This is FICTION mostly. It did happen up until the cop was looking in my van. Then the rest is totally bullshitting fiction. The part of the story marked with (+) is where the fiction begins in part 1.. Consider throwing Nifty $20. This service is not free for them. By the way -- do not fuck around with the law, entrapment is real and alive in many areas and your life can be ruined. Terry
............................................. Epilogue
One other note; in 1977 -- 1979 there was no such thing as a legal gay marriage. It just did not exist. Starting in February, Trooper made sure I had all of my shots for international travel and a passport. I just could not figure out why. However, Trooper surprised me one weekend with airline tickets to the Netherlands during September 2001. We left on a Thursday and were returning on Wednesday to go to back to work on Friday. I still did not know what was going on until we both got a fitting for Black Tuxes with tails. The next day we got married in a city called Leiden, Netherlands, Saturday, Sept 15, 2001, at 3:00 PM their local time. Trooper had been planning this for months, he took care of everything. Since the United States recognizes legal marriages outside of the boundaries of the US, we were recognized as married with a few proclivities. Trooper changed his last name to mine. I offered to change my last name, however he was set and determined to take mine. He said that he did not want his name to be the same as his imprisoned ex-wife.
In spring 2002 we applied for a foster care license. I turned 46, my beloved Trooper was 48. We took all of the classes; however, it did not go over so well. Mostly because in rural Kansas gay stereotypes were alive and well. Then, one very cold rainy fall day, we received a panicked phone call about fostering three children, a set of fraternal twin boys and their sister. They came with lots of baggage emotionally, and with all of their possessions in two trash bags. Trash bags no less, instead of even a resemblance of a piece of luggage. We were granted emergency foster care license to care for a pair of troubled twins, 8 years of age and in the second grade, and their sister age 11 in the fifth grade. All of the children had been held back a year. Sleeping arrangements were cramped, to say the least. However, we managed.
We decided to move from my little bungalow to just outside the city to a very old farmhouse, with a curved stairway to the second floor, with absolutely hideous rose printed wallpaper, that just begged to be removed. The house needed lots of TLC and work, but we were two guys used to building things together. Our new home came complete with 2 outbuildings for his tools and plenty of room for our family. The kids adjusted, and after learning our limits and the simple fact that they were safe, and well fed, and taken care of, they started to blossom. We both tutored the children; my specialty was Math and English and Trooper handled Social studies and Physical Ed. The children's diet was horrible, we had to educate them on proper nutrition. It was shocking to us that a complete meal to the children was a can of corn and a can of spam. So, the first thing we cut out was junk food, which was something that the children told us that made up the bulk of the diet before they came to live with us, and something they depended on for energy. Since we had the space, we planted a huge garden and enlisted the kids in planting and cultivation. And then there was the almost endless meeting with the child phycologists and doctors, however we persevered.
In the summer of 2004, we received another phone call by the children's attorney / guardian ad litem for a meeting, which was set for Wednesday of the following week. At the meeting Trooper and I were shocked when the kids informed us, in no uncertain terms, that they told the social workers and their attorney/guardian ad litem that they wanted to be adopted by us. We were kind of shocked, but pleasant shock nonetheless. We completed the background interview and home study in the farmhouse that had been mostly renovated, including a new roof. A few hurdles were accomplished including dental work for the children covered by their medical card before the adoption.
The final hearing lasted 18 minutes in the judge's chambers, and with a pleasing look from the Judge, after he confirmed verbally to each child that the adoption was what they wanted, his signature was affixed to the adoption papers. They had spent 1698 days in foster care, at five foster homes including ours.
So, now we were complete: a family of 5, in an old farmhouse, with two daddies, three children, and a few chickens, three goats and a German Sheppard service dog named Quarter.