Blasts From the Past

Chapter 12

The ride to Edna’s Treasures was a quiet one, surprisingly. Given that Gus had just witnessed a particularly nasty fight between his mothers, and soon his life was heading for some significant changes, plus being a product of four major drama queens, Brian was sure Gus should have been a raving maniac. Instead, Gus laid back against the seat and closed his eyes. They were just about home when Brian pulled into the dusty parking lot of the general store not too far away from the conjoined cottages. Gus made no move as Brian got out. He soon returned with two ice cream cones and a small cooler of home made ice cream.

Gus raised that famous Kinney brow.

“It’s before seven,” Brian quipped as he took a swipe at his own cone with his tongue. The Kinney men ate their ice cream in relative silence.

“Why do they fight like that, Dad?” Gus asked his father softly. He wiped his mouth with the napkin Brian had given him.

“I have no fucking clue. I do know they both love you more than life itself and wouldn’t do anything deliberate to hurt you.”

“I know that, Dad. But I just wish they wouldn’t do it so loudly.”

“I guess they can get loud sometimes. I thought things were better since Florida.”

“They were but then Mom started spending a lot of time at the gallery.”

“That never bothered Mel before.”

“That’s because Mama Mel was spending most of her time at the office. Since Florida, she’s been making a point to come home at a more reasonable time.”

“Your mother is preparing for a major show.”

“The Emerging Artists Show. I don’t think it’s the show specifically.”

“Just one emerging artist in particular?”

“You know about that?”

“Hard not to know since they were shouting about it across the front lawn.”

“And then there’s Leda.”

“There’s always been Leda,” Brian added, starting up the car engine and proceeding to the cottage.

 

*****
 

“Gus!” Briana shrieked as she heard the Corvette pull up in front of the cottage. She ran out the front door of the cottage and straight into her older brother’s arms. She peppered Gus’ face with kisses.

“Hey, what about me, Squirt?”

“Oh Dada, you’re not going away for forever but Gus is!”

“Four years is not forever, short stuff, and I’ll be back on weekends and holidays and for the summer,” Gus explained to Bree.

“Oh,” Bree said with her eyes wide as she carefully considered her brother’s words. She kissed his cheek sweetly then held out her arms for her Dada. Brian took his pint sized smiling child out of his son’s arms to hug her close. Bree then peppered her father’s face with kisses. The three of them then cracked up with laughter.

“Gus, go grab the bags and my briefcase,” Brian instructed as he carried his precocious child into the house.

“Hey, Bri,” Justin said as he took a chicken out of the oven.

“Smells good,” Brian commented as he leaned down to give Justin a kiss. “I brought dessert,” he said as he sat Bree on the counter. Gus dumped his bags by the front door then quickly put the ice cream in the freezer before it became soup.

“Homemade ice cream from the general store?” Justin asked as he spied the special cooler Gus was shoving into the freezer.

“Yes, well I thought it was a special occasion,” Brian said coyly.

“Special occasion?”

“It’s not every day our son goes off to college.”

“Uh huh. What happened?” Justin asked as he was setting the chicken out to rest before serving dinner.

“Um, Gus, take the Squirt over to the other side and tell them dinner is just about ready. You guys can set the table,” Brian said before explaining to Justin.

“Sure thing, Pop. Come with me, short stuff,” Gus said to Bree as he backed up to her to give her a piggyback ride over to the Anderson-Morrison end of Edna’s Treasures.

Brian explained the fiasco he had witnessed at the girls’ house and Gus’ reaction.

“So you bought ice cream?”

“Must be Debbie and Emmett’s influence on me.”

“I’m sure that explains it. Will you be having some of it?”

“No, Gus and I already indulged.”

“Cones?” Brian merely shrugged his shoulders contritely. “I’m proud of you,” Justin said laughingly as he hugged his indulgent husband. “Come on; let’s start putting dinner on the table so we can finalize our plans.”

“Yes, dear,” Brian said in his falsetto voice. He followed Justin out to the sun porch with a stack of dishes.

 

*****
 

“That was great, Justin,” Gus said then accompanied his compliment with a loud burp. Bree and Patrick giggled.

“Very attractive,” Brian snarked.

“I’ve heard a few loud ones from you over the years,” Justin said spilling the beans.

“You should talk, O gassy one.” Then Brian let a loud belch rip, sending the whole family into laughs.

The belching contest concluded when the superb homemade confection was served.

“So do we drive to Penn tomorrow or wait a day?” John asked. He was looking forward to the family vacation.

“What about our hotel reservations?” Bobby, ever the practical one, asked.

“I’ve already switched them. I had a feeling this would happen so we’re all set. And it’s open house on campus this week so there will be plenty of activities going on,” Brian informed the family.

“I remember open house. My parents loved meeting my instructors and touring the campus,” Bobby said remembering that time fondly. His parents were very proud of him. All of a sudden, Bobby frowned. He remembered Brian had no such support from his family during that time of his life.

“It’s okay, Red,” Brian said, reading Bobby’s mind. “Debbie, Michael and Vic came with me. Between her wailing about how proud she was of me, and Michael’s whining about how I was leaving him, I was very happy to see them leave.”

“What about Vic?” Justin asked. He knew how much Brian loved and respected ‘Uncle’ Vic.

“He shoved several boxes of condoms in my hands and a large tube of lube and told me to behave myself. And if I couldn’t behave, I was to be careful. Then he kissed me and stuffed several hundred dollars in my pocket. Apparently, he and Debbie had a special college fund set up for me and Michael. When they realized Michael wasn’t the college type, they gave most of the money to me. With Mikey’s blessings, of course. They knew I was going to need it for books and shit until I was able to find a part time job on campus. I never forgot it.”

Justin got up from his chair to give Brian a strong hug worthy of Debbie. Brian rarely revealed his past and his story explained so very much about his relationship with the Novotny family. “I love you,” Justin whispered as he kissed his spouse. Brian just held onto Justin a little tighter.

“Well, I’m looking forward to seeing where you two earned your degrees,” John said proudly about his spouse and brother.

“And I want to see Dada’s trophies!” Bree added.

“In that case, early bedtime, Squirt. We have a busy day tomorrow,” Brian commanded.

The family cleared the table and began to set the cottage to rights in preparation for going away. As the cottage settled for the night, the kids in bed, John and Brian took one last look around the garden, stowing away any cushions or furniture that could fly away if a storm hit.

"Do you think Beau will be all right alone? He didn't fare too well during Molly's wedding," Brian asked with concern about the large guard dog. Beau would have plenty of food and water. And his doggy door ensured ample freedom for the shepherd mix to patrol his lane.

"I've already prepared for that," John explained. "Justin and I raided the hampers for some old socks to 'freshen' up his rope. And Rachel knows what to do if Beau really gets lonely. But he's not a puppy like he was then. I'm sure he'll be fine. Justin said Molly was going to come up for the weekend so she'll keep Beau company too."

Satisfied that the big dog would survive, and with the state of the garden furniture, Brian and John went back into the cottage for the night.

 

*****
 

“Daddy, Dada,” Bree said standing in the doorway of their bedroom. “Is it time to go yet?”

“Bree, what are you doing up?” Justin asked looking at the clock on the nightstand. It read 5:13 a.m.

“I woked up.”

“Well, it’s early, go back to sleep,” Justin ordered.

“Can’t,” Bree pouted.

“Squirt, go play in your room or find Beau,” Brian advised. “We need a couple more hours of sleep.”

Bree looked at her fathers who refused to open their eyes and look at her. She gave a little shrug and backed out of the bedroom closing the door behind her.

“Do you think she’ll go back to sleep?” Justin muttered.

“Probably not, but we might squeeze another few minutes of sack time before she comes back,” Brian sighed keeping his eyes firmly shut from the morning light that had invaded their bedroom.

“Do you think I should go make sure she’s all right?”

“I think you should shut up and go back to sleep.”

“’Kay,” Justin replied rolling over against Brian’s back. He was asleep before he could think any more about what Bree might be doing.

Bree wandered out to the sun porch wondering why no one was very nice this morning. She saw Beau sleeping on his bed in the far corner. She walked over studying the big dog who seemed to be sound asleep. She squatted down in front of him.

“Beau, nobody wants to get up.”

Beau let of a little puff of air indicating that he didn’t want to get up either.

“Dada said I should play with you. Want to play?”

Beau yawned raising his head for just a moment. Then it dropped back in almost the same place it had been before, eyes closed.

“You’re no fun either,” Bree declared standing up. She debated going over to the other side of the cottages and waking up Patrick, but he probably wouldn’t want to play either. With a frown she stomped off back into the house.

Beau opened one eye to see what she was doing. When she disappeared into the house, the eye closed and Beau slept on.

Bree went back to her bedroom. She sat on the side of her bed, arms crossed on her chest, wondering what she could do until her fathers were ready to get up. Then a thought came to her. She went to the doorway of her bedroom and looked across the hall to the closed door of Gus’ room. Maybe he’d be happy to spend some time with her since she wouldn’t see much of him for a while after this trip.

Quietly she turned the knob of Gus’ bedroom door. The door opened silently and she looked inside. Her brother was asleep on the bottom bunk. She pushed the door open farther and went inside. She stood beside the bed watching Gus sleep. He showed no signs of waking up. Heaving a big sigh, she turned to leave the room.

“Hey, short stuff, what’s up?” Gus’ sleepy voice asked.

“Nobody wants to get up … even Beau,” Bree pouted.

“Even Beau, huh?” Gus laughed.

Bree bobbed her head. “Will you play with me, coz you’re going away and I’m going to miss you a whole bunch.”

“I’ll miss you too. Come and sit here,” Gus said patting the bed beside him as he rolled into a sitting position with his legs crossed in front of him.

Bree climbed up beside him and sat down imitating exactly the way her big brother was sitting. “Are you mad coz I woke you up?”

“How could I be mad at you?” Gus chuckled. “You’re my bestest sister.”

“You’re my bestest brother too. But what about JR?”

“She’s my bestest sister too.”

“Oh, okay,” Bree said agreeably. JR was okay too. “Do you have to go away to college?” she asked after a minute.

“Yeah, I do. Pop went away to college when he was my age.”

“Yeah,” Bree agreed her head drooping. “But I don’t want you to go.”

“I won’t be that far away, and I’ll come home some weekends, and on holidays,” Gus promised.

“But you’ll be in Pittsburgh. You won’t be here.”

“I’ll make sure I have some weekends here with you, Bree,” Gus said fiercely. “I will miss my bestest sister.”

“I love you,” Bree said launching herself into Gus’ arms.

“I love you too, short stuff,” Gus whispered into her hair as she clung to his neck. He suddenly found tears in his eyes. The reality of going away on his own and leaving all the people he loved behind finally hit him. “I love you so much.”

“Don’t go,” Bree said holding on tight.

“I have to, Bree.”

“No!”

“Tell ya what, since everybody else is still sleeping, what do you say about us spending some quality time together?”

“Huh?” Bree asked.

“I thought you might be able to beat me at Hungry, Hungry, Hippos before I leave.”

“I can beat you,” Bree said confidently, releasing Gus from the choke hold she had on him.

“Them’s fightin’ words, little missy,” Gus laughed. “Let’s go see if you can live up to that boast.”

“I’m ready,” Bree declared hopping down from the bed. “Come on,” she ordered sticking out her hand so Gus could take it and follow her out to the sun porch.

That’s where Brian and Justin found them about two hours later. They were sitting at Bree’s little table in the sun porch. They still wore their pajamas, and they had gone through most of the games in Bree’s toy box. They were in the middle of a hot game of chess that Gus had decided to teach Bree when they had exhausted most of the other games.

“Is she beating the pants off you?” Brian chuckled when he saw the pair.

“Pretty much,” Gus said with a laugh.

“How about some breakfast?”

“Great! I’m starved.”

“What does the rook do again?” Bree asked paying no attention to her fathers.

“Think about it. It’s in the corner of the board. Where could it move from there? Try to remember,” Gus instructed.

“Oh yeah, straight lines in any direction.”

“Backwards?”

Bree frowned. “It can’t go backwards, silly,” Bree retorted. “It would fall off the board.”

“Shucks,” Gus said with a snap of his fingers. “I thought I might get you to move backwards and then you’d lose a piece.”

“No fucking way!” Bree declared, causing Gus to laugh.

Brian shook his head, hearing so much of himself in his daughter’s choice of words. He took Justin’s hand and led him to the kitchen. He needed coffee. The kids needed food.

Justin started the coffee brewing and Brian got out the omelet pan. He took eggs and bacon from the fridge.

“You going to make a cholesterol special?” Justin asked when he saw what Brian was doing.

“Yeah, it’s a special day. Our son is off to college.”

“He’ll be fine, you know,” Justin said wrapping his arms around Brian’s waist.

“College isn’t what it used to be. There’s all those shootings and rapes and … things, that have happened over the years. I … I don’t want anything to happen to Gus.”

“Neither do I, but Gus is a smart kid. He’ll make good choices.”

“From your lips to … Gus’ brain,” Brian said giving his spouse a hug.

“They have to grow up and go out on their own sometime,” Justin said philosophically. “It’s the nature of the human species.”

“What would I ever do without your PSA’s?” Brian snarked.

“You wouldn’t know what to do. What do you think has kept you on the straight and narrow all these years?” Justin teased.

“Me … straight? The narrow part goes without saying.” Brian released Justin and ran his hands down his still svelte body.

“Start cooking, mister. We have hungry children to feed.”

“Children who barely acknowledge our existence anymore,” Brian griped.

Justin shook his head. “Are we in for a major queen out from you too? I expected it from Bree, but…”

“Too busy to queen out,” Brian declared as he started cracking eggs. “I’ll have one for you later.”

Justin laughed as he slit open the package of bacon and started laying it out in the frying pan. All was right in his world.

 

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