Published: 13 May 2019
We all walked together from the school bus stop on the corner of Eaton and Elizabeth. Simon and I said our goodbyes there and I took Jim and Jake home. Since Jim would be staying with us until his dads got out of work every day, we all went into the kitchen and there were Bert and Dan waiting for us, to see how our day went. Jake and Jim went first, telling them they had a great teacher, the other kids in their class were cool, and they didn’t have any homework, their day was great. After some fresh fruit and milk, they took off for Jake’s room to change into swimsuits as Dan had suggested, and then the dads’ attention was directed to me.
I couldn’t believe it when the first thing out of my mouth was that I had met a boy today!! Without even thinking this through, without even having a chance to tell them I thought I was gay!! It just gushed out of my mouth and I began to tell them about my day, with “Simon did this”, and “Then Simon said that”, and “Simon has two dads also”, and “When could I ask Simon over?”. The two of them had been sitting across from me at the big kitchen table, and before I knew it, I had one of them on each side of me, both with an arm around my shoulders and hugging me. It felt soooo good!! They didn’t throw a fit or anything, in fact they were chuckling and telling each other I was a “chip off the old block”, which I found out later meant I was a smaller version of the two of them, which made me even happier, if that was possible.
They said that they thought that swimming after school the next day would be good, as both of them would be home and it would give them a chance to meet Simon and see if he was worthy of hanging around with me. I figured they were kidding about that last part, but that too made me feel kind of special, kidding or not. I did tell them that both of Simon’s dads worked at the junior college and that all three of them had lived in Amherst until just a few weeks ago. My dads’ then suggested that we invite our new neighbors over for a cook out some time this coming weekend. They said they would check with Simon tomorrow after we all got to know each other better after school.
Well the first thing I said to Simon when we all met at the bus stop in the morning was did he want to come to our house for swimming after school and he immediately said yes as I sat next to him as I got Jake and Jim settled in the empty seat in front of Simon. The younger boys were dropped at their school first and then it was about seven blocks before our middle school was reached, but in that short time Simon told me that he’d have to go home first to grab his swimming suit and leave a note for his dads, letting them know just where he was and our address.
I realized that where we lived was a shitload (oops! Sorry about that!), ehrr…..was a great deal nicer than where we had lived with our Mom, and even nicer that almost all the houses on our street and in the neighborhood. It was originally a ship’s captain’s house and he had built up a fleet of ships and became quite wealthy. Bert and Dan had owned it for several years and had originally bought it as an investment as a historical preservation group had rented it from them for most of that time. The place was definitely a showplace. When Dan had been involved in a shootout and been wounded, they had made the decision to retire and since the house was unoccupied at the time they had the opportunity to move into it finally.
Through investments and their savings and retirement benefits they were well off and they hadn’t even reached Social Security benefit age yet, and now with them inheriting all of Bert’s mother’s estate I knew they were even more well off, even after the purchase of the place in Granby. If they felt secure, you can imagine just how Jake and I felt after penny pinching with our Mom for so many years.
The house looked so much bigger without the big old Banyan on the right side and now that the lawn was replanted on the right side and the house front had been repainted the place looked good and Bert told us it looked great and that they had me to thank for saving it from burning to the ground during the eye of the storm. Dan told me that night that they had set up the trust accounts for Jake and my education funds while we were at school and there would be plenty left from what we had earned from the sale of our old house and what they had added to it themselves so that we would have a good foundation for starting our lives off after college, or special training after high school was over for us.
Simon and I dropped off Jake and Jim the next day at our house before going to his, so he could get his swim suit and leave a note for his dads, letting them know where he was if he didn’t make it home before they got home from the college. Simon told me he had never been in such a big house before when we went back around the corner to our house and I told him it was just rooms like any other house. I gave him first use of my bathroom to change in and then I went in and used the john before slipping into my tight trunks.
We went to the kitchen where Bert was setting us out some light snacks on the counter and we could hear Jake and Jim with Dan out at the pool. Bert didn’t exactly interrogate Simon, but I could see why he had been such a success in the courtroom as in a very few questions he had all the information he needed to be able to invite Simon and his dads to a barbecue on Saturday late in the afternoon. We had fun in the pool and then Simon and I went to a pair of lounge chairs and rested for a while as I filled him in about Jim and how he came to live in the cottage with his dads, and I finally told him the whole story about how Jake and I happened to be Bert and Dan’s adopted sons.
Having been through a lot of stuff himself he made the perfect friend for me I realized and when we went up to my room so he could get dressed again he asked me if I wanted to rinse off in my shower with him! Boy did I ever and just seeing him slipping out of his damp swimsuit had me all tingly and we even brushed up against each other while we were in there under the spray from the showerhead. It was so cool!! We were about to leave my room after getting dressed again when Simon asked if we could try kissing and I was all for that I’ll tell ya! No, we didn’t swap spit or anything. We just shared a really nice closed mouth kiss and we found out our arms had wrapped around each other during the kiss. We both started to speak after the kiss, and we told each other that we really liked the other and then we kissed again before going downstairs.
That night after dinner I had a little bit of homework to do so after we all helped put the kitchen back in order, I went to my room to finish what I hadn’t in study hall during the last period of the day. I was close to finishing when Dan came and knocked on my doorframe asking if I had almost finished. I guess he noticed the grin on my face all during dinner and even now an hour and a half later. He sat on my bed as I sat at my desk and he asked if I had any questions for him. It did take me a second to realize he meant about Simon and not about my homework. I trusted this man more than I had ever trusted anyone before in my life, well he and Bert, so I told him about what happened after Simon and I came upstairs after we left the pool and he sat there nodding with a small smile on his face. He told me he was glad we hadn’t just starting humping like dogs when we went upstairs, that we were taking things one step at a time and not rushing into stuff right away.
He told me that showed him we were planning on being friends for a long time and he was proud of us for acting so adult. He told me that kissing in private was good and if we had a sleepover and we were both comfortable sleeping in the same bed, that even rubbing each other’s naked body would be acceptable, but that there should be no form of intercourse right off the bat. We should save that for when we had known each other a bit more.
Basically, the same routines were followed for the rest of the week and shortly after 1PM on Saturday we got to meet Simon’s dads in person when they arrived with a big bowl of potato salad, and Simon carrying a cloth shopping bag with two bottles of a nice wine in it for Dan and Bert. Edgardo and Stephen were quite the handsome pair of men. They were both quite fit and their shorts and T shirts seemed to spray painted on they were so tight. I would have figured they were sports instructors or coaches, but Simon had told me they were ex Marines who not only were the guidance counselors for the Veterans Administration Office on campus, but teachers of Literature at the college also.
I have to say something here; these two guys were really nice guys. Jake, Simon, Jim and I could tell, I mean after the abuse we four had been subjected to I think we were all aware of our heightened instincts around adults, and some of the students we had seen in school already that we were planning to avoid as much as possible.
When Glenn and Rusty arrived home from work there was another round of introductions and after Jim had a chance to say his “welcome home” to his dads Bert did the honors of introducing Edgardo and Stephen and I think their job explanations covered as to why both Glenn and Rusty had worked a half day on the weekend. As they explained to the other adults their day so far as they all sat on the pool coping at the shallow end as we four guys played a bit of Marco Polo in the middle of the pool, it turned out that Rusty and a co-worker had called in the police to accompany them to a house in the New Town neighborhood of Key West. A complaint had been called in about a couple who it sounded like had been abusing their children in their house, but the sounds of the slapping and yelling and children crying was so loud and out of control that a neighbor had called Rusty and he and an investigator had arrived at the house and still hearing those same noises coming from the house they had called the police to help them.
The neighbor who had called it in was a foster parent themselves and had a good relationship with Rusty’s office and his neighbors had taken in two sets of brothers from relatives who had been incarcerated when their auto repair business was found to be a chop shop and all four parents were stripped of their parental rights when they were found to be drug addicts as well. The two sets of cousins were pretty banged up from today’s abuse and were safely hospitalized for a day or two until older relatives were able to fly down to take custody of them, their two sets of common grandparents from the side of their family not involved with illegal activity. The four boys would be gladly accepted into the grandparents’ homes, two brothers in each Rusty told us all. Their day had been one filled with concern for the four boys involved, but once the grandparents had been informed of the situation and had been checked out by their local authorities, and were actually on flights to rescue their grandsons, they were pleased with their work today and happy to be home with their own son.
By dinner time the adults were like six friends having a reunion. Stories had been passed around and shared experiences discussed. Jake and Jim had played themselves out and had crashed on a lounger in the shade for a shared nap. When the adults talk turned to barbecuing Simon and I headed up to my bedroom to shower and dress in shorts and T’s. It looked like we might be called to duty as table setters soon and we had some washing to take care of together in my shower. The six adults shared one of the outdoor tables and we four kids shared the one right next to them, listening to the talk about Key West and New England. To our great pleasure they had all agreed on a Spring Vacation up there and Edgardo and Stephen were invited to stay with us, and of course Simon. His parents could visit friends in Amherst during that time, knowing Simon would be in good hands while staying with us.
Simon and I blushed a bit at that, but Dan and Bert both told them that there were plenty of bedrooms, but it might be wise to let Simon and me “bunk in together” in my room, so we didn’t keep the rest of the house up all night watching TV or playing video games. The evening came to an end and our guests returned to their home by nine thirty and I helped pick up after and when Jake had gone to bed Dan and Bert made it a point to ask if they had totally embarrassed me. I told them that they had almost succeeded in doing just that, but the fact that they felt they could tease Simon and me that way just showed how much we all cared for each other, because the teasing was done with love, not maliciously, and that made a big difference.
Our home was a happy one and so were the homes of our friends. Jim was thriving having two great guys caring for him and Simon was very happy with his two dads. The holidays were fun for all of us. We shared our space with all, and the three families seemed to evolve into one big happy family unit. Thanksgiving was spent around our patios and the pool as the weather cooperated and the day itself was in the high seventies. Christmas was held indoors as it was too cool for swimming, but that didn’t put a damper on our fun. Each of the families held their own celebrations and we all gathered at about four in the afternoon for a group celebration with a gift exchange and we all feasted off the leftovers from our noon time meals.
The days after our Holiday Vacation were filled with school, visiting the library, hanging out at our pool and going on excursions with our dads. By Valentine’s Day Simon and I were boyfriends and we had told our dads we were. Both sets of dads were very supportive, but we found ourselves asking Rusty and Glenn our personal questions. Our two sets of dads understood when we explained that we just felt a little more comfortable asking them intimate questions because they were more like Uncles to us and a step away from being our fathers. Jake and Jim knew we were a couple and didn’t see anything wrong with that, as there were even “boyfriend” couples in their grade at school, plus they both had gay couples for fathers.
When the Spring Break started, we were already for it, having spent the week before choosing what to take with us and making sure we all had what we wanted to have with us when we went. This break was even longer than our holiday break was because it was followed immediately by teachers workshops for a week so we had a total of 16 days to spend on the Granby property, one day for traveling up and one for our return trip so 18 days off school for us and the same for the adults who had all worked their vacation time around our school schedules for this trip.
Dan had arranged for us to travel up on the Friday night after we kids got out of school, so we left at four in the afternoon and arrived at Barnes Airport in Westfield, about 25 or thirty miles from Granby around nine in the evening. There was a van waiting for us there as Dan had arranged for the rental when he had booked our flights with the air charter service so there would be plenty of room for the ten of us and our luggage. We arrived about an hour later and the house was all lit up, Den and Tony had prepared for our arrival and even had a buffet meal laid out on the big kitchen counter for us all.
The 12 of us all fit around the big kitchen table and we shared our meal before we even got settled in our bedrooms, but we travelers had time for a bathroom break before our late dinner. Den and Tony got to meet Edgardo and Stephen and their son Simon and as it turned out they had each had one of Simon’s dads for instructors in their sophomore English Lit, classes two years ago. The meal was full of the adults catching up as we boys planned out our next couple of days of activities, just about all of the plans calling for horseback riding and swimming.
The next two weeks passed like they were a blur. We younger guys got even better at riding horseback with Den and Tony’s help and we all spent a lot of time exploring the property from horseback, many times meeting up with the adults somewhere on the property for a picnic lunch. Afternoons by the pool definitely gave Simon ideas and we often spent an hour in my bed in the middle of the afternoon “resting”, or so we told the adults.
By the end of our stay, the adults had worked out the Summer vacation schedule. The parents of Simon had most of the summer off so they would come up here with my dads’ and they and Simon would join us for the summer and Rusty and Glenn would send Jim with us all and join us for the last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of August, using up their vacation time due them until the next fiscal year for the county and the City of Key West started anew in October. Simon’s parents would be with us until the rest of us all returned the third week of August and everyone had to get ready for the next school year.
We followed this pattern for many years, in fact, until Simon and I graduated from high school and had gotten accepted at UMass in Amherst and we chose to live in Granby at the house and commute over the mountain to classes. The rest of our families still made the horse farm their vacation destination so we got to see them a lot, but Simon and I knew from our first trip there together that we were going to try and make our home at the farm, and to that end we asked for our combined wedding and graduation present for a few acres to build our home on the property. To our surprise and joy our fathers had been talking about just that for the last couple of years of our college education, and after talking it over with Den and Tony, who had remained at the farm, running the equine breeding program they had begun there, leasing out the fields, and managing the property for years. They had come up with the ideal solution, the large garage building would be converted to a home, Den and Tony had moved into the new quarters above the office building the dads had built for them just beyond the big barn when they had graduated from college themselves and had taken over the complete management of the farm and it’s money making endeavors.
The renovation of the big garage building was completed by the time we graduated, and our wedding night was spent in our new home, which was big enough for the family we wanted to start, as we learned the ropes about being high school teachers and earning our Masters degrees. Jake and Jim were still the best of friends and they even double dated occasionally. In Key West, they dated a couple of sisters who lived just a block away from home and the times they stayed in Granby they had a couple of girls their own age they were even more enamored with. My dads’ were still going strong, taking good care of themselves as were Jim’s fathers, Rusty and Glenn, although they were talking about retiring as soon as Jim was out of high school in another year and a half.
Simon’s dads had had a rough time adjusting to being empty nesters when Simon and I decided on UMass for college, but they compensated by taking in foster children, that is until they found the one boy, they could devote their fathering instincts to and they adopted a younger brother for Simon. All the dads expressed a desire to come live at the farm yearlong when the kids were all out of school, but Edgardo and Stephen said that when everyone else moved, they would too and their newest son, Art, would do his high school years at the Granby high school. Our large extended family would remain intact, just at a different location than where it was formed. Our Summer home would become our home base and our Key West home would become the vacation home for the whole family, but whichever home we were in at the moment, that was where our hearts would be, with those we loved surrounding us.
The End
Editor’s Notes: As always, a wonderful heartwarming story.
I always enjoy finding new things to learn about Key West and the Granby area.
I should also say I like happy endings. Grin
Darryl AKA The Radio RancherWe hope you liked this story. Let Art know by telling him. ArtWest at CastleRoland dot Net