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

dress,” Sean retorted. Harry smiled.
“You do that and I’ll pick up some for you,” he told him and they all laughed. Sean shook his head.
“It’ll take more than some to get a dress on me,” he declared. Danny blew him a kiss.
“That’s not what you said last week when I saw you on the corner of David Marshall Avenue and Jones Street,” he teased and all the boys hooted and hollered. Sean rolled his eyes and looked at his dad.
“He’s just mad cuz Jackson borrowed his lipstick and hasn’t returned it,” he said scoring two points with one insult. Harry nodded with approval; that was very clever.
The base of each of the towers was petrified wood mixed with steel and then when they reached about a hundred feet they became all steel and that’s when people started to realize that they were towers of some kind.
Harry put the crystals on display on a table with the girls guarding them, he had finally let the wives and the girls in on the secret and they were excited about the communication towers and screeched about the crystal cave.
“You found crystals, Harry, oh, my God; and you didn’t tell me, you rat!” Kathleen threw herself at him and he laughed and spun her around.
“And spoil the surprise, darling,” he teased her and everyone laughed. Then they all came out to gasp at the cantaloupe sized black balls and golf ball sized purple energy crystals and watch the building of the towers. Everyone was so excited and happy and Harry promised them a live show of the crystal cave as soon as the towers were up and running.
“It’s a damned shame Harry didn’t find that cave while he was married to Jake, you’d be a very rich woman right now, Violet,” David remarked as the four watched the building from a safe distance. Violet shrugged. Jake laughed.
“Harry wanted to take a trip to Savannah and look for the crystal cave just a few years ago but I wouldn’t take time off from my practice,” Jake told them and Violet gasped as she realized how close she had come to billions of dollars worth of crystals. Gloria patted her shoulder.
“Harry will give out those crystals for free just like he had all along, he’s like that, so generous,” she sneered and Jake looked at her funny.
“Harry always believed that energy should be free,” he defended his ex. Violet smiled and took his arm giving her friends a warning glare.
“Energy should be free to everyone,” she said sweetly and they all smiled.
They put the Eden tower high on the highest mountain peak and left Brian and Ryan who had won that lottery and flew to Sherwood and put that tower and left three people there and flew to Mykonos and put a tower there and flew on to Savannah and put the tower there. Then they all got on their telephones and dialed one another and cheered when they saw familiar faces on the view screens.
“Oh, my God, Harry I can see you,” Carl from Mykonos gushed and he waved. Standing behind him Harry could see his son Danny who waved. He waved back and Sean waved at his brother. Everyone started talking at once and then they made a conference call and called Kate who was excited to see them all from the corners of the planet. They held the phones away so she could see the areas they were calling from.
“You did it, Harry, you’ve linked the planet, now all you’ve got to do is build an airlines so we all can get there, not just you in your ship,” she informed him and he grinned.
“That’s the next step, Mother,” he declared and everyone cheered. Then he flew back and picked everyone up and brought them back to Savannah so they could see the crystal cave for themselves. They deserved that for all of their hard work. They all stood outside the cave by the field of blue oranges and he held up his hand for silence. They were all very excited.
“Now for the first part of the cave, it’s going to be very dark and the bats are above our heads so be very quiet so they don’t swoop down and attack us. They have very sharp claws and their shit smells very bad and you don’t want them shitting on you,” he warned them and they all laughed and made faces.
“That doesn’t sound like much fun, DJ, shut up,” Steve declared and they all laughed. DJ looked insulted.
“Hey, don’t pick on me, I didn’t say a word,” he protested. Harry grinned.
“I seem to remember it was you teasing the girls who brought the damned things down on us the last time,” he reminded him. DJ grinned and looked around.
“Well, I don’t see any girls this time, oh, sorry, Carl, I didn’t see you standing there,” he apologized. Carl punched his arm. Everyone laughed. Harry rolled his eyes.
“Get it out now, ladies, once we get inside the caves, I don’t want to hear a peep,” he admonished them. They all settled down.
“Okay, Harry, we’re ready,” Jackson announced and they all nodded. So Harry turned on his flashlight and entered the cave.
“Keep your lights on the floor, don’t shine the light up on the bats or they’ll attack,” he warned and they passed the word along. Everyone made a face when they smelled the rancid odor of the bat feces.
“Oh, man, what is that smell; Ryan, did you take a shower today?” Sean remarked and everyone laughed, but it was low. Harry rolled his eyes. Over their heads the bats fluttered and flew around, it gave all the men the creeps although none of them would have admitted it. Finally they were at the entrance of the crystal cave. Harry paused and grinned at them.
“Prepare to be dazzled,” he declared and one by one they passed him and entered the cave. And one by one, he heard them all exclaim, “Holy crap, this is fucking amazing.” It made him beam with pride. He entered the cave last.
“Dad, this is amazing, we’re all so proud of you,” Adam gushed and hugged him tight. Harry laughed and hugged him back.
“Hey, all I did was find it; nature made it,” he told them. They all took pictures and he showed them the corridor and the other bigger cave.
“There’s enough crystal in here for a million years, Harry,” Brian declared and they all agreed on that.
“Look, here some green over here,” Ryan pointed it out.
“There’s some rose and blue over here,” Sean pointed.
“I’ve found some nice white,” Jackson called out. Everywhere they looked it was like a crystal rainbow. Every color was represented, but the precious purple was the most dominated color; everywhere you looked it was purple. Then Danny found the large hole that led down somewhere.
“Here, where does this go?” he asked and they all looked at Harry who shrugged.
“I don’t know, I didn’t check it out because I was alone, but I brought some rope so we can all go down now,” he suggested. They all grinned, they liked that idea. Harry was the first down and he gasped and looked up.
“Oh, man, you’re all going to like it down here,” he yelled back up. His voice echoed and sang up the caves and tinkled on the walls sending chills up everyone’s backs.
“Oh, man, I love that sound,” DJ exclaimed and they all laughed. Then they all slid down the rope and gasped at the size of the cave down the hole.
“Holy crap, Harry, this cave is bigger than the other two put together,” Carl said and they all grinned. They just all couldn’t stop grinned. Then Harry got a great idea. He waved his hands around.
“Gentlemen, in honor of this splendid occasion, I give you permission to take the crystal of your choice, no matter how big, whatever color, except for purple or black, of course, and you may drill it out yourself,” he said grandly and laughed. Their eye’s all lit up.
“Any size, oh, man, Harry, you’re going to regret saying that,” DJ declared and started looking around. Everyone took out their laser knives. Danny grinned and hugged him.
“Why not purple or black?” he asked. Harry smiled.
“Because if you took purple or black you might be tempted later to cut it up and use it for something, another color you won’t do that to and you’ll always have a reminder of your first visit to the crystal caves,” he informed him and everyone laughed.
“You’re right about that, Harry, if I took a purple one, I’d eventually chop it up and use it for something,” Brian said, shook his head and laughed. They all searched for about a half-hour and then began drilling. Harry found a nice green larger than a cantaloupe and cut it out, it was beautiful and had lots of faucets. All the men picked very beautiful stones. Then they got a look at DJ’s rose colored stone and broke out into laughter. It was the size of a basketball and very heavy by the way he was carrying it. He grinned.
“Remember, you said any size we found,” he reminded him and Harry grinned.
“That I did, buddy, that’s all yours if you can carry it up the hole,” he teased and DJ frowned. Then Harry laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll lift all your stones up the hole so you don’t drop them and crack or break them.”
“That’ll be great, buddy,” Steve patted his back. Harry did more than that, he lifted everyone up the hole while they all gasped and laughed and then they pulled him up by the rope and laughed.
“That was a great ride, Harry, I wouldn’t mind doing that again,” Carl declared and they all laughed again. They left the caves, quiet so the bats wouldn’t attack while they were holding their precious crystals. Harry lifted DJ’s monster ball for him and flew home. Everyone gasped at the sight of their trophies and Harry had to promise everyone a trip to the caves after his TV special aired later that week. He went home to relax; it had been a tiring three weeks.
Harry aired his TV special on prime time the following Friday night and the whole planet Edenville and Medford tuned in to see him, Gertie, and Bo standing outside the cave, smiling in front of the camera.
“Hi, everyone, this is Harry with Gertie and Bo live from Savannah via Black Crystal Communication Towers standing outside the Crystal Cave where I found those black crystals, say hello to everyone, Gertie,” he said and Gertie barked and everyone laughed. Jake felt a terrible ache in his heart seeing his precious dog on the screen looking so beautiful and alive. He grinned and looked at the others in the room.
“It looks like Harry gave her a bath for this performance, she looks so beautiful,” he gushed. David sighed.
“Goldens are such beautiful dogs, I had two Goldens when I left Memphis, but they died,” he reminisced. Gloria rolled her eyes.
“The last thing we need in here are those two big dogs shedding their hairs all over the place,” she snapped and he sighed. Violet agreed.
“I wouldn’t have those big dogs in my house,” she told her and Jake