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The Rainbow Dynasty, Chapter 4
Chapter 4: The Best Part.
“Was that blood on your shirt…”
Its morning. The Palace windows are shut but my father adjusts his shirt before letting the light in. If there was blood it”s hidden now.
“Of course not just forgot to have the staff wash it from earlier in the week. No time now…”.
“One more night out with Dom?”
“Dom needs to…show me the ropes,” he explains.
My father”s eyes look heavy. I wonder if he”d been out there all night. I”m not surprised he”s so quick to jump into the family business. That”s one thing about the Castles. We look out for our own. And my Uncle Faison would make sure financially we were taken care of in New Jerusalem including a job. I just wonder what that job entails.
That wasn”t my problem with Uncle Faison.
My mother walks in, joins my father and has small talk. That”s when I address them.
“I wanted both of you to be here before I spoke,” I tell everyone, “Truth is I don”t know how to say this so I”ll just do it. Well uh. Listen. Mom, Uncle Faison wants me to write a speech for him. He wants me to write a speech for his coronation to be king.”
Nothing. Silence.
“A speech, he had to have been joking,” Mom states.
The chef brings out our food. Breakfast steaks and mimosas. Some amazing steaks by the way as well. Not anything regular. I look over at my mother. She should have known I wouldn”t joke about something like this.
“He wants me to write a speech. He”s going to pay me some ridiculous amount.”
“How much?” Mom asks.
“500 thousand dollars. I think he just wanted to give me the money. That”s what Dom says.”
I think my brother almost chokes when he walks in and he hears how much money my uncle offered to pay for the speech. I text my friends right after and I think that everyone just had a collective mind fuck happen at the same time.
Everyone seemed to care about the money but me…
“Don”t do it,” Caesar says, “You write Uncle Faison”s speech and you are going to forever be that one guy who wrote the speech for a dictator.”
“ENOUGH! EVERYONE OUT!”
This comes from my dad. He scares the fuck out of us this time. Caesar and I both try to jump to our feet but he is faster. He gets to us first and pushes us down. He isn”t referring to us. He”s referring to the staff.
As soon as everyone leaves I look at my father. He has this hard look on his face. This really hard look. I”d never seen him look like this before.
“We are not in New York,” Dad says, “I don”t care what the fuck you guys did back there, but here you be careful what you say in front of people.”
He”s referring to the staff. I get antsy as he talks.
“Dad you”re making me nervous.”
“Well maybe it”s about time you get nervous,” Dad explains, “Maybe it”s time you realize there was a price to pay for lifestyle. There was a price to pay for you being so `laid back”, `chill” and `relaxed”. You never needed for anything Io. Now it”s time to pay the piper.”
Caesar seems irked, “Don”t talk to my little brother like that.”
“I”m telling him the truth.”
“You”re threatening him,” Caesar says standing up, “Who the fuck is the Piper dad? Is it you…or is it Uncle Faison?”
Caesar storms away from the table like he normally does. He”s made his point. He”s made it loud and clear. All the glitz and glamour hasn”t changed his mind about New Jerusalem. There was one person who hated it here even more than me.
My father”s voice gets low and dark.
“Write the speech,” my father tells me, “You have to. It”s who you are. You”re Io Castle and after his speech you”ll be Prince Io Castle.”
~
They are all sitting around watching me with a pen in my hand in the middle of the day as though I was about to spin gold. It”s been two days all I had was writer”s block. I hadn”t been able to get past the lines of `Hello, world…”
“No pressure, but your uncle is about to cause an International incident. The entire world is going to be talking about him declaring himself king. And every word is going to be thought about over and over again. Maybe say something more uplifting than Hello World…”
Apple Sky taps on the paper. It”s her desperate way of getting me to focus. I swear I think about wanting to focus but I can”t. Everything in my mind keeps distracting me.
Rich and Paulo are there as well.
“Maybe talk about dreams. All these leaders talk about dreams. Say it enough and they”ll get the point,” Paulo states.
Apple Sky shrugs, “Actually not an awful idea.”
“You shouldn”t write it at all,” Rich states.
I look over at Rich.
“My brother said the same thing.”
Rich look over at me, “Have you been paying attention, Io? Really paying attention. Who paid for all this? There are some powerful hands in New Jerusalem. It shouldn”t have taken off like this.”
“Gay people can”t have nice things?” Paulo asks.
“That”s not what I”m saying and you know it,” Rich argues.
He looks over at me. I look back at him. I get what he”s saying. I get him feeling uneasy here. I did, but I wasn”t sure if that hurt.
“Maybe it”s us,” I answer, “Maybe we are stuck in the old ways. This is the future, Rich. Who cares what my Uncle calls himself as long as he gets the job done.”
I get up and wave to the others making some excuse about having to really focus on my writing. It was only half false. I”d been spending too much time with them enjoying the views of New Jerusalem. A park had been built out in the city. It had an artificial lake and some beautiful scenes. The weather here was regulated through the use of futuristic technology that I couldn”t understand. No bugs either. That”s the best part.
I”m making my way towards one of the floating pods. The pods had the ability to lift off the ground and transport you somewhere else. At this point majority of people travelled through the pods or cars while on certain streets but word out there was that flying cars were on their way.
Rich stops me before I get to the pod.
“What”s going on with us?” he asks.
“What?”
“You been treating me weird.”
It”s been a week. We”d hung out but never alone. The moment that we had back in New York was kind of buried under the reality of New Jerusalem.
“I”m sorry,” I assure him, “It wasn”t intentional, but were you even really ever truly gay?”
There is a real heavy pause.
“I…”
“That”s the problem Rich,” I tell him, “I just think I don”t want to be an experiment. Not anymore.”
“What changed?”
I shrug, “Ionno. Guess I”m a prince now…”
I walk away and see him roll his eyes. I”m serious though. The truth is I had things I had to do including writing the most important speech of a generation.
~
I get to the Premium floors when my friends leave. They were the areas of the Rainbow Rooms that were restricted for the President and his immediate family. I”m irritated when of course I”m stopped. What is just one person ends up being 10 people with guns all ready to take me down for even entering an area of the palace unrestricted.
“I just want to see my cousin Dom.”
“Dom is busy with your father…”
“They don”t want to be interrupted.”
I am irritated when I hear some footsteps walking over. I stop and turn and immediately see Druscilla. Druscilla was my cousin, Dom”s sister. She was quite the beauty. It”s the only way to describe her. She had Dona”s tanned dark skin but hers was more gently heated toast than chocolate. Her eyelashes were velvety, her hair was ebony black, her skin as shiny as gloss and lips as sweet as syrup.
She has on a skin tight dress and approaches washing away the strands of hair from her face in a dramatic pause.
“My cousin Io has access to everything,” she tells the staff, “Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes Princess Druscilla.”
I watch as the men look at me and then look at Druscilla. They didn”t seem to want to have those kind of problems. I turn and look at Dru. She was still the IT girl. Nothing much has changed. Even back then I was intimidated when I spoke with her. It wasn”t like she wasn”t nice. That was the thing. Dru was pretty nice.
Druscilla just wasn”t the type of person you had a deep conversation with. And on the regular occasion, no conversation was also good with me.
“Princess?” I ask, “Already.”
I don”t hug Druscilla. It”s never really been her thing. She shows affection only when she”s fucking. I know this because she literally told me. The girl literally wears sunglasses almost everywhere…even in doors. She says she has sensitive eyes but I always thought it was because she didn”t want her eyes to give away how high she was.
“I”ve been a princess since I was born,” Druscilla explains, “Now Daddy is just making it official. Are you coping, kocaeli escort Io?”
Coping. Strange word.
“It”s amazing.”
She smiles. It”s patronizing. As though she was speaking to a child. Then she gives me a pleasant enough smirk. Enough to try to seem casual but not enough to make this not awkward deep inside.
“Good, listen, word of advice, cousin,” she states grabbing onto my arm, “Just because you are a Castle and you CAN go anywhere you want, doesn”t mean you should. You probably don”t want to see what the boys are up to.”
“I”m one of the boys.”
She laughs giggling like a school girl, “Oh are you. Ok then cousin. Right this way”
She opens the door. Down a long dark hallway with a lot of shadows is a room. It seems centered as though it was a room with no windows. I see the light on and watch it flicker. Then comes this sound of someone in pain. There comes a sound of panic from the hallway.
What were Dom and my father doing? And to who?
She closes the door when I don”t walk in, “Didn”t think so. You head that way…there”s going to be a surprise for you. Down those steps past the royal dungeons.”
She winks at me and I have no idea what she”s talking about but I”m in a hurry to get away from Druscilla. She waves to me as I leave judging me probably the entire time. Probably as soon as I”m out of site whatever fake smile she sewed onto her face evaporates.
When I walk downstairs I hear the sounds of moaning.
Deep moans. This castle had many deep sounds it seemed like. Not like before though. Not sounds of pain. Sounds of pleasure.
“It”s a sex party…”
I turn into the darkness. I hadn”t realized until now but there were cells in the darkest areas where I am. As I turn I see two guards behind a glass. They seem to be separate from the area I am in. One of them nods to me as though acknowledging my presence. I wonder if they know who I am. I”m not moved to stay by the guards though or even speak.
I”m distracted. It”s the person talking to me.
“You”re the only one down here Kaiser?” I ask.
Kaiser Cast was locked up. He arranged his body behind his cell as I walk up.
“Me and the rich socialites fucking servants down in the King”s real dungeon room,” he laughs, “It”s all a joke. They just want me down here so the world won”t see he has his own nephew in a fucking cage.”
Kaiser has on no shirt. He”s taken it off and placed it besides him. My face flushes when I see the rock hard abs, defined chest and accentuated shoulders. Then there are the traces of pubic hair. I clam up and try to turn away from him so he won”t think I”m gawking.
“You tried to kill me.”
“It”s war,” he explains, “Stop taking it personal.”
I”m so confused. Even the way he”s talking to me was strange. There was so much anger. Vitriol almost. I did nothing to him and he tried to kill me. And now he”s upset. As though this was some big plot�-AGAINST him.
“I”m not at war with anyone,” I state, “I am just here. I have no idea what”s going on here. I have no power…”
“I see that now,” he explains, “But I didn”t know that. Growing up, Dad made me believe that Uncle Faison would turn every Castle against us.”
“Whatever everyone else knows, I don”t. My parents stayed out of a lot of that kind of shit,” I explain.
“Then you”re not my enemy.”
“I”ve been trying to tell you that.”
“Then release me.”
I think about it. The guy was dangerous. Very dangerous. I shouldn”t have trusted him. I couldn”t trust him.
“Where is Uncle Seneca?” I ask.
“He left me,” he explains, “Listen. Everything they”ve been telling you is a lie. Faison is appointing himself king…or wait. You know.”
I stay quiet. I”m not here to discuss my uncle.
“I”m not into politics.”
“You have no choice but to be. Think about it. Our crazy Uncle does something so stupid we are fucked. People aren”t going to like that. And with all the human rights violations and tensions with America is going to get worse. This country is going to turn into one big ass shit show. Release me. We can both get out of here.”
“And go where, join your father and the resistance?”
He pauses.
“You know?”
“I looked it up. Last night. Your father ran against Uncle Faison. He”s lost. That”s why you”re mad. That”s why you decide to kill me?”
“You have no idea what the fuck you”re talking about. Uncle Faison murdered my mother in cold blood!”
“What?”
“My mother was a reporter. She found out that my uncle stole the election from my father. The story never came out. She was murdered under orders of our dear uncle.”
I”m shocked. Really shocked. I knew the story. I didn”t know his mother was the reporter that was talked about. I take a deep breathing seeing him tear up at that moment. I wasn”t sure if what he was saying was the truth but from his reaction I could see that he believed it to be the truth.
“I don”t know what”s happening with Uncle Faison,” I state, “But I can ask. I can find out.”
He laughs, “You have no idea where you are. You”re out of your fucking depths here, cousin. Just release me and…”
“I can”t…”
I try to pull away and then I feel him grab me through the gate. He pulls me into him hard my back up against the cage. I nearly lose consciousness. I wake up to him digging in my pocket and finding something that he uses to release the lock. I”m so out of it that I don”t realize what is happening until I”m being marched down the hallway with Kaiser standing behind my back.
“You feel that thing behind you?”
“Yes?”
“Well I”m not happy to see you cous,” he states, “That there is a gun.”
He”d knocked me out and got a gun. I don”t know how. It didn”t matter now to me either.
“You going to try to kill me again?” I ask.
So much for family.
He shakes his head, “No of course not. I do believe you”re ignorant. A fucking idiot as a matter of fact…”
“You piece of—-“
He hits the barrel of the gun up against my back, “Watch your mouth cousin. Take me to your room. I need a second to think of the next step…”
~
Getting up to my room actually happens without a hitch. Most of the staff are unaware of who Kaiser is actually. He hasn”t grown up in this palace. It”s not like they would know who he was otherwise. They don”t question it. Maybe they think he is a friend or some new staff the new Castle Boy has with him. Whatever they think, it”s easy to get to my room.
Once in my room he”s pacing back and forth. Back and forth.
“You can”t get out of the palace,” I assure him, “They have this place lit up like a fucking prison…”
He is looking out of the window. As far as he can see there are guards. Welcome to the Faisonian Palace.
“Shut up OK?”
“You shut up.”
“What part of I”m a fucking crazy motherfucker that will kill you don”t you understand,” he asks me, “If you don”t think I”m crazy ask Dom.”
He keeps walking back and forth. He wants me to believe he”s crazy. He goes out of his way to even say random things under his breath as though that would freak me out. It doesn”t. I should think he”s some crazy lunatic. I don”t though.
The whole time I”m staring at his butt. He doesn”t notice it but his pants are sagging a bit. They go below his waist showing off his curved delicious body.
“We can figure this out together,” I explain to him, “Kaiser sit down. I want to talk. I want to fix the issues. And there are issues. I know you went through conversion therapy.”
“They told you that?”
“I get it. it”s a hard world out there.”
“I can”t believe they told you that,” Kaiser explains, “The conversion therapy was a mistake. My father apologized for it. That is not the reason he”s not a part of the family any longer.”
“Whatever the reason, we can figure it out peacefully.”
“FUCK PEACE!” he bangs his hand.
Just that moment he drops something. I bend down and look at it. I pick up whatever it is he drops.
“A carnation…”
“It was my mother”s favorite flower,” he explains, “My mother was wearing this carnation when he raped her. Do you know where the name carnation came from? Carnation is actually a corruption of the word coronation, perhaps because the flowers toothed petals resembled crowns. The root of the name is caro. Meaning flesh. Like Carnage. It”s a reminder that the castles will bring carnage to this generation. I promised to stop this before it goes too far.”
“You into language.”
He shrugs, “More like the poetry behind words. Kind of like your Root poem.”
Think tank. I remember I wrote the poem a while ago. I was maybe 13.
“You know my root poem?”
He nods, “
You ask me what the password is I”m pressing
As though my life is a crossword that your guessing
So I”ll put my thoughts in the ground, words all around
Yet every word from that mound made the wrong sound
And through all that I seek, the word I want to speak
But all I can do is squeak because I have no technique
When the roots are strong, why fear the breeze
I act so cool on the outside, but I fear the heat
You leave me out in the cold, I prefer the heat
Don”t make me work for love, I prefer the ease
And all those things may go unheard
Until I find the proper word…”
“Wow.”
“I was so proud when I read your work,” he says, “I”m a huge fan…”
He seemed unsure. Almost nice as though forgetting the anger in a moment.
He wanted to destroy the Castle name. His own family name, from within. I look down at the carnation, pick it up. The root word of the carnation was Caro. I know the word. How many of these does he keep on him? How often does he pick them?
“Caro also can mean carnal. Caro means flesh. Pink flesh.”
“Does it? Didn”t know that. You look at things in a nice way. I like that about you,” he explains.
We have a second there. A second where I think what if. What if our fathers got along. What if we weren”t related to Faison?
Just at that moment the doors open. As soon as the doors swing open it”s clear that he”s been caught. There are 20 fucking guards all around. And they all have guards. More and more gunmen walk into the room. Behind them I can see my Uncle himself has come to the scene.
I”m gathered up by Kaiser. He puts me in his lap. He has the weapon still near me. He”s breathing heavy. I can feel his chest expanding heavily. He”s trying to make sure he is composed.
“Kaiser…Kaiser…I know you”re upset…but you”re still my nephew,” Uncle Faison calls from the next room.
I wished they got someone else. There was something about Faison”s voice that didn”t quite seem soothing. There was a harshness that came over with his words. One that I hadn”t noticed with others.
“Bullshit. You only care about your fucking dynasty. Well I have a member of your fucking dynasty here with me now,” Kaiser assures him.
“He”s not going to do it!” I scream out, “Put your guns away.”
I”m not just trying to protect me but Kaiser as well. This was a family dilemma that was getting way out of hand.
Kaiser chokes me, “Stop. Dammit �-Io. Shut up. Come here. Talk low. I don”t want to do it. I don”t want to fucking do it.”
He won”t. I know.
“I HAVE DEMANDS!” he explains.
“What demands?” Faison asks, “Anything you want we”ll give you.”
“My dad. He wants money for me and him to get out of the country. You don”t follow us. You leave us alone.”
“You know I can”t do that. You”re Castles.”
“We won”t talk to the press about you. If that”s what you are worried about. I swear to God Faison,” he explains, “We won”t say what you did to my mother.”
Faizon pauses.
“I didn”t do anything to your mother.”
I”m unsure of what is going on but I know it”s getting hot when I hear a growl from the back of his throat.
I try to get them to listen again but I get blown off.
“What do you want?” I ignore everyone and turn to Kaiser.
“I just want to be able to leave New Jerusalem,” Kaiser states.
All that tough talk earlier about fighting against the Castle. It was bullshit. Right now I see this boy who is desperate to figure a way out and I want to help him.
“We can arrange a helicopter,” I state, “Right? Uncle Faison?”
Faison nodded, “Yeah…”
Faison was confused on where I was going with this but fuck Uncle Faison right now. I had to make sure neither me nor Kaiser ended up dead.
“Good a helicopter to take you to any location. You can rendezvous with your father.”
“I”m not saying where he is…”
“Just tell me. The more they realize what you really want the better.”
Hed tried to get his revenge on Faison. He failed. It was fucking over. I almost watch as he realizes it and realizes there”s not any other way outside this room and no way to get out in good condition without me.
“At Red Julie”s Inn south of San Juan.”
I look over at Kaiser. He looks back at me. We don”t have to talk. For that moment there was a level of trust. He puts the weapon down. He puts his gun down.
“Ok…he”s giving up OK!” I call out, “We going to get his helicopter…”
“Of course we are,” Uncle Faison states, “Dominick…get him the radio…go…give him the walkie talkie with his helicopter.”
Uncle Faison signals over his son who walks into the room. I look over at Dom. Sure enough he had a walkie talkie in his hand. It puts me at ease knowing that Uncle Faison was actually willing to let me negotiate a little bit.
“You OK?” Dom asks me.
“Sure. Thanks for coming here and doing this Dom. I think we can all fix this relationship with—-“
Dom ignores me and screams out to Uncle Faison, “Io”s OK.”
“The Kid has a gun?”
Dom looks at Kaiser and the gun he dropped at his feet. He doesn”t reach for it though. He points instead.
“Gun?” Dom asks pointing to it.
“Helicopter?” Kaiser doesn”t move.
Dom doesn”t like that. He looks at the gun again slower this time. Kaiser makes no move to hand it to him. Dom tenses up. Fuck…
Dom looks over at me, “Io step back.”
I”m confused, “Why the hell do I need to step back, Dom? What the hell is about to happen? I just want Kaiser to get his FUCKING helicopter, Dom? Just give him the fucking radio.”
“That”s what I”m going to do,” Dom states.
“Oh fuck you, that”s not what you”re going to do,” I roll my eyes at my cousin.
I couldn”t fucking believe he would lie straight to my face. Dom was such a liar. Like he lied so easily and it was sickening. Over the years I”d learn to figure out when Dom was lying. It worked 60 percent of the time. This was definitely one of those times he was fucking lying. And it was pissing me off.
If everyone would cool the fuck down and CHILL OUT, we could at least have a better understanding of one another.
“It”s OK, Io,” Kaiser states, “Take that step back.”
He had to be smart enough to know Dom was gonna try something.
“Kaiser, he”s like trained in a million fuckin techniques of hurting of people in crazy ways. His dad made him learn self defense. Remember all those headlocks he used to put us in?”
Dom clears his throat, “Whose side are you on?”
“My side, no one”s listening to me.”
“DAD!” Dom screams out.
Seconds later we realize that the talented Faison Castle has somehow managed to attain a fucking blow horn speaker. From what I see it”s almost solid gold. Fucking Faison Castle has a fucking gold blowhorn! What the fuck!
“Take that step back, Io,” Kaiser repeats.
“It”s not me. Whatever is about to go down, it”s not me,” I assure him, “I”m lowkey like really trying to be cool with you.”
“WHAT?!” the booming voice of Faison over the speaker echoes.
Dom looks at me and hisses, “Like they are here basically fucking each other. I swear to fucking god Io is selling us out for the fucking weeds of the family tree.”
Dom keeps going on and on. I stop listening. I stop listening because I hear people. Dom is so sour that he doesn”t hear people. It must be an open window somewhere. I”m not sure where they are coming from but I know they are coming.
The Paps had found a way into the palace.
“The Paps…” I whisper.
“What the fuck are you saying?” Dom asks.
“Don”t fucking talk to him like that,” Kaiser interrupts.
“I can talk to him how I want. That”s my fucking cousin.”
“That”s my cousin too.”
“SHHH!” I hush.
That”s when I hear Faison on the loud speaker, “What”s happening!?”
Oh fuck. Oh fuck.
“Shut him up,” I whisper to Dom, “I hear Paps coming through the walls.”
“What?”
“SHUT YOUR FUCKING DAD UP!” I scream.
Too late.
Faison gets on the speaker and says out loud, “Did I hear you said that my nephew Io and my other estranged nephew Kaiser have been having a romantic affair?”
I”ve thought my Uncle was scary at times. Unpredictable to say the least. What I didn”t ever realize until now was that perhaps my uncle had a little bit more going on. Perhaps we never checked into all the times he did some random gestures. The fact that he is on a loud speaker when he doesn”t have to be and exclaiming to the world something so scandalous was ridiculous. Even if the paps weren”t around the corner there were almost hundreds of staff that could have leaked this to the press.
It was a complete shit show.
“You got to be fucking kidding me,” I fall to the gölcük escort ground.
At this point I give up. Seconds later we hear security trying to keep the paps off. At this point everyone looks defeated. They probably had video recording of my uncle saying what he says about Kaiser and me.
Once again the Castles were going to take a major L.
Faison is clearly annoyed. He walks into the room, points at his son, “Done with the kid. Get your cousin and lets get the FUCK out of here, Dom. NOW!”
I keep hearing his words. Did he know what he just said to the press about me? Did he realize?
Dom looks over at Kaiser. Kaiser looks at Dom. I”m on the floor at this point. Far away enough for them to do whatever the hell they wanted to do to begin with.
“Guess you guys can”t put me back in a fucking dungeon again huh?”
Dom looks anxious because of the press, “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.”
Faison is on the phone with his publicist trying to fix this situation already. He puts whoever on hold and looks at Dom, “What are you waiting for Dom? You want to be on Saturday Night Live skit or something? Finish this. DONE HIM!”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Kaiser asks me.
I shrug, “I don”t know.”
We find out though in the next minute what Faison is asking of Dom when Dom reaches around to Kaiser and performs this move that shocks the fuck out of me. He manages to get Kaiser into a hold. Kaiser starts wailing on him. And I mean WAILING! Anyone else would have fallen into a mild coma by now but somehow Dom has just taken the pain somewhere else. Must be the weird secret trainings he did in Budapest.
All I know is that he squeezes the shit out of Kaiser. The last thing I remember Kaiser doing is looking at me as I mouth the words “Sorry.”
Kaiser is knocked out.
Let”s just say Dom wasn”t really the kind of person you wanted to fuck with physically. He scared the fuck out of me.
“That was fucked up Dom,” I state, “That was our cousin.”
“He”s an enemy. Jesus, Io. He tried to kill you, remember? Matter of fact… stop. Can you please just give me a minute. I have so much to do. And where”s dad”s speech?
“I”m working on it.”
“Great. Go do that. Go do that instead of causing hostage situations!”
I walk off pissed at how he”s talking to me. At this point I”ve cause another incident that would get news coverage. It wasn”t like I was the one who caused the politics behind this. This wasn”t even about me.
People would think I was sleeping with Kaiser!
If I wanted to make this go away I”d have do it with the speech. This needed to be the biggest distraction.
And somewhere in my anger I find the perfect words.
The perfect coronation.
~
I”m front row. What”s expected is that Dom is right next to me, followed by Druscilla and Caesar. On the other side is when it gets strange though. On my other side is none other than Kaiser.
Yes. Kaiser.
Sure, there is a sniper with a red dot below his neck threatening to shoot if Kaiser does so much as wiggle too much. It didn”t matter though. He was there. It was a step in the right direction.
“How are you feeling?”
“I”m feeling like an idiot,” he tells me, “I trusted you.”
“It wasn”t my fault.”
“No. It was mine. Like an idiot I told you exactly where to find my father. They have him. He looked at me just a minute ago. Uncle Faison. He smiled. I knew then that he HAS MY DAD!”
“Shhh…” I whisper.
I can”t say much to him. I can”t say much right now. I know he”s in the worst position. So instead of talking i just stroke his leg. He calms down. Surprisingly I notice his fingers casually fitting between my fingers. I”m the one who closes it.
He”s holding my hands.
I”m not the only one that notices. I turn and see Dom. He adjusts in his seat. I wonder if he knows the kill word for the sniper. I wonder if this is going to make him use it. For a second I swear I see him open his mouth. He just clears his throat though into whatever microphone I assumed he was speaking into and stops.
That”s when Uncle Faison walks onto the stage. And we have a good view. We are the first family after all.
And out of my Uncle”s mouth, I hear my speech,
“Hello everyone,
Thank you for coming. Thank you for joining me. This is my opening speech. I wanted to note that I covered the stage with carnations. Yes, Carnations! Because carnations are a beautiful flower. A carnal. Flower with carnal energy. That”s the energy and desire I want to bring to New Jerusalem.”
There”s clapping. At that moment I notice Kaiser looking over at me.
“You didn”t.”
“I just got started.”
He”s realized I dedicated the speech to his mother. I wondered however if he could bet whether or not our beloved Uncle was dumb enough to say the next things that came out of his mouth.
“I will see the success of New Jerusalem. Even if it”s not really me that makes it succeed. With love! With passion! Even if I have to speak the words of others. Even if I have to reveal that these words are the TRUTH of another”s mind.”
At this point I notice a few people are tearing up in the crowd. The more he talks the more I see people getting emotional.
“This is beautiful,” I hear Druscilla state getting up waving about with a face full of tears. She”s dramatic as always. The only thing more dramatic than Druscilla is her father Octavius Castle. They are drawing in the cameras. That”s for sure. And it”s a perfect highlight that my Uncle has moved his husband and daughter to both stand.
I know by now Octavius and Druscilla are competing for attention as always. Even back in the day Druscilla always won. She had youth, alcohol and lack of shame on her side. But don”t always count Octavius out. The man was still handsome, in his prime and gave Dru a run for her money.
“Man you”re kind of amazing,” I hear Kaiser whisper behind my ear. His lips touch my ear..
“He is,” Dom says sighing, “The best writer in the world.”
Kaiser and I can”t hold off our laughs. I didn”t want to laugh at Dom. I loved him. It”s just sometimes he played so much by the rules he didn”t see what was right in front of him.
All of this was one big message to Kaiser.
” I promise success,” President Faison states, ” And I promise that little boy. I”m looking into the camera. You. That little boy with the red carnation. I will bring justice to whoever is responsible for killing your mother. Even if it”s family. Even if it”s me!”
At this point Kaiser turns to me.
I”m confused, “What? Why are you looking at me. You”re missing the best part…”
“You wrote that…?” he asks.
That”s when I notice something weird. Kaiser has a tear underneath his eye. He”s tearing up. I feel at that moment that I”ve touched him in a way that I never really understood. I can feel the warmth literally vaporize off of him. It heats me. And it warms me into tears myself. Here we are crying.
And I”m afraid we miss the rest of the speech.
But because everyone gets up shocked and appalled at what Faison states they actually miss the best part.
“For that little boy with the red carnation, I am announcing that New Jerusalem will now be the KINGDOM of The Agenda. New Jerusalem will be the seat of the kingdom. It”s King…”
He doesn”t need to say it. The crowd breaks out.
The audience all in one.
All one mobile gay Bad ass voice chanting: FAISON! FAISON! FAISON! FAISON!
And no matter if you believed in Faison or his politics. Maybe you even hated him. In that moment you felt him. You felt what his followers felt. You felt that drive. That reason. That gay ass fucking reason. For so many people race was just a part of them. Something they came to acknowledge and to accept. You can”t hide your race.
But this other weight on their shoulders, this other weight weighed them down. It victimized them.
And finally there was a representation of this struggle.
There was a united word behind a gay movement.
But that”s when I notice something else. The chants of Faison were replaced by other chants.
The chants of Castle. People were looking up at us. They didn”t want a king. They wanted a Dynasty. We should have always known. The people were speaking. They followed famous families for so long. They”d given idiots who belonged in clown cars the title of president. They always wanted the show.
The drama!
And we were about to give it to them.
“CASTLE! CASTLE! CASTLE!”
“I can control him,” I whisper to Kaiser, “Just please, calm down. Play nice. I can control this fucking idiot and have him wrapped around our finger. I can get revenge for your mother…by just writing his speeches.”
Kaiser exhales. His eyes lighting up.
“I love you.”
I”m shocked when he says it. I don”t know why he does it. But before I know it we have the best moment.
And that is Kaiser kissing me while everyone rises to chant Castle…
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