Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:12:43 -0500 (EST)
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: Castaway Hotel: Next Generation, chapter 50

The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - by BW
Copyright 2011 by billwstories
Chapter 50 -- A Bump in the Road.

On Wednesday morning, I got the boys up and saw them
off to school.  After they left, I got busy making phone
calls and finalizing the arrangements for our weekend trip.
First, I called Andrew, to make certain he didn't have
other plans for either Saturday or Sunday.  Once he agreed
that he didn't, I told him we'd be arriving Friday night, so
we could spend a little extra time together.  It would also
allow us to spend all of Saturday celebrating his birthday
with him and then we'd stick around for part of Sunday
too.

Andrew seemed pleased we were coming, but he was even
happier when I informed him that Jake and I were
bringing the boys with us as well.  Suddenly, he was not
only thrilled that we'd be there, but he was also pleased
that he'd be able to spend time with Jesse and see Elliot
again.  On top of that, he also admitted that he was
looking forward to meeting Noah as well.

After I finished speaking with him, I called and reserved
two rooms at a motel where we had stayed before, and
then I began packing the things Jake and I would need for
this trip.  When I'd finished and felt that everything had
been taken care of, I started going about my normal
weekday tasks.  What I wasn't aware of yet, was that today
was not a normal day.

Unbeknownst to me, the divers finished their practice
early, due to a problem with the platform, so Elliot told
Hayden that he was going to walk over to the middle
school and meet up with Noah.  He said he'd wait for me
to pick him up there and then they'd come over to the
high school to get him.  Once he finished explaining all of
this, he left the pool area and went to change.

A short time later, when Elliot was approaching the middle
school, he spotted Noah sitting in front of the building
with some of the other soccer players.  Obviously, his
team had finished practice earlier than normal too, so
they were all waiting in front of the building for their
parents to pick them up.

As he got closer, Elliot noticed there was a bigger kid
standing next to Noah and quickly assumed he must be
one of Noah's teammate's older brothers.  As he focused in
on them, Elliot started to become concerned.  It appeared
the larger boy was picking on his brother and Noah looked
as if he was on the verge of tears.  Elliot quickened his
pace and then broke into a full sprint when he saw the
larger boy reach out and shove Noah.

Elliot was slightly taken aback as he approached his little
brother.  The bully was not only nearly twice Noah's size,
but he was also larger and heavier than Elliot as well.
Despite this disadvantage, Elliot raced up and shoved the
other boy away.

"Don't push my brother, you jerk.  He's not even half your
size," Elliot admonished, before leaning down to check on
Noah.

"Noah are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes.  Can we please just go home?" he wondered, without
looking up to meet his brother's gaze.

Hearing this, Elliot quickly grabbed Noah's arm and helped
him up.  Once Noah was on his feet, Elliot put his arm
around Noah's shoulder and they began to walk away.
Elliot thought it might be wiser if he took Noah over to
the high school now and wait for me to arrive there.  It
also meant this minor incident would have ended then and
there, except the bully had to open his big mouth and stir
things up again.

"That's right, just take you're little boyfriend and run
away," he taunted.  "Go back to your Pride meeting with
the rest of the Currie queers."

Elliot stopped dead in his tracks after he heard the boy
say this.  After a momentary pause, he leaned down and
whispered in Noah's ear.

"You go stand by the building and stay where I can see
you," Elliot urged him.  "Just wait there and don't get
involved in whatever happens next.  Do you understand?"

"But..." Noah began to protest in response.

Since Elliot didn't want to argue this point, he hushed his
brother by putting a finger over Noah's lips.  Once Noah
got the hint, Elliot sent him on his way.  When he was
sure Noah was where he'd directed him to go and was
going to follow his instructions, Elliot turned and walked
back to face the bully again.

"Would you mind repeating that for me, because I don't
think you have the balls to say it to my face?" he
challenged.

Hearing Elliot's retort, the bully let loose with a barrage of
insults about Noah, Elliot and our family in general, but
Elliot simply stood there and let the bully rant on.  During
this time, Elliot allowed the slurs to bounce off of him,
like raindrops off a slicker on a stormy day, but at the
same time a subtle change in his demeanor began to
occur.  Although it didn't appear that anyone else even
noticed this new development, Elliot's jaw, neck and arms
started to tense up, indicating at least some of these
insults were beginning to get to him.  Slowly, any of the
previous indications that had once showed he might be
feeling a shred of kindness toward the aggressor now
seemed to drain from Elliot's face and eyes.  Instead, he
began to stare at the bully with a steely, cold
determination.

For their part, Noah's teammates were just as shocked by
what they were witnessing.  They were all fairly good kids,
so most of them had never seen or heard anything like
this before.  Even the bully's brother looked embarrassed
by the scene unfolding before him.

After a couple of minutes of carrying on this way, the
bully finally grew tired of Elliot's lack of response and
made his next move.  Unfortunately for him, this turned
out to be a huge mistake.  Frustrated, the aggressor
stepped forward and took a swing at Elliot.  This, however,
was something Elliot had been anticipating and played
right into his hands.  In fact, it was precisely the opening
he'd been waiting for.

Elliot easily blocked the larger boys right hook with his
left arm then followed through by bringing the palm of his
right hand into contact with his opponent's nose.  He
followed this with a rapid succession of blows from his
right elbow, which smashed into the side of the bully's
face.  Now that the larger boy was totally disoriented and
bleeding rather badly from his nostrils, Elliot reached up,
grabbed him by the shirt, near his shoulders, and drew
him closer.  As soon as the boy was in range, Elliot lifted
his knee and buried it in the larger boy's groin.  This
dropped the bully to the ground, in a pathetic heap.

What had just transpired wasn't elegant -- in fact it was
rather brutal, but it had been effective and was over in a
matter of seconds.  The bully's face was now a mass of
blood and tears, as Elliot bent down and whispered in his
ear.

"The next time you have something to say about the
Currie queers, I want you to think about this and ask
yourself if it's worth getting your ass kicked again."

This was all too much for Noah!  While watching the
confrontation, he had been scared to death that Elliot was
going to get hurt, so the second he saw the fight had
ended, he raced over to his protector.  Without caring
what anyone else thought, he wrapped his arms tightly
around Elliot's waist.  He was crying as he did this, but his
tears were quickly absorbed by his big brother's shirt.

As Elliot looked around at Noah's teammates, he noticed
their quivering lips and teary eyes.  This made him begin
to feel badly.  He had definitely lost his cool in front of
these little boys and managed to scare them half to death.
As the anger began to ebb out of his body, he started to
look at his former opponent with pity.  This caused him to
kneel down and reach into his gym bag, in search of
something.  When the bully's little brother saw Elliot make
this sudden and unexpected move, he hurriedly spoke up,
in a soft, yet raspy, voice.

"Please don't hurt my brother anymore," he pleaded.  "I
know he shouldn't have been picking on Noah or said that
stuff about you guys, and he shouldn't have tried to hit
you either, but please just leave him alone."

This comment struck Elliot like a knife in the gut and
caused him to feel ashamed about what he'd just done.
Yes, the other boy had started it, but Elliot began to feel
that he'd overreacted and responded inappropriately.
He'd reacted with devastating force and that was probably
more than what the situation had called for.  Slowly, he
pulled a tee shirt out of his bag and handed it to his
vanquished opponent.

"Here, use this to clean your face," he suggested.  "I'm
sorry I kept hitting you like that."

Elliot then offered his hand to the larger boy, to help him
up.  The bully looked reluctantly at it for a moment, but
after a brief delay he took Elliot's hand and pulled himself
back to his feet.

"I'm sorry too.  I apologize for what I said to you and your
brother," he stated, in a whispered breath.

As this was happening, I pulled up in the Suburban.  Since
I didn't expect to find Elliot here and because it looked as
if something was terribly wrong, I started to grow a bit
apprehensive.  I noticed one boy was bleeding, and
apparently crying too, yet I had no indication as to what
had transpired.  When I saw Noah's face was tear-streaked
as well, I got out of the driver's seat and walked directly
toward Elliot.  I hoped he could tell me if there was a
problem.

"What's going on?" I wanted to know.

Elliot looked at me and I could immediately tell he had
been involved in this somehow.  The expression on his
face indicated he was definitely ashamed about
something, but I still had no idea what.

"I'm sorry.  I overreacted when this guy started picking on
Noah and saying crap about our family," Elliot confessed.
"I hit him a few times and then I kneed him in the balls.  I
feel bad that I did it now, but he made me really mad and I
just reacted."

After Elliot told me this, I quickly asked who this other
boy was.  Before Elliot could answer, the boy's brother
spoke up and filled me in about their names and also went
on to give me his perspective about what had happened.
Once I heard his version of the events, he also informed
me they were waiting for their mother to pick them up.
When I learned this, I decided we would wait for her to
arrive as well, so we could clear this matter up.

The boys' mother pulled up a couple of minutes later, and
when she saw her older son, she got out of her car and
rushed over to him.  Before I could say anything to the
woman, her younger son began blurting out the story
about what had happened again.

"Bobby started picking on one of the boys on my team and
said some really mean things about him and his family, so
his brother ended up kicking Bobby's butt," the little
brother began.  "Bobby totally asked for it too, and he
even tried to hit the other boy first, so you can't be mad
at him for what he did to Bobby."

His mother seemed to freeze in place when she heard this
news.  Then, she looked at her older son, before glancing
over at Elliot and me.  I quickly confirmed what she'd
been told and apologized for what Elliot had done.  I then
had Elliot apologize to both her and her son too, but she
seemed preoccupied, as if she had something else on her
mind.  Instead of reacting to what we'd said, she asked her
younger son to tell her exactly what his brother had said
and he eagerly repeated everything he could remember.

"No, we should be apologizing to you for what he did," she
stated.  "He knows better than to spout that kind of
garbage or to do anything that would start trouble.  I'm
very ashamed of him.  He not only deserved the beating
your son gave him, but he'll probably get another from his
father, when my husband gets home from work."

After I corrected her and explained that Elliot and Noah
were my grandsons, I tried to tell her that I didn't feel any
further punishment would be necessary.  I felt that what
Elliot had done to him should serve as a sufficient
deterrent, but she didn't agree.  She was adamant that her
older son would be dealt with again, since he knew very
well that her husband and she didn't allow or tolerate that
kind of behavior.  I didn't argue with her further, because I
was certain Elliot would be having a similar conversation
with his dads when they got home from work.  The only
difference was, I knew Elliot wouldn't be getting a beating
for what he did.

Before I forgot, I hurriedly called Trey on his cell phone
next.  Luckily, he was still grading papers at school, so I
asked if he'd run over to the pool before he left.  He
quickly agreed he would pick Hayden up and then drop
him off at home, so I herded Noah and Elliot into the
Suburban.  Neither boy said anything on the drive home,
not to me or to each other.  However, I was mildly
surprised by what happened when we reached the house.
The second Noah got out of his seat he rushed up to Elliot
and wrapped his arms around his waist.  In fact, he was
hugging Eliot so tightly that I thought he might squeeze
his big brother to death.

"Thanks for saving me.  I was really scared and don't know
what I would have done if you hadn't showed up," Noah
stated, sincerely.

"I'm glad I did and I won't ever let anyone hurt you,"
Elliot croaked out.  His voice was a little shaky, because
he was overcome by Noah's emotional outburst.

I was touched by the sentiment between the two brothers,
but I knew Elliot would still have to be punished for what
he'd done.  Fighting was just not an acceptable way to
solve your problems.  It might have been different if he'd
handled this solely as a defensive confrontation and
merely blocked the other boy's attack while protecting
Noah.  We might have even been willing to overlook him
landing a blow or two, as he sought to stop the aggressor,
but Elliot didn't end it there.  In fact, he really did a
number on this kid and was very fortunate he hadn't done
more permanent damage to him.

Realizing he was in trouble, Elliot slunk past me and went
up to his room.  He knew he'd done something wrong and
looked like a condemned man waiting for his dads to come
home and pass sentence.

The house was pretty quiet until dinnertime.  Once we
were all sitting down at the table though, things began to
get interesting.  None of us had said anything to Danny or
Brandon about what had happened earlier, but I'm positive
they could tell something was wrong just from the looks
on Elliot and Noah's faces.

"So how did your days go?" Brandon asked.

Neither boy answered right away and looked sheepishly at
their fathers.  After a few moments, Elliot swallowed hard
and began to speak.

"I screwed up big time today," he admitted.  "I beat the
crap out of another kid when I went over to meet Noah
after practice."

"He only did it because the boy was picking on me," Noah
blurted out.  "Elliot was just trying to make him stop."

"Hold on a second," Danny urged.  "I think we need to
slow down and back up a bit."

Danny and Brandon now looked between the two boys and
studied their faces.

"Elliot, why were you at the middle school in the first
place," Danny asked, "and what happened that made you
hit another kid?"

"I got done with practice early, so I walked over to meet
up with Noah," he began.  "When I got there, I saw this
older boy picking on him.  You know, he was saying a
bunch of crap and pushing Noah around.  When I saw this,
I went over, stepped in and told him to keep his hands off
my brother.  Then I helped Noah up and we started to walk
away.

"When we did," Elliot continued, "the guy started
shouting a bunch of crap at us.  He said we were Currie
queers and told us to run off to our Pride meeting.  I didn't
hit him for that, but I did walk back and challenged him to
say it to my face.  When he did, I still didn't react, not
until he threw a punch at me.  After I blocked his swing, I
hit him in the nose and then a few more times in the
head, but I didn't stop there either.  Even though he was
all bloody and crying, I pulled him toward me and kneed
him in the balls too."

"The boy on my soccer team even admitted that his
brother started it, not Elliot," Noah chirped in, coming to
his brother's defense again.

"I heard his brother say that too, but Elliot knows he
could have handled the situation quite differently," I
stated.  "His martial arts training should have taught him
that it is designed for defensive purposes, but Elliot chose
to use it as an offensive weapon."

"Yeah, but I bet the shit-head won't say anything like that
about our family again," Jesse offered, as he slapped Elliot
on the back.

Elliot seemed embarrassed by the attention he'd just
gotten from Jesse and ashamed of himself for what he'd
done, so he just stared down at his plate.  After I'd heard
Jesse's comment, I flashed him a stern glare in response.
He quickly got my message and ended his contribution to
the discussion.

"Okay, we'll talk about this in more detail after we finish
our meal," Danny advised Elliot.

I think Danny suggested this because he needed some
time to think about how he should handle the situation,
but I also believe he wanted us to finish our meal while it
was still warm.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out as he
had hoped.  First of all, I think most of us had suddenly
lost our appetite -- that is everyone except for Jesse.

The rest of dinner seemed to drag on forever, because it
now felt like we were sharing the final meal with an
inmate on death row.  I'm not sure how the others fared,
but I was finding it difficult to chew and swallow my food,
because my mouth had dried up and there was very little
saliva to aid in the digestive process.

After we finally got up from the table, Danny and Brandon
asked me to join them when they spoke to Elliot in the
family room.  The other boys wanted to go in with us, but
we told them it wouldn't be necessary and this was
something we needed to do in private.  I explained I was
only invited because I had talked to both the boy and his
mother, but then Noah began to complain that he had
talked to them too.  Although I agreed this was true, I
explained that I could relay the information they had
given us, so we wouldn't need his input.  He wasn't happy
about being left out, since he had actually also witnessed
what had transpired, but he realized this was a losing
battle and ended his protest.

Once we were alone, Danny, Brandon and Elliot sat on the
sofa, while I chose to sit in the rocking chair.  Elliot was
looking down at the rug and acting as if he was facing a
military tribunal.

"Elliot, do you know why we're upset about this?" Danny
asked.

"Yes sir.  I shouldn't have hit him like that," he admitted.
"Maybe once, after I blocked his punch, but I shouldn't
have finished him off like I did.  I treated him like he was
a mugger, when he was just a playground punk."

"Look, we're very pleased and even proud that you stood
up for your little brother, but we don't want you to end up
becoming a bully yourself.  We also don't want you to find
out you now have a target on your back that others will
focus on, because they think you're abusing others too,"
Brandon told him, in a more conciliatory tone.

"I know," Elliot agreed, without going into detail.

"You have to realize that since there are people who find
being gay morally objectionable, or even repulsive, it is in
our best interest that we conduct ourselves in a manner
that will give them little to find fault with.  Many of the
most vocal groups tend to overreact concerning things we
do, even if they wouldn't say anything about others who
had reacted in a similar manner.  This is because they
would love to derail our family's attempts to enlighten the
community about our situation," Danny continued.  "Due
to their bias, many of these people either tend to misread
what we do or even intentionally misinterpret it, so they
can use it to their advantage.  That's why it's so important
that we don't do anything that gives them fuel to add to
their fires."

"I didn't think about anything like that at the time," Elliot
confessed.

"That much is obvious, but now we have to determine an
appropriate punishment for what you did," Danny stated.
"Dad, I think we should keep him from doing anything
extra for a while, so how would you feel if we began by
making him stay home this weekend, instead of going with
you to see Andrew?"

When Elliot heard this, his eyes bulged open.

"That's your call and I don't want to sway your decision,"
I replied.  "I leave that entirely up to Brandon and you."

"Dad Danny, can't you punish me some other way?" Elliot
pleaded.  "I'm really looking forward to visiting Andrew
and I'd hate to miss his birthday or mess up everyone's
plans just because I screwed up and acted like a jerk."

"Your not being there won't ruin Andrew's birthday and
the others will be more than able to help him celebrate it
without you," Brandon challenged.  "Dad and Pop have
things planned, and Jesse and Noah will be there for
Andrew as well."

"I know, but Jesse and Noah are expecting me to go with
them.  I don't want to screw up the trip or cause them not
to have a good time, just because I got grounded," Elliot
whined.

"Well, I doubt they will allow that to happen," Danny
challenged.

"Please," he pleaded again.  "Can't you punish me some
other way?"

Danny and Brandon looked at each other, as they
considered his proposal.

"What would you suggest then?" Danny countered.

"I don't know," Elliot replied.  "Couldn't you just ground
me or not allow me to stay at Hayden's overnight or
maybe just not let him stay here with me for a while.
Anything, but please let me go with Papa this weekend.  I
was just getting close to Andrew before he left for college
and I don't want him to think I didn't want to be there for
his birthday when everyone else is going."

Danny and Brandon looked at each other and then at me.
Since I wasn't about to say anything in front of Elliot, I
merely shrugged my shoulders.

"I tell you what," Danny offered.  "Give us some time to
talk this over a little more and then we'll get back to you
about it.  This doesn't mean we're going to let you go on
the trip, but we will consider what you've said, as well as
think about other possible punishments."

"Yes, sir," Elliot replied, less than enthusiastically.

He did look somewhat relieved by their willingness to
reconsider their position, but it was obvious he wasn't
totally satisfied.  Reluctantly, he slunk out of the family
room and shut the door behind him, as his fathers
requested.  Once he was gone, Brandon looked at me and
spoke.

"Help us out here, Dad," he began.  "We're new at this and
could use your expertise.  We know we should punish him,
but we also want to be fair.  After all, this only happened
because he was defending his brother."

"I know and I feel badly about disciplining him for this
too," I admitted.  "The only thing is, we can't allow him to
think he can handle his problems by fighting.  He's had
training the other kids haven't and that makes him
dangerous if he doesn't learn to control his temper.  This
incident kind of reminded me of the fiasco in the
courtroom, when he tried to attack his dad's killers."

"I thought about that too," Danny confirmed.  "What do
you think we should do?"

"If it were up to me, I would ground Elliot for the rest of
the month.  That will give him nearly four weeks to think
about what he did," I suggested.  "Even though I know this
will kind of punish Hayden too, I think you also have to
make sure the grounding includes not allowing him to
sleepover at Hayden's or permitting Hayden to stay with
us either.  I'll also tell Jesse that he's not to fool around
with Elliot during this time as well, although I'm not sure
they have been doing anything like that as of late.  It's
because I'd already asked them to cool it for a while, so we
wouldn't risk Noah seeing or hearing anything he
shouldn't."

"So you think that will be enough?" Brandon pressed.

"I do," I confirmed.  "You know how close Hayden and
Elliot have become, so going a few weeks without being
able to hang out with him, except at school, plus
restricting his other activities should be a pretty sober
reminder for him the next time he is about to lose his
cool."

"Okay, then that's what we'll tell him," Danny agreed.

Danny and Brandon got up and left the room at that
moment, so they could advise Elliot about their decision.
He was happy to learn he'd be able to go visit Andrew with
us this weekend, but he was totally bummed out that he
was going to be grounded for nearly an entire month.  Not
only that, but he didn't realize his dads were going to stop
him from spending time with Hayden too.  When he made
his suggestion, he'd thought they'd do one of those things,
not all of them, so he ended up going to bed that night
with mixed emotions.  He was pleased that his fathers had
changed their minds, while at the same time feeling
miserable about his new punishment.