The Castaway Hotel - 5 - 4. Chapter 4 - Life Goes On

“Graham, I have a favor to ask of you,” I began, which immediately confused him. “Earlier this afternoon I had a young man make a request of me, but what he wants also concerns you.”

“Me? How does it concern me?” Graham wondered, while looking startled.

“Well, your brother Andrew wants something special for his birthday, and he wants you to help with it,” I explained.

“Cool. With what?” Graham shot back. “A bike? A television? A PlayStation? What?” Graham was getting excited as he pressed to find out what this was about.

“Nothing quite like that,” I told him. “Andrew wants to have his first sexual experience and he would like you to be his first partner.”

“Me? Oh, wow!” Graham gushed. “That’s awesome, but won’t Sammy be jealous if he’s not Andrew’s first?”

“He might be, but this is what Andrew wants,” I explained. “If Sammy’s nose does get bent out of shape because of this, then I’ll just have to sit down with him and let him know this is what Andrew wanted.” I hesitated a moment before continuing. “So, are you interested in doing this then?”

“Oh, yeah,” Graham replied, almost before I’d finished my question. “Andrew is really neat and I hoped some day he’d want to do something with me, but I never thought I’d be his first.”

“Well, he mentioned you a couple of times when he spoke to me about this, so he’s obviously thought this out,” I added, and hearing this additional information made Graham’s chest swell out with pride. I don’t think he realized Andrew thought so highly of him.

“Wow, he really does want me to be his first, huh?” Graham asked, rhetorically. “Neat. So when are we going to do this?”

“Well, I figured you two could get together the night before his birthday, if that would be good for both of you,” I suggested. “I thought I’d ask Ricky or Cole to ask Sammy to spend the night with them, so you could have the time alone with Andrew and Sammy wouldn’t get suspicious. Would that be all right with you?”

“Yeah, that would be super,” Graham gushed.

“Great. I don’t want you to try too much with him, though,” I warned. “Maybe just a hand-job or maybe even a blow-job, but nothing more. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure, Dad. I understand,” Graham assured me. “He’s still a little guy and we don’t want to do too much too fast.”

“Exactly,” I confirmed. “Well, I guess I can trust your judgment then. Right?” Graham flashed me a big grin and nodded his response. He knew this was quite an honor, especially since I was totally placing my trust in him to not get carried away with what he did with Andrew. It was a responsibility he seemed happy – maybe even anxious to accept, and he more than capable of fulfilling Andrew’s wish. I told Graham I’d let Andrew know that he had agreed to do this for him and I’d take care of setting everything up.

While we were waiting for Andrew’s birthday to arrive, I had many other things to occupy my time with as well. First, and probably the most time important task for me, was that I was still trying to help Kevin cope with losing Brent. He had been doing fairly well, especially since Graham passed on that message from Brent, but he was still hurting a little, so I was trying to figure out different ways to help him work through his grief. Fortunately, I had some help in doing that, and Kevin actually initiated one of those opportunities on his own.

It came about shortly after I returned home from the hospital and while my loved ones were visiting. John Spence had gone out of his way to seek Kevin out too, hoping to help to console him, and he learned a great deal about Kevin during that time. Kevin had made a brief, but what John felt was an important comment during their talk, when Kevin mentioned that he wished there was a way he could keep everyone from forgetting about Brent. Although Mr. Spence tried to assure him that wouldn’t happen, he took Kevin’s concern and came up with a plan he thought might accomplish that goal. Once he had the details worked out in his mind, he met with Kevin again, so he could suggest establishing the ‘Brent Currie Scholarship Fund.’ John said he’d set it up and put a substantial sum in the account to start it off and then he’d speak with me about having the contributions, made to the Castaway Fund in Brent’s honor, moved to the scholarship fund. Kevin lit up when he heard John’s idea and thought it was a terrific way to honor Brent. Kevin was all for it, so Mr. Spence did the rest of the work setting the entire framework up on his own.

Right after we had discovered Brent had died, many people had come to us to let us know they wanted to do something special in remembrance of him. However, we were still so devastated by his loss that none of us could come up with anything that would be appropriate. Of course, Steve had suggested that In lieu of flowers we have people make donations in Brent’s name to the Castaway Fund, which was a good start, but it just didn’t honor Brent directly, at least not in a way that was easily recognizable.

Our first thought was that we use it to support one particular young man and help him find a good home, while letting him know later that it was done in Brent’s honor. That was the best we had come up with, until Mr. Spence suggested his idea, which would honor Brent for a longer period of time and have his name included in the recognition. Kevin really liked the idea of the scholarship, as it would help out multiple recipients and would be given away in Brent’s name for several years to come. In fact, we found this suggestion quite exciting.

In order to make certain it was ready to be awarded next spring, just before this academic year ended, John asked Kevin to help him establish the guidelines under which these scholarships would be awarded. They would need to determine if it would only be awarded to only seniors who had already accepted to college, if there would be any academic requirements, like specific grade point averages, or if there might be extra-curricular criteria established, like having to belong to a certain organization(s) or merely being active in various outside groups. Kevin jumped into this wholeheartedly, so it took away much of the time he had to feel depressed about losing his lover.

Originally I thought Kevin might come to me for ideas or suggestions about what qualifications should be established, but he surprised me and did it completely on his own, without any outside help. He finished the vast majority of the work by himself, and John Spence merely made suggestions to modify or enhance his ideas. When Kevin finally did come to me, to get my approval concerning what he had in mind, I discovered his ideas were well thought out and organized.

He did this late one evening, after he’d spent some more time going over his ideas and felt he was prepared enough to explain them to me. The first thing he told was that he felt since Brent had come from a situation where he’d had very little material advantages, he wanted the scholarships to go to someone who wouldn’t be able to attend college otherwise. I agreed this was a very appropriate suggestion and concurred with setting a financial criterion, which John and I would help him explore in more depth. He also suggested the scholarship should be offered to someone whose grades might have only been mediocre, mainly because the student had to hold down a job or may have suffered from not having access to a computer or other similar resources, but who had the potential to achieve at higher levels.

Kevin had made this suggestion because he remembered Brent had told us he hadn’t been a very good student before he came to live with us, but his grades steadily improved with our encouragement and the advantages he had living with us. I told Kevin that was a wonderful suggestion, but it would be very difficult to set up a workable evaluation process to assess that specific attribute, and that’s when Kevin came up with a way he thought it would work.

In order to prevent everyone and their brother from applying for this money and to make sure that only the right students were considered, Kevin suggested that only teachers from the local and surrounding counties would be able to recommend students for this scholarship. He felt that they’d be in the best position to judge if a student possessed a greater potential than he had shown and had been substantially hindered by circumstances beyond his control. I told him if that was how he thought it should work, then I would support his decision, but he should discuss this with ‘Grandpa’ Spence before he finalized his requirements. Kevin said he would, but I could see how excited he was just to know that he’d be helping to keep Brent’s memory alive.

The weekend before Andrew’s birthday was parents’ weekend at Dustin’s college. At first I wasn’t sure if my doctors would allow me to attend, but after several conversations with them, they told me I could attend if I took it easy and didn’t do any of the driving. I readily agreed to their suggestion and began considering how I was going to make that happen. After discussing the situation over with Dustin and Jake, we decided it might be best if the whole family didn’t attend this event with us.

There were many reasons for doing this. First, some of the functions had limited seating, but more importantly, we figured most of the boys would find it kind of boring. In addition to those factors, I think Dustin and Jake both thought the most important point was that it would take some of the stress off me, by not having to worry about so many people all of the time. Therefore, we decided those going would be limited to just two or three of the older boys, which meant we would only include the boys who would be going off to college next. We felt that having them see what college life was like might help to get them excited about their own future and give them a small taste of what awaited them. Since Kevin, Danny and Brandon were all seniors and had already applied to various institutions and were set to go off the following fall, we asked them if they’d like to join us, and they all did. Fortunately, parents weekend at Dustin’s college happened to be held on a weekend when they boys’ soccer team wasn’t scheduled to play any games and they were also able to talk their coach into also letting them have off from practice.

Jake volunteered to stay home with the other boys, but that would create a slight problem. The doctors didn’t want me to drive, and although I thought the three accompanying me might be able to handle the drive there, I didn’t think they were ready to deal with the traffic they’d face once we got there. Therefore, I talked Jake into going with us and explained we could leave Ricky, Pat and Shannon in charge, seeing as they were the next eldest. I’d also make certain those left behind had the phone numbers for Aunt Sally, Uncle Steve and the Spences, just in case of an emergency arose, but I felt they could handle a weekend on their own without too much trouble. After talking about it some more, Jake agreed that Shannon would enjoy helping to look after the younger boys, and he, meaning Jake, wouldn’t mind being our chauffeur on this outing, so that’s how it was going to be.

By the time I called around to various motels to make our reservations, I discovered we were already a bit late in that regard, so the two rooms I was able to reserve were in an establishment that was about twenty-five minutes drive from the campus. However, none of us let that get us down, and Jake assured me the extra drive wouldn’t be that bad. We would put the three boys in one room, and Dustin could share with them, if he wanted to stay with us, and then Jake and I would share the other room. The boys flashed us evil grins and knowing winks when I announced this arrangement, and I concluded they thought Jake and I would be getting it on while we were away.

The drive went fairly quickly, and the three boys helped read the maps and direct us there. As soon as we arrived, we went to the motel to check-in, since we didn’t want to take the chance of losing our rooms by not registering on time, and then we drove to the college to meet up with Dustin. He really looked like he was enjoying college life and being on his own, but he also appeared quite happy to see us again. He told us college was so different from high school, because no one was watching over your shoulder all the time and you had to be responsible for yourself, such as getting to classes, that he did have some adjustment problems. He admitted he overslept and missed a couple of his 8:00 a.m. classes, but since that time he had improved on remembering to set his alarm and manage to get to his classes on time.

Dustin also told us about his roommate, whom he said he liked a great deal, so he wanted us to all meet him. I was pleased he had been paired up with someone he got along with, since a roommate you don’t like can make the adjustment to being away at school even harder. Dustin also joked that, at first, his roommate wouldn’t believe him about how many brothers he had, but after one of his phone calls home, when he spoke to nearly all of us, the guy was convinced he was on the level. However, he told Dustin he had to meet his dad, when I came to visit, because he didn’t think he’d ever met anyone nutty enough to volunteer to raise that many boys. I wasn’t certain whether I should be amused or hurt by his comment, but chose the former.

After we finished chatting, Dustin showed us a few areas of interest around the campus, before he led us to the place where he’d promised to meet up with his roommate. As we approached, both boys were grinning broadly and it was obvious they really did get along very well. After Dustin introduced us, his roommate introduced us to his parents, who were also with him. “Mom, Dad, this is Dustin’s father. I don’t know if I’ve told you this before, but this guy not only adopted Dustin, but he adopted fourteen other boys as well. He also had four other children before he did that.” His parents just gawked at me in amazement, after hearing what their son had to say.

“That information isn’t quite correct,” I began, trying to make us sound a bit saner. “Two of the boys are merely staying with us, with their parents approval of course, and one of my other sons is away at another college.”

“Still,” Dustin roommate’s mother began, “that an awful lot of young men and a great deal of responsibility. My husband and I often found it difficult just controlling this rascal,” she said, pointing at her son, “and his younger brother. How in the world did you do all of that on your own?”

“The boys help out a great deal and I have some very good friends who assist us from time to time,” I explained, although I’m not sure it eased her doubts.

I then introduced Jake to them, and the father gave us a very puzzled look, so I explained that Jake and his son were very close family friends and Jake and Shannon had come to live with us after Brent’s death and my heart attack, so we didn’t have to worry about the family getting split up while I was in the hospital. I told them that Jake stayed on, even after I returned home, to help take some of the workload from me and because his son liked being around so many others. Both parents then smiled and told Jake he must be one hell of a friend to take on such a challenge, but Jake quickly told them the boys did much of the work and he was merely there to help out and make sure things didn’t get out of control. From that point on, neither of them seemed to be uncomfortable with Jake being with us.

Anyway, after chatting with the pair for a few more minutes, we all went off together to attend the college football team’s game. Even though it was a small time, Division III school, the contest was quite exciting. I also enjoyed talking to some of the other parents seated around us during the game, as some of them led very interesting lives, but most of them seemed to be far more interested in our situation, once they were apprised of it. A few of them also mentioned that their son or daughter had told them about our family, once Dustin had explained our situation to a few of his new friends in the dorm, but they wanted to know more about how we had come together.

After I explained some of the circumstances about how the boys came to me, some of the adults wanted to know what it was like at home, with so many living there, and how the boys got along with each other. They told us they were curious, because a few of them had wanted a large family when they first got married, but for one reason or another it was not to be. For some, their family size was eventually determined by biology, meaning possible fertility problems or the wife’s difficulty in carrying a fetus to term, while for others it was the result of various other factors. This included limited finances during the early years of their marriage, having too small of a home to accommodate more people or the fact that it was necessary for both parents to work and they didn’t want their offspring being raised by strangers. Some now regretted not having more children, yet most of them were happy with the way their lives had eventually turned out.

After diverting our attention back to the football game, it ended with the home team winning the contest in the final quarter. They had recovered the other teams fumble, after a badly executed play, and then drove the remaining twenty-two yards for the touchdown, with only 1:37 left on the clock. They then managed to hold the other team and bat down a hail-Mary pass on the final play, so the hometown crowd was very happy.

As we made our way out of the small stadium, I invited Dustin’s roommate and his parents to join us for lunch and they eagerly accepted my offer. During the meal we discussed many topics and the boys also had an opportunity to talk with each adult, as well as with each other. Once our meal was over, our sons suggested taking us on a grand tour of the campus, which we eagerly agreed to.

Kevin, Danny and Brandon were quite impressed with everything they saw, especially once we got to tour the dorms and they got to see the type of place they would be living in, in another year. I think they were more impressed with all the good-looking male flesh that was roaming up and down the hallways, more than with dorm life itself, but isn’t socialization an important part of the college scene too?

Once we saw everything of importance on campus, the boys wanted to show us around the town. We agreed that might be fun too, so we all loaded into the Suburban and took off on a combination driving/walking tour of the local sites of interest, at least from a college freshman’s viewpoint. I did notice that there appeared to be a large number of bars and other businesses that seemed to cater primarily to the college crowd, but there were also a number of family oriented establishments intermixed with them. All-in-all, it reminded me of a couple of other college towns I had been in, back when I was younger.

Once we finished that tour, we dropped Dustin’s roommate and his folks off at his dorm, but not before agreeing to meet up with them again for dinner and the evening’s social function. Once Dustin had gone up to retrieve some items from his room, Jake and I took all of the boys back to our motel room, including Dustin, so they could clean up and change for the night’s festivities.

Of course, Danny and Brandon immediately laid claim to one of the double beds in their room, which meant Kevin and Dustin would be sharing the other. I wondered if that might cause a problem or bring back any memories for them, about when they were a couple, but nothing like that seemed to happen. Kevin didn’t seem to be bothered by the idea of them sharing a bed, and neither did Dustin, so Jake and I went to our room to also get ready.

Once we had all finished cleaning up, the boys wanted to talk about college life and how exciting it all seemed to them. All three boys were expecting to get their acceptance letters back before Christmas, from the colleges they’d applied to, so this was just a catalyst to get them even more hyped about moving on to the next level of their academic lives. I was pleased to see them so eager about moving on in the fall, but I still took a few moments to discuss what they hoped to accomplish, once they got their degrees. Even though we had held these discussions before, I merely wanted to make sure that they hadn’t wavered from those plans or changed their minds about what they hope to do. In the end, I discovered they hadn’t done either.

Danny still wanted to become a pediatrician, since he loved kids and wanted to be able to help them, while Brandon hoped to be a dentist and Kevin planned on becoming a pharmacist. They were all very capable students and extremely good in both science and mathematics, so they shouldn’t have any trouble in reaching their goals. In addition to being reliable professions, the trio would also be able to make a decent living from those jobs, so I didn’t have any major concerns about this group.

Danny and Brandon had already told me they planned on staying together as a couple and hoped they might also be able to attend the same college as well, but there were several factors they would still have to deal with. First, doing that would depend on which schools they were accepted to and what programs those schools offered. I suggested they’d also have to consider how each institution was regarded for those majors and how their graduates in that field fared, one they got their degrees. I explained that the better the school’s reputation, the better their chances of doing well afterward. They agreed and said we could talk about this in greater depth, once they got the letters of acceptance in the mail.

In addition to that, Danny and Brandon indicated they also planned on coming back to live with me once they finished their schooling, so they could help keep the Castaway Hotel in operation. I was honored they would even consider such a thing, but knowing how young men often change their minds, I wasn’t going to make them sign a binding contract to that effect. I kind of liked the idea that they would be there to help future generations, as it would give me something to look forward to even as I grew older and grayer (or even bald, as the case seemed to be). When it got to the point where I couldn’t handle things on my own, they’d be there to take over, but I’d have to wait to see if they still felt this way when they were through with their schooling and able to strike out on their own.

After picking up the others and going out for an enjoyable dinner, we returned to the campus for the evening’s social function. At this event, the college had arranged for various mixed drinks to be provided for the adults and non-alcoholic beverages for the younger crowd. The planning committee had also provided a band, which played tunes aimed mostly toward the students interests. Dustin’s roommate’s parents definitely weren’t into this scene, so they excused themselves after an hour and went back to their hotel room. I, on the other hand, decided to stick around, primarily so Danny, Brandon and Kevin could have some fun and mix with the college group. The boys seemed to hit it off well with the freshmen crowd and enjoyed the fact they were often mistaken as being one of the freshmen themselves. I merely sat in the wings and watched them have fun with this charade, but I was grateful when the evening came to an end. I knew at that point I was getting old, because the band had seemed extremely loud to me and my ears were ringing from being assaulted by the cacophony emanating from their oversized speaker system.

That evening in the motel, Kevin informed me that he had hoped he and Brent would have been able to attend the same college and been roommates one day, but now that would never be. He also told me he had finally come to grips with Brent no longer being around, but that didn’t mean he’d never see Brent again. Kevin explained that after Graham told him about his vision, Kevin knew Brent would be waiting for him when his life also ended, and then they’d be together forever. I praised him for his mature attitude and having worked his way through his grief, but that’s when he told me he would always grieve a little over losing Brent, but in the meantime he would settle with the knowledge he would one day meet up with Brent again.