Julien Gregg's Hopper

 PART FOUR
ERIC 

Chapter 9 

With that off the table we got back to our lives. We went back to classes and did very well. My mother and father came every Sunday for dinner. Mary and Adam came on those Sundays too. We were no longer going to Harris for Christmas. They were coming to us. Things were evening out. Denise loved her two children, and Randy was happy. Paul and I were happy in the bodies we were in, but we knew that these wouldn't be the last. We had generations of children to hop into.

We talked about why I started out at seventeen. I told him I didn't like being under anyone's thumb for longer than a month or two. He said he understood. He said we'd both look for seventeen year olds. He asked if we always had to go to college. I said no. We could take a lifetime off if he wanted. He said that in the next life he didn't want to go to college. I said there would be a number of companies in the family to work for. He said that was true.

It seemed that our talk was a bit prophetic. We were driving back from classes when a semi slammed into us. We were both killed instantly. We were spirits together this time. Neither of us had been given the chance to have children, so it was waiting to see if Denise's son would fall. I hovered around him for his whole life. Eric was a good boy but he wasn't a witch. When he fell, and he did fall, it was bad. He'd been pushed from a third story window. He died almost instantly and I hopped in and anchored myself. I had extensive damage to fix. They rushed him to the hospital, but I was already fixing things. They took him straight to surgery, this time the doctor said nothing about the healing that was happening inside Eric's body. Denise and Randy were in the waiting room. I knew that. I worked on fixing the broken bones, the cracked skull, the swelling brain, the broken clavicle, and both broken legs. The boy who pushed him was interested in a girl that liked Eric. Eric wasn't into girls, so it was stupid to try to kill him for the girl that liked him. I worked and worked, but I never forgot Jackson Price's name. He's the one who pushed him. The spirits were already after him.

They brought me out of surgery. The doctor told Randy and Denise that he'd never seen anything like what was happening inside my body. He said he hadn't done much but stop internal bleeding. Everything else was already mending. Denise said it was a Patterson Family thing. We healed really fast and really well. He said he was guessing that I would be fully healed within a day or two. It was more like four days. I stayed in that coma for a long time. I didn't come out until I had fixed everything and gotten rid of every damaged cell and problem in his body. He was better than healed. He was all new inside for the most part. I didn't leave anything untouched.

"Mom?" I asked as I opened my eyes.

"Oh, baby," she said as she kissed my forehead. This time it was doing a number on me to be the son of my sister. I'd acclimate though.

"Where's Dad?" I asked.

"He went home to sleep," she said. "He has to work in the morning. You've been in a coma for a week."

"Jackson Price pushed me out the window," I said.

"We know that, Honey," she said. "He's in the psych ward right now. He claims that something is after him. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"No," I said. "I never went anywhere."

"Okay," she said with a sigh. "The Patterson ghosts are after him I think."

"Well, that would make sense," I said.

"How's your memory?" she asked.

"Almost perfect," I said. "I remember almost everything. There are some things that I just can't bring to the front of my mind though."

"Well, it's better than it is for most of the young men in the family," she said. "You may inherit the fortune."

"Uncle Nick's money?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "It was his for a while."

"I miss him and Paul," I said.

"You were so little," she said. "I'm surprised that you remember them."

"I don't really," I said. "It's like I know that they're supposed to be with me. Maybe they were while I was in a coma."

"Maybe," she said. "I'd give anything to see or hear from my brother. I miss him more and more as time goes on."

"Well, I wish I could help you with that," I said. "But I'm not a witch."

"No," she said. "It skipped you for some reason. Your sister has a gift, it's just weaker than most."

"Yeah," I said.

"Well, how are you feeling?" she asked. "The doctor thought you'd be all healed up in no time."

"I'm healed," I said. "I feel fine. Nothing hurts or itches."

"I have something to tell you and I don't want you to get upset," she said, looking at me with a worried expression.

"What?" I asked.

"Jason is in the next room," she said. "He was in a car accident, and it doesn't look good."

Jason was Jason Tanzy. He was about to be Paul Tanzy in that body. I wasn't upset. I was waiting for him. This time we'd do it right. We wouldn't waste time in college. I'd have the fortune and we'd just live. We'd donate to this and that and sit on boards. It wouldn't be like the other lives. I thought about that as I thought about the accident that had killed us both when I was Nick and he was Paul. This time we'd be more careful.

"Honey?" she asked.

"I'm fine," I said. "I think he's going to pull through."

"You think so?" she asked. "Did you see him when you were in a coma?"

"No," I said. "He wasn't there."

"Well, okay," she said. 

"Mom, I'm hungry," I said. I always needed food when I woke up after healing damage. This time it had been extensive.

"I'll get you something," she said.

"Just no buggers," I said with a smile.

"Right," she said.

She was gone for a while. I called Scotland and gave them the code phrase, my name, and when my birthday was. I also told them where to find me. They told me that a lawyer would be with me the day I turned eighteen. I hung up. Mom was gone a long time. She came back with a styraphoam container. I smelled the tenderloin as soon as she walked into the room. I smiled really big at this. She moved the tray table over to the bed, and I sat up. I dressed the tenderlone, and started to eat. I was ravenous. I ate the entire tenderloin and all of the fries. I even drank both of the Dr. Peppers. I sat back and sighed.

"You needed that after all of that healing," she said. "I don't know what it is about the Patterson blood but we heal so fast."

"There was a lot of damage?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "You cracked your skull, your brain was swelling. You broke your collarbone, both legs and an arm. I'm surprised you didn't die on impact."

Eric had died on impact. I had taken over as soon as he was gone. Eric was with the spirits. The boy knew how to hop. That's what surprised me. He told me to take his body and he would hop into one of my children. I almost laughed out loud at the memory. She watched me for a moment and I finally smiled. I told her that I was a tuff person. I was her son. She smiled at that. Then she told me that if I was fine she needed to go home and sleep. I told her to go. I'd be fine.

I got out of bed and walked to the next room. No one saw me. I sat with Jason for a while. Then his eyes opened and he looked at me. He smiled. I smiled back. He was Paul. The damage had been healed in his body. He asked me if I was Nick. I nodded. He smiled. I told him I was all healed. He told me he was, too. I told him I'd see him outside the hospital. He smiled at this. I got up and crept back to my room and got back into the bed.

"Caught you," said Laurice, a nurse. "You're up and moving, so I guess you're doing fine."

"I am," I said. "I've already eaten. My mother went and got me a tenderloin from the bar across town."

"That was nice of her," she said. "The doctor said you'd be up and at em as soon as you woke up. He's prepared to release you tomorrow."

"Yeah, we heal fast in my family," I said.

"I'll say," she said. "I was one of the nurses who was here when you were brought in. You were all broken and bruised. Now it's like nothing happened to you."

"I know," I said. "I feel great."

"Well, are you still hungry?" she asked. "We've got some things at the nurse's station for the patients."

"I could go for pudding," I said.

"Chocolate, vanilla, or butterscotch?" she asked.

"Chocolate," I said. "Can I have two of them, please."

"You can," she said. "Would you like another Dr. Pepper? I saw them in the trash can."

"Yes, please," I said with a smile. 

She went off to get those things and I settled into the bed. This time I was sure that I got all of the bad cells out of the body. There were no cancer causing genes in the body now. I'd eat healthier and I'd make sure that Jason did, too. We'd be the healthiest people in the world. Denise, or Mom, liked to bake, but I'd have to refrain from a lot of that. I didn't like to bake. Eric didn't like to bake. He was an artist. I could see it in his head. I could do it, too. It was strange for me. I didn't usually pick up the traits of the boys I hopped into. This time I did. I could paint, draw, and sculpt. Eric was really talented. I could sell some of his works.

The nurse came back with my pudding and soda. I watched a movie on cable. It was a good movie and it passed time. Before I knew it, Jason was in my room, sitting in a chair. The nurse came in and told us that we shouldn't be moving around the ICU. We laughed. She said she'd over look it. We went back to watching the movie. When she was gone he looked at me. "What are we going to do this time?" he asked.

"We're going to live our lives," I said. "We're not going to college. I'm not going into the family business either."

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm going to paint, sketch, and sculpt," I said. "Eric was very talented with all of that, and for some reason it's all in my head."

"That's weird," he said. "Jason likes to write. It's all in my head, too."

"Damon Arcola said that if we became Immortalis in the bodies of Nick and Paul and there were others that we were destined to hop into we'd be sorry. What if these two are the ones we were destined to hop into?" I asked.

"Maybe they are," he said. "I fell so completely Jason this time. It's like I'm not all the way here. Part of Jason took me over."

"I feel the same way," I said. "At least Eric and Jason were boyfriends before they fell."

"Yeah, we don't have to shock anyone," he said.

"Well, the boys at school don't know," I said. "Are we keeping it that way?"

"I don't care who knows," he said. "No one will care. I mean Jackson Price would have been thrilled, but I think the Patterson spirits are going to kill him for killing Eric."

"You're right about that," I said.

"The accident that killed Jason was just that, and accident," he said. "There's no one at fault. It was just raining and the roads were slippery. That's all it was."

"We've hovered around these two all of their lives," I said. "We know them almost as well as we know ourselves."

"Yes," he said. "We're going to be so completely them in this life."

"We are," I said. "I want us to eat healthy and do active things. I want us to live a long time."

"We have to stay away from accidents, shooters, and cancer," he said.

"Yes, well I got rid of all of the cancer causing cells in this body," I said.

"I did the same thing to this one," he said. "We'll be in them for a long time."

"We might become Immortalis in them," I said.

"You think?" he asked.

"I'm thinking about it," I said. "I like hopping, but this time it feels like I hopped home."

"I know what you mean," he said.

He went back to his room as the sun came up. I napped for a bit. Mom came in while I was napping. She told me that the doctor was on his way with release papers for me and Jason. She said that Jason had recovered almost as fast as I had. I smiled at this. I'd told her he would be fine. She let me get dressed in the clothes that she brought. Then the doctor came in with the release papers. He said there was really no reason to keep me in there. I told him I knew that.

We went home, and Jason went with his mom and dad. At home I had another Dr. Pepper. I'd have to quit with these before too long. They just tasted so good. I went into my room and saw what Eric was working on when he died. It was a sculpture of Jason. I worked on that while Mom made lunch. When she came to get me, she commented on the sculpture. She said it really looked like Jason. I told her I knew his face and body better than I knew my own. She laughed at that. She told me to come and eat.

She had ham sandwiches with chips for me. I ate them and had another Dr. Pepper. I told her we needed fruit juice that was sugar free in the house. She said she'd get me some. She asked if I was going to suddenly go on a health kick. I said I was. She nodded. She told me it was the same for Nick when he woke up from his coma. I told her I didn't know that Nick had been in a coma. She told me that it was when he was seventeen. I told her I wasn't even born then. She laughed.

It wasn't long before Jason was at the door. She let him in and commented on how good he looked. He smiled and said he'd healed faster than they had thought possible. She said he had that in common with me. He smiled at this as well. He asked what I was working on, and I showed him. He liked it, but he told me I should sculpt other things besides him. I told him he was my muse. He laughed. We held each other for a long while. We hadn't been able to do that as spirits, but the other spirits knew that we were soul mates.

"I feel more myself in this body if that makes sense," he said.

"I feel complete in this body in a way that I never felt in any of the others," I said.

"Yes," he said. "That's it. I feel complete."

"Well, we have time before I call Damon," I said. "He'll be shocked to find that we're new people now."

"Maybe not," he said. "He knows we're Hoppers."

"Yeah," I said. "I told him all about it."

"Didn't he say that we'd be giving up one form of immortality for another?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "Those were almost his exact words."

"Well, we'll think about it for a while," he said. "I don't know what to do yet."

"You mean about being immortal in this body?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "I don't know yet."

"Well, we have time," I said. "But if something happens before we call him . . ."

"I hear you," he said. "You know what? Call him. Let's do it."

"Okay," I said. I got my phone out and called his phone from my memory. He answered. "This is Eric Danvers. I said. You knew me as Nick Patterson a while back."

"Yes, I'm surprised to hear from you now," he said. "Didn't you just hop?"

"Yes, but we think these are the bodies we were destined to live in," I said. "We've decided to make it permanent."

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Seventeen," I said. "I'll be eighteen in three months."

"Then I'll see you in three months," he said.

"Thank you, Damon," I said.

"I'm intrigued about what will happen," he said. "It's different with each species."

"Well, we'll see when you get here," I said. "I'm intrigued, too."

"See you soon," he said and hung up.

"He's coming?" Jason asked.

"Not until I turn eighteen," I said. "He'll be here about the same time as the lawyer. You know that this will keep the estate in my hands forever."

"I know," he said. "We'll be together until the end of time."

"Something like that," I said. "I hope we're doing the right thing."

"I'm sure we are," he said. "You'll be Immortalis, and I'll be bonded to you forever. You'll never bond another, so we'll be fine."

"Are we going to have children?" I asked.

"We don't have to," he said. "We can, but it isn't necessarily a must have thing. We'll never die, so it isn't like we'll need someone to hop into in the future."

We went out to the living room after that. Mom was sitting in the recliner, watching a movie on cable. We joined her. I got a Dr. Pepper. It seemed I didn't have to eat healthy to be healthy. The elixir would take care of that when I drank it. We sat there on the couch for the whole movie. Then he had to go home. I went back to my room and worked on the sculpture. I had it almost done by dinner time. Dad was home and we sat around the table.

"I'm glad that you're out of the hospital, Eric," Dad said. Emalynne smiled and nodded.

"I'm happy to be out of the hospital," I said. "I'm ready to go back to school."

"Well, that will happen Monday," said Mom. "Are you and Jason going to come out at school?"

"Probably," I said. "No one will have a problem with it. There are other gay couples at school."

"All right," she said. "I can't believe that Jackson pushed you so that the girl that liked you would be available. If you'd come out of the closet sooner he wouldn't have done it."

"I know," I said. "It messes with my head."

"Don't let it," said Dad. "You're fine, and he's dead."

"He died?" I asked.

"Scared to death," Mom said. "It happened in the psych ward."

"That's crazy," I said.

"It is what it is," Dad said. "He tried to kill you and died in your place."

"Yeah," I said. "It's still crazy. I mean, how could he be scared to death?"

"The Patterson ghosts probably did it," Mom said. "They went after him as soon as he pushed you."

"That's wild," I said. "Well, I don't have to worry about him anymore."

"No, you don't," said Dad. "Have you decided what you want to do after you graduate?"

"I'm going to be an artist," I said. "Jason is going to write. He's got one book finished and is going to shop for an agent and a publisher. I have interest in my paintings. I'll have a show and sell them."

"I want the one you did of Emalynne," Mom said. "And the one of me and your dad."

"Okay," I said. "I'll get those two framed and give them to you."

"Thank you," she said. "I saw the sculpture of Jason you're doing. It looks just like him."

"Yes," I said. "He asked that I stop sculpting him all of the time."

"He's not flattered?" she asked, smiling.

"He was with the first one," I said, smiling back. "I'm going to sell some sketches, too. I'm going to have prints made and sell the prints for fifty dollars a pop."

"Okay," she said. "You know what you're doing. You might need a job or something to pay the bills while you paint, sketch, and sculpt."

"I'll go to work at one of the companies or the hospital," I said.

"Okay," she said. "As long as you have a realistic plan we're happy."

After dinner I went to get the two paintings out of my room that Mom wanted. Mom owned three daycare facilities, and Dad was the CFO at the GE company in town. They made really good money. We lived in a four bedroom house, but one of the bedrooms was my mom's office. She did all of the paperwork for the daycare facilities at home. She didn't work at any of them. She just checked on them from time to time. Dad worked from nine in the morning to five in the evening. He came home and had dinner with us every night.

I got the two paintings and set them aside. I'd talk to the gallery here in town about a show. I'd take a sample of my work to show them what I was doing. I had a bunch of paintings of different people that were long dead. I painted pictures of each person I'd hopped into. Eric had actually painted them. It was for him a collection of the people who had received the estate after a head injury. There were twenty paintings in the series. He had called it the Patterson collection. I would sell them. I could paint them from memory again if I decided I wanted to have them. 

Things were so different in this body. I felt more alive than I've ever felt before. I was happy that Damon was coming when I turned eighteen. He'd bond me and then give me the elixir. Then I'd bond Jason and we'd be immortal together for eternity. Mom and Dad didn't need to know about it for a long time. I had to decide where we'd live. I wanted us to live in the Cabin that Breck and Justin lived in. It would be perfect. The lighting there was perfect for painting. Jason could write anywhere. I'd talk to him about it.

On Monday, I drove him to school in the Jeep my mother bought Eric. He and I held hands as we walked into the building. People noticed, and they smiled at us. We smiled back. We were coming out at school. We sat with our friends, and they all asked if we were boyfriends. We told them that we have been for a long time. They said it was finally time for us to come out. They said we could have come out a long time ago. We said we knew that.

Kendra Michales came up to us. She stood before us and said that she knew that Jackson Pierce had pushed me out of the third floor of the old building. I told her he did. I told her that he thought she and I were together, and he wanted her. She said she was so sorry for what had happened. She'd heard that Jackson was dead. She said she'd never have had anything with him. He was a bastard with a cold heart. She said she knew that when she heard that I'd been pushed out of the window. She told us that she was happy for us for coming out. She said if we'd come out before then he wouldn't have thought we were together. I told her I knew that. That's why we came out. I told her that we thought it was no one's business, so we kept ourselves in the closet at school.

"Do your families know about you?" she asked.

"Yes," we said at the same time. Then we smiled at each other.

"Well, I'm glad that they know and don't care that you're gay," she said. "I don't care that you're gay. I'm so happy for the two of you."

"Thank you, Kendra," I said with a smile. "You know that he thought you'd go for him one he tried to kill me."

"I know," she said. "I don't know why he thought we were together. I like you a lot, but I'm not in a way that he thought. I was just your friend."

"I know that," I said.

"Good, because the whole school is talking about how much I'm heartbroken that you're gay," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not, though. I wasn't interested in you in a romantic way. I just wanted to be your friend. You mother is the owner of the daycare center that I work at."

"I didn't know you worked at one of her centers," I said. "That's nice. I hope you like your job."

"I love my job," she said. "But that's why I wanted to be your friend. Your mom is so nice to me when she comes to the center."

"She's a good person," I said. "She loves everyone."

"I know," she said, smiling. "She bought us all Christmas gifts. She even knows all of our birthdays. She buys us cards and gives us money cards with fifty dollars for our birthdays."

"I know," I said. "I told her that it was a good idea."

"Well, thank you," she said. "I hope you and Jason are happy to be together. I hope you guys stay together for the rest of your lives. I can see the love between you."

"Thank you," Jason said. "We plan to be together forever."

"That's nice," she said. "I'll talk to you in third hour, Eric."

"See you then," I said with a smile.

We had a good day. No one was hostile. Everyone was very supportive. Our teachers even commented on it. I was told that I was at the top of my class, and would be valedictorian. I decided to accept it this time. I didn't know what I would say, but I'd figure it out. There were just three months of school left. Then there would be our birthdays. We were born really close together. Of course I'd get the estate on my birthday. In the week that followed, Jason found an agent and a publisher for his first novel. He got an advance that was seven hundred, fifty thousand dollars. He said he'd put it in the bank. He did buy himself a truck, though.

Mom and Dad were thrilled with him and threw him a barbecue to celebrate. His mom and dad came and so did his brother, James. James was a year younger than Jason, and he looked so much like a younger version of him. They both looked like younger versions of their father. They had the same dark hair and green eyes as their father. I had dark hair and green eyes from my mother. My father had green eyes, too. His hair was lighter than mine. Emalynne looked more like him than I did. My mother told me that I looked like Uncle Nick. That was what I saw in the mirror. I looked a lot like Nick. Of course I'd been Nick. But I looked enough like my own person that I wasn't a carbon copy of Nick.

Jason was thrilled that he'd been published. I was a little upset when he had to fly to New York to sign contracts and all of that. He came back though. I was a little worried that something would happen to him while he was gone. I wouldn't be happy until Damon showed up on my birthday. The months flew by and before I knew it graduation was upon us. I geared up to give my speech. Jason asked me what I would say. I told him it would be a surprise for both of us. He laughed at that.

We got our caps and gowns. We'd even gone to prom together. We weren't voted King or anything. We just had a good time. Now it was time to walk up on stage and get our diplomas. I wore a suit and tie under my cap and gown. I stood at the podium and cleared my thought. "Fellow graduates, teachers, parents," I said. "My name is Eric Hennings. Today our lives take a turn. Today we have reached a milestone that many of us thought would never get here. Today we have graduated from high school. Our lives are about to take on meaning in a whole different way than they ever have. Soon, they'll want to know what we want to be when we grow up. Some of us are sure in that destination. Some of us are not. I suggest that you take this summer to find yourself. Take a trip, hang out with friend who may not be here tomorrow. We're all going to start our lives one way or another. Some of us are going off to prestigious colleges and universities. Some of us are entering the work force. Some of us are unsure what to do now that our way of life has changed so drastically. We have summer, but we won't return to the high school at the end. It'll be to life like we've never known it. We're growing up. For some of our parents that is a blessing. For others it's a curse. I hope that we will all be responsible human beings and thrive in the coming months. Congratulations, my fellow graduates. We did it!"

They applauded loudly and whistled and cheered. Then the dean gave a speech about how he'd watched us grow into the people we are now. He said that he'd miss quite a few of us. Others he would not. He got laughter for that statement. Then he started to call names. I was about a fourth of the way through them. I got up and accepted my diploma, posed for pictures, and shook his hand. He told me he'd miss me. I told him I'd miss him, too. Then I was back in my seat and more names were called. Finally, they got to Jason Tanzy. He accepted his diploma, shook the dean's hand, and whispered something in his ear that made the dean laugh. Then we were posing for pictures with our diploma for our parents. My parents wanted Jason and I to stand together with a diplomas and pose. We did that. I noticed that Dave took our picture, too. Dave and Sheila Tanzy were Jason's parents. Denise and Randy Hennings were my parents. Emalynne was there. She'd started college this year. She was at Saguaro University. She was an Omega Beta Zeta sister. I wasn't going that route. Jason wasn't either.

Instead we geared up for our birthdays. For mine, a few significant things were happening. I'd get the estate, and I'd become an Immortalis. I was looking forward to both. Then I wouldn't have to worry so much about Jason. On the morning of my birthday, the lawyer came and laid out the estate for me. Mom and Dad were thrilled that I was inheriting. The lawyer talked about stocks, and companies. He talked about the monetary amount of the estate and told me I was a very wealthy young man. He drove me to the bank to sign signature cards and transfer the accounts to me. Then I was home and Jason was there. Damon and his bonded were there. We had a barbecue. Mom couldn't stop smiling. She told me that I deserved the estate. I hugged her. Dad had some advice about investments that he'd learned from Uncle Nick. He'd invested his money and made a fortune. I would invest, but I didn't need the advice.

After the party, Damon gave me the bonding potion and told me to masturbate. I did that, and I could feel him in my head. Then he handed me a cup of red liquid. I drank it, and he was muted in my head but still there. He explained that whenever we were around each other I'd feel him in my head that way because I was once bonded to him. I said I understood. Then he taught me to make the bonding potion but not the elixir. I told him I didn't want to know how to make it so I didn't make any more Immortalis. He asked about my children, and I told them that we weren't the only hoppers. My children would know how to hop, too.

Then I brewed the bonding potion and fed it to Jason. I could suddenly feel him in my head in a way that I hadn't felt Damon. He said that was because we were in love. I told him that we would be together forever. He said he was sure of it. He said I could bond other people, but I didn't have to bond the female to inseminate her. She would definitely conceive, because the elixir made us very fertile men. I liked that. I told him that I'd have children eventually. He smiled at that. They stayed for a few days and then they left to go back to the lives they were leading now.

"Well, we're immortal now," Jason said. "I couldn't be happier. We won't either of us leave the other with children to wait until we find new bodies. These are our bodies forever now."

"Yes," I said. "We'll always be this. We'll never grow old and we'll never die."

"Good," he said. He kissed me. We made love that night and it was so much better than it ever had been, because we could feel each other in our heads. We knew exactly what the other was thinking and feeling. It was magical. When it was over, we were so exhausted that we slept in each other's arms. My mother came to wake us and found us tangled with each other. At least we had the blanket over us. She told us to get up and greet the day.

We got up and took showers separately. Then we went out to have breakfast with them. Mom asked me what my plans were. I told her I was going to have the two paintings that she wanted framed and bring them to her. I was also going to talk to the gallery owner about a showing of my paintings. She said that was a good idea. I told her that we'd get this ball rolling pretty quickly. She laughed at that. I did take the paintings to get framed. I also took six of my paintings to the gallery with me. Roy Denninger met me when I came in with the paintings. I told him this was a sample of my work. I had fifty of them. He said I had talent, and he would love to have a showing. I told him that was what I was after. I told him I did paintings, sketches, and sculptures. He asked to see one of my sculptures. They were all of Jason, but I showed him a picture of the one I'd just finished on my phone. He told me to bring one of them to show and show more paintings than sketches. I told him to book the show, and I'd have invitations printed. He liked that idea.

The show was booked for two weeks from Friday. I had invitations printed and sent them to the wealthy families of my friends. They ran an ad in the paper to announce the showing. It wasn't by invitation only, but the invitations got them in an hour before the public. They'd have a private view of my work. The night of the show, I put on a suit and tie. Jason did, too. They had my paintings on the walls. My one and only sculpture in the show was the one I'd just finished. People asked if I would sculpt for them if they gave me a picture. I told them I would paint, sketch, or sculpt for anyone who paid the fee. They liked that answer. My paintings all sold in the hour that they had been there. They stayed on the walls for the general public to see them, but they had red cards which meant that they were sold. All fifty of them sold. Even the sculpture of Jason was bought by his parents. I'd had a very successful show. Roy cut me a check, and I added it to the estate. He said he looked forward to my next showing.

I got busy painting again. This time I did the Seven Deadly Sins. I also did angels, but these were battle angles. They were carrying swords and staffs. They were beautiful. I got one of them done, and Mom commented on it. I told her that I was doing a series of them. I was also doing the Seven Deadly Sins. She said that she loved the angel, but he looked angry. I told her that my angles would all be battle angels. She nodded.

Jason got to work on his next novel. This one he said was about a monster who didn't want to be a monster anymore. I told him I couldn't wait to read it. He said he'd let me read something when he was a couple of chapters in. I went back to painting. Mom asked me when Jason and I were moving in together. I told her we were talking about the cabin in Pleasantville. She said she'd miss me if I moved all the way to Pleasantville. I told her we'd come back to see her at Christmas. By the end of summer I had twenty angels. I'd started the Seven Deadly Sins. I was also sculpting from a picture that someone had given me of a sculpture that had been broken. I was about half way through that. I was doing it out of clay and plaster. It was big.

Jason got a couple of chapters done, and I read them. I loved it so far. I told him it was brilliant. He smiled at this. He walked around my room and looked at the battle angels. He said they were beautiful, but angry. I told him that they were all in battle. He said he understood that. He looked at the raw sculpture. Then he looked at the picture. I told him I was about half way done with it. This was for a private person, but I would sculpt a few more sculptures to put in the show. We were staying in Osage long enough for me to have a second showing. 

We also went to movies, hung out in the living room with my parents, and sometimes with his parents. They were asking about a wedding. I told them we'd get married before we moved to Pleasantville. They didn't like that we were moving to Pleasantville. I told them we'd visit at Christmas and for two weeks in the summer. They could also come to the cabin to visit us whenever they liked. They got better about it. By the time the leaves started to change, I had the Seven Deadly Sins done. Pride was the hardest for me to do. I had to come up with something that would show it for what it was. Envy was easy. Wrath was easy. Lust was easy. I just painted a more than half naked man sitting on a bench. There was a pillar beside him, and another half naked man was peering around the pillar at him with a look of desire on his face. Gluttony was easy. I just painted a man who was eating until he was getting a distended belly. Greed was easy. I just painted a man who coveted his riches. They were brilliantly colorful, and very graphic. Roy loved them when I showed them to him. I also had four sculptures of clay that I put in the second show. They weren't of Jason. They were of angels, though these weren't in battle. I'd painted them and everything. They had high gloss and they looked amazing. I rented a truck to take them over to the gallery.

My second show was a hit. I had paid to have prints made of each painting. They were in little racks beside each painting and sold for a hundred dollars. All of my prints, paintings and sculptures sold. I made a lot of money. Roy cut me a check, and we used that money to move to Pleasantville. Mom and Dad and Emalynne threw us a going away party. We had a great time. Mom cried, but I hugged her and told her we'd be back for Christmas. She said she couldn't wait.

We had rented a truck to move us to the cabin. Grady Barns, the caretaker, was thrilled that someone would be living in the cabin. I'd paid him for taking care of the place. He said he'd worked on the garage door a bit and it opened and closed the way it was supposed to again. He'd painted the entire garage. It now was the same color as the log cabin that sat in front of it. I put my easels and kiln in the garage. There were plenty of windows to let in natural light. I had lights installed as well. Jason took over the home office and set up cork boards to use for research on his next novel. He'd gotten a sweet deal with the publishing company. They paid him four million for four more books in three years. He said he had that in the bag.

We had a good life there in the cabin. We loved it there. Jason wrote another novel and it was published later that year. We went back to Osage for Christmas and I had thoughtful but expensive gifts for everyone. We put both of our names on them and everyone loved them. We had dinner on Christmas Eve with his parents and with mine on Christmas Day. Then we were headed back to the cabin with the gifts they had bought for us. We started to plan the wedding. Jason wanted a lavish wedding, and I was prepared to give it to him. We hired a wedding planner, and she took off with our colors. They were mint green and lavender. She booked a venue in Osage for the reception and booked the largest church in Osage for the wedding. We were planning to marry in June of that year, so she had her work cut out for her. We had fittings for tuxes, and picked our ring bearer. That was a cousin who was five years old. The flower girl was one of Jason's cousins. We geared up for the wedding. I had three from high school as my groomsmen. My cousin, Alex was my best man. Jason's brother was his best man, and three from school stood up for him as well. They were all fitted for tuxes. The planning went on. We had cake tastings, and food tastings. By April the food had been chosen, the cake had been chosen, and the song we'd dance the first dance at the reception had been chosen.

On the day of the wedding, the church looked amazing. My mother and his mother were walking us down the isle. We prepared there at the church. I had groomsman gifts for all four of my guys. They were watches like the one that I wore. They loved them. My mother got a gold chain with a cross on it that had mine and Emalynne's birthstones in it along with hers and Dad's. She loved it. Jason had gotten the same thing for his mother, and the same for his groomsman. We let the groomsman walk down the isle together. They were spaced apart but not by much. Then the fanfare started in the music, and Jason and I walked down the isle one at a time with our mothers. When we got to the raised platform, my mother placed my hand in Jason's. We turned to face the minister.

We repeated after the minister, we prayed, and we said our vows. This was forever, so we had him take out until death do you part and add in as long as you both shall live. When it was over, he pronounced us husbands. We showed our love to the cheering of the crowd. The party moved to the banquet hall and the reception began. We fed each other cake, and we did not smear it on each other's faces. We signed the marriage license, the minister was on hand to sign as were our witnesses. Then it was party time. We had a great night. The music was good, the food was good, and the cake was moist and delicious. We danced and made merry. Then it was time to change out of our tuxes and head to the limo that would take us to the airport. We flew to Greece and spent a week on the nude beach. Neither of us had anything to be ashamed of.

When we got back it was back to the cabin. It was painting for me and writing for him. We spent our time making love and doing what we loved. I painted sometimes half the day and he wrote for sometimes the whole day. We had dinner with my parents and his parents all of the time. They came to visit on weekends, and we had a ball. A year later we found a surrogate and had a child. His name was Adam Hennings. A year after that we did it again and our daughter was born. Her name was Amelia. We lived and we loved. That's all there was to it.