Hello again! This is the first installment of '...then the Roof Comes Down," a story of science fiction and fantasy. First, however, here are the legal statements: If you are not over the legal age to view such material where you live, please leave now. Also, if it is illegal where you live to read adult material, Please leave.
If, by chance, you are offended by depiction's of homosexual acts, Please leave now.
The Author of "Then the Roof Comes Down," is Andrew van Ryan. Copyright 2001. The author reserves all rights. This story is fictional and only the two characters, Andy and Terry are based on real people. Everyone else in this story are figments of my nightmares.
...Then the Roof Comes Down
by Andrew Simon van Ryan
Copyright 2001. All Rights Reserved
Andy sat silently rereading the letter the attorney had just read aloud to him. His tall, thin body hunched over as his head hung down, eyes riveted on the single page his Father had written slightly more than nineteen years ago. It was the attorney who finally broke Andrews dumbfounded silence.
"I know this is a shock, but it's nothing you should become upset about. You are your own person. Your life is unique only to you. He lived a completely different life than yours, one I'm sorry to say, in which fate wasn't very kind on a personal level. Certainly, he was a success in business, but his personal life was a tragedy. He felt he'd made poor personal choices, you see and those choices caused him great emotional suffering throughout his entire adult life. Your Father never had a lasting relationship with any of his wives. He wanted you to know the mistakes he made so that you wouldn't follow in his footsteps, wouldn't needlessly struggle with your internal desires and conflicts, only to make those same mistakes in the end. Now of course, any decisions are yours on your own and you may decide any way you see fit. He's not telling you what to do with your life. Your father wrote this to serve as an 'Owners Manual,' if you will, to help guide you through your life. These are suggestions, based on his life's experience, which may in fact help with the choices you will have to make in your life. However, always remember that the final choices are yours alone to make and you should follow your heart accordingly."
With that said, the trust attorney swiveled his chair to the right, reached out and grasped a large package. Tied with string and wrapped in plain brown paper that crackled as he picked it up. The paper apparently had become dry and brittle from the eighteen years it spent in a storage room. Turning again to face Andy, he held it out. Andrew felt numb and didn't respond, save for his eyes. They focused on the paper wrapping the book his father had written for him so long ago. The book his father wrote just before he died and before Andrew had been born.
"Go on, it's yours." The attorney said, snapping Andrew from his dazed state. Andy reached out mechanically and took it from him. The weight of it was greater than he expected and he nearly dropped it onto the desk between them.
"So, Mr. van Ryan," the attorney spoke "If you have no further questions, we're done for today! The secretary will make an appointment three weeks from now so we can finalize the transfer and sign the documents. It's good to have met you!"
He stood up and offered his hand to Andrew, who glanced nervously between the attorney and the book wrapped in brown paper lying in his lap. Grasping the book with one hand he started slowly rising from the leather chair that held him, reaching out with his other to shake the mans hand.
"Thanks..." was all Andy could manage to say before turning and starting for the office doorway. His body felt as if suspended by a spring and he was attempting to walk through cotton candy. Each movement felt oddly slow and strained, his mind uncharacteristically blank. Upon reaching the door, he turned to gaze at the attorney. The man seemed to be expecting this and smiled at him.
"Don't be worried, Andrew." He reassured. "It's as I said. You are your own person with your own thoughts and feelings. Those are unique unto you and are not copies of his. You may be physically identical to your father, but what's inside your head is yours and yours alone."
Riding down in the elevator, Andy stared blankly at the heavy paper wrapped around the book he was holding. Upon reaching the lobby the door opened, but Andrew didn't notice. Standing perfectly still he remained transfixed, staring at the 'Owners Manual' for the body he inhabited. Andy was momentarily oblivious to the world that surrounded him.
"Is this elevator going up?" A middle-aged woman dressed in a garish pink wool suit asked, her voice rough from too many cigarettes and too much alcohol over the years. Andrews's head snapped upright and his eyes went wide. He stared into the woman's eyes like a deer staring into an approaching car's headlights.
"Yeah." He managed to squeak before scurrying past her towards the buildings exit. He hurried to the little British racing green sports car and climbed inside. Sitting in his car alone, Andy's eyes once again fixed upon the packaged text. He swallowed once before tearing away a corner of the old paper. The wrapping slowly loosened as he gently tore at it. He carefully worked to expose the leather bound book. After releasing it from the paper prison that had held it in confinement the last eighteen years, he lifted the book up for a close inspection. Finding no title, he gingerly lifted the cover and opened it up. His father evidently thought it very important, going to great expense in printing the book. Andy opened to the table of contents, and then quickly skipped over to the preface. He focused on it and began to read,
My Dearest Andrew - When I realized my health was in decline, I visited my regular Doctor. He took a few tests and sent me home with the reassurance it was only my gall bladder acting up. His receptionist called before noon the very next morning and said I needed to come in right away. I drove to his office, arriving within an hour. I was led into an examination room and had blood taken again, the Doctor came in to give me the news. I had cancer, most likely pancreatic, which at the time was still without a cure. This form of cancer had eluded researchers attempts at a cure, even though most other forms of cancer were by then a thing of the past. I felt once again that I'd been unlucky in life. I couldn't help thinking that, had I made better, more informed choices as a young man, I wouldn't have suffered such deep emotional pain though out my adult life. I wished for a way to make my life different, to somehow receive a second chance and perhaps find a way of becoming young again, only still knowing what I do now at fifty-eight. Knowing all of it, especially starting my very first of day of high school onward, so I wouldn't make those same mistakes. It was that very evening on the nightly news, I saw the report on asexual human reproduction. I knew I wanted to do it right then and that is how I became your Father and you became my son. I knew I wouldn't get to see you grow up because of the cancer. I knew you would not be 'me,' either, yet you are genetically the same person. This way, I could at least give my genetic twin a second chance to enjoy life in ways I never did. To help you along, because we share the same genetic traits, I decided to write this as a guide so you can hopefully accept yourself for what you and I are at an age where it will mean something. At a time in life when you have a future, unlike myself, who is writing this as the clock is running out. Love yourself Andrew, for I love you in ways you'll never know. The trust fund I have left will enable you to pursue your dreams and desires in life within reason, and not have to seek employment to support yourself. You may, of course, choose to further your education and find employment if you wish. These choices are entirely yours. It is my desire that you lead a fulfilling life, and that you live without the emotional turmoil I suffered. May yours be a happy, love filled life, Andrew. Enjoy our body, son. I Love You, Father.
Andy leaned back in the car seat and began to cry. He didn't really know why, he just did. Then a thought gripped him with fear. What if people found out?
"Why, Dad? Why me?" He whimpered. "I don't wanna be like this! Why'd you do it?"
His tears flowed freely now, as his crying became deep sobs.
"Everyone's gonna think I'm a freak! I'm fucked." He howled. Andy continued to cry for nearly half an hour. His eyes became swollen and red rimmed, his nose ran and his body shook. His body and his fathers' body. The thought ran over and over again in his head. His and Mine, me and him, us. Although he understood what he was, Andy had little knowledge of what that might mean for him in the long run. Right now, his only reaction was one of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what Terry might say about him.
"Oh, God! How am I going to tell Terry?" He wept. "What will he say? He's not gonna want some fuckin' freak hangin around!"
Eventually, his tears subsided. He began to wonder if he should go home, but then Terry would be there and he'd know Andy had been crying. He'd also ask about the meeting with the attorney, what was said and why. Andy was afraid to tell him. What if he thought Andy was a freak? Andrew finally decided he had to go home, had to face Terry and he had to tell him.
He started the little Triumph sports car he had restored so lovingly over the last year and a half. It roared to life and he wheeled out of the parking structure. Turning onto the street, he almost began to cry again, thinking of what he had just learned.
"Some fucking birthday present." He sniffled. "Welcome to adulthood. Oh and by the way, you're a motherless freak."
He drove on mindless of the traffic, too caught up in his fears and worries. A thought came to mind.
"Maybe I should change my name from Andrew van Ryan the Fourth to Andrew van Ryan the Third, second time around. Make more sense." He huffed.
Arriving home, he pulled into the garage and pushed the remote. He shut off the car and hesitated while the door swung shut behind him with a loud thump. He stayed frozen in his thoughts until the door leading into the house swung open.
"I thought that was you." Tj said gazing at him with a cheerful welcome home smile that quickly changed to a frown as he read Andrews face.
"Andy? What's wrong? What is it?" He questioned. Andrews face twisted up in a crying fit.
"I'm a freak!" He bawled as tears suddenly poured forth. Terry ran to the car and pulled the door open.
"C'mon. Let's get you inside."
He helped Andy out of the car, leading him into the house. They crossed into the living room where Terry deposited him on the large cream-colored sofa. Andrew was sobbing as Tj slipped onto the sofa beside him.
"Andy, what happen? What's wrong?"
"I'm a freak. I'm a motherless freak!" he sobbed.
"What are you talking about?"
"Here." He said and pulled the letter from his coat pocket, then thrust it at Terry. "Read it."
Looking puzzled, he took it from Andrew and slowly opened it. He read it carefully, pausing when it came to the phrase "conceived by asexual means."
"Asexual means? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Genetic cloning." Andy whimpered. "I'm not really me, I'm my dad."
Terry stared for a moment as it sank in. Andy was a copy, a genetic carbon copy of his father. Reproduced entirely from his fathers DNA with none of his mothers genetic code involved. Terry realized that Andy was shaking with fear. He had to do something to calm Andy and fast.
"So? It's not that common, but other people have been cloned." He offered.
"Don't say that! Don't ever call me that!" Andy howled.
"Hey! Calm down! What I'm saying is its no big deal. You are you, Andy. The fact is that no matter how you were conceived, you are still you and no one else. You are not your father. You're the same person you were when you got up this morning. If no one had told you this, how would you feel?"
"I don't know." He sniffled. "Normal, I guess."
"That's 'cause you are normal."
"You really think that? You really, really believe it?"
"Yes, Andy. Look, I know far more about this process than you do. I read every book and magazine article in the school library on Human Biology, remember?"
"Yeah, I guess so" He replied in a calmer tone of voice.
"Right, and I know that no matter what, you are an individual. The only difference this makes is that you share identical genes with him and therefore have the same genetic predisposition as him. Did the attorney say anything to you about that?"
"He didn't, but my dad did."
Terry stared waiting for Andrew to explain, but he remained silent.
"OK, what did your dad do? Leave you another letter, a tape or a video?"
"A book. He left me a book. It's in the car." He sniffled. Terry frowned.
"Is that all?"
"No. He left me a bunch of money. It's in a trust fund." Andy said softly.
"I see." Terry replied. "OK, I'm going to go get this book from your car. Stay right here, Promise?" Andy nodded.
Tj entered the garage and looked in the car. He found the leather bound volume lying on the passenger side floor. He retrieved it and returned inside the house. He was nearly to the sofa when he heard Andrew speaking.
"I'm a freak." He moaned.
"Andrew!" Terry shouted. "Look at me!"
Andy whirled around in his seat eyes open wide.
"Was your father a freak?"
He stared at Tj, seemingly frozen in time.
"Well, was he?"
Andy began to slowly shake his head.
"No."
"He was a very successful businessman, am I right?"
Andy nodded this time.
"So, if he wasn't a freak, you can't be a freak. You got it? 'Cause if I hear you say it again I'm going to slap the living shit out of you, understand?"
Andy stared at him and slowly began to nod his head.
"Good!" Terry huffed, falling onto the sofa beside him. Gazing into his boyfriends' red-rimmed eyes, he realized Andrew was terribly confused.
"Come here." He said with a soft sigh. "Let me kiss you."
He kissed Andy a long reassuring kiss, then looked into his eyes.
"Let see what this book is all about then, OK?
"OK." Andy softly replied. Tj smiled at him and gave him a hug. Taking the book from his lap, Terry opened it.
"I already read the preface." Andy said quietly.
"OK, then lets start at page one." Terry replied and turned to where the first chapter began. In a strong voice, Tj read aloud.
"We are descended from two very different family lines, you and I " He began. "Our Paternal side is directly from European Royalty, the maternal side from Welsh, with some English Nobility. Yes, Paternal and Maternal, our Father and Mother. You will have known our parents as your Grandparents. The process of asexual reproduction has, in effect, made us identical twins born fifty-nine years apart. I shall begin by detailing your genealogy to you."