Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 08:57:34 -0800 (PST)
From: vealskye <vealskye@yahoo.com>
Subject: JT part 7

Disclaimer:  The characters in this story are not
real.  I made them up.  Some of them are gay.  Some of
them might have sex.  If you are not allowed to read
this type of material, or if you will be offended by
it, leave now.


JT Part 7


It was Christmas Eve.   Jess and I were snuggled on
the family room couch, watching the fireplace and
listening to the blizzard outside.  The mood was
somber.  Nanna wasn't expected to live through the
night.  Hell, the doctors said she should have died
months ago.  I thought she was too damn stubborn to
die but she seemed to have finally slipped into a
coma.  Her nurse thought so anyway.  Tom and JT were
still upstairs, at her bedside; it seemed they had
never left her side since we brought her home for
Thanksgiving.

-----

Michael was freezing.  He wasn't used to winter being
this cold.  Texas winters were never this cold.  But
he wasn't in Texas anymore.  He had left Texas nearly
a week ago, just after his mother had read his journal
and found out her one and only son was gay.

-----

Jess had just returned from the kitchen when the phone
rang.  I answered.

"Hello?"

"...H..Hi.  Is T-Tom there?"  It was a boy's voice.
He sounded scared.

"Well he is kinda busy right now; could I maybe take a
message?" I asked.

"Uh...w-well..."

"Who is this?"  I asked, getting up to take the phone
to Tom.

"Michael."

"Michael who?"

"Michael Greentree."

I fell back down on the couch.  "Michael Greentree?
From Texas?"  Jess looked as shocked as I felt.  What
was going on?

"Yeah."  I heard noises in the background but couldn't
make them out.  It sounded like pans being thrown
around in a kitchen.

"Wow, Michael.  Tom has told me a lot about you.  My
name is Tim."  I thought I heard the words "Marquee
Diner" in the background.  "Where are you Michael?"

"Well, I, I'm not sure exactly.  It's a restaurant.
We just got off the interstate."

"Who is 'we', Michael?"

He sounded hesitant, "This trucker I hitched a ride
with."

"Oh."  I was trying to figure this all out.  "Is the
name of the restaurant the 'Marquee Diner'?"

"Yeah, I think that's it.  I'm sorry, I was cold, I
just wanted to get inside."

"I guess you were!  You aren't used to these Kentucky
winters!"  I paused a second, "Mike, is there a tall
redheaded lady there?"

"Yeah, she is the one that let me use the phone."

"Could you flag her down and let me talk to her a
second."

"Well, but, Sir, could I talk to Tom, please?"

"How about this?  I'll come pick you up and you can
talk to Tom in person?  Would that work for you, ya
think?"

"Yeah."  I could hear a bit of excitement finally
creep into his voice.

"Hello?  Who is this?"

"My name is Tim Watson, You are Jean, right?  You own
the Marquee?"

"Yeah."

"The boy there that you let use the phone, I am going
to be coming to pick him up.  Usually it takes me
about fifteen minutes to get there but it will take
longer with this snow.  Could you fix him something to
eat while I drive over?"

"Mister, we are closing the diner early.  There is a
blizzard you know."

"Jean, that boy has just hitchhiked all the way from
Texas to find the only family he knows.  He is alone,
certainly scared, probably freezing and, well, he is a
growing boy so he is always hungry.  I'll be there as
soon as I can.  Will you please stay until I get
there?

-----

"Hey guys, run downstairs.  Jess has some food ready
for you."  I said as I walked into Nanna's room.  They
took off, stopping to give me a quick hug on the way.
The nurse, I never could remember her name for some
reason, started taking Nanna's vitals as I walked over
to the bed.

I leaned over her and said, in the best voice I could
muster, "Char, dammit, wake your ass up!  I am going
to go get your other grandson and you had better be
ready to bust his butt for being out in this blizzard.
 Do you hear me, bitch?  I am bringing Michael home!"

I left the room in tears, hoping she would live long
enough to meet her second grandson.  The nurse, I
noticed, seemed to be shocked.  I think my choice
words for Charlotte had put the nurse into a coma.  I
didn't care.  I had a child to pick up.

-----

"The Marquee Diner."  A pretentious name for a
truckstop dive, but they did have some of the best
blueberry pancakes on the planet.  And that seemed to
have been what Michael had eaten when I walked in
almost an hour later.

"Hi, Mike.  I'm Tim."

"Hi."

"Ready to go home and see everyone?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?  Ya busted your butt to get here from
Texas and ya don't know?" I asked, grinning at him.
"I didn't tell Tom where I was going so you will be a
surprise for him.  We'll just call you a Christmas
present."

-----

I was too busy keeping us on the road to do much
talking on the drive home.  Mike seemed to understand.
 Or perhaps he was just wrapped up in his own
thoughts.  I did hear a muttered, "Wow!" out of him as
we pulled up to the house.  Someone had turned on all
the decorations and the main tree was showing through
the entryway doors.

We walked in and I immediately hushed Mike so I could
listen to what was going on in the back of the house.
My mouth fell open and I thought I might faint.

"Now boys, don't drop me!  Be careful, there's a table
there."

"Nanna, we aren't going to drop you, but you are
supposed to be in bed resting."

"Don't give me no backtalk, Josh.  I may be old but I
can still turn you over my knee."  They had her seated
on the couch by then.  I projected my voice as I
pushed Mike through the kitchen and toward the family
room, "And if you can turn him over your knee, exactly
why is he hauling your scrawny black butt down the
stairs when you are Supposed To Be In Bed?"

She turned her head and looked at me, opened her mouth
to say something, spotted Michael halfway hiding
behind me and for one of a very few times in her life,
it seemed Nanna was speechless.

-----

To say the next moments were chaotic would be an
understatement.  Michael had seen a picture of a woman
he knew to be his grandmother and now here he was in
the same house with her.  He saw the boy he recognized
as Tom gasp as Tom turned around from placing his
grandmother on the couch.  There was a man to his side
taking his coat, and Tim's.  The other boy, the white
boy, who was carrying his grandmother was staring,
first at him, and then at Tim, a smile starting to
form.  There was a sour looking woman standing off to
the side.  It would be weeks later before he realized
he never did get her name.

"Bro!" Tom yelled, jumping the couch, nearly taking
Nanna's favorite lamp with him, ran to Mike and
grabbed him in an obviously painful bear hug.


End of Part 7.  My apologies for the long wait, but it
took a while for the muse to strike.  Let me know what
you think.
vealskye@yahoo.com