A Gathering of Brothers

By Atonia Walpole

Chapter 3:

Steve and Monica waited at the gate for Richie and Michael, who were in the back of the plane.

“I wish I hadn’t come, Steve.”

“Why, Monica? You know most of my brothers.”

“It’s a brother week.”

“So, there will be women there, too.”

“I feel out of place.” She chewed on a nail.

“You aren’t even there yet.”

Richie guided Michael out of the plane and walked to the gate, shifting the shoulder bag containing things to keep Michael busy on the plane. “Have we got everything? Good to go to baggage claim?”

“Good to go,” answered Steve.

“Uncle Steve…pow, pow!”

Steve grabbed his chest and pretended to fall over.

“I didn’t shoot you in the chest.”

“What was I supposed to grab?” Steve asked.

“Your leg,” Michael giggled.

Steve limped to baggage claim.

They lined up, waiting for their bags. “Monica, can you watch him for a minute? I’m going to see about the rental car.” Richie was hoping she’d agree. Good. He wasn’t fond of Monica and for the life of him couldn’t make out what Steve saw in her. He got in line and waited for the car.

Monica saw her bag and pulled it off the revolving rack. “There’s yours.”

“That’s not my bag.”

“It is. Steve, grab it quick!”

Steve pulled the bag off, looked at the name tag and put it back on. “I told you.”

“Mine’s red, look for a red bag.” Michael leaned over the luggage rack and Steve pulled him back.

“He’s a crazy kid.”

“No, he’s not. He’s just a kid.” Steve held on to Michael’s arm.

Richie came back with keys and found his bag. “Okay, let’s go. Michael, right here beside me.” Michael walked beside his Dad to find the car.

Soon they were on the highway heading out of town. “How far is it to Gramma’s?”

“About ten miles.”

“How long is ten miles?”

“About fifteen minutes, maybe more. Why?” Richie asked.

“Cause I have to go to the bathroom.”

“You can wait.”

“I can’t wait. I have to go, too,” Monica spoke up from the back seat.

Holy shit, thought Richie. “I’m not going to ask why the two of you didn’t go before we left the airport.”

“Good,” Monica replied.

Richie found a fast food place and stopped. He took Michael to the bathroom while Steve stayed in the car. When Richie brought his son back to the car, he asked, “Where’s Monica?”

“She hasn’t come out yet.”

Richie looked back toward the glass-fronted building. “Ah, fuck. Steve, she’s in line for food. I just told Michael he couldn’t have anything. You know Mama will have the fridge full.”

Steve got out, slammed the car door, went inside and pulled her out of line. “We’ll eat at the house. We aren’t stopping for hamburgers.”

“How do I know I will like the food?”

“Please, Monica, let’s just get there.”

It was well on to 10:30 when they finally arrived at the house. Richie had a headache and it must have been catching. Steve had one too. Anne greeted them on the porch, picking Michael up for a hug.

“He’s too heavy for you to lift, Mama.” Richie kissed her cheek.

“He is getting awfully tall. How are you, Michael?”

“Pow, Pow!” He waited. “I shot your arm off.”

“Oh, no! How will I make pancakes in the morning with one arm?”

“I’ll have to help,” he smiled.

“I know you will. Hello, Steve.” She got a big hug and a kiss. “Monica, I’m glad you could come.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Alderman.”

“Everybody’s in the kitchen. Just drop your bags and go on in.” Anne took Michael’s hand.

“What do you need, Rich?” Jeff asked ,seeing him rummaging in the cabinets.

“Tylenol, aspirin, Excedrin.”

“Have you got a headache, honey?” Anne asked, going to the cabinet by the sink where she kept medications.

“Yeah, Mama, a big one.” She handed him a bottle of Tylenol.

“Me, too.” Steve was behind him.

“That’s what living up North will do for you.” Anne gave him a wry smile.

Steve smiled a little smile and waited for a water glass.

“Monica, find a seat. Can I get you something to eat? Are you hungry?” Jeff asked.

“I think I could eat something.”

“What would you like? There’s some of everything.”

“A tuna salad sandwich?”

“You’ll have to make it up. That’s the one thing I didn’t put together.” Anne flopped down in a chair.

“That’s okay. I don’t have to have anything.”

“How about a cup of coffee?” Cal asked her.

“Do you have tea?”

“Richie, put the kettle on.”

Richie looked at Steve then went to the table and sat down. Steve put the kettle on and found some tea bags.

Jeff had Michael and Sam standing back to back. “Almost the same height.”

“Who’s taller?” Sam asked.

“You are by a smidge.”

“How big is a smidge?” Michael wanted to know.

Jeff looked around the kitchen for a smidge. “I don’t see one. Help me look.”

“How ya doin,’ Colin?” Riche asked.

“Doing good, Richie. You sound like you’re from New Joisey.”

“I am.” He rubbed his temples.

“I know what will cure that headache,” Zack offered. “Brownies, chocolate chip cookies.”

“Oh, jeez, Zack!”

“Does it for me.”

“I found it!” Michael exclaimed.

“Let me see. Yep, that’s it. Michael found a smidge.”

Michael came back to the table with a cornflake. “So you’re one cornflake shorter, huh?” Cal laughed.

“It’s not very big.”

“No, it certainly is not.” Anne took him on her lap. “And I bet if you eat a bowl of cornflakes you’ll grow one cornflake while you’re here.”

“Can I have a bowl of cornflakes, Dad?”

“Yes, son, have it.”

“Do you want some, too, Sam?” she asked.

“No, Ma’am, I’m good.”

“How’s your tea?” Steve asked.

“It’s good, thanks.”

Steve took some of the sliced ham, stuffed it in a roll and began eating, “Want one, Monica?”

“That would be nice.” He fixed her one, too, and added mustard.

“Have a seat, Steve. Does anybody else want anything?” Anne asked.

“Is that soup on the stove?”

“Richie, it’s vegetable beef. Do you want some?”

“Yeah, Mama, and a roll. I can get it.”

“No, I’m up. You sit there and get over that headache.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t eat before you got here. It’s late.” Cal finished up his coffee.

“We didn’t have time. Somebody wasn’t ready.” Richie dipped into his soup.

“I didn’t know what time the flight was,” Monica stated.

“Yes, you did. You fooled around and didn’t pack.” Steve reached for another roll, “Mama, I’ll have some soup, too.”

“Do you want some, Monica?”

“No, thanks.” She rolled her eyes at Steve.

“I don’t think we’ve been introduced. My name is Colin.”

“Oh, I’m Monica.”

“Sorry about that. I forgot.” Steve leaned around Monica.

“Okay if I take the boys up to the attic?”

“Yeah, Jeff. Sam’s bag is in the hallway.”

“Mine’s red.”

“Have you ever been up in Gramma’s attic?” Sam asked Michael.

“No, I haven’t been up there. Is it scary?”

“No, silly, it’s fun.”

“Jeff don’t start any scary stuff, okay?” Richie pleaded.

“No prob. There’s lots of neat stuff up there. Come on, boys.”

“What kind of sleeping arrangements have we got?” Richie ran his hand over his face.

“You can bunk with me,” Colin offered.

“As there’s three couples and two double beds, one of you is going to get twins.”

“Put John and Donna in the twins. They’re married,” Steve suggested.

“I’m not putting anybody anywhere, but Ben’s bringing somebody we don’t know.”

“We’ll take the twins.” Monica spoke up.

Steve turned and looked at Monica.

“Somebody is going to get the old nursery off the master bedroom.”

“I’ll take it,” Cal spoke up.

“Good, that’s all settled then. Well, I think I’ll get myself off to bed. We have plenty of time to visit this week and I’m about done in.” Anne went around the table, kissing her boys goodnight and she placed a light kiss on Monica’s cheek, too.

“Good night, all,” she called out

“Good night, Mama,” they all responded.

Zack looked around the table. “Somebody has to clean up the kitchen.”

A coin hit the table. “Heads get’s it,” Colin called. It went around the table until it came back to Colin. It was between him and Steve; Steve lost.

“Let me see that coin.”

“Fuck, no! You lost. I’m going up to bed,” Colin chuckled and left the kitchen.

“Me, too.” Richie pushed his empty bowl away and got up.

“I’m going up and check on Sam. You coming, Rich?”

“Uh, yeah, up to the attic.”

“I’m going to the nursery,” Cal smiled, patting Steve on the shoulder. “Nite, little brother.”

Anne snuggled down under her quilts. Her bedroom used to be her husband’s office and was located on the end of the house with a door that led outside. Jeff had helped her set it up, taking his father’s desk to his own apartment. She’d bought a new bed and furnishings for the room, leaving everything she’d shared with David upstairs in the master bedroom. She slept better down here, especially when the house was empty.

The house was filling up now, really filling up. Grown men took up more space than boys. The big kitchen had always been a gathering place but they might have to spill out somewhere else, she reckoned. She thought about Sam and Michael. Only a year separated them but Sam was quieter and a more thoughtful child. Of course Michael was being tugged back and forth right now, each parent overindulging, trying to make up for the other. Maybe Laurie would let him come to her for a while? Maybe next summer if she and Richie were really calling it quits.

She was a little surprised Colin asked Richie to share a room. She was going to take that as a good sign. Maybe he’d left that life behind him now and straightened himself out? On the other hand, if he hadn’t, Richie would soon find out. Ah, and tomorrow, John and Ben would be home. She smiled, turned over and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 4:

Colin was lying in bed smoking, using an old pottery ashtray Steve made in school.

“You have to smoke in here?” Richie asked, taking off his shirt.

“I thought you smoked?”

“I did. I’m trying to quit.”

“Want one?”

“Yeah.” Richie accepted a smoke from Colin.

“How’s your head?”

“Getting better.” He sat down on Steve’s bed and took off his shoes.

“Good to be home, eh?”

“Yeah, it is. Bad timing but maybe I need a week.”

“What’s going on with you?”

“I’m working a big case right now that’s taking all my time and Laurie picks this time to serve me with papers. I got them last night.”

“Divorce?”

“Uh, huh. She wants to take Michael to Vegas to live with her sister.”

“Oooh, how do you feel about that?”

“I don’t like it but there’s not much I can do. She’s got a lawyer creeping around looking under all the rocks.”

“I wouldn’t think you had anything under a rock, Richie.” Colin stubbed out his cigarette.

“I, uh, haven’t exactly been faithful and I have a few friends, unsavory the papers say.”

“I guess in your line of work you have to hit both sides?”

“Contacts, that’s how you find out shit.” Richie lay back on the bed and reached for the ashtray. “How about you? Keeping out of trouble?”

“Yeah.”

“Bullshit!” It was the casual ‘yeah’.

“I ain’t going back inside, Richie, not ever.”

“Get out of it, Colin, whatever it is you’re involved in. Get out of it, man.”

“It’s not so easy, you know. People come around.”

“Why don’t you come back home for awhile until you can figure something out? Get out of LA, get away from it, Colin, before it buries you.”

“Good night, Richie.” Colin reached over and turned out the lamp.

Richie lay staring into the dark. How do you save somebody from self destruction when they don’t want to be saved? He glanced over at Colin’s form under the blanket. He had to try.

“Thanks, Jeff. You read like Mama used to do.”

“Ah, no problem. They went out like a light. Cute kids.”

“So how’s the plumbing business? Keeping you busy?”

“Pays the bills.” Jeff slipped on his pajama bottoms. “I didn’t grow up thinking I was going to be a plumber.”

“No, you were going to be a professional football player as I remember.” Zack got under the covers.

Jeff chuckled, “Every kid’s got a dream. You were the quiet one, Zack. I never figured you for an FBI agent.”

“I always knew I was going into law enforcement. I got recruited out of college.”

“So what are we going to do about Colin?” Jeff got into his bed and turned out the light.

“You know?”

“I know something is up with him. It always is.”

“He’s into some deep shit.”

“If you know all about it why haven’t you done something?”

“What do you want me to do, have him arrested? He won’t talk to me about it but I quietly check up on him, keep him in my radar.”

“Let’s pull him out. All of us together; we can do it.”

“It won’t be easy. He doesn’t want out. He won’t listen.”

“He’ll listen to Ben.”

“Yeah, but how do we know Ben’s on our side?”

“True, I don’t know Ben anymore. Mama says he keeps in contact with Colin but he sure don’t call none of the rest of us.”

“Get some sleep, Jeff. We’ll find out in a few hours.”

The private plane set down on the runway and came to a stop. “You ready for this, darlin’?” Ben asked the pretty woman sitting next to him.

“As ready as I’m going to be,” she smiled over at him. As long as he was by her side she wasn’t afraid of anything, including meeting his seven brothers and his mother.

He’d arranged for a car and driver to meet them and the chauffer was already standing on the tarmac waiting for their luggage.

Ben settled into the back of the limo, smiling to himself. He was coming home in style. He thought back over the day he left, eighteen years old, fresh out of high school. He’d left his Mama crying on the front porch and that vision stayed with him for years. His Daddy had been at work, slaving over the same desk he’d sat at for most of his life. He knew if he stayed there he’d never get out and he wasn’t willing to wait half his life for the money and ease he wanted for himself. He was through with school. There wasn’t anything else they could teach him, certainly nothing that life couldn’t.

He’d hitched rides and fallen in with a group of gamblers traveling from town to town looking for poker games. He was good. He was a natural, loaded with charm...and he cheated. The only man he couldn’t beat was his own brother, Cal. He and Cal spent their nights playing poker when they were supposed to be in bed. Cal knew he cheated and beat him anyway. He was twenty-one years old when he was called out for cheating, got the shit beat out of him and thrown in jail. That had been the turning point in his life.

One of the players in the small town in Texas showed up the next morning, standing on the outside of the bars of his cell while he puked in a bucket. His name was Brent Walsh. That he was a high roller from Arizona was all Ben knew about him.

“Hey, boy, I like your style.”

Ben wiped his face with a paper towel. “Who the hell are you?”

“Your savior.”

In a way he had been. He took Ben off the streets and out of the shady backroom poker games that eventually would have probably killed him, but he turned him on to something else, power. Brent exuded power and when he entered a room, people sat up, noticed and respected him. He was a power in his community, on the local town council, deacon in his church and married to a respectable woman. He was one of the largest landowners in the state of Arizona, his land reaching all the way to the border with Mexico, which was handy for him. He traded in human cargo and drugs, washing the money through the legitimate business of running a cattle ranch.

Once he learned he could trust him, Brent began teaching Ben everything he knew. He had no sons, only a daughter who was away at school. After a while he began thinking of Ben as his son and heir and prepared him for that job. Ben was thirty-four when Brent died unexpectedly in strange circumstances. Ben wore his poker face to the funeral. That was nine years ago and Ben had enough money making money for him now that he didn’t need the illegal trafficking anymore, so he shut it down and declared himself a businessman. He built himself a large house on the property and allowed Brent’s widow to live in the house she’d always lived in until she died last year. Her daughter came home, now divorced, to her funeral and Ben set out to court her. He’d married her the past spring.

 “Good Lord!” Jeff peered out of the window in the family room.

“What?” Richie asked.

“A limo…it’s Ben!”

“What the fuck?” Richie was at the window.

“Ben’s here?” asked Zack.

“Somebody get Mama.”

Anne had been in the back yard with her grandsons and the dog when Steve came to the back door and told her Ben was home. She ran through the house and met him at the front door, not seeing the limo or the woman beside him or the chauffer standing with bags on the steps. She grabbed him and was enfolded in his arms.

“Mama, you all right?”

“Oh, Ben, just to have you here!” She backed up, wiping her eyes and then noticed the woman.

“Mama, this is my wife, Delia.”

“Wife…I didn’t know…you never said you were married. Well, welcome, Delia.” She hugged the tall woman then stepped back to get a look at her. She was a beautiful woman, with long dark hair and big gray eyes that were smiling.”

“I’m so happy to meet you, Mama. Can I call you Mama?”

“Oh, well, of course you can! That’s who I am. Come on in the house. Oh, is that your car?”

“Just hired for the occasion,” Ben smiled and placed his hand in the middle of Delia’s back, moving her into the house.

They were all interested, his brothers, and casually lounged about the room. Unlike the rest of them who kept some kind of communication amongst them, Ben was on the outside, of his own choosing.

Introductions were made around and Ben shook hands or hugged, depending on who it was. Cal was the last he came to and they stood looking at each other a moment. They’d been very close growing up, being much of the same age and temperament.

Cal moved first. “Ben.” He embraced him and then shook his hand. “Good to have you home.”

“Yeah, Cal, good to be here.” And he meant it.

“There’s a man out here with bags,” Steve mentioned.

“Oh, well, Ben, there’s the master bedroom, and your old room has a double bed now.”

“We’ll take my old room. That will be fine. Where are you sleeping now, Mama?”

“In your Dad’s office. I had it converted. Steve, show the man where to put his bags.”

Monica leaned against the wall chewing a nail.

Somewhere in the house a phone rang and was answered. A few minutes later word went around that John and his family were at the airport and could somebody come and get them.

“Has the limo gone?” Ben asked and was answered that, yes, it had.

“I’ll go,” Colin volunteered. "We’ve got the big car.”

They moved to the family room, the biggest room other than the kitchen on the first floor. There were enough well-worn comfortable sofas and chairs to go around. Somebody had started a fire in the fireplace. Delia sat with Ben on a loveseat, enjoying listening to the brothers talk and taking in the comfortable room. She could see now where Ben got his ideas of decorating. Their own den was much the same.

Two little boys ran into the room looking for their daddys. Ben smiled. “So these are my nephews. Come here and let me have a look at you.”

Wide-eyed, the boys walked over. “You must be Sam and that would make you Michael. Good-looking boys, both of you. I’m your Uncle Ben.”

“Thank you, sir,” answered Sam.

“Pow, pow!” Michael waited.

“Now look here, boy, don’t go pullin’ them guns on me.” His lips moved, holding back a grin.

“I shot you in the shoulder.” Michael blew imaginary smoke off the end of his forefinger.”

“Where? I don’t see any blood?”

“You can’t see it, but I can.”

“Rich, what have you got here?”

“Ah, his mother has banned toy guns so he made up his own.”

“Are you a good guy or a bad guy, Michael?” Ben asked.

“I’m a good guy like my Dad. I just shoot bad guys.”

“Is that right?” Ben studied him.

“Don’t pay any attention to that. He shot me in the airport and Mama on the front porch,” Steve said.

Ben laughed, “One out of two ain’t bad. Well, you best holster them guns in the house.”

“What do ya want, Michael?” Richie asked.

“Sam says there’s a pond through the woods and we wanna go see it.”

“Not by yourself,” Zack said. “You don’t go anywhere near that pond without an adult.”

“I’ll take them if it’s okay?” Jeff offered.

“I thought he said an adult,” Ben grinned.

“Ha ha, come on boys.” Jeff led them out of the room.

“Aw, he’s like Peter Pan. He ain’t never gonna grow up,” observed Ben.

“Maybe that’s a good thing. Growing up ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.” Richie crossed his legs.

“I reckon you’re all as growed up as you’ll ever be, Jeff included.” Anne sat on the piano bench.

“I don’t know about that.” Richie looked at Steve.

“Why are you looking at Steve?” Monica asked.

“I can look at him if I want to.”

“Stop looking at me.” Steve stared back at Richie.

“Oh, come on boys! That sounded like an echo from twenty years ago.” Cal got off the arm of the sofa, walked over to the fireplace and poked about.

Anne laughed, “I take back what I said. Monica and Delia would you mind helping me put out some lunch?”

“Of course,” Delia got up and Monica worked her way out of the chair for two she and Steve were sitting in.

“I don’t mind asking for help with this many in the house.” Anne led the way to the kitchen.

“I guess we know what you’ve been up to, making money.” Richie leaned back on the sofa, plumping a pillow to his back.

“I’ve done all right,” Ben replied quietly. “I’ve got a little cattle ranch.”

“Big cattle ranch,” Zack added.

Ben turned and looked at him.“All right, big cattle ranch.Somethin' wrong with that?”

“No, not at all. It must do good for you.”

Ben smiled at Zack. “Ever the FBI, aren’t you? You probably know more about it than I do.”

“Probably not.”

Ben eyed him a moment. “I figured a man’s business is his own. That’s why I didn’t call you up and give you the exact acreage.”

Zack stared back at him, his lips pressed together but his eyes smiling. “That’s why I didn’t ask.”

Ben nodded his head slightly and turned his attention across the room. “What is it you do, Steve?”

“Take pictures.”

“Of what?”

“Fruit, veggies, still lifes.”

“You get paid for that?”

“Yeah, advertising. You ever see an ad for wine? There’s always grapes piled around it.”

“That’s it..grapes?”

“No, I photograph people, places, buildings…whatever needs doing.”

“Pays good, does it?”

“He can afford to live in New York City. Has an apartment there bigger than a closet,” Richie added.

“I make it.” Steve kept bouncing his knee up and down.

“What you nervous about, boy?”

“Leave him alone, Ben.” Cal flopped down on the sofa next to Richie. “Funny how we all revert back to childhood in this house.”

“That’s what it represents, our childhood.”

“You’re right, Rich. I guess we all saw it different, though.”

“You must have. You couldn’t wait to leave.”

Ben lit a slim cigar. “It was different for me.”

“Shouldn’t have been.”

“Think about it, Zack. I was ten. I had memories when I came here.”

“I had memories, too. I was eight, still wasn’t in a hurry to leave,” Richie said.

“I had a different father. I remembered him, remembered the day he died, I swore I’d never end up like that.”

“You’ve been lucky, Ben.” Zack stood up. “I’m going to walk up to the pond and make sure Jeff hasn’t drowned my boy.”

What does Zack know about Ben that I don’t, wondered Richie. A car horn blew; John was there.

The horn caught Zack in the hallway and he opened the door. “Well, if it ain’t the Eskimo.”

“Hey, Zack.” John wiped his feet on the mat and came in, children’s voices following him.

Cal stood up. It was interesting to him listening to Ben talk. He’d never heard him mention his natural father before. He’d also picked apart the conversation between Ben and Zack, and knew the younger brother was covering something up.

Anne heard the horn, too, and made her way through the bodies in the hallway to John. “John!” she smiled and kissed his cheek. “Welcome home, son.”

“Mama, you’re looking well. Ah, it’s good to be here. Hey, Mikey, Joey, come say hello to Gramma.”

Two little boys ran to their father’s side and Anne stooped down and hugged them both. “You don’t remember me, do you? Mikey you were just a little baby when I last saw you and this one, Joey, I’ve never met. Hello, Joey.”

Joey buried his face in his daddy’s leg but Mikey was giving her the once over. “I’m seven.”

“I know you are and a big boy for seven, too. You’ve got cousins around here somewhere. Hey, Donna, oops, give me a hand, my knees…how are you, hon?”

“I’m just fine, Mama, just fine, and you, doing okay?”

“Yeah, well, they’re all here now. I couldn’t be better.” Anne was beaming and grabbed Cal’s hand as he appeared at her side.

ON TO PART TWO, CHAPTER 1

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