Memories

By Nelson



Nelson sighed heavily, welcoming the sight of home as he came in and wandered upstairs to change clothes. It had been a long day at work, which was becoming more and more the case these days. His back was tense from a busy schedule, and he looked forward to seeing his partner's smiling face. He didn't find Zach anywhere along the way to their bedroom, and he assumed he was already in the unfinished portion of the basement preparing for the yard sale.

Nelson quickly exchanged his work clothes for something more comfortable then went to stand at the top of the basement stairs looking for his partner. The light that greeted him when he opened the door was a good sign he would find Zach there. "Zach? Are you down there?" he called down the stairwell.

"Coming!" Zach jumped up from what he was doing and climbed the stairs to see Nelson. Nelson smiled as he watched his brat come eagerly toward him.

"Hi, Sweetpea. Hard at work down there?" Nelson asked with a smile as Zach ascended the stairs.

Zach embraced him once he made it to the main floor and they locked arms. "I didn't hear you come in," Zach said just before Nelson bent to kiss him. They enjoyed each other's closeness for a minute before Nelson pulled away and took Zach's hand.

"I needed that. Long day," Nelson said, squeezing the hand in his. "You must have been totally lost in thought down there."

"I guess so. You've been home long enough to change and everything."

"Yep," Nelson answered, entering the kitchen. "How about something quick for dinner so we can work?"

"That's fine. What did you have in mind?" Zach asked being willingly led along.

"Sandwiches? Just something simple. Does that work for you?"

"Sure."

"Is tuna okay?" Nelson asked and Zach nodded his response.

Nelson whipped up some tuna salad and pulled tomatoes and lettuce from the refrigerator while Zach toasted bread. Zach stood impatiently by the toaster watching it and waiting for the bread to pop up. Nelson smiled at him and pulled two paper towels from the spindle. "You don't mind fine China, do you?"

"What? And not give us any dishes to wash? What are you thinking, Nelson?" Zach asked his lover while a grin spread across his face.

Nelson laid the paper towels in front of the toaster so Zach would have a place to put the bread, pausing to give Zach a peck on the cheek. "Did you get much done down there today?"

Zach grimaced, "Not really. I got a good start, I guess."

"Did you get sidetracked looking through stuff?" Nelson asked intuitively.

"Sort of."

Nelson shook his head. "We have to stay focused, Zach. We only have two more nights to get this stuff together."

"Sorry," Zach said, as the toast jumped up from the slots in the appliance.

"I'm sorry you got stuck with so much of it by yourself."

"It hasn't been so bad," Zach said. "It's kind of neat looking through all our old stuff." He took the slices out of the toaster without allowing any cooling time and juggled them down to the paper towels while trying not to get burned. He shook his hand to cool his fingertips sticking them between his lips to further reduce the heat.

The sandwiches were quickly prepared and the couple took their usual places at the kitchen table.

"So, did you find anything interesting down there while you were looking through all that old stuff?" Nelson asked.

Zach answered around a mouthful of tuna, "A few things."

"What have you gotten together so far? Pass the chips, would you?"

"I went through your closet," Zach said rolling his eyes while he handed over the bag of chips. "Did you have stock in sweater vests at one time? You must have had twenty of them."

"I happen to like them, Zachary," Nelson said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Well, they are out. Out of style and out of here. Along with all those pleated pants. No one wears pleats anymore, Nelson. I hate to be the one to break it to you."

Nelson smiled at Zach and said, "Did you leave me anything to wear?"

"Yeah. FLAT-fronted pants. And, if no one buys the pleated ones, they are not coming home with us. They're perfect for Goodwill."

Nelson grinned at his brat's negative comments about his clothes. "Yes, sir," he said in response.

"Good answer," Zach said, smiling at his partner. "I think some of those clothes are as old as I am. They are outta here," Zach said with a dramatic yank of his thumb.

As they finished up, Zach said with a wink as he grabbed up the paper products, "Here, let me do the dishes."

Nelson laughed at his lover's sense of humor as it again tickled his funny bone. He leaned over and kissed Zach and said against his lips, "Help yourself." It took merely seconds to pitch the paper towels in the bin and not much longer to wipe off. Nelson refilled their drinks while Zach did the "dishes" then the two of them headed to the basement to work on the exhausting job of selecting and pricing items for the yard sale.

Nelson grimaced when he stepped into the storage area of the basement and saw the mess strewn about the floor. Pile after pile of their belongings peppered the basement. Nelson didn't have to say a word, but just turned his attention to his partner.

Zach shrugged innocently and asked, "What?" Nelson continued to glare at him and Zach finally said, "I couldn't price it without seeing what we had first."

"Is there any rhyme or reason to this madness?" Nelson finally asked with his hand sweeping over the sight.

"The plan was to price stuff."

"Which of these piles contains the things you meant to sell, hmm?"

"The ones with stickers," Zach explained.

Nelson walked through the mess as best he could without tripping and saw stickered items here and there mixed in with things having no stickers.

Nelson sighed as he picked his way through the rubble balancing himself and his drink to keep from toppling either one of them. He bent down to check the prices on some of the items and straightened up, resolved to bring order to apparent destruction. "All right. We need a place to put the yard sale items and then the rest gets put back." Picking up one priced item, he added, "We also need to discuss some of these prices."

Zach groaned at the thought of having to put so much stuff back and it must have shown on his face.

"Don't look like that, Zach," Nelson said. "Did you think we were going to leave all this in the middle of the basement floor?"

"No, of course not. I just don't feel like putting it back." Grabbing the candleholder Nelson held, Zach reviewed the price he had put on it. "And, what's wrong with my prices?"

"Some things are priced too high. We want to get rid of it without giving it away, you know."

"Like what? This isn't too high," Zach commented.

"Five dollars?" Nelson asked in surprise. "Two, max. That thing's about ten years old."

"We won't make a dime pricing that way," Zach countered. "How about $3.50?"

"That's more reasonable, I guess," Nelson said.

As Nelson glanced around the room, he noticed a white piece of paper stuck to the riding mower off to the side and he walked over to investigate. He looked back at Zach before he got to the mower and saw a familiar mischievous look on Zach's face.

"What did you do, Zachary?" Nelson asked before he could read the paper. When he got close enough to read it he pulled the paper against the tape holding it in place until it was freed. He turned around to Zach, who was by now smiling broadly. "Five dollars?" he asked, reading the paper.

"A good deal, I think," Zach responded, trying to fight the giggles. "It's a darn good mower, but it isn't brand new. Do you think I priced it too high?"

Nelson laughed openly and said, "You always know how to make my day better." Nelson saw another piece of paper taped to the push mower. He pointed toward the mower and asked, "Do I even want to look?"

Zach grinned and said, "I don't know. Do you?"

Nelson walked over for a better look and laughed harder when he read "free to a good home" posted there. "You're a nut, Zach."

"You always say we can't hire someone to cut the grass since we have mowers. I was just trying to get rid of them so we can hire someone."

"I get the picture."

They set about sorting the mess Zach had made and finally got some semblance of order to their routine. Zach saw Nelson preparing a sticker for his eight-year-old stereo.

"NOOO!" Zach shrieked. "You can't sell that!"

"This thing has been collecting dust down here since you said that last year," Nelson responded as he scribbled a price on the sticker in his hands. "You said you'd sell it this year."

"But, I like that shelf system!"

Nelson stopped writing and looked over at Zach. "Then why don't you use it?"

"I have a nicer one upstairs, but that doesn't mean I want to get rid of this one. Please, leave it alone?"

"I think we should sell it."

Zach reached out and laid a hand on an elephant planter by his side. "If that goes, the elephant gets it," he warned.

"You know my mom gave me that for my first apartment."

Zach gave no notice of the sentimental value. "I love your mother, but this has got to be the ugliest thing I ever saw," Zach said.

Nelson laughed, and acknowledged Zach was right. "Okay, fine. We keep the elephant and the stereo another year." Nelson opened a box and a smile spread over his face. "Wow. Would you look at this?" He held up a shoebox and dusted off the top. "I didn't remember where this got to."

"Our mementos," Zach said wistfully. Nelson unfolded a camping chair against the wall, and Zach grabbed one of his own.

They sat together and Nelson held the box in his lap. "We need to get this stuff in an album," Nelson said.

"Our first movie," Zach commented when Nelson pulled two stubs out of the box. He read the title on the ticket stub. "'From Hell'. Not exactly romantic of us, huh?"

"No, but a good pick since we both like suspense films. I'll always think of you when I see Johnny Depp."

Zach frowned and elbowed Nelson, "I'll divorce you if you don't think of me first."

Nostalgia washed over Nelson and he fully appreciated the man sitting next to him, who was busy looking through the box. "Hey," he said, and large blue eyes found his.

"What?"

"You'll always be first," Nelson said. He hooked a finger under Zach's chin and kissed the grinning lips.

"Thank you," Zach said after the kiss. Zach grabbed a small stack of pictures from the box and thumbed through them. "Look at your hair, Nelson."

Nelson looked over at the picture Zach was holding and laughed. "I thought I got rid of that picture," he said, reaching for the print.

Zach held it to his chest. "Not a chance, Nelson Jameson. Not a chance. This was our first trip to Disney World. The wind in your hair made you look sexy."

"Yeah, sure it did," he laughed. "You know, as my partner, it was up to you to make sure I looked good."

"I didn't want you to look good. I don't want anyone eyeing my stuff," Zach said with a grin.

"Your hair doesn't look so good either, you know," Nelson pointed out. "That hunk at the back was standing up like Alfalfa's."

Zach looked at his image and said, "Maybe we should get rid of it after all."

"Not a chance," Nelson said laughing.

"Aw, look at this one," he said. Zach looked at a picture of himself standing proudly beside his once new Toyota Solara. "My prize. I still love that car. My magnets!" Zach exclaimed. "I wondered where they got to."

"Now we can adorn the refrigerator again."

"I don't remember when I saw these last," Zach said.

"One for every place we've been since we were together."

"Yeah. These are from the early days," Zach said. He held up a horseshoe magnet from a trip they took through Kentucky and said, "A corny thing to do but sentimental. I love this one."

"I remember this trip," Nelson said taking the magnet from Zach. "It rained cats and dogs the whole time we were there."

"I know. I was bored," Zach said dismally. "You didn't understand."

"I did, too, understand. 'Bored' didn't give you the okay to take off without telling me where you were going, did it?"

"I had to get out of the room, and I was coming right back. I couldn't help it that there was an accident on the way to the store. The traffic made me late." Zach frowned remembering coming back to the room, and his reluctance to face Nelson. "We needed drinks."

"You had a cell phone?" Nelson asked as if he didn't know.

Zach looked away guiltily, "I couldn't call you. I knew you'd be mad."

Nelson's left eyebrow shot up and he looked at Zach with amusement. "And by not calling, I was a happy camper?"

"There should be a No Spanking rule for vacation, you know," he offered in reply, as he flipped through several other magnets.

"You had that one coming. Vacation doesn't negate rules, Zach."

"I know that," Zach said. "You've made your point on occasion, like you did on that trip. But I'm proposing a new rule."

"Follow the ones in place and you won't have to worry about it," Nelson said with a grin. "I didn't know what had happened to you when I got out of the shower. You worried me."

"Like I told you that day, I didn't mean to worry you. You could have been a little more understanding. You ruined my trip," Zach said.

"Your evening maybe, but not the whole trip. I just wanted to be sure you didn't do that again," Nelson said. "And if memory serves… you never have."

He winked at Zach and Zach blushed appropriately. "I think we should consider my rule," Zach said.

"Nah," Nelson said with a chuckle. "The ones we have are working just fine. Look," he said, changing the subject. "Invitations to Christien's third birthday party."

"Where I first met your family," Zach said, looking at the invitation covered with Elmo and other Sesame Street characters. "I was scared to death."

"I know you were," Nelson said. "And they loved you just like I told you they would."

"I was nervous."

"What's not to love?" Nelson said. "I wasn't nervous a bit."

"You were, too. Your hands were sweating," Zach said.

Nelson grinned at Zach. "You knew me well even then, didn't you?"

"I knew you were nervous."

"I just wanted them to see you the way I did. The best thing that had happened to me."

Zach's face beamed and he leaned toward Nelson in the dusty basement. "Touché, Dr. Jameson. Touché."

Nelson kissed the lips offered to him and said, "You know, I think it's time we took that scrapbooking class we keep talking about. Get these memories stored somewhere better than in a box in the basement."

"We've got lots of new memories to add," Zach commented.

Nelson put the lid on the box and said, "And many more to come."

"You should think about that rule, Nelson," Zach said again with a smile.

Nelson looked over at him and suddenly pulled him out of the chair and into his lap. With kisses to the secret tender spots on Zach's neck, goosebumps broke out on Zach's arms. Nelson said, "Think about something else."

"You said we need to stay focused," Zach said.

"I am focused," Nelson said, and Zach's arms slipped around his neck, all thoughts of yard sales and rules forgotten.

The end.