Mayfield Titans

 

CHAPTER 23

THANKSGIVING FEAST

 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27

 

<Aiden>

 

Aiden knew that breakfast that morning would be cold cereal, a fact everyone had been informed of the night before. He rubbed his eyes and climbed over Chase so he could get to the bathroom and pee. He saw that it was past nine and wondered if he was the first one awake.

 

After peeing, he went downstairs where his dads were reading the morning paper in the reading room. “Good morning, dads,” he grunted.

 

“Good morning, son,” Larry replied.

 

“Are you ready for the big day?” Phil asked. He refrained from uttering any naked wood elf comments knowing that Aiden’s sense of humor just after getting out of bed was limited.

 

“Dad, we got everything ready last night.” Aiden did his best to keep his reply from reflecting his boredom with what he considered a useless question.

 

“I was referring to being ready for an eat-a-thon.”

 

“You keep telling me I’m a growing boy and I eat like a horse and so, yeah, I’m ready. And then you and Pop decide to starve us all on cereal for breakfast and cold sandwiches for lunch, so I will be beyond ready. I could still make up some pancakes.”

 

Phil looked directly into Aiden’s eyes and spoke quietly but authoritatively. “Aiden.”

 

“Yeah, I know, we agreed on everything already, but I thought I could at least try.”

 

“Do or don’t do. There is no try,” Phil quoted.

 

“Puh-lease.”

 

“Hey, good morning guys,” came Chase’s voice as he entered the gathering room.

 

“Good morning,” Phil said as Aiden stepped over and gave his cousin a hug. “Nice to see you two cousins dressing alike.” Phil mentally scolded himself for feeling a stirring in his groin as he admired the young manhood swinging between Chase’s legs.

 

“You say that because you like seeing naked men,” Chase grinned.

 

“I take it you’ve passed the boy stage of your life.”

 

“In my book fifteen is the cutoff.”

 

“Let’s go downstairs and see what’s going on,” Aiden suggested.

 

“What about the pair upstairs?” Phil asked.

 

“From what I’ve seen of Drake, sleeping in until the crack of noon is his motto,” Chase replied.

 

<The basement>

 

Eddie was the first to wake up in the basement. He looked at the beautiful face of Mason, who shared his sleeping bag, and wondered how he could have been so mean to such a sweet boy. He regretted what he had done, was happy he had made his apologies, and felt that what had happened last night said once and for all that Mason had forgiven him.

 

He tried, unsuccessfully, not to jolt Mason as he crawled out of the sleeping bag. His right knee banged Mason’s ribs, awakening the little tween. “It is morning yet?” he whispered sleepily.

 

“Shit…sorry to wake you up Mason,” Eddie whispered back. “And, yeah, it is morning, but I’m not sure what time it is. But, since it’s light you figure it’s gotta be past seven.” Eddie was now out of the sleeping bag and Mason followed him. He wanted to stand next to Eddie to pee so he could see his cock; Eddie had no problem allowing Mason to do that.

 

“Fuck, you give a good BJ,” Eddie said as they lined up at the toilet in the stall.

 

“Just like anything else, it’s all about lots of practice.”

 

Eddie shook the last drops out of his cock. “Dude, you can practice on me anytime.”

 

Nolan was awake and sitting up when Eddie and Mason returned to the backroom. “Morning, guys.”

 

“Hey, Nolan,” Mason responded. “Do you know what time it is?”

 

“About nine o’clock.”

 

“Fuck, I can’t believe we slept in that late,” Eddie said. “And can you believe it, me and Mason were on the fucking floor, sharing a sleeping bag.” The boys made no attempt to keep their voices down; after all, it was Thanksgiving Day and there was still a lot to get done before the doors at the Community Center opened for the Feast. As a result, nobody had an issue with waking up the sleepers.

 

“It sounded like everybody got off last night,” Mason observed. Everyone agreed. “Does that mean that we did an orgy?”

 

“You are so hung up on orgies, Mason,” Nolan chuckled.

 

“Because I want to be in a serious one, not just be in a room with a lot of guys doing sex stuff.”

 

“It was NOT an orgy,” Aiden said as he entered the room with Chase. “It’s my house and I have to be there for it to be an orgy. And it sounds like you guys were all under your covers and that nobody did anal, so no way it’s an orgy.”

 

“The boss man hath spoken,” Chase said with mock seriousness.

 

At that point, Logan spoke up. “I did anal last night and I cummed two times.”

 

“Are you serious, little bro?” Chase asked.

 

“Totally serious.”

 

“Nolan did you? And he made you cum twice?”

 

“Yep. He kept tickling my pro-thingy.”

 

“Damn, my boyfriend is a total stud,” Aiden announced proudly.

 

“And so is my little bro,” Chase bragged.

 

Nolan stood and took a bow after hearing his boyfriend’s compliment and Logan followed suit.

 

“Was Logan the only one who got his butt fucked?” Chase asked.

 

Everyone else admitted they did not do anal and agreed that Logan, the youngest boy in the room, was truly a stud. Aiden wasn’t surprised that Logan and Curt didn’t fuck, but he would have thought for sure that Mason would have let Eddie fuck him. As if reading Aiden’s mind, Mason said, “Eddie says I gave the best blow job he ever had.”

 

“He’d better say that, or he’d get no breakfast,” Aiden said. “And speaking of breakfast, somebody better wake the sleepyheads up.”

 

“I’ll do it,” Chase volunteered. “I apologize in advance if I scare the shit out of Darnell, but there is only one way to wake up Drake, and that is loud.”

 

“Oh, this I gotta see,” Aiden grinned.

 

Larry was setting out the cereal bowls on the dining room table when a stable of six naked boys and two wearing underpants went tromping past him with a few waves and greetings being exchanged. Larry noted the lack of erections on the passing herd.

 

Chase opened the door to the guest room and stopped with Aiden standing beside him. The other six boys stopped behind them. Chase smiled when he saw Darnell’s cute little body wrapped around Drake. Like he had said, he hated to scare Darnell, whom he loved, but screaming at Drake in the morning was necessary. “Hey, Drake, get your lazy ASS out of bed!” Chase yelled.

 

“What the fuck?” Drake squawked, looking around him in confusion. His eyes finally focused on Chase. “Shit, Chase, this is why I don’t like spending the night in your little shack.”

 

“What happened? What’s going on?” Darnell mumbled as he grabbed Drake tightly.

 

“See, you’ve scared poor little Darnell. You should be ashamed.”

 

“I’m sorry, Darnell, but Drake turns his ears off at night and has to be yelled at to get him to wake up,” Chase explained.

 

“That’s a lie. I wake up just like anybody else. I even have an alarm clock that wakes me up.”

 

“Yeah, and it’s probably connected to a pair of subwoofers.”

 

Drake heard the laughter out in the hall and realized that Chase was having fun at his expense with a big audience backing him up. He vowed revenge for both him and Darnell the first chance he got.

 

Soon, ten naked and half naked, hyper boys were crowded around the dining room table enjoying a breakfast of toast, cereal, and juice. After breakfast, most showered in the basement amidst much grab ass, but nothing seriously sexual.

 

As they toweled off, Aiden took the opportunity to remind Nolan of the trip to the cemetery he had made a year ago with Eric Simmons and Noah McCall to offer respects to Bobby Neal and that they might invite him again this year.

 

“If they do, I’d really like to have you with me,” Aiden said.

 

“What do they do there?” Nolan asked.

 

“They just offer their respects and gratitude to Bobby for being a great friend and baseball player. Last year, they took me to lunch, too.”

 

“I could get into the lunch part,” Nolan said with a grin.

 

Aiden kissed his boyfriend. “I just wanted you to know. The lunch is good but trust me, there’s more to it than that.”

 

Nolan returned the kiss. “I can see this is really important to you. If they ask, I’ll go, and they’d better the fuck ask.”

 

The morning was spent watching football on television, playing video games, or playing in the games room downstairs.

 

Just before noon, Chase and Logan’s parents and Drake’s parents arrived in separate vehicles. Darnell’s father wasn’t far behind. There were sandwiches for those who wanted them.

 

After some quick munching, the boys were loaded into the vehicles and the caravan headed to the Mayfield Community Center.

 

<The Feast>

 

Thanksgiving dinner was scheduled to be served starting at four. The main doors to the center would be unlocked at two. That left a bit under two hours to take care of any last-minute items.

 

One of the last-minute tasks was giving instructions to the kids who volunteered to help during the feast. Aiden was the coordinator for the volunteers and would remind everybody what their jobs would be.

 

Four of the volunteers would be seaters. Their job would be to greet the guests entering the dining room and escort them to their tables. While guests could seat themselves after looking at Mason’s seating chart, some would still ask for help even after studying it. Other guests would end up coming directly to the greeting table without looking at the chart. The working copy of the chart was on the table for the seaters to use. Gordy, Grant, Kalie, and Lance were the four seaters with Trent and Sammy in reserve if the line should stack up.

 

Mason and Chrissy would provide background music for the entering guests. Mason would play the piano, and Chrissy, the daughter of a church friend of Mason’s mother and a seventh grader at Ainsworth Middle School in Centralia, would play violin. The two had provided music at the first Feast to great acclaim. 

 

Peter Astor would be the greeter manning the greeting table. His job would be directing people to places like the stuffed animal tables or the bathroom, as well as handing people at the front of the line off to a seater when things got busy.

 

Aiden joined his dads to greet people entering the foyer outside the dining room. Since they were the hosts putting on the feast, they would now be the hand shakers, huggers, and kissers, depending on who it was they were greeting.

 

The big job for teens would be to assist the caterers with serving the tables. Tim, who owned the catering company, would provide their instructions. Trent, Sammy, Peter, Nolan, Chase, Drake, Curt, David Fitzgerald, John Gomez (Miles’ brother), Jackson (Trent’s brother), and Blake would all be working as servers on the floor. Their job was essentially to serve the salads and put the hot rolls on the table. The catering staff would be serving up the main meals at the two buffet lines and the floor servers would be able to enjoy their meals with their families. Once the caterers set the desserts out, they would be eating with their families at the table set aside for them on the seating chart. The community center was the old high school building; the dining room had been the school cafeteria and had seen lines for lunch for fifty years.

 

Miles and Lenny took charge of the stuffed animal tables. Horace had been the first stuffed animal to be placed on the table, but almost every kid who came in early had a stuffed animal to place on the table.  At the first Thanksgiving Feast the year before, the stuffed animal table had been unplanned. Kids brought stuffed animals for various reasons and Aiden quickly took charge of turning one of the empty tables that had been set aside as a dessert table into a stuffed animal table. This year the invitation included an invitation to bring a stuffed animal for the stuffed animal petting zoo. A large number of stuffed critters were expected to enjoy Thanksgiving together; so many, in fact, that two tables were set aside for them.

 

Lenny placed two teddy bears on the table. His bear, Ursa, and Lance’s bear, Theo, were set side-by-side next to Horace, who had been set down by Aiden earlier. Miles put Oscar the Otter on the other table as a way of letting people know that both tables were part of the zoo. There was a third table where Operation Teddy Bear donations could be placed.

 

Guests started arriving at two o’clock. Marty and his family were among the first. Aiden almost knocked Marty down when he barreled into him yelling, “Marty! You came!” before giving him tight hug.

 

“Was there any doubt?” Marty laughed. “And be careful or you’ll squeeze the life out of Mortimer.” Marty was referring to the stuffed bear he was carrying. Mortimer had been a part of Marty’s life since he was a preschooler.

 

“Well, Arizona is a long way away.”

 

“I know it’s hard for a train nut like you to believe, but airplanes do have a way of making things a lot closer.”

 

“That’s not what I meant. What I meant was that you’re one of the first ones here and I wouldn’t have to worry about when you were going to come, and now I can be happy to see you.”

 

“Aiden, did you learn how to ramble like that from Mason?”

 

“No, well, never mind. I’m just happy to see you.”

 

While all of that was going on, Larry and Phil greeted the rest of the family: Marty’s parents, his husband Rich, who was carrying two bears for the donation table, and Drew, Marty’s six-year old brother.

 

“I brought Oliver,” Drew said as he held his dark brown teddy bear up. “He can be with his friends this time.” Drew had brought the bear the year before but wouldn’t give him up to the table.

 

Mike the Donkey arrived carrying a stuffed white Donkey which was fourteen inches in length. His husband Ryan (aka Ry Dawg) was carrying a much smaller, but still good-sized stuffed St. Bernard, complete with cask.

 

“Wow, that thing is humongous,” Aiden gushed. “I hope it doesn’t make Horace feel inferior.”

 

“He won’t. This is a very nice Donkey. Since I am a very nice Donkey, too, I won’t have any other kind.”

 

“Does Big Boy have a name?”

 

“Big Boy. I like it. That will be his name for now, which means we’ll have Big Boy and Lil Pooch.

 

“Why for now?” Phil asked. “Why not just name them?”

 

“I will tell you guys later,” Mike replied. “The Dawg and I have some big news to share.”

 

“What, Ryan is pregnant?” Larry asked with a perfectly straight face.

 

“Close,” Mike chuckled. “We’ll tell you some time after dinner starts when there is more time for socializing. Right now, you have people to greet.” Mike and Ryan left for the dining room.

 

Two other favorites for Aiden to greet were Eric and his husband Noah. Like Marty, Eric acted as a mentor to Aiden, but in a somewhat different capacity. He talked about various subjects like playing sports at a high level when you weren’t the most talented player on the field, handling academics as an honor roll student in upper level classes, or just watching trains. Eric had always been a non-drinker, so Aiden’s issues with his alcohol cravings were not topic issues.

 

While Eric and Noah didn’t have stuffed animals of their own, they each brought a teddy bear for donation to Operation Teddy Bear, an option that was mentioned on the invitation. Several of the dinner attendees did the same. The donations were placed on the third table in the zoo.

 

Coming in behind them were the Corcoran twins, Kevin and Kraig, who had played baseball for Larry and Phil and were key parts of Mayfield’s back-to-back state championships.

 

Aiden was happy to see the Vance brothers arrive with their mother, who now had loving custody of her sons. Cole, who was seven, was carrying Megrez the penguin and his brother Davey, five, toted Andy Panda. The boys had received the stuffed animals from Aiden and Gordy after a fire devastated the trailer they had been living in. Cole and Davey no longer lived in Mayfield, but there was so much thanks and love surrounding the two sweet little boys, the Thanksgiving feast wouldn’t be complete without them in attendance. 

 

After them were Nolan’s parents, Paul and Vivian Moyer, with a specially invited guest. Espowyes had arrived in Centralia on the Amtrak Cascades having transferred from the “Empire Builder” which he had caught in his home of Whitefish. Although Espowyes and the Moyers had never met, they had pictures on their phones to guide them and they quickly found each other. The Moyers could see why Nolan had come back from his trip with Aiden to Montana full of praise for the old man.

 

The Emerson family came with Skip and Grandma Emerson, Aiden’s school bus driver, together with the Polks and son Gage. Mary Polk was Larry and Phil’s attorney. She worked for their close friend George Bednarzyk, who came with his wife. They were Sammy and Jeffrey’s parents. Skip and Gage brought their own stuffed animals. Skip was carrying Nifty, his stuffed kangaroo, while Skip had a chimpanzee named Lukas draped around his neck. The adults each carried a teddy bear to donate. 

 

The tables in the stuffed animal petting zoo were filling up quickly.

 

<Peter Astor and Eddie>

 

The drama of the first Thanksgiving Feast was in the past. Keegan and Natalie were now an accepted part of the Miller family. Peter Astor was no longer a pariah. Eddie was no longer an unlikeable bully and juvenile delinquent. In place of drama came even more thanks.

 

The closest there was to drama was Peter and Eddie encountering each other. Peter had sought out Eddie in order to make amends. Aiden, who knew the history between the two, had told Peter that Eddie, who was now his foster cousin, would be attending the feast. Peter knew he would have to make amends to Eddie; the only question he had was whether he should make those amends before or after the dinner.

 

Peter’s sponsor, Mikey, who was Rich’s younger brother, suggested before dinner so he wouldn’t be stewing about it while he ate. Just to be sure, Peter had dropped by Larry’s classroom after school one afternoon to get his opinion.

 

“What do you think?” Peter asked after he explained his dilemma. Even though Larry was his baseball coach, Peter trusted him totally, especially after Larry made amends to him for a huge oversight on his part. From that point Peter saw Larry as more than just a teacher and baseball coach; he also saw him as a personal mentor, if not an adult AA sponsor.

 

Peter trusted Larry enough to tell him his entire history with Eddie, especially getting the young boy drunk and high and having sex with him. It was something he was not proud of.

 

“With me being sober and all, if only I could do it all over, I’d do it so differently,” Peter said after finishing his story. He hadn’t meant to tell Larry the entire story, it just seemed to happen. It had been like doing his Fifth Step with Mikey, only worse, because Larry was an adult and his baseball coach.

 

“Life is full of if onlys, and we can’t live by any of them,” Larry responded. “Think about it this way: if you haven’t done anything you regret, you haven’t built character. But you also showed your commitment to your sobriety by coming to me and to Mikey and talking about the problem.”

 

“But what do I do?”

 

“Pray about it and make a decision knowing that whatever decision you make could be the wrong one.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Peter, you’ve made a lot of wrong decisions in your young life, what makes you think you’re immune now?”

 

“But adults like you don’t make them, so when does it end?”

 

“Remember when I said I would be available to you for help and then forgot to be there to help you because I set other priorities? No matter how you look at it, that was a wrong decision.”

 

“But you made amends, coach.”

 

“That’s what the Tenth Step is all about; being able to admit when you’re wrong. Now as for you, what it comes down to for you is do you want to get those amends out of the way before enjoying Thanksgiving dinner, or fretting about it through the entire meal?”

 

“Get it done. And then I’ll at least know because I’ve made that decision that might be wrong,” Peter grinned.

 

“Or that it might be right,” Larry reminded him.

 

“Yeah, that, too.” Peter stood up. “Thanks for the time coach.”

 

“My pleasure, Peter. Helping you turn into the fine young man I see you becoming will always be a special pleasure.”

 

“And you can tell Coach Miller anything you want about what we said; he is your husband after all.”  When Peter got to the classroom door, he stopped and turned. “You know what’s really weird, coach?”

 

“I know a lot of things that are really weird, so tell me what weird thing applies to you.”

 

“That neither Mikey or you told me what to decide, but I know exactly what I want to do.”

 

“There’s nothing weird about that, son. It means you did the right thing in talking about it and that you are growing up and maturing.”

 

Peter nodded and left the classroom feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his young shoulders. 

 

The result of those conversations was Peter seeking out Eddie as soon as he could after they both arrived at the community center. Peter made sure to give Eddie a friendly greeting and was not put out when Eddie’s response was a perfunctory nod.

 

“I’d like to talk to you first chance we get before dinner,” Peter told the surly twelve-year-old. This was the Eddie that Peter knew and fucked frequently just a few months ago, but he didn’t let it concern him. Coach Sanders had said that whatever he decided to do could be the wrong decision and he would have to live with it. Understanding that, he knew that the best thing he could do was stay the course and have his meeting.

 

A half hour before guests would start arriving, Peter told Eddie he thought this would be a good time to talk. Since Eddie didn’t have an assigned task, and Peter knew what to do at the table, they could get away quickly to chat.

 

“Whatever you say,” Eddie snarled in response to Peter’s suggestion. Peter ignored the attitude and led Eddie out of the door and to the first room up the hall. It was a former classroom that Larry and Phil had reserved for an after dinner gathering. The fact that Eddie was following him gave Peter cause for hope; Eddie could have just as easily stayed put and done nothing.

 

Peter entered the classroom first with Eddie following. Eddie pointedly left the door open. “I’m not gonna close the door so you can’t mess around with me. I’m done with that shit.”

 

“So am I,” Peter responded quietly, but strongly, as Eddie sat in a chair across from Peter. He never took his eyes off the older boy.

 

“Whatever,” Eddie repeated. Eddie knew that Peter had no intention of doing anything to him, but he wanted Peter to know how he felt about him. The best way he knew how to do that was to act like an asshole. “So, what the fuck do you want to talk about?”

 

“I want to talk about what I did and to make amends. I want you to know that I’ve changed since then. I’ve been sober and I do AA where I have real friends. What I did to you was wrong and I will regret it forever, but I am going to do my best to live a life that will help me make up for it. I think it’s called, like, living amends.”

 

Eddie glared at Peter and said nothing for over a minute. He blinked first and broke the silence. “So, what am I supposed to do, forgive you and say everything is cool and that you’re not an asshole anymore?”

 

Peter wanted to say that every time Eddie answered the phone and said he was coming to Peter’s house, or every time he came over asking if he could get wasted, he could have made the decision not to come. But Peter knew from his talks with Mikey, with Coach Sanders, with Sammy’s father, and even with Marty a couple of times, that the only person responsible for what Peter Astor did was Peter Astor. When Peter looked at his role in Eddie’s life when he did his Fifth Step with Mikey, he could see that he had been wrong, wrong, and more wrong.

 

So, Peter said the only thing he could say and that was all he could do was work at not being an asshole anymore. Eddie grunted as if to say he didn’t believe a word of it. He started to make a move to get out of his chair and walk out. Instead, he decided to get one more dig at the sixteen-year-old junior sitting in front of him who was pissing him off and ruining his Thanksgiving.

 

“You don’t even know what happened to me after I ran away, do you?” Eddie asked passionately.

 

“No, I don’t.”

 

“Well, I became a fucking street kid and lived in this camp with homeless dudes and in a tent with a kid named Blue who became my friend. He was like a prostitute and he helped me be one so I could make money. So that’s what I did, I sucked dicks for money, but my ass was off limits. Sometimes I had to fight and kick assholes who wanted to fuck me, but most guys were cool about it. Only Blue could fuck me, and he fucked way better than you. And yeah, sometimes we got drunk and stoned and sometimes it was like it was with you except he wasn’t an asshole like you.”

 

Peter listened dispassionately. He was happy he had asked Sammy to cover for him at the table if he was late coming back. Sammy agreed readily, knowing the importance of the meeting Peter planned to have with Eddie.

 

When Eddie saw he couldn’t get a rise from Peter, he went on. “One day this little blond kid became a new friend of Blue and him and me met and we became friends and Blue disappeared. His name was Curt. One time we went into town begging for money because we were hungry. I didn’t want to be a whore no more and this guy took us to lunch instead of giving us money. That guy was Troy Miller, who is Aiden’s uncle and is now my foster dad and now I live in a nice house with a family that I love and I don’t drink and do weed just like you don’t and, fuck, I’m sorry I was mean to you because we were all fucked up and you weren’t no different from Blue who I miss a lot and I hope you stay sober and keep making your living amend and maybe someday you and me can be friends again and…shit….”

 

At that point Eddie couldn’t stop the tears that had been welling up and he burst out into uncontrollable sobs. Peter was about to get  out of his seat to console the younger boy when Eddie stood up, walked over to Peter, sat on his lap and cried into the teen’s chest. Peter could no longer hold back his tears either, and they flowed down his cheeks and onto Eddie’s shoulder. Neither boy could talk, yet they knew what the other was thinking. Peter rubbed Eddie’s back until the boy stopped shaking and looked up at Peter.

 

“You were crying too?” Eddie asked in what was a statement as much as a question.

 

“I know you don’t believe it, but I care about you, Eddie.”

 

“The last time I was this close to you we were drunk and then you fucked me. And now…sniff…and now…sniff…you care about me. Like my new mom and dad care about me, and like my new brothers care about me and Curt cares about me and…and…sniff…,” Eddie took a deep breath and said with steely quiet, “and like Blue cared about me. I miss Blue and wonder every day where he is.” Eddie almost told Peter that he and his dad had gone looking for Blue the day before, but he decided not to.

 

“I know we can’t be friends Eddie, but…,”

 

Eddie cut him off. “Maybe we can be friends if we try. Dad says we have to try to get better and lots of times I don’t. Chase is, like, a really good big brother for me, but he doesn’t understand what happens when you’re fucked up inside and do fucked up things and you understand it and, well, I need an older friend to help me sometimes even if he lives a long way away.”

 

“I guess that’s what phones are for, right?” Peter grinned.

 

“You’re crying again.”

 

“This time it’s because I’m happy. Now, let’s go wash our faces and get back with everybody. And we can dry our wet shirts under the blow dryer and nobody will ever need to know what happened unless we tell them.”

 

“Are you going to tell anybody?”

 

“I’ll tell my sponsor Mikey, if it’s okay with you. I’d tell Coach Sanders who I asked for advice. But he’s Aiden’s dad, so if he asks, I’ll just tell him I made my amends.”

 

“It’s cool if you tell Mikey if I can tell Chase. And if my dad asks, I’ll just say we both made amends.”

 

Eddie rose from Peter’s lap. The boy had gotten big and heavy, but Peter wasn’t about to make Eddie get off him until he wanted to.

 

“Oh, and before we go into the bathroom, I want to say one more thing,” Peter said.

 

“What?”

 

“Thanks for being you and giving me something to be really grateful for on Thanksgiving.”

 

Eddie nodded and then said, “Thanks for making amends and for being a new friend for me.”

 

It wasn’t necessary for Eddie to say that Peter had never been a friend before. That was something both boys knew and understood.

 

<Dinner>

 

Dinner was a first-rate affair. The salad and roll servers made up in enthusiasm what they lacked in experience. The three catering employees had the buffet lines operating efficiently and saw that everyone was served in time for them to put out the desserts in the buffet area and then enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with their families at the Feast.

 

Keeping the desserts going was the task of Larry and Phil’s former players. Marty, Rich, Jeffrey, Mike the Donkey, and Ryan all took short shifts keeping things in order. The pies and cookies were on plates that the dessert eaters grabbed off the counter themselves. The Corcoran twins along with Eric and Noah took care of serving coffee at the tables to the dessert eaters.

 

After dessert and coffee, Larry, who, along with Phil, had been making the rounds talking to family and friends, thanked everyone for coming, which netted him a round of applause for putting on another first-class Feast. Peter then reminded everyone that there would be a gratitude meeting in Room 102, and then gave instructions on how to get there.

 

“The invitation said the meeting was for people in recovery, but everybody is invited to come since all of us have things to be grateful for.”

 

Phil then thanked everyone who brought stuffed animals for the petting zoo and offered a special thanks to those who brought animals for Operation Teddy Bear. He encouraged everyone who hadn’t looked over the amazing collection to be sure to take a look on their way out. With that, he declared the Second Thanksgiving Feast over.

 

“What’s the meeting about?” Skip asked Aiden, who was positioned in the foyer where he could thank the guests for coming.

 

“It’s about being thankful,” Aiden replied.

 

“I’m thankful I got a lot to eat and I got to sit with Gage. Do we have to go to the meeting?”

 

“Nope, nobody has to go, Skip. You probably will be bored with what everybody says anyway.”

 

“I wouldn’t be bored by what you say. You’ve taught me and Gage all kinds of good things. So, thank you for teaching us.”

 

“You are most welcome.”

 

“Well, I won’t go to your meeting, but do you think I can spend the night tonight instead?”

 

“Whoa, what brought this on?”

 

“I don’t know, I just want to.”

 

Aiden then did something he hated when it was done to him: he mussed Skip’s hair. “I’ve got plans tonight and tomorrow night but if you can stay Saturday, I’ll ask my dads.”

 

Skip shook his head trying to get his hair straightened out, then broke out into a big smile. “And I’ll ask my mom. I can text you what she says.”

 

“You have a phone?”

 

“Yep. Grandma gave me one. But I guess I need your number.”

 

“That always helps,” Aiden grinned. The boys exchanged phone numbers as Grant came out with his mother. He was carrying a stuffed dragon under his right arm.

 

“I didn’t get to meet your buddy,” Aiden said.

 

“This is Zarek the Dragon. He’s been my buddy since I was like four or five. And no, I don’t sleep with him—at least not usually.”

 

“He looks fierce, like he could eat Horace.”

 

“That won’t happen, because I’ve had years to tame him, and he knows not to mess with a couple of angry seventh graders. Where is that meeting again?”

 

“You mean you weren’t paying attention again?” his mother scolded.

 

“I was paying attention, I just forgot,” Grant responded lamely.

 

Aiden pointed to where the room was.

 

“Can I bring Zarek?” Grant asked.

 

“Of course, you can. I think I’ll bring Horace, as long as you pinky swear that Zarek won’t eat him or breathe fire on him.”

 

“Aiden, I told you….” He saw Aiden’s broad grin and held out his free hand, his pinky raised. “I gotta quit taking you so serious. Yes, I swear by the sacred pinky that Zarek will not eat Horace and will not breathe fire on him.” The boys locked pinkies. “But, I’m not so sure how safe you are,” Grant giggled as he found a way to get back at his friend.

 

The Hallion family came out next. “See ya at school Monday,” Trent told Aiden.

 

“Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?” his older brother, Jackson, asked.

 

“No. I’ve got my jacket and my hat and…oh, yeah. I did forget something.” Trent hustled back into the dining room and came back out carrying Koji, his stuffed Martian. “Can’t leave good old Koji behind.”

 

“That thing is so important to him, it took his dorkiness twenty minutes to figure out where it was in his room,” Jackson smirked.

 

“Well, I can’t help it if I didn’t know where he landed his spaceship this time.”

 

“Then get your radar fixed.”

 

“Jackson, you told us at dinner how grateful you were to have such a great little brother,” his mother chided him.

 

“I am grateful. It’s the Martian invasion that gets to me.”

 

“Anyway, I’ll see you on Monday,” Trent repeated.

 

“Thanks for coming,” Aiden told the family.

 

Among the last to come out was Nolan. He was with his Mom and Dad and Espowyes. “I think we have everything cleaned up except for what the caterers have to finish,” Paul Moyer said. The custodians for the center would put away the tables and chairs the next day.

 

“Let’s find us a seat at the meeting,” Nolan told Aiden.

 

“There should be plenty,” Aiden told him.

 

The room had enough seating for thirty. Aiden was certain the meeting wouldn’t draw that many people and he was right in that assessment.

 

<Gratitude Meeting>

 

There ended up being twenty-three attending the meeting. Of those, ten were adults: Marty, Rich, Larry, Phil, Espowyes, Eric, Noah, Keegan, George Bednarzyk, and Mrs. Emerson. Mrs. Emerson was the surprise attendee. As she said later, she wanted to see what the kids who she knew so well were grateful for. She and Kalie were the only females in attendance.

 

Before the meeting actually got under way, Noah took Aiden aside for a moment.

 

“Eric and I are going to be making our visit to the cemetery on Saturday to pay our respects to Bobby. We’d love to have you and Nolan join us there and afterward at the Cafe for lunch.”

 

“Thank you,” Aiden said. “I was hoping you’d ask. Nolan and I talked about it and we both would really love to go.”

 

“Pick you up at 11:30 Saturday morning?”

 

“Ok. Thanks again.”

 

Aiden took the chair in the front of the room facing the rest of the chairs. When he talked to Peter, Sammy, Marty, and Eric about chairing, they all thought Aiden should be the one chairing the meeting since he had been the force behind setting it. Aiden reluctantly agreed.

 

Aiden opened the meeting with the serenity prayer, which Chase had placed on all of the chairs during dessert. Aiden then reminded everyone that everything that was said in the meeting was confidential. Nolan, Darnell, Eric, Noah, Chase, Gordy, Kalie, Rich, and Mrs. Emerson did not participate in a recovery program. Of those only Kalie and Mrs. Emerson weren’t close to somebody in recovery. Aiden knew anybody could slip up and blab something. On very rare occasions somebody broke confidentiality on purpose, but usually it was because people simply didn’t understand that what was said should be private.

 

While the invitation said the meeting was to help those in recovery it was a meeting where anybody could come and express gratitude. Aiden just wanted to be sure it was understood that all of them should feel free to speak what was on his or her mind.

 

“Now it’s time to share our gratitude. You can share or not share and just listen,” Aiden said. “But no matter what, let’s be grateful. I was looking for a quote about gratitude and I found a zillion of them, so here is one of my favorites. ‘Gratitude is the memory of the heart.’ It was said by a guy named Jean Massieu. So, let’s share what our heart remembers.”

 

Aiden had worked as hard at organizing the meeting as he had on filling the seats on the seating chart. He hoped he wasn’t babbling, but what he was saying felt right. “I will start by saying I am grateful that all of you here are my friends. I couldn’t ask for better ones.”

 

There was a long period of silence as everyone sorted through what they thought of gratitude and of what they were grateful for. Surprisingly, it was quiet little Grant who broke the silence.

 

“I’m grateful Aiden became my friend, because then all of his friends became my friends when I was really scared and lonely,” Grant said, sharing a memory that was truly from his heart.

 

Marty chimed in next. “I read one time that if you don’t appreciate what you have you might as well not have it. I am grateful that I can wake up each morning and be grateful for what a beautiful day it is, because it is a day I have never seen before.

 

“I am grateful for the wonderful men in my life when I was growing up as a lost teenager on the verge of being a career nobody. Thanks to George for being like a father and more to me. Thanks to Espowyes who showed me the importance of my soul.

 

“I am grateful to Coach Larry and Coach Phil, who meant so much to me growing up as they showed me the importance poise and sportsmanship has in making a person a true competitor. And I am grateful to my dad, who became my partner in recovery as I grew into a man. He wanted to be here, but Drew was being cranky, and he decided to help my mother take care of him. And finally, thanks again to Larry and Phil for putting on this incredible Thanksgiving Feast, which gives all of us something to be grateful for.”

 

After a few more shares, Mike the Donkey shared what he and his husband, Ryan, were grateful for. “The Dawg and I are grateful that this Sunday we’re going to be parents.” He waited for the murmurs of surprise and pleasure to die down, and then went on. “We will be permanent foster parents of a boy named Justin, who is eight and in third grade. The past couple of months we’ve done quite a bit with him and he’s spent nights with us. We’ve applied to adopt him, and the social worker is optimistic that by January he will become a junior Donkey Dawg, for me to become a Big Donkey Daddy, and for Ryan to be Top Dawg Papa, when the adoption is final.” He pointed to two big stuffed animals sitting on seats. “Now you know why Big Boy and Big Pooch won’t get their names until later; it will be up to Justin to name them.

 

“The only people here today who are not surprised by this are Coach Phil and Coach Larry since the Dawg and I have been consulting them quite a lot. And now you know what our stuffed animals are about. So, yeah, I am

very grateful, especially since I won’t have to be a diaper changing Donkey.”

 

Ryan smiled and gave his husband an elbow in the ribs. “Mike!” he said quietly in a did-you-really-have-to-say-that tone of voice.

 

“Way to go Mike and Ryan,” Marty called out. “You two are going to make great dads.” Eric and Noah got up and gave the Donkey and the Dawg a couple of long, loving hugs.

 

Aiden sensed he needed to be patient and let the hubbub die down, which it eventually did. Eric then expressed his gratitude at being able to grow up in Mayfield and to have had loving parents, fantastic friends, great coaches and teachers, and the most loving husband anyone could ever ask for.

 

Espowyes was the last to share. “I am grateful to have been given a long and fulfilling life. Aesop, the writer of those great Fables, said ‘Gratitude turns what we have into enough.’ I have had more than enough come into my life to have made it a life worth living.

 

“My thanks go to Marty and Rich, to Eric and Noah, and to Aiden and Nolan for sharing their love and trust with me in times of need. And my thanks go to all of the beautiful people in this room telling your reasons to be grateful today.”

 

Espowyes gave Aiden a smile and went on. “And a special thank you to you, young master Aiden, for setting up this meeting. I have found it to be very spiritual. I appreciated the young master’s opening quote—my heart has many memories because it has had so much to be grateful for. May you all find similar memories in your hearts as you live your lives.”

 

Nolan walked to the front of the room, held his boyfriend tightly, and gave him a passionate kiss. “Last year we were afraid to do this in front of everyone,” he whispered. “But not anymore. I love you so much.”

 

Aiden returned Nolan’s kiss. “I love you, too. I’d kiss you in front of anybody.”

 

“Except maybe my mom?”

 

“Yeah, except maybe your mom,” Aiden chuckled.

 

The meeting ended with hugs, love, a couple of tears, and the Donkey and Dawg showing pictures of their new son.

 

Next: Overnights