Living in a Small Town

 

"Well, I just have to say it, I haven't ever had a patient that healed up as well or as fast as this little man," Doctor Mulhearn smiled as he ruffled his young patient's hair. "I was going to hold off on this for a little while, but he's physically ready for it now. There are three ways to handle the scars on Kaden's back. First, we could just leave them as is and he would just learn to deal with them as he grows up. Second, we could do skin grafts to cover them up and no one would ever know about what happened to him that doesn't already know, and even some of them will eventually forget."

"Both of those sound as if they would be pretty rough choices for Kaden to deal with as he grows up," Stan said quietly as he helped Kaden put his shirt back on. "He could face other kids and even some grownups picking on him if we leave them, and the skin grafts would involve a lot of procedures for him to recover from, not to mention where would the skin come from? No bigger than he is, he can't have that much skin to spare, and wouldn't that leave scars in other places?"

"The donor skin would come from… well, from cadavers," the doctor said, a little bashfully.

"Oh…. Oh, that's just…. Well, that's certainly not what I was expecting," Stan stammered.

"Mama Stan, what's a kid daffer? If they're a kid, wouldn't they want to keep their skin?" Kaden asked innocently.

"Son, a cadaver is a fancy word for a body that isn't alive anymore," Jude said softly.

"You mean dead people? I would get skin from dead people?" Kaden blurted. "If I was getting dead skin, why couldn't I just save up the dead skin that Mama Stan foley tates off every night?"

"I think you mean exfoliates, and I'm afraid it doesn't quite work like that, Kaden," Doc Mulhearn said softly. "We need a sheet of skin about this big," he explained, holding his hands up to indicate the size of the child's back. "It could be done, but it's really expensive. Just a tiny bit of cad… this skin costs several thousand dollars."

"You said there was one other option," Jude prompted.

"Yes, and I think this would be ideal for Kaden, to be honest," the doc smiled. "He could get tattoos on his back that would cover up the scars. You and Kaden would get to choose a design that would mean something special to him. It gives him the chance to turn the ugliness of his previous life into something beautiful for the future."

"That sounds cool," Kaden smiled. "I could pick anything at all, and they would draw it on my back?"

"Well, it would have to be a design that would cover everything that it is supposed to cover, and they actually use needles and ink to make it stay on your back forever. We wouldn't want it to wash off the first time you take a bath, would we?"

"We could just not wash those parts," the boy suggested eagerly.

"Nice try, you dirty little piglet, but you still have to take baths," Mama Stan laughed.

"It was worth a try," Kaden shrugged and giggled.

“Now that’s what I want to see for my favorite patient,” Doc Zeb said with a smile. “A happy childhood where he knows he’s loved and cared for.” The doctor choked up a bit at that point, as tears could be seen in his eyes. “Go ahead and get out of here. Stop by Jenny’s desk on your way out and she can help you schedule the next appointment.”

“Are you ok, Uncle Doctor Zebbie?” Kaden asked softly as he walked over and hugged the man. “I promise we’ll listen to you real good and do what you want me to, so you don’t have to be sad.”

“Oh, sweet boy, if I got sad about patients not listening to me, I would have been on heavy medication years ago. I just can’t get people to stop deep frying everything they can get their hands on. Southern culture, my foot. It’s Southern stupidity is what it is. Sorry for getting on my soapbox, Kadey boy. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Nurse Jenny and I always wanted a family, children. It wasn’t possible for either of us, though. If your Daddy and Mama Stan hadn’t been here in town, we might have gotten to adopt you, but then it’s just as well we didn’t, as it would be really awkward having my own son as my patient. Not to mention, we might be just a little too old to have a very young boy like you. You’d wear us out in no time, I’d bet.”

“He is a live wire of energy at times, Doc,” Jude laughed softly. “Especially at bath time and bedtime.”

“You folks go ahead and get home and keep taking care of one another,” Doc smiled a little sadly. “Don’t you worry about me, or Nurse Jenny. We get by ok getting to take care of all the little kids in town and some of the not so little ones too.”

As Stan opened the exam room door, he stumbled a bit. “Momma?”

“Oh, good, you’re all done with the checkup. How did everything go?”

“We can discuss that over dinner tonight, Momma,” Stan said and then pointed at the two young strangers that were sitting in the hallway, holding hands and looking terrified. “Who do we have here?”

“Jude, sweetheart, maybe you should sit down for a moment. Zeb, get your carcass out here, too,” Mrs. Truesdale said in her official voice. “Jenny Sue, you come here by Zeb, darling.”

“What have you got up your sleeve this time, Aunt Pittypat?” the nurse asked as she walked down the hall, and after kissing Kaden on the head, sat beside her husband.

“I am on official social work business, Jenny Sue,” came the reply. “Jude, I don’t know if you will have ever met this young man before,” Mrs. Truesdale began, indicating one of the two young teens. “This is Thomas Montgomery, Jr.”

“Not anymore,” the rather small blond mumbled. “Pops says I am nothing of his, so I don’t even get his name.”

“Hey, just like you told me, it doesn’t matter what your name is,” the other boy said as he released his hand holding Thomas’, and wrapped that arm around the smaller boy’s shoulder, hugging him tightly.

“You can’t mean….” Jude stammered as he fell out of his chair onto the floor. “He’s really…. He’s my….”

“We haven’t been gone that long, have we?” Stan gasped as he tried to help his husband up off the floor.

“Should I know you guys?” Thomas questioned shyly.

“Your father was my brother,” Jude whispered. “I knew you looked familiar.”

“I don’t have a father,” Thomas snarled. “He kicked me out after beating us both up because he caught us kissing in my room.”

“My parents wanted to stone us as their evil god tells them to,” the other boy spoke up. “If it weren’t for the neighbor on the other side of Tommy’s house stopping them, we’d probably both be dead now just like he is.”

“Both boys’ fathers are in custody, awaiting trial for the supposed accidental death of their elderly neighbor who distracted them long enough for these two boys to escape and run down the street to get to safety,” Mrs. Truesdale choked out.

“Hey! I ran away from my crazy father too,” Kaden called out. “Did your houses blow up, too?” he asked as he pulled up his shirt to show the older boys his scarred back.

“Oh, little dude,” the darker haired boy gasped in horror. “No, our houses didn’t blow up. Dang, that’s messed up.”

“I know it’s pretty icky looking now, but Uncle Doctor Zebbie is going to help me get tutus to cover it up,” Kaden announced proudly.

“Is it ok if we hug you, kiddo?” Thomas asked softly. He looked at the adults around him. “It’s just a hug, nothing else, I promise.”

“Well, yeah it’s ok,” Jude laughed. “He’s your cousin now. Of course you can hug him.”

“I get another cousin, and this one doesn’t have to be a stinky girl,” Kaden called out doing a happy dance across the hall and launching into the chair with Thomas.

“Excuse me?” two women both growled at Kaden. He ducked his face into Thomas’ chest to hide.

“Sorry, Granny. Sorry Nurse Auntie Jenny Sue,” the little boy whispered from his perch.

“Are we here to witness Jude and Stanley getting more family?” Doc asked as the adults all cooed at how adorable and bashful Kaden suddenly looked.

“Well, yes, but they’re here to witness you getting family, too,” Granny smiled. Doc Zeb and Nurse Jenny Sue grabbed one another and sank into chairs of their own.

“Now, it just wouldn’t be proper for me to place young Thomas and his boyfriend into the same home as brothers, would it?” Granny continued. “Zeb, Jenny Sue, meet your foster son, Tayseer Majeed.”

“You would do this?” the dark-haired olive-skinned boy asked quietly. “You would take me knowing that my heart goes wherever Tommy goes?”

“Aww, Tay,” Thomas cooed with a glowing blush.

“You would foster me?” Tay continued.

“Only if we can’t adopt you,” Doc said firmly. “Either way, I want you to know that fostered or adopted, you will be our son in our hearts and our minds, just as much as if we had given birth to you.”

“Adoption is certainly an option,” Granny pointed out. “All parental rights are revoked permanently.”

“May I beg one thing of you, my new parents?” Tay asked as he slipped out of his chair and knelt in front of the doctor and nurse. “Could I please change my whole name? I want nothing to remind me of my old life. Well, maybe I could keep the Tay part.”

“If that’s what you want to do, son,” Jenny Sue whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I had a favorite uncle when I was a child, and his name was Taylor.”

“Taylor. Taylor. What do you think, Tommy?” the darker boy asked his boyfriend.

“I love it, Taylor,” Tommy smiled. “Hmm. Tommy and Taylor… Oh, what is our… uhh I mean your last name going to be?”

“Taylor Mulhearn,” Jenny Sue answered as she fell to the floor and hugged her new son tightly, and then sobbed happily as Doc Zeb joined them.

“What about you, Thomas? Jude is already your new guardian just by blood relation, but you can be adopted too if you want,” Granny pointed out.

“You could be my big brother?” Kaden asked wide-eyed.

“If Uncle Jude and his wife are ok with that, I think I would like having you as my little brother very much,” Thomas answered as he squeezed Kaden like a teddy bear.

“Well, if you’re looking for a wife, you’re out of luck, kiddo,” Jude laughed.

“I got a Mama Stan, not a Mama,” Kaden giggled. “But I got Granny and Aunt Ellie, and Auntie Rita, and Aunt Flo, and bunches of more aunts and uncles from Daddy’s work.

“You’re…?” Thomas gasped looking from Jude to Stan and back to Jude. Stan kissed Jude full on the mouth very firmly then looked back at Thomas with a smirk.

“They do kissy faces a LOT,” Kaden complained loudly. “You have to get used to that. It’s kind of gross, but if you make loud enough gaggy noises they stop.”

“I don’t think it’s gross at all,” Thomas whispered as he blushed intensely.

“I think it’s only fair to warn you, son, that you and your boyfriend won’t be sharing a bed at our house anytime in the foreseeable future,” Jude said firmly as he walked over and pulled Thomas into his arms for a hug. “You’ll be sharing a room and a bunk bed with your little brother, except when he has sleepovers at your Granny’s house, so you and the boyfriend will keep it pg at our house.”

“He can share my room there, too, right, Granny?” Kaden pleaded with his best blinking puppy dog eyes.

“Well, of course he will sleep in the grandson room,” Granny laughed. “We’ll get you a set of bunk beds for that room, too, so you can both have sleepovers with me at the same time. I’ll get to spoil both of my grandsons,” she added with a grin, holding her arms open for a quickly agreed upon hug.

“Umm, Thomas, just out of curiosity, do you happen to have a favorite color?”

“My Tommy Tinker Bell eats sleeps and breathes purple,” Tay offered with a laugh. “At least whenever he can.”

“YAY!” Kaden squealed and did a fist pump of victory. “I would have let you repaint the room if you really wanted to, but now we don’t gotta do that. PURPLE RULES!”

“I assume my favorite little brother likes purple, too?” Thomas giggled.

“Just a touch,” Stan laughed. “So, are you ok with being Thomas Truesdale at least until you’re finished with high school, but preferably at least some of college as well?” he asked with a teasing look at Thomas and Taylor.

“For reasons I am sure you will understand, I didn’t want to keep the name Montgomery,” Jude said as he walked up and hugged Thomas. He turned to Taylor, looking very stern. “As for you, young man, I am not generally in favor of my sons dating, but since you kind of seem like you’re a package deal already, I guess I can live with it, as long as you abide by some rules for my peace of mind and your safety.”

“Umm, yes sir,” Taylor squeaked nervously. “I will do whatever you ask as long as you still let Tommy and I be together.”

“With the permission of your parents, I won’t be stupid enough to say you can’t see one another at all,” Jude began.

“I would hope you feel comfortable enough with us to know that we wouldn’t stand in their way, either,” Doc told the deputy sheriff. “We’re both trained in medicine, so we know that there is scientific evidence to prove that you boys were all born the way you are. And I would like to point out that you and Tommy offer further proof of the idea that there could be a genetic factor. At any rate, I would like to state that Jenny and I will do our utmost best to keep the boys healthy as they can be, but we may turn to you for your guidance in how to parent a gay teen with a boyfriend.”

“No bets about not being slightly biased, Doc, but I think that will work out fine,” Stan agreed.

“As for you, mister, Gaydar is a thing and I’ve got your number,” the deputy told Taylor sternly. “You are a mini-me, and despite the family resemblance to me, my Tommy appears to be Stan made over again.”

“Hmm a mix of both of you,” Tommy mused aloud. “It’s almost as if you were my parents or something, Daddy.”

“Aww,” Jude melted and grabbed the little blond in a bear hug.

“Daddy may fall for the cute stuff, but I know all the tricks, little minx,” Stan pointed out. “Jude may get Taylor as his clone, but you and Kaden are both my mini-me’s. I will be much harder for you to con.”

“Yes, ma’am, I mean sir,” Tommy said seriously. “I promise I didn’t mean any kind of con. I just can’t get over how awesome it is that I get the little brother I’ve always wanted, and a dad and a mo… err… mother figure that still love and understand me.” He started crying at that point, and everyone in the hallway group hugged him. “It’s all my best dreams coming true. Well, the ones without the… umm… the mature stuff.” He corrected his wording as he looked into the adoring face of his new little brother.

“Nice save, son,” Jude laughed. “You’re already learning what it means to be a good big brother.”

“Yeah, speaking of being a good big brother and that mature stuff as you called it,” Stan began with a very serious look at the blond teen as he sat down beside the boy. “I know some things will be unavoidable, like dreams, but as much as you can, we will appreciate it if Kaden remains as innocent as he is for as long as he can.”

“I would never…. That’s… that’s just… He’s such a cute little baby,” Taylor stuttered in response.

“What did you call me?” Kaden growled. “Only Granny calls me baby. I am telling my cousin Janie, and she’ll clobber you.”

“I’m sorry, please don’t get me beat up,” Taylor apologized profusely and begged melodramatically for leniency. “I will do my very best to never call you a baby again. I swear.”

“Maybe we might call you baby bro sometimes?” Thomas asked with a cuddle to his new little brother. “I promise you we wouldn’t mean anything bad by that, just that you’re a very super special little brother.”

“You can call me baby brother, not him,” Kaden pouted. “You’re my brother. He’s rude.”

“But he’s my boyfriend,” Thomas pointed out. “If you get a girlfriend someday, I will let her call me big brother.”

“EWWW GROSS! I’m not never gonna have one of those,” Kaden protested. “Girls are stinky and icky, until they grow up to be grannies, mommies, and aunties.”

“I think at the moment I will withhold any statements at least until my future doesn’t depend on a very tastefully dressed and extremely polite lady,” Thomas said demurely as he looked over to Mrs. Truesdale.

“Save the sucking up for your boyfriend, Tommy dear,” Granny told him, causing some of the adults to gasp in shock with the teenagers, and some of them laugh. Kaden just blinked in confusion.

“Momma, not in front of Kadie,” Stan whispered loudly.

“Mama Stan, you promised not to call me Kadie in front of people,” Kaden pouted. “I’m not a baby and I’m not a girl.”

“I’m sorry, my little macho man,” Stan apologized as Jude tried to hide his grin behind his hands.

“Nacho? Are we getting nachos for dinner tonight?" Kaden asked eagerly.

“We are now,” Stan promised. “I hope homemade nachos are ok with you, too, Thomas.”

“Oh, I eat just about anything, umm… What should I call you?” Thomas said quickly, finishing off bashfully and curiously.

“That’s Daddy,” Kaden answered, pointing at Jude. “And that’s Mama Stan,” he leaned over to give Stan a kiss on the cheek. “And this is Granny,” the little boy continued his introductions.

“Where’s my boys?? What’s happened? Do I need to lock somebody up?” Everyone turned to see the sheriff rushing into the hospital hallway at full speed, the lights of his police cruiser still flashing in the parking lot outside.

“Poppa, calm down, everyone’s fine,” Jude said quickly. “Stand down. At ease.”

“Look at you creating a scene all over town,” Granny started as she walked up and grabbed her husband by the hand. “I’m sorry if I worried you, darling, but I thought you might like to meet your newest grandson.”

“Newest what? Wait a minute. Pat, I know I don’t understand much about Jude and Stan, but I’m pretty sure it don’t work that way, no matter how much they keep trying,” the older man said as he bent forward to kiss his wife on the cheek.

“POPPA!” Jude and Stan both screeched while blushing intensely.

“Don’t work what way?” Kaden asked, looking from face to face to face hoping someone would answer his question.

“How old are you, little bro?” Tommy asked.

“I’m six and a half,” Kaden answered proudly.

“Ok, I’ll explain it to you in five and a half years but remember to act surprised when Dad tells you his version when you’re a lot older,” Tommy teased. “In the meantime, introduce me to Grandpa.”

“It’s Poppa,” the sheriff said sternly. “Grandpa sounds old.”

“Oh, wake up and smell the coffee, Willy,” Granny snarked. “We now have a grandson that’s a teenager. We are old.”

“It doesn’t count if he’s adopted. I’m still in my prime,” Poppa snorted and posed like a superhero… a moderately overweight, gray-haired superhero. He was not impressed with the assorted giggles and snickers from those around him.