The Kids Grow Up, Trish Hanan [books you need to read .txt] 📗

gun. You can’t just point your finger and go bang,” he said and pointed his finger at him. All the kids laughed. Jackson hugged him.
“Thanks, Dad, you’re the best,” he declared and Harry hugged him back.
“I can see we’re going to have a lot of hunters in this family, it’s a good thing we love turkey,” he said and Fran laughed.
“Oh, yeah, I love smoked turkey,” she said. Emma made a face.
“I love to eat turkey but don’t expect me to go shooting any,” she said. Harry shrugged.
“Well, Emma, you never know, you might like hunting, why don’t you try it once when you’re older and see if you like it,” he told her and she shrugged.
“Okay, I’ll try it once but it sounds disgusting,” she said and Cassie nodded.
“Really, men are so gross,” she declared and they ran to the bedroom to play with their dolls. Harry laughed.
“I guess they start young with that silly nonsense,” he told Jake who nodded.
“That’s what they get for hanging out with Kathleen, that woman is nothing but trouble,” he teased and Fran giggled.
“I’m going to tell her you said that,” she teased and they all laughed.
Thanksgiving was the same, Dr. Jackson overate and Kate whined about the turkey recipe and Tracey and the other kids cursed which made Sissy giggled and Barb blush. Monroe asked when he was getting a car which made his father laugh.
“A car, boy you’re only twelve years old, what are you going to do with a car?” he asked. Monroe shrugged.
“Drive it,” he replied and everyone laughed. Harry grinned at him.
“You’ll get a car at fifteen just like everyone else got a car at fifteen,” he informed him. Monroe nodded.
“Abby was driving at twelve when you all first arrived on the planet,” he told him. Harry nodded.
“Yes, but that was different, we were only sixty-seven people. Now we’re a hundred ninety-eight and all the adults have decided that fifteen is young enough to be driving,” he said. Monroe sighed.
“Fine, but I think fourteen is old enough, there’s no where to go and nothing to do, at least if we had a car we could up the ocean highway or to the lake and hang around,” he said. Harry nodded.
“How about in the spring if we build a soda fountain, sort of a clubhouse just for you kids to hang out in? I think I have one and it would be off limits to the adults and you can have it for dancing and playing video games, how does that sound?” he asked and all the older kids got excited.
“Wow, that would be cool, Harry,” Tracey exclaimed. Kate frowned.
“”What do you mean off limits to adults, Henry, I don’t like the sound of that,” she said. Tracey frowned at her.
“He means that you can’t come in a sit around and stare at us, it would be our place to hang out, not yours,” she told her. Kate sighed.
“I do not sit around and stare at you,” she said. Tracey nodded.
“Oh, yes, you do, Mother,” she stated. “Whenever Joan and I hang out at home you have to wander in to see what we’re doing like you have to check up on us, its annoying as shit.” Sissy giggled and Barb looked at her food. Harry grinned at Jake.
“Tracey has a potty mouth,” Emma remarked on the way home. Fran laughed.
“Well, I hope you don’t think because she uses those words that you can,” Jake told her. Emma shook her head.
“Jackson said one of those words once and Daddy washed his mouth out with soap,” she informed him. Jake looked at Harry and grinned.
“You did that, babe?” he asked and Harry nodded. All the kids laughed and Jackson made a face.
“I certainly did and I’ll do it to any of them that use that kind of language in my house. I don’t use that language and I don’t want my children using that language, its rude and I don’t appreciate rude,” he said firmly and they all nodded. Then Harry grinned.
“Now if someone hits you in the head with a hammer, then you can say a bad word. You can say, why in the ‘bleep’ did you hit me in the head with that hammer?” he teased and they all laughed. “But unless that happens, I don’t want to hear it.” Jake grinned and kissed his hand.
New Year’s Eve Harry brought out the two cases of pink champagne he had and everyone groaned. David brought out four cases of regular that he wanted a thousand dollars a bottle for and giggled when he informed them of the price.
“I’ve got a cellar full of grapes and I’m making champagne this winter while we’re in Hawaii so next year we’ll have the bubbly but this year, its pink or you pay for David’s, or just drink mixed drinks,” he told them. “The pink is over a hundred years old, it can’t be that bad,” he reminded them and they all nodded. And when they opened it they found out he was right, it was quite delicious. And no one wanted to pay the outrageous fortune David was charging for his wine, in fact, he didn’t sell one bottle.
“I can’t believe those cheapskates would rather drink pink champagne than buy a bottle of mine, that stupid Harry Talbert ruins everything,” he snapped. Gloria sighed.
“Oh, well, let them drink that crap and the crap he’s making, we’ll keep this good stuff just for ourselves,” she said and he nodded. They locked it up in their car and opened one bottle just for themselves.
After they put the kids to sleep, Harry and Jake danced a slow romantic together and kissed slowly, moving across the dance floor like a well-oiled machine. They had been dancing together so long they could do it with so little effort. They gazed into each other’s eyes and smiled. Violet saw them and almost lost her dinner. Could they being any more trite? Who the hell cared, two men didn’t belong together like that; it was an abomination against God. All those gay people should be forced to separate and marry boy/girl the way it should be and they should never be allowed to have children. All of those poor children were going to grow up with distorted beliefs that it was alright to be gay and that was just wrong. She glared at her father. All that crap about loving the sinner and hating the sin was just that, crap. They ought to pass some law forbidding them to get married and have children, then Jake would have to leave Harry and maybe then she’d have a chance to get him to notice her.
At midnight Harry and Jake sat with their children and kissed the New Year in.
“It just gets better every year doesn’t it, babe?” Jake murmured. Harry laid his head on Jake’s strong chest.
“Yes it does, honey, I love you so much,” he whispered and they kissed again. Violet stood in the doorway and watched them. She made a face and stomped away. Across the room Mike nudged Billy and they both grinned.
“She just never gives up, does she?” he teased and they both laughed.
“I’m just glad she doesn’t like me, she gives good head but that’s all she’s good for,” Billy stated and they laughed again.
The following year they had Harry’s champagne and it was marvelous and everyone was ecstatic except for David who was crushed even when he and Gloria were given a bottle just like everyone else and they sipped the wine and found it tasted just as good as Dom Piergnon that they wanted a thousand dollars a bottle for.
“Does that little fagola bastard do everything perfectly?” he snapped and she made a face.
“It seems that way doesn’t it,” she said with a sigh. What they didn’t count on was that most things were just a matter of reading the directions or recipe and then following the steps and if you did that carefully you were bound to end up with what you wanted and that’s just what Harry did with everything he tried. He followed the directions.
The following year Danny entered kindergarten and now Jake didn’t have anything to do but Harry had that all covered. He took out a craft shop from Sherwood and made Jake a wood shop teacher and a gym teacher and everyone was happy to have him, especially the kids who didn’t have anything fun to do at school except for art and music and that got boring after a while. Then they made Dr. Jackson a coach and that made him happy and soon they had a basket ball team and a football team and all the men were happy about that and they played games and had lots of fun. They moved the players around so that everyone could play and no cliques could get formed and everyone loved that. Harry made a computer program that rotated the players on a weekly basis and all the boys loved him for that, now their fathers couldn’t push them like old Max and Charles and the fathers of Farm One liked to do, it was completely fair and impartial.
For the girls Lily coached ballet and gymnastics and dance and they had a great time with that and, of course, Jenna was a former cheerleader and Harry made uniforms which they loved and pom-poms and they formed a little band, he knew how to play several instruments and several other parents knew how to play instruments and soon a lot of the kids were learning the flute, violin and other instruments. All of Harry and Jake’s kids picked out one and their house was soon filled with the noise of practice. All the dogs hid in the basement during practice time and Fran escaped to her sunroom.
“Is Ryan playing the trumpet or is he torturing the cat?” Jake teased as they heard the boy practicing. Harry giggled.
“Oh, hush, he’s getting much better, it used to sound like he was torturing a weasel,” he joked and they both laughed. Jackson came in the room.
“Oh, man, did someone die or is that Ryan again?” he asked and Harry giggled.
“He’s trying really hard, be nice,” he chided. Jackson laughed and flopped down on the floor.
“I don’t sound that bad when I practice my violin do I?” he asked and both dads shook their head. “Good, cuz then I’d have to kill myself,” he declared and Jake kicked his ass with his foot and Jackson giggled. Emma came in with her fingers in her ears.
“Isn’t he finished yet, poor Martha is under the bed and won’t come out,” she said. Harry sighed.
“Well, he can’t go outside, the last time he did he killed three squirrels,” he said and they all laughed.
“I heard that,” Ryan yelled from the game room.
“Sorry, darling,” Harry yelled back. Ryan came into the room and flopped on the couch.
“I’m giving this thing up, I suck big time,” he announced and all the kids cheered. Jake frowned at them.
“No, Son, all you need is more practice, if you practice you’ll get better,” he told him. “Right, Harry,” he said and everyone looked at him. Harry sighed.
“Sometimes more practice just