Again, thank you for your patience and your kind words. In case you don't already know, an appointment has been set for early Monday morning. I will be saying 'goodbye' to Sam then. (I will be posting a new chapter on Monday as well.)
Until then, please enjoy this next installment of the Ted and Brad saga. I like to think of the Victoria Day celebrations in this chapter as a celebration of Sam's life with me.
Thanks again.
Neil
WATCHING BRAD
Part 95
The first thing Lindsay saw was the fire burning brightly in the fire pit. Clearly in view were the trays of crackers and chocolate, the bowls full of marshmallows, and all the sticks leaning against the brick wall of the fire surround. Brad had piled the bricks five rows high, overlapping them in a circle around the fire. The flames danced in the darkness, casting a welcoming and friendly glow on the house and the stone wall. The crackle of the wood pierced the quiet night and sent up tiny sparks where they quickly winked away into the night. I noticed the two buckets of water sitting close by.
Lindsay hesitated a long moment, then took a few short steps forward. I moved up beside her, setting the boys on the ground and putting one arm around them to hold them in place in against my legs. Lindsay's hand found mine and, just as her fingers closed around my hand, the dim, multi-coloured patio lanterns hanging overhead came on to light up the area. Brad and Barry had, indeed been very busy.
John and Bernice stepped out of the shadows and into the light as Lindsay's hand squeezed mine tightly. "Oh, Daddy," she whispered. "Is this for me?"
"It sure is, Sweetheart," I whispered back.
She reached up for me and I picked her up. Yet again, I got a huge hug and kiss. "It's so beautiful," she said as she turned back to the spectacle. "It's
more than perfect. A real campfire."
"All set for your marshmallow roast, Sweetheart."
Brad stepped up beside me, his hand resting on my back. "Barry's waiting in Dad's yard. We're ready any time you are. Just holler when everyone's ready."
"Thanks, Tiger," I said softly. I would have kissed him, but I thought it best not to with the girls there. Brad, apparently, thought the same thing. He simply walked away, stepped over the wall, and disappeared into the night.
I set Lindsay down as Nathan approached with a handful of sparklers. "Okay, kids," I said. "Spread out a bit. Hold out your arms and make sure you can't touch anyone else." I led the twins aside as Lindsay joined her friends. Nathan handed out two sparklers to each of the girls and handed me four for the twins. Even John and Bernice got into act and came forward to get a few sparklers of their own.
I gave one sparkler to each of my sons and showed them how to hold it. John and Bernice moved to stand in front of us. "Have you ever played with these before?" They shook their heads ‘no'. "I'll be right behind you, okay? If you get scared or it gets hot, don't throw it. Just drop it on the ground and step back. And don't touch the place that's sparking. It's very hot. It won't burn you if you hold it like you're holding it now."
"Okay, Daddy." They were already bouncing on their knees with excitement.
"I have a lighter," John said.
"You guys ready?" I asked.
"Yes!" they squealed and started laughing before anything even started happening.
I grabbed their hands in mine and held them still. John held out his lighter, flicked it to light it, and held the flame at the tip of Jeremy's sparkler. Moments later, it caught and the sparks began flying. I touched the tip of Justin's into the heater of Jeremy's sparkler, as did John and Bernice, and theirs, too, quickly began to spark. John and his wife stepped away again and began swirling their sparklers in the air, drawing fancy patterns in the dark.
"Do what Grandma and Grandpa are doing," I told the boys, "but don't hit each other." I moved Justin aside and out of danger and let them go. Their screams of delight lifted me up and I was so glad I had bought the sparklers after all. Behind me, I could hear the girls laughing and shouting as well. As the twins' sparklers burnt down, I lit the second sparklers for them and exchanged them in their hands. Their laughter continued.
Nathan handed out another round of sparklers and the twins ended up with one sparkler in each hand. I stayed right behind them, ready to move quickly if necessary.
As the laughter and the sparklers faded into the night, Nathan walked around with an empty tin can, gathering the metal wires from the sparklers which had flickered out and died. I shouted, "Okay, Brad!" A moment later, I saw the flame of a barbeque lighter as I picked the twins up in my arms, then I saw the unmistakable sparking from a burning fuse. There was a puff of smoke and a muffled ‘poof', and then more. A trail of smoke was left behind as the tiny explosives were shot high into the air, and suddenly they began to explode, one after the other. Bang! Bang! Bang! There were no pretty colours. Only the explosions. Beside us, to our right, the patio lanterns went dark.
The twins jumped in my arms, startled at the sound, and grabbed my jacket. Another fuse was lit in mid air and I realized someone had lit a package of firecrackers. With the fuses twisted together and linked, they were tossed into the air where they exploded in rapid succession. Another package joined it's partner. Then a third package was lit and tossed toward us to land with loud blasts in the grass on the other side of the stone wall, and then a fourth. The boys were laughing again and clapping their hands together as they watched the tiny paper sticks bouncing on the grass, their loud, rapid pops splitting the night.
A volcano of rainbow sparks suddenly erupted across the yard then, shooting up and out in an inverted cone and flickering out as they fell toward the ground. I heard a gasp from the twins as they watched. Off to the left, another fuse burned and balls of colour shot into the sky with loud pops. To the right, more balls began shooting upward. Trails of sparks followed the balls until they blasted apart and sent streamers of coloured sparks in all directions high over our heads.
The colourful display faded and died and the crowd around me joined the twins in clapping their hands. I noticed then that Lindsay was standing beside me, her arm wrapped around my leg. Before the applause died down, the darkness suddenly exploded in a swirling mass of sparks as a pinwheel began spinning wildly, sending sparks in a large, rotating spiral which touched the ground. Another pinwheel appeared nearby. And then there was the ‘puffs' of something being shot out of an unseen rocket and a series of explosions shattered the quiet neighbourhood with a blast which sent vibrations right into me. The colourful blasts and spinning pinwheels were accompanied by more firecrackers exploding in front of us.
The display continued, but didn't last very long - less than fifteen minutes, in fact - but I was totally impressed with the fact that Barry and Brad had coordinated it and choreographed the entire thing. They had set out the fireworks in such a way that they could simply move away from us across the yard, lighting the pyrotechnics as they went. In those few minutes, they had frightened and delighted and astounded my children and our friends, and that made it all worth while to me.
The display ended with a trio of volcanoes and a pair of shooting stars, accompanied by a barrage of exploding firecrackers. Then, just as the fireworks faded into darkness, sparklers burst into view and Barry and Brad drew elaborate and enormous pattern in the air, moving about with the patterns following them like snakes. Finally, the sparklers raised high into the dark and waved back and forth, criss-crossing each other in a farewell wave.
Our fireworks were finished and everyone around me burst into applause and cheers. More clapping joined us from neighbouring yards. They had enjoyed the display as much as we had.
As the pungent smell of burning chemicals disappeared with the breeze and as people gathered around to offer their congratulations and thanks, a new smell reached our noses. The scent of hotdogs cooking over an open flame. While we had been busy watching the fireworks, Nathan and Bernice had been busy setting dozens of hotdogs skewered lengthwise on metal shish kebab skewers over the fire pit and had been patiently turning them over and over until they were puffed up and splitting and dripping their juices into the flames.
The patio lights came back on and Nathan announced that the hotdogs were ready. Lindsay whipped her head around to see, then she stepped in front of me as I knelt down and set the twins on the ground once more. Lindsay's arms wrapped themselves around me and I hugged her back. "Oh, Daddy," she said. "This is the best thing
ever. Thank you."
"You've very welcome, Sweetheart," I said as she pulled away.
"And we can do the S'mores out here, too, Daddy?" Lindsay asked.
"That's why we did this for you, Sweetheart," I told her. "Surprise!"
Her lips puckered up for a kiss and I gave her one. "Now, let's get your friends something to eat."
* * * * *
I sat in a chair near the fire. Brad sat in a chair beside me. Justin was in my lap. Jeremy sat with Brad. They had stayed awake through the hotdogs and S'mores and had toasted their own marshmallows, but sleep had finally caught up with them and they found Brad and I to be suitable beds for the moment.
The girls were sitting nearby on the blanket from the basement. They were laughing and giggling and having all the fun young ladies are supposed to have at a pyjama party. Nathan and Barry had brought out all the cupcakes and decorating items and the girls were now preparing their desserts. Now, Nathan and Barry sat in other lawn chairs while Barry quietly strummed his guitar, picking out simple campfire tunes.
"Well, Pops," Brad said to me, "it looks like we did it."
"I think we did, too," I said. "Look at her, Brad. When I remember how sad she was when she lived with her mother. . ."
I expect Brad was waiting for me to finish the sentence, but I didn't. He asked, "Does she ever talk about her mother?"
"Not to me, she doesn't. It's coming up on a year. Maybe I should talk to her sometime."
"A year?" Brad asked. The surprise in his voice was very apparent. "Is that all? It feels like we've been together forever."
"I only moved in here ten months ago."
Brad looked down at the ground between his feet. "Gee-sus, Murphy! Ten months. So much has happened to us." He stared down in silence for a long minute. Barry was plucking out a tune I didn't know. Brad's head suddenly whipped up. "Hey! That means. . ."
"Yup," I said. "A year and a week after the day we met."
Justin stirred in my arms. "Daddy," he said in a whisper, "pee."
"Time to get these guys to bed," I told Brad. We stood up, took the twins inside and straight to their bathroom. While I held Justin in one arm, I managed to get his pyjama bottoms down and set him on the toilet. "Justin," I said softly, then louder. "Justin!" His sleepy eyes opened. "Go pee, Son."
He did, and when he was done, I lifted him off the toilet and pulled up his PJs again and exchanged him in Brad's arms for Jeremy. As I helped Jeremy go pee, Brad disappeared into the twins' bedroom. By the time I got there, Justin's coat was off and he was lying on his side in the bed. I set Jeremy on the bed, took off his coat, and laid him in bed next to his brother. They immediately curled up together, their foreheads touching.
Both Brad and I gave them a goodnight kiss on the cheek before heading back out to the party in the back yard. John and Bernice met us, lawn chairs in hand, to thank us for the wonderful evening and to bid us ‘goodnight'.
"We must be off, Ted," Bernice said. "Thank you for such a wonderful party." She hugged me and kissed my cheek.
"And thank you for everything," I said with a glance at my daughter and her friends. "Lindsay! Your Grandma and Grandpa are leaving!"
She jumped up and came running, giving her grandparents her thanks. She hugged them both and they kissed her cheeks before she ran back to sit with her friends again.
"I'll be over tomorrow to clean up the yard," Brad told his father.
"You did a wonderful job, Bradley," John said. "We're both very proud of you."
Brad's broad, chipped-tooth grin appeared. "It was fun," he said.
The Hayes took their leave and Brad and I rejoined Barry and Nathan around the fire which was now burning very low. No more wood would be added to it.
"I don't know how to thank the two of you for doing all this," I told our friends. "I could never have done it without you. Not like this, anyway."
"I can't speak for Barry," Nathan said, "but I haven't had this much fun in years."
"It was a lot of work for you," I said to him.
He looked at the girls. "Not when I see this." He turned back to me. "I'm surprised the boys stayed awake as long as they did."
"They were too excited to realize how sleepy they were. I suspect it's going to be the same with this lot over here," I said, jerking my head in the direction of the blanket.
"Pyjama parties are for staying up late and gossiping about all the pretty boys in class," Nathan said.
"And no-one knows more about pretty boys than Nathan," Barry mumbled with a smirk.
Nathan got his back. "Then how did I end up with you?"
Even in the dim light, I could see Barry's wink.
* * * * *
It was well after ten o'clock when I told the girls to grab something and take it inside. It was time for them to pack it in and get to bed. I knew they would go to bed, but I also knew that they would be awake for another hour or more, sitting in their ‘tents' in Lindsay's room and doing everything except slumbering. Whoever had named them ‘slumber parties' obviously had never attended one.
As Brad, Barry, and Nathan brought in the rest of the stuff from outside and doused the campfire, I made sure the girls got into the bathrooms and into bed as quickly as I could whilst keeping their excitement down to a dull roar so they wouldn't wake the twins.
I eventually got all the girls together in Lindsay's bedroom. All were content with the ‘camping' idea of sleeping on the floor in their makeshift tents and easily divided themselves into pairs.
"Okay," I said, "listen up. I'll leave the bathroom light on tonight, and there are nightlights in the halls. If anyone has a problem, or needs anything, wake up Lindsay and she'll come get me, okay?" They all agreed. "Good. Now, off to bed."
The girls scrambled into their tents and I turned out the light. Six flashlights immediately sprang to life and had light sabre battles on the tents. The giggles began anew.
"Goodnight!" I said.
There were a lot of shushing sounds and the flashlights went dark. I stepped into the hall and waited. A moment later, a voice whispered loudly, "He's gone!" and the flashlights came back on and the giggling began once more. I smiled to myself, shook my head, and went back to give Brad a humongous hug and kiss.
* * * * *
Nathan and Barry ended up staying the night, mainly because Nathan said there would be way too many breakfasts to make and he was the only person in the house who could handle them in an organized manner.
Brad fell asleep in my arms that night, but I stayed awake for a long time afterward until I was certain all the girls were asleep. Even then, I slept fitfully. It's one thing being responsible for your own children. It's a different thing when five sets of parents entrust the care of their child to your hands.
So it was that I was already awake when Justin came in, climbed up onto the bed, and knocked on my chest. Jeremy joined him. I sat up as Brad propped himself up on his elbow.
"What's up, Bud?" I asked. "Hungry?"
Justin shook his head ‘no'.
"Someone in the bathroom and you can't go pee?"
Again, he shook his head.
"What is it, then?"
"We need a kiss," he said with a smile.
"Well, wouldn't you know it?" I said with a smile of my own. "I just happen to have a few of those right here with me."
The twins puckered their lips and, in their turn, their lips found mine. "Now, kiss Brad," Justin said.
We had barely got into our kiss and I had barely got the taste of Brad on my tongue when Justin's finger hooked itself into the corner of my mouth and pulled. "That's enough, Daddy," he said anxiously. "My feet are cold."
As I lay back into the pillow, Justin scrambled atop me as Jeremy climbed aboard Brad. Both were carefully tucking their feet under the blankets as they settled against our chests. As I pulled the blankets over us, Justin commented, "You're hot, Daddy."
"See, Pops?" Brad said with a grin. "I keep trying to tell you."
"You're pretty hot yourself, Tiger." We grabbed one more quick kiss before I turned my attention back to my son. Justin lay belly-down on my chest, his legs straddling me, his left arm tucked into my armpit, his cheek resting against my shoulder and his face nestled into the nape of my neck. His right arm lay on my chest, his hand cupping my other shoulder.
"You could have put on socks, you know," I told him.
"Socks make my feet warm," Justin replied. "You make all of me feel warm."
I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him. "Is that better?"
I could feel his cheek rub against me and his hair tickle my neck as he nodded his head. "You make all of
me feel warm, too," I whispered. I twisted my head around so I could kiss Justin's hair.
Justin's hand moved from my shoulder to my neck and he hugged his head closer to me. I fell asleep again that way.
It was almost eight-thirty when I woke up the second time to the sounds of the girls rustling around in the hallway and whispering arguments about who was going to use the bathroom first. They sorted themselves into two trios. One trio set off for the boys' bathroom while the other flooded into the main bathroom.
Justin awoke as I sat up and dropped my feet off the side of the bed. I lifted Justin from my lap and set him on the bed. "Stay here until I get changed and I'll take you to get dressed, okay?"
Justin nodded. I stood up, went to the door and closed it, then picked out my wardrobe for the morning. By the time I returned to the bed, Jeremy was sitting up on Brad's stomach. "Need some cool-down time, Tiger?" I asked.
"Not this morning, Pops," he said. "I'm good to go."
As I began changing, Brad lifted Jeremy off his stomach and set him on the bed beside his brother. He crawled off the bottom of the bed and gathered his own clothes. We changed quickly and the twins jumped into my arms. Brad followed us out of the bedroom.
"I'll get coffee started," he said as he turned into the kitchen doorway.
I continued on to the boys' bedroom. The girls had closed the bathroom door. I dropped the twins on the bed and told them to get out of their pyjamas as I picked out matching outfits for them.
"Daddy," Justin said, "how old is Andrew?"
"He's four years old, just like you."
"Why is he more bigger than us?"
"That's just the way it is, Justin" I explained. "Some boys are taller and some boys are shorter." I took their clothes back to the bed and dropped them into two piles.
"When we go to school," Jeremy said, "will the other boys be more bigger than us, too?"
"Some of them will. Some won't." I sat on the side of the bed.
"Will we be big like you when we grow up?" Justin asked.
"I don't know," I said honestly. "We will have to wait and see about that one." I had my doubts about that, though. From what I knew of their parents, neither had been very tall, and their mother had been almost a head shorter than their father. If the boys reach their father's height, I will be surprised. Of course, things could change, but I had a feeling then that my boys weren't going to be stars on the high school basketball team.
The twins had removed their pyjamas and climbed into my lap. Their arms encircled me and they hugged me.
"Daddy?" Justin said softly.
"Mm hmm?"
"Will you still love us if we don't get big like you?"
"I'll love you no matter how big you get."
"Promise?" Jeremy asked.
"I promise my very best promise," I said as I hugged them to me. "I'll
never stop loving you."
I never did find out what brought on this issue with their height.
* * * * *
Nathan was in the kitchen getting a head start on breakfast as I sent the twins off to watch cartoons. I hurried the girls out of the bathrooms and they ran off to Lindsay's room to change into the clothes they'd brought with them.
Before long, the sweet, enticing smells of scrambled eggs and frying bacon and home-made pancakes began to fill the house. Barry arrived and joined me at the kitchen table as Brad and Nathan busied themselves with breakfast for a dozen people.
After breakfast, the girls disappeared into Lindsay's bedroom to finish what was left of their slumber party as Nathan began sorting out and putting away all of the leftover snacks and treats and making little goodie bags for the five guests. Included in each bag was their big lollipop.
As pre-arranged, the parents began arriving to gather their daughters shortly after eleven o'clock and, one by one, Lindsay bade them farewell. I assured Christina's parents that she hadn't eaten a single bit of chocolate.
I closed the door behind Lindsay's final guest as she left with her parents and Lindsay raised her arms to be picked up. I grunted a long grunt as I did so. "My, but you're getting to be a big girl now," I said. I stood with her in the entryway as she hugged me. "Did you all have fun, Sweetheart?"
"We had the best time, Daddy," she said, and she kissed me. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Sweetheart."
We stood there for a long time hugging each other before we joined the others in the livingroom.
To Be Continued
