The Bonds of Brotherhood
With two minutes to go, the door opened, and Skylar appeared, and walked in on his own. He looked so tired, and their was more than a hint of redness around his eyes. He took his seat, aware that all the others had their eyes upon him, then said in a low, subdued voice, "He had a bad night, and this is turning out to be one of his bad days, so he will not be joining us… He still wants to see all of you so badly though, so I have been asked to ask if you will all come to my place afterwards. He wanted to be here so badly, but he is just too unwell…"
In the time it took for Skylar to utter those words, the mood amongst the group of Warblers closest to him and Seth altered from happiness to immense sadness, and even those that were on the fringes of the tight knit group, such as Gabriel and Louis, the latter present at graduation for the first time in a while, looked distraught at the news that had been imparted. Gideon barely knew Seth, but even he felt a chill descend upon them.
At the very last moment, Mrs Carmichael appeared, and took her usual seat by her husband. She looked tired, and her appearance was not quite as smart and put together as usual either. The former principal took his wife's hand instinctively, his own face drawn as he contemplated the absence of that one man, for whom a gap had been made in the front row, a chair deliberately removed next to where Skylar now sat. The ceremony began shortly thereafter, a sign that normality continued in the world. Life carried on as if the world had not a care for the travails of one young man, who was so dear to them all. Sebastian would remark to Russell Tovey in a phone call that night that the performance that he and the other Warblers had given that day was worthy of Broadway; almost Tony winning. They had all smiled and ensured that they applauded in the right places. They had cheered loudly as the success of the present group of Warblers at Nationals was celebrated, Peter Smythe going bright red at the sight of his uncle whooping and whistling in the audience….
It was then that Thad took his spot at the lectern to announce the latest additions in the hall of greats, and the one that made the group of friends clap the loudest was, of course, Jeff. "As well as being a former Warbler, he is also an illustrator for Vogue, has drawn amongst others our President and Vice President, and of course, the Queen of the United Kingdom. He is best known to all of us though for his drawing of the late Wes Montgomery in the guise of The Judging Angel. I think there will be no objections to the fact that we are commending Jeff Sterling-Duval, MBE(Hon), to our gallery of greats, even if he was part of the making of a scene in this very auditorium 11 years ago, although I am assured that was mostly down to his now husband, Nick…" There was laughter at that, the kiss now a Dalton legend. "I would therefore like to ask Jeff to come up and say a few words…"
Jeff stood up, and took the lectern. He glanced at the notes that he had prepared in anticipation, but suddenly none of those words seemed to matter… "I had something prepared for this moment, but today none of those words are important. So, this will be off the cuff. Now, I am no Trent Nixon, as the staff of our English Department will confirm, so I ask you now for forgiveness if I start to ramble. First off, I am deeply honoured to have been selected to join the far smarter men on that wall, but I am afraid that I do not personally feel I am all that worthy of the honour. In my opinion, there is someone that deserves to be there much more; a younger man that is not able to be here with us today. He is the bravest man that I know, coping daily with a condition that had it inflicted me, would have had me screaming and mad by now. He knows that there is no cure, and that it will only end with him leaving this life, but still he gets up each day, and smiles. He fights with everything that he has…."
He paused, blinking back a tear, then continued, "He is not with us today as planned as this has turned out to be one of those days when he needs to fight the hardest, and so there is a gap in the front row. I know that I speak for all of us when I say that we all want to fight with him, and to support those closest to him as he battles for his life. So now I am going to say something out of character; I am asking all of you here today to pray for Seth Kennedy, and if you do not pray, then keep him in your thoughts and send him strength."
"I know that the prize money from Nationals this year has already been donated to a national MND charity, but they can always do with more funds to help fight this condition and eventually, find a cure. We do not normally have any sort of charity collection after this ceremony, but this is not a normal situation, so I am going to suggest that we do. MND will claim Seth, of that there is no doubt, but if we all give as generously as we can today, then we can all do our small part to try and stop it claiming the lives of other people, as brave and intelligent as our Seth, in the future. Anyway, I have seriously overrun my time slot, and well, I don't usually speak up, but the fact is, this condition can afflict anyone. We need to support those that are not blessed with the support and love that Seth has had from all of us…."
With that, Jeff left the dais, and as he walked back to his seat, the applause began to grow. He kept his head down, his eyes wet, but as he walked past Skylar he suddenly found himself being hugged by the young man in question, and he knew to his relief that he approved of his sudden speech. As the applause died down, Principal Lefevre did her usual vote of thanks, then asked that if anyone did wish to make a donation, then they should come and speak to herself or the Carmichaels afterwards, and they would be happy to assist. As the final moments of the event took place, Skylar excused himself, telling the others that he would see them later, before heading out first, understandably given the concern that he obviously had for his best friend…
As the rest of the room began to file out, the group of Warblers remained where they were, watching as Thad directed people in the direction of the Principal and the Carmichaels. Mrs Carmichael had a large sheet of paper in her hand, and was writing down names as people gave her details. Jeff sat with his head bowed still, Nick's arm around him, still feeling a little emotional. As the auditorium fell quiet, the bulk of the crowd gone, Thad walked over to where they were all sitting…
"I am glad that Skylar has left, as that gives me a chance to talk to the rest of you in private; to divulge some information that he must not know about yet…" That lead to some concerned looks, wondering if it was medical news. There was some relief therefore when he pulled out his own wad of papers, and began to talk. As he went on, the group of young men began to nod in approval of what he was saying, then smiled more broadly as they were shown what was on the paper. Their collective reaction was as favourable as Trent's had been at the start of the month. They all concurred that Skylar did not need to know about it yet, but they all agreed on one thing; that when the time did come for the plans to go into action, he would be the right man to take on the task they had ahead…
The journey that group of young men made thereafter was quite a short one, into a quiet residential street that enjoyed views over the Hoover Reservoir, the well spaced out houses surrounded by verdant green woodland. The major highways were far enough away that there was very little traffic noise, even although it was by no means right on the edge of the city. They had shared cars of course, not wishing to overwhelm Skylar's driveway. It was the first time that most of them had physically seen the house that their friend had designed for himself, and like so many things, it looked even better in reality than it had in the pictures they had seen…
It was Julia that stepped out of the house to greet them all, and at once they could all now see the evidence of Skylar's impending fatherhood. "Hello gentleman. Skylar is with Seth right now; he is determined that he wants to see all of you, and I think that you should, but not for long. You will also have to go in in small groups, whatever ideas Seth has to the contrary. He is exhausted after being up all night, and if I am being honest, my husband isn't much better." She did a quick headcount then, then said, "So, groups of three please, and for no more than 10 minutes per group. Tell him that you have a plane to catch or something if needs be…"
There was general agreement to her words, and then Thad added, "We will also have our best show faces in use too; I want no tears, and no sadness. He doesn't need to see how it makes us all feel to see him laid low like this. It isn't fair on him to burden him with our upset on top of everything else. Once you have done, I want you all to hang around; I have a plan for a gesture, which I will explain to you all, which I feel he will appreciate. To make it perfect, I need all of you…" Then, he pointed to Cameron, Brad and Jasper, the three people that had not seen Seth for longest, and with fixed smiles, they accompanied Julia into the house…
They would all later describe that visit as a heart rending experience. Seth they found sitting in his chair, a blanket over his knees like an old man, his eyes bloodshot through lack of sleep. His body was now gaunt and angular, his face lined by a combination of pain and exhaustion. His voice when he spoke was low, but they could all see that he was pleased to see them all, and a little of the old spark came back as they chatted. He asked questions about their partners and children, their jobs and their homes. He also asked after those that were not able to be in town that day. The one thing that was not mentioned was his condition; by now, that was old news…
He asked only for one thing from any of them, and that was when Sebastian headed in with Nick and Jeff, causing him to make a joke about a missing musketeer. When he asked, the words had Jeff turning to stare out of the window, Nick looking at his shoes, and Sebastian acting as if his very life depended upon it. "I know that it is not the done thing on Broadway, but do you think that someone could possibly record you performing in Waiting for Godot, Sebastian, and send it to me? I promise that I will delete it the moment that I have watched it, and I will even ban Skylar and Julia from watching it with me…"
"There would be no need for that… Look, I think that we actually have a recording already, albeit of the final dress rehearsal. If I explain the circumstances, I doubt it would be an issue for me to send a copy to you," replied Sebastian.
"That's good, because I have loved seeing every single one of your Broadway performances so far, and I don't want to miss out on this one. I am grateful to you for something else, and that is the fact that I can say that I have also performed on the Great White Way, if only for a couple of nights, and in a very minor role. It is one of the real achievements that I can claim in my life…"
Seth had started to cough then, and Julia had come in to check on him. The three young men took it as their cue to go, and wished him well, before heading out to the garden again. Sebastian headed away from the others as soon as he was outside, and although Jeff went to follow him, Nick stopped him. "He needs to be alone for a moment. He'll be okay, but now, he needs a little bit of peace…"
As soon as Sebastian took a seat on a bench set away from the house, he let the tears that had been welling up roll down his cheeks, his heart a little broken from what he had just seen. He wondered if he could arrange something, a fundraiser for MND, getting people from across Broadway to show up and perform for charity. He wondered if he had the clout to get some of the biggest names to come together and make a difference…
Thad was proud that not one of them cracked in front of Seth; that they all acted as if everything was normal when faced with the reality of his illness. True, he had found his arms filled with a sobbing Cameron the moment that he had returned, with both Jasper and Brad being in little better state. No-one had been within earshot however when Cameron, his eyes still wet with tears and red rimmed, had whispered to him, "You were right. It is cruel to keep him alive, and the way that he looks… I take it that when the time comes, we will all be coming to Dalton again?"
"That I do not actually know; Mrs Carmichael does know exactly what he wants, but I should think we can safely assume that it will be here," Thad responded. Then he noticed that David was approaching, and they ended that strand of conversation at once…
"So I have spoken to all of the others with the exception of Cameron now, at your request, and we are all up for it; thankfully we all know it, even if we have never sung it as a group before. Believe it or not, they are now all trying to break it down into parts to make it a harmony!"
Cameron looked confused, as beside him Thad just rolled his eyes. "I shall want to hear that before we even consider it, and if there isn't time, we will just perform it as written," said the Head Warbler, and hastened off, leaving David to explain to Cameron what the plan was…
So it was that after all of them had visited in their small groups, Skylar found himself being asked to wheel Seth to the door of the living room, where it opened out onto the deck. Standing just off it they found the whole of the little group, in a formation the other two recognised at once from their performances as a group. Then, with just a nod from Thad, they began to sing, and Skylar joined in with them strongly once he realised what the song was. Nearby his wife stood silently, listening, the tears rolling down her cheeks, as the young men that had bonded in music at a Ohio school sang He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, every note and harmony perfect. There in the music was proof of what she had always been told; that the Warblers were a brotherhood, and that few people mattered more to them than each other….
Seth felt very emotional once the song came to an end, which was only natural, and Skylar felt much the same. However, both knew that they could not show it, could not burst into tears as much as they wanted to. They knew that if they started to cry, it would be like a domino effect, and before they knew it, Julia would have a whole group of young men sobbing their hearts out in her garden. For that reason there were no words of thanks spoken either, just a grateful smile from Seth and a nod of acknowledgement from Skylar, before he wheeled his friend back into the house, out of sight, where he could let those pent up tears out. None of the others felt there was anything wrong in that response, as to be honest, that was all they could have handled themselves.
Saying goodbye to Julia, who promised to pass on their farewells to the two men inside, they went on their way, parting there, some heading back to Dalton to pick up their own vehicles, or to the airport, there to return the cars they had hired before taking flights back home. They were all grateful for the satnav that ensured they found the quickest way there from an unfamiliar suburb. Sebastian was travelling with Nick and Jeff, as they had to get home quickly to collect Wes from Grace; the others that were returning to New York were taking a later flight, and were going back via Dalton. "I bet the only reason they are doing that is because they think that there will be Caramel Apple Pudding on offer," said Sebastian, trying to lighten the mood as they went along.
"That would actually be really nice right now - or a British Treacle Pudding with Custard," said Jeff sadly. "It would be very cheering at such a sad time…"
"Well, what if I make you some treacle pudding tomorrow? We still have some custard powder left in that tin from Christmas, and Miss Frobisher has posted me another batch, which always amuses her for some reason," replied his husband, keeping his eyes firmly on the road ahead. "I asked for twice as much this time as I am going to make some special biscuits for our Tony nominee…"
"Now they would certainly cheer me up!" exclaimed Sebastian. "He is failing so fast now…"
"Those plans that we all saw will provide a fitting memorial. Whatever else happens, we also know that he will not be forgotten, and not just by us…" said Nick quietly, as he turned off the highway at the airport exit. As he did, he heard a sniff from the seat next to him, then saw a hand moving instinctively from the back seat to take his husband's shoulder. Looking up in the mirror, blinking away a stray tear or two, he saw that his husband was not the only one that was crying…
There was indeed Caramel Apple Pudding on offer when the others returned to Dalton, and it was eaten and enjoyed by them all, but the atmosphere was subdued. They soon parted from each other with a lot of hugs, but the thing that Thad noted was that as they said their goodbyes, then all used the word soon and not next year as usual. It had never been a secret to anyone, apart from Skylar, but their visit that day had confirmed it before their eyes; Seth was not long for this world. Soon, Thad was left with just David, Gabriel and Mitch for company, Gideon having been taken away by Mrs Carmichael for a tour of the Academy; they all knew that she just wanted to get a chance for a private chat with the latest spouse of one of her old boys…
"I am going to say the words that you do not want to Thad," said Gabriel suddenly. "We need to start planning for his funeral. We need to make decisions about the music, and what the dress code will be…"
"You are right, of course," admitted Thad sadly. "Dress code is simple; best dress uniform with a black armband; dignified and highly appropriate. As for the music, I believe that he has communicated his wishes to Mrs Carmichael. I will talk with her later, and find out what they are, and that way we can start to prepare the pieces. I mean, our impromptu performance today was good, but what we will be doing then will be for a much bigger crowd…"
"Oh, are we expecting a lot of his family to be there?" queried Gabriel.
Thad just sighed, and shook his head. David turned to Gabriel, and said, "To be short, there will be no family there. He barely saw his parents growing up, and he hasn't seen them since he was left here on the first day of his freshman year."
"Do they even know that he is sick?" asked the former Head Warbler, in shocked tones.
"Again, that is in the negative," said David. "We know that he had a chat with Trent about finding out if his condition was hereditary, but when our White House based friend offered to trace his folks for him, he declined. He was quite right to in my opinion. If they appeared now, now that they know he is sick, then it will look as if they have only done it out of a sense of duty, or worse, for appearance sake. That is that last thing that he wants or needs now."
"The fact that they could do that to him makes my blood boil, but alas, it is nothing new to me. There were a couple of boys in the Warblers in the four years that I was here that had the same treatment; stayed here throughout the holidays, then straight off to college," said Gabriel. "I would like to find those parents and destroy them for what they did to their sons, in front of the entire world. And I mean all of them, not just Seth's…"
"I actually think that Mrs Carmichael knows where Seth's parents are," admitted Thad quietly. "Between us, I think that she intends to have a severe word with them, once he is gone, and not before."
"The worst thing about all of this to me is that those other young men out there might end up emulating their parents and doing the same to their own sons. That is what horrifies me about all of this; that it will repeat itself," said Mitch angrily. "Then again, if they go the other way it could be just as bad; they could smother their children and they could end up resenting them for it… All of that could happen because their own parents just could not be bothered! If I ever have children, then I will love them, and make sure that they know that every day without being told. They will be free to make their own choices, and yes, their own mistakes, because we learn more from our mistakes than anything else. I mean, I would keep an eye on them, but not swaddle them in cotton wool. I would just want them to be happy, healthy, and more importantly, themselves…"
"It's what I would want for our children too," came a voice, and they all realised that Gideon was standing at the door with a smiling Mrs Carmichael at the door. He walked over towards where Mitch was standing, and continued, "Most importantly, they will be blessed with two fathers that know right from wrong; who value decency and honesty; who know what love really is. I know that, because I love you with all of my heart Mitch, as will they." As the others smiled, Mitch went bright red, and it only got worse when Gideon kissed him…
The first week in June of 2024 saw an important milestone reached in the lives of two of the youngest residents of the West Village street. They were to have a visit to the elementary school that they would be attending after the summer. When Wes had been of the age to attend kindergarten, Nick and Jeff had reluctantly decided to send him to a private one, as there had been a long wait list for the public one attached to the elementary school at that time. When Evie had been brought to the West Village from London, it had made logical sense to Drew at the time to send his daughter to the same kindergarten as Wes, so that she would have someone there that she knew…
For their elementary school, however, both sets of parents had decided that the local public school was the optimum choice, even if Ethan's parents had offered to pay for her to attend an exclusive private one nearby. It would provide both of the children with a good grounding, and ensure that they remained connected to the community that they were growing up in. Of their four fathers, only Ethan had spent his entire education in private schools, the other three all having attended the local public school for their elementary and middle school classes. Furthermore, Nick had spent his freshman high school year in public school too, and it was only as a result of the family relocation to Ohio from Illinois, as a consequence of his father's workplace indiscretions, that he had not graduated from one as well.
On the appointed day of the visit, Nick and Ethan had work commitments that they could not avoid, so it fell to Drew and Jeff to walk with their children out of the confines of the West Village and into Greenwich Village, to the building on 11th Street that housed PS41, the designated school for their street. It was a little further from home than the kindergarten, and was not on the route that Dante took home from his high school, so the days of him being able to easily pick up the children would also have to come to an end. That would not however be an insurmountable issue for them in the long term…
The school had an excellent reputation, and was not as overcrowded as it once had been. It was still a much larger school than either of the two children were used to, and as they stood outside looking up at the four storey building, it seemed quite a daunting prospect to them. "It is so much bigger than the kindergarten," said Wes quietly, gripping his papa's hand a little more tightly.
"It is a lot bigger, and the children that come here are a lot bigger and older too. You will be in a class though with boys and girls of your own age," said Jeff with a smile. "There is less time for play here too, and you will have homework to do. Sums and spelling to do when you get back to the house…"
"Can I not just stay at kindergarten?" asked Wes after a moment of thought.
"I am afraid that isn't possible," said Jeff kindly. He knelt down next to his son, noting Drew was having a similar discussion with his daughter. "I know that it all sounds awful, but it really isn't so bad, and you will make a lot of new friends here too. So what do you say, shall we go and see what they have to show us, and then, once we have finished, we can pop around the corner to the library?" Wes looked at Evie thoughtfully, and then, almost in synch, the two of them nodded…
By the time that they headed out, both of the children had decided that kindergarten wasn't all that great after all, and elementary school looked like a lot of fun. They would both be in the same class, thanks to living on the same street, and the idea of having their own desk and chair appealed to them both. They had met their new teacher, and had both decided that she was lovely at once; their two parents had agreed when they had chatted to her as well. The classroom in question was bright and well equipped, and was decorated with the present children's artwork. Then they had been shown the school library, and the fact that they could choose books and take them home had gone down well too.
The visit finished with a light lunch in the cafeteria, where the food went down well with the two future students as well; as for Drew and Jeff, they had no quibbles or apprehensions either, at least until the Principal had introduced herself. When they had done the same, she had immediately asked Jeff the inevitable question, and when he had replied in the affirmative, she was all the more impressed with them, happy to have a famous artist amongst her parents. She had then handed both of them a pile of forms about the PTA, and urged them to consider joining to help equalise the gender balance.
As they left the school, it fell to Evie to ask what the pile of papers was. "Essentially, your new Principal is giving the parents homework to do to," said Drew and Jeff had to agree. However, that did not mean that he wasn't giving serious consideration to getting involved in the PTA…
Back home on the street that afternoon, Jeff returned to his other task in hand; studying the letters that he had received from the various institutions after he had notified them about his intentions for Seth's empty apartment. He wished now that he had only contacted one of them at a time, as having sifted through the letters, he now found himself with three equally deserving cases. He could not rule out any of them, but he only had one place available. His decision could, he realised, potentially deny two people of the opportunity to attend the school of their dreams…
In the end, his guilt drove him over to his laptop, and he began to do a Google search on accessible apartments in the neighbourhood; at once, he was shocked by the rents that were being charged for such tiny places. The next two cheapest in the area were at least 40% higher in cost than the rent that he was intending to charge. At first, he considered calling the landlords in question and appealing to their generosity, but then he dismissed the idea out of hand; he knew first hand exactly how ruthless some landlords could be…
However, he realised that there was an option open to him, albeit one that left him feeling a little uncomfortable about making use of it. He called his sister-in-law, and after a few polite words of general exchange, he asked her about the state of the fund that he had asked her to set up and manage, one into which all the payments from the parts of his father's estate that he had retained were placed. His idea was, that if the balance was sufficient, he could make up the other two rents and see all three of his deserving students housed…
Nick was not in the least surprised that evening when Jeff told him what he intended to do, as it summed up nicely his husband's attitude to his legacy from the Clarington side. It was there to be used for good, ideally for things that his biological father Gordon would have hated, and helping two young people with disabilities to live in the city and study at the college of their dreams was key to him right now.
"I have decided to offer Seth's old apartment to this young man; he is an accomplished cellist and pianist, amongst other things, and is slated to join one of the city's major symphony orchestras in time. He is pursuing a course in Classical Music at the New School, with a minor in Musical Composition. It makes the most sense for him to be the one that comes here as he can get to college without lengthy trips across town; the other two are attending schools much further uptown, and I have been able to find them suitable places much closer to their colleges. I do think that it is terrible that the colleges have such a shortage of accessible accommodation for students that they cannot secure them a place for their entire course though, nor are they willing to give them financial aid to afford one of the market priced rentals."
Nick nodded thoughtfully, then said, "Perhaps you should speak to Grace and see about using that money to set up a permanent fund to help people in that situation. I am sure that she could also help find us other people that would be willing to contribute to the funding."
"That isn't such a bad idea, but I would insist on one thing; that we also form a committee to oversee the spending of it that did not include me. I would struggle not to want to fund absolutely every person that applied for aid," replied Jeff. Nick nodded, and realised that kindness and generosity of spirit was the reason that he loved the blond so much…