Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 14:43:17 +0200
From: Harry Anders <harry@harryanders.com>
Subject: Little Harry-13

First I want to ask you something... I would like to use a picture for the
cover of my book; but I don't know where that picture comes from. Perhaps
one of my readers recognizes it or has the original?

Please have a look at http://www.harryanders.com/harryold.gif

Do you happen to have the original picture, or the original name; or who
made this picture? If so, please will you send it to me as soon as
possible? Many thanks in advance!


Chapter 13. Our golden van, a swimming pool, and a lost boy.

In the morning I woke up, looking into two deep blue eyes on the left, and
two bright greenish eyes on the right. Both boys had crawled onto my
stomach, giggling and fighting for the best place. My morning erection
poked painfully into the small gap between them.

"Sorry boys, but I'm afraid I have to use the toilet first!"

"I can feel that pop. You have a morning woody, just like me. Only yours is
a lot bigger."

"Are you jealous?"

"Just wait, in a couple of years mine will be just as big as Jason's, and
he's bigger than you. And my dad's is HUGE."

There went my self esteem... We hurried downstairs, where we tried to cross
our streams without splashing too much. Of course that went awfully wrong,
but we had fun! We dried the floor with a mop, and went upstairs with both
boys giggling behind me and poking me in my bare bum. This time it did
nothing to me, I just laughed without any shame. I had certainly changed a
lot in the last few days! I felt like a young boy myself, carefree and
totally at ease. Society? What society...

We returned to my bedroom, where we saw two moving lumps below the
blankets, both softly giggling.

"Attack of the creepy aliens!" little Harry shouted and jumped onto the
first lump.

"Attack of the nickering dragons!" Nicky shouted and attacked the second
lump.

Soon they all were in a heavy fight, with eight arms, eight legs, blankets,
pillows, and bed sheets, all in one big knot. Now and then a grinning head
showed up above the lump and disappeared again, until they were exhausted
and decided to give it a break.

"Let's hit the shower and go downstairs, because I am HUNGRY!"

Four boys went to the shower, while I tried to make the trashed bed a bit
more presentable. After a while we dressed and went downstairs to have
breakfast. The sun was already shining from a cloudless sky, and the day
promised to be very hot.

"Dad, a few days ago I saw a small inflatable swimming pool, to be used in
a back yard. Will you please buy us one?"

I was immediately surrounded by four boys with puppy-dog eyes, expectantly
looking up at me.

"Yes dad? They don't cost much money, and you can use them all the time
when it's too hot outside..."

"Well... perhaps we could go downtown and buy one, but I'm afraid our car
is too small to transport all of us plus a swimming pool."

They looked disappointed, until little Harry saw through my little joke and
poked me in the ribs.

"You're crazy! You behind the steering wheel, John in the front seat, me,
Nicky, and Davey in the back seat, and the swimming pool on the roof. Come
on, let's go downtown!"

"Well... with all those new passengers, perhaps we should first buy a
bigger car?"

"Really? You mean that? A bigger car for us? Come on, let's look for a
bigger car on the Internet!"

They ran to the computer in the living room, leaving me with the platters
and the silverware. I washed the dishes, tidied everything, brewed a cup of
coffee, and went to the living room where my four boys crowded around the
computer.

"Dad, look! We have found a really nice one!"

I went to the computer, and they appeared to be really canny boys! They
found a site with used cars, and now pointed to a big van with two movable
front seats and five removable back seats, four of which could be placed
into a square, while the fifth seat could be folded down as a small table.

"Wow, that's a really nice vehicle! But how about the money?"

"Nah, you already told us you are rich! You even have a credit card, so you
could buy everything."

I sniggered, but didn't dare to disappoint them. Besides, I really did have
some money to spend...

"Okay, let's have a look at our new van."

John fished the keys out of my pocket and we all rushed to our old car.

After twenty minutes of driving and a little searching we entered a big
sales yard, filled with all types of used cars.

"There she is!" John pointed to a big van in the background, with a
beautiful metallic golden color, shining in the sun.

"WOW!" Davey exclaimed, with sparkling eyes and totally in awe.

Little Harry and Nicky were unusually silent, evidently very impressed. We
parked our old car and went to our new conveyance.

"May I help you sirs?" a smiling man approached us.

"We want to have a look at that big van over there, and maybe we could have
a test drive?"

The man opened the doors of the van and let the boys discover all
possibilities of the removable chairs on their own. Nicky discovered how
you could turn the front seats around, so you had a real conference room,
with six seats around a table in the middle. The boys were more and more
enthusiastic, until I tempered their excitement by asking about the price
minus the value of my old car. The man named his price, and it turned out
to be exactly what I had in mind.

"You are lucky sir, this van was nearly sold yesterday. In the last moment
they decided to buy a smaller one..."

The boys rearranged the seats and fastened their seatbelts, the vendor took
the front seat and showed me how to operate the various knobs and
handles. He handed me the keys, I started our golden van, and we drove off
for a test drive. I felt like a king and the boys were ecstatic. They
jumped up and down in their seats and craned their neck to look everywhere.

"We even have lockers in the backs of all the chairs dad!"

"Look, you can switch the front ceiling lights independent from the back
lights!"

"When you put the back of your seat completely down, you could even sleep
on it!"

My mind took over and showed me a couple of doubts. Why was this car for
sale? Was she reliable or had she hidden defects? Suddenly I heard the
voice of Jack, somewhere in my head: "This car is a present from spirit to
you. You will need her in the future."

I thanked Jack in my mind, and thought I heard him say, "Welcome". Or did I
make that up myself?

We went back to the yard and sealed our purchase. I paid them with my
credit card, and we moved our possessions from our old car to our new
van. The vendor handed over the papers and the keys, and we drove off in a
festive mood. John climbed onto the front seat and started to try out the
built in digital stereo radio. Suddenly our song reverberated through the
car with a deep boom bass: "You are soooo beauuuutifuuuullll..."

We all sang along with the song as loud as possible, and already felt at
home in our new van. The boys played with the various positions of all
chairs, and in the end they had put them all together and into sleeping
positions.

"Look dad, when we travel to the gypsies in Romania we can sleep in our own
van! There's room enough for everybody."

As a good parent I told them to sit in the seats and put their seat belts
on, and postpone the playing until we weren't on the road. But they didn't
really listen, and who cares? They were just too enthusiastic, so I let it
go this time and drove a little bit more carefully.

We then went to a toyshop and asked for a swimming pool. The vendor showed
us all types of inflatable pools, and of course the boys went immediately
to the largest pool there was, six by twelve feet (2x4 meters), provided
with an electric air pump and a huge water filter.

"This one is big enough for all of us dad, even when Thomas and Chrissie
are back from their vacation."

I looked at four pairs of puppy-dog eyes, smiled, and nodded. The sound was
raising the roof and the windows rumbled when they started to cheer and
dance around, hugging me nearly to death. I paid with my inexhaustible
credit card and we tied the big package to the roof of our new golden
van. In a cheerful mood, we went home, again singing along with the music.

I parked our new van in the driveway, and John and Davey went straight to
the back yard to decide where we should put our new swimming pool. After a
moment they hurried back.

"Dad, can we tidy up that place next to Harry's herbs and the backdoor?
It's an ideal place in the shadow of those big trees, and nobody can see us
from the streets."

We went with them to have a look. Little Harry agreed, on condition they
would keep the pool at least three feet away from his white
cobblestones. We lifted the big package from the roof of our car and
dragged it to the back yard, where we unpacked the pool, the air pump, and
the big filter. After a lot of dragging and tossing, the pool was finally
in place. Little Harry and Nicky went into the house to look for an
electric cord, while John and Davey went into the garage to attach a long
water hose.

Half an hour later, the empty pool was sufficiently inflated, and John
turned the water tap on. At first nothing happened. Davey reached for the
water hose, looked into the opening, shook the hose a few times, and
suddenly the hose started to spout. We all roared with laughter, while a
wet and dripping Davey coughed and spewed the inhaled water from his
lungs. His revenge was sweet. Before we knew what happened he pointed the
hose at all of us. We yelled and jumped out of the way, leaving Davey
roaring with laughter!

We went into the house and the boys hurried up the stairs to look for
swimming trunks. In no time they returned to the back yard, where I heard
them splashing, laughing, and yelling. They were sure having a lot of fun!

I went to the kitchen to prepare enough food for myself and four hungry
growing boys. After a while I went to the back yard with a tray filled with
a huge pile of sandwiches and drinks, enough to feed a small
army. Grinning, I looked at my six children, playing, having a lot of fun
with the hose, and bouncing up and down in the halfway-filled pool.

SIX children? What the hell... I counted again. John, Davey, a girl, Harry,
another girl, and Nicky. Wow, my household was growing fast! I laughed and
beckoned them over. John was the first one who detected me with a food
tray.

"Come on, there's something to EAT!"

Within a second I was surrounded by six dripping wet children, looking like
they were starved.

"Hello sir, are we allowed to use your pool? The boys said it wasn't a
problem..."

"Did you pay at the entrance?"

The eldest girl, of about twelve years old, looked a bit forlorn and stared
at her feet. The youngest girl, obviously her sister, suddenly laughed at
the joke and winked at me.

"Those nice boys paid for us, of course..."

"In your dreams!" little Harry laughed and dived to the tray for a sandwich
and a drink.

In no time all sandwiches and drinks were gone. They resumed their games in
the pool, leaving me with the empty tray. Still hungry, I returned to the
kitchen and made myself an extra large sandwich, filled with a lot of
everything. I regaled myself in revenge, like a child...

The afternoon passed by, filled with laughter and childish yelling from the
back yard, where everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives. I
filled my time by cleaning the house and working on my paperwork. I also
started to write a new book about all our adventures. I decided to call my
new book 'Little Harry'; after my little gypsy prince who suddenly entered
my life. Time flew, and soon the sun already descended the sky. I went back
to the back yard, to have a look at my nine playing children.

NINE playing children? What the hell... I counted again. A new girl and two
small neighborhood boys had joined our group in my absence. They were
frolicking and splashing each other as if they were totally at home in our
pool, which was now filled to the brim.

"Boys, girls, sorry but it's time to go home! We have to dress and prepare
for dinner..."

Reluctantly our visitors left the pool and went home with their clothes in
hand, still dripping.

"Can, err... may we come back tomorrow, please? It's fun here!"

"We will see, but for today you had enough fun. We are invited to dinner
somewhere else."

The neighborhood children went home, and my boys went upstairs to dress for
dinner. Nicky threw his arms around my neck, nearly suffocating me, and
offered me a big wet kiss.

"I have to go home now, but thank you very much for this marvelous day! Can
I... may I come back tomorrow, please?"

"Of course, you may come back every time you wish! Greetings to your father
and to Jason."

He went home, skipping all the way. We prepared to join Davey's mother, who
awaited us with dinner tonight.

"Today was really fun dad! Thank you for everything, for our new car, and
for our new swimming pool," John beamed.

"Yes dad, never in my life have I had so much fun! You are a really neat
dad, and I am glad I could join you today," Davey beamed.

Little Harry just beamed. He held my hand all the way, radiating love and
pushing into me with every movement.

Mary opened the door when she saw us coming, and her eyes filled with
joy. She directed us to the living room. Soon the boys told her everything
about all events of the day, our new golden van with seven movable and
turnable chairs, the new inflatable swimming pool with a huge water filter,
and their newly found girl friends who joined them in the swimming
pool. Davey climbed onto her lap and threw his arms around her neck.

"I missed you mom! I really had fun today, but I wish you could have joined
us."

"Don't bother son, I enjoyed myself today while cooking a very special meal
for you all."

We went to the table and sat down. Mary returned from the kitchen with a
bowl of steaming consommé. Little Harry tasted, frowned, tasted again...

"What did you put into it? I can taste oregano, onions, celery, parsley,
and something else I don't recognize..."

"Well... I have to disappoint you. This is just a can of soup from the
supermarket!"

We all started to laugh, and our little cook colored a deep red.

After the soup, we were served a marvelous meal, with grilled salmon, baked
potatoes, all sorts of vegetables, and a delicious sauce; followed by a big
ice sorbet with a mixture of fruits. Soon we were all stuffed to the brim.

"Mom, never in your life did you cook such a delicious meal! You really are
the best!"

"I have to agree with your son, Mary! This is one of the best meals I've
ever tasted!"

John and little Harry just nodded and licked their fingers. Mary beamed and
wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.

"This is the first time in many years that I really enjoyed cooking. Thank
you for your compliments, I am glad you liked the meal."

The boys settled down in front of the television, while Mary and I sat down
on the couch with a cup of coffee.

"I am so grateful you took Davey with you today... I can see in his eyes
how much he enjoyed this day with you and your boys."

"I am glad he joined us today. He's a nice boy with a good heart, and we
all like him very much."

Davey looked up at us and colored a deep red with tears in his eyes.

"I like you very much too, all of you! And I can't tell you how much I love
you as my new dad! I hope I will never lose you..."

He climbed onto my lap and tried to melt into me. "Now it's as if I own my
REAL dad, for the first time in my life..."

After a while John and little Harry joined us to claim their share, and we
all cuddled each other for a long time.

"Mom, please, may John and Harry spend the night with us? I never had a
sleepover before..."

Of course I agreed, so the boys went upstairs to arrange their things for
the night. Again I thanked Mary for the wonderful meal; and I went home,
this time by myself.

The night was dark, with no moon, but thousands of stars twinkling in the
sky. I looked at the Milky Way for a long time, where I recognized the
Polestar and a reddish planet I suspected to be Mars. Now and then one of
the stars blinked, and a few times I saw a falling star move along the
horizon. Suddenly I felt myself small and vulnerable; and I shivered. Who
was I, and why was I here on this planet? What was the meaning of all this,
and what would the future bring?

After a while I went inside, showered, and went to bed, all alone and
feeling lonely. Sleep took over after a while and I had a peaceful night. I
woke up once to go to the toilet; I missed my boys, so I hugged my pillow
while drifting off again.

I woke up to a couple of sounds, yawned, and looked into three smiling
faces hovering above me.

"I'm going to sleep with dad!" Davey declared as he started to undress,
quickly followed by John and little Harry.

Davey got to me first and clambered onto my stomach, pushed his head under
my chin and clamped his arms around my body. Little Harry tried to push
Davey away, but in vain. John plopped down on my right side and melted into
me. After a while little Harry gave up and melted into my left side. I felt
blessed with my boys, draped my arms around all of them, and dozed off with
a wonderful feeling.

In the morning Davey explained what happened during the night. "The air
mattress had a leak and went flat, so Harry climbed into my bed, and after
a while John tried to follow him. But my bed was too small for all three of
us, and after a while we decided to go to your house and have some more
sleep in your big waterbed."

"Yes dad, I am still stiff from that hard floor! At first Harry climbed
onto my stomach and tried to sleep there, but I couldn't sleep with him as
a blanket so I threw him off me. After that we went to Davey's bed, but it
was too small for all three of us. After a lot of pushing and me falling
out of bed two times, we decided to join you in your bed."

Little Harry just grinned and tried to push his head under my left
armpit. After a moment he suddenly tilted his head, listened, and jumped
out of bed, nearly tripping over the blankets.

"There's Nicky..."

Ten seconds later the bell rang. How the hell does he know that, each and
every time?

The front door opened and the high pitched voice of Nicky sounded, laughing
and joking about little Harry still being naked. They stormed the stairs
and little Harry jumped onto the bed, disappearing under the blankets next
to me.

"Come on Nick, join us! We were just cuddling with dad..."

Nicky hesitated for a moment, but then decided to join the fun. He threw
his clothes somewhere into the room.

"Attack of the nickering dragon!" he shouted and followed little Harry,
also disappearing under the blankets.

They threw their small arms around each other, and I threw my left arm
around both boys.

"Pop, I am allowed to be with you for the whole day, but only if you
agree..."

"Of course I agree! I already told you that you always will be welcome
here."

"I like you a lot! And every time I'm here, I wish you were my real dad..."

Suddenly I felt something in my heart. Nicky, Mickey, wasn't that the name
of my eldest son, once when I was a gypsy leader? Could it be...

We cuddled until it was time to feed my growing boys. We showered and went
downstairs, the boys already clad in their swimming trunks, because the day
promised to be very hot again. Little Harry cooked scrambled eggs with some
of his famous herbs, and Nicky nearly swallowed his fingers while licking
them clean.

"Those eggs tasted really delicious! I never tasted anything like that!
Harry really is an excellent cook!"

Harry beamed, and took another toast with scrambled eggs 'ala freaky
alien'. I brewed myself a cup of coffee and squeezed a couple of oranges to
make fresh orange juice.

After the meal they went through the backdoor and were gone, yelling and
splashing each other with cold water. I cleaned the dishes and retreated to
the computer, to work on my new book 'Little Harry'. A story line appeared;
me sitting on the porch of my new home, and a few children approaching me
with their story about a little burnt gypsy boy...

"Dad, we want to build a tree house in those three birches in the corner of
the back yard. Do you have boards, a hammer, a saw, and a couple of nails?
We already made a design."

John and Davey expectantly looked up at me, while little Harry and Nicky
started to push each other in the background.

"That sounds good, but I don't have used boards; and probably we will have
to buy a few tools and some equipment."

Nicky stepped forward. "We do have a whole lot of used lumber in our back
yard, from Jason's old tree house. Shall we ask him to give it to us?"

They went upstairs to put some clothes on, and disappeared through the
front door, to look for Jason. I went back to my computer.

Ten minutes later my four boys entered the house, accompanied by another,
taller boy. He resembled Nicky, with the same greenish eyes, but with
slightly darker hair. He looked rather timid and smiled bashfully. Nicky
beamed at me.

"We can use Jason's equipment pop, but only if we allow him to help us with
building the tree house."

"Hi Jason, I'm big Harry, to distinguish me from little Harry over
there. Please come in, and will you have a drink with us?"

He merely nodded, and we went to the kitchen. John dived into the fridge
and asked everybody what they wanted to drink.

Jason looked at me, "Can I have a cup of coffee, just like you?"

"Of course, you're a boy after my own heart. Do you want milk and sugar?"

"I like it black, with two lumps of sugar please."

"Just like me. I don't want to spoil the taste by adding milk."

After we enjoyed our drinks in silence, Nicky neared me and threw his arms
around my neck.

"Pop, we can use all the wood from Jason's old tree house, but could we
transport it on the roof of our new van?"

"I think that could be possible. How much wood is there?"

"My friend and I collected quite a lot of lumber. We planned to build a
very big tree house, until my dad..."

Jason suddenly broke off, and bashfully looked down at his feet.

"I know, Jason, yesterday your dad told me everything. I know you had a
very difficult time."

"He told you everything?..."

"Everything. Can we drive into the back yard, or do we have to carry the
wood?"

"I think we can drive quite nearby. Do you have a couple of ropes?"

We went to our new golden van and the boys collected a few ropes from the
garage. They arranged the seats, and this time they even fastened their
seatbelts! We drove off to BJ's house, with Nicky proudly pointing the way,
two streets away from our house. I turned the van around and we entered the
driveway backwards, driving into the back of the yard.

The next two hours we were busy, sorting the lumber, piling all sorts of
boards and stakes onto the roof, and fastening them with the ropes. We
drove home, unloaded everything into our back yard, and went back to fetch
more wood. When everything was loaded, Jason went to the garage and
returned with a couple of boxes; filled with all sorts of nails, screws,
and plugs. He also had an electric saw with a long cord, a couple of
hammers, pincers, punches, and screwdrivers. We loaded everything into our
van and drove home; this time with Jason in the front seat, looking both
relieved and very sad. Did I really see tears in his eyes?

We unloaded our van for the last time, and now I was dead tired. My
inexhaustible boys went upstairs and returned in their swimming trunks to
have a cool dive in the swimming pool, while Jason and I slumped down on
the couch and looked at each other.

"Do you want another cup of coffee?"

"May I have a cola this time, please?"

"Help yourself. The fridge is in the kitchen."

Jason went to the kitchen and returned with a cola. Suddenly he looked at
me. "Why are you so nice to me?"

"Maybe I am a nice person?"

"Do you REALLY know what happened? Did dad tell you everything?"

"Jason, what happened to your friend?"

"... They took him with them, and I never saw him again. I think his
parents murdered him."

Jason shivered, lowered his head, and started to sob. Suddenly I felt such
compassion, I turned around and pulled him into my arms, without
thinking. For a moment he stiffened, but then he let himself go and he
leaned into me, softly sobbing.

"Sorry, but I can't help it. I love him. I didn't want to be a homo. We
just found each other and we immediately liked each other a lot. We started
to do everything together. We even promised each other to stay together for
the rest of our lives. But we always had to be careful. We had to hide our
feelings, for his dad and my dad both are homo haters. We hoped to build a
tree house, where we could be together for a while without fear. We worked
hard to collect all that wood and nails and the rest. One day my dad wasn't
home, and we went to my bedroom... Suddenly dad came home and saw us, both
naked. He kicked Carl out of the door, yelling and screaming. Then he
punched and kicked me. I had to go to the hospital with two broken ribs and
a couple of bruises. I told them I fell off the stairs, but they didn't
believe me. I just couldn't tell them the truth, that I loved a boy... When
I returned from the hospital, my father started to yell again. He called me
a fag and a worthless homo. He promised to cut my balls off if he ever saw
me with another boy. I tried to find out where Carl lived, but I never
found him. They just sold their house and disappeared into nowhere..."

I just held him, for a long time, until at last his sobs lessened and he
tried to pull himself together.

"I am such a baby, just a worthless fag."

"You are a wonderful boy with a lot of love in your heart."

"Huh...?"

"Jason, do you still love Carl?"

He started to sob again and nodded, unable to speak.

"Shall I try to find out where Carl is living now?"

Suddenly he looked up, and I saw such a hope in his eyes... "Would you
really do that?"

"I can't promise anything, but I will give it a try. Do you have his name,
old address and telephone number?"

After a while Jason went to the kitchen to put his head under the cold
water. I phoned our lawyer, who promised me to trace down fifteen-year-old
Carl. He would contact me as soon as he knew any details.

"Looks like you are opening a shelter for lost boys?" he grinned.

"You could say that. In a few days I will contact you again, about the
possibility of adopting another boy, but that can wait."

From the doorway little Harry and Nicky approached me; both with puzzled
looks on their faces.

"Who are you going to adopt?"

"I can't tell you yet. But I think you will hear soon enough."

"Ah dad, you never had secrets for us..."

Suddenly Nicky looked at me, wide-eyed. "Am I going to live with YOU when
my dad dies?"

I took him in my arms and he melted into me, suddenly sobbing. "I was
afraid they would put me in an orphanage..."

I carried him to the couch where we sat down, Nicky sobbing on my lap, and
little Harry leaning into me. Jason returned from the kitchen and looked
shocked. "Is my father going to die? When?"

"Yes Jason, your father has only a few months left. Yesterday he told me he
has cancer. But Nicky, how did YOU know?"

"I heard him talk to Davey's mother the other day. He told her he has
lethal cancer and will die within a few months..."

We were silent for a long time, until Nicky dried his eyes with a tissue
from the table. Suddenly Jason turned around and faced his little
brother. "Sorry Nick, for being such an asshole. I didn't really mean
it... I realize now that I was probably jealous of you. Our dad always only
looked after you, and I didn't exist any more. In his eyes I was only a
worthless fag, after he... I was so terribly alone..."

Jason started to cry and hid his face in his hands. Nicky hopped off my lap
and tenderly hugged his big brother.

"It's ok Jase, I missed you too. After what happened... you never played
with me any more, and I didn't exist to you too. When Carl joined us, we
all three had a lot of fun, remember? But after Carl went away, you
suddenly changed into somebody else..."

Little Harry and I silently left the room, leaving the two brothers
alone. We went to the back yard, where John and Davey splashed and
frolicked, accompanied by two girls and two boys from yesterday. John
constructed a slide from a few boards, and now they all had a lot of
fun. Clever boy, always up to something new!

"Attack of the creepy gypsy!" little Harry shouted, cannonballing into the
water and emptying half the pool.

Davey turned the water on, squirting a forceful stream at the yelling
girls, who tried to escape by swimming under water, until they had to
emerge by lack of air.

"Rape! Please mister, tell that boy to leave us alone!"

But their eyes beamed, and they clearly enjoyed the water attack. Suddenly
they got John, and mercilessly dunked him.

"Leave us alone, or we will drown your boyfriend!"

Davey grinned. "My boyfriend? In your dreams! You are just jealous!"

Little Harry attacked the girls, thus rescuing a spluttering John; who
afterwards gratefully dunked him.

I laughed, went to the kitchen and brewed myself a cup of coffee. In the
living room Jason and Nicky were talking and now and then sobbing, so I
decided to leave them alone for another while. I took the coffee with me
and returned to the back yard, grinning about the ageless and immemorial
spectacle of boys and girls trying to impress each other.

Suddenly Nicky appeared from the backdoor, shouting at me: "Pop, the
telephone is ringing!"

I went inside and Nicky handed me the receiver. "It's your lawyer."

My lawyer told me with pride in his voice that he had found the lost
boy. Unfortunately there was a sad story as well. Two years ago, their car
suddenly slipped off the highway at high speed and collapsed into the
banks. Both parents died instantly, but the boy was catapulted and that
rescued his life. After a couple of weeks he left the hospital, without any
known relatives, so the authorities put him into an orphanage. He was put
up for adoption, but so far nobody would take him, because they all wanted
younger children to nurture.

The orphanage was very strict, and he was not allowed to phone or write
anybody until he was at least eighteen years old. My lawyer already told
them everything about me and my boys, and they promised him to grant me
permission to take the boy with me for a couple of hours. They even hinted
at the possibility of adopting him after a while...

Suddenly I heard Jack in my head, laughing. "I told you! You needed a
bigger car... Perhaps you need a bigger house too."

Or did I make that up myself?

I asked the neighborhood children not to make too big a mess around the
swimming pool, and to go home in time. I took my boys with me to the living
room. We sat down on the couch (I will have to buy a bigger couch in the
future...) and I told them what they needed to know about Jason and his
friend, Carl. I told them that two years ago Jason's friend suddenly
disappeared into nowhere. My lawyer discovered that Carl's parents died in
a car accident, and the authorities put Carl into an orphanage, where he
wasn't allowed to phone or to write anybody. He was put up for adoption,
but so far nobody took him. The orphanage was less than half an hour's
driving from our house.

Suddenly I had a lap full of Jason, crying his heart out.

"You... found... him...;
... are... we... goh...hing... to... see... him... today?"

"Yes Jason, we are going to see Carl today. That is, if you really want to
see him?"

Jason couldn't speak any more and nodded forcefully, nearly suffocating
me. Nicky threw his arms around Jason on one side, while little Harry threw
his arms around him on the other side.

"Let it go, don't bottle it up. In a few minutes you will feel better..."

John and Davey both bumped into each other, trying to get a tissue at the
same time. They looked rather sheepishly, while John brought the tissues
with him and handed them to Jason. After a while Jason dried his eyes, and
bashfully looked around.

"I am such a worthl... Oh no, sorry, I am such a big boy, with love in my
heart!"

We started to laugh, and Nicky offered him a very wet kiss. "I love you, my
big brother with your lovely heart!"

"I love you too, my little nickering dragon!"

Now we knew from where Nicky got THAT...


Harry AnderS, alternative writer.


Thank you for reading my stories and thanks to Nifty for hosting them.
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