The Castaway Hotel - 5 - 32. Chapter 32 - Vindication

The next day we were back in court, with several witnesses lined up behind us. There was Sally and Mary, Steve’s wife, but there was also the Spences, Jake and the High School principal. He had agreed to take a late lunch hour so he could come to support us and testify on our behalf. The investigator for DSS was also there and was immediately called forward and sworn in. Once this had been completed, Steve immediately stepped forward and began to attack his report.

“Sir, you stated in your report that you believe Mr. Currie promoted a gay or bisexual lifestyle for the boys, causing them to become either gay or bisexual. Is that true?” he began.

“After talking to teachers, fellow students, and the boys themselves, I discovered there is a disproportionate number of boys residing there who consider themselves to be either gay or bisexual,” he concurred. “The only explanation for that would be that they were encouraged at home to participate in that sort of lifestyle.”

“Then why aren’t all of the boys gay or bisexual?” Steve challenged.

“Obviously, some didn’t buy into what he was promoting,” the man scoffed.

“Did it ever occur to you that the boys were either gay or bisexual before they came to live with Mr. Currie?” Steve pressed.

“Not really,” the gentleman admitted. “They would have been too young at that point to have made such a decision.”

“Really? And at what age do you think they would decide their orientation?” Steve asked.

“Probably between sixteen to eighteen, somewhere in that age range,” the man volunteered.

“Wow, that’s interesting,” Steve announced, as if he were astounded. “And where did you get your degree in deviant psychology from?”

“Mr. Shay, that’s enough of that,” the judge advised Steve.

“I’m sorry, your honor,” he apologized, “but please let me get back to my point. Sir, did you know that some of the boys came to live with Mr. Currie because they had previously been kicked out of their homes after it was discovered they were already gay or bisexual.”

The investigator blushed at this point, knowing he had missed some information during his hurried and incomplete investigation. “No, I’m afraid I didn’t learn about any of that information, if that is truly what happened.”

“Believe me, it is,” Steve sneered. “The local DSS has records denoting those facts in great detail.” Steve paused again, so he could glare at the social worker, and the guy turned even a brighter shade of red, this time more out of anger than embarrassment.

“Maybe if you’d have done your job more thoroughly, you might have discovered these facts on your own,” Steve announced, in his best accusatory tone. This comment only pissed the gentleman off even more.

“In your report,” Steve continued, “you also stated that you thought Mr. Currie had a gay lover. Who might that be?”

“Well, obviously the other guy who lives in his house with him,” the man spat back.

“Oh, did you see them kissing, making out or something of that nature to cause you to jump to that conclusion?” Steve wondered, aloud.

“No, nothing like that,” the guy stuttered.

“Well, on what did you base your assumption then?” Steve asked, intentionally using that specific word. I thought Steve might even go as far as to explain the old adage that when you ASSUME, it makes an ASS out of U and ME, but he didn’t.

“Come on!” the unnerved social worker screamed. “What two guys would live in a house with all of those boys and no females around, if they weren’t gay?”

“Oh, so now just because two guys share a house and raise a group of boys,” Steve paraphrased, “that automatically makes them gay?”

“Well, no, but…” the man stammered.

“Did you know Mr. Currie had been married and had four children from that marriage?” Steve asked, while looking quite smug.

“Well, some gay guys try to hide the fact they’re gay by getting married and having children,” the man challenged.

“Or that the other man was divorced?” Steve continued,

“No.” the social worked replied, meekly.

“Or that Mr. Currie is well respected in the community and a valued community leader,” Steve pressed on. “He was the principal of the middle school until he retired, due to health related issues.”

“Well, he could still be gay,” the man charged.

“But you have no specific proof of that, or for any of the other conclusions you state as facts in your report. Is that correct?” Steve followed, while verbally backing the guy into a corner.

“I think all those comments are accurate,” he replied, in an attempt to justify his accusations.

“Maybe to your own homophobic, narrow mind,” Steve quipped back, before the judge rapped his gavel on the desk and addressed Steve.

“That will be enough, Mr. Shay,” he warned. “You’ve made your point. Do you have any more questions for this witness?”

“No, your honor, but I do have rebuttal witnesses who will attest to Mr. Currie’s character and fitness as a parent,” he announced.

“Okay, you may call them then,” the judge agreed, “but don’t make this a long or drawn out affair.”

Steve then paraded our witnesses forward, asking them questions about my parenting skills and fitness as a person, as a way of allowing them to show their support for my family and me. After they all got to express their opinions, the judge took a short recess, to give him time to weigh everything he had just heard. Steve thought it might be because he still wanted to accept the report, but now he didn’t have a legal basis on which to do it. After a few minutes he returned and announced his decision.

“After weighing all of the information provided here today,” the judge began, “I have decided not to pursue this matter further and will allow the adoptions to stand. I will also honor any arrangement you have worked out with Ms. Van Cott concerning her biological sons. This case is now closed.”

With that, he rapped his gavel and then got up and left, as the rest of us celebrated. I think Steve had been right. I think the judge might have been more than a little tempted to continue accepting his investigator’s accusations, but feared a higher court would overrule him. I got that feeling from studying his facial expressions as he announced his decision. Maybe I was wrong, but it sure did appear that way to me. It looked as if he had swallowed a bunch of lemons while he was announcing his decision, so I think he would have preferred to find a way to separate me from my sons.

I hadn’t noticed that Ms. Van Cott had entered and taken a seat after the proceedings had begun, but I now noticed her sitting in the back corner of the courtroom. After my friends and I finished our brief celebration and we got ready to leave, she walked up to me and asked if she might have a moment of my time, in private. I agreed and we walked to the far side of the courtroom.

“Mr. Currie, I hope you’ll forgive me for all the trouble I’ve caused you,” she began, “and I’m grateful you’ve agreed to allow me to visit with my boys, from time to time.”

“Of course, I forgive you,” I told her, “and I also want you to know that I never intended to keep you completely away from Cole and Graham. I just didn’t want you to try to force them to come live with you, unless that’s what THEY wanted to do.”

“I understand that now,” she admitted, “and I sorely misjudged you. Please accept my apologies and my thanks for letting me back into their lives.”

“You don’t have to thank me, just don’t hurt them ever again,” I cautioned. “I promise that if you blow this opportunity, you won’t see them until they’re fully-grown and able to make that decision for themselves. I also promise that I will protect them with all my strength and full resources, so they won’t have to face such pain again.”

“I know you will, since you’re that kind of a person,” she confirmed. “I’m glad my boys are in such good hands now.”

We finished by agreeing that she could call any time to see them, but we would start off with only allowing the visits to take place at the house, until both boys were comfortable enough to go other places with her. She agreed and this nightmare was now over. Hopefully, it will be the last one we’ll have to endure.

By the time I arrived home, the boys were already there, so I was able to tell them what had happened in court. Once they heard the news, all of them got very excited and began to celebrate. I guess they had been just as worried as I was, if not more so, about the family being broken up, and now they let loose and rejoiced, because it was clear that wouldn’t happen.

While the others were whooping it up, Cole came over to me and asked when they’d have to meet with his mother. I told him she would call first, to set something up, but I hoped he would give her a chance to atone for her past mistakes. I explained that sometimes people do things they are ashamed of later, especially when they are under the influence of other things, like drugs or alcohol, so I was hoping he might give her a chance to prove she had really changed.

Cole did argue with me briefly, about not wanting to forgive her for all the hurt she had caused his brother and him. He was still very sensitive about this, but after I explained that if she hadn’t done what she did, then he would have never ended up with me, or his brothers. Hearing that, he finally decided that maybe her actions did benefit his brother and him in some way and he ended our conversation by saying he’d try not to be too hard on her.

Later Graham came to me, with some observations of his own. “Well, Dad, I guess I’m beginning to understand the messages from Brent better.”

“Why? What do you mean?” I asked, wondering what he was referring to this time. I was curious as to whether he’d been shown something more?

“Well, I now know the gray haze around someone means something bad is going to happen to them, but it’s something that can be worked out,” he announced, pleased by his discovery. “The dark gray haze means something bad is going to happen, but it’s not fatal, and the black means something really bad is going to happen.”

“Well, it sounds like you have it figured out,” I agreed. “Does that mean you’re becoming more comfortable with your gift then?”

“Yes, I guess I am,” he confirmed. “It still bothers me sometimes, because most of the messages aren’t very good, but I know now it’s a part of me and I’ve got to learn to live with it. It’s not as bad as I first thought it was going to be, though.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” I told him. “It makes me feel better.”

“Yeah, me too,” he concurred.

That night, once they went to their rooms, some of the boys continued their little celebration, but I think most of it was just to release the tension that had built up during our minor crisis. Most of the boys were able to unwind quickly, but of course it took Cole and Graham a little longer to get past all of their concerns. Fortunately, that pair was able to find other ways to relax, which began when Sammy and Andrew asked them to spend the night with them. The four of them had become fairly close, once things settled down after Sammy blew up at Graham over the Andrew incident. Since then, Sammy and Graham had made peace and the four of them had become very tight.

Over the past few days, Sammy and Andrew could see just how upset and nervous Cole and Graham had been during this confrontation with their mother, so that pair had made their own plans to help them forget about their troubles. Once the four of them were in the room together, they put their plan into action.

Sammy and Andrew had talked it over in private and were prepared to do all the work, so the other pair could just relax and enjoy. That duo took the initiative, as each of them began to stroke their partners and get them aroused. Of course Andrew had chosen Graham, so Sammy ended up with Cole, and the two boys took a great deal of enjoyment in bringing pleasure to the other pair.

Once they had them erect and wanting more, they began to work on them orally, using their tongues and mouths to bring them even more pleasure. In the dim-light of the moon, a casual observer might have been able to make out two little heads bobbing up and down, as their mouths were impaled by their partner’s rigid organ, which brought the other pair a tremendous amount of pleasure and slowly brought them to the brink of ecstasy.

As the younger pair continued to nod up and down, while suctioning the shafts of their older partners, the older pair began to buck in rhythm, while trying to mirror the younger ones’ movements. This activity continued until each of the older boys released his own load of cream into his benefactor’s mouth, and then they got to enjoy the warm, glowing feeling that makes every boy feel so good.

Once they had recovered, they decided it would only be fair to return the favor to the ones who gave them so much pleasure, so Cole and Graham switched places with their partners. This time the older pair licked and sucked on the other two, until they also had the opportunity to enjoy the same pleasurable release, even if it was a dry orgasm for Andrew. When that session ended, they cuddled with each other, fell asleep and stayed that way until the next morning. When I checked on them in the middle of the night, they looked like a litter of puppies, all tangled together for warmth and security.

In the light of the new day, everything began to look better and we were able to reevaluate our current circumstances. In an effort to find out more about the DSS investigator who had written that horrid report about us, I asked Sally if she would contact some of her friends at the state level, and she agreed. Although she didn’t disclose WHY she was seeking this information, she began to ask questions about him and learn as much as she could. She even had one of her contacts investigate his professional credentials, to discern if he was actually certified to do that job.

Sally also filed a formal complaint about some of the things he had done and the unsubstantiated accusations he had made. She stated that she thought he had let his personal feelings interfere with his professional judgment, thus unfairly appraising the situation. Although it probably wouldn’t cost him his job, it might get him a slap on the wrist, which might prevent him from doing something similar to someone else.

After the review board conducted a formal investigation of this matter, the state panel agreed with Sally and reopened all his old cases, so they could look for similar signs of his use of guilt by innuendo. I guess they eventually found many discrepancies in those records as well, so many in fact, that they had to reevaluate or correct the dispositions on a great many of his previous investigations.

Due to all these irregularities, he was suspended without pay, while the panel tried to decide what should be done to correct all of the biased reports he had filed. I guess his days of using his own prejudice to influence official decisions were over, at least for now. As a result of our inquiry, the state was forced to correct numerous past wrongs, which had been inflicted on others he despised for some unexplainable reason.