One Prince Summer's End

"Wow..." I told them in awe. "That is one amazing compliment."

"Aren't you a little overdressed for experiencing the artwork?" Kate asked. I smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I told her as I stood and began stripping. I had every intention of getting up close and personal in my inspection of the artwork. Over, and over, and over...

We eventually had to knock it off to go have dinner with the others in the hotel restaurant, but then headed back upstairs to finish what we'd started until I had to go home.

I think it was my most marvelous Christmas Eve ever.

* * * * *

[Saturday 12/25 - Christmas]

It was a tradition in our house to get up early Christmas morning and do stockings in our pajamas, then pig out on French toast, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, pancakes and just about every other fattening breakfast food you could think of.

Of course, for me that meant putting on clothes, since I normally slept nude.

The stockings over the fireplace were a holdover from when we were a lot younger, and would traditionally have an orange, an apple, a banana and some walnuts, plus some candy and a few small presents "from Santa". I guess the fruit and nuts went back to times when they were rare during the winter.

I discovered a bottle of English Leather aftershave and some razors in mine. Somebody wasn't being subtle about wanting me to lose the beard.

I had learned to stay out of Mom's way when she was preparing Christmas dinner. We were expecting the Terneys around one o'clock, for a two o'clock meal and then presents. Usually, I ended up running some kind of last minute errand to the White Hen or something. This time, though, there didn't seem to be much for me to do.

Don and family were right on time, and carrying several big bags, one of which turned out to be a whole oven-roasted Christmas goose which Don had bagged! I was finding even more reasons to like this guy, beyond his awesome family.

We welcomed everyone in and got everyone comfortable with drinks and such, while Natalie helped Mom and Mary finish up the food. That left the rest of us to sit around and talk. And the talk was all over the place. I thought the girls had been buzzing at the hotel... Jeez! They were palpably vibrating.

I couldn't figure out what the big deal was, but I was hoping it meant we were getting a week alone together. That would be an awesome present.

Dinner was called and we all trooped into the dining room where Dad had put the leaves into the table, extending it. It fit the twelve of us, but barely. In addition to the goose, there was a ham, plus all the accoutrements -- giblet and sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, gravy, green bean and mushroom casserole, corn, black cherry Jell-O... the works! Plus Mom was saving apple and pumpkin pies, with ice cream, for dessert after we'd exchanged gifts.

Amazingly, most of it got polished off. So did I, almost. If Dad was looking to save on college expenses by giving me a heart attack, he and Don damn near succeeded. Again by tradition, we would start with the youngest and work our way up. So Luke got to start, and then Mary. The gifting was both practical and extravagant. For example, Don and Natalie gave Luke an ebony and ivory chess set with beautifully carved pieces. I gave him a couple of audio tapes -- Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Led Zeppelin -- and Mom gave him a nice sweater and slacks combo.

So the gifts were appreciated and a couple to Mary raised Mom's eyebrows, but she didn't complain -- like the sterling silver and rhinestone bracelet from Natalie, or the really skimpy bikini from Marsha and Kate -- and we got to Matt and Kate to find out Matt was a month younger than Kate and Marsha was two months younger than me. When it got to me, though, both Dad and Don told me I was going to have to wait a bit for their presents. That seemed strange and definitely got my curiosity going. I started dreaming of a Caribbean cruise for me and the girls, or maybe a trip to Europe or something... something that would completely blow us away.

And now I began to suspect that the girls knew what was going on and that's why they were being so antsy and secretive. The gifting continued on up through Tom and Steve, and then Natalie and Mom -- only two weeks apart -- and finally Dad, and then Don last. That's when the confusion set in.

Dad and Don each handed me an envelope. One was thin and flat, the other a bit heavier and lumpy. Dad pointed to the thin flat one from him.

"You probably want to open that one first," he told me, so I did. Inside was a cheque for $5,000. I think my heart stopped. I turned to him in disbelief, trying to form the simple question Why?, when Don suggested I open the other.

It was kind of like I was in a trance as I did, but I managed it. A key fell out, wrapped in a piece of paper. A piece of paper with an address on it. An address in Carbondale. At school.

I was gaping at it when Don started to explain. "Your Dad and I decided to go in together to buy a house down at Southern. It's cheaper than a dorm and we get a return on our investment. It's a three bedroom house in a nicer section of town, and you are invited to live there. The key opens the front door."

"You'll probably want to accept the offer," Dad chimed in, "since that's where Marsha and Kate will be living while they go to school there."

There was absolute, stunned silence. I was having a hard time breathing, let alone saying anything.

"Yeah," Marsha spoke up, grinning like crazy. "I'm going to continue my Theatre degree down there. Southern Repertory Dance Company is one of the three top university touring companies in the country! And I've been accepted!"

"And I get to transfer into their Forestry program," Kate beamed.

"See?" they both exclaimed in unison. "Problem solved!"

I think I started to cry. Then laugh. Then cry and laugh at the same time. Then I don't know what I did but it ended up in a group hug between me and Marsha and Kate.

It was, to date, the most incredible, wonderful, amazing, impossible dream come true Christmas present I have ever received.

* * * * *

[Saturday 1/1 - New Year's Day]

We didn't spend the week between Christmas and New Year's skiing in Door County. We spent it gathering everything we'd need to furnish a three bedroom house. Don's contribution ended up at my house mid-week in the form of a 22' straight truck, loaded. We spent the next couple of days loading my contribution. Well, mostly my Dad's contribution, but it was going to end up being mine. The five thousand dollars was a start-up house budget, Dad explained, and for any maintenance emergencies we might have.

The whole week my head was in the clouds. Because of all the running around, Marsha, Kate and I didn't get a chance to engage in any Adult Activities, but I didn't care! We were going to be living together, following our dreams and doing our best to make life wonderful. And on New Year's Day, I got the last bit of the icing on the cake.

The plan was to caravan down the next day, the 2nd, and start getting the house ready. Don's family were all coming down to help, and Dad was coming down from my side. Mom was staying home with Mary and Luke, and making sure Matt got off to Northern okay.

We had finished loading the truck, except for a couple of duffels of clothes and stuff we wanted with us right away, like toiletries, and were hanging around in the afternoon, watching the Bowl games. That's when my cousin Mike called.

"Stanford's going to kick their ass!" he told me with glee.

"I don't care," I told him. "It's only the Wolverines. Let me know when they play the Spartans. Or better yet, the Wildcats."

"Okay, well then, I have something else you might actually care about," he parried, teasing me.

"Okay, what?" I bit.

"I may be transferring to the Design Department at SIU next year."

Remember that stunned silence at Christmas? Yeah, well, here it was again.

"Mark? You there?" he asked and I tried to snap out of it.

"Yeah, I'm here," I managed. "Why? I mean, what's going on with that?"

"I looked into the whole Bucky Fuller thing after we'd been talking last summer and I decided it was a direction I wanted to go. I got my Dad talked into it, and he's going to let me go for it."

"You're serious."

"I'm serious."

"Then you're going to have to live with me," I told him. Marsha and Kate were in earshot and perked up on that one. "I've got a house with some room."

"That would be cool!" he decided. "Sure. I can do that."

"Then there's a couple of other people you need to tell," I told him, motioning Marsha and Kate over.

"Go get on the extension in the kitchen," I told Kate, covering the mouthpiece. She headed that way and I waited until she picked up.

"Okay, here, tell them," I told him, handing the phone to Marsha. She took it quizzically and said "Hello?" That was followed by "Mike?... this is Marsha..." I heard Kate announce herself from the kitchen. Then dead silence.

Broken by "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???" from Marsha, pretty much rocking the neighborhood.

That was followed by "Yes! Yes! Yes-yes-yes! That's great! That's wonderful!" and a bunch of other superlatives. Followed by a bunch of chatter about the housing arrangements.

I fell asleep that night, alone, thinking another reading of Proposition 31 was in order.

* * * * *

[Monday 1/3]

We drove down on Sunday, got most of the house set up, and on Monday, just like fucking clockwork...

~Finis~