Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 06:07:22 -0500
From: C. E. Jordan <c.e._Jordan@MailAndNews.com>
Subject: THE VILLAGE BOY 9

The Village Boy
c.e._jordan@mailandnews.com

Copyright c.e. Jordan

From the last episode:

    I took Eliza Bell on a little tour of my apartment and she chose a
bedroom right next door to mine. It had it's own bathroom and was painted
in pale golden tones. The queen-sized bed had plump comfortable pillows and
champagne-coloured satin sheets. In addition to the large green fichus tree
filtering the light from an open window, I moved flowers from other parts
of the house and placed them all over her room. There wasn't much of a
view, but she'd be able to see clouds sailing past in the the sky above
while lying in bed. Eliza was tired again. I helped her into bed and
brought her some fruit and something to drink from the kitchen. She was
asleep before I left the bedroom.

___________________________________________________________


			 THE VILLAGE BOY - Part 9


     I made my way to the media room. I had expected to find Jeremy
playing some shoot-em-up game on the large screen, or looking at some loud
action movie, but I was totally surprised to find him simply laying back, eyes
closed, listening to music just like I've done so many times. I was even more
surprised to discover that the voice which filled the room with it's velvet
rhythms was none other than that of the lovely Shade, from her old `Diamond
Life' CD. I had to smile, this was definitely a boy after my own heart.

     Jer didn't hear me enter the room, and his eyes flew open when I
brushed his lips with mine. He quickly thumbed the music down low.
"Hmm...I expected to hear rap...or rock...anything but Shade."

     "I like to listen to that old time stuff....it makes me feel good....but
I
like rap and rock too."

     "Well, I've got a bit of everything on those shelves. Later on I'm going
to play some very special foreign music that you've never heard...but it's all
brilliant stuff."

     "Cool."

     I pulled him into my arms. "I've got something to tell you." I was
going to wait until both his mom and I could speak with him, but that
obviously wasn't going to happen. "What would you think of living here with
me....permanently...you and your mom?"

     "WHAT?? You serious? You're not kidding me? Mom too?"

     "Nope, not kidding, and yes, Mom too....and you can stay starting
right now."

     He didn't say anything else, and his quietness had begun to unnerve
me. Was I too presumptions in assuming how he'd feel? "Um....J, you don't
have to do it, but I thought it would be best for your mom, and you....you
both need somebody to look after you....."

     Jeremy leaned over and kissed me lightly on the cheek. It was sweet
and simple. "Thank you Charles, nobody has ever cared anything about us
before. Why are you doing this?"

     "Don't you know? Can't you guess?"

     In a small boy's voice he asked, so tentative, and so innocent, as if
this
was an unbelievable thing: "You....love me?"

     "Like crazy kiddo."

     I didn't turn to face him, but I could feel his eyes examining me. "Let's
go pick out a room for you."

     "Okay."

     The four bedrooms were sort of clustered together in a semi-circular
arrangement on one side of the apartment.The master-bedroom was somewhere
in the middle of the group. Eliza's room was to the right of mine.  Jer
immediately took the one on my left. I showed him the special door which
connected his room to mine from the inside. I also taught him how to use
the intercom which connected all the rooms. It would be useful if Eliza
should ever need to call someone during the night.

				   ****

     I had originally intended to take them out to visit my main painting
studio which was a few blocks away from my condo. I'd even planned to take
them to the movies and to dinner. But none of that happened. Eliza was
clearly too weak to be running around like that. So we had dinner at home and
the only excursion we made was around the corner to buy some clothes for
Jeremy, and a change of clothing for Eliza.

     Buying clothing for Jeremy was an remarkable experience. His style of
dressing was quite individual. He put things together in totally original
ways.  And I was constantly reminded what an amazing-looking boy he was. As
he chose his clothing I just sat back and watched. I saw how people stared
at him--girls and boys, men and women. It was if he'd suddenly stepped out
of some movie. Earring. Necklace. His hair was hanging loose, a cascade of
black over his shoulders. His torso was tapered to a narrow waist and he
had long slim legs. Everything he tried on hung, just so, on his body, as
if made specially for him. I saw too, how all the salesgirls, young and
old, rushed to serve him. They joked and acted silly with him and just
stood around obviously dazzled by his looks. He accepted all this attention
in a cool matter-of-fact way. I guess he was accustomed to it. He kept
running over to where I sat to model each piece of new clothing. As he spun
and turned for me I was as dazzled as the salesgirls: "Do you like this
one?"  he would ask. "Does this look okay?", or, "Is it too much?"

     Nothing could ever be too much for this boy. He could very easily be a
professional model. Somebody actually asked if he was one. I want to use
adjectives like, `cute', `nice', even `handsome' for Jeremy. But
"beautiful" is the only word that fits. How did I get so lucky to be able
to call this teen-dream mine? Oh well.....

     We left the store with a lot more things than I expected to
buy. Jeremy felt guilty and kept saying, "I really don't need to get all
this stuff, maybe I should take them back..."

     "Don't be silly, school will start soon, and you'll need all this plus
a lot more stuff. Relax, I love buying things for you." He reached for my
hand, as was his habit, and squeezed it.

(to be continued)