The Fourth and So Forth

The guys were on the floor of the loft watching the flames fly in their fake fireplace. Unseasonably warm weather had hit Pittsburgh so they were glad for their air-conditioning but the fireplace was still part of their routine – with, of course, the heating element turned off. They just sat there huddled together for a while before any conversation began and then….

“OK, Baby,” Brian said. “I guess I’m not supposed to know - but could I have some inkling what the plans are for the Fourth of July this year? Or are those plans still secret?”

“Gee whiz, Kinney,” Justin replied. “Just cause you don’t know something doesn’t mean it’s a secret or anything like that. Of course you can know what the plans are. But of course you also know that any such plans are tentative until you approve them. You must know you always have the final say….”

“Yeah, I know,” Brian laughed. “And unless I miss my guess, I already approved the plans – whatever they are - so now maybe it’s all right to tell me what I approved?”

“Well you know Point State Park is still under reconstruction,” Justin ignored any provocation. “So there won’t be any big city-wide celebration. We thought maybe the gang would like to have a cook-out at Mikey’s this year. His neighborhood is having like an all-day holiday program – so I guess we’ll want to be there all day. Starts in the morning with a flag-waving contest….”

“A flag-waving contest?” Brian echoed. “I don’t know what a flag-waving contest is. Just what is a flag-waving contest anyhow?”

“I think you should ask Mikey about that, Bri,” Justin told him. “Mikey is in charge of it so I guess he could tell you better than me.”

“Which means you don’t know either,” Brian laughed. “I wonder if Mikey does. Probably doesn’t matter if he does or not.”

“Then there’s like a three hour break and people are having private cook-outs and picnics and all our gang will be at Mikey’s – except for Ethan and Tom,” Justin informed him. “The symphony’s playing somewhere out-of-town so we’ll miss them this year….”

”No music on the Fourth of July?” Brian concluded. “Old George M. Cohan would roll over in his grave.”

“Well that Cohen guy – whoever he is - won’t have to roll over at all, Brian,” Justin corrected him. “There’s gonna be a community sing of patriotic songs after the picnic break – and Gus is gonna play a couple of old fiddle songs from early-America too…. And then there’s gonna be a patriotic play. Hunter and a couple of other kids from the Performing Arts High School wanted to do that. They got Hix, your favorite historian-playwright to write them an original….”

”It’ll be original all right if Hix wrote it,” Brian grinned. “He doesn’t know beans about history. He always disagrees with me....”

”And Malcolm’s gonna direct it,” Justin continued unfazed. “And….”

“And we are not going to be in it,” Brian announced by way of decisive interruption. “At least I’m not. I’ll bet that crazy Hix wrote a dumb part for me and you’re supposed to talk me into being in it.”

“Maybe so, Honey,” Justin accepted the bait. “But if there were parts written for us, even if there were, that is, we are not going to be in it. The parts that were written for us – if they were written for us – will be….”

“Don’t tell me, Kiddo,” Brian stopped him. “Let me guess. I bet I’ve got it. The parts that were written for us – if they were written for us – will be played by….”

“Bingo, Brian,” Justin returned the interruption. “Right on the nose. Those parts will be filled by none other than Jason and Brandon.”

“Somehow that does not surprise me – I wonder why - but I didn’t even know that Jason and Brandon were all that friendly with Michael and Ben,” Brian wondered. “Still, I guess I should never be surprised by what I don’t know.”

“Oh cut it out, Sweetheart,” Justin told him. “You don’t even want to know all that stuff. You’re way too important and busy to want to know all that stuff. And you don’t need to know all that stuff either.”

“No I don’t,” Brian told him back. “I’ve got you to handle all that for me – my super-efficient little JT - who knows all - and tells nothing.”

“Oh quit being a martyr for a while, Bri,” Justin laughed at him. “I know you and I know you like things just the way they are. You don’t even want to be involved in all this detail stuff – and you’re glad to have me to take it off your hands.”

“Well if I had been handling the details, Baby,” Brian informed him. “There would have been some fireworks on the Fourth of July.”

”Well, you haven’t let me finish yet, have you, Sweetheart?” Justin retorted. “There will be some fireworks all right. There is a community display right after it gets dark – and they usually have a pretty good one out Mikey’s way too – or so I’ve heard. And we’re gonna have some stuff in Mikey’s back yard too. Sparklers and some little firecrackers – the ones that are legal in the state. Linz says they used to call them lady-fingers when you guys were kids….”

”Cutting edge stuff all right,” Brian grumbled good-naturedly. “Geez, Kiddo, there was a time when me and Mikey….”

“Yeah,” Justin said. “I’m sure, Honey – but Mikey has finally grown up now, Bri – and there’s still some hope that maybe someday you ….”

The discussion broke off suddenly at this point. Brian squeezed the kid and Justin took that as a signal and one thing led to another and it was a while before they remembered the Fourth of July – fireworks notwithstanding.

But eventually - the subject was revived. “Hey, Brian,” Justin said. “Did you have any reason to be asking about the Fourth of July – I mean other than idle curiosity? I mean – you like usually just wait for me to tell you stuff like that and then give me a hard time even if you like what’s planned – which you always do. You don’t usually ask….”

“So now you’re accusing me of ulterior motives, eh?” Brian concluded with a laugh. “Like maybe I might know something that you don’t?”

“Yeah, Honey,” Justin laughed back. “Something like that. Not that’s it’s all that likely that you’d know something that I don’t.”

“Well, I’m sure you know I’d tell you if I did….” Brian pointed out.

“OK, Kinney,” Justin demanded. “What’s up? Just what have you done now? And is it too late for me to fix it?”

“Well, Baby, I guess there’s gonna be two of you at our Fourth of July celebration this year,” Brian told him. “I invited your look-alike cousin Wil – and the boy-friend Alan - to come up from Atlanta for the holiday. Alan had some business here and I told them to come a few days early and celebrate the holiday with us.”

“Just like you, Kinney,” Justin accused him. “Planning stuff and doing stuff without consulting me. Like I wasn’t important or something....”

“You’re right, Baby. I don’t know why I do stuff like that,” Brian apologized. “I know you wouldn’t ever….”

And the discussion paused again here for a while for no apparent reason. Brian and Justin did not always need a reason. And it was another while till the discussion resumed again.

“You know what, Bri,” Justin said. “You maybe did me a big favor asking those guys up for the Fourth. Now they won’t be here for Gay and Lesbian Day at Kennywood in August. Remember all the trouble that caused last year with people thinking that Wil was me and all cuddly with Alan too. That was a real pain…. What are you smiling about, Kinney? They’re not….”

“Yeah, they are, Baby,” Brian told him. “They’re coming back in August for Kennywood. They had such a good time last year they didn’t want to miss it so I told them to….”

“I will pay you back, Brian Kinney,” Justin promised him. “You can believe it, Mr. Kinney. I will definitely pay you back. Yeah, I will.”

Brian grinned at the kid as he ran his fingers softly through Justin’s hair. “I know you will, Baby,” Brian told him with a certain degree of anticipation in his voice. “I know you will.”

 

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