Fractalized

Chapter 14
 

“A-hem! Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention,” Emmett, ever the showman, began.

Sidney was quickly at his side, scowling. “What are you doing?” Sidney growled then smiled sweetly at all assembled.

“You’ll see,” Emmett whispered then gave Sidney a gentle hip check. “Thank you, Sidney, for your vote of confidence and for allowing me to explain our little buffet table display.” Emmett made a sweeping motion with his hand toward the buffet table. The monitor had gone dark, only a screensaver with the Bloom Gallery logo was showing.

“The Sidney Bloom Gallery and Emmett’s Event Planning is always proud to present the new, the hip and the innovative, such as tonight’s little added bonus. A special feature inspired by Justin Taylor’s art and created by Justin Taylor, Tre` and Troi` Donahue and Gus Peterson-Marcus-Kinney. Oh my, that was a mouthful.” Emmett giggled as did many in the audience.

“If you would please direct your attention to the monitor,” Emmett indicated the table.
“When!” Brian whispered to Gus who was in the utility closet. The main computer was set up there. Gus clicked run program then increased the volume. The gallery became silent as the opening scene now played with its accompanying music.

The audience all followed the butterfly on its flight through Brian’s gardens. As it lit on a sunflower, the sunflower morphed into Justin’s painting of the flower which was on display in the Summer section, then the painting morphed into the fractal. The journey of the butterfly through the garden changed as did the seasons. When it was obviously too cold for the butterfly to exist, the audience was treated to a small bird winging its way, looking for leftover seeds, landing on the Fall season plants. They watched as snowflakes morphed into fractals, as did one of Bree's snowmen. Image after image of what Mother Nature had created was transformed into a Justin Taylor image then into its fractal form. Representations of other holiday icons morphed into their corresponding fractals as well.

As the video ended the credits began to roll. Included in the credits were the twins, Gus and a special dedication to Brian and Briana. The gallery became so quiet that Justin began to sweat at the thought that the project he had slaved over and nearly ruined his marriage for, had flopped.

“Way to go, Sunshine!” Debbie said with a loud ‘ya hoo’ that spurred the crowd into action. A rousing round of applause threatened to shake the walls, and the appreciative critics battled their way back to the artist.

Brian stood near the utility closet that Gus was still hiding in as he supervised the computer programs. Gus quickly switched back to the abridged and ‘looped’ program that had been running throughout the night. Gus put the flashstick into his pocket for safekeeping then slipped out of the closet.

“You did good, Sonny Boy,” Brian said as he hugged his son.

“You did too, Pop.”

“We took a chance,” Brian began.

“Yes, you did, a big chance,” Lindsay interrupted. She was angry. “You’re both lucky they loved the film or you could have irreparably damaged Justin’s career.”

Brian and Gus became silent as they each gave Lindsay a contrite look.

“What am I going to do with you two?” Lindsay asked as she scanned both their faces. She was treated to matching puppy dog eyes.

“Love us?” Brian asked softly with a shrug of his shoulders. Gus stood close to his dad awaiting his fate.

“Of course, I love you,” Lindsay said as she hugged her two favorite men. “But, Brian, don’t ever do anything like this again.” Brian gave Lindsay that look telling her he was making no promises.

“Scout’s honor,” Brian said with a smirk, holding up his hand with a middle finger salute. Lindsay gave Brian a kiss.

“As for you…” Lindsay turned her gaze toward her son. Gus tried to hide behind his father but Brian sidestepped. “You did the photography?”

“Yes,” Gus said meekly.

“Hmm,” was all that Lindsay would say. “Brian, he should be...”

“Working on his portfolio. I know, Lindz. And he should submit it to...”

“PIFA, I agree.”

“Mom! Dad! What the hell are you both talking about?” The banter between his mother and father was faster than a tennis match.

“Your future,” Brian said quickly.

“We’ll discuss it later, lambskin. For now, let’s get out there. I’m sure there are many people waiting to speak with you.” Lindsay and Brian guided their slightly confused son back toward the main gallery.

 

*****
 

Finally the last night of the opening for Justin’s show had reached its natural conclusion. It was time for Brian Kinney and all his invited guests to make their way over to Emmett’s Place Too for the party that Brian and Emmett had plotted and designed.

“Closed for a Private Party” the sign on the door to restaurant stated. Emmett unlocked the door with his key and Brian, Justin, Gus and Briana followed him inside.

“Wow!” Gus said looking around. There were balloons all over the place in a rainbow of colors.

“Pretty, Daddy,” Bree said to Justin who was walking beside her.

“Tell your Dada that. He’s responsible for all this,” Justin informed Bree.

Bree let go of her Daddy’s hand and ran over to Brian. “Dada, I like it,” she said with a big smile.

“Ah, I have the Squirt Seal of Approval. All is well in the universe,” Brian said lifting her up for a kiss.

“Silly, Dada,” Bree giggled as she kissed his cheek. “Are you going to give Gus my present?”

“Sh, it’s on his cake. Don’t tell anybody. But I’ll be sure to tell Gus who it’s from.”

“’Kay, Dada.”

Brian set his daughter down and went to check on things with Emmett.

Soon the family was assembled, most of them finding seats at tables in small groups. Emmett had a couple of servers who made sure everyone had drinks. They also carried around trays of canapés much like the ones that had been served at the art gallery. Everyone chatted and enjoyed themselves.

John made his way over to his brother who was holding up the bar. “Are you going to sit down with us and have some food?” he asked with a stern look on his face.

“No.”

“What do you mean? No?” John asked clearly not pleased.

“Don’t get your balls in a twist, big bro’,” Brian said quickly, when he saw the look on John’s face. “I’m going to be speechifying in just a few minutes. I’ll sit after that.”

“Okay then.”

“Go back and enjoy yourself. Keep Justin occupied so he doesn’t get suspicious.”

“Suspicious of what?” John asked.

“I have a little surprise for him.”

“What are you cooking up?”

“It’s already cooked,” Brian chuckled.

“Are you going to tell me?”

“No.”

“I could learn to detest that word.”

“I want you to be surprised along with everybody else.”

“Haven’t you made enough surprises for one day?” John asked referring to the displaying of Justin’s Fractal project at the gallery.

“Not quite,” Brian smirked.

John shook his head. “You’re incorrigible.” Brian raised a brow but didn’t deny John’s words. “Oh, I wanted to ask you about something before I forget.”

“What’s that?”

“Did you talk to some slimy little fart of an art critic named Seymour Finkel-something-or-other tonight?”

“Yeah, why?”

“He cornered me as we were getting ready to leave the gallery.”

“So?”

“I didn’t like his questions.”

“Neither did I,” Brian said. “What was he asking you?”

“Someone told him that I was your brother.”

Brian snorted. “As if they wouldn’t know that just by looking at you.”

“Anyway,” John chuckled. “This creep starts asking me if you and Justin are having problems.”

“Fuck!” Brian muttered. “What is that asshole trying to do?”

“I don’t know,” John said with a frown. “I told him absolutely not.”

“Did he buy it?”

John shook his head. “If he had, I wouldn’t have bothered mentioning it to you. But he kept asking the same question over and over again, just phrasing it differently. It was like he thought he already knew something and wanted me to verify it.”

“Fucking asshole!” Brian stated. “I should have thrown his sorry ass out of the gallery. He tried to pull the same thing with me.”

“What good would it do him?”

“Well, he was hitting on me,” Brian said with disgust. “Maybe he thought that if Justin and I were in trouble, he’d have a chance.”

“Eiw,” John said crinkling his nose. “That’s disgusting. He’s disgusting.”

“You got that right. He makes me feel the need to bathe when I’m within ten feet of him. I take it that you didn’t give him any hope.”

“Christ, no!” John said in horror.

“Forget the little weasel,” Brian advised. “Hopefully we’ll never see him again.”

“And that will still be one time too many,” John said, before he went back to sit with Justin and the family.

 

*****
 

“Curtis, want to sit with us?” Gus asked his friend who had just come in with Dr. Raph and Hector.

“Sure,” Curtis said with a smile. He felt funny with all these people he barely knew. He was glad Gus asked him to join their table.

“I could use some testosterone around me,” Gus laughed. “Usually I’m surrounded by wall to wall women.”

“Hey!” both his mothers said at the same time. JR laughed.

“May we join you too?” Raph asked Melanie.

“Please do,” Melanie replied. “I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight.”

“Brian has a wee bit of a surprise that I’m involved in,” Raph said with a wink.

“Oh shit!” Melanie gasped. “He’s not getting Gus a dog, is he?”

Raph and Hector laughed. “No, nothing like that.”

“Then what?” Melanie demanded.

“Can’t tell. It’s a surprise,” Hector chuckled. Raph nodded in agreement. Curtis merely grinned.

Melanie shrugged. “How’s the new family going?”

“Just fine,” Hector said enthusiastically.

“It’s great,” Curtis verified.

“Wait till you want something and your dads tell you no,” Gus teased.

“That will never happen,” Curtis replied trying to keep a straight face.

“I beg your pardon, young man,” Raph said sternly.

“Just kidding, Daaad,” Curtis laughed. “He’s so easy,” Curtis whispered to Gus.

“You just wait,” Raph chuckled. “That response of no to something you want may be just around the corner.”

“Child abuse,” Curtis giggled. “Ms. Marcus, isn’t that child abuse?”

“Sounds like a normal family to me,” Melanie laughed. “Right, Gus?”

“Yeah,” Gus said shaking his head. “Get used to it, Curtis.”

 

*****
 

Brian gave Raph and his other co-conspirators, the high sign. It was almost time for the surprises to begin. He had a quick word with Emmett.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Brian said in his most authoritative voice. “And I use those terms loosely.” The assembled group quieted down and laughed at Brian’s feeble attempt at a joke.

“Don’t get all hoity-toity on us, kiddo,” Debbie laughed. “We’re just common folk.”

“Very common,” Brian retorted receiving more laughter. “But enough insults.”

“You always say there’s never enough,” Michael called out.

“True, but we have more important things to do at the moment than resort to a battle of insults.” Everyone stopped and listened. “As you all know, this has been quite a week. There’s a lot happening in this family.”

“Got that right,” Carl called out.

“There’s always something happening with this bunch,” Ted agreed. “It wouldn’t be our family if there wasn’t.”

“When did I lose control of this party?” Brian asked looking up to the ceiling for divine guidance.

“You never had control,” Justin said to everyone’s laughter.

“Could I please get back on track? We have youngsters who need their rest.”

“I’m not tired at all,” Hunter yelled from the back of the room. That earned him some laughs and a swat from Nick.

“Ahem,” Brian tried again, ignoring Hunter. “I would like to start by welcoming a new member to our extended, and may I say, cwazy widdle family.”

“I guess we’ll let you say that, honey,” Emmett said, “but watch the crazy cracks.”

“The truth hurts, doesn’t it, Honeycutt?”

“Maybe just a tad,” Emmett laughed. “And don’t call me Honeycutt.”

Brian let out a long suffering sigh. “If I may continue? Most of you know Raph and Hector, but some of you have yet to meet their newly adopted son, Curtis Samuels. I’d like to welcome Curtis to our family, although why anyone would want to join this unruly group, I’ll never comprehend. Would you three come up here?”

Raph, Hector and Curtis made their way to the front to stand beside Brian. Raph acted as spokesman.

“I got to know a lot of you when we were snowed in last Christmas. It was the best disaster that ever happened to me. Thank you all for welcoming Hector and I into your wonderful family, and I hope you’ll do the same for our new son. We’re very proud of Curtis.”

There was warm applause and well wishes. Curtis smiled at the nice reception. He hadn’t bargained for anything like this when he said he wanted to be adopted.

“We had this framed for our new son,” Hector said. He held up a framed certificate. “It’s your official certificate of adoption.” Curtis gave both his fathers warm hugs as those assembled applauded.

“Let there be cake,” Brian commanded.

A cake was rolled out by one of Emmett’s servers. It had chocolate icing with a little house sitting on top, and the words Welcome to the Family.

“Thanks, Mr. Kinney,” Curtis said with a big smile.

“You’re very welcome, Curtis,” Brian said.

“Let’s have some cake,” Debbie called out.

“Not yet,” Brian said raising his hand to quiet the group. “I have another presentation.” When everyone settled down, Brian said, “This week my son turns seventeen.” Brian waited expecting some crack about his age. Everyone restrained themselves however. “He’s a great kid. I couldn’t ask for better. Gus come up here and get your cake.”

Gus walked up to stand beside his father. “Thanks, Pop,” he said and hugged Brian.

“You’re very welcome. Look at your cake.”

Gus looked as the next cake covered with white icing was wheeled in. It had a Happy Birthday, Gus, inscription and a tiny Porsche Hot Wheels car on top. “That’s cruel, Pop,” Gus laughed.

“Gus has been asking for a car, but he doesn’t even have a license yet. No car for you, Sonny Boy, but Bree wanted to get you one, so there you have it,” Brian said gesturing to the cake.

“Thanks for trying, Bree,” Gus said to his sister.

“You’re welcome, Gus,” Bree giggled.

“Now can we eat the cake?” Debbie asked.

“No,” Brian replied. Debbie let out a loud groan. “We have one more presentation. My husband and artist extraordinaire, Justin Taylor, would you join me up here?”

Justin slowly made his way to Brian. “What are you doing?”

“Celebrating the success of your wonderful show and your Fractal movie, and the genius you have inside you. It never ceases to amaze me.”

Brian leaned over and kissed his husband warmly. Justin responded as he always did to Brian’s kisses.

“Hey, you have an audience,” Ben called to them.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Justin giggled.

Brian gave him the raised brow before saying, “Let there be more cake.”

The last cake to be wheeled out had sunshine yellow icing with a miniature easel on top and the words: Congratulations, Sunshine. Everyone applauded enthusiastically.

“Now you may eat cake,” Brian told the assembled throng. “Curtis’ is chocolate, Gus’ is vanilla and my Sunshine’s is lemon. Take your pick.”

The servers and Emmett stood ready to carve up the cakes, as people lined up to get their favorite flavor.

“Did you like my car?” Bree asked as she patted Gus’ arm.

“That was great, Bree. But I’m still hoping for a real one of those someday.”

“Someday being the operative word,” Brian chuckled.

“Very mean, Pop, but I love you anyway,” Gus responded.

“I love you too, Sonny Boy. Happy birthday.”

“From me too, Gus,” Justin added.

“And me,” Bree said.

“You do throw a great party, Pop.”

“Yes, I do, don’t I?” Brian said with his nose in the air. “Go get some cake, and get some for your sister,” Brian added returning to his normal demeanor. Gus took Bree’s hand and led her over to the cake lines, asking her which kind she wanted.

“Gus is a great kid, and we do have a wonderful family,” Justin said laying his head on Brian’s shoulder, and looking out at the family laughing and talking and wishing Gus and Curtis well.

“I have to admit they do have their moments,” Brian smirked.

“You know you love them all.”

“Maybe,” Brian admitted. “And the numbers just keep growing.”

“There’s always room for one more in that big heart of yours,” Justin whispered.

Brian smiled as he looked into Justin’s eyes. “Let’s just keep the size of my heart between the two of us.”

Justin smiled back. “That secret’s been out for a long time. You’re the only one who doesn’t know it is.” Justin stood on his tiptoes and captured Brian’s lip in a warm and tender kiss. No one had a bigger heart than Brian Kinney, at least in Justin’s estimation.

-end-
 

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