Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:44:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: E Walk <cane_lane_candy@yahoo.com>
Subject: Pinochle Chapter 27

Pinochle
By E Walk
(Copyrighted by the author)
Edited by Will B.

Chapter 27 - The O'Rourke Brothers

This is Ben.

As we were riding from the airport to Uncle Rod's and Uncle Hank's
townhouse, Brian and Grant were having their first experience of having a
ride on the wrong side of the road.

Brian, who was sitting on the left side of the backseat behind the
passenger side ducked several times as we approached oncoming vehicles.  He
looked at Uncle Hank who was driving, "Who taught you bloody Brits to
drive?"

Uncle Hank wasn't bothered by the comment and countered, "Now you know how
it feels when we come to the colonies and you all drive on the wrong side
of the road."

Uncle Rod stopped anymore banter, "Gentlemen, we have a dinner engagement
tonight that we have to attend, on government business.  We apologize but
perhaps Vicky could show you around.  Grant and Ben, perhaps you could call
Maria and Inga and ask them to join you.  We would feel better if the six
of you stuck together at least at first."

Brian was laughing, "Uncle Rod, are you saying that you want us to be like
leeches and stick to each other's bodies?"

Uncle Hank said, "Guys, we want to make sure that you have a good time, but
London has some weird characters, as does every big city.  If you go
anywhere without us, make sure you stick together.  When we get home, we
will run what we have in mind for this week by you for your approval.  It
sounds as if we may have to consider the pleasures of the three young
ladies also."

We pulled up in front of an old Victorian townhouse Brian looked at the
building and exclaimed, "This looks like something out of David
Copperfield, or perhaps Ebenezer Scrooge lived here.  We aren't going to be
visited by any ghosts are we?"

Uncle Rod was laughing, "Brian, we haven't seen any ghosts lately, but some
very large rats having been living in the room where you will be sleeping.
They are fond of nibbling on things, so you might want to sleep with your
shoes on.  I'm not sure what you can do about your other appendages.  I
guess you could wear leather gloves and I guess maybe we could find you a
set of armor to protect you most precious possession."

"Uncle Rod, you almost had me believing you about the rats until you got to
the armor.  You'd better be careful.  I'll get even when you least expect
it."  Brian challenged, as we got out of the car.

When we got to the front door, we were greeted by a very handsome young
man, "Good morning gentlemen, if you will leave your luggage, I will make
sure that it is delivered to your room.  Mrs. Proust has a snack awaiting
in the kitchen.  My name is James; if you should need anything, please feel
free to ask for assistance at anytime.  Mr. Peters, you have had several
calls and I placed your messages on your desk.  Mr. Cox, Mr. Mason would
like for you to call him."

I looked at James, "Sir, I'm Ben, the gentleman standing next to me is
Grant and the young man standing next to you is Brian.  Now what do your
friends call you?"

James looked a little concerned.  I noticed that Uncle Rod nodded his head
as if to say, 'go ahead'.  James started, "My friends call me Jaime.  I am
from Ireland and yes, my name is Jaime O'Rourke but when I am on duty here
my name is James Rocker.  I'm 24 and I'm gay and no I don't have a partner.
Is there anything else you would like to know?"

Brian looked at Jaime, "I have a question, but I am too embarrassed to
ask."  Before Brian could say anything, Jamie started, "I'm uncut and have
a very average size penis with rather large testicles."

Brian was giggling, "Thanks for sharing, but that was not what I was going
to ask about.  I was going ask if I could go to the bathroom."

Everyone started to laugh, including Jaime.  Jaime resumed the role of
James.  "If you gentlemen will follow me, I will show you to your rooms
while Mr. Peters and Mr. Cox take care of the things they need to do.  I'll
make sure that your luggage is delivered to your rooms."

Grant looked funny, "James or Jaime or whatever, we can certainly take our
own luggage to our rooms."

James shook his head, "Please sir, please permit us do it.  I have to earn
my pay and keep somehow."

The three of us could feel that it was what we should do so we relented and
James led us up the stairs.  He stopped at the top of the stairs, "Mr. Cox
and Mr. Peter's suite is to the left.  Mr. Brian, you will be occupying the
King Henry Suite."  James stopped and opened the door to a large room.

Brian entered and all we heard was "Holy Smackers, this is just for me?
I'll probably get lost in here."

Grant and I followed Brian into the room and he was correct; it sure was
enormous.  Brian was shaking his head, "I can hardly wait to see what you
guys' room must look like, if I have a room this size just for me."

Before anyone could say anything, there was a knock on the door.  James
turned around to see who was there, "Come on in Shamus, and I'll introduce
you.  The young man seated on the bed is Brian Benson.  The fair lad
standing next to me is his brother, Benjamin Benson, and the handsome young
man with dark hair and dark eyes is Grant Garrison.  Gentlemen, this is the
housekeeper, Shamus.  He will provide any assistance you will require if I
am not available."

Brian was shaking his head, "It's as if I am seeing double.  You look like
identical twins except that you are dressed in different outfits."

Jaime said, "Mr. Brian, you are quite perceptive.  We are not twins, but
Shamus is my brother, but he is two years younger than I am?"

Grant was laughing, "So Shamus, are your dimensions and orientations about
the same as your brother's?"

Shamus wasn't sure what Grant was asking, "Mr. Garrison, I am not sure what
you are asking, but I think you asked me if I was gay?  Put it this way, I
have experiences with both sexes and prefer to be with another male.  As
far as my equipment.  I am cut and a little larger than Jaime in the penis
department, but his testicles have mine beat by miles."

Brian fell back on the bed laughing, "Oh, so you have been checking each
other out then.  Do you mess around with each other?"

James resurfaced, "Master Brian, when you share the same suite which just
happens to be located on the third floor just above your room.  It doesn't
allow for much privacy.  So we have no secrets, but we agreed a number of
years ago that we should keep our relationship strictly to being a family.
You'd better be careful, Master Brian; we'll unplug our peepholes so we can
observe your every move."

"Now Master Ben and Master Grant, if you will follow me, I will show you to
your suite while Shamus deliverers the luggage.  We will make sure that
everything is put away while you are meeting with Mr. Cox and Mr. Peters.
I will inform Mr. Cox and Mr. Peters that you will be down in 20 minutes.
This way, Gentlemen."

James took us to the suite at the back of the building, opened the door and
waited for us to enter.  Grant and I stepped inside and rather froze.  It
was more like an apartment.  James announced, "Gentlemen, this is the
Stuart suite.  I hope you both will enjoy it.  I'll go inform the masters
that you will be joining them shortly."

This is Grant.

I thought the apartment that Ben and I would be sharing in Ithaca was
great, but it seemed miniature compared to what we would be staying in
while we were in London.  We even had a balcony that overlooked a beautiful
park.  Ben and I took care of our physical needs, and there were even new
tooth brushes and hairbrushes on the counter in the bathroom.

We were just about ready to go down the stairs when Shamus arrived with our
luggage.  He was very businesslike, "Mr. Grant and Mr. Ben, I will put your
things away while you are meeting with Mr. Cox and Mr. Peters in the dining
room.  I believe that Master Brian has already gone to meet them.  I hope
everything is satisfactory."

I was concerned, "Shamus, have we done something to upset you and Jaime.
It is as if you are two very different people."

Shamus looked at us and he had tears in his eyes, "Grant and Ben, please
believe me when I say this.  Jaime and I would dearly love to become
friends with you, but Mr. Cox and Mr. Peters are more like fathers to us
than our real father ever was.  They sat us down and explained that the two
of you are very special and that we needed to make sure we didn't become
too attached to you."

"They also informed us that Brian was straight, but very understanding.
You have to understand that they have practically raised us since we were
15 and 17.  Please try to understand, we owe everything to Dad Rod and Dad
Hank and we don't want to lose their trust."

Ben spoke for the two of us, "Shamus, we are not looking for anything other
than your and Jaime's friendship.  We are committed to each other and Brian
would never do anything to hurt you, unless you did something to cause him
grief."

Shamus was totally shocked when Ben hugged him and he almost started to
cry, "Ben, thank you but please don't ever do that when others are around."

I could tell that Ben was upset.  He didn't say anything as we left to go
join Uncle Rod and Uncle Hank.  James took us to the dining room where
Uncle Rod and Uncle Hank were conversing with Brian.

Uncle Hank looked up, "Please sit down.  Mrs. Proust is about to bring some
meat pies and fresh melons she has raised in the garden."

James and an older lady came in carrying several platters of food.  After
they had placed the food on the table, Uncle Hank introduced us.
"Mrs. Proust, I would like to introduce our guests.  He introduced the
three of us and Mrs. Proust curtsied, "Pleased to meet you three handsome
young men.  If you need or want anything, please let me know."

Brian couldn't handle all of this formality.  "Mrs. Proust, I am sure that
you have some children or at least some nephews and nieces and I can't
imagine them calling you Mrs. Proust.  Now if I were a nephew, what would I
call you?"

Mrs. Proust was stunned by Brian's brashness, but answered, "You would
probably be calling me Aunt Bea."

"Okay Aunt Bea, what's in these meat pies, as you call them.  Are they safe
to eat?  I didn't come to England to die of ptomaine poisoning."

Poor Mrs. Proust was taken aback, but Uncle Rod answered for her, "They
have a little catnip and the main ingredient is kangaroo tail."

Everyone thought that Brian would respond, but instead he started to eat
the pie.  He wasn't finished, "This tastes more like wombat meat than
kangaroo tail.  I`d better take another bit.  On second thought it tastes
more like ground penguin.  Whatever it is, Aunt Bea, it is delicious"

Everyone was eating and Ben finally started to speak.  He had something on
his mind.  "Uncle Hank and Uncle Rod, why is everyone here involved in this
charade.  Grant and I already know that you saved Jaime and Shamus from
some horrible situation.  They have not shared what that situation was, and
I have the same feeling that Aunt Bea is thanking her lucky stars that you
came into her life."

"While we are here, could we please just cut the charade stuff unless there
is an outsider here?  Can we please just be ourselves?  The three of us
know that you are wizards and have used your powers to do wonderful things.
So please sirs, can everyone just act like the people they are?"

Uncle Hank looked at Ben, "Ben, thank you for being so astute.  That is
precisely why you and Grant are here.  We would ask that the two of you
please keep Thursday night free, because we have something that we would
like for you to do.  Brian, I am sorry but you won't be able to attend
because you are not eighteen yet.  I'm sure that you will be able to find
something to do."

Uncle Rod took over, "Guys, we thought we would go to Stonehenge tomorrow
after church.  We'll go to the early service and then change and go from
there.  It is forecast to be a bright warm day.  The rest of the week, we
will be at your disposal, so we'll be glad to show you around, but I'm
thinking there might be three young ladies who will be demanding equal
attention."

The discussion was interrupted by James, "Master Brian, there is a phone
call for you."

Brian went to answer the phone.  When he returned he announced, "That was
Vicky, she wanted to know if we would like to go see the sights of London
at night, since her parents had to go to some dumb dinner party.  She said
that you were to call Maria and Inga and find out if they would like to go
with us."

Brian handed the phone to Ben and he called the number that Maria had given
him.  He got the Spanish embassy and asked to speak to the Senorita Maria
Montoya.

"Hi Maria, what are your plans for tonight? ... Oh, so your parents have to
go so to some shindig.  Great, why don't you plan to come to Uncle Rod and
Uncle Hank's house and the six of us can go from here to see the sights of
London at night.  ... Oh okay, we'll meet at six and are you sure that your
parents won't mind if Rafael drives us around? ... Okay, see you then."

Uncle Hank was adamant, "Guys, please be careful. We are going to insist
that Shamus goes with you.  We don't know this Rafael person.  He is
probably harmless, but please don't do anything to get anyone hurt."

Uncle Rod interrupted, "Guys, we thought we would take you to see the major
sites during the daytime.  Since it is Saturday, the tourist areas in
London are going to be crowded, so we thought we would take you to some of
the outlying areas.  We have included Cambridge in the itinerary and then
we thought we would have tea at a quaint little pub as you would say."

Hey, we have been in London all of five hours and it's as if we have been
living in a cyclone.


Author's Note: If you want to read more of this story and other interesting
stories, you might like to visit www.tickiestories.us.


Editor's Notes:

Huh! I always thought the British were very reserved.  Was I wrong!  I am
beginning to like Brian more and more.  He is sensitive, thoughtful and
insightful.  I'll bet he gets a lot of that from his father, Beau.