The Castaway Hotel: Book 4

I called Carlos and his mother as soon as Pat and I had finished at Doctor Bailey’s office, and I told them I was going to pick them up in an hour and we’d all go out to dinner together – my treat. Mrs. Garcia thanked me and told me they’d both be ready to go by the time I arrived. I could hear Carlos in the background after his mother shared the news with him, whooping it up and thrilled they would be doing something different.

Pat and I went to check in to our hotel in the interim and freshened up as well. This way we could just come back to the room after our meal and then checkout the next day, before going to pick up Mark. I think we were both looking forward to seeing him again.

We had a lovely dinner and I let them pick the restaurant, since I didn’t know the local choices. It was a Mexican-American establishment and the meal was excellent, but most of our fun came from listing to Carlos talk nearly non-stop while we were together. Of course, he started by asking Pat questions about his condition and telling him how sorry he was about the accident, but hopeful he’d be able to see again some day. However, after that, Carlos rattled on about his school, his friends and the wonderful life he was enjoying, since we’d helped his mother and him start over again. Mrs. Garcia just beamed to see her son so alive and happy about everything.

After we’d finished, we drove Carlos and his mother home and then went back to our hotel. Since Pat couldn’t see the television, I put it on a channel playing music and Pat and I talked more about his idea to encourage awareness about organ donations. After doing that for an hour or more, we turned in early, as we were both quite exhausted from the day’s activities.

After waking, cleaning up and having breakfast, I checked out of the hotel and paid the bill. We still had a couple of hours until Mark’s flight was scheduled to land, so I drove over to one of the city parks and took Pat for a walk. It was a lovely, warm day, and I thought the exercise and fresh air, if there were such a thing as fresh air in a big city, would do us both good. Pat agreed and held on to my arm as he had done since his accident and we set off. We talked about many things, as we made the loop around the park, and by the time we returned to our starting point, it was nearly time to leave for the airport.

The drive there was slow and the traffic congested, but we still arrived early. We sat around the terminal and waited for Mark’s flight to land and we both were happy that it arrived nearly on schedule. Mark was smiling from ear-to-ear when he saw us, but even though I had told him about Pat’s accident shortly after it happened, I could still read the pained expression on his face as he noticed Pat standing beside me, gently gripping my left arm, just above the elbow. However, he was able to hide his feelings as he greeted both of us and I don’t think Pat was aware of his initial reaction.

About halfway back, we stopped for lunch, and Mark happily told us about his school year and how he was looking forward to spending the summer with us. He and Pat also discussed Pat’s condition and I think Mark was somewhat surprised by how well Pat was handling this traumatic episode in his life. I believe it made a major impression on him and caused him to look at Pat in a whole new light.

When we arrived home, the boys all raced out to greet us. They welcomed Mark and asked Pat and I how the appointment had gone. We quickly filled them in and Pat used this opportunity to tell his brothers about his idea to promote organ donations. The boys all agreed it was an excellent suggestion and said they’d all be willing to fill out an organ donor card, just in case something happened to them. At least then someone else might live and benefit from their misfortune.

They also offered to do whatever they could to help him, including working with whatever group we found that would do this. We hoped we could find an organization that would use this as their community service project and spread awareness of the need for organ donations and organ donors.

Once this discussion had ended, I had Danny and Brandon show Mark to his room and help him get settled in. I think they were all excited about spending time together and Mark was looking forward to starting his summer job.

Over the next couple of days, the boys made a list of fraternal and service groups, many with national affiliations, which might take up our cause. I worked with Pat and some of the others to compose letters that would be sent to the various groups, asking for their support with this endeavor. After we had come up with what we thought was a suitable proposal, one that made our point with a minimum of verbiage, we began to address the documents and mail them out. Now, we would have to wait and see if we got any replies.

The next week was the final week of classes for the high school, as the week after would be entirely devoted to finals. Danny and Brandon broke their big news on Wednesday of that week, as they started telling some of their friends and teammates about their love for each other. It turned out to be less of a problem than they thought it might be, as those closest to them accepted it without adverse reaction, but of course there were some snide remarks made to them by some of their detractors, especially the Boy Scouts who had been negatively affected by our campaign to end their bigoted practices. By the week of finals, talk of their news started to die down, as most of the students concentrated on their upcoming tests, rather than the gossip. Before they knew it, school was out and the boys felt whatever negative reactions they had faced would die down by the fall.

The next big event on our May calendar was Dustin and Frankie’s graduation from high school. It was a very proud moment for the three of us. It was a beautiful day and the ceremony was being held outdoors, so more people could attend. This allowed me to bring all the boys so they could witness this accomplishment and I hoped it would inspire them to want to achieve this same goal for themselves. As we sat in the bleachers waiting for the ceremony to begin, the boys began to horse around a bit, in order to pass the time. I didn’t mind their shenanigans, as long as they kept it to a dull roar and didn’t bother the others seated next to us.

When the procession music finally began, the graduates marched out and took their seats, and then we sat through several speeches given by the superintendent, the high school principal and the class valedictorian.
The smaller boys were extremely bored by time we reached the keynote speaker, so they began fiddling in their seats and starting to do things to the others as a distraction for themselves and a means to have a little fun. I tried my best to keep them from annoying anyone else, but I understood why they were acting as they were.

Mercifully, the speeches ended, so now it was time to hand out the diplomas and the younger ones could hardly wait until their brothers’ names were called. They planned to cheer loudly for their siblings, while holding up a couple of homemade signs they had designed for the occasion. Fortunately, the school listed Frankie as a Currie, although his adoption wouldn’t be finalized for a couple more weeks, so he and Dustin would receive their diplomas one after the other.

I let Danny sneak down toward the platform, so he could take pictures of our two graduates as they received their diploma and handshakes. Of course, both of them had to ham it up when they came off of the stage, and fortunately Danny also got a couple of pictures of that as well.

When the ceremony was over, we had to wait for Dustin and Frankie, as they wandered around to say good-bye to all of their friends and teachers. When they were done, they came back to find us and I drove the younger boys home, so they could help me get ready for our graduation bash. Dustin took Frankie and some of the older high school boys in the Suburban, because they wanted to attend some of the other graduation parties they had been invited to, since we planned ours for the early evening and into the night. That was so the boys would finish up their festivities at our place, because I felt they would probably have a little to drink, even if they weren’t quite old enough, and this way I wouldn’t have to worry about them driving when they shouldn’t.

It took us a couple of hours to get everything ready, but that was because we weren’t really frantically rushing around to set up. We knew we had plenty of time before anyone arrived and we wanted to be rested up enough so we could actually enjoy the celebration too, once everyone arrived. Of course, our extended family would be showing up to party with us, and I wanted to be able to enjoy their company while they were here.

Our party began around six and the partiers began to show up a few at a time. The boys had placed trays containing various types of foods on banquet tables I had borrowed from the school, so our hungry guests could partake without having to wait for a formal announcement to chow down. There were hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages with pepper and onions, several sheet pizzas and various salads, such as potato, macaroni and garden varieties. We also had two huge sheet cakes, with each having a personal message for our graduates noting the college they would be attending in the fall. We also had plenty of soda, punch and other non-alcoholic drinks in coolers at the end of the tables, as none of the boys were close to the legal drinking age, but we did have a keg on hand for the adults.

Throughout the evening, many parents and other students showed up to help us celebrate, along with our extended family. Everyone made sure to find a moment to congratulate Dustin and Frankie, hand them their cards and gifts and then ask them questions about their plans for the future. I knew after an hour or so the boys were getting tired of repeating basically the same story to each individual as they made their rounds, but both managed to keep their emotions in check and continued being good hosts.

About halfway through the evening, I presented both boys with their graduation gifts from the family. I watched eagerly as they opened the packages and they both seemed more than pleased with what they got. I had purchased a top-of-the-line laptop computer for each of them, for their use at college. Those computers had the fastest processor I could find, huge hard drives, and all the other bells and whistles to satisfy any need they might possibly have. They both thanked me and each gave me a hug, before I reminded them there was no reason for them to lose touch with us while they were away. I also informed them I expected at least one email each week or I’d have to have someone check up on them and see if anything was wrong. They both looked at me and mumbled something about they thought they were going to be on their own at college, but then they laughed and hugged me again.

As the evening wore on, I herded the younger boys into the house, since the older boys had their girlfriends there and obviously needed some privacy from spying eyes. As the party wore on, many of the adults eventually decided they’d had enough and returned to their homes, but they all thanked us first and informed us they’d had a wonderful time.

Throughout the night, I noticed various boys seemed to disappear from time to time, almost always with their girlfriends in tow, and I think we all knew what they were up to. I believe they realized they probably wouldn’t be seeing much of each other over the summer or during the next school year, as each had their own vacation plans and jobs for the summer and none of them were planning to attend the same college in the fall. It was a kind of bittersweet time, since they had reached the pinnacle of their high school careers, after putting thirteen long years into the public educational system. However, now their lives would change drastically over the next few weeks as they prepared for a new learning experience in a much more demanding environment away from the community they had been living in. They were approaching this time with great excitement, but also great trepidation, as they wanted the freedom that college life would offer them, but they also hated to lose the security their family and friends had provided for them. In the long run, most teens reach this point sooner or later, whether they go away to school, get a job or enter military service. It is just another stage in the process of maturation.

A little later, some of the other older boys went into the house too, in order to give Dustin and Frankie a chance to spend some time alone with their remaining guests. We would clean up from the party tomorrow, after enjoying a good night’s rest.

For a while after we went inside, I could hear those still in attendance talking and horsing around outside, but after a while it grew silent and my imagination began to run wild with thoughts of what might be going on. As much as I was tempted, I stayed inside and trusted the boys to heed the advice I had given them in the past and not ruin their lives by making any foolish mistakes, such as getting one of the girls pregnant. I had always trusted their judgment, and except for a few occasions during Frankie’s first stay with us, they hadn’t given me any reason to doubt them, so tonight would be no exception to the rule. Besides, in a couple more months I wouldn’t be there to monitor Frankie and Dustin’s every move, so I would have to learn to trust their self-restraint and hoped they would honor the basic tenets I had tried to instill in them during the time we had been together.

I did sleep fairly well that night, although I woke up from time to time and walked around the house to make certain everything was all right. I never noticed anything out of the ordinary while making these rounds, so each time I went back to bed and slept a little longer. I would be able to tell better how things went in the morning, after the sunlight began to penetrate the gloom.

The next day started off very busy, as we cleaned up the mess from the day before. Everyone pitched in and helped, so it wasn’t long before we could all kick back and just relaxed. I think each of us needed the downtime, and I know I certainly enjoyed it. Not only that, but the boys even seemed to appreciate the change from our recent hectic schedule.

That afternoon, Mark and I also had a chance to talk and I asked him how he liked his job. He started beaming almost immediately, as he told me that he loved the work they had him doing and was very fond of his mentor, who was also my friend. He said he was learning a great deal from the man and felt everything he learned here would help him not only with his classes in school and overseeing my family’s investments, but would benefit him throughout the rest of his life. I was happy to discover everything was working out so well for him and ecstatic over his positive outlook on this experience.

The next big event in May was Pat’s birthday, which we celebrated on the Saturday before Memorial Day. It seemed strange to me at the time, but the only outsiders Pat asked me to invite to his party were Shannon and his father. The reason this seemed so odd was that Pat always had a few friends he liked to include, but he told me later that he didn’t want to this year. After trying to discover why, he admitted there were a couple of reasons. First, he still felt people were gawking and feeling sorry for him, but he also wanted to let the shock wear off from Danny and Brandon’s coming out announcement at school. He felt it would be best to give everyone time to digest that news, before putting them in a situation where they would be confronted with it head on.

After thinking about this for a while, I told him I would honor his wishes. I would even invite Shannon and Jake personally, but let them know it was Pat’s request. He seemed pleased that I didn’t object to his idea, so I tried to get him to help me plan for the big day.

Pat basically decided he didn’t wish to vary from our typical birthday celebration, but a few strange things did happen as the day progressed. The first thing occurred when Pat announced he wanted me to stay with him during the day and told me his brothers had agreed to do the barbecuing in my place. At first, I wasn’t sure how to react to this, since that job that had always been mine, but I felt maybe he was still a little insecure about being blind and wanted me by his side, just in case. However, that idea began to fall apart, when Pat made sure I was seated next to Jake, while he spent most of his time with Shannon and his brothers. Maybe it was his plan for me to occupy Jake’s attention, so they could pry Shannon away and not leave Jake all alone, since he didn’t know any of the others in attendance. I assumed Pat thought Jake would be more comfortable chatting with me, instead of trying to fit in with strangers, but then some other peculiar things began to happen.

It began when Pat suggested his brothers should enjoy themselves and play games, as they normally would have, if Pat weren’t blind. Not only that, but he also encouraged the adults to participate too, namely Steve, Jake, Mark and me. Up until today, the boys usually liked to have their own fun first and only included the adults if they were shorthanded or getting tired. Not only that, but they made sure that Jake and I were on the same team and put Steve and Mark on the other side. We did have a good time, although it didn’t take Steve, Jake and I very long to become extremely exhausted from the physical exertion. However, I soon forgot about being tired when the next strange event began to unfold.

While we, the mature men, were recuperating, the boys came over and invited Shannon and his father to join us again on Monday, when we’d planned our traditional Memorial Day cookout. Not only did they do this without checking with me first, they all knew this traditional celebration had been restricted to family and extended family in the past. Seeing this was out of character for them, I was beginning to wonder if one of them had a serious attraction to Shannon and felt this was a way to get close to him.

When Memorial Day arrived, it began with a bang, instead of a whimper, and that bang held special significance for my family. For the first time ever, our little community had decided to ban the Boy Scouts from marching in the annual Memorial Day parade. The town council had voted on this recommendation at their last meeting and had nearly unanimously agreed. There was one vote against this idea, from among the eight councilpersons, and that was by the councilman who had ties with the Scouts. I heard the troop leaders were more furious over this slight – even more than any of their previous setbacks, because this parade is a highly visible event and often got other boys interested in joining either the Cub or Boy Scouts. Only the Fourth of July parade got them more attention, so not only didn’t the Scouts get to march in the parade and show off in front of their friends and family, which they always looked forward to doing, it was also perceived as a major blow to their recruitment efforts. Needless to say, their leaders were less than pleased by this turn of events.

However, this wasn’t the only rude surprise for the Scouts. In the past, one of the older Scouts had always played taps at the ceremony following the parade, but this year the planning committee had asked one of the trumpeters from the school band to perform this honor instead. This was another major blow to the prestige the Scouts had previously enjoyed and indicated our movement was beginning to affect the Scouts in ways they never thought possible.

After the activities in town had concluded, we all headed back to the house for the remainder of the day. Again I was pushed out of my normal barbecuing duties, but this time I was replaced by the ladies. I was beginning to think no one liked my cooking!

I discovered later that the boys had made a point to ask Aunt Sally, Aunt Mary, Audrey Curtis (Jay’s mother) and Margaret Spence if they would take over that duty this afternoon, proclaiming they had other plans for the men. The women agreed, of course, and the boys were soon dragging the rest of the males to the side yard for a game of touch football. Once again, the boys made it a point that Jake and I played on the same team, and then they suggested I be the quarterback and Jake the center, to allow them to play the more strenuous positions of running backs and receivers. After some give and take on this suggestion, we finally agreed to the arrangement, but only if Jake and I could switch positions from time to time. I didn’t want Jake to be stuck with the thankless job of center the entire afternoon and felt it best if he also got a chance to do something a bit more fun, and definitely more glamorous. Once again, we all managed to have a great deal of fun and I’m extremely grateful I got to enjoy this time with my boys, instead of watching over the meat on the barbecue. Maybe this was just their way of building some special memories of our times together, before they went off to college, as Dustin and Frankie would soon be doing.

Before the day was over, I had another request put to me, although this one was of a more individual nature. After the game, Brent came up to me and asked if he could go on a two-week vacation with one of his friends’ family. It appears they invited him to join them on a trip to Myrtle Beach, so their son would have some company his own age while they were there, as he was an only child. I told Brent I would need some time to think it over and would also want an opportunity to talk to the other boy’s parents before I made my decision.

Immediately, he took the chance to lobby in favor of the idea, by telling me how much this opportunity meant to him. He also reminded me that we had no vacation plans for this year, except for possibly some weekend trips, due to Pat’s impending operations. Additionally, he brought up the fact that he had missed out on our previous vacations, because he hadn’t been a part of the family yet and emphasized he’d really like a chance to go on a trip such as this, as his family had never done anything of that nature while he was growing up. I asked him if he knew the dates when they were going and he told me it wasn’t until July, so I told him he’d have his answer by the following weekend. Reluctantly, he accepted my response, although I knew he was hoping for an immediate affirmation that he could go.

After we had a chance to cool down and clean up after our game, we went out to eat. Once again the boys placed Jake and I together, only this time Steve sat with us too. During the course of the afternoon, Jake told the boys they didn’t need to be so formal, by calling him Mr. McCarthy all the time, and they could just call him Jake. The boys countered that they’d feel better calling him Uncle Jake, which he agreed to, so Shannon began calling me Uncle Josh, which made everyone happy. Moving to a more casual relationship also put the day back into perspective, as it now made the McCarthies part of our extended family as well.

During the course of the evening, Jake brought up the topic of Danny and Brandon’s coming out at school, and emphasized it was a very brave thing to have done. He went on to explain it had also helped Shannon out too, by making him feel less alone at school, and now there were others he felt he could relate to. Although he knew the boys were gay before they came out, he still felt alone at school, since he was the only one definitely known to be gay by his classmates. Now, he would feel a little less conspicuous and less of a target, since my two had followed him out, into the open.

During this discussion, Nick announced he was also thinking about coming out when he returned to school in the fall, and this made Trey say he thought he might do it as well. That was, he was planning to do it until Dion objected. Dion said he wasn’t quite ready to tell everyone he was bi yet, but felt he would have to if Trey came out. This caused a small rift between the two boys, but I quickly realized it wouldn’t become a major disagreement between them. I was confident they’d work out their differences on their own, by coming up with an option both of them were happy with before school started again in the fall.

Our big celebration finally came to an end and everyone thanked us for being invited. They all told us they’d had a good time and enjoyed themselves immensely, but had to go home to get ready for work the next day. Although I didn’t have to go in to school, since it was out for the summer, I still had to clean up this mess the following day, although I knew the boys would help me. After saying good night to everyone, the boys and I went indoors and relaxed until bedtime.

During the following week, I spoke to the parents of Brent’s friend and discussed the possibility of Brent going with them. They told me they really did want him to join them, if it met with my approval. They said otherwise their son would have no one to hang around with while they were away, unless he was lucky enough to find another young person who wouldn’t mind him tagging along. However, they made it clear they would prefer not to take that chance of having him hook up with a complete stranger and thought Brent and their son would get along well and have a wonderful time together.

After some discussion about their plans, and after we got to know each other a little better, we did reach an agreement. I would let Brent join them, as long as they would allow me to give them some money toward his expenses.

At first this couple was reticent to accept any money from me. They felt by inviting him as their guest and companion for their son, they should pay for everything he did or needed. After some serious negotiation, they eventually allowed me to chip in toward his overall expenses. I was now satisfied and agreed Brent could go with them.

I didn’t get a chance to inform Brent of my decision until later in the day, but when I did, he got all excited and started racing around in delight. Once he settled down again, he enthusiastically hugged and thanked me for many minutes, after which he told me how awesome this was going to be. When he got the excitement worked out of his system, I asked him to not make a big deal about it in front of his brothers, as I didn’t want to have any hurt feelings about his getting to do something they weren’t going to be part of. He agreed he wouldn’t, so we were both satisfied.