---

Monday, June 14, 2010

"Jimmy, I have less trouble getting through security at the damn airport," complained his aunt. She was a frumpy woman who dressed like a holdover from the 1980's and she waddled her copious ass through the front door, ahead of Jim's mother.

"I'm sorry you were so inconvenienced Aunt Noreen," said Jim as he greeted her with a perfunctory kiss before acknowledging the women behind her. "And Mother, it is always a pleasure," he said with some sarcasm.

"Stop being an ass, James," she said pushing past him and looking around the house--she had never been to the farm before and she seemed to be taking inventory. "Why must you inconvenience your guests with locked gates and intercoms?"

"Because I love my children--all eight of them," Jim replied, now with the intention of provoking her, as he led his mother and aunt through the foyer. He was angry with her for coming and for upsetting his father--but most of all for her attitude towards Jude, impugning his motives and questioning the very fact that he was Junior's son.

In fact the young man in question had actually shown up at the house on just the previous after visiting his fiancé, still wearing his utilities and eager to show off his newly minted Sergeant's stripes. The welcome news of his promotion was successful in raising everyone's spirits, despite the warnings of the storm know as hurricane Bonnie that was due to hit the next day at around 1200.

Where are my grandchildren?" Bonnie demanded against a threatening sky seen through the living room window.

"They are with Barry. They flew to DC this morning with a few school friends for a day at the Smithsonian," Matt said brightly as he was trying to corral the three terriers who were also demanding attention at that very moment. "And Kelly and Ryan went with my father and Finn to visit my great uncle Nick in Ocean City--he has recently celebrated his eighty-eighth birthday," he said, leaving out the consideration that Frank thought he'd better visit, not knowing how many more the man had left.

"They didn't visit me on my birthday," huffed Bonnie and then fell to a general grumbling but without the more difficult formulation of actual grievances.

"Fly?" Noreen asked, taking up when her sister seemed to be flagging. "Why would you spend good money on airplane tickets when you are only two-and-a-half hours away?"

"It's all part of the experience for the boys and our plane was here anyway; I think they were more excited about the flight than the museum itself," Jim explained with a smile and watching carefully the expressions on the two sisters' faces when he said 'our plane'.

"Well, I would have thought you could have changed their plans so I could have visited with them," said Bonnie, eager not to be outdone. Just then an ebullient Honeybear came bounding in, coming to a sliding halt in front of the offended visitors and, placing himself in between Matt and his overbearing mother-in-law, he gave a low growl.

Jim bent down and grabbed his collar and the puppy looked up and licked Jim's face. "Good boy, Bear," he said winking at Matt and then turned to his mother and snapped, "Then you should have given us more than twelve hours' notice; the trip had been planned for weeks. Matt and I didn't want to disappoint our sons just to accommodate one of your whims."

Matt silently reminded himself that the trip was actually a last minute plan to keep the boys away from the certain and unedifying drama of this very visit. They had also asked Frank to take Kelly and Ryan--the two had already planned the visit Frank's Uncle Nick, but were only going to stay for an hour or two, but now there was the promise of the boardwalk and rides at Wonderland Pier.

Of the other children, the triplets were with Ollie and Brett next door at Frank's, out of the fray, and away from the certain disapproval of Mother Superior.

The ladies made no further comment for the moment and, as if to regroup for a fresh assault, asked if they could freshen up and Jim showed them to one of the guest rooms and returned to wait with Matt.

Al appeared to collect his errant charge who was now sitting next to Matt wagging his tail, "Sorry guys, I've never heard him growl like that before--never more than a yap," he said.

"No worries, Al, it seems he's a good judge of character--we'll have to give him a steak for lunch," joked Jim. When the ladies emerged, Jim and Matt led them into the breakfast room where Al had laid out a light lunch.

"The way you live James," began Noreen, now refreshed, "fancy houses… electric gates… private planes." She continued to look about the room and then summed it all up in a pious admonishment as she sat down: "You must know that money is the root of all evil,"

"Well Aunt Noreen, perhaps the next time you are 'journaling with God' you should ask him for Bible lessons," said Jim cheekily, raising an eyebrow to Matt. "Actually the quote from Timothy is: 'For the love of money is the root of all evil'," he replied smugly and now satisfied that he had annoyed the sisters, "in fact it was our priest at St. Anne's who spoke about the problem with misquoting that very passage just a few weeks ago."

"Well that's an Episcopal church, not a Catholic church," Bonnie's ridiculously replied.

"Bonnie, that is one of the most absurd things I have ever heard you say!" This was said by George from the doorway where he was standing with Dot Schwartz. For once his ex-wife remained silent as George and his new lady friend took their seats at the table.

"So tell us, Bonnie, why exactly are you here?" George asked wasting no time with niceties.

"George, please, I have already told you, I want to meet this person claiming to be my grandson," she declared, and then continued, "and ask him exactly what he expects to gain from this charade."

"Well, I'm sorry but he's not available today. He and his fiancé are in Philly shopping for their honeymoon," Jim replied.

"With your credit card I assume," she countered snidely turning to looking at Jim for the full impact of her new accusation.

"That's actually none of your concern," Matt added, speaking for the first time. He was so annoyed with her comment that he was oblivious of the reproachful look he received from George.

"Bonnie, the boy wants nothing from us--it was Jimmy and Brandon who reached out to him. They only learned of his existence when they went through Junior's papers while helping Sherrie get her affairs in order," George said calmly--he was trying not to upset her as per her doctor's instructions. "By the way, exactly how did you hear about him?" George asked.

"Michael told me; apparently I still have one child that loves me now that the only other one was murdered," she said while staring coldly at Matt and Jim. Matt could feel the energy from his lover as he bristled at her inference. He grabbed Jim's hand under the table and held it attempting to calm him down.

Emotions were running high for everyone and George continued his attempts to calm the situation. "Well, it appears that George knew about the boy and he paid child support for his entire life until he joined the Marines," he said but was not encouraged by the look on his ex-wife's face.

"I'm sure he was being blackmailed by some two-bit hussy of a secretary," Bonnie railed. Al had arrived with a pot of coffee just in time to hear her latest outburst; when he got around to Matt he frowned as he filled his coffee cup and then beat a hasty retreat from the room.

"Mother, do you ever think about what you say before it spews forth from your mouth?" Jim asked, no longer caring about his father's concern for not upsetting her. She seemed, to him, in fine form, in fact, she was, in his opinion, her same old opinionated bitchy self and rather enjoying it in a macabre way. "If she was blackmailing him, why did she inform Junior when her son joined the Marines and send him back the check--she could have continued to collect for another year?" Jim knew there and then he was done with this woman--as much as he loved his father, he was not going to continue to suffer her obnoxious behavior, especially under his own roof.

"I have no idea; perhaps she had finally acquired a conscience along the way," she sniffed as she nervously fiddled with her napkin. "Regardless, I want to meet this person and question him--I also want a DNA test performed to prove he is a Flannery," Bonnie snapped.

"Mrs. Flannery, what good would that do? He doesn't even use the name Flannery. Besides, he is just a few weeks away from being deployed to Afghanistan and I don't think that would fair to him--dredging up painful memories," Matt said quietly, but holding eye contact with the woman after he had finished, daring her say something.

The room was quiet, but tense--the beautiful array of food that Al had placed on the table was left uneaten--and Jim wondered how he could end this visit swiftly and send his mother packing. There was lightning in the distance in the inky sky and Jim wondered for a moment why he couldn't hear any thunder, although he counted the seconds thinking of the irony of a storm unexpectedly blowing through with his mother's arrival.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Derrick's voice. "Hello everyone," he said cheerfully then added, "Dad, don't forget you promised to play for me today so I can practice the Ave Maria."

In all the excitement of the previous evening and the rushing about that morning, they had forgotten to call Derrick and tell him what was going on. He had been up in Philly the night before practicing with the group that was going to accompany him at the wedding.

Jim noticed the odd look on his aunt's face, "Sorry, Aunt Noreen, this is our adopted son, Derrick Leo,"

Bonnie huffed at the introduction while her sister tried her best (without success) to hide her shock and confusion.

"As soon as we're done in here, kiddo," Jim said.

"Well it was a pleasure meeting you and nice seeing you again, Mrs. Flannery," he said with a twinkle in his eye and a brilliant smile as he eyed the plate of sandwiches and glanced at Matt who understood what he was angling for.

"Help yourself--no one else is going to eat them, and you know how Al gets when his food goes uneaten," Matt said in a stage whisper while winking at Jim as Derrick filled a plate only to hear a 'harrumph' from the kitchen confirming that he was successfully overheard.

"You'll have to excuse our son," Jim said to his aunt, just to piss off his mother, as Derrick left the room with a plate full of food, "he just turned twenty-one and still eats like a teenager."

"He is not your son," Bonnie said angrily as she threw her napkin onto her empty plate. "Why do you constantly provoke me, James? You continually flaunt your homosexual lifestyle in our faces. You make a mock what it means to be a decent husband and father and you have given over to a life of sin and hedonism."

That was the last straw for Jim, he leapt to he feet and turning to his father said, "I'm sorry Dad, but I've had enough of 'playing nice'," then he turned to his mother, "Nothing ever changes with you, does it Mother? Your view of the world is just rigid and myopic and born from hating everything you don't--or rather refuse--to understand."

"It's not my view; it's God's view."

"You really need to give it up, Mother, and stop blaming God for your bad behavior and your narrow mindedness," Jim countered.

"Well, James, she is correct, homosexuality is a sin," his aunt contributed in a sing-song voice, attempting to prop up her sister.

"Jimmy…" Matt started, but his lover cut him off.

"No, Captain, I'm going to explain this one last time. Aunt Noreen, I'm sorry, but you are sinning yourself by judging me, but while we're on the subject of sinning, let's discuss my late brother and his sins."

"Don't you dare speak ill of your late brother!" Bonnie snapped.

"Speaking the truth is not speaking ill, Mother. My brother was a two-timing, twice married adulterer who fathered a child out of wedlock. He was an embezzler and a pedophile," Jim said, naming each offense as if he was reading an indictment in court. His aunt gasped when he finished; apparently her sister had not shared her oldest son's sins.

"Jimmy, enough!" his father warned.

"No, Dad, sorry, I have had it up to here," he placing his hand to his forehead, "with her manipulative games. She slithers between her children stirring up crap and then plays the martyr when they get tired of her games and they push back."

"That is not true, I'm just trying to protect my family," she protested.

Noreen was looking back and forth between Jim and his mother like a spectator at a tennis match, while Matt and Doris looked down at their empty plates trying to stay out of the fray.

"Protect us from what, Mother?" Jim said a little too loudly, "You're the only person that causes problems for this family. In fact, Sherrie told me that it was you who prevented her from getting Junior to seek psychiatric help after we confronted him about Shane. She knew her husband had problems and yet you inserted yourself and made it worse."

"That is a bald face lie--all I did was suggest he see Father Murphy instead of some fly-by-night headshrinker," Bonnie shouted back, "and not that you would understand, but what I did, I did out of love."

"Great Mother, what a wonderful plan--allow your deeply disturbed son to be counseled by an untrained practitioner. Maybe if you had treated him like a man instead of your little boy he wouldn't have turned into the monster that he was," Jim said as he felt Matt take his hand and pull him back down into his seat as his mother glared at him in cold fury.

"Why must you be so disrespectful about Men of God?" his aunt asked in a pitying voice.

"This has nothing to do with Men of God; it's all about my mother yet again pushing herself in where she has no place." Then turning back to his mother he asked, "So tell us Mother, what has you so interested in Jude and our relationship with him? Considering his father's sins, it couldn't possibly be the embarrassment of having a bastard grandchild."

"I have already told you, I don't believe he is George's son and he's…I mean I'm worried he is trying to stake a claim to my son's share of your father's estate."

The rain outside was falling in earnest, big fat drops that splashed on the pool deck. Now it all started to make sense to Jim and Matt, and to George as well who spoke up. "What estate, Bonnie? I'm not a millionaire-- my son is-- and, in case you have forgotten, we are divorced--you have no say over my estate," George said, clearly irritated by both his wife and his son.

"So that's what this is all about, money! This is rich. My cynical, hypocritical mother greedy for money while lecturing me about sin," Jim said, extending his arms, palms up, in a dramatic flourish. "Remember, pious Christian, it is the love of money, which is the root of all evil."

"Well you can afford to be cavalier, you have plenty of money--Martin has a proper wife and children to be concerned about and he will need everything that we can leave him," Bonnie responded--even she knew this was a week argument.

"Yes, children that Matty and I have already gifted with trust funds to pay for their college education," Jim shot back. "Marty makes over a hundred grand a year; he's not even close to being poor."

Noreen was now leaning forward in her seat. Again it was clear that this was the first she had heard any of this information. One could almost see her mind recording every word for future retelling. "And I guess we were being cavalier when we spent millions of our own money to buy the company Junior worked for to keep him from going to jail." Jim piled it on, sniffing victory, even if this particular point was only half-true if examined critically.

"If you hadn't interfered he would still be alive," Bonnie screamed across the table.

"No!" Jim shouted as he pounded his fist on the table to emphasis his point, startling everyone. "If he hadn't pulled a gun out and started shooting people, he would still be alive," Jim countered, and then sighed deeply and drew a deep breath before continuing firmly, "It's funny Mother, you don't even care that he was aiming the gun at me, do you?" Jim's voice was now full of emotion as he realized this was the first time he had ever verbalized this accusation, the thought of which he had replayed so many times at night when he couldn't sleep. It was hard to accept, but he certainly could be in no doubt now, that his mother wished it was he that was dead, not his brother. For her part, Bonnie looked as if she had been slapped in the face. Perhaps Jim had struck just a little too close to the truth, a truth that was so horrible she was not willing to admit it even to herself.

Jim stood again, letting go of Matt's hand and looking his mother straight in the eye said, "Well let's just pretend he succeeded and that I was shot dead by your beloved first born son." He turned on his heel and left the room.

Minutes pasted as Bonnie just sat there with a glazed look in her eyes while her sister tried to comfort her as the thick rain formed a grey sheet beyond the window. Matt remained behind so George wouldn't be alone to deal with the fallout.

"Look at that rain. Maybe we should all just have some more coffee and calm down," Doris said quietly. The sound of Jim's piano and Derrick's beautiful tenor rendering of Ave Maria floated through the house and reached the tense group in the breakfast room, an irony being there, but not immediately obvious, thought Matt.

"And maybe you should mind your own fucking business," Bonnie screamed so loudly that Dot, who had been leaning forward, flew back in her chair in shock. "This is a family matter."

Now it was George who leapt to his feet as did Matt, fearing he may have to get between George and his ex-wife.

Even Noreen gasped in shock. "Bonnie, get ahold of yourself," she said placing her hand on her sister's arm only to have it shaken off.

"Bonnie," George seethed, "you have crossed a line that you will regret. After all Doris and I have done for you, this is how you repay us?"

"I'm sorry," Bonnie said suddenly and began to cry. "I'm sorry Doris, it's just that Jimmy gets me so upset with his lies about George," she blubbered dramatically into her napkin.

Now it was Matt's turn, as he placed his napkin on his plate and spoke in an exaggerated calm. "Mrs. Flannery, I think it is time for you to go; it appears that the reports of you being a new person have been greatly exaggerated. You were, and are still are, a very bitter and vindictive old woman, clinging to your religion--and worse than that, using it as a club to beat down those that do not bend to your will. Hopefully, someday you'll finally realize how un-Christian you have been and all the hurt you have caused, I pray that God will be merciful on you."

Bonnie stood so quickly that her chair fell backward and crashed to the floor. She grabbed her sister's hand, "You are the last person I need praying for me, faggot," she spat and headed out of the room. When she reached the middle of the kitchen she stopped; she appeared to be confused as to which way to go.

Matt had been following and stopped just in front of her. "I will show you to the door," he said, still calm, leading the way to the foyer.

"A door that I will never darken again," she said acidly as Matt opened it for her.

"And I will be happy to see that you keep that promise," he said as he closed it again behind her, glad that it was raining so heavily and turning his thoughts to the randomness of lightning strikes. When he turned Jim was there and gathered him into his arms and hugged him, whispering in his ear. "Thanks baby," he said and released him and walked across the foyer.

"Where are you going?"

"To call my brother," he grumbled.

Matt returned to the breakfast room where George was still sitting looking a bit shell-shocked, while Dot had gotten up and was pacing with a worried look on her face. "Dad," he said, "I'm sorry if I upset you, but she was attacking me as well. She knows how much we have done for all of Jim' brothers and sisters and I…"

"There's not need to apologize, Matty, I think after today's performance I have reached my limit as well," George was angrier than Matt had ever seen him, declaring that he was done trying to help his ex-wife recover and doubted that she would ever become a happy and healthy person once more.

"Dot," Matt said, "is everything okay?" She stopped pacing and faced him looking a bit unsure.

"Well I'm not sure. It's just that she was so unhinged today that I'm worried and, well, there is something else I know--well more like something I saw--and I don't know if I should mention it or not. I really shouldn't mix in," she went on nervously, almost rambling.

"You're not mixing in Dot, you are part of the family now," George said with a warm smile that she returned and which seemed to calm her.

"Well, right before she was released I went to visit one day--while you were having lunch with Martin," she said glancing at George as if it would help him remember. "Anyway, when I went into the room there was a woman sitting with her talking. They stopped when I came into the room. She left without being introduced and when I finally asked Bonnie who the woman was, she told me that she was Barry's mother."

George was befuddled, Matt was confused, and Jim who just re-entered the room was suspicious. "What the hell would Mrs. Parsons be doing visiting Mother; I didn't even know they even knew each other," he said.

"I really don't know, Jim, Bonnie only told me that the woman was Barry's mother but not how they met. I'm sorry Jim, I didn't ask more, but I didn't want to mix in, you know," Dot said.

"It's okay Dot, this has nothing to do with you," Jim assured, "but something about this stinks," he said as he stared out the window at the steady downpour in deep thought.

To be continued….