You Must Meet Mother

It was a few days after Easter and the residents of the loft were restfully ensconced on the floor facing their fake fireplace – a situation not calculated to last very long..

“You know what, Sunshine?” Brian was saying, “You are making Easter about as hectic as Christmas time – like - inviting Dave and Wendell to come….”

“I told you already, Bri,” Justin denied any imputed blame, “I did not invite Dave and Wendell to spend Easter in Pittsburgh. They’re like just – always welcome – and for some reason or another they decided to come this year….”

“And they seemed to enjoy themselves too,” Brian pointed out, “So I suspect we’ll be stuck with them every year from now on….”

“Well since we do like them, ‘stuck’ might not be the exact right word, Bri. But they did seem to really enjoy our traditional Easter trip to Children’s Hospital,” Justin agreed, “And they brought a lot of great stuff for the kids. They sent a lot of stuff last year but I think they liked actually bringing it and giving some of it out themselves….”

“They did indeed, JT,” Brian laughed, “But they didn’t ‘bring’ those gifts with them. That social worker over there told me that two UPS trucks came a few days before – like – filled with all that junk. If they had ‘brought’ the stuff themselves, we would all have been….”

“You know what I meant, Kinney,” Justin snuggled up to the guy next to him. “So quit picking on me. I know they didn’t carry those hundreds of things in all by themselves….”

This – as one would have to guess that Justin intended - brought about a lull in the conversation for a while – but it did eventually continue.

“I think you were a little bit jealous when Dave offered to set Jason up in the candy business, Babe,” Brian grinned in resuming the conversation. “He really did like Jason’s candy eggs. He said Jason could do well as a high society candy purveyor…”

“Was not either jealous, Brian,” Justin denied the accusation. “Why should I be jealous? After all, don’t I have the Rage movie and the animated TV series and all that stuff coming up? – and doesn’t some of my artwork hang on the walls of some of the same high society folk who might want to munch on Jason’s candy? - and anyhow, Jason turned him down – even though he did promise to make Dave and Wendell some stuff every once in a while. Jason really wants to finish law school and….”

“Maybe go into family practice with Brandon,” Brian completed the thought in his own way. “Yep – I can see it now. ‘Brandon and Jason, Ambulance Chasers for hire.’”

“Cut it out, Brian. You’re just being mean. That would never work and you know it,” Justin laughed. “They could never work together - just like we could never work together either….”

“Oh - like - you never get yourself involved down at Kinnetics, Sweetheart,” Brian laughed back, “Like – never sticking your nose in the business. Seems to me you’re always under foot down there.”

“Well sometimes it seems to me that you need a little help, Brian,” Justin pointed out. “And who better than me? What I was thinking was if you got yourself involved over at the Institute. That would spell disaster with a capital ‘D.’”

“Well then I guess, Blondie,” Brian smiled, “It’s a good thing there’s only one meddler in this loft. Yep – one meddler is enough around here….”

“Hey, Kinney,” Justin reminded him. “I heard what you just said – and I heard what you didn’t say too. You said it’s a good thing there’s only one meddler in this loft. You didn’t say it’s too bad there’s one meddler in this loft – or that one meddler is more than enough around here - so you must really….”

Justin did not get to finish his discourse as Brian successfully moved to head him off – thereby causing another pause in the conversation – which Justin seemed to take in stride.

“Well the thing that surprised me most, JT,” Brian reopened the discussion, “Was how well Dave and Debbie got along. I thought it was a mistake when you invited them to Debbie’s for her Easter Italian extravaganza – but I have to admit that I was wrong.”

“I was a little bit surprised too, BK,” Justin replied. “Especially when Dave said Debbie reminded him of his own mother, Martha, who lives in some big mansion in the Hamptons….”

“Yep – I always thought Debbie was one-of-a-kind,” Brian laughed. “I’d have to meet Martha to believe she’s anything like Debbie – but I think it would be better if we didn’t meet Martha so….”

“Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin gibed. “We like Debbie – so we ought to want to meet Martha….”

“There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, Baby,” Brian reasoned. “This could be an instance of that. I think maybe one Debbie is like – enough for us.”

“Well…,” Justin began to reply - before Brian went on.

“I’ll leave it up to you to make sure we miss meeting Martha whenever we’re in New York,” Brian ordered. “You’re a lot better with flimsy excuses than I am so you should do it….”

“Brian – Honey,” Justin finally got to respond. “You’re real smart and all – but sometimes you don’t catch everything that goes on….”

“And that is supposed to mean what?” Brian wanted to know.

“You heard Dave say he’d like Debbie to meet Martha…,” Justin pointed out. “Cause they’re so much alike….”

“Yeah,” Brian recalled, “I heard that all right - but that’s just a formality, Kiddo. People always say stuff like that – but they don’t really mean it….”

“Maybe sometimes they do mean it though, Bri,” Justin continued. “You know Dave gave Debbie Martha’s phone number….”

“Geez, Taylor,” Brian insisted. “You’re making a mountain out of a molehill….”

“Hey Bri,” Justin interrupted. “Listen up. Dave gave his mother Debbie’s phone number too and….”

“Will you quit beating around the bush, JT?” Brian broke in. “What the hell are you trying to tell me? If you have something to say….”

“I’m trying to tell you that Vic and Debbie are flying out next week to spend a week in the Hamptons with Martha….” Justin came to the point. “They talked to Martha on the phone and they hit it off right away….

“Well how did you let that happen?” Brian wanted to know. “It’s your job to be on top of stuff like that….”

“How was I to know you’d go ballistic about it, Brian?” Justin smiled weakly. “And I didn’t think it was all that bad of an idea….”

“Well at least we’ll be here while they’re there, Kiddo,” Brian concluded. “So we won’t have to put up with….”

“Brian – Sweetheart,” Justin squeezed in closer to Brian. “Martha is gonna fly back here with Debbie and Vic when they came home. She’s never seen Pittsburgh. And Debbie thinks we should all meet Martha anyhow – and so does Dave. Then we’ll be here and they’ll be here too and….”

“Unless we go away, Baby,” Brian proposed. “That’s what we could do. What about Ibiza?”

“Brian Kinney,” Justin told him. “Get a hold of yourself. This is not the end of the world. I bet you’ll like Martha when you get to know her – which seems to be inevitable….”

“This is all your fault, Justin Taylor,” Brian held his ground. “All your fault….”

“So what if it is my fault, Kinney?” Justin gave up and laughed at him. “What if it is? And just what do you intend to do about it anyhow?”

And that particular challenge of Justin’s took Brian’s mind completely off Martha – or Debbie - or anything else either….

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