The days passed quickly, and before anyone realized it, Nicky was back at home doing very well, but resting none the less. He needed naps every day and moved around the house alone and together with the dogs very carefully, in order to avoid re-injuring himself. No question this boy had learned his lesson.
"Dad, do you mind if I stay in my pajamas a while today? I know I just got up, but I'm feeling tired already. I think I wanna sleep some more after I eat breakfast," Nicky said.
Kevin moved the eggs and hot cereal over to the table in the breakfast nook and said, "No, Nicky. Of course not. But if you're feeling really bad, maybe we ought to call Dr. Gilmer..."
"No, Dad. I don't feel too sore or anything. I just feel really tired this morning. I think I'll be okay if I can just sleep some more... I can do my work later this morning."
Kevin was working every day with both boys on their home schooling. He had moved them along in math so quickly that, on top of restudying elementary mathematics material in which they had both been so abysmally disfunctional: math facts, whole number algorithms, fractions, decimals, percents and problems posed in language, he now had them well on their way through the first year of Algebra. Kevin's theme was practice-practice-practice..."drill baby drill"... He was a hard-nosed math coach. But the boys respected him and tried very hard to please him. It didn't hurt that each boy was concerned with maintaining the respect of the other also. But academic competition never got out of hand, and they performed splendidly.
Kevin said: "Jilder, you and I are going to start this morning's lessons without Nicky. He needs to sleep; so when we're finished with breakfast, how about you meet me up in the school room. Bring your homework too. Oh, and Nicky, can you drop your homework off before you go back in your room to sleep?"
While both Nicky and Jilder proved to be exceptionally bright and intuitive in mathematics, their capacities in math carried over to the logic of language where they both mastered elementary studies in grammar and composition quite easily. Kevin thought that he would not be able to do justice to their needs in language studies, but later he realized that he was indeed providing a strong English curriculum. The boys began reading The Catcher in The Rye in their unscheduled time.
At breakfast, Jilder asked Kevin: "Dad, I diagrammed those twenty sentences for homework yesterday. I thought they were really easy. But I have some questions on the Algebra. I get confused when there are parentheses on both sides of the equal sign. I need you to show me again how that works."
Nicky took a bite of his eggs and a gulp of hot tea, and then asked, "Dad, later I need help with the parentheses too. I can do problems when the parentheses are on one side of the equal mark, but I get lost like Jilder does with parentheses on both sides."
Craig's cell phone rang. It was Hugo.
"Congratulate me! The hospital is going to let us use the old warehouse for four weeks, and they're going to charge me $5 a day rent!" Hugo said.
"What? Five dollars a day!" Craig asked. "What do they want, free tickets to the conference banquet?"
"Well, when I told them that I was already in the process of designing the fanciful, gigantic Jules Vern submariner's vessel and undersea creatures for the Marine Biology Museum Convention, they said that they would give me a special rental rate if we would put their names somewhere to acknowledge their contribution to the Marine Museum. That sounded alright to me. You'll have to figure out where we can put their name. I have no idea," Hugo said.
"Sure, Hugo.... Humm? Maybe we can have the hospital name printed in gold at the base of each table decoration? I don't know... I'll think about it," Craig answered.
Before long, it seemed as though Hugo had practically moved into the warehouse, once he and Craig got started... This project was going to take an enormous amount of time and ingenuity.
Craig tried to mitigate the drain on Hugo's family that both Hugo and Kevin endured together-- all those long hours Hugo had to put into prop construction. Specifically, Craig became invaluable to them helping to instigate the movement of documentation for their international travel with the boys.
"Hugo, you are going to have to take some time this week to go down to the Mexican Embassy in San Diego where you have to initiate your paperwork for passports and visas to all of the countries you have to visit in Europe," Craig reminded Hugo.
"I just go down there? Do I have to pay them anything," Hugo asked.
"Yep. You have to go, and you'll have to take Jilder with you. That way they can get his paperwork started too-- fingerprints and all. And, yes, there's bound to be a fee. They didn't tell me what it was, but you'll find that out too," Craig answered.
Hugo and Jilder did indeed go to the Mexican embassy where they initiated paperwork for passports and visas. And Hugo even made official inquiry with the Embassy about his parents with whom he had lost contact eight years earlier.
Hugo was a strapping, imposing man, quite handsome and literally bubbling with the new life that hearing had brought to him. Now he was eager to learn something about his parents, but he was apprehensive lest the news not be good. Nevertheless, he loved them and longed for some communication, if not only for himself, then for Jilder, who was so very young when they left the two of them in San Diego and returned to Mexico.
Craig even did research for Kevin and Hugo on Nicky's birth data. Before Nicky's dad died, he lost all sense of organization and allowed important papers to be mislaid. That meant that Nicky had no birth certificate to use in the acquisition of his passport; the only thing he had was his memory of conversations with his dad about where he was born and a few details about his early, preschool life in Kansas. Nicky had not been back to Kansas since his dad brought him to California when he was three years old.
Kevin and Craig questioned Nicky extensively, trying to glean as much of his personal history as his father, Lloyd, might have told him or as the boy himself could recall, in preparation for passport procurement.
"My dad told me that I was born in a little town in Kansas, where he grew up," Nicky said.
Craig asked, "Did he tell you the name of the town, Nicky?"
"Um? Yeah. I think he said it was called Marysville," Nicky replied.
Nicky went on, "My dad said that the main streets were still paved in cobblestones, and there were lots of buildings there with signs saying that they were built a long time ago, like 1800 and 1790."
Kevin said, "It sounds like your dad must have loved his hometown, to tell you all of those details. I wonder why he left and brought you out here to California to live?"
"Yeah, I think he did like it," Nicky responded, a reverence seeming to develop in his voice, a kind of respect for his dad, Lloyd.
Nicky went on, "Dad said that there is this beautiful, bronze statue there of a life-sized, galloping horse and rider, which remembered Marysville as a stop along the Pony Express trail."
"Sounds like a place we ought to visit someday, to remember our history," Kevin said.
"Yeah. But dad said that there wasn't any place to get a job there. He said that there was only one big business, a place called Landall's, where they make all kinds of trailers and special trucks and stuff," Nicky recalled, even if he did improvise some of the details about Landall's.
"Hello, this is Craig Zimmer in San Diego; I'm Administrative Assistant for Mr. Nicholas Lundgren, son of Lloyd Lundgren. Nicholas will be attending medical conferences in several European countries in the near future, thus requiring the acquisition of a United States Passport and visas."
"The father, Mr. Lloyd Lundgren, lost the birth certificate of his son, Nicholas; therefore, a certified copy of the long form of the original document will have to be acquired. I am calling to set in motion the process for acquiring Nicholas' long form birth certificate. Can you help me?"
"Well, Mr. Zimmer, I need to know what county Nicholas was born in. We only maintain records for births in Marshall County," the voice on the telephone said.
"We believe he was born in Marysville, Kansas, in 1988," Craig replied.
A moment passed while the woman on the telephone searched her computer records.
"Yes, Sir. I found Nickolas' birth record in the Marshall County Computer Records Database," the lady said. "The boy was born here in Marysville."
Then quite by surprise the lady said: "OH, yes! NICHOLAS LUNDGREN. I REMEMBER this boy. I was a friend of his mother, Sandra Ellen Rothmeyer, God Rest Her Soul..."
The lady went on: "Sandra Ellen was my good friend. She was one of three daughters of a local German immigrant farmer."
"This is wonderful personal history to learn. May I ask with whom I'm speaking?" Craig said.
"Why yes, Sir. My name is Chrissy Strobe, Marshall County Registrar." But Chrissy was actually struck with notable delight to be able to be helpful to her caller, this man who was in pursuit of Nicky's birth records. The reason for this sudden delight was by no means apparent to Craig..."
Given a little more conversation with the very talkative Registrar, Ms. Chrissy Strobe, Craig learned more interesting information:
Chrissy went on like an Ipod that had no on/off switch: "Yes, Sir. Nicky was born to Sandra Ellen, and his father was Lloyd Lundgren. Lloyd was a handsome rogue with red hair who never married Sandra Ellen. But we was soooo upset when Sandra Ellen came down with breast cancer and died about a year after Nicky was born. (Thank goodness she got to breast feed Nicky for a little while, poor child.)"
"Yes, I agree, Ms. Strobe. That is indeed a very tragic story."
"Oh, it WAS; it WAS, Mr. Zimmer. And that baby was such a beautiful child.... He had his father's red hair that stuck out all over his head like fuzz on a dandelion gone to seed."
Chrissy didn't finish quickly. "I think Lloyd was a good man. He assumed total responsibility for raising that boy after Sandra died of breast cancer-- that was maybe a year after Nicholas was born. But Lloyd had a bad reputation-- like for drinkin and foolin around with the ladies, you know-- he was not well-regarded by most here in his hometown."
"That is really too bad," Craig commiserated with Chrissy.
"I think he just couldn't get a job, Mr. Zimmer; so finally after finding work was impossible to get, he took Nicky and moved to California when Nicky was just three years old. We never heard no more of Lloyd or the boy since..." Crissy said with a touch of sorrow in her voice.
Craig responded to Chrissy's story by mentioning that Nicholas, of course, had no recollection of his Kansas relatives.
Craig didn't say, although he thought to himself, "And THEY seemed to be uninterested in finding him..."
Now the Registrar, it turned out, was also a neighbor who lived about 10 miles down the road from Emiline Rothmeyer, the youngest of the Rothmeyer sisters-- that would be one of Nicky's aunts.
Craig thought as he said his good-bys to Ms. Strobe, "I'd bet $100 that Nick's aunt will be informed of Nick's whereabouts before nightfall... Oh, well.. Can't be avoided in small towns, I suppose."
"Kev, could you bring supper over to the warehouse tonight. I know this is an imposition, but I'm in the middle of the last step in the assembly of the submarine, and I hate to lose momentum; I'm starving too!" Hugo said speaking with Kevin on the telephone.
"If you can wait until around six-thirty, Babe? You think: I've got the boys at the table right now, and I'll need to get them started on their homework after they get up from the table. Then I'm free. Would that do it?" Kevin asked.
"Oh, that would be great, Kev. You might bring enough for two. I think Craig is going to drop by any minute now, and we will be trying to finish this thing up together tonight, if possible."
"Okay, Babe. Dinner for Two at the Warehouse. I got it!" Kevin said.
"You are an angel, Kev. Thanks. Love you..." Hugo said before he hung up and returned to the submarine model.
"Hugo, how in the hell have you been moving these big fucking pieces of the submarine hull all by yourself?" Craig said as he walked in. The warehouse was none too big to house the 50 foot long, 10 foot diameter submarine.
"Oh, Hi, Craig. Boy am I glad you're here. It's begun to be more than I can move alone. You can see that the hull is in pieces, large cylinders that fit together end-to-end, like a string of beads."
Craig stood back and gazed at the whole structure for a moment, "It's magnificent, Hugo! And the Styrofoam you've used on the hull works just perfectly."
"Well, that's the ONLY way I could conceive that the thing would be mobile, even in 6 pieces. They're each heavy as a bitch, Craig. Come here... lift this one..." Hugo nudged Craig over toward the last section.
"Oh, my God, Hugo! Those ARE heavy. Are you sure we can hang this damn thing 180 feet in the air and be sure it's not going to fall???" Craig said.
"Well, I sure hope so..." Hugo said with a smile.
"Look, the frame is provided with these holes through which I intend to thread the main suspension cables. No part of the structure will be held by a secondary fastener. Everything will be fastened directly to the main steel suspension cables, and they, in turn, will be strapped and clamped to the steel beams at the ceiling of the Hotel Lobby Atrium. It'll stay there until we want to remove it, I have no doubt," Hugo explained.
"Oh, yeah! Pretty clever. And the damn thing looks darned near real. What did you cover the Styrofoam with, it looks like steel plating riveted together," Craig observed.
"That's all illusion, Craig. See, I sprayed everything with this thick, battleship grey, latex paint. Then the little rivets are glued on with crazy glue... LOOKS imposing, but really it's just paint and illusion!" Hugo smiled priding himself on how convincing his illusion actually was.
"And those sea squid look fantastic. Those colors are just striking; they're so bright and strange: bright purple and fuchsia and shocking pink and that startling blue. Why do they sparkle that way?" Craig asked.
"Well, if you get up close you'll see that I've sprinkled 40 pounds of silver glitter all over them. It's really a fucking mess to handle, because it falls off if it's rubbed, but the effect is great, especially since these figures will be illuminated by colored spotlights, "Hugo said.
"And look at this, Craig. " Hugo said as he took Craig by the hand and led him over to two ancient-looking diving suits. They were fabricated from old overhauls and miscellaneous junk, but sprayed iron-colored black and fitted with the face masks, they looked like real men in diving suits and diving helmets.... "These are my favorite illusions, Craig." Hugo said with a huge display of pleasure at his work.
"Hugo, they're unbelievable! How in the fuck do you turn "nothing" into these fabulous illusions? You deserve to get paid for this!" Craig said with a smile.
Hugo turned to Craig and patted him on the shoulder smiling as he said, "Yeah! Some dumb fucker in the flower business thinks they're worth charging money to rent. I sure hope he's right, cause I put one heck of a lot of effort into all this stuff."
"Hi! Guys! Anybody hungry?" Kevin said as he walked up with a big box that had previously held dog food.
"What did you bring us? Dog kibble?" Craig asked.
"You turkey! I'm not sure I ought to let you have any after that slight," Kevin replied.
"Well, I'll eat anything," Hugo said. "I'm fucking famished. I could eat two chickens and all the trimmings myself, I think."
"Okay. Go at it. I've got a whole pot of homemade chicken chow mien with crunchy noodles and three veggies and dessert. What do you want to drink? Iced tea? Coffee? "Lemonade?" Water?... More than that and you'll have to go out to get it yourself." Kevin said.
"No, no, no... It all sounds wonderful," Craig said.
And he and Hugo opened the box serving themselves almost before Kevin had stepped away from it.
"How are the boys," Hugo asked Kevin.
"Oh, they're good. I've been pushing them with their studies this week. Tonight they've got homework, and they have to read at least two chapters in their English parallel reading." Kevin said.
"Good grief. You're a hard-nosed teacher, there Kev," Craig said.
"Well, Craig. If you could have seen where I began with those two, you'd have been just as panicked as I was. They were two ignoramuses if every you've see one. They'd been out of school or doing school work half-assed for nearly a year. I really had a lot of catching up to do with them." Kevin said.
"Well, they'll love you for it later, Kev." Craig said. "Don't be surprised if you get a little 'friendly' belly-aching for your trouble right now."
"Oh, I'm okay with that," Kevin said. "I get my sense of reward just seeing them performing so well now. I know I'm the proverbial doting father, but they're really excellent students, both of them..."
"Okay. I 'inhaled' that food; so let's get the last section mounted, covered in Styrofoam, and ready for the spray paint. I'd like the main sub hull structure to be finished by the weekend." Hugo said.
"Right, boss. You just tell me what I need to do to help," Craig said turning to Hugo.
Kevin looked everything over and said, "I'd find out who that artist is who created all this stuff if I were you, Craig. You ought to get him under contract. He's fantastic..." Kevin joked...
"Yeah! I'm thinking I should AT LEAST get his name; so when you guys are in Europe I can go on to the next job...." Craig said.
Hugo looked over to Craig as he worked on a nearby ladder. "Does that remark mean you are thinking about ANOTHER one of these fantasy projects anytime soon, Craig??? How can you even THINK 'next project' while this one is still materializing?" Hugo said a bit incredulous that Craig was apparently moving on to the next job in his mind.
"Well, Hugo. That fifty-thousand you're getting for this submarine and assorted 'seafood' won't last forever, you know. And you've got two growing boys, and I've got one. We can't sit on our asses. These kids will need new shoes and eventually cars! We gotta work while the economy and opportunities are hot," Craig said.
"I'm with you, Buddy," Hugo said smiling ear to ear.
Kevin finally gathered up the empty food containers and packed everything back in the dog food box.
"I don't want to leave the boys alone much longer," Kevin said. "I think I'd better be getting on my way."
"Don't the boys have your cell phone number," Craig asked.
"Oh, yeah. But keep in mind I serve as "prison guard" too when it comes to inspecting their homework. I gotta check that out and then get their butts into the shower... Really, Craig, you'd be surprised how those guys are not all that far down the road from "No Doggie, No..." They need supervision and friendly encouragement non-stop..."
"I call that 'tough love'," Craig volunteered.
"I call it work!" Kevin responded playfully. "Okay. I'm outta here." and he gave Craig a peck on the cheek and a long smoocharoo on the lips for Hugo...
"Love ya," Hugo said turning back to the Styrofoam he was stapling to the sub's wooden frame.
"I tell you, Emiline, that boy's going out of the country on a VACATION or medical conference or somethin. I was shocked nearly to death when I talked to that man from San Diego," the County Registrar in Marysville, Chrissy Strobe, said to her friend, Emiline, Nicky's youngest aunt.
"Did he say when they were goin?" Emiline asked.
"Well, not exactly, but very soon, because he's gave me a credit card number to pay the fee for the birth certificate, which they want me to mail to San Diego right away." Chrissy said.
"We'll be able to send it as soon as he completes and returns the application that I told him he could print from the internet. All Mr. Lloyd Lundgen has to do is sign and return the paperwork," Chrissy added.
"You'll let me know when the paperwork shows up won't you, Chrissy?" Emiline asked. "I'd like to know anything at all about that drunken fool who took Nicky out of Marysville."
"Well, Emiline, after all he IS the boy's father. It's perfectly legal to move anywhere you want. I don't see as there's anything wrong with that, just some interesting information that I thought you might be interested in knowin," Chrissy said.
"I AM! I AM interested in knowin!" Emiline said. "But I think Lloyd should a been more sensitive to our family."
"Oh, come on, Emiline. You know you can't stand the boy's father. And if you treated him to his face the way you talk about him to me, I can understand why Lloyd moved away.... I'm just being honest, Emiline. I ain't criticizin you...."
"Now that ain't very nice, Chrissy," Emiline replied.
"No, it aint. And neither was the way you treated Lloyd neither." Chrissy retorted.
"I think you LIKE Lloyd, Chrissy!" Emiline said accusatorily.
"Well, I recollect he IS somewhat handsome, all that red hair and all, but, no, Emiline, I ain't soft on Lloyd... I just don't see as how he's all that bad," Chrissy countered.
"Just the same, if you hear anything else about Nicky and his father, I'd be most appreciative if you could share it with me," Emiline purred into the phone.
"Of, course, honey," Chrissy said pulling the telephone head set away from her ear, looking at it, and making a disgusted face at it.
"All righty. I'll talk with you later, Sweetie," Emiline said."
"OK, Emiline."
And a dial tone sounded from the line as the two hung up.
"Dad, do you think I could take one of the dog's to Europe with us?" Nicky asked Kevin.
"Well, Nicky. Taking an animal from one country to another requires that the animal be put in quarantine (that's isolation) for a month; so that if he's sick, he won't take his sickness into the other country. We'd be returning before the dogs could finish their quarantine." Kevin explained. "We're only going to be gone about a month."
"Hummm?" Nicky thought. "Well, I'll really miss em, and I'm wonderin who is going to feed em and take care of em."
"That's an important consideration, Nicky. We've been thinking about that too. I hate to ask Jake and Craig to take over that job; it's really a lot to ask-- something for them to do everyday twice a day for a month! No, I think maybe we're going to have to put the dogs in a Dog Motel for a month," Kevin said, sort of thinking out loud.
"A DOG MOTEL!" Nicky said shocked.
"They'll be lonely and want somebody to play with them and pet them and let them come inside when it's cold... That's on top of giving them something to eat two times a day," Nicky said. "How would THAT work?"
"Yep! I know," Kevin said.
"Unless maybe Jake and Craig would want to move Dillon and themselves into our house while we're gone... I really don't know what's going to happen," Kevin confided to Nicky in all honesty.
Jilder asked overhearing the conversation, "Nicky, do you think we could make a bargain with Jake and Craig; so they'd want to move in and take care of the dogs,"
"What could we do?" Nicky asked.
"I don't know... Maybe Craig or Jake need their clothes washed every day for a month...We could buy the soap and then fold everything when they were clean. You know, we could do that in return for them taking care of the dogs over here," Jilder suggested to Nicky.
"Washing would be easy enough, but how would we get their dirty clothes everyday? They live too far away for us to walk over and get the clothes... What do you think?"
"Well, we could ask Kevin if he would go by their house very day when we get back from Europe and bring the clothes here. Then we could wash and fold em. I see businesses that do that. Haven't you noticed Fluff and Fold next to laundromats?" Jilder asked.
"Yeahhh. Maybe that would work. And we would be helping our dads to pay for this trip. I know it must be expensive, don't you think?" Nicky suggested.
"Yeah. And maybe Jake and Craig would like to have free laundry for a month in exchange for feeding the dogs..," Jilder said.
"Okay. Let's try it out on Kevin and Hugo. If they think it might be okay, then we'll go to Jake and Craig with our idea.
"Ohhhh! Jilder. I just thought of something!" Nicky said.
"What?" Jilder asked with concern.
"Well, Dillon makes poop in his pants, and that means we'd have to pick up his poopy clothes!" Nicky said.
"Yeaaah. That's right. I'm not looking forward to cleaning up poop, but if that's what it takes to get our dogs fed, then we gotta do it.... poop or no poop!" Jilder said.
"I guess you're right," Nicky said shaking his head reconciled to the down-side of Jilder's proposed enterprise.
Nicky & Jilder got a useful adult lesson: the up-side was it paid for their dogs' care; but the down-side was there might be a little unpleasant work involved too--maybe.
The boys decided to share their idea with their dads at their next opportunity.
A knock sounded on the garage door. All of the dogs started barking and gathering at the kitchen door at the back of the house. In a minute Jake came walking in leading Dillon by the hand yelling, "Anybody home? We're here..."
And a voice came from upstairs, "Make yourself at home, Jake. I'll be down in a second. Jilder and Nicky ought to be down there somewhere..."
At that moment both boys came rushing into the kitchen from the family room, "Jake, Gimme five," Jilder shouted.
The two shared slapped hands, twisted fingers, followed by a conventional hand-shake.
"Dillon, come here, guy! How you doing," Nicky spoke directly to Dillon as he lifted him up and plunked him on his hip. "This kid is getting heavy," Nicky volunteered to anybody who could hear.
"Yeah! I know. That's why he WALKED in here just a minute ago. He weighs a ton for being just a little over two years old... I think Craig is feeding him lead pellets or something... Otherwise, that kid is going to be one BIG boy in just a little while," Jake answered.
Kevin walked in with his arms filled with clothes that he was sorting out for possible inclusion in the boys' luggage for their travels next month.
"I've been trying to decide on what we would absolutely HAVE to take with us, versus what would be just 'nice to have.' Taking luggage when traveling by air is something that must be efficient these days. No telling what part of the tab we'll have to pick up."
"OH, certainly Dr. Kavanaugh's Foundation will pay for luggage with the airfare," Jake said.
"Well, yeah, maybe you're right. I'm just trying to do SOMETHING that appears to be organizing for our trip. Actually, I have no idea what we ought to bring along... I'll need to read through the itinerary and decide the types of dress that will be called for at each conference. And I'll need to do that thinking for both Hugo and me and the boys too... Oh, my God, maybe I should give second thoughts to this trip..." Kevin said.
"Oh, shit! Kev, stop worrying. You might have to wear the same underwear and socks for a week, but who the fuck cares??? You'll never forgive yourself if you don't do the maximum possible while you're on that trip," Jake said.
"Oh, you're so darned rational..." Kevin said making a pretense at exasperation.
"GIVE ME A BREAK, KEV!" Jake retorted with a big smile on his face..." YOU have got to be THE MOST organized person I know!"
"Yeah! Well, I do usually like the feeling that comes with being completely prepared, but this trip thing implies a great deal that will be new. I won't even be able to do more than speculate on what we'll find and do there," Kevin said.
"Sure. But isn't that part of the pleasure of the trip?" Jake reminded Kevin. "You don't have to be perfect. Just make sure everyone shows up with the big things covered: passports, shots, a few clothes, maybe a suit and tie for each of you, cameras and cell phones and laptops for sending emails and text messages...and lots of room for souvenirs... for some "very good" friends back home..." Jake kidded.
"Oh, I'll survive, I guess," Kevin said as he allowed his armful of clothes to tumble into a chair in the family room.
"Say, I thought Craig would be over here by now," Jake said looking at his watch.
"Yes. It is kinda late even for those two. I was at the warehouse taking them supper earlier. They said that they intended to finish the submarine tonight. Who knows when they'll come in..." Kevin said.
"Just as long as I know they aren't having an affair!" Jake joked.
"Oh, God! For some strange reason Hugo decided before I was even conscious and able to campaign for my place in his life, that he wanted me to be his partner-- and he latched on to me. Besides, he thinks my ass is cute too. I don't worry for a moment that he's out shopping. And I absolutely adore that humongous appendage he pretends is 'really nothing...' ... Nope. I'm pretty sure we're an 'item,' as they say in Hollywood," Kevin replied.
"Nooooo, I don't have a hint of discomfort with Craig and other guys either. I know that he thinks Hugo is handsome, but for some crazy reason Craig is in love with me. Go figure??? When he isn't telling me that he loves me, he mentions that he loves my fuzzy little butt too, which constantly amazes me, but makes me happier than a pig in shit," Jake confided.
"What are you guys talkin about," Nicky said, as he and Jilder came barging into the kitchen carrying Dillon in a big quilt stretched between them, that they'd turned into a home-made hammock.
Dillon was laughing and squealing like he was having more fun than he'd ever had before.
"Oh, nothing, boys. Just "Guy-Talk"... You know, about being married and stuff," Kevin replied.
"Oh... Yuck! Is that all adults talk about?" Jilder said, and then with a lightening change of attention Jilder proposed in a whisper: "Nicky, let's put Pepe in the hammock with Dillon. He'll have a cow..." Jilder added laughing.
In a moment the boys had put Dillon down gently on the floor in the big quilt that served as a hammock.
Jilder ran off to get Pepe while Nicky tickled Dillon in the quilt, making one huge commotion and laughing so loud that the adults couldn't talk about ANYTHING, let alone "Guy-Talk."
In a moment, Jilder was stuffing the poor pooch into the quilt with Dillon who started squealing louder and shouting "No, Doggie No..." while both boys laughed their sadistic little asses off... (Boys, after all, occassionally will be boys...)
"LET THAT DOG OUT OF THE QUILT! THIS INSTANT!!! JILDER! NICKY! You'll scare the shit out of Dillon. STOP IT!" Kevin shouted.
Both boys dropped the quilt and the dog wiggled out as quickly as he could and ran off into hiding in the laundry room.
The boys ran laughing hilariously into the family room while Kevin's voice boomed after them..."You guys come back and get Dillon and calm him down. You've terrified the poor kid,"
"NO DOGGIE NO..." Dillon was screaming, pointing into the air, and scrambling to Jake for protection.
"You're alright, little guy!" We won't let the doggie get you. Let's go tell Jilder, "NO JILDER!" for scaring you... Okay, Dillon?" Jake said as he snatched Dillon up from the floor and strode toward the family room.
"NO JIL-ER!!!" Dillon screamed and he meant it!
It was all the funniest, most absurd, yet heart-rending scene that Kevin and Jake had witnessed with these kids. Dillon was NOT amused, and he was making that perfectly clear; Jilder and Nicky were acting like perfect big-brother assholes; and the dads were trying to add some sanity and sensible redirection and a lesson to the kids that they both loved.
Kevin looked at Jake, "You SEE what's ahead for you and Craig for like about 18 more years????"
Jake laughed and kissed Dillon on the head.
"You'll live, kid..." And he let Dillon slide down his body to the floor, where upon Dillon took off running into the family room hollering and laughing looking for Nicky and Jilder....
The boys pretended injury as Dillon gave them a piece of his mind, even if it were all jabber that no one could understand.
And it turned out that, "they really did all live happily ever after"...
Around two am, it was completely quiet in the house. The boys had gone upstairs to their rooms a long time ago, and both were asleep in their own beds. Dillon was asleep on Jake's chest as Jake lay on the big over-stuffed sofa in the family room. Even though it was extremely late, like well after midnight, Kevin was still up puttering around in the kitchen when the door from the garage to the kitchen opened and Hugo and Craig walked in.
"Hi, Kev," Hugo said as he went over and put his arms around Kevin. It was clear that he was exhausted, and he gave every indication that he could collapse in the floor asleep any second.
"Oh, Babe! I'm happy that you can work so intensely and get so much done, but I wish you'd go in to bed and PROMISE ME that you won't get up until after noon tomorrow. You CANNOT keep up this sort of behavior. Your health is good, but you cannot afford to come down with ANY KIND OF INFECTION... the cells... remember!" Kevin said.
"Yeah! Babe... I'm so tired. I'm going to bed right now. Thanks for coming by, Craig, and thanks for all your help. You are terrific." Hugo said.
Then he turned to Kevin and said, "The sub is finished, and all of the sea animals are whole and ready to receive their suspension cables. We really got a lot done tonight."
"YOU are the one who's fantastic," Craig said to Hugo. "Take all day off tomorrow if you need to. We're doing really well with our production schedule. We'll want to start scouting out the atrium ceiling and its structure; so we can begin the suspension in two weeks."
Hugo walked over to Craig sleepily, gave him a hug, and walked back into Kev's and his bedroom.
Craig turned to Kevin and said, "Where's my other half?" referring to Jake and Dillon.
"They've been asleep on the sofa together for three or four hours. Why don't you take the rollaway bed from the front closet and open it up in the family room. That way you and Jake can crash there, and Dillon can keep on sleeping on the sofa.
"He's going to wet his pants tonight, Kev. Are you sure you want that on your sofa?" Craig said.
"No problem. Just lift Dillon up, and I'll put a folded shower curtain under the quilt he's sleeping on. Then it won't matter if he pees on the quilt. That will wash, and the sofa will be okay." Kevin said.
"Great!" Craig said.
He roused Jake who didn't ask any questions but tumbled onto the very comfortable roll-away bed with his clothes on. Craig undressed him, and Jake snuggled under the quilt. After Dillon was tucked away watertight for the night, both of the guys went out into the kitchen to take a taste of red wine for a night cap; in a couple of minutes they hugged and took off for their places: Craig with Jake; Kevin with Hugo.
Everyone was tired but happy with his place in life.