A Gathering of Brothers

 A reunion story, featuring 8 of Russell's characters

By Atonia Walpole

PART ONE

Chapter One

Anne Alderman put the broom down. What spider webs remained out of reach would live for another day. She’d done all she could to clean off the front porch except for the hosing down. She’d see to that later and maybe water the potted pansies.  She hunched her shoulders back and forth to relieve the pain caused by holding the broom over her head. “Damn bursitis!”, she mumbled.

The breeze that set the wind chimes to mix their melodious sounds was cool and crisp. It was that time of year; real winter hadn’t set in and fall had given up, leaving the woods full of bare trees and carpeting the forest floor with brown leaves. She called the dog in. “Pepper, come on boy! Come on, time for your dog bowl.” She smiled at the mutt. The words dog bowl finally sinking in, he came running up on the porch, tail wagging.

Entering the front door, she stopped and took a deep breath and with a satisfied look on her face, walked back to the kitchen to feed Pepper. The house was clean and smelled clean. It wasn’t easy anymore keeping it that way. She’d gotten used to the smell of dust and chose to ignore the dust bunnies hiding under chair legs but company was coming and she wanted it to be clean when they got here.

How she’d managed it she didn’t know. Maybe they were all as ready for it as she was. It had been a long time since the whole family had gathered. There had been marriages and divorces, births and deaths, and she thanked God her boys were all healthy and sound. Her boys weren’t boys anymore but she still thought of them that way, her own three, two step sons and her sister’s three boys that she’d raised as her own. There would be children in the house again, for a little while anyway, grandchildren she’d never seen and those she knew very well.

Her boys had scattered to the four winds, wherever their lives had taken them and they didn’t visit that frequently but kept in touch either by phone or the internet. Anne had flown out for the births of her grandchildren but other than that she didn’t get out that much. She was quite happy to work in her flower garden, read, watch movies and work the crossword puzzle each morning with her breakfast.  She was sixty-five years old and in pretty good health. No vials of medication lined her bedside table, only a small vase where she kept one bloom from her garden.

Her husband had died seven years ago. A sudden heart attack took him and it was weeks before she really got her mind around the fact that he was gone. That had been the last time all the boys had been together. They were a mixed bag, she thought as she filled her coffee pot with water, but they were a good lot, all in all.

They would be home for a week and the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was a good one. Some of them always had plans for the holidays and some, like herself if no one came, spent the day in their pajamas watching old movies on TV and eating Stouffer’s frozen lasagna for dinner. She didn’t get excited about holidays anymore. In fact she didn’t get excited about much of anything anymore. All the more reason to have her boys home. She needed a lift, maybe a kick in the butt she reckoned. She’d been in a rut for too long.

THE NEPHEWS:

BEN

Ben was forty-three and took after his father. He’d left home right after high school and gone west. Anne heard from him frequently but had no idea of his life. He had a ranch in Arizona and raised beef cattle. He was only ten when his mother and father died in an automobile accident fleeing the law. Anne’s sister married young and her husband made a living for them by whatever illegal means he could find. She’d taken him and his younger brothers and raised them as her sons. They called her Mama and loved her as if she were their natural born mother. Ben was bringing a woman with him. Anne had no idea what or who she was.

COLIN

Colin was thirty-three and a baby when he came to Anne. He never knew his parents, and grew up with her own sons as one of them. He’d been in and out of trouble most of his life. Anne often wondered if it was in the blood. He spent some time with Ben when he got out of school and never came back home. She’d shed many tears over Colin. Word was he was selling cars in LA. He had a lot of potential as a boy but got in with the wrong crowd and never looked back.

ZACK

Zack was thirty-two and lived in California.  He was only three months old when his parents died. He was with the FBI but Anne didn’t know exactly what he did there. He was a widower with a son whom he was bringing with him. She’d begged him to come home when his wife died in childbirth but he wouldn’t. He was more like her sister than his father and Anne was grateful for that small thing. He’d been a good student in school and unlike his older brothers stayed out of trouble and went on to college.

THE STEPSONS:

RICHIE

Richie was thirty-eight and lived in New Jersey. He’d worked his way up the ladder and was now a detective with the police force. He worked his way through college and hoped to take the bar exam soon, wanted to be a public defender. He was in the midst of a divorce but was bringing his son, Michael. He’d lived with his mother until she died and then he and his younger brother came to Anne to raise. He was a good kid and one she didn’t worry about. He always did the right thing.

STEVE

Steve was thirty-two and lived in New York. He was a photographer with a girlfriend he couldn’t live with or live without. Anne talked with him frequently and advised him as best she could. He was bringing her home with him. Steve alternated living with Anne and his father and living with his mother. He was a smart kid and stayed out of trouble. He was hyper like his older brother and was a handful as a boy but Anne had a special place in her heart for him.

THE SONS:

CAL

Cal was the son of Anne and her first husband. He was forty-four and a journalist with a Washington, DC newspaper. He’d never married and Anne wondered if he ever would now at his age. He’d dabbled in politics, running a campaign for a college buddy, and had a few girlfriends along the way but no one that he cared enough about to marry. Of all of them, he was the one she talked to the most. She was closer to him than the rest, always had been, though she had no favorites and had always treated them all the same.

JOHN

John was thirty-five and lived in Alaska. He was a sheriff in a small town, married with two little boys. His wife and boys were coming with him. Anne had never seen the youngest and was looking forward to seeing all of them. Donna kept in touch via emails and sent pictures of the boys. John was always the peacemaker of the family. When two got into a fight he was the one who broke it up. With that many boys there were always fights. He had a temper himself but took it out to the ball field. He’d been a good baseball player in school. Now he was playing hockey in Alaska. Anne imagined he still took his temper out on whatever he could hit with a stick. He was also the son of her first marriage.

JEFF

Jeff was thirty and the baby of the family.  He was a plumber and talked about having his own company one day. He’d been a tough little boy, into sports all his life and still played on a local team. He’d had a few girlfriends early on but it became evident he was not going to marry. He was gay. Anne accepted the fact and went on. He was still her son and she loved him. It was harder for her husband and his father to accept but he did because he loved his son. As far as she knew none of his brothers ever bothered about it. Maybe they teased him a little but he could take it and give it right back. She worried about him, of course, because of AIDS but he always reassured her he was very careful.  He lived in town in his own apartment and came home when she needed him to do something for her.

Chapter 2:

Anne lost track of arrivals. There were too many planes all coming in at different times from different places. She left it to the boys to get themselves home. Jeff, living only ten miles away, was the first to arrive on Friday afternoon at four-thirty. He was the one who got a hot meal. She’d been cooking for two days and her fridge was full of things to be carved, heated up and spooned out.

“Hey, Mom, anybody else here yet?”

“No, sweetie, you’re the first. I think there’s a plane coming in at 5:15 but I forget who’s on it. You know I just gave up.”

Jeff chuckled, “They’re all big boys. They’ll find their way here. What smells good? I’m starved.”

“You name it! I’ve cooked everything Publix had. There’s hot soup and rolls right now if you want.”

“Okay, got some sandwich stuff?”

“Anything you want, hunt it out.”

“Gosh, Mom, look at all this stuff! Ooh, ham!” Jeff rummaged in the fridge.

“Why don’t you pull that out and slice it up? You have a busy week?”

“Not too bad.” Jeff had the ham on a cutting board, fishing a knife out of the knife block. “Did you ever get a head count?”

Anne paused smearing soft butter over the top of the rolls. “Eleven and four children.”

“I can stay in town, Mom. You don’t have that kind of room.”

“Nonsense! I cleaned out the attic bedroom and found enough air mattresses, camp beds and whatnot for the kids. The rest of you can double up.”

“Did you ever find out who Ben’s bringing?”

“No, he didn’t say and I didn’t ask. Female is all I know. As far as I know he hasn’t married, but then I don’t know much about him anymore.”

“It’s a shame we aren’t closer, you know, live closer to each other.”

“I reckon planes fly both ways.”

“Yeah, I reckon they do; finding the time and the money at the same time.”

“That’s it, isn’t it?  Put you some ham in a couple of these rolls, Jeff. That’ll be good.”

“Have you eaten?”

“I’ve been sampling all day, but, no, not a fixed meal. Make me a ham roll, too.”

Jeff found a plate, filled a half dozen rolls with slices of ham and set it on the long kitchen table. “Mama, I think I might have found somebody. We’ve been out a few times and just seem to click, you know.”

“How old is he?”

“He’s my age, maybe a year younger.”

“I wish you luck, Jeff. You know that.” Anne did, male or female, she wanted somebody for Jeff. He was so good, so sweet, he deserved a good mate who would appreciate him.

“So far it’s holding,” he smiled and found a bowl for his soup. “Vegetable?”

“Yeah, I call it vegetable beef because I cooked a few beef bones with it.” Anne was tired and was happy to let Jeff wait on himself. Her boys had been good about that, fending for themselves. She always cooked a lot of food and left it to them to feed themselves. None of them ever went hungry.

“I want your recipe for lasagna while I’m here. Gonna try it out on my friend.”

Anne smiled, “I’ll dig it out. I haven’t made that in ages. It makes too much for one.”

“You could have company if you called and told me it was in the oven.”

“I’ll do that, Jeff, and you can bring your new friend out to dinner.” Now why hadn’t she thought of that before?

“Okay, it’s a date. I’ll get it, Mom. Sit.” Jeff jumped up to answer the phone. He was back in a minute. “Zack’s here. He’s going to wait on Colin so they can share a car.”

“I’ll bet Sam’s a tired little boy.” Anne finished up her roll.

“I don’t know. Kids don’t get tired. They just go till they fall out. We used to.”

“Well, you all fell out at the same time because we had bedtime rules. Richie lets Michael stay up until all hours.”

“We might have gone to bed but we didn’t go to sleep. We played cards and board games.”

“But you still got the idea it was time to quiet down and get ready for sleep.”

Anne moved crumbs around on the table, remembering the days when they were all home. It had been crazy but she’d loved every minute of it.

“Bath time was the worst all those years with only one bathroom for all of us. Ben was the only one who missed out on four bathrooms.”

Anne chuckled, “I used to threaten to hose you all down in the backyard, all that squabbling about who went first.”

“It was good, Mom. Growing up here in this big old house with all my brothers, we all had a good childhood.”

“I’m glad you remember it that way, sweetie. I think I’ll make a pot of coffee. Oh, there’s deserts in the pantry. Help yourself.”

Zack pulled the two bags from the turnstile and turned to look for Sam. He’d told him to stand in one spot but the boy would not listen. He was getting angry until he saw his brother walking up with a bag on his shoulder, Sam running alongside of him.

“Hiya, Zack! Found this short fella running around. Do you know him?” Colin, smiling, shook Zack’s hand.

“Hey, Colin. Sam, come here! I swear if I had a leash.”

“I got the keys to a rental. Let’s go find it.”

“Dad, I want to carry my bag.”

“It’s too heavy, Sam. Give up.”

“Long flight, Zack?”

“Yeah.”

“Won’t be long until you can turn him over to Mom.” Colin lit a cigarette as soon as they cleared the doors of the airport. “Any idea about the others?”

“None. I guess Jeff is there already.”

“Probably. Yeah, it will be good to get home again.”

“You haven’t been home since Dad died?”

“No, been busy.”

Zack strapped Sam in the backseat and stowed the bags in the trunk. He hoped Colin was keeping his nose clean.

“How’s the business going?” he asked, fastening his seat belt.

“Going good, no problems,” he smiled. Colin ran a car lot selling used cars, some stolen, but he didn’t ask for documentation. He didn’t ask where parts came from in the repair bays, either. “How’s the bad guy business?”

“Busy, lots of bad guys. Hey, slow down!”

“Relax, little brother.” Colin neatly passed the car in front of him.

“Hey, Dad, he called you little brother.”

“That’s because he is my little brother, Sam.”

“But he’s not little, he’s as big as you are.”

“I’m a year older, though.”

“Wish I had a little brother.”

“A few days with your cousins might change your mind about that, Sam.” Zack looked over the seat at his son.

“Are they older or younger?”

“Joey’s the youngest. Michael and Michael are about your age.” Zack didn’t know for sure.

“How come two Michaels?”

“Richie’s Michael is named after him, that’s his middle name. John’s is, I don’t know, named after Donna’s father or something.”

“I think he’s called Mikey, John’s that is.” Colin wasn’t sure either. He’d lost touch.

“We should know this stuff, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Colin turned off the main road onto a two-lane country road. “Well, there it is, big lump of a house.”

Anne had turned on the front porch lights so they could find their way to the door, not that they couldn’t find it in the dark, having lived there all through their growing up years. It was home and what Zack and Colin thought of when the word was mentioned. Zack and Colin unloaded the trunk. Sam, already unbuckled, was running to the porch.

“There you are, Sam! Oh, my, haven’t you grown up!” Anne hugged her grandson and ran her hand over his head. Her heart went out to the little motherless boy; she’d wanted to raise him, still did, but he was Zack’s.

“Hey, Gramma. Oh, Jeff!” Sam was past her and into the house where Jeff was standing in the foyer.

“That’s Uncle Jeff to you, young man.” He mussed his hair and gave him a hug. Jeff was good with children.

Zack came up the steps and hugged his mama. “You’re looking good, Mama.”

“So are you. I’m so glad you came and brought Sam.”

Colin stood at the bottom of the steps and waited until Zack went inside. “Mama.”

Anne was down the steps, hugging him, her eyes running over. “Colin, I didn’t think I’d see you again.”

“Aw now, Mama, you know better than that.”

“No, I didn’t.” she wiped her eyes. “Come inside.” Colin had spent six years in prison for car theft and she lived in fear she’d get a phone call that he was back inside again.

Zack took his bags up to his old room. He and Jeff always shared a room, and the old oak twin beds still sat in the same place, same old braided rug on the floor. It was as though he’d never left. He put his bag on the top of the cedar chest at the foot of his bed. Footlockers they’d called them, where they kept their special things. He wondered if they were still there. He tossed Sam’s bag out in the hallway. He’d see to that later when he found where he was sleeping.

One thing Anne and her husband David had done was to make sure blood brothers did not share a room. They were all brothers and of the same family and so they mixed them up. They did try to keep ages close together to eliminate as much fighting as they could. It had worked; there were no divisions among the boys.

Colin brought his bag up and dumped it on his bed. It would never have occurred to him to sleep in Steve’s bed although Steve would be with his girl this time around and not be in it. He didn’t know who would be sharing. He chuckled, seeing his shelf with the model cars still lined up. Mama never changed a thing, never threw out any of his stuff he reckoned. He wondered if the twisted up model glue tubes he used to sniff were still in his footlocker…probably.

Anne sat at the table while Jeff made a plate for Sam. He was telling his uncle a joke and Jeff was laughing in all the right places. Of her four grandchildren she’d spent the most time with Sam. Zack had sent him out by himself last summer for two weeks. He was a great kid and she enjoyed him and had to admit Zack was doing a good job with him on his own.

“What’s for dinner, Mama?” Colin asked.

“Whatever you want. There’s soup and ham sliced up, or there’s casseroles in the fridge, a roast beef in there, mac and cheese, salad, whatever you feel like.”

“Mom’s been cooking for days so you better find something.” Jeff sat down with a piece of apple pie.

Zack opened the fridge. “Good grief! Hey, is this green bean casserole?”

“Yeah, that’s what it is. There’s some potato salad in there, too.” She watched as they helped themselves, filling plates and firing up the microwave.

“Anybody know when Ben’s coming in?” Colin asked.

“I think he’ll be here in the morning, and sometime tomorrow John and his family. Richie and Steve are coming in tonight around nine I think. Cal should be here shortly. I had all the times and flights written down but misplaced the notebook.”

“Is Steve bringing Monica?” Jeff asked.

“As far as I know he is, unless they’re fighting this week,” Anne sighed.

“Why do they fight?” Sam asked.

“Because they’re too much alike, both stubborn. Neither one of them will give an inch,” Anne replied.

“Don’t you repeat any of that, Sam.” Zack warned.

“I won’t, Dad. Can I have a brownie?”

“You made brownies?”

“Of course I did. Do you want one, too?”

Zack grinned, “Yes, and Sam can have one, too, but no more sugar after that.”

“Oh, Mama, that was good! I sure have missed your cooking.” Colin leaned back in his chair.

“Jeff, is there any coffee? Pour Colin a cup. You know you can come home anytime you want and I’ll cook for you…any of you.”

“It’s a long ways to come for dinner, Mama,” Colin smiled and patted her hand.

Jeff gathered up the empty plates and loaded the dishwasher. “I’ll make another pot, Mama. Cal will drink one all by himself.”

“Speak of the devil,” Zack observed.

Cal walked into the kitchen and kissed his Mama on the cheek. “Hey, Mama.”

“I didn’t hear you come in.” Anne grabbed his coat and pulled him in for a hug.

“I guess not with all this riff raff cluttering up the kitchen,” he grinned and greeted his brothers.

“How ya doing, Cal?”

“Colin, good to see you, man. And who is this young man? You aren’t Sam?

Sam grinned, “I am, too, Sam.”

“Sam I am.  Zack, he can’t be yours. He’s civilized. Ah, Jeff, coffee!” He hugged Jeff.

“There’s food, Cal.” Jeff handed him a cup of coffee.

“I’m sure there is but I ate already.”

“Don’t say that in front of Mama,” Zack grinned, taking the last bite of his brownie.

Cal took his seat at the table. Anne smiled they still took the same seats they did as boys. “You okay, Cal?”

“Yeah, Mama, I’m doing fine. You just don’t age, do you?”

Anne laughed, “I stopped ageing when the last of you boys left home. I couldn’t get no older than that and still live.”

They all giggled a bit. “Mama, where is Sam to sleep?” Zack asked.

“I fixed up the attic room and made beds for all the children, first come first served.”

“You’re putting the kids in the attic?” Colin asked.

“Well, yeah, it used to be a playroom, you remember, for rainy days or whatever. I rummaged around and found something for them to sleep on, cleaned it out. It looks right nice.”

“Toys and stuff still up there? They’ll be fine then.” Cal sipped his coffee.

“You know Mama doesn’t throw anything away.” Jeff took his seat at the table.

“You ought to just close off the upstairs and live downstairs, Mama. No need to have to clean all that stuff up there.”

“Cal, I do keep it closed off and I don’t clean as a rule. I’ve been working up there for two weeks, dusting and vacuuming, washing sheets.”

Colin shifted in his chair. “Good thing we don’t come that often.”

“That’s not so. Come when you can. You’re always welcome, one at a time or all of you at once. I’m glad to see you either way.”

“I got to sleep in Dad’s room last summer.”

“That was my room, too, Sam.”

“I know. Gramma told me. I didn’t bother any of your things.”

Jeff laughed, “I don’t think I have any things left in there. I took most of my junk when I moved out.”

“I’ll bet his room looks just like the one upstairs.”

“Come and see it sometime, Cal. You might be surprised.”

“It don’t.” Anne cocked a brow.

ON TO PART 3

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