The Village

Seth’s Perspective

It was Thursday night and we were sitting at the kitchen table with the kids having dinner. I told Zach about my day with Asher, then we talked about his day at the office, and then Freddy talked about his day at camp, and of course Izzy had plenty to say… we only understood about twenty five percent of it, but we hung on every word. Zach and I had been discussing how to talk to the kids about the adoption and had decided to do it at dinner that night, casually while we were all sitting around talking.

“Hey guys, you know your momma is going to be away for a very long time. Right?” Zach said to start the conversation.

“Yeah, cuz’ she was bad” Freddy said as a matter of fact. He had come to grips with that fact a while ago.

“Momma did bad” was all Izzy had to add, I doubt she even knew what she was saying, but if Freddy said it, it was good enough for her, she was the cutest little parrot on earth.

“So, she can’t take care of you” I continued. “But we can. Me and Zach love you guys so much” I said trying not to get emotional.

Izzy piped in, “And mommy love us, and Gwamma Kelly love us, and Gwampa Nafan love us, and Mac love us, and…” she went on listing every name she could come up with as she picked food off the tray of her highchair.

I had to interrupt her. “Yes. Everybody loves, you, Izzy” I said. “But especially me and Zach.” 

“And we love having you guys live here, so we want you two to stay with us forever” Zach said. We knew Freddy understood the concept of “forever.”

“Forever and ever?” Freddy asked in a matter of fact tone looking at us as he ate.

“Yup. The four of us will be a family” I said. Freddy thought about what we were saying, I think he got the concept. Zach explained how we signed some papers, and his mom did the same so that they could stay with us and be safe and never have to go to another foster home. He also mentioned that their last name would be Westin-Hall just like mine, and the he was going to change his own name too so we’d be the Westin-Hall family.

Freddy thought some more, “Will you be our daddy?” He asked Zach with a scrunched look on his face as the wheels in his head turned.

“We both will” Zach said. “You’ll have two daddies’.”

“What about momma, will she come live here?” he asked, but we knew he would. He was thinking through everything.

“No, she needs to stay where she is for a very long time” I said.

“Forever?” he asked.

“We don’t know, maybe” Zach answered truthfully. “But whatever happens, you’ll be here, safe with us. We promise to take care of you both.” There it was, we said all we really could.

“That’s good. I like it here” Freddy said as he ate. 

“I wike it heo too” said Izzy the parrot.

“And we love you both and love having you here.” I responded.

“And I love you” Freddy said looking at his fork before taking another bite. He never said that before, I looked at Zach and smiled a pathetic smile… THAT meant something to us. It was a beautiful moment; I was holding back the tears… And then came Izzy.

“I love you” Izzy added, “And momma, and Gwamma Kelly, and….” And the list went on. Yeah, yeah, yeah her “I love…” rant was a regular bit she did, but I knew she loved us.

“So, are you good with that plan… staying with us and us adopting you?” Zach asked probing to see if he really understood what we had just told him. Freddy nodded, Izzy said “yeah”. That was pretty much the end of the conversation. I guess it went well… I mean what were we expecting from a five year old and a two year old. Right? How in-depth did we expect the conversation to be? We finished our dinner, then watched Minions together, until the kids fell asleep halfway through the movie and we put them to bed.

The next morning Zach was helping Izzy get ready for daycare, and I was in the kitchen making breakfast. Freddy was already at the table waiting for his breakfast when he asked me, “Are you and Zach my daddies?” It was clear he had thought about what Zach said.

“We will be soon” I said.

“Do I have to call you daddy?” He asked thoughtfully. His sincere little brown eyes looked up at me as he spoke casually to me while I tended to the pancakes.

“You can, but you don’t have to. You can still call us Zach and Seth if you want. Do you want to call me Daddy?”

Freddy just nodded and shrugged at the same time as he took a gulp of from the sippy cup he was holding with both hands. A big difference between him and his sister was that she was always talking and he was always thinking. You could see him trying to process everything. “Zach too? I can call you both Daddy?” He asked after he swallowed his orange juice.

I nodded, or “Daddy Zach and Daddy Seth” I said with a little laugh. “I don’t care what you call us, pops, or dad, or whatever you want. We get to make the rules here” I said as I put a pancake on his plate.

“How ‘bout Goofy Daddy, and Silly Daddy?” Freddy asked with a grin as he put some pancake on his fork.

I was laughing out loud at his 5-year old’s joke just as Zach entered the kitchen carrying Izzy and putting her in her highchair. “Freddy just asking what he should call us and we were talking about that… which do you like better, Sill Daddy or Goody Daddy?” I said updating him on the conversation. Zach grinned then we continued to talk about it casually. It was like no big deal to Freddy, if his biggest concern was what to call us, that was a good sign. The four of us talked about it through breakfast (well the three of us talked about it while Izzy added the occasional parroted word as she wolfed down breakfast… man that little girl could put away the groceries). We left it all opened ended; I figured it would all come naturally.

Breakfast was interrupted with the beeping horn of the BroMax minivan as it crunched gravel under its tires (HA! I still couldn’t help but laugh at Max driving a minivan). The minivan stopped, the window rolled down, and Brody yelled from the driver’s seat, “Mornin’ fella’s! It’s time for camp.” I couldn’t help but smile, it was funny seeing Brody drive a minivan. He’d come a long way from the little anti-social artist I had met all those years ago.

Brody’s Perspective

I dropped Theo and Freddy off at summer camp as early as I could, then went up to my studio in the barn and got to work. The agency had just landed several new accounts… two of ‘em kinda huge and I was freakin’ buried. I had support at the agency in Arizona, but I desperately needed somebody on-site to help me organize shit, build files, and keep me on schedule so I could focus on the creative. Seth brought me a new Villager who seemed like a perfect fit. They were a little shy and quirky, but they understood the work, seemed meticulous when it came to files, and most importantly they were quiet… day-um, I was so used to workin’ alone that I was dreadin’ havin’ to share my office, but I fuckin’ needed help. HR was working on an offer for them… “them” that was the other thing, they were intersex. Can I be honest? I didn’t have a day-um clue what that meant. The guy was nice and seemed to know his shit, that’s all I cared about… oh and he spoke Klingon (so, that was a plus, I didn’t have nobody to geek out with); I was looking forward to him startin’ (Seth told me I could say him or they… I hoped he was right).

I was like halfa’ pot of coffee into my day and hadda’ drain the weasel. One of the guys was usin’ the bathroom in the barn so I went into the house to use the master bathroom. I ran up the steps and pushed the door shut behind me, it didn’t quite close all the way. I was standin’ there with my pants open, my hands on my hips, and my head tilted back just showin’ Percy the porcelain when I heard the bathroom door squeak open. A pair of familiar, muscular arms with little red hairs on em’ wrapped around me and Max’s lips whispered in my ear, “well, look what I found, a hot redneck with his dick hanging out” then he put his tongue in my ear.

“It aint even noon yet, and all the guys are out in the barn” I whispered back as I finished squirtin’ out the last coupla’ drops and shook it off.

“Yup” Max said as he grabbed my freshly drained hose and pushed his flaccid, denim-clad cock against my ass. “The guys are all out in the barn, Theo’s at camp, you’re home from Phoenix, and I’ve got about a week’s worth of lovin’ built up in my balls.” He was whisperin’ and teasin’ my ear with his hot breath and wet tongue. Max was taller and more muscular than me and when he was standin’ behind me like that, he just kinda took over. I leaned my head back and we started neckin’ dayum, that boy made me hotter n’ hellfire… always had.

Max’s hands moved down from restin’ on my abs to grabbin’ my weasel and gotdammit it felt good. I was standin’ in our bathroom at about 11:30 on a Friday mornin’ with my husband behind me reachin’ around and strokin’ me makin’ me harder than hail! I protested a little, but c’mon, I aint turning down sex with Maxwell… who am I tryina’ kid. I turned around to face him, (with my weasel still hangin outta my fly), dropped to my knees, and unbuckled his belt. I pulled his jeans and underwear down together and his red bush peeked out first, then his nice, big red rocket sprung free, hard as cee-ment and hotter than Ju-ly. I licked it up and down while I looked in his eyes, damn, how I got so lucky to land this guy in college then get him to move way the fuck out here to the middle a’ nowhere with me after graduation… I aint gotta clue, but I’m damn glad it all worked out. I kept lickin’ up and down until Maxwell got impatient and pushed my head down on his big ole member. I almost choked on the damn thang! I bobbed up n’ down at first, then he put his hands on the back of my head and held it steady while he face-fucked me. Yeah, I slobbered and choked fer a while, loving every damn minute of it, but then I pulled off, grabbed him by the hips and pushed him over to the sink. I bent him over and dropped to my knees again, this time I ate out that white hot fuckin’ ass of his. The little red hairs around his hole got tangled up on my tongue as I opened his hole and lubed his sweet crack with my spit. Day-um he tasted so fuckin’ good and I went ta’ town on him pullin’ his cheeks apart with my hands and pushin’ my tongue deep inside him. He was bent over the vanity with his hands braced against the mirror, moanin’ like a ghost hauntin’ Grammaw’s old house.

I stood up, bent over with my dick pushin against his ass and whispered in his ear, “Y’all started this, so, how mucha’ me you want, Maxwell? Just my tongue, or…” I shut up when he grabbed my hardon and lined it up with his hole.

I was already pulling my pants all the way down when he said, “gimme every inch you got little man,” makin’ me laugh. Then I spit on my hand, lubed myself up and pushed. “Oof” he groaned, then followed that with a “Fuck yes. Fuck me Brody” as I entered him. His voice was low and guttural. He wanted me bad and I was more than happy to oblige pushing deeper into him. Dayum, that ass just ate my tool, I mean it’s tight grip sucked it in and swallowed it whole! I was movin’ in slowly when Maxwell took control and pushed his muscular ass against me. Sweet Jesus, I just stood there as he bucked back against me, fuckin’ himself on me as hard as he could while he grunted and groaned.

“MAX!!!!” Ricky’s voice yelled from the bottom of the steps. “WE GOT A PROBLEM WITH WAX MELTER NUMBER 4 AND NEED YOU IN THE BARN!”

Max’s stammered and yelled “I’M IN THE BATHROOM! I’LL BE RIGHT THERE, JUST SHUT IT DOWN UNTIL I GET THERE!” 

“OKAY!!!” Ricky yelled back.

We heard the backdoor close, then finished the task at hand… blowin’ my load up Maxwell’s ass. I pumped harder and faster while Max slammed his ass back against me. “Fuck yes” I moaned. “Fuck yes” I said.  “FUCK YES” I screamed as my weasel let loose in Maxwell’s bowels (now y’all can’t tell me the guys in the candle barn didn’t hear THAT). We were both pantin’, groanin’ and dripping sweat.

“Shit. I gotta go down to the barn and fix the Wax Melter… but you owe me!” Maxwell said with that innocent, hotter n’ hell, grin of the devil that I loved. He pulled up his pants, fixed his clothes, and walked outta the bathroom in his sweat-soaked shirt actin’ like nuttin’ happened. Yeah, he was right. I owed him one.

I fixed myself up, went down to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, then back up to my studio. Durin’ the summer, Phoenix was two hours behind us (3 hours in the winter), so I always got a jump on everybody… I was already well into my day when the rest of em’ were just pourin’ their coffee. I checked my emails to find the offer for Asher that HR had sent over. It was more than a minimum wage gofer, it was a fulltime, salaried offer with benefits. I told Kevin that I wanted to use him as a production artist… Kev had no problem with that as long as he could get the work done. I had faith in the guy. Seth told me he was getting’ some kinda disability and Medicare, so I’m sure Rodney and Seth would have to help them figure out what to do about all that. Ash told me that he could schedule his classes at night, so hopefully we could work it all out. I read through the document, then forwarded it to Ash lettin’ him know I’d give him a call around three o’clock to talk about it (I blind copied Seth so he know what was goin’ on). Then I went back to work tacklin’ all the shit pilin’ up. There were so many files to build (click and drag work I called it), and I really needed to be focusin’ on the design… Asher couldn’t get there soon enough for me.

Seth called me about 1:00, he was way too excited about the offer. “Brody, this is like, a professional career offer!” he said.

I just laughed, “Well, I wasn’t lookin’ for a janitor, Seth. I think he can handle it.”

“I’m just afraid he’ll be overwhelmed by it all” Seth said with concern.

“I aint a rank amateur, son” I said with my best accent. “I’ll ease him in and figure out what he can do, and what he’s best at.” I knew what I was doin’, but I was always amazed at how much Seth cared about his guys. Seth and I talked for a little while longer before we hung up, he was so excited. I thought back to when Max decided to ask him to run The Village. Maxwell was spot-on. Seth was the only that I could imagine running The Village. He cared so damn much about every one of the guys, and went out of his way to handle every detail to make sure they all had a fair chance at a decent life.

At 3:00 I called Asher. “Hey Asher, It’s Brody James, did you get my email?” I asked.

“Yes” he said. Nuthin’ more.

“Well, what do y’all think about it?” I asked trying to get a read on him.

“It’s good.” He said. “Will I have a desk?”

It was an odd conversation, even for me. “Yeah. We’ll get you a laptop too. How about startin’ on Wednesday?” I threw out there.

“Okay” he said. “What time?”

“Can you get here by 9:00?” I asked.

“Yes. Should I bring a lunch?” He responded, his questions were very short, and surface.

“Nah, we’ll order somethin’ in for your first day and we can eat with the guys in the candle barn so you can get to know ‘em all.” I responded.

“Okay” Was all I got in response, then we said goodbye and hung up. Asher was calm and almost short with me on the phone, but I was guessin’ that inside he was jumpin’ with excitement.

 

I had so much crap pilin’ up that the rest of my workday went by faster n’ Bill Elliot qualifyin’ for the Winston 500 at Talladega in ‘87 (yeah, I know NASCAR). I worked until everybody started showin’ up for pizza night at our place and Theo and Freddy ran into my office and dragged me down to “the party.” The house and yard were full of people. Dylan and his family, Zach and Seth’s Family, Eli and Riley, and of course our family. Funny thing is, I never been one for socializin’, but hangin’ out with these guys never felt like socializin’. There wasn’t any pressure, they just let me be me. If I had my fill of ‘em all, I’d just go off into a corner alone and nobody said boo about it.

“Hey Brodes” Seth said as I walked into the kitchen. “I heard Asher accepted the offer.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t seem all that excited about it” I answered.

“Are you shitting me?!” Seth said whisperin’ the word “shitting” so the kids didn’t hear. “He called me after he hung up with you and wouldn’t shut up. He’s so excited” Seth added. Asher was different with me on the phone that he was with Seth, He obviously wasn’t that comfortable with me yet… but I was glad he was excited. That kid had talent; he just needed a chance. Seth started talkin’ again, “He was freaking out over what to wear, how to get to work, what paperwork he needed to fill out for insurance, even if he should bring his own office supplies” Seth shook his head and laughed as he made the salad.

I laughed, “Good, I’m glad he’s excited, I need the help bad” I said. “I know we’re in the middle of nowhere and there aint no public transportation comin’ out here… it’d be a pain in the ass, but does he need me to pick him up?”

“Nah, we got him covered” Seth said, still tossin’ the salad (and no not in that way). “He can drive the green Beetle for now, and if it works out we’ll find him his own car. Daddy just took a few in from Taylor’s dealership that could work for Ash. He would just have to pay for parts and put in his time helping Daddy fix it up.” I chuckled a little under my breath at that thought, Asher was a lot of things, but I was guessin’ grease monkey wasn’t on that list.

“Good, he starts on Wednesday and I got a buncha’ stuff waitin’ for him already” I said. “Dylan’s buddy got us a deal on a desk, so me and Dylan will get his workspace ready over the weekend, and the IT guys are loadin’ up a computer with all the software he needs and it should get here on Tuesday, so he should be ready to hit the ground runnin’.” Seth was happy that things were workin’ out for Asher… but when Seth was in the middle of it all, things usually worked out. That guy Knew how to make shit happen.

While we were talkin’ we heard Ella come up the drive in Falkor (Grammaw’s old car) with the pizza’s. She was another one of Seth’s success stories. Seth helped her brother Colton when he was homeless, then he rallied The Village around them to help Colton get guardianship of Ella, find a safe place ta’ live, and a decent job that paid the bills. He even sold her his car for almost nothin’ so she could get to school and work. Like I said that guy could make shit happen. Anyway, everybody threw their cash on the table for the Pizza’s and I went out to the car to help Ella. We unloaded the pizzas and brought them into the house, Seth convinced her to stay for a few minutes and hang out; she was part of our bigger family.

That old house Grammaw left me had turned into the center of our little community and was fulla’ life n’ love.  Grammaw woulda’ loved it, that’s what she hoped would happen when she left it to me, that I’d move back to home to North Carolina and turn her house into a home again. It worked.

 

To be continued…