Fire Book One

Chapter 19

Andy woke up with Jimmy spooned in front of him.  This was so nice to have someone he cared so much about cuddled up next to him.  He was able to enjoy this until he realized that he had to pee, and NOW.  He got up and quickly made his way into the bathroom.  Before he was done, Jimmy joined him.  When they were finished Jimmy said, "Andy, how come what we do is considered so wrong by some people?"

"Boy, you can really start a day on a tough note.  Well, there are two things, I guess, first is we're gay and second is the age difference.  There isn't much we can do about those who don't accept gays.  They just don't understand and they are very closed minded.  The age thing does make sense, sort of.  You see, it would be possible for an older kid to convince a younger one to do stuff and it not be what the younger kid really wants." Andy explained.

"But you didn't." Jimmy protested.

"Yeah, but a lot of grownups won't believe that a sixteen year old was talked into it by an eleven year old.  See, it just doesn't sound right even though it is." Andy told him.

Well in seven more years they can kiss my..."

"Don't say it, twerp.  We got to keep things quiet until then or else there will be big problems."  Andy ruffled Jimmy's hair and they went and dressed for the day.

Mitch and Travis awoke together.  Travis asked, "Were you having the same dream as me?"

"Yeah, I think so, about a whole bunch of kids needing to be rescued from a black pit." Mitch answered.

"Yeah, that's the one.  Did you understand the wheel barrel being locked in the secret closet?  That was bizarre, even for one of those dreams.  I wonder what it meant." Travis said.

"Well, all I know is, if you don't let me go I'm going to pee all over you." Mitch said and kissed his brother's nose and they made a dash for the bathroom.

Linda and Lee slowly awoke and hugged and snuggled together.  Linda sighed and said, "That is some house Dang has laid out for us.  Three stories above ground and then the finished basement with the pool and hot tub.  What are we ever going to do with all that space?"

"The first floor is all office space and the kitchen and dining room.  The second story is the main living area with our suite and nursery and the boys' rooms, the special room and three other rooms that could be bedrooms.  Then the third floor has the nice suite for Martha and Nick and more bedrooms.  I'm a bit concerned about how many bedrooms 'Philip' has put into that house.  He knows something and it worries me that he won't tell us." Lee remarked.

Linda stiffened, "That computer had better let us in on this pretty soon, or I'll be forced to do something."

Before Lee could comment the theme music from 'Mission Impossible' could be heard.  Linda gritted her teeth, "'Philip'..."  The music went silent.  Linda smiled, "You'd better watch it or we'll switch to that new operating system that is supposed to come out soon."

'That would be like trying to play a Wii game on your Pong system.'

Lee had to laugh at that and got an elbow from his wife.  He rolled out of bed and made a dash for the bathroom.

*

Breakfast was much more pleasant this morning with Donny having made up with Danny and the other boys.  When all the food had been ravaged, Tom Richards got everyone's attention and announced that Lee had accepted the job as principal of the new school.  Neal whined that it wasn't fair 'cause he liked Uncle Lee. And Andy complained that now he wouldn't be able to get away with anything.

"You can't now," was Lee's quick response.

Lee and Nick decided to try their luck with some of the locked boxes.  Nick remembered seeing an old beat up stethoscope in the bottom drawer of the Doc's desk.  Since Leo was at the hospital doing rounds, Nick took the stethoscope and wrote a note and left it on the desk.  What he didn't see was the gust of air that blew when he closed the door; it blew the note off the desk and it drifted down under where the chair was.

When Nick got up to the room he found Lee, Adam and Todd were there.  They had already opened one of the boxes and were sorting through the contents.  Lee looked up, "I thought they pitched these when I went off to college."

Nick looked at the contents of the box.  "Looks like baseball cards."

"Yeah, exactly, the full set from 1986 to 1989.  I had to chew a heck of a lot of that awful gum.  They wouldn't let me just buy the set.  Granpa said I had to earn the right for a full set.  Turns out he was right; the gum sets are better and more valuable now.  There is a small fortune in collectibles here, if I sold them." Lee said.

Todd was looking at the cards, "Boy, some of these guys have goofy looking glasses." 

Lee took a look at the card, "Hey those were really hip."

"Huh?"

"Oh, you guys would say kewl."  Lee explained.

"No way.  Those are like ancient."

"Yup, like twenty years old."

"Yeah, see Todd's right." Adam added.

Nick grinned, "Don't worry Lee, when their kids see pictures of them..."

Lee and Nick had a good laugh at the expressions on the boys' faces.

When things settled down and lee had retrieved another box, Adam got ready to open it.  Nick reached into his pocket, "Adam, I borrowed this from the Doc.  I thought it might work better for you." 

Adam took the stethoscope from Nick and put the earpieces in his ears and tried placing it on the box and listened as he turned the lock.  The stethoscope was slipping on the metal box and making more noise than it was amplifying.  Adam took it off.  "Sorry, Uncle Nick, but it makes more noise than it helps and it really hurts my ears.  It needs new ear thingies."

As Adam was handing the stethoscope back to Nick, the door opened and Daddy Doc came storming in, screaming.  "Adam!  I'm so disappointed in you!  Taking things without permission!"

Nick stepped between the angry doctor and the shocked boy.  "Leo, stop.  You don't know..."

"Don't you start, I just saw him with it in his hands.  Took it right out of my desk drawer!"

Adam was shocked, he dropped the stethoscope on the table, began crying and shrinking away from the angry red faced man he had called his dad.  His heart cringed at the anger that was being hurled at him.  It was just like his last 'stepfather', he just knew the fist was next and he backed up in terror, trying to get out of hitting range.

Tom put a hand on Leo's shoulder.  "Please calm down; you are way over the line here."

Leo started to say something, but Nick beat him to it.  "Shut up, Doc!  I'm sorry you are so upset, but you obviously didn't look at your desk; because there is a note there, saying the stethoscope was borrowed to help us up here."

"Maybe he wrote the note, but that is no excuse for him to go through my stuff."

"He didn't."

"Then how come he had it when I came in here?"

Nick pushed Leo back out into the hall, and set him straight.  Adam could hear Uncle Nick yelling at Daddy Doc, but really couldn't concentrate on the words.  He slowly went to the floor and curled into a defensive ball.  Tom quickly went over to him and scooped him up then sat in the nearest chair.  Eleven-year-olds weighed a lot more than eight-year-olds.  Tom tried to get Adam's attention, but the boy was completely tuned out.  He then just gently held him and murmured soft loving words to him.  Todd came over and stroked Adam's back.  Adam kept right on crying and Tom was more than a little pissed off at his life partner.

Between sobs Adam said, "I thought he loved me."

"He does, Adam, he does.  He is just really upset right now." Tom said soothingly.

"It's just like at my old home...he was going to hit me."

Tom's heart was being torn apart.  "No Adam, he will NOT hit you.  I have never seen him this upset before, but he'll have to go through me before he will ever hit you.  Don't worry son, you are safe; I promise you that."

The door opened and Nick and Leo came back into the room.  Adam tightened back up into his defensive ball.

When Todd saw them come in, he stood up straight and stomped over to them.  "Daddy Doc, I can't believe you could do that to him. Look at Adam! How could you treat him like that?  Adam is the best one of all of us, and would be the last one to ever do something like that, and you should have known that.  You'd better apologize to him, and make it right, and do it right now, or else."  The look of determination on Todd's face and his body language made it clear that Daddy Doc did NOT want to find out what the 'or else' was.

Tom started to say something but Leo shook his head, stopping him.  "Todd, I am so ashamed of myself; I know, you are absolutely correct.  I lost my temper because something very dear to me was missing.  I have no real excuse, and am very sorry for the way I behaved.  I need to have a talk with Adam now, if you will allow me."

Todd said, still scowling at his second Dad, "You'd better ask HIM if HE will let you, not me. I'm really mad at you right now, and you didn't yell at me. I know it hurt Adam real bad, so it's him you have to convince."

Leo walked over and held out his arms.  Tom kissed Adam on the forehead and whispered, "It's going to be fine, Adam, I promise.  I love you son."  He then stood and passed the crying boy over to his life partner.  Tom whispered, "Don't screw this up, Love!"

Leo sat back down where Tom had been and just held Adam tenderly.  The other adults left, pulling a reluctant Todd with them.

"I'm so very sorry Adam, I really am. I blew it huh?  I wasn't thinking; I was just reacting, and I'm so sorry that you got caught in that.  Nick set me straight, once he got through with me; I finally realized how wrong I was.  I shouldn't have been so upset, but I was, and then I saw you holding it.  I jumped to the wrong conclusion."  Leo was stroking Adam's back.

"God, that was really scary, Daddy Doc.  I felt like that bully was back, and I was going to get hit again."  Adam sobbed.

"Oh Adam, honey, I'd never hit you. I will make you this solemn promise, I might get angry, sometimes, I admit that I have quite a temper when something goes way wrong, but I won't hit you or anyone else. I never have, and I never will. In this case, though, I shouldn't have been angry at all, and I certainly shouldn't have been angry at you.  Can you please find it in your heart to forgive me?" Leo was nearly crying himself.

"I don't know; what you did was bad, Daddy Doc, real bad.  Don't you love me anymore?" Adam whimpered.

Now the tears were flowing down Leo's cheeks, "Oh God, Son, Of course I love you." he croaked out between his own sobs, "You are so important to me, I don't know how I let that happen. Honestly, What I did was very wrong! I'm so sorry.  You see, that old stethoscope was the one Dad gave me when I was accepted into Med School.  It really isn't a very good one, but I really love it because my Dad gave it to me. It meant the world to me to have him give it to me; I had hoped to give it to my son one day. Adam.... Could I give it to you?"

"It hurt my ears." Adam said.

Leo giggled, "Yeah, it does that, but I still loved it."

"You really want me to have it?"

"I would be very honored if you would accept it as my son."  Leo picked it up off the table and handed it to Adam.

Adam started crying again, as he accepted the old beat-up stethoscope.

*

Out in the hall, Tom said to Lee, "I have some papers here that Sir 'Philip' insists you sign for Travis and Mitch.  He won't tell me what this is all about, but it appears he has purchased some properties in our boys' names."

Lee took the papers and glanced through them.  "Hmmm, well, owning property isn't a bad thing, especially if 'Philip' has checked it out."

'A voice of reason, at last.'

"God, 'Philip', don't say stuff like that in front of my wife, Pleeeaaassseee!"

*

Linda and Martha were on the computer in Linda's temporary office near the library.  "I don't know, Martha, that's a bit frilly for Lee.  I think I'd like this better."

"Just remember it's your family room.  It's not just a guy's room.  I think at the very least, you need those Nick-Knack shelves."  Martha commented.

"I did like those.  My collection of figurines would look so nice there." Linda said, thinking of the wall over the TV.

'No, absolutely not.' 'Philip' chimed in.

"And just why not?" Linda shot back.

'That is the darkest wall in the room, and it wouldn't show the collection off to its best advantage.  A glass display case on the East wall will be far superior and by being enclosed, it will not gather dust.' The arrogant tone of the computer voice affected Linda about like fingernails on the blackboard. (Chalkboard for you young whippersnappers.)

Martha laughed at the expression on Linda's face.  "Don't you hate it when the arrogant son of a Nintendo Game is right?"

Through gritted teeth Linda said, "Yes."

'I am merely trying to be helpful.'

"Now Linda, smashing the computer won't help."

"It might make me feel better." Linda fumed.

'Really Linda, you of all people shouldn't have these anger issues.'

"Why, you, little electronic glitch, I'll show you anger issues!" Linda picked up a paperweight.

Martha took it out of her hand, "Now, now, dear, take a deep breath, he's just acting like a man, just remember, we ARE smarter than they will ever be."

'What!?!'

"That's right electron boy, I am smart enough to control all boys without the use of yelling or force."  Martha said.

'That, my dear lady, is quite impossible.'

"Shows how much you know Digital Dave.  My chocolate chip cookies rule!"

'I admit defeat.'

"About time." Linda fumed.  Now Martha, what is going on in the kitchen?  It looks like everything is doubled."

"Well, actually it is.  You see, Nick and I argued over what should go in the kitchen... and 'Philip' took the opportunity to make us both happy.

*

Dr. Lisa Billings joined them for lunch.  And Donny left with her right after they finished eating.  Travis offered to go too but Donny wanted to do this by himself.

Mitch and Travis tried to stay with Danny and Donny most of the afternoon since they were real excited about their parents getting back.

Andy spent time in a chat room with his friends Matt Little and Nick Stokley from Scouts.  Matt was working on a project for his Eagle Scout and they were planning a lock-in weekend at the church so they could have all day Saturday to do the project.  Matt was kind of worried because he was going to have to boss the adults.  Andy and Nick agreed that he would do fine if he treated them like the new boy patrol.

When Andy got off the computer he went to his dresser and took out his Merit Badge Sash.  He had nine of the eleven required badges for Eagle and plenty of others.  He had missed First Aid because he didn't want to work that hard at summer camp.  He had planned that for this year but had been in the hospital.  The other was Personal Management, you had to learn about money, budgets as well as financial planning; and he had like zero interest in any of that.

Suddenly a thought hit him and he grabbed his requirements book and went to find {the} Pat's dad, Mr. Hillguard. (Should that be Pats' dad?  I get so confused.)[Well put you thumb on the script right here...]

Andy knocked on the office door and heard a muffled 'come in'.  Andy opened the door and entered.  Mr. Hillguard sat at his desk and looked up as Andy came in.  "Andy.  Well what can I do for you today?"

"I've decided to work on 'Personal Management Merit Badge' and I was wondering if you could possibly help me.  I don't know any of this stuff and don't know where to learn it." Andy told the CEO of Haven Enterprises.

Ed took the spiral bound book Andy handed him.  "Hmm, This is quite a program.  They really want you to have a good working knowledge of this stuff.  I'll be delighted to help you.  How about you explain all this to me."

"Explain it to you????"

Ed laughed, "No, Andy, explain about merit badges.  It's been a few years since I was a Scout.  Who is the counselor and do you have the book?"

Andy and Ed spent the rest of the afternoon talking about Scouts and money management.  When Andy left to get ready for dinner, he had a plan for earning this merit badge.  He would be asking Mr. Little for his Blue Card and the name of the counselor, at the next meeting.

*

Late in the afternoon Dr. Lisa Called in Travis and Mitch.  It had been awhile since she had them in together.  "Hello boys.  It's nice to see you today."

"It's nice"

"To see you"

"Today, too."

"It still amazes me that you can do that." Dr. Lisa said.  "So tell me about this empathy."

"Huh, what's that?" They said in unison.

"Empathy, is feeling what others are feeling.  I knew you could do it with each other but didn't know it was more than that." Dr. Lisa explained.

Mitch said, "Well, except for Travis I just get kind of moods from people, you know, happy sad, worried and stuff."

Dr. Lisa looked up at Mitch who was blushing, "Stuff?"

"Yeah, you know like horny.  Patty and Monty are like that a lot." Mitch blurted out and turned even redder.

Travis rescued his brother, "I get a lot more than just a feeling.  If I touch someone sometimes I get memories, especially strong ones of like really good things and really bad things.  I knew all about Daddy and Mommy long before they did.  It's funny but the first I felt that stuff was when I was rescued in the woods.  I somehow knew Max was there and was getting help."

Dr. Lisa was writing furiously, "Max?  You get feelings from Max?"

"Well this will sound weird but he tells me things but it's not like with other people.  It's kind of like we have conversations.  I remember telling him he had to potty outside or they wouldn't let him stay with me.  He replied he would and he never has had an accident." Travis related proudly.

"What about other animals?"

"With the ponies it's just happy, tired or hungry.  The other dogs don't speak to me but I think Walter and Tym communicate pretty good." Travis answered.

"Ginger comes into my dreams and shows me stuff and teaches me things." Mitch added.

"Ginger the dog?  What can she teach you?" Dr Lisa asked fascinated.

"Well, something she calls 'walking the paths' that I do in my sleep but I could go there from being awake if I needed to." Mitch explained.

"What good is that?" Dr. Lisa asked.

"Well, there are some very wise beings there.  They can sometimes tell you things.  A really big eagle told me I was getting a brother who was a part of me.  That was more that a week before we found Travis.  A couple of nights ago I saw the eagle again and thanked her.  She then told me to open my heart for another was coming that would need all my love." Mitch smiled, "Now I just have to wait."

"So you expect to be getting another brother?"

"Sure, he's the one 'Philip' designed the special room for.  I think he has some really big problems and we're going to help him." Mitch said.

"Yeah, he's a really in trouble but we will love him no matter what." Travis added.

"You two are absolutely amazing.  By the way Travis, you handled the thing with Donny very well." Dr Lisa complemented.

"What that man did was really bad and he made Donny think it was his fault.  I hope you can help him.  There are some things he has totally blocked.  You might see if Uncle Leo can have a look at him." Travis said.

Dr. Lisa set her pen down.  "Travis, are you telling me that there was more than fondling?  That's all Donny told us about."

"Yes, ma'am, a whole lot more.  The man did all that sex stuff and some of it really hurt Donny so his mind blocks it every time and he only remembers the stuff that doesn't hurt." Travis clarified.

"Thank you Travis for telling me."

"Well, we learned that if keeping a secret will hurt someone we shouldn't keep it.  I know you can't tell just anybody but you can act to protect Donny."

"Yes I certainly can.  I think Donny will be in therapy for a long time.  I wish he lived closer so I could help him but I'll talk to his parents and find someone near them to help him."

*

Lee was sitting in the room looking at his old baseball cards.  They still faintly smelled of bubble gum.  He remembered trading for some of the cards and how he and his friends used to go get a pack after school and sit chewing the gum and trading cards and how excited they would get when the completed each team.  Lee was the only one who wasn't a Pirates fan he liked the Orioles from Baltimore.  His favorite all time player had been and still was John Wesley Powell or Boog Powell.  He had played for the Orioles from 1961 to 1975 he played two more years with the Cincinnati Reds then retired in 1977.  He was looking for his Boog cards.  He had managed to get all but the 1968.  He was now thinking eBay would be the place to complete his set.

He had just found the cards he was looking for when Linda found him.  "So this is where you have been hiding."

"Oh, hi.  Look, Grampa saved all my old baseball cards.  Even my Boogs." Lee showed his wife.

"Oh God you were so annoying back then."  Linda remembered, "I would try to get your attention and you and the baseball gang just ignored me.  I tried everything short of taking my clothes off, nothing!"

"Hmmm, that would get my attention now!  Go ahead, I'll prove it." Lee said leering at his wife.

"Jeez, you are such a pervert."

"Yeah, and you wouldn't have it any other way."

"Okay, you got me there.  That kind of leads into what I wanted to ask you."  Linda paused as Lee put down the baseball cards and patted his lap.  Linda sat and continued, "Well, we kind of married all of a sudden and well we've never talked about kids."

"Really?  Well, Linda, I have three."  Lee said with a grin.

Linda smacked his arm.  "I meant us having kids of our own.  I mean I'm not sure I can, but I'm not doing anything to prevent them."

"What do you mean, you're not sure you can?" Lee asked.

Well in the time I was married I never conceived and I tried because I foolishly thought a baby might make him, I don't know, more loving..."

"Oh, sweetheart, He was an ass and it wouldn't surprise me if he was sterile.  Sometimes God sees to it that certain people's genes don't get back into the pool.  Now, as far as a baby goes, I think it is a great idea.  You know I always wanted to be a dad.  Now I've got three boys but they will all too soon be grown and on their own.  I mean in two years Andy will be off to college.  I like the idea of us having a baby of our own."

Linda gave Lee a huge hug then said, "Good, me too.  After all we have been acting like rabbits."  They both giggled like the newlyweds they were.  There was still time before dinner and they retreated to their bedroom and did the bunny thing again.  That baby had pretty good odds.

*

At dinner, Adam asked the adults, "Just what were those books we found yesterday?"

Lee smiled and replied, "Those were copies of 'Poor Richards Almanack', which was published by Ben Franklin in the seventeen thirties through fifties." Lee said

'1732 through 1758 to be exact.' 'Philip chimed in.

Mitch jumped in, "The Ben Franklin?"

"Yes son, the one and only.  And if I'm not mistaken those are the real deal not reproductions.  I have no idea what those would be worth but what really concerns me is how do we preserve them?  When we get an inventory of everything we have I'll make some calls and we can start getting everything properly preserved."

"Wow," Travis said.  "I thought stuff like that would, like, be in a museum someplace or something."

"It is going to be interesting to see what else Grampa saved.  Those old baseball cards are probably valuable to a collector, but I don't think I could part with them.  If we are snowed in tomorrow, we can explore some more of those boxes." Lee said.

All through Dinner Donny was preoccupied with worry about his parents.  Since it had begun snowing he and his twin had been watching for them.  Danny had eaten pretty well but Donny hadn't done much more than push the food around on his plate. 

After dinner everyone went into the family room to watch a movie.  When the movie was over everyone took a break.  As Donny was returning from the bathroom he had looked out and seen how bad the storm had gotten.  He came in and told everyone how bad it was outside.

Tom's cell phone rang and he got it out and opened it, "Donny, it's your dad."

"Hello John."

"Oh, Officer Perry, Where is John?"

"Oh, my God!  Are their any survivors?!?!"

Donny screamed and collapsed on the floor.  Dr. Lisa was the first to reach him.  She quickly checked him to be sure he hadn't hurt himself in the fall.  Danny was there too with tears flowing down his cheeks.  "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Yes sweetheart, he just fainted.  Are you okay?" Lisa asked.

"I don't know.  What about Mommy and Daddy?"

Tom closed the phone and looked around the room; everyone's attention was on him.

Tom decided the truth was the best way to go.  "That was a State Trooper and he was calling numbers on Mr. Gregory's cell phone.  I was the first to answer.  There has been a bad accident..."

 

Evil Author's Notes:
Okay, everybody happy?  I didn't end this chapter in the same place as Haven2 19.  I mean that would be mean.  I did go just a weeeee bit further.  (Evil laughter echoes through the dungeon)   Well anyway things are getting interesting.  'Philip' is definitely up to something, Mitch and Travis are more special than even Dr. Lisa had thought, Daddy Doc has a temper, Lee and Linda are trying for a bigger family (I somehow think they will get their wish, in spades!)

As for Danny and Donny, well the next chapters will get that straight, maybe.

Let me hear form you.

Str8mayb 

Editor's Notes: 

You are so very EVIL! At least you didn't leave it in the same place as you did the other story. Yeah, like there is any real difference. I hope the CHP (Cliff Hanger Police) have you on their RADAR {Really Awful, Dastardly And Rotten?}. 

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Fort Chief Editor's Notes:

I want to repeat everything The Radio Rancher said except in triplicate! Three measly sentences mean absolutely nothing at all! This is still a terrible place to end a chapter. My heart goes out to Danny and Donny hopefully they will have some good news soon or at least not as terrible.

I also want to say thank you to those of you who did your Civic Duty by sending in reports of the location of the Evil Author Str8mayb. Please continue sending emails to the CHP

The Story Lover