Smartystan

The door closed smoothly behind Fenton Sheltham.

“Guys, I wanted you to meet some folks,” he said in a sing-song kind of tone.

His three boys assembled together and looked at the woman and her own two sons.

“This is Mala. And these are her sons Burton and Edgar.”

Garland looked at Mala askance. “Are you supposed to be our new mama or something?”

Mala blushed. “That could all happen. I wouldn’t count it out at all,” Mala said with confidence.

Mala put her infant Edgar down on the couch and changed his dirty diaper, meanwhile, Sheltham took his boys and Burton into the adjacent room.

“This is what it’s going to be like for the next few days, weeks, months. Your parents have grown fond of each other. I am eager to see where this relationship goes. In fact, I’m excited! You all should be, too. But you don’t have to like this arrangement. We’re just asking you to respect it.”

“Why’d you pick my mom?” Burton asked.

“She really chose me,” Sheltham replied.

“Are you two going to be going on dates together?” Garland asked.

“Technically, we already have. That’s what made all of this come about in the first place.”

The boys looked at each other. They sized each other up and looked each other square in the eye. They looked for defects and deficiencies in each others’ characters. Garland finally blurted out, “Let’s go play the VirtuVisual.”

The boys scampered out of the room into the adjacent one. Mala had gotten Edgar to sleep after changing him. Sheltham left the room to the main area where she stood. He whispered.

“If you want, you can put him in the bedroom and put pillows around him.”

Mala acknowledged and proceeded. After she returned, she looked up and smiled. “One down, four more to go. I think Burton likes you,” Mala added.

“I think my boys are going to take a liking to you as well,” Sheltham said with a grin.

They both sat down on the couch. Surprisingly, the noise was low in the other room and all the boys participated well together. Mala and Sheltham peered into each others’ eyes.

“I don’t want this to be one of those rescue cases where the man swoops in and makes everything better for the poor woman who couldn’t do it all on her own,” Mala explained.

“There’s no part of that in this equation. We’re fierce individualists who just happen to have skilled positions and affinity for one another. That’s the beauty of all this.”

“What’s so beautiful?”

“Our kids getting along is a start,” Sheltham asserted.

Mala sighed. “At least you’re different. Any other male would have already moved my baby out of the way on that bed and tried to lay me down without regard,” she observed. “You’re a man.”

“I know. I’m looking forward to that day, but I’m in no rush. What I want to do is form a strong bond between your family and mine. There’s a lot of testosterone flowing through this situation, so I’m trying to be gentlemanly about everything.”

“I anticipate that day as well. I think the pace you’re going is the right one. What you are doing now is appropriate. It’s proper. For us to carry on like some randy teenagers would collapse the strong ties we’re currently tying,” Mala replied.

Then, the door burst open and Garland came running out to the adults.

“Excuse me, but Burton is hurt.”

Mala rocketed out of her seat and Sheltham followed right behind her.

Burton had become a bit overzealous in the virtual world and made a small gash on his arm on the edge of the desk. A stripe of blood oozed from his wound.

“I’ll get some soap and water and bacitracin,” Sheltham announced.

Mala held onto her son. “You boys weren’t rough housing were you?”

“We weren’t. Honest!” Fasio proclaimed.

Mala could hear Edgar crying in the next room. She saw Sheltham come in also. She placed the ointment on Burton’s gash and wrapped it with the gauze that Sheltham supplied as well. She then handed all of those materials to him. She ran into the bedroom and scooped up her crying infant.

“Shh, shh, shh, shh,” she said.

The other boys made sure Burton felt better. They gave him some water to drink and sat him down to ease the sharp, stinging pain of his cut. It appears Fasio and Garland had told the truth. Although, it would’ve seemed like the Sheltham boys would have beat up on the sole Shankman in the room, such was not the case.

Edgar had stopped crying. A faint echo of the VirtuVisual still played in the background. Sheltham lifted the gauze from Burton’s arm. He applied more of the bacitracin.

“I will take your word for it,” Garland. “I know Burton would’ve told me in advance if you all were playing a bit too rough. This was an accident, so after this wound heals, you all will be back to normal,” she assured.

Sheltham looked at Mala. She had a gleam in her eye saying, this was a minor setback but nothing that could challenge their budding union. The boys all looked haggard.

“Dad, I’m ready for bed,” Fasio said.

“I am, too,” Barnel rejoined.

“Alright, this meeting is officially over,” Sheltham replied.

“It was cool meeting you, Mala,” Garland addressed her with an outstretched hand. “Still sorry what happened, but we really weren’t––”

“I understand. It was a pleasure to meet you, Garland, and you too, Fasio and Barnel.”

Burton felt the slight jabs of pain, but still shook the hands of the Sheltham boys. Mala smiled and allowed Edgar to cling even tighter to her. She grabbed Burton’s hand and proceeded out of the living space.

“We can do something in the coming weeks, when we’re not working and let a sitter watch the boys,” Sheltham suggested.

“I’d like that very much, sir,” Mala smiled. She didn’t have to journey far. Once she found her own dwelling, she looked her son in the eye.

“Burton…did they hurt you?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s all I need to know.”