Karma is a word of ancient origin meaning action or activity and its subsequent results. It is commonly understood as a term to denote the entire cycle of cause and effect as described in the philosophies of a number of Dharmic Religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Chapter 2 Brian looked over at the two tables where Justin sat with Ted and Blake, Cynthia and Andrew and the rest of his staff. They were all smiling up at him as he stood behind the podium, waiting for the thunderous applause to end. He was dressed in a midnight blue Armani tuxedo, every hair on his head in perfect place; he had never looked so good. He held the coveted Clio award in his hand. Smiling broadly, he raised the statue towards the audience then turned to his people at the two tables below and toasted them. “I want to thank all of you for this honor, for the recognition of our ideas and all our efforts. This award means a lot to me but it really belongs to all the people who work for Kinnetik and who have made the company what it is. I want to publicly thank them for all their hard work, most especially my assistant, Cynthia, who has put up with my crap all these years.” The audience laughed and waited for him to continue. “I also want to thank my accountant, financial adviser and friend, Ted Schmidt, whose keen analytical mind has seen us through many bumps in the road.” He raised the trophy at Ted and toasted him with a big smile. “To the men and women in my creative art department who have been able to understand my thought processes and turn them into reality, I thank you. My account executives; guys, you are the best in the business and you make my job so much easier!” “To Brown Athletics, for entrusting a small, unknown ad agency with their business, for continuing to support us and stand by our ideas, no matter how radical or out of the box. For taking a chance with Kinnetik, thank you.” The audience applauded loudly then became silent as they waited for Brian to continue. Most of the people in the audience had known him for years and knew that whatever came out of his mouth was usually worth listening to. Brian looked out into the crowd and then he turned and looked down at Justin. He wanted to say something special to him, but he wasn’t about to get all lesbionic in front of this crowd. Finally he simple said, “And lastly, but most importantly, to my partner and my best friend, who believed in me and Kinnetik long before it was even an idea… Justin, this is for you.” Justin smiled up at Brian, trying unsuccessfully to hold back the tears that rolled down his cheeks. He grabbed Cynthia’s hand and squeezed it. “I knew I would lose my shit tonight, Cynthia, queening in front of all these people,” he whispered. “Honey,” Cynthia said, her eyes filled with tears too, “look around you. Everyone at this table is.” Justin laughed when he saw she was right. Ted was wiping his eyes with a handkerchief, something that most people never even knew existed but that Ted still carried. The rest of Brian’s staff were trying real hard not to cry but most of them were unsuccessful. The clapping continued long after Brian had left the stage, a true acknowledgment from his peers that he was at the top of his game. Brian got to the table and everyone crowded around him wanting to shake his hand and wish him well. Justin sat and waited, knowing that he would come to him in his own good time. “Hey,” Brian said when he finally broke away from the crowd, and slipped into the chair beside him. “You made me fucking cry in front of all these people. That was really a nice speech, Brian,” Justin said. “Thanks.” He grabbed Justin’s head and pulled him in for a long and lingering kiss, unmindful of his audience. “I’m glad you were here to see it. Who would have thought, when we sat at the bar at Babylon and you came up with the name, that we’d come this far?” “I always knew,” Justin said. “It was you that needed convincing.” The next evening they were leaning back in their first class seats on American Airlines on their way back to Pittsburgh. It was around eight at night. They had decided to take this late flight after Brian changed his mind and told Justin he would be going back with him. He was completely partied out and staying in Miami the extra two days without Justin made no sense, so at the last minute he switched Justin’s ticket and got two on the eight o’clock flight instead. Everyone else stayed behind for two more days but knew that they were expected back at the office bright and early on Monday morning. Fun would be long over by then and the grueling pace at Kinnetik would start up again. Justin looked over at Brian and said, “Last night was amazing!” Brian smiled when he heard that. He turned to look at Justin and said, “Did you get ‘punished’ enough Sunshine, or shall we continue your lesson in the restroom up front?” “I don’t think I can handle another round of ‘punishment’ at this point, Brian. You even wore me out, which is unbelievable, especially at your age!” “Fuck you.” “How’s your ass feeling this evening?” Justin asked innocently. “It’s finally starting to feel normal; there will be no more plundering of those parts for a while, do you hear me, Mr. I-can’t-wait-for-one-more-minute?” The mega-watt smile just beamed back at him, causing Brian to break into a laugh, forgetting that he was trying so hard to look intimidating. Justin hadn’t been intimidated by him in so long he’d forgotten what a little twat he could be when he wanted to, even if he was thirty-three years old. “So have you called Daphne to tell her you’re on the way?” “I did, yesterday. She sounded a little bit better; at least she could complete a sentence without crying. I guess that means she’s on the road to recovery, right?” “I have no idea Justin. Never been pregnant, never miscarried.” “Asshole,” Justin said, looking at Brian like he was some kind of bug. “Please, don’t use that word in reference to me for a while,” Brian replied looking at Justin with a raised eyebrow. The twat stuck his tongue out and leaned his chair even further back to try and catch up on his beauty sleep. Brian picked up a magazine and started to read. He made a mental note to send his eye doctor another case of wine, in gratitude for the miracle he performed with the Lasix eye surgery. Brian remembered the first time he started suffering from Presbyopia, a very common condition that most people get as they start to age and the cornea no longer adjusts as quickly as it used to. For Brian it started around the time he turned forty-two. He had always had perfect twenty-twenty vision and all of a sudden he was having trouble seeing things up close. The thought of having to wear reading glasses and looking like his father made him break out into a sweat. He spent days ranting and raving about looking like a ‘fucking geezer’ until Justin got tired of the drama and picked up the phone to call the eye doctor. It was a simple solution, really, but something that hadn’t even occurred to Brian, who was too busy having his little tantrum. The end result was the trip to Dr. Shulman’s office and one week later he had the eye surgery. The transformation from drama-queen Brian back to self-assured, fuck-em-all Brian was instantaneous. Brian smiled to himself as he recalled the whole scenario. He looked over at Justin who was fast asleep by now and thought about how different his life would have been if they had never met under the street light all those years ago. The ups and downs of their long relationship had been almost as bad as the NASDAQ after Clinton left office. They had both lived in a constant state of high tension, never knowing from one day to the next whether their relationship would survive. Miraculously, and despite all the dire predictions of the naysayers, they did survive. They had not only survived, they were married and happy and were actually living the kind of life that Brian had mocked so many years ago. What he had thought would have been boring and predictable turned out to be anything but that. Living with Justin was a constant changing kaleidoscope of adventures. The most predictable thing about Justin was that he was unpredictable. Brian never knew what to expect or which Justin would show up for dinner. This is what sustained his interest, what made their relationship always challenging and new. Justin was emotional, mercurial and dramatic. He had the energy of three people, was an amazingly talented and original artist and was vocal about everything and everyone. The only thing that never changed about Justin was his love for Brian. It never wavered or bobbled in any way. His love was a steady beacon in Brian’s life, the guiding light that always brought him home, grounded and safe. They both had incredible careers that took up a lot of their time; there was never a problem with one person clinging or being bored. They were very often traveling to different parts of the country on separate visits so the time they did have together was always special and important to them. Their sex life continued to be over-the-top. Considering they had been together for fifteen years, albeit monogamous for only seven of those, they were still able to find pleasure in each other, always looking for new and exciting ways to make things more erotic and different. It took constant work and imagination, but the end result was always worth it. Brian put the magazine in the seat pocket in front of him and leaned back to try and sleep. After years of traveling he had learned that any bit of rest one could grab on a plane was worth it by the time you arrived at your final destination. He always envied Justin who had the ability to sleep instantly and anywhere. Brian’s sleeping habits were getting worse as he aged and he found that he basically could get by with only five hours of sleep which for many other people would have been called sleep deprivation. After a few minutes he realized sleep would not be coming easily. He gave up, pushed his seat back up and hit the call button. When the attendant came he asked for a scotch and then he reached for the phone and dialed Gus’ number in Canada. Lindsay picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Linds, is Gus around?” “Hi Brian, yeah he’s upstairs, I’ll get him in a minute. Congrats on the Clio! I saw you on Entertainment Tonight.” “No shit! How did I look?” Brian heard the smile in Lindsay’s voice when she heard the question. “Beautiful and perfectly put together, as always.” “I didn’t know they were going to televise the awards. If I had I would have spent more time on my choice of clothes,” Brian said. “Brian, I doubt that you would have done any better. You looked fabulous, even Melanie thought so.” “Damn, I must have looked really good,” Brian said out loud, knowing any compliments from Melanie were few and far between. “Oh, you know you looked great, Brian. Congratulations again! I’ll go get Gus.” “Thanks, Linds.” “Hey, Dad,” Gus said, a few minutes later. “Gus! How’s it going?” “Great! I saw you on TV tonight. That was an important award, huh?” “Yeah, it was.” “Well, I’m glad you got it. Where are you?” “On a plane, flying back to the Pitts.” ‘Is ‘Daddy J’ with you?” “Yeah, but he’s asleep. You know how he gets on airplanes.” “I know. When he wakes up tell him that I entered one of my water colors in a contest that the city is having. I should know in a few weeks if I placed or not.” “Oh? What’s the contest for?” “The City is looking for a logo for the upcoming 2017 Gay Olympics, and I entered the contest.” “No kidding?” “Yeah, I showed the painting to Mom and Mama and they thought it was good and encouraged me to enter it, so I did.” “Wow, that’s great son. ‘Daddy J’ will be so excited for you” “I know; tell him I used that new technique he taught me over the Christmas holidays. He’ll know what I’m talking about.” “I will. Is everything else okay?” “Yeah, Dad. Everything’s good.” “And Ashley? Are you still seeing her?” “Yup,” Gus said. “That’s cool. Need anything, son? Condoms…lube…anything?” Laughing out loud, Gus yelled, “Stop Dad!” “Just asking…I love you, Gus, take care of yourself and say hi to Ashley for me.” “Love you too, Dad. Tell ‘Daddy J’ okay?” “I will, son, bye.” Brian put the phone back down and smiled. His relationship with Gus had always been good but after the week that he and Justin had spent with him last September they had become extremely close and spoke on the phone as often as possible. Gus was now fifteen and was developing into quite a special young man. His personality was a combination of all four parents who were raising him, which really gave credence to the theory of nurture vs. nature. He was part artist and part techno-geek. A lot of left brain with a very well developed right brain. That in itself was very unusual. He could argue a case with the best of them, had Melanie’s knack for doing numbers quickly in his head, yet he could turn around and take a blank canvas and produce a piece of artwork that would make Justin cry with pride. He had a sentimental and sweet side to him that was so Lindsay but he was also an avid sportsman, with the keen competitive nature that made him excel in football and ice hockey. On top of all of this, the boy was as straight as the day was long, loving his four gay parents and not thinking their lifestyle strange or unusual. He had started dating a cheerleader that he had met last fall when football season first started. That seemed to be going well, from what Brian just heard. The most important thing to Brian though was the fact that Gus was able and willing to communicate with his parents, at an age and time when most of his friends put up barriers and shut everyone out. That was the one thing that Brian was so thankful for, he and his son could talk about anything. And they did. When the plane finally landed, he and a sleepy Justin made their way out to the Limo that was waiting for them and headed home to Britin Manor. They had kept the loft in town to use on the days when they had to work late and didn’t want to make the trek out to the suburbs, but home was still Britin. After owning it all these years the inside of the house had been remodeled and upgraded so many times it was nothing like the original that Brian had bought for Justin in 2005 as an enticement into marriage. The outside still looked the same, but inside it was completely modern and had every cutting edge piece of new technology there was available. The gourmet kitchen with its stainless steel appliances and sub-zero freezers would have made any chef happy to work in. They had a staff of three that came in daily but left in the evening because Brian was not comfortable having people around to intrude on his privacy at night. He didn’t get the whole ‘treat them like they’re invisible’ theory that so many of the wealthy subcribed to. Maybe because he was not born rich and everything that he had was earned through years of long, hard work. He was always mindful of his humble beginnings and never failed to treat his home staff with the courtesy that he felt they deserved. For having such a reputation as the slave-driver-asshole, Brian was in actuality, extremely kind and fair to all the people who worked for him. The only things he asked and expected of them was that they work hard and were completely and utterly loyal. This meant not talking to other people about anything they saw or heard that was none of their business. As they made their way into the house through the kitchen door, they were pleased to see that the cook had left them a light snack of fruit, cheese and chicken salad in case they were hungry. Brian took some grapes off the plate and went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. Justin passed the food and headed to the phone to pick up on any messages they may have missed while they were gone. There were several from an art gallery in Arizona asking him for a call back. He forwarded all those messages to his secretary, Anne. She would get them in the morning and take care of whatever he needed from his studio in town. Anne had been around for almost four years and was turning out to be quite indispensable to him. She had been recommended by Jennifer Taylor after she had bought a condominium from her when she moved to town in the late 2000’s. She was a pleasant, very capable ex-paralegal that moved to Pittsburgh from her home town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Justin continued to listen and hit the pause button after he heard the latest message. “Brian, come here and listen to this.” Brian moved over to where Justin and the machine were at and listened as Justin hit the play button. “Justin, it hurts…” It was Daphne, speaking in a very soft voice, not sounding like her at all. “I need you to make this stop…the pain won’t go away…my heart is breaking.” Justin looked at Brian in shock. The date on the machine was yesterday’s date, several hours after Justin had spoken to Daphne, when she had sounded pretty good. “I’m going to hang up…need a pain pill…cramping too much. I need to be strong for Alex, but I’m not, not at all...” TBC