Saturday, October 26th, 2019

“Baxter,” Rob said, “let’s get you moved into your room, and you can start to get settled.”

Once the boxes, his duffel bag, and his backpack were in his room, Vincent showed Baxter the closet. “You’ll probably notice it’s much larger than the one in the guest bedroom. This is a walk-in closet. There are drawers and shelves in addition to rods where you’ll hang clothes. There’s no dresser in your bedroom since your closet has all the space you’ll need for your clothes.”

Rob continued the tour. “In your bedroom, you have your own TV, and it’s hooked up to cable.” There’s WiFi for your laptop, and if you need it, there’s a cable hookup for the internet, too. Of course, there’s your bed, it’s queen size, your desk and two chairs, a bookcase, and the cabinet the TV is sitting on has pull-out shelves for storing things like your headphones, your laptop when you’re not using it, your PS4 game system, whatever you want to put away.”

“I don’t have a PS4, but if I get one, I’ll store it there.”

“Hmm…. Let’s see how much room there is in the cabinet,” Rob said. He opened the upper right side door and pulled out the shelf. “Looks like there’s something in here already.”

Baxter looked at the equipment on the shelf. His eyes bugged out, and he asked, “What’s… that’s a PS4?” He heard Elizabeth giggling, and then he turned and looked at Rob. “You got me a PS4? Really!?”

“Really,” Rob replied. He grinned at Baxter’s expression.

“It’s got four controllers, too,” Elizabeth said. “I helped pick it out.”

“Oh my god! Oh wow! Thank you! This is a huge surprise! I don’t know what to say! Actually, yes, I do. It’s wonderful! Thank you, thank you!”

“You said you sometimes play video games,” she said. “Then, when you were showing me around Groveland, you said you only played video games on your laptop. I figured you needed a real video game system. That way, you and I can play whenever we want to.”

“Thank you, Elizabeth.” He hugged his sister, then he hugged Rob and Vincent.

If you’d like some help unpacking, let us know,” Vincent said.

“Me, too,” Elizabeth said.

“Okay, why don’t I let Elizabeth help me unpack and put my stuff away. Is that alright?”

“Absolutely,” Rob said.

“You’re going to need some hangers,” Vincent said. “That’s something we almost forgot. I’ll bring some in for you. We have lots of extra hangers.”

“Okay, thanks,” Baxter said.

He turned to Elizabeth. “How about we unpack my boxes and stack my clothes in groups on my bed. Then I can move each group into the closet, and it’ll take less time.”

“Okay. One of the boxes says ‘Books’ and another ‘Desk’ on the sides. You should unpack those yourself and do them last. Let’s unpack your clothes first.”

That’s what they did. When they were done, everything was organized in piles of tee shirts, boxer briefs, socks, shirts, shorts, jeans, khakis, jackets, and so on, all neatly folded.

“Where are your pajamas, Baxter?” Elizabeth asked.

“I grew out of ‘em. I just wear a tee and boxer briefs to bed now.”

“I don’t see a bathrobe, either.”

“I think it’s in my duffel bag. I packed some clothes in it.” He put the duffel bag on the bed and opened it. “Yeah, here’s my bathrobe and my slippers. These are the pajamas I don’t use anymore — I’ll put them in a ‘to be donated’ pile. My shoes are at the bottom… yeah, here they are. And this plastic bag has my bathroom stuff.”

“What’s in your backpack?” Elizabeth asked.

“Mostly textbooks for the classes I had yesterday. My laptop and tablet. The chargers for them and my phone. My three-ring notebook and two spiral notebooks. Oh, yeah, and my dirty gym clothes.”

Elizabeth pinched her nose and groaned, “Ewww!” but she was grinning, too.

Baxter shook his head. “They aren’t that bad. I don’t have PE on Fridays, so they were only worn this Thursday when all we did was sit in the gym classroom and watched a ‘how to play tennis’ movie and listened to a pep talk from the tennis coach who was trying to talk us into going out for the freshman team.”

Baxter took everything out of his backpack. Elizabeth noticed when he pulled out his gym clothes that they’d been folded neatly. He tossed them in one corner of his closet. “That’ll be my dirty clothes corner.”

“You need a hamper for your dirty clothes. We all have them. You need to ask Dad or Pop to get one for you.”

He looked around. “Except for my books and what will go into my desk, that’s it,” he said.

“You don’t have a lot of clothes, at least compared to me,” she commented.

“Girls always have lots more clothes than boys, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know about that,” Elizabeth said, though she guessed that Baxter was right.

Vincent walked in with a box containing hangers and hung them on the rods in the closet. “You can sort them out and pick the ones you need,” he said. “Leave the others at the back end of one of the rods. As you get more clothes, you’ll need more hangers, too.”

“Thanks, Pop. I’m glad they weren’t in a pile on the bed all stuck together.” Baxter walked into the closet, arranged the hangers by type.

“That’s something we learned when Elizabeth moved in,” Vincent said, watching what Baxter was doing.

“That’s for sure!” Elizabeth agreed, and then she grinned. “The hooks all seemed to get stuck together when I dumped them in a big pile on my bed.”

Baxter returned to the bedroom. “The hangers are great, Pop. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Baxter. It appears that you’re a very organized person. And neat, too.”

“I am. I like everything to be organized so I can find things when I need them. When I’d visit some of my friends, before I went to Groveland, they’d have clean and dirty clothes all over their bedroom floor or shoved under their bed.” Baxter shook his head. “I’ve never been that way. I guess you’d call me a neat freak. Especially since I did the laundry at home. It was one of my chores. That reminds me, you need to tell me what my chores are going to be now that I’m living here.”

“Why don’t we talk about it during lunch? I’m sure there are some chores that Elizabeth does now that she’d like to negotiate and see if you’d be willing to take them over. Of course, that kind of negotiation is a two-way street.” He grinned and raised his eyebrows.

“Sounds good,” Baxter said. “Elizabeth reminded me of something I’ll need. It’s a dirty clothes hamper to put in my closet. Can I get one?”

“That’s something else we forgot about. We’ll have to take a trip to Target and get you the same kind that the rest of us have, except a different color. We each have a separate color. Of course, that depends on what colors they have in stock.”

“Maybe he can get him a pink one?” Elizabeth suggested. Baxter could tell she was trying to not grin.

“I vote no on that,” Baxter replied, and he grinned.

“If all they have left is pink ones, you can switch with Elizabeth for her white one,” Vincent suggested.

Baxter scrunched up his nose. “Eww! I don’t want my dirty clothes to get infected by girl cooties!” he said. He bit his tongue to hide his grin.

“Cooties! I don’t have….” She stared at Baxter. “You goof! You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you!” By then, both Baxter and Vincent were laughing.

“Pop, I’m not so sure about having this boy as my brother. Can you exchange him for a newer model?”

Vincent was still laughing, so he took a few seconds to reply. “I don’t think so. Baxter happens to be the latest model boy, and he comes with all of the optional features. You’ll just have to learn how to get him started and help steer him the way you want him to go.”

Baxter squinted and looked at Elizabeth. “I don’t think she’s old enough to even get a learner’s permit. What do you think, Pop?”

“I think I’m outta here. You two are on your own until lunch.” He walked out, chuckling to himself.

“You know I was just kidding,” Baxter said.

“Of course. And I was, too. I don’t want any other model brother than you, Baxter. You’re perfect!”

Baxter grabbed her in a hug, then grabbed her shoulders and held her at arms’ length. “And you are the perfect sister. I wouldn’t want anyone different. Period. It’s fun that we can kid around like this, too.”

“You know one of the things I really like about you?” she asked.

“What’s that?”

“You don’t seem to care that I’m black.”

“I like that you’re black. My mom really stressed that things like skin color and hair color and gender and sexuality and all of those things that seem to make us different are good things so people can remember each of us and separate us from everyone else. But what really counts is what’s here,” he tapped the left side of his chest over his heart, “and here.” Then he tapped his forehead. “What’s in a person’s heart and what’s in a person’s mind are what defines whether a person is good or not. And you, Elizabeth Choi, are one of the good people in this world. Same as our dad and our pop. Also, you’re really cute. I love the way you look.”

Elizabeth grabbed Baxter in a tight hug and held on. “I’m so lucky to have such a fantastic brother who’s also one of the good people! Now let’s get your stuff put away in your closet so we’ll be done before lunch.”

“Okay. And thanks for your help.”

Baxter picked up the stack of boxer briefs, and Elizabeth picked up the stack of plain tees. They walked into the closet.

“This drawer is wide enough for my boxer briefs and both kinds of tees,” he suggested.

“You know, Dad and Pop are going to buy you lots more clothes. You have ten drawers in this closet. Why don’t you put boxer briefs in this drawer, then all your tees in the drawer above it? Then your shorts can go in the drawer below the boxer briefs. The bottom drawer can have your socks. That way, they’re organized kind of how you’d put them on; tees first, then boxer briefs, then shorts, then socks. Then we’ll hang your jeans and khakis and shirts and jackets on hangers. You can arrange them however you want. There are four hanger rods, two for long stuff like jeans and your bathrobe and raincoat and two for short stuff like shirts and jackets.”

“I like your idea. It makes sense. It’s almost weird to have so much room to store my things. At Groveland, I only had two drawers in the dresser and a small closet for clothes on hangers, and a plastic container for my bathroom stuff. I had two drawers in the desk and two shelves in the bookcase. My roommate had the same. That’s it.”

They put his socks away, then Baxter organized his shirts, jeans, and khakis each in order of newest on the right and oldest on the left. “My old pants don’t fit anymore. I should have asked if there was someone at Groveland who’d want them.”

“You can still do that. Move the ones that don’t fit you to the hanger rod on the other side of the closet. They can be washed and folded and put in one of the boxes, and you can take them back to Groveland so they can distribute them.”

“That’s another good idea, Elizabeth. I’ll do it later because I’ll need to try some of them on. I’ll put any that don’t fit in the give-away section.”

They hung Baxter’s jackets and bathrobe. Baxter picked his gym shorts, tees, and jockstrap sets with cups, and put them in one of the empty drawers. Baxter had two pull-over sweaters, three sweatshirts, and one pair of sweat pants. He put them in another of the empty drawers.

“I think we’re done with my clothes,” he said. “I’ll put away my bag of bathroom stuff now.” He took it into the bathroom and left it on the counter to put away later.

“How about your books? How do you organize them? Elizabeth asked.”

“Well… the ones that are for school should be together by class. Since I know which books are for which classes, I can do that later. For my other books, I like to have them on the shelf alphabetically by author.” Baxter looked at the two bookcases. “Wow. Look at all those shelves. I don’t have very many books. I think they’ll all fit on one shelf except for my textbooks.

“I get most of my books for the Kindle app now. That way, I can read them on my phone, tablet, and my laptop, no matter where I am. And when I put a bookmark on one device, like my tablet, and go to a different device, like my phone, I can pick up at the bookmark right where I left off. And, my tablet weighs less than just one printed book.”

“That’s cool,” Elizabeth said. “I’m more a page-turning kind of reader, myself. I like the weight and feel and smell of a real book that’s printed on paper.”

“Are you a fast reader? I don’t mean for textbooks, but for fiction and other books you read for pleasure.”

“I can read fast, but I prefer to read and re-read a sentence or a paragraph or a chapter. I read that way because I love to write, and I want to become a writer. I want to go to the University of Iowa. They have the best writing program in the country. But it’s hard to get accepted. Anyway, reading and rereading means I can try to get into the head of the author and figure out how they write and communicate their story. For me, reading a book for pleasure is sort of like studying.”

“Do you ever read eBooks?”

“I tried it once. I installed the Kindle app on my laptop and got Pop to spring for a book I’d read about in the Chronicle book section. It was a chore for me to try to read that novel the way I like to read. So I thanked Pop, but I never used it after that. Can I assume that you’re practically married to your tablet for reading?”

“Yup. My Kindle app and I have a very intimate relationship.” Baxter grinned. “One thing is when I’m reading for pleasure, like science fiction or mysteries or other kinds of novels, I read really fast. I took the speed reading class at WCI. Not to boast much, but I was one of the fastest readers and had the best comprehension and retention in the class. So, I read fast when I read for pleasure. Not so fast when I’m studying.”

“Do you read eBooks for your classes?”

“Unfortunately, our textbooks either don’t have Kindle editions, or there are Kindle editions but they are deadly expensive. There are supplementary books for my classes I read using my Kindle app. For example, I’m taking Honors Geometry this year. I found a geometry book for the Kindle that does a lot better job of explaining some things than our textbook, and it was less than five dollars.”

“Do your teachers let you do that?”

“How could they stop me? They don’t know what I’m reading at home.”

“Hmm. That’s true. It’s also a good idea. I’ll have to remember that.”

“Since you want to be a writer, what kind of stories do you like to write?”

“You won’t tell anyone, will you? Including Vincent and Rob? Especially Vincent and Rob?”

Baxter raised his eyebrows. He thought she was about to say ‘romance stories’ or something girly like that. As soon as he had that thought, he realized it was sexist. That was not a good thing. He’d have to be more careful about what he thought and said.

In any case, it turned out that that was not what she was going to say. “I’m writing my biography. My life starting from six years old to… well, maybe it’ll be to eighteen. I’m writing it as an omniscient narrator; that means it’s written in third person, and the narrator knows everything, including things the characters — including me — don’t know. Then there’s the protagonist — that’s me — at each of my ages, and my dialogue is in first person. I’m writing in the way I’d write if I was really that age, starting at six and changing the way I speak as I get older.”

“I’m not sure what all of that means, but it sounds like it would be hard to write. I’ve never taken creative writing, so I’m going to next year. I’ll take Pop’s Media Studies and Creative Writing classes.”

“I’m taking the creative writing class at WCI this year. It’s okay, but what most of the other students write is…” she paused, then continued, “never mind.”

“I know the word you were going to say. It’s juvenile, isn’t it.”

She stared at Baxter for a moment. “Yes! You figured it out right away. That’s what I was going to say, though I was going to use a different word, ‘childish.’ I don’t want to knock the rest of the students in my class. After all, they are just eighth-graders. Of course, so am I.” She grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

“But you’re a lot smarter than the typical eighth-grader.”

She smiled. “Thanks, but… I’m not sure that’s true. It depends on how good the story I write will be. Like, how many people will want to read it?”

“If you ever want an impartial eye to read something you’ve written, let me know. What I read will be kept private between you and me.”

Elizabeth looked at Baxter. “Okay. If I’ve written something and I’m having a problem with it, maybe I’ll let you read it and tell me what you think about it. You know, if it doesn’t make sense and why you think that. Or if it’s clumsy, or if it’s repetitive, things like that. What I’d want is your honest opinion.”

“I’ll be glad to do that for you.

“Now, I want to try on the pants that I think are too small.” Baxter walked into the closet. “Too bad there isn’t a mirror inside the closet,” he said.

“The door has a mirror,” Elizabeth said. “But it’s on the outside of the closet. I see how having a mirror inside would help when you’re trying things on. But you probably won’t be doing that very often. Anyway, I think I’d better leave. You probably don’t want me watching you putting things on and taking them off. You know, seeing you almost undressed.”

“You can stay if you want. That way, you can tell me what I look like from the back and if the legs look too short and things like that. And you’ll be seeing a lot less of me than when I’m wearing my Speedos when I go swimming. I’m wearing boxer briefs. They are a lot less skimpy than Speedos.”

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. “Okay. What are you going to start with?”

“Pants.”

Baxter toed off his shoes and took off his socks, then he pulled off his jeans. He selected each pair of pants he thought might be too tight. Several were obviously too small, and he didn’t even try putting those on but piled them in one corner of the closet. There were two pairs of jeans and three pairs of khakis he had Elizabeth check out to see how they fit from the back. All five ended in the pile. Then he tried on the two short-sleeve and three long-sleeve shirts. They all fit him.

While he was trying on his clothes, he wondered about Elizabeth. When he’d asked her to stick around and help him see if his pants and shirts fit, she was quick to say she would. And after several changes she didn’t seem to have been staring at his crotch when he faced her.

“I think we’re finished,” he said. But first, I have a question, and it’s personal. Is that okay?”

“Sure. What’s your question?”

He closed his bedroom door. Elizabeth had told him that in the Choi household, that meant ‘Do Not Disturb,’ and everyone honored it.

“One of the reasons that I wanted you to stay and help me figure out which of my pants fit and which don’t is that even with a mirror, it would be tough for me to see my back view. Having you act like a tailor in a men’s clothing store was a huge help. Thanks for that.”

He hesitated for a moment, then continued. “But I’ve been showing you… umm… a view of me that most people would think isn’t appropriate for a brother to let his sister see.” He pointed to his crotch. “I don’t think most brothers and sisters would do it. But you did. And you weren’t staring at the pouch in my boxer briefs when I’ve been facing you.” Baxter grinned. “So, why did you agree to do it?”

“That’s a weird question, but one that makes sense, too,” she replied. “And I’ll answer your question, but only on one condition.”

“What’s the condition?”

“That you keep what I tell you one hundred percent private between the two of us. Never tell Dad or Pop, or anyone else, ever. Do you agree?”

“Sure, I agree 100%,” Baxter replied. “What you’re going to tell me will be absolutely private.”

Elizabeth put out her hand, then so did Baxter, and they shook hands.

“That seals the deal and,” Baxter said, “it seals my mouth, too.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Here’s my answer. Most girls — even some sisters — would kill to get a glance at a boy’s… pouch, and then they’d have dreams about the contents. I don’t care about that. Besides, I’ve already seen naked boys.”

“Really? When was that?”

“It was last year before our pool was finished. I went to a friend’s house. Becca Larimore. She and her brothers go swimming in the nude — skinny dipping. She’s my age; Kyle and Ryan were eleven. I wore my swimsuit.”

“Good for you. That sounds weird. If it was just boys or just girls, I think skinny dipping would be fun.”

“Besides being shy, there was another reason I didn’t do it. None of them had pubes, but I did. I didn’t want them staring at me down there, or even worse, asking questions.”

“Did you find looking at the boys… interesting? Strange? Weird?”

“None of those. I didn’t care. I mean, I looked, but just out of curiosity. One glance proved that I wasn’t interested.”

“So, you don’t care what a boy looks like naked?”

“Yup. That’s right.” She grinned.

“So, does that mean…” Baxter stopped and took a deep breath, “…you’re gay?”

“I think that I’m gay.”

“Does that mean you think you might be gay but haven’t made up your mind?” Baxter asked.

“For right now, I’ve made up my mind. Right now I’m interested — very interested — in girls, not boys. One reason is, if I’m messing around with girls, I can’t get pregnant. Maybe someday I’ll figure out that I’m bi. I know I’ll always like girls a lot, so I’m sure that I won’t become one-hundred percent straight.”

Baxter smiled and nodded. “So that’s why you didn’t stare at me. That makes sense because that’s the way I am, I’m gay. I don’t care what a girl looks like naked. I’ll always be gay. I really like boys… like-like them, if you know what I mean.”

Elizabeth stared at Baxter. “You’re my brother. What we’ve just been talking about and agreed to keep private means that we can ask each other all kinds of questions, and tell each other lots of things, and those will be private, too.”

“You mean questions and things about sex,” Baxter said.

“Exactly. And some other things, too.”

“Okay, I have one of those questions for you. When did you know for sure that you’re gay?” Baxter asked.

“It was Valentine’s Day. Maria and I rode the bus home. She asked if I could go to her house for a while. I said, I could. When we got there, her mother wasn’t home yet; she works. Maria said she wanted to change out of her school clothes. I thought she’d go into the bathroom, but she got undressed right there. She took everything off. I really liked looking at her. I mean, I’ve always loved looking at her, like in the gym when we’d shower and get dressed. But this was the first time it was just the two of us. Together. And alone.

“She asked me if I thought she looked alright, like was she too fat or too skinny. I said she looked perfect to me, which is true. She seemed really nervous, and then she asked me if I would get undressed too, so she could look at me. So I got undressed. She said she thought I looked perfect, even better than when she’d see me in the showers because she could stare at me and not be caught doing it.

“She asked if she could give me a kiss for Valentine’s Day. I said, yes. And we started… well, you can figure out where it went from there. I really liked doing things with her.”

“I think that’s cool. In my opinion, what you’re doing is just fine. It’s all a learning experience. It’s the reality that backs up the sex education classes at school.”

“So, Baxter, when was the first time you figured out that you’re gay?” Elizabeth asked.

“It was when I was eleven years old, and we had to start taking showers in seventh grade PE. I realized that I really liked looking at naked boys. And seeing all of the differences between them, the ones who weren’t into puberty yet all the way through to the ones who were very much into it. Of course, I had to be careful whenever I was looking. It’s not a good thing to stare at naked boys in the showers in middle school. Every boy does it, but you have to be surreptitious when you do.”

Elizabeth looked at him and giggled. “Syrup-what?” she asked.

“Surreptitious.” He pronounced the word, then spelled it, then pronounced it again so Elizabeth could look it up and maybe even use it in her writing. “It means doing something cautiously or secretly.”

“I will definitely remember that word!” she said.

Baxter continued, “When you’re in the showers at school, it means looking but doing it surreptitiously so you wouldn’t be caught looking. And just taking a quick glance means it would be less likely that you’d get a boner. That’s like the worst thing that could happen to you.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, and she laughed.

 “There  are two things, though,” she said. You and I are very unlikely to be in the same shower at the same time at school. And I’ll never get a boner!” She blushed and burst out laughing, and so did Baxter.”

She looked at him then asked, “Have you ever done any… messing around? I’ve read that most boys do.”

“Amazing as it might sound, the answer to that question is no. I don’t have a clue how to figure out which boys would be interested. I hope that will change, someday.”

“I wish you luck!”

Baxter and Elizabeth both chuckled.

Baxter put on the jeans, socks, and shoes that he’d been wearing, then Elizabeth hugged him.

“I am so glad you’re my brother,” she said.

“And I am so glad you’re my sister.”

Baxter picked up the clothes to be taken to Groveland and put them in one of the empty boxes and wrote ‘Groveland’ on the top with a felt-tip marker. He picked up the pile to be donated and put them in another empty box and wrote ‘Donate’ on the top.

“I’ll wash these separately and fold them to take to Groveland, and I’ll wash the ones for the thrift store when I have a chance. How about you show me how to use the washer and dryer?”

“Okay.” He carried the Groveland box and followed Elizabeth to the laundry room. Once he’d loaded the Groveland clothes in the washer, she took about one minute to explain how much detergent and fabric softener to use for different size loads, how to set the controls, and how to set and use the dryer.

“Now I’m starting to get hungry,” Baxter said. “Let’s check and see if Dad or Pop is ready to fix lunch. And if not, I’ll make lunch for us — with your help.”

“Yeah, you said that you’ve done a lot of cooking. That’s so cool. I’m not sure I even know how to boil water.”

“Come on, I know that you know how to boil water. I’ll show you some other, more useful things. Cooking is easy once you think about what you’re doing and why. Like, making a toasted cheese sandwich, or an omelet, or cooking bacon in the microwave. Which, by the way, is lots easier and lots faster and lots less messy than cooking it in a frying pan.”

Elizabeth grabbed Baxter’s hand and pulled him toward the door. “Let’s see what’s going on in the kitchen. Maybe lunch is ready, and we won’t have to cook anything.”