The Village

Seth’s Perspective

Thursday morning Zach shook me awake out of a sound sleep whispering, “Seth, Seth, wake up. You gotta see this.” I got out of bed in my boxers and a T shirt and followed him down the hallway to Freddy’s door, “Look at that” he whispered. I peeked in the room and there was Izzy fast asleep in her brother’s bunk with him spooning her. Zach snapped a couple of pics before we tiptoed back to our room.

“Oh my god, that was so frigging cute” I whispered. “Zach, she was so upset when we left Karen yesterday, it broke my heart.”

“I know” he replied. “Thank god she’s got Freddy… he’s an amazing big brother.” I couldn’t help but agree.

The next couple of days were touch and go with Izzy, she was really missing her momma. Those kids seemed so well adjusted that it was easy to forget what they had been through, and that they lost their mother… no she wasn’t dead, but she wasn’t there either. Izzy hit a rough patch, and Freddy and her new family did their best to help her through it. We all tried to put the smile back on her cute little face and failed miserably. I was googling everything I could find about our unique family situation. While I was pulling things up, I came across an article I wrote my sophomore year that my professor help me get published in a trade journal about different types of “gay lifestyles.” I had written about gay couples, gay singles, gay throuples, and gay families. It occurred to me that no one knew shit… all we had when it came to this subject was observation and experience, and frankly every lifestyle was different. I thought about writing a follow-up, but that would have to wait.

Like I said, we were all trying to help Izzy, and it was Eli of all people who finally broke through to her. We were having Pizza Night at our place when Eli let one rip… a big ole fart for all to hear! Without missing a beat, he looked at Izzy’s redheaded doll baby Maxine who was sitting in Izzy’s lap and said in disgust, “Maxine! Now that wasn’t very ladylike of you.”

Izzy cracked up. She giggled for the first time in two days as she barked back at her uncle, “Dat not Maxine, dat you Unko Ewy… you tink!” Eli shook his head ‘no’ and the two argued with Izzy laughing the entire time. The argument ended with her and Unko Ewy in a tickle fight on the living room floor. Our entire village failed to get through to her… except for my brother Eli, our village idiot (I truly loved my brother). He successfully brought Izzy out of her funk with a stupid fart joke… who knew? That night, Izzy slept in her own bed and when she woke up Saturday morning, she was her own, perfect, lovable self again. Sadly, I doubted that this was a one-time episode, I was sure there was more heartache down the road but we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

I was up early on Saturday preparing… it was pickling day!!! And yes… I was absolutely, frigging excited about spending the day making pickles (and getting pickled) with my village of friends and family. This year was going to be our biggest crowd yet; Me, Max, Gina, BA, Mrs. J, Kelly, Marilee, and Ronda were all joining us. Zach, Brody, and Dylan were spending the day with the kids While Nathan and Daddy James did some work around the Hall’s new Villa.

While I was working in the kitchen my phone rang, it was an unknown caller. When I answered, a deep voice said, “We have a call from the New Hanover Correctional Center, do you accept?” It had to be Karen.

“Yes, I accept” I heard a few clicks, then I said “Hello?”

“Seth? This is Karen” said the voice on the other end of the line. “I wanted to check on Izzy, she was so upset when she left here the other day, I’ve been worried about her.” Karen really did love those kids.

“She’s better. It was a rough couple of days, but she’s doing good today” I said. “How about you, that couldn’t have been easy.”

“Nope. It fucking sucked, but it is what it is” she said with a resolved tone and ended her sentence with a heavy sigh. “Seth, my lawyer says I’ll probably get 5-10 years when all is said and done. He’s gonna fight for parole, but who knows. He told me they may move me to a different facility, one that’s further away because this one is so small and had limited capacity. Listen, I will understand if you can’t keep bringing the kids to see me.”

“Karen, we will find a way. If you think Izzy was sad when she had to leave you, just think about how devastated she would be if she didn’t get to see you at all” I responded. Yup, Karen fucked up… but my kids loved her, not to mention the fact that if it wasn’t for her and her fuck ups, we wouldn’t have those two amazing little people in our world. We owed her.  Zach came into the kitchen while I was on the phone and I whispered to him to let him know who I was talking to. I just stood there and listened. Karen was only allowed a short time on the phone, and I hoped she felt better before she had to go. After we hung up, I updated Zach on our conversation, then he packed up the kids, vacated the premises, and I got back to my pickling day preparations.

By 9AM I had everything set up with big pots of water boiling on all four burners, Jars sanitized and ready to fill, a couple bushels of stuff from my garden sitting on the kitchen floor, and my herbs and spices measured out and ready to go. Gina showed up first followed by the others, by 10AM everyone was there except Max, he had texted that he had to run downtown and would be late. We all busied ourselves prepping jars with spices and vegetables, and just making idol chit chat.

“So, Sammy and Suzanne aren’t joining the kids today?” I asked Ronda.

“Nah, they’re at Suzanne’s mother’s in High Point. I’m a bachelorette this weekend and looking forward to just hanging out in a spouse free and kid free environment.” The newcomers, Ronda, and Marilee both started asking questions about how we all knew each other, etc. “So, now BA… you’re Brody’s stepmother, right?” Ronda asked.

“Yup. And Dylan’s step momma too… also Max and Gina’s Mother in-law” BA Responded.

Ronda nodded her understanding, then asked “And Kelly, you’re Zach’s mom, right?”

“And Riley’s mom, and Seth and Eli’s mother in-law” Kelly added.

“Wait, wait, wait…” Marilee said trying to piece all the relationships together. “Your kids are married to brothers?”

“Yup” Kelly said as she continued to fill her jars. “After Seth came into Zach’s life, I wanted to clone him for Riley, Eli was the next best thing” she said making everyone laugh. “Our families blended seamlessly” she added then proceeded to tell the story of how Zach and I met, and how Eli and Riley met at our wedding, etc.

“Ya’ know if Zach would’ve been straight, I probably would’ve landed him in college” Gina added with a laugh.

“Well, only if I was still gay… you wanted me first” I shot back. Gina laughed then told the story of how she met me and Zach our first night in the dorms which led to me telling the story of how I met Max at church (that had them all cracking up), then the story of how we met Brody when we moved into the duplex, dragged him out of his studio and made him be social. Ronda and Marilee were getting to know us and loving it all. Mrs. J and Kelly were also getting a history lesson… BA of course knew all the details.

After our stories, We grilled the newbies. I learned a lot about them. I learned Sammy was Suzanne’s biological son with a sperm donor. I learned that Marilee’s wife was previously married to a man and Marilee had a stepdaughter who lived with her father. So many different types of families.

We were all talking, laughing, and telling college stories when Max finally showed up. He had a case of canning jars and bushel full of stuff from his garden. “Hey, can someone help me? I have more shit in the truck” he said as he put his stuff on the floor.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I just had to go meet the dumpster guy and Bubba at the church. We start demolition this weekend” Max said. “That reminds me… we could use some help pulling shit out of the building and throwing it into the dumpster tomorrow if anyone is bored with nothing to do.” I volunteered out family and then walked him to the truck to get the rest of his gear.

By the time we got back to the kitchen, BA had several Kerr jars lined up on the counter and was pouring the moonshine out of the jug. “Time to start picklin’ gang” she said. “What’s the first thing we pickle?” she asked.

Those of us who had lived through previous pickling days shouted “ourselves” and then sipped the moonshine. The newcomers laughed then followed suit, that’s when the party began. My kitchen was loud with laughter and conversation. I was so proud of our home! Just a year ago it was still the “Witch’s House” and smelled like stale moth balls, now it was full of laughter, a hub of activity, and home to our amazing little family. For hours we carried on pickling everything in sight, by later afternoon we were all sitting on the porch with our moonshine basking in our buzz (yeah, that was an understatement, we were snockered AF). Zach called to check on us, but he got very little info other than a drunken, slurred “I love you, and Freddy, and Izzy, and our home…” our of me, in my drunken state I was sounding like Izzy. Brody called Max and got a similar answer. We were all drunk, but then again that wasn’t a surprise to anyone.

About an hour later Nathan and Daddy showed up with a couple of buckets of KFC, “We figured y’all might be hungry.”

Max was drunk off his pale ginger ass and said “hey Daddy” in a sultry voice making everyone crack up.

“Well, I hope y’all are havin’ fun because the rest of us decided all y’all are stayin’ here tonight” Daddy announced.

“I’m good with that” I slurred with a laugh.

“I gotsa get home to my babies” Gina slurred.

“Zach and the kids are stayin’ at BroMax, and I’m gonna stay with Dylan and help with the kids… y’all keep the party goin’” Daddy said.

Nathan followed up with “And I’m taking you home, Kel.”

“Nuh, huh Mister man” Kelly sputtered out, “This is my last night in town, I’m havin’ a great time, I’m staying here with my peeps” I had never seen my mother in-law that drunk before.

“I’m stayin’ too” BA said. So… it was done, the picklers were pickled and having a sleepover. Daddy and Nathan left and the rest of us chowed down on fried chicken, talked all night, and got to know the newcomers. We were drunk as HAIL… all of us, even Kelly and Mrs. J, we had the best time until we all finally passed out.

Zach called me in the morning waking me up at about 7AM, “Hey, the kids are up and ready to come home… you guys all decent?” he asked with a laugh in his voice.

“Huh?” I asked. I had a moonshine hangover and was passed out until he called. I looked next to me and Max and Gina were passed out on our bed with me. “Um, I’m still in bed… apparently I slept with Max and Gina” I whispered, my mouth and throat were dry. I rolled out of bed (literally) still fully dressed, and continued to talk to Zach as I made my way down the hallway. I looked in Izzy’s room, “Well, your mom and Mrs. J are passed out on the bunk beds in Izzy’s room and BA is sleeping on the floor.” Then I peeked into Freddy’s room to find Ronda and Marilee in Freddy’s bunks. “And Ronda and Marilee ore in Freddy’s room.” I walked down the steps into the kitchen to make coffee… my head was throbbing. Shit!” I grumbled when I walked into the kitchen. “The kitchen is trashed. Can you kill like a half hour before you come home so I can get everyone up and moving and clean the kitchen up?”

Zach laughed, “God, you guys are a freaking mess. You got thirty minutes before your kids come home… get your act together drunk boy.” Then before he hung up Zach added, “Hey… I love your drunk ass.”

“I love you too” I said before I hung up and got the coffee brewing. I poured a cup for myself, then went upstairs and started gently waking everyone up. Room by room they all came to life and came down to the kitchen. We quietly sipped coffee, cleaned up the kitchen and loaded the jars of pickles into the boxes. By the time Zach showed up with the kids we were all on the front porch drinking coffee and talking quietly. We were half dead but presentable.

“Daddy Zeff” Izzy said as she got out of the car and ran toward the porch to see me, “I sweeped ovo wif unko Bwody!” (Izzy to English translation: ‘I slept over at Uncle Brody’s home’) She was so proud of herself.

“That sounds like fun” I said. “I had a sleepover too.”

“Gwamma” She yelled when Kelly caught her eye, then ran over to her and told her all about her ‘sweepovo’. Meanwhile, Gina was checking in with Dylan via text, Marilee was on the phone with her wife, and Ronda was loading a box of pickles into her Subaru… the party was breaking up. We all hugged and quietly said goodbye, loud noises weren’t welcome after a day of drinking moonshine… and as much as we all loved Izzy, her exuberance was a bit much to take that morning. Kelly and Nathan hugged their grandchildren goodbye, they were flying back to Wisconsin in the afternoon and wouldn’t be back until Thanksgiving.

After everyone left, Zach made us all a nice greasy breakfast. I popped a couple of Advil, sipped my coffee, ate greasy food, and did my best to nurse my hangover while the kids told me all about their day. They had had so much fun and were so excited to tell me about it… god, I loved my family. “I promised Max we’d go down to the church and help them empty the place out so they can start demolition” I said to Zach.

“What about the kids?” He asked.

“We’ll bring ‘em with, Freddy will be there too.” I said. “They can play in the big empty building while we work.” We finished breakfast then I cleaned up more of the pickling day aftermath while Zach took a shower. When he was done it was my turn to shower while he got the kids dressed and ready for a day of church demolition. When everyone was ready, we moved the car seats to the pickup and headed downtown… FYI I was wearing sunglasses to hide my bloodshot eyes for the kids.

We got to the church and Max, Brody, and Freddy were already hard at work throwing things in the big dumpster outside. Eli’s Bronco was parked in the lot and so was Bubba’s truck. We parked, got out and went over to greet the Harrington-James clan. Freddy came running over to greet our kids while Max yelled across the parking lot to us.

“Hey! Thanks for coming” He said as we walked towards each other. “My head is throbbing” he added as we got closer.

“God, mine too” I said still wearing my sunglasses. Max thanked me for hosting Pickling Day (we all needed the escape), then updated us about what they wanted to get done that day. We headed into the old building with the kids running ahead laughing and screaming in the echoey  old structure. Man, they had already ripped the place apart! The main church area was empty, Eli was installing some boxes on the old altar so they could hardwire some equipment (commercial wax melters or something like that). We greeted each other, the kids of course went nuts when they saw ‘Unko Ewi’. Eli handed me an electric screwdriver and put me to work. Bubba pulled Zach into helping him rip out something in the old choir balcony. They had a blueprint and schematics, and checklists handing on the wall. It was clear that these guys had a plan and were on a mission to bring it to life. We worked our asses off… nothing better than hard work to sweat out a moonshine hangover (side note… I smelled like shit as the moonshine came out of my body in the form of sweat). We kept going until the kids had had enough for the day, but Max and Brody were on a mission.

“Hey, can you guys take Teddy with you?” Max asked. “I want to finish up the demo in the sacristy before we leave.” Like I said, Max was on a mission.

“Yeah, he can hang with us” Zach said with a smile… we loved having Teddy around. We finished up what we were working on and headed home with Teddy sitting in his car seat wedged in the back of the pickup between our two lovable hellions. At home we ate dinner together then the kids played for a while. Max texted that they were getting close to the end of the demolition of the sacristy and wanted to stay until they were done. Teddy ended up sleeping in Freddy’s spare bunk, Max texted that he’d stop by for him in the morning.

Once the kids were in bed, I HAD to take a shower… I seriously wreaked from the moonshine sweat (who knew that was a thing?). I stripped and left my clothes lying on the bathroom floor, then got under the warm water… it felt so damn good! I was wiped out from a day of drinking moonshine and a day of backbreaking work at the future home of BroMax Candle Company. The hottish water washed over me and steam filled the bathroom. It took all my strength just to keep standing as my legs turned to noodles under the heat and I started to relax. “Hey” Zach’s voice whispered through the steam, “you got room for one more?”

I chuckled at my husband and responded, “Yeah, but I am frigging wiped out.”  I could hear him unzip his jeans and rustle out of his clothes, then the shower door slid open and his beautiful, chiseled face appeared through the steam as he stepped into the shower with me. We stood face to face and kissed, he instantly grabbed my soft, relaxing member and tried to stroke it to life. “Zach, not tonight. I am so frigging whipped out from this weekend.”

“And I’m so frigging horny from sleeping alone on the couch at Brody and Max’s last night while you, Max and the ladies of the pickle got drunk” Zach said with a chuckle, a smile, and a soft kiss as he did his best to awaken my sleeping serpent. “Besides, I’ll do all the work.” With that statement he dropped to his knees and started to fulfill his promise. Damn, he licked up and down before taking me in his mouth and swallowing my soft manhood. I was so wiped out but my cock had no choice but to grow inside his warm, talented mouth. I stood there on my noodle-esque legs trying to stay upright while he went up and down on my now hard cock giving me an amazing blowjob. I leaned back to brace myself on the wall under the showerhead and reached for the handheld shower massage and set it on power pulse. I held it down and pointed it at Zach’s sweet, tight hole while he continued to pleasure me. He growled out a “Fuck” in response and lifted his ass to give me access. The pulsating showerhead teased his hole and motivated him to work harder and faster on my now fully erect member. Zach succeeded in sending my entire blood supply below the belt, considering how exhausted I was, it was hard to believe I was hard as a freaking rock. I was too tired to even warn him about my impending orgasm. With one hand I held his head down on me, with the other I teased his sweet hole with the water-wand. He wiggled his ass in an effort to beg for more teasing as he swallowed my moonshine-ladened load (I had to wonder if he could taste it).

After he swallowed every drop, he stood and kissed me, I could taste my own cum, it was more bitter and sour than usual. I guess the moonshine DID make a difference. While we were kissing, Zach finished himself off and shot on my balls and softening cock. I felt the heat of his cum before the warm water washed it all down the drain. We cleaned up, dried off, pulled on some clean boxers, and called it a night. I spent another night in the arms of the man I loved.

Monday morning it was back to the grind. I got the kids up and ready for school, including Teddy. Max stopped by early with a change of clothes and his backpack. He stayed for coffee. Then it was off to school for the kids and an action packed day of work for me. I called my father on the way to the office to invite him and Best for Thanksgiving.

While we were talking, he asked, “Can I ask a humongous favor of you?”

“Sure” I responded.

“Would it be okay if Best invited his son Benny and his husband for Thanksgiving too?”  He asked.

“I um, thought they were estranged” I said.

“Well, they’ve been talking over the last few months, and I thought this might be a good, way to bring them together on neutral territory for the holidays” my dad responded.

“Yeah, of course” I said. I was sure Zach would be fine with it, we both loved a full house. “But I don’t know if we’ll have the room to put everyone up overnight this year with the kids and all, and I’m not sure if we can borrow the neighbor’s house again like we did last year.” Last Thanksgiving, we had my whole family, this year, my sisters were celebrating with their in-laws, and Brad and Scotty were staying in Phoenix to celebrate with Kev and the original village. So, it was us, The Hall’s, Riley and Eli, my dad and Best… and now maybe Benny Bestford and his husband.

“We’ll find somewhere to stay, maybe a hotel or an Air BnB” Dad responded and we talked details for the rest of my ride into work. The rest of my day was the usual stuff; sessions, grant proposals, meetings, picking up the kids, and dinner with my sweet family.

That night after I put the kids to bed, I sat in the living room and wrote for the first time in years. I had a story inside me… maybe even a whole book. The world I lived in felt worth sharing.

To be continued…