The Kids Grow Up - Trish Hanan (i want to read a book TXT) 📗

on his sculptures and found them to be very nice, a little amateurish but nice. Then he got another idea and rushed back to the cave, taking with him the drum as it was his only one.
At the caves Harry dumped out the yellow and red clay and replaced it with black and rushed back to the house. He put one of the artist tables together and the stool and brought out the tools and a book on sculpting and began work on a bust of Jake’s head and shoulders. He worked from memory, he didn’t need a picture to remember that face, he had loved that face and traced that mouth, those eyes with his fingers many times. Now he did it with clay and he did it with the same love. Hours went by and he lost the sun and turned on lights. When the dogs whined he remembered their dinner and feed them and the cats. Then he remembered to eat and kept on working until at last it was as perfect as it was going to get. He laid it out in the yard to catch the morning sun and fell asleep. The cow woke him up and he milked it, feed the animals and went back to bed. The phone woke him up later.
“You’re still in bed, Harry it’s after eleven in Mykonos, what are you still doing in bed, you’re not sick are you?” Danny asked, worry in his purple eyes. Harry grinned.
“No I’m not sick, I was up late working on my sculpture so I went back to bed after milking Bessie, how are you Danny?” he asked and his son grinned.
“Pretty good, still living with Martin, say hello, Martin,” he teased and Martin called out hello to Harry who called hello back. Then they talked about gossip for a while and Harry told him about Bear getting attacked by the shark and dying on him and how he had to bring him back to life. Both of the men seemed impressed by that.
“Oh, wow, Harry, you brought a dead cat back to life, that’s pretty amazing, I can’t wait for my healing powers to come in, when do you think that will happen?” Danny asked. Harry smiled.
“Why don’t you try healing little scratches and start from there and see what happens,” he suggested and Danny’s eyes lit up. Martin laughed.
“You’re going to create a monster, Harry, he’ll be running around cutting himself shaving,” he teased and they kissed. Harry was happy to see that. They all said goodbye and hung up.
“Back to work; what shall I do next?” he asked the dogs who wagged their tails. He started on a full body of Jake, naked and lying down on his side, one arm folded with his head resting in his hand and his legs slightly crossed. He worked on it all day setting the alarm so he would know when to feed the dogs and cats. They roamed in and out of the house all day trying to get him to come out and play with them but he was only interested in his work so they sighed and went outside to play without him.
Harry continued his sculpturing for the next week, running out of clay and running back to the caves for more and thought; this is ridiculous and flew to Edenville to the Mill and stole twenty brand new fifty pound drums and brought them back to Mykonos and filled them with black clay. Then he continued his work making bust and figure after figure of Jake until the whole house was filled with them and he was manic, wanting to make more.
So he flew to Sherwood and it was snowing and he was shocked but got another barn and cut down a dozen trees and picked up a Saw Mill 5000 and brought it all back to Mykonos where he built the barn and then lined it with bookcases that had little lids so that the sculptures wouldn’t fall off of them. Then he put the ones he had done onto the shelves and it didn’t look like so many like it had in the house and Harry was relieved. Then he went back to sculpting Jake.
Harry did big Jakes and little Jakes and naked Jakes and Jake sitting reading a book and Jake’s penis, he did a lot of naked Jakes and some of the penises were not proportioned, they were over-proportioned but Harry had a one-track mind and that’s where it went some days. He did a giant Jake’s penis, it was twenty inches long, fully erect; every vein and muscle throbbing and he took it to bed with him sometimes, it was so beautiful.
Every week Harry would talk to Danny and hear the gossip of all of his kids and what they were doing and who they were living with and all the major happenings of Edenville and he kept up with everyone and they would talk for hours and it was fun, almost like they were together in the same room having a conversation.
“You’d never believe who just moved in with Emma, never in a million years,” Danny gushed one day and Harry giggled.
“Never in a million years, mm, let me think, it wouldn’t be DJ, now would it,” he guessed accurately. Danny was astonished.
“How on earth did you guess that?” he stammered. His dad laughed.
“When Emma was born DJ said that one day he was going to marry her so I guess that one day has finally arrived,” he informed him. Danny laughed.
“That’s just what everyone’s been saying,” he declared and they both laughed. Then he asked as he always did before they hung up. “So when are you coming home Harry, I cleaned your house the other day so it’s ready for you.” And Harry would shrug like he always did.
“I don’t know, Danny, I’m working on my sculptures and its nice here, I’ll stay a bit longer,” he said and Danny would sigh and smile and they’d hold their hands up to the view screen, say their ‘I love you’s’ and hang up. Then on the one side Harry would get up and go back to work but on the other side, Danny would wipe the tears from his eyes and Martin would hug him.
“He’ll come back soon, honey, he’s just comfortable, he doesn’t realize how much you miss him,” he would comfort him. Danny would nod and they’d go back to their life until the next time and the next conversation.
While Harry was on Mykonos he got emails from Eden informing him that they were almost out of coffee and was he going soon to get some for them. He sent them an email back and informed them that there was both coffee and tea on Eden that they could get for themselves. Max sent him an email stating that it would take them eighteen hours to go there and back to get coffee and why wouldn’t he get it like he always did. Harry informed Max that he was on Mykonos and it would take him nine hours to get to Savannah to get the coffee, three hours to drop it off in Eden and then six hours to get back to Mykonos and that was eighteen hours for him. What made them so God-damned special that he had to fly for eighteen hours and they didn’t? They never sent him another email about coffee or tea.
Eventually Harry got tired of sculpting Jake and moved on to other subjects. He started with his children doing all of them as baes and then as toddlers and young children, these he put them with various animals, some of the boys with their beloved dogs, the girls with their cats. Danny he put riding a goat which he actually did when he was five, holding on to its tail and giggling like mad.
Then he did them as teenagers in quiet poses, Jackson lying on his back with his arms folding over his head and staring up at the stars, it was a beautiful piece. Emma sitting on her bed reading, wearing her earphones like she always did.
Then he did them as adults in fancy clothes like they were going out of the town and with Danny he put in Martin, the two of them standing side by side since they appeared to be a couple. The other kids he wasn’t sure of whether they would stay with their loves but Danny was like him and he was sure he and Martin would last.
His favorite of the children pieces was a set of all seven children dressed in their Halloween costumes the year he dressed them up as little ‘fagola’s’ and Sean had done his fantastic impression of Max and everyone had gotten such a kick out of it. They had laughed for hours over the five year-old boy flicking his hand under his chin and saying, ‘fagola’ in Max’s old man’s raspy voice. Harry was keeping these for his mantel. The others he was planning on giving to his children.
Then Harry did the four sheep ladies, putting them on the sheep, which his mother was going to have a fit when she saw but they were cute pieces.
Then one morning Harry was making breakfast, it was a little after six and he had milked the cow, feed the animals and ran the milk and was just having his morning coffee when the phone rang. He frowned thinking that it was after six here which meant that it was after midnight back on Eden, so who was calling so late, he hoped this wasn’t an emergency. He sat down on shaking legs and clicked on the phone. Instantly the picture of two happy, smiling men in suits, with their ties loosened and top buttons unbuttoned came on. He grinned; Danny and Martin were obviously drunk. Danny held out his left hand to show off a dazzling diamond on his third finger.
“Congratulate us, Dad, we’re engaged,” Danny gushed and Harry felt a wave of warmth wash over him. He grinned and held up his hand to the screen. Danny held up his and they touched.
“Danny, Martin, how wonderful, I’m so happy for you both, this is great news, when did this happen?” he asked and tears came to his eyes. Both men laughed as he wiped away tears.
“I knew he’d cry, didn’t I tell you, Martin, Dad would cry when we told him,” Danny said with delight in his voice. Martin laughed softly.
“Yes, you did, darling,” he said and they hugged. Harry laughed.
“I can’t help it, I get emotional when I hear wonderful news, I’m just a big softy, so when’s the wedding?” he changed the subject. Danny grinned.
“In two weeks, we decided to have it during Founder’s Days, so you have to come home now, you will come home for the wedding won’t you?” he asked, his voice sounding worried. Harry nodded.
“Of course, I’m coming home for your wedding, Danny, I wouldn’t miss it for anything, you should know better than to ask that silly question, what kind of father do you think I am?” he asked, his face all concerned. Danny giggled.
“Just thought I’d check,” he said. Martin hugged him. Harry laughed.
“Founder’s Day, that will be quite a celebration, a wedding after all these years, I’ll tell you what, we’ll have a real celebration and host