Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 02:21:25 +0200
From: Adrie van Dijk <ganymedes62@hotmail.com>
Subject: Passing through Stone Chapter 8

The following story is fictional. Any similarity with actual events and
persons is purely accidental and unintentional. The central theme of the
story is the relationship between an adult male and a teenage boy. If you
don't like such stories or if you're not allowed to read them, please exit
this page.

I'm sorry I haven't been able to answer some of your e-mails and that it
took so long for me to continue, but I hope things will get better from now
on.


Passing through Stone

Chapter 8.

Back at the apartment I still had a weird feeling about the procedure and I
decided to call Hans on his mobile phone before taking care of any of the
financial aspects. I told Hans about the meeting and how strange it made me
feel.

"I'm sorry Hans, but it feels like I just bought the boys instead of adopt
them."

"Well, in a way you have. You have bought them a ticket out of a situation
that, in the end, they would surely not have survived. And the only other
thing I can tell you right now is that I was assured that the whole thing
will be completely legit, and I would not have given you the information I
did if I hadn't been convinced it was so."

"You're right Hans, I know you wouldn't. I think I'm just scared something
goes horribly wrong and I can't take them with me. But I think I need to
call my accountant now and get him to take care of a few things. It still
doesn't feel right, but I guess it's the only way to make it happen."

We signed off and I called my accountant and told him what I needed him to
do.  He said it wouldn't be a problem and that the papers would be faxed
within the hour and that he would make sure the money got where it was
supposed to go the next day. I thanked him for being able to help me out on
such short notice, but he told me not to worry and that he'd bill me extra
for it. I laughed and remembered that part of the reason I had hired him a
few years ago, had been his sense of humour.

After having taken care of business I put down the phone and turned around
to find the boys sitting on the couch, waiting for me. I nestled in between
and put my arms around all three of them. There was a strange mood in the
air and I guess the boys realized that things were really going to change
for them.  Then I remembered my laptop and the huge collection of pictures
of the villa I had put on it, before I had left.

"Would you guys like to see some pictures of the house where we are going
to live?" I asked, in an attempt to generally lift our spirits. They seemed
to like the idea so I set up the laptop, found the folder that held all the
pictures and started to show them one by one. As the actual size of the
villa became more obvious to the boys, their enthusiasm grew. Pretty soon
they started a thorough interrogation on me and I had to tell them about
every little detail they could think of. I managed to find a picture with
the layout of the top floor and I told them which rooms they could choose
from to use for bedrooms for themselves.  When I asked Boris which room he
would want, he looked aggrieved.

"I no need bedroom, I sleep your bedroom!" he said with a forcefulness that
was meant to stop any form of contradiction dead in its tracks. I couldn't
help but smile at first, which only seemed to upset him more.

"I didn't mean to say you can't sleep in my bedroom Boris. But I do think
it would be best if you had your own bedroom too. A lot of people will not
understand that we love each other and if they found out, that could get us
into a lot of trouble. So getting you your own bedroom would only make it a
lot safer for us. Do you understand?"

Boris just looked at me and I could see how reality slowly sank in. Then he
started to hug me and told me he was sorry.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. I know you only became upset
because I hadn't explained why I want you to have your own bedroom. I love
you and I never want to be without you, but we have to be careful, that's
all."

We hugged for a while longer until I heard the twins starting to giggle. I
turned to look at Pavel, who had a huge grin on his face. He pointed
towards Boris' crotch and I knew I had to be careful with what I was going
teach them as he made his statement: "Stiffy!"

The proud look that appeared on his face was priceless and I couldn't help
but start laughing. Somehow that simple word he had uttered touched
something deep inside me and there was no way I could stop laughing. I
simply had no control anymore and soon tears were flowing across my cheeks
and my stomach was starting to hurt. It must have been contagious as the
boys were all having a fit too. I'm not sure how long, but it took quite
some time for the four of us to settle down and not brake down again from
just looking at one another. When we were finally able to compose ourselves
it was probably more from hunger than anything else, it was time for
dinner.

As we were still dressed up from our appointment with the attorney and I
didn't feel like doing any cooking myself, I suggested to the boys that
we'd go out.  They readily agreed, but I made it clear that this night
McDonalds was out of the question. That seemed to be fine with Boris but
disappointed the twins to some degree. I suggested to Boris that we should
go to the restaurant where the two of us had dinner before and he looked
pleased with the idea. And so the four of us went out and down to the
restaurant where Boris and I had eaten that fateful Sunday that now seemed
ages ago.

The following days were rather uneventful. Most of the time was spent at
the apartment or shopping for food. The one thing that did change was me
teaching the boys more Dutch instead of English. Luckily both the twins and
Boris were eager to learn, which made it into a fun experience for all of
us. I got the boys each a dictionary and they made it into a sport who
could find a translation first.  Of course as the days past there was a
growing sense of anticipation and our nerves were thoroughly tested each
time the phone rang.

Finally, late on Thursday afternoon there was the long awaited call from
the attorney. I was informed that he had just received all the papers that
were necessary, including those that would enable the boys to travel with
me, and that I could pick them up at his office the next day. I told him we
would probably be there first thing in the morning and then we signed
off. The boys had of course been listening in and became rather ecstatic. I
had expected some form of enthusiasm, but was taken aback a little when
their first question was about when we could actually leave. As I hadn't
given it any thought I just told them that we would be able to leave any
time after we got the papers. That's when they told me they would like to
leave as soon as possible, which took me by surprise, even though I should
have seen it coming. I guess they were afraid that if we stayed, something
might come up and things would get screwed.

I managed to get to the couch and sit down as the twins followed my example
and started looking at me more than just a tad expectantly. Boris was
thinking way ahead of me though and was setting up the laptop and hooked it
up to the Internet. When I asked him why he was setting it up, a huge grin
appeared on his face.

"You go look for airline tickets, then we can leave fast."

"You are thinking fast again, aren't you?"

"Yes, we want to go home."

The last phrase almost made me choke as a huge lump appeared in my throat
out of nowhere. It was the first time he had actually used the word `home'
to describe my place and I could feel how my emotions were getting the
upper hand. Somehow I just now fully realized that I was really going to
take them with me and all I could do was break down and cry. Tension, when
bottled up, has a tendency to grow and I think every little bit I
accumulated over the past few weeks was coming out at that moment. The boys
were all over me as I sat on the couch crying, unable to do anything.

After a good fifteen minutes of tears pouring out, I was able to regain
some of my composure and senses. Still I held on to `my' boys, Boris on my
lap with his arms around me and the twins on either side of me. My life
alone had come to an end and it felt good. Boris noticed that I had stopped
crying, leaned back and looked into my eyes. I told him I was all right now
and that I'd start checking for tickets, which I did. I was able to book
tickets for the four of us for departure next Sunday, and it seemed the
boys were quite happy with that.

As I was busy I suddenly remembered how the boys' belongings had been
packed when they came to the apartment. We'd have to go shopping for
suitcases after we had picked up the papers at the attorney's office the
next morning. I didn't quite know what to do with the Xbox or the
3-in-1. It was pretty obvious that we couldn't take them with us on the
plane and sending them home by mail, it would take quite a long time for
them to get there. When I asked Boris about it, he told me about how the
people from the charity that had given them the clothes were always looking
for stuff. After a little talk we decided to visit those people Saturday
and surprise them with the 3-in-1.  Giving away the Xbox was also agreed
upon, but only after I made the solemn promise that the twins would get
another one once we were back home.

After we had talked a few other things through, it was getting quite late
and we all went to bed. Boris and I made love as usual, but I had problems
falling asleep afterwards and from the way Boris was tossing and turning, I
guess I wasn't the only one. When I finally did manage to fall asleep it
wasn't for very long.  I startled awake some time during the night, only to
find that the twins had joined me and Boris in our bed. After a little
while I fell asleep again, but it was a restless one. Next time I woke up I
noticed the sun had come up and looking at the alarm clock I saw it was a
little past eight. I knew I should wake the boys up, but it just didn't
seem right. When I turned around however, I saw Boris wide awake, looking
at me and smiling. I gently kissed him and then we got up quietly.

Breakfast was ready pretty soon and Boris went to wake up his brothers.
Somehow there was a feeling of urgency and we went through our morning
ritual in record time. At a quarter past nine we were all ready to go to
the attorney and pick up the papers, so we went out. Back at the attorney's
office all four of us took a deep breath before actually going in. We were
again ushered into the office and the attorney welcomed us with a huge
smile on his face.  After a little small talk he handed me all the
necessary papers and they looked perfectly fine to me. We were about to
leave, when I remembered something and I asked Boris and the twins to wait
outside for me, as I had something else to discuss. They went out rather
reluctantly.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes there is. I'm not sure if you can help me out
here, but it so happens that the boys' brother, his name is Adam,
disappeared about a year ago with a Russian tourist. According to the boys
he went with this man to Russia and promised them to come back for them as
soon as possible. I don't know how he got to go with this tourist, but he
must have had a passport or something to travel on. I would appreciate it
if you could look into this matter if you can."

"Well sir, I can do some checking for you, but information isn't exactly
cheap."

"You should know by now that money is no problem. If there's anything you
can do, just do it and bill me. I'll leave you my home fax and telephone
number in case you need it. The boys and I will be leaving next Sunday."

"I will see what I can find out and let you know."

With that issue out of the way I followed the footsteps of the boys and we
were in front of the attorney's office in no time. The boys didn't like the
fact that I told them I'd tell them about my talk with the attorney later,
but were appeased when I said it was time to go shopping for suitcases for
them.