9100 Chapter 100 of: “Twinergy and the boys of Clear Lake!”

Recap:

Well, the moment was gone, and so much for Sequoia’s magic extending to the jukebox, where his first two choices were more than just a coincidence in my opinion. His third choice had no relevance to us or our situation what-so-ever.

So I broke away from him to re-rack the balls, and began to laugh and say, “So there is a kink in your armor after-all Sequoia, but two out of three aint too bad.” I turned my head to him and said, “Maybe next time you can……”

When I stopped what I was doing, as I saw him standing still, looking down in front of him with a sad look on his face. There was no more laughing and smiling, as I said to him, “What’s wrong Sequoia? What is it, is it something I said?”

He turned to look at me and said, “No, Nika,” And turned his head to the sliding glass door to the backyard. There standing shivering in a puddle of water, with tears flowing down his face, was Tanner. Sequoia turned to me and said, “Unfortunately, this makes me three for three after all Nika.”

I replied, “Holy Fuck Sequoia…..looks like someone got Gobsmacked!”

We both quickly walked over, and shut the door behind him. The rain was coming down in sheets and it was quite cold for a summer storm. Tanner was shaking, and his teeth were chattering.

I said to him, “Where in the hell have you been Tanner, and what happened to you?”

He whispered back to me, as he shook, “Saaa, Saaasahhhaa too, tooookkk me too, tooo some pla, placeee ca, calleddd Scaryyy Tree!”

Sequoia: “You’re soaked Tanner.”

Tanner: “Heee sa, saidd he, heee wanted ta ta, talkkkk ta meee. It, itttt starteddd ta ra, rainnnn!”

Sequoia said, “Nika, quickly, get me some blankets.”

I responded, “Yah, there’s some in the closet in the hall.”

Sequoia: “Get them, I’m gonna get him out of these wet clothes.”

Nika: “I’ll be back in forty five seconds Sequoia.”

I ran to the hall closet and dug through some of the old gray wool blankets that mom and dad had from the old days. They were left here from when our house was a Vacation Lodge run bay an old Indian Woman and her husband. He had died in an accident coming from South Clear Lake in the winter, and his truck skidded off the Highway and down the cliff after hitting some ice.

I think it was back in the forties. So the woman ran it by herself after that until she was in her nineties and couldn’t do it anymore. So the blankets had the name of the lodge stitched into them. I held one up to my face and sniffed and could smell the wood on them, and they read, “Clear Lake Cedars Lodge.”

I felt I was holding a part of history. But I heard Sequoia yell for me and I snapped too, as I laid those back down and dug through the others till I found some soft cotton blankets and a towel that wouldn’t scratch or irritate his soft, smooth, beautiful skin. I ran back into the room and Tanner was standing there stark-naked with his “twig and berries” embarrassingly shriveled with his peter turned blue.

Sequoia was holding him from behind rubbing his warm hands all over Tanners shoulders and chest. I ran up to the front of him and draped a blanket around him and we both clutched to him, pulling him tight from both sides. Sequoia from behind and me in the front. We stood like that for about five minutes, as Tanner sobbed and sniffed.

I pulled away a little and toweled off his wet, dripping, blonde locks. I heard Sequoia whisper to him, “You wanna talk about it Tanner?”

Tanner replied by shaking his head, no. And whispered, “No, not ever, Sequoia.”

I gently wiped his forehead and cheeks with the towel, before proceeding to the rest of his body, shriveled sections and all. Tanner did jump a little when I went over “that” section, but what tweener wouldn’t?

And something struck me as I was drying off his groin area. And I absentmindedly mouthed aloud, “Huh, that’s rather odd….why hadn’t I ever noticed that before?”

As I was starring, Sequoia reached down and patted me on the head real hard. When I looked up at him to see what was the matter, he looked down at me rather angrily, and put his finger over his lips and said, “Shhhhhhh, Nika!”

And with Tanner’s head still in Sequoia’s shoulder and neck, still unaware of our verbal exchange, Sequoia whispered very intensely to me, “Not a word about that to anyone Nika, ever. This is to remain between you and I alone! Do you understand?”

I replied, “But it’s just like…”

When Sequoia interrupted me and said, “I know what it is Nika. But you mustn’t ever tell anyone else….acknowledge that you understand what I am telling you!”

I was surprised and confused and just nodded “yes” and said, “Tanner too, I suppose Sequoia?”

Sequoia nodded his head and said, “Yes, and Tanner too.”

Nika: “But what’s it all for Sequoia? I mean, why is it relevant?’

Sequoia, looking away and not wanting to look me in the face, “Because Sasha’s hasn’t been himself lately, and I don’t mean just because of his behavior, or because of the onset of puberty. It’s much deeper than that. You have had to know something is wrong Nika, and that he hasn’t been himself lately?”

Nika: “I know he’s been tired, so what. Look at what he’s been through. Look at what we’ve all been through.”

Sequoia: “You know deep down Nika, very deep down, that it’s more than that. But because of your love for him, you have brushed it off and shied away from it because you know it will only cause you pain.”

Nika: “So, what happens to him Sequoia? What is it I need to do?”

Sequoia: “Nothing Nika, it’s only something that can end in tragedy unless we both work together, as brothers, that can save him and keep our family together.”

Nika: “Then tell me what I need to do brother, tell me what you want so we can protect him.”

Sequoia: “Nothing for now Nika. You just need to stay put and be supportive.”

Nika: “But you just said it’s something we need to do together Sequoia?”

Sequoia: “No Nika. I said it’s something “we” both need to both do together.”

Nika: “Then that’s me, so what do I do?”

Sequoia: “You’re not listening Nika. It’s not you.”

Nika: “What do you mean it’s not me Sequoia? I’m the only one here. So I have to do something.”

Sequoia: “You’re not the only one here, and you’re not the answer to this riddle.”

Nika: “Then who else? And who else can save him Sequoia?”

Sequoia looked up at me, and glanced to his right, and said very solemnly, “It’s not you Nika, It’s Tanner!”

I replied sharply, “You mean I’m helpless and can’t help my baby-brother when he needs me? Am I suppose to just sit idly by and do nothing?”

Sequoia looked at me angrily, and said, “That’s not what I said Nika, and you will of course have an important part to play, many I suppose. And when the time comes you will help him. But it’s all happening very slowly and is a long way off. We have many other adventures and good times to enjoy before this saga completely plays itself out.”

Just then, Sequoia grabbed my head and held it tight and whispered into my ear, “Close your eye’s Nika. You will forget now this conversation, just as you did about my passing the day of our walk in the woods. For now we will all just be brothers and enjoy our summer until it’s time to act. And when that time arrives I will be there to lead us all in what it is we need to do. You will open your eye’s now Nika, as I feel Sasha approaching!”

About that time, just as I was standing up and feeling dazed, the door from the back yard slid back open, and a drenched Sasha walked in and passed by us dripping a trail of water across the wood floor, without saying a word. He looked hurt and confused. And when Tanner noticed him, Tanner looked away and turned back towards Sequoia, clutching hard into him, letting out a whimpering sigh, obviously not wanting to face Sash just then. It didn’t take Rocket Science to see what had happened, and you could see the hurt they both were suffering. I for one, felt that a very difficult day for the two of them was about to turn into a very difficult night.

Sasha, after initially looking at Tanner, looked away with a look of sorrow in his eye’s, and just kept walking towards the stairs and up to his room. We turned Tanner to the sofa, and sat him down with us on both sides. Feeling his pain, I whispered to him, “You two might have picked a better time than today Tanner….after everything that’s happened.”

Tanner, through his cries, with his teeth still chattering “I didn’t pick it Nika, he did.”

Nika: “It doesn’t really matter now…..does it Tanner?”

Tanner: “No, I guess not. Can I sleep in your room with you tonight, Nika?”

I hesitated because I knew that Cody and I were supposed to be together tonight. And what’s more, we’d put off being together for a long, long time. And just as I was about to capitulate, due to the hurt I could sense from him, I was reminded of me and Tanners brief couplings from the prior few days.

And I felt that this was a very dangerous time for both of us, especially after what he had just been through. So as much as it hurt, and with pain in my heart, and not wanting him to feel further rejection, I looked to Sequoia for guidance. Sequoia subtly shook his head “no,” reinforcing my gut instinct. And so I mustered up all the courage I could, and said, “I’m sorry Tanner, but not tonight. I’m with Cody tonight.”

I felt like a heal, and never felt lower in my entire life. It’s as if God had given me two arms and hands, just so at that very moment I could use one of them to reach into Tanners chest and rip his heart out, while I used the other to simultaneously rip out my own.

You could see instantly the rejection and further hurt in his eye’s and body language. And at the same time I began to breath hard and break down a little. Sequoia just patted me on the head as Tanner continued looking down, and nodded his head to me, as if to say, you did the right thing Nika. Then he said, “Tonight is the first night in our new room Tanner. And I thought we had a date….your not trying to stand me up, are you?”

Tanner just mouthed, “no.” As he twisted back and forth slowly. So Sequoia said, “Good, then it’s just you and me tonight Tanner. And we have a surprise for you upstairs, so lets go see?”

Tanner was curious, and said, “What is it?”

Sequoia whispered in his ear, “We got you your very own queen bed, and we set it up for you.”

Nika: “Yah, the three of us did it.”

Tanner smiled a little and said, “Who’s the three of you?”

Sequoia: “Me, Nika, and Blake.”

Tanner smiled a little and mumbled, “Thanks guys.”

Sequoia: “It’s no problem. And I’ll sleep with you tonight so you don’t feel alone. We’ll break it in together, how about that.”

Tanner: “Thanks Sequoia, I don’t wanna be alone tonight.”

Sequoia: “I know Tanner, I won’t allow you to be alone tonight. I’ll be there to hold you.”

Tanner: “Just hold me, Sequoia?”

Sequoia: “Well, we’ll see what happens Tanner. But I think you’ll realize that the other just maybe isn’t meant to be for us.”

Tanner: “What do you mean Sequoia?”

Sequoia: “It wouldn’t make sense to you now, but you’ll understand when the time comes.”

So with that, I began to make my way back to the kitchen, when the next of Sequoia’s jukebox selections clicked on. And again, only in a way Sequoia could pull off. I smiled as the song blared out into the room for all three of us to hear.

~

If you’re down and confused
And you don’t remember who you’re talking to
Concentration slips away
Because your baby is so far away

Well there’s a rose in a fisted glove
And the eagle flies with the dove
And if you can’t be with the one you love, honey
Love the one you’re with
You gotta love the one you’re with

Don’t be angry, don’t be sad
Don’t sit crying talking good times you’ve had
Well there’s someone sitting right next to you
And they’re just waiting for something to do

Well there’s a rose in a fisted glove
And the eagle flies with the dove
And if you can’t be with the one you love, honey
Love the one you’re with
You gotta love the one you’re with
You gotta love the one you’re with

~

-Stephen Stills

I thought about the song, and what true genius it took to write it. Well maybe not, but just the same, it certainly made sense tonight. And reminded me that I had a very special someone to track down, as I myself was ever so eager to find my castaway boyfriend and finally have an opportunity to “love the one I’m with,” for a change. Accidents, fires, and beach brawls be damned.

Sequoia said that he was gonna escort Tanner upstairs to their room, and get him into a warm shower. I communicated to him via twinergy, what to do about Sash? And he replied, “Just let him be for now, and that he needs a little alone time. And that he’d come to me to talk when he was ready.”

So I headed to the kitchen to see about dinner, and Sequoia messaged me to bring he and Tanner up a plate of food a little later, after they’ve had some time to settle in and calm down.

And that’s exactly what I planned on doing. Delivering Longhair and Heartbreak some room service, and then settling down with my BFF for a twelve hour marathon of catch-up and love. A rendezvous that’s been missing, and long overdue, since our very first coupling……since our very beginnings!