He unlocked his door, and walked into the respite of his house. He walked straight back to the laundry room, stopping momentarily in the kitchen to pour himself some tea. He sipped and dumped the contents of his gym bag in the laundry, fiddling with the dials until his used clothing was in the process of being clean.
It was one of his things. He couldn’t rest until he knew his gym clothes were in the washer. As soon as they came out of the dryer, they would be folded pristinely, and put on the shelf, beneath the other clean gym clothes so they would be used in rotation, never out of order. He told himself they would last longer that way. He was making good money now, great money, but to Ian there was no sense in wasting it.
He hadn’t bothered to take off his back pack, he felt its weight still on his shoulder. It was still early, and there was plenty of work to do. He wondered momentarily why he considered his house a refuge, when all he seemed to do was bring home work to do.
“Just get it done, hayseed.” He said to himself out loud. Maybe after the fall schedule was announced, things would lighten up…or would the cycle just start all over again?
He kicked off his shoes, and unbuckled his pants. He laughed to himself. “This is why home is a respite. I can work in my underwear.” He shrugged the backpack off, pulled his shirt over his head, folded everything up neatly and placed it them in the dirty clothes bin, well the darks in the dark bin and the lights in the light bin.
Ian picked up his tea, and his satchel and headed out to the pool. As he opened the door, he couldn’t help but notice it already in use. He stood still a moment to make sure the laughing and splashing was coming from just the brothers next door, that they didn’t have “friends” with them.
“Ian!” Jesse called tossing a handful of water at him. “Come join us!”
“Are you guys alone?” He cautiously asked.
“Yup, just me and the dork here.” Reese jumped his brother from behind and slammed his head under water. “We’ve ordered pizza.”
“Cool.” Ian put his backpack on top of the table, and looked up at the barking coming at him from the opening in the stone wall. “Evening, Ralphie.”
The setter ran to him and jumped up, paws on Ian’s shoulders licking his face. Ian rubbed his ears and pushed him off. “You guys know if Kellen’s home?”
“Haven’t noticed.” Reese pulled his gasping little brother out of the water by the hair.
“You son of a…” Reese shoved Jesse back under before he could finish his sentence.
“He’s not done yet…” Reese smiled and then suddenly disappeared, Jesse tripping him under water and sending him backward.
“Hey! Hey!” Ian yelled, “If you two are going to kill each other. Go do it in your own pool.”
Jesse looked up from the headlock he had Reese in. “We’re just playin’.”
“Well, no accidents.” Ian unzipped one of the compartments in his pack and began tossing paperwork on the table. “I’m in the press enough these days without having to explain two naked brothers floating in my pool.”
“We’re not naked.” Reese said, after elbowing his brother off him.
“But we can be, if you want.” Jesse added.
Ian looked up at him. “I just came from the gym. I’ve seen enough wet penises for one day, thank you.”
Jesse looked at his brother. “Did he just call me a penis?”
“You are a penis.” Reese slammed his brother’s head back under the water.
Ian heard a bell and looked around. He’d never heard that before.
Reese jumped out of the pool. “Pizza’s here!” and went running into the house.
“Hey! Ian called, “Don’t get my carpet wet!”
Reese shot him the bird as he zoomed inside.
“And I thought you said you weren’t naked?” Ian bellowed just as he got in the face with a pair of wet trunks.
“We are now!” Jesse said hitting him with a second pair as soon as the first fell off Ian’s face.
Ian reached for the sloppy trunks and tossed them back in the pool. “Dork!”
“You’re a dork!” Jesse said pulling on his trunks and getting out. Knowing the place better than Ian, he walked right over to the cabana, opened a door and pulled out of couple of big fluffy towels. “You bring work home, again?”
Ian grabbed a corner and wiped his face. “Gee, Beav, I’m in high school now. It’s a lot harder than elementary school.”
Jesse rubbed himself down and wrapped the towel around his middle. “Never let’s up does it? All work and no play…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Ian took the last of the papers out of his backpack and plopped it on the chaise. “I was dull before I took this job.”
“Who’s dull?” Reese asked, pushing the door open with his foot, box balanced on one hand, slice in the other, pepperoni flailing in the wind.
“Did you answer the door like that?”
“Yeah.” Reese gave Ian the ‘is there a problem’ look.
“How would you feel if you were the pizza guy, and some bozo answered the door naked?”
“Depends on how hot they were.”
Ian rolled his eyes. “I swear…”
Jesse grabbed the box and dived in. “You sound more and more like Mom every day. It’s creepy.” He pointed with the end he just took a chunk out of to the table. “Who’s that?”
“What?”
Jesse pointed again. “The kid in the picture.”
Ian looked at where he was pointing. A picture had slipped out of the envelope Pat Weaver had given him. He picked up the envelope and pulled out its contents.
“What is it?” Reece asked, now having pulled his trunks on and seated himself at the table. “Get me a napkin, dork.”
Jesse reached back behind himself and grabbed a handful, tossing them liberally at his brother. “You want one?” He looked at Ian, before he could answer he repeated the process.
“Children!” Came the voice just out of the hedges. “What is going on here?” Tippy’s body appeared quickly after her voice. She came straight to the table on the patio, Colton in tow.
“Mr. And Mrs. Shores, we need to talk about your children.” Ian said sternly. “They are unruly and disruptive to the other students in class.”
Tippy put her hands on her hips. “Yeah, well, get over it. We came by to see if the boys were in the mood for pizza.”
“Too late.” Jesse said. “You want, we should order another?”
“Make it two.” Colton said. “I’m hungry.”
“Aww,” Tippy didn’t bother to ask, surprise, and plucked the photo out of Ian’s hand. “Who’s this little sugar plum?” She turned a second photo over to look at the face, she’d plucked out with the other. “This little boy is a doll. Fan of yours?”
“Must be.” Ian said snatching them back. “A woman stopped me as I was headed out of the office and said he took care of my fan mail…”
“You get fan mail?” Jesse asked as he went for the second slice.
“Just as shocked as you are.” Ian grabbed some pizza before it was all gone. “Anyway, she handed me this one and said she thought I’d want to take care of it personally.”
Tippy plucked a slice of something off Ian’s slice and popped it in her mouth. “What’s the letter say?”
“I don’t know…I haven’t read it yet.”
“Well, read it, Baby Doll. I’m dying to find out who this cutie is.”
Ian swallowed, opened the envelope and pulled out several pages in matching stationary. He looked it over. His heart fell as the realization hit him. “It’s from Janie Osborne, one of the people who bought my place.”
“Well read it out loud, Baby Doll. We’ll pretend it’s a letter from home.”
“It’s hard to read so bear with me…” Ian had to squint, not because the light wasn’t right enough, but because Janie Osbourne’s barely educated handwriting was difficult to interpret.
“Dear Mr. Ian. I hope this letter makes it to you. We didn’t know where to send it, but we found an address for the TV station in the TV Guide. Miss Hillary said she had no idea where you were either, but to tell you to call her and she still loved you mighty fine…”
“Aww, how sweet…” Tippy cooed.
“Ronnie is in school now, and he has to write a letter to someone important. He insisted on writing to you.”
“Who’s Ronnie?” Reese asked quietly.
“Her boy.” Ian glanced down at the picture on the table, cleared his throat and read on. “He tells everybody that he lives where Ian Justyn the TV star grew up. Anything he finds in the barn, he draws a note on and puts it in that old chicken coop that we don’t dare tear down cause he says that’s his museum.”
Tippy cooed more. She picked up the pictures. “That is adorable. This must be him."
“He even talked Miss Hilary into parting with some of her goo gahs, and you know how she doesn’t throw anything away. Anyway, I hope this letter along Ronnie’s finds you happy and well. You enjoy whatever memories life gives back to you and I pray they are happy ones, much like the happy ones our little family is making here. Please come to visit soon. It ain’t a big town like where ever you must be, but its home, and like Miss Hilary always tells us you’re always welcome home, Mr. Ian. Don’t forget us, cause we’ll always remember you. Always Janie Osborne.”
Jesse pushed at Reese, “Are you cryin’ you little girl?”
Reese pushed back, “Shut up bottom boy!”
“Did you get the little boy’s letter?” Colton asked, tossing the now empty pizza box in the big plastic trash container Ian kept by the cabana.
“No. I guess that one escaped me.” Ian looked back in the envelope. “Wait…here it is.” He waved some sheets of paper.
“What’s it say?” Colton peered over his shoulder.
Ian unfolded a couple of tidy sheets of paper with the wide thick lettering. He looked up to see Tippy motioning for him to hurry. “Give me a sec, geez, you’d think you knew these people.”
He noticed Reese watching the way he was holding the letter. “Okay…Dear Mister Ian Justyn.” Ian looked up at his audience, “At least he spelled it correctly, that’s a lot more than half the newspapers do.”
Tippy waved her hands at him. “Go on…”
“Dear Mister Ian Justyn, You don’t remember me, cause I was just a baby when we met, but I live in the house you was growed in…”
“Not learned grammar yet, huh?” Jesse chuckled.
Ian looked up at Jesse. “He’s ten. It’s a colloquialism.”
“Obviously he’s smarter than Jesse.” Reese snickered.
“Hey!” Jesse sat up straight.
“Boys…” Colton gave them a stern look, and then shot one to his wife, “...and you. Let Ian read the little boy’s letter or I’ll send everyone home to bed early.” He waited for the trio to become quiet. “Continue, Ian.”
“Thank you.” Ian cleared his throat. “We are learning to write letters and Miss Flaming…Fleming, says we all have to send a letter to some one important. I choose you.”
“Aww…”
“Please write back. If you do, I might win a prize and I’ll split it with you. Yours Truly, Ronnie Osbourne.”
“Well, your gonna write him back aren’t you?” Tippy said.
“Wait, something else on the back.” Ian said. “Oh, it’s something else from Janie…Our baby is ten years old now, growing like a weed. I put his school pictures in so you can see how handsome he is. He is the light of our life. J…”
“Baby Doll, get us some pens and paper, we are all writing that little Sugar Plum back.” She snatched the envelope. “When’s the post mark? We’ve got to hurry and win him his prize. If we all write that would help, don’t you think?”
“Oh Lord,” Colton shook his head. “She’s heard the magic word.”
“Magic word?” Ian snatched the envelope back and tucked the letters back in.
“Prize.” Jesse said. “If there’s a contest, Mom’s in. She even buys lottery tickets.”
“Oh pooh!” She said smiling at one of the pictures. “Can I have this? Anything I win I give to charity. Besides, this little cutie deserves a prize.”
“Tippy,” Ian looked at her as he handed her a pen from his pack. “That school is so poor, I’m sure the prize probably is…was probably a brownie for lunch or getting to be hall monitor.”
“That’s so sad.” Tippy said. “Paper…you know we raise millions of dollars a year for everything you can think of, all deserving, but sometimes I think we forget that there are so many in our own backyard that are just as much in need.”
“Well, why don’t you…”
“I’ll start with this little angel, and work my way from there.” She began scribbling on the sheet Ian produced. “Now we’ve got to get this to him fast.” She looked up. “I hope the contest isn’t over. Give me a phone someone, I’m gonna call the school…it’s still what? Late afternoon there…Reese honey, can you fly these letters to Lost Mountain tonight? Well, don’t just sit there, go gas up the plane!”
“Stop! Stop!” Ian said. “First of all, go ahead and write your letter, maybe send him a little gift. I’ll have it messengered to the school first thing Monday morning. I think having a response in the form of a huge box delivered by a fancy man in a limo will win little Ronnie his brownie.”
“Oooh…good idea.” Tippy responded.
The bong sounded again and Ian looked around. “Is that my doorbell?”
“Pizza! I’ll get it.” Colton headed for the house.
“Pop?” Reese yelled. “If it’s the same guy who delivered before, don’t bother to take your clothes off.”
Tippy looked up from her letter. “Oh Baby Doll, your tux came. I hung in your upstairs closet.”
“You got a tux?” Reese sat up. “What for?”
“Better question,” Ian said. “You have a key to my house?” he directed at Tippy.
“Ian you don’t even know what your own doorbell sounds like, of course I have a key to your house.” She patted the back of his hand. “Are you excited? Ian’s got a date…”
“It is not a date.”
“Are you going somewhere with someone in a tux?” Reese asked.
“Well…”
Tippy cut him off “He’s taking Saxon Allen to the Academy Awards!”
“Saxon Allen?” Jesse said. “You’re dating Saxon Allen?”
“It’s not a date!” Ian insisted. “I am merely escorting an old college friend to an industry event.”
“You went to college with…Saxon Allen?” Jesse said.
Reese looked at Ian. “Jesse has a thing for Saxon Allen.” He pinched his brother’s cheeks. “He wuuuuuuuvs her!”
“Boys…” Tippy warned. “What’s important here is does Ian wuuuuuuv her?” She put her index finger to her chin and batted her eyes.
“Mamie Rae Tipton you are just as bad as they are.” Ian said. “She’s a dear friend, and we are just fulfilling a promise we made to each other in college.”
“Sounds romantic…” Tippy sighed.
“Just a silly promise that we ended up being able to fulfill. That’s what friends, and I stress the word friend, do for each other.”
“What was the promise?” Reese asked.
“Back when we were in theatre together in college…”
“You majored in theatre?” Tippy asked.
“I started to, but switched majors…anyway, we promised that whoever got nominated for the Oscar first would take the other as their date, no matter what.”
“That is romantic.” Tippy sighed.
“Yeah…” Ian rolled his eyes. “Destiny, just destiny.”
“What’s destiny?” Colton appeared with two more boxes of pizza. He put them down and looked at Reese. “You were right.”
“Told ‘ja.” Reese opened the box and ripped out the first slice. “Ralphie, are you hungry?”
“Reese, do not feed that puppy dog, pizza!” Tippy barked. “Ian and Saxon Allen at the Academy awards is destiny. Just like us.”
“Next subject!” Ian started shoving papers back in his pack, obviously he wasn’t going to get work done until the Shores were gone. He really didn’t mind though. He sighed as he shoved a script in, he really didn’t. “I bought a bag of food for Ralphie it’s in the cabana with his dishes.”
“You’re taking care of that man’s dog?” Jesse asked, the one nearest the cabana, and heading towards it.
“No.” Ian said. “But when he gets out and Kellen’s not home, I thought it was the neighborly thing to do. At least if Ralphie knows he’s welcome, he’ll be less likely to run off or get hit by a car.”
“How does he keep getting out?” Someone asked, mouth full of pizza.
“He doesn’t know.” Ian said watching Jesse plop a blue dog dish down and start to fill it. “Not there, on the mat by the breeze way; food on the left, water dish on the right.” Jesse looked up at Ian in mid-pour.
“Switch the bowls.” Ian said until finally satisfied and allowed Jesse to finished the task. Ralphie sat patiently until Jesse stepped away. He looked at the meal, sneezed at Ian and then happily ate.
Tippy’s face scrunched in excitement. “Ooh, save your Oscar program and get Saxon to autograph it for the little Sugar Plum.”
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