The Mark and the Mole
by: E Walk

(© 2007 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

 

Chapter 1
The Twins Arrive

Author’s commentary:  This started off to be a short Christmas story but my mind doesn’t understand short story.  Anyway, it is a Christmas story.  Sit back and enjoy.

“Hi Grandma, its Doug.  Would it be okay if Michael and I come and spend Christmas with you?  We thought we would like to come in on the 22^nd and have Christmas dinner.  Michael’s parents have invited you and us for dinner the day after Christmas.  Do you have any problems with these plans?”

“Doug, I am thrilled that you and Michael would want to spend Christmas with me.  I am not really in the mood for Christmas.  I am rather angry with your parents and sister right now and I am having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit.”

“Don’t worry Grandma, Michael and I will take care of that when we arrive.  We should be there about four in the afternoon on Saturday.  We’ll have you singing ‘Jingle Bells’ in no time.  Love you.”

I know. You are asking who am I and who is Michael?

Simply, Michael and I are 36 years old males and we have been partners for 13 years.  Michael is a pediatrician and I am just an ordinary anchor man for the television news broadcasts in a middle sized city.  We decided to take a vacation the week between Christmas and New Years off and added a couple of days on either end.  Hey, we haven’t taken a vacation for two years.  We deserve one.

Now on with the story.  Mike and I arrived at Grandmother’s house shortly after four on Saturday, December 22^nd.  We knocked but there was no response, so we walked in and found Grandmother lying on the sofa.  I was immediately concerned because Grandmother just didn’t stay idle for very long.  I touched her arm and she didn’t respond.  Michael felt her neck and she was definitely breathing.

Mike shook Grandma and she responded.  “I’m sorry, I think I passed out.”

“Grandma, how long have you been out?”

“I think it was about 10:00 o’clock when I sat down to rest.  I was so busy getting ready for Douglas and Michael.”

Suddenly Grandma sat up.  She realized who we were.  “I’m sorry Doug and Mike.  I had planned to fix a nice dinner for you.”

“Grandma, we are going to fix you something to eat.  When was the last time you ate?”

“I had a bowl of soup last night.”

We found some soup and some fruit and pumped it into Grandma.  She started to revive.  I looked at her, “Grandma, you take care of Mike while I go to the store for some things for dinner.”

Dinner was very simple but it provided us with all of the things we needed to make it through the night.

On Sunday morning, Mike and I got up and went for a run, even though it was bitter cold.  I think we both needed to get the jitters out of our pants.

When we arrived back at the house, Grandma was waiting for us, “You two yahoos are nuts.  No one goes running when it is 10 degrees.  Here, drink this coffee before your sexual apparatuses drop off.”

Mike looked like he was going to lose his teeth, “Mrs. Walker, what did you just say?”

“I said that you two were imbeciles for endangering your sexual organs to the elements.  How am I ever going to have any great grandchildren if you keep doing this?  Now get your butts in gear and eat and then we need to go to church and get ready for the holy day.”

Needless to say we went to church and then stopped for lunch at a small chain that served decent quite decent meals.  When we got home, Grandma mandated that we were to go find a small Christmas tree.  Michael and I went to find the perfect tree.  Mike was so meticulous in his examination of the trees that I thought my most precious body parts were going to fall off.

When we arrived back at Grandma’s house, she had all of the decorations laid out and the tree was decorated and I must say the three of us did a very credible job.

After dinner, we sat and looked at the tree.  Grandma looked at us from her rocker, “I think something very memorable is going to happen this Christmas.”

On Christmas Eve morning, Mike and I decided to exercise in the bedroom.  When we finally went downstairs, Grandma was waiting, “What do you want to have for Christmas dinner?  I don’t think I want to fix a turkey.  How about we fix a prime rib of beef?”

Mike looked at Grandma, “Grandma Walker, we’ll take care of dinner.  Are you going to ask Doug’s parents and his sister and her husband?”

Grandma didn’t even hesitate, “I am not asking them, Doug can ask them.  They will have nothing nice to say.”

The three of us went shopping and we had gotten everything we thought we would need to make a nice Christmas meal.  We had a light lunch and I called my parents and sister and invited them to dinner.  I was surprised at how quickly they responded in the affirmative. 

Grandmother, Michael and I spent the afternoon making sure everything was ready and had pancakes and sausages for dinner.  Grandma wanted to go to the 9:00 Christmas Eve service.  So that’s what we did.

When we were back home, we were enjoying a glass of eggnog with a little rum and Grandma asked, “Doug, would you please sing Oh Holy Night for me while Michael plays the piano?”

Mike went to the piano and I sat beside Grandma and started to sing.  I was on the last ‘Oh Night Divine’ when the dreadful door chimes rang.  I got up from the sofa and went to answer the door.  “Who in the world would be coming to visit at 10:30 on Christmas Eve?”

I opened the door and saw no one but I heard a sound.  I looked down and saw a laundry basket with what looked to be a body.  I picked it up and looked and lo and behold, there were two little bodies.  I quickly took the basket into the living room.

I looked at Grandma and Michael, “I think we have a major news story breaking here.  Two young infants have been dropped at the front door of a wonderful lady.”

I looked in the basket.  There was a note, “Please take care of my sons until I can.  Please love them.”

I started to get tears in my eyes but I controlled my emotions.  “Mike, you need to go find some milk or formula or whatever it is that young children need and some diapers and wipes.  I’m sure Grandma doesn’t stock that kind of goodies.”

“Grandma, do you have another laundry basket so we can make the boys more comfortable?”

Grandmother went and got another laundry basket and we tried to make it comfortable.  Grandmother shook her head, “Doug, go to the back guest bedroom and look in the drawers of the dresser.  I think I saved some of your and Marcie’s clothes from when you were babies and your mother would drop you off here.”

I went to find the clothes and sure enough, there were some baby clothes.  I brought them downstairs and Grandma had both of the babies in her arms singing to them.  She looked at me, “Doug, go put those clothes in the washing machine.  It has been thirty years since they have been washed.  Mike should be back soon.”

Mike came in, “Do you realize how difficult it was to find a store that was open on Christmas Eve that had the basic things we needed?  I probably used half a tank of gas.”

Grandma was not to be deterred, “Stop complaining Michael, this is as close as you will ever get to being a daddy.”

We fed the two newcomers some of the formula that Mike had purchased, and then changed their diapers.  Grandma was watching, “I think we should call this young man Mark, because of the cute birthmark on his tummy.”  She picked up the other baby.  “I think we should call this beautiful little boy Jon.”

“Grandma, we can’t let ourselves become too attached to these children.  The authorities are not going to look favorably on two gay males raising two young boys.”

Grandmother was relentless, “Listen to me, anything can happen. It’s Christmas Eve.”

“Grandma, I think we need to go to bed.  None of us are used to handling relatively new born children.  We’re going to need all of the energy we can get.”

“Douglas, we will do just fine.  I’ll lock up while you two go to get your bodies in bed.  I’ll leave the hall light on in case you need to come downstairs and get something during the night.”

Mike and I carried the laundry baskets up the steps and placed them on the dresser next to the bed.  We quickly got ready for bed and we turned out the lights except for a closet light so we could see in case one of the boys started to cry.  I pulled Mike close, “Well Daddy, I think our lives have been turned topsy turvy in the last couple of hours.  Are we going to be good Daddies?”

Mike didn’t even think, “Oh dear Dougie, we’re going to be the best daddies we can be.  We’ll make your Grandmother proud.”

We kissed each other and said goodnight.  I had a difficult time going to sleep.  I guess I did fall asleep though, because the next thing I remember was Mike getting out of bed and two little voices fussing.   I looked at the clock and it was three o’clock.  We fed the boys and changed their diapers again and they went back to sleep.  Mike looked at me, “Doug, we are going to need to hire a nurse, or someone to help us.  There is no way we can take care of the boys properly and still function in our normal jobs.”

“Michael, you are starting to sound like Grandmother and think these two young men are going to be with for the rest of our lives.”

“Doug, would you be upset if they were?”

“Oh dear Michael, I would dearly love to have these two young men to rear.  I think we would be very good for them but society just isn’t ready to allow that to happen yet.  It would be a miracle if we still have the boys this time next week when we go home.”

The next thing I remember was Mike putting a little body on my chest, “Mark, needs to be changed and fed.  He says you are to get your body out of bed and take care of his needs.  You get dressed while I take Jon downstairs.”

I laid Mark on the bed and just looked at him.  He was such a beautiful baby.  He opened his eyes and looked at me with his eyes which were still trying to focus.  It looked like there was a little smile on his face.  I leaned down and kissed him and almost started to cry.  Why can’t these two beautiful boys truly belong to us?

I carried Mark downstairs and fed him his bottle and changed him.  Mike and I put the guys on the counter while we fixed breakfast.  Grandma came in, “How are my four guys this morning?”

Mike answered, “Grandma Walker, it is going to take some getting use to having to deal with two little boys.  We aren’t teenagers you know.”

“Yeah and I ain’t no spring chicken either.  I’ll take care of the boys while you gentlemen prepare the Christmas dinner that I am not looking forward to with great expectations.  I hope that we don’t embarrass the boys.”

We took the boys and their baskets into the living room and placed their baskets on either side of Grandma.  She was in seventh heaven just watching the boys.

Michael and I started to get things ready for dinner.  We fed the boys one more time and had a light snack to hold us until dinner which was scheduled for two o’clock.  Everything was ready and we took turns getting dressed.  At 1:30 my parents, my sister Marcie and her husband, Will arrived.  My Dad announced, “I’ll get everyone cocktails.”

Marcie and her husband had martinis, mother had a Manhattan and Dad had a double scotch on the rocks.  Grandma and Michael and I deferred, since it was only a little after one thirty in the afternoon and we knew we were having red wine with dinner.

Mike and I checked on the boys and they were doing fine.  Everything was coming together in the kitchen on schedule.  We returned to the living room and everyone was on their second drinks.  Mike looked at me and shook his head.  We announced that dinner was being served and invited the guests to go to the dining room.

We served the shrimp cocktails, and my sister said, “How unoriginal.” She however ate the entire cocktail including all of the lettuce.

Mike looked at me and we brought the salad and Marcie again piled her plate high.  I was beginning to think that she would not have any room for the main course.  Between the salad and bread that she ate, there was no way she could be hungry.

Little did I know, when Mike and I served the main course of rolled prime rib without the bone, twice baked potato and vegetable medley. She proceeded to eat everything in sight and complained the entire time about how ordinary it was.

Grandmother finally spoke up, “Marcie, shut your big mouth.  If you don’t like what we are having, why don’t you and Willy Boy just leave?”

One of the boys started to cry, so Michael and I got up and attended to them. It was time for them to eat.  We changed their diapers and started to feed them.  Marcie started again, “I guess you guys must have paid some sluts to be a surrogate mother for your children.”

Grandmother stood, “I would like for you all to leave.  Bitch Marcie, at least the guys are capable of producing children, unlike your husband whom you made have a vasectomy.”

Marcie stood her ground, “We’ll leave as soon as you give us our usually measly Christmas checks.”

“Marcie, after what happened at Thanksgiving, I made up my mind that I was never giving you another cent.  Where did you buy my gift this year, was it at the Dollar Store or Dollar General?  Now would you and your parents please leave before I get ill and throw up the wonderful meal that we had.  If Doug hadn’t invited you, you would not have been here.   So long, don’t call me and I certainly won’t call you.”

Mike and I cleared the table and Grandmother was watching the boys. The doorbell rang.  Grandmother answered the door expecting one of the neighbors to be bringing some goodies by.  “Good afternoon young man, how may I help you?”
 

“Ma’am, I came to pick up my two sons.  I need to take them and do the best I can do.”

Grandmother yelled, “May Day.”

To be continued...

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Editor's Notes:

Oh my goodness!!!!!

Now what will happen? I don't know about any of you, but I know that I need the next chapter, and I need it soon, as in now, I mean I need it yesterday.

This is great. Hurry. Where is chapter two?

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 12/21/07