what he’d told the kids he would be taking home, and Elliot was fine with that. Ian was going to be spending the night with Elliot, because he was going to ride with him when he took Nicky and Kylie home. That was fine with us, since Elliot was doing us this huge favor.

When we woke up the following morning, we discovered that Dad had everything ready to make a huge breakfast of pancakes, fried eggs, sausage patties, and bacon. The other boys also got up to see their cousins off, so I went out to help Dad get everything ready.

We stuffed ourselves so we wouldn’t have to stop and eat along the way. We’d merely have to stop for gas and to use the toilet, but that would take less time than eating another meal. Once we’d finished our breakfast, we all went upstairs to brush our teeth, and then the kids brought their things down to the foyer so we could take them outside and put them in the trunks of our cars. Once this had been completed, the kids said goodbye to one another, and those leaving said goodbye to Dad and me and thanked us for letting them have such a great time.

We all walked out with them and waved goodbye as they drove off, and then the remaining boys talked Noah and Holly into taking them tobogganing again. I think the older pair merely agreed to do this because they could see how down the boys were, so we didn’t see them again until lunchtime.

They weren’t as cheery and bombastic as they had been when they returned from their previous outings, but Dad had a trick up his sleeve to improve their disposition. In an attempt to perk them up a little, after they finished eating, he told them they could have some of the leftover desserts from the day before, and this caused their faces to finally crack into a smile.

Dion and Elliot didn’t arrive home until after the rest of us had eaten dinner. We had planned on waiting for them, but the kids were complaining that they were hungry so we finally gave in and sat down to eat. When Dion and Elliot arrived, we warmed them up something, and they told us about their trips.

“The younger kids were very quiet during the first half of the trip,” stated Dion, “but they perked up a little as we got closer to their homes. They were looking forward to seeing their parents and friends again, so they were in a fairly good mood by the time I dropped them off.”

“It was the same in my car too,” Elliot added. “I don’t think it bothered Nicky as badly, because he was used to doing things like this each time he’d stayed with us before. I’m sure the same was true for Jordan, and it was really nice seeing both of them again. We had a lot of fun together when we were younger.”

“I had a feeling that’s why they went tobogganing with you each time. It must have brought back memories of things the three of you did when you were young teenagers together.”

“Yeah, we talked about that a lot.”

“Did they say anything about you studying to be a lawyer?” asked Brandon.

“Yeah, they said they were surprised that I wanted to go to school for so long, but they said they were happy for me, if that’s what I wanted to do.”

“It sounds as if each of you has your act together, even if those two haven’t found jobs yet.”

“They’ll start looking more seriously now, since the holidays are over.”

“I hope they find something then.”

“Yeah, me too.”

We now only had the weekend left before Dion, the boys, and I would be returning to school. The boys were in that in-between period of trying to enjoy the time off, while also thinking about returning to their classes. Fortunately, they weren’t dreading it as badly as some of the other students, because for the most part, they didn’t mind going to school. It was something that Dad, Brandon, Danny, Dion, and I had tried to instill in them, and it seems that our efforts were paying off, at least to some extent, so we were willing to take whatever we could get.

In addition to Dion and Danny making sure the boys had all of their things together for Monday morning, Brandon and I were taking care of the laundry and making sure all of their clothes were clean. By the time Saturday evening rolled around, we were all ready to take a break and agreed to watch a movie with the boys. They chose the movie Enders Game, and even though I hadn’t watched it before, I had heard either one of the boys or one of my students talking about the book. I watched it with an open mind and it proved to be an enjoyable and relaxing way to spend the evening.

When we went to church on Sunday morning, it was the first time we were attending services at the Presbyterian Church. Just like at our previous church, the minister was waiting to greet us as we arrived.

“Welcome to our Church,” the minister said when we reached him.

“Good morning, Rev. Cleary. Let me introduce you to my family.”

After I finished doing that, he had something else to tell me.

“Mr. Currie, I don’t mind you calling me Rev. Cleary, but the others who attend services here call me Pastor Cleary.”

“I’m glad you corrected me, and I’d like you to call me Josh.”

That wasn’t the only adjustment we had to make, because we soon discovered that this church also used a different version of the Bible. For years, we’d used the King James Version of the Bible at our old church, but here they used the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The King James Version was an English translation of the Bible authorized by King James I of England and first published in 1611. It uses the medieval language of the time and is somewhat difficult for many people to understand.

The New Revised Standard Version is an English Translation first published in 1989, and it translated the Bible into language that is easier for most modern audiences to comprehend. It also uses gender neutral language wherever appropriate, to avoid the gender bias. I believe this was something we could adjust to, but it was going to make it awkward when we were reciting the Lord’s Prayer with the others.

The service was different, yet enjoyable, and I don’t think we’ll mind attending here from now on. We may have to replace our Bibles, but that’s not a major problem. On the way out, we spoke with Pastor Cleary again.

“I hope you found that our church met your requirements,” said Pastor Cleary.

“Yes, I believe we’ll fit in quite well here,” agreed Dad.

“And I’m glad that your entire family will be joining us.”

“This isn’t my entire family, just those still living locally, and you’ll be seeing us most Sundays from now on.”

“I’m glad you’ll be joining us.”

We went to the diner for brunch afterward, and after we ordered, there were comments from the peanut gallery.

“When they read the Bible today, they didn’t use words like ‘thou’, ‘thy’, or ‘thee’,” observed Tristan.

“Or ‘saith’, instead of said,” added Revin.

“Yes, they’re using a newer translation of the Bible that uses modern language, not language from the middle-ages,” replied Dad.

“It makes it easier to understand,” said Hunter.

“Indeed it does,” agreed Dad.

As soon as we finished eating, we returned to the house and the college kids quickly gathered their things, packed up their cars, and got ready to leave.

“Just drive carefully,” we told them.

“Especially you, Ryan,” added Brandon. “This is the first time you’ll be driving to campus, so just take it easy.”

“And don’t forget to go to the security office to get your parking sticker,” added Danny.

“Ok, I’ll remember to do that.”

“And you be careful too, Elliot, because you’ve got the longest drive.”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to split the driving with Ian, so it won’t be too bad. He’s driving first.”

“Just take it easy, and Ian, please be careful on your way back from Yale to Harvard.”

“I will.”

“And all of you are to call when you get there,” demanded Brandon. “We want to know that you all made it back safely.”

“Yeah, we know,” they all groaned.

“And don’t forget that you’re there to study, not to party,” added Danny.

“Yeah, we know that too,” they chorused back, and then they got in their cars and drove off.

When we went inside, we changed first and then went back to doing whatever we didn’t get done the day before. After dinner, the boys wanted us to watch another movie with them, and this time they chose Ready Player One. I hadn’t heard of this movie before either, and the boys told me it was also a book. I enjoyed it, although I’m not certain how closely it followed the book by listening to the boys, and when it ended, we sent the boys to get ready for bed. The holiday was over and now we were returning to our normal lives again.