Everybody was up and dressed for school or work when Rick and I went into the dining room. Somebody had made a pretty nice breakfast. There was a lot of bacon, which I knew was pre-cooked and warmed in the microwave, frozen waffles that had been heated in the oven on a cookie sheet, and a bowl of cheese grits that was left over from Saturday morning. There were ten of us in the house just then, and the breakfast room was way too small for everybody. They all told us "hi" when we came in. "Did you make all this food, Kyle?" Rick asked. "Yeah," Kyle said. "Thank you, Bubba," Rick said. "We appreciate it." "No problem," Kyle said. "Are you ready for your first day at your new school, Sean?" I asked. "I think so. I'm a little nervous about it," Sean said. "That's natural, but it'll be fine," I said. "I know," he replied. "Are you taking him in?" Rick asked. "I thought I would. Unless you want to," I said. "Naw, you do it. You're the spouse in charge of school," Rick said. "Well, I need to get going," Kyle said. "Weekend after next is the Indian Summer Seafood Festival, and Beta Rho is working. I'm in charge of that for our club. I've got some people to see first thing this morning." He leaned over and kissed Tim goodbye. "Y'all don't forget this coming weekend is Rob's christening. I hope everybody can go for that," I said. "Ain't no way I'm missing it," Kyle said. The boys who had been in the house a while said they were going, too. "I'm out the door," Kyle said. "Y'all have a good one." "Who's Rob, and what's his christening?" Sean asked. "Rob is our nephew, Sean. He's only three months old, and his christening is his baptism," I said. "Oh, cool," Sean said. "I know what a baptism is." "Would somebody refresh my memory about baptism?" Murray asked. "It's how somebody becomes a member of the Catholic Church, Murray. I'm not sure Jews have an equivalent of that, except maybe circumcision. Ritual circumcision, I mean. Not the medical procedure," I said. "Is it like Bar Mitzvah?" Murray asked. "No, Bar Mitzvah is more like our Confirmation." I was thinking hard. I knew there had to be some kind of Jewish connection to baptism. Suddenly I remembered. "I remember now. Murray, do you know the episode in the Bible where the Hebrews passed through the Reed Sea and became Israel?" "I thought it was the Red Sea," he said. "Red. Reed. Different translations have different words for it. Anyway, Moses parted the Sea and the people walked through it. When they came out on the other side, they were no longer the Hebrews. They were God's people, Israel. Well, baptism involves pouring water on the person's head to symbolize their passage through the sea. Just as Israel became the People of God when they did that, an individual joins the new People of God, which we believe is the Catholic Church, by passing through the waters of baptism," I said. "I'm kind of stumbling on this because I don't remember it all that well from high school, but I think that's about right." "Will I be welcome at that ceremony?" Murray asked. "Are you out of your mind? Of course you will be. You're family, man. There will never be a time when you aren't welcome at a family occasion," I said. "How well versed are you in Jewish beliefs?" "Not very well," he said. "I had a Bar Mitzvah, but it was minimal." "When you go to that baptism next weekend, I want you to pay real close attention so you can tell us about the Jewish elements you see in it, okay?" I said. "I'll try to do some research, too," he said. "Good. Find out as much as you possibly can and tell us about it," I said. "I never thought I would have to learn Judaism because I lived in a Catholic household," he said. "You live in a 'people' household, Bubba. Nobody gives a shit if you're a Jew or not," Justin said. "I know. I'm just not a very observant Jew," he said. "Why don't you think you're observant. I think you notice stuff as good as the next guy," Justin said. "He means he's not very good about observing the traditions and practices of Judaism," I said. "If you want to be an observant Jew, we'll respect that 150%, Bubba, and do everything we can to help you," Rick said. "No, I'm okay the way I am," he said. * * * Sean and I drove to school together that morning. In the future, he'd ride with Tim, probably, since Brian had an after-school job. That morning, though, I took him. "Kevin, I'm sorry I lied about attempting suicide," he said, once we were on the road. "I know. You did that to make us want to take you in, didn't you?" I asked. "Yes. I was desperate," he said. "I know, and it's all right, Sean. Rick and I understand," I said. "We're cool with you, Bubba. But no more lies." He nodded. We rode in silence the rest of the way to school. I knew the drill about registering him and all. I told the receptionist he was a new student, and she called Guidance to get him registered and scheduled. I took a seat in one of the banker's chairs they had in the reception area in case he needed me for something. "Kevin! It's so good to see you." It was Sally Ortega, the principal. She was passing through. "It's good to see you, too," I said. I was on the School Advisory Council of that school through Goodson, which was a major business partner of theirs. Gene had roped me into that the year before, no doubt as a preparation for his move to Destin. I had attended all the meetings, and I was interested in the school, since my kids went there. "Did you come to see me, or is it family related?" she asked. "It's family related. We have a new boy living with us, and he's enrolling this morning," I said. "Do you have a minute to talk?" she asked. "Yeah. He's in the Guidance Office now, but he's staying for the day. This one actually came with decent clothes, so we don't have to go shopping," I said. "Oh, I remember. The last few showed up with nothing." "Or close to it," I said. "Come with me," she said. Once we were in her office, she said, "Do you have the usual paperwork? You're always good about remembering to bring that." "This one's a little bit different. I've got his birth certificate and a power of attorney giving Rick and me full parental rights," I said. "That's fine. That's all we need," she said. "Let me get those copied." I handed her the documents. She called in her secretary, and she took care of making the copies. "So. You and Rick have an incredible bunch of boys in your care. I guess you know that, though," she said. "Yes, we know that," I said. "But it's always good to hear." I was smiling to match her smile. "Kyle and Tim brought us a hamper of lobsters a couple of weeks ago. Did you know that?" she asked. "No, honestly, I didn't, but I'm not surprised. Tim was our first, you know?" "I have a vague memory about his father being on a ship. Is that right?" she asked. "Exactly. But Tim's dad is back from war, and he's happily married, now. We've got our first Jewish boy. He's the first of any minority," I said. "Except sexual minority," she said. "Well, true," I said. "When's the first black kid coming?" she asked. "Whenever he shows up. He'll be welcome, too," I said. "I know he will be," she said. Brian's Perspective I love my family so much. I fell apart when the puppy I had been working with got bitten by that snake and died, and they were there for me. I loved them for a lot of other reasons, too, of course, but the night that happened it really came home to me. Another thing that came home to me was that I knew I couldn't be a vet. I hadn't told anybody I was seriously thinking about changing my career field and going into veterinary medicine. Not even Justin, and I told him pretty much every thought that crossed my mind. Vets have to put animals to sleep sometimes, and I knew I could never and would never do that. And you can't be a good vet if you can't relieve suffering that way. No, it was going to be human medicine for me, like I had planned all along. The new guy, Sean, seemed really nice, although we hadn't gotten to know him very well yet. He was a very nice-looking kid, but he definitely wasn't my type. He had a lot of flashy clothes, and he seemed pretty intelligent, but it was almost like he was too good to be true. When he came downstairs Saturday morning, his hair was perfect. None of the rest of us even touched our hair first thing in the morning, and we seldom do more than put gel in it and run our fingers through it even when we "fix" it. He had also shaved. Nobody shaves on Saturday or Sunday at our house, unless there's something special going on. He did, though. Maybe he was just trying to make a good impression. "I wonder where Sean is?" Tim asked. "Did you tell him anything about going to lunch with us?" I asked. "No, I didn't know how to set it up. I don't even know if he has second lunch or not," Tim said. "I think most of the sophomores do have second lunch," I said. We didn't have long to speculate. We spotted Sean at a locker down the hall from us, and Tim and I walked down toward him. "Hey. We always go out to lunch together. Come with us," Tim said. He hesitated a little bit, and I found that somewhat strange. "Okay," he finally said. We went to the Starfish, as usual, and we introduced our new brother to Mom and Pop Sullivan. We also introduced him to Chad, who was the only one of our lunch bunch that he hadn't already met. "What's your schedule?" Tim asked Sean. "First is world history, second is PE, third is Algebra II, and fourth is chemistry," he said. "PE is swimming, and let me tell you something, there are some hot boys in that class." We all laughed a little. "You can get out of that by taking a proficiency test," Tim said. "Not on your life. The love of my life is in that class," he said. "The love of your life? What's his name?" Wade asked. "I don't know. All I know is, I'm going to marry him," Sean said. That made everybody laugh hard. "I think we've got a case of terminal hormones here," Reid said. "You're going to marry him, and you don't even know his name?" "Did I say something wrong?" Sean asked. He was cute. I'll give him that. "How do you know he's gay?" I asked. "Oh, he is. Or I'll turn him gay," Sean said. "Maybe he'll turn you straight," Reid said. "No chance," Sean said. "Is that why you hesitated when we invited you to lunch?" I asked. "Were you hoping to find Mr. Wonderful in the cafeteria and get to know him better?" He blushed a little. "That's it, isn't it?" I asked. "Stop picking on me," he said, but he said it jokingly, not in anger. "We never stop picking. It's the Code of the North Lagoon," I said. He didn't even know to be glad Kyle and Justin weren't there. They would have ridden him from here to Memphis if they had heard that conversation. We always got the buffet, but since he was dieting, Murray had ordered from the menu. He had broiled chicken, two vegetables, a little rice, and a house salad. We made him get unsweetened tea. He put some Equal sweetener in it but no sugar. "I know you're losing weight. How much have you lost?" Chad asked. "Twelve pounds," he said. "You look fabulous, Murray. How much more do you have to lose?" Chad asked. "My goal is to lose forty altogether," he said. "You're more than a quarter of the way there. That's good. My mom was always trying to lose weight," Wade said. "One thing you have to remember, Murray, is we've been working you out pretty hard, too. You've probably lost more than twelve pounds of fat, but you've replaced it with muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat does. I mean, the volume of fat per pound is greater than the volume of muscle per pound," Tim said. "He's right, dude. You look like you've lost more than twelve to me," Reid said. "To me, too," Chad said. Even though Chad and Murray were both pretty effeminate, they didn't seem to be particularly good friends. Denny and Murray seemed to be much better friends than Murray and Chad. "I'm thinking about getting my hair highlighted," Sean said. "What do you guys think?" "I think you should," Murray was quick to say. "Get it highlighted in blue," Tim said. "Seriously?" Sean asked. "No. I was just kidding Murray. I think your hair is too dark to get it highlighted," Tim said. That was the tenor of our conversation at lunch. We talked about a whole range of topics. When Kyle, Philip, and Ryan were with us at lunch last year, we talked about sports and fishing and hunting a good bit. This wasn't really a sports-loving group, though. That evening, Sean was telling us all about his first day at Beachside. "I found out the name of the hunk," he said. "It's David Milligan." "I know him, and I know his brother, too. David's gay. At least that's what his brother told me," Kyle said. "He is?!" Sean said, all excited. "That's what his brother said. I don't know. He's in the GSA. I know that for a fact," Kyle said. "GSA?" Sean asked. "The Gay-Straight Alliance. It's a club," Kyle said. "Oh, please let it be so," Sean said. "It is so. I know he's in it," Kyle said. "Or at least he was last year." "No, I meant let him be gay," Sean said. "How'd you meet him?" Kyle asked. "He's in my swimming class, and he's in my chemistry class, too," Sean said. "Did you see him naked?" Justin asked. Sean blushed a little. "Look at him. He saw him naked. Did you throw a rod?" Justin asked. "You mean an erection?" Sean asked. "Yeah. A boner. A hard-on. A spike. A flagpole." Justin was on a roll. "A blue-veiner. A prong. A stiffy. A horn," Kyle added. "Sort of," Sean said. "Did you make anybody else get one?" Kyle asked. "Those things are contagious in a shower room." "I'm glad to hear you say that," Murray said. "Why? Did you get one in the shower at school?" Justin asked. "I don't take a shower at school. But I've gotten them there before," Murray said. "It's no big deal. Philip and I used to get 'em all the time when we showered in a group," Kyle said. "Is that because you're gay?" Sean asked. "If only the gay ones got 'em, we got a hell of a lot more gay dudes than straight dudes at that school," Kyle said. "I can't believe Milligan's taking swimming. He shouldn't be in that. That's a freshman class. Plus, he should have tested out of that," Kyle said. "He's a Beach Rat. That boy's been swimming all his life." "Well, maybe so, but he's in swimming," Sean said. "I don't know about this younger generation, Justin," Kyle said. "I know. You got to watch 'em like a hawk," Jus said. "That's right, Bubba. They need training," Kyle said. "Does that include us?" Tim asked, meaning him and me. "Y'all are trained," Kyle said. "And trained by masters, I might add." "Kyle, you're so full of shit," Rick said. "I know. I never once said I wasn't. But I was trained by a master, too, now, wasn't I?" Kyle said. "Sting. You got me last on that one," Rick said. "Believe it or not, I'm actually going to study tonight," Kyle said. "Read, really, but that's sort of like studying." "Stand back, everybody, so the lightening doesn't get us, too," Rick said. "Very funny, Richard. I'm actually going to read my chemistry book. And I'm going to take notes, too, like the 'good cop' taught me how to do. And then I'm going to read my book for my Introduction to Business class, and I'm going to take notes on that, too. And then I might actually do some statistics homework. You never can tell. This could turn into a fucking homework orgy," Kyle said. "Jeeze. I'm impressed," Rick said. "Baseball statistics?" "You are totally hopeless. I'm going upstairs to study," Kyle said. "Anybody coming with me?" He looked right at Tim, and Tim grinned. We all went upstairs to hit the books. Kyle's Perspective I couldn't wait for the weekend. We were going to New Orleans to be there when little Rob was baptized, and that was going to be something special. Everybody was going. We had ten guys living in our house, and every one of them was going. Add in the four Townhouse Boys, my parents, and Tim's parents, and it was quite a crowd. That was just the Florida people. The New Orleans bunch was going to be much bigger than that. "What's the schedule for the weekend?" I asked at breakfast on Tuesday. I had had to run off early the day before, but I didn't have a class until late morning on Tuesday. "I don't know. We haven't really talked about it," Kevin said. "Well, don't you think we should?" I asked. "When do you want to leave? This afternoon?" Kevin asked me. "Yeah, I can leave this afternoon," I said. "The earliest I can leave is Friday morning," Rick said. "And most of you have school on Friday. We need to leave Friday afternoon, after school." "Rick's right. Friday afternoon at three. Is that okay with everybody?" Kevin asked. "I'll need to clear that with Tony," Ken said. "Of course, Tony is going, too, so that probably won't be a problem. And I've got a ton of comp time. It won't be a problem, Kevin." * * * I was excited about that trip. The christening was scheduled for the six o'clock Mass at Cherie and Craig's church on Saturday night. That would give us part of Friday night and all day Saturday to show Murray and Sean the city. Ken, Chuck, Tony, and Tyler hadn't been there, either. At least not with us. Grandma and Grandpa Foley had planned a christening party for Saturday night, but we could probably go out after that, too. The trip over didn't amount to much. We had to divide people up, though. The Land Cruiser held eight. Ken and Rick from our house rode with the Townhouse Boys in Rick's Suburban. My parents and Tim's parents drove over in my mother's Lincoln. "My parents are really disappointed they can't put everybody up," Kevin said. "Well, God, almighty, Kevin. This is a bunch of people. They're not running a hotel," I said. "I know, but my mom wants the family to be together," he said. "We can sleep eight easily in the boys' house," Tim said. "That's about it with one bathroom, though." "I forgot to tell you guys about that. They put in another bathroom in the boys' house," Kevin said. "Where?" I asked. I figured they had cut into that smallest bedroom to do that. "On the yard side. You get to it from the hall back to the bedrooms," he said. "I have a mental picture of it. They said it extends out on the side, and there's a deck under it." "Damn. That'll work out just great, then," I said. "Especially when it's just the four of us living there. Each couple will have a bathroom." "That's why they did it, Kyle. They are so excited about you guys living there, they're going to make that place as good as they can for you," Kevin said. "Well, an extra bathroom will sure help," I said. "I know. Let's get back to the sleeping arrangements, though," Kevin said. "I know my parents and Tim's parents are going to want to be in a hotel. They can take you and Rick, Jeff and Ty, and Chuck and Tony in the house. Denny and Murray can sleep in the little bedroom, and Sean and Ken can sleep on the sofa bed in our place. It'll work out," I said. "I hate that Gene and Rita, and George and Sonya will have to stay in a hotel," Kevin said. "Kevin, my daddy will figure out some way to write it off, if he doesn't get comp nights," I said. "We're hotel people. We know how to do this." "Thanks, Bubba, for helping me with this," he said. "No problem at all," I said. We all got to Beth and Ed's house in New Orleans around eight o'clock. I was so hungry I could have eaten that house. They had a big spread of hors d'oeuvres set out for us, and two of the stuffed artichokes had little tags on them that said "Kyle." Miss Odille knew what I loved. There was also a pot of red beans that was thick with ham and a pot of shrimp creole that was the best I had ever tasted. There was plenty of fluffy white rice to go with both. She had tossed up a green salad that had her personal remoulade dressing on it, and there was a ton of that crispy French bread that you couldn't get anywhere else but in New Orleans. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. "You better go easy on them beans, Kyle," Justin said. "Shut up. That doesn't bother me," I said. "I know. It bothers everybody else, though," Justin said. "I'll be careful," I said. "By the way, I do believe that's the cutest baby I ever saw in my life." "Thank you, Kyle. We think he's pretty special," Cherie said. "He's growing so fast, I can't keep him in clothes." "Kyle was that way, too, Cherie," my mom said. "We still can't," Justin said. "Very funny," I said. "He and his brother were terrible about that when they were little, Justin," Mom said. "I know there's supposed to be a gene for homosexuality, but is there also a gene for being a nudist?" They laughed politely. I didn't especially care for the direction that conversation was going in, though. "Nudity is the natural state," Craig said. "Nobody is born with clothes on." "Rita was," my dad said. Everybody laughed. "That's correct, Sweetie, and you should have been, too," she said. That made us laugh even more. "Mama got you last that time, Daddy," I said. "Yeah, I know," he said. By nine o'clock, everybody was through eating. "Are we going out tonight?" I asked. "We can if y'all want to," Craig said. "I want to," Justin said. We all wanted to go. Grandma and Grandpa were going to stay at home to keep the baby, and my parents and Tim's parents wanted to check into their hotel. It wasn't too far from Grandma and Grandpa's, though. We went down to the French Quarter to see what was going on. We divided up into two groups. Craig, Cherie, Denny, Sean, and Murray came with the four of us. Kevin, Rick, Ken, and the four Townhouse Boys hung together. We decided we'd meet up at the coffee and beignet place at midnight and make plans from there. "Are you guys interested in doing gay clubs?" Cherie asked. "Let's just walk around. If we see someplace interesting, we can go in," Craig said. "That sounds good to me," I said. We walked down Bourbon Street, and Sean and Murray were rubber-necking at all the sights. There was live music coming out of a bunch of places we passed. We went into one place that had a band on the patio. We put two tables together so all of us could sit together, and we ordered drinks. They weren't strict at all in New Orleans about checking ID, so Justin and I, and Craig ordered whiskey drinks. Craig actually placed the order. The rest of them got cokes. The music was pretty good. The band played out the rest of their set, and then they took a break. I noticed Sean checking out a boy at the next table. The guy was good looking, well dressed, and about twenty years old. They were making big-time eye contact. The other boy was at a table with two other guys, who were holding hands on top of the table. There wasn't much doubt about them. "Excuse me," Sean said, and he got up from the table. He went toward the building, which I guessed was where the restrooms were. The boy at the other table got up and followed him. "Did you see that?" Justin asked me. He was next to me, and he didn't say it loud enough for the rest to hear it. "Yeah. We'll give him a few minutes, and if he's not back in the time it takes to piss, we'll check on him. That other boy seems harmless, but you never know," I said. "We need to get his back if he needs us, but we don't want to bust up something, if he's hooked up with that boy," Justin said. "I know. Let's play it by ear," I said. I glanced at my watch. Ten minutes later, Sean wasn't back at the table. Denny was telling them all about the debate topic, so they didn't even notice. "Y'all excuse me," I said, and I stood up. "Yeah, me, too," Justin said. "He's been gone long enough," I said as we walked toward the restrooms. "I know. We've got to play this cool, you hear?" "I know," I said. "We ain't raiding the pisser. Besides, I really do have to piss." "Me, too," he said. That building was old, like everything else in the French Quarter. The floor and the walls were made out of bricks, and it wasn't very light in there. You could sure tell it was a men's room, too, from the odor when you opened the door. There was a trough urinal, and Justin and I sidled up side by side. We pulled out our dicks and started pissing. For some reason, when I have to piss bad, like I did just then, I often have to fart, too. I let out a big one. "That's what I was talking about with those red beans," Justin said. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it," I said. "Well, at least you waited till you were in here to do it," he said. "Shhh. Did you hear that?" he whispered. I listened hard. Then I heard it. It was a moan coming from one of the stalls. I nodded. We shook off and put our dicks away. He motioned for me to follow him, so I did. We went into an empty stall. There was a hole with about a six-inch diameter cut in the plywood partition between it and the next stall. He pointed down at it. I squatted down and put my eye up to it to see what I could see. A guy was sitting on the toilet giving a blowjob to another guy standing in front of him. It was too low to see the faces, and it was too dark to make out the clothes they were wearing. That wasn't the first blowjob that boy sitting on the toilet ever gave, either. The one standing up was having him a good ole time, too. I stood up and motioned for Justin to look. He got him an eyeful and stood back up. Justin mouthed something, but I couldn't make it out. I squinted my face up to get him to repeat it. "It's Sean," he whispered. "What?" the boy in the next stall said. Justin and I were both laughing without making any noise. That made me let out a huge fart, and that made us laugh even more. Justin waved his hand in front of his face, like he was waving away the smell. "Oh! Oh! God!" one of the ones in the next stall said, and it was Sean's voice. Justin waved his hand back and forth like he was jerking off, and that made us both laugh even more. "Go," Justin mouthed, and I figured that out. I flushed the toilet to give us sound cover, and he and I sneaked out. Once we were outside, we busted up laughing. "It looks like ole Sean is going to have him a memory of New Orleans, and it ain't going to be of no christening," Jus said. "I know. Doing that was kind of shitty, but we had to be there if he needed help," I said. "Absolutely," Justin said. "That boy works fast, don't he?" "I'll say. Not that I want to learn his technique or anything," I said. "Neither me, but he ain't getting any at home. He needs it just as bad as you and me, Bubba," Jus said. "I know. Could you picture Murray in there?" I asked. "Hell, no," he said. "Murray's got a long way to go before he gets laid. Or sucked off." "Murray might surprise us all," I said. "Well, if he gets laid, he'll surprise the hell out of me," Justin said. "Do you think he even wants to?" "Well, of course. Everybody wants to get laid," I said. "It's human nature." "Yeah, I guess you're right," Justin said. Back at the table, they were talking about some intellectual shit about the Middle East and the Palestinians and the Israelis. Craig cocked his eyebrow at us when we got there. I sucked my cheeks in as far as I could and stuck my finger in my mouth to show that Sean was getting a blowjob. Craig grinned, and the rest of them didn't even know what was going on. "Everything come out all right, Bubba?" Justin asked Sean when he got back to the table. Sean lit up a cigarette right away. "Yeah," Sean said, and he had a mighty relaxed look on his face. I wondered if he had paid his new friend back. We had a second drink and sat through another set of the music. The guys at the other table left, but not without the one guy waving at Sean. Then it was time to go meet the others. As we were walking to the coffee shop, Justin and I hung back behind the others. Sean was with us. "Did you have a good time tonight, Bubba?" Justin asked Sean. "Yeah. I had a great time," he said. "The music was awesome. But you guys know, don't you?" "Yeah, but your secret's safe with us," Justin said. "We weren't spying on you. We were getting your back, if you needed it. Don't ever think different, okay?" "Okay," he said. "Thanks." That was all that was ever said. * * * The baptism ceremony Saturday night was nice. It was basically just Mass with the baptism thrown in right before the Offertory. Cherie's sister was the godmother, and Kevin and Rick were the godfathers. Those three looked so good standing up there with that baby. Little Rob was good during the ceremony, too. He made a little bit of noise when the priest poured the water on his head, but the priest said it was probably too cold for him. That made the people in the church chuckle. Why, I don't know. Why they didn't heat the water up, I didn't know, either. They had that big Easter candle lit right there. He could have passed that water over that flame a few times so that baby wouldn't have had to suffer. I put that on my mental list of things to discuss with Jerry the next time I saw him. It seemed like about half of the people at the church came home with us for the party. It wasn't as big a crowd as they had at their Christmas party, but it was substantial. The food was out of this world. They had these little oyster patty things. It was a puff pastry shell hollowed out, and they put some kind of unbelievably good oyster mix in there. I couldn't get enough. I went back to the kitchen to find out about those things. "Miss Odille. What do you call this thing?" I asked, holding one up. She laughed. "That's an oyster patty. Haven't you ever had oyster patties?" "No, ma'am, not till tonight. Would you give me the recipe?" I asked. She laughed again. "Kyle, I can't believe you haven't had oyster patties before. Can you get patty shells where you live?" she asked. "I don't know. Do they freeze good? Can I take some home from here?" I asked. "They freeze extremely well. I think we've probably got two hundred or more in the freezer," she said. "Take them all when you leave." "What about the filling? That's the best thing I think I've ever eaten," I said. "Do you know what a rue is?" "Yes, ma'am. That's flour browned in oil, right?" I said. "That's the start of it. Then you add the seasoning. Minced hard onion, minced green onion, minced celery, a little bit of minced green pepper, and little bit of minced garlic. Some people put in a little bit of minced parsley, too. About a cup's worth, with a half cup of flour. Fry that down until you have a nice brown paste and all the vegetables are clear. Low flame, now. Chop your oysters up into little pieces, and add those to the rue. Cook that a little while until the oysters start to shrivel around the edges. Make sure you put as much oyster water as you need to get it to the consistency in that shell you're holding. That's all there is to it," she said. "I'll be making these for the next party we have," I said. "Kyle, you can do the same thing, put it in a pie shell, and you've got oyster pie. What we're using tonight is a cocktail shell. You can get larger shells, about five inches in diameter, and it's a perfect first course. You can also serve it on oyster shells on rock salt as a first course. When I do that, I like to put a little parmesan cheese on top and stick it under the broiler until the cheese melts. People love it, if they like oysters," she said. "I don't know of anybody who loves oysters better than me," I said. "Mostly I eat 'em raw." "That's the way my husband and I like them, too," she said. "Well, you've opened a whole new world to me tonight, when it comes to oysters," I said. "I make 'em every way you can make 'em. Rockefeller, Bienville, Benedict, fried, poached, baked. Patties. Pies. You name it," she said. I grabbed her in a big hug and kissed her on the lips. "Thank you so much," I said. She giggled. "Get out of my kitchen, boy," she said, and I laughed, too. "Where the hell have you been?" Justin asked me when I went back to the party. "I've been in the kitchen talking to Miss Odille, that's where I've been," I said. "Have you tried one of these things? This is fucking fabulous," Justin said, holding up an oyster patty. "Yeah. I've been back there getting the recipe for it," I said. "This takes oysters to a whole new level," he said. "Yeah, I know, and I'll be taking 'em there myself as soon as I can," I said. * * * We went back to the Quarter again that night, but I don't think anybody got lucky like they did the night before. In fact, we ended up at the Cat's Meow, the karaoke place on Bourbon Street, and we had a good time. I sang a few, and we all danced. "Tim, I think you need to drive home tonight," I said. "I know I need to. Did you have a good time?" he asked. He was grinning. "Yeah, I did. Did you?" I asked. "I always have a good time with you. You know that. Kyle, I love you so much," Tim said. Cherie was right behind us, and she heard every word we said. "Guys! Get a room," she said. Tim and I turned around to look at her, and the three of us laughed. |