Pop: Chapter 22c

     "Look, I don't care or mind whoever it is you like and date.  I just want you to know that I support you in whatever you do.  I just wish you could have told me instead of sneaking..."

    "Chaz is not my boyfriend!" Sam yells. "And he probably never will be," he adds in a softer tone.

    "Sam, I know that Chaz has been staying overnight at least once a week for the past few months.  Usually two or three times.  The security systems pick up on that.  The house may be big, but it's just small enough to know that something has been going on.  I don't mind, really."

    Sam sighs before answering.

    "Chaz lives in a small house with his three younger sisters.  There's only three bedrooms, so Chaz doesn't have his own room.  He usually sleeps in the living room.  Most nights, it was difficult for him to sleep or study.  So, on nights before big tests and such, I invited him over to stay so he could rest.  His parents knew every time he stayed over.  Dad did too."

    "But not me?"

    "No.  We never thought that you should know.  You were gone for much of the last few months, with your big tour and wedding plans.  Dad and I just thought it would be better if you didn't have one more thing to worry about."

    And yet Dad wanted me to keep all of these other secrets from Sam.  How did he keep everything straight.

    "Okay, I see that, but that doesn't explain why he was over this past Monday.  You two graduated high school last week.  There must be something more going on."

    "Unfortunately, nothing more than what you and your friends did in your 'Rounds.'"

    "What did Rick tell you?" I blurt out.

    "Nothing.  I mean, anyone could guess what you were talking about.  I'm eighteen after all.  Teenage boys haven't changed that much since you were my age." Sam responds.

    "What did you mean by 'unfortunately' though?'

    Sam sighs again and hangs his head before answering.

    "I've had a crush on him for the past two years.  I was always hoping he liked me too. However, I was too afraid to tell him.  We seemed to be getting closer these last few weeks.  His parents had visitors over the holiday weekend, so he asked to stay over one last time Monday night, so we could get in some laps together Tuesday morning.  We shared a bed that night, but nothing more came of it.  I thought it would.  I mean, Chaz is into girls, but he seemed turned on by guys a few times as well."

    "What happened?  Did you tell him anything?"

    "When we were changing into our trunks at the pool and we were both naked, I told him I liked being with him and that I liked the way he looked.  Naked.  I had never had to courage to say those things before.  He brushed it off, but I guess he was kind put off by it.  We barely said anything before we took off so I could get back and clean up to see Dad.  In hindsight, that was a warning sign."

    "Go on, Sam."

    "After I saw you and Jim last night, I felt even worse.  So, I tried calling and texting Chaz.  It was almost midnight before he responded.  I tried to tell him how I was feeling and what I saw, but Chaz just said that he didn't want to talk to me any more.  He was getting ready to head out to Tucson for college early for a part time job over the summer.  He hadn't even told me he had applied to Arizona!  I thought he was staying in NYC.  I almost told him I loved him, but he cut me off and told me he admired our friendship, but that was all it was. He hung up on me.  He hasn't responded since.  I was so mad.  That's why I wanted revenge.  I thought that if Chaz and I were just near each other for a little longer, I could make him see me the same way I saw him.  I'm sorry I hurt you and Jim, really I am. I wanted to blame you for my pain." Sam starts crying and lays his head and my shoulder.

    I wait a beat before I take his head in my hands and turns it to face me.

    "Sam, I can't say I know what you're going through.  You feel like you have lost your first big chance at love, and that it cost you one of your best friends.  You and Chaz might make it around again, maybe not.  Maybe you should have told Chaz sooner, maybe not.  At least you still have your memories."

    "But it isn't fair.  You get to have your friends back.  Why can't I have just one?" Sam blubbers.

    I sigh.

    "Sam, I was almost a decade before I saw Pete and Will again after they left.  I hated them for a long time for things that weren't even their fault.  I barely acknowledged Rick, and he moved in down the street from me.  Yeah, we finally got back together, and I now know why we fell apart.  We each had our secrets that prevented us from staying close friends for so long.  But we will never be as close as we were.  I've been trying so hard to fix our situation, but I think we're just too different now to ever be that close again."  I pause.

    It hurts saying that, but I know it's true.  

    "Pete, Will, and Rick know me better than almost anyone else that I'm not related to, and vice-versa, but we aren't the same any more.  Sure, we will always have ties, and we won't hate each other. But, as hard as I want it, we will never be as close as we once were.  But we will still be friends, and maybe, you and Chaz will be that way again.  Just give it some time."

    With this, I look up and see the guys coming out of the restroom.  Jim has taken off his wet clothes and has a T shirt on and Pete's jacket wrapped around his waist.

    "What happened to you?" Sam asks as he turns to look at my friends.

    "I needed some dry clothes, and they volunteered." Jim answers.

    " I can see that, but how."

    "Well, I was the only one with an undershirt, so I gave it to him." Rick answers. I can see his dress shirt is still partially unbuttoned.

    "And I didn't need my jacket, so we decided to tie it around his waist, since none of us could lend him any pants." Pete explains.

    "Uh, that's not gonna cut it, if your jangly bits are still out."

    Will isn't looking directly at the rest of us.  I can just barely tell that he has removed his belt.

    "They're covered," Will responds, "I took off my briefs for him to wear.  I was the one closest to his, well, girth.  And well, a man needs to help out his brother.  So, I'm going commando, for now."

    "Yeah, you do anything for your brother." I rub Sam's hair as I say this. 

    "However, that still is a little gross.  Just saying." I laugh to ease the tension.

    They laugh with me.

    "Come on," I say as I stand up.  "We'll probably have to go up a floor to access the stairs.  We really need to see how everyone else is doing. Oh, and Jim. Try not to expose your back to anyone, if you can help it."

Pop: Chapter 22b

     "I mean, we could have just moved somewhere nearby.  I would still be near the university.  It wouldn't have been so hard..." 

    I stop Sam before he finishes his thought.

   "Sam, the university was never going to allow you to enroll."

    "Wait.  What?" Sam sputters.

    "Just before your junior year, when Dad thought he would finally go back to teach a little, the university informed him, that under no uncertain terms that you would be allowed to enroll.  Even if you were the best swimmer in the region, which you almost are, and with the best possible grades, which you almost got as well."

    "Why not?  If I was good enough, why wouldn't they want me?"

    "Blame our grandfather, again."

    Sam groans.  "What did he this time?"

    "Well, while Dad had the grades to get into school, he wanted to be a studio art major.  While most of the department thought he had the talent to succeed, one or two of the higher ranking professors felt otherwise and were going to strongly suggest that Dad go into art history or even another department instead.  Our grandpa wanted Dad to stay close to home so much that he offered to fund the school's new mechanical engineering lab if they would just allow Dad to keep his major and stay at the school.  The school's board of directors agreed and the new lab was started before Dad even started his third year."

    "There's a building on the grounds named for our grandfather?  I didn't know that." 

    "Well, there was.  Let me go on.  When Dad wanted to pursue his Masters at the school, the head of the art department wasn't having any of it.  Grandpa greased the wheels again, and he had a cancer wing built onto the school's medical center.  It was dedicated just before Dad graduated.  As a final stroke, donated the majority of the funds for a new office complex for the school, just so that Dad would be hired as an assistant professor.  The former head of the art department retired before allowing that to happen, but grandpa had his wish.  Too bad he died before he could see it through.  The naming rights went to someone else, but Dad was there at the opening ceremony."

    "So, Dad only got his degree, his job because of grandpa?" Sam asks.

    "Kind of.  Dad had the talent, but not the attitude many of the professors liked to see.  Dad was more folk art, Rockwell and Moses, while the faculty was all modern art.  The head was actually a friend to Andy Warhol if I'm not too mistaken.  That's why Dad was pushed into getting out of his comfort zone so much, like with his thesis films.  He hated doing them, but his professors wanted him to feel discomfort.  Dad still can believe that there are so many fans for his student work."

    "But they didn't want me because," Sam leaves the question hanging.

    "The university felt that the Burton family would lead to another scandal if you became an accomplished athlete, even if you got in entirely on you own merit.  I mean, our family fortune isn't as deep as it was.  This infuriated Dad, but he calmed down enough to come up with a compromise.  The cancer wing would be renamed for his mother.  The engineering lab would be renamed for anybody else.  The university thinks it will need replacing in a decade or so anyway.  Dad would come back to his office for one last semester in the spring to check on any students he had that were still there after three years of sabbatical.  The school wouldn't bad-mouth him if he looked for another job."

    "And here I thought he was still waiting to return." Sam says.  "Wait a minute.  Did you help me get into UK?"

    "Me?" I laugh.  "I don't have any pull whatsoever there.  All I did was inform your swim coach that you should apply to more schools, including Kentucky, because of the problem.  Your coach didn't know the details, but he did encourage you to check other schools.  You got into UK entirely on your own, based on your academics and athletics, no Burton interfering at all."

    "I just wish you could have told me, then I wouldn't have acted up so badly."

    "You just wanted to have as much of your life back as you could.  Your house.  Your school, Your boyfriend Chaz."

    "What do mean by 'my boyfriend!'" Sam yells.

    Oh-oh.

Pop: Chapter 22a

    "Remember how bad Dad was after you mother and Candi died, recovering from the transplant and other cancer treatments."

    "Yeah, it was all but a miracle that he made it." Sam replies.

    "Well, he wasn't able to take care of all the arrangements that had to happen after they died.  He left most of that up to his legal team.  For instance, putting me into temporary guardianship over you."

    "I know."

    "Well, Dad also had to deal with you mom's clinic.  Dad was in no way to handle it, even when he was well.  So, the legal team starting making plans to sell the clinic to an interested buyer who would keep it open.  The entailed going over the clinic's records, including finances.  Dad's accounting team handled those, and they found something odd."

    "What did they find?: Sam asks, some trepidation slipping into his voice.

    "About ten months before your mother died, she withdrew about sixty-thousand dollars from her and Dad's joint account.  More than once over week's time.  She deposited the money into one of the clinic's sub-accounts.  Five weeks or so later, she returned the money to the joint account, but none of the interest.   Dad couldn't remember her mentioning that the clinic needed any emergency funding.  Some of the former employees were asked about the money, too.  Not many had stayed in the area after the clinic was temporarily closed.  None knew about the transfer or any reason for one.  

    "The primary theory was that an employee had performed the transfer, hoping to ultimately steal the money from the account.  Your mother found out and returned the money, without notifying authorities about the intended theft.  Tax forms showed everything about the transfer, and no one had bothered to flag the incident.  With your mother dead, everyone thought the case was closed.  However, Dad still felt that something was off.  He told me about it, and I immediately realized what the problem was when he told me about when she returned the money."

    "Why was that important?" Sam asks again.

    "She returned the money a few days after Dad got his cancer diagnosis.  Now, part of this might be projecting about my own mother, but your mom could have been planning to divorce Dad and squirreling away money was part of it."

    "NO!  Mom wouldn't have done that.  Why would she put the money back then, if she wanted a divorce?" Sam yells.

    "This is only a possible theory, Sam.  However, it does fit.  If your mom divorced Dad, she would have only gotten less than half the total amount of Dad's assets.  Enough would have been held up in trusts for you and Candi, as well as various other funds, that she would have needed some extra money to continue living in the lifestyle she was accustomed to.  Dad lets accountants handle everything.  He wouldn't have noticed that you mom would have been doing something wrong, and the accountants wouldn't have caught it either until after the fact."

    I pause a second until Sam nods for me to continue.

    "However, if Dad had died while they were married, then she would have access to almost everything. The only funds that she wouldn't control would be our sister's trust fund, but Candi would almost definitely let your mom have some access to that, especially if she hadn't been found."

    "But what about my shares, or yours?" Sam asks.

    "I was missing.  Your mom could've declared me dead or disinherited for a lack of contact.  She would have had control of my part.  As for you, your were a minor.  She would control your trust until you turned twenty-one, the same way my grandmother denied me access to my funds until she died just before I found out about them.  Furthermore, it would have been possible for her to have you disinherited as well, since you were born via surrogate.  Since you weren't even her natural child to begin with, she might have even thrown you out when you turned eighteen, but that is the worst-case scenario. Still, she had done such things before."

    "What things?  Are you telling me that mom ..."

    I interrupt Sam before he completes his thought.

    "Your mother was a senior nurse at the hospital where our grandfather was staying at after his first heart attack.  Some of her colleagues at the time suggest she was planning on cozying up to him in an effort to possibly marry him and get his money.  She only went after Dad when she realized grandfather wasn't the kind of man to remarry on a whim.  To accomplish that, she tricked the investigators looking for me after my mother went one the lam into stopping the search.  She made them think the notice came from grandpa just before he died.  She may have even got 'closer' to one of the detectives, if you catch my drift.  So, a few months after grandpa died, she married Dad.  My mother had her divorce fast-tracked, so nothing stopped your mother from getting the rich lifestyle she craved."

    "I can't believe this is happening,"Sam moans.

    "Sam, not all of this can be proven.  Your mother might not have been a gold digger.  She could have just took an opportunity when she saw it, and most everything else was a coincidence.  Still, Dad didn't want the happier memories despoiled by staying in the old house.  He needed to leave, as he had no more ties to the place once you start college.'

    "I would if I have gotten into Dad's university.  I still might be able to.  If the memories attached to him were the reason, we could have moved to allow me to stay in the area."

    "No.  You would never have been allowed to enroll there.  Ever."

    Time for the next shoe to drop.

    At least Burton males are known for their 'third leg' to let that happen.

Pop: Chapter Twenty-Two

    I leave the restroom into the dimly lighted hallway.  I almost call out for Sam, but I notice someone sitting down on the floor a few yards away.  I walk over to the spot and sit down beside him.

    "I thought you'd be here sooner or later.  I heard you guys searching for me.  After Jim went by, I knew it wouldn't be much longer before you found me." Sam says.

    "What happened?  Jim said he though he saw you poking your head form the ladies' room."

    "After I left the dinner, I ran to the elevator.  It had just arrived when I got there.  I rode it down to the first floor, thinking I would just run out to the car, or possibly just across the street.  As soon as the door opened, the lights flickered in the hall.  I saw a man running to the stairs we took earlier just as the lights came back on, before they went off again and he was gone.  I ran to the doors, but for some reason they were locked.  That's when I noticed the clouds.  Then there was the lightning.  I ran back to the stairs to the bottom floor, but that door was locked too.  I wanted to hide from you, so I felt that the ladies' restroom would be a good spot.  I was pretty sure it would be empty, and I was right.  I hid in there when the power cut off completely and the storm started to shake the building.  I stayed in there until I thought I heard something come through the glass."

    At this point, Sam points to the main entrance.  One of the rather large planters, about thirty pounds, that had been beside the door had been thrown into the hall.  I guess it was possible it was the wind, but I suspect it was Jim.

    "I saw Jim when I poked my head out to check.  I didn't know if he saw me or not, but if he had, you would be coming soon after."

    "So, you knew we were in the other restroom?"

    "Yeah," Sam answers, "I heard the four of you yelling when the storm started. I was just glad you didn't have the time to look in there.  Is Jim alright?"

    "A few cuts and soaking wet, but I think he's fine."

    "No, about me ruining his life by thinking that the two of you..."

    "It's too early to know about that yet.  However, you should apologize to him later.  And to everyone else at the dinner.  Why did you do it, Sam?  This is so not like you."

    "Yes, it is." I can barely tell that Sam has turned his head to directly look at me. "You and your fiancé tricked Dad into selling the house.  We were doing fine until you two decided to leave everything I knew behind.  How could you!"

    It was time to tell Sam the truth.

    "Do you remember how Dad's mother died?'

    "What?! What does this have to do ..."

    "Just humor me Sam.  It'll make sense."

    "She died of cancer.  Woman cancer, I guess." Sam sputters.

    "Uterine.  Grandfather insisted that she should stay at the manor as long as possible.  When she got too sick to climb the stairs, he moved her to the servant's quarters downstairs.  Now, they had a live-in housekeeper at the time.  She stayed there through the week and went to her own place on the weekends.  Grandmother insisted that the housekeeper take one of the upstairs bedrooms.  Dad was at school at the time, so grandfather was the only one up there.  There was plenty of room, and grandfather had the master suite to himself.  After one week, he told the housekeeper that she would be moving to one of the smaller downstairs rooms, and that she couldn't tell grandmother anything about it.  'Servants stay downstairs,' he said. The housekeeper refused.  She decided to stay at her place from then on, only coming it to do her job and check in on grandmother.  There was also a stay-in nurse, but she was only there for grandmother.  After she died, the housekeeper quit.  Dad found out all of this at the funeral."

    "What happened next?" Sam asks.

    "After that, grandfather just hired a cleaning crew to come in on a regular basis and did much of his own work.  When Dad inherited the place, he refused to hire any staff because of what his father did.  That's also when he got sick, he refused to use that room where his mother spent so much time before she died, at a hospital mind you.  He just associated that room with too many bad memories.  The same thing holds true for his brother's and sister's deaths."

    "What do you mean by that?"

    I continue.

    "When Dad's baby brother got cancer, Dad had just been allowed to move his bedroom further away, to the room that became his art studio, the one of the far left end of the hall.  He was about six and his brother was four.  Maybe seven and four."

    "I know."

    "Anyway, grandfather had insisted that Dad's brother stay in the nursery as much as possible, only going to the hospital at the end.  Just before our sister cam along, Dad had the nursery remodeled into a walk-in closet and made the sewing room a new nursery."

    "Wait, my old room, it was once something else?'

    "Yeah, Dad didn't want his kids to be sleeping in the same room where his brother had been suffering.  That's why you and our sister got a new room.  With monitors and such, it was safe enough to be that just across the hall when you were old enough.  Do you remember how Dad's sister died?"

    "Yeah, she had hit her head while playing in the backyard or something.  Right?" Sam responds.

    "Dad's mother had taken him and his brother for a doctor's appointment, leaving Dad's sister to be watched by grandfather.  He had stepped inside to take a phone call, landline, this was years before cells. When he went back outside, a few minutes later, about the same time Dad got back, there she was lying on the grass near the pool.  She was in a coma for three dies before she finally died.  For decades, that was what Dad believed, but it was a lie."

    "What really happened?" I noticed a slight trace of sarcasm in Sam's tone.

    "A few weeks before grandfather died, he told Dad the truth.  He had been on the phone for over an hour.  There was no way of knowing how long she had been lying there.  Grandfather had felt so guilty, that he tore down the playground and doubled the size of the pool."

    "Wait.  The pool wasn't always that big."

    "No.  Dad actually had liked swimming in it, until he found out.  When he got the house, he didn't use it for years until your mother insisted that it should be used for you and our sister.  Every time he saw you two swim, all it did was bring back bad memories.  The entire house is that way for him, especially after the deaths of your mother and sister.  He never wanted to live there after his father died, and with you out of school, this seemed like a good time."

    "Why did he stay then?

    Time for the second shoe to drop.