Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:01:01 -0400
From: Dr. D. Hare <dr-d-hare@charter.net>
Subject: Saga o f the Elizabethton tarheels--Chapter Twnety-seven

Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels
Chapter Twenty-seven

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Chapter Twenty-seven

We had been used to excellent breakfasts while we were in Florida, but cold
cereal and OJ was going to be it our first morning back home, I was sure.

Well, I got a surprise. Clarisa was in the kitchen, fixing coffee when we
walked in. "Slept in this morning," she said. "Thought we'd have the usual
cold cereal and OJ, but got to thinking how bad that would be and decided
to cook me a breakfast. First cooking I've done in a week." Minutes later,
biscuits were in the oven, grits simmering on a back burner, sausage
patties frying in the pan, and eggs ready for the skillet. When the coffee
was ready, Clarisa poured three cups then messed hers up with cream and
sugar, actually sweetener. She used to put so much sugar in a cup it didn't
all dissolve, but had a diabetes scare several years ago and has really
watched her diet -- and mine! -- since.



Clarisa was soon sliding eggs on plates, adding sausage patties and
grits. The biscuits had just come out of the oven and Justin and I were
busy slathering them with butter. Not as fancy as the breakfasts at La
Casa, but it was good, and good to be home.

Breakfast finished, dishes in the dishwasher, we lingered over coffee and
discussed our plans for the day.

"First thing I need to do is to go talk with Mr. Sanford and see if I still
have a job. Adam might have done me dirt. If he has carried on about us,
Mr. Sanford may have decided he doesn't need a gay furniture mover," Justin
said.

"Not likely since he would be expected to take up the slack and you know
how Adam hates the store," I reminded Justin.

"You think he'd do that?" Clarisa asked. " Do you dirt?" Then answered her
own question. "Well, maybe he would. Not my favorite person in the world."

"Clarisa, when it comes to people's reactions, who knows? I do know he
really made an ass of himself in Florida."

"But he didn't come home, did he?" I had known for years that Adam was not
Clarisa's favorite member of the Clan. While he'd never say anything
directly, she definitely had picked up on his attitude toward
African-Americans.

I ignored that comment as did Justin. "We need to go to your place and get
what you want from there. Before that, I need to make closet and drawer
space for you so we'll have a place to put your things. Good excuse for me
to get rid of a lot of junk. I can do that while you go talk with
Mr. Sanford. I can't think of anything else I, or we, need to do
today. You'll be needing the car, so Clarisa can take Mom's if she needs a
car."

"No problem. Consuela asked LaTasha and me to go to the mall with her
shopping. Not much interested in shopping, but I need to get out with
people more. I'll be back late afternoon, early evening."

We finished our coffee, went upstairs and Justin suggested we get the room
straightened up before I undertook the closet and drawer cleaning. We
picked up the clothes we had left on the floor the night before and started
to make up the bed. When I walked to the far side of it, I saw the package
Mrs. Metzer had given me. It had fallen behind the bed when we tossed our
things on it. "I forgot about this," I said as I held it up.

Justin and I were soon sitting in the middle of the bed, Indian style. As I
started tearing off wrapping, Justin said, "Ah, the famous plain brown
wrapper, I see."

"Would appear so," I replied as I tore away the last of the
wrapper. Fastened to the inside was an envelope addressed to "The
Honeymooners: Marc and Justin." Since I had opened the package, I handed
the envelope to Justin. When he opened it, there was a plain white card
inside and he read aloud from it, "For Marc and Justin. Love each other and
enjoy. With much affection, Antwon, Sharky, and the Captain."

I opened the box and inside were a couple sheets of advice about anal
intercourse the three had written. They included preparing for it well
ahead of first time, dildos to aid getting ready to try it, and a couple
different kinds of lube. The lube had stickers that read, "Too much lube is
almost enough." I had asked the Captain about, well, shit, and he said most
people knew when to take a dump and that usually took care of that, but if
we wanted, we could do an internal cleansing and the box held two anal
douches for that. Finally, there were three dozen condoms

"Damn, you would have to find all that when we have work to do," Justin
said.

"Ah, but when our work is done..." I said and kissed him. Justin left to go
talk with Mr. Sanford and I started making space for him to move in.

I tackled the desk first and, as I was making drawer space for him, ran
across the address list from camp. As usually happens, I had written no-one
once I got home, but seeing Martha's address, I remembered my promise to
let her know if I ever found my true love. I sat down at the computer and
wrote her a long letter telling her about Justin, that he had always been
my true love and how we had finally gotten together. Checked her e-mail
address again and sent the letter on its way, then went back to cleaning
and organizing.

I tackled the chests of drawers -- I had two -- next, sure that there was
little to toss and all I'd need to do was consolidate. Wrong! But the
drawers were nothing compared to the closets. As I tied up a second large
bag of trash, I said to myself, "You are one pack rat!" By the time I had
finished, I had two bags of trash of use to no-one, three large bags of
clothing I could no longer wear and would take to the clothes closet run by
St. Paul's and St. Thomas', the Lutheran Church, and a couple boxes of
other things Goodwill could use. After I had taken the last bag of trash
out it was 10:30. I took the clothes and things to their respective
destinations and got back home at 12:30, just as Justin was pulling into
the garage.

"So, what about your job?" I asked as we broke a kiss.

"Well, I don't know whether Adam told him about us or not. He didn't bring
it up and when I did, he assured me it was none of his business. We mainly
talked about what I'd be doing and what he wanted me to think about. It's a
kinda long story. How about we grab a bite to eat while I tell you about
it?"

Arm-in-arm we walked into the house and both started getting stuff together
for sandwiches. Justin continued talking as we made sandwiches, poured
glasses of iced tea, and sat down for lunch.

"Mr. Sanford started by asking me what I was planning on doing next year
and I told him college if there was some way I could afford it. He said he
didn't see why it would be much more expensive than high school if I went
to College of the Albemarle and that he was more than willing to work with
me on schedules.

"Then he said, 'Justin, I had to let Sam Finch go last week and that set me
thinking about our situation, yours and mine. To start at the beginning,
the new store register kept coming up short and Sam had kinda blamed
you. He never outright accused you of stealing from the till, but said you
were just a high school kid and not careful with the cash register and
all. Now, first off, I knew you didn't use the register too often since you
mainly handled delivery. Then I have seen you work for several months and I
know the kind of work you do, so I wasn't buying that. Since you were gone,
he couldn't blame last week on you. That and the fact that he took an extra
helping made it pretty obvious where the problem was. He got caught more or
less red-handed, so he's gone. He has a wife and four kids, so I didn't
want him locked up for the taxpayers to provide room and board for him and
take care of his family, so I just sent him packing.'

"'So, you see I'm short someone and that got me thinking. I always thought
Adam would follow in my footsteps, but he's not interested. Fact is, he
hates the store, the business and everything about it except the allowance
it provides him. To be honest, I don't know about him. He's always messing
up, being led around by the nose. It was that bunch of dumb-ass football
players, then Bobbie. At least she's smart and has been good for him. Now
he says they broke up. Said you and Marc broke them up while you were in
Florida. Don't get involved in teenage nonsense myself.'

"'Maybe you should, Mr. Sanford, and maybe I'm sticking my nose into family
business, but if I am to even consider staying on with the store, we need
to have a talk.' I suggested we go into his office and when we went in, I
closed the door. 'Mr. Sanford, first off, Adam went postal when he found
out Marc and I are gay. I suspect that would have been bad enough, (I was
watching Mr. Sanford's face for any indication of how he was taking the
news), but while we were in Florida, we found out a secret we had been
keeping from each other for as long as we could remember. We were/are in
love with each other. So if you have a problem with someone gay working for
you, then we have nothing to talk about and I'll take my last check and
go.'

I couldn't tell how Mr. Sanford was reacting to the news because outwardly,
he wasn't.

"He was looking me in the eye when he said, 'Justin, who you are in love
with is your affair. I had a gay uncle. When he was in the room, most of
the aunts grabbed their children and ran. My father loved his brother and
never made any difference between him and his other siblings. And me? I had
an uncle all to myself and I loved him dearly. While you haven't said the
two of you are having sex, you're eighteen and would hardly be normal if
you weren't. Who you sleep with is your business so long as it's not on a
floor display mattress!' Mr. Sanford laughed and then said, 'Damn! Maybe
you should. Might draw at lot of business!' and laughed again.

"Needless to say, I was relieved and said so. I guess I decided to push my
luck and said, 'While we're laying things out, Mr. Sanford, I'd like to
talk about Adam. I've got a couple or three concerns you might help
with. First off, Marc and I didn't break up Bobbie and Adam...' Mr. Sanford
said, 'Be kinda strange for a couple gay guys to break up a couple who are
sure not gay or are putting on a fine show.' I guess I looked puzzled,
because Mr. Sanford went on, 'Oh, I know they're, what do you call it these
days, sexually active. I tried to talk to Adam about that, but he kept
denying they were doing anything and all I was finally able to say was, "be
careful," and hope they were, since I know the consequences otherwise.'

"He then asked why Adam would say we had broken them up and I told him
mostly because Bobbie had said two gay couples showed her what being in
love should look like. Mr. Sanford agreed that sounded like Adam. 'Adam
always looks around to find someone to blame when he might be being called
into question.' He once again started on Adam and I said, 'Mr. Sanford,
that's something else, real family business, I'd like to talk about. Tell
me to shut up and I will but...' I then told him about the two Logans and
Antwon's comments about sons working for fathers. I also was pretty
straight about his putting Adam down. I expected him to get mad, but he
didn't. Instead, he got tears in his eyes and told me his own father had
put him down and how he hated it and had not realized he was doing it. We
talked a long time about that.

Then he said, 'Well, this had been some Saturday morning. Give me a few
minutes and come on back and we'll talk about you.'

"I went out on the floor and helped a couple people and then he called me
back. 'Justin, as I said, I have been thinking about you and your situation
while you were gone. With Sam gone, I am without a manager for the second
store. It is a bigger job than I would have thought. I have been working
there the week you were away and it is doing a brisk business. After giving
it a lot of thought, I think it would be smart to move the whole appliance
business to that store. Folks coming into that store are often starting out
housekeeping or moving into a new house they have purchased. Makes sense
they are the ones purchasing appliances. People coming into this store are
more likely to be redecorating. Managers here need to be managers/sales
people -- and need to know how to deal with...' Mr. Sanford paused," Justin
chuckled and said, "He wasn't sure how to talk about your social
class. Anyway, he finally said, 'people of means and often lacking an
understanding of sales people.' I said, 'You mean made rude by money.'

He laughed and said, 'Right!'

"Then he continued, 'So, I have come up with some plans and I'd like your
honest thoughts on them. First, we move the appliance business to the new
store. Presently we have a small range of appliances there, but the closest
competitor is 30 miles away. We expand the range of appliances -- add
things like dishwashers, disposals, and so on and expand the range of
brands and models. In short, we go our distant competition one better. I
have a feeler out for someone with experience in that field to manage the
appliance department, and already have a bite.'

"'Then we expand the range of furniture at the new store. Presently we are
selling good stuff at a decent price and value for the money would still be
the motto. But without going to cheap, worthless junk, we can add a line
just below what we are presently selling, and one above without competing
with this store. Presently we occupy a little less than half of that little
strip mall out there. I say we take in all the rest. I went ahead and took
an option on it before talking with you.' It suddenly occurred to me,
Mr. Sanford was talking to me as if I was his partner. I had been paying
attention, but that really made me listen.

"'The paint and wallpaper store out there will need to move if we go ahead
and take the whole mall, but I talked with Henry James about moving and he
was unsure of what he wanted to do. I offered to let him stay on, but
suggested he think about the shop next door here. I have had an option on
it for a couple years, thinking about expanding this store, but could never
justify it. We could open the wall -- put an archway between this store and
a new wallpaper-paint store next door -- and make it a part of this store,
but kinda separate. We'd make the paint and wallpaper store a home
decorating store and really get in to decorating. When I suggested that to
Henry, he grabbed at it. Says now that the kids are gone, his wife had been
helping out some where he is and has talked about adding a line of window
treatments, that sort of thing.'

"'Don't get me wrong, no doubt you could handle it, but I think I'll need
to go to the new store. We'll be adding people there in delivery, sales,
service and, I suspect, installation. Looks like tripling the number of
personnel out there. I'd handle payroll, that sort of thing for the whole
operation, but you'd have control of inventory and store operation here. I
know that's a big order, but I think you can handle it. Interested?'

"'Overwhelmed would be a better word for it,' I said. 'I still have school
until summer and I can't neglect school to take over the store. Next year
I'd like to go to college, probably in business,' I concluded.

"'I certainly expect you to do both -- finish high school and then
college. We can work around your schedule. I wouldn't expect you to handle
the whole deal. I have already talked with Mrs. James -- Mrs. James is
assistant manager at the new store -- and offered her the manager's job,
but she declined. Said she's taken on the major responsibility until
school's out, but wants to be home more this summer. Got two middle school
kids who need supervision. You'll likely be fairly free this summer and
then when her kids get back in school and you start college, she can take
on more hours again. I'm sure you'll want a couple weeks off this summer
and she will have her kids in camp at last two weeks and you two can
arrange that. In fact, I'd expect the two of you to work out schedules
since it will be your show here. Give it some thought. I don't expect an
answer right away.' So that's how I left it."

"Wow, damn! You know that is going to piss off Adam more," I said.

"Probably," Justin said, "but I can't worry about that. He's not interested
and if Mr. Sanford takes to heart what I said, he and Adam will be getting
on a better footing. As I drove home, I thought about Mr. Sanford and what
his life was like. He loves what he does and I can see why. It'd not be
everyone's cup of tea, but I think I'd enjoy it and it's definitely an
opportunity -- one I think I better not pass up. He's essentially offering
me what he would have offered Adam had he been interested. Hey! If
Mr. Sanford goes ahead, he'll be hiring a lot of people. He might even hire
you since you could work in the new store. He won't, I'm sure, allow me to
be your boss."

We talked more about the offer and suddenly the thought struck me. "Justin,
you know this means that you have no choice. You'll have to go to College
of the Albemarle. I'm not sure that will be allowed for me."

"Look, surely your mom knows the first two years we'll be doing basics and
one place is probably about as good as another. By that time, maybe being
together won't be so important or maybe I will have decided furniture is
not what I'm interested in. Who knows?"

I was thunderstruck! "Justin, you don't mean that! You don't mean being
together won't be important!"

"No, but I do mean maybe being together will have to take a back seat to
something. I expect to love you until I die but, Babe, we don't know what
the future holds, so we make the best possible decision and we move
on. Plan ahead, but don't try to write the future in concrete. Remember
Ozymandias?*"

I nodded, but was still a bit disturbed by Justin's comment.

After lunch, we cleaned up, put dishes in the dishwasher, and drove to
Justin's house. When we walked inside, he paused, looked around and said,
"There was always an awful lot of love in this house. Even when there was
very little else, there was always a lot of love. I'll remember it for that
and not for the hard times." I noticed a tear rolling down his face and
kissed it away. "Well, the sooner we get started, the sooner we finish and
the sooner your ass is mine, Lover," Justin said, returning my kiss.

Justin had long before given away his mother's clothes and things. It had
been hard, I know, but he had done it. Now there was just the furniture and
his personal belongings -- clothing and little else.

"I don't know what I'll do with the house. Guess I need to talk with
someone about that. Maybe rent it furnished as is or just get rid of the
furniture and rent it or sell it. I do know you don't want to leave a house
standing vacant very long advertising it's empty."

"In that case, we need to come back with lawn mower, weed eater and hedge
trimmer. I noticed the place looked deserted when we drove up."

"Good idea. There's a lawnmower here, but if we could get the mower, hedge
trimmer and weed whacker from your place, it would go faster." As Justin
was speaking, the phone rang. "I need to get that turned off and not have
that bill," he said as he picked up the phone.

When he hung up he said, "That was John. The rest of the Clan, minus Adam,
had come by your place to see what we were up to. He asked if they could
help and I said, 'Sure.' They'll pick up tools and be over in a few. Let's
finish getting my things packed and we can make only one trip since John's
SUV will be here and he can take a box or two.

When the Clan arrived, they had managed to get two mowers and other tools
in the SUV along with the three of them. An hour later the place looked as
if someone who cared lived there.

As we were finishing up outside, Susan and Bobbie did some straightening up
in the house, then we loaded Justin's things, ready to take them to my
place. Lacy had filled a cooler with ice and drinks and sent it by the crew
so when we finished, we were all sitting in the living room, cooling off.

"I'm sure all of you have checked your calendars for the next few weeks,"
Susan said.

"Of course, I ran right to my desk and looked at it before anything else,"
I replied. "Are you trying to be funny? It's back to school, what else?"

"Prom weekend after next. Can you believe that? It kinda slipped up on
everyone this year since it was right after Spring Break. One of the
reasons Adam gave as to why I couldn't break up with him was I'd not have a
date for the prom," Bobbie said, "implying, of course, that he would and I
would be left out."

"Prom in two weeks and we then have three weeks before AP exams. Busy,
busy, busy. Two weeks after AP exams it's all over. Summer is here and we
are high school graduates. Suppose all of you have been accepted by the
college of your choice," Susan concluded.

"I've been accepted at Sewanee and Davidson. Davidson is definitely out
because Father pulled strings there. I may be staying here and doing
community college for a couple years," I said. "Something Justin and I have
to discuss and make a decision about."

"I was accepted at Davidson, too," John said. "Parents' choice, but I'm on
the waiting list at Sewanee. Should I get in, I think I'll go there.

"At this point, it's Vanderbilt for me," Susan said. "I thought I'd look at
a smaller college, but Vandy made me an offer I can't refuse."

"UNC-Greensboro for me. Same as Vandy. I got a good scholarship there and
Mom approves. She went there so it must be the best, right?" Bobbie
laughed.

Justin had been very quiet and I guess we all realized it at the same
time. "Ok, Justin, what about you? Don't tell me you're not going to
college," John said.

"Looks like I will, but it'll be tough. I had saved some money, but even
with all the help, Mama's illness wiped it out. Mr. Sanford made me an
offer today. I'll probably work and go to College of the Albemarle. It's
not expensive and I think I can get the classes I want. I can work around
my class schedule, maybe take night classes online. We'll see."

"Mr. Sanford made you an offer?" Susan asked, and Justin told the Clan of
his conversation with him. "Sure sounds like a winner to me," she
responded.

"Yeah, but where will you be, Marc?" John asked.

"Yeah, that's a question alright and we don't have the answer yet."

We talked a while longer about nothing, then headed to our place.

On the way, I remembered Clarisa was not there and that meant there wasn't
food waiting for five hungry eighteen-year-olds. My lunch sandwich was just
a memory and I needed food. "Justin, old Mother Hubbard's cupboard is
bare. Stop by the pizza place and we'll pick up pizza."

"Better not let Clarisa find out," he grinned. "We'll be on tofu and water
for a month."

"We'll hide the boxes." Told the pizza wouldn't be ready for half an hour,
we decided to have it delivered and went on home.

The Clan was waiting for us in the kitchen when we arrived. While we waited
for the pizza, we talked about the prom. Susan was John's date, of course,
and we decided we'd wait and see what happened at school the next week but,
regardless, Justin and I would not have dates. I figured by the prom,
everyone interested would know we were a gay couple and there was no use
pretending we were dating a woman. "So, Bobbie, you gotta have a date,"
Justin said.

The doorbell rang and Justin said, "Ah, pizza's here."

"Agreed," Susan said. "In the meantime, pizza's waiting."

We were nearly finished when I heard, "I knew it. Soon as my back is
turned, junk food." Clarisa had arrived. She was almost covered by packages
and said, "I need some help here."

As soon as she was unburdened, Justin said, "Dig in, Clarisa, there's
plenty. Marc ordered enough for an army."

"Don't think I won't. This African-American is hungry! Been walking that
mall with two world-class shoppers. Finally asked, 'What am I doing here
when I am needed at home?' I knew I was needed because I just knew you all
would be eating junk food. Two pepperonis and a slice of supreme, if you
please."

We were all laughing our heads off.

When we finished eating, the others left the three of us sitting in the
kitchen. "Ok, what did Mr. Sanford have to say?" Clarisa asked. "From your
look, it couldn't have been too bad."

"Not bad at all," Justin smiled and told her of Mr. Sanford's offer.

________

*Poem by Percy Shelly:

Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert ... Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on those lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away."