THE CRUCIBLE

The Third Test

         After that, things became much more intimate and relaxed. J and K now came every day, sometimes in the evening, sometimes earlier, as early as noon. Sometimes J or K would come by themselves. They would always sit together now, three in a row if they were all together. Hunter came to love this position greatly for especially with Brian's great arm around him for it made him feel protected, secure and loved, three things he had never felt before in his life.

         It also became a thing of great joy to see them walk in the door because whenever it was, that meant he was done for the day, whatever time of day it was.

         "Tell me about my little brother and sister, Daddy K," he asked one time, nestled into the crook of Brian's arm. And so Brian did, about the little boy with dark hair who was trying to walk and not quite succeeding just yet, and about the baby girl with a mop of ebony curly hair, lips as red as blood, and skin as white as snow.

         "Will you bring them to see me one day?" he asked.

         He was warned that that visit would be louder and busier than the rest and they would not be focused on him but he did not care. "I want to hold them. I want to help with them during the visit. I don't mind that I won't be able to talk."

         And so, the next day, they brought Gus and JR to the diner and Hunter helped with them. And he loved them. He loved holding them and looking at them and feeding them and quieting them when they cried and he even helped change JR. It was a great visit.

         They came together, early two days after that and after they had visited a while, Hunter suddenly asked, "Take me out of here. Please, Dads. Let's just go."

         "Hunter, you know we cannot," J said in his quiet but firm way.

         "Oh not that! I know you cannot take me home yet. Just...Let's go somewhere. Anywhere. A show. A drive. Canoeing. Ride a horse. Anything. I'll let you pick. Let's just get out of here. I barely go anywhere by myself and I feel as if I am either at Debbie's or inside these four walls at all times!"

         "Why don't you go out then?
         By the time I stop work it's dark and...well, I still don't like going anywhere by myself in the dark. I'm still afraid I'll be recognized...like...like, well, you know." He snuggled deeper into their embrace and reddened.

         "Hunter, you shouldn't be worried about that anymore. Nobody thinks of you like that. Remember we sent Red Hood to you. The way you carry yourself now, the way you've filled out, nobody would see...a street person anymore. And once you come with us, nobody will dare."

         "I don't understand how you can make that promise. And I'll promise I'll try. But in the meantime, let's get outta here?

         And so they did. That day they did go to a show but on following visits they brought a sidecar on the motorcycle and took him for rides. They went horseback riding and sightseeing and once they took him on a picnic in the middle of a meadow with long grasses and wildflowers and a river on one side and a forest off in the distance on the other. They sat on an enormous red checked blanket and ate sandwiches and cake and lemon bars and fruit and granola bars. J and K sat together of course and Hunter lay across the middle diagonally with food all around him and smiled insolently up at them.

         "Remember the last time we came here?" asked J.

         "I certainly do," said K, and kissed him hard. Then they realized they had company and pulled back.

         "Don't mind me," Hunter said, "There's not much you can do that I haven't seen...or done." He gave them both a slow wink.

         "Precocious little tyke, isn't he?" K asked with his tongue in cheek.

         Justin just smiled and blushed.

         "Really, don't stop on my account. I love watching you guys make out and stuff. I love it when you show affection. It shows how much you love each other."

         "Well, Sunshine?" K said suggestively and quirked an eyebrow. J just blushed deeper.

         Hunter looked at the sun shining off the river for a few seconds. The grass and the sun and the flowers made it smell so sweet. It was open and wide enough to take away his cabin fever and empty enough for him to know there would be no-one to judge him here. It was pastoral perfection. It gave him security. It was quickly becoming his most favorite place. He told them so and why. And they told him it was their favorite place too.

         "Why?" he asked.

         The grown-ups sighed hugely in that "the young ‘un's asking why non-stop again" kind of way.

         "No, really, I wanna know. Come on, I talk all the time about me and my life. I know you want your identity to be secret but can't you tell me something about yourselves?"

         J thought for a while and said, "All right, I'll tell you this much. The first time I saw this meadow, I fell in love with it at once. And K and I had a picnic here as well. The encounter became....a fantasy."

         "Ohhh, I getcha! A romantic spot! Well, I suppose I could go for a walk and leave you two al -" He had started to sit up but was grabbed around the arms, one by each man and hauled back. The pulled him up so that his head rested in both their laps.

         "You're not going anywhere, young man. That fantasy was fine when it was just the two of us. And someday it will happen again. But now you are with us and a part of us. And so we must discover a new fantasy," said J.

         "Wha - wha - what are you gonna do with me?" asked Hunter in mock fear. He saw the love and play shining out of both their eyes and knew they wouldn't do anything to harm him.

         "Yes J. What are we going to do? We can't scar the tyke for life," said K.

         J thought a moment and then smiled. He leaned over and whispered into K's ear. K smiled too. "That's brilliant. I love you."

         They each picked up something to eat. They held it down for Hunter to eat. Hunter obediently took a bite of each and started chewing. As he did, J and K moved closer and kissed each other. As things heated up, they each took their other hands and placed one diagonally over Hunter's eye, one hand per eye. Once Hunter was blindfolded, they frenched out to their heart's content. Hunter chewed and swallowed. He pointed at his mouth and made "Ahhhhh! Ahhhhh!" noises. The lovers broke apart, uncovered his eyes and held down some food. Hunter bit and ate. They covered him up. They repeated this over and over. Hunter was happy, and the lovers were very happy. A perfect fantasy.

         What J and K didn't see was that during one cycle Hunter took advantage of their happiness and stroking their hands gently, bent a few fingers slightly sideways and watched them for a minute through the spaces. He wasn't kidding. He really did like watching them make out, showing how much they cared for each other and ultimately for him too. It was at that moment he felt something strange, something different, something that had never happened before. Affection for both of them entered his heart. A longing for them, a closeness to them bloomed into his heart like one of the many wildflowers around them. He looked up to them. A deep desire rose within him, just for a moment but it was so strong it hurt. A desire to go home with them and be with them and the babies, and stay there, wherever it was. As his home. Then he closed his eyes and the desire faded at least so it didn't hurt anymore. But the next time hey uncovered his eyes, the affection remained. He watched them very careful wishing he could catch their eye but they had become too wrapped up in each other. He had an idea. He took his bites. They leaned forward. Down came their hands. Hunter grabbed their hands at the same time. He pressed a gentle kiss to K's hand and put it over his eye. He pressed a gentle kiss to J's hand and placed it over his other eye.

         The two men looked at each other in a supreme joy. They made out like crazed weasels. And from then on that became part of the ritual until the picnic was over and they took him home.

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         They went biking. They went to the park. They just walked. They went swimming once but for some strange reason, no matter how he begged or teased them, they wouldn`t join him. So he figured they were afraid of water and didn`t ask again. But the most favourite outing, his most favourite place continued to be the meadow. And so, they went there often.

           And as they walked or biked or rested or whatever, they talked. Hunter opened up more about his past and told him about his dad abandoning them and his mom`s abuse until he couldn`t take it anymore and became his own hustler. Although, it was never enough and he lived meal to meal and was slowly but surely starving to death, which was when they found him. They talked about his health and how he wasn`t sure if everything was totally OK. They assured him they would find out.

         In return, they updated him about the babies and opened up about how they had met. They told him J had been washed up from a shipwreck and had been love at first sight (Well, sorta true). They told him they had a big house near the sea.

         `Tell me about my room!" Hunter begged one day. So they told him he would have his own apartments, a living area, big bedroom, teen toys and if something was missing they would get it. Plus a connecting bathroom that would be his and his alone. A picture slowly began to build in Hunter's mind and he began to dreambuild and it grew enhanced with color and the sound of crying babies and feelings of security and happiness. And he longed for the picture more and more. But more than that, he just longed for J and K more and more. He likened it to a flower that had grown out and over his heart. When he was with them, it was in full bloom and he was happy, truly happy. He was secure. He was safe. And when he was apart from them, he could feel the flower close its petals the way a flower does at night. It was alive but it at rest, yearning for them, always wanting them, the way a flower wants and needs the light and heat from the sun and water from the earth.

         At last, he could bear it no longer. They might tell him to fuck off but he didn't care. At least he'd know, and he would love them and remember them for believing in him, even for a little while, forever.

         And so, near the end of the month, a month after they had met him, he took them to the meadow for a picnic. Well, he had them take him but same diff to him, right? The sun was shining and a soft breeze was waving the grass and flowers. They were about to start their kissing ritual with Hunter's head in their laps when Hunter stopped them. He only took a small bite and when their palms came down to cover his eyes, he grabbed them and guided them to his chest instead. He placed their palms over his heart and looked up and into their eyes.

         "I love you Daddy J and K," he said.

         "Well, we love you too, Hunter," they returned, but they really weren't getting it.

         "No, you don't understand. I really love you now. I understand what you meant, J when you wouldn't take me home. It's not a hook exactly, for me. For me, it's like a flower has bloomed over my heart. It wants you. It needs you. All the time. I need you all the time. I want to help with the babies. I want to be your son. I don't want to go back to Debbie's. I want you to take me home. Please. Take me home." He held his breath.

            K smiled a brilliant smile and looked at J and quirked an eyebrow. "Well!? NOW, can we take him home?" Like he was some sort of puppy.

         J looked carefully into his eyes and nodded. "He is ready. Oh, my son, how long, I have been waiting for you to speak these words or words like it. Tonight shall be your last night at Debbie's. When we pick you up after work tomorrow, be ready, for we shall take you home with us, forever."

         And Hunter was grabbed and squeezed between them and he squeezed back as hard as he could and wept for joy.

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         The next day, Hunter was in a fog. He skated on air and felt buoyed up on waves of joy. He had brought his meager belongings with him to the diner today and the whole day was long day of waiting. He refilled coffee without charging. He got orders wrong. He spun his way down the diner at intervals for no reason whatsoever.

         The minutes passed like hours. The hours passed so slowly. Hunter looked up again and cursed the clock. Three o'clock. Four...Five...and still the sky was light. The day held him hostage and threatened to never end.

         At LAST 7:00 PM rolled around and into the parking lot rolled a long, black, stretch limousine. Hunter watched dumbfounded as a chauffeur in a formal uniform got out with his nose in the air and opened the back door to let out J and K.

         Hunter's mouth dropped open a little further and something in his chest fell out. There was something he didn't like.

         J and K stepped out of the limousine. They were dressed to the nines, in matching charcoal grey suits with tails, silk shirts and dark blue ties. They also looked silk. Their shoes were black leather and shined to a high gloss. Their hair had been recently cut and styled to perfection.

         But it was their faces that Hunter found the most disturbing of all, even frightened him a little. J and K had these cold expressions on their faces. Their eyes were disdainful and cruel, their noses were in the air, higher than the chauffeur's and they held their backs ramrod straight. They looked rich, stiff, elitist and cruel. Suddenly Hunter wished Fred or Red Remington was there to hide behind, but they weren't. In fact the Diner was experiencing a lull so there was no one there but Hunter's own little self to stand and face these two imposing men.

         And next moment, he was, when the chauffeur opened the door for them with a white handkerchief and they walked in. The chauffeur waited outside like some sort of royal guard.

         "Evening, J and K, " Hunter had to resist the urge to bow, "What's going..."

         "Hunter! We said to be ready! You are not ready!" scolded K in this disdainful voice that chilled Hunter to the bone.

         "I AM ready! I have my stuff in the back! I can just..."

         "What are those dreadful things you are wearing?" J asked.

         Hunter looked down and was puzzled. "Clothes?" he asked hopefully.

         "On your FEET!" J elaborated as if it were a chore, or speaking to someone rather thick, or both.

         "Skates," answered Hunter, "You know, this is a roller diner. Remember?"

         "Skates! Humph!! Take them off at once! No son of mine is going to be caught dead wearing those...those...things!" J spoke as if they were shoes made out of mud.

         Hunter sat down and began to pick at the laces. "What's wrong with my skates? I've been wearing them for a month now. In fact, you got me this job! So, in a way, you put these skates on me!"

         "Yes, but you weren't our son then! Now you are! Skates are the shoes of a servant! We won't have you wearing servant's shoes!"

         Hunter continued picking at the laces but his face burned hot with anger and shame. He pulled them off just so he could stand up straight without fear of rolling onto his ass. "So what does that mean? Before yesterday when I wasn't officially your son, all I was good for was being a servant then? Is that it?"

         J and K just looked down their noses at him.

         "Oh, my God! That IS what you think! And...And just what is it you are wearing? What's with the get ups!? The car? The driver who's too full of...himself to touch the door!?"

         "We told you we were rich. This is how we really are. I must say it's finally nice to drop the façade at last and get you out of here!"

         "The façade!? What the fuck are you talking about?" yelled Hunter.

         "Well, Hunter, we toned it down for you so you wouldn't be intimidated while we got to know you. But now that the deal is done, so to speak, we can let loose. The fact is we are quite rich," said J.

         "Now J, be honest," K said in joyful pride," We're spectacularly rich! Practically royalty!"

         "True enough! And now, Hunter, so are you! You can have your own tutor! Or we can send you to a great school! You'll have your own pool! Your own car! Your own valet! An army of valets to pick up after you and who's only meaning in life is to be at your beck and call. All you can eat! Whatever you want to eat at whatever time of day or night! Your own cook! Your own..."

         "Stop! Stop!" screamed Hunter. He held his head as a thousand images and possibilities swirled around in his brain and threatened to crush him.

         "And best of all," they said together, "Soon, you'll be just...like...us!"

         "I think I'm gonna to be sick," said Hunter. He sat heavily in a booth.

         "I don't understand! What happened to my Dads who took such pleasure in a simple meadow? Who took me swimming and biking and who I told all about my abusive parents? My God! I've never told that stuff to another living soul! And now I find out I've told all that stuff to a couple of rich snobby douches! Oh God! I feel like I'm going crazy!"

         "Hunter, we're still those same guys you told all that stuff too! K said as sympathetically as one can with a snobby accent, "It's just now we're fabulously weal..."

         "You're rich, I get it I get it! I've always gotten it! You've never hidden the fact that you were wealthy! I've always known! I've always looked forward to it, to being comfortable! But you were also kind and generous and loving and willing to touch and be touched. And now look at you! You're these stiff automatons who get upset over roller skates and won't touch a door!

         "Hunter, is this about the meadow?" asked J, "Because if it is we can always buy 6 or 8 people out of their houses, raze them to the ground, plant new grass..."

         "Ohhh, but only that really soft and silky kind, not the common stuff," interrupted K.

         "Of course. The we can..."

         "You most certainly WILL NOT!" shouted Hunter authoritatively. "My God! This is what I was talking about! You guys haven't been listening to a word I've been saying! This is a nightmare!"

         "Oh, Hunter, it only seems that way because it's all new to you! You'll get used to the lifestyle. Soon, you'll see it's a dream come true. Now just get your stuff and let's get out of this dump!" K said.

         "DUMP!?! DUMP!?!" Hunter was temporarily incapacitated by rage. "Oh, you are in SO much trouble! DEBBIE!!!" he screamed. Debbie came out from the back.

         "What is it?"

         "This - this prick just called your place a DUMP!" Hunter tattled triumphantly. He waited with his little chest puffed out and his arms crossed and waited for Deb to tear them a new one.

         "Lord Kinney!" Deb said in this obsequious voice he had never heard her use, "How are you? If you have any tips, any tips at all to how to make this place less dumpy, please don't hesitate to..."

         "Stop talking now!" K said in a bored voice and to Hunter's further astonishment, she said, "Yes sir," and curtsied deeply and did just that.

         Hunter's mouth fell open. Deb never backed down like that to anyone! What the hell!?

         "I still don't understand!" Hunter said, "You guys came here all the time and it didn't bother you!"

         "We came to see you," K said reasonably.

         "But the day you picked me up! You were coming here then!" Hunter pressed

         "Haven't you ever heard of slumming?" K said. He smirked cruelly. Hunter stared back in horror.

         "Come, Hunter!" J commanded as if he were a dog, "We've wasted enough time...here. Say goodbye to Debbie and we'll be on our way. Look, I know you think we're elitist but you'll soon get used to it! It comes with the territory of getting everything your heart desires!"

         "Everything...my heart desires?" Hunter asked wonderingly.

         "That's right! Now put these on and come with us! We'll soon be home!" J held out a pair of black loafers buffed to a high gloss, just like theirs. Hunter took them slowly as if he were sleepwalking. Indeed, he still felt as if he were in some weird dream, a nightmare from which he could not wake. He put them on.

         "Get your bag! We're losing patience!" K commanded imperiously.

         Hunter got his bag.

         "Now say your goodbyes and let's get out of here!" (Does it really matter which one said it at this point?)

         ""Good bye Deb! I'll miss you. But don't worry. How bout I come back on the weekends and help out with the weekend rush? We'll gab and hold up the lines and tell people to not get their panties in..."

         "No Hunter! Say your goodbyes as in forever! You are never to come back here again!"

         "What - what are you talking about!?"

         "This place is common ground now. And she is a commoner. You can never see her again."

         "WHAAAAAAT!!!! Never!? Never, never??"

         "Never, ever," J confirmed.

         "But how can I do such a thing?" Hunter asked, "This is the woman who gave me a job! I've been living in her house because I had nowhere else! She cleaned me up! She's the reason my sores cleared up and how I can look in the mirror again. How could I pay her back such evil? How could I live with myself?"

         "It's OK honey. Go on!" Debbie said meekly but she started to sniffle as well.

         "Debbie! There's no way!" Hunter said.

         "Hunter, it's OK! This is what they've been preparing you for. Sure, I'll miss you. But it's all for the best. You're going on to a better life. You're going on to be a better person. You'll have a family. You'll have the babies."

         "The babies!" Hunter breathed in horror, "I'd forgotten all about them! Where are they!?" he whirled on J and K.

         "They're with a wet nurse nanny, where else? They're fine. They're waiting," K's voice deepened seductively. "Come Hunter. Now!"

         Hunter felt horribly conflicted. He felt pulled apart in about 6 different directions. His head spun. Wealth. Power. The babies. Family. Debbie. The diner. Power. His own pool. Snobbery. Common. Cruelty. The babies. Who would protect the babies?

         He took a few steps toward the door.  He looked back at Debbie. She was still sniffling a little

         He looked over at J and K in their fine suits and looked into their cruel eyes. K was tapping a foot.  Hunter took another step.

         The babies. He couldn't leave the babies. Could he? What was to happen to them? How could he leave them in the tender mercies of these two. He had to protect them. His shoulders slumped and he took a last look at Debbie. He picked up his bag and headed toward the door. He looked into their cruel, elitist eyes again.

         His shoulders straightened. He stopped.

         "Wait!" he said, "You said I could have whatever my heart desires! Right?"

         "Yes, yes!" J said, "Come along! There's a pencil and a scroll of paper in the car! You can make a list!"

         "Oh, I don't need a scroll," said Hunter. "You see, I can tell you exactly what my heart desires...right now."

         "Well, what is it then?" J asked angrily.

         "My heart desires...for you to take this back!" Hunter wrenched off a shoe and threw it at J. J caught it deftly, his mouth open. "My heart desires my Dads! My Dads who took pleasure in life and love and whose favorite romantic spot was not in a 5 star restaurant eating snails and entrails but an open meadow feeding me fruit and granola and kissing each other with a passion I'll never know! My heart desires the gentle and just souls who would NEVER think about displacing innocent people for a silly whim! My God! How could you think about doing that? You picked me up from the gutter and gave me a home. It makes no sense!"

         J and K just looked back at him, their eyes cold and impassive and unrepentant.

         "My heart desires to not abandon those who have been kind to me!" Hunter continued. He dropped his bag and limped over in his single shoe and hugged Debbie. "Don't worry, Debbie," he whispered, I wouldn't leave you high and dry like that!"

         "But what about your better life?" she whimpered.

         K smirked.

         "I have 3 squares, a good job, a good friend, and a roof over my head. And when I wear out my welcome there, I can find my own craphole. That's always been the plan anyway. What better life do I need?"

         "And now...my heart desires for you stuffed shirts to get the FUCK out of this diner and out of my face! I never want to see you again!"

         "You little ingrate! WE MADE YOU! WE MADE YOU AND WE CAN DESTROY YOU! You're ours! You can't talk to us like that!" yelled K.

         Hunter's stomach clenched with pain and heartbreak. Adrenaline surged through him as he felt disappointment, hurt, sadness, betrayal, and anger and many other feelings. There were so many. He closed his eyes and channelled all his adrenaline and bad feelings into rage. He opened his eyes. There was only white-hot rage.

         "DO YOUR WORST!" he yelled back. "I told you before! I am my own man! I would rather go back to the gutter...than go live in whatever mansion you have. I would rather eat stale bread that resemble stones before I partake of one morsel of your snobby fine meats, if it meant I had to turn my back on a friend who had done me nothing but good!"

         While he spoke, he walked with his one shoed step around the counter.

         "Hunter, stop this at once! This is your last chance!" J said.

         "No, J. I think we both know now that I never had a chance at all." Hunter said. He took the baseball bat out from underneath the counter where they kept it for emergencies. J's eyes widened.

         Hunter felt strangely calm. He advanced on the two traitors slowly, shuffling his one shoe step along. He thumped the bat one the counter for emphasis and when he spoke it was eerily calm, like the eye of a storm.

         "We here at the Liberty Diner...THUMP!...reserve the right...THUMP!... to refuse service...THUMP!...to ANYONE!!" he yelled, "GET OUT!! GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!!" He gave the bat an experimental swing. It whizzed through the air nicely.

         They got the fuck out. They pushed out the door bowling over the royal guard chauffeur and ran for the car.

         Hunter followed them all. "And don't come back! I'd rather wear the shoes of a servant than wear the shoes that make me your SLAVE!!!" he yelled. With that parting shot, he wrenched off the other shoe and threw it up in the air. He hit it hard with the bat with deadly accuracy. The shoe clocked the chauffeur in the back of the head, and knocked him out cold!

         Hunter went back into the diner. The bat fell to the floor with a clatter.

         "Honey? Are you going to be OK?" Deb asked, sounding more like her mother hen self.

         "Yeah, I think so Deb. Would you mind if we switched and you take the orders and I go in back for a while? I'll wash some dishes for a while or something," he said dully.

         "Sure hon."

         "Thanks."

         Gratefully, he went into the back, where he was blissfully out of sight of a certain stretch black limo. He went to the sink with the dishes in it and started to wash. The adrenaline started to wear off and other emotions invaded. He began to shake and tears fell, adding to the already full sink.

         He picked up a saucer and rubbed it for 10 minutes. His mind was watching a sun dappled river surrounded by a meadow filled with wildflowers that he would never see again. He rinsed it. Put it in the dish drainer. Picked up the next plate, this time a heavier, dinner plate. He rubbed it a bit.

         The soap made it slippery. It slipped out of his fingers and fell to the floor and shattered.

         Deb heard the noise and went to investigate.

         And that's where she found him, on his knees among the broken crockery, his back heaving with sobs.

         Along with the plate, he knelt surrounded by broken promises, shattered hopes, dashed dreams, and a fractured future.

         The flower within his heart withered and died.

TBC