Flea Market Sausage

Bastian woke up slowly as the morning sun began to warm up the tent. He looked up to see Atreyu sitting up and looking down at him with a smile. “Good morning, my sexy warrior husband,” Bastian said with a smile of his own. He then went to sit up himself, but made a face and grunted a little. Atreyu’s face instantly showed his concern. “Now don’t you start that,” Bastian told him quickly. “I’m just a little sore, but I promise you that it is the best sore I have ever felt in my life.”

“Are you sure you’re ok, sunshine?” Atreyu asked. “We got a little wild last night.”

“I think it was more than a little, but I loved and wanted every minute of it, just like I love and want you for the rest of my life, my warrior.”

Atreyu leaned in and kissed his husband softly and then laid back on their sleeping bags. “Since you are awake now, you can bring me breakfast in bed. It is the squaw’s duty, you know.”

“I know you did not just call me a squaw,” Bastian protested, as he folded his arms across his chest.

“Well you said I was the warrior, that makes you the squaw,” Atreyu said seriously. “Tribal customs, you know; I’m the warrior, so that makes you the squaw. You have to wear dresses and take care of the teepee. I go out and do warrior stuff like work and ride horses and stuff.”

“Stuff? I never knew that was a Native American word.” He then frowned and tightened his arms across his chest. “Did you just say I have to wear dresses?” Bastian demanded.

“Well, I won’t push that issue. I don’t think I would like that either,” Atreyu told him. “But you are the squaw. You cook and clean and you bring me breakfast. So get to it.” With that he rolled over and closed his eyes.

“Oh, well, I guess I can’t fight tribal customs,” Bastian said softly. He got up and dressed quickly and left the tent.

“Good morning, Bastian,” Jack greeted him. “What are you doing with…” he stopped talking when Bastian gave him the finger to the lips signal to be quiet.

“As Atreyu’s squaw, I ask for some coffee to take to my warrior,” Bastian said loudly. He then quickly motioned for Jack to stay quiet again and to play along.

“I am pleased that you are accepting your role in my family so well, Bastian,” Jack replied after a minute. “You will make a fine wife for my son.”

Jack and Bastian both had to bite back laughter when they both clearly heard a “Huh?” from inside the tent. Bastian took a cup of coffee back with him into the tent, and then came back out a minute later. This time Lindsay was outside and gave him the questioning look. He walked over to Lindsay and whispered in her ear and she smothered her face to keep from laughing. Bastian took one of the sausages that was set out for breakfast and sprinkled it heavily with salt and pepper. He then took that back into the tent with him.

“I hope you are pleased with the food I have brought, my husband,” he said sweetly.

“Did you put chocolate creamer in the coffee?”

“Yes did you like it? I love chocolate creamer in my coffee,” Bastian answered. He gathered up some of their clothes as he watched Atreyu take a big bite of the sausage and then as his eyes widened instantly. “You look thirsty, love. Let me get you something more to drink.” He came back out to find that Lindsay had done what he had asked and found some juice for her son to drink.

“You aren’t going to…” Jack began, but fell silent at the looks he got from his wife and their son in law. “Ok go ahead. I guess it is the right thing to do under the circumstances.”

“Here’s your juice, my warrior,” Bastian told Atreyu as he handed over the glass full of deep purple liquid. Atreyu downed about half the glass in desperation after the heavily peppered and salted sausage. He suddenly looked up at Bastian questioningly.

“What was that?” he demanded.

“I got Mama Lindsay to get me some juice for you,” Bastian responded. “She was happy to help me learn how to treat my husband as a squaw should.”

“What kind of juice was it?” Atreyu prompted.

“Prune juice,” Bastian answered with a grin as he walked back out of the tent.

“BASTIAN!” Atreyu called out. “I will get you for this. HEY!!! Where are all my clothes?”

“Your squaw brought them out for me to wash for you, so I did,” Lindsay called back to him.

“What??” Atreyu squawked. “You can’t be washing all of them at the same time. What will I wear?”

“I have just the thing for you to wear, son,” Lindsay called out. She tossed a leather and bead garment into the tent.

“MOM!” Atreyu bellowed. “This is one of your dresses for PowWow.”

“Next time you decide to call your brave warrior of a husband a squaw, maybe you will think twice,” Jack said firmly. “Oh and in future, keep the noise down in that tent. There are other people in the world around you, you know.” Atreyu didn’t answer, but he did rush out of the tent and into the camper, wearing the dress. “Bastian, are you sure you will be able to handle the booth alone today? After the dose of ex-lax in his coffee and the prune juice he just drank, Atreyu probably won’t be able to work today.”

“I can handle it, Papa Jack,” Bastian assured his father in law. “Do you think he will be mad at me?” he asked nervously.

“He’d better not be,” Lindsay said firmly. “Shame on him for calling you a squaw. Jack doesn’t even get away with that with me.”

“That’s right; Lindsay’s tribal name is Chief in Dress,” Jack said with a grin. He dodged a smack on his arm from his wife, and then admitted, “Ok, ok, not really. But it might as well be. I know I would be lost without her by my side, so she is called Sparkling Guide, because of those sparkles in her eyes that I can never get enough of, never want to live without, and will follow into battle or peace for the rest of my life.”

Lindsay rewarded her husband with a quick kiss while Bastian grinned at the loving couple. “You two run along and get set up. I will make sure our wayward son is going to have everything he needs for his day of penance,” she told them both.

Bastian helped Jack get the sausage wagon started up for the day and then stayed with his in laws to get through the breakfast rush, assuring them that he would have no trouble with the snow cone machine set up. They again praised him for being such a good worker and a great help to them. As the morning crowd began to thin out he headed for the snow cone booth to start his solo work day. He was feeling a little guilty over the prank he pulled on Atreyu that morning. Maybe he had gone a little overboard on it.

It was the hottest part of the day, and therefore the busiest for Bastian, when Lindsay ran up to help him out. Once the immediate line had cleared, she told him that she had just checked in on Atreyu, who was still sticking close to the trailer’s facilities, but was feeling very repentant indeed. She then winked at Bastian and told him that the good news was that Atreyu was using the time to work on his present for Bastian’s father. She wouldn’t tell him anything about it other than it was gorgeous and that both of Bastian’s parents would love it.

When Bastian finally got the booth shut down and stowed away for travel the next day, he was exhausted and starving. He was headed for the tent but stopped short when he saw Atreyu come out of the tent wearing a dress. He was a bit nervous about what sort of reception he was going to get from Atreyu, but he quickly saw that Atreyu was just as nervous.

“Bastian, I am so sorry for the things I said this morning,” he began quietly. “I had no right to call you a squaw. My father doesn’t even call my mother that. It was horrible and I don’t blame you at all for getting back at me. I deserved what I got today, every bit of it. What I don’t deserve is to have such a wonderful, loving, and sexy guy want to spend his life with me knowing what an idiot I can be sometimes.”

“Atreyu, I was so afraid that you would get mad at me for doing that to you,” Bastian told him. “You were just joking and I knew it. I should not have overreacted the way I did. Can we forgive each other and move on? I am so tired and all I want to do is fall into the tent and cuddle with you while we eat, and then sleep in your arms where I belong for the rest of my life.”

“I love you so much, Bastian. I swear I will never call you a squaw again, and more importantly, I don’t ever, ever want to take you for granted. I already came way to close to losing you once this summer. I never want to do anything that will drive you away.”

“You won’t ever do that, no matter what you do,” Bastian assured him. “You are stuck with me, my warrior brave; whatever that makes me is fine with me, as long as it makes me yours.”

“You are my warrior brave,” Atreyu told him as he led Bastian into the tent. His art supplies were still scattered around the floor of the tent and before he could hide it, Bastian saw the picture he had been working on all day. It showed Bastian in a fabulous leather vest and breeches with a beaded loin cloth. Bastian’s parents were behind him and were drawn rather shadowy making it clear that they were with him, but not in a physical sense. In the lower section of the picture were several dark haired kids sitting down and looking up at Bastian.

“Are those our children?” Bastian asked softly.

“Well, some of them could be, who knows,” Atreyu told him with a smile. “The tribe will let us adopt kids when we are old enough, I’m sure. I was thinking about how good you are with kids though. You would make such a great teacher.”

“Your mother was right; my parents will love this picture, Atreyu.” He turned and wrapped his arms around his husband and held him close before kissing him softly on the neck. “I know we wouldn’t be able to have kids like other married people, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep trying anyway.”

“I really like the way you think,” Atreyu giggled, but then pulled away a bit. “Maybe we could just cuddle tonight though? I’m kind of worn out too, from… well… I was in the bathroom for like four hours straight at one point today.” Before Bastian could say whatever he was going to, Atreyu silenced him with a kiss. “I told you; I deserved every minute of it. Besides, we have something to work on while we cuddle.”

“We do?”

“We need to get your outfit started for Pow Wow,” Atreyu told him. “You will be presented to the council as my husband and a new member of the tribe. It is a very important occasion, so you need to look good; not that you could look bad if you tried.”

“Umm hello, you have seen me first thing in the morning… and you saw me that night….”

“That night when I saw you, you looked better than you ever did before. You were alive and you still loved me and wanted to marry me. You looked so incredible to me that night.” Bastian wiped tears from his eyes. “I couldn’t lose you, Bastian. I just couldn’t. I don’t know how I would be able to go on without the sunshine that lights up my whole world.”

“You looked pretty awesome that night too,” Bastian told him. “Charging in to rescue me just like the hero is supposed to.” He sniffled and then frowned a little. “God now I am starting to sound like a squaw.”

“No you do not,” Atreyu corrected. “You sound like the beautiful sunshine that I will follow for the rest of my life and beyond.”

“What do we have to do for this outfit I need for the Pow Wow?” Bastian asked. “The outfit you drew me in for this picture would be awesome, but is it appropriate? I mean is it formal enough?”

“Bastian, we don’t exactly have tuxedo loin cloths,” Atreyu grinned. “I’m sure with Mom’s help we can get you in an outfit like this in time. It might not have all the beadwork that this shows, but we can add more later on if you want. I will need a new outfit, too, since this will be my first Pow Wow as a married man of the tribe. I can’t wait to show you off and show you around. There is always so much fun at the Pow Wows and it will be so much more fun this year since I get to share it with you.” Atreyu looked down for a moment at Bastian who had laid his head in Atreyu’s lap, only to discover that his husband was already asleep. He softly ran his fingers through Bastian’s hair lovingly and smiled. “Goodnight, my sunshine.”