The Castaway Hotel - 8 - 35. Chapter 35 - Busting Out

Andrew was progressing remarkably well except, of course, for his broken leg, which hadn’t healed completely. The doctor had already removed the first cast and replaced it with a walking cast, so at least Andrew was now able to get around a little better without the crutches. It wasn’t a modern walking cast – you know the kind with Velcro straps. Instead, the doctor had opted to use a more traditional fiberglass cast, due to Andrew’s age and how active he generally was. The only problem with this was, he couldn’t get it wet or have water seep underneath it. Therefore, when he showered, I slipped a heavy-duty trash bag over it and used masking tape to seal it just above the cast. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. It was also a good thing that Andrew and Jesse had been sharing the guest room on the first floor, because Andrew would never have been able to negotiate the stairs with the crutches and it still would have been difficult with this cast.

Since Andrew was also worried about Jesse, he had talked Sammy and Little Ricky into taking Jesse out for his daily bike rides. Andrew didn’t want Jesse to lose out on these outings just because he couldn’t go with him, because Andrew knew how much Jesse loved them. Andrew did have to convince Jesse it was all right to go without him, so after Andrew assured Jesse, many times, that it was alright to go with the others, Jesse finally gave in. However, he didn’t concede until he had vehemently protested the arrangement and stated he’d rather wait until Andrew could join him. Andrew had me explain to Jesse that it would be several more weeks before he could do such things again, so Jesse eventually gave in and went out with Sammy and Little Ricky instead. It soon became evident he enjoyed going with this pair just as much as he had enjoyed going out with his best bud, but it was also obvious he missed Andrew’s presence.

Andrew also spent some of his time working on Jesse’s speech problem. Andrew not only was able to get him to talk more, but he was also managing to get Jesse to enunciate his words better. It was slow progress, but on a day-to-day basis Jesse’s vocal chords were becoming stronger and he was able to say more and more that the others could easily understand. His speech wasn’t perfect yet, so I would see to it that he worked with the therapist when we returned to school in the fall. However, Jesse was working hard to impress his idol and I wasn’t sure what either of them would have done without the other.

Since Jesse was doing so well, I figured I’d better call the cruise line, to see about reserving two more places. I did have two that weren’t going to be used, since Frankie would be away and Mark couldn’t get off from work, but Barry would be taking one, and now Jesse would be filling the other. The problem was, I had also asked Carlos and Ted to go too, since I figured one of them could fill the other spot, but now both had called to let us know they had received permission to join us as well.

Carlos had asked for a month off from work and, surprisingly, the manager agreed to it. He said business had been slow and he was going to have to let someone go anyway, so this would work out for him. Carlos’ mother then gave him permission to join us, so Carlos was thrilled and looking forward to spending time with the boys again.

On the other hand, Ted had told his Aunt Jane about my offer and she helped convince her brother to allow Ted to go with us. Ted and his father had been getting along much better, and after she explained this would give Ted an opportunity they wouldn’t be able to provide him, Ted’s father agreed. So now I had two more who wanted to go with us and no place to put them, so I called to see if I could reserve two more places.

“Mr. Currie,” the customer service rep began, “it won’t be a problem to add two more to your first reservation, since that cruise was not fully booked. However, the second cruise is already full, so unless someone cancels, I won’t be able to help you.”

“Well, put us down for two more for the first cruise then,” I told her, “and can you put our names on a list, in case something opens up on the others cruise?”

“Yes, I can do that,” she stated. “I will add a note to the system notifying my co-workers they are to call you, should a spot open up. Will that be all right with you?”

“Yes, that will be fine,” I agreed, although I still wondered how I was going to work this out, if someone didn’t call back.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” she followed.

“No, that will be all, thank you,” I acknowledged, before directing her to charge the extra spots to my credit card.

I then went to speak with Jake, so I could fill him in about the situation and see if he had any suggestions about what we might do, if something didn’t open up for the second cruise. He was just as stymied as I was about this, but we agreed to keep thinking about it, until we came up with a solution.

While we were pondering our options, Captain De Luca, of the State Police, called a few days later. He wanted to notify me that all of Sammy’s tormentors had accepted plea agreements and been sentenced. He said the girl was the first to accept their offer, after he explained the combined sentences for underage alcohol and drug possession, along with the vandalism, physical assault, sexual assault, statutory rape and sexual harassment charges could get her a combined sentence of fifteen-years or more, and that was if they decided not to seek federal charges against them. After her lawyer explained she was facing an uphill battle, he advised her to agree to testify against the others, in return for a reduced sentence. She agreed to do that in exchange for a sentence of one to three years, followed by five years on probation.

Once the others were advised that she was cooperating and her statement had been given to their lawyers, they accepted the futility of their own positions. Not only did they have her testimony against them, but the government also had the video and audiotapes that showed what had happened as well. Therefore, each of them took the plea deals that were offered to them.

The boy who was least in involved in what happened accepted prison terms of three to five years, followed by a minimum of five years probation. The boy who had punched Sammy accepted a sentence of five to seven years, followed by a minimum of five years probation. However, the ringleader wasn’t as fortunate. Since the drugs and alcohol had been found in his car and everyone else pointed the finger at him for dictating what they were going to do, he ended up taking a sentence of seven to ten years in prison, followed by a minimum of five years probation. Seeing he had masterminded this whole series of events and set them into motion, it was also right that he would now do the most time. It appeared as if Sammy wouldn’t have to worry about them for some time to come.

One day, while I was at work, the school board president showed up unexpectedly to speak with me. He told me he’d heard about what had happened to Sammy and then advised me the ringleader was a neighbor of the school board member that had reacted so violently when the gay-straight alliance had been proposed. It seems that not only was the boy’s family friends with the board member and his wife, but the boy had also spent a considerable amount of time with his neighbor, doing odd jobs for him. It was fairly obvious he had picked up at least some of his view from his opinionated neighbor, although his parents may also harbor the same biases, so now that board member would have something more to hate us for. I doubted he would see, or admit, his misguided views and spiteful approach had been the catalyst for what these four young people were now going to have to endure. Instead, he would see it as another reason to hate gays and what they stood for. It was a vicious cycle that would only end through enlightenment and understanding.

I thanked the school board president for his concern and for the information he had provided. I then explained some of the other things that the young man and his friends had done, which the school board president had no idea they had been responsible for. He explained we’d probably be facing more problems from that board member in future meetings and I told him I’d weather anything the guy had to throw my way. I also told him I doubted that particular board member would be with us much longer, once he came up for reelection in the fall. I had already spoken to a few of my friends at the graduation party and they were eager to campaign against him. They even had an idea about a candidate they could put up to oppose him. The board president then told me he hoped I was correct in my assumption and their candidate would win, so we’d be rid of our bigoted friend. Shortly thereafter, we ended our conversation and he left.

Before I went home for the day, I also received a call from the cruise line. “Mr. Currie,” the rep began, “we’ve just had a couple cancel their reservation with us for the second cruise you are taking. Are you still interested in reserving two more spots?”

“I certainly am,” I replied, before telling him to add the charges to my credit card. I was amazed this had worked out so well and now we were set so everyone would be able to accompany us on both cruises.

Jake was also relieved, when I shared the news with him, so we set about finalizing our plans and talking to the boys about room arrangements. Although we didn’t tell them where we’d be going or what we’d be doing, we did explain we’d be staying in two-person rooms for more than half of the vacation and wanted to divide up accordingly. As always, we’d let them decide who would be with whom, although there wasn’t much discussion when it came to the couples. Brandon and Danny would be paired up, as well as Trey and Dion, Vinnie and Kevin, and Nick and Shannon. Of course, Jake and I would be together as well, but that was not something anyone else was concerned about.

Sammy immediately asked if he could be with Ted, so Graham and Little Ricky agreed to team up. Ricky and Peter also quickly agreed to be together and Cole said he’d bunk in with Carlos. That left two of the straight boys, Dustin and Pat, to share a room.

It was also understood that Andrew had planned to share a room with Barry, but now with Jesse in the picture, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Of course, all three boys could share a bed together, but that would mean Andrew and Barry couldn’t fool around during the cruise. I’m sure both of them were looking forward to doing that too, so I would have to speak with Andrew and see how he wanted to handle the situation. However, this was when I realized my miscalculation. I hadn’t had space for both Frankie and Mark, just Frankie. I had merely asked Mark if he wanted to take Frankie’s spot, once we realized Frankie wouldn’t be able to go with us. In my haste, I had thought I had planned for both of them to go, so now I had no place to put Jesse, so I had to figure out what to do about him.

Somewhat panicked, I called the cruise line back. “Hello. This is Josh Currie and I have a problem with the cruises I’ve scheduled,” I began, once I was speaking with a customer service rep.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Currie,” the rep stated. “How may I help you?”

“Well, I’ve got an extra boy for these cruises, but he’s only ten,” I stated. “I was wondering if he could just share a room with two of the younger boys, without it being a problem.”

“Please allow me a second to look at your reservations,” she requested. There was a brief delay before she spoke again. “Oh, yes. I see you have two reservations for a group of twenty-two people.”

“Yes, I’m taking my family on vacation,” I agreed.

“Oh, my,” she exclaimed. “You certainly have a large family. I take it you’re siblings are joining you with their children or your children are older and have spouses and children of their own?”

“No, it’s just my immediate family and a couple of very close friends,” I replied, and then I heard her gasp.

“Well, you certainly have a lot of children,” she agreed, but then continued. “Since the additional family member is so young, there won’t be a problem with him sharing a room with some of the others, and because you’ve already booked two cruises for such a large party, I’ll wave any additional charges for you.” she added. “I will just make a note of it with your reservations, so you shouldn’t have any problems when you board the ships.”

After thanking her profusely, I jotted down her name and placed it in my wallet. I wanted it in case I did run into problems later. That way, if anyone hassled us, I could tell them exactly who had agreed to allow this and when the agreement had been made.

Now that the major portions of the vacation had been taken care of, I concentrated on some of the minor details. I wanted to make certain we had no problems, once we set out. If that happened, it would surely put a damper on everyone’s good mood and lessen the level of enjoyment.

When the big day arrived, I went to pick up Ted and Carlos first. Ted’s Aunt Jane had offered to drive her nephew to Philadelphia, so I wouldn’t have to travel the entire distance to get him. This way, I could pick up Ted and Carlos in one trip, and then we would meet up with Barry before we flew out of the Philadelphia airport. We’d be going out of there to Miami, where we’d begin our vacation.

Of course, we had to use two vehicles to do this, so we took the Yukon and the Suburban on this trip. We drove directly to Carlos’ home, where we chatted briefly with his mother first.

“Hi, Papi,” Carlos greeted me, using the Spanish word for father. It was a sweet gesture on his part and I appreciated the fact that he still felt close to me, even though we didn’t see each other as often. It wasn’t because we didn’t want to spend time together, it was just with the distance separating us, as well as Carlos’ job, it was difficult to get together.

“Thank you for taking me with you,” he continued.

“Carlos, you’re part of our family,” I replied, “so you’re always welcome to join us, no matter what we’re doing.” Carlos beamed when I told him that.

“Meester Currie,” he mother said, “you are too good to my son.”

“I hope I’m good to both of you,” I teased, which caused her face to drop slightly.

“I didn’t mean you weren’t,” she apologized, “but you are so very good to my Carlos and we both thank you for that.”

“It’s my pleasure,” I conceded, “but now it’s time for me to do something else for you. Get ready and we’ll take you out to lunch, before we leave.”

“Oh, I cannot go,” she sputtered. “I must be at work in twenty meenutes, but thank you for asking me.”

“I’m sorry you can’t join us,” I stated, “but I do understand. We’ll do something when we return then.”

“Oh, you don’t need to do that,” she protested.

“I know I don’t need to, but I want to,” I countered. “So you’ll have to promise you’ll join us when we get back.”

“Eef I’m not working,” she agreed.

Once our conversation ended, we loaded Carlos’ belongings into one of the vehicles and headed out to met Ted and Jane.

I had given Jane directions to a restaurant my family and I had eaten at before. It was a nice place and this way we could all have lunch together, before the boys, Jake and I caught our flight. I wanted to avoid being surrounded by starving young men as we traveled to Florida, because they tend to be very grumpy and irritable when they’re hungry. We arrived several minutes before Jane and Ted did, but Ted was grinning from ear-to-ear when he got out of his aunt’s vehicle.

“Hi, Pop. It sure is good to see all of you again,” he greeted us. “Do you want me to throw my stuff in your SUV before we eat?”

“That would be fine,” I replied, as I unlocked the Yukon and had him throw his luggage in the rear. Then we all walked into the establishment and were led to a table. Yes, I had called ahead for a reservation, so we didn’t have to wait.

Jane was in just as good a mood as Ted and I made sure she was seated on one side of me, with Jake on the other, as we ate. Ted and Carlos were intermixed in with my boys, as they caught up with what had been happening since they had last seen each other.

“Teddy is so excited about going on vacation with you,” she told me, as soon as we were seated. “I can’t thank you enough for including him.”

“Jane, it’s our pleasure and I’m sure we will benefit from his presence as much as Ted will,” I explained. “So, how have things been going with his parents?”

“Oh, much better, since I read my brother the riot act,” she said with a smile. “He’s finally learned to accept that Teddy did not choose to be gay and that’s made it easier for him to deal with it. Teddy calls me at least once a week and tells me all he’s been doing with his father lately. Teddy’s even agreed to go to sporting events with his dad and works with him doing odd jobs around the house, just so they can be close. My brother enjoys doing those things with his son now and feels like an ass that he didn’t take the opportunity to do it sooner.”

“I’m very glad to hear that and hope our invitation didn’t create any problems between then,” I added.

“My brother and his wife were a little concerned at first, about letting Teddy go so far away without any family members accompanying him,” Jane informed me. “However, after I vouched for you and told him it would give Teddy a chance to do things he wouldn’t get to do otherwise, my brother and his wife finally gave in. In fact, I think they plan to go away for at least a week of the time Teddy is away, so they can spend some time alone with each other.” She giggled like a schoolgirl after saying this, which told me she was thinking of the romantic encounter this would lead to.

We continued to talk to Jane as we ate and she also chatted with many of the boys. She had gotten to know them quite well when she stayed at our place for Valentine’s weekend and the boys were also quite pleased to see her again. She even teased Sammy about what he planned to do with Ted, since they were going to be sharing a room, and both boys turned a nice crimson color after she posed her query. I think this was more than enough of a response for her, so she tee-heed quite softly, as she realized what their reaction meant.

Once we finished eating, we all gave her a hug and kissed her on the cheek, before she said her final good-bye to Ted. I’ll give him credit, in that he didn’t stop his Aunt Jane from continuing to treat him like a little boy, but he was mildly embarrassed by her antics. She pinched his cheek, gave him a peck on the lips and hugged him tightly, before admonishing him to behave and be safe. We then watched her drive off, before we squeezed back into our vehicles and headed to the airport.

We arrived there well ahead of Barry’s scheduled arrival time, but his plane was also a few minutes late. I had to carry Andrew piggyback most of the time, since we had to walk great distances and this was difficult for him to do, even with the walking cast. The added weight of the cast seemed to tire him out; even with just the little bit of walking we had done earlier. Of course, Andrew didn’t seem to mind me carrying him and enjoyed the fact he was getting a free ride, so to speak. However, Jesse stayed close by our side and held on to my pant’s pocket, so we wouldn’t get separated.

Once we noted Barry’s plane had landed, we waited anxiously for him to emerge from his arrival gate. Barry bolted for us, as soon as he spotted Andrew. He did know about Andrew’s injury, since we’d warned him about it shortly after it happened, so he was a little tentative as he neared Andrew. He slowed down before he reached him and then moved forward slowly from that point on. Once they were close enough, he gently wrapped his armed around Andrew and gave him a big squeeze.

Once Barry broke this embrace, he came over to me and hugged me about the waist, before thanking me for talking his father into letting him come with us. Once he’d done that, Andrew introduced him to Jesse, who was only slightly dismayed that he’d have to share Andrew’s attention during the vacation. I had explained to him before we left that the three of them would be sharing a room and asked him to please allow Andrew to spend some time with Barry too. I emphasized, as strongly as I could, that Barry’s desire to spend time with Andrew was the same as Jesse’s own desire to be with Andrew. Jesse finally realized what I was getting at, so I was hoping there wouldn’t be any problems, once the three of them were alone.

I had also taken Andrew aside and asked him not to ignore Jesse, just because Barry was with us too, and he promised he wouldn’t do that. We also talked about having Jesse stay with some of the others once in a while, so he and Barry could have some time alone. I think things were pretty well settled on that front, so I hoped we could convince Jesse to do this.

We boarded our flight about forty minutes later and were officially on our way. We touched down in Miami in late afternoon and it was a beautiful day. We took the airport shuttle to our hotel, and once everyone got settled, I asked each of them to come to my room, so I could explain a few things. After they were all gathered, I told them we were going to stay in Miami for a few days and then go on a cruise – well two cruises, to the Caribbean. We’d also have a brief layover in Miami in between and they all thought this sounded like fun, so we were off to a good start.

It was now late Saturday afternoon and we’d be staying here until our cruise left on Wednesday. We wouldn’t have to board until 4:00 that afternoon, but it was actually leaving from Fort Lauderdale, which wasn’t that far away. We’d be taking a bus to get there, but I felt the boys would enjoy spending some time enjoying the hotel pool and relaxing on the beaches; before we started off on our first cruise.

The boys would be four to a room at the hotel, which would take away from some of their privacy, but they were fairly used to this. Therefore, they teamed up with another pair they felt comfortable with, so it wasn’t as big a deal. This lead to a problem of sorts, because twenty-two doesn’t divide by four evenly. It meant one pair would have a single room to themselves, so I planned on putting Jake and I in that room. This meant Andrew, Jesse and Barry would have to share a room with Dustin and Pat. I knew it wouldn’t be a problem for Dustin, Andrew and Jesse, but I wasn’t so sure how Barry and Pat were going to react. I didn’t foresee Pat having a problem with it, although he might not want to spend so much time with the younger boys, but I wasn’t so sure about Barry. Therefore, I pulled the five of them aside, to discuss the situation with them.

“Fellas, after the others teamed up for rooms, it left you five together. Is this going to be a problem?” I asked. They looked at each other briefly, but I could see the questioning look on Barry’s face, so I thought I’d ask him directly.

“Barry, this will only be for the few days we’re here in Miami,” I explained, “but on the cruise it will just be the three of you. If this is a problem, you can share a room with Jake and me instead, and I’ll give Dustin and Pat the single room.” Barry thought about this briefly, before he replied.

“It’s not a problem,” he stated, “it’s just that I wasn’t expecting it. It will be all right and I have no problem with doing this. Andrew told me how much he enjoyed spending time with Dustin, when you went to visit him at college, so it will be okay.”

Pleased by his response, I posed the same question to the others. No one had a problem with it, including Pat. He had his own take on the situation.

“Dad, I might have been a little concerned about it at first,” he admitted, “but now I think it might be fun to get to know my little brothers better. I haven’t spent a lot of time with them in the past, but Dustin told me he enjoyed being with them, like Barry said. Since Dustin enjoyed it so much, I think I’d like to try it too.”

Pleased with everyone’s response, I agreed to the arrangement, but I still planned to check on them regularly, to make certain there weren’t any problems. Now, we could all begin to relax and unwind.