Copyright © 2026 by Julien Gregg
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The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
FIVE
He didn't wake up before dinner. We went upstairs and ate. Grandma wasn't so happy now. She'd not taken the next dose of pills. She looked normal at the moment. I expected that at any moment she would start to cry. She didn't while we were eating. She told us to go back downstairs after we ate. We did. We could hear her yelling at Richard to wake up. He finally must have because her voice became muffled. We couldn't hear what she was saying. He never raised his voice either. We couldn't hear what he was saying. We turned on the television and watched cable. Grandma told us to come upstairs and go to bed. We did that. This wasn't living, and I was going to say something about it if it continued. That night we talked about Richard and how drunk he'd been. We wondered where he'd gotten the alcohol. Was Grandma mad at him? Was he back to normal? There were so many questions.
It turned out that he wasn't back to normal. He wasn't spouting religious nonsense either. He was a shell of himself. He didn't look any of us in the eye, and he didn't say anything. He ate breakfast with us, and then he went to his room. I took the dog outside so he could do his business. Kevin came out a second later. He said that Richard looked bad. I agreed. I didn't know if it was a hangover or what, but he looked like death warmed over. I took the dog in the house and asked Grandma how Richard was. She said he was extremely hung over and very upset. She said that we should just leave him alone. I told her that none of us planned to bother him.
We went to the vacant lot that day and played baseball. Here was none other that Cole. He was happy to see me. He said we'd play. We did play, we played two games and our team won both of them. Then he floored me. He said he'd had his eye on me the whole summer last year but I never gave him the time of day. I told him I was with Dustin, and I was going to stay with Dustin. I wasn't giving up my boyfriend for a guy that lived in Janus. I didn't plan to live in Janus for the rest of my life. This city had been horrible for me. I wanted out. With my idea and the connections I could make at Maxwell Academy, I could get the hell out of Janus and never look back.
We went home and left Cole staring after us. We went in the house. Richard was in the living room. He gave us a guarded smile as we came in. We smiled back at him. Then we washed up for dinner. He ate with us at the table. Grandma didn't comment on it. She asked where we'd been. I told her we had played two games of baseball in the vacant lot. She asked if we'd won. I told her we had won both games. She smiled at this. She told me that Jason had called for me and someone named Dustin. I told her I would call Jason and Dustin after dinner. She nodded.
"Killian, Kevin," Richard said. "I owe you both a big apology for my behavior."
"No you don't," Kevin said. "You were led astray by a terrible man. We forgive you. We're brothers. We don't actually always have to get along. You stumbled, Rich. You didn't fall."
"He's right," I said. "You don't owe us anything."
"Thanks, guys," he said. "But I was an ass."
"You were," I said. "But you wouldn't be a Flynn if you didn't show your ass now and then."
He laughed at that. It was good to have him back, but I wasn't trusting it. That hatred had come from somewhere. I just wasn't sure I wanted to know where it had come from. I finished my meal and called Jason. He told me that someone named Dustin was trying to get in touch with me because he was coming to Janus. I got excited. I told him I would call him now. He told me to have fun. Then I called Dustin. He told me that his mother was letting him fly here the day after Christmas to be with me. I about shit. I told him that we would pick him up in St. Louis at the airport. I told him to call me back with his flight information. He asked where he would sleep. I told him we'd figure that out when he got here.
"This Dustin is coming here?" Grandma asked.
"The day after Christmas," I said. "He's flying in from Nebraska."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because he wants to spend time with me," I said.
"Is this your boyfriend?" she asked.
"He is," I said.
"Well then I can't wait to meet him," she said with a smile. "He'll sleep with you. I'll have Richard get the extra bed out of the garage and we'll put it in the den downstairs. Kevin can sleep there while Dustin is in town."
"You have a boyfriend?" Richard asked, smiling.
"I do," I said. "He loves me."
"Killian, that's great," he said. "You remember I told you it would hurt my heart if you gave up on love."
"I remember," I said. "But I haven't given up. I have Dustin."
"Congratulations," he said. "But you're only thirteen."
"Come on, Rich, do you think I don't know what I'm doing?" I asked.
"No, I know you know exactly what you're doing," he said. "Tell me about him."
"Well, he loves art," I said. "He's the same height as me and Kevin, and he weighs about the same, too. He likes to work out and run. He's a boy scout. He loves dogs and plans to have two when he's older. His mother is a nurse at the hospital there in Nebraska were they live. His uncle pays his tuition, because the schools in that town aren't what he thinks of when you say education. They have a drop out rate of six of ten. So, he pays his tuition and Dustin goes to school at Maxwell Academy."
"Does he sleep with you at school?" he asked.
"No, we're not allowed in other houses," I said. "Dustin is in Pascal House. I'm in Durant. We can't be in each other's houses."
"Okay," he said. "I was just curious."
"Well, what you're asking about has never happened," I said. "We're good boys."
"I wasn't saying anything negative about it, Killian," he said. "I was just asking questions."
The phone rang, and I answered it. It was Dustin with the flight information. I wrote it down and gave it to Grandma. She said that she'd get Jason to take me to pick him up. I said that was fine. He asked how things were going, and I said things were fine. I'd talk to him when he got here. He said he loved me. I told him I loved him. We got off the phone. Grandma was smiling. Richard was smiling. Kevin had a dopey grin on his face, and April was looking at me.
"So, I get to meet Dustin?" she asked.
"The day after Christmas," I said.
"Cool," she said.
"Killian, you look at me like I'm going to start spouting that same thing that I said when you got here," Richard said. "I'm not."
"No, but I need you to think about something," I said. "When you were saying all of that, you looked at me with such hatred. It was real. That hatred comes from somewhere."
"Yes, it does, but I don't hate you," he said. "I hate that you're as smart as you are. I hate that you know so much more than I do. I don't hate you."
"Well, you can understand why that gives me pause," I said. "I'm smart because I studied. You can study too."
"Yes, I can," he said. "You're smart for another reason."
"This?" I asked. "This is where the hatred comes from because of that?"
"Partly," he said. "It was my job to get Hank out of our lives. I had a plan. You took it out of my hands."
"You know why I did that," I said. "I did everything for the four of us. If you can't see that then there's nothing for us to talk about."
"Killian, please," he said. "Don't give up on me. I'm trying."
"I see that you're trying," I said. "But I know what you really hate about me, and I can't do anything about it. So, I won't trust you again until you show me that I can."
"This conversation is getting a bit too heavy," Grandma said. "I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't want to know. But I think this conversation is over."
"Okay," I said. "I've said what I had to say."
I got up and went to the basement. My twin didn't follow me for a while. April did. She asked me what was really going on. I told her that he hated that I had traveled back in time to do all of this.
"Well, that wasn't in your control," she said. "It was God that sent you back."
"God?" I asked.
"Who else?" she asked. "I didn't believe really until I found out about you. Then I believed like crazy."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because God is the only one with the power to do what was done," she said. "Maybe that's what Richard hates about you, that God chose you to shine his light on and send you back in time to fix things."
I hadn't thought of that. I stared at her for a long moment. Then I shook my head. Until he admitted that I had nothing to say to him. He had to admit that it was the God thing that he hated, and I would talk to him. Until then I had nothing to say. I sat down and sighed. This was stupid. So what? If God was the one that sent me back, then he chose to do it. I didn't entice him. I did beg him, but so many people beg God to do this or that and he never does. God gives you what you deserve. So, maybe I deserved to come back in the time to change all of this.
"Richard is upset because Grandma laid into him about what he said to you," Kevin said when he came down. "She said that it wasn't right to tell his thirteen year old brother that there was something about him that he hates."
"April thinks it's that God chose to send me back in time," I said.
"You think it was God?" he asked.
"She said he's the only one with the power to do such a thing," I said.
"Okay, maybe," he said. "We'll never know for sure."
"No, we won't," I said.
We went to Jason's the next day. We had dinner with him and Sarah. They talked about the fact that Richard was back in the house. I told them that he was almost his old self again. Jason asked about the almost part. I told him that Richard had said there was something about me that he hates and it isn't my sexuality. Jason was angry then. He said that Richard knew better than to say something like that no matter how emotionally raw he is. I just let him talk for a moment.
"Do you know what it is that he hates about you?" Sarah asked.
"No, and I don't want to know," I said, though I really did want him to admit that it was God.
"I don't blame you," she said. "How horrible. That he could say that to you is proof that he's not his old self."
"It sure is," I said. "The Richard I know is loving and compassionate. This one looked at me with such hatred in his eyes. I knew it had to come from somewhere, but then I decided that I didn't want to know. I won't trust him ever again though."
"I can't believe this," Jason said. "You four were closer than close."
"That's in the past," I said. "It's time to accept the new reality."
"On another note," he said. "Your grandmother called me with flight information for the day after Christmas. I'm to take you to St. Louis to pick up Dustin."
"Yeah," I said. "She said she was going to ask you, not tell you."
"She did ask," he said. "I just didn't say no."
"Okay," I said.
"So Dustin," he said. "Is that your boyfriend?"
"How did you know I was gay?" I asked.
"You're only thirteen," Sarah said. "You're not anything yet."
"Oh, I'm gay," I said. "I don't find girls attractive."
"Well, that might change," she said.
"For Dustin's sake I hope it doesn't," I said. "Yes, he's my boyfriend."
"Okay," Jason said. "I just wondered. What does your brother have to say about that?"
"He told me congratulations and then asked all kinds of questions about where he sleeps at school and the like," I said.
"Okay, where does he sleep at school?" he asked, smiling.
"In his bed," I said. "We're in different houses, and were not allowed in other houses. We stick to our own house."
"Okay," he said. "So how did you meet him?"
"You know about The Five?" I asked.
"Yes, you and four others that Professor Thiphet took massive points from and the other professors gave you massive points to compensate," he said.
"Right," I said. "Well, Dustin is one of The Five."
"Okay," he said. "I just wondered. You are young to be so sure of yourself, but I believe that you are."
"Thank you," I said.
"Kevin, what do you think about Killian having a Dustin?" Sarah asked.
"I'm fine with it, because I have an Alex," he said, smiling. "He's in Springfield with his family."
"Okay," she said. "So, you're gay too?"
"No, I'm bisexual," he said. "I like both."
"Well, that makes more sense," she said.
"We are what we are," he said.
When we got home, Kevin had plenty to say about Sarah saying that we were young and our sexualities could change. He asked me if they could, and I said sure they could, but I doubted that they would. I was gay, and I knew it. He was bisexual and he knew it. There was probably going to be no changing it. He said he was happy about that. I said I was, too. He countered with the fact that I really knew I was gay. I said that yes, I did, but he was probably bisexual because he was surrounded by boys all of the time and found them attractive because of that. He told me that wasn't it. There were boys at school that he didn't find attractive. There were girls at the social club that he didn't find attractive. Just some of them and it was the same for boys. I thought about that and figured he was probably really a bisexual.
Richard was in his room, so we went down to the basement and found April watching cable television. She was watching a show about dogs. We sat down and she said hello to us and asked how dinner had gone. We told her it was fine. We asked about Richard, and she said that after we left he went to his room until dinner. Then he came out and ate but went back to his room. Grandma says he sleeps a lot. She said he's depressed. I told her that long periods of sleep were a symptom of depression. She said she figured.
"Is Grandma depressed?" she asked.
"No," I said. "She's in mourning. That's different."
"She stops talking at times and stares off into space," she said. "It's strange."
"She's probably remembering Grandpa before the disease," I said.
"That would make sense," she said. "It's getting late."
"It is that," I said. "Let's all go to bed. Tomorrow is a new day."
We went up and used the bathroom. Then we went to bed. Kevin asked about Grandma, and I said that there was no telling. He said he was worried about her. I said I was, too. Then we were asleep. The next morning, Grandma was talkative when we went up for breakfast. Richard was at the table, and Mary gave us her famous ham and cheese omelets with hash browns and a biscuit. We had orange juice to drink. April came in a moment later and smiled at us. We smiled back. We didn't smile at Richard, but he wasn't looking at us anyway. He was shoveling food into his mouth. We ate at a leisurely pace. He was done before any of us. Then he put his plate in the dishwasher and went back to his room. I shook my head.
"So, how was dinner with Jason and Sarah?" Grandma asked.
"It was good," I said. "She make pork chops and mashed with gravy and green beans."
"Sounds good," she said. "Did Jason tell you that he'll take you to get Dustin the day after Christmas?"
"Yeah," I said. "I'll probably stay over there Christmas night if they'll have me."
"Okay," she said. "What do you want for Christmas?"
"Just surprise me," I said. "I don't have any real wants at the moment."
"Kevin?" she asked.
"I'm the same, Grandma," he said. "Just surprise me."
"Your brother is depressed," she said. "It turns out that he knew what was going on but didn't want to face it."
"That's terrible," I said. "He should have said something."
"He knows that now," she said. "That's why he's depressed."
"Well, he needs to snap out of it," Kevin said. "Someone came forward, and it's all out in the open."
"Maybe he thinks he should have been the one to come forward," Grandma said.
"Maybe he does," I said. "But the fact remains that someone did come forward and that part of it is over."
"Why just that part?" she asked.
"Because those that were abused will be in therapy trying to deal with it for a very long time," I said. "Some might be successful, but some won't be. The pattern of abuse will continue."
"Where did you get that idea?" she asked.
"Psychology texts," I said.
"Wow," she said. "That sucks."
"It does," I said. "Richard will be all right. It will just take a bit."
"Yes," she said. "I know that. You're very mature for your age, Killian."
"I get that a lot," I said. "I'm just a thirteen year old boy with book smarts."
"Right," she said. "Now, you two run along. I've got to go do some Christmas Shopping."
"See you later, Grandma," I said.
It had been unseasonably warm. That's why we'd been able to play baseball. It wasn't unseasonably warm now. Today it was two degrees, and there was snow everywhere. Winter in the midwest is weird. We went to the basement and played Chess. Then we watched cable television. There was a show about a murder in a small town. We watched it. It was a reporting show. We were thoroughly entertained. When it was over April came downstairs. We found something more positive. She liked to watch the dog kennel show, so we put that on.
"Where did Grandma go?" she asked.
"Christmas Shopping," Kevin said. "She asked us what we wanted for Christmas. We told her to surprise us."
"That's basically what I said," she said. "What are you guys up to today?"
"Too cold to go anywhere," I said. "We're staying put."
"Yeah," she said. "I was going to go over to Missy's but it's too cold to be out. I'd freeze before I got there."
"You would," I said. "How are things with Jesse?"
"Good," she said. "He's loving living with his uncle. Of course there's a lot of Jake stuff around and they're trying to box it up and put it away. That's upsetting for him. He kept Jake's leather jacket."
"Well, he needs something of his brother's," I said. "It makes sense."
"Yeah," she said. "I didn't know how to comfort him at first. He just said that me being there was helping. I don't know."
"Sometimes in situations like that, people just need someone to be there," I said. "It sounds like that's what he needed at the time."
"Okay," she said.
Grandma wasn't back before lunch. We ate at the table. Richard came out of his room to eat. He didn't shovel the food into his mouth this time. He didn't look at any of us, though. He stared at his plate. Mary asked if Grandma was doing all right. I told her she seemed to be. She said she'd been gone a long time. I told her she was Christmas Shopping. She probably had it gift wrapped so none of us see what she bought for us. She nodded.
Back in the basement, we watched a movie on a premium channel. It was about kid spies. It was good. I liked it. Kevin said it was all right. April loved it. We watched the next movie to come on. This was more to Kevin's speed. It was about a killer who killed blond haired girls. They caught him in the end and gave him the death penalty. It was an all right movie. I was glad for April's sake that it didn't show the killings. It was more suspenseful than horrifying.
We played Monopoly for the rest of the afternoon. Grandma came back with a bunch of wrapped packages. She put them in her room. She said that the stores were a mad house. That made sense with Christmas only days away. We continued to play and I was letting April win as much as I could. It worked. Right before dinner she owned more than half the board and we both lost. We put the game away and went to wash up. Then we sat down to tater tot casserole. It was as good this time as it had been the last time. We loved it. Kevin and I had two helpings of it. Richard had two as well. He went back to his room, but he wasn't moving as sluggishly as he had been.
The days moved for us, but they were slow. We had very little to do with it so cold outside. Then Christmas was upon us. We got up that morning and opened presents in front of the tree. Richard handed them out. Grandma allowed it. Mary had the day off. We opened clothes, stuff for school, and electronic games. Richard got the same as we did. April got a lot of stuff from makeup to jewelry. Our stockings were stuffed with candy and chocolate. We put all of that in a bag and put it in our room. Grandma made us hot chocolate to sip while she made breakfast. It was just pancakes and bacon, but it was good. She had maple syrup and we loved it.
Then she shooed us out of there so she could work on the ham and trimmings. We went to the basement. Shockingly, Richard came down with us. We watched Christmas shows until Grandma called us upstairs for Christmas dinner. We had baked ham, green bean casserole, homemade noodles, mashed potatoes, gravy, and fried corn. She'd made pies and cookies, too. She and Mary had been making cookies for days. They were stored in containers on top of the fridge. We were told to stay out of them. Today we could have them. There were chocolate chip, sugar cookies, butter cookies, and peanut butter cookies. The pies were apple, cherry, and pumpkin. We were stuffed when we left the table. We'd had a good Christmas so far. I was worried that Richard would say something to ruin it, but he didn't say anything. He just followed us back downstairs and watched more Christmas shows. April looked at him from time to time, but she never said a word to him. That night, Dustin called to remind me to pick him up tomorrow. I told him we'd be there.
I went to spend the night with Jason and Sarah. We had to be up early to head to St. Louis. His flight was landing at ten in the morning. I slept in the spare room. Jason woke me up early and we had a breakfast biscuit from a fast food restaurant on the way out of town. He talked about Christmas and asked how ours was. I told him we'd had a good Christmas, and I was sad that he wasn't there. He said he'd gone to Sarah's parents' house for Christmas dinner. Then they'd just drank hot chocolate and watched the tee lights. I said that was basically what we did, but we also watched Christmas shows in the basement.
"So, Dustin," he said suddenly. "What's he like?"
"You'll like him," I said. "He's a good guy. He likes just about everyone, and he's easy to talk to. He loves art and is a boy scout. He loves dogs, and he plans to have two when he gets older and is on his own. He wants to major in finance when he goes to college, and he can talk about a range of topics with knowledge. He's kind, compassionate, and he loves me."
"How old is he?" Jason asked, and I thought we were at the root of his questioning.
"He's fourteen," I said. "My birthday is July third, and his is the sixth."
"Okay," he said. "I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't fifteen or something. That would be a bit wrong if you know what I mean."
"No, he's not fifteen," I laughed. "He will be in July, but then I'll be fourteen. I know that there's a year between us, but he skipped grades to go to Maxwell, too. A lot of them did. Jason, he's just as smart as me and Kevin."
"Well, then you've found the right person to be with," he said. "You don't look thirteen is the problem. You look like you're about fifteen if I'm honest. You and Kevin are maturing at an alarming rate."
"We know," I said. "It helps at school so the others don't single us out as the youngest in the school."
"I can see that," he said. "It makes sense, but what does the doctor say about all of this?"
"The last time we saw a doctor, he said our development was a bit accelerated, but it wasn't alarming," I said. "It's stopped and is going along in the normal way now. We don't know why we developed this much so quickly, but we're happy about it."
"You're also very mature thirteen year olds," Jason said. "Even more mature since you've come back from Maxwell Academy."
"Maturity is learned mostly," I said. "At Maxwell we learned to be mature. We have to solve complex problems for ourselves there. We have to navigate a world where everyone is at least a year to two years older than us on our floor."
"Your floor?" he asked.
"We're in Durant House, and we're sophomores," I said. "The entire floor that we live on in Durant House is filled with sophomore students. We eat together, we live together, and we go to classes together. We're always together."
"Okay," he said. "What about Dustin?"
"He's a sophomore like me," I said. "He lives in Pascal House. We're not allowed to go into the other houses. So we see each other at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We also see each other at the movies on Friday night and at the Phoenix Club on Saturday nights. We're both members of The Five, and we have outings for just The Five and we're together for those. We're being forced to go slowly and really get to know each other in the time that we have."
"What is the Phoenix Club?" he asked.
"It's a social club where Maxwell Academy and Worthington Prep mix," I said. "There are two faculty members there the whole night. One is from Maxwell Academy and the other is from Worthington Prep. They are there to make sure no fights break out, and the boys treat the girls with respect and vice versa."
"And that's where you met the girl in the photographs of the pair of you at the dance?" he asked.
"Thalia," I said. "Yes. We're becoming really good friends. She's a bit mature for her age, too. She's thirteen like me and she's been at Worthington for going on two years."
"It sounds like it was the right idea to send you to Maxwell Academy," he said. "I've worried about that decision a lot."
"Don't worry," I said. "There we have friends, and a lot of structure. No one hurts us or yells at us about things we can't control."
"That you felt you had to say that last part hurts my heart," he said. "Richard really screwed things up with you and Kevin didn't he?"
"Yes, he did," I said. "We don't trust him right now. I may never trust him again. He broke something that was so fragile but we relied on it. That was that our big brother had our backs. He doesn't now. It hurts, but that's the way it is."
"He could come back from this," he said. "He could be the brother that he was."
"He could," I said. "But I won't trust it, because I know there's something about me that he hates. He's said it himself."
"He's gone to a dark place since the incidents at the church," he said.
"Yes he has," I said. "But that was his decision to be a part of that church. Did you know that he knew what was going on but ignored it?"
"I do know that," he said. "None of us are thrilled with Richard at the moment, Killian."
"I get that," I said. "I'm just really hurt by what he did and the fact that he hates something about me."
"I can see that when you talk about him," he said. "I'm sorry that all of this has happened in your life."
"Thank you," I said. "I don't know why it happened, but I hate that it's happened. Richard will have to take care of himself. I can't help him."
"You'd try?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. "He's my brother and I love him. I'm just too hurt by him to be there for him the way he needs. Kevin is angry because of what he said to me. With me and Kevin, you slight one and the other will hate you forever."
"I've noticed that about you and Kevin," he said. "You two are very close. It's great but sometimes it's a bit much."
"I'm sorry that you feel that way," I said. "Kevin is the other half of me, if that makes sense. We shared a womb. We share everything most of the time. There are times when I don't understand his actions and words, too, but I give him the benefit of the doubt because he is my twin, my identical twin."
"Yes, I can see that you are that way with him," he said. "But on the reverse, he's like that with you, too."
"I know it," I said. "Kevin and I are always going to be in each other's lives. We may drift away from Richard, but Kevin and I will be together in one way or another all our lives."
"I'm starting to see that," he said. "I've noticed that when you're in town, the two of you are very protective of April, too."
"April is our little sister," I said. "We're her big brothers. We're supposed to protect her."
"You kids survived something that you never should have experienced with Hank," he said. "It's bonded you in ways that even I don't understand. I'm sorry that this happened with Richard, because the bond used to apply to him, too. It's sad that it's broken."
"Yes, it is," I said. "I'm so very hurt by it. I trusted that bond with Richard, and he shattered it."
"Yes, and that's sad," he said. "Tell me, what are you planning for after school is all over?"
"I want an electronics store," I said. "I want it to sell things that we make in a factory and only things we make. I have plans for a lot of it. I wrote out a business plan with the help of a few of the professors. They said it's solid, but they think I might have to sell some things that we buy, too. I don't think so. With the factory pumping out these items that I want to make, we could fill the store. If we have a product that the masses want, we'll be successful."
"That's a great idea," he said. "I had no idea that you were so business minded. I'm proud of you."
"Thank you," I said. "I didn't do this to make anyone proud. I just wanted to have a way to secure my future the right way."
"What do you mean, the right way?" he asked.
"I mean, I have this trust fund, and I'll use it to build the store and factory," I said. "Kevin's on board with this, too. He'll use his to help me build this and that. But we want to make money on our own. We don't want to rely on the trust to live."
"I didn't know you and Kevin were feeling this way," he said.
"We've been feeling this way since the trusts were installed," I said. "We don't want to have to rely on anyone or anyone's money. We want to be self sufficient, and build something that will take care of us for the long haul."
"That's a long way off," he said.
"No, it isn't," I said. "We're sophomores. In two years we'll be seniors and choosing colleges. Then we'll be there for four years and then this plan will be in force. It's only six years away."
"When you say it that way it does seem fast," he said. "But you have a lot of schooling to get through before you get there."
"Yes," I said. "But we know where we're going."
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To the desert," I said. "Saguaro University is owned by the same company that owns Maxwell Academy. Our acceptance there is assured."
"Well, I'll be damned," he said. "You want to go even further away for college?"
"There's a college here in Illinois that is owned by the Saguaro Group," I said. "We're considering that one, too. But we hate winter."
"Yeah, you guys should be outside having snowball fights and the like," he said. "You never do that."
"We have no interest in it," I said. "Outside, we play baseball. We sit in the sun, and love every minute of it. In the winter we don't do much of anything. We don't ice skate, we're not interested in sleds. We don't throw snowballs, and we don't make snowmen. We just do indoor things in the winter."
"It's because you're sun babies," he said with a chuckle. "You were born in the summer, so you love the summer."
"I don't know about that," I said with a smile. "I just know that we don't like winter, and we're thinking seriously about college in the desert."
"What about Dustin?" he asked. "Is he thinking about college in the desert?"
"Yes," I said with a smile. "He wants to be where I am."
"Well, that would make sense," he said. "I still think you might be a bit young for a relationship like the one you think you have."
"I don't think I have it," I said. "I know that we're young and minds and hearts can change. I just know that I owe it to myself and to Dustin to see if we have the stuff of magic."
"I'm glad that you said that," he said. "Now I know that you're going into this with a realistic outlook."
"Jason, I know that I'm thirteen and he's fourteen," I said. "I know that our frontal lobes haven't fully formed yet, and we may be completely different people in two to three years. I'm not stupid. I know that we don't have a shot according to the odds. I just want to enjoy this relationship for as long as it lasts."
"Okay," he said. "I just wanted to make sure that your head was on straight."
"It is," I said as we pulled into the airport. "Now, can we stop this? He's about to land."
"Yes," he said. "Come on."
We got out and walked into the airport. The place was packed. Lots of travel for the holiday. We found his gate and waited for the plane to land. It was a bit late. Then the light went on. The plane had landed. I was excited. Dustin was here. He was not the first to come down the jetway. They empties First Class first. Then coach. He was about the fifteenth person to come down the jetway. He saw me and smiled. I smiled back. He walked right up to us. He was carrying a bag.
"Is that your only bag?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said. "I packed light. I'm going back to school with you, and all of my stuff is in Pascal House. I never take it all home."
"Okay," I said. "Dustin, this is Jason Osgood. He's my gaurdian."
"Nice to meet you, Jason," Dustin said, shaking his hand.
"It's nice to meet you, too, Dustin," Jason said. "We've heard so much about you."
"If you've heard as much about me as my mom and uncle have heard about Killian, then I'm in trouble," he laughed.
"Let's get out of here," I said. "It's a three hour drive back to Janus."
"Is Janus a big city?" he asked.
"Not really," I said. "It has a mall and its own airport, but those are for smaller planes."
"You mean I could have flown straight into Janus?" he asked.
"No, you'd have flown to either St. Louis or Chicago and caught a connecter flight to Janus," I said.
"That's right," Jason said. "The smaller planes don't hold as many people and it's not as smooth a ride."
"Well, then I guess I did right then," he said.
We got to the car and he sat in the back seat. He chattered away about the flight while we got out of the airport lot. Then he asked me what he was walking into. I told him that things had leveled out, so he had nothing to worry about. Jason asked what I was talking about, and I told him that I tell Dustin everything. He said he understood. He asked when Alex was going to show up. I told him that was tricky because his father was a bigot who was deep in the Baptist church.
"Kevin sure can pick them, huh?" he asked.
"It's not Alex's fault that his father is an ass," I said.
"Alex goes off about him all of the time," Dustin said. "He's trying to figure out relatives to stay with."
"He has an aunt in Janus," I said. "He just found that out the other day. He knew about the aunt, he just didn't know that she'd moved to Janus to take a job at the hospital."
"That's perfect," Dustin said. "Did he talked to Kevin about it?"
"Yeah," I said. "He's calling his aunt. Apparently his dad wants him out of the house. He didn't take the news any better than Alex thought he would."
"He came out to his parents?" Jason asked.
"Yes," I said. "He said he had to because he doesn't lie. It just backfired on him. His dad told him he was dead to him and he wants him out of the house."
"So, he's really looking for a sympathetic relative to stay with?" Jason asked.
"Yes," Dustin and I said at the same time. I turned and smiled at him. He smiled back.
"Well, then I hope it goes well for him," he said.
"We'll find out soon," I said. "He bougt a calling card and is using it to keep Kevin abreast of all of the happenings in his life."
"That's good, but Kevin can't get involved in any of that," Jason said.
"Kevin's not getting involved," I said. "He's being there for his boyfriend."
"I still think you're both too young to have a boyfriend," Jason said.
"We mature faster at Maxwell," Dustin said. "I suppose it would be like that at any boarding school that allows as much freedom as Maxwell Academy."
"How much freedom?" Jason asked.
"We have the run of the campus," he said. "I mean we can't go into other houses, but we can go into any other building that we want to. They lock the doors of the rooms they want us to stay out of. Nobody goes into the classrooms that I know of. We go to The Phoenix Club and stuff like that. We work out in the gym, we run track, and we swim laps. It isn't really a nepharious thing."
"There are rules and there is structure," I said. "But we're left to our own devices pretty much. I mean if we have a problem we can always go to our Head of House, but generally we work it out on our own. We decide when to take showers, go to bed, and all of that. The only thing we don't get to choose is when to go to class."
"And you can't leave campus?" he asked.
"Well, we can," Dustin said. "As long as we have a trusted driver to take us where we want to go. So, we have what we call The Five Outings once a week. We got to the batting cages in an indoor gym and then for ice cream. Then we go back to campus."
"I didn't know that was allowed," he said. "It makes sense that some of you might have cars, but what to they consider a trusted driver?"
"Someone who doesn't cause trouble and obeys the rules of the road," Dustin said. "Robby takes us. He's passed his city driving test and everything."
"I've not met Robby," Jason said. "Who is he again?"
"He's a member of The Five," I said. "He's the oldest of us."
"All right," Jason said.
We talked back and forth about those that Dustin had kept in touch with since leaving school. That was the members of The Five. He said that Robby was doing good with his uncle, and he and Pug spent Christmas together. I thought that was nice. He'd talked to Alex about his father, but so far he didn't know what was happening on that front. Jason asked where Alex lived and we told him Michigan. That's where Alex was at the moment. Or so I thought. When we got home we found him standing in our living room, shaking hands with Grandma.
"Alex, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"I'm moving in with my aunt," he said. "Hey, Dustin."
"Hello, Alex," Dustin said. "Where's Kevin?"
"Talking to my aunt on the phone," he said. "She dropped me off here while she and my other aunt get my stuff put away and the bed set up over there."
"Where does she live?" I asked.
"Right down the street," he said. "I'l literally be three blocks away."
"Cool," I said. "Now we just need Robby and Pug."
"Robby said he might drive down this way before going to school to see you and Kevin," Alex said. "He's got Pug with him already. Pug's family went to Texas for the holiday. Pug begged off to spend the whole thing with Robby."
"That's awesome," I said. "I'd like Robby and Pug to visit."
"They'll only be here for like a few hours," Alex said. "They're driving down this way to see Robby's cousin who lives in Quincy."
"Okay," I said. "Quincy is an hour away."
"I know," he said. "My aunt talked my head off all the way back from Michigan."
"I can't believe you live in Janus," Kevin said. He was grinning from ear to ear. I wondered just how serious he was about Alex.
"And Dustin's here," I said, hugging my boyfriend. I was completely serious about Dustin. I just hoped he remained serious about me.
"I'm finally here," he said. "Where am I sleeping?"
"With me," I said. "We'll be in the middle bedroom. Kevin is graciously moving downstairs until we go back to school."
"Thank you, Kevin," he said, beaming at him.
"You're welcome," he said. "Thankfully, Richard moved the bed down there. Grandma went to get sheets for it."
"I wondered where she was," I said, looking around. "Where did Jason go?"
"He didn't come in the house," Kevin said. "It was just you and Dustin."
"Oh," I said. I wondered if Jason was mad at me for something.
"Well, Kevin is going to stay with me and my aunts tonight," Alex said. "We're just waiting for your grandmother so we can tell her."
"She'll be back soon," Kevin said. "She left ages ago."
"Well, lots of people are out returning gifts today," I said. "She probably had to brave the throng."
She came in just then and was introduced to both Dustin and Alex. She asked where Alex was staying, and he told her that he'd moved to Janus and was living with his aunts. He asked if Kevin could spend the night with him. Grandma said he could. Then she hugged Alex. After that, she hugged Dustin. She said that they were making her grandsons happy, so she loved them. She told Dustin to make himself at home. April would be back for dinner, and she was dying to meet him. Richard was at Jason's today, talking to Sarah. So, it was just us for a while. She said she was sure that Kevin and Alex would run along in a few moments. Kevin said he had to pack a bag.
I showed Dustin where to put his bag, and then we were in the kitchen. Kevin and Alex walked out the front door and headed up the street. Mary gave us pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. We sat and ate those with mango juice. Grandma asked Dustin about his mom and uncle. Dustin told her that his mom was expecting him to call her. She showed him to the phone. She looked at me and smiled. I was happy to have him in the house.
"You haven't stopped smiling since I got here," she said. "Dustin really brings out the brightness in your eyes."
"Thanks, Grandma," I said. "I love him."
"I'm sure you do," she said. "He's a beautiful boy."
"Mom says hello to all," he said as he came back to sit down.
"Grandma thinks you're a beautiful boy," I said.
"Thank you, Bonnie," he said.
"It's Grandma to you boy," she said and smiled. "You're part of the family now."
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