The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

Harry giggled.
“Thank God, Mom, because you’re really beginning to get one my very last nerve,” he told her. She grinned.
“Good because you’ve been getting on that one for years,” she informed him and they both laughed. Barb smiled because she thought they were really communicating.
The following Sunday as they sat in church, a new church that was decorated with lots of rainbow banners and wonderful, colorful pictures depicting the life of Jesus in joyous poses. The children ignored their parents who sat on the other side of the church. Reverend Milo introduced Reverend Phillip to everyone and said that they would now be sharing the church services and bringing new life and new joy to the community. And that they hoped that this new joy would reach out and grab the people and lift them up to God and bring God’s grace into their hearts and bridge the gap between the generations and bring joy and love back into their lives. Harry grinned as he held Jake’s hand and hoped that it would work for his friend’s sake. It was hard to keep a grudge, it took lots of energy and they needed that energy for raising their children.
“May I say something, Reverends?” Max spoke and stood up. His wife smiled beseechingly across the aisle at her son who looked over at her and didn’t blink.
“Of course, Max, please say whatever you like,” Reverend Phillip said and waved his hands. Max turned to faced everyone and cleared his throat.
“I am not a nice person,” he began and a few people laughed softly. He sighed and looked at his children who smiled so he smiled. “I try to be but I don’t always succeed and I am one who holds a grudge, I know its wrong but I do. I am truly sorry to anyone that I hurt recently by my actions and I sincerely apologize to everyone if I said or did anything that offended them or hurt their feelings.” He smiled and sat down. Steve snorted but Harry leaned over and shook his head.
“That was a very nice apology, Steve, let it be,” he told him sternly. Steve nodded. Then Charles stood up and faced everyone.
“I sincerely apologize to Harry and to Jake if anything I said offended or harmed them in anyway, I am in the words of my wife, a big, fat jerk, and I am deeply sorry,” he said and sat down. Everyone laughed.
“Well, at least he said our names,” he whispered to Jake who grinned.
“We are a small community and we cannot afford to be divided into two separate entities, not just because of our size but because we rely on each other for support and guidance,” Reverend Phillip said. “We need our young people to keep our youth and our vitality just as we need our older people to give us wisdom and strength. Together we can face any situation, any challenge. But we must stay together. Now we have hurt and we have been hurt and its time to set all of this aside and make a new beginning and heal. Can we do that?” Linda stood up.
“Oh, please, Steve, Kathleen, please don’t move away, we love you both so much and we want to see your children grow up, please, Harry, stay here,” she begged. Everyone looked at Harry who nodded. Steve grinned.
“If it were up to me, we’d leave tomorrow so all of you had better be thankful that Harry is more willing to forgive than I am,” he informed them. Reverend Milo beamed.
“Let us all exchange signs of forgiveness, kids give your parents a hug, they really need one,” he gushed and all the adults laughed and rushed forward to hug their kids. All except for Dr. Jackson who glared at his son like he was a rattlesnake. Sissy rushed forward before he could stop her and flew into Jake’s arms.
“I love you, Jake, please come home, Son,” she cried. Jake sighed and put her away from him.
“I love you too, Mom, but you’ve got to stop saying that or I’m going to stop talking to you, do you understand?” he asked her sternly. She nodded but when he hugged her again, she looked right at Harry and glared at him. He just smiled.

“What do you mean I can’t have another abortion, Daddy?” Gloria looked at her father with disbelief. David’s eyes got wide and he gasped with shock. Dr. George sighed and looked at the married couple and then down at his scan report and lab tests.
“I’m sorry, pumpkin, I really am, but you’ve had six abortions in four years, another one will kill you,” he told her as gently as he could. She looked shocked.
“But I can’t have a child, David and I don’t want children,” she protested. David nodded his head vigorously. Dr. George wanted to kill him.
“Well, if you felt that way, why didn’t you let me give you the birth control shot, you know its one hundred percent effective,” he said and she frowned.
“Oh, Daddy, you know how much I detest shots, I’m scared to death of them,” Gloria snapped. Dr. George frowned.
“But I gave you birth control pills, did you take them every single day like you’re supposed to?” he asked. She frowned.
“I’m not sure, sometimes I forget, why?” she asked. He shook his head.
“Darling, the pills are only effective if you take them every single day, if you miss one and have sex on that day, you could get pregnant and obviously you missed one,” he informed her. She and David looked at one another and frowned.
“You’re supposed to remind me to take my pill,” she said. He glared at her.
“You’re the woman, you’re supposed to remember,” he said. Dr. George once again wanted to strangle his son-in-law. He sighed instead.
“Well, pumpkin, it looks like you’re going to join Harry and the others and give birth in December,” he said cheerfully. Gloria pouted.
“Can’t you just take the silly thing out?” she asked. Dr. George looked confused.
“Take what out, dear?” he asked. Gloria sighed.
“My utera, whatever, where the damned thing is,” she snapped. Dr. George looked appalled.
“A hysterectomy on a twenty year-old woman, are you insane?” he asked in horror. She snorted.
“A twenty year-old who never under any circumstances desires to have children,” she informed him. David smiled and reached for her hand. They leaned forward and kissed. Dr. George shuddered.
“I couldn’t perform one if I wanted to, you’re too scared, as it is delivering the baby will probably have to be a c-section and Harry will have to heal you after,” he informed his daughter. “And after that, you’ll definitely get the shot whether you want one or not, I’m tired of killing your babies because you’re careless.” Gloria gasped.
“You’re mean,” she sputtered. David looked angry.
“You can’t talk to my wife like that,” he snapped. Dr. George laughed.
“She’s my daughter, you stupid ass, I can talk to her anyway I want so butt out,” he snapped at him and David flushed red but shut up. Then Gloria smiled.
“I know what we can do,” she gushed. “We can get Harry to heal me, then you can perform the abortion and give me the stupid shot if you want, why are you shaking your head, Daddy?” she wailed. Dr. George sighed.
“It’s a good plan, pumpkin, and it would have worked, the last time when I suggested it, remember?” he reminded her. She flushed and pursed her lips in a way that made her look like her mother and he hated her mother.
“I didn’t want him to know about my business,” she snarled and David nodded.
“It’s none of his business and why can’t he do it now?” he whined.
“Because Harry is pregnant now and we don’t know if healing when he’s pregnant will affect his baby so while he’s pregnant we want to keep all of that to only the very extreme emergencies,” Dr. George told them. Gloria laughed.
“Well this is an extreme emergency for God’s sake, I don’t want to have a baby,” she wailed and began to cry. Dr. George got up from behind his desk to console her.
“Sweetie, it’ll be alright, I know you’re scared but having a baby is the most natural thing in the world,” he said. She shook her head.
“I’m not scared of having a baby, Daddy,” she said and he looked confused.
“Then what’s wrong, honey, you can tell me, you can tell me anything,” he said. She shook her head.
“I don’t want to have a baby because I don’t like babies, I think they’re dreadful,” she admitted and began to cry again. Dr. George rolled his eyes and went back behind his desk. Then David looked at him.
“Well, what if there’s an emergency, what if she fell down the stairs or something, then would Harry heal her?” he asked with a sly look in his eyes. Gloria got that sly look too. Dr. George was horrified.
“If you push my daughter down the stairs to abort this baby, I’ll have the both of you up on charges faster than you can blink,” he stated. “Good God, what kind of monster are you?” he looked at his daughter. “Is this the man you want to spend your life with?” She shrugged.
“I thought it was a rather clever idea,” she remarked and he left the office to get her prenatal vitamins before he strangled them both.
Dr. George sent out a happy email announcing the arrival of his grandchild in hopes that this would stop the two from doing anything funny. Gloria immediately got invited to join the happy pregnancy group that the other pregnant ladies and Harry belonged to and decided what the hell, why not. She was invited to Dunkin Donuts for donut bingeing which she adored, exercise classes at the pool which she didn’t, long walks on the beach which turned out to be more fun than she thought and Harry lifted the ban so she could buy baby clothes at Macy’s and even let her buy some stuff for herself, which she really loved.
In October the kids built the Jeep Dealership and Harry put out two hundred Jeeps for everyone to drool over and offered everyone free trade-ins on their cars if they wanted them. Everyone wanted a new car and rushed in to trade. For those who wanted a second car, he offered a fantastic deal, only five thousand dollars for a new jeep.
For Halloween all the pregnant ladies came dressed up as pumpkins, what else could they do? They were big and fat and felt like blimps. DJ remarked then they should have made blimp costumes. He was not their favorite person for the next hour. Then Harry and Jake arrived and Harry was dressed like a big, giant eggplant. Everyone broke out into laughter. It was a marvelous costume and very creative. Jake was a hay-seed farmer complete in bib-overalls and a straw hat with a red bandana tied around his neck. They were very adorable. And, of course, Harry had his two kegs of beer and full bar for everyone so everyone was happy. He even made a special drink for them, a blended junpar daiquiri and