My brother, Josh, and I talked on the phone several times every week after we hooked up. I had hoped he and his partner, Patrick, would be able to come to Emerald Beach for the Fourth of July weekend, but they couldn't. In retrospect, that was probably for the best, since we had a house full that weekend. Chris and Dave were here, and Seth and Curt, and Alex and Cody, who were in town visiting Cody's family, were here, too. The Fourth was also Justin's birthday, and Cherie had her baby on the morning of the Fourth, as well. That was way too much, and I was glad Josh wasn't here. All of that would have taken too much from our time together. The Fourth of July was the first Saturday of the month, and the guys all went to New Orleans on the third Friday, the seventeenth. The next Thursday, July 23rd, was the day Josh and Patrick were coming to Emerald Beach. "You seem really nervous or excited tonight, or something," Tyler said. "I know. Please don't be upset with me. I'm really excited about seeing my brother," I said. "My brother, too," he said. I grinned at him. "Yeah," I said. Josh and Patrick drove up to our house in the late afternoon. The four of us shook hands, and I looked at my brother. He was very handsome, and he seemed bigger than I remembered. Of course, in all that time, he might have actually grown. He was a good six feet tall, with medium blond hair, blue eyes, and a pretty nice tan. He had on a tank top, and it was obvious he worked out. "It's been a long time," he said. "Eight years," I said. "But you and I have to get that behind us." "I know. I want to. We don't need our parents anymore, but we need each other, don't we?" he said. "Yeah, we do. But I have a new family now," I said. "Yeah, I know. You've told me about them, and I read your blog every day," Josh said. "You'll meet them," I said. "I can't wait," he said. We got their things in the guest room, and then we went out to the living room. I offered coffee, beer, water--whatever they wanted. They each wanted water and a beer. Ty and I joined them for a beer. "I can't believe I used to live in this heat without really noticing it," Josh said. "I know," Ty said. "Where are you from, Patrick?" "I'm from Charleston, South Carolina," Patrick said. "But I've lived in Indiana for the last five years, going to school." "I haven't been there," Ty said. "Where? Charleston or Indiana?" Patrick asked. "Charleston," Ty said. "I grew up in Minnesota, so I've driven through Indiana on my way home." Chuck came home from work at the usual time, and he changed out of his suit into shorts and a tee shirt. He got himself a beer, too. Then Tony came home. He worked outside a good bit, and he was pretty sweaty. He went ahead and took a shower and put on shorts, too, before he joined us. We visited a little bit and finished our beers. They were expecting us at Kevin and Rick's house for dinner and pool fun. The North Lagoon crowd were all excited about meeting Josh and Pat, of course, just as I knew they would be. "I don't think I've ever been in a room with this many gay men, all at one time," Pat said. "I'm the same way," Josh said. That night there were Kevin, Rick, Tim, Kyle, Justin, Brian, Denny, Paddy, and the six of us. An even dozen. "Do you not have any gay friends?" Kyle asked. "A few, but most of our friends are straight," Josh said. "We have a lot of straight friends, too, but most of our best friends are gay," Kyle said. Somebody, Kyle, probably, had put together a nice tray of hors d'ouerves, and they served drinks, too. Josh and Pat stuck with beer, and Ty, Chuck, Tony, and I drank beer, too. Kevin, Justin, Kyle, and Paddy had whiskey mixed with Sprite, though. The rest had plain soft drinks. "I hope everybody likes steaks," Kyle said. "'Cause that's what we're having." Josh and Pat said they did. "So, I understand you guys have jobs lined up in Jacksonville," Rick said. "Yeah. We start in two weeks. When we leave here, we're driving over there to look for an apartment. We're both pretty poor, but we're hoping we can find something nice that's affordable," Josh said. I didn't say anything, but I made a mental note to talk to Josh about lending them a few dollars, if they needed it. "Do you have big college loans?" Kevin asked. "Not too bad, for me," Josh said. "My grandparents helped me out a whole lot. And I had a scholarship, too. We both did, in fact. It's just that setting up a new place is expensive, with deposits and two months' rent, and all." "Just pay one month," Jus said. "No, they want two months' worth up front. First month and last month, so you can't skip out, I guess," Pat said. "Do you have furniture?" Kevin asked. "A few pieces, but not much. We drove down in my car, but Pat has a pick-up we can load up," Josh said. "We'll do okay." "And you're both architects, right?" Rick asked. "Yeah, although we sort of specialize in different things. I'm more into industrial design, and he's more into straight architecture. We'll be working for the same firm. A very gay-friendly firm, by the way. They know we're a couple," Pat said. "Well, that's good. No hiding at work, then," Kevin said. "That's the toughest part about being in the military," Tony said. "Unless you have to go to war," Tim said. "That's tougher." "Yeah, but that's what we do, Tim," Tony said. "From the looks of things in the Middle East, that possibility seems all too real." "Have you heard something?" I asked. "This guy Saddam Hussein over in Iraq is probably going to have to be taken care of," Tony said. "They're talking about sending in weapons inspectors to see if he's in compliance with UN resolutions to disarm, and everybody knows he isn't in compliance." "Would something like that involve you, Tony?" Kevin asked. "Probably not directly, but you can never tell," Tony said. "Why don't you get out? My dad did," Tim said. "And Ty did, too." "I'm weighing my options," Tony said, purposely vague, I thought. After the first round of drinks, we decided to go swimming. I knew Josh had read in my blog about us swimming, but I couldn't remember if I had mentioned the skinny dipping part. We often undressed right on the patio, but that night we decided to use the actual locker room. They were impressed with the clubhouse facilities. "We just might have to shoot some pool while we're here," Josh said. "Do you play, Jeff?" "I play at it, but I'm not any good. Some of these guys are very good, though," I said. Josh and Pat stripped down without hesitation, so I figured I must have mentioned swimming naked in my blog. "Look at these two," Justin said about Josh and me. "They're both wanting to get a good look at the other one, but they're afraid to." Kyle was close by, and he laughed. "Y'all are brothers. Looka hear, Josh. This is his dick. See?" I picked it up in the palm of his hand. "You got one, too, and it's just like his. Same size and everything," he said. "Jeff's won't be the same size long, if you keep fooling with it," Kyle said. Justin dropped my dick when Kyle said that. "Come on, y'all. Let's get in the water," Kyle said. "Josh, I'm sorry about that, man," I said. "He didn't mean any harm. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body." "Oh, I know that. And he was right. I did want to get a good look at you. Those two are major hotties, that's for sure. But they're not boyfriends, right?" "Right on both points," I said. "You know that Kyle is Clay's brother, don't you?" "Yeah. Was Clay as good looking as Kyle is?" Josh asked. "Yes," I said softly. "Let's hit the pool." * * * The visit was a great success, of course. I took the day off on Friday so I could spend time with Josh and Pat, and we had fun. We went to the beach for a while, but we also drove around so they could see Emerald Beach, both east and west of the bridge. Friday night the two of them, and Ty and I, went out clubbing, and we had a good time. On Saturday night we went to church and then back to North Lagoon Drive to eat. "My God, I hadn't been to Mass in years before tonight," Pat said. "Neither had I," Josh said. "In fact, I really don't consider myself a Catholic anymore." "I didn't go to Mass, either, until I started hanging out with this crowd," I said. "The priest tonight is a good friend of ours. One of our gay friends." "Really?" Pat said. "Did he come out to you guys?" "Yeah, he did. He's not active now, but he's all gay," I said. "I think that helps. We know he's not judging us or anything." "Yeah, I guess that could make a difference," Josh said. We swam for a while, and then we shot pool. Josh was much better at pool than I was, and Pat was even better than he was. Kyle organized a ping-pong tournament, and they both played that well, too. We had a good time Saturday night. They wanted to get up and off fairly early Sunday morning so they could get to Jacksonville with time to look around. They had both been there for interviews, of course, but they wanted to buy a paper and scout out some apartments that afternoon. I was the only one who got up with them. "Do you want me to cook some breakfast?" I asked. "No, coffee's fine for me," Josh said. "Pat, too. Right, Babe?" "Right. We might grab some drive-thru mid-morning, but I get nauseated if I eat when I first wake up," Pat said. "Have you guys had time to think about and talk about what we discussed Friday?" I asked. "You mean a loan?" Josh asked. "Yeah," I said. "Yes, we have. Jeff, that's an incredible offer, man. Are you sure you want to do that?" Josh said. "Josh, it's a loan. It's not a gift. You do pay your debts, don't you?" I asked. "Oh, yeah. We pay our debts. What we're thinking is, let us figure out how much we're going to need. We have a few bucks, and we'll use those first. Then we'll borrow the rest from you. How does that sound?" Josh said. "Now look. Don't use everything you've got. Aren't you going to need new clothes for work? I know I would. I can lend you up to three thousand dollars. Take it all, if you need it," I said. I had a good bit more money than that in savings, but I didn't think they'd need more. Plus, I hadn't seen Josh in eight years, and I really didn't know him. I felt guilty for having that attitude about my own brother, but I couldn't help being leery of just giving him a blank check. "We'll let you know, and thanks, brother," Josh said. Josh and I both cried a little when we hugged and said goodbye in our driveway. It felt so good to have him back in my life, to have any of my family back. The business of losing Clay had pretty much eclipsed my emotional needs with respect to my past and my family, but now I was beginning to confront, and to deal with, the family thing. Ty was up when I went back inside. "Let's go back to bed," he said. "I need you bad this morning." We made love like champions, and I felt a completeness to my life that I had never known before. Josh's Perspective My little brother had grown up, and he had grown up into quite a fine man, too. He was very good looking, as I knew from the pictures of him I had seen, but he was built a lot better than I remembered or could tell from the pictures. The thing that impressed me most about him, though, was his gentleness and kindness. He was rather on the quiet side, and that much I remembered from before, but his being quiet wasn't born out of shyness or low self-esteem. I could tell he was totally smitten by Tyler, and it was obvious he loved Kevin and Rick, and their boys, very much, too. It was also very obvious that they all loved him, as well, and me, too, because of him. Now, that was a household. As best I could figure it, there were eight of them living there, although I knew from reading Jeff's journal that Tim and Kyle also had parents and regular homes elsewhere. I knew they had two dogs, and I was a little apprehensive about them. I had been bitten by a dog when I was little, and I didn't like dogs. They didn't like me, either. I guess they sensed I wasn't a friend, but, for whatever reason, dogs, especially big dogs, scared me. Their two turned my attitude around, though. Those dogs were like kids in that family. They were rambunctious when they wanted them to be, and they were serious and well behaved when that was appropriate. I had never gone swimming with a dog before, and I was amazed to see those dogs playing with the rest of us in the pool. As much fun as the dogs were, it was the guys themselves that fascinated me. Justin was unbelievable. Everything he said was totally deadpan, and almost everything he said was hilarious. He seemed to have no inhibitions whatsoever, both in what he said and in what he did. He was very good looking, and he had the physique of a bodybuilder who hadn't quite committed to that sport yet. The other one was Kyle. It was very obvious he was in charge of everyone but Kevin and Rick, and the boys, including Jeff, deferred to him. His whole approach was "aw, shucks," unless he had to get them cracking to get a job done. Then his approach was very direct. Jeff said Kyle's brother, Clay, was as good looking as Kyle was, and that boy was gorgeous. I was sort of partial to the dark haired, olive-skinned type, anyway, and Kyle was everything I liked. And he had hair on his chest. It didn't cover everything, but it was enough to be totally sexy, to me. He, like some of the others, had a real tattoo just above his pubic hair, and they all had fakes on their left biceps. The fakes were starting to flake off on some of them, and they really needed to wash those things off. I had a wonderful time with those guys that weekend. Pat and I were moving to Jacksonville, which wasn't all that far from Emerald Beach, and I was looking forward to spending a lot of time there.
Tim and I both placed first in our divisions of the state science fair in Florida, and that gave us the right to go to the International Science Fair. I think it was pretty much a national one, but they called it "international" because Canadians were in it, too. That summer it was in Houston, Texas, and Tim and I were going. In fact, Kevin, Rick, Justin, and Kyle were going, too. My two dads would never not go with me for something like that, and I knew that Justin and Kyle would always be at our sides, too. Tim's parents were going, too. We considered the idea of driving out for the fair. "It's damn far, you know?" Kyle said. "That's about a thirteen- or fourteen-hour drive." "Are you thinking we should fly?" Tim asked. "That's what I'm thinking," Kyle said. "I can just see myself getting squirrelly as hell in a car for that long. I'll be miserable, and I'll make everybody else miserable, too." "He's right about that. And when he gets squirrelly, he starts going after nuts," Justin said. "I want mine left alone." We laughed. He said stuff like that so serious all the time, but he usually intended it to be funny. And usually it was. "So, do you all want to fly?" Kevin asked. "Because if we fly, we need to see about getting some tickets." "I sure do," Kyle said. "How are we doing on the FF?" "The FF? What the hell is that?" Justin asked. "Frequent Flyer miles," Kyle said. "I got a ton of 'em. In fact, I can probably get several tickets. Maybe enough for everybody." "How do you have so many?" Kevin asked. "Oh, never mind. I know." "How?" Tim asked. "He gets them from all the Goodson American Express cards," Rick said. "The rich get richer." "Hey, cut that out, Richard," Kyle said. "Richard?" "Yeah, that's your name, ain't it?" Kyle said. "Although, I think Dick fits you better." Rick got all serious when he called him Dick. "Kyle, I don't think he likes that," Justin said. "I know," Kyle said, grinning his devil grin. "Kyle, now that can hurt somebody's feelings, Son," Kevin said. "I know you don't want to do that." "You're right. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. I know what it's like to get my feelings hurt by somebody I love, and I damn sure don't want to do that," Kyle said. We all got extremely quiet all of a sudden, and Kevin sort of cringed. The atmosphere was charged. "Kyle, can I talk to you for a second?" Kevin asked. This was evidently turning into something serious, and I was in the dark. I looked at Tim, and he shrugged to indicate he didn't know what was going on, either. "No. That's not necessary, Kevin. Let's get on with the plans. We really need to clear flying with Doc and Sonya, too, don't you think?" Kyle said. "Yeah, we do," Rick said. "There's an address we can ship our projects to," Tim said. "We'll need to see about doing that, too." We took care of the tickets and the shipping the next day. That night, though, the four of us were in the clubhouse. Paddy had a date with his new boyfriend, and I didn't know where Denny was. Maybe at Chip's house. "Kyle, you ain't had you a private talk with Kevin in a long time, but you almost got you one tonight, son," Justin said. "I know. What was that all about?" Tim asked. "I don't want to talk about it, guys. Okay? I probably shouldn't have said what I did," Kyle said. "Did Kevin hurt your feelings?" Tim asked. "Babe, Kevin and I have had a couple of misunderstandings, and that's all they were. I know Kevin loves me and would never hurt my feelings on purpose. I'm believe that as much as I believe anything. But sometimes he doesn't really think things through before he reacts, you know? But like I said, I really don't want to talk about it," he said. I was dying to know what that was all about. "Kyle, how can you not tell us, man?" Justin said. "Look, guys, they were misunderstandings, but most of all, they were between him and me. I don't want you guys thinking any less of Kevin or any less of me. He and I are cool with what happened, and that's it," he said. "So, there's going to be secrets, huh?" Justin said. "No, there's not going to be any secrets, but there's going to be confidentiality. Can you live with that?" Kyle said. "I reckon I'm going to have to," Jus said. "That's right. Now let's talk about the trip to Houston," he said. "Have you figured out a good trip for us?" Jus asked. "Tell you the truth, there ain't all that much to do there. At least, not compared to other cities we've been to," Kyle said. "For real? That's a damn big city," Justin said. "I know it's a big city, but if I'm looking at the right Web sites, it's limited," Kyle said. "But you're going to organize us, right?" Justin said. "Oh, yeah. Now, the space thing is big. That's probably a whole day, right there. Besides that, the only other things I could find that I thought would interest all of us was a Six Flags, an old ranch, and a battlefield. That's about it," he said. "That Six Flags is an amusement park, ain't it?" Justin said. "I've heard of those. They got 'em all over the place." "Yeah. I mean, how many of those have we been to? There are just so many times you can get your guts flip-flopped and it still be fun, you know?" Kyle said. "Same thing with water parks." Kyle and Justin were no more trying to be funny than Trixie was, but Tim and I thought they were hilarious. They had picked up a lot of each other's mannerisms and expressions, and they were just funny to us. "They got some old houses downtown around Sam Houston park, but I don't know about that. That sounds a lot like those places we went to in New Orleans on that first trip. Y'all remember that?" Kyle said. "Yeah, I do. You seen one, you seen 'em all, I think," Jus said. "Jus, you have to look at those places like that from an interior decorator's point of view," Tim said. Tim was baiting him. "See, Tim, I can't do that. I don't know how, man," Jus said. "You like looking at those old houses?" Tim chuckled. "Not really, Bubba," he said. "I didn't think so," he said. "Well, we're not going to have that much time out there," Kyle said. "But you know we're going to have fun." "Yeah," we all said. * * * We left on a Thursday morning. We were in Atlanta by nine o'clock our time and in Houston by one. The first thing we did was get something to eat after we checked into our hotel. It turned out Kyle's parents wanted to go, too, so they were along with us. That meant there were ten of us in our party. We ended up renting two vehicles. Tim and I wanted to go to Rice University, where the science fair was being held, to make sure our stuff had gotten there in one piece. We also had to set up our exhibits. The judging was the next day, and we both had to be there pretty early for it. That was okay, though, because it meant we would have most of Friday and all day Saturday to see the sights. We had most of Thursday afternoon to sight see, too. We got our exhibits set up pretty quickly, and we looked around a little at our competition. "There's no way we have a prayer," Tim said to me. "I know. My God! Did you see some of those things? But at least we got to be in it. That counts for something, don't you think?" "Yeah, I think it counts for a lot," Tim said. "But you know what, Bri? We've got a long way to go, man." "I think we ought to skip the interviews tomorrow and just have fun," I said. "I was thinking the same thing. Neither one of us has a ghost of a chance. We might as well have a good time," Tim said. "Tim and I don't have to do interviews," I announced to the rest of the crowd when we all got back together. "Why not?" Doc asked. "We just don't," I said. "So we got the whole day tomorrow? Is that what you're saying?" Kyle asked. "I should have spent more time with you guys on this thing," Doc said. "Dad, you spent a lot of time with us. He's a sophomore and I'm a junior. We're out of our league here," Tim said. "Next year we'll do projects on orthodontia, and we'll win," Sonya said. That made everybody laugh, more because of the way she said it than because of what she said. "I'll be damned," Doc said, and that made us laugh, too. "Well, I think these boys have done fabulous jobs, and I'm just so proud of them I can hardly stand it," Gene said. "These two boys are numero uno in the state of Florida, and that's all that matters to me. Plus, they're so far over my head, I can't even read the labels on their jeans." That got a good laugh. "Now, if they had dog training in this contest--something that people really care about--I know who the winner would be," Gene said. "No question, Daddy," Kyle said. "That's right, Son," Gene said. "Come on, y'all. Let's go play." And that's exactly what we did. Space Center Houston was really awesome, but I figured it would be. There were spacecraft all over the place, an exhibit on astronaut training, a simulated space walk, and an exhibit on robotics. "Didn't we do the space walk thing somewhere else?" Gene asked. "Yeah, in New Orleans," Kevin said. "I thought so. It was fun here, but it wasn't exactly unique, was it?" Gene said. The space center also had a model of the International Space Station. Since the Columbia blew up, the space station had been in the news a lot, and it was very interesting poking around to see what that thing looked like. There were some rides, too, like the Martian Matrix, which was a bunch of mazes and tunnels in this big five-story building. That was fun. They had the Blast Off ride, too, that was supposed to be a journey to infinity and beyond. That was great. "I don't get the whole point of this space stuff," Justin said. "Neither me, Jus," Gene said. "Daddy, it's research. They're finding new stuff up there," Kyle said. "I know that much, but what they going to do with it?" Gene asked. Kyle and Justin, and to some extent Rick, too, had this grumble talk they used. Mr. Gene was a master of it, and he and Kyle and Justin were going full blast with that then. "I don't know," Kyle said. "But I think it's for science." "Well science is good, but when are they going to figure out how to keep the June Grass from coming in, huh? That's what I want to know," Gene said. "Our customers hate that shit, and I do, too." "Daddy, I think that's a difference branch of science, but me and Tim are going to get right on it," Kyle said. "Y'all come here to me right now," Gene said. "What?" Kyle asked. He grabbed Kyle and Tim into a big hug and rubbed their heads together. "These two heads better come up with something. Besides saving lives, I mean, Tim. Save all the lives you want to, Tim, but save that beach from that June Grass," he said. "Gene, I don't think I can," Tim said. "Come here, Son. I guess if you can't save the world from June Grass in the Gulf, you'll just have to save lives instead," he said. "A bitter compromise, if ever I heard one." The adults all laughed hard when he said that. I wasn't really sure what he was talking about, and I didn't think the other kids were, either. We went to the George Ranch Historical Park, and that was fun. It was about one hundred years of Texas history, and they had actors in costume like we had seen at other historical places. Those guys were at the 1830's historical stock farm. There was a Victorian mansion on the place, too, dating from the 1890's. "I absolutely love Victorian homes," Rita said. "Don't you all?" "Yes, ma'am, we all love 'em," Kyle said. "Kyle, you no more mean that than the man in the moon," she said. "Rita, he don't even know what they are, and neither do I," Justin said. "I know. I tried to raise my children all their lives to appreciate things like that, Justin, but I think it's the XY chromosome, or whatever it is that makes them male, that interferes. Clay was absolutely the same way. All Clay and Kyle ever cared about was sports and physical things. Water skiing and surfing and fishing and hunting. They never appreciated beauty," she said. "Now, Pet, that's not quite true," Gene said. "What do you mean?" she said. "Well, we have a son who's fixing to publish an art book. At age eighteen. I'm not sure what you said really applies to him," he said. "My God. You're right," she said. "Kyle, I take back everything I just said about you and Clay." "Why take it back? That really was all we wanted to do," Kyle said. "That's all we did, in fact." "I know," she said. We did some more stuff in Houston. We went to the San Jacinto Battleground Historical Complex, and that's where the Texans fought the Mexicans and won. They had a monument that was like the Washington Monument, and the one at the Chalmette Battlefield in New Orleans, and they had a museum about the battle, too. They also had the Battleship Texas, but it was a whole lot smaller and older than the Battleship Alabama we had seen in Mobile. One night we all went to a gay country and western bar, and that was fun. We did the two-step and the shuffle, and that was great. "Come on and dance with me," I had to say to Justin. "Little Buddy, you know I'm not a dancer," he said. "No? You dance at home all the time. Get up and dance with me," I said. "This is your kind of music." He did, and we had a great time. The parents had no problem that we were in a gay club, and they danced with each other, with us, and with random guys who asked them to dance. "That's the first time I've ever danced with a man," Doc said, after he had danced with a stranger. "Did you have fun dancing with him?" Kevin asked. "Yes," Doc said. "So?" Kevin said. "So, let's dance," Doc said, and he and Kevin spun off. We had to keep our shirts on in that place, and it was very, very hot. It would have been hot with shirts off, but it was even hotter with shirts on. Most of the guys in there had on long-sleeve shirts, too. There was a patio at that place where guys could smoke. It was only 86 degrees out there, instead of 106 degrees inside. Justin wanted to smoke, and I went out there with him. "Damn, it's so much cooler out here," he said. "I know. We need to tell the others," I said. "Yeah," he said. "Brian, you know what? This city is big, but it doesn't have any character. Where have we been? New Orleans, Boston, New York, Washington. Those places have character. Houston doesn't." "I know. Kevin says Atlanta doesn't, either. I think Kevin's prejudiced when it comes to cities in the South," I said. "He likes Savannah and Charleston, though," I said. "Yeah, I know. We need to put those on our list of places to visit," he said. "Did you ever think you would travel this much?" "No way. We're lucky, aren't we?" I said. "Very," he said. We went to the banquet that ended the science fair Saturday night, and it seemed like about half the people who got awards were Asian or Middle Eastern. That didn't bother us, of course, but it proved the point that Tim and I weren't in their league. It seemed, too, that every one of the winners was a senior. They said the name of their high school, but they also said where they were going to college. It was all places like MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, Harvard. Those kinds of schools. This one boy was from right there in Houston, and he was going to Rice University. "Did y'all know they changed the name of that school?" Gene asked. "What did it used to be?" Justin asked. "Sam Houston Institute of Technology," Gene said. Doc thought what his friend had said was hilarious, but I didn't get it. In fact, none of the kids got it. "I don't get it, Daddy," Kyle said. "Think of the initials, Son," Gene said. That's when we all laughed. "For real?" Kyle asked. "No. That joke's as old as I am, Son," Gene said. "They ain't even that stupid in Texas." "Why is everybody down on Texas?" Sonya asked. "I'm not down on Texas," Kevin said. "Babe, I don't want to make you mad, but you're about the worst one," Rick said. "I'm down on Houston, not the whole state," Kevin said. "I love San Antonio, for instance." "What did Houston ever do to you?" Justin asked. "Nothing, but they're just jealous of New Orleans, I think. For example, do you know that the nickname for Houston is the Bayou City? I mean it is. Really. Everybody in the world knows Louisiana is the Bayou State. You see what I mean?" Kevin said. "I did see a reference to that somewhere," Doc said. "That does seem rather strange, doesn't it?" "Maybe they got bayous here," Justin said. "I mean, we got 'em at home, don't we? Ain't that thing behind our house a bayou?" "No, it's a lagoon," Kyle said. "That's why they call it Grand Lagoon, dummy." "Actually, Son, your brother's right. Our lagoon really is a bayou. And we've got eight or ten other bayous around, too," Gene said. "I think of a lagoon as being manmade," Doc said, "but I know Grand Lagoon isn't manmade." "What genius named it a lagoon, then?" Kyle asked. "Your great-granddaddy and Philip's granddaddy, that's who," Gene said. "For real?" Kyle asked. "Philip Andrew's granddaddy and my granddaddy?" "Your great-granddaddy. All in the world it was, was a marketing scheme. They thought 'lagoon' sounded prettier and ritzier than 'bayou,'" Gene said. "They were so desperate to develop that property along there, they would have called it the Emerald Sea, if they thought they could get away with it." "That's pretty fascinating," Doc said. "George, my granddaddy was a character, now. I'm telling you," Gene said. "He had a friend who had a rain gage. The man checked it faithfully every day. My granddaddy and some of his cronies would fill it up from time to time when we hadn't had any rain. Sometimes when it had rained, they'd go around to his house and empty it." "Did the guy ever catch on?" Kyle asked. "Nope. Not that I know of," Gene said. "See, we ain't the only bad kids in my family," Kyle said. "He wasn't a kid, Son. He was a grown man when he did that," Gene said. "People thought he was crazy when he bought all this beach property around here. My grandmother almost divorced him over it, in fact. Now who's laughing, though." "Incredible foresight," Sonya said. "It wasn't foresight, Sonya. He just wanted land, and beach land was dirt cheap 'cause you couldn't farm it," Gene said. "He didn't make any money off it for years. It was only after he got hooked up with Old Man Andrews that they started developing it." "The two families go way back, don't they?" Doc said. "Oh, yeah," Gene said. "Way back. When Kyle and Philip became friends, his daddy and I were beside ourselves, we were so happy. Clay was pretty good friends with one of the other Andrews boys, too. They weren't as close as Kyle and Philip, though." "Well, it's all very remarkable," Doc said. That ended the evening. We flew home the next morning, ready for the rest of the summer. |