"Johnny? Can I ask you something?" Alan almost immediately dropped his guard. This was how Alan was when he and John talked. He felt like he could tell his older brother anything. Well, almost anything.
"Sure sprout. You don't need to ask." John offered another piece of pancake to Alan and grabbed a tissue to dab at a drop of syrup that dripped onto Alan's chin. The younger blonde chewed slowly while he thought of his question. He accepted another sip of orange juice when John offered the straw to him.
"How…" Alan seemed hesitant to voice his question, now wishing he hadn't asked. John picked up on his discomfort before gently reassuring Alan.
"It's okay to talk to me buddy. Whatever you and I talk about is going to stay between us unless you want me to tell dad and the others." Alan chewed on his lip anxiously. He was afraid to talk about his nightmare, but John and his brothers had told him that they wouldn't be easy to handle if he didn't talk about them.
"Fine. How do you…personally handle nightmares? I mean do you only just talk about them or do you have another method for relieving them? I had another one last night and it was worse than the first one." John's shoulders slumped at hearing Alan had another nightmare.
"Care to tell me about it?" John moved up slightly before reaching across to gently squeeze Alan's shoulder.
"Promise you won't tell dad and the guys? I don't want them to worry." Alan gave John a pleading look. John gave Alan the last bite of his pancakes and made him finish his orange juice before allowing him to speak anymore.
"Allie, please don't make me promise that. If it was really traumatic, I will be required to tell dad…you know that. The last time I kept my mouth shut after a traumatic event you suffered because you couldn't eat after a while. I don't want anything like that happening again!" John pleaded with Alan to not hold him to that type of promise.
"Please Johnny? I won't let it get so far out of hand like last time. If I continue having really bad dreams, I will tell you straight away and you can tell dad…just not this one. I don't want to hurt anyone." Alan begged John to keep his mouth shut.
"Allie, if your ulcer starts acting up again…I will be forced to spill everything to the guys. All our talks about your nightmares, your worries for the guys each time they go out on a rescue. I mean, I can remember finding you curled up in a ball on your bedroom floor in agony because you developed an ulcer. Remember the kind of pain you were in because it prevented you from eating anything substantial? You don't know how frightened I was…Gordon was in the hospital. Dad, Scott and Virgil were all at the hospital with him and I was at home with you. We were lucky Brains diagnosed the problem while Kyrano had an herbal tea that helped to settle your stomach." John pushed the breakfast tray away before gently touching his forehead to Alan's. "I don't want to hide anything from dad and the guys, especially if it is something that is going to potentially cause more harm than good."
"It's just, I already know that it is something you will want to go to dad straight away…but I don't want to hurt the guys. You and dad weren't in my dream. It was Scott, Virgil and Gordy." Alan shook slightly upon remembering the dream.
"Can I make a deal with you then? As much as it is against my better judgment, may I be allowed permission to tell only dad? Please? He will need to know if this dream is as bad as you make it sound." John opened his eyes to look directly into Alan's identical blue eyes.
Alan sat silently, gazing back into John's eyes. He contemplated allowing John to tell their dad. The only thing that kept Alan from agreeing outright was his fear that his dad would tell Scott and the others. Alan didn't plan on keeping the nightmares hidden forever, but he didn't want his brothers to become distant because of a stupid nightmare. Sighing as deeply as was comfortable, Alan nodded granting his permission that John could tell their dad.
"Fine Johnny…but can I make a request? If you deem the dream to be something dad should know about, can you try to swear him not to breathe a word of it to the others? I don't want them to walk on eggshells around me." Alan looked downcast at his blanketed lap.
"I will try Allie, but there is no guarantee that dad will promise to stay silent." John reached up and gently brushed some of Alan's blonde locks from his face.
"Okay. That's all that I ask." Alan leaned into John's touch. He felt comfortable being with his like-minded older brother; he always knew how to help Alan and never failed to lend an ear.
"Now…please tell me about your dream." John looked directly at Alan and gave him a reassuring smile.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Scott exited the bathroom towel drying his brown locks. He heaved a sigh of relief. It didn't seem like Gordon caused disaster in the room yet. Virgil hadn't strangled their younger mischievous redheaded brother. He looked around the room and looked surprised to see both Virgil and Gordon lying on their stomachs on one of the beds. They were both looking at a rather large book.
"Hey, what are you two poring over?" Scott draped the damp towel over his shoulders before standing in front of his brothers…peering at the book upside down. "What's this?"
Neither Virgil nor Gordon answered Scott. They were both staring intently at a letter written in an unfamiliar penmanship. Scott noticed the print was very light, and elegant. It looked like something a girl would write, it kind of reminded Scott of his Grandma Ruth's hand writing. Scott gently nudged Virgil's head to get his attention. Virgil looked up at Scott, confusion clearly on his face.
"What are you two knuckleheads looking at?" Scott continued to gaze down at the upside down letter, unable to make heads or tails of it.
"Reading a letter…written to Alan." Virgil nudged Gordon to gain his attention so he wasn't alone in explaining.
"A letter from whom, why is it in an album?" Scott looked between his two brothers, clearly wanting to know what was going on.
"Maybe you should look at the pictures first before we try reading the letter to you. I have yet to finish reading the first half and it looks like there is another side." Virgil flipped to the previous page. It was the pictures of Alan with the elderly couple. Scott sat on the bed beside Virgil to look at it. His eyes grew to the size of a saucer upon reading the caption at the bottom.
"Alan poses….what the hell is this? I don't recognize either of those people." Scott looked at Virgil and Gordon now utterly lost.
"We didn't understand either. But there is another picture." Virgil flipped to the next page.
There was an enlarged picture of Alan, Fermat, the elderly couple known as Elsie and Hubert and four other boys. They were all standing together. One boy was kneeling between the elderly couple while the man and woman kissed him on the cheeks, while Alan, Fermat and the other three boys stood behind the first group of three with their arms slung over each other's shoulders.
"The caption reads: A group photo pictured from left to right front row. Grandpa Hubert Jackson, James 'Jamie' Mueller, Grandma Elsie Jackson. From left to right back row: Alan Tracy, Fermat Hackenbacker, Edward 'Eddy' Alexander, Josh Curry and Todd Morgan." Gordon ran his fingers along the familiar neat print of their brother Alan reading aloud.
"Then there is a letter here. It looks like it is from the Elsie from the photo and it is addressed to Alan." Virgil delicately slipped the letter out of its vinyl cover.
"I feel like we shouldn't be doing this. It's invading Al's privacy." Scott felt uncomfortable sticking his nose into his baby brother's private matters. But his curiosity had also been piqued.
"But it would answer questions that we now have over who these people are. We can't exactly walk up to Alan and say 'Tell us who Grandma Elsie and Grandpa Hubert Jackson are.' yeah that would go over well with the sprout." Gordon retorted. He hadn't really read anything in the letter having just gotten over his shock over discovering it with Virgil.
"Fine, just read it." Scott was just as curious as Virgil and Gordon. This was against his better judgment, but he wanted to know.
"Okay, it says:" Virgil began reading the letter aloud.
Dear Alan,
I want to start off by thanking you. You and your group of friends helped my darling Jamie reconnect with me and his grandfather. You don't know how much I appreciate all you did. Jamie's biological father took him away from us after his mother and stepfather died. We had given up hope of ever seeing our beloved Jamie again, but then you showed up at our home, just you and Jamie. I can't even begin to tell you how much like his mother he looks, he is my Jamie.
I still can't believe that you and Jamie knew each other before actually having met in person. I can remember when I was your age in junior high school and writing letters to pen pals. Small world isn't it? That after an accidental blow up in a chemistry lab that you would unknowingly transfer to the same school as your longtime pen pal.
From what you and your group of friends have told Hubert and me, Jamie is considered the baby brother in the group. He and that cute boy with glasses, Fermat are both the same age and both of them are incredibly intelligent. I knew that Jamie inherited his mother's intelligence.
I am pleased to say that the digging you did for us pulled up my Stephanie's last will and testament. Hubert and I contacted our lawyer and apparently Jamie's father had no right to take him from us. It can be disputed that Hubert and I still have sole custody over him. If that is the case, then Hubert and I decided to take Edward's suggestion and help Jamie get emancipated.
We may be elderly, but we do know our way around the block when it comes to law…after all you are talking to two of the world's best lawyers. What is that thing you kids say nowadays…rolling of the floor laughing? Well I think it is a safe bet that if I followed that particular bit of advice I may as well just not get back up. These old bones aren't as spry as they used to be. Alas, once upon a dream.
I just wanted to let you know, to watch out for Harvey. He is not a mean man, but he likes to pull the wool over your eyes. I still can't manage to wrap my head around how he became headmaster to your school…my best guess is that he twisted a few arms to remain close and keep a sharp eye on Jamie. He is a very jealous man.
I hope I am not out of line by confiding in you…but Jamie has already assured me that he has told you all he knows of what his father did. But I am angry that he managed to pull the wool over Stephanie's eyes when they first got together. He had a wife and son already, and convinced my Stephanie that he was single and without a child. Jamie told me he learned of his being a 'love child' from his father. He told Jamie he wasn't wanted, and that he should never have been born. But then he takes Jamie from us, and keeps him practically under lock and key.
But you have been an angel to Jamie. He told me that once…you found him after Harvey had punished him for something that he hadn't done, and he'd been crying. He spoke highly of how you pulled him to his feet and took him to the gym and after locking the door; allowed him to yell and scream at you for close to two hours. Jamie said he wasn't yelling at you, but you told him to pretend that you were his father. However, I am disappointed that you goaded him into throwing a few punches. Boys will be boys though right? Jamie assured me that he was unable to get a hit on you though…apparently you are incredibly agile. Oh now look at me, I am rambling.
I had originally intended for this letter to just be a small note…sent with the batch of my homemade chocolate chip cookies for you boys as a care package. But as you can see, this has gone from being a note, to being a long-winded letter. It's just; there is so much I want to tell you. But I am afraid that it can't all be written down on paper. Perhaps the next time you and your group of friends need something to do on the weekends, you all can take advantage of open campus and come have tea and cookies with us.
Please do me a favor and call me grandma and Hubert grandpa from now on. I know it must get tiring having to remember to call me Elsie and Hubert…Hubert, but it is the least that we can do. I know you still have a grandma, but if you will let us…we would like to unofficially adopt you boys as our grandsons. After all, with you boys calling our Jamie your little brother that makes you all our grandchildren.
I suppose I had better wrap this letter up for now. I do hope to see you and the boys for tea and cookies this Easter. I know that you and Jamie talked about setting up a little Easter egg hunt for the young ones in our neighborhood. Hopefully it will go over well. But I trust you boys to make it all fun. I also hope you enjoy your birthday present that we all chipped in to get for you. I know you will make good use of that camera, we didn't know what else to get you. Jamie and the boys all noticed you took a lot of pictures with your phone, and we figured you could use a real camera to pursue your hobby. You are a very talented young man, and you will go far in life.
Hubert and I send our love to you and the boys.
Much love
Grandma Elsie & Grandpa Hubert
Virgil finished reading the letter and just stared at the paper in his hands. That explained it. The elderly couple in the photo was one of the boy's grandparents. Apparently the boy with curly brown hair was Elsie and Hubert's grandson James.
"Wow. So…" Gordon was shocked to say the least. Finding that letter and reading it seemed to fill in a lot of the blanks. The elderly couple was not related to them at all, but they treated Alan and his friends as their grandchildren. There were still so many questions.
"I think that this just confuses me more. Why have we never known of Alan having a pen pal? Surely Alan would have told us that he met his pen-pal in person." Virgil pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Maybe it's just like how we never knew that he played a variety of sports. Let's face it, Alan has grown up a lot and we missed quite a bit of it. Not only that, but since when did he develop a love for photography?" Gordon took the letter from Virgil's hands and carefully slipped it back behind the clear plastic cover of the photo album. "Maybe we don't know him as well as we thought we did. But I swear to you that will change. I am not going to allow Alan to grow up any more without me there to witness it."
"What are you two talking about? Alan doesn't play sports." Scott was confused; he hadn't seen the photos that the others had the other night.
"Yeah, he does Scott what are you talking about?" Virgil stared at Scott before realization dawned on him. "Right, you were still at the hospital when we found the pictures. Here let me show you." Virgil flipped to the start of the album and showed Scott the first picture of Alan and Fermat cutting up at mealtime.
"Is this what they do when their bored?" Scott covered his mouth to hide the smile at seeing proof that Alan was still very much a kid.
"No, this is what they do when they are clowning around." Gordon flipped to the next page. "See there is a picture of him playing basketball."
"I'm impressed. He always told me he hated basketball." Scott gazed at the photo in disbelief.
"Well for a kid who claims to hate basketball, he sure plays a mean game. Check out the scoreboard in the background." Gordon squinted to read the fuzzy numbers in the background. "It looks like the score at halftime was Wharton's 35 and visitors 30." Gordon puffed out his cheeks as he sighed.
"No wonder it looks like Alan's about to keel over, he probably spent most of the time on the court rather than on the bench." Virgil remarked on how tired Alan looked in the picture. He was dribbling the ball at what looked like a sprint being closely followed by an opponent. Both boys in the image were dripping in sweat and their hair was sticking to their foreheads. Alan's cheeks in the image were red, no doubt from the running alone.
"Knowing how fast a runner Alan is, I wouldn't be surprised if they had kept him on the court through the entire game." Gordon looked at his brothers, before pointing at the small collage of photos. "See here Scott? Alan also plays lacrosse, rugby, soccer, track, and swimming."
"I figured you were the only resident fish in the family. Guess I was wrong." Scott looked at the photos, recognizing his little brother's thin form in all the photos. The picture of Alan jumping from the starting platform was what amazed Scott. He had watched Gordon swim all his life, and never had he seen Alan take part in races with the redhead. 'Maybe he didn't want to show off his skills.' Scott shook his head at his thoughts.
"Well apparently not. Now I have to wonder how good he is. Anytime I challenge him to a race, he refuses to take part in it." Gordon's calculating mind was already trying to figure out a way to make his little brother compete against him in a swimming race. 'It will definitely be interesting if he agrees, it'd be nice to have someone who can stand a chance in a race against me.'
Gordon flipped the page and chuckled aloud. He had forgotten about the picture of Alan sound asleep while studying. Scott laughed at the words written at the bottom of the picture. Alan never seemed to be one for studying. Scott reached out to turn the page, but Virgil realizing what photos lay beyond that beat him to it.
"Hey, whoa you skipped a page." Scott gripped the page that Virgil intentionally tried to keep Scott from seeing and turned it back revealing the photos of the sickly Alan. "What is this?"
"This is what I didn't want you to see. I knew you would have a problem with seeing Allie sick." Virgil bit his knuckle slightly. Scott always freaked out when Alan or one of their other brothers was sick.
"Who in their right mind would take these pictures of Alan? He's sick!" Scott gazed at the photos of Alan with a sad gaze. His baby brother had been sick, and he hadn't known.
"Apparently one of Alan's friends took the pictures. See there is Fermat rubbing Alan's back." Gordon pointed out the small statured boy perching on the edge of the tub beside Alan.
"Then who is that person in the mirror's reflection?" Scott pointed to what appeared to be a brief flash of light in the corner. If you looked closely, you could make out a mop of curly brown hair standing at the sink. The flash of light was glinting off a glass in the person's hand.
"Going from the group photo earlier of Alan and his friends with the elderly couple…I would have to say that might be that Jamie kid. It looks like he is filling the glass with water." Virgil pointed at the glass in the unknown individual's hand.
"Maybe." Scott muttered before flipping the page to see Alan standing on his head. "Did the kid lose his marbles or something?"
"No, but apparently dad did drop him on his head as a baby." Gordon shrugged, wanting to see how his older brother would react to the news. Gordon was kinda bored and wanted to ruffle his older brother's feathers.
"Hate to break it to you Gordy, but no he didn't. If anybody got dropped on their head as a baby, it would have to be you." Scott ruffled Gordon's bed hair.
"No seriously. Dad dropped Alan when he was a baby." Gordon gaped at Scott. 'Why isn't he getting mad or flustered?'
"Okay fine I admit he did…but it was an accident. If you and I are talking about the same incident with Alan having colic then I blame John and dad's fatigue on dropping Alan." Scott stared at his brothers before quirking an eyebrow at them. Both Virgil and Gordon's eyes were wide with shock.
"And you're okay with knowing that?" Virgil asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Yeah, I watched it happen. Alan wasn't hurt. He didn't fall very far, he just kind of tipped backwards and rolled off of dad's lap. The pillow mom placed below Alan caught him and he giggled. I think he thought it was fun." Scott rolled his eyes. Sometimes his family had such little faith in how well he could control his temper. He wasn't mad then, nor was he mad now. It was an accident after all.
"So you aren't…mad?" Gordon remained laying on his stomach staring at the photo album and Scott.
"No, why should I be mad? It happened almost fifteen years ago, it was an accident. Alan wasn't hurt. So really there is no reason to be mad. I mean I was annoyed at first until I realized that Alan was giggling and not crying anymore." Scott shrugged his shoulders.
"So who are you and what have you done with Scott?" Gordon leaned up on his elbows to stare at Scott.
"I am Scott, but can I really be mad over something that was an accident?" Scott ruffled Gordon's hair again with a chuckle.
"So wait a minute. How could you have watched it happen if mom and dad sent you to bed? John told us that you went back to sleep." Virgil furrowed his eyebrows in thought.
"Simple. I followed John when he left our room and stood in the doorway to the living room. Just because mom and dad told me to go back to bed, doesn't necessarily mean I am going to listen. Even so, how could I have possibly been able to sleep with Alan wailing at the top of his lungs?" Scott crossed his arms and stared at his two younger brothers. Just remembering Alan's infuriated cries as a small baby reminded him why he didn't want kids right now. "Be lucky neither of you two remember how loud Alan could cry, I would swear to you that I went deaf whenever I dealt with his crying. The times he had colic and cried were okay…diaper changes on the other hand were the worst…he outright screamed during diaper changes."
"That's something I don't miss, helping mom and dad with diaper duty. Feeding time was always my favorite though…Alan always made a huge mess in the kitchen." Virgil chuckled at what he considered a fond memory. "Scott, do you remember when dad invited some new clients over for dinner? That guy…what was his name…Mr. Wright tried holding Alan after dinner. Alan who wasn't yet used to baby food spit up mushed carrots all over Mr. Wright's business suit." Virgil began laughing at the memory of the look on his dad's face.
"I thought dad was going to have a coronary right there at the table. Mr. Wright just laughed it off saying he had grandkids and should have expected to have a baby spit up on him." Scott and Virgil both cracked up at the long forgotten memory. Gordon sat idly by and stared at his older brothers in confusion before turning the next page.
"Hey guys, come on let's keep looking at this." Gordon brought his brother's attention back to the here and now.
"Okay." Virgil and Scott both focused back on the photo album.
"Something fishy is going on at Wharton's? Cute." Scott covered his mouth to hide his amusement at his little brother's antics.
"That's our sprout, class clown extraordinaire." Virgil smiled ruefully at his little brother's image. Virgil was jealous, when he was a kid he would always get mad over not being able to make the fish face, but now he figured it suited Alan better.
"Yep. That's our sprout." Scott turned the page and snorted in laughter. The image that was staring him in the face was Alan eating a lemon wedge or trying to. "I wonder what prompted him to do that."
"I would bet money that it was Fermat. He knows how Alan is unable to back down from a challenge." Gordon tapped the tip of his nose in thought. Surely if Alan was convinced to eat the lemon wedge in a bet, maybe he could convince his brothers to bet on Gordon winning a swimming race against Alan.
"Maybe." Scott turned the page and saw the elderly couple's images with Alan again. He shook his head and skipped the next set of pages. He wanted to see if there were any other pictures of Alan at Wharton's. Pictures of things they'd missed out on.
"Ew…cauliflower. Yuck!" Virgil stuck his tongue out in a mock gag at seeing cauliflower in this new picture.
"I can see how much he loves cauliflower just by looking at his face." Gordon wrinkled his nose at the offending vegetable in the pictures.
There were three pictures lined up in ascending order on the next page. Alan was seen grimacing as someone held a piece of steaming cauliflower up to his face. He was wrinkling his nose in disgust at the white vegetable. The second picture showed a boy Alan's age, trying to put the forkful of cauliflower in Alan's mouth as he struggled. Both boys were glaring at each other, but the smiles on their faces showed they were again cutting up.
The third picture, Gordon dropped his head onto the bed…laughing uncontrollably. The last picture on this page showed Alan gripping his throat, with his tongue stuck out. Scott could make out what appeared to be the remnants of cauliflower on Alan's tongue…proving that he had in fact been made to eat the dreaded white vegetable.
"He always did hate to eat cauliflower; it's a wonder why Onaha still fixes it on occasions. Alan usually scrapes it onto my plate when he thinks I am not looking." Scott shook his head as he chuckled.
"Hey, look at the captions." Virgil pointed at the page before reading one of the captions aloud. "To grow big and strong you must eat your vegetables."
"Get that stuff posing as food out of my face." Gordon read the caption softly smiling.
"The cauliflower has killed me…Nice Alan." Scott face palmed himself. His baby brother always was good at drama. No doubt he made a big to do over being forced to eat the cauliflower that he has had such disdain for since he was old enough to say 'yucky'.
"Hey, he is not the only one who despises cauliflower." Virgil defended his baby brother. He wasn't too fond of the white broccoli look alike either.
"We know you don't like cauliflower Virge, but you at least grin and bear it when you eat it. Alan makes a show of not eating it." Scott shot his younger brunette brother a look that said 'I know where you are going with this'…Virgil shrugged before returning to look at the other photos.
Gordon began gasped softly. There was a photograph of Alan, only he looked peaceful. He was holding a large black camera and was gazing through the viewfinder. He appeared to be taking a picture of the scenery where he stood. Red and gold leaves were falling all around him and it appeared to be a rainy day.
"What is the sprout doing?" Gordon asked no one in particular.
"Taking pictures apparently." Virgil murmured. Alan looked totally focused in the picture, but his features were soft. He had a small grin on his face.
"What?" Scott and Gordon looked at Virgil with shock.
"Maybe he had to take photos for a class and someone thought he would be a good subject to snap a shot of." Virgil didn't know what else to say. Whoever took the photo of Alan knew what they were doing, next to the full color photo was an identical photo in black and white.
"I guess so." Scott looked at the photo a little longer before turning the page. Virgil gasped upon seeing the page.
"What's this?" Scott leaned closer to Virgil and gazed at the page, a frown coming to rest on his face. Glancing over the top of Virgil's head he found Gordon looking at the page sadly, for sitting in the middle of the page was an announcement. It read:
Please come join us in the celebration of Elsie and Hubert Jackson's life
Funeral service May 1st
House of God
5th Street at 11:30AM
Per the wishes of Elsie and Hubert, a tribute slideshow will be shown to "Where do I begin" by Francis Lai.
Please come bid them farewell.
"No way." Gordon's mouth hung open in disbelief. The three brothers stared at each other in confusion. They each were mystified by what they just learned.