Flea Market Sausage

Bastian could hardly sit still on the ride to the state capitol for a number of reasons.  He was so excited about all of things going on right now in his life.  Not only were his parents, and the parents of his husband, ok with the two of them being gay, and getting married under tribal law at 16, but they were all riding together in his parents SUV, headed to his first ever pride festival.  His husband was another thing that got him excited in more ways than one.  Here he was only sixteen years old, but he was sharing the very back seat with his husband, not a friend, or even a boyfriend.  He knew that the legality of the marriage was not recognized off the reservation, but that didn't matter to him.  In their hearts, Bastian and Atreyu were married.  He squeezed his husband's hand beside him and got a big dopey grin from his warrior brave.

Bastian's father was driving, and Papa Jack was in the other front seat because the two moms had decided to sit together in the middle seat so they could talk.  It was like sitting behind two girls from school with all the giggling and whispering going on.  Bastian and Atreyu sat in the back seat wishing they had brought something along that had earplugs so they wouldn't have to listen to their moms, yet at the same time, both boys couldn't remember their mothers looking so happy or so young in a long time.  Apparently, the sentiment was shared by their fathers, because at one point Jack told Ed that he hadn't seen his wife act like this since they were in high school.  When they got to the hotel, the two teens were surprised once again by their parents.

"Alright boys, here's the deal, you get your own room with a king sized bed, but it has a connecting door to another room.  The four of us will be staying in that room.  You WILL keep the noise to the absolute minimum do you understand?  If not, one of the sets of parents will take that room, and you can share with the other set," Lesley informed them.

"We will also let you spend as much time as we can at the festival, but if we decide it is time to come back to the hotel, it is time to come back to the hotel.  No arguments allowed," Lindsay added.

"Yes Mom," both boys said in unison.

"The festival won't start until noon tomorrow, so that gives us a little time to just enjoy ourselves here at the hotel if you want, or we can go out and see some sights or something," Edward informed everyone as he looked at the pamphlet they had gotten from Tobi.  "I see some events here that might be fun to see, but I also see some that you two will definitely not be attending.  Fortunately, those are late in the evening to night time, and we will probably all be tired by then anyway."

Jack peeked over Edward's shoulder at the schedule of events, and frowned.  "Yes, we are going to be sure we are back at the hotel before 8 pm tomorrow night."

"What happens at 8 o'clock, Dad?" Atreyu asked.

"You can find out when you're older, much older," Jack snapped.

"Yeah, after I'm dead and gone, so I don't know about it," Edward told the teens.

Lindsay snatched the pamphlet then and looking down at it, gasped. "Clothing optional?  How is that even legal in a public place like that?"

Lesley pointed her finger in the face of the two teens.  "I will only tell you this one time.  The only places that are clothing optional for the two of you are inside your bedrooms and bathrooms at home, and inside your tent, absolutely nowhere else."

"Totally agreed, Mom," Bastian solemnly vowed as he blushed at the thought of being naked in front of all those strangers.

"Yeah, we are nowhere near ready for something like that," Atreyu agreed.  "I wouldn't be comfortable with that even if I was old enough to go to it this year."

 They all entered the lobby of the hotel then and were greeted by an older man at the front desk.  Most hotels hire young people for the public duties like front desk clerk, but to the teenagers, this guy looked ancient.  "Hello and welcome to my home and your home away from home," he said with a big smile.  "How can I help you folks today?"

"We have reservations for this weekend," Edward said as he stepped up to the counter and got out his wallet.  The man took his id and credit card and typed some on his computer keyboard for a moment, then frowned a bit.

"I'm so happy you are here, but I am terribly sorry to let you know that there was a problem with one of your rooms," he apologized.  "There is a plumbing issue in the room with the two beds," he went on to explain.  "Unfortunately, I don’t have any other connecting rooms available, nor do I have another room with two beds. So what I am going to do is upgrade you folks to three rooms with king beds, and one of those will have a Jacuzzi in it as an apology from the hotel for the inconvenience."

"Well, I must say, that is very nice of you," Lesley told the man.  She turned to the boys.  "Do you think you guys would like the Jacuzzi room for the weekend?"

After looking at each other for just a second, Bastian responded with, "Mom, we have a better idea."  He looked at the man behind the counter and spoke again.  "Would it be possible to take turns in that room?  I mean like one night my parents could have it, the next night Atreyu's parents would, and then the last night we could?  I don't want to make too much extra work for your housekeeping staff, though."

"I realize it is personal, but would I be correct in guessing you boys are here for the pride festival?" the man asked.  When he got a nod, he smiled even bigger.  "That is so wonderful, and aren't you two just the sweetest things, giving up a private Jacuzzi for two nights so you can share it with your parents.  I'm sure my housekeeping staff will not mind one bit.  Now I have a bigger surprise for you folks.  As part of my celebration every year for the Pride Festival, I choose one party of guests to give a little gift to, since when I was your age, Pride Festivals did not happen.  If anyone in my hometown had even suspected that I was gay, I would most likely not have lived to see another day.  I had to wait until I was nearly forty before I came out to my family.  Some of them had the expected reaction, but amazingly some of them were just the opposite.  Anyway, my gift, my little gay grandsons, is that your stay in my hotel is free this weekend."

"That is so nice of you, mister..." Edward began.

"Oh, did my name tag fall off again," the man said looking down at his shirt suddenly.  "I am Kevin Gagliardi, but please just call me Kevin."

"Well, Kevin, like I said it is a very generous offer, but I must politely decline," Edward told him.  "I have no problems paying our bill, and I'm sure that my whole family here would feel much better if you were to choose someone that perhaps needs the money more than we do.  I know that for many young people that come out, families are not as supportive as they could or should be, and a trip to an event like this may be a dream come true emotionally, but it can also be a financial nightmare."

"I certainly can't argue that point, sir," Kevin replied.  "Therefore I will go ahead and charge you... half price for the rooms you originally reserved.  Now that is my final word on the matter, and don't think you can go over my head with it either, because besides managing this wonderful little place, I own it too.  So there," and he stuck out his tongue childishly.  "And I will still give someone else a free stay." A couple of moments later, he handed them their room key cards, and said, "I hope you enjoy the festival.  If you see me there, you are perfectly welcome to laugh at the old geezer in the rainbow t-shirt."

"No, we are not," Atreyu corrected.  "Besides the fact that our parents would be really disappointed if we laughed at someone, I would be disappointed in myself if I didn't cheer you on for your courage to come out in spite of your history.  If your generation hadn't made the sacrifices you did, Bastian and I wouldn't have the freedom we do."

"You're going to be a big hit with Chris and Tobi at the history booth tomorrow talking like that," Kevin smiled.

"You know Tobi?" Bastian asked him.

"Chris is the son of one of my first cousins," Kevin told them.  "He came out to his parents after he saw how well they took it when I came out.  I'm very proud of that boy, and very happy that I had a part in giving him the chance to tell his parents when he was young enough to enjoy life.  I will be helping out with their booth for a few hours tomorrow and the next day so that he and Tobi can see some of the festival themselves."

"We would be happy to help as well, except we don't know that much of the history yet ourselves," Atreyu told him.

"You boys will hopefully have many more years to sit around a booth; you should be free to see all the sights of your first pride event," Kevin smiled at them.

"Well, how about some volunteers that don't have that much energy, or need to see everything there is to see?" Jack asked.  "Assuming it would be ok to have a straight guy help out, I know I am not going to feel up to walking all over the place the whole day.  I will need some time to stay in one place for a bit, and if I can help educate some people while I'm at it, so much the better."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Jack," Edward agreed.  "Besides, I'm sure the boys will want some time to sneak off and see some of the things that they don't want us to know they are looking at."

"Lindsay and I have already contacted the PFLAG group that will be set up next to Chris and Tobi, and we are set to spend some time there tomorrow as well," Lesley announced.  "Maybe we can time it together, so that the boys get their time to enjoy without parental supervision."  Then she turned to face the boys and added sternly, "As long as they are very careful, and remember that they are still underage."

"MOM!  We're not going to go hunting for the porn booth," Bastian blurted.

"We're not?" Atreyu asked him.  He dodged the swat to his rear from his own mother and grinned.  "I was kidding, Mom," he assured her.

"You had better have been," Jack told him seriously.

"I do want to make sure I take a notebook and pencil with me tomorrow though," Atreyu said thoughtfully.  "I may get some ideas for new pictures."

"If you gentlemen are truly interested in helping out, I personally see no problem with supportive parents helping educate other people about what it has taken to get to this point in history," Kevin told them.  "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to ask you all to join me for dinner tonight at the steak house across the parking lot from here.  Chris and Tobi will be there with a few others so we can finalize plans for the booth."

"If you're sure we wouldn't be intruding, we would really like to help out," Lindsay agreed.

"Dinner will be at 7 pm, then," Kevin said with a smile.  "Just ask for my table when you arrive."

The family went upstairs then to find their rooms and decide who would take the Jacuzzi the first night.  Lindsay and Jack won the coin toss.  Bastian and Atreyu insisted that they wanted it the last night.