Fractalized

Chapter 6
 

“Melanie, please come in,” Raphael said cheerfully. “I didn’t realize lawyers made house calls, or should I say vet clinic calls.” Raph showed Melanie into his office so that they could talk in private.

“Well, since we’re seeing the judge on Monday I wanted to go over a few more details with you.”

“Can I offer you some coffee or tea?”

“No thank you, this won’t take long. I have the photographs of your home and Curtis’ room. We have all your financial statements and Hector’s as well. Officially, Curtis will be your son. One adoption at a time. Besides, the court may look the other way regarding the same sex relationship because Curtis is being adopted by an African-American. Raph, I have to be very frank with you. Even our staunchest supporters must be very diligent when granting custody of a child to a gay man or couple. All the ducks have to be in a row and even then, well, it just seems that Pittsburgh likes to remain in the dark ages.”

Melanie paused to let what she told Raphael sink in then she continued.

“Raph, I had made your petition to Judge Schultz. Everything was set for Monday morning at nine. However, I received word late last night that Judge Schultz had a family emergency and had to go out of town. She’s going to make every effort to get back in time to hear our case. However, I’m going to try to get a postponement. The replacement judge may not be as supportive as Judge Schultz.”

“Postponement,” Raph sighed with disappointment. “It feels like we’ve waited a lifetime already.”

“I know but I’m not sure I’d want to take my chances with someone else.”

“I’ll talk to Hector about it and get back to you later, but we really don’t want to wait.”

“Well, Judge Schultz did say she was going to try to get back in time.”

“Then let’s go ahead with the proceedings.”

Melanie nodded then let herself out of the clinic.

 

*****
 

“Brian, don’t you want to go outside?” John asked his grouchy brother who was sipping his third cup of coffee. They were sitting in the sun porch. The kids were playing in the Wendy house with Beau keeping guard. Justin was at his computer.

“Not particularly.”

“Why not? My mother was right at my side in our old pickup truck when I was practicing.”

“John, do you want to know what I remember about learning how to drive? Every wrong move I made, Jack was cursing at me and smacking me around. I hated every minute of it. I finally got sick of begging to borrow his car. So I snuck over to Debbie’s. Vic was home for a visit. He drove me to a quiet parking lot, reviewed the basics with me then got out of the car. He told me to practice. There was no one around and he took a stroll to the far side of the lot. I watched him sit under a tree and read a book. I practiced for hours. The next week I took my road test and passed.”

“Brian, you’re not Jack.”

“I know but Gus has been taking lessons. Lindsay said she’s been letting him practice a little. I reviewed the basics with him and I told him that I’d line up our cars so that he could practice parallel parking later. He needs to gain confidence. Our lane is long enough that he can practice turns and parking.”

“I see your point, but Gus might need your advice.”

“Gus knows that I’ll be right here if he needs me. I’m trying to be mature about this.”

“So why the gallon and a half of coffee?”

“I said I’m trying to be mature not that I’m succeeding. I’m going a bit crazy in here, but I promised myself to trust the boy.”

“You’re a good dad, brother dearest. I’ll even help you line up the cars later. You going to let him practice parking near the Vette?” John watched Brian’s face for his reaction.

“I may be crazy but I’m not stupid.”

John burst out laughing. “Okay, I get it. Let him practice then after lunch we’ll shift the cars.” Brian agreed then sprinted to the bathroom.

 

*****
 

Bree and Patrick poked their heads out of the Wendy house. Beau raised his head as he watched the children. He wondered what they were planning now.

“Let’s go, Patrick,” Bree said.

“But Uncle Brian told us to stay in here.”

“We aren’t going anywhere,” Bree said with exasperation. “Just to the corner of the house. Come on.”

Patrick followed her out of the Wendy house and around the back of it. They ran to Patrick’s side of the cottages so they wouldn’t be in full view of the sun porch. Beau followed the two, wondering what they were up to. He didn’t think he needed to do anything … yet.

“Where are we going?” Patrick asked again.

“Gus is driving. I want to see.”

“Oh,” Patrick replied. This could be funny.

“Here he comes up the lane,” Bree said clapping her hands with glee as she peered out from the corner of the house. Patrick looked over her shoulder.

The car came up the driveway … fast. Gus had taken it easy on his first couple of trips along the lane, but now he was getting bolder. Gus barreled into the loop of driveway in front of Edna’s Treasures and jammed on the brakes. A spray of gravel shot out from the tires as the vehicle came to a stop.

“Wow!” Patrick said.

“I don’t think Daddy would like Gus doing that to his car,” Bree said knowingly.

“There he goes again,” Patrick observed as Gus took off down the lane. “I don’t want to ride with him.”

“Gus drives good,” Bree declared trying to make herself believe that.

Patrick shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

They watched as Gus slid the SUV to a stop inches from Emmett’s precious picket fence at the end of the lane.

“I’m glad Auntie Emm isn’t here,” Bree said. “I think he might go nuts if he saw that.” She couldn’t help giggling at the thought of one of her Auntie Emm’s queen-outs.

“Yeah,” Patrick agreed.

Gus drove the car back up the lane after executing a five point turn. He pulled to a stop next to the other vehicles parked outside the house. He stepped out of the car.

“Gus!” Bree called and ran to her brother who scooped her up and spun her around.

“Hey, short stuff, were you watching me drive?”

Bree nodded her head enthusiastically. “I don’t think Daddy would like you shooting out stones when you stop,” she chastised him.

“I was just experimenting,” Gus laughed.

“And Auntie Emm really likes his fence,” Patrick added.

“No kidding,” Gus said, but his face grew more solemn. “Maybe I better take it easy until I’ve had more practice.”

“Yeah,” Bree agreed.

“Don’t tell your daddy about the stones, okay?”

Bree nodded. “I won’t.”

“Good girl! Let’s go get Pop and see about parallel parking,” Gus said.

“What’s pallalel?”

“Parallel. Well, you line up your car beside another car, so they’re parallel,” Gus said setting Bree down and drawing two lines side by side in the gravel of the driveway. “See.”

Bree studied the two lines. They didn’t look like cars. She could draw better cars than that. She thought maybe she better not tell Gus that. She merely nodded in agreement.

“Let’s get Pop,” Gus said again and headed for the house with two children and one dog trailing behind him. “Pop, I’m ready to try parking,” he said as he entered the sun porch where his father was doing his best to relax on the chaise. Brian’s stomach was still in knots.

“Okay,” Brian said standing up slowly. He wasn’t at all sure about this. “I guess I better line the cars up for you.”

Gus smiled at his father, and Brian felt bad for doubting his son. He could do this. Gus would be fine, and so would the cars.

“I have a better idea,” John said coming in the sun porch door carrying some orange pylons. “I had these in the back of the Navigator. I use them occasionally at construction sites. How be we start with you maneuvering the car between these?”

Brian breathed a sigh of relief. He liked the sound of that. “Okay, let’s go,” he said feeling better than he had all morning.

They all trooped outside. John set up the pylons away from the other cars, laying out a space approximately the size of a parking space in the city. Gus climbed into Justin’s SUV, feeling like he could do anything. This would be a piece of cake.

Brian leaned in the window of the car. “Do you want me to sit with you?” he asked Gus.

“No, I’m fine, Pop. We went over all this at school.”

“Okay,” Brian replied stepping back.

“Make sure the kids are out of the way,” Gus called as he started the engine.

Brian and John gathered the kids and Beau and moved back near the front door of the house. Gus pulled the car up beside the pylons then past them. He waved confidently at his audience. Then he started to back up. John and Brian held their breath. Bree and Patrick giggled. Beau laid down and covered his ears with his paws.

Gus turned the SUV way too far to the right. He stepped on the gas and the vehicle jerked backwards running over two pylons that marked what would have been the curb on a street.

“There goes the tires of the SUV,” John chuckled.

Gus tried again, pulling forward and then backing up right over the back pylon.

“Grill of the Navigator,” Brian sighed.

Gus tried to right the car by straightening the wheels and pulling forward. He ran over the front pylon.

“There goes the trunk of your Vette,” John said shaking his head.

“Jesus, could he have done any worse?” Brian asked.

“Yes, if we had let him use our cars to drive around.”

Gus got out of the car and looked at the flattened pylons. “Sorry, Uncle John,” he said. “I guess I need a little more practice.”

“Maybe just a bit,” John said slapping him on the back. “I think we should straighten out the pylons, so I can use them again.”

“Sure, sorry about that,” Gus said retrieving a pylon and bending it back into some semblance of what it had looked like before. “The SUV is a lot higher up and bigger than my Mom’s car,” Gus explained.

“I’m sure it is, but have you even tried parallel parking in Driver’s Ed?” John asked as he resurrected the last pylon.

“Well, no,” Gus admitted. “The instructor explained how to do it, and it seemed so simple. I thought I could do it. I’ve only had two lessons behind the wheel in Driver’s Ed.”

“Which means that you’ve been behind the wheel for what … twenty minutes?”

Gus nodded. “I guess I thought I was better than I am.”

“You did okay, Gus. Nothing is broken or destroyed, well, except John’s pylons,” Brian said with a chuckle. “You just need to slow down a bit. You have lots of time to get your license, and you want to be ready when you try the test. You’re not going to be ready after two lessons.”

“Yeah,” Gus admitted. “I thought I knew everything.”

“I thought you did too, from the way you were talking,” Brian said throwing his arm over Gus’ shoulders. “Let’s get some lunch, and then maybe we can take a ride down the lane together. I’ll give you some tips.”

“Okay, Pop,” Gus said. “Thanks.”

Brian felt so much better now. He could teach Gus some things, and make sure the boy understood he was driving a powerful tool that could become a weapon of destruction, if he didn’t know what he was doing. He wanted Gus to be safe when he was driving, to say nothing of the other people on the road with him.

“I think we’ll concentrate on going straight and staying on your side of the road for now,” Brian said.

Gus nodded and looked at Bree and Patrick who had been true to their word, and not said a word about Gus’ driving before. “Guess you guys will have to wait a while before I can take you somewhere,” Gus said to them.

“That’s okay, Gus,” Patrick replied, relieved not to have to ride with his cousin, at least not yet.

“Yeah, you practice some more,” Bree told him.

“She who must be obeyed,” Brian laughed as they went inside to get some lunch.

 

*****
 

After lunch the driving lessons went a little better. Brian, at Gus’ request, sat in the passenger seat and remained surprisingly calm throughout the afternoon. Brian spoke little but gently guided Gus through his paces. John reset the large orange cones. Gus taking his time and with some cues from his father, managed to negotiate them. Nary a pylon made the ultimate sacrifice to a teen driving student.

“Pop, can we practice again after dinner? I just want to see what it feels like to drive at night,” Gus asked Brian hopefully. Brian contemplated Gus’ request then offered Gus a compromise.

“Just up and down the lane then we quit for the night. There is such a thing as overdoing it. You get a good night’s sleep then you can practice more tomorrow before I take you home.”

Gus readily agreed and was amazed at Brian’s calm demeanor.

“Okay, Pop! That sounds great.”

 

*****
 

“Gus, are you ready for your night ride?” Brian asked as he knocked on Gus’ door. The sun had set about an hour prior. Brian figured they’d drive down toward Emmett’s then back again, and then call it quits for the night. Justin was actually taking a break from his computer to cook dinner.

“Gus, you okay?” Brian knocked again. All he heard were a couple of quiet sobs. “Sonny Boy, can I come in?” Brian asked softly, gingerly trying the door knob.

“Yeah, Dad,” Gus softly replied.

“What is it, Sonny Boy? Your driving wasn’t that bad.” Brian didn’t understand what had brought on the tears.

“That’s not it.” Gus was sitting on the floor, fumbling with his cell phone. Brian sat down next to him.

“Then what?” Gus keyed in his voice mail, and the drunken message from Cole played. Brian got the gist of the message. “Did you love him?” Brian asked gently, reining in his anger against the boy who had tried to lead his son astray.

Gus shrugged. “Not sure, Dad. I thought I did. I thought I could drive. I thought Cole really liked me. Now I don’t know what to think.”

“Gus, on some level I think Cole liked you, but his greed outweighed any real feelings he may have had. He’s tried this scam before on other kids. I know it hurts but you were lucky. It could have been a lot worse.”

Gus nodded, it could have been worse. He could have given up his virginity to someone who really didn’t love him.

“Gus, let me tell you a secret that not many people know. My first time was with someone who just wanted my tight little virgin ass. It was okay, I wasn’t hurt, but love had nothing to do with it. When I got older and met a very special virgin ass I tried to be gentle; showed him what fucking is all about. That the pain is a part of it and that when it’s right, the pain turns to pleasure. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be angry and it’s okay to want to wait until you meet someone really special who’ll take their time to minimize the pain and maximize the pleasure.

“You’ll learn, Sonny Boy. You’ll learn when to love. You’ll learn when it’s right to give up your virginity and you will learn to drive.”

Brian hugged Gus closely until the last of the tears dribbled down his face. Gus gulped a few times then wiped his face on his sleeve. He took a few deep breaths and steadied himself.

“You ready for that drive down the lane?”

“Yeah, Pop, I’m ready now.”

The Kinney men stood up, ready to face their next challenge.

 

*****
 

“Dr. Raph, do you think the judge will let you adopt me?” Curtis asked Raphael.

Raph, Hector and Curtis had just finished dinner and they were putting away the leftovers and washing the dishes.

“Melanie says we have a good chance if Judge Schultz hears our case. I just hope she gets back in time.”

“Me too,” Curtis said as he handed Raph a dirty glass.

“Me three,” Hector said as he dished up three bowls of ice cream for their dessert.

 

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