The Castaway Hotel - 4 - 33. Chapter 33 - For All The Special People In My Life

Wednesday, I met Jake at the putting green and we practiced for nearly two hours. He reminded me of all the little nuances of that fine art that I’d forgotten, like how to read the greens, judge the speed of the putting surfaces and use the proper stroke and alignment. By the end of our time there, I had improved greatly from my earliest attempts. I wasn’t necessarily at pro-tour ability, but I could two-putt from nearly anywhere now and that in itself was a big accomplishment, at least in my opinion. On the way home, we stopped and had a couple of beers, while we discussed my progress and debated about what we would try to accomplish at the driving range the next day.

The boys had a great many questions for me when I got home, as they seemed to want to know everything we did, including where we went afterward. I thought it was a bit strange that my sons were so interested in what I was up to, but I was a bit flattered by their attention too. I thought it was quite nice they cared enough to not only inquire, but also seemed excited by what I told them. It actually made me feel terrific.

Later, they told me they had also talked to Shannon and he had told them Jake was really enjoying these outings together too and seemed to be in a better mood because of it. What I didn’t know was that Shannon was giving his father much the same information about me, supposedly facts he had acquired from my sons. The boys seemed to be taking their matchmaking roles quite seriously, and Jake and I were totally in the dark about what they were really up to.

Thursday afternoon, Jake and I met at the driving range again and each hit a couple of buckets of balls. I hit one bucket using my woods (the one, three and five woods), working on my distance and trying to hit my shots straight down the middle. The other bucket I used to practice my irons, working on distance with the lower irons (the one, three and five) and accuracy and distance with the upper irons (the seven and nine irons, as well as my wedges). Once again, I wasn’t performing at competition caliber, but I had improved enough to feel comfortable about going out and playing eighteen holes with Jake and his co-workers on Saturday.

This time, when we stopped for a couple of beers on the way home, Jake used the opportunity to tell me about the guys we’d be playing against. He filled me in about some of their strengths and weaknesses, as well as telling me what they’d do to get into my head if the round was close. It seemed as if this pair was very competitive and didn’t like to lose, so they often did things to distract their opponents and give themselves the advantage. I thanked Jake for the information and told him I’d been worked over by tougher guys than that when I was really into the sport, and this caused him to laugh and assure me I’d do just fine then.

Once again, the boys quizzed me when I got home, repeating many of the same type of questions as before, and I told them much the same information as I had then. Later, they relayed more information from Shannon, about his dad’s take on the day, but once again I didn’t quite catch on to their intentions for this grilling and insider information. I guess it just never dawned on me that they were actually trying to fix me up with Jake. Why should it? I mean, how many children actually try to set their fathers up on dates? Well, I guess not many of them have to, but I was just naïve where this was concerned. Besides, how many try to fix their dads up with another guy?

Saturday morning, I was out of the house by six, anxious about our 7:00 a.m. tee time. I used the extra time to practice my putting and to loosen up before we began. The other three were there early as well. I guess they all take this pretty seriously. We teed-off right on time, and I was pleased with my first drive – straight down the middle of the fairway and not a bad distance either. The other two guys started ribbing Jake about bringing in a ringer, and he played right along with their accusation. I did have my moments of glory on the front nine, but there were other instances that I would have preferred to forget about completely, and we were down three strokes when we went into the clubhouse for a quick break. We used the restrooms and had a drink, before we went out to begin the back nine.

I played much better on this side, having worked out some of the kinks from my earlier game, and we started our comeback. We were doing really well until the seventeenth hole, when Jake sliced his tee shot into the woods and had to take a penalty stroke for it, while I ended up three-putting the green. We wound up losing the round by one stroke, with each of us trying to accept responsibility for blowing it, but it was fun and our opponents invited me to join them again the following weekend. Unfortunately, I had to explain I already had other plans for the following two weekends, and they told me we could set something up for another time then. I was pleased they wanted me back, because I didn’t think I had played very well, but I did have a great time.

We went into the clubhouse and had a couple of drinks together, rehashing some of the highlights of the round, and then I headed home. As I pulled into the driveway, a couple of the boys came out to meet me and wanted to know why I was home so early. I thought this odd, but explained to them that we had played our eighteen holes and had a couple of drinks before we left. They told me I should have stayed longer and maybe even played another nine. When I told them eighteen was plenty for my first time out and I was a bit sore and tired from the exercise, they gave in and left it at that. I went inside and soaked in a hot bath for a while, in an effort to alleviate some of the soreness, stiffness and cramps out of my old muscles.

I wasn’t able to stay in there long, however, as our local community was having its annual field days activities, and I had promised to take the younger boys to this traveling carnival after lunch. The festivities were complete with rides, games and other activities, which usually meant a fun time for all. We stayed there until dinnertime, which gave the boys plenty of time to ride the rides, play the games and eat their share of junk food before we left.

By the time we arrived home, the older boys were just about ready to go out on their dates. While we were gone, they had spent much of their day just kicking about the house, before preparing to go out. I only talked briefly with them before they hopped in the Suburban and took off. Seeing they were all going to the same place, Dustin had agreed to drive everyone around to pick up each of their dates, before heading to the field days. Everyone seemed satisfied, and the gay boys were also going with their partners, so everyone was happy.

Mark had a date too and asked if he could borrow the Grand Am again, which I told him would be fine. Even though he didn’t say where he was headed, I suspected he probably wasn’t planning on going to the same place as the others. He seemed to be getting quite attached to this young girl whom he worked with at the bank and I hoped neither of them would get hurt when it was time for him to go back to college in Arizona.

When the boys got to the carnival, they basically went their own way. Some had decided to do the rides first, enjoying the thrills of having their dinners mixed repeatedly from the spinning, whirling and up and down actions of the various rides, which would occasionally bring them to the point where they could almost experience the tastes of their meals once again.

Others decided to try their hands at the games first, to see if they could win some desired prize for their current significant other, which might help them get a step closer to reaching the next base in the mating game. Over the course of their time there, they shot baskets (but the hoops were much smaller than normal), knocked over bottles, shot at targets, pitched items in or around other objects or gambled on games of chance. Some were successful, while others failed miserably, but they all seemed to have a good time trying.

The final group took their partners for a treat first and enjoyed one of the many delicacies that could be obtained from one of the numerous carnival vendors. Some of them purchased candy or caramel apples, cotton candy or a snow cone, trying to win their loved ones’ favors with something sweet. All in all, they each had their own ideas about how to get what they were after – and you can apply that toward whatever you’re thinking about at this time.

As the evening wore on, Dion and his date disappeared for a while, finding their way to some dark and isolated location of the fringe of this gathering. There they started to make out and Dion began some major exploration of his own. He managed to get his hand up under her shirt, feeling up her breasts and playing with her erect little nipples, before he was able to work his way under her waistband and started fingering her hot hole. After several minutes of this activity, he had her all hot and agreeing to let him go further, and she helped him undo his pants and lower them, exposing his erect pole. That’s when she suddenly got cold feet. Seeing Dion’s monster standing tall and proud in front of her, she changed her mind, after concluding something that big couldn’t go inside of her without causing a great deal of pain. I suppose something like that could cause a virgin or inexperienced person to fear it, but Dion tried his best to convince her he’d be careful, go slowly and be very gentle. His pleas fell on deaf ears, though, and his chance at glory had now ended.

After having this lengthy and heated discussion, they finally made themselves presentable again and went back to the lighted areas of the carnival. Dion was left feeling very horny, frustrated and confused, and his date was a bit more aloof for the rest of their time together. His disappointment was visibly showing by the time he got home, but he wouldn’t discuss anything with any of the rest of us. It was Trey who finally made him feel better and got him to open up about what had happened there.

When they got back to their room, Trey began to show him some attention, stroking him and kissing various parts of his body, until Dion began to respond. Once Dion became horny again, he asked Trey if he could make love to him. Trey rapidly agreed, so Dion slipped on a condom, lubed up and drove his throbbing penis home, all in one smooth thrust. Being accustomed to having Dion inside of him, Trey felt no discomfort – in fact, quite the opposite. Knowing the young man he loved was firmly implanted in him sent Trey into overdrive and he used his ass muscles and extensive experience with his boyfriend to give him a pleasurable time. After Dion climaxed and had recovered, he kissed Trey passionately, before discussing what they had just done.

“How come you can take my rod so easily,” Dion began, “but she got scared by it?”

“Maybe it’s because I love you so much, am used to it and want it inside me,” Trey responded. This caused Dion to grin and kiss him some more.

“I know you do and I love you too,” he confirmed, “but I just need to find out what it’s like with a girl,” he cautioned. “I know you don’t like that idea and will still be here for me regardless, but I have to learn for myself if it’s better, worse or there’s no difference.”

“I know and I didn’t just do this to make you want me again,” Trey assured him. “I did it because I saw how you were hurting and knew how much you needed the release. I just wanted to make you feel better. That’s all.”

“I know and I appreciate it,” Dion confirmed. “I’m sorry if I’m causing you any pain, but this is just something I still have to do.”

Trey understood and had no regrets about what he had just done, but his kindness had also eliminated most of the frustration that had built up in Dion earlier. Now that the air was cleared, Dion confided in Trey about the details of what had happened on his date. Although he was secretly thrilled about Dion’s rejection by the girl, Trey continued to play the understanding brother role and tried to console Dion by convincing him he’d do better with the next one. By this time, Dion had pulled out of his funk, while being thankful he had Trey there beside him. It was a masterful strategy, executed perfectly by Trey, and it helped to pull them a little closer to each other and give them a different type of bond than they’d had before.

Nothing much happened after that until the following Wednesday, which was the Fourth of July. We held our annual cookout and get together, but due to the fact of how the date fell this year, my older children didn’t attend. However, everyone local did and the house was filled with people, including the Shays, Spences, Beckers, Curtises, Sally, Jake and Shannon. In addition to those guests, the boys, including Mark, had also invited their dates, while some of the younger boys had asked a few of their friends from school to join us.

Dion had invited a new girl to this outing, after the other girl had grown a bit distant and cold after their last encounter, and Dion’s new love interest didn’t do much for Trey’s partying mood. He was a brave trooper though and put up a good front, not letting anyone else see how much he was actually hurting inside. I did question him a couple of times during the day, trying to see how he was doing, and he unequivocally let me know how he was still bothered by all of this, but would do his best to get through it. I felt deeply for him, but was proud about how he was handling it, and I tried to reassure him as much as I could. He thanked me and went out to hang around with some of the others, but I could tell he was watching Dion out of the corner of his eye the entire time and was extremely jealous that he was not the one with him.

Besides all the food and drinks we provided for this gathering, we also set up some activities to help entertain our guests. We held our own games, complete with prizes for the winners, and had a variety of activities geared to both the young and old. We had a sack race, a three-legged race and a wheelbarrow race, which were geared toward the younger crowd, but we also had a birdseed relay, an egg-toss and a pie-eating contest, which the older participants would also enjoy competing in. The birdseed relay was done in teams, with each group having a tablespoon and a container of birdseed at one end, and an empty cup at the other. The idea was to scoop up a spoonful of bird seed, hurry to the other end without spilling it all, and then dump it into the empty cup before returning to hand the spoon off to the next person in line. This wasn’t so much about speed as it was about patience and steadiness, and we used birdseed so we could throw it around after we were done, in order to do something constructive with it and not litter the yard. It seemed to be quite a big hit with everyone.

After all of these activities were concluded, we ate and then sat down to play Bingo outdoors, which was a new experience for some of our younger guests. I take it that people tend to ignore these older and simpler games nowadays, seeing they have so many electronic and computer activities to keep them occupied, but it was nice to see everyone enjoying something from another, maybe gentler time.

After playing several games of Bingo with us, the Beckers excused themselves, telling us how they had to get home and take care of things on the farm, so we bid them farewell and thanked them for joining us. Shortly after they left, we started cooking again, because it was nearing dinnertime and everyone had worked up another healthy appetite. After eating for the second time, we did things individually or in small groups until dark, and then loaded up in several vehicles, to head for the nearby park. Our community had scheduled to set off both a ground and aerial fireworks show there and we were all anxious to see what they had in store for us.

It was quite a show, with many different types of displays to watch, combined with the noises and the shockwaves from the explosions. It got me reminiscing about my youth and reminded me of some of the Independence Day celebrations I had been part of as a boy. I guess, without planning it that way, we had enjoyed an old-fashioned Independence Day observance, one that could have taken place thirty, forty or even fifty years earlier.

As we were leaving, many of our older guests made comments that they’d also experienced feelings similar to mine, before telling me how much they had enjoyed the day and how it had caused them to relive so many memories of long forgotten times. Overall, I think it was a very wonderful day and something none of us would soon forget.

Before they left, I also made sure Jake and Shannon were going to join us the following weekend, when we took the Beckers to Philadelphia to catch their flight to Orlando. I told Josh and Shannon the rest of us were planning on spending the weekend sightseeing in Philadelphia, mostly for Mark’s benefit. They readily accepted my offer, but Jake questioned how all of us could go in one vehicle. After discussing this further, we agreed that I’d drive the van and Jake would follow in the Suburban, splitting the passengers up between the two vehicles, so everyone would be more comfortable. It sounded like a great plan and everyone looked forward to it.

I don’t know whether the boys were happier that Shannon was going or that Jake and I would be together again, but either way they seemed thrilled. We spent the rest of the week getting our things together and planning what we would do while we were there. It was also Ricky’s birthday-weekend, so we’d have to make some special plans for that, as well.

Jake took Friday off from work, so we could leave earlier in the day, and he and Shannon also spent Thursday night at our place. That way, we were ready to leave as early as possible in the morning and pulled out from our place just after dawn. We were going to pick up the Beckers on the way and they would join us for our Friday and Saturday activities, and then we’d all stay at a motel near the airport, so we could see them off on their flight Sunday morning.

The Beckers were all excited and a bundle of nerves when we arrived, as they hadn’t been on a vacation in ages and none of them had ever flown before. While they were fidgeting with last minute instructions to the workers who would be looking after their farm in their absence, the boys, Jake and I loaded their luggage in the rear of the Suburban and under the seats. Once they were ready, we got everyone situated and headed out for the big city.

We arrived in Philadelphia just after mid-morning and picked up Carlos, seeing he was going to be joining us. His mother had declined our invitation, since she had to work, but agreed to let Carlos stay with us until we returned home. Even though they lived in Philadelphia, they didn’t have the money or opportunity to do the things I had planned, so I felt it would do him good to learn about the city he lived in as well.

After picking him up, we decided to stop for brunch, so we could start our sightseeing without having to worry about finding a place to eat again. We were all kind of anxious to see some of the historic places in the area and I had everything we were going to do planned out in my mind. The boys often tell me I’m very anal about such details, and they might be right. I’m not fond of flying by the seat of my pants, since that usually means we would waste valuable time debating what we were going to do, when we could actually be visiting some place.

Even though the boys and I had flown out of the Philadelphia airport a few times in the past, we had never taken the time to go into the city to see what was there. It was strange, but we had seen more of other locations around the country, than we had of those closest to where we actually lived.

We began our first day with a visit to the US mint. Even though they had tours seven days a week at this time of year, we wouldn’t be able to see the actual production process on the weekend, so I determined Friday was the best day for us to come here. It was really a very interesting tour and Little Ricky was intrigued with seeing how money was made. He was at the front of the group for every stop we made along the way and always ready to ask questions whenever he didn’t understand something. It was an audio-guided tour, so I was left to try to fill in the gaps for him, with substantial assistance from the other adults.

Our tour began with an explanation of how the original designs for coins were made, including the special state quarters that are currently coming into use. It all began with an artist’s drawing of what the coin would look like and then the design was made into a clay sculpture, before it was turned into a plaster cast. After that, a rubber cast was made, followed by a hard epoxy cast. Once the epoxy cast was examined and approved, it was taken to a transfer-engraving machine to make a small metal copy or die, which would be used to make the individual coins. The process of making the die would take three days, but once the die was completed, it would be thoroughly examined for any flaws, before it was used to make the new coins. We even got to see several examples of these various early steps, including seeing various types of casts used for many of the different coins.

“Man, that’s big money!” Little Ricky exclaimed, when examining the casts, which caused some of the older boys to chuckle.

“Think how big the vending machines would have to be to take those coins,” Big Ricky joked back.

“Or your pockets,” Carlos added, catching everyone else by surprised. He was usually the quiet one and didn’t get involved in these types of conversations, but it was good to see him coming out of his shell.

Now, it was time to learn how the coins actually were made. This began with large metal rolls, with each one being the length of five football fields when unrolled. They were fed into one side of a machine that would punch out blank metal disks, using a similar principle as a cookie cutter. These blank disks were then heated and cooled, before they were given a bath and dried. Once they were all clean and shiny, they were run through a machine called the ‘riddler’, which separated the good disks from the bad ones, and the good ones then were forwarded to the next station.

“What do they do with the bad disks?” Little Ricky wanted to know, which caused me to surmise he was hoping to get one as a souvenir at this point. Unfortunately for him, I had to inform him the ones that didn’t pass inspection were sent back and melted down, so they could be used to make a new metal roll. He was visibly disappointed, but accepted the explanation and we moved on.

The good blanks were then sent to an ‘upsetting mill’, which raises a rim on both sides of the blank. Then the disks are sent through a press, which contained the die that was made earlier, and the blanks are then pressed into actual coins. After that process, the coins are checked for quality, counted and put into bags. These bags of coins were stacked on a dolly, loaded into armored cars and finally taken to Federal Reserve Banks, which would then circulate them on to the various banks in their area. Overall, the tour took just under an hour, but it was very interesting and worth the time.

As I said, Little Ricky was constantly asking questions about the various procedures and commenting on what we’d seen. He was as excited and animated as I had ever seen him. Seeing him like this now, I could hardly imagine what he would be like when they reached Disney World and started that whole experience, so I hoped his parents were well rested and ready to keep up with this little dynamo once they get there.

After we left the mint, we stopped to get ice cream and drinks, to cool us off, and then we went to take the ‘American Trolley Tour’. This tour took us to see three of the most popular sites in ‘old’ Philadelphia. First we went to see the Liberty Bell, which is kept in the Liberty Bell Pavilion.

“Hey, I thought the Liberty Bell cracked because it was rung so long and hard after the Declaration of Independence was signed!” Brandon bellowed, after reading something in the brochure he’d picked up.

“So did I,” I agreed. “At least that’s what my grandfather always told me.”

“Well, that’s not what happened,” Brandon advised me. “It says here the Liberty Bell was cracked during its initial testing process. The crack was resealed in 1753, but reappeared later, and is now kept wedged open now for people to see. It also says the bell was taken to Allentown in 1777, when the British occupied the city, to prevent them from melting it down and using it to make ammunition.”

I, along with some of the others, was now in shock. We had just learned something completely contrary to what we had always believed about it. Not only that, but I was completely floored after hearing ‘the rest of the story’, as Paul Harvey loved to say, but was happy to now have the accurate information at my disposal. These little trips really are educational.

After that stop, we went to see Betsy Ross’ house, because she was the one who supposedly sewed the first American flag. This stop took all of five minutes - well, maybe it did take longer than that, but it was a very quick tour. The house was neat to visit and all, as it was completely furnished according to the period, but there wasn’t really all that much to see in it.

“That was kind of a gyp,” Sammy announced as we left the building. “They should have had a model of her sewing the flag or something.”

“I agree,” I told him. “The sewing room even lacked the feel I expected from it. I had kind of hoped they might have had a woman there pretending to be Betsy Ross and hand sewing another colonial flag.” Although the others nodded in agreement, unfortunately, that wasn’t the way it was set up.

From there we went to Franklin Court, which had once contained the home of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was one of those true Renaissance persons, as was Thomas Jefferson, and benefited the fledgling country serving many different roles and make an impact in many different fields.

“Okay, what do you guys know about Benjamin Franklin?” I asked, to get the ball rolling.

“He was the guy who flew the kite and discovered electricity,” Andrew quickly shouted out.

“I’m not sure I’d say he discovered electricity,” I countered, “but he made many theories about it and invented the lightning rod, to prevent buildings from getting struck by it.”

“And he made some funny glass and a stove to heat home,” Little Ricky quickly chimed in.

“Yes, he was both a scientist and an inventor,” I agreed. “Anything else?”

“He printed an almanac and put all kinds of famous sayings in it,” Brent chimed in.

“Yes, he was also a printer and a philosopher,” I confirmed. “Do you know any of the sayings he was famous for?”

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” Pat quickly answered.

“Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today,” Dustin chimed in.

“There never was a good war nor a bad peace,” Danny added.

“How about this one, I used to hear all the time in the other foster homes I lived in,” Pat began, and then continued in a mocking tone. “Eat to live, and not live to eat.” I could tell there were some bad memories about that one, but didn’t have time to ponder it as Dion spoke up.

“A penny saved is a penny earned,” he quoted, but then quickly added, “so a penny must have been worth a lot more then.” That caused everyone to titter, until Mark added one of his own.

“I think he also said, ‘in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes,’ so I guess not a whole lot has changed since then.” I could see Jake and the Beckers nodding in agreement, after Mark finished.

“And then there’s my personal favorite,” I added. “He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.” I did have to explain that a bit to the younger boys, but the older ones caught on to its meaning immediately.

“Okay, so do you know anything else about Mr. Franklin?” I asked, before we moved on.

“Didn’t he help Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence?” Nick asked.

“He was part of the ‘Committee of Five’ responsible for drafting it and made several small changes to the draft, but Jefferson wrote most of it. However, when it was signed, Franklin urged those representing the various colonies that, ‘We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.’ In other words, they had to see this through or they would all be hanged as traitors if they failed.” I think the boys were impressed by that.

“He was a diplomat, statesman and loved the women,” Mark volunteered after a brief pause and then winked in my direction. I guess the straight boys would admire Franklin for that tidbit.

“While looking at colleges I might want to go to,” Kevin chirped in, “I learned he helped to found the University of Pennsylvania.”

“And he suggested using the wild turkey as our National bird,” Frankie offered, “since it lived in the original thirteen colonies, unlike the bald eagle.”

“Very true, but he was overruled on this point,” I countered, “but it makes me wonder what Thanksgiving might have been like if his idea had been accepted. What would we be eating instead of turkey?” That comment caused everyone to chuckle and make various retorts about eating Eagle or other things, including venison, but I think we’d had fun with it and learned a bit in the process, as well.

When the tour was completed, we went to check into our hotel rooms, so we could get cleaned up and changed for dinner. Tonight we were going to go to a pretty famous jazz club, called ‘Warmdaddy’s’, for dinner and to listen to the live entertainment. It was my understanding that they served great southern home-style cooking and the music was fantastic. I had told the staff it was Ricky’s birthday when I made the reservation and ordered a large, special cake for after dinner. I discovered upon our arrival that the manager had also arranged for the musicians to play a jazzed up version of ‘Happy Birthday’ in his honor.

After a wonderful and filling meal, the cake was brought out and the band did their thing. It was truly a remarkable rendition and the other guests also seemed to get a special kick out of this and many offered Ricky their own birthday wishes. We took our time there and ate our dessert slowly, while sitting back to enjoy the atmosphere and music. During that time, Little Ricky came over and apologized to my Ricky for not having a present for him, but quickly offered to bring something special back for him from Disney World. Ricky told him that wouldn’t be necessary, but Little Ricky insisted, seeing how Ricky had bought him something special for his own birthday. After that, we went back to our rooms and watched a little television before turning in.