Chapter 13-1
At Deaths Door
Part 2
The water was almost perfect, not too hot and not too cold and so far, I was being good as gold as promised. Yet it wasn't one of those stimulating baths, with bubble baths or scented skin softeners, not that Jared and I could do much in the stimulating department other than letting two mothers and a nurse bathe you.
Grandma came into the room and took a seat close enough to the tub for conversation and yet far enough away to prevent getting wet. Grandma frowned at my mother stating, she was being foolish, by going into a tub with her clothes on while my adoptive Mom and our new resident nurse chose the more practical option.
Even though she wasn't that fond of the idea of me or the Rothwells being nudists, she didn't interfere with their beliefs. Besides, she, herself signed on the dotted line stating it was more than ok like my mother did that I became one, and she knew I had sex with lots of girls and women on a regular basis. Plus, the fact, I have on numerous occasions stimulated boys as well, like my friends and adoptive brothers and my Dad.
Again, she wasn't fond of the idea, but as long as it was consensual and she didn't have to see it, other than kissing. She was willing to turn a blind eye. Yet when it came to my adoptive mother or my mother or my adoptive sisters, she was totally in the dark as well as what my mother was doing with other men.
She said. "I have called your Aunt Lavern to stop at my house and bring me some clothes and stop at "that Paul" Cranny's house and pick up your things. Linda is on her way over here. Unless you are planning on staying here because you will have to bank with me if you are, so you can be close to your son.
"I have also called Bishop Earl and Officer Kenly to help with Aaron and your two daughters who once again you have left high and dry. Just so you can spend every waking moment with "that Paul" and his wife, just so you can go to school.
"Instead of doing what any sensible parent would do, and that would be taking care of your family and driving your own damn self to and from school. Not shacking up with "that Paul" and his wife just to avoid your responsibilities as a mother and a wife to my boy Jim regardless of the situation between you two.
"You are not going to make things better by shacking up with "that Paul" when you should be at home solving your own marriage problems. School is one thing, and I see the logic behind it, but living with "that Paul" and his family is quite another.
"If I didn't know better you would be having a love affair with that man, which makes my skin crawl just thinking about him." Stating she really hates that man and has said many times what a total jackass he is and how makes her skin feel like she needs a bath when he is in her very presence. Which I couldn't agree more regarding to where he is more than just a simple-minded Jack Ass. In fact, he was worse.
My mother gave her a hard, angry look, and I watched her bite her lip. She and I knew that she had been sleeping with him and his wife and having sex with him and her. Not to mention anything a penis was attached to. My mother said. "Thank you, Doris, but I believe that won't be necessary. I have already made arrangements with Mrs. Rothwell and her daughters Kerry and Jody.
"Where I can be here and still attending to my parenting responsibilities as well as attend my classes. There is no way I am staying here being under a microscope or with you with cameras watching me every move I make, regardless of if it is for the safety of my son and the Vincent family household. And as far as my husband or your son is concerned, he can go straight to hell.
"You should know I have filed for divorce and full custody of my children and kick that no good wife and child beater out of my home for good. As far as I am concerned, he could live in that church house basement until hell freezes over and crawls into a hole and dies. And as far as the Cranny's are concerned. They have taken me in when no one else would. And everything else is none of your damn business. We wouldn't be in this mess if you had kept better tabs on your son, my soon-to-be ex-husband.
"So do what you do best, and that is staying out of my way and out of my affairs when it comes to raising my children. You had your chance and failed, all because you are afraid of going down your front steps or learning how to drive a car. The only reason you are here is because my son was dying and had just gone through hell and back. If it was for anything else, you would have ignored him like you do when he is with the Rothwells. Yet when he's with me you are Johnny on the spot. Now go somewhere else if you cannot mind your own damn business."
My mother apologized to my adoptive Mom and my nurse as well as Jared and me for talking about her dirty laundry. As we watched my grandmother leave the room. She turned on a dime at the door and said. "For your information, Linda, I wasn't ignoring my grandson when he was living with his adoptive family. I just didn't have to worry that he was being cared for or loved. I know what you and my son Jim have been doing to him and his brother Aaron since the day they were born. It wasn't until recently that you came to your senses and changed your ways and your views regarding my grandsons in question.
"Trust is earned Linda, and you really haven't earned any with me. Part of me will always know that if you are angered enough, you will revert back to the way you were, not less than two years ago, And that's what I am concerned about. That's why I have him call me every day when he is home with you.
"Not knowing that he is safe, not knowing if you have kidnapped him and are torturing him back in that church basement once more. Considering how you and my son have gotten away with it. Or he would have been with the Downings instead of with the Rothwell's. Who has at least have earned their trust with me and my grandson? Yet again, we wouldn't have been in this mess if you and your husband my son did what you did to prevent my Grandson from going with them, or if my son Jim or you … have killed both my grandsons.
"Trust is earned Linda. Even with the Rothwell's I still worry, but not nearly as much as I should have been, apparently. If it has taken them three days to call me and tell me that my grandson is at death's door and why.
"Now excuse me, I need to talk to my other grandchildren, who you have left behind to fend for themselves once more, and try to explain to his brother that his mother hasn't abandoned him once again." Grandma didn't apologize, she was too angry at my mother and my adoptive parents. Besides, actions speak louder than words. My mother, telling her she wasn't about to compromise in any way spoke volumes.
Once Jared and I were back in our bed, My mother was still sitting in the tub because Dotty and Mrs. Vincent told her there was no way she was walking out of that room in wet clothes, and getting water all over the carpets. She had two choices either she take them off or live in the tub, and there was no way in hell were they going to turn off the cameras. My adoptive mother and Dotty would have offered her a robe, but she was a little more woman than either of them. So, she either had to wait until her clothes arrived or go naked in front of the cameras. Several times we heard her scream in frustration and several times we heard the water running stating she wasn't about to get out of the tub and go naked, for being stupid in the first place, by getting in the tub with her clothes on and being the only ones she brought with her.
By the time Jared and I both had a bathroom break, in a not so not-so-private bathroom with my adoptive Mom and Sara keeping an eye on us as we did our business loudly and proudly with great relief. We weren't embarrassed about having them wipe our butts for us just so we wouldn't fall off the toilet and onto the floor. Trust me when I say I have been through this many times in my lifetime. It was something you just got over quickly. Knowing everyone sooner or later will have no choice but to live through it again when you get older or are too sick to do it yourself.
You may not like it or want to think about it happening to you, but keep telling that to yourself that's not going to happen. When you are old and gray in a nursing home somewhere or in a hospital bed. In so much pain because your digestive system says you either let me do what I am built to do or else. Trust me, it's not worth the pain. No one will embarrass you because you need a little help doing it. As I have said by that time our fathers were home and my mother's clothes had arrived.
I didn't know my Aunt Lavern all that well. So, she didn't stay long just long enough to check on my grandmother considering they were sisters. She, too, didn't have much to say to my mother as she told her she was being stupid and impractical. By getting in the tub with her clothes on instead of any of the alternatives.
She wasn't all keen on the idea of our nudist culture, and made that point quite clear, telling my adoptive Mom and my mother that a bathing suit. Would have been far better than the alternative. Then letting us see our mothers' naked bodies, or any woman or girl for that matter. Stating clearly, she was against the idea of nudism and our lifestyle. With that being said, she left quietly and quickly before she could see any of our boys or fathers in the buff.
With my Grandmother here they were a little more discrete and remained decent either in a robe or a pair of shorts. Unless they were either bathing or skinning dipping in the Vincent's pool. Jared and I were confined to our bed for the entire day and most of the night. Due to the fever refusing to break until it seemed like it never would, then it did by the following morning. My mother had left the moment we were asleep and promised she would be back when she got out of school, around noon or so, and said she would call off and on throughout the day.
Mr. Vincent had put in a phone in my room so I could talk to her and my brother as well as my friends in Santaquin if I so desired. It was a little cramped for two people. Being it was one of the smaller rooms of the house with a small TV and our wheelchairs, but it was doable.
They had argued about putting me and Jared in one of the other guest rooms, but Sara and my grandmother stated it was better to leave me and Jared here where it would be close to the bathroom and the large tub. That has really been getting a lot of use lately. Besides, Dotty and her family would be moving into their new home on Thursday. Leaving their master suite open. If they wanted to put me and Jared in that one once, we were both out of danger of dying.
I knew with my grandmother here that both my mothers or my sister Jody, as well as Dotty and Mrs. Vincent that having sex with them or stimulating them would be nearly impossible. That went for Mr. Vincent and our Dad as well as the boys here.
Not that Jared and I could do much other than lay in bed with Sara and my grandmother hovering over us day and night, making it totally impossible. Yet I did have one thing going for me, and that was Sara being sort of in the loop. Yet I needed to know for certain how much Jeff had told her about my lifestyle. So, I waited until my Grandmother left the room and sent her on an errand. To find out what they had decided to do about my eye doctor's appointment today being Wednesday. Plus, my Doctor's appointment on Thursday as well as my homework from school.
Once that happened, and the door closed, I asked her. She smiled at me and Jared as she said. "I am quite aware boys, of the benefits you two enjoy. I may not approve of the idea of you young boys having sex at your age, or stimulating each other.
"Yet I am not going to interfere once I know for certain that you are no longer in danger of dying. I'll make you a deal. If neither of you has a high fever and you managed to keep it stabilized to a certain degree. I will simply put a sock on the door or, if need be, take … or send your grandmother on a long errand.
"After all, I do have a long list of things that I do need from the store, considering I hadn't been able to do so, other than stop and pick up medical supplies that you are currently using. In fact, I barely had time to pack a small suitcase in a hurry to get here. With very little warning from our friend Jeff, that you needed a nurse of my skills when it comes to treating poisons, and as well as the skills of a doctor in a pinch.
"With the danger, you could be in if you went to the hospital for treatment. Due to the fact, Crawford has deep pockets and the resources at his fingertips to make certain that you boys die, or go missing right under everyone's nose before it is too late to discover what has happened, or all that they were involved in. So, for now, be good boys and let me do my job I was hired to do, and we will keep this conversation to ourselves."
She smiled and checked our stats and recorded them in her chart as my grandmother came back from her quick little errand bringing Mr. Vincent back and our Dad. Sara says. "Doris darling, might I have a word with you? Lance, Robert, my too strong men I was just about to run these boys a bath. If you would be so kind in overseeing it, I would surely appreciate it." Grandma's eyes lingered on us and Dad as well as Mr. Vincent, seeing them nod and giving us a silly grin. She was about to say something, but Sara grabbed her by the arm and closed the door behind them.