The Greenhouse

Author's Note:  For prisca1960 in thanks for her support of the Help_Haiti project.  Here's a little extra something with the boys - I hope you like it.

 

*****

 

"Remind me again why I'm doing this?" Dean Parker said as he lifted a framed pane of glass and propped it against the wooden greenhouse frame. Zeke and Billy were working on the other side securing another pane. They'd been at it for a couple of hours and had managed to get most of the remaining glass secured.

"Zeke's making crepes," Casey replied as he snapped a few quick photos of their progress then carefully set the camera aside before handing a hammer to the Dean.

"They'd better be as good as promised." He concentrated on lining up the glass while Casey helped hold it steady. They worked well together - Casey didn't need a lot of prompting, and it gave the Dean the opportunity to observe Billy and Zeke's interactions.

In truth, he'd been a little worried about the three boys and how they'd adjusted to the challenges of living together while working and going to college. He still saw Casey at St. Regis where Casey ran the darkroom but they rarely had time to exchange more than a few words. The invitation to a workday and a dinner of homemade crepes had been a surprise and he'd had to work not to appear too eager when he accepted.

Now that he was here, he felt better about his former charges. They teased each other, but they were comfortable together. The underlying tension between Billy and Zeke was gone, and in its place was a give-and-take that played to each of the boy's strengths. Casey was no longer the center, caught in an awkward tug of war, instead, he was an equal part. And, much to the Dean's relief, Casey was much more accepting of his own abilities, not always deferring to his partners.

"So why isn't Yogurt here?" Billy asked as he brought another panel over for Zeke to add to the greenhouse frame. "When he and Ric were here last week he said he'd be back today to help finish."

"He said something about homework," Casey offered with a laugh. He leaned over to look at Billy as he added, "I think we scared him off."

"Hey, they agreed to help. We wouldn't have gotten half as far last week without them."

"He should have told us he was afraid of heights before he got up on the roof," Zeke commented as he gave the last nail one last hit. He stepped back to consider his work before moving on to the next panel. "Besides, Ric was the one who laughed at him."

"It was funny," Billy said, grinning, looking at the Dean. "He screamed like a girl and Ric laughed so hard that Yogurt wouldn't talk to him for the rest of the afternoon."

"We finally locked them in the guest house with a pizza and some soda and let them work it out," Casey explained. The Dean could tell by Casey's expression that Ric and Yogurt had settled their argument.

"So if Yogurt didn't do the roof panels, who did?" The Dean looked up at the glass panels all neatly secured to the heavy frame. He'd never actually attempted one of these large-scale do it yourself projects but he'd assembled some furniture pieces and remembered how frustrating it had been.

"Billy and I mostly. Zeke's the tallest so he was the best one to stay on the ground and hand us what we needed. I don't mind heights." Casey grinned as Billy and Zeke made rude noises at his comment. It reminded the Dean of Casey's unfortunate fall from a tree last year. Oddly, it was that fall that brought the three boys together. Perhaps it wasn't so unfortunate after all the Dean mused as he stepped back from his work and surveyed the greenhouse.

Between them, the boys had done an excellent job - clearing the ground, assembling and securing the frame and now adding the glass. There was one more panel to go and then the door would be the final step. Billy had already showed him the array of seeds he was intending to plant, although he didn't understand why Casey and Zeke had laughed so hard while Billy mentioned tomatoes.

"It looks good, doesn't it?" Casey asked as he gathered up tools and debris. "Billy gets a discount at the hardware store where he works and his dad loaned us one of the trucks to bring it home so we didn't have to pay the delivery fee. Zeke's already convinced us to try meatless days so we'll be needing more vegetables."

Dean Parker watched as Casey picked up his camera and moved smoothly around the greenhouse capturing the last few strikes of the hammer as Zeke and Billy secured the last panel. They'd talked about his plans to use the photos of the greenhouse construction for a class project when Casey had given him a ride earlier.

They'd laughed about their adventures in car shopping the previous year when the Dean had taken Casey to every dealership in the county before they'd agreed on the midnight blue Subaru wagon. It wasn't at all what the Dean expected, but he'd been convinced once Casey pointed out that neither Billy nor Zeke's car had much trunk space or room for extra passengers.

According to Casey, the trio had used the wagon for car camping several times and had plans for another trip later in the summer. It made the Dean a bit wistful - remembering how often he'd taken off on crazy adventures when he was their age.

"Hey, Dean!" Billy's shout startled him and he laughed along with the boys as Billy motioned for him to come help them get the door leveled. It was awkward work and they got in each others way more than once, but finally the door was hung correctly and they were cheering.

"Say 'cheese'!" Casey shouted as he set the timer on his camera and ran to squeeze in between Billy and the Dean for the final photo, the completed greenhouse in the background. The shutter clicked just as Billy pulled Zeke and Casey into a hug. The hug turned into kissing until the Dean stepped away and cleared his throat.

"Now can I have some crepes?"

::end::

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