The Once Future King
Part One: The Boyhood
Chapter XIII: An Unexpected Surprise
By: Evenstar
Rating: PG

The summer passed with little consequence to Greg. For a large portion of his time was spent upstairs looking out the solitary window in his attic room. He sighed watching the sun sink lower to the flat horizon to the west. There were no feelings of good, there were no feelings of bad; there were just a longing desire to just fly away. To fly away sounded like a wonderful idea. Greg would have done anything to sprout wings from his back and just simply fly away.

The sounds of silence nearly deafened him, as his heart grew just that much colder without Nick there. His sweet smooth voice alone was more than enough for Greg not to feel so alone, but now there was no noise at all. He sat in the corner his knees drawn to his chin as he wept in the dark corner of his room.

Loud clunks from heavy work boots sounded on the stairs just before the trapdoor flung open. Greg didn't even bother to look up, for he knew who it was that had entered his room. It was Bill no doubt, to come in and to whip his ass for something he must have been doing wrong.

"Get up boy," commanded the judge. There was no hesitation shown by Greg, as he obediently brought himself to a standing position with his head tilted down. "Come with me."

Silently, Greg followed the man down the rickety stairs to the attic and out of the house right to the car. He didn't ask questions, he just slid into the passenger seat clicked his buckle on and slammed the door shut all without looking at the man who was supposed to be his father.

The engine roared to life and took off down the lonesome highway eastwardly bound to the Metroplex. Greg had never traveled to the D/FW area, and had never seen so many wondrous lights. He was drawn nearly as a moth was drawn to a flame. It mesmerized him in ways one shouldn't be mesmerized. The car stopped in front of a small boutique and Bill instructed him to go out.

"Judge Stokes, what a privilege to see you today," said an odd-looking old man wearing thick spectacles, and a very thin wiry mustache and beard. "What can I help you with?"

"The boy will need clothes. I want you to sculpt for me his entire wardrobe."

"Yes, these rags he's got on surely won't do. Hideous they are, too small hangs wrong, I think we can fix him up."

Bill nudged Greg ever so slightly and he lost the odd expression on his face and followed the elderly man to the back. "Up," commanded the old man taking a measuring tape. "And, take off your hideous clothes."

Greg complied with this and stood there on the platform buck-naked as the man started to measure his body. There was a very odd aura in the air as this man worked around his body measuring and marking on that little tablet, double-checking his work. He hummed some Mozart concerto as he handed him a robe and instructed to return in an hour's time.

Quickly, he redressed and returned to Bill. He said not a word, for there were no words to be shared between these two men. At least none that Greg could think of anyways. He thanked him of course; politeness was something he had learned a long time before. Treading the thin ice that surrounded his stepfather, politeness was something that he learned very well. They spent some time wandering the streets of downtown Dallas. Bill was actually taking the time to point out important buildings and things as the two of them walked silently down the street. They browsed around the Galleria Mall and ate teriyaki chicken in the food court. Never before had Bill shown Greg such kindness. In fact, he might have even passed as his father and Greg a son.

Returning to the small boutique down in the old district of the city, Greg stood there again in nothing but his boxers, watching as this curious man held up color swatches and made yet more notes in that notebook, which now read "Greg Stokes".

"Alright," the old man cleared his throat. "That should do it for now, I will need him tomorrow afternoon for some alterations, and to make sure things are fitting him the way they should, but you are free to go."

It was the strangest experience Greg had ever had. He wanted to ask Bill about it, but no questions meant, no questions and he was deathly afraid to ask. Bill took them to a hotel that was fancy with glitzy lights and extravagant décor scattered about the place. It must have been the most extravagant hotel in the world in Greg's eyes. There was nothing more beautiful and downright gotty. He went to the room on the very top floor in the presidential sweet. For the life of him he never understood why someone would need this much room or things, but he didn't question it. The bed was soft, so much softer than the wood-plank floor for which he normally slept. The strange sounds of the room made it nearly undesirable to him at all.

Then, just then, Lily entered with that smile which Greg had grown all too familiar with. Now, Lily was always a strange person. Then again, Greg couldn't say much, because he wasn't exactly normal himself. However, Lily always did have a crush on him, and never pushed the issue. She'd hang out with him just to be there with him and for her that always seemed good enough. Somewhere within his hardened soul, he felt bad for her. He felt nearly selfish for causing her this distress and yet to know that there can be no future with the two of them together. Though, Greg was perfectly aware she wanted one. Yet, she was still perfectly content to be friends.

Morning came unexpectedly early for Greg as Lily shook droplets of water over his porcelain face. "Get up sleepyhead," she giggled.

"Don' wan' ta," mumbled Greg nearly unintelligible.

"Tough," answered the rather petite chick now pulling the blankets off Greg's slender frame.

"Cold," he shivered.

"It's not THAT cold," answered Lily still not budging. She and Greg were going to go to the mall, they were going to buy things, and there was nothing that Greg could do to stop her. "We'll go to the coffee store," bribed Lily, knowing exactly what button to push.

"Okay," his eyes sprang open and he tore from the bed. If there was something Lily understood about Greg, it was that he never could turn down a good pot of sizzling hot coffee. (The fact it was promised specialty coffee didn't hurt.).

Together they went to the Grapevine Mills mall, by all accounts is more like a theme park with stores than any kind of ordinary mall. They strapped on some inline skates and took a few goes at the half-pipe. They both fell on the last go around and laughed themselves silly as they examined their own bruises. The two of them bought bedding, and shoes of every color and kind. For a while, they even sat in identical leather massage chairs and drifted into an easy nap. When it was time for them to return, the came with so many bags that they both were weighted down like pack mules.

"Enjoy yourself?"

"Yes sir," answered Greg to his stepfather's question.

The next part of the day Greg stood on a platform for the silly-looking old man being clipped by straight pins. It was a tedious few hours doing this with every outfit that Bill was having made for him.

With the last outfit and the last prick of the needle the old man's eyes gleamed as his masterpiece was nearing completion. "Now, I have all your measurements, if you come by once a year or two, I can maintain your numbers and get you your own manikin so you don't have to go through this all the time. You can send your store-bought clothes to me and I will adjust them to fit you perfectly."

The old man handed his business card to Greg who pocketed it without hesitation. "Now, my services are expensive, but the good judge here has decided that this was to be his gift to you for your life time, so he will foot the bill."

"You're what?" Greg's eyes flashed up instantly to Bill's.

"I told you I would explain everything to you at dinner at the end of this week. Right now, enjoy being pampered," answered Bill giving exactly the same answer to all of Greg's questions.

The rest of the week Greg was living a dream it seemed like. He went to SixFlags, Hurricane Harbor, the Omni, the Imax, went to go see the horse races, then to the Nascar truck race, he went to play laser tag, and eat deep fried snicker's bars, and go kart racing at the local place. This week was full of everything for Greg and was such an unexpected turn of events as he actually spent the week doing what most kids his age did.

The end of the week came, and Bill took Greg back to the little boutique to pick up his new set of clothes. He tried everything on and they fit him perfectly like a glove, accentuating his body at the appropriate places and making him look really nice even in casual clothing.

"Remember what I told you about store-bought clothing, always send it to me," chuckled the old man. Bill paid for the new wardrobe of clothes. The price tag sounded quite expensive, but Bill paid it without an argument or a fuss.

To Be Continued...