"Queer Identities" -- Chapter 51 "Nature Boy"
The new "QI"! This chapter turned out to be extra long, so I split it
in two -- the second half will be narrated by Ted. But for now... here's
Emmett:
This is Chapter 51 in the "Queer Identities" series.
The narrator is Emmett Honeycutt, and features Justin Taylor, Brian Kinney, Ted Schmidt, Lindsay Peterson, Melanie Marcus, Gus Peterson-Marcus.
Rated R and contains no warnings or spoilers.
Summary: Nature calls. Cardinal Lake, Ohio, July 2003.
Disclaimer: You know the drill. This is for fun, not profit. Enjoy.
By Gaedhal
"There was a boy,
A very strange enchanted boy,
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea,
A little shy and sad of eye,
But very wise was he.
And then one day,
A magic day he passed my way,
And while we spoke of many things,
Fools and kings,
This he said to me:
'The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.'"
***
We watch Brian go storming out to the porch, with Justin scrambling after him.
"I warned you not to pull up those websites while we were here. You knew that Brian wouldn't take them well," Teddy says.
"Oh, pish tosh!" I reply. "If he didn't know about them before, it's about time he did. It's all about online now. That's where the future of entertainment is!"
"Tell me about it," Ted says sourly.
Oops! I keep forgetting about his website. I mean his former website.
"But you had the right idea, Teddy," I say. "Maybe you could try it again? I can get out my sparkly jockstrap and fire up the Fetch Dixon sign and we'll be back in business in no time!"
"No thanks," says Ted. "I'm finished being an entrepreneur. I need to start looking for a real job."
"You're doing the books for Fabulous Catering and Party Planning," I point out. "Why not free-lance and add financial planning? I'm sure there are plenty of people who'd love for you to do their investments and all that kind of boring stuff for them."
Ted gives me a look that says: Yes, I know I'm boring, but you don't have to remind me. "I don't know if potential clients would feel comfortable entrusting their savings to a guy who just got out of rehab for crystal meth addiction."
I give Teddy a big hug. "Why not? I did."
Ted sighs. "But they're not my best friend. And your savings wasn't exactly a small fortune."
"It is to me," I say.
"I appreciate the vote of confidence, Em, but I need to look for something steady. I have bills to pay."
"You'll do fine, honey!" I tell him. "Come on -- let's take a walk. It's a beautiful evening and there's a big old full moon out."
"I guess," Teddy shrugs. "With my luck I'll probably fall in the lake."
"Oh, poo!" I grab him by the arm. "If you fall in I'll save you and be a hero!"
Teddy raises an eyebrow. "You'll save me?"
"Well -- I'll call Brian to save you. Or Melanie."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll take my chances with the fish."
It's a beautiful night and there's a gigantic full moon. The lake looks like a postcard and I wish I had a camera. Or knew how to take a picture.
"Look at that, Teddy! Isn't that so peaceful and so... vacation-like?" I say as we stand on the dock.
"It's lovely," he says. "Not exactly the Grand Canal, but very nice."
"Listen!" I hear something that sounds like a cross between a stomach rumbling and a dog farting. "What's that sound?"
"Bullfrogs," says Ted. "This lake must be full of frogs."
"And that chirping? Is that crickets?"
"Probably." Teddy slaps at his arms. "And that buzzing is a swarm of mosquitoes. I forgot to put on any bug spray. I'll be one big red welt in the morning."
"It's Mother Nature!" I stand completely still as I hear a new sound. "What the heck is that?"
Teddy frowns. "Sounds like moaning. Maybe it's a cat. Or a raccoon."
But it seems more familiar than that. "It's coming from over here." I walk back up the dock. There's a bunch of tall trees near the firepit and the sound is coming from there.
"Em... I don't think that we should..."
"Hush!" I tell him.
It's not a cat. Or a raccoon. It's two people in a hammock hung between two big old trees. Brian and Justin -- of course!
"Let's get out of here," says Ted, pulling at my tee shirt. "If Brian catches us spying on them he'll cut us up into tiny little pieces and feed us to the frogs."
"No!" comes a booming voice from the hammock. "I'll cut you both up into little fucking pieces and feed you to the munchers. Because being eaten by a pair of dykes and then shit out by them is exactly what you two fuckers deserve if you don't get the hell out of here and go back into the cottage!"
"We're getting right now, Bri!" Teddy calls.
"Me, too, honey!" I wave.
"Shut up and come on!" Ted urges.
Ted and I stumble back up to the cottage and get into our sleeping bags on the screened-in porch. When Brian and Justin come back in a little while later, we both pretend to be asleep -- just in case!
***
An air mattress and a sleeping bag aren't my first choice in vacation accommodations, but beggars can't be choosers, as my mother Enid always used to say. And the minute the sun starts peeking over the treetops I'm wide awake, although Teddy is still snoring away like there's no tomorrow.
I turn over onto my back and breathe in the fresh, cool air. A squirrel climbs up the side of the screen and looks at me as if to say, "Hey you! Got any nuts?" Isn't nature fascinating?
I hear footsteps on the stairs inside and wonder when our breakfast will be forthcoming. And who is going to cook it -- Justin or Lindsay and Mel? Or -- dare I say it? -- Brian?
The door to the main room slams open and I see a flash go by. And I do mean flash!
"Teddy!" I nudge my sleeping compatriot. "Wake up! You're missing it!"
"Huh?" Ted's eyes open, but he's not really awake yet. "What's the matter?"
"Look!" I point to the retreating figure of Justin, stark bare-assed naked, bouncing down the woodland path toward the dock. It's a delectable sight to be greeted with first thing in the morning, I must say. He's a true bubble-butted twink, straight out of a 'Freshmen' video package.
"What the...?" Teddy blinks. Then he grunts and rolls over. "Jesus, Em. Go back to sleep. If Brian finds out you were ogling his naked boyfriend he'll murder you."
"Oh, I'm not afraid of..."
But my words are cut off by that same Brian Kinney, also completely naked, bursting through the door and then off the porch and down the path, chasing after Justin, a tiny blue Speedo flapping in his hand.
"Oh, this is getting good!" I exclaim as Brian catches up with Justin on the path and grabs him.
"I'm not looking!" Teddy bleats, covering his head with his pillow. "Don't want to look, don't want to see anything! Brian and Justin naked are of no interest to me!"
Brian is now arguing with Justin, pushing him to the ground and trying to force the blue Speedo onto his fine, blushing ass, while Justin kicks and struggles, giggling and having a fine old time.
"Now they're rolling on the grass," I narrate. "Brian is on top. Now Justin is on top. Brian has the Speedo on Justin's right leg, but he's kicking it off. Now Brian is on top again. He's obviously been sunbathing nude -- his ass is a nice golden brown! And they really DO have matching tattoos -- big as life! Oh, Teddy, you are missing everything!"
"Not interested," he mumbles through clenched teeth. "Don't want to look. This is trouble, Em! Look the other way."
But I can't tear my eyes away. I mean, if you turned on the TV and found you were getting free HBO, would you turn the channel? See? I didn't think so!
Finally, Justin wriggles out from under Brian, gets to his feet and makes a run for the lake, with Brian in hot pursuit -- and I do mean hot! They run down the dock and dive into the lake, where I lose sight of them.
"Show is over," I sigh.
"Thank God," says Teddy. "Can I take this pillow off my face now?"
"You're still alive," I point out. "Honestly, why you are so afraid of Brian is beyond me!"
"Only fools and queens have no fear," Teddy replies.
"Who are you calling a queen?" I huff. But Ted only rolls his eyes and pulls the end of his sleeping bag back over his head.
About twenty minutes later Brian and Justin come trotting back up from the lake, dripping wet and laughing. Justin has obviously lost the battle, because he's wearing the blue Speedo, but he might as well be naked because every inch of his delicious twinkable form is visible through the skimpy material.
"Hey, Em!" Justin calls as they pass through the porch on their way back inside. "The water's great -- nice and cold! It'll definitely get your blood circulating."
Brian pauses by the sleeping bags. His blood has certainly been circulating! I've seen Brian Kinney naked more times than I can count, but I have to admit it's always an impressive sight -- nine and a half inches cut of pure ivory perfection is nothing to sneeze at! And I say that as Fetch Dixon, a professional dick, as well as Emmett Honeycutt, an amateur dick-watcher.
"Hey!" snaps Brian, standing over my sleeping bag like a statue. "You and Wonder-whacker there -- you two keep your mouths shut about this, do you hear me? I don't want a lecture from Lindz or fucking Melanie about what Justin and I can or cannot wear on our own vacation. Got it?"
"Got it, Bri." Teddy's voice comes from deep inside the sleeping bag. "I didn't see anything, by the way. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis!"
"Good," he says darkly. "Keep it that way. Breakfast is in a half-hour." And then he thumps back into the cottage.
"You're pushing your luck, Em," says Teddy, coming out of his sleeping bag.
"I'm not afraid of the Big Bad Wolf -- or the Big Bad Kinney!" I assure him. "Now come on! I want to dive into that cold water before breakfast!"
"No you don't." Teddy stretches gently. "Oh, my poor back! I think I'll take a hot shower. You can go jump in the lake -- if you want to."
Teddy knows me so well -- too well! I don't jump in the lake. I wait and take a hot shower after Ted is finished. By that time Lindsay, Mel, and Justin have breakfast ready -- waffles and bacon and scrambled eggs and hash browns. Yum! Even Brian eats like a normal person.
Vacation is so much fun!
After breakfast Teddy and I slather ourselves with sunscreen and head down to the lake. We have our towels and I have a pile of magazines -- 'Vogue' and 'Cosmo' and 'GQ' -- I've been meaning to read, while Teddy has some legal thriller by an ex-lawyer that looks extremely boring. Justin and Mel fool around with a canoe, and Lindsay lays out a big blanket under the trees where it's shady and cool and sits with the baby, watching.
But it's Brian who fascinates me. I know he's Gus's father and everything, but I've never really seen him around his kids before. He surprises me. Gus is wearing cute little bathing trunks with Spongebob on them. Brian puts a life jacket on him and takes him into the shallows of the lake, teaching him to swim. I don't think I've ever seen Brian Kinney so patient and soft-spoken. Well, maybe with Justin after he got bashed, a little bit. But with Gus he's so different from the usual total drama queen and freak-out machine that is the Big Bad Brian.
Gus is scared of the water at first, but Brian takes it slowly, letting the kid get the feel of the lake. Then they go deeper, until the water is up to Brian's waist. And Gus starts to laugh, kicking at the water with his skinny legs, which are just like Brian's except much shorter, but not for long. Gus is going to be tall, like Brian and Lindsay, you can just tell. Finally, Gus wants to 'swim' by himself, as Brian lets him float, but always with one hand on him, steadying his little body. And Gus splashes and splashes and then throws himself into Brian's arms and they both fall back into the water, arms and legs flailing.
"Brian!" calls Justin from the canoe. And the boy paddles over to the shallows and the three of them all laugh together.
"That's nice, isn't it?" I say to Teddy.
"Huh?" says Ted, looking up from his paperback. "What's nice?"
"Oh, nothing," I tell him. "Nothing at all."
***
That night we go over to have dinner with the two women Justin met. They live on the other end of Cardinal Lake. Justin wants to canoe over, but Brian puts his foot down.
"I'm not fucking paddling a canoe over to dinner at Muncher Cottage!"
And Lindsay agrees, pointing out that they have all kinds of child carry-alls and baby stuff and what-not, so it would be better that the girls take their SUV. So they drive that and Brian drives the Jeep, with Justin at shotgun, while Ted and I pile in the backseat.
But Gus won't get into the SUV.
"Daddy!" he cries. "Wanna go with Daddy!"
Lindsay tries to reason with him, but he's definitely Brian Kinney's child -- when he doesn't want to do something he digs in his heels and flat out refuses.
"Drama princess in the making," I whisper to Teddy.
"Shut up!" Teddy urges.
Brian gets out of the Jeep and walks over to the scene of the crisis.
"Sonny Boy," he says very gently. "We're going on a visit. I'm going with Justin in that car." He points to the Jeep. "And you're going with your moms. I'll see you there in a few minutes. Okay?"
"No!" the boy screams, his face all teary and red. "Wanna go with Daddy!"
"Gus," Brian says, kneeling down and looking at him eye-to-eye, man-to-man. "If you don't go with your moms, who is going to take care of them and Charity? You're the man in the family when I'm not around, and that includes riding in the car. I have to ride with Justin and the boys and keep an eye on them, so you have to keep an eye on your moms. Do you understand?"
Gus stops crying and wipes his nose with the back of his hand. Then he nods his little head. He really is the cutest thing on two feet!
"All right then, Sonny Boy," says Brian. "Get in and I'll see you at the other house."
I can see that Lindsay is holding her breath, while Mel is steaming at the on-going drama. But Gus does it. He marches to the SUV like a little soldier and climbs in.
"Thank you, Brian," says Lindz, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Mel doesn't say anything, but you can tell she's still fuming. I know she blames every little bump on the road on Brian, but he's a reality in their life. Let's face it, Brian Kinney is a reality in all our lives and probably always will be!
Brian comes back to the Jeep and I can see Lindsay watching him as he walks away. There's a strange look on her face, like she's thinking about how everything might have been different if she wasn't a big old dyke and Brian wasn't the world's most infamous faggot.
But 'Que Será Será,' as Doris Day always used to say!
Brian gets into the driver's seat, revs up the engine, and moves the Jeep down the long driveway, with Lindz, Mel, and the kids following in the SUV.
"That was great, Brian," says Justin. "You're so good with Gus."
"No, it wasn't great," says Brian, his eyes on the road and his voice thick with some kind of emotion I'm not used to hearing from Brian Kinney. Could it be sadness? Or regret? Hard to tell.
"Gus loves you," says Justin. "That's what counts."
"Maybe, but I'm no fucking father," Brian continues. "So Gus is going to have to learn how to be a man without me. That's the fucking reality. So he better get used to it."
And we turn onto the main road, the Jeep's wide wheels kicking up a cloud of dust behind us.
***
"'The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.'"
(Eden Ahbez)
in two -- the second half will be narrated by Ted. But for now... here's
Emmett:
This is Chapter 51 in the "Queer Identities" series.
The narrator is Emmett Honeycutt, and features Justin Taylor, Brian Kinney, Ted Schmidt, Lindsay Peterson, Melanie Marcus, Gus Peterson-Marcus.
Rated R and contains no warnings or spoilers.
Summary: Nature calls. Cardinal Lake, Ohio, July 2003.
Disclaimer: You know the drill. This is for fun, not profit. Enjoy.
By Gaedhal
"There was a boy,
A very strange enchanted boy,
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea,
A little shy and sad of eye,
But very wise was he.
And then one day,
A magic day he passed my way,
And while we spoke of many things,
Fools and kings,
This he said to me:
'The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.'"
***
We watch Brian go storming out to the porch, with Justin scrambling after him.
"I warned you not to pull up those websites while we were here. You knew that Brian wouldn't take them well," Teddy says.
"Oh, pish tosh!" I reply. "If he didn't know about them before, it's about time he did. It's all about online now. That's where the future of entertainment is!"
"Tell me about it," Ted says sourly.
Oops! I keep forgetting about his website. I mean his former website.
"But you had the right idea, Teddy," I say. "Maybe you could try it again? I can get out my sparkly jockstrap and fire up the Fetch Dixon sign and we'll be back in business in no time!"
"No thanks," says Ted. "I'm finished being an entrepreneur. I need to start looking for a real job."
"You're doing the books for Fabulous Catering and Party Planning," I point out. "Why not free-lance and add financial planning? I'm sure there are plenty of people who'd love for you to do their investments and all that kind of boring stuff for them."
Ted gives me a look that says: Yes, I know I'm boring, but you don't have to remind me. "I don't know if potential clients would feel comfortable entrusting their savings to a guy who just got out of rehab for crystal meth addiction."
I give Teddy a big hug. "Why not? I did."
Ted sighs. "But they're not my best friend. And your savings wasn't exactly a small fortune."
"It is to me," I say.
"I appreciate the vote of confidence, Em, but I need to look for something steady. I have bills to pay."
"You'll do fine, honey!" I tell him. "Come on -- let's take a walk. It's a beautiful evening and there's a big old full moon out."
"I guess," Teddy shrugs. "With my luck I'll probably fall in the lake."
"Oh, poo!" I grab him by the arm. "If you fall in I'll save you and be a hero!"
Teddy raises an eyebrow. "You'll save me?"
"Well -- I'll call Brian to save you. Or Melanie."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll take my chances with the fish."
It's a beautiful night and there's a gigantic full moon. The lake looks like a postcard and I wish I had a camera. Or knew how to take a picture.
"Look at that, Teddy! Isn't that so peaceful and so... vacation-like?" I say as we stand on the dock.
"It's lovely," he says. "Not exactly the Grand Canal, but very nice."
"Listen!" I hear something that sounds like a cross between a stomach rumbling and a dog farting. "What's that sound?"
"Bullfrogs," says Ted. "This lake must be full of frogs."
"And that chirping? Is that crickets?"
"Probably." Teddy slaps at his arms. "And that buzzing is a swarm of mosquitoes. I forgot to put on any bug spray. I'll be one big red welt in the morning."
"It's Mother Nature!" I stand completely still as I hear a new sound. "What the heck is that?"
Teddy frowns. "Sounds like moaning. Maybe it's a cat. Or a raccoon."
But it seems more familiar than that. "It's coming from over here." I walk back up the dock. There's a bunch of tall trees near the firepit and the sound is coming from there.
"Em... I don't think that we should..."
"Hush!" I tell him.
It's not a cat. Or a raccoon. It's two people in a hammock hung between two big old trees. Brian and Justin -- of course!
"Let's get out of here," says Ted, pulling at my tee shirt. "If Brian catches us spying on them he'll cut us up into tiny little pieces and feed us to the frogs."
"No!" comes a booming voice from the hammock. "I'll cut you both up into little fucking pieces and feed you to the munchers. Because being eaten by a pair of dykes and then shit out by them is exactly what you two fuckers deserve if you don't get the hell out of here and go back into the cottage!"
"We're getting right now, Bri!" Teddy calls.
"Me, too, honey!" I wave.
"Shut up and come on!" Ted urges.
Ted and I stumble back up to the cottage and get into our sleeping bags on the screened-in porch. When Brian and Justin come back in a little while later, we both pretend to be asleep -- just in case!
***
An air mattress and a sleeping bag aren't my first choice in vacation accommodations, but beggars can't be choosers, as my mother Enid always used to say. And the minute the sun starts peeking over the treetops I'm wide awake, although Teddy is still snoring away like there's no tomorrow.
I turn over onto my back and breathe in the fresh, cool air. A squirrel climbs up the side of the screen and looks at me as if to say, "Hey you! Got any nuts?" Isn't nature fascinating?
I hear footsteps on the stairs inside and wonder when our breakfast will be forthcoming. And who is going to cook it -- Justin or Lindsay and Mel? Or -- dare I say it? -- Brian?
The door to the main room slams open and I see a flash go by. And I do mean flash!
"Teddy!" I nudge my sleeping compatriot. "Wake up! You're missing it!"
"Huh?" Ted's eyes open, but he's not really awake yet. "What's the matter?"
"Look!" I point to the retreating figure of Justin, stark bare-assed naked, bouncing down the woodland path toward the dock. It's a delectable sight to be greeted with first thing in the morning, I must say. He's a true bubble-butted twink, straight out of a 'Freshmen' video package.
"What the...?" Teddy blinks. Then he grunts and rolls over. "Jesus, Em. Go back to sleep. If Brian finds out you were ogling his naked boyfriend he'll murder you."
"Oh, I'm not afraid of..."
But my words are cut off by that same Brian Kinney, also completely naked, bursting through the door and then off the porch and down the path, chasing after Justin, a tiny blue Speedo flapping in his hand.
"Oh, this is getting good!" I exclaim as Brian catches up with Justin on the path and grabs him.
"I'm not looking!" Teddy bleats, covering his head with his pillow. "Don't want to look, don't want to see anything! Brian and Justin naked are of no interest to me!"
Brian is now arguing with Justin, pushing him to the ground and trying to force the blue Speedo onto his fine, blushing ass, while Justin kicks and struggles, giggling and having a fine old time.
"Now they're rolling on the grass," I narrate. "Brian is on top. Now Justin is on top. Brian has the Speedo on Justin's right leg, but he's kicking it off. Now Brian is on top again. He's obviously been sunbathing nude -- his ass is a nice golden brown! And they really DO have matching tattoos -- big as life! Oh, Teddy, you are missing everything!"
"Not interested," he mumbles through clenched teeth. "Don't want to look. This is trouble, Em! Look the other way."
But I can't tear my eyes away. I mean, if you turned on the TV and found you were getting free HBO, would you turn the channel? See? I didn't think so!
Finally, Justin wriggles out from under Brian, gets to his feet and makes a run for the lake, with Brian in hot pursuit -- and I do mean hot! They run down the dock and dive into the lake, where I lose sight of them.
"Show is over," I sigh.
"Thank God," says Teddy. "Can I take this pillow off my face now?"
"You're still alive," I point out. "Honestly, why you are so afraid of Brian is beyond me!"
"Only fools and queens have no fear," Teddy replies.
"Who are you calling a queen?" I huff. But Ted only rolls his eyes and pulls the end of his sleeping bag back over his head.
About twenty minutes later Brian and Justin come trotting back up from the lake, dripping wet and laughing. Justin has obviously lost the battle, because he's wearing the blue Speedo, but he might as well be naked because every inch of his delicious twinkable form is visible through the skimpy material.
"Hey, Em!" Justin calls as they pass through the porch on their way back inside. "The water's great -- nice and cold! It'll definitely get your blood circulating."
Brian pauses by the sleeping bags. His blood has certainly been circulating! I've seen Brian Kinney naked more times than I can count, but I have to admit it's always an impressive sight -- nine and a half inches cut of pure ivory perfection is nothing to sneeze at! And I say that as Fetch Dixon, a professional dick, as well as Emmett Honeycutt, an amateur dick-watcher.
"Hey!" snaps Brian, standing over my sleeping bag like a statue. "You and Wonder-whacker there -- you two keep your mouths shut about this, do you hear me? I don't want a lecture from Lindz or fucking Melanie about what Justin and I can or cannot wear on our own vacation. Got it?"
"Got it, Bri." Teddy's voice comes from deep inside the sleeping bag. "I didn't see anything, by the way. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis!"
"Good," he says darkly. "Keep it that way. Breakfast is in a half-hour." And then he thumps back into the cottage.
"You're pushing your luck, Em," says Teddy, coming out of his sleeping bag.
"I'm not afraid of the Big Bad Wolf -- or the Big Bad Kinney!" I assure him. "Now come on! I want to dive into that cold water before breakfast!"
"No you don't." Teddy stretches gently. "Oh, my poor back! I think I'll take a hot shower. You can go jump in the lake -- if you want to."
Teddy knows me so well -- too well! I don't jump in the lake. I wait and take a hot shower after Ted is finished. By that time Lindsay, Mel, and Justin have breakfast ready -- waffles and bacon and scrambled eggs and hash browns. Yum! Even Brian eats like a normal person.
Vacation is so much fun!
After breakfast Teddy and I slather ourselves with sunscreen and head down to the lake. We have our towels and I have a pile of magazines -- 'Vogue' and 'Cosmo' and 'GQ' -- I've been meaning to read, while Teddy has some legal thriller by an ex-lawyer that looks extremely boring. Justin and Mel fool around with a canoe, and Lindsay lays out a big blanket under the trees where it's shady and cool and sits with the baby, watching.
But it's Brian who fascinates me. I know he's Gus's father and everything, but I've never really seen him around his kids before. He surprises me. Gus is wearing cute little bathing trunks with Spongebob on them. Brian puts a life jacket on him and takes him into the shallows of the lake, teaching him to swim. I don't think I've ever seen Brian Kinney so patient and soft-spoken. Well, maybe with Justin after he got bashed, a little bit. But with Gus he's so different from the usual total drama queen and freak-out machine that is the Big Bad Brian.
Gus is scared of the water at first, but Brian takes it slowly, letting the kid get the feel of the lake. Then they go deeper, until the water is up to Brian's waist. And Gus starts to laugh, kicking at the water with his skinny legs, which are just like Brian's except much shorter, but not for long. Gus is going to be tall, like Brian and Lindsay, you can just tell. Finally, Gus wants to 'swim' by himself, as Brian lets him float, but always with one hand on him, steadying his little body. And Gus splashes and splashes and then throws himself into Brian's arms and they both fall back into the water, arms and legs flailing.
"Brian!" calls Justin from the canoe. And the boy paddles over to the shallows and the three of them all laugh together.
"That's nice, isn't it?" I say to Teddy.
"Huh?" says Ted, looking up from his paperback. "What's nice?"
"Oh, nothing," I tell him. "Nothing at all."
***
That night we go over to have dinner with the two women Justin met. They live on the other end of Cardinal Lake. Justin wants to canoe over, but Brian puts his foot down.
"I'm not fucking paddling a canoe over to dinner at Muncher Cottage!"
And Lindsay agrees, pointing out that they have all kinds of child carry-alls and baby stuff and what-not, so it would be better that the girls take their SUV. So they drive that and Brian drives the Jeep, with Justin at shotgun, while Ted and I pile in the backseat.
But Gus won't get into the SUV.
"Daddy!" he cries. "Wanna go with Daddy!"
Lindsay tries to reason with him, but he's definitely Brian Kinney's child -- when he doesn't want to do something he digs in his heels and flat out refuses.
"Drama princess in the making," I whisper to Teddy.
"Shut up!" Teddy urges.
Brian gets out of the Jeep and walks over to the scene of the crisis.
"Sonny Boy," he says very gently. "We're going on a visit. I'm going with Justin in that car." He points to the Jeep. "And you're going with your moms. I'll see you there in a few minutes. Okay?"
"No!" the boy screams, his face all teary and red. "Wanna go with Daddy!"
"Gus," Brian says, kneeling down and looking at him eye-to-eye, man-to-man. "If you don't go with your moms, who is going to take care of them and Charity? You're the man in the family when I'm not around, and that includes riding in the car. I have to ride with Justin and the boys and keep an eye on them, so you have to keep an eye on your moms. Do you understand?"
Gus stops crying and wipes his nose with the back of his hand. Then he nods his little head. He really is the cutest thing on two feet!
"All right then, Sonny Boy," says Brian. "Get in and I'll see you at the other house."
I can see that Lindsay is holding her breath, while Mel is steaming at the on-going drama. But Gus does it. He marches to the SUV like a little soldier and climbs in.
"Thank you, Brian," says Lindz, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Mel doesn't say anything, but you can tell she's still fuming. I know she blames every little bump on the road on Brian, but he's a reality in their life. Let's face it, Brian Kinney is a reality in all our lives and probably always will be!
Brian comes back to the Jeep and I can see Lindsay watching him as he walks away. There's a strange look on her face, like she's thinking about how everything might have been different if she wasn't a big old dyke and Brian wasn't the world's most infamous faggot.
But 'Que Será Será,' as Doris Day always used to say!
Brian gets into the driver's seat, revs up the engine, and moves the Jeep down the long driveway, with Lindz, Mel, and the kids following in the SUV.
"That was great, Brian," says Justin. "You're so good with Gus."
"No, it wasn't great," says Brian, his eyes on the road and his voice thick with some kind of emotion I'm not used to hearing from Brian Kinney. Could it be sadness? Or regret? Hard to tell.
"Gus loves you," says Justin. "That's what counts."
"Maybe, but I'm no fucking father," Brian continues. "So Gus is going to have to learn how to be a man without me. That's the fucking reality. So he better get used to it."
And we turn onto the main road, the Jeep's wide wheels kicking up a cloud of dust behind us.
***
"'The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.'"
(Eden Ahbez)