Published: 9 Jun 2022

The rehearsal went well and the boys were excited to be right there in front of the alter, one on each side of us, the couples standing up for us to the sides of each boy. Father Brown led us all through our paces and before we knew it we were all on the way to the restaurant. This was the restaurant owned by former employees of Noah and Chris and we’d all eaten there on several occasions. When we arrived we were seated at a rather large table in the back. I think it was two banquet tables pushed together, covered with beautiful table cloths and decked out with flowers in the center and a nice china service at each place setting. There were 10 of us in total (Fr. Brown was able to join us) and there were plenty of people seated near us. As we all got settled in and the boys into booster seats, I noticed that most of the other diners were help from the practice, the Major/Sargent clan and their families, Mr. Green with Mike Blunt and his wife, and friends from the town. I saw what must be friends and co-workers of Angel, as he was greeted by name several times. There must have been over a hundred folks there, including the children I saw. Rosa stood and raised a glass of wine, after two waiters had poured for us adults. She stated, “I’ve been waiting for this weekend for years and I can’t tell you how much I’ve grown to love Ray and Jay and Pat. They are a family I will be proud to call my own, and would you believe it, my son is marrying a doctor?” There were chuckles in the room as people raised their classes to us. The meals were pre selected and we were offered three selections. I then realized the whole room were being offered these same selections and it finally dawned on me, about the same time Angel realized what was going on. We both turned to Rosa and before either of us could say anything she spoke to us.

“I don’t want you getting upset or anything, but you didn’t want a big reception and I did. Since it was my treat for the rehearsal dinner I decided to go all out and combine them both so there, deal with it”. She then got up and kissed each of us on our cheeks as we thanked her. She then told us she had inherited much more than she ever had expected from her sister and for us not to worry about the cost of anything. She then said she had a wedding present for us. She produced a manilla envelope from her purse and handed it to Angel and I. Inside the envelope was a deed for a property in Key West Florida, naming both of us as the deed holders. Apparently she had not only inherited money, but property as well and she had deeded it over to us. We now owned a house off Fleming Street in old town Key West. It was completely furnished, she said, and the furnishings were what Angel had inherited from his aunt and there were surprises there also, so don’t rent a car when we get there, and she handed us another envelope, this one containing air line tickets for four, leaving Monday and returning on Saturday, a six day honeymoon, with the boys!

We were beyond stunned and Beth and Carl must have had an inkling of what was in at least the last envelope because they came over to us and told us their wedding present was to cover my appointments for the next week so I could go on my honeymoon and not have to worry about the practice. I hugged them both and then so did Angel, then we went around to Rosa and we both hugged and kissed her, telling her we hadn’t received Pat’s guardianship papers and we couldn’t travel with him yet. She laughed and pointed to the boys, who were both snuggled into Helen who was waving an envelope at us. Angel went and retrieved the envelope and he was grinning from ear to ear as he opened the official looking envelope from DCS. He handed the document to me and I too broke into a huge smile, it was indeed the official custody papers for Pat and now we were able to travel with him, as it stated in the paperwork, as long as their office and our caseworker were told of our travel ahead of time.

We muscled in on Helen’s three way hug and we thanked her for the paperwork and told her her timing was perfect as we just received air line tickets for Monday through Friday. She laughed and told us she might, just might, have had them done by Monday, but a little Italian bird had leaked her plans to her and she had rushed them through for the Italian bird, because no one liked an angry bird. We all laughed at that. She did remind us to fax her a copy of our marriage certificate before we left on our trip and I told her it was even on our kitchen calendar to do. We thanked her again and then we were told by Rosa to sit as the meals were being brought out by the waiters. The boys both wanted to know what all the papers were and we told them that one set was about a house we now had in Florida and one set was our plane tickets to go see it and the other set was so that Pat could stay living with us for now. Both boys were very happy and I think it was because of the custody papers, not necessarily the trip.

We had a great time and I got to meet all of Angel’s friends and he got to meet most of the Major/Sargent clan. We had a great dinner and then we were shown to a small dance floor and the piano player was very glad to play requests for us. Angel and I danced the first dance and then Rosa released the boys and we each had a different dance partner, until they tried dancing by themselves. God it was so cute, and it’s caught for posterity since I hadn’t forgotten my cell phone and neither did about 30 others who just had to video that dance.

The boys were having a great time as there were several children to play with and just before 11PM we noticed our boys nodding off as they sat and colored in kiddie place mats with crayons the restaurant had provided. There must have been 8 little ones sitting around the table coloring, but about 7 of them were nodding off, amongst them our boys. Angel and I visited every table and thanked them all for coming tonight and then we gathered up the boys and Rosa and made our way home.

We had exactly the wedding we had talked for days about. It was a simple ceremony, compacted into an afternoon mass of one hour. There were about 40 people there, all having been at our rehearsal/reception dinner the night before. The boys were thrilled to be part of the ceremony and did their parts well, whether they knew what their purpose was or not. At the end of the mass we were wed and we shared a kiss with each other and then the boys wanted one too. We turned from the front altar to a round of applause and into the arms of Rosa who kissed us all and then Angel and I walked hand in hand, each of us with one of the boys hands in our other hand. As Jay asked on the church steps, “Are we married now Dads?”

“I bet we are”, Pat told him, “Aren’t we Dads?”

I kissed Angel and then we both bent down and smooched our boys and Angel told them that we sure were, and they were our boys forever. Rosa came up to us after we had exhausted the “receiving line”, waiving an envelope and telling us she had had Fr. Brown fill out the marriage certificate and now all we had to do was fax it to Helen so we could get approved to be Pat’s permanent placement family. We thanked Fr. Brown and we left the church and headed home. There we posed for pictures and had a great time goofing around with the timer on the camera. We then went to our bedrooms to change into more comfortable clothes. While changing we did mess around a bit, I mean, how can you resist the challenge of a married man? Especially one married to you? We didn’t let ourselves go though, we had the boys waiting and if we tired them out maybe they’d go to sleep earlier, leaving us more play time, at least for tonight.

We took the boys for an afternoon ride and they showed much more confidence after only two lessons with Terry’s trainer and Mr. Green’s coaching on alternate days. Both Angel and I complimented them and you could actually see them puff out their little chests. We rode around the fields on the right side of the lane that went out to the farm road at the end of the property. I was purposely avoiding the left side that had the stream and the culverts on it. I didn’t want to bring up any unpleasant memories for Pat at this point. He had assimilated into our family so well and I just didn’t want anything to bring down his good mood. We rode by the old orchard and Angel stopped to pick some of the old growth apples from some of the lower branches. He filled up his two saddle bags and then filled mine as well. I reminded him we were going away and he said he bet there would be apple turnovers before we left. He put two inside each of the boys tucked in t shirts and we were off riding again. When we had all chipped in to groom the horses and ponies we let the boys remove the apples from their shirts and we all fed our own mounts a treat for carrying us.

Rosa insisted we attend church in the morning so we all dressed nicely and we escorted Rosa to church where she basked in the love she received from all in her new family She kept a boy on each side of her, hugging them close and kissing the tops of their heads.

The rest of the day I thought we’d be packing and getting ready for our early morning flight, but Rosa assured me that there was a working washer and dryer at the house and that it was summer and probably hot and very humid, so we’d want fresh clothing every day. She said it was very casual and t shirts and shorts were the norm. So we packed light and we made sure we had coloring books and crayons, a few little video hand held games, and an e-reader so we could read to them on the trip and before bed each night as we had started to do. Rosa sat with us and told us that the house was right across from the library and about two blocks from a grocery store she had liked. She told us she had learned the island was only about 2 miles wide and 4 miles long and there were museums, an aquarium and beaches for the kids, and for us. She was certain that we’d enjoy the town, even if we never stepped foot on the infamous Duval Street, with it’s multitude of bars and restaurants and touristy shops. She explained that the three gay bars offered entertainment at night and that she didn’t feel the boys were ready for that, as the entertainment was primarily male strippers and drag shows. We assured her that we didn’t think we were ready for that either.

Monday morning found us on the front porch waiting for the airport shuttle we’d arranged for so we didn’t have to park one of our vehicles for 6 days at the airport. The shuttle bus arrived on time and we helped the driver stow our four suitcases and two carryons in the cargo section in the back and we were off. Rosa stood on the porch waving to us and the boys and Angel and I waved goodby to her. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and we got checked in and to the proper gate and settled in to wait until they started boarding for our flight. We decided to take the boys to the bathroom before we boarded and the boys had never seen a restroom so big before. We did our business and washed up after and by the time we exited the restroom we saw people lining up to board our flight. I never thought it would take a half hour for 4 guys to pee, but I guess I hadn’t thought of the thousand questions two 4 year olds could ask about that huge restroom. When Angel looked again at our boarding passes he realized our seat rows were being called already so we got in line and realized we were in first class. We shuffled along in the line and when we entered the plane itself the boys were agog, staring around with eyes wide open and mouths agape.

We were greeted by the flight crew and either the pilot or the co-pilot, I was never sure which, but all seemed friendly and welcoming. A male flight attendant helped us to our four seats and Angel took the window seat with the two boys in between us. Being the tallest I had the outside aisle seat and I noticed that the other rows of sets on the other side of the aisle were only 3 across. I mentioned this to Angel and he said he thought that the stowed luggage was loaded from that side and it helped balance the plane. We weren’t in a wide body plane, but a three quarter wide body plane. But we did have impeccable service for our early morning flight and the boys loved the breakfast we were served. When we landed in Miami we were directed to a gate that was actually outside and we had to walk out onto the tarmac to walk up a movable flight of stairs into the much smaller plane that would carry us to Key West.

This much smaller plane had one seat on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other. We each took one of the boys and let them have the window seats. Angel leaned forward and told me that this flight was just under an hour. I was glad because the 3 and a half hour flight from home to Miami had seemed like 10 hours. This flight was different. We had barely gotten the boys settled in when we were told to prepare for landing. As we approached the airport we could see why we had to change from the big plane to the much smaller one that only held about 36 people. Looking out the window we could see we were about to land on an island. The airport wasn’t large and we had to go down one of those rolling staircases to the tarmac and walk across to the terminal. After about 20 minutes the luggage had been carted to an outside opening and placed on the only luggage carousel the airport had. We snagged our luggage and went outside to grab a cab to the house.

We told the cab where we wanted to go and Angel told him it was right across from the library. He nodded and told us we’d be there shortly. We saw a bunch of old style houses and some that would classify as Victorian mansions. Here and there were what looked like craftsman cottages and there were cars everywhere on the narrow side streets, many of those were one way streets. We were dropped off in front of the house, which looked like a typical small ranch house from the sidewalk, and there across the street was the library. We took the luggage and the boys in hand and went up to the 50’s style front entrance and I fumbled for the right key to open the door. The impression I got when I opened the door was one of space, wide open space. Off the entry hall was a den to the right and a long counter to the left, separating the hall from the open kitchen.

The hall emptied right into the living room which had walls of glass on two sides, both opening onto patios with nice outdoor furniture on them. There was a half bath on the right and a small hall that led to the three bedrooms. One of these had two twin beds in it and the other had a full sized bed. The third, toward the back of the house was the master, with it’s own shower bath attached. It looked just like the bath in the hall between the other two bedrooms. This master bedroom had two closets and a king sized bed in it. This room had french doors out onto the big back patio and a small shed in the corner of the patio. There was a sign on the shed that said “Laundry”.We dropped our luggage in there just as we had put the boys luggage in the room with the double bed, as they wanted to sleep together.

We explored a little and we went out on the patio and saw it wasn’t separate patios, but one that wrapped around the corner of the house which ran all across the back and turned to wrap around the side running all the way past the kitchen to the front of the house. Most of the patio had overhanging roofs and it made for a nice shady retreat. There was what was called a plunge pool in the far left corner of the patio. This was basically a square concrete box that held filtered water to a depth of about 4 feet and a sitting ledge just below the waters surface. Someone had added a bubbler system under the ledge which would make it more like a hot tub, without the hot. Beyond the patio there was a strip of gravel that led to a two car garage where we found a small sedan and a souped up golf cart like many we had seen from the cab as we were driven here. The golf cart was electric and was plugged in to it’s own special socket in the wall of the garage. It had two bench seats and a canvas roof, I couldn’t wait to try that cart out.

There wasn’t a palm tree on the property, but several of the neighboring ones did, most of them older growth and over 4 or 5 stories tall. Some with coconuts, some without. I looked around and realized that of all the plants I only had seen a few before, most of them seemed to be succulents of some sort and I found them to be very interesting. The only lawn I saw from our patio was over the fence behind us, and that looked to be a coarse grass, something I didn’t feel like running around on barefoot. We got settled in and decided to walk down to the grocery store and stock up for a few days. We went down to Fausto’s and got milk and ground beef, juice, some coffee, cereal, bread, eggs and a few healthy snacks for the boys. These things we got because although Rosa said the pantry was stocked, we knew the perishables would need to be gotten and we were too tired to try to go out to eat tonight. The library beckoned to the boys who wanted to see what movies they had and Angel offered to take the groceries over to the house and come get us when he’d put things away, so that’s what we did.

We entered this big pink Spanish hacienda style building and we noticed that the children’s wing was to our right so we went in there and there were some DVDs on a small bookcase in front of the counter. I then realized all the furniture was scaled down in this room, and we were exactly in the right place. I looked around the shelves along the walls and saw thousands of pre school story books and shelf after shelf of age appropriate DVDs for the boys to choose from. We selected a few and after taking a flyer showing all the children’s programs for the month, we took our DVD choices to the check out desk by the main entrance where we had entered. I explained to the librarian there that my husband and I had just been given the house across the street for our wedding and our boys wanted to borrow these three movies, He looked down at the boys and, with a most serious expression, asked them which one had a drivers license. They looked at each other and pointed up at me, giggling like crazy. He then told me I’d have to be the responsible adult and politely asked for my license. He started to enter my information into his computer and got to my address. He looked up at me and asked if I had gone to Granby High and I told him I had. He held out his hand and introduced himself as Joe Dubuque, originally from South Hadley. I gladly shook his hand and told him I now remembered, we had swum against each other many times during our schools swim meets. I couldn’t believe what a small world it was. He told me he had been down here in Key West for many years and was the senior assistant here.

He laughingly told me he was glad I found someone, as this was a tough town to find someone looking for a serious relationship. We chatted while he finished my card file and then asked if I happened to have a copy of the deed transfer, to prove we actually owned a property here. I told him my husband had it at the house and I stepped into the foyer as Joe talked easily with the boys. I called Angel and asked if he could bring the copy of the deed transfer into our names across the street as they needed proof of residency in Key West to give us a free card. He said he now had it in his hand and I saw him out of the big glass doors coming out of the house and locking it. I waved when he was halfway across the street and he trotted up the steps and joined me in the foyer. As we walked to the desk, where Joe was keeping the boys entertained, Joe looked up and saw Angel.

“Joe, what are you doing here?” Angel said, almost shouting. Joe came around the desk in a hurry and the two embraced, tears starting to run down their cheeks. I soon found out that Joe and Angel were cousins. Joe had been outed close to his graduation from high school and kicked out of the family home that same night. The sister of Rosa’s never knew Joe or his family so she never knew of her and Joe’s connection to Angel. We invited him over for burgers after he got out of work and he accepted, asking if he could bring anything. We told him no, we thought we had tonight covered. We were granted a library card for the family and we told Joe if he got lost on the way over just holler, we’d hear him.

We all decided we needed a rest, if we were going to be good hosts, so we each took a kid and sacked out on the loungers on the big portion of the patio. Angel and I awoke about 4:30 and we woke the boys so they would be able to get some sleep tonight. We set about making a mix with the ground beef and a packet of onion soup mix and a few other spices and some shredded cheese. The boys shredded some lettuce and we lightly toasted some hamburger buns. We were ready for Joe.

He arrived right after six and we had heated the grill so all was in ready. As I cooked the boys and the cousins sat at a nearby table outside near me at the grill and the cousins chatted away, with either Joe or Angel filling Pat, Jay and me in where clarification was needed. He was currently single, his partner of the last 4 years having left him for a richer and younger man. He loved working in the library, but it really wasn’t a great place to meet nice singles. He had tried the MCC but there most attendees were partnered and the few blind dates he went on did not pan out. He was working on the side as the editor of manuscripts for a local author and he really liked that work, but doing a book or two a year wasn’t something he could live on, so it was good he liked his real job. He was a really nice guy and we made plans to see him again before this trip was over. He left about 10PM as he saw we were running out of steam.

We awoke in the morning to find the boys already up and sitting in the living room watching one of their videos. Here we were in a place new to them and they had already figured out the DVD system after only seeing us use it twice last night! They certainly were smart cookies, now if only they could get washed up and dressed by themselves! The boys ran to us as they became aware we were in the room and Angel took Pat and I took Jay and we got all cleaned up and dressed and as I fixed breakfast Angel unlocked the patio doors and took the boys out there to explore. The boys came running in to me after a while saying that Dad said there were critters running all around out there and I had to go see them. Jay told me they looked like skinny saladmaders and I laughed and told him it was salamander and I was curious so I went out and sure enough there were several very tiny little critters running across the pavers of the patio, scurrying away from us. There were more adult looking ones on various pieces of furniture and potted plants, and now that I knew what I was supposed to look for I even saw them on the fence and the vines crawling up the fence. I was fascinated by these creatures, as was Angel and the boys.

I looked at them skittering around with some of the older ones pushing out an orange colored flap from their throat area and bobbing their heads up and down. I noticed that some on the brown fence were brown and others on the wall of the house were grayish, like the wall color, then the boys noticed that on one of the plants there were bright green ones, which looked sleeker and smoother than the brown ones. They were so interesting to watch I almost ruined breakfast as Angel must have smelt the scrambled eggs starting to scorch and he ran in to save them from burning. I reluctantly went back to the kitchen and popped more toast into the toaster and we talked as we finished breakfast together. He thought that we should go see Joe at the library as he lived here and he might be able to tell us more about the little lizards out there and if they posed a threat to the boys, or us. I told him that was a great idea and we should do that this afternoon as they had a kids program today and I thought the boys might like to go it. It started after lunch and it was a mask making class and all supplies were provided. We agreed that after lunch we would take the boys over and let them have some fun getting all messy and we’d corner Joe and find out about the little creatures who seemed to consider us invaders of their territory.

After breakfast had been eaten and we had cleaned up, both Angel and I wanted to test our skills with the golf cart. We decided to take turns as we didn’t want the boys to see us fumbling around as we learned the ins and outs of this machine. So I let him go first and he backed out the drive and went across the street to the parking lot behind the library to practice. He took about 45 minutes and came back so we could switch, and I retraced his path and found the machine very easy to maneuver in the parking lot. The cart had a bit of pep to it, but it didn’t quite steer like a car does so I practiced forward and backward parking until I felt I had a good grasp of handling the steering. I drove back to the house and parked in front of the house and I went in and gathered the family for our first outing. Angel drove us to the aquarium, on one of the bricked plazas of Mallory Square, the sunset gathering place and the site of the big museum and plenty of shops. We strolled along on the way to the aquarium and when we got inside the boys went in wide eyed as until we got there they didn’t know what to expect, but when they saw all the different aquariums set up with all the salt water fish they couldn’t wait to see inside each one. They even got to experience a “petting aquarium” that held various creatures and starfish that you could actually reach in and touch. It was as much fun for us as it was for them.

As we left the aquarium Angel and I turned to each other and said “We should get the boys one.” We were of course thinking a couple of goldfish, in a no touching tank, but the boys had enjoyed their visit so much that I think we might have to bring them again before we leave. We packed ourselves into the cart again and we went to the library to try to get some information about our little lizards from Joe.

Joe wasn’t at the front desk when we arrived, but the assistant there did make a call and told him he had visitors up front. He arrived from the left side aisle in about a minute and invited us to his office to chat. It was a small office and he had only three chairs so Angel and I each had a lap warmer on us for our talk with Joe. We asked if everyone had little lizards in their yard or patio and he chuckled and said they were about as plentiful as tourists down here. He explained that most of them were Cuban Anoles and they were identifiable by the orange throat waddle that they used for many reasons. One was to scare off predators and another was to attract a mate. He said they were the brownish colored ones. Jay piped up and said we had some pretty green ones too, and Joe seemed a little surprised and he told us that they were rarer to see as they usually hid high in the trees over our heads. We assured him they were on the patio and he told us that they too were from Cuba originally, but there were a few species of those too and he told us that both the brown and green ones were not harmful and they ate a lot of bugs so try not to step on them as we walked around out there.

Joe was real good in not talking way over what the boys could comprehend and he seemed to enjoy hearing their take on the visit to the aquarium. We asked if he was free for dinner and he told us he was and we asked him to recommend a “family friendly” restaurant where we all would feel comfortable and he said he’d take care of it and to meet him outside the front door at 6PM. We thanked him and we went to the section he mentioned where we could find a book about our lizards. We found it right where he said it should be. It was Anoles, by Steven Isham. It wasn’t a very big book but it had clever illustrations that depicted the different lizards and it was written so that even our 4 year olds could understand almost all of it. It will make a good read aloud book for us all. I was particularly interested in the bright green ones as they appeared to be the least seldom seen, and we had seen at least a dozen this morning.

Our meal out was a lot of fun. We met Joe at 6 and we walked a few blocks down to Duval Street and a few over and we encountered a deck with a white railing on each side of a two step staircase. On the deck was a hostess/host stand and standing there was a woman a little older than my 29 years. She was attractive and had her blond hair pulled into a ponytail. But this was not our maitre ‘d, this was the owner who grabbed Joe into a big hug and asked him why he was gracing her establishment on a week day night. He chuckled and introduced us all to Gail and he said he had called earlier to book the back room for our group. Gail was totally enamored with the boys and asked them how they were enjoying their vacation. The boys laughed and told her they weren’t on a “vacshun” they were on a “hummymoon”.

We all chuckled and Gail congratulated us and showed us to a classed in room at the end of the long deck. We were shown to a table for 6 and she left us with menus to look over. It was a Mexican restaurant and I was a little afraid of ordering spicy food for the boys, but Joe pointed out that there were several options on the menu for the degree of spicy they made each dish and there was always a burger option, even if it wasn’t on the dinner menu, they could be made for us. I asked Joe how he knew Gail and he told me he had known her for years at the restaurant and when he started at the library he found she was a frequent borrower, she and her adult son Ian (who he considered a friend), who was a movie critic for the local paper.

We had a great time and the boys loved the chicken quesadillas we ordered them, with sour cream on the side. Gail stopped at our table a couple of times as she was interested in how the boys liked her food, for we found out from Joe that Gail was the chef here at her restaurant. I have to say it was a fun evening for all of us as we all tried something new to us. Before we could order desert our waiter brought to our table five small plates, each holding a fried pastry with a surprise filling. Angel and I cut up the boys treat for them and I truly didn’t think they had much room for anything as they said they were stuffed, but when they got a taste of the fried pastry filled with ice cream, well, their plates were empty by the time you could say lickety split.

We adults had an after dinner coffee with ours and it was certainly a great meal topper. As we were abut to finish I asked our waiter for the bill and he left and came back with the little folder that holds the bill and when I opened it there was a big surprise inside. There was only a note, saying, “Welcome to Key West, we hope you’ll use your home here often. Congratulations on your marriage, and for having the most polite boys I’ve met in a long time. Please tip your server, I wouldn’t want him to miss out because of my generosity. Best Wishes, Gail” I showed the note to Angel and he immediately reached in his wallet and placed a hundred dollar bill in the folder, and the note in his wallet.

We strolled home, chatting with Joe and occasionally someone passing would call out to him and wish him a good night. He seemed well liked by the community and he seemed embarrassed by it. He told us he is just being himself and he teats most people like he treats everyone else, after all he said, “This little city’s motto is “One Human Family” and that’s how I’m treated and how I treat others, it’s a win win situation.” I really admired that and I told Joe that. Angel had walked ahead with the boys a little and I marveled as he walked between the boys, holding a hand of each of them. I couldn’t take my eyes off his wonderful butt and I knew just what I was going to do just as soon as the boys were asleep. I’m sure he knew too as there was a little extra in his wiggle as he turned and gave me one of his thousand watt smiles. Joe broke off from us as we neared the parking lot for the library and he said there was another kids workshop the next afternoon, as we had missed the one today, talking about the lizards.

That night we had some of the best sex I could ever remember and I told Angel that as we lay there after round 2, waiting to get our strength back before round 3. We had time, the boys wouldn’t be up for 6 more hours!

By Thursday morning we had ridden the trams about town two times, been to the maritime museum, taken a ferry to Fort Jefferson off the coast of Key West, had a beach picnic at Fort Zachary Taylor, the southernmost beach, ate another dinner with Joe at Old Town Mexican (Gail’s restaurant) where we got to pay the bill this time and attended a kids workshop where the boys made their own cardboard crowns. We watched a chocolatier braid chocolate candies in a chocolate shop, we watched the sunset at Mallory Square pier and we even got to see a huge cruise ship weigh anchor and depart the port of Key West. Thursday evening we had Joe to the house for dinner and we asked him seriously about his living conditions.

He told us he was doing OK, but it seemed that every year his two room apartment went up hundreds of dollars and it was getting harder to pay for a car and it’s insurance. He told us it’s a great place to live, but it’s also one of the most expensive for a regular working stiff. Angel asked him how much he would have to move, if he had to move. Joe told us he rented his place furnished and if he had to he could move everything he owned in two car trips or less. Angel nodded at me and I told him what we paid for a property management company to come in once a month to clean the inside and the patios, and during storm season they would bring in the patio furniture and put up the storm shutters and clean up after a bad storm. We told him a figure we would be more comfortable with and that we’d like for him to move in here and take one of the regular sized bedrooms and make it his own and be our on site property manager and he could live here rent free, and use the maintenance money on the house and anything he had left over was his.

He was slack jawed over this and the up shot was he accepted our offer and we told him that this was going to be our vacation home until we retired, so we wouldn’t even need him to move out when we or Rosa wanted to use it. We told him that when he least expected it he could find someone, and if that happened, he could share his room and the house with him, or if they were to live somewhere else, maybe they could find another house sitter for us. He was practically sobbing when he told us that no one had ever been so kind and welcoming to him. We agreed he would give his notice at his apartment the next day and he would use the weekend to move in. We gave him a set of keys and the alarm codes and showed him where we had taped our contact numbers on the inside of one of the kitchen cabinets.

Our parting was bitter sweet for all of us but we felt confident we had the better of the deal. We had a live person who we trusted actually living in our house to use it and care for it, it would end up costing us less than what we had been paying the management company, and there wouldn’t be any rotting food in the fridge. We relaxed out on the patio after the boys were asleep and we watched the lizards scampering about looking for bugs attracted to the outside lights. Angel looked at them for several minutes as we cuddled on a lounger and he told me that he saw himself as one of the brown lizards, probably because of his Mediterranean coloring and the way he maintained his body to be attractive to men who would appreciate it and the lizards had the throat flap that they used to attract a mate, and boy was he lucky he had attracted me as he felt our match was the something that had been missing from his life and that I had made him the happiest man alive. He further told me that the green lizards represented me. Not that I was green, but he said to study their bodies, they were very sleek and elongated, while the brown ones were a little stubbier and their bodies had bumps on them, like his muscles, whereas my muscles were tight and smoother, something that stirred him each time he watched me. The emotions we felt for each other overwhelmed us and we made fantastic love out there, under the stars, in front of the lizards that lived in our tropical paradise. We made a vow to return as often as possible, but our Key West home was held in our hearts for dozens of years to come.

THE END

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