Pinochle
by: E Walk

(Copyright 2007 by the Author)
Editor: Will B
 

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

Chapter 16
Floating on the Clouds

This is Grant. 

Ben reached for the zipper of my trousers.  I thought he was going to carry through with his threat.  I forgot about what was happening and pushed his hand away.

It was as if he had diverted my attention just long enough so that the aircraft could level off and it seemed as though we were floating through the clouds.

The steward got out of his seat, “I’ll be serving a light lunch in approximately thirty minutes.  I’ll put the conference table in place and serve your drinks.  You can start your meeting while I fix the lunch.”

A table dropped from the ceiling.  The steward told us to press the green button on the aisle seat.  The seats swiveled around so they were facing the seats on the opposite side of the aircraft.

This is Ben here.

Dad suggested that Grant and I take the two single seats on the opposite side of the aircraft so we could better see what he and Mother were going to be talking about.  Grant and I moved and got the chairs positioned so we could look at Dad and Mother.

Dad didn’t waste any time.  He opened his briefcase and pulled out a pad, “Grant, you raised an excellent point yesterday when you admitted that you were confused about the relationship between all of the people who were at the house last night.  Just relax and we’ll tell how we are all interconnected.  We’ll spare you of a lot of the details but you will get the general idea.”

“It all started when Jeff, who now is watching over us, plucked me from the Homeless Teenager Home.  I was just getting acclimated in my new environment when Jason was abandoned, and all of a sudden I had a brother.”

Before we knew what was happening Tommy landed in our laps.  Our life wasn’t always that simple.  Doctor Dad’s, that is to say Doctor Jack Wilson’s, house was like a revolving door.  We had Spencer and Tyler living with us well as Jeff’s family and eventually everyone left except Jason, Tommy and me.  I was adopted by Granddad Josh and Jason and I went to live with his Granddad Ben and Dad Josh.  Doctor Wilson adopted Tommy.

Dad Josh was placed in charge of the Home for Homeless Teens and Granddad Ben was put in charge of the Home for Homeless Young Children.  Granddad Ben brought Clay home so we took care of him until he was adopted by Dylan and Carole Anne who you haven’t met yet, Grant.  They will be at the nude dude ranch when we get there next week.”

Dad was interrupted by the steward, who served us lunch.  As we were finishing eating Grant looked at Dad and Mother, “Mr. and Mrs. Benson, this is too abstract for me to remember.  I think it would be better to let me put the pieces of the puzzle together when I meet the people individually.  I guess this Jeff person must have been someone very special.”

I was watching Dad.  He looked like he was getting tears in his eyes, but he remained composed.  “Grant, Jeff was probably the most caring person that I have ever met.  He cared nothing about himself.  He loved Doctor Dad with all his heart and still found time to worry about the rest of us.  He was so good at everything that he did, that people wanted him to do even more.  He and Grams Tillison formed a special bond and he became the center of the Tillison Empire and no one complained.”

Grant looked confused, “So how old was this Jeff person?”

Dad was still misting, “When I first met Jeff, he was eighteen.  Unfortunately he died when he was forty two.  He had an inoperable brain tumor.  He went quickly.  He died the day before Christmas three years ago.  He had affected so many people's lives that when his funeral service was held, the church was filled to capacity and people were standing outside.”

I looked at Dad, I could see he was having a difficult time, “Dad, let me explain what happened at the funeral.  As the funeral was ending, a combined group of Jeff’s admirers was singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot.

When they got to ‘coming for to carry me home’ there was a sudden gust of wind and two dancing lights appeared and hovered over Uncle Jeff’s coffin.  There was a flash of lightning and a strong clap of thunder.  A third light rose out of Uncle Jeff’s coffin.  The three lights just seemed to dissolve through the ceiling of the church.  Everyone sat there in stunned silence.  Finally, one of Uncle Jeff’s nephews said, “Now Uncle Jeff is in heaven with Grams Tillison and Aunt Cora.  Can we go home now?”

Dad took over, “There were only four of us at the grave site when Jeff’s casket was lowered into the ground.  Doctor Dad was at peace and said, “This is not Jeff that we are burying.  It is the shell that held his spirit.  He will always be among us and will constantly be watching us along with Grams and Aunt Cora. We left as soon as the casket was lowered into the ground.”

We were interrupted by an announcement from the cockpit, “Please prepare the aircraft for landing.  We will be landing at the Ithaca airport in approximately 15 minutes.”

The steward cleared the table and the table disappeared into the ceiling.  He had us return our chairs to the original positions and Grant and I moved back across the aisle.  Grant and I were both looking out the window at the sights as we landed.  We touched down as if a feather had landed on the ground.  I patted Grant on the arm.  “You won’t have landings that are this smooth very often.”

This is Gregg.

While I had only been on a few flights before, I soon found out that this was probably going to be the most interesting one that I would ever be on.  Beau actually showed that he does have some emotions.  He is usually so in control that people have a very difficult time reading what he might be thinking.”

The conversation kept my mind from thinking about starting a new life in a strange place without any idea what was in store for me.  After the table disappeared, my stomach started to tighten as we approached touchdown in this strange place.  The landing was so smooth and gentle that it seemed like we were still gliding on air as we approached the terminal.  I waited for the others to deplane before I exited the aircraft.”

Beau led us to the terminal where we were met by the notorious Harley Gordon.  I appreciated the way that Harley looked, but I was apprehensive on how to proceed.  I decided to play it cool.  I guess I was overwhelmed by how fast things were happening.

Beau introduced us to Mr. Harley Gordon.  After everyone had shaken hands with Harley, Beau sent the guys to get the luggage while he checked on the cars.

Beau had rented two cars.  Ben and Grant put my luggage in the trunk of the smaller car, and the remainder of the luggage was placed into the luxury sedan that Beau would be driving.

Grant rode with Harley and me in the car that Harley was driving as we started for the Statler Hotel, where the rest of the party would be staying.  Grant was asking all sorts of questions as we rode to the Cornell campus which was good, since I was at a loss for words and learning a lot of information about the area.

We pulled up at the hotel and Grant jumped out to open my door and then went to talk to Ben.  You would have thought that they hadn’t seen each other for months.  The two guys unloaded the baggage from the car that Beau was driving while Ben and Becca went into the hotel to register.

A bell hop appeared with a large luggage carrier and loaded the suitcases and led us to the lobby.  He escorted Beau and Becca and the guys to their rooms.  Mr. Gordon and I sat in the lobby to wait for them to return.

While we were visiting, Harley and I found that we had some very important things in common.

Ben and Grant reappeared and went outside to look around while we waited for Beau and Becca.

Harley and Beau decided that we should eat at the State Diner.  It was just Harley and me in the car as Harley led the way to the diner.  I felt like I needed to tell him why Grant was so special to me, but I wasn’t sure he if would believe me.  I decided that I would tell him about Grant later.

This is Grant.

The State Diner was interesting.  Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Benson and this Mr. Gordon person sat in one booth while Ben and I sat in the booth opposite the adults.  I was sitting so I could see Dad and Mr. Gordon.  It was like they were taking inventory of each other.

I leaned over to Ben and whispered, “I think Dad and this Harley person might be beginning to connect.  Look at how their legs are touching and no one seems to be pulling away.”

Ben put his foot on my crotch and started to move it up and down.  I leaned over the table and whispered, “Stop that, or you are going to be sleeping in the bathtub filled with ice cubes tonight.”

We both started to laugh but were interrupted when the waitress brought our food.  Ben had ordered a Tullyburger and I had ordered a Boburger.  When the food was placed in front of us, Ben looked at the platters, “Why don’t we split the sandwiches.  We can each enjoy the two specials and we won’t know the difference when we go to bed tonight and start to kiss and make love.”

I looked at Ben, “Are you going to inject me with a strong sleeping potion tonight?”

Ben pretended to pout, “I’ll think about it. It will depend on how nice you are to me for the remainder of the evening.  After all, you just threatened me by telling me I was going to be sleeping in the bathtub.” 

As we finished our meal, Mr. Gordon recommended that we might like to partake of the baklava or rice pudding.  I had no idea what baklava was and asked, “What is baklava?

Mr. Gordon explained, “It’s a Greek pastry.  The owners here at the diner make it from scratch. It consists of layers of thin phyllo pastry and ground walnuts.”

He was still speaking Greek to me.  I turned to Ben and asked, “What’s phyllo?”

“It’s a cross between a pie crust and whipped cream.  It melts in your mouth.  I think Mr. Gordon forgot to mention to tell you that it is usually served with honey,” Ben said as he announced, “That’s what I am going to have for dessert.”

This is Ben.

I think we were all stuffed with the food from dinner.  I could tell that Mother and Dad were wanting to go back to the hotel.  I’m sure that Dad wanted to finalize the plans for the meeting with the President of the Cornell in the morning.  I honestly had no idea what Dad was planning.

Mr. Gordon was driving as he and Mr. Garrison led us back to the Statler.  Dad practically ordered them to join everyone in his and mother’s suite at eight for breakfast.  They waved goodbye as they pulled out of the parking lot.

When we arrived at the front entrance of the hotel, I turned to my parents, “Grant and I are going to walk around and look at the campus.  We will meet you in the morning at 8:00 in your room.”  Grant and I started to walk away, I turned back, “Don’t do anything that we wouldn’t do.  Love you.  Good night.”

Grant and I started to walk around the adjacent campus area.  There were a number of students just walking.  There were couples, groups of the same sex and even some singles of both sexes who were enjoying the summer evening.  What struck me was that everyone seemed to acknowledge us and smile as we walked past them.

Grant and I were starting to get tired since it had been a long day, and we strolled back to the hotel.  When we got to the room, I pushed Grant into the room, “Get undressed now.  There are no clothes allowed when the door is locked.”

I locked the door and shed my clothes as fast as I could.  Grant stood watching me and when I was naked, he started to shed his clothes like a strip tease artist.  He was bumping and grinding and making suggestive gestures like you would never believe.”

When he had finally shed his athletic supporter, he started to suggestively motion for me to follow him into the bathroom and continued until we were standing in the shower.

We had just finished making sure that every body part and crevice was absolutely clean, we rinsed each other off.  Before I realized what was happening Grant was on his knees and had taken my penis in his mouth.  He had me in such a frenzy that I couldn’t last long and began to blast the best of my cream and my knees started to buckle.

Grant stood and I started to reciprocate.  He wasn’t capable of lasting very long either.  When his release stopped, I stood and held him.  It felt so natural for us to be standing and holding each other naked in the warm drops of the shower.

Grant looked at me with tears in his eyes, “Ben, is it always going to be like this?”

“Grant, I hope so.”

I kissed him long and deep and it was like our bodies had been molded together by Michelangelo.  I’m sure the statue would have sold for big bucks.

We exited the shower and dried each other's bodies.  After we had brushed our teeth, we crawled into my bed and just held each other.

Grant looked at me, “I wish we could be like this forever.  Ben, I love you.”

I must have had tears in my eyes because Grant asked, “Ben did I upset you?”

I pulled Grant as close as I could and whispered, “Quite the opposite my friend, these are the tears of happiness.  I so love you my puppet boy.”

I kissed Grant again, “Let’s get some sleep.  Dad wouldn’t be very happy if we didn’t make a good impression when we meet with President Skorton tomorrow.  I love you.”

To be continued...

 Feedback always welcome:     

Editor’s Note:  Ed has managed to include every emotion possible in this story:  Sorrow at Jeff’s death, joy at Grant and Ben’s union, wonderment at the meeting of Harley and Gregg, humor throughout, and a burning desire on the part of yours truly to see what will happen next!  Will B.

Posted: 12/07/07