Published: 16 Sep 2019

Mike was dressed, except for shoes and socks, but he slipped on his slippers and together, hand in hand, we went with Carole out to the Livingroom of the Clarke’s apartment to find Mrs. Clarke embracing an older man. When she saw us, she turned the man around and introduced us, telling the man that I was his grandson, Jason Denver, and telling me that this gentleman was my grandfather, Jonathan Strauss. I was still studying him but feeling Mike squeeze my hand in encouragement I remembered my manners and introduced my grandfather to Mike. He moved closer and took both Mike and me into a hug and I could tell as he did this that he was as choked up as I was, and I guess Mike, too.

Once he was able to talk again, Mr. Strauss began to speak, telling me he had been looking for some seventeen years for me, or at least a sign that his daughter had given birth as he had suspected she was pregnant when she took off from home. Mr. Strauss was a man of about 75 I guessed, but he looked much fitter than I expected him to be. His hair was mostly dark like mine, but there were some gray hairs in his sideburns and sprinkled throughout his head of hair. It seemed to me that I was looking into an older mirror at myself, the resemblance was amazing. The same height, the same fit build, the same nose and even the same shape to the lips. His cheekbones were high, just like mine, and even his ears had the same shape, with a tiny bit of a point to the tops of our ears. We even had the same all year tan to our skins. Mike steered us to the couch and then he motioned to Carole and his mom to join him in the kitchen.

He was still a bit choked up, but he wanted to tell me that he was so sorry about what his daughter had done, running away like that and then to not have explained to anyone at the hospital who she was or even to have them contact her parents. He was very sorry I had to be raised in the care of the state. He was sorry about just about everything, and I began to feel sorry for this kind man and I found myself holding him as he wept, and it dawned on me that I was comforting him but that holding this man in my arms was actually comforting me in some way. The connection was beginning between my grandfather and me.

We sat holding onto each other for I don’t know how long until Mr. Clarke arrived home from work. Mrs. Clarke met him at their front door and ushered him into the kitchen where she and Mike and Carole had been, giving my grandfather and me some privacy. I could hear them all telling him what my grandfather had done, paying their share of Mike’s medical bills and hospital charges while my grandfather and I were finally pulling ourselves together enough to sit and talk with the others.

When it was made clear that Carole was not only a friend, but my caseworker as well, my grandfather asked her if there was some way, he could have me stay at his hotel for the weekend so we could get to know each other a bit. She told him that since I was just a tiny bit over three months from being released from care at the CPS facility she didn’t think there would be a problem, but he would have to come to the facility to sign me out for the weekend and a copy of his identification would have to be submitted and placed in my file. She offered to drive us there when we were finished here and then she offered to drive us to his hotel after all the paperwork was done at the shelter. Once that was done the Clarke’s all had to thank him for what he had done that day.

The Clarke’s were effusive in their thanks and he told them simply that because they were my friends, he felt he had to help in some way. He then had a bunch of questions about Mike’s care and what had been done for him, and how he was feeling now. My grandfather looked proudly at me as Mr. Clarke and Mike told him how the whole mugging went down, and Mr. Clarke called me a hero for preventing further injury to their son. After about another half hour Carole stated that if we were going to check me out for the weekend, we had better get started on getting that done, we’d have all weekend to talk. My grandfather then said he’d like for the whole group of us to have dinner tomorrow at the hotel on him, and he told Carole that invitation included her husband. As the adults were saying their goodbyes Mike and I were saying ours in his room where we had more privacy. On the way out I got hugs from both Mr. and Mrs. Clarke and we three were off.

When we got to the shelter Carole suggested I get a weekend bag packed and she and my grandfather went to her office to get the paperwork done. Apparently they had quite a bit to talk about because when I returned with my duffle bag packed with a few changes of clothes and my good slacks and a nice shirt they were discussing a lot of the things that had been spelled out in those documents given to me almost a year ago, those papers that told me about what would happen after I aged out of the system. I had put my copy of all that paperwork into my bag, as well as the acceptance paperwork from UMASS and the follow-up letter after Mike and I had sent our return acceptance of their generous offers to each of us, and the letter confirming that we had been assigned as roommates in one of the freshman dorms.

Carole was explaining what the state’s policy was concerning the situation we now found ourselves in and her best guess was that if Grandfather wanted to take responsibility for me before my exit date in just under 4 months, he would still be bound by their rules for fostering. He would have to go through training to be a foster parent, have his test scores from those classes be in an acceptable passing grade range, and he would be subject to their department’s investigators through search of his past and his financial ability to support me. He told her she had certainly given him much to think about and he said he hoped they might talk again before he left town, but he didn’t want to talk business over dinner the next night, that would be strictly “family” time for all of us.

While driving us to grandfather’s hotel she asked how long he was planning on staying in town and he said he thought he could stretch his plans up to a week or so, depending how everything worked out. She dropped us off at the front door of this modern high-rise place and we said our goodbyes until tomorrow at dinner. At the front desk of the grand entry hall Grandfather asked for an additional key for his suite and he had me sign what I saw was an added persons registry card for his suite so I would also be authorized to sign for purchases to be added to his bill. He said I might want a snack while at the indoor pool, or he might have to have me pick up something from one of the shops here in the lobby.

I whispered to him that this place was much grander than I had imagined, and he told me that it was just a big hotel, maybe a nice looking one, but still, it was just a hotel. When we got to the top floor there were only about ten doors to rooms visible all along this huge hallway and Grandfather led me to one that had “Presidential Suite” on a plaque on the door. He chuckled as he showed me how to swipe the credit card sized room key until a little row of green lights lit up on the lock and we then entered.

I had never seen anything like it in my life. I don’t think I had ever seen anything like this even in a movie. It was a mansion in a two-story hotel room. He showed me to a bedroom that was as big as the dorm room I shared with nineteen others, all of us in twin beds, he said that could be my bedroom for the weekend. I left my duffle bag there and he showed me to the kitchen and explained that he had had the fridge stocked so I was to help myself to anything in there and then he showed me to the terrace outside the living room French doors. It ran the full length of the living area and around a corner that the dining room overlooked. You could see most of the city laid out in front of you, all lighting up in the twilight. The view of the city with the mountains off in the distance was amazing. Grandfather showed me another bedroom just about the same as mine and then through a set of double doors was his bedroom, a true master suite. A huge king-sized bed, walk-in closets, a gas fireplace with a sitting area in front of it, a desk and chair where there were already papers on top and an opened briefcase by the desktop phone, his laptop already set up on the desk blotter. His bathroom was even bigger that the one in my room and even plusher. He asked if I thought we’d be comfortable here in this suite for the weekend, but he had a bit of a smile on his face as he asked that.

I told him that I’d never seen anything like it in my life and he told me again, it was just a hotel room. We went out to the kitchen again and he rummaged in the fridge for a bit and then asked me if lasagna and garlic bread would be alright for dinner I told him I loved lasagna and he asked me to turn one of the ovens to 450 degrees and he said that after forty-five minutes we should put the frozen garlic bread in the same oven. He asked me to place the big pan of lasagna into the oven and as I did he removed a bowl of snapped green beans and placed them in a little water into a sauce pan on top of the stove, ready to heat them up when the garlic bread went in the oven.

He poured himself a cup of coffee from the counter top coffee maker and motioned to the fridge for me to select what I wanted to drink as we talked before dinner. He wanted to know what I thought about being accepted at UMASS so I told him about the research both Mike and I had done, and how the final deciding factor was that they had a very inclusive policy in place regarding their gay students. They were the only ones with the benefit package that covered all our expenses and a small spending stipend as well in addition to honoring our request to be roommates. He asked when we planned to go up there to see the campus and I told him we probably would go there sometime in mid-August to be there for freshman orientation a week before classes started the last week of August. He pondered that and then asked how serious Mike and I were about each other. Blushing I told him that we were engaged, and I showed him the ring on my left-hand ring finger, a duplicate of the multi colored stones on a gold band that Mike wore.

Instead of a lecture or condemnation of our relationship what I got was a hug from my grandfather and him telling me that if we were sure, and we both loved each other, then we had his blessings to add to his parent’s, as he could see they both loved us. He then asked if I thought we should have dinner tomorrow in the dining room downstairs or here in the suite tomorrow evening. I told him that this would be enough to stun anyone, and I thought from what I saw of the dining room off the lobby that would be overkill. He wrote something down on a pad he had and then asked me what I thought they might like to eat. I told him that if we all ate together than we were used to a roast or on a special occasion, maybe steaks, but what we were having tonight, the lasagna, would make them feel more comfortable. It certainly was going to make me more comfortable than a fancy meal. He wrote on his pad again and then he had a few questions for me.

We talked for a few minutes and then he asked me to ask him some questions, which I hadn’t done up ’til now. As we went about preparing for our dinner I asked him what was the story about this hotel suite, how come he had to have surgery last week, what had my mother been like as a girl growing up, and what was it like living on an island, and specifically in Key West. As we set the table and then as he drained the now cooked green beans and I removed the tray of lasagna and the garlic bread from the oven he explained a lot to me. He told me right off the bat that he was wealthy. His parents had owned the only lumber yard and hardware store in town for years and that even with the big home stores that had tried it in the keys, his store was still very profitable. He had told his secretary to book him a suite in Denver and this is what he came up with (I caught that his secretary was a he). He told me about a herniated shoulder muscle he had had for a few years and how his doctor had insisted he have it repaired, and it was successfully done at the beginning of the last week. As long as he didn’t exert himself, he would be alright until the doctor told him he was completely healed. He told me we could talk about his daughter after dinner and he’d try to fill me in about living in Key West during dinner.

He told me about growing up with his parents on the island, and how he fell in love with his wife during high school, he nudged my shoulder at that, saying it runs in the family, falling in love in high school with your life partner. He went on to tell me how his father had run the family lumber and hardware business and how after hurricanes they sold lumber for repairs and during calm weather they catered to builders and contractors who rehabbed older houses for new homeowners, and the rare instance where a new structure was built from scratch. He explained how he had developed a new business plan that in addition to the building or rehab business he catered to those who rented and needed household supplies or items to up-date their lodgings. He also had a lot of landlords and building managers who used his stores.

He explained that it offered him and his departed wife a very comfortable life and that twenty years ago he found the right financial team to invest for him and he was quite well off now. He told me how as he and his wife grew older, they needed help around their house so they hired a couple to come live with them and take care of those things they could no longer do by themselves. They had helped this couple with their educations, and had helped Grandfather through Grandma’s illness, a bout with intestinal cancer, which led to her death five years ago. The couple was a male gay couple and Grandfather told me he admired them and trusted them and that he thought of them as his surrogate sons. He said he hoped we’d all get along when Mike and I had a chance to come down and visit.

It was funny, the way our conversations would start off on one subject and then take a turn midway through one subject and we’d be talking about something else entirely, totally absorbed in what each of us had to say. This went on throughout dinner and during the clean up after and even when we sat in the enormous two storied living room it continued that way until Grandfather began to talk about my mother. In no time he had me laughing and crying alternatively as he told me stories about her childhood and followed with tales about her middle and high school years and how she had formed a strong attachment to the young college student who ultimately became my father.

Grandfather was sure that the young man knew nothing about my birth. My grandparents had met him once and then had him investigated when my mother foolishly went off on her own to try and track him down. I had explained how I was given the last name “Denver” and how at times I was asked if I was related to the late singer John Denver, but it was given to me by the nurses in the hospital who cared for me until CPS was able to take me out of the hospital. I was partially named after the son of one of the doctors who had recently died (Jason) and the city where I was born (Denver). He asked me if any of that bothered me, and I told him that since I had never known anything else I was OK with it and that Mike and I had talked a bit about it when we had talked about getting married, one of us taking the other’s last name, but we hadn’t made a decision about it one way or the other, yet.

By this time, I happened to notice the time and I was feeling pretty tired, I think Grandfather was too, so I suggested that we each get a good night’s sleep and we had a lot of time tomorrow to spend more time getting to know each other. Before going to our bedrooms I hugged him and thanked him for what he had done for the Clarkes, telling him he didn’t know just how much him paying their medical bills meant to them, and he responded that they were important to me, and vicariously they were all important to him, so he was glad to be able to help them.

I hadn’t slept so good in my life that I could remember. The bed just seemed to mold itself to my body when I got between the sheets, both exhilarated and exhausted by my day, the bulk of it spent with my grandfather. There was total silence in my bedroom, not like being in the shelter’s dorm room with snoring, people getting up to use the bathroom, or friends chatting away into the night. Or whatever they were doing together in bed. When I woke I felt refreshed and alert. I hit the bathroom and then cleaned up, shaving and showering and then dressed in a fresh polo shirt and a decent pair of jeans.

I went out into the suite and didn’t see my grandfather, so I moseyed into the kitchen and saw it was only 8 AM. I looked through the fridge and saw the fixings for cheese omelets and a package of breakfast sausages in the freezer, so I set to work fixing breakfast for Grandpa and myself. By the time the toast was buttered and cut, and the coffee brewed and the plates ready to be served, he was awake and dressed and I had already set the table, so we sat to eat after exchanging “Good Mornings”.

As we ate, he told me he had expected to take me out to breakfast, but this was much nicer than eating out in public while we were still getting to know each other. We both had questions for each other after our revelations last night and we were again laughing and also a bit teary as we both pitched in to clean up after our meal. When we sat over coffee when our chores were done, he told me he had discussed my situation with his lawyer before coming to meet me and his lawyer had suggested that if I was able to stick it out in my present situation until I was officially 18 that no legal procedures would have to be instigated at this time, but once I was 18 Grandfather could file to adopt me, but of course with his wealth I would lose my scholarship. Grandfather put his hand on my shoulder to stifle what I was about to exclaim about, and he then calmly informed me that he would then pay for all my school expenses and also increase my monthly allowance. He went on to say that after the first semester he wanted Mike and I to move off campus.

What he was proposing was he purchase a home in the area and Mike, and I, would live there during the rest of our school years. In fact Grandfather thought, that under those circumstances we would be more inclined to pay more attention to our studies and he wondered if Mike would be offended, or his parents, if Grandfather made the same arrangements for Mike so that both our full ride scholarships could be used by two other deserving individuals, and he would set Mike up with an increased monthly allowance as well. I couldn’t quite get the right words out of my mouth right then, and he seemed to know that as he just held me around the shoulders as I wept into his shoulder.

By noon we were exploring the lobby shops after Granddad had called the room service number and ordered another lasagna dinner for tonight, informing them that there would be seven for dinner at 6:30 PM that evening. We moseyed through most of the stores, but the fun part came when he offered to buy me anything I wanted. I told him that I didn’t need anything right then and there, but if I thought of something, I would tell him. He looked surprised and then he told me that he respected me so much. That really got to me. He got another hug. I asked if he didn’t want a souvenir of his trip to Denver, and he told me that he already had one, it just wouldn’t fit in his suitcase. That got him another hug.

By the time we returned to the room the dining table had been set, the lasagna and garlic bread was in the oven and the green beans were on the front burner on the stove, the burner set to low to keep them at a good serving temperature. By the time we had changed into “company” clothes the room service waiter had arrived with a cart of beverages, including a percolator of coffee. Right on the dot of 6:30 the doorbell rang, and I started to go answer the door but the waiter beat me to it and ushered our guests into the huge living room.

It was strange to see these five lively people that I loved, and I knew they loved me, just standing there open mouthed as they turned around taking in the room and the spectacular view out the windows of this penthouse suite. Mike gravitated to my side and we hugged our hellos to each other and then I remembered that Grandpa hadn’t met Sam yet, so Mike and I took Sam to meet Grandpa. The two of them hit it off right away and soon the adults were being served beverages as I showed Mike my bedroom, for one more night. We shared a deep kiss and a warm hug in there before joining everyone out at the dining table where our waiter was ready to serve our meal.

After everyone was served Grandfather dismissed the waiter and asked him to come back in about an hour and a half so he could clear up. I saw him slip the waiter a hundred-dollar bill. Our meal was punctured with good talk as my friends got to know Grandpa better and during desert he asked me to explain what he intended Mike and I to do after our first semester, which, as we were nonresidents of the state we were going to school in, we were required to live in the dorm for the first semester. I explained to the group what Grandfather had explained to me and amid some chatter, mostly from Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, Grandfather spoke.

As the host of us all he would be listened to, but I think it was really out of respect he was able to command the attention of those present. It made me proud he was my grandfather when he just held up his hand and began to calmly explain that he couldn’t be prouder of Mike and myself for achieving the scholarships we had, but he had the wherewithal to pay our college expenses and why should the scholarships not be passed on to others, who most likely needed them more than we did now.

By purchasing a property we could commute to campus from, it would be a good investment for him and we wouldn’t get caught up in the campus party life or have to endure the dorm room parties, and other distractions from our studies. He was even willing to hire a house staff to make sure whatever property was chosen was maintained inside and out and that we had meals prepared for us. He further stated that transportation to and from the campus would be provided and he was thinking of a married couple to take care of the property for us. He was looking at Mr. and Mrs. Clarke when he said this. Mr. Clarke, who had been listening intently to this now had a smile beginning to form on his face. Grandfather smiled back at him and then went on to say that once Mike and I were settled in our dorm at UMASS, he and his staff would start to search for the right property in that area, but he wasn’t ruling out that the right property could be found before that happened, but he would make sure that everyone approved before he actually purchased it.

Grandfather, during dessert, kept up conversations with Sam and Carole as well as the Clarkes, impressing them with his observations and his wishes to make my life, and vicariously Mike’s, better by providing a stable and safe environment for us to attend college in and providing us with the funds to be able to accomplish that. He admitted that he felt it was his duty to do this, because of the foolish actions of his daughter, and the guilt he still felt because I had been raised in care instead of in a loving home, surrounded by loved ones.

We again sat on one of the couches after our guests had departed and we talked about the evening and I told him how impressed I was that he seemed to get along so well with everyone. He told me that I must have made a good impression on them and he was just following in my footsteps. He seemed to have some questions about the older Clarke couple, Mike’s parents. He wanted to know what my impression was of them and were they happy here in Denver, including their jobs and living conditions.

I told him my impressions, from what I heard when I was over there, and I told him that Mr. Clarke was a postal worker and he was a twenty-five-year employee, having started there in his early 20s when they had married. Mrs. Clarke was a cafeteria worker in one of the middle schools in the city. She had about fifteen years in her job. I told him that there had been two other children in their previous home, an older brother to Mike who had succumbed to a lung infection while battling pneumonia roughly ten years ago, and a daughter who died of infant death syndrome in her sleep just about the same time. The medical bills and funeral expenses had cost them their home out in the suburbs, and they had been living in the two-bedroom apartment ever since.

They were by nature happy people, but Mike had mentioned that there were times when they fell into a sort of depression, I think he called it melancholia. Grandpa said he certainly knew what that was like and then he asked me if they had other ties to Denver or Colorado that would keep them here and I told him that he had met the entire family and there were no others that I had ever heard any of them talk about.

I sensed that he was done with his questions, so I asked him if it was alright to ask him one or two. He chuckled and told me that was how we were getting to know each other so he’d always welcome my questions. I asked him what kind of house he was going to look for and how big, I explained that except for a classmate’s birthday party some six or seven years ago I had never been in someone’s house, or any house at all. He pondered that and after clearing his throat he explained that that is why he thought about having a married couple live with us in the house, but he was thinking more about the land the house sat on, because land was almost always a good investment, but if it had a really nice house in good condition, then there was the possibility of actually making a nice profit on the deal.

Grandfather explained that he wanted to give Mike and me a chance to be a couple, a chance to explore our relationship on our own terms, in our own space. He explained it was probably going to be difficult for the first semester, both of us living in a small dorm room with a lot of other students watching us, but he thought if we could stick it out for those months we would know each other better, and have a good idea of how we were going to cope at school, away from Mike’s family and our friends. He hoped this would make us independent from others and only dependent on each other for the first four months of our adulthood.

I woke in the morning and this time Grandfather was already awake with a pot of coffee already brewed and the morning paper collected from outside the hotel room door. He suggested over our cups of coffee that we grab breakfast downstairs in the restaurant, so I dressed in my pair of dockers and a clean shirt after my shower. Over a nice breakfast my grandfather suggested that I come down to visit him during the Spring break from high school around Easter time. The big surprise was that not only would he send a plane for me, but he would like Mike to come with me! He said that he thought we needed a break before our senior finals would start, and he also thought we should get used to coming to visit him whenever we could, and he would make his plane available for those trips. He was thinking of having all the Clarkes come for a visit, with me, right after high school graduation for another get together to celebrate our graduation, but again, a week, so we would have time during the rest of the summer to get ready to enroll in UMASS and get settled in our dorm and get freshman orientation under our belts before classes started.

We discussed what we would do today, before I had to return to the dorm. We knew the Clark’s had invited us to lunch at their apartment so we planned our morning with some flexibility so we wouldn’t be late. Grandfather had hired a car and driver and he called the man and arranged for us to have a tour of Denver and its surroundings before the hired car and driver dropped us off at the Clarke’s apartment about eleven-thirty. We met Sam and Carole outside and we four made our way in, Carole and I letting ourselves fall back a little for a private talk before we went inside.

Carole wanted to know if my grandfather and I were getting along alright and how I felt about meeting him. I told her that everything was more than I ever had hoped for and that he truly was a remarkable man, notwithstanding his wealth. He seemed to really want me to succeed in college and he was going to make it as rewarding an experience as possible for not only me, but for Mike as well. He was really accepting of Mike and my relationship and he even had mentioned that he owned a plane and was expecting us to spend holidays and vacations with him. I told her that I hoped that she and Sam could get away for a week right after Mike and I graduated, because Grandfather wanted them and Mr. and Mrs. Clarke to join us for a week in Key West at his home to celebrate our graduations, and he was going to fly up to be here for graduation!

She seemed pleased we were getting to know one another and of course she was excited about a trip in a private plane. We joined the others in the apartment and Mike was right there by the door to welcome us, but I’m the one who got the mushy greeting, which I returned happily. Lunch was a wonderful beef stroganoff that Mrs. Clarke had made that was wonderful. Over our meal Grandfather made his proposals about the trips we had talked about this morning, the Easter/Spring break one for Mike and me and the one right after graduation for all of us here in the room, Grandfather included, because as he said, he wouldn’t miss graduation for anything, so the rest of us could just fly back with him. He assured everyone there was plenty of room at his house for everyone and his staff loved when he entertained.

After lunch we sat and talked, Mrs. Clarke asking what we would need for Mike and me to take on our trip for our spring break and Grandfather told her that he would take care of everything, but since the weather there was more like summer all year long then we should pack some shorts and T shirts and our sneakers and toiletries, he would take care of all the rest should we need anything else while there. He asked Carole if there would be a problem with the CPS agency about me traveling to another state, and she said that under the circumstances she thought a waiver could be arranged, and she’d look into it at work to make sure.

Mike and I spent some time together before we left, and Mike assured me that he thought the doctors might just let him return to school sometime this week, he would know more when he had his next post-op exam on Monday afternoon. I gave him as much encouragement as I could in our goodbye hug and kiss. Grandfather then had me sit at the dining table with him and he asked if I still had the checks he had given me and I pulled them out of my wallet and handed them to him, not knowing what he was taking them back for, but before that thought even had time to gel in my brain he handed me a credit card, well I thought it was a credit card, but he explained that this was a debit card and it was linked to an account he had asked Sam to set up for me at a local branch of the same national bank he used. He further told me there was much more in my new bank account than what was in those checks and then he explained how to use the debit card at a “cash in a box” machine or to use it like a credit card in a store. He explained that I needed a password to use it and Sam had set it up to be used with his and Carole’s phone number as the password, a number I knew by heart. He explained that although there was a lot of money in the account, daily limits of three hundred dollars had been set already, but if I needed something that cost more than three hundred dollars I could call the phone number on the back of the card and an operator would ask me some questions to verify it was me using the card and most likely the purchase would then be authorized.

That all took some time and after he had explained and saw me place the card in my wallet we began to get ready for the drive to take me back to the shelter. His driver was waiting downstairs in the lobby and when he saw us exit the elevator he went outside to bring the car to the front doors. It was the same driver that had driven us around the day before and he drove us to the facility’s parking lot and left us in the car after he had said his goodbyes to me and took a walk around outside so Grandfather and I would have some privacy while we said our goodbyes to each other.

It was pretty hard doing that, for both of us, but we got through it and Grandfather said that he thought we should talk on the phone at least once a week until we saw each other again in about a month’s time when Mike and I flew down to see him. I told him that I’d call on Friday nights, after my shift in the kitchen and before I went back up to my dorm room. We both had tears going as I exited the car after we had hugged, and I made my way into the lobby to sign myself back in.

I only had a chapter to read for homework, the rest of mine I finished Friday when Mike was doing the assignments I’d brought to his house. I was going to read ahead like I usually do, but once the needed chapter had been read, I lay on my bed thinking about how the weekend had gone. I knew the second time I had been in Mike’s company, at Carole and Sam’s wedding, that he ticked off all my boxes as to what I had been looking for in a boyfriend. He was attractive, he had a certain sparkle to his eyes when we were together, he was sharp and he caught some of my more obscure observations, he dressed nicely, not like a slob, even on the limited budget his family had. His touch was calm and gentle, not rough and controlling, his kisses were sincere, not just a way to get in my pants. In the months I’ve known him we might have disagreed about somethings, but we had never argued. As I pondered all this, I realized that except for the sexual compatibility, my grandfather and I were just like Mike and me, we were our only blood relatives and we actually felt that instinctive family love bond for each other. It was a totally new thing for me.

Before catching the school bus in the morning I called my grandfather on the cell he had gotten me and as I knew he had to get to his plane by nine I figured that now at eight in the morning, he would be up and getting ready to be picked up and driven to the general aviation terminal to catch his plane. We said our goodbyes again and I reminded him I’d be calling on Friday after my shift in the shelter’s kitchen. He sounded pleased that I had called but he knew I was waiting for the bus, and he had to get his packing done, so we said our goodbyes and I thought of him all the way through the city to my school.

Once there it was a regular sort of day, with the exception that Mike still wasn’t in school. I did collect his assignments for him in each of our shared classes, and before leaving to get my bus I made sure the assignments for the two classes we didn’t share were gathered also. I took the city bus to his apartment.

We hope that you are enjoying this new story by Art. You may contact him by email: ArtWest at CastleRoland dot Net

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