Back upstairs, Jimmy Nespres unfolds his long legs and rises, saying he’ll stay with Russell. It’s only a little later, as they are going up to bed and Russell is behind Cody and Macy, who will share the last spare room, that he realizes he had imagined staying with Cody tonight, and Jimmy, wise in the ways of sex, probably imagined him imagining. In his bed Cody shifts to Flipper and then back again, and Russell doubts either one would turn him away, While Jimmy snores, Russell shifts around in his bed in the night before finally frantically masturbating and falling asleep.
No one tries to get up early on Christmas. Russell’s mouth is wide open and dry, and a pool of saliva is on his pillow while Jimmy snorts and sits up as they both come into sudden wakefulness. The sun is bright in the room and Jimmy croaks, “Merry Christmas, cuz.”
Russell looks for Cody, but the spare room he and Macy had is empty. He can hear Macy downstairs. In the spare upstairs bathroom he hears someone pissing. The door is cracked. He pushes through and Cody stands there, hands in in his boxers, urinating. Russell enters, and opening his pajamas, starts pissing beside him. Russell is almost afraid Cody will finish before he begins, but Cody pisses like a man, loud and long, and Russell is done while Cody, looking up at the ceiling, finishes with a groan, shakes himself, hits the flusher, puts down the lid. He always puts the lid down. He joins Russell at the sink. They stand close together, arms pressing against against arms, as they wash and dry their hands.
“We should go and see if we can help out,” Cody says. His breath smells like spearmint. Russell wonders how bad his is.
“Yeah,” Russell says.
He can’t wait to see Flipper. He wants to catch up on old times even though old times was barely two weeks ago. He is afraid that in his confused state he’ll try to fuck him. He’s not afraid of fucking Cody. He wants that badly. He is afraid that Jimmy will be his guard dog, standing outside the door and watching. After all, Jimmy shared his room last night. But then, Jimmy was never a judge or a policeman, and Jimmy is not outside.
“I’m going to go put some clothes on,” Cody says.
“Alright.”
Russell follows him to the room. Cody closes the door behind them. He could ask for privacy, but he doesn’t. Cody pulls out clothes from an overnight bag. The snug brown pants he wears when he isn’t wearing snug, faded jeans, the fitted tee shirt. He expects Cody to take the pants and pull them on, but instead he takes off his boxers and his compact, muscled body, brown with hair, is naked before Russell. He slips the pants on like a skin and Russell is erect, his penis coming out of his pajama pants. Cody slips on his tee shirt.
“Are you ready?”
He looks at Russell’s erection and grins. He looks, almost, as if he’s going to touch it. Touch him.
Instead, taking a large hand through his chocolate hair, he says, “You might want some underwear.”
He tosses Russell a pair of his Jockey’s.
Russell shimmies out of his pajama pants, slips them on over his boner and then pulls his pants back up while Cody watches with tenderness before speaking.
“Com’on,” he says to Russell. “Let’s head down.”
It is as they are headed downstairs they find Jimmy in the kitchen with a glass of orange juice, and he murmurs in admiration, “Finn’s old lady isn’t bad.”
Russell frowns as he looks at Meg Rice of the rosacea skin, and the too big hair and two big tits leaning on his Uncle Finn in the corner of the kitchen and says, “Finn’s old lady… is old.”
Beside Flipper, Jimmy nods, sipping his orange juice.
“I appreciate it,” Jimmy says. “By the way, your grandma Kathleen’s kind of a fucking dish too.”
“I can’t believe you even said that.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t say it an hour ago,” Flipper says.
Jimmy shrugged. “She’s not my grandma. We’re not even related.”
“Alright,” Patti says. “Whoever isn’t cooking, get the hell out of the kitchen.”
They are mostly in the living room and the den that spills over into the living room, and without much ceremony, casually opening a present now and again. John’s boys were first to that, but everyone else can wait, especially since there are guests here who have no presents. Patti has put danishes, sausages, coffee and juice and milk in a small cooler in the dining room because she is serious about no one bothering her. Russell is taking comfort in being next to Cody, and it is almost like it was before, and Jimmy is eyefucking Meg Rice who seems to be returning his gaze when, so suddenly, they almost don’t understand it, the TV shuts off, the lights and music go off, Patti shouts, “What the hell?” from the kitchen, and the furnace clicks, whirs and dies.
“What the fuck?” Cody murmurs beside Russell.
While they are still sitting around, dumbfounded, the doorbell rings, and when Russell answers it, Chris Knapp is standing at the door in jeans and a tee shirt, ears and cheeks burning red.
Chris says, “The whole block’s out.”
“It’s so quiet here,” Rob marveled.
Chayne lit another cigarette and sat back down in the old recliner in the living room.
“It is,” he said. “Because after Thanksgiving I’ve decided I’m tired of opening my house up to my family and tired of being any place before I want to be, and this is Christmas morning, and we’ll take it at our ease.”
On the phonograph, Nat King Cole was crooning:
“Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
“I think,” Ross Allen rose slowly, “I need another piece of kringle.”
“Oooh, and coffee,” Anigel said, standing up. “Another cup of coffee.”
The phone rang. It rang four times and Chayne said on the fifth ring. “Someone is rude, or this is very important.”
He grunted to get up, but Rob was nearer the phone and picked up, stretching the cord across the room as he handed it to Chayne.
“Hello?” Chayne started. “Russell, what’s…. Oh.”
Chayne voice was flat. Rob watched his face frown.
“I see,” Chayne said dismally.
“Well, let me call you back in ten minutes. Um. Alright.”
Chayne hung up the phone.
“What’s up?” Rob asked.
“Fuck,” Chayne said. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Chayne, thank you. Thank you thank you so, so much.”
“Of course, Thom,” Chayne said. “You’re welcome, Thom.”
Patti, carrying a three quarters done turkey as she walked into the kitchen, kissed Chayne on the cheek.
“I know this is bullshit,” she said. “We just need your oven. As soon as I can get a hold of Denise, we’re going to take this party to the parish house.”
“Don’t even worry about it, Patti,” Chayne said. “And if you all need to sleep here—”
“Don’t make that offer unless you’re serious.”
The Lewises came in, thankful and effusive, each one, even the little children. Chayne wanted nothing more than to go back to the quiet morning he’d been having and reminded himself that sometimes what you wanted just was not that important.
Last at the door were three non Lewises.
“Bill Dwyer.”
Beside Bill was Cameron Dwyer and behind them, now in a coat and scarf, was Chris Knapp.
“I was just wondering, Chayne,” Bill began, “if it would be too much if Cameron stayed. We were going to have dinner with the Lewises—”
“Don’t be stupid,” Chayne said as kindly as he felt,.“You’ll all stay here.”
“Thank you kindly, Mr. Kandzierski,” Chris said. “We’re not going to be here all day. We’re going to go to my parents after a while. Our dinner’s at four.”
Chayne nodded and went off to his other affairs, but Bill said, “That’ll be good for Cameron.”
“You’re coming too, sir,” Chris said. “It’s Christmas, no one’s going to be alone today.”
Bill opened his mouth to protest, but changed his mind and said, “Thank you, Chris. You’re a good man.”
Jason Lorry had called Russell as the family was on their way out of the freezing house on 1735 Breckinridge.
“Our lights are out too. Ralph is on his way to get me.”
“You’re spending Christmas with the Balusiks?”
“I am. My folks are getting a hotel. You wanna come? To Ralphs? Not to the hotel?”
The idea of spending Christmas with two boys who had been his enemies and now were his alternate sex partners made Russell’s head spin. He needed Gilead for that, and doubtless Gilead would come sooner or later, so he just semi panicked and said, “I’m going to Chayne’s. My whole family is. You could meet us here and we could go to Ralph’s later?”
Aside from that, Flipper and Cody were both here, and getting on. The idea of four people he’d been with in the last few months all in one space made his head spin. He thought Jason would say no to coming over here. He had not expected Jason, five o’ clock shadowed, green eyed, smelling like cedar to come. Or Ralph with his hair combed so bright it was like bronze.
“So who’s the hot guy your friend is with?” Macy asked Russell.
“The hot—oh, that’s Chris Knapp. He’s captain of the football team.”
“Well laddie dah damn,” Macy sang. “And tell me she’s not head cheerleader.”
“She is.”
“Fuck! Nailed it. Still, they don’t look like they should be together. They do, but they don’t.”
“Try not to talk too loud, cause they’re on their coming over here,” Jimmy said with that mysterious ability to talk and not move his lips. He had been debating if he should light a cigarette in someone else’s house, but Anigel had, so he did too, and Jimmy continued, “He looks like a bad boy.”
“He kind of is,” Russell said. “But he isn’t. He’s got a history.”
“That’s hardly fair,” Flipper, red scarf around his neck said in his quiet voice.
“I’ve got a history,” Jimmy said.
“True,” said Macy and Ross Allen at the same time.
Anigel asked: “What is Chris’s history? You sort of hear about it, but not really.”
“He sleeps around,” Jimmy said, flatly. “What else can it be?”
“That’s not exactly it,” Jason Lorry said.
“Yeah,” Ralph said.
“Well,” Anigel was sharp. “Exactly what is it?”
“Back in eighth grade,” Ralph noted with a leer on his face that Russell didn’t like, “he fucked his teacher.”
At about one in the afternoon, Pethane Dinkle arrived with her cousin, Sharon Wynn, at Chayne’s door.
“What’s this about you not having Christmas with us?” Pethane asked Chayne before his mother could.
Chayne gestured to the crowd and said, “No, I am. I just have to get rid of a house full of Lewises.”
“I heard about the power out,” Sharon said. “You can’t keep all of these people. We’ll take some off your hands.”
“They’re mostly going to the parish house to eat, and I presume to board. And when that’s done, I’ll be on my way.”
“Well,” Pethane said, setting down casserole dishes, “until they’re done, here’s some macaroni and sweet potatoes. Some ham and potato salad.”
“And dessert?”
“Of course,” his cousin Pethane said.
“And what’s more,” Pethane added. “we’re going to take some of these people off your hands right now. Ross and Ani can come with us.”
With Ross and Anigel went Macy and Jimmy, and so Russell, Ralph, Jason and Cody and Flipper.
“I know,” Chayne whispered to Rob, “that you want to go with them.”
“I want to stay with you,” Rob said. “You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I won’t. Faye’ll be over. Now you go, OK? And look, there’s more space in the house already.”
Within the hour they had already arranged sleeping issues. Denise had simply told Fathers Robert and Geoff that if they were Christians and priests and freeloading dinner guests, then they needed to open the parish house to Thom and Patti, and Sara and Frank. Flipper, Jimmy and Macy, the younger ones who knew Chayne, would stay here, but Kristin and Reese and Meg and Finn could stay with John and Jackie or Kathleen and Mason. By two, Chayne, Faye and Chuck were shutting up the house, and the three of them were out and on their way to Westhaven.
SEE WHERE CHRISTMAS DAY AND CHRISTMAS NIGHT LEAD WHEN WE RETURN IN A FEW DAYS
