Kenny and Peter - Book 1 - 5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons living, dead, space aliens, goats, or others are purely coincidental. There may be sexual content so if this, in any form, offends you, please cease reading. Also, if you are not of legal age to read this, please don't.

Copyright © 2008 by hh5

Kenny and Peter

By HH5

Chapter 05

Peter

Kenny went to the kitchen with the groceries in tow. He saw me go to Gary’s old room; he knew I was tired from the day’s excitement. I hopped onto the bed and lay there thinking for a bit. Kenny asked me, during the ride home me, why I was afraid of Mrs. Darwin. I didn’t know how to answer. I was just happy that he stayed with me while she talked. He makes me happy; he makes me feel cared for and safe. I love him very much.

I was excited when Kenny told me that Mrs. Darwin said that I could live with him. He said that I was going to meet his mother, and that he was sure she was going to love me so much that he going to get jealous of me! I hope he’s kidding – I already have a mom.

I do miss my mama, but I don’t want to go back home ever—because of dad. If my brother, Victor can leave home then I want to leave home too. I was never happy. Oww …

My head still hurts. Kenny says it’s a con-con-con-something-cus? ... Oh, well … Whatever! … Boo-boo sounds better. He said it should go away in couple of days. I hope so. It makes me so sad every time it hurts and then I get so sleepy. Zzzzz…

Sarah

Kenny is certainly lucky that I hadn’t already left to go visit Robbie’s family. Robbie needed me to help babysit his child while his wife was out on a business trip. I call him and caught him before he went to work to quickly let him know that I was stopping over at Peter’s apartment for a little while. And will continue over to his place after I have caught up with what’d happen in Kenny’s life since he left for college. I do miss my son. He’s my baby.

I arrived early at Kenny’s place. It was just a bit past mid-afternoon. Kenny was surprised. “Hi Mom, you’re early … I wasn’t expecting you until dinner time. But I am glad you’re here … Come on in.” I walked in, and Kenny gave me my long-awaited hug. I hugged him back, and then looked around.

“It’s two bedrooms, Mom. Peter’s in the second one, taking a nap. It’s been a long, hard day for him. The kitchen’s through there. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“My usual if you can make it,” I said, with a smile. Kenny knows how much I like coffee, and how particular I am about how it’s brewed.

“I think I can improvise your favorite coffee,” Kenny said with a smile. I knew he was teasing. He really could make good coffee. After serving me coffee, Kenny continued preparing supper. While he worked, we caught up on what he’d been doing since he had left home for college.

“Mom, Gary kept on thanking me for sharing my college fund with him before we left for college. I told him I wanted him to go to college with me because we both love each other. I didn’t want to lose him because he couldn’t afford it.” Kenny started to cut the onions.

What he had to say next brought more tears to my eyes than the onions, “Gary was sad about my dad passing away so suddenly. He knew that Dad was trying to save up some college funds for him. He loved my dad. Especially, for taking him in, after his own abusing father threw him out for being gay.” Kenny heard me crying and figured I was remembering my late husband; Kenny’s father.

He hugged me, gave me a few tissues and continued, “Gary was thankful to his church when he received a college fund donation from them after he volunteered as organist during the last two years in high school. It certainly came in handy for the both of us.” Kenny looked at me to see if I was ok.

I nodded and encourage him to continue, “We both knew that soon after getting settled in college that we had to work multiple jobs to cover all the college and living expenses. We also ran into other expenses. Expenses, we didn’t expect to pay because we weren’t a resident of the state. We decided to sacrifice our winter, spring, and summer breaks to pay for it because we didn’t want to lose out on our education.”

Kenny paused, threw out food scraps into the garbage, and continued, “Considering all those challenges, Gary and I did pretty well surviving it all. We studied, worked, and cared for each other … all through college. It was hard, sometimes, to make ends meet, but we managed.”

Kenny looked at me and concluded his short account, “I’m sorry, mom. We should have called you and Robbie to let you know. We just got caught by the situation. We didn’t want you to worry about us, especially, if we could handle it.” I smiled at him to let him know I was proud of him.

“I’m glad it worked out for you two,” I said. “What happened after college?”

Kenny continued, “Well, first of all, we decided during the second semester that engineering wasn’t what we wanted so we changed majors. I graduated with a Paramedic Degree and EMS certification; Gary graduated with a Hospital Administration Degree. We had been searching the job market, and applied to a lot of hospitals where we would be together. We were lucky, and were accepted to the same hospital.”

I was very happy to hear that, and asked, “So where is your partner? He’s not working late is he?”

Kenny smile, which had accompanied his story so far, faded. “A couple of months ago, after two years of work, Gary said he was hearing rumors about us. He panicked—and decided to squelch the rumors his own way. He broke up with me, Mom. He broke up with me. He left me…he left me for a woman and got married…” My Kenny started to cry.

I walked across the kitchen to where he stood, and hugged him “Oh, Honey, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“Please don’t tell Robbie … Mom … I’ll tell him when I see him … okay?” Kenny asked. I gave Kenny another hug with a bit of a squeeze to reassure him. Over his shoulder, I saw a little boy come into the kitchen.

“Hello,” the little boy said. He yawned.

“Well, hello there, and who are you?” I asked.

The boy smiled. “I’m Peter. I’m 9 years old and Kenny is my foster father. Who are you?”

“I’m Kenny’s Mom, Sarah,” I said. “You can call me Sarah or mom, whichever is comfortable for you.”

Peter thought for a second. “Sarah … I can’t call you mom ... I have one … she lives far away with my bad daddy.”

Kenny smiled, “Peter, why don’t you and my mom go sit on the couch, and get to know each other while I finish making dinner.”

Peter grinned. “Okay, Kenny. Sarah? Please Sarah, come with me.” He held out his hand to me.

I thought that was cute. “Of course, Peter. But first, will you let me have a hug? I have traveled a very long way to you …” Peter scampered to me, and gave me a big hug.“Thank you,” I said. He took my hand and tugged me toward the living room.

“So, what was Kenny like when he was my age?” Peter asked. I looked over my shoulder to see Kenny rolling his eyes. He never liked me to tell people about his childhood, so he was happy to stay in the kitchen and keep busy.

Peter and I sat on the couch. “Well,” I said, “he was a little bit bigger than you … he has an older brother name Robbie … Robbie was 5 when Kenny was born. He took care of Kenny when my late husband and I were at work.”

Peter asked, “Kenny lost his dad?”

“Yes … but that was much later … when Kenny was in high school…”

Peter asked, “Was he good to Kenny?”

“Yes”

Peter asked, “Did Kenny get along with Robbie?”

I laughed, and whispered, “Kenny was a pain in the butt to Robbie!”

A look that I could only think of as fear flashed on Peter’s face. “Oh! So… so did his dad beat him for that?”

I hadn’t expected that strong a reaction—and certainly not the fear that Peter was showing. I quickly tried to defuse the issue. “Oh, no, that was just a joke. We never hurt our children. What on earth made you think that?”

Peter looked at his hands, folded in his lap. “I… I … ummm …” He was clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

“Let’s talk about something else,” I suggested.

“Ok,” Peter said. “So what did Kenny do for fun?”

I thought for a moment.“He did a lot of things. He was in the cub scouts … he learned to swim, fish, climb …”

Peter interrupted. He was still looking down at his hands. “We don’t do stuff like that at my old home … I just go to school, come home, play with Leon, eat dinner, get in trouble with my brothers, do homework, eat dessert, go to bed …”

Kenny stuck his head into the living room,“Mom? Peter? Dinner’s ready.”

I whispered to Peter, “We’ll talk more after dinner, okay?” Peter smiled and nodded.

I was so pleased that Kenny served us at the dining table in a family setting. I’d not eaten like that in years. I smiled to see how well Kenny and Peter interacted at the table. It certainly looked as if they were made for each other.

During dinner, I mentioned, “Kenny, you should go visit your brother sometime after I get there and bring Peter with you. He misses you a lot, dear. He’s been wondering why you haven’t called him in such a long time. I think he should hear it from you and not a second hand explanation from me.”

Kenny considered my recommendation, “Sure mom. I’ll give him a call. I’ll let him know when I can come up to visit after I got Peter settled in school. It would be great to see Robbie again. I am so sorry I neglected him too.” Peter smiled about the idea of meeting Robbie and his family.

After dinner, Kenny excused himself, saying he had to go to work so that he could get Monday off. On Monday, he was going to enroll Peter into a school recommended by my old friend, Mrs. Dawson. I offered to do the dishes, and Kenny gratefully accepted. Peter helped clear the table, and watched as I rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher. As soon as Kenny was out the door—after a hug for each of us--Peter and I went back to our conversation. We sat the kitchen table with our dessert, and talked for about an hour.

Peter started the conversation, “Did Kenny and Robbie stay at home during school breaks?”

“No dear. We went on family vacations?” I answered.

Peter looked all puzzled and asked “What’s a vaca-vaca-sum?”

I correct his pronunciation, “You mean vacation?”

Peter smiled, “That’s it?”

I reminisced about the places we went to for so many years, “It’s a time where all of us go somewhere together to see all the wonderful places near where we live. We traveled to places like Nova Scotia, Niagara Falls, and many other places where camping was allowed. …”

Again Peter had trouble with his pronunciation, “What ova-scota?”

But I smiled, “You mean Nova Scotia?”

Peter smiled back, “Yes, Sarah”

I remember back to those fun times, “It’s an island where there are beaches and all wonderful things to see. Kenny and Robbie loved to play in the water, swim, fish, and see the whales go by.”

Peter interjected, “oh and they did comping??”

He surely made me giggled, “You mean Camping”

He laughed back at me, “Yes, that too”

Oh, I had to tickle him for making that a joke, “Oh you’re so funny aren’t you? Yes, we did camping. It’s just like the stuff they did as a cub scouts. They put up tents, set up camp fires, go fishing, hunting, and all kinds of things with their father and me. …”

Peter started to yawn and fall asleep. It was time for Peter to go to bed.

Peter brushed his teeth, gave me a hug, and went into his room. I came in later and tucked him in. I told him one of Kenny’s favorite bedtime stories and soon after he fell asleep.

I sat in the living room with another cup of coffee, and thought about what I’d learned from Peter. It was obvious that he didn’t belong to a very loving family. He never said it directly, but I got the impression that he had been seriously abused by his father. That was consistent with what Kenny had told me. Peter was a sensitive child: intelligent, curious, loving, and thoughtful. I feared that if he were returned to his parents, all those wonderful traits and God-given gifts would be lost—or destroyed by an abusive father.

I was about to go to sleep myself, when Kenny called. There was a lull in the emergency room, and we were able to talk for a while. I told Kenny some of what Peter had told me, and shared my feelings and understanding about the boy. Kenny seemed very pleased that Peter and I had gotten along so well. I heard a siren in the background; Kenny had to end the call. He told me to take his bed, since I was a guest, and that he’d see me in the morning.

I lay down in Kenny’s bed. In the darkness, I thought, I am so very proud that Kenny agreed to take to care of the boy. Robbie will be very proud of him, too. With that, I fell asleep.