Brian Un-henged

Chapter 1

“Mmmm,” Brian sighed contentedly from his chaise in the sun porch.

It was mid June 2018. School was almost over for the Summer. Bree, Patrick and several of their classmates and friends were planning to go to day camp for a few weeks. The newlyweds, Jennifer and Seth, Emmett and Drew, were still in ‘honeymoon mode.’ Brian rolled his eyes at that thought. Gus was about to graduate high school and turn eighteen in a few short months. He still had no clue about college except that he wanted to take some time to work. With his experience at Kinnetik as an intern, Cynthia offered Gus a paying job for the summer. He'd be a glorified go-fer but it would put money in Gus’ pocket and he could still work weekends at Danny’s Bookstore. And little Taylor was flourishing!

In the late morning, Brian was taking the opportunity to read his favorite author’s latest mystery novel while the cottage was quiet.

“Aahh,” Brian exclaimed as he sipped his iced tea. “What the...?”

Over his tumbler Brian spied Beau running through the gardens toward the lane. A few minutes later Beau was back in the garden excitedly running and leaping over some of the smaller shrubbery. Brian shook his head and was about to return to his book when he caught a glimpse of bright blond hair bopping through the flowers. In Justin’s arms were several pieces of what looked like scrap metal. Justin was heading for the shed. As Brian picked up his book, Justin was heading back toward the lane with Beau following along.

Several trips later, Brian heard Beau bound through his doggy door then skid to a halt by his water bowl. Beau took a good long drink then walked over to Brian’s chaise.

“What’s the blond boy ass up to, Beau?” Brian asked the huge shepherd mix dog. Beau just looked up at Brian with big bright eyes and wagging tail. Brian reached down to give Beau’s ears a good scratch. “You keep an eye on him for me, okay, boy?”

Beau appeared to comprehend the enormity of the task Brian had charged him with. He took off back toward the Anderson-Morrison end of the cottage and out his doggy door.

 

*****
 

“Whatcha doing, Sunshine?” Brian asked as he quietly crept into the shed. Justin was standing in the middle of a pile of long pieces of metal.

“Shit, Bri, you scared me!” Justin said as he jumped then stumbled backward.

“Whoa!” Brian said as he caught Justin before he landed on his ass. “Justin, what the fuck is going on here?” Brian demanded to know.

“Um...”

“Out with it, Sunshine. Why does our nice orderly shed look like a scrap yard?”

“I’m ready to start my project.”

“Your project.”

“Yes, you know...” Justin waved his arm from somewhere near his knees and then moved his arm upwards.

“You mean growing your metal garden,” Brian said with a touch of sarcasm.

“Uh huh,” Justin confirmed with a smile.

Brian looked around at all the equipment that Justin had accumulated, which also included some safety equipment as well. Justin stood smiling sweetly, batting his long blond lashes at his spouse and lover.

“Come here.” Brian stood with his arms held open, and Justin moved into them. “You be careful, Sunshine. Van Gogh, you’re not. No sacrificing body parts for the sake of your love of art,” Brian said as he hugged the smaller man tightly. “I love all of you,” Brian whispered as he pushed Justin back to look into his eyes. “I will not be amused if you’re missing a pinky or something else. Do I make myself clear?”

Justin looked up into the hazel eyes he loved so much. He smiled his most loving and sunniest smile at Brian. “Yes, Brian,” Justin said sincerely. Justin knew by the tone of Brian's voice that the jokes and snide remarks were just Brian-speak for 'I'm scared you'll really hurt yourself.'

“Good.” Brian kissed Justin deeply. They both felt the kiss right down to their toes. Brian released Justin then turned to leave the shed. “Have fun with your erector set, Sunshine.” Brian heard Justin giggle as he walked out the door.

 

*****
 

“Hey, big bro, can you take a break for a minute?” Brian asked John. John was just down the lane supervising the construction of Molly’s dream cottage. The land had been leveled and the frame of the cottage was beginning to take shape.

“Yeah, I can. What’s up?”

“How much training did Justin get with that blow torch?”

“Arc welding, not a blow torch,” John corrected his brother.

“Whatever. The point is my little Sunshine is in the shed with a ton of sharp pointy things and things that can go ka-boom. I need to know that he’s been properly instructed on how to work all that stuff.”

“Brian, your little Sunshine has learned from the best welder on the east coast. He’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure about that?” Brian asked as he searched his brother’s eyes.

“I made sure Justin has a complete checklist of do’s and don’ts. He reviewed it with me numerous times. He’s been trained so well that if he wanted to, he could pass a certification test. Justin will be fine.”

“John...”

“Brian, I promise you. Justin’s not a child, he’s a responsible adult. He’ll use the equipment responsibly and appropriately. And if he doesn’t, I’ll hold him down while you wallop his behind.”

“That’ll never work,” Brian said as he turned to go back to the cottage. “He likes that too much,” Brian chuckled.

“TMI, little bro,” John said as he laughed then returned to Molly’s cottage.

 

*****
 

“Daddy, Dada!” Bree yelled as she came through the front door of the cottage from school.

“Out here, Squirt,” Brian called.

Bree and Patrick ran to the sun porch while Bobby dragged in their bags from school.

“Where’s Daddy?” Bree asked after she gave her father a hug.

“He’s out in the shed,” Brian explained.

“I get him,” Bree declared. She was about to take off to the large shed at the corner of the backyard when Brian grabbed the waistband of her pink shorts and held on.

“Whoa, Squirt!” Brian said authoritatively. “I need you to listen carefully to me. You too, Patrick. Okay?”

“Yes, Dada,” Bree said with a frown.

“Yes, Uncle Bri,” Patrick replied seriously.

Brian looked the children in the eye. “Justin has started a new project in the shed,” he began.

Bree heaved a sigh. “Is Daddy gonna be out there aaaaaaall the time?” she asked, dragging the word ‘all’ into at least eight syllables.

“No, Squirt, he’s not going to be out there all the time, but I don’t want either of you going into the shed for any reason.”

Bree stared at her father. It wasn’t often that he told her she couldn’t do something, and even less often that he was so serious about it. “Why not?” she asked with a frown.

“Justin is going to be making some metal sculptures.”

“Metal?” Bree asked. That didn’t sound like what her Daddy usually did. They painted together. She wasn’t at all sure what he would be doing with metal.

“You know what metal is, right?”

“It’s what cars and appliances and lots of stuff is made out of,” Patrick contributed.

“And magnets,” Bree said suddenly. They had been looking at magnets at school a few days earlier.

“Yes, magnets too,” Brian said wondering if he was actually getting anywhere with this convoluted explanation. “But what Justin is doing has nothing to do with magnets or cars or appliances.”

“What is he doing?” Patrick asked.

“He’s got pieces of scrap metal with sharp edges and points. He’s making them into things.”

“What kind of things, Dada?” Bree asked.

“Very large flowers.”

Bree’s eyes got huge and the violet color darkened as she realized what she had just been told. “Daddy’s doing gar-gar without me?” she demanded, hurt and angry.

Brian debated grabbing hold of her again. She looked like she was about to bolt out of the sun porch and race to the shed to see just what her father was doing out there. “No, Squirt,” Brian said calmly. “He’s not doing gar-gar. You do gar-gar with me. Your father’s making flowers out of metal and it could be dangerous for you children to go near his supplies.”

“Dangerous?” Patrick asked. “Why?”

“There are sharp pieces of metal. You could cut yourself or fall on them and cause injury,” Brian said hoping that explanation would deter them from going near the place.

“I be careful,” Bree said with a pout. She didn’t like this turn of events at all.

“I don’t want you to be careful, Bree,” Brian stated. “I want you to stay away from the shed until he’s finished with what he’s doing.”

“I want to see,” Bree said continuing to pout.

Brian was about to tell her no, when it occurred to him that he should just take the children out there and show them why the shed was now a dangerous place to be. “If I take you out there to see what Justin is doing, do you promise to hold my hand and not touch anything?”

“’Kay, Dada,” Bree said quickly.

“I promise,” Patrick said solemnly.

“Okay, but no nonsense,” Brian warned.

He got up from the chaise. Bobby had been standing in the doorway from the house to the sun porch listening to Brian’s explanation.

“You were a big help,” Brian said to him.

Bobby merely shrugged and smiled.

Brian headed for the sun porch door. Beau got up off his bed wagging his tail at the children.

“Hi, Beau,” Bree said as she passed the dog.

Patrick leaned down and patted Beau’s head. “Good dog,” he said to the massive beast.

“You can come too,” Brian said to Beau as he opened the door.

Everyone stepped out, Beau racing over to the shed where he stopped at the open door. They could hear metal banging around inside.

“What’s he doing?” Patrick asked.

“I told you he’s making huge metal flowers,” Brian repeated.

“Will they smell like flowers?” Bree asked.

Brian chuckled as they walked across the yard. “No, I don’t think there will be any smell.”

“Then what good are they?” Bree wanted to know.

“I haven’t the foggiest,” Brian laughed, “but don’t say that to your father.”

“Okay, Uncle Bri,” Patrick said amiably. They were almost to the shed. Beau had stopped outside the open door of the shed and was looking inside. He seemed not to want to cross the threshold.

“See, children, even Beau knows he should stay out.”

“Beau’s silly,” Bree said definitively as she approached the open doors.

Brian held out his hand and Bree stuck hers into it. Patrick did the same on the other side of Brian.

“Okay, rugrats, keep hold of my hands,” Brian warned.

“Daddy!” Bree called looking into the shed. It was like a foreign world in there. All their lawn furniture that wasn’t outside had been moved to one side of the small barn. Sheets of shiny metal leaned against one side of the shed. Justin had a large worktable on which he had a hunk of metal that he was hammering. “What are you doing, Daddy?” Bree shouted as Justin continued to work, not hearing them above his own banging on the metal.

Beau barked and finally Justin turned to see them all standing there.

“Hey,” he said with a big smile, laying down his hammer and taking off the goggles he had been wearing.

“What are you doing, Daddy?” Bree repeated. “I don’t see no flowers.”

“You told her?” Justin asked looking at Brian.

“She thinks you’re doing gar-gar without her,” Brian said tongue in cheek.

“What?” Justin chuckled.

“You heard me.”

“Did Dada tell you that you need to stay out of here while I’m working on this project?” Justin asked squatting down in front of the children so that he was at eye level with them.

“Yes,” Bree said, “but I don’t see why.”

“I’ll show you,” Justin said, standing back up. He went to the table and brought back the large piece of metal he had been hammering. “See how sharp the edge of this is?”

The children eyed the metal warily.

“Would it cut me if I touched it?” Patrick asked remembering what his uncle had said in the sun porch.

“You can touch it carefully,” Justin advised. Patrick placed his hand on the edge of the metal piece. “But you wouldn’t want to fall against it or go past it and jam your leg against it. It would cut you then.”

Patrick nodded and Justin looked at his daughter. She had been strangely silent. “Do you want to touch it?” Justin asked her.

“No!” Bree said forcefully. “I don’t see no flowers.”

Justin shook his head. “This is going to be a petal on a sunflower,” he explained gently.

“A petal?” Bree repeated. “But petals are only this big.” She held her hands close together, the fingers straight, so that her father could see the small space between then.

“This sunflower is going to be much, much bigger,” Justin said.

“How big, Uncle Justin?” Patrick asked.

“About as tall as the shed,” Justin responded.

“Wow!” Patrick said.

“It’s the wrong color,” Bree pouted. “Sunflowers are yellow.”

“Yes they are,” Justin chuckled, “but all my flowers are going to be metallic.”

“Why?” Bree demanded. “That’s silly.”

“Remember when you painted all the stones various shades of pink in one of your paintings?” Justin asked. “Were they actually pink?” he asked pointedly.

“Well … not exactly,” Bree admitted.

“It’s called artistic license,” Justin said.

“What does that mean, Uncle Justin?” Patrick asked.

“It means I can make my flowers whatever color I want them to be. Just like Bree made her stones pink.”

“But flowers are pretty the way they are,” Bree said with a frown.

“Why don’t you wait until I have one of my flowers ready, and then you can see whether you like them or not?”

“I always like your paintings,” Bree said. She didn’t want to be too critical of what her father was doing, even though she thought this was a stupid idea.

“And maybe you’ll like my flowers too,” Justin said with a wink at Brian. Brian had remained silent holding onto the children’s hands while Justin tried to explain what he was doing. He shrugged as Justin added, “And then again, maybe you won’t like them. That’s okay too. You don’t have to like everything I do.”

“’Kay, Daddy,” Bree said with a sigh. “I won’t go in here no more. Beau prolly wouldn’t let me anyway.”

Brian chuckled. “You got that right, Squirt.”

Beau gave a bark to show that he would be on guard duty if needed.

“Good boy, Beau,” Justin said with a nod.

“Dada, can Patrick and me have not healthy snacks?” Bree asked.

“Unhealthy?” Brian corrected with a chuckle.

“Yes,” Bree stated firmly. “All these metal flowers and artistic license and guard duty made me very hungry for cookies.” She managed to pronounce every word perfectly. She had obviously been listening carefully.

“Okay,” Brian laughed. “Tell Uncle Bobby you can have cookies. Two each.”

The children gave a collective “Yay!” and ran for the house. Beau barked and followed them.

“I don’t think our daughter is very impressed with what I’m doing,” Justin said with a scowl.

“I don’t think she understands what you’re doing, Sunshine,” Brian said pulling Justin into a hug and kissing his cheek. He didn’t want to say that he wasn’t exactly sure what Justin was doing either.

“I want her to like the flowers, you know?” Justin said scrunching up his nose.

“I know,” Brian said gently. “And she will once she sees the actual thing.”

“You think so?”

“Positive. Now get back to work, and be careful in there.”

“Yes, master.” Justin kissed Brian’s cheek and went back inside the shed.

After a minute Brian heard the hammering start up again. He headed for the house, shaking his head at the idea of ten or fifteen foot high metal flowers. Only Justin! And Brian was sure they’d be absolutely magnificent when they were done.

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