P'Air

Chapter Nine

...

Arpa helped Fair get the kiddies bathed and in their pyjama's.  The hyper finally wore off and they passed out as they were being tucked into their bedroom tent.  Fair asked Arpa if little Joe could stay all weekend.  "I can bring him to your place on Sunday,  after supper."

They both bent and peered at the campers.  "If I said no,  Joe would never speak to me again."

They were laughing to themselves when Air opened the screen door and let it slam.

He spun around,  held his finger across his lips and told it to...  "Shh."

Fair and Arpa came down the stairs to find him humming a stripper tune.  He disrobed and tossed the suit away as though he hated it.  Air kicked the pants aside with his foot. 
"Ba, da, da."

His thumbs slipped into the waistband of his underwear and just as the cleft of his tiny hiney was exposed...  "Nong!  Nong, you're not alone,  Arpa and I are here."

Air stopped and then put his hands over his bared chest.   He shuffled and moved one over his crotch.  He switched them again and turned sideways.

Air started giggling.

"What are you doing here Nong?  The party is still going."

"Not for me.  I've had enough."  Air snapped the elastic of his boxers.

He floundered past them in the hall.  He talked,  but it wasn't meant for them.  "I should have asked P'Khemp to come here and visit when he's done working."

Fair picked up his dress pants and folded them.  He could only find one of the boy's socks.

Air was at the bottom of the stairs and using the banister to keep himself upright.  "I think P'Chess might be gay.  He kissed that Ing guy."

There were two things about what Air said that had Fair stunned.  Firstly,  there is no way that Chester kissed Ing,  it had to be the other way around. 
Secondly,  "Of course P'Chess is gay.  After all this time,  how could you not know that Nong'Air?"

"Del,  what about Del?  Where did Del come from?  Was Chess married to a woman?"

Fair couldn't believe that this subject hadn't come up at some point before.  "Nong,  P'Chess adopted Del."

He inhaled loudly and tears began to drip down his cheeks.  Air started staring at the floor.

He still had his dress shirt in his fist.  He used it to wipe his eyes.  He spoke so quietly,  Fair barely heard.  "Del is so lucky."