cont’d
He felt Evie watching him, and then she said, “Oh, let me show you where you’re sleeping.”
“Sleeping?” He lifted his head. “We were going to a hotel room.”
“Nonsense, we have a four-bedroom house here.” She got up, and started walking back to the front door. Near there were a set of stairs, which they took to the top. “Don’t mind the kids’ rooms. I’m not going to bother having them clean up.”
She opened the door to what was obviously a spare room. Boxes littered the room, some of them open and overflowing, most of them marked with “Grandmas kitchen” “Grandmas bathroom” or other rooms the belonged to this “Grandma.”
At the edge of the room was a huge four-poster bed, with a white canopy over it. It was frilly and girly and made for a princess. Mike turned slowly to face his sister, a look of “You’ve got to be kidding” on his face.
Evie’s face fell. “You got here first, and it’s the only extra bed we have.”
Scott went over to the bed and touched the lace. “It’s very pretty.”
Mike glared at Evie. “I’d rather sleep on the floor.”
“It’s Ryan’s grandmother’s,” she said quietly. “Uncle Joe won’t sleep in it, and neither would his kids.”
“Oh, so you figure that since we’re gay we would?”
Scott went over to Mike. “Mike, Mike? It’s only a bed. A very big and comfortable bed.”
When Scott touched Mike’s arm, the fury went out of him. It didn’t seem to bother Scott. He was right, it was only a bed, and the two of them had been sleeping on an air mattress for about a month. It would be more comfortable than even the hotel, probably.
Mike let out a sigh. “All right.”
Evie was studying the two, making sure they were all right, and then said, “I have to go pick up the kids in half an hour or so. I should be back home in a couple of hours.”
Mike knew that meant he wasn’t going to stay in the house alone. He probably would have done the same, so it didn’t anger him at all. “I’ll take Scott on my old stomping grounds.”
3.
They pulled in front of Evie’s house around four o’clock. Scott looked a little disturbed. He should have been. Mike did bring him to his old apartment, his old high school, and by other people’s houses, saying, “I killed their son, I killed their daughter…”
Upon gaining power from the demoness and after escaping the clutches of the Circle, he came back to his old hometown and hunted out those who had made his life miserable in high school. He made sure that it was attributed to some serial killer type, and a total of eight people were killed before he stopped. Mike didn’t tell Scott that there were a couple more who had moved away that he had to go hunt down across the country.
What a different man I am, he thought, as he put his arms around Scott and pulled him in for a hug. “I love you,” he said quietly.
“I love you, too,” Scott said.
“I was an evil man in those days. I’m not any more.”
Scott gave him a light kiss. “I know you’re not.”
“I’m just morally ambivalent.”
Scott laughed. “Chaotic neutral.”
“Huh?”
“Nevermind.”
They went back into the house, and this time, they heard the TV going. The dogs greeted them. Evie called from the kitchen, “Mike, can you let the dogs out?”
Mike left the front door open and the dogs went out, but stayed at the door. “Bring them around back, Mike!”
Scott and Mike walked around the house, the dogs following at their heels, Scott playing with them. “Why don’t you like dogs?”
“I like dogs, it’s big ones that scare me.”
“Labs are always puppies, they always like to play.”
“If they weren’t big enough to knock me over.”
“That means they like you.” Scott found a stick and threw it, and both dogs took off after it. They played fetch, while the porch door opened and a man came out.
He was just about Evie’s age; his hair was getting obviously thin on top but he was doing everything he could to keep it from showing. He was of an average build, looking like he went to the gym a couple of times a week to keep from getting the pot belly most of the men got. “Hey, Mikey,” the man called.
“Hey, Ryan,” said Mike, going over to him and shaking his hand. The dogs went immediately to their master, and Ryan bent down to pet them.
He smiled up at Scott. “You’re the hero,” he said, shaking Scott’s hand. “I’m Ryan,
Evie’s husband.” He smiled at the both of them. “You two are going out?”
“Yeah,” they both said. Scott giggled, and Mike chuckled.
“Well, c’mon back in. We have some hot cocoa.”
Evie turned around as they went back into the dining room. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
Mike sniffed. “Smells great. Steak?”
“Meatballs!” said a little girl, running into the room. She looked up at the two men from the other side of the table. “Which one of you is my Uncle Mike?”
Scott pointed to him, at the same time Mike said, “That would be me.”
She regarded him. “You’re cute.”
Mike laughed uproariously, and the rest of the room joined him. “You take after me, Cynthia.”
“You know my name?” Now she looked at him distrustfully.
“I know alot about you. I heard that you like princesses.”
She nodded, her eyes wide. “Yes, I do!”
“Where’d you hear that?” Scott said.
“All little girls like the Disney Princesses. Which one is your favorite?”
Cynthia said, “I like Cinderella.”
Mike looked up for a minute, and then said, “Hold out your hand.”
She did, and he looked back down at her. He cupped his hands over hers, and whispered something. She gasped, and when he took his hands away, a small porcelain statue of Cinderella sat in her hand.
“Wow! How’d you do that?” Ryan and Evie were impressed as well, and Scott just smiled.
“I’m a magician.”
“Is that like a wizard?”
“Very much like a wizard.”
“Oh wow!”
Ryan chuckled, “Too bad you can’t make money.”
Mike said, “I can do that, too.”
Ryan and Evie laughed, not believing. Mike let them think that way.
After dinner, it was Scott’s turn to be accosted. Cynthia and her brother, Ryan junior, peppered Scott with questions of what it was like to be a hero. Mike conjured an action figure for Junior, and Scott signed the foot with his initials.
They went to bed with the rest of the family, trying to keep themselves quiet, but Mike had to put a sound dampener over the bed.
4.
The next morning, they heard a commotion downstairs. After getting dressed, they came down the stairs to see the door open and the dogs out on the front lawn, with another car parked behind theirs on the street, the trunk wide open.
A tall, bald man with glasses came from the kitchen to them. “Hello,” he said, curious and trying to be amiable at the same time.
“Hi, I’m Mike LeBonte. You are…”
“Oh, Fred, Fred McAllister. You’re Evie’s brother.”
Mike smiled and shook the offered hand. “And this is my boyfriend, Scott.”
The sentence got the expected reaction, as the man’s face changed from welcoming to shock. He looked between the two for a minute, and Scott slowly started to blush. Mike watched, waited as the man recovered, and then shook Scott’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Freeeed?” came a voice from the kitchen. “There’s still two bags in the trunk.”
“We’ll help you,” said Scott, grabbing Mike by the elbow and leading him out the door. Fred followed, but stayed on the porch watching the two.
They pulled out two suitcases and shut the door. Scott said quietly, “You don’t have to drop the bomb on them right away.”
“Fuck ‘em. If they can’t take it, that’s not my issue.”
Scott smiled and kissed Mike gently, not remembering that the man was right there. “It’s your family.”
“That’s not my family. I think that’s Ryan’s dad.”
They brought the suitcases in, and this time Evie was there in the living room settling the dogs while there was another older woman with her. She wore thick glasses that made her look like a frog. “Oh, hello, young man.”
Evie said, “This is my brother Mike and…”
Mike said, “My boyfriend Scott.”
The woman stared at him, and didn’t even try to recover. “Boyfriend? What’s a nice looking young man like you doing with a boyfriend?”
Said Fred, quietly, “He’s gay, Mona.”
Mona just stared at Mike, then Scott, then Mike again. Mike looked up at Evie and almost said something, but Scott put a hand on Mike’s arm again.
“Oh, well, this is…this is quite a shock. I’ve never had a gay man this close before.”
“We don’t bite,” Mike said coldly.
“Mona,” said Evie, taking her by the arm, “Let’s go into the kitchen. I really need that cherry cheesecake recipe. Did you bring it?”
Distracted by Evie taking her arm, she started chattering away to her, not giving them a second glance. Fred turned to the two men. “I’m sorry about that,” he said.
“Do you guys live under a rock?” Mike finally blurted.
Scott began – “Mike–”
“No,” Mike said, steaming.
Fred stated, “No, no, we don’t. But what she can’t understand, she falls back on rote.” He smiled, a very small one. “Old fashioned Irish Catholic.”
Mike sighed. “French Catholic.”
“So you get it.”
“You get it too,” Mike said.
“Yeah,” Fred said, looking a little forlorn now. “Yeah, I get it.”
5.
More people arrived during Wednesday. Ryan’s brother Cody and his wife Brittnay with her two children Blake and Kyle. Ryan’s oldest brother Tommy and his allegedly third wife Melissa who looked maybe sixteen, with a whole brood of children with celebrity names like Pink and Brad and Cake. While Melissa bounced a baby on her chest, Mike ran almost screaming from the room.
By dinnertime, the house was full of people, all the lights were burning. It was crowded and noisy and getting on Mike’s nerves. He ended up outside with the dogs when Scott found him, sitting at a tree on the opposite side of the lawn.
“There’s a lot of people.”
“Evie said my uncle’s not coming. He’s going to his daughter’s.”
Scott frowned. “I know you were looking forward to it.” He sat on the ground with Mike and the dogs.
He glanced at the house. “Too many people there that I don’t know. I don’t fit in.”
Scott leaned into Mike. “We can leave.”
Mike thought he could see Evie in the window, bustling in the kitchen. “I can’t leave Evie. Like she said, I’m one of the last family she has.”
Scott then hugged Mike, and stayed in his arms. The porch door opened and two men came out, laughing. Mike could smell the smoke soon after. It was dark outside, so they could barely be seen. They heard a whistle, and the dogs got up and immediately bounded over. Mike sighed, looking at Scott. “Guess we better go back.”
They disentangled and headed back to the house, hand-in-hand. As they got closer he could see it was Ryan and Tommy.
Words 1918