Published: 23 Jan 2020
After strawberry shortcake we showed Ron the research I had done, and although no one was giving any guarantees, there was a good chance for some movement and/or sensations to return to Josh’s arm.
Ian went over again the statement made earlier, that whatever expenses related to Josh’s treatments for his arm were totally covered, so any bills should be submitted to him and he would see that they were taken care of, he winked at me after saying that, I don’t think anyone but Wayne could have seen that.
Once we had all agreed we would all go on Saturday, Ian asked Ron how it went with his phone calls to get some help in creating the trails. Ron told us that his friend Tom was starting tomorrow with him and the other two “handymen” he used to do jobs with were going to start Thursday working full time also, at least through the fall. He explained these three had worked with him before and they were all fit and knowledgeable and they worked well together as a team. Ian asked Ron to make sure they all stopped in to fill out a few forms with him so they would not only be added to the payroll, but be covered by the new insurance plan. They then talked about the firewood being cut from the deadwood being removed and they agreed on setting up half cord stacks on the unused field closest to the house and once a few of those stacks were set up they would post a sign out front advertising firewood for sale and if needed an ad could be placed in the local advertiser insert in the newspaper.
Wayne said he thought that between Josh and me and himself we could handle the sales of the wood, as long as it was clear that purchasers knew they had to load their own, unless they wanted to pay extra for a delivery and then one of the new hires could take that on for a bit extra. Ron said that two of the new guys had pickups and should be able to handle those customers.
There was a lot of progress over the rest of the week on the first trail with the added workers also sawing the felled dead trees into logs and then splitting them and the piles of half cords of wood continued to grow as a team of two went ahead of the two ground clearers to remove the dead stuff out of their way. Ian and Wayne created a sign for the roadside and we had already sold a few cords of wood to locals who saw the sign. By Friday night we were all a bit jumpy about Josh’s evaluation the next day so we again all ate dinner together, but this time there was an additional diner with us, Tom, Ron’s friend who was now working full time with him helping to create the riding trails.
Tom and Ron had been friends since their school days and were more like brothers than just friends. I noticed several times they made physical contact throughout dinner and Josh treated him as an uncle, almost like I treated Ian and Wayne. Wayne and Tom were talking horses at one point and Tom had been raised on a riding farm and agreed to work with Wayne and Ian on purchasing the riding stock we would be needing to operate our trail riding business. He was an attractive and fit man, much like Ron was, and they seemed very interested when Ian and Wayne announced that they had decided to move up their wedding date to take advantage of the offered gazebo on Noah and Dr. Chris’s property. They thought that if they moved up their wedding, they would then be able to adopt me sooner, and plus, they just didn’t want to wait any longer. They had plenty of dates available to them, but they said they would wait until I could stand and walk for at least a half hour, as they wanted me with them as they exchanged their vows.
My physical therapy had started on Wednesday and the therapist had begun slowly and gently with me as she maneuvered me, assessing my range of motion and areas she wanted to place special attention on. Josh was with us in the small home gym we had outfitted on the second floor in one of the unused bedrooms that had a nice shower bath attached. Josh was taking notes and writing out a routine of exercises she was recommending I try even on the days she wasn’t present. She had me scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, just after I had a light lunch. She warned about not stretching, and exercising on a full stomach, but told me that after a session I could eat again should I feel the need, just not a bunch of fatty stuff or things with a lot of sugar.
Josh really took this seriously and he went over his notes with her before she left and I was sure glad he had paid attention as I certainly wouldn’t have remembered half of what she had been saying, but I felt good about her evaluation and her recommendations to get me walking again, without hurting myself. Her name was Theresa and part way through our session she noticed Josh’s arm and while I did the exercise routine she had started me on, she and Josh had a conversation and when she left she wished Josh good luck on his doctor’s visit if she didn’t get to see him on Friday to tell him that. She did get to see him Friday and realized just how jumpy he was about the appointment so she also gave him a couple of stress busting routines he could do one handed, and then, after she left us, I helped relieve some of his stress in the shower, our first sex of any sort under the spray of a shower head. What we did was to wash each other head to toe, spending a lot of time in the groin area as that seemed to be an area on both of us that was eager for attention. That was how we got off, mutual masturbation, but thankfully we had a bench seat in the gym’s shower to sit on.
So after a good breakfast on Saturday we all gathered at our place, Ron and Josh agreeing to ride with us as Wayne had a three seat van and we could all be together. Josh thanked us for coming with him and we told him he was worth having his own rooting section. We were all surprised to realize that Dr. Chris’s office was closed on Saturdays, and we were the only ones in the waiting area. Other offices were open, as we had seen others going up to the dentist on the second floor and others to the GP’s office just down the hall from where we were. Dr. Chris himself met us at the door and ushered us into the waiting area. After we all greeted each other he explained that Dr. Ingram was already reviewing Josh’s case files from his attending physician who treated him after his stroke, and the pages of research that Dr. Wheeler had supplied on Tuesday (all the others chuckled at that as I sat there blushing, but Josh, he just held my right hand in his left). After about 25 minutes Dr. Ingram came out to the waiting room and was introduced to us by Dr. Chris.
She asked us all to call her Ingrid and she asked if she could dispense with formalities all around so our first names were exchanged as she shook our hands and she switched hands and shook Josh’s as she told him how lucky he was to have a friend like me, he must be a special young man and she was going to have to start to poke and prod him for a while, so did he want Dr. Max to come in with them?
Once in the examination room Josh had to remove his shirt and was put through several interesting tests, which started with Ingrid poking his arm after he had laid it on the table. First with her finger, then her finger nail, than a probe that looked like the eraser end of a pencil, and then with a needle. They eventually progressed to diodes being placed along the arm and a small electrical charge was sent into his arm, sometimes resulting in a response of twitching of the muscles and his hand and fingers. The diodes were then re-positioned and the sequence repeated. Ingrid made copious notes and made markings on Josh’s shoulder and arm in several places. Then it was up to the new MRI scanner right next to the X Ray lab. I was pleased to see Harry there, the guy who had X rayed me and I introduced Josh to him as Ingrid prepared a list of areas she wanted highlighted in the finished scans, as indicated in the markings she had made on Josh’s arm, but now Harry would have specific written orders for the work. While the two adults were going over the request I leant down and kissed Josh, telling him to just be as still as he could and all would be well and I’d see him out in the hall when Harry was done with him. I think the kiss helped Josh as much as it did me to relax a bit, this was really all so exciting.
While we waited for Harry to finish with Josh, Ingrid and I chatted out on a bench in the hall and I had as many questions for her as she had for me and I let her go first as she said she was dying to know what branch of medicine I wanted to pursue. I told her that I didn’t have any idea as yet just what studies I wanted to take in college, but right now what I really wanted was help for my friend and that I was beginning to feel bad that I was on the way to recovery and he had been stalled in his because of a stupid insurance company. I told her that money was no object, that what I had told Dr. Chris was the truth, that if there was a way Josh would be able to use his arm, I would pay for it.
She nodded at me and then told me to start with my own questions, so I did, for the next half hour until Harry walked back out with Josh and Ingrid and he went in to view the scans on the computer in there as Josh and I awaited their return. I asked how it went and Josh related just what Harry had done and said while they were in there and then Harry and Ingrid came out and told us all looked good and they had to talk to Dr. Chris for a bit so why didn’t we go and see the other adults in the waiting room.
We all took the internal staircase down into the office and Josh and I went to the waiting room as Dr. Chris passed us as he went to join Ingrid and Harry. He had a big smile on his face as he went. We, Josh and I, were peppered with questions as soon as the adults spotted us and the questions kept coming as we sipped our glasses of water from the cooler behind the desk, neither of us being really thirsty, plus we had a lot of questions to answer. About a half hour later Dr. Chris came up to Josh and asked if he was ready to get his arm fixed. Josh just stared up at him with his mouth hanging open as Chris explained to our hushed group that everything pointed to Josh having suffered a neck injury during the soccer game he had been playing when he suffered his stroke.
The injury had shifted a nerve bundle that controlled the nerves in his right arm and rather than let them try to realign themselves, he wanted to do a little procedure, right now, that just might alleviate the stress the nerves were in, otherwise it might take ten or more years for them to correct themselves, that is if they ever did. The muscles needed the stimulus to be able to function and correcting the position of the nerve bundle might just do that, might, he said, but it was certainly worth a chance and with a local anesthetic at that, he wouldn’t even have to be put under to do this, plus today Dr. Chris had all this free help with Harry and Ingrid here to help him.
Harry took Josh up again after he got hugs from all of us, and I kissed his cheek as I hugged him, just as I had seen his father do. After Josh and Harry were out of the room we got a lot more info from Dr. Chris and then he too left to get ready for his patient.
By three thirty we were all on our way home, Josh being able to wiggle his fingers as a sort of good by wave as we left those three professionals who had worked their magic on my friend. He was really wiped out though and he even fell asleep as we sat together in the back seat in the van, his head cushioned by my shoulder. He did wake when we pulled in his drive so he and his dad wouldn’t have to walk home, and Ron and I got him awake and he thanked everyone for coming with him, but he was going to go crash for a while. Ron repeated his son’s thanks and we told them both we’d see them sometime tomorrow.
When we did get home and into the house, after Ian parked the van in the garage while Wayne gathered the mail and newspaper from out front, we three sat at the kitchen table for a light snack to tide us over before dinner. I started to ask Ian what he had talked to Chris about just before we had left there and he told me it was to ask how much we owed for all the work they had all done for Josh and Chris had told him that they were all glad to donate their time for such a worthy cause. I asked if he was sure and Ian told me they had talked about a charity we might all wish to donate to in the near future, especially if Josh made even more recovery in the next 48 hours.
To say Josh made more recovery in 48 hours was an understatement. He proudly knocked on our kitchen door during our breakfast the next morning, and shook all of our hands after he was inside. His grip wasn’t real strong yet, but he was absolutely glowing as the rest of us were. Gone was the tether to his wristband and he could move his arm at will now, he just needed a bit of therapy to get the strength back in his arm. He told us he had come over to see if we were all going to church as he felt it only right to go himself and offer some thanks there and he said if he could go with us then his dad and Tom could go together to the later mass, they were still sleeping.
I thought that was a great idea, and Ian and Wayne thought it was a great idea also so after cleaning up from breakfast we had just enough time to make the 9 AM service so off to the MCC church at the town green (common). I was sitting on the end of our pew with Josh on my left and during the sermon, which was about loving your neighbor and being accepting of other people, I felt my left hand being held by Josh, and it took me a second to realize he was slightly squeezing it. I grinned like mad and turned to face him and I gently squeezed his hand back. Yes, we certainly had a lot to be thankful about today.
Several people came over to talk to him as we left and we ended up meeting several people from our road, and at least ten kids from Josh’s class. He was able to show them his arm was starting to work again and he mentioned that I had recently been confined to a wheelchair and we both had Dr. Chris to thank for our recoveries, as well as God. Before Josh went home from our house after, we had a chance to exchange hugs as we stood by the back kitchen door, what a great feeling, finally having both of Josh’s arms around me and he was pleased to hug me while I was able to stand in front of him, face to face.
On Monday, Tom told Ian about a yearly Summer sale of excess stock at the equine studies center at the state university in Amherst, just seven miles over the mountain we sat at the bottom of. He told Ian there would be horses, ponies, miniature horses, barn dogs and cats, useful for keeping rodents out of the feed and straw. Ian asked when the next one was and he was told it would be for the next several weekends, and he and Ron would be available next weekend if we all wanted to go. He said that we should have our personal mounts before the rental stock was purchased, so our own horses would become accustomed to us. Ian thought that was a good idea and so the following Saturday saw us all driving in two separate vehicles out to Amherst, Josh riding with us.
During the week, each day that Theresa came for my physical therapy, Josh had been included. She and Josh got along great and she even teased us about how close we were as friends. We did compliment each other, I mean we were about the same size and build, but Josh had this glorious head of dark hair and I was kind of a sun streaked blond, no matter the time of year. It seemed that every day Josh was getting more and more strength back in his right arm and within two weeks Theresa had him working out with both arms, to match the definition in both. I guess I was the one who was going to have the strong legs as it was mostly leg exercises I was doing on the inclined weight bench. Theresa said she had three months of therapy for us as per her contract, so after this first month was over she would start moving both of us among all the different stations so we’d both have a more well rounded workout that we could continue even after her work with us was done.
Our trip to the university’s stock sale that weekend was very profitable, for the university. We bought six horses, with Tom and Ron’s help and of course all the paraphernalia that they had to have, which I learned was called their tack, you know; bridles, saddles, leads, saddle blankets, and several grooming kits, and about a ton of feed and straw for their stalls, we supplied their water. The most fun was picking out the dogs. Ron had suggested a pair, male and female so that is what we got, two of the nicest dogs we found there. They were border collies and were quite used to the horses already. When we went to the stable with the ponies for sale we all agreed that about six would be a good number to have for youngsters and of course they had to have all the tack needed for them too. We had decided to get the ponies now as we had been told that they usually went fast and by the time we really needed them we’d have to go somewhere else to get them and pay a much higher price.
Ian, in negotiating the cost of everything we’d purchased so far, made a sizable down payment on ten additional horses to be delivered in a months time, the payment actually represented a large portion of what the university was charging to board the additional horses until we were actually ready for them. When he asked about making a donation to their equine studies school, they just about bent over backwards for him. He then wrote out a check for thirty thousand as a donation and then he asked a question none of us had even talked about before, did they have horses that had been used as therapy horses, either for the physically or mentally handicapped, or both. They explained that they had a free program open to all for just that type of therapy, and Ian wrote out another check for thirty thousand as a donation to that program, this time from my checkbook and he wrote on it “In Honor of Dr. Chris Sargent and Dr. Ingrid Ingram.”, and he let me sign that one. With the deliveries all arranged for the following week we left for home, stopping at a huge local produce store that even had a delicatessen in it that used all locally grown produce.
When we were all eating our lunch out on the store’s patio I did a quick mental recount of the numbers of animals we had just made arrangements to purchase and I kept coming up short on stalls available for use in our barn. I asked Ian if my thinking was right, that we were really two stalls short for the amount of horses and ponies we had just contracted for and Ian agreed, but told me that there was still space available in the barn, Ron had been asked to remove the walls of the old tack room and turn that space into stalls, at least three and then to construct wooden storage boxes for all the stalls to hold the tack for each horse in at the stall itself. He did agree that yes, the barn would be at full capacity after the deliveries were all made, but we had plenty of land and enough room for another barn or a row of enclosed stalls off to the side of the barn without the corral on it, so there was room to expand the living quarters for the rides we would be renting out, should the need arise.
While the adults still talked on the patio Josh and I took the two dogs out of their travel carriers and took them for a walk on their leashes along the wooded roadside just past the parking lot for the big store complex. The dogs were well behaved as we walked the roadside and both did their business as we walked them and upon our return the guys had arranged for bowls of water to be put down for the dogs who quickly quenched their thirst. Wayne suggested we walk them on the other side of the parking lot just to be sure before we all got back in the van so off Josh and I went with the dogs.
We were home only about a half hour when Ian got a call from our local lawyer. Josh and I had set up a feeding station and washable bedding pads for the dogs out in the barn and were actually taking them for a walk around the property, letting them get used to us, and where they were going to be living. Ron and Tom had spent some time putting together a dog run across the back of the barn and putting a doggie door from the run into the barn so the dogs could go in and out by themselves, but they would get to run around by themselves also, as soon as they became accustomed to the property and that this place was their home.
As soon as we walked into the kitchen from the mud room we knew something was up, and without a lot of fuss Ian told us what the call from our lawyer was all about. Mister Major, Rich Major, Noah’s brother, had handled the local end of our purchase of this property upon the recommendation of our home state lawyer, Mr. Snyder. Rich had received a call from Mr. Snyder and they both had done a lot of digging and the upshot of all this was that I had a half brother, an 8 year old half brother that no one in our family, or even Mr. Snyder, ever knew about until he was contacted by the children’s services of New York City. Apparently the boy’s mother had left packets of information to be opened after her death and she had been killed in a roadway accident just last week. The packet contained the paperwork for a trust for the boy set up by my father and a binding agreement between the mother and my father where he provided a home for the two and an independent income for the mother to support the boy. When my father had died she inherited from a totally separate life insurance policy with her and the boy the beneficiaries and he had paid the premiums on the policy for the last 8 years.
In the packet of documents was a detailed account of their on-going relationship covering the past ten years and contact information for my father. Rich and Mr. Snyder had verified all the information and wanted to know if Ian and Wayne would take on the boy, otherwise he would be placed in an orphanage or a group home. Ian was of the opinion that we should at least meet the boy, to see if we could all get along together, and Wayne was in total agreement. I, on the other hand, was so overwhelmed that I took off as fast as I could, making my way to the stairs and for only the second time I made my way up to my room on my own and slammed the door shut and fell on my bed sobbing.
I couldn’t believe my asshole of a father, keeping me in the dark about a half brother for 8 effing years, 8 years I could have had someone to play with and to talk kid talk to. 8 years I could have been passing on to, giving him pointers on how to survive my ass of a father, what was the best book I’ve ever read, or books I could have read to him, a boy I could have played games with and helped with first grade homework, the holidays we could have been together, instead of the loneliness of being a lone child with an absentee father that gave new meaning to the term “cold fish”. There wasn’t a knock on my door, the door just opened and then Josh was hugging me, telling me he thought he understood, my reaction wasn’t about the boy, it was about the anger I still held toward my father and how with the exception of Wayne, and Ian, how I was left alone so much of the time.
But what kind of life was I setting up my half brother to have if I didn’t step up and at least meet the kid and see if we were at least compatible? The kids father had died only a few months ago, his mother only a few weeks ago, was I going to let him disappear into the system? Josh saying all that made me sit up and use my mind, not my emotions to come to the decision that I’m very sure he had expected from me downstairs. I had “som splainin to do” to those two great guys downstairs, and a kiss to bestow on my wonderful boyfriend.
I kept telling Josh how much I loved and appreciated him as I kissed him repeatedly and he took my hand and walked downstairs beside me and I went right to the kitchen table and told Wayne and Ian just how sorry I was for acting like a spoiled rotten child and letting my feelings about my father interfere with our discussion about my half brother. I wanted to meet him, and the sooner the better. Wayne and Ian both jumped up from the table and hugged me, and I pulled Josh into our hug and told my guardians that Josh had talked some sense into me.
The next couple of hours were a whirlwind as we rushed about packing overnight bags and getting Josh to run home to get one ready for himself after Wayne talked on the phone to Ron letting him know the reason for our flight to New York City and it was Ron who suggested we hire a helicopter service that could pick us up here at the estate and fly us directly to New York. Ian handled that and called Rich and asked if he’d be kind enough to accompany us to retrieve my half brother.
It was on the flight to New York that I realized I didn’t even know my brother’s name, so I asked Ian and he passed me a data sheet on the boy, as talking on the helicopter was difficult and we had to wear noise suppression headphones and talk into a tiny mic. Height, weight, what grade school he was enrolled in for the first grade, what his address had been and his mother’s name and what had been her phone number. The boy’s name was Bill, William Wheeler. Even though it was a Saturday afternoon Rich was able to get the authorities in New York to prepare Bill to meet us, and at his old apartment where he had lived all his life with his mother, and apparently my father, when he was in the city. He assured us that if all went well with our meeting, that Bill could go home with all of us tonight.
With the exception of Josh, I don’t think I have ever felt for another person at first sight as I did for Bill. I was again in my wheelchair as soon as we got out of the ‘copter. Just as Ian and Wayne had predicted, I was physically tired from being on my feet so much earlier today and they had insisted on bringing the folding manual chair with us. Ian pushed, because when Josh tried it we went in a curve as he still didn’t have enough strength to keep me going in a straight line. The building we landed upon was very near the United Nations complex, but we only had to go two blocks to the high rise we were all meeting in. When we got off the elevator on the 7th floor there was a policeman outside one of the apartments who waved us toward him and once our identities had been verified we were allowed inside where another officer, a well dressed middle aged woman, a man in a suit who turned out to be a lawyer for social services, and a young boy awaited us in a rather posh living room.
As soon as we saw him, Wayne, Ian and I gasped, Bill looked like me, I mean his hair was combed to the opposite side of mine, but otherwise he was the spitting image of me at the age of 8. He had been sitting on the floor playing with a train set and as we were let in by the policeman, he had been studying each of us as we came into the entry of the large apartment. Ian was pushing me in my chair and we were the last to come in, and when Bill saw me he raised up and stared at me, his little mouth hanging open for a few seconds, and before any of the adults in the living room off the entry could move he was up on his feet and standing right in front of me, real close and he reached out and touched my face and asked with a lot of wonder in his voice,”Who are you?” And I told him I was Max, his brother Max, and he just lit up from within, throwing his arms around my neck and pulling himself up on my lap.
Even if I do say so myself, he sure was a cute little bugger. I held him as he balanced his legs on my lap and I instinctively kissed his nose which set him to giggling and hugging my neck, asking where I had been, I was a big boy, where did I live, how come his mom or dad never told him about me, do you know you look like me in the mirror (and the kicker), can I come live with you, I don’t like that place those people took me to, can we live here in his house?
I started to tickle him just a bit and then I introduced the people with me, telling Bill that Josh was my best friend, Rich was my lawyer, and Wayne and Ian were my guardians, we lived on a farm with a lot of fields, a lot of horses coming, and two dogs about his size, and a great big house. Our three adults went to join the others in the living room and Bill wanted to show Josh and me his room, but we told him we had some serious business to take care of first, in the living room, but I sure wanted to see his room very soon, so with Bill still on my lap I started to wheel us to the living room and with Josh’s help we ended up by the end of the couch our three adults were sitting on. Josh took an ottoman just in front of me and he sat there, leaning slightly against my legs as Bill stayed just where he was, on my lap, but he turned around to face out into the room and the six adults in there.
Once Rich produced evidence of my and Ian’s relationship to Bill there really wasn’t much more to talk about, but the middle aged woman from Social Services was being quite hard nosed about the whole idea of us taking and raising Bill, even with Ian named as the legal guardian of him. The Social Services lawyer had another opinion and he had brought custody forms to be filled out and he and Ian went to the home office with Rich to fill out and fax the form to the family court, and his agency for their approval.
The woman kept going on about strangers coming and removing one of her charges to the policeman sitting near her and Wayne had finally had enough and asked her how long she had known Bill before the mother’s death, and how much in hundreds of thousands of dollars was allocated in the mother’s will for the upkeep and raising of her son. Not only would he have two loving relatives to live with in the countryside, but all moneys left to him, for himself and his upbringing, would go into a trust for him just as mine had been. That essentially shut her up and the cop grinned at Wayne and nodded his head.
Once the paperwork was completed and faxed off to the proper places, the lawyer for Social Services released the police and the case worker and he supervised us packing everything Bill had as far as clothing and toys from his room and a few photo albums with family pictures in them. The lawyers chatted amongst themselves for a while and Rich told me that Bill’s mother had been a travel writer who my father had represented for years, so some copies of her books went into a box as well. The doorman was very helpful in getting a maintenance man to help cart Bill’s possessions to the helipad two blocks away and Ian tipped both men generously. Rich explained that even if Bill had wanted furniture from his room he could have arranged with the estate lawyer to get that done, but since only clothes, toys and some photos were going, the estate lawyer would get in touch when the contents of the apartment and the apartment itself were sold, and that the moneys and stocks and bonds coming to Bill would be handled by that lawyer who had been notified of Ian accepting guardianship of Bill and of Rich’s involvement as our lawyer. Shortly we followed the maintenance man and returned to our now, ready for take off, helicopter ride home.
Bill was fascinated by the ‘copter and the crew was very helpful with him. As we approached our estate, I began pointing out stuff to Bill outside the window and he was totally engrossed with the outside as we landed on the ground beside the barn inside the currently unused corral. Ron and Tom had come out of the barn and helped the co-pilot to unload the boxes and bags from the cargo area, along with the unneeded overnight bags and my wheelchair. I was rested and was able to walk out, holding Bill’s hand as Josh hovered close. After everything of ours was removed the ‘copter took off and Ron wheeled the cart up to the house where with the ramp we got the cart real close to the front door and we began to unload everything into the front entry hall. Ian asked me to take Bill upstairs so he could pick out a bedroom so they’d have a place to stow his gear, so Josh and I took Bill upstairs to do just that.
While Bill was picking out the bedroom right next to mine (he really didn’t look at the others), Wayne was putting together a quick meal as it was rapidly approaching seven in the evening and none of us, it turned out, had eaten since our lunch at the delicatessen after we had left the stock sale at the university. The men got all of Bill’s things upstairs and Josh and I helped him get settled in, with Ian helping where he could. Once his stuff was in place, including some of his own pictures on his new walls, Bill said he liked his new room and we all went down to a burger dinner in the kitchen.
Bill had a full tummy after we ate and Ron and Tom left for Ron’s house, since they had a full day of work ahead with the rest of the trail clearing crew, plus getting the barn ready for the rest of the new stock to be delivered sometime during the week. Josh was spending the night so he and I went up with Bill when it became apparent that it was getting to be his bedtime. Once he had been tucked in and asleep Josh and I retreated to my bedroom and got ready for bed ourselves. This was only the second time we had a sleepover, the first since Josh had regained some use of his right arm. We ended up lying face to face on our sides rubbing against each other until we both achieved an explosive climax and after wiping up our goo we fell asleep in each others arms.
When I first opened my eyes in the morning I was startled to see a younger me laying on his tummy with his head resting on his folded hands, just watching Josh and me sleeping. As I blearily watched him he must have noticed my eyes open and he got a big smile on his face and he jumped up and threw himself on me asking if I was awake now. My laughing must have woken Josh and he too was surprised to see Bill up on the bed with us but Bill thought that Josh being awake too was funny but he did ask us when we were all going to eat breakfast. That got Josh fully awake, so I slipped out and went to the bathroom and when I came back Josh went and when he returned, I suggested Bill go before we all went down to see if our breakfast was ready.
The next couple of days he kind of clung to Josh and me, but he really wasn’t any trouble. Soon he had Wayne and Ian spending time with him on their own, so he was adjusting to our home, and the family on an individual basis, which was good. At church on Sunday he sang along as the congregation sang hymns, at least he made noises that made you think he knew what he was singing. Gosh was he cute.
On Tuesday of that first week Bill was with us while the first delivery from the University was being made. Ian told me that there was to be a surprise for Bill delivered and sure enough, even before the horses were unloaded the two wranglers led two ponies out of the huge van and into the corral which we were all lined up at, on the outside of the fence, Bill in Ian’s arms. Ian told Bill to pick one for himself and Bill told him he had to meet them both first before he could decide cause right now he liked them both.
The next morning Ron came over with Josh and he told us that he thought the horses had enough settling in time so he thought we should all go for a ride, at least in the attached corral. While Bill played with the dogs we all saddled up our horses and a pony for Bill and once done, Ron called Bill over and began a short course on his pony riding. He was a bit stern with Bill, but I reasoned that with someone as young as Bill you had to be if you were putting them up on the back of a pony for the first time. Bill paid attention and passed the little test Ron gave him right there in the barn before we all mounted up and moved out into the corral. We got a feel for our horses and Bill showed us everything he had learned from his first riding course, brief as it was. Ron explained that he planned to spend at least two hours a day with him to get him to the point he’d feel comfortable enough letting the little guy ride out of the corral with the rest of us. Josh had been paying close attention to Bill’s lesson and he too did very well while we rode in the corral.
Dinner that night was fun as Bill tried to retell each of us how he did while riding his new pony and how much fun he had in “pony school” with Ron. When Bill said school I looked to Ian with a question on my face and he just nodded at me, letting me know that I was now enrolled at the local middle school, so I relaxed and actually felt pleased I’d be attending school with Josh at the end of August, just over a month from now.
We watched some TV after dinner and when Bill showed signs of being restless I took him for a walk outside, remembering to take my cell phone in case I fell or otherwise needed help. Everything went well though as we walked along with Bill holding my hand. We walked as far as the dog run behind the barn where Bill played with the dogs for quite a while while Josh and I talked on our cells. We agreed to meet up in the morning for our own therapy session as Theresa had canceled on us yesterday due to a family emergency, but had assured us she’d be here for Friday’s session. We let Bill talk to Josh for a bit as Bill and I slowly walked back to the house and once back at the house we said our good nights to Josh and we both went in to start getting ready for bed.
We did have a supervisor, of sorts, for our exercises the next day as Bill wanted to know what we were doing in the “exercise place”. He tried to do what we were doing, without any weights on the small bar we let him use. He was interested to see the muscles we did have move as I worked more on my legs and Josh worked on his right arm, and then we did a bit of what Theresa called an overall cardio set of routines for the last 20 minutes. Those were the fun exercises for Bill because they didn’t require weights, just floor and standing exercises like squats, jumping jacks, running in place, and riding the stationary bike. We all cleaned up after and by then Ron was ready for a break from trail clearing and it was time for Bill’s next riding lesson.
Josh and I wandered down to see the progress on the first of the really long trails and for about 2 weeks of work they almost had it finished and had already started clearing deadwood from the next long trail. Areas had been cleared for the outhouses and picnic areas. Ron had told us that by the next week we’d be able to ride the first long trail. Ian and Ron had discussed hiring another four to six men to start on some of the shorter trails which were predominately on the other side of the property, but originating at the barn area too. So far there were plans for seventeen trails in total with twelve being the magic number to open with. Granted the shorter trails would be the easiest to create, but for some reason the sales of the dead wood cut to firewood lengths, and sold by the half cord, were going really well and Wayne was handling that end of the business. A cord of wood is usually 4 feet x 4 feet x 8 feet so that is a lot of wood for someone to haul so by selling it by the half cord it really made it easier for the buyer to handle themselves.
On the weekends it wasn’t unusual to see families loading their pickup or utility trailer together, usually fathers and sons, but not uncommonly daughters helping or a single mother and her children. Wayne was usually busy with household stuff on the weekends so the wood sales usually fell to Josh and me and now we had Bill to help us. He actually did help by keeping younger kids occupied while the parent and older kids loaded their purchase. I got to meet a lot of kids that Josh had been going to school with for many years already, and I have to admit, it felt really good to see not only the kids we had run into at church, but others from other parts of town too, I wouldn’t be a complete stranger at school now.
Our authors receive no payment other than your emails to them.. Email Art at: ArtWest at CastleRoland dot Net