The Apartment

Ray was lying in the emergency room bed as Peewee, Pauly, and Andy brought him up to date on what had happened while he was out of it. Gil looked on, mostly silently.

"Of'cer Kowalski said those guys are going away for a long time," Peewee said excitedly.

Andy, a bit more worldly-wise, was skeptical. "They'll probably get a plea bargain and be out on probation," he said.

"I'm fairly sure that won't be the case, Andy," Gil broke in to say. "They're not admitting whose knife it was that Chay was stabbed with, so all four of them are being charged with assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon. Kowalski and I both had a word with the detectives and the Assistant D.A. on duty, and there will be no deal offered. There's plenty of evidence, and those boys have gotten and wasted one too many chances already."

"What about Mikey?" Ray asked. "He was bleeding pretty bad; is he going to be all right?"

"Hit in the nose," Pauly said. "It gave him a bloody nose, but didn't do any serious damage � just got him mad enough to fight. Donny got a couple of bruised ribs, though, but he'll be okay."

Struck by the realization of why he'd gotten into all this, Ray said, "What happened to the two boys those guys were beating up?"

Nobody had an answer. Reading Ray's anxious expression, Andy said, "I'll go find out!" and headed out the cubicle door, heading to the left where the treatment room those boys were in was located.

A doctor in his forties walked in with an authoritative manner. He ran a couple of tests for concussion, then, "I'll need your name and your parents' names, young man," he said to Ray.

"Okay," Ray said. "What for, records?"

"Well, I will need to contact them to admit you, and I intend to keep you overnight for observation," the doctor said.

Gil had been in the process of leaving the room. Now he stopped short.

Ray was feeling panicked. If they called his parents...!

"Pardon me, doctor, but is he showing lingering signs of concussion?" Gil asked quietly.

"I'm afraid I cannot discuss his medical state with just anyone," the doctor said imperiously.

"Do you want to go home, Ray?" Gil asked him, ignoring the comment. "Do you feel dizzy or light-headed?"

"Sir, I'll thank you not to interfere with my patient!" the doctor said.

"And I will point out some salient facts to you, sir!" Gil said with measured heat. "First, your actions up to this point have been completely within the State Emergency Care Act, and I have no issue with any of them. But when you begin talking admission to the hospital, holding Ray for observation, and contacting his parents, you have gone beyond your rights as attending physician under that statute. So: first, you have not been retained as his physician by himself as a minor or by those who have legal custody of him; second, the parental rights of his natural parents have been terminated for abuse and abandonment by court order; third, I am his attorney; and fourth, I am his legal guardian, also by court order. Now: to repeat my question, are there grounds to suspect lingering concussion?"

"Why, no, but he needs to stay under observation, just in case," the doctor said.

"And he will be in a room here which nurses will check every few hours, am I right?" Gil said, the tone making the question all but rhetorical.

"Yes, but...."

"Ray is a resident of a home of eight boys who treat each other as brothers. He shares a room with the boy who just stepped out of here and who would willingly sit up all night making sure he is all right. Any of the others would willingly take his place, if Andy couldn't. He'd have better monitoring at home than here. And if I don't miss my guess, that's what he wants to do. So unless there is a medical reason why he needs to stay, discharge him."

Ray looked up at Gil, who smiled down on him. He realized with a start that he could trust Gil, that he meant just what he said, that he genuinely cared what Ray wanted and would do his best to make sure it happened. This was a startling revelation to him; adults didn't work like that, in his experience, except maybe his mother on rare occasions.

The doctor turned on his heel and walked out, turning left at the door.

Between them, Gil and Pauly helped Ray to his feet. As they were skimming the room with their eyes for things they didn't want to leave behind, Andy's angry voice came from down the hall.

---

 

All four bolted for the cubicle where Andy's voice had come from, Peewee's initial speediness and Pauly's longer legs taking the two of them there first, just about neck-and-neck. Gil's reaction time and his sense of dignity made for a slower start on his part, but he hurried to ensure that 'his boys' didn't get themselves in trouble. Ray brought up the rear, finding that there was a pace he could move at, but any faster and he started to lose his balance. He inwardly cursed having gotten hurt and what it had done to his reactions.

The two boys looked panic-stricken; Andy was furious. "You will not be calling their parents, and you won't keep them here against their will!" he was screaming at the doctor � the same officious doctor with whom Ray had just had a run-in.

Andy looked at Gil defiantly as he arrived. "They ran, same as we did. They don't trust me enough yet to have told me the full story, but that much I know. If you really meant what you told me back at the apartment, you'll do something!"

Gil looked at Andy. "I need to prove myself to you? Okay, then... But in return, you have to accept my pacing. The magic wand I use to make things go right instantaneously is on the fritz." The dry sarcasm with which he finished that statement was palpable.

"Donny'll be sorry to hear that!" Pauly said with a grin. Gil did a doubletake and laughed. Peewee looked mystified, then got it and burst into a giggle fit.

"Doctor, would you be so kind as to tell me precisely why these boys are looking terrified?" Gil asked with exaggerated politeness.

"I simply insisted they give me their parents' name and telephone number," the doctor said haughtily.

"And the fact they were reluctant to do so didn't suggest anything to you?" Gil asked.

"Children are always afraid that their parents will ground them or something," the doctor said. "It's not my business to deal with their petty fears."

"You have one patient now, to my certain knowledge," Gil said, "who, if he were returned to his parents, would be forced into an arranged marriage against his will, and as a minor would have absolutely no legal recourse to prevent that from happening. Does that sound like a 'petty fear' to you? I don't know what these boys' issues are, but I guarantee you that I will find out � providing they're willing to give me their trust, that is � and from the expressions on their faces, I doubt that what they fear could in any way be called 'petty'." He deliberately turned his back on the doctor and motioned Ray, Peewee, and Pauly to join him.

Slowly and deliberately, Gil pulled out his billfold, extricated two $10 bills from it, and handed them to Ray. "Give them to the boys, one to each," he said.

"Okay, boys," he continued, "hand me back those bills and ask me to be your lawyer as you do." Puzzled, they did as directed. Pauly was nodding sagely; Peewee, Ray, and the two boys looked confused.

"Now, what that little charade was for," Gil explained, "was that you boys gave me a retainer to serve as your lawyer. While I can legally do it without that, having received a retainer from you makes it a legal contract. Given a few of the corners we may have to cut, I decided to make doubly sure to validate the relationship." Turning to Peewee, he said, "If you get asked in court, can you testify that you saw them retain me, and give me consideration?"

"Huh?"

"Asking me to be their lawyer � and me agreeing, which I did � is retaining me, and the money is called 'consideration', because when I act as somebody's lawyer, part of the reason is in consideration of the fact that they have paid me to do so."

"Are we going to owe you more money?" the older boy asked nervously.

"No," Gil said. "What I do for Donny's boys and their friends is always what's called pro bono work. That means helping people that need help and don't have the money to pay for it. A good lawyer always tries to do some of that along with work he gets paid for; the Bar Association says we're supposed to, because we agreed that it's something we ought to do."

Gil realized he was rambling, focused, and continued by saying, "Okay. I gather there's good reasons why you two don't want to go back to your home, and it's not just because you'll get scolded or grounded or lose privileges or something, right?"

Hesitation, then "Yessir" from both boys.

"I need to walk a delicate line here," Gil went on, "so let's start by agreeing that we won't get upset with each other by what I ask and what you don't want to say. I know there's going to be things you won't want to tell me; I'm going to need a certain amount of information to convince the judge not to send you back. So if I push, that's why, and if you refuse, I'll know why. Is that okay?"

Two very small, very nervous smiles met that sally. "I guess so," the older boy said; the younger one nodded without speaking.

"All four of these boys have reasons acceptable to the judge why they don't want to go home," Gil said, with a gesture at Ray and his housemates. "So do the other four boys who live with them. I doubt any of them know you well enough yet to volunteer just why, even though all four of them risked their lives for you." He looked at the two boys he was addressing. "It's my policy that you all deserve the same respect." He paused. "That said, what are you willing to tell me about why you ran?"

Both the new boys drew in their breath. So did Ray and Andy.

Ray decided it was time to speak up. "I took off because my father was gonna send me away. Why, I don't want to say, just yet."

Pauly: "Because I got tired of getting hit."

Then Peewee, "Because my aunt didn't want me."

"We had to leave," the younger of the new boys said. "'Cause Keith tried to..."

"Shut up, Lucas!" the older boy, evidently Keith, said sharply.

"Never mind what Keith tried to do, if he's upset about it coming out," Gil said. "But what would have happened that made you feel like you had to leave?"

"Keith's always upset about it coming out," Lucas giggled, joined by Andy and then, as they realized what 'it' was, Peewee and Ray. Keith turned bright red.

"Cut it out, Lucas!" Keith said. But surprisingly, he didn't seem anywhere as upset with his little brother's joke at his expense made to almost complete strangers as Ray would have expected � almost like he was proud of him for having made it.

Keith tried to prop himself up to look Gil in the eye, winced, and dropped back to the bed/gurney/ER thing � Ray didn't have a term for what it was. Alert, Gil saw what he'd been trying to do, and moved forward to meet the older boy's eyes.

"Lissen, Mister," Keith said, "I need the answer to one question. Would you make it so one of us doesn't have to have surgery if we don't want to?"

Gil paused, considering his answer. "My first impulse was to say, 'Yes, I would'," he said to Keith, after a few seconds. "But I get the impression I need to be completely honest with you, even if it means being long-winded and lawyerly. So here's my answer: If your doctor told me the operation was necessary or strongly indicated to save your life, or the same thing with respect to a disabling condition, then I'd override your wishes, because my responsibility would be for your life and long-term health. But otherwise, I'd give you an absolute 'Yes.' If I thought something you didn't want was a good idea, I'd try to talk you into it, but when we were done, I'd abide by your wishes. Does that answer satisfy you, Keith?"

Keith nodded. His eyes watered up, and he sighed � and with the exhaling air it seemed like a load of trouble drained out of him. He reached for his billfold, had trouble pulling it from his hip pocket, and winced. Lucas said, "Let me, Keith."

"Okay," Keith said. "Show it to him."

Lucas did a doubletake at those instructions, and said, "Are you sure?"

"You saw his face," Keith said. "We gotta trust somebody, sometime, or you know what'll happen when Father gets us back. This may be the chance I prayed for. Go ahead."

Lucas still looked nervous. Gil said, "If you're afraid of how I'll react, don't worry; I guarantee I've seen worse than whatever it is. But if it's something you can't trust me about yet, don't show it to me. The way for me to deserve your trust is to earn it, and that's where I can start earning it."

Lucas regarded Gil and his words for several seconds, seemed to come to a decision, and opened the wallet. He pulled out two pictures. One was of Keith with a younger girl that could have been Lucas's twin; the other appeared to be an old, worn snapshot of the same girl dressed in a 1980s style girl's outfit. They were captioned "Keith and Lucy" and "Lucy" respectively.

Ray and Andy looked at them, over Gil's shoulder. "You two have a sister named Lucy?" Andy asked.

He was shocked when both boys said "No!" vehemently, and Keith added, "And I want you to make sure we never do!" to Gil.

"Huh?" Ray said, wondering if the concussion had messed up his brain permanently; this didn't make any sense either."

"Our father," Keith said calmly, "is nuts. You need to stop him." He pointed to the 1980s-vintage picture. "That's our mother when she was a little girl. She died last year."

"But...." Andy said.

"Yeah, she looks just like the other picture, right?" Keith said. "Everybody always said that Lucas looked just like Mother. Father took it too serious."

"That's me with Keith," Lucas said. He looked terrified. "That's what Father wants to make me."

"Father kept taking Lucas to see this specialist doctor," Keith said. "I didn't know why, because he didn't seem sick and hadn't complained of anything. Last week we found out why."

"Father took Mother's death real hard � too hard. I think he went off the deep end back then. He wasn't himself, but we both thought it was just him grieving for her. Until he told us." Lucas looked like he wanted to run; without conscious thought, Ray reached out and wrapped an arm over his shoulder. Lucas gave him a wan smile, and seemed to relax a bit into his side.

"I've been putting off saying it long enough," Keith said. "What he told us he was going to do was to have them operate on Lucas to make him over into Mother, just as she was at his age. Then Father would have Mother again. And when Lucas grew up, he was going to marry him, I mean her." Lucas tensed up again.

"No surgeon would ever consent to that; he'd lose his license for sure!" Gil said.

"I thought that too," Keith said. "But this guy had it all planned out. Father was taking Lucas there the next morning after he told us. He showed me notes of sessions I had supposedly had with a shrink to cure my delusion that I had a brother. And by the time Lucas could get to anybody who wasn't in on the plan, the damage would have been done; he'd be rebuilt as a girl. They even had 'Lucy's' birth certificate made up."

"Um... you are a boy?" Peewee asked Lucas.

"Need proof?" Lucas said saucily, and pulled out the front of his pants for Peewee to look down into.

"That's a wiener, all right," Peewee said judiciously. "And I've seen a lot of 'em."

"Peewee!" said Pauly. Ray and Andy laughed.

"Well, whatever happens, I promise you that the only Lucy you'll need to worry about in your future is if somebody decides to tune in Nickelodeon." He grinned. "And," he added, "I think I can guarantee that the judge will be telling your father that he's 'got some 'splainin' to do'." He said the last five words in a near-perfect imitation of Desi Arnaz's accent; Pauly, Peewee, and, surprisingly, Lucas giggled.

"'Whatever happens'." Andy had picked up on Gil's first words. "Gil, what is going to happen with them?"

Gil met Andy's challenging gaze dead on, and didn't blink. "What do you think I should do?" he asked him.

Andy didn't answer directly. "Ray, remember the first thing Chay said to me when I brought you home?" he asked with a smirk.

Ray thought back. Then it dawned on him. "Good idea, if that's what they want," he said with a warm smile. "But where'll you put them?"

"House Meeting first," Pauly said, catching on. Peewee ran up and hugged Lucas, who was startled but didn't seem to mind it. "We'll be right back," he promised, and ran out the door.

"I guess we're having that House Meeting right now," Pauly said with an amused smile. He looked at Gil. "I think we're probably going to want you there," he said. "You two be thinking about what you would want to have happen; we'll be back to see you in just a few minutes." He motioned the other three to follow him and started out the door.

---

 

There were a couple of surprises when they reached Chay's room, but not in what they'd expected to find. Chay was flat on his back, elevated maybe 15 degrees from perfectly flat. Donny was sitting next to him, holding his hand. (Ray smiled inside at seeing that.) Mikey, nose bandaged and another bandage just above his hairline, was sitting across the room. All three were listening with mixed patience to Peewee, who was talking at a rate that suggested he had forgotten the use of commas and begrudged the time needed to take a breath.

The surprises were Jack, in a wheelchair, accompanied by Van, who was eying Chay with disapproval.

"Stifle it, Peewee," Donny said with affection to the 11-year-old. Andy brought the point home graphically by clapping a hand gently over his mouth; Peewee stuck his tongue out and licked it, breaking into a giggle as he did so.

"So Peewee wants to bring home a girl who's really a boy, and he knows because he checked, and this has something to do with a lost puppy that Andy found, and Gil's going to get a doctor locked up, and Keith's back hurts because he protected Andy's puppy, or a girl named Lucy, or somebody, and Peewee won't run down enough for us to figure out what the heck he's talking about, thank you, Andy," Donny said, the last with a nod to the hand over Peewee's mouth.

"Yeah, that about summarizes it," Pauly said with a grin.

"You guys are completely bonkers; you know that, don't you?" Chay said.

"I'd noticed that from time to time," Mikey said with a short laugh.

"Guys, this is serious," Andy said, not at all displeased with the joking but anxious to get everyone in a less jocular frame of mind. With occasional interruptions, mostly from Peewee, Andy summarized what they'd just learned from Keith and Lucas.

"I don't know where we're going to put them," Andy finished. "And I don't know how they're going to react to how we live, or to being Gil's wards. But I feel like we need to invite them home."

A scary thought just struck Ray. "Andy?" he said hesitantly. "Um, excuse me for, um, snooping, but, um, you don't have a thing for either of them, do you?"

Andy's mood change was swift and complete. "No, Ray," he said. "You're all I want, all I'll ever want." He drew the worried boy to him and kissed him tenderly. "I'm just worried about what's going to happen to them, and feel like we need to, you know, help 'em, the way everybody helped us."

"I love you," Ray answered him. "Um, that means I love his big warm heart too, and I agree with him one hundred per cent."

"Peewee?" Donny asked. "I think I know your answer."

"Yep!" the little imp said, giggling.

"Pauly?" Donny polled him next.

"Wait up," Pauly said. "I'll vote after Mikey."

"Okay. Mikey?"

"Didn't get to know them much," Mikey said. "But I liked the spunk Keith showed...."

"You got him to cum?" Pauly was startled.

Mikey laughed long and hard. "No, silly, spunk as in moxie, guts. Though maybe we can check out the other together later on...?"

"Much later," Pauly said. "After that fight, I'm keeping you close for a bit."

Donny chuckled. "Your vote?" he prompted.

"Oh, bring 'em home," Mikey said.

"I'm all for it," Pauly said. "I just didn't want to be at odds with Mikey over it."

"Jack?" Donny asked.

"All I know is what Andy said and what Peewee was jabbering about, but they deserve a chance," he said. "Um, I want the floor after, too." Donny nodded.

"Chay? What do you think?"

"Mostly, I'm in the same boat as Jack," the young Asian boy said. "But like him, I think they deserve to get a chance. Bring them home."

Donny looked quite serious. "I won't accept any of those votes as final until you've had a chance to change them after I talk. But as far as what to do with them goes, it's unanimous � we should open our door and our hearts to them, no question about it."

"Yay!" shouted Peewee. "I'll go tell 'em!" And he jumped up and headed for the door.

"Peewee! Sit. down!" Donny said with more sternness than Ray had ever heard from him.

"We got a problem. Um, I'm not used to going over money and stuff with you guys, instead of Gil. But we can afford more food, clothes, beds, and stuff, no problem."

"After talking with Mikey and Chay," Gil said, "I'm actually a little peeved with Donny. To keep up the pretense of it being a hideout, he's been allowing a few artificial shortages to happen that we could easily have afforded to take care of."

"I'll take part of the blame," Chay said. "I knew and I went along with it."

"Me too," Mikey chimed up.

"I'm the one who's guilty," Donny said. "There were already enough unexplained things, like how we kept getting power when nobody paid the electric bill; I didn't want to add any more. But," he went on, "we're going to need three new beds, and there's really only space for one, in Chay's and my room."

"Three?" Pauly asked.

"Yeah," Jack said. "I'm coming home today, and Van told me bed rest, not the couch. Plus," he went on, "we need to explain the deal with the house to those two new guys."

"I've got a suggestion," Andy said. "I remember what it was like when I first came, and I relived that when I brought Ray home. You were right in not spilling the beans right away. But I think you need to give it a couple of days, and when you think the time is right, tell the new guys the truth, from now on. In fact, I so move."

"Second!" Chay called out from his bed.

Donny looked around at his brothers' faces. "I don't see any objections; are there any?" He paused to give anyone who wanted a chance to speak up. "Sounds like we've got a new rule, then," he said with a smile at Andy.

"So you're staying?" Gil said to Andy.

"Yeah. You showed me what you're made of. Thanks, Gil!"

"Any time." And the tall lawyer stepped over and hugged the blond 14-year-old warmly.

"I think I must have left my brains in my other pants," Donny said.

"Um, no," Chay said with a big grin. "They're probably up my butt; you sure shot hard enough night before last. And it'd explain some of the decisions you made, too." Donny turned red and laughed, but with a brittle edge to his laughter.

"The reason I said that, Gil," Donny went on, "is that this is the first time you've been present for a House Meeting. And it's you who's putting your reputation on a line for the guys we reach out to. So I think you are entitled to a say."

"I've never interfered when you guys take in someone who needs help," Gil said, "and with one exception I never will. But I have one bit of news I'd planned on telling Donny next time we met, that is important for right now. Mr. Tipton's going into a nursing home � well, sort of."

"Really?" Donny asked, intrigued. "I kind of thought they put up the building around him, he's been there so long."

"Yes," Gil said. "He's been having problems since his last stroke, and he fell in the bathroom last Sunday."

"He should have called out; we'd have been there to help him in an instant," Donny said.

"I know that," Gil said, "but you know how independent he is. Anyway, his daughter used that to talk him into finally agreeing to go into the assisted care place she's been pushing at him. He can keep his freedom there but have a husky male nurse on call to pick him up if he falls again."

"Does he need a roommate?" Chay said with a big grin. Donny winced.

"I thought his efficiency would be perfect for your two new boys," Gil said, "and it's right across the hall from your back door. You could even lock off that hall and join the two apartments, if you wanted."

"What about beds?" Roy asked.

"That's right; nobody but Donny and Chay knows," Gil said. "Donny and I have a charge account at Phillips Furniture, tied to the apartment's drawing account. You can't afford a new Lexus or something, but anything within reason � and I mean decent new furniture � is no problem." He smiled. "I'll arrange for the beds, and work up the paperwork for the judge." The smile broadened into a grin. "It'll be different, doing up the paperwork before you move them in, instead of what we pulled off this morning."

"All right!" Andy said. "Can I go invite them?"

"No!" Chay said. "You got to invite Ray; Donny invited you; and Mikey brought in Pauly. It's my turn!" He looked at Van meaningfully; Donny started to speak up, then apparently thought better of it.

"Chay," Van said, "you're leaving here against my better judgment. I'll sign off on your release only if you promise not to put any stress on those stitches for 48 hours, with these guys as witnesses, and agree to let them wait on you as needed."

"No stress? You mean not to straighten out where I'm pulling on them, right?"

"That's exactly what I mean," Van said. "I want you walking hunched over like you're trying out for the part of Quasimodo, no straining on the toilet, that sort of thing."

"Lifting my legs?" Chay asked.

Van grinned. "Use your arms, not your torso muscles. You took more damage than you realize, young man."

"It's a friggin' miracle you're still alive!" Donny exploded. "You're never taking that kind of risk again, you hear me?!"

"Why?" Chay said simply.

"Donny," Gil said urgently, "I have no idea how to tell you this. I should have, a long time ago." He paused, closed his eyes, opened them again and continued. "I've let you think it's been guilt about the yacht for too long. But you deserve to know the whole truth, and it's not pretty."

"I love you," he continued, "but there is no way I could ever be in love with you." Donny's face fell. Gil drew a deep breath. When he began again, it seemed like he was way off subject. "What color were your father's eyes. Donny?"

Donny winced. "Blue. I remember when I tried to come out to him, his sitting there with those blue eyes piercing through me as he told me what my future was going to be...."

Gil held up his hand."And your mother's?"

"Brown," Donny answered. "Warm, liquid brown. She loved me. That's why I never understood why...."

"What about mine?" Gil asked in an almost tender voice.

"Huh? Hazel, just like your mother's and father's, and mine...." Donny trailed off.

"Half the people in this town think your parents died in an accident," Gil said. "The other half think your father killed himself because he was going broke, and took your mother out with him. Nobody but my mother and I knows the real truth, and now you."

"When you disappeared, your mother finally got the guts to confront her husband with the secret she'd hid all your life. That's why his businesses went to pieces, and that's why he killed himself and her in that accident." Gil drew another deep breath. "The last thing our father ever said, he told me to find my brother and take care of him. And that's what I've been doing, the only way you'll let me."

"You had so much hurt on your plate already," Gil came to a halt, gulping back a sob, "that I couldn't bear to add this on top of it. Can you forgive me, brother?"

Donny slowly sagged. Pauly pulled a chair under him. He didn't faint, but he was clearly staggered.

Gil blew his nose noisily, then said, "That's why I was so staggered earlier that you were carrying a torch for me. I'd thought you were in love with the boy who's clearly loved you as long as I've known him."

"Brother?" said Donny.

"Help me up!" Chay ordered Pauly and Mikey. Together they helped him onto Donny's lap. "Let me help!" he said to Donny.

Donny tipped his head downward and turned Chay's upward. He leaned in and kissed him deeply. Chay's hospital gown tented.

"Chay's got a boner! Chay's got a boner!" Peewee chanted. Everyone else burst into cheers and applause.

---

 

To be continued....

---

Editor's Notes: Honestly, I don't know how you do it. That was absolutely beautiful. It was totally not what I expected, but it was absolutely great.

I'm ready for more!

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher