24 Hours Pt. 2

The brief ride from the airport to Tony's house suddenly became a cross country trip as Brian listened to Justin's account of the details that lead up to Gus's injuries………….

Mary was right. Tony had been malingering around the house for far too long. A good breakfast, and some fresh air was just what the doctor ordered to begin to break the post surgical depression that her former workaholic boss was now experiencing. Justin padded up the stairs to get the Tony, while Gus followed Mary to the kitchen.

Brian's son was fascinated by the dark skinned woman with white hair, who moved so freely about Tony's house. Since his arrival Gus had seen her brush past Tony, and stop to give him a hug. Mary fixed their dinner last night, and now she was getting ready to do the laundry. Gus watched as she sorted the dark clothes from the light ones just like his mommies did. "Just let me get this first load going, then I'll start breakfast. Are you hungry Gus?" Mary asked.

Gus nodded his head yes, and continued his observation. Mary's bedroom was downstairs, and Tony's bedroom was upstairs next to the big bedroom with all of the video games in it that Gus shared with his father last night. Humm, she lived there, she cooks Tony's food, she gives him hugs, and she does the laundry. "Mary, are you Tony's mom?" Gus asked.

"Me? Oh heaven's no." Mary laughed. "I'm Tony's housekeeper."

"What's a housekeeper?" Gus asked.

Mary attempted to explain while she tossed the first load in the washer. "This is Tony's house, but he's away most of the time on business. He pays me to stay here, and take care of things for him while he's gone. When he comes home he's usually too tired to do anything, then he pays me to take care of him." she said.

"Does he pay you a lot of money?" Gus asked.

"Yes he does." Mary proceeded to the kitchen with Gus at her heels. "What would you like for breakfast Gus?" she asked.

"You got any Fruit Loops?" Gus climbed up onto one of the stool at the breakfast bar.

"Hum, no I'm afraid Tony doesn't have any Fruit Loops." The older woman said. "I can fix you some bacon, and scrambled eggs."

"My mom says that's not good for you." Gus said.

"And your mom is right." Mary agreed. "But these are special eggs with no cholesterol, and turkey bacon. The doctor says that Tony can only have these because of his heart."

"What's wrong with Tony's heart?" Gus asked.

"It was broken, and the doctors had to go in, and fix it." Mary pulled out the big skillet from the bottom cabinet.

"Is he going to be ok?" Gus asked.

"He would be if we could get him to eat a little more." Mary headed over to the refrigerator.

"Maybe he's not hungry. Sometimes I'm not hungry." Gus suggested.

"That could be, but the doctor says that Tony needs to eat to build his strength back up." Mary continued to gather her breakfast fixings. "Would you like some toast too Gus?"

"Yes please." Gus remembered his manners.

Tony reluctantly left his room, and followed Justin downstairs to the kitchen. He took a seat next to Gus, and brushed his fingers through the auburn mop atop Gus's head. "Good morning Tiger." Tony said.

"Hey Tony, my dad is gone to see about Michael. He'll be back in 24 hours." Gus pulled out the watch his pop had placed in his front jeans pocket. "See that number four in the little box? When that number turns to five it will be 24hours." Gus showed Tony.

Mary scooped up a heaping helping of eggs, and placed them onto three plates between strips of turkey bacon, and toast. She sat each big breakfast down in front of her boys. "Thank you Mary, this looks great." Justin took a seat on the stool across from Tony, and started to dig in.

Tony pushed his plate away, and opened his morning newspaper. "Just coffee for me Mary. I'm not hungry." he said.

"No reading at the table." Gus remembered his mommie's rules.

Tony looked around his paper at Gus, then folded it back in place onto the counter. "I'm sorry. I forgot my manners." he said.

Gus took a bite of his bacon, then pushed Tony's plate back over in front of him. "You can't go out until you finish your breakfast." he said.

"Out? Where am I going?" Tony chuckled.

"I promised Gus that you would take us out today." Justin said between bites.

"Oooh, I don't feel like going anywhere…" Tony started to whine, but Mary interrupted him.

"The park would be nice, or maybe the zoo. Gus would you like to go to the zoo?" she instigated.

Gus nodded yes, and looked at Tony.

Tony looked across the breakfast bar at Justin. "I'll have Dave bring the car around. You can have him all day, I'm not going anywhere. He can take you and, and Gus wherever you want to go." he offered.

"We thought maybe you would like to come with us." Justin said.

"Yeah, you come too Tony!" Gus seconded.

Tony sneered at Mary, and Justin, the obvious masterminds of this early morning conspiracy. "Alright, I'll go." He took a sip of his coffee.

Gus reached over, and pushed Tony's plate even closer. "But first you have to finish your breakfast." The youngster reminded him.

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It was fieldtrip day at the Lincoln Park Zoo, and no one was more unhappy than Tony to be among the minority of adults, with hundreds of excited children running in all directions. Justin attempted to make the best of a bad situation. "Ahhhh! Take a whiff of that fresh air." He breathed in deeply.

Tony looked up at the sign above the building to their left. "Primate House." he grumbled.

"Tony if you really tried hard, I think you might be able to actually enjoy yourself." Justin said.

"I was enjoying myself until you, and Mary stuffed me full of that plywood you call turkey bacon, and those imitation eggs, then conned me into coming to the zoo to inhale monkey shit in 90 degree Chicago temperatures, with 98% humidity. I should throw up right here!" Tony fussed.

"Hey Tony, look at me! I'm feeding the geese!" Gus called from up ahead.

"Gus, wait up, you're too far away, and leave the geese alone Tiger!" Tony called back to him.

"But they're hungry! See?" Gus tossed a piece of his hotdog bun onto the ground, and watched a trio of geese gobble it up.

Tony stopped short at the petting zoo entrance, and attempted to sit down on one of the benches. "It's too fucking hot out here. You go pet the farm animals with Gus. I'll sit here underneath this tree until you two are done." he said.

"Awww, come on handsome." Justin pulled him away from the bench. "It's time that you embraced your inner child. Remember how much fun it was to run, and scream, and laugh when you were a kid?"

"I was never a kid, and I certainly didn't run, and scream." Tony dodged another miniature mob speeding past him. "They don't allow that shit in foster homes, unless of course you're running away from a belt." he said.

"Come on, you must have played sometimes." Justin said.

"Not really. I learned early on that my best chance for survival was to find a corner, and try to keep quiet until I was moved again. Hopefully none of the older boys, or the man of the house would notice me." Tony said.

"How many foster homes were you in?" Justin asked.

"I don't remember. I lost count around." Tony swiped the sweat from his forehead. "Gus leave the geese alone!"

"They're still hungry! See?" Gus continued to throw chunks of hotdog bun to the growing number of geese that had now joined the original three.

"You should really try to find your parents Tony." Justin once again suggested. "They're probably still alive. Imagine what they would say if they saw you now."

"They would probably say the same thing they said the first time they saw me. Let's get rid of him." Tony speculated. "Gus, I told you to leave the geese alone!"

"I'm not bothering them! They want more food!" Gus called back. "Ouch, he bit me! Ouch! OUCH!" Gus suddenly took off running with his flock of geese chasing after him.

"Oh shit! They're attacking him!" Justin gasped.

Tony dashed toward the panicked child with Justin close behind him. By the time they made it inside the petting zoo it looked like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The earlier screams of children laughing had instantly turned to screams of horror as Gus, and his renegade geese came barreling through the petting zoo barnyard. Mothers with baby carriages rushed to find their other toddlers, and preschool teachers scurried to gather up their students. Gus's cries for help could be heard above the honking birds as he made a beeline toward the playground area. In what could only be described as a desperation move, the youngster made a flying leap onto the first level of the monkey bars. Higher, and higher he climbed up, and away from the geese that had gathered around the base of the steel gym. Gus had almost made it to the top when one of the giant birds decided to take to the air. Its sudden swoop over the little boy's head made Gus loose his footing, and come crashing down to the sandy ground, accidentally hitting his head on the steel bar as he fell.

Tony kicked his way through the hungry geese, that proceeded to peck away at the fallen boy. "Tiger! Tiger are you ok?" He scooped Gus up into his arms.

"He's bleeding." Justin pointed to the gash over Gus's right eye.

With Gus clinging to his neck, Tony fought his way out of the furious flock, and took off running in the direction of the parked limo. "Hospital, we've got to get him to the hospital." he panted.

"No, don't take me to the hospital." Gus cried.

"We have to get your cut fixed big guy." Justin attempted to reason with the child as he hurried along beside them.

Gus wasn't buying it. He had already seen what happened to Jenny Rebecca when they took her to the hospital. "NO, I DON'T WANT TO GO! POP, WHERE'S MY POP?" Gus cried out for Brian.

By now concerned adults were pulling out their cell phones. Security was needed. There were two men attempting to abduct a little boy from the petting zoo. The guards needed to come quickly. The poor child was screaming for his father………………………………............

"So what happened then?" Brian asked.

"The security guards surrounded us." Justin continued. "Tony, and I had to show a thousand IDs before they would let us go. We never made it to the hospital. Tony called ahead to have his doctor meet us back at the house. You should have seen him with Gus Brian. It was so cool how he calmed Gus down enough to let the doctor stitch him up."

"How many stitches?" Brian dared to ask.

"Four." Justin said.

"How's Tony?" Brian asked.

"He seems fine. You would have never known that he had ever been sick the way he sprinted through the park with Gus in his arms." Justin said.

The limo finally made it to its destination with only minutes to spare. It was almost midnight, and Brian had given his word that he would be back by the time the date on his watch turned to five.

Brian hurried inside the quiet house, and up the stairs to Justin's room. How surprised he was when he opened the door, and found the normally orderly surroundings in complete disarray. Fast food wrappers were scattered about the floor, along with an assortment of video games, and CD rentals. Among the rubble an exhausted Tony laid passed out on the floor, and shoring loudly. Gus was sitting next to him with a Game Boy in his hands. "Hey, I'm home Sonny-Boy." Brian said.

"Hi pop!" Gus whispered, and hustled over to his father's arms.

Brian picked up his battered, and bruised son, and gently traced his finger over the clean white bandage above his eye. "Wow, look at you. It looks like you had a heck of a day." he said.

Gus quickly put his finger to his lips. "Shhhh, let's not wake up Tony. I just got him to sleep." he said.

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NEXT WEEK : Male Bonding

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