Bart and Chris
by: E Walk
(© 2008 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 10

The Costume 

As Zack was driving home, he started laughing, “Stud, what is it about you that makes the world spin around you.  I’m sure Tip and Ty had no idea that their lives were going to become a revolving door when they hired you.”

I grabbed my throat and made a choking sound, “I’ve been mortally wounded by the man who professes that he loves me.  How could you blame everything on me, Mr. Jackson?  You’re as much to blame as me; after all, you are Bart and Chris’ Dad, too.”

I put my hand on Zack’s leg, “Zack, do you realize that we have only had the boys less than two weeks and it seems as if we have had them for years.  I am really pleased with how they are progressing.  I have the distinct feeling that Bart might be more intelligent than he let’s on.  I guess, Ms. Sweet must see hope for him.  Now all we need to do is make sure that we help that poor Jackson kid make the grade, especially in bed.”

Zack slammed on the brakes, “Be careful what you wish for, Leavitt, or I’ll take my final exam right here in the middle of the street.  Now sit in your seat like a good little boy, and I’ll take you on the ride of your life after everyone is asleep.”

I started to laugh, “Promises, Promises.”

We stopped to talk to Tip and Ty and they informed us that everyone had gone to bed.  We said our goodnights and went to the apartment, Chris and Bart were sitting on the sofa and we heard Bart say, “Chris, I promise I’ll never make you do anything with me.  I realize now, that I was very wrong to try to do what I did to you.  Dr. Xavi said I was being coerced by that man and he was laying a guilt trip on me to try to get me to do what I did.  Does that make sense, Chris?”

I started to talk to Zack as if we hadn’t heard anything, “I thought Tip and Ty said everyone was in bed.  I don’t think our two sons are in bed yet.”

Chris turned around to look at us, “Dads, Bart and I were just talking.  I’m all ready for bed and was just waiting for you to get back so you could tuck me in and kiss me goodnight.  Thanks for letting me go fishing with Aaron and his family.  We had a great time and we even went skinny dipping near a private beach.”

Bart laughed, “Dads, I’m going to go take a quick shower so you can get yours.”  Bart hugged the three of us and went to the extra bedroom.

When Bart had gone, Chris looked at us, “Dads, did you hear what Bart told me just before you came.  I saw you standing there, but I don’t think he did.  Do you really think he meant what he said?”

We sat on either side of Chris,  Zack answered for us, “Christopher, I have the feeling that he really meant what he told you.  We need to learn to trust each other if we are going to be a family.  Now, I suggest you get some sleep.  School will be here before you know it.”

We hugged and kissed Chris; he held us extremely tight before releasing us.  When we got into the bedroom, there was knock on the door leading to the bathroom, “Dads, I’m done.”

Zack and I took our showers and when I finally crawled into bed and started to run my fingers up and down Zack’s abdomen.  I touched his penis with my fingers, “So where’s the ride that you promised me?”

He leaned over and crawled on top of me,  “You’ll have to beg if you want it.”

“Won’t you come home Zack Jackson, I’ve been crying the whole night long.  Fly me to the moon and make my life begin.”

Zack started to giggle, “Mark, you’re not taking this serious.  Maybe I’ll go sleep with Chris.  All you want to do is sing.”

I pulled Zack down so his face was touching mine, “I’m so sorry.  Kiss me once and kiss me twice and kiss me once again.  It’s been a long, long time.”

I forced my tongue between his lips and he responded as did our penises.  He quickly lubricated mine and his back side open and slowly began his descent.  He did indeed give me the ride of my life and I was going to be tamed forever and forever.

He finally dismounted and he began to laugh, “You put up a good fight bronco, but I guess I wore you out.”

I pulled him down and hugged him, “Retribution will be coming when you least expect it.”

We were awakened the next morning by a knocking at the door, “Dads, I need to go to the bathroom.”

Zack propped himself up on his elbows, “Well go, but don't go on us.”

While Chris was in the bathroom, Zack and I put on our running shorts.  When Chris came out of the bathroom, I hugged him, “Son, you make sure everyone gets up while we go for a short run.  We’ll start the coffee before we go.  You’re in charge.”

When we got back from our run, Bart lit into us, “Dads, why didn’t you wake me.  I wanted to run this morning.”

I put my arm around him.  “Your other Dad and I needed to talk about some things in private.  Besides, you can go run by yourself since Ms. Sweet won’t be here until 9:00.  Just don’t talk to strangers.”

After I practically pushed everyone out the door, I went to the apartment to take a shower.  I had just finished when I heard Bart come into the apartment.

He knocked on the bathroom door, “Dad, what did Grandma Sweet mean  when she said appropriate attire?”

I opened the door even though I was still naked and was still drying my hair, “Bart, I have no idea what she meant.  I was wondering about that too.  All I can suggest is that you wear what you think is appropriate.  If Ms. Sweet doesn’t like it, I’m sure she will tell you and you can adjust accordingly.”

Bart came down dressed in nice jeans and a nice pullover shirt with buttons at the neck opening.  I looked at him.  “You look very handsome Mr. Leavitt.”

Bart responded, “Thank you Mr. Leavitt,  I’m trying to look like you.”

When Ms. Sweet arrived she was wearing baggy warm up pants with a sweat shirt with the Green Bay Packer logo.  She looked at Bart, “I thought I told you clothes appropriate for learning.  Now get you butt up to your apartment and put on some suitable clothes.”

She looked at me, “Mark, Bart is a very handsome young man.  My granddaughter thinks he’s the best thing since ice cream.  We have to make sure he doesn’t melt.”

I laughed, “Grandma Sweet, he’s beginning to develop some self confidence.  Zack and I have the feeling that he might be more intelligent than he lets on.  His vision had to be holding him back.”

Neither of us were prepared for how Bart was dressed when he came back.  He had on a Kansas City sweat shirt with the sleeves cut off and a pair of jeans that was missing a pocket in the back with his briefs showing and a hole in the leg showed his bare skin.  He plopped himself down at the table, “Okay, Professor Sweet, I’m ready to see how much you can teach me.  You’ll probably be so fascinated by my body that you won’t be able to concentrate.”

I went to gather the laundry and Barbie was helping me sort it.  It was a good classification exercise for her.  I noticed that every so often Bart would come into the kitchen to refill Ms. Sweet’s coffee cup and to get a glass of juice.  I started to fix lunch and decided to fix egg salad sandwiches with some fresh fruit.

It was almost noon when Ms. Sweet and Bart came into the kitchen.  They were talking about something so I didn’t interfere.  When they finished the discussion, I announced that lunch was ready.  “This is probably the only day of the week that I will have time to fix lunch, so enjoy it while you can.”

Ms. Sweet left after lunch because she had an appointment.  While Bart and I were doing the dishes, he wanted to know what he could do to help me.

I couldn’t really think of anything.  “Bart, why don’t you do what you need to for Ms. Sweet and take a break to make sure the downstairs is clean.  You can study until I pick up the other children.  When they have their homework done, perhaps you could take them to the park while I finish dinner.”

The afternoon and evening were uneventful.  I was waiting for Zack to call when the phone rang  I answered and a female voice asked, “May I speak to Bart, please?”

I recognized the voice, I decided to ham it up, “Might I tell him who is calling Miss?”

Tory must have realized that I was playing games with her and she played along, “Please inform Mr. Leavitt that Miss Victoria Sweet would like to speak with him.”

Bart was standing right beside me, but I yelled as loud as I could, “Hey Bart, there’s some broad named Victoria on the phone who would like to talk to you.”

Bart grabbed the phone, “Tory, don’t mind my Dad.  He’s suffering from dementia and whatever.  What’s up?  … Let me ask. …Dad, Tory wants to know if I can go to a party with her on Friday night.”

I looked around, “I suppose so, if she can have you home by eleven o’clock so you don’t turn into a mouse.”

I left the area after signaling that he needed to limit his call to ten minutes.

He came and sat beside me in the living room.  “Dad, can you help me get a costume for Saturday night and teach me how to lip synch some Elvis Presley songs?”

“Bart, why don’t we worry about that tomorrow?  You go to bed and make sure that Chris is okay.  I’ll be there as soon as your other Dad calls.”

Zack called and complained that he would rather be home in bed with me.  I reminded him that it would be much longer.  I quickly told him what had happened and that I missed him very much.

When I got to Zack’s and my room, Chris was asleep in my bed.  I took a shower and went into the living room and hooked up my laptop and did a search of Elvis Presley songs and found a couple of videos of how Elvis looked when he performed.  I bookmarked the sites so I could show them to Bart.

I guess I was tired because the next thing I remember was that Bart was shaking me, “Dad, it’s raining.  Can we go to the basement and exercise before anyone else wakes up?”

I climbed out of bed and we were met by Tip and Ty as they were going to the exercise room.  I made sure that Bart didn’t overdo it and cause his eye surgery to be damaged.  He wanted to do more than I would allow him to do.  I reminded him, “Bart, Dr. Feren said you should take it easy until your eyes have had the opportunity to fully heal.

When I got back from going with Dr. Robinson and David for another presentation, lunch was waiting for Barbie and me.  After lunch, Ms. Sweet disappeared.  I looked at Bart, “Why did you and Ms. Sweet fix lunch for us.”

Bart was so serious, “Grandma Sweet said that it was good reading practice and she wanted to see if I could follow instructions.”

Hey, who I am I to argue with a professional educator.

After the cleanup was completed,  I had Barbie rest and sent Bart to do his school work.  I went to check and Barbie was playing in her room so I loaded her and Bart into the van and took Bart to a costume shop that was close by.  They had just what I was looking for. I had Bart try on a sequined suit like Elvis was seen to wear during his performances.

I sent Bart to try it on while I found an Elvis wig.  I looked at the lady who was helping us, “Do you know where we can get a cheap guitar to complete the young man’s outfit?”

The lady laughed, “We just happen to have one that we rent out for occasions such as this.  It doesn’t work but it makes a good prop.  May I ask why you are renting these things?”

Bart had returned wearing the sequined or whatever costume, “Dad, this is too big.  The pants are going to fall off.”

The lady asked again, “Why are you renting these things?  We don’t have much call for these costumes anymore except around Halloween time.”

Bart explained that his friends had entered him into a contest at the Pizza Palace so they could get free pizza.  The had signed him to lip sync two Elvis Presley songs.”

I took over, “I was doing some research last night and found some songs that I thought might catch the judge's eye if Bart were properly dressed.  I found a tape of You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog and Love Me Tender.  I thought they would make for two very different type Elvis songs.”

The lady looked disgusted, “Well why didn’t you tell that in the first place?”  She yelled out, “Hey, Mike, do we still have that Elvis costume that had the sequins and the snaps on the legs.  We’re going to need a frilly shirt like he wore and then those pants that would fit a young man like leotards.”

The voice came back, “I’ll see if I can find them Marci.”

An older man came from the back with some clothes and Marci explained what we wanted to do.  This Mike person nodded, “Young man, if you will follow me I'll help you get into this duds.  You look about the right size to fill them nicely.”

I was getting concerned remembering what happened at the department store when we got Bart his clothes.  Bart looked at me and shook his head to let me know that I had nothing to dread.

It seemed to be taking an awful long time.  Finally Mike came out, “Mr. Leavitt, you will need to get Bart some boots.  He’s going to be a smash.  The outfits fit him like they were made for him.  He’ll be out in a minute.”

Mike grabbed the fake guitar and disappeared and returned.  We watched as Bart almost slinked from the dressing room.  Mike had put on a recording of You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog  and Bart started to lip synch even though he didn’t know the words.  When the song ended Mike suggested, “Bart turn around so your back is facing the audience and take off your jacket and throw it to the side of the stage.”

Bart did as told.  “Now, throw you cummerbund to the side and make an exaggerated move with your hips and open the snaps on your pants and let them fall to the floor and kick them to the side of the stage.  Stand looking like you conquered the world with your back to the audience and as soon as the music starts jump and turn to face the audience and when you start to sing, face a young lady in the audience like you are singing to her.”

The music started and Bart was doing the best he could to move his lips with the words.  Marci smiled at Bart, “Honey, you need to learn the lyrics so that it looks like you are singing.  Believe me honey, if you don’t, people will laugh at you.  I suggest that you know the words so well that you wouldn’t need to hear the voice on the recording.”

I looked at the couple, “Thank you for your time and effort.  How much do we owe you.”

Marci  looked at us, “I’ll tell you what, we’ll settle with you when you return the costumes.  I suggest that you get Mr. Bart some high heeled boots to complete his outfit.  We’ll see you at the Pizza Palace on Saturday.”

As I was driving home, I looked at Bart, “Why are Mike and Marci going to see you at the Pizza Palace on Saturday?”

Bart looked at me, “How would I know, Dad?”

I looked at the clock on the dash and realized we had been gone longer than I had planned.  When we walked in, the four primary school aged children were having a glass of milk and some cookies.  Chris looked at us, “I guess you don’t care about us anymore.  I suppose you want us to fix our own dinner, too.”

I thought to myself, ‘I need to watch the time more closely.’  I looked at the young people who were having their snack, “I’m sorry, we’re late but we were taking care of some important business.”

Barbie added salt to the wound.  “Yeah, we had to watch Bart take off his clothes and throw them to the side.”

Chris gave me a funny look.  I decided that I had better clarify what was happening.  “Bart is going to be in a contest on Saturday and we were getting him some clothes to wear.  I’m sure if you are nice to us, he will show you what he’s going to do.  Now I suggest that you finish your snack and let me check your folders to see how much homework you have before I start to fix dinner.”

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:  I think the youngsters might have been just a bit miffed that Mark didn't get home when he had planned.  It might just be that they wanted to tease him, because he was paying more attention to Bart than he was to them. Everyone enjoys getting attention, especially positive attention.

Bart has had a lot of trouble with his self esteem and he needs to know that he has a lot of good points and is basically a good person. It would help if Mark explained that to the other children at some point so they don't inadvertently undo all or part of the progress that Bart has made. Let's hope things go well for Bart at the contest.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 11/14/08