Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 05:33:17 -0500
From: TJ (BiDadWriter@yahoo.com)
Subject: Love for a Lifetime, Chapter 5

Disclaimers: The following is a work of fiction. Meaning, that, the people
and events are not real, and never happened, except in my mind.  All the
other usual stuff applies.  If you shouldn't be here, don't read it.  If
you don't like it, why are you here?  Comments appreciated, flames deleted.


Thanks for all the responses!  I'm glad you've enjoyed the story,
up to this point.  Things are going to get a little more interesting
now, I'm afraid....but...what's that?  Is there light at the end of
this tunnel?
_____________________________________________________________________
Saturday morning Jim got up before I did.  He was really quiet
because I didn't even hear him.  When I got up at 7:30, I found his
note:


Good morning love of my life.  I've gone running, running the long
route this morning.  Should be back around 8:00.

All my love, forever,
J



So I figured I'd better get a move on if I was going to get my man
fed when he got home.  I showered quickly, got dressed and went to
the kitchen to get started.

We'd been eating heavy breakfasts lately, so I got out the fruit to
make some ambrosia.  I also decided to whip up a quick cheese omelet.
As I was finishing up with the fruit, I noticed that it was already 8,
so I kicked it into high gear.  I wanted everything to be ready when
Jim got home.

I ran to the bathroom, got his stuff ready, pulled him out some
clean clothes, underwear and stuff, then headed back to the kitchen
to finish getting the omelet ready.  I had the toast in the oven by
ten after, and had the pan on the stove, waiting.  I knew that all
I had to do was cut the stove on when Jim walked in, and the
omelet would be ready to take off the stove as he got out of the
shower.

I waited, and waited.  Pretty soon it was 8:30 and I was beginning to
get a little worried.  When he hadn't gotten home by 8:45 I turned
everything off, grabbed my keys, and headed out the door.  I said a
quick prayer that he would just be resting, or maybe had run farther
than he had meant to, but I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I knew the route he ran, because he told me. He didn't want me to
worry while he ran, so he told me about his short route, and his
long route.  I started driving and looking.  I had gone all the
way to his turn around point without seeing him when I noticed that
the bushes beside the road were moving.  I stopped to look, and saw
a flash of yellow.  Jim wore bright yellow running pants so
people would see him if it was dark.

I slammed on brakes, and jumped out of the car, my heart in my throat.
I almost died when I got to the bushes.  There was blood everywhere,
and Jim was in the middle of it.  There was so much blood; I just
knew he was already dead.

"Jim!" I screamed.

He moaned, and then got very still.

"Don't you dare leave me James Lee Iverson!"

I carefully picked up his head.  I could tell his right leg was
broken, just by the angle that it was laying.  I was also afraid
that his left arm was broken.  He was bleeding around his lips, his
eyes were already swollen shut, and I thought I saw blood coming
out of his ears, but I couldn't be sure.

"Jim, baby, I can't move you, I've got to go get help.  Don't
leave me baby, please hold on.  I'll be right back."

There was a pay phone not a half-mile from where we were.  I made it
a lot faster than the speed limit said I should.  I called 911, gave
them the low down, and directions, and headed back to my baby.

"Jim, can you hear me?"  I asked.

He moaned again.  That was music to my ears.  At least he wasn't dead.

"Jim, honey, you've got to hold on, baby.  I'm here, I'm not
gonna leave your side, ok, baby?  Jim, baby, can you talk to me?"

"Mmmmph" was all he could say.

I head the ambulance and police coming up the street.  They got there
a minute or so later.  The paramedics were all business, and a
little cold, I thought.  But I was glad they were there.  The
police started asking me questions, and I told them as much as I
could.  I told them that Jim was my roommate, that he had
gone running this morning, like he does most every morning.  I
told them that after he was forty-five minutes later than he had
said he was going to be, I went looking for him.

The paramedic turned around and asked me straight up, "Is this
guy gay?"

"Yeah, but why what difference does that make?" I replied.

"Are you his lover?"

"In a manner of speaking.  We live together, but have not
had sex yet." I answered.

They looked at me kind of funny.

"Do you know if he's been having sex with anyone else?"

"NO!"  I replied.  "We've just been waiting for the right time,"
I told him.

"Well, then, either he's been cheating on you, or not only was he
beaten up, but he was raped."

Raped.

That word just echoed, and hung in the air.  My poor, sweet,
wonderful Jim had been raped.  My mind just could not accept
that, but the alternative was that he had been cheating on me.
I knew that couldn't be possible, so that only left the possibility
that he had been raped.

"Is he gonna be all right?" I asked.

"I don't know, sir, he's in pretty bad shape," the paramedic replied.

"Can I ride to the hospital with you?"

"What about your car?" he asked

"Like I give a flying fuck about that right now.  Jim's health
and safety are all that matter."

"Sure, kid, just stay out of the way and let us do our job," he said.

I thought we'd never get to the hospital.  I was wishing they could
take him to the one where Laura's grandma had been.  It was a much
more modern facility, but, as bad as Jim looked, I figured
closer was better.

As soon as we got to the hospital, I asked for a pass to be able
to get to his room.  I told the paramedics I had to call his folks.

Mrs. Mason answered the phone, and I briefly told her what I knew,
and that she and Mr. Mason needed to get here ASAP.  I also called
my mom.  Fortunately, she answered.  I told her what had happened,
and I asked her to come be with me.  I was so scared, and it showed
in my voice.

They doctors would not let me in the area where they were working
on Jim, so I had to wait in the hall.  Soon enough, his mom and
dad came in, followed by my mom, Fred, Caroline, and... MY...dad?
What the fuck was he doing here?

"What the fuck is he doing here?" I asked.

"Don't use that language around me," mom said.

"He's the reason Jim's here," I said.

"How can you say that?" mom asked.

"Number one, if he hadn't have flown off the handle at the
restaurant, and kicked me out, we wouldn't have been living in
that trailer.  If we hadn't been there, Jim wouldn't have been
running the route he was on.  If dad hadn't flown off the handle,
somebody at the restaurant wouldn't have overheard the conversation,
and nobody would know about Jim and me."

"That's just number one?" she asked.

"Number two," I started, just as dad was walking up the hall.  I'm
sure he had heard what I just said.  He had a strange, sad look on
his face.

"Number two, if dad wasn't such a narrow-minded, bigoted,
self-centered, hypocrite, what happened in the restaurant wouldn't
have happened."

"How can you say such things about your dad?"  She said, aghast
at the venom in my voice.

"Simple," I said.  "He talks this great line about how open minded
he is to new ideas.  Well, homosexuality is not a new idea, and he's
obviously closed his mind to it.  He's bigoted for the same reason;
he's intolerant of something that doesn't fit his ideology.
He's self-centered, because he got himself drunk and called in sick
the Monday after you found out.  I know it's because he didn't want
anybody to know that he was related to a fag," and I spit out the
word fag with as much bitterness as I could, trying to make my
point.  "And, finally, he's a hypocrite because he talks about
letting every person decide what's right for them, and that we
should all live together, peacefully.  Well, that's pure bullshit.
He doesn't believe that, or he would never have hit me, and he
would never have kicked me out.  It's people like him that did
this to my Jim."

I turned and faced my dad directly at this point.  "It was a, or
some, narrow-minded, fag hating, bigoted hypocrite that did this to
Jim.  Did you know that in addition to beating him so bad he
may die, they raped him?  Did you? Huh?"

I was beside myself.  All the fear, and anger at whoever
had done this to Jim, and my anger at my father all boiled out
at the same time.  I could tell that what I had been saying was
hurting my dad.  I could see it in his eyes.  But I couldn't stop.
This train had pulled out of the station, and I had no way to stop it.

"It was somebody like YOU, that did this to him.  You may have
killed Jim!!!  I HATE you, you bastard!!!"  And I started beating
him on the chest, tears running down my face.

My dad grabbed my arms, put his arms around me (to keep me from
hitting him, I thought) and started shushing me.

"Shhhhh, Timmy.  Shhhhh.  Daddy's here, to help you."

My anger turned to tears, and I grabbed my dad, and just bawled.

"I'm so sorry, Timmy, about what I've done, and what I've said.
I can't take the things back, but I am so sorry I hurt you,
and Jimmy Lee.  Honey," and he grabbed my chin and made me look at him.

"Look at me, Timmy."  I looked into his eyes.

"See my sincerity.  Look at my eyes, and see that I mean what
I say.  Everything you just said about me is, or was, true.  I'm
all the things you've said.  I don't deserve your forgiveness,
or Jims, but I'm asking you to forgive me.  Please."

And the dam of my tears, and fears, and hurts burst completely.
My daddy held me, and comforted, and cried with me.  We just stood
there, two men, crying in the hallway of the hospital.

"Oh, daddy.  What am I going to do if Jim dies?" I cried into
his chest.

"Jim's not going to die, honey," Daddy said.

"How do you know that?" I asked.  "You didn't see him."

"Because I know how much you love him.  I can see it in your eyes,
I can hear it in your voice.  And I know that your mom loves me
just as much, and even if I were hurt at badly as Jim, I'd
do everything I could to come back to her.  Jim is a strong
young man, and he has the love of his life waiting for him.  It
may take a long time for him to recover, but I know he's going to
be all right.  Besides, just before your mom and I left, I called
the church, told them Jim had been beaten badly, and to put
both of you on the prayer chain."

I was astonished.  This turn around in my dad was TOTALLY unexpected.
But I held onto it.  Right now, I needed all the strength I could get.

I had no idea the impact of what was happening with my dad and me was
having on the people around us.  Mom and the Mason's were just
looking at dad and me.  About that time the doctor came out of the
area where Jim was being treated.

"Are the parents here?" he asked.

Mrs. Mason grabbed my hand, and Mr. Mason's and said, "We're his
parents, and this is...this is my sons partner.  What can you tell us?"

A strange look crossed the doctors face, and then he began, "Your
son, and, uh, partner, has been beaten very badly.  I can also
tell by the bruises and tearing of the walls of his anus that he
has been raped, repeatedly.  We have collected what we believe to
be three separate samples of semen."

He looked directly at me and said, "I will have to ask you to
provide a sample of yours for comparison, to make sure none of
it is yours."

"We haven't had sex, sir," I said.

"Be that as it may, to clear yourself, you will still need to do that."

"How is Jim," I asked.

"Right now, he's in a coma.  He has three blunt force traumas to
his head, and his skull is cracked in two places.  His jaw is
broken, his arm is broken in two places, and his knee is broken,
as are both of his legs.  He has three cracked ribs, and two broken
ribs.  One of the broken ribs almost punctured his lung, but
fortunately, it did not.  If it had, I don't know if he would have
made it to the hospital.  The back of his throat is bruised, where
he was brutalized, and his anus is torn badly.  His physical wounds
will heal.  The only thing I'm concerned about is that one of the
skull fractures was bad enough to bruise his brain.  That's why
he's in a coma.  I have no idea when, or if, he will wake up.
And when he does, there's no guaranty that he'll remember anything
about this attack, that he'll remember any of you.  There's no
guaranty that he will not be permanently brain damaged.  Whoever
did this to him was savage.  Personally, I hope he does wake up,
and can remember who did this to him.  I'd like to to see those
people locked up for a long time."

"Can we see him," Mrs. Mason asked.

"Yes, but we will need to move him to the intensive care unit
very soon.  I need to get him situated, and under supervision."

"TJ, you come with me," Mrs. Mason said.  "Brad, I think you and
Randy need to talk," and with that she took me in with her to see
Jim.

She caught her breath when she saw him.  He had casts on his arm,
both legs, his head and chest were bandaged, and he had tubes
everywhere. It was very scary.  But she walked up to him, and
gently patted his hand.

"Jimmy Lee, honey.  It's mom, and TJ.  We're here, baby.  Come back
to us, ok, baby?  We need you, sweetie, so you come back to us,
Jimmy Lee...."

I walked around to the other side of the bed, leaned over and
kissed his cheek.

"Jim, come back to me, babe.  I NEED you.  You can't leave
me.  I can't spend the rest of my life with you if you leave me."

"That's right, honey, if you leave, and we can't have a wedding
for you and TJ.  Wake up, honey, ok?"

A wedding?  For Jim and me?  My head jerked up and I looked at
her with a question on my face.

"I know it wouldn't be legal or anything, but, I know it would
make the two of you happy if we could have a ceremony, or
something, so that the two of you can show the world how much
you love each other."

"That's something I've thought about, but we haven't talked
about it."

"Jimmy Lee said something at Thanksgiving that he wished there
was a way he could marry you.  And I've talked to Pastor Scott
a couple of times.  There's nothing that the church would
sanction, but Scott said he would be glad to talk to the two
of you about a commitment ceremony, if you were interested,"
she said.

"Mrs. Mason, that has to be the nicest thing you've ever done
for me," I said, tears in my eyes.

"Well, we need to get one thing straight, though.  If you're
going to marry my son, or commit yourself to him, you're going
to have to call me Mom.  Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" I replied.

"Ok, then, son, let's leave, and let Jims other mom, and his
dads come see him," and we walked out, arm in arm.

The doctors got Jim moved to an intensive care unit, and
the Mason's were told that only family could go back to see him.

"Well, then, that would mean everyone standing in front
of you, ma'am," Mom Mason said to the nurse.

"Who are all these people?" the nurse asked.

"Well, I'm his mom, that's his dad, that's his sister, this
is his partner, and his partners parents.  We're all related,
or we will be as soon as we can arrange it," she said.

My parents looked surprised, and happy all at the same time.

Things were starting to look up.  Maybe daddy was right after all.
I had hope for the first time that day.

I stayed with Jim all day Saturday.  His folks and my folks
came back one at a time, each offering to let me go home and get
some rest.  I wasn't interested in that.  At one point, my mom
asked for my house and car keys so she and daddy could take my
car home, and bring me a change of clothes.  I told her thanks,
gave her the keys and gave her a kiss.  I told her to send daddy
back before they left.

When he came back, he gave me a kiss on the head and walked
over to Jim.

"Jimmy Lee, son. This is Dad Parker.  Son, you've got to wake up.
We all need you, especially TJ.  Please come back to us.  I have
to apologize to you.  I was an ass, and a jerk, and I'm sorry
for hitting you, and for hitting TJ, and I'm sorry for putting
you in the position to where you wound up here."  He was crying,
and I saw a tear drop from his face onto Jims hand.

"Oh, Jimmy Lee, I'm so sorry," daddy continued. "Please forgive me,
son." And he leaned over and kissed Jim on the cheek.  He
looked at me, and I could see that he meant what he had said.

"Unnnnnnn," came from the bed.

My dad jerked his head around, and I jumped up from the chair
and pushed the call button.

"May I he..."

"He's waking up!!!" I yelled at the nurse.

Two seconds later there were three nurses moving my dad and
me out of the way.  Sure enough, my Jim was waking up!

"Timmy..." It was weak, but he was calling for me.

"I'm here, Jim. I'm right here," I said.

"Timmy..." and he passed out again.

"Is he ok?" I screamed.

"He just passed out, Mr. Parker," one of the nurses said.  "We'll
need to increase his pain medication, but he's out of the coma."

"I'll go get the mom's," daddy said. "You stay put, and out of
the way," he said to me.

"Daddy," I said.

"Yes," he said, as he turned around.

I ran to him, threw my arms around him, and cried.

"Thank you, daddy.  Thank you for being my daddy.  Thank you for
waking Jim up.  Thank you for having faith."  I looked up at
him, with tears running down my face.  "I have never loved you as
much as I do right now, daddy."

"I love you too, sport." He hugged me back, tears in his eyes.  "But
let me go get yours and Jimmy Lee's moms."

Mom and Mom Mason came running down the hall.  The nurses told
them what had happened, that Jim had passed out when he
regained consciousness, probably from the pain.  They had increased
his pain medication, and he appeared to be sleeping, not in a coma.
My mom hugged Mrs. Mason and said, "See, Phyllis.  I told you he'd
wake up!"

I explained about daddy talking to Jim, what he said, and that
Jim had awakened after daddy kissed him on the head.  Mom and
Mom Mason headed back up the hall so Mr. Mason could come down.
Mom told me she and dad were headed to our place and would be back
in a little while.

The afternoon dragged by, with Jim still asleep, but,
apparently, comfortable.  The doctor came and checked on him,
and was pleased with Jim's progress. Pastor Scott and Patti
came by.  They were allowed to come back and we talked for a
little while.  Our Senior Pastor, Pastor Jenkins, had already
come and gone earlier.  I told Pastor Scott not to say anything
to Jim about a commitment ceremony. I wanted to handle it myself.
Patti kissed me on the cheek, and told me how lucky Jim was to
have someone like me.  I told her that I was the lucky one.  They
had to leave in order to get back to church for the conference
youth rally that night, but Pastor Scott promised that he was
going to address what had happened to Jim, why, and what
the response of the teens should be.

Throughout the afternoon, Jims folks and I discussed what we
would say to Jim if he didn't remember anything, and we
decided to not mention the rape part if he didn't remember it.
There was no use in overloading him if he didn't remember it.

About 7:30, while Mom Mason was in the room with me, Jim
stirred again.

"Timmy..." he said.

"I'm here, baby."

"Where am I?"

"You're in the intensive care unit at the hospital, Jim.
Your mom is right here beside me.  How do you feel?

"I hurt like hell.  I feel like I've been run over.  What happened?"

"Can you remember anything, honey," his mom asked.

"The last thing I remember is," he paused, got a slight smile on
his face, and continued, "is going to bed last night."

"So you don't remember going running this morning?" I asked.

"No," he said.

"Well, baby, apparently while you were running, you were attacked
by two or three people.  They beat you up pretty bad."

"If they beat me up, why does my throat hurt so bad?" he asked.

"Trauma of some kind," I responded.

"Oh,"

"Jim," I said.

"Mmmmph," he responded.

"I love you."

"I love you, too, Timmy," and he fell back asleep.

Mom Mason was crying her eyes out.  I hugged her and said, "See,
mom, he's going to be ok," She went down the hall and told everybody
what had happened.  All we had to do now was wait.

I stayed all night at the hospital, sleeping only a little at
a time. Every time I thought I heard Jim move, I woke up.

I guess I fell asleep about midnight.  The next thing I remember was
a nurse telling me, "I'm so sorry Mr. Parker.  There was nothing we could
do for him.  He's gone."

My world began crashing.  I felt an emptiness that I can't describe.  It
was like the sun had gone out, all the heat in the world was gone, and a
great weight and sadness descended on me.  I turned to the bed, and they
had already moved him out of the room.

"Where did you take him?" I screamed.  "Where's my Jim?"

The sobs were shaking me all over.  I felt like I was going to puke.

"Mr. Parker.  Mr. Parker.  Wake up, Mr. Parker.  I think you're having
a bad dream." It was the duty nurse.

"Jim...is he?"

"He's just fine, Mr. Parker.  But you look pretty rough.  Are you all right?"

"I dreamed he had died," I said through a sob.

"Well, I'm no doctor, but I've read Mr. Iverson's chart.  Unless something
really, really weird happens, he should be ok.  I mean, the TV could launch
itself across the room, fall on his head and kill him, but, I think that
we've pretty much decided that physically, nothing from his, uh, incident,
is now serious enough to be lethal.  That, and you're here, I'm sure he's
going to be fine.  You get some rest, like he is. OK?"

"Yes, ma'am.  Thank you.  Thank you for everything," I said.

"You're welcome, Mr. Parker," she said as she left.

I watched Jim closely for a while.  It was 1:15am.  I felt like it was going
to be a very long night for me.

Jim did wake up about 2:30am, and we talked a little.

"Timmy, there's something that you're not telling me about
what happened, isn't there?"

"Why would you think that," I asked.

"I can see it in your eyes," he said.

"You know I can't lie to you, Jim, but I really would
rather not say right now."

"What's the matter?  Am I going to be paralyzed?  Am I going
to die?"

"No, no, baby, nothing like that.  The doctors think you're
going to make a fully recovery.  But you really shouldn't try
to talk. Your jaw is broken, and they've got it wired together
right now.  The more you talk, the worse it's going to hurt."

"I'm scared, Timmy," he said.

"I know, baby.  Me too."

"Will you hold me?"

"Let me check with the nurse to make sure it's ok."

I called and one of the nurses came down.  I could tell by the look
on her face she didn't approve, but I didn't care.  She helped me
get onto the bed with Jim, and I put my arm across his stomach,
so he could feel me. The nurse left.

"I love you Jim."

"I've never love anybody as much as I love you," he said.

"Timmy, please tell me what happened.  Stuff is starting to come
back to me, but it's all a big blur."

"Well, apparently, while you were running, you were attacked.
The doctor has reason to think that at least three people were
involved, but they beat you up pretty bad. "

"I hurt all over, Timmy.  What did they do to me?"

"Well, babe, you were hit in the head three times, causing two
fractures, one of which bruised your brain.  Like I said earlier,
your jaw is broken, your other arm is broken in two places, both
your legs are broken, and your left knee is too.  You have three
cracked ribs, and two broken ribs, one of which almost punctured
your lungs."

"Oh, my God!" Jim said.

"I know, baby, it's bad, but you're going to be fine."

"No," he said, "I just had a flash of memory," and he started crying.

"What's the matter baby?  I told you, you're going to be fine."

"I'll never be fine," he said.  "Now I remember why my throat hurts."

I couldn't say anything.

"When were you going to tell me?" he asked, a little anger in
his voice.

"Jim, baby, we didn't know how much you would remember.
The doctor said you could possibly not remember any of us, much
less what happened to you.  Your mom and dad and I figured
that the less shock you had, the more time you could recover.
We were just trying to protect you baby."

"Oh," he said softly.  "I guess I would have handled it the same."

"Honey, you've got to quit talking.  I know your jaw is hurting."

"It doesn't hurt that much.  What else did they do?" he asked.

"Apparently, you were raped repeatedly in your mouth, and your
butt," I said.

"I thought my ass hurt strangely," he said. "Did anybody see...
wait...black shirts."

"What?" I asked

"Somebody that hit me was wearing a black shirt, and, and,"

"And what, baby?"

"I can remember getting fucked in the ass, and somebody laughing."

"Jim, honey, you need to rest.  Maybe rest will help you
remember more."

"I want to kill them," he said.  "They stole my gift to you," he
said and burst into tears.

"Baby, as far as I'm concerned, you're still a virgin.  You didn't
willingly give yourself to them, did you?"

"No," he said, sniffling a little.

"You were saving yourself for me in your heart, and your mind.
In those places, you have not been raped.  Sex isn't just a
physical thing you know.  It's a meeting of the soul.  Our souls
haven't touched that deeply, yet, and, so, as far as I'm concerned,
you're still my virginal Jim."  Then I lowered my voice, and
in a conspiratorial way said, "Well, except for the shower
last night."

"Hey, that wasn't sex either," he said.

"Maybe not, but you touched my soul," I said.

"And you mine," he relied.

"Jim, this is not how I wanted to do this, but I've got to
get this settled."

He looked at me a little fearfully.

"What?" he asked.

"Hold on, I'm going to do this as close to right as I can," I
said as I got off the bed.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

I got down on the floor by his right hand (the one that was
not broken) took his hand in mine and said, "James Lee Iverson,
I love you with all my heart, all my soul, with all that I am.
I know that right now I don't have much to offer, but what I
have is yours.  Would you do me the greatest honor of my life,
and be my life partner?  Will you commit yourself to me at a
gathering of our friends and family?  Will you share your life
and love with me?"

"Is this a marriage proposal?" he asked, incredulously?

"Well, since the law of the land wouldn't recognize our
marriage, it's as close as I can come," I said.

"Then I accept," he said.  "Where's my ring?"  He asked, and
then laughed, which made him hurt.

"Oh, Jim, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to...."

"Shut up and kiss me, loverboy," he said.

There was a sniffle behind me, and I turned and saw the nurse
that had helped me earlier.

"That was the most beautiful, romantic thing I've ever seen.
I hope that when I'm proposed to, it's half as romantic, and
beautiful as what I just saw.  I'm happy for both of you."

I just smiled and leaned over and kissed Jim.

"But, I'm here on business, gentlemen.  I need to check Mr.
Iverson's bandages."

I was on cloud nine!!  I was engaged!! Well, as close to it as
the situation allowed.  But Jim and I were going to commit
ourselves to each other.

He looked at me and said, "You know that means we're gonna wait
until the honeymoon."

"That is what I was dreaming of, but I didn't know how to make
it happen.  Actually, your mom gave me the idea.  She has
already talked to Pastor Scott about what you and I could do
in place of a wedding."

"She WHAT?" Jim said.

"That's what she told me," I said.

"OK, Mr. Iverson, you seem to be ok for now.  I know you're all
happy and everything, but you still need to be careful. You're
going to be several months healing up from all of this."

"OK, nurse, I'll be careful, and calm down, but, only on one
condition," he said.

"What's that?" she asked.

"That you call me Jimmy Lee, and him TJ.  This Mr. Stuff is too formal."

"OK, Jimmy Lee.  But I have a question."

"What's that?"

"If you're Jimmy Lee, and he's TJ, why do you call him Timmy, and
he call you Jim?"

So we explained how we came to call each other what we do.
Then she asked us an unexpected question.

"So, if you're getting married, or whatever, which of you is
going to change your name?"

"Haven't thought that far ahead," I said.  "Jeez!! We just
got engaged, and already were having to make decisions!!"

We all three laughed at that.

I finally got Jim to sleep.  I rested, but I don't think
I ever really slept.  I was entirely too happy.
__________________________________________________________________

Well, was that exciting enough for ya?  The next chapter is not
far off!!

TJ