The Castaway Hotel - 7 - 26. Chapter 26 - A Currie Yuletide

Christmas Day started off wonderfully for me, because all the boys slept in. No one woke us when the first rays of sunlight broke through the windows, as usually happened, but this may have been due to the fact my grandchildren weren’t here. It may also be the result of the boys growing older or possibly their extracurricular activities the night before had just worn them out. Regardless of the reason, it was appreciated.

When we did finally gather downstairs, we passed out the gifts and began to thank each other for the presents we received. I think everyone was satisfied with what they got, although the boys weren’t generally lacking for anything in the first place. All in all, we had a good time and felt satisfied with what we’d received.

There was one special gift that had been given out and it was one Kevin gave to Vinnie. Vinnie had been a little uneasy with Kevin being away at college, fearing he’d meet someone else and leave him, so this gift was meant to ease Vinnie’s doubts. When he opened the small package, he found a lovely silver chain, but it had a rather large key attached to it.

“What’s this supposed to be,” he asked Kevin.

“It’s a key to my dorm room, so you can come visit me anytime you wish,” Kevin explained. “If you have your own key, then you know I have no secrets or nothing to hide from you. I hope this is enough to convince you that I love only you.”

Kevin hugged Vinnie now, to let him know he truly meant what he said, and I could see a few tears streaking down Vinnie’s cheek as they embraced. I could tell he was truly moved by the gift and loved it, so I hoped this would stop him questioning Kevin’s commitment now.

Once we cleaned up the wrapping paper and put things away, the boys went to shower and put on some of their new clothes. After that, they took time to try out some of the other presents they had received, as well. Our company still wouldn’t arrive for a couple more hours, so the boys still had plenty of time for those kinds of pursuits.

After we’d finished getting presentable, Jake and I began to focus on Christmas dinner. Hurriedly, we set about doing the things we had left until the last minute. Once everything was finished, the guests began to show up.

I had to admit I missed my biological children and grandchildren more now than at any other time. Although I tried to deny my sorrow the previous evening, today it was harder to put out of my mind and I began to struggle with a minor bout of depression. Jake sensed something was wrong almost immediately and pulled me aside to discuss it.

“Josh, what’s up? You seem like you’re on another planet right now,” he suggested.

I didn’t know if I should confide in him about how I was feeling and ruin his day too, but I had promised him we’d work through things together. Finally, I admitted what was bothering me.

“I’m sorry, but this thing with my older children is starting to get to me today,” I confessed. “I’ve tried to put it out of my mind, but this is the first Christmas ever that none of them are here. Even though not all of them were here every year, two or three of them would always be around, so their absence this year is very noticeable.”

Even though I had told Jake it didn’t bother me and I had made up my mind that if they didn’t want anything to do with me, I didn’t want anything to do with them either, it still hurt. The problem was, I couldn’t let this spoil everyone else’s holiday, so I tried to put it behind me. Having talked this over with Jake helped a little, so I told him I’d get through this, but I also suspected he was going to watch me like a hawk for the rest of the day.

Before long, everyone was with us again, but Arlene seemed to be slipping in and out of lucidity today – more out than in. She didn’t realize where she was or who we were most of the day and I could see the strain this was putting on Albert and Richard. I tried to distract them, talking about other things, while the Spences kept an eye on Arlene.

Believe it or not, Margaret Spence was one of the few people that Arlene consistently recognized, although many of us had known her much longer. We concluded they must have formed some special bond, which now seemed to bridge her occasional lapses in reality. She occasionally forgot who Margaret was too, from time to time, but those instances didn’t occur frequently. There were even times when she’d forget who Albert and Richard were too, but like with Margaret, those lapses were much less frequent than with the rest of us. For that reason, Margaret volunteered to help out.

A little later, we moved everyone to the tables to eat. Dinner went very well and then we headed into the family room to exchange gifts. Of course, we didn’t have everyone buy for all of our boys, so what we did was draw names for gifts. My clan’s names had been in one bowl at Thanksgiving and everyone else’s names in another bowl. Each person was then allowed to select a name from the appropriate bowl, until everyone’s name had been chosen. There was one problem with this, however, as there were more of my family than there were in our extended family. To correct this situation, some of our loved ones had volunteered to select two or three names each, to make up for the difference.

Sally, Steve and Mary Shay and Margaret and John Spence all fell into this category, as they claimed they were financially better able to afford this, so we accepted their decision and exchanged the appropriate gifts. This way we could buy the person a nice gift, by not having to split our money between several individuals. Besides, none of us really needed that many gifts.

We did manage to slip some of the others a little extra as well, like Mark and his mother, along with Albert, Arlene and Richard. They weren’t as well off as the rest of us and could use whatever they were given.

Peter had also received more than the rest and wasn’t oblivious to this fact. Excitedly, he ran up to me after we’d opened the last of our gifts and spoke.

“Blimey, I’ve never received this many presents before,” he told me. “I thought one would be more than enough, but you did much more than that. I got a bunch of different things from my new brothers and then I got even more from you and Papa Jake. When I thought I got all I was going to get, then I got another, when the others arrived. Thank you so much, Pop. I’ve never had such a Happy Christmas.

“You’re welcome, Peter, and it was our pleasure too,” I reiterated. “You’re part of this family and different groups of boys wanted to buy you their own special gift. You’ve done some wonderful things for them too, so they wanted to show you how much you’re appreciated. We are all very happy to have you here.” Peter seemed pleased by my response and hugged me, before moving on to other things.

Richard also got several gifts, as he received a special present from various groups of boys. Even though he complained about the special treatment, I could see he was appreciative of what they had done for him. However, I could see Albert was a little uncomfortable with this, so I pulled him aside to explain.

“Albert, I know this is more than what we promised to do, but the boys really wanted to do something for Richard on their own. They all feel close to him and used their own money, so how could I tell them no. They would have been deeply hurt if I hadn’t allowed them to do this.”

Albert looked at me and scanned around the room at the boys. Coincidentally, they happened to be gathered around Richard and talking about what he got. Albert saw this and gave a resigned nod and then slapped me on the back.

“Your boys have had a good role model and you should be proud of them,” he told me, simply, and I thanked him for his compliment from all of us.

In fact, it was nice to see Albert and Richard relax and enjoy themselves a bit more than usual. Margaret’s bond with Arlene allowed them to concentrate on more than her for the afternoon. They actually let their hair down a bit and got involved in many other things. Albert took part in various discussions, while Richard went off to spend time with the boys. If anything, that was probably the greatest Christmas present of all.

A couple of hours later, we sat down and ate our dessert, which was the final planned activity of the day. Once dessert was finished, we sat around and talked some more, before the others began to say their good-byes and head home. Once the house was empty again, well at least as empty as it was going to get until the college boys returned to school, everyone set about doing their own thing. Jake took me aside again, to check on how I was doing, and when I told him I hadn’t had time to think about who wasn’t there, it seemed to relieve his concerns. However, now he tried to occupy my time, so I still wouldn’t have the opportunity to linger on what troubled me.

While Jake was occupying my attention, the boys started heading upstairs to their rooms, but one of them soon returned, to have a private conversation with me. It was Sammy.

“Dad, did you know Graham fucked Andrew last night?” he asked, visibly upset by this revelation.

“Yes, Sammy, I did,” I admitted. “Graham cleared it with me and I told him what to do to make sure Andrew was ready. Don’t worry, everything went well and Andrew is more than fine with it.”

“I know, but don’t you think he’s still too small to be doing that?” he argued.

“Well, how old were you the first time you did it?” He thought for a moment before he responded.

“Thirteen, I guess,” he admitted.

“Yes, and that’s how old Andrew is now,” I pointed out. “It was HIS choice and he was the one who asked Graham, but Graham did come down to check with me first, before he did it.”

“But Andrew’s so much smaller than I was when I did it,” Sammy whined.

“Yes, and that’s what makes him feel like a baby,” I explained. “If I hadn’t allowed it to happen, Andrew would have been very depressed today and convinced we still thought of him as a little boy. Instead, he’s happy, enjoying himself and feeling like a young man.”

Sammy thought about this for a few minutes, before he responded. “You’re sure he wasn’t hurt then?” he wanted to know, just to make sure.

“No, he wasn’t and Graham made sure he enjoyed it,” I answered. “Couldn’t you tell how much happier he seemed today?”

“Yes, but I thought it was just because of Christmas,” Sammy replied, “until we went upstairs and he told me what he did.”

“I hope you didn’t make him feel bad about it, by telling him he was too young or anything like that,” I challenged, deeply concerned.

“No, I waited a couple of minutes after he told me, before I came down,” Sammy confirmed. “He’s in with Graham again, so he doesn’t know I’m down here.”

“Good, let’s leave it that way then,” I suggested. “I’d hate for him to think you, or anyone else, has a problem with what he did.”

“I do, or at least I did,” Sammy admitted, “but now I see your point.”

“Are you okay with this then?” I pressed. “Really okay with it?” He thought for a moment before he nodded.

“Yeah. I guess it had to happen sooner or later,” he stated, “and I’m glad it didn’t hurt him.”

“From what I heard,” I added, “Graham suspects Andrew has been practicing with the dildos, to get ready for it to happen for real.” Sammy looked surprised to hear this news, before he thought about it some more.

“I should have guessed that was what he was up to,” he finally admitted, “seeing he’d been asking me so many questions about my first time. He wanted to know what it felt like, if it hurt and if I really enjoyed it. A few times I went to our room and found the door locked, so I wondered what he’d been up to.” Now he looked at me carefully, before he spoke again.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to lose it like I did the first time he was with Graham,” Sammy assured me. “I know he feels less pressure asking Graham to do things with him, rather than me, and I’m fine with that. As long as you said it was okay and Andrew wasn’t hurt, I’m fine with that too.”

“I’m glad, and that’s a very mature attitude,” I concurred.

“Well, I guess it’s about time I stopped acting like he was my private property,” Sammy admitted. “I know he’s growing up, even though I still think of him as my LITTLE brother.”

“All the boys do, Sammy, but we all have to let go some time,” I informed him. “I’m glad you are willing to accept it this time.”

Sammy thanked me for talking this over with him and for watching out for Andrew, and then he went back to his room. He spent the evening with Cole again, but he would spend the following night with Andrew – just the two of them.

The day after Christmas started off normally enough. The first thing I did was to call to reestablish Arlene’s overnight care, which didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I was told that many people had been allowed to take time off during the holidays, once it had been determined coverage could be maintained for the open cases they had during that period. Therefore, there was not enough staff to take on additional work, so we’d now have to wait until after the holidays were over and they were back at full staff. I thanked them for their help and then called to tell Albert what I discovered.

After explaining the situation, I reiterated my offer to have my boys, Jake and I cover the overnight care. As stubborn as always, Albert refused, even though I protested vehemently and tried to get him to reconsider. It didn’t move his position any, so I eventually discontinued my effort, even though I knew it was going to be a rough period for him.

Although I almost forgot about the upcoming visit, our other company arrived around mid-morning. Sammy and Graham ran to the windows to peer out at them, as their car pulled in the driveway. They gawked as Ted and his Aunt Jane made their way to our door, obviously impressed with what they saw. I won’t say Ted was gorgeous, but he was handsome in his own way, enough so that my two voyeurs hadn’t lost any interest in him. He was also on the small side for his age, which gave the impression that he might also be a little immature, but I knew he was going to be hard to resist. Soon, my hopeful duo was sprinting toward the entrance to greet him, although I slowed them down and opened the door myself.

“Welcome to the loony bin,” I told our guests, and this elicited a grin from each of them.

“Oh, it can’t be that bad,” Jane told me, thinking I was joking, as Graham ran up to give her a big hug.

“Oh, there’s my little sweetie,” she said, hugging him back. This also gave the rest of the boys a sense of how strongly these two had bonded at the hospital, while we were there with Cody.

“Tell me you still feel that way after you’ve been here a while and seen how things go,” I teased. “Then, I might believe you.” This drew a questioning look from her, as she looked at the crowd now forming behind me.

“Come in,” I continued, “and I’ll introduce you to the inmates. There will be a quiz on it later.” Ted gave me a questioning look, before his aunt informed him I was joking and he began to laugh.

“Josh, this is so wonderful of you,” Jane began, “to let my nephew come spend time with you and your boys.”

“Nonsense,” I told her. “This does more for us than it will for him. By the time he leaves here, he may wish he never heard of the Currie family.”

“No way!” Ted exclaimed, while eyeing some of the boys. I watched who he was lingering on and hoped he wasn’t becoming attracted to the boys who were already partnered up.

“I think I’m going to really like it here,” he added, with a big smile.

After making the introductions, during which I pointed out which boys had serious boyfriends, we sat around talking and getting to know each other better. Graham and I started off by thanking Jane for everything she had done for Cody and us at the hospital. We also explained we had told the other boys how wonderful she had been.

We went on to discuss how she had made it easier for Cody and us to endure those final few days, although we had been too grief-stricken to tell her that before we left. She then told us she understood and was glad she was able to do what she did for us. She also admitted that Cody’s death had affected her nearly as much as it had us and Ted confirmed this, by telling us how she had acted and things she had told him and his parents during that time. He even told us she was so sad he could almost feel her pain.

Once again, I thanked her for her concern and all she had done, and confessed that Cody had begun to look upon her as the mother he never knew. This brought a few tears to her eyes, so she excused herself to use our bathroom and freshen up. While she was gone, we got to know Ted a little better.

During this time, the boys explained a little about how they had come to be with me, a little about their past life and sexual orientation, and then they told Ted he should never be ashamed of who or what he was. I knew it would take time to convince him of this, since he’d been hammered at home with how wrong and evil gays were. I think I saw him relax a bit, as the boys gave him an idea about who they were, and by the time Jane returned, the topic switched again. This time they talked about more mundane things, such as school, since they weren’t sure how much Ted wanted his aunt to know or hear.

About an hour later, Jane excused herself and said she had to be leaving. I told her we’d be happy to put her up for the night and then she could leave in the morning, but she declined. She explained she had some things to do at home first, which couldn’t wait, and then she had to go in to work at Sloan-Kettering early tomorrow. We all thanked her for what she had done for Cody and for bringing Ted, and then we wished her a safe journey home.

I did get her to agree to spend the night here when she came to pick Ted up, after she told us she happened to have that weekend off. We walked her to her car and watched her drive away, and then Graham and Sammy eagerly grabbed Ted’s arms and drug him off, for what reason I could only guess.