Cody's Birthday Pt. 1
Chapter 25: Cody's Birthday Pt. 1
“So,” Cody said when he was awoken at the ass crack of dawn by his father and sister’s smiling faces, “I see that this family is still very into the birthday thing.”
Ben laughed. “If you mean the transition from a world without you to a world with you in it, then yes, I’m very into the birthday thing.”
“Me too,” Sally grinned. She kissed Cody’s forehead and swatted him on the shoulder. “Birthday beating,” she declared, before crawling off the bed and skipping from the room to go make coffee.
At Cody’s incredulous face, Ben commented, “Your jaw’s gonna have a nice tone after this little work-out you’re giving it.” He waited until Cody was sat upright in bed. “On this day, many many moons ago, your Pop and I got a phone call in the wee hours of the morning.”
“It was Aunt Ruthie,” Cody intoned with a smile, knowing the story by heart.
“It was Aunt Ruthie,” Ben nodded, “saying that if we wanted to come claim this tiny little thing she’d just popped out of her tummy that we’d been be in hospital in twenty minutes.”
Cody slipped back down and snuggled into his pillow. “You both made it there in eleven,” he whispered as he fell back asleep.
Ben tucked the blanket back up around Cody’s shoulders. “We both made it there in eleven,” he said. After another moment staring lovingly down at his son, Ben raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Our baby’s thirty, Will, love.” Brushing back a strand of hair that curled over Cody’s ear, Ben made his way downstairs to inhale a cup of coffee and marvel at his children.
That night, every store and restaurant in town closed down an hour early so everyone could get ready for Cody’s Birthday/Welcome Home Party Extraordinaire. No one in town ever missed a Madison family party and luckily the town was small enough and the Madison’s house large enough that there was always room for the everyone.
“You are a ridiculous human being.,” Cody heard Dean saying as he rounded the corner into the kitchen. “Gentry’s not hiding someone else. He’s probably just laundering money or dealing drugs.”
Sally snorted. “You fail at pep talks.”
“Not news,” Cody added as he poured himself a drink. “Also, I just saw Gentry coming in the front door with his guitar and-” he stopped speaking because Sally had torn out of the room by the word ‘door’. “So… someone explain why they aren’t together in any official capacity?”
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Dean said.
“Shit, Son, you’re old,” a cheerful Southern voice drawled from behind Cody. The man turned around and grinned.
“Eliot, you exquisite bastard,” he hugged the older man tightly. “how the fuck are you?”
Eliot beamed. “Can’t complain. Working with a nice group of people, fucking with the corrupt.”
“With other people,” Cody raised an eyebrow as he pulled back. “You? Mr. Lone Wolf, pardon me, Coyote?”
The other man gestured towards a handsome black man, a twitchy-looking blond girl, and a couple engaged in a lengthy debate of some kind with much finger pointing and glaring. “It’s a long story and I’ll tell it to you once I’ve introduced you around. Give them a personality to put with the face.”
Cody winced. “They know about…”
“Course they do,” Eliot said. “Ben needed lots of people to keep track of you over the five years. Once I explained it to them, they were more than willing to help out.” Eliot clapped Cody on the back. “The measure of a man is his friends, Codex,” he grinned when he used Cody’s college nickname, “and you, my friend, are quite easy to get attached to.” He paused. “Fucktart.”
“Wanker,” Cody replied with a grin.
“And you, little lady,” Eliot turned the charm on full blast as he faced Sally. “How in the hell did you manage to grow into this pretty little thing standing before me. Last time I saw you, you were all baby fat and gawky elbows.”
Sally laughed. “You could talk a circle into believing it was a square, Eliot Spencer. Now, come over here and continue to be the only man I know who picks me up off the ground.”
The older man laughed and gathered Sally into an affectionate hug before lifting her off her feet and twirling her around. “Cody, your sister gets any prettier and I’ll have to assign myself to be her personal bodyguard to keep the male attention away.”
“Male and female, thank you,” Sally smiled.
Eliot raised an eyebrow. “Damn, girl. You’ll break everyone’s hearts.”
“If I could have everyone’s attention,” Ben said, using the microphone Gentry had finally gotten set up. “I’d like everyone to raise their glass, plastic cup, mug, cookie, spoon, whatever they’ve got to my son, Cody. Thirty’s an accomplishment for people like us.”
No one tittered at the comment; the Madison family business of keeping people safe was long since gossiped out.
“To Cody,” Ben toasted.
The man in question waved to acknowledge the many voices echoing Ben’s statement. He made his way towards the mic as well. Once he’d hugged his father, Cody stepped close to the microphone. “I’d like to thank everyone for being here and celebrating with us. I know you all know where I’ve been this past five years because secret is a word no one in Castle Rock understands.” He paused for the laughter, chuckling himself. “I’d also like to thank all of you for standing by me for the past nineteen years. I couldn’t have shut my eyes and randomly picked a better town to grow up in and I thank all of you for being my friends, my family, and making this the goddamn best birthday party ever. Now, I think, if we all beg him really nicely…”
“Oh shit,” Eliot swore as Cody turned to him. “He wouldn’t.”
“Mr. Spencer in the back there may grace us with some of his music stylings.”
As one, Eliot’s friends slowly whirled to look blankly at him.
Even as he feet brought him to the stage set up in the corner, Eliot was shaking his head. “You are going to die a long and horrible death at my hands, Madison,” Eliot growled in his friend’s ear.
“It was this or invite you to make your famous appetizers. Take your pick, Spencer.”
Eliot turned to Gentry. “You know ‘Luckenbach Texas’, son?”
Gentry nodded. “I’ve from the goddamn state. It’s like required to ever cross the state line.”
“Another Texan? And a musical one as well?” Eliot nodded. “Then give me three chords and the truth and we are going to become fast friends, son.”
“So,” Cody said when he was awoken at the ass crack of dawn by his father and sister’s smiling faces, “I see that this family is still very into the birthday thing.”
Ben laughed. “If you mean the transition from a world without you to a world with you in it, then yes, I’m very into the birthday thing.”
“Me too,” Sally grinned. She kissed Cody’s forehead and swatted him on the shoulder. “Birthday beating,” she declared, before crawling off the bed and skipping from the room to go make coffee.
At Cody’s incredulous face, Ben commented, “Your jaw’s gonna have a nice tone after this little work-out you’re giving it.” He waited until Cody was sat upright in bed. “On this day, many many moons ago, your Pop and I got a phone call in the wee hours of the morning.”
“It was Aunt Ruthie,” Cody intoned with a smile, knowing the story by heart.
“It was Aunt Ruthie,” Ben nodded, “saying that if we wanted to come claim this tiny little thing she’d just popped out of her tummy that we’d been be in hospital in twenty minutes.”
Cody slipped back down and snuggled into his pillow. “You both made it there in eleven,” he whispered as he fell back asleep.
Ben tucked the blanket back up around Cody’s shoulders. “We both made it there in eleven,” he said. After another moment staring lovingly down at his son, Ben raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Our baby’s thirty, Will, love.” Brushing back a strand of hair that curled over Cody’s ear, Ben made his way downstairs to inhale a cup of coffee and marvel at his children.
That night, every store and restaurant in town closed down an hour early so everyone could get ready for Cody’s Birthday/Welcome Home Party Extraordinaire. No one in town ever missed a Madison family party and luckily the town was small enough and the Madison’s house large enough that there was always room for the everyone.
“You are a ridiculous human being.,” Cody heard Dean saying as he rounded the corner into the kitchen. “Gentry’s not hiding someone else. He’s probably just laundering money or dealing drugs.”
Sally snorted. “You fail at pep talks.”
“Not news,” Cody added as he poured himself a drink. “Also, I just saw Gentry coming in the front door with his guitar and-” he stopped speaking because Sally had torn out of the room by the word ‘door’. “So… someone explain why they aren’t together in any official capacity?”
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Dean said.
“Shit, Son, you’re old,” a cheerful Southern voice drawled from behind Cody. The man turned around and grinned.
“Eliot, you exquisite bastard,” he hugged the older man tightly. “how the fuck are you?”
Eliot beamed. “Can’t complain. Working with a nice group of people, fucking with the corrupt.”
“With other people,” Cody raised an eyebrow as he pulled back. “You? Mr. Lone Wolf, pardon me, Coyote?”
The other man gestured towards a handsome black man, a twitchy-looking blond girl, and a couple engaged in a lengthy debate of some kind with much finger pointing and glaring. “It’s a long story and I’ll tell it to you once I’ve introduced you around. Give them a personality to put with the face.”
Cody winced. “They know about…”
“Course they do,” Eliot said. “Ben needed lots of people to keep track of you over the five years. Once I explained it to them, they were more than willing to help out.” Eliot clapped Cody on the back. “The measure of a man is his friends, Codex,” he grinned when he used Cody’s college nickname, “and you, my friend, are quite easy to get attached to.” He paused. “Fucktart.”
“Wanker,” Cody replied with a grin.
“And you, little lady,” Eliot turned the charm on full blast as he faced Sally. “How in the hell did you manage to grow into this pretty little thing standing before me. Last time I saw you, you were all baby fat and gawky elbows.”
Sally laughed. “You could talk a circle into believing it was a square, Eliot Spencer. Now, come over here and continue to be the only man I know who picks me up off the ground.”
The older man laughed and gathered Sally into an affectionate hug before lifting her off her feet and twirling her around. “Cody, your sister gets any prettier and I’ll have to assign myself to be her personal bodyguard to keep the male attention away.”
“Male and female, thank you,” Sally smiled.
Eliot raised an eyebrow. “Damn, girl. You’ll break everyone’s hearts.”
“If I could have everyone’s attention,” Ben said, using the microphone Gentry had finally gotten set up. “I’d like everyone to raise their glass, plastic cup, mug, cookie, spoon, whatever they’ve got to my son, Cody. Thirty’s an accomplishment for people like us.”
No one tittered at the comment; the Madison family business of keeping people safe was long since gossiped out.
“To Cody,” Ben toasted.
The man in question waved to acknowledge the many voices echoing Ben’s statement. He made his way towards the mic as well. Once he’d hugged his father, Cody stepped close to the microphone. “I’d like to thank everyone for being here and celebrating with us. I know you all know where I’ve been this past five years because secret is a word no one in Castle Rock understands.” He paused for the laughter, chuckling himself. “I’d also like to thank all of you for standing by me for the past nineteen years. I couldn’t have shut my eyes and randomly picked a better town to grow up in and I thank all of you for being my friends, my family, and making this the goddamn best birthday party ever. Now, I think, if we all beg him really nicely…”
“Oh shit,” Eliot swore as Cody turned to him. “He wouldn’t.”
“Mr. Spencer in the back there may grace us with some of his music stylings.”
As one, Eliot’s friends slowly whirled to look blankly at him.
Even as he feet brought him to the stage set up in the corner, Eliot was shaking his head. “You are going to die a long and horrible death at my hands, Madison,” Eliot growled in his friend’s ear.
“It was this or invite you to make your famous appetizers. Take your pick, Spencer.”
Eliot turned to Gentry. “You know ‘Luckenbach Texas’, son?”
Gentry nodded. “I’ve from the goddamn state. It’s like required to ever cross the state line.”
“Another Texan? And a musical one as well?” Eliot nodded. “Then give me three chords and the truth and we are going to become fast friends, son.”