A Second Chance II: Life Goes On. - 10. Chapter 10

Summer was ending way too soon; for Mike and me, there was only one more day now, before we were going to loose our son to the school at Crazy Horse. We both knew that he was only going to be away for four nights, but they would be the longest nights of the week. His enrollment was taken care of, and the dorm room was assigned, in the Little Crow dorm; I remembered John Two-Feathers, and what a nice man he seemed to be. One other nice thing was that with the school being so new, it had phones, in all the dorm rooms, like a motel. Only the school could control them, so only local and toll free calls could be made from them. Which was fine with Mike and me, 'cause our phone at the ranch was also a toll free line.

So, Sunday morning arrived, the last day, before school started. Colt woke us up, by knocking on our door; it was still very dark outside. So I looked at the alarm clock, and my God, it was only 3:31 a.m.

“Come in, son,” I said, pretty sure of myself by the sound of the knock, and wondering what was wrong.

He came in and jumped on the bed waking up Mike. Then he slid under the covers, between us, saying, “Pop, can we just snuggle, for a little while? I’m go’na miss you and poppa Mike, so much.” He had little tears in his eyes, but he was not really crying.

Mike looked at him, and then reached over and pulled him close hugging him tightly, and said, “Sure we can, son. For as long as you like.”

I said, “You just snuggle up against your poppa Mike, and I will snuggle up against you, OK?” There was no shyness about Mike and me sleeping in the raw. Our son was in his jockeys, snuggling between us, we were all in heaven. Cherishing the family togetherness, knowing Colt was coming to terms with the fact that he was going off to school. Then we all drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

The second time I woke up was when Colt shook me, saying, “Pop, I gotta pee, bad.”

It was still dark, so I said, “Ok, just use our bathroom, son, then just get back into bed here, if you want.” He was gone, but, it wasn’t long and he was back in bed again, saying, “Sorry, pop, for waking you up.” I reached over, rubbed his hair, and said, “Nature waits for no one, son.” Again, we drifted back to sleep.

Now for the third, and I hoped not the final time, waking up with our son in our bed with us, I woke myself up for the same reason my son had done earlier, but now it was daylight and it was time to start the day.

So I got up and headed into the bathroom, and started the shower; by now, Mike was standing there ready to join me. We got in together, and were having a good morning kiss when we heard one of the other showerheads being turned on. We stopped kissing, and other parts were wilting fast, as we pulled our lips apart, and looked at our son; lathering up with soap, as if no one else was here with him. Now that gave us a peaceful, calm, wonderful, feeling, knowing we had that kind of family life that allowed this to happen. Without shame, or embarrassment to anyone. We all finished the shower and dried off. Colt again ran out of the bathroom, naked, and headed to his room, to get dressed.

Mike spoke saying, “I don’t think I am going to be able to take this separation for one day, let alone four days.” His eyes showed the sadness in them.

“Love, we really have no choice here, he really needs to be there right now; the public schools, are not an option for us.” I pulled Mike in for a hug and kissed him again, with a little more privacy, saying, “I already miss him, too, but if you want, I'll have Richard fly us up Tuesday night, for dinner with him. Is that OK?” I had tears in my eyes, just telling him that.

Mike looked deep into my eyes and said, “My god, what a loving man you are; God, no wonder I love you so damn much.”

Well, we had made our dinner plans for Tuesday night, at Crazy Horse restaurant, already. Now to fill you in on some logistics. We had a company car parked at the private airport in Custer, South Dakota, which would be used by the pilot of Little Colt to drop him off and pick him up from school. There was a storage area there that would allow us to use it as a garage. Our plane would be fully fueled, at the ranch, which would allow us to make several round trips to the Custer airport, without the need for fuel; the range of that plane was over 1200 miles.

Julie came in that Sunday, to fix us a special dinner, over our objections, but she almost always got her way. She had a great breakfast prepared for us, with the help of Colt, by the time Mike and I got there.

Mike, Colt, and I spent the day out on the ranch for the first time since the accident. Mike rode Ginger. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that Ginger had a beautiful foal, that we named ... well, maybe I should say, our son named ... ‘Darkstar’. He was the cutest little cream colored colt, with dark brown, almost black, tail and mane and a very dark brown star in his forehead; Colt was riding Star, and I was riding Lady, and yes, Lady had her foal too, a pretty little philly named ‘Beebe,’ chestnut colored. We wanted to take the day, and be together on the ranch. We stayed out most of the day, only going back because of the wonderful dinner waiting, and the unpleasant task of getting Colt’s clothes and gear ready, for the trip in the morning.

I said to Mike, “Hon, we have to cheer up around our son, he is down in the dumps enough, without us dragging him down even more, OK?” I pulled him in to a hug, before we left the barn. Colt was already inside with his Grandma Julie.

Mike just looked into my eyes, with a smile and said, “I love you, and you are right, as always. I will try to cheer up for him. God, it's not going to be easy, that's for sure. But I'll try." He was true to his word, at least I saw a change in him until we went to bed later, but again I am getting a little ahead of my story here.

Not much later we all sat down to an absolutely out-of-this-world delicious dinner of roast pork tender loin, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, fresh green peas, and for dessert -- Colt's favorite and mine -- homemade apple pie, with ice cream for Mike and Colt, and a slice of cheese for me. Julie that night stayed and had dinner with us, she would not be there in the morning because we were leaving much earlier than normal. Seeing it was the first day at school and we needed some time to get Colt settled into the dorm. His first day, there were no classes; he would be getting his dorm room set up, picking up his class schedules, and having a tour of the facilities.

Julie finally got up to leave for the day, saying, "Come here, son, and give me a big hug," Colt got up, ran to her, and hugged her. "Now you behave yourself up there, and I will have a special dinner Friday night when you get home." She had tears in her eyes. But still she managed a wonderful grandmotherly smile at him. Then she looked at Mike and me, saying, "I'll see you two tomorrow sometime, take care of him, please."

Colt replied, "I will, Grandma Julie; I love you," with tears in his eyes, too.

Mike replied saying. "We will, Julie, and thanks for a wonderful dinner; it really was special for all of us." Mike was fighting back tears and so was I.

I said, "Me, too, hon, that was a great meal, and thanks a million for all you have done. See you tomorrow." Then she left.

Well, now came the hardest part of the day; Mike and I got out the suitcases and helped Colt pack them. I won't go into detail about what he took with him, but let’s just say, he had enough clothes and other junk, to easily last him a year or more. Nevertheless, by the time everything was done, and the fact that we had to get up before daylight the next morning, we told Colt that we all had to go to bed earlier than usual.

Colt asked, "Pop, can I sleep with you and poppa Mike, tonight?" I looked at Mike to see what his reaction was.

Mike said, I don't mind, if it's ok with your pop?" He looked at me with an evil grin ... as if maybe he was thinking, yes, please ... he was asking without speaking.

How could I not say yes; my God, you would have to have a heart of stone to say no to him; so of course, I said, "Only if I get to tickle you, OK?" He got undressed down to his undies, in about two seconds, and ran, giggling, into our room, pulled down the covers, and was in the middle of the bed, waiting for us by the time Mike and I got there.

Both Mike and I climbed into bed with him, like we always did, whenever we let him sleep with us, and we all snuggled together and talked, about a lot of things; things that were going to happen tomorrow, well, just all sorts of things, nothing important or earthshaking, more or less just chitchat. Finally, Colt was silent, and his breathing relaxed. Mike and I could tell he was off in dreamland now. So Mike whispered to me. "God, JC, my love, I love him so much it hurts. I am trying, so hard, not to cry right now." I just barely heard him through his sniffles. That did it for me, too, I broke down and cried saying, "I love him, too, and God, I'm going to miss him, so much." I leaned over and kissed his shoulder, and I noticed Mike was kissing his forehead.
We continued to whisper to each other for a little longer, but finally sleep took over and won.

Four o'clock came way too early, with the alarm going off; all of us headed for the shower, and didn't even think about it, as we took another one together as the Andersen family.

It was a morning of cold cereal and OJ. We knew that Richard was already there; warming up the plane, because we heard it starting up. So we all headed out to the hanger, which wasn't that far from the house, maybe 500 feet, or so. Richard and Colt loaded Colt's suitcases and his portable TV, Radio, CD, DVD player, etc., whatever you want to call it. Then we all piled into Little Colt. Everyone took his same seat as they always did, with Richard flying and Colt in the co-pilots seat. By now, Colt already had 6 hours logged as a student pilot. He was getting to be very good at flying Little Colt. Mike closed the door, and buckled up. All of us now had headsets on, then Colt, without saying anything, just pulled the throttles back, and started to taxi to the end of the runway. Turning onto the runway, he pulled the throttles back further, and the engines began to roar, and the next thing we knew, we were airborne, looking out at Casper, as the dawn was breaking over the eastern hills. As we gained altitude, the Sunlight lit up our son's face, and he had the most serious expression plastered on it. You could tell he was paying very close attention, to what he was doing, that 'no funny stuff now' look.

Richard said, "Colt, you did great on that takeoff. It was perfect. Do you know the heading we need to be on?"

"81 degrees east-north-east, correct?" Colt replied like a pro, I thought to myself.

"Correct, son; you're learning fast. Keep it up, and you'll be up here on your own, sooner than you think.” I about lost it, then and there, thinking about our son flying this plane all alone. Then I thought, why not, if he is qualified to do it, why not? Then little light bulbs started flashing in my head. I wonder if --- no --- maybe --- could it be 'Buckaroo's', or 'Cowboy's' next pilot? Then I tried to push that thought out of my head. I saw Richard take out Colt's logbook, and write something in it. I am sure it was something like more hours being logged, but who knows. Just as we knew, it was only a 25-minute trip, and 5 minutes for landing. Colt landed the plane at Custer, with not as much as a bounce. He did indeed have a fabulous teacher, and of course, we had a fabulous son; indeed, a truly fabulous son. He parked the plane at the designated parking spot. Mike went and unlocked the storage shed, retrieved the car, and brought it up near the plane, then we loaded all of Colt's gear into it and headed for Crazy Horse.

Well the day, there, was somewhat trying, but we managed to get our son settled in. We spent most of the day with him, until it came time for the students to gather for an assembly. We said our goodbyes, but I'm not going to go into details here, for I don't think I could tell them, there were many tears that flowed from all of us. Some in private, but of course, some could not be. Mike, Richard, and I had our hearts broken as he ran off, with the other boys and girls, even though we knew, he would adjust better than we would.

We drove off, knowing we would be back the next night, to have dinner with our son. The flight home was nice, but sad, just knowing our munchkin, our little boy, our son, was growing up right in front of our, now blood shot, eyes, from all the tears shed on the way home.

Before he left for the day, Richard said, "You guys have a truly wonderful young man there, and I am so happy and proud, that you allowed me to be part of his life." He had tears running down his face too, and blood shot eyes as well.

"Thank you, Richard; thank you for wanting to be part of his and our lives." I said with pride in my voice.

Mike spoke through tears, "Yes, thank you my friend, for all you're doing for us. I don't know what I would do without you." You could see Mike really meant what he had just said, and I could tell Richard was again choked up by it.

I spoke up saying, “Richard, why don’t all of us go to the Corral for dinner, I don’t think Mike or I want to fix anything here.” Mike looked at me, and just smiled. I knew he was more upset than I was.

Richard said, “Ok, guys, I’ll meet you there.” He then went back to Little Colt, and secured the plane, parking it inside the hanger, until we needed it tomorrow afternoon.

Mike said, “Let’s get Larry to drive us tonight, please?” He was not in the mood to be driving, and neither was I. I called Larry and told him we needed his services for the evening. He was at the ranch in about 20 minutes, which gave Mike and me time to get freshened up a bit. We had asked Colt to call around eight, unless something important came up, so I figured we had plenty of time for dinner. Larry arrived and picked us up, taking us to the Corral. I told Larry if he wanted to, he could join us for dinner, thinking the more people here, the less our thoughts would be on Colt. He thanked me and joined Richard, Mike and me for a nice dinner.

We talked about everything possible, leaving out Colt as much as we could. Now, try to do that, with everyone sitting at the table, wondering how he was doing. I had asked that the school not assign a roommate to Colt’s room, unless it was absolutely necessary, and only then with my approval (I know ... over-protective parents), but he was our only son, and new to us as well. I even paid for the empty bed as if I had two sons living there. We had talked to Colt about that a few weeks before school, and he didn’t like the idea of a stranger in his room, we tried to make him understand, that it would be more fun with a roommate, but he told us that he didn’t know why, but he didn’t want anyone in the room.

“Richard," I asked, "where is Andrew tonight?” I was kind of wondering why he was alone.

“His folks came into town for a couple days, so he's spending some time with them.” He was looking a little more down than he was earlier. I thought it was because of Colt, but then I figured the combination would have had him really down.

“Ok, well you have a good night, and we’ll see you tomorrow for dinner at Crazy Horse.” I replied, smiling at him.

After Richard left us, Larry drove Mike and me home. We thanked him, and he, in turn, thanked us, for a nice dinner.

As I opened the front door, we were met by the ringing of my cell phone.

“Hello”

“Is that you, pop?”

“You bet it is!” I was holding back tears just hearing his voice. I'm glad I had my house calls forwarded to my cell.

Mike saw that, and knew it was Colt on the other end.

“Tell him we'll call him back; I want us on the speaker phone with him. Please?” He was like a kid wanting to talk to his Colt.

“Son, I am on the cell phone, hang up and I'll call you right back, OK?” He didn’t say a word all I heard was a click, then nothing.

Mike picked up the phone and called Colt back.

“Hello, is that you, pop?”

“It’s me, Mike; your pop is on the speaker phone now. So both of us are here with you, son.” Mike was tearing up too now.

“I miss you both, but it was fun today, I got to meet a lot of new friends. And they are all Indians or part-Indian like me. But it’s funny, too, some of the part-Indians look almost like full-blooded ones, and I don’t, but that’s ok, though, 'cause they treat me real nice and stuff.”

Mike spoke saying “That sounds great, son, so you’re feeling better about the school now?”

“Yep, poppa Mike, its kinda cool being in my own room, with a phone, too.” You could tell by his voice he was adjusting well. This, in turn, was helping us unwind and come to the realization that he was growing up.

I said, “That's good, son. I'm happy that you're happy. That’s all that counts. So, do you like that room?”

“Oh, yes, pop, I can see the mountain-carving all the time, and I saw them blow up some dynamite this afternoon, and that was so cool!” His voice told me so much, he was happy and excited.

“That’s great; you can keep us up to date on it then.” Mike replied.

“Oh, yes, poppa Mike, I can do that, for sure.” You could just hear the excitement, he was feeling, and I was so happy now, just to hear that in his voice, and I am sure Mike was feeling the same way.

Mike told him, “Ok, son, you be a good boy, now, and remember ... we're taking you out to dinner tomorrow night. If you happen to find a friend that you might want to take with us, you can, but only one this time, OK?” I thought where did that come from, but I gave him an evil grin, and then laughed.

“Thanks, poppa Mike, but right now, I don’t want anyone but you and pop, Ok? Oh, and Richard, too, please?” What a boy we have there! I wish I could have just reached through that phone and hugged him.

Mike said, “Ok, son, I wish I could tuck you into bed, but you're a big guy now, so remember we love you very, very much.” I could see the tears welling up in Mike's eyes again.

I told Colt, “Son, I love you, too, very much; and you be a good boy. We'll see you tomorrow. Good night and sweet dreams.”

Mike said, just before he hung up the phone, “I love you; sweet dreams, my son.” Then he was gone. We both stood up and hugged each other for a long time.

Mike went into the kitchen, and put on a pot of coffee, getting out some of the leftover apple pie. We sat down, had our pie and coffee, and just watched each other; I knew where this was going. I could see the gleam in Mike's eyes, not the tears, but the love. After we finished with our 'food dessert', we headed for the bedroom and to have our 'love dessert'.

Mike started undressing me, and I went after him as well, but this time we wanted the love and the sex. I think it may have been more to distract us, than anything else at first, but, God, I love him so much it hurts. After we got each other undressed, we entered the Jacuzzi, which was now full of very hot water; I slid in, with my back resting on the inside edge of the Jacuzzi, while Mike slid down my front, so slowly, and so hot, I felt his butt slide over my nipples, my chest, and then my stomach until he reached my groin, where my hardness was waiting for his arrival. He then gently slid down, while I guided my tool into the warmth of his insides. As he rested on my lap, I reached around him and began stroking him ever so slowly, and I whispered into his ear, “God, Mike, I love you, more and more every day.” He twisted around on my manhood and kissed me. I returned the kiss. Then he turned back facing away from me again, twisting and grinding on my pole until I was ready to scream with pleasure, he was truly turning me on. I felt the heat inside me start to boil, like a teakettle, ready to blow its top. Mike was now twisting and bucking, as I stroked him. He shouted, “Oh ... my ... God!!!!!! I’m cooming!!! Loveee!!!! I’m heeeere!!!! He shot his load of nectar into the hot water. As he fired his first load, his rosebud tightened, squeezing my member so tight it hurt with pleasure. Then, he shot another load, and I was treated with another squeeze of the rosebud, giving me the incredible, pleasure all over again. I couldn’t hold back any longer; I was now biting the back of his neck and sucking his skin, as I felt that wonderful release of my love juices into his most private place ... that place that belonged only to me.

I said in a panting, but ever so loving, tone, “God, I love you so much, I wish I could just crawl up inside you and go to sleep tonight.” I was still kissing him on the back, when he twisted around to face me, with my manhood still inside of him. He took me in a big tight hug, kissed me passionately, breaking our kiss only long enough to say, “Love, I think you almost did. It was so wonderful; God, I love you so very much.” Then he again kissed me, for a long long, long time, until I slid out of him, limp, and we both were out of breath.

Mike stood up and climbed out of the Jacuzzi, then held out his hand to help me up and out of it, as well. After drying each other, we headed for our bed to a well earned glorious night's sleep.

We did go up to Custer, to have dinner with Colt, the next night, on Little Colt, and before dinner, Colt talked us into letting him take Little Colt up, and fly him again. Mostly around Crazy Horse, I think maybe, he had someone on the ground looking for him, but who knows. The rest of that week went by very fast, for some unknown reason, and our son was home again, and with us, for the weekend, as he would for many more weekends and other holiday’s. Time seemed to be flying by -- four nights at school and three nights at home. The routine was working pretty well. Of course, we still missed him during the week, but we were all managing to cope.

Colt had logged 14 hours of flying time, by this time. Believe it or not, our son had soloed. After only 8 hours with Richard as his instructor. His cross country flights were being calculated by flying back and forth to school. We still had either Richard or one of our other pilots flying with him because he couldn’t drive a car yet. Now that’s funny, he couldn’t drive a car, but he could fly an airplane, alone. Oh, well, that’s life and bureaucratic regulations.

It was now Thanksgiving school break. We were getting very excited about having him home for the week's break; we had planned on doing fun things. Not long after that he was going to be a teenager; God, would I want to be 13 again? Well, maybe not, but it might be fun, knowing what I know now. He was now in the air somewhere between Custer and the ranch, and Richard was with him. I always seemed more at ease when the two of them were together. I guess Mike and I were still over-protective, but again, what parents that love their child wouldn't be?

Mike and I were standing outside, in front of the hanger, when we heard the radio squawking, “Lazy L, this is Little Colt.”

Mike picked up the microphone, saying, “This is the Lazy L; over!”

“This is Little Colt; we’ll see you, pop and poppa Mike, in about 10 minutes. Out.” That was the first time Colt said that on the radio, for the world to hear, of course they needed to be on the right radio frequency, but neither Mike nor I cared in the least.

I took the microphone and said, “This is the Lazy L, Ok, son; we'll see you soon. Over.”

As we watched the skies, we saw our ‘Little Colt’ approaching carrying our son, Colt, home to us. With tears in our eyes, we watched him make as good a landing as Richard had ever done. As he taxied into the hanger, my heart swelled to a point where I thought it would burst with pride. Little Colt’s engine stopped turning, and Mike was at the door, as it opened. He grabbed Colt around the waist, and swung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He was wiggling like a typical kid, having fun, because his poppa Mike was not only carrying him to me; he was tickling the hell out of him.

Colt was screaming, “Stop it, poppa Mike. Please stop it! I gotta pee! Your go’na make me pee my pants; please stop it, Ok?” Colt was laughing so hard, I really thought he was going to pee his britches. Mike placed him on his feet, and he ran like hell to the side of the barn, where he relieved himself.

“You are one lucky dude.” I told Mike, laughing at the whole episode. We watched our boy, who looked like he was in pain.

After all his gear was unloaded, and the plane parked, Richard excused himself and went home to Andrew. They were getting to be quite a couple, as well.

Julie outdid herself once again! She had a wonderful dinner waiting for us, but she had already gone home for the day. Normally, Colt would have been home in time to see her, but today he had managed to get in an extra hour of flying time. Richard was trying to get him to the required 30 hours for his Private Pilot's License. That would allow him to fly with passengers.

Colt was excited about being home with us, for the, almost 10-day, break, and of course he wanted to be with his Star, so after dinner he went out to the barn, even though it was dark. He still wanted to be with Star and talk to him, as funny as that last part sounds.

Colt said, “Poppa Mike, is it ok, if I go visit with Star, for a little while?”

“Sure, son.” Mike replied.

Colt…

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I turned on the lights and went looking for Star in the corral. I called to him, “Star, I’m home, boy.” Star came running to me. I took him back into the barn so I could brush him, and I saw, pop.

I said, “Hey, pop, what ya' doin' out here? Who’s that boy?".................