Pinochle
by: E Walk

(© 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 24 

Getting Ready For the Trips

This is Grant.

I know I am selfish, but I just wanted to be alone with Ben.  It was so good not to be worrying about anyone else.  Besides, I think Dad and Dad Harley need to have some time to get to know each other.

Ben and I pulled away from everyone and I looked at him, “Benji, can we just go to some spot where we can be alone for a couple of hours?  I just want us to hold each other.  We don’t even have to do anything sexual.  I am so overwhelmed by everything that has been happening.  You know, I have never been to a movie.  Maybe we should go chill out there in a dark deserted corner where I can put my hand where it counts the most.”

Ben started to give me a hard time, “Where might you be wanting to put that wonderful hand of yours?  I guess you must be talking about an ATM machine.”

I glared at Ben, “ I am going to put it where I get a special delivery from those round organs you keep hidden away under several protective layers.”

Ben stopped the car, “Grant, what’s really wrong?”

“Ben, I am scared of how fast everything has been happening.  I just need time to assimilate everything.  Remember you have eighteen years of experience to draw from.  I don’t even have eighteen days worth of experiences.  I feel like an infant trying to open my eyes.  My entire existence has been focused around you.  What would I do without you?”

Ben started the car and pulled into a park near a lake.  We exited the car and started to walk along a trail.  Ben moved away from the trail and led me to a clump of trees. “Grant, sit down here beside me.”  He put his arm around me.  “Grant, don’t ever sell yourself short.  You heard what the test results said.  You are intelligent enough to be able to figure out what is right and what is wrong.  You don’t need me to be with you twenty-four hours a day, even though I wouldn’t mind if I were.  Grant, there are bound to be some times when we have a difference of opinion about something.  We will just need to learn to sit down and discuss them in a rational manner.  Grant, I am totally in love with you, but you need to meet some more and different people before you can decide.  Remember, I am the first person that you ever met.  You may find someone you would rather be with than me.”

I pushed Ben to the ground and crawled on top of him, “Ben, please don’t talk like that.  Can we please go back to your house at least, and be alone in your room?”

We quickly walked back to Ben’s car and neither of us said a word.  It was as if there was something that was not right.  When we arrived at Ben’s house, we visited with his parents for a short time and then went to Ben’s room.  Fortunately, none of the other children were there.  I laid down on Ben’s bed fully clothed and I could feel Ben’s reluctance at joining me, but he finally did.

I put my arms around Ben and pulled him to me, “Ben, I am terrified.  What if something would happen to you?  What would I do?  You are all I know about life.  Please don’t leave me.”

Ben propped himself up, “Grant, why would you think such a thing?  Nothing is going to happen to either of us.”

“Ben, I was thinking about Dad and his former lover who died.  I was thinking about how Dad had lived an isolated and lonely life for twenty years.  I just hope that he and Mr. Gordon can form some sort of relationship without the past interfering.”

Ben pulled me close, “Oh my dear Grant, you are starting to sound more like my parents, especially my father.  We need to worry about ourselves.  Your Dad and Mr. Gordon will be just fine.  They are older than we are and probably have a lot of memories that they need to put asunder.  Now, kiss me you beautiful man.”

Ben pulled me into a strong embrace and I felt very secure.  I guess I needed that.  “Ben, please just hold me for a few minutes before you take me home that isn’t going to be my home very much longer.  Just think, we will be living in that house on Hudson Drive before long.  I guess we need to think about packing for our trip.”

Ben drove me home and made arrangements to pick me up for breakfast before we opened the Toy Shoppe in the morning.  The house was very quiet and I took a quick shower and crawled into bed.  I was lying there thinking of Ben when there was a knock on the door.  I had worn briefs to bed, so I got up and answered and Dad was standing there only in his boxer shorts.

“Hi Dad, I thought you were asleep.”

Dad walked into the room and shut the door, “Grant, can we talk, please.”

I sat down on the bed and he sat down beside me and put his hand on my arm, “Grant, how would you feel if Mr. Gordon and I would become more than just good friends?”

I wasn’t ready for that question, “Dad, please listen to what I have to say.  I have only been your son for about three weeks.  I know that you were very lonely and it has been wonderful seeing you open up.  I am going to be living with Ben when we get to Ithaca, and I think it would be superb if you and Mr. Gordon form a special relationship.  I had the feeling that you were holding back because of your memories of Mr. Jerry.  Dad, make sure that Dad Harley knows about your past, so you both can move on and develop a relationship together.”

Dad started to laugh and I was beginning to feel hurt until he pulled me against him, “Grant, for a piece of wood, you sure make a lot of sense.  I need to go think about everything that you just said.”

We stood there together, and I hugged him again, “Dad, don’t worry about the Shoppe.   Ben and I will handle it tomorrow.  You will need to come by and pay the others who were filling in after you meet Ben’s parents for breakfast and take care of all the business that you need to take care of.”

Dad hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.  He whispered, “I love you son.” as he left.

Now, how I am supposed to get to sleep after this?  Maybe I should go visit Ben to calm myself down.

Ben whispered, “I am here.  I think you handled that very nicely.  I think you are about to have another visitor.”

Before I could say anything, there was a knock on the door, I opened it and Mr. Gordon was standing there in a robe.  “Grant, may I please come in?”

I invited him in and I sat on the bed and he sat down beside me, “How can I help you, Dad Harley?”

“Grant, before I begin, I must say that you are a very healthy specimen of manhood.  Your Dad wasn’t lying when he said you were well endowed.”

I was getting concerned and I could feel Ben trying to get me excited, “Dad Harley, you didn’t come here to talk about my endowment.”

“Grant, that WAS inappropriate of me.  I am sorry.  What I wanted to know was if you would have a problem if your Dad and I were to become more than just housemates.”

I wanted to laugh, “Dad Harley, I thought I made my feelings very clear when I started to call you Dad Harley.  You are just what the doctor prescribed for Dad.  He has lived a lonely life for far too long.  I will be in the same town, but I am going to be living with Ben.  Besides, Dad doesn’t need someone young like me to keep him company.  He needs someone more mature, like you.  I don’t know what else I can say.”

Mr. Gordon started to laugh, “Grant, I’ll say this, you sure don’t mess around.  For someone who didn’t know I was going to be visiting with you, you sure said the right things.  He put his arms around and hugged me.  I escorted Mr. Gordon to the door and turned around.

“Okay Benson, I know what you were trying to do.  You were trying to get my penis to stand tall like an oak tree.  I don’t think Mr. Gordon would have been prepared for that.”

Ben materialized, “I was just checking to see if the merchandise was worth purchasing. Now, shed those ridiculous briefs and hold me like you mean it.  I need a good night kiss.”

There was no sex. Both Ben and I felt fine with just holding and touching each other.  Ben looked at me, “Grant, I do love you.  I am going to go now.  I pick you up at 7:30 so we can grab some breakfast before we open the Shoppe.  Tomorrow night we are going to need to pack for our trip to make sure that we have everything that we need.  I am going to go now.”

I whispered, “I love you Ben.” as he disappeared.

This is Ben.

I was laying on my bed thinking about how Grant had handled his two visitors.  Hey, he would make a good psychologist.  He reads people so well and knows exactly what to say.  I was still little disturbed about our encounter earlier.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember was the sounding of the alarm.  I wanted to throw it on the floor.  I took a quick shower and decided that I needed to make a quick trip to check to see if Grant was up.  He was in the shower when I floated in and I joined him in the shower and started playing with his emergency equipment.  He turned around and pushed me against the wall.  He fell to his knees, “The early bird doesn’t always get the worm.”  With that he started to administer to my growing appendage which was about to explode.

When we were dried off, he smacked my bottom, “Now get out of here, I need some food since we forgot to eat dinner last night.”

I floated home and quickly got dressed.  I realized that Grant was right.  We hadn’t eaten dinner.  I suddenly was having hunger pangs in my stomach.

I drove to the Garrison’s house.  Grant appeared immediately and we went to The Village Inn for their early bird specials.  There was not much conversation.  We were too busy eating.  We went to the store and got ready for the day.  T.J. arrived and we opened the Shoppe.  T.J. looked at us, you two are in charge today.  I think everyone else has plans.”

Grant looked at T.J., “Dad will be in later to make everyone’s paycheck. Do you have a record of who worked how many hours?  I am sure that Brian, especially, would like to have his money for his upcoming trip.”

T.J. handed Grant a roster of who worked how many hours.

T. J. had no more than left than Timmy arrived, just as we opened the Shoppe.  When he saw me, he shouted, “I’m so glad you two are back.  Did you have a good trip.  Poker missed you.  I still miss Pinochle.”

Timmy went to check on Poker and made sure he was arranged properly and he ran his hand over his groin region and I felt like someone was rubbing their hand up and down my penis and it was starting to react.  I sent Grant a message, “Please divert Timmy’s attention away from Poker.  Show him some of the new train items.”

Grant did as I asked, and I went into the backroom to adjust myself.  When I came out of the backroom, Timmy was checking the tally sheet.  “Look at this, guys, the tally sheet says that almost everyone stops to touch Poker.”

Timmy left and there were a steady stream of customers.  It was almost lunch time when Mr. Garrison and Mr. Gordon came in.  Grant showed his Dad the records that T. J. had given him.  Mr. Garrison looked at the records, “You go get something to eat and I'll make out the checks, since as of noon today, I no longer own the Shoppe.  When you guys decide to return from lunch, Harley and I are going to go decide what I need to take back to Ithaca with us.”

I took Grant to what used to be the Madison’s deli and we had a sandwich, juice and a dessert and took two chicken salad sandwiches  and two pieces of apple crumb pie back for Mr. Garrison and Mr. Gordon.  When we walked in, it was obvious that Mr. Garrison was feeling some remorse, but he just handed us each a check, “We’re going to leave now.”

Grant handed him the bag with the food, “Dads, we brought you some lunch.  When people get to be your age, we know that you sometimes don’t eat properly.  Ben and I are not going to permit anything bad to happen to the Shoppe.  Now you two go get ready for the next part of your life.”

Mr. Garrison and Mr. Gordon were both looking at Grant like they wanted to say something, but they just left with bag from the deli.

We were relatively busy the rest of the afternoon, and about 4:30 Brian came in with Ricky, “Good to see you guys.  When are we going to pack for our trip?”

I looked at Brian and Ricky, “We’re going to pack this evening to make sure that we can fit everything that you think you need to take into the suitcase. We’ll meet you at the house.  In the meantime, Mr. Gordon gave us a check for each of you.  You might want to take it to the bank so you have some money for  your trips.  Ricky, I understand that Uncle Jason is taking your family to Orlando so you can go to all the theme parks.  Have a great time.”

Grant looked at me, “How did you know they were going to Orlando?”

“I heard Dad talking to Uncle Jason this morning before I left to pick you up.  Dad gets up very early and works out each day before most of Fremont even thinks about getting up.  I just hope that he starts to slow down soon.  He is not as young as he would like to be.  Come on, it’s five o’clock, let’s close up. We’ll lock the money in the safe and find out what Dad and Mother want us to do with it tomorrow.”

We were just about to leave when the phone started to ring, I picked up the phone, “This is Ben Benson speaking, how may I help you. … Oh hi Dad. … Okay Dad, we’ll meet everyone at the club at 6:30.  What do you want us to do with today’s receipts?  We have already locked them into the safe. … Fine, Dad, we’ll leave them there until tomorrow.  See you at 6:30.  Grant, Brian and I are going to pack tonight to make sure we have everything we need.”

When I had hung up the receiver, Grant pushed me into the back room. “Ben, I need some protein to help me through this evening.  He started to open the slacks that I was wearing, but I wasn’t about to be denied either.”

When we finished our little foray, we were both satisfied and a little exhausted.  We just held each other and knew that this was the way it was supposed to be.  Who needs the rest of the world?

To be continued...

 Feedback always welcome:     

Editor’s comments:  What a beautiful love story.  Ben loves Grant.  Grant loves Ben.  I love them both.  Will B.

Posted: 02/08/08