Ch. 28 – Under Assault

Chapter Twenty-Eight – Under Assault

"What are you doing home so early?" Jett turned toward his father, the moment he was back in the living room.

April was trying to make himself small on the sofa, while Carina was bouncing Jay on her knees, and had a crooked smile on her face.

"Do I have to report to you now?" Mr. Huntsman said to his son, crossing his arms over his chest and taking an aggressive stance.

Jett mimicked him, although April believed that he wouldn't like being told how much like his dad he looked, especially in this confrontation that was threatening to escalate to an unknown scope.

"A phone call would have been enough," Jett said, as he stood his ground.

His father didn't appear interested in replying to that. With a jerk of the head, he pointed at the sofa, where Carina, Jay, and April sat. His eyes never left Jett while he did that. "What's with these people in the house?"

"You know Carina," Jett said first.

Mr. Huntsman looked at Carina, measuring her with cold eyes. "I do. Why did you have to make the girl pregnant, Jett? Was it to get on my nerves?"

"That's on me, Mr. Huntsman," Carina said and waved at him.

With frightened eyes, April searched Carina's face. She looked back at him and shrugged. "What happened to the spectating part?" he whispered.

"How's that on you?" Mr. Huntsman asked, his irritation visibly growing. April didn't dare to look at him directly, for fear that he might notice a throbbing vein or something. He needed to have his phone ready to dial nine-one-one, as Carina had suggested. "Did you have the kid by yourself?"

"Of course not," Carina replied with a snort.

"Then shut up. Is there no end to your recklessness, boy?" Mr. Huntsman turned his attention to his son once more.

Carina looked like she was about to talk again, but, instinctively, April grabbed her arm and shook his head, mouthing a 'no'. Jett's dad looked like he was a moment away from having a heart attack. He was red in the face and seemed royally pissed.

"What's it to you?" Jett asked defiantly and set his chin high.

For a moment, it seemed that Mr. Huntsman had some harsh words for his son but then chose to be silent. Not for long. "How old is the baby? It's a boy, right?"

"One year, three months and ten days," Carina replied promptly.

"Didn't I just tell you to shut up? What? Jett can't talk anymore for himself now that he has a wife?"

There were so many places he could have been right now, April allowed himself a short moment to fantasize. So many places without angry men who had just discovered that they suddenly were grandfathers. And that was not the end for the string of surprises expecting Mr. Huntsman at home.

"I'm not his wife!" Carina protested right away.

"She's not my wife!" Jett said at the same time.

For a couple of seconds, Mr. Huntsman gave the two young parents a stare that could blow up mountains. "So, you don't want to provide this child with a normal home after behaving like you two didn't hear of contraception in your lives?"

"If by a normal home, you mean this one --" Jett started.

"Don't give me attitude, boy! I won't take it from you. So, you got your girlfriend pregnant, and she had the baby. When were you going to tell me? The child is one year's old, for fuck's sake!"

Ah, so the older Huntsman had no issues with using the f-word, either. April needed to consider giving up on trying to shield Jay's young ears. The adults in his life were all a bunch of lunatics. What was he thinking? That wasn't by far the most important thing to worry about at the moment.

"Are there any other children of yours I should know about? How many girlfriends have you knocked up?" Mr. Huntsman continued his assault.

"Just this one," Jett said with confidence.

"I'm glad that you're sure," his father said scathingly. "You don't intend to turn this house into a stable, do you now? And what's with the boy?"

"His name is Jay," Carina said.

"And your grandchild," Jett added.

For a second, Mr. Huntsman looked like he was about to thaw a little. But then, he quickly regained all his rightful anger. "I wasn't talking about the baby. Who's this boy?" He pointed a finger at April.

Great, April thought. Now he really needed to take out his phone and try to be surreptitious about it. Things were about to get even messier.

"That's April," Jett replied as if that explained everything.

"I know his name. Why is he named like a girl? Is he a girl?" Mr. Huntsman looked at April as if he was trying to put two and two together. "A very flat-chested girl."

Carina snickered at that. April nudged her side with a well-placed elbow, and she fell silent right away.

"He's not a girl. He's my," Jett looked directly at April, "boyfriend."

Everyone in the room, except, maybe, for Jay, held their breath. Or, at least, that was how it felt to April who could only hear the beating of his heart in his ears. Jett had done it. He had gone head-on and said it, to his father, of all people. And, while April didn't recall Jett ever talking much about his old man, he knew there was painful history there, and that it took great guts to say that out loud.

"Is this some joke? I warn you, Jett --"

"No joke," Jett said in a deadpan voice. "April's my boyfriend."

April wished again he could make himself even smaller on the sofa. In the most fortunate situation, the couch would have swallowed him already. Unfortunately, such magic had yet to be invented.

Mr. Huntsman inspected April, his eyes shadowed by furrowed eyebrows that were now knitted together, almost forming a thick line. "Did you make him pregnant, too?"

"Dad, he's not a girl!" Jett shouted.

The reality of it all seemed to finally catch up with Jett's father. He threw a confused look around. April suddenly felt sorry for him. It was like the man had come back home only to find it turned into ashes and his entire family eaten by zombies.

"Is there a place in this house where I can sleep?" Mr. Huntsman finally said.

Oh, so, for the moment, the danger was averted, and Jett's dad was simply choosing to ignore the situation.

"You can sleep in my room," Jett said.

"And where will you sleep then?"

"On the sofa."

"And your wife?"

"Carina's not my wife, dad."

"Whatever."

"She sleeps in your room with Jay."

"And where's your boyfriend sleeping?"

April felt his skin pricking with apprehension. The word 'boyfriend' sounded like poison in Mr. Huntsman's mouth.

"With me on the sofa," Jett said promptly.

That was hardly a practical idea, April thought, but he was willing to take it. Maybe they could put an inflatable bed on the floor or something like that.

"What's that shit in the basement? It sounds like there's a factory in there or something."

"That's April's mining rig," Jett explained.

"Oh, yeah? What is he mining? Oil?"

"Crypto," Jett said.

"What the hell is that?"

"I'll take it out of there," April intervened.

"You shut up," Mr. Huntsman said and looked at him with icy eyes. "Did you get permission to talk?"

"Dad, April doesn't need permission from you to talk. He's not one of your grunts."

"That's for me to decide."

"I'm giving you my room. How long are you going to stay?" Jett asked.

Was that it? Were they not going to address the enormous elephant in the room?

"A few weeks," Mr. Huntsman said. "And I'll have you clean up this mess, don't you think I won't."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jett said stubbornly.

April knew Jett had to put on quite a brave face right now. But he must have been angered, and messed up, and pissed at his old man. April could only be happy for having such a great dad himself. He had no idea how Mr. Huntsman intended to have Jett clean 'this mess' as he said.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about?" Mr. Huntsman got into Jett's face, and April winced instantly. If they got violent, he had no idea what he could do. Carina, regardless of her attitude, couldn't be of much help either. Suddenly, it felt like there was a need to have nine-one-one on speed dial more than ever.

"None," Jett said, without budging an inch.

"Until I leave, your boyfriend must disappear --"

"No one disappears," Jett replied, his voice getting louder.

"Jett, this is not how I raised you. What's this? A phase? How do you go from making a girl pregnant to having a boyfriend? Do you think this is how you can piss me off more?"

"This has nothing to do with you," Jett said sharply. "The sun and the moon don't gravitate around you. And I don't remember much about how you raised me. You ditched me, just like someone else did."

There was a muscle ticking in Mr. Huntsman's jaw as he was looking at his son. "It was for your own good."

"Are you sure? Don't you mean your own? Good thing I had someone who didn't care to ditch me."

"You didn't want to come with me, live on the base. I could have taken care of you. You wouldn't have turned into such a thug."

"Sure. You couldn't bear to face the complications," Jett said, and he was the one to get into his father's face now. "Your career was more important."

"I could have taken you with me by force, and I didn't!" Mr. Huntsman raised his voice. "You were my kid, and I could have done it! Instead, I let you have your own way. I can only see how wrong I was to do that."

"Good thing you did that," Jett spat. "Because I couldn't have taken another day looking at you."

"Are you still throwing blame around like it's fucking candy?"

"No, dad. Just like you, I've given up on that, on you, a long time ago. You don't even care to know what I blamed you for. You drew your own conclusions. Live with them now."

April was sure he had lost the ability to breathe sometime along the conversation between Jett and his dad. Even Carina was white in the face, and the smile she offered April when he looked at her, was strained and unsure.

"I can live with them," Mr. Huntsman said. "What I wonder is whether you can live with the consequences of your actions. So, get rid of the boy and make things right by the girl and your child."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jett asked.

"You'll marry her." Mr. Huntsman pointed at Carina now, as if there could be any doubt who he was talking about. "You'll raise this child properly."

"I'm not going to marry Jett," Carina protested.

"Why not?" Mr. Huntsman asked her.

"Because I don't love him, and he doesn't love me."

"Oh, is that right? You should have thought about that when you made a child together. What will he learn from you two?"

"He will learn that he is loved," Carina said and hugged Jay tightly in her arms, making the baby squirm a little.

April was astonished by how Jay had yet to start crying with all the yelling around. Maybe he had gotten used to Jett talking loudly, or he just felt safe enough in his mother's arms.

"While you struggle as a single mom, and this hooligan right here goes around, leaving other girls pregnant?"

"Jett is not a hooligan," Carina said through her teeth.

April stared at her in admiration. "He really isn't," he added.

"Why are you talking?" Mr. Huntsman scolded him. "And you? How can you be okay with all this? Why don't you find yourself a nice gay boy who's not my son and get out of this situation while you still can, huh?"

"I don't know what's the situation you're talking about, Mr. Huntsman."

"Sure thing you don't. I'm surrounded by deaf people who don't know the first thing about how hard life can be. If you don't want to make this mess bigger, I suggest you better leave Jett alone."

April felt a bit weird out by talking to Jett's dad like that. At least, the man wasn't outright homophobic, and he hadn't started yelling slurs at him. "I can't leave Jett alone. He is my boyfriend, and any mess that comes with him, I'll deal with it."

"Famous last words," Mr. Huntsman said, with sarcasm clear in his voice.

"I am already dealing with it," April continued. "For a while, I was the babysitter."

"Is this how you got involved with this boy? Did you sleep with the nanny? Sometimes, I don't know how come you ended up so wrong, Jett," Mr. Huntsman said, his attention back to his son. "And you," he turned toward Carina, "how did you let this happen?"

Carina shrugged. This time, the color was back to her cheeks. "I was in the can."

Mr. Huntsman made a sound that caused April to reach for his phone. "In prison?" he sputtered.

"Yeah. That's how people call it," Carina said.

"What for?"

"None of your business."

Mr. Huntsman looked around him again as if he saw things in a whole new light that didn't make things any better. "What kind of criminal are you, then?" he then asked April.

"Criminal? What? I'm not!" April protested.

"Not yet, seeing what kind of people you're hanging out with. You three," Mr. Huntsman pointed at them, staring each of them down, "will come up with a way to make this child live a normal life. You," he said to Jett, "will man up and assume responsibility for the girl you made pregnant and her child. You," he said to Carina, "will remove your head from your ass and will do the right thing by putting on a nice little white dress and walking down the altar with the good-for-nothing you chose as your man."

"A bit late for a little white dress," Carina said with a snort.

"Quiet!" Mr. Huntsman ordered. "And you," he finally turned to April, "will find someone like you and forget about a married man with a child."

"And if we don't do what you say?" Jett asked.

"Do you want me to threaten you? Is this how you think this is going to go down? No. I'll make you see things my way if it takes the last of my breath. Do you want to make a mess out of your life? Fine. But don't you dare to make a mess out of that baby's life."

With that, the speech was finally over, and Mr. Huntsman walked up the stairs, probably to set himself up in Jett's room.

"Now that went well," Carina commented.

"You think?" Jett shot at her.

"Hey, at least he didn't throw all of us out."

"Like I'd let him do that," Jett said.

April scratched his head. "Jett, maybe we should let the man cool off for a bit. And we can't sleep together on the sofa. It's too small even for me."

"We'll find a way, don't you worry," Jett said. "Does he think he can come here and declare war? Well, then it's war he gets."

April didn't know much about wars, especially one carried in the midst of a family, but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

***

A terrible sound made April wake up with a start. He fell on the floor, rolling from Jett like a ball of dough. Jett stood up on his ass as if activated by a spring.

"What's this?" April began asking. He was completely disoriented and searched the small coffee table for his glasses.

"It's begun," Jett said in a hollow voice that gave April the willies instantly. "The war."

"What?"

April watched in disbelief Jett's dad descending the stairs with his phone in one hand. On the top of the stairs, Carina stood with a crying Jay in her arms.

The only calm person was Mr. Huntsman. He appeared to be quite amused with the infernal noise coming off his phone.

"What the hell is this?" April asked again and put his hands over his ears.

Mr. Huntsman finally decided that the torture was enough and stopped the tune blaring from his phone. "That was a bugle, son," he said cheerfully.

April had a mind to point out that he didn't exactly know what a bugle was and also that he had a dad who was nothing like Mr. Huntsman. For the moment, though, he was starting to become more curious than frightened.

"You, come down, too," Mr. Huntsman yelled at Carina.

With a roll of the eyes, Carina began walking down the stairs. In the meantime, Mr. Huntsman was already in the living room and was sitting straight, his hands at his back, ready to inspect the troops.

He waited a bit impatiently for Carina to join. Both April and Jett were on their feet now and staring at Jett's dad.

"Quiet!" Mr. Huntsman bellowed.

April stood straight, Jett cursed under his breath, and Carina began to coo at Jay. Apparently, the baby had no idea he had just been enlisted.

"Sorry, Mr. Huntsman," Carina said, but April could tell there was a bit of satisfaction there. Still, she was trying to comfort Jay as much as she could.

"Maybe he needs his little teddy," April suggested.

"Go get it, then!" Mr. Huntsman yelled at him.

April hurried up the stairs, without protesting. Behind him, Jett started to berate his father. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm putting order in this chaos!"

April didn't hear the rest clearly as he began searching for Jay's teddy through the mountain of toys. Carina had obviously had too little time to organize things. Finally, he grabbed the plushy and hurried back.

Mr. Huntsman was walking slowly, inspecting Jett, Carina, and Jay with vulture-like eyes. "You young people today think it's fun to have a child! You think that he's some kind of toy!"

"I don't think that!" Jett protested. "Carina, either."

"Sure, sure. You're a thug, and she's an ex-con. What a pair!"

"We're not exactly a pair," Carina added.

Mr. Huntsman turned on his heels, but not to chastise Carina. His attention trained on April, who felt ill-equipped to face danger, armed as he was, only with a plushy. "Of course. There's also the girlish boy. Damn hippies," he muttered under his breath.

Probably that was aimed at him, April thought, even if Mr. Huntsman had used the plural. Yes, he had sort of a hippy name, but, otherwise, he didn't know what exactly qualified him for that categorization.

"Move and appease the child," Mr. Huntsman ordered.

April didn't say a word and handed the plushy to Carina. Jay grabbed the toy and, annoyed with it, threw it on the floor. Then he hid his face into the crook of Carina's shoulder. One look at Mr. Huntsman was enough to tell April that the situation was getting frustrating for him with each passing moment.

"Hey, Jay," April called softly for the little boy. He caressed the golden head, and Jay turned slowly at the sound of April's voice. "Let's be good for a minute, okay?"

His soothing tone had the beneficial effect of making Jay's crying subside little by little.

"Are we done already with all the childishness?" Mr. Huntsman boomed.

April put his hands over Jay's ears right away. "Could you please not yell so much, Mr. Huntsman? Jay's just a baby. He doesn't know or understand that you're pissed at us, young people."

For a moment or two, Jett's dad observed April as if he was debating whether April was making fun of him or not. In the end, he decided that April had to speak the truth because his next words were said in a normal voice. "I'm going to have order in this house, whether you like it or not."

"It's plenty of order," Jett replied.

"There are a crying baby, an ex-convict, and a boy with a hippy name under this roof. Also, infernal machines are doing some suspicious work in the basement."

"It's not suspicious. It's just cryptocurrency," April said as he tried to explain.

"Then it must be something illegal. Don't think for a moment that I believed you when you said you were no criminal, boy. You're just one of those modern types. A hacker or something," Mr. Huntsman concluded.

Something told April that he wouldn't be able to change Mr. Huntsman's mind, so, for the moment, he decided not to waste his breath. He got in line and looked at Jett's dad, curious again about what he wanted from them.

"First of all," Mr. Huntsman continued, "this house is a pigsty. Not as much as I expected to be, but still a pigsty."

"We vacuumed," Jett pointed out.

Now wasn't the moment for April to remind Jett that he was the only one doing all the vacuuming.

"You, kids, have no idea what real cleanliness is. I'll teach you."

"But I have school," April said, alarmed.

"And I have Jay," Carina added, lifting Jay higher in her arms to make a point.

"And I don't want to clean anything." Jett was the last to speak.

"You," Mr. Huntsman pointed at April, "go to school. After, you come straight back here. You won't escape your chores just because you go to some hippy school."

"It's not a hippy school. I study computer architecture," April explained.

"I don't see why those two words must stay together," Mr. Huntsman commented after a long stare at April. "So, it's not some artsy bullshit school?"

"If you're asking if I study liberal arts, I don't. It's a career in STEM I want to pursue."

The immediate answer from Mr. Huntsman was a noncommittal grunt, but April could sense a small shift in his demeanor. Apparently, not studying liberal arts was a positive point in Mr. Huntsman's book.

"You," Mr. Huntsman turned toward Carina, "will take care of the baby, but as soon as he falls asleep or doesn't need you, you report for duty."

"Why should anyone listen to you?" Jett said.

"I think it's simple. If you bunch of young idiots don't want to clean, I will. But I will strip the walls and change everything, but the kitchen sink and you can all sleep on the lawn. How's that for motivation?"

April didn't need to consider the alternative too much. Sleeping on the lawn didn't sound like fun at all. "Maybe I shouldn't go to school today and help clean the house, instead," he offered.

"Wasn't I clear? Grab your books or whatever you need to grab, and walk out the door right now!"

"But it's still early," April pointed out. "And I could make breakfast for everyone."

"No breakfast until the house is clean."

"But Jay needs to eat," Carina pointed out.

"That's for you to deal with. But you don't get to lazy around. Take care of the baby, as I told you. What are you waiting for?"

April didn't need another invitation. He stole a glance at Jett, whose face looked like thunderbolts and lightning, and then hurried to get his backpack. Then he was out the door. He hadn't even gotten to brush his teeth.

***

"How is it?"

"It's a fucking nightmare. I'm expecting any second now for him to tell me to grab a toothbrush and clean the toilet."

"Seriously? Please don't use mine."

"Stop pissing your pants, dweeb. You got away easy."

"What are we going to do about your dad, Jett?"

"I have no fucking clue. How long till you get home?"

"Just one more class, and I'll hurry back, as instructed."

"Don't let him get to you."

"I don't. I just worry about the rest of you. And I need to think of something."

"He's my dad. If he thinks he'll wear us all off, he's wrong. I'll make sure of that."

"Okay. Gotta go. Bye."

"Bye."

April sighed as he pushed his phone back into his pocket. What could they all do against Mr. Huntsman? That man was a force of nature. But things couldn't stay like that. Plus, he didn't want to be lectured on how he needed to find somebody else for a boyfriend.

One thing Jett's dad was right about. They were all a bunch of kids. But that didn't mean that no one could stand up to him. Of course, if they tried anything, there would be sleeping on the lawn for all of them.

So, what they all needed was, actually, a pretty logical thing. Since it was a war and they were under assault, they needed reinforcements.

TBC