The First Love Of Alipang Havens

While the matter of the Jakekens was still up in the air, it was Alipang's turn to get special attention--from the entire currently-available membership of Master Pitik's Escrima school, who drove up in several cars and asked permission to hold their Saturday morning class this once in the Havens' backyard. Eric and Cecilia were pleased to consent; they had not watched an Escrima lesson for a long time, and they relied on the presence of his friends to be a morale boost for their convalescent son.

Master Pitik's own son Santiago, who was his father's best pupil _after_ Alipang (and had learned to respect rather than resent the younger but more naturally talented boy), took over leadership of the class for the first half of the session, enabling Pitik to converse with Alipang and his parents.

"I was going to have Santiago act as a master of ceremonies for the demonstration on Monday," the fighting instructor told his hosts. "But Santiago really wants to go to a Catholic youth retreat this weekend with the college-age fellowship from St. Timothy's--and God forbid that I should _discourage_ my son from sinking roots in the Mother Church! So, Alipang, in view of Santiago leaving town later today... and in view of _your_ inability to spar normally...I have come with your fellow students to ask if you feel equal to playing host at our exhibition, and writing your own speech to explain Escrima to the audience."

Alipang's face lit up. "Oh, yes, Teacher, yes! I'll have a draft in e-mail to you before suppertime tonight."

As if God had decided that there still wasn't enough happening, a phone call came while the Escrima lesson was going on. It was from Jim Jakekens, very meekly asking if he, Kathleen, and their youngest son Mike could pay a visit that afternoon. He was able to confirm that Mrs. Capshaw had known them for many years, and had herself initiated keeping the Jakekens informed after she realized whose physical offspring Chilena was.

Eric Havens cordially gave permission for the visit--but prevented Chilena from getting on the phone at that time, lest her emotions embarrass her. The girl would need to prepare her mind further before the encounter; and her closest confidant would probably be of great value in this preparation. There was providence even in Alipang's injury, for it meant that he would BE home to help his sister through this mixed blessing of seeing her birth parents.
 
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As soon as Pitik and his Escrima students had taken their leave, Alipang took charge of Chilena, climbing into the treehouse with her for a conference--a conference which, as usual for them, was conducted in a hugging-intensive environment. Only when the Wonder Twins were in the most comfortable position they could find which involved continuously having their arms around each other, did the discussion commence--in Tagalog, in case their voices might by any chance carry to the ears of Melody and Harmony.

"Please tell me, Chil, just what you expect from this visit by the Jakekens. Will it give you peace? Or will it make you _less_ contented here with us--with me?"

"Oh, Al, don't you _know_ by now how I feel, after all our years together? Don't you know that nothing less than marriage will _ever_ pry me loose from you, and even when we have spouses I'll still want to spend some time with you?"

That called for a kiss, and the kiss called for another kiss, followed by reciprocal "I-love-you's", after which Alipang continued: "Then there's the opposite worry. Are you going to open a can of chew-out on your birth parents? Will you blast them for leaving you, even _though_ you're happy where you are?" He punctuated the last five words by softly rocking Chilena in his arms.

"I can't promise to have the perfect self-control you have," she replied. "But I'll try not to condemn them."

The conference dwelt on the Jakekens for another ten or twelve minutes; then it began dwelling on the snuggling and words of mutual affection which Alipang and Chilena always kept in abundant inventory for each other. But just when Alipang felt relaxed, and confident that all was well in the family...Chilena surprised him by adding one more piece of complex business to the agenda.

"Al...please be patient with me here...All of this about my adoption, and, and everything, has me thinking a lot... about, well, everything. Like...what is and isn't family......" She was clearly hesitating over something. Alipang kissed her again. "Something wrong, sweets?"

"It's just that...it's kind of a big question..." She burrowed more firmly into his arms, holding him closer than she had yet done in the current embrace, before she continued. "Al...Al...what if...I mean....If some way, the two of us had known each other as well as we do now...but some way, we....we _weren't_ brother and sister by law....how would you feel about me then?"

Alipang held his breath for a moment at this, then whispered, "Are you _sure_ you want to ask that question?"
 
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Chilena pressed her forehead against his: their old gesture, often expressive of make-believe anger--but there was just a touch of real annoyance now. "If I didn't want to know, I _wouldn't_ ask. Al, we tell each other _everything;_ don't stop now."

Alipang took several breaths, as deep as his rib would permit. "But we've never talked about _this_ before." He reverted to English, even as he was stroking her fine yellow hair. "Sweets, do you remember when Mom explained Heisinger's Principle to us?"

"Yeah: about studying the movement of subatomic particles by causing collisions between them."

"That's right--"

"So have I earned MY answer?"

Alipang kissed her cheek. "This is _part_ of your answer. Heisinger's Principle, for those who've even heard of it, has taken on a broader meaning: that when you study something, you can have an _effect_ on the thing you're studying." He kissed her other cheek. "Now bring in the words of Gandalf to Saruman--in the book, not the movie: 'He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' "

Chilena placed retaliatory kisses on _his_ cheeks. "That's the longest-winded refusal to answer I've ever heard."

Alipang pulled her head against his shoulder. "Sweets, I'm trying to say that--for years, we've had what must be the happiest brother-sister relationship since the beginning of time. We can be together like this, be close like this, because...we _haven't_ insisted on analyzing it to death. Some ideas...might be better not discussed, not brought up."

She worked herself still closer to him, as if she were fighting him. "Al, by the way you're talking, you must have _thought_ before now about this very question. What can it change to _admit_ your thoughts?"

He sighed. "Okay, have it your way. If we somehow could have had the same familiarity, the same feelings for each other...yet _not_ been legally brother and sister...I would MARRY YOU the day I turned eighteen. No other girl--not Kim, not Summer, no one--would have _any_ chance. It would be you and me, period, for eternity." He averted his eyes from her, and pulled back his arms from holding her till he only had his hands resting limply against her sides. "NOW are you satisfied?"

She didn't loosen her hold on him at all. "No, I'm not."

Alipang's jaw dropped. "Well, _what,_ then? What else can I say that's _more_ touchy and private?"

Her voice dropped to the merest whisper. "You haven't asked me how I would feel."

He pressed his cheek to hers. "Maybe I'm trying to leave one thing _still_ unsaid; trying to keep a part of us in childhood, when these questions _weren't_ asked, or if asked, they weren't taken seriously. Couldn't we have left it at being the Wonder Twins? I liked that."

Half a minute passed without word or motion. Then, starting to feel stupid _not_ hugging Chilena, he returned his arms to encircling her trim waist. Another half minute, listlessly embracing...

At last Chilena broke the silence, in her most injured tone. "Don't you _care_ how I feel? Or is your pride afraid of hearing that I _wouldn't_ feel the same way if we had different last names?"

He began to peel her off of him, like the skin coming off a banana. "This is only going downhill. Can we at least let it _rest_ awhile?" Once neither of them had an arm around the other's body, he began scooting his rump toward the hatchway. But Chilena knee-walked after him and flung her arms freshly around him from behind, as her head leaned into his.

"Al...I would have married you, too. No other boy."

He looked at her over his shoulder. "So we both know now. I think we already knew it, AND knew that the other one knew it--without having to _say_ it. This hasn't improved anything." Gently pulling loose from her arms again, he started down the ladder.

She followed him, clasping his hand as soon as she overtook him. He didn't refuse that much contact. "Now what, Al? Are you never going to hug me or kiss me again as long as we live?"

"I won't say that...but I'm going to have to, I don't know, I guess gain control of my feelings or something like that. Opposite-sex adoptive siblings must have been adjusting to ambiguity in their feelings toward each other ever since adoption was invented. We'll adjust; actually, I would have said we already _had_ adjusted--until you started prodding."

She pouted. "Maybe you _don't_ want us to share everything on our minds. Maybe you _don't_ want any more downstairs meetings."

"Wrong; I wanted very much for them to continue. But we _have_ to let this drop for now; Mom and Dad so very much _don't_ need to know about _this_ conversation."
 
I think Alipang's reaction is very logic. He knows what it would be right because he doesn't want to hurt his addoptive parents by starting a romantic relationship with Chilena. If I were them, i would be like :eek: and "Weren't you supposed to be brother and sister?!" it would be sort of a shock if they see their children as pure, lovely siblings.
But Chilena is thinking and seeing things like from the "out-side". If neither of them had the same last name, and if they weren't legally addopted and if they had the same familiarity, she would have totally fallen in love with him... if she hasn't already.

I kind of sense that Alipang feels something more but he denies it, he can have a self-control over his emotions in that area because he loves her so much and cares about her so much that the love might turn into something beyond of what he imagined.

Their relationship is very intimate and I can affirm I would never have such a relationship with my own brother, lol, even though he was addopted. So I think there is something more behind the appearances and I don't think it's disgusting because, logically, they lived and shared many years together and the idea might be possible because they are NOT blood- brother and sister, and, above all, they are humans.

I'm waiting to see what will happen later... :)
 
Some of this comes from Dayhawk's former RP posting

The Pansit Paradise was due to have a luncheon for all the volunteers with Redemption Church who would be running children's activities. Alipang was already planning on attending this. It was a little surprising to Mom and Dad that he said he wanted to walk to the restaurant, and that Chilena did not offer either to drive him or walk with him; but the anomaly was not so great as to demand intervention or even comment--especially when Chilena turned her attention to the perfectly acceptable pastime of telephoning her boyfriend.

Al set out with plenty of time to spare, since he couldn't run full speed. But he was destined to have a ride after all.


Kim had been cruising Liddell Street in her old white sedan, spotting the Havens residence early on, but bashful about parking in front of it and knocking on the door. It was as if a voice were telling her she could go back to her comfortable paradigm that boys were jerks ("Aren't they all!" her friend Peggy was given to saying), relieving herself of any duty to apologize to a mere male. But even with her almost non-existent Christian instruction, Kim knew that this voice was just as wrong as her condescending behavior to the Filipino boy had been. Somehow, she would have to work up the nerve to leave the Amazon super-goddess behind, and be a human being who needed to ask another human being's forgiveness.

On her sixth run past Alipang's house, she saw him coming out and starting to walk east along the sidewalk. This put him on the left side of the street relative to her; so she hurried a block ahead of him, turned around in a driveway, and came back toward him--still trying at the last minute to decide how she could begin speaking to him. All she could come up with was to start out light, as if nothing were wrong. She didn't know what to talk to him about, but decided she could only try until she knew she could bring up the real reason she had sought him out.

Stopping at the spot Alipang was about to pass, she honked her horn--realizing that he might not have seen her car before--and leaned toward the already-open front passenger window so he would see her face as he came up. "Hey, Al," she said, her tone perky, "what's new?"

It was plain for anyone to see that Alipang was extremely unhappy about something--but also plain that his current displeasure was not directed at Kim, since he already had his bummed expression before he could have seen her. When he did see her, he made an attempt to smile. "Good morning, Kim. You'll be at the Pansit soon, serving the church luncheon for the picnic volunteers, right? I hear nothing but good about your work."

"Thanks! Yes, I will be. You're headed there yourself, aren't you? I thought...maybe I could...offer you a ride."

To Kim's relief, instead of telling her to buzz off, he smiled a bit more convincingly, and got in beside her.
 
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As Alipang buckled his seat belt, Kim's peripheral vision informed her that his eyes flickered momentarily to parts of her which were lower than her neck. But his gaze retreated from there as quickly as it had strayed there; and even while he had looked, there had been an innocent air about it--not like lustful staring at all.

"These jeans are what I'm wearing to work," she told him, preparing to get everything off her chest, "so I'm ready. Say, Al, we have some spare time; do you mind if we stop and talk? I mean, well, I _need_ to talk to you."

Alipang caught the first glimmer of hope that she might be sorry for the way she had treated him. He pointed out beyond the sedan. "How about that parking lot? I'll be glad to talk, as long as it isn't--never mind, go ahead and say anything, it can't be--just say anything." He still was trying to smile, but the cracked left rib was bothering him.

Once they were parked, Kim looked at him oddly. "Are you okay?"

Alipang stared at her more intently than he had so far. "Do you actually NOT KNOW anything that's happened to me since Wednesday afternoon when--" (he averted his eyes from her) "--I passed you my letter? I shouldn't be surprised; I don't _know_ what you do the rest of the time, you could have been to Malibu and back without my knowing it. Though there _has_ been talk about my experience. It's even led the police to make some arrests."

He noticed that he no longer stammered in Kim's presence. If anything, it was now she who stammered.

"I do know, I was, I was just...making sure you were okay. I guess not," she said. Amazon ego told her to be mad, but she suppressed it. She knew that if their positions had been reversed--if it had been Alipang who had treated her with such a smug, superior attitude as she had shown to him--she wouldn't even want to talk to him now. "I wanted to say...Al...I'm _sorry_ that I misjudged you about the run-in with Rocknose in the corridor on Wednesday...I was just, you know, concerned. And I'm sorry that my talking down to you...made you think that you had to...go through what you exposed yourself to, just to prove a point to me. That's right...I've seen your video of you taking punches without hitting back."

Al was not replying; but his was a listening silence, not a snubbing silence. Kim took a deep breath and continued: "I also know now about Dan having been knocked down. I was unfair to you; you _weren't_ just picking a fight over words. You were doing the same protecting that I said was okay in my letter back to you.

"Mom tells me sometimes that I can't measure everybody else by the way I act or think. But on Wednesday, I _was_ measuring you by me. When I was younger, * I * was the one who would get into fights over nothing but insulting words. And that kind of fighting never got me, or my friends, anywhere we wanted to be..." She wanted to say more about her outsider experience, but decided against it. "I'm sorry, Al. I had no _right_ to project my own faults onto you. Please forgive me," she concluded simply.

"I accept your apology," said Alipang, his face brightening genuinely; "I really do, even if I run off at the mouth _after_ accepting it. "Kim, there's a lot more I want to say about this week, but first....How many times have you heard THE sermon about forgiveness? Don't bother counting, it's a rhetorical question."

"You're embarrassing me," Kim replied. "I haven't heard _enough_ sermons in my lifetime to have them all categorized--except maybe the sermons I heard back in Georgia, about how every girl who had a skirt hemmed higher than mid-calf was a dirty tramp."

"Oh..." now the awkwardness had returned to Alipang, with the slightest reference to girls existing below the chin. "Anyway, I _have_ heard lots of sermons. It seems every pastor everywhere these days thinks he has to give the same one: the one which claims that _nothing_ is harder to do than forgiving others who hurt us. But when they preach this endlessly, they're actually _pandering_ in a way to the listeners....because forgiving others IS NOT actually the hardest thing to do. When you forgive others, you get to be the good guy; you get to be noble, even Christlike. * I * get to feel noble, forgiving you right now for being wrong about me (which you were). What's _really_ hard to do is to _confess_ a fault when _you're_ the one who was wrong. Most pastors aren't willing to upset their members by ever saying _they_ might be the guilty parties in something; better to let them keep thinking of themselves as permanently innocent, thus needing to forgive rather than needing to repent.

"So you didn't learn how to apologize by hearing the standard sermons; it came from your heart. It took courage to admit being wrong about me, and I frankly think a lot better of you for just that. I still _would_ like to make sure you know what happened to me, but what happened BETWEEN US is already better."

Kim gave him a smile, which she could see was pleasing to him. "Yes, please: I'd like to hear first-hand what happened. And I'm used to making apologies, its not that hard for me anymore." What she didn't tell him was that all her apologies, for as long as she could remember, had been given either to fellow females, or to males who had some position of power and could _extort_ an apology from her. She had never apologized willingly and sincerely to a male peer before now.

But she found it felt good to do so--at least, when the recipient was someone as gracious as Al.
 
Alipang suddenly drilled his dark eyes into hers. "The way you say that, about you apologizing to people, makes me wonder if you haven't been _forced_ at times to apologize when you _weren't_ in the wrong, and maybe the person forcing you to apologize even _knew_ you were innocent but forced you to apologize anyway....but don't say anything to me about that unless you want to. I can always fill up the yakking vacuum."

Kim smiled, as one may smile when encountering unexpected wisdom and insight in another. "I _have_ been forced a few times to say I was wrong when I was really right; but usually I'm not the innocent one."

Alipang gave her in return the most unreservedly happy expression he had yet shown in this encounter. "Look at you, Kim! You _could_ have said to yourself, 'There, I gave the kid the apology I owed him, now I don't have to concede any _more_ ground; I can grab the opportunity he just offered me to claim I'm always innocent otherwise.' But you _didn't_ use that weasel-dodge! You confessed to being wrong at _other_ times, when you didn't have to confess that; I wouldn't have known the difference.

"Kim, I'm sure I must have told you sometime during this week that you're the prettiest girl I've _ever_ seen; but now I'm a lot _more_ impressed by something beautiful I'm seeing _inside_ you: a truthful spirit! Which encourages me to hope you'll absorb the truth about my own experience."

If Alipang had understood how much angry cynicism had found its way into Kim's heart before she met him, he would have marvelled at how completely his words were washing that bitterness out of her face and feelings. But he didn't realize it; to him, she simply had been gorgeous before and still was gorgeous. "Thank you, Al. Really, thanks. Not many boys ever--Anyway, tell me what you want to tell me."

He nodded. "When I was an orphan in a Filipino slum, I wasn't fighting over childish insults. I fought for my life, my life-or-death LIFE. That period came after a happier time when I had a loving mother--I still haven't told you about her, and I'm still not ready to--so I knew there was something better; but the something better was stolen from me, leaving me under the law of the jungle, until my new Mom and Dad saved me. So no, I'm not an airheaded little boy playing war; I fight to protect, only I've learned that protecting the weak is _helped_ by putting fear into the evil. Mr. Kramer knows that, and he _does_ apply fear when it serves a justified purpose. But getting back to _this_ week in particular:

"On Wednesday, earlier than the incident with Rocknose, even though Leopard Man had _threatened_ my sister, not just 'insulted' her, I found a nonviolent means of putting him in his place: by giving the Principal my photo proof of his robbery attempt on Monday. Then came the moment in the corridor, when you stepped in to do what you thought was helping....

"Truth is, if you'd been less interested in lecturing ME then, and paying more attention to the tactical situation, you might have noticed Dan lying on the floor where he'd been shoved down by Rocknose. NOT 'just words' there. And you might have noticed that Chilena, running to Dan, was putting herself in easy reach of the big jerk."

Kim's enchanting eyes turned freshly remorseful. "I understand that now, since your sister told me. And I deserved everything she yelled at me."

"Oh, um, right. I don't mean to be rubbing your face in it. Anyway, I _needed_ to get the bully's attention onto me instead of on Chilena; and even if Chilena hadn't been there, it still was true that what set everything off was a _physical_ assault....in a school which, as you must have noticed, WAS NOT protecting its students from violent threats. You were making it _harder_ for me to be on the job guarding my sister; and later, when you answered my letter, it bugged me still more that you lectured me about Jesus--as if you really thought I didn't know His teachings already.

"As for that, I'm sure now that you just didn't realize how deeply Christian homeschooling kids ARE taught Scripture. But it hurt me SO much that day, it was as if after you used my Trigonometry notes you had gone around bragging that it was YOU helping ME with Trig. I hate being condescended to; and it really hurt coming from the girl who---"

He suddenly looked away from her once more.
 
Kim found that when Al gave her compliments, she blushed miserably. Probably because she knew he meant every word. "Yes?" she prompted him to finish.

Alipang mastered himself and faced her again. "Let's say, a girl whom I desperately wanted to have a good opinion of me. What burned me was you seeming to think I was like little brats who fight over a candy bar.

"After the last time I spoke to you, I decided I had to prove--to you, to Grant, to the Principal--that I was NOT a crazy loose cannon, that I was in complete control of whether I fought anyone or not. So I found Rocknose outside with his hangers-on; I asked him how old he was; then I told him I would allow him to punch me once for every year of his age, without hitting him back.

"He has no real technique, only crude force. He wasn't even able to knock me down, though he did crack a rib--this one here. Nurse Pendergrass bound up my torso, and my parents came out. _That_ was the reason why the school was forced to accept Mr. Kramer being brought in for security: Mrs. Lewiston was embarrassed, as she ought to be. But she sure couldn't accuse me of 'fighting,' when I never struck a blow. Meanwhile, I was waiting for a second point to be proven: that bullies and thugs DO NOT become tender-hearted when they get their way and escape all penalty for their bad deeds, but rather as it says in Ecclesiastes, their hearts are fully set to do evil.

"On Thursday, then, my second point was proven, all right. Rocknose got together with other punks to take advantage of me while I was weakened. Two of his buddies--apparently both brothers of one of the muggers I outmaneuvered on Tuesday night--made me think that they had grabbed Sammy Ashford, so I followed them into the ambush. If Brendan Hyland hadn't come along with his lacrosse stick, I would have gone down--even been killed, maybe, if they were that far gone crazy. As it was, FIGHTING most absolutely and certainly DID settle and resolve something: I'm here to talk to you because Brendan fought for me. But I did get hit again, badly, on the same cracked rib. So I got an overnighter at the hospital, and I have to avoid lifting things, which is why I _haven't_ been able to go to work and enjoy the gorgeous view of YOU working beside me at Pansit Paradise. Meaning it in a courteous way, do you realize you're hotter than burning magnesium?"

She made a laughing noise under her breath. "Magnesium! That's one I've never heard. Well, I'm just glad you're okay. Some people said you died, but don't worry, I didn't believe them." She shook her head. "I guess it'd be wrong to get revenge...or..." she rolled her eyes with a smile, "you could call it justice and kick their butts...but I guess that wouldn't do any good anyways."

"My turn to roll my eyes," Alipang told her, but with a smile of his own. "Weren't you listening? Kicking those goons' butts--which I did contribute some to, though it was mostly Brendan that afternoon--IS what saved me. And now the law has taken over, so they're out of my reach; all of them have been arrested.

"If I had not stood up to those bums, they would not have gotten the blood-hunger to go after me in a daylight mugging that they would almost certainly have been proven guilty of in any case. As it is, because they went too far and got busted after getting beat, the cops have picked up information from them which has led to arrests of several much more serious crooks across this county. Singing Koom-baya at Rocknose would NOT have achieved that, anymore than it would have brought Rocknose himself to repentance and eternal salvation."

It now registered on Alipang that they had reached the strip mall which contained Rafael Imada's restaurant, and had been parked for more than a minute. "I think that's enough to give you the picture. If you have time before work, you could tell me something, anything you care to, about yourself. Because your voice is beautiful too; listening to it is like fresh fudge brownies with a marshmallow topping."

She laughed, "I never heard that one before either! Al, you crack me up! Well, what would you like to know? Give me something to start with."
 
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"Never heard _that_ one, but I'm sure you hear plenty of compliments generally." Alipang sighed, silently reminding himself that, while it was a gigantic blessing to have had Kim actually give of her own accord the apology she had undeniably owed him, this did not change the fact that he didn't have, could not possibly have, a chance with this beauty queen.

"Okay, Kim, tell me something about your family. How you came to move to Smoky Lake, for instance. But don't forget your timing for work; and just a minute, I'll text where I am--" He sent a short text message--to his Mom, not to Chilena. He was still angry at his sister for making him uncomfortable about a relationship which for years had been his most precious earthly comfort.

Which made it all the more tantalizing now, to be eighteen inches away from a girl whose entire being radiated the promise of _great_ (and completely unambiguous) comfort to some lucky young man.

"You don't mind hanging out for a few more minutes with an ancient senior, do you?" Kim asked.

"If the senior is you, I'm at your service. I said in the text message that I'd 'seen someone I knew' and would call home after the volunteer lunch. I didn't say it was you I saw; they would think I was in a raving delirium if I claimed that you spoke with--never mind, I don't want to sound like I think you're stuck up, when you're being so nice. But this is more than I would have expected. I mean, the business of apologizing aside, just that ANY senior girl would bother talking to a sophomore boy outside of some practical necessity...." Suddenly, startlingly, he took out his balisong knife, whipped it open, tapped its point against his temple, and joked, "I may need to poke a hole in my head to keep it from swelling; I'm being talked to by the guaranteed Senior Prom Queen." He closed the knife again.

She made a face. "Yeah, right, pshh--Prom Queen? But it's not a big deal, I have freshman friends too. It doesn't matter to me. Nice," she said, pointing to the knife. "So you wanted to know how I came here. Well, we used to live in Georgia, in downtown Atlanta. Then my father divorced my mother to run off with a younger woman, so we came up to Virginia to get away, so to speak. I was twelve when we came."

"I'm sorry about your Dad," Alipang told her, "though you already know that mine was even worse. The one by body only, that is; the Dad I have _now_ is a saint."

"I envy you for that," said Kim. "If I'd had a father like Dr. Havens, I would probably be able to relate to boys a lot better now."

Alipang glanced at the time display on his cellphone. "You don't know how _much_ I'm enjoying this, Kim; but you probably need to go inside now."

Getting out of the car and locking it, they entered the restaurant. Carmen and Maria both greeted them...and tried not to let their pleasure be too obvious at the sight of Alipang entering _with_ Kim. The Stetzers and Shavonda Moore were also here already, with Grant and Pete and Lucinda from church. But Jason and Kaitlyn were not here yet, so Alipang stepped back outside to watch for them. Also for the purpose of NOT seeming to be hovering around Kim too much. He didn't want to lose whatever ground he had gained.


~ ~ END OF PART TEN ~ ~ ​
 
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"The Story So Far"

As it used to be in roleplaying, so it now is with my roleplay-based novel: it's come far enough that a review is in order for the readers' benefit.

My hero, born in the Philippines as Alipang Dumagat, lost all his family and struggled for survival as a homeless orphan. A missionary couple working for World Vision--the husband, Eric, being a dentist, donating his services to the poor--came to adopt Alipang, who thus became like a twin brother to their already-adopted, close-in-age daughter Chilena. When they moved back to America, to the small city of Smoky Lake, wife and mother Cecilia homeschooled Alipang and Chilena, plus the two younger girls they had adopted from China. Alipang made friends, mostly those who were in the Havens family's church, or in the local homeschooling association, or both. But his adoptive sister Chilena remained his closest friend and confidante.

For the autumn of 2008, circumstances compelled several homeschooling families to put their teens in one of Smoky Lake's two high schools. (This plot concept was the seed planted by "Nightcrawler Fan" to create the roleplay without which this story would never have begun.) Alipang and Chilena were among the newly-enrolled sophomores. Both were able to make friends at East High (freshman Sammy Ashford and junior Brendan Hyland becoming prominent pals for Alipang); but Alipang also made enemies, because he was a ferocious fighter when provoked, and would not back down for any bully. This, through some twists of circumstance, was what led to Alipang suffering a fractured rib which is only starting to heal. Even a God-mocking teacher found Alipang impossible to humiliate in an intellectual struggle of wills.

A friend of the Havens family, a war veteran named Wilson Kramer, has yet to get his major spotlight time in the story. Abandoned by his wife, he is raising his son Quinn alone--and has become a sheriff's deputy with an assignment to safeguard East High. The crime problem, while not huge, is significant; and matters have not been helped by the secular-humanist Principal of East High, Flora Lewiston, pampering the troublemakers. Alipang's close friend Jason had a close call with nearly being suckered into gang membership. Now, though, Jason is coming under the healing influence of Tom Stetzer, pastor of the church the Havens attend.

The siblings Alipang and Chilena are facing tremendous complications in becoming more assimilated to conventional teenage life. Somewhat sheltered and smothered (more than is necessarily the case with homeschooling) by his over-anxious mother, Alipang has never had a girlfriend. Chilena, for her part, has never till now (see below) had a boyfriend who worked out well. Thus, the brother and sister have remained extremely close and mutually supportive; and while never intending to be in an unhealthy co-dependence, they have each had some uneasiness in adjusting to the fact that the other WILL be moving on into dating and eventually marriage.

Chilena has found a decent boyfriend at last, named Dan; he is not strong physically, but has won Alipang's approval. Chilena knows whom she would _like_ to see become her brother's girlfriend: a smart and good-natured girl called Summer, whom the siblings have already known for years. Alipang, however, sees Summer as more like an extra sister, and has formed a crazy crush on a senior girl named Kim Tisdale. Kim is an "indie" when it comes to fashion and tastes. She almost destroyed the crush by acting superior and condescending toward Alipang; but as we came to the close of Part Ten, she apologized to him for this.

One issue hanging in the air, as we approach Part Eleven, is the fact that Chilena's long-absent birth parents have just contacted the Havens family, wishing to see Chilena again.
 
PART ELEVEN: FAMILIES, NEW AND OLD


Walking around looking for any sight of Jason and Kaitlyn arriving, Alipang was bumped into--right on the sore place--by a girl around his own age coming out of the pet-supply store.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the girl apologized as Alipang, refusing to give in to the pain, stooped to help her pick up her spilled purchases. Most prominent in the scattering were packages of freeze-dried mice. "What's this, you got a python to feed?" he asked.

"Close--a rosy boa." The girl smiled and extended a hand. "My name's Erin Conrad. Are you into reptiles?"

"Alipang Havens. Before I was adopted out of Luzon, it was more a matter of reptiles being _into_ me;" and he patted his stomach. "They're right when they tell you that we Asians eat some things most of you white Americans wouldn't have on the menu. But tell me: is there a reason why your last name should ring a bell with me?"

"Yes, there is: my Mom's a detective-story author."

"That's it!" whooped Alipang. "The First Lady of my church is a mystery fan; she's read every one of your Mom's novels. As a matter of fact, she and Pastor Tom are in there--" (he pointed to the Pansit Paradise) "--right now, with some other church members."

"Anything special going on?"

"Yes: members of the church are going to help run kids' activities at the city picnic day after tomorrow. Stuff like hugging the special-needs children when they have their nobody-loses run on the track. Hey, I just thought of something! Has your constrictor ever been shown to an audience?"

Erin smiled, catching the drift. "At a grade school in Shilohsville last March, and at a day camp over the summer. Most kids aren't scared of her at all, as long as I'm around to supervise things."

"Oh, you SO need to meet the Stetzers! Do you have time?"

"I think I do; the vet's office I work at is only open in the morning on Saturdays."

"Then, come on!"--and he led Erin inside the restaurant and made introductions. "This is a girl who works for a vet, and knows a lot about animals. I told her you might be interested in having her do an animal presentation on Labor Day." This much said, Alipang left Erin to do her own revealing to Isobel Stetzer of her literary mother, while he resumed watching for Jason and Kaitlyn.
 
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When Jason and Kaitlyn finally drove into the strip mall's parking lot, Alipang gripped Jason's hand, saying, "Thank you for praying for me, Jason. Both because it WAS prayer, and because it was for ME."

Kaitlyn hugged Alipang. "I think you'll see us in church in the future."

During this greeting, Alipang glimpsed beyond his friends a passing car whose driver--a man appearing about thirty years old--seemed to be looking at them with interest. When Jason and Kaitlyn went inside, Al stayed outside on a hunch. Half a minute later, the same car came back and pulled into the parking lot, where the driver gazed into the restaurant for a minute or longer. As unobtrusively as possible, Al took several cellphone pictures of the car (license plate included) and its driver from various angles. Once the stranger drove off, Al transmitted his pictures to Police Chief Costamesa's own cellphone, whose number was known to the Havens family. Only then did he go back inside, join in the discussion of Labor Day plans, and bask in the delight of Kim's presence.

When the meeting adjourned, Jason and Kaitlyn drove Al home, and stayed there long enough to tell Dr. and Mrs. Havens about Jason's permanent renunciation of bad company in favor of Redemption Church company. Erin Conrad, meanwhile, went on talking with the Stetzers, ending up inviting them to come to her house and meet her mother, who had been thinking about trying to find a satisfying church. Mrs. Conrad liked what she heard from Tom and Isobel.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

After Jason and Kaitlyn left the Havens home, Dad informed Al that the Jakekens were expected to arrive in half an hour. "You know how Chilena looks to you for security, son. I want you to stick close to her during this visit."

"Yes, sir." Knowing that this would require some rapprochement with his sister, he found Chilena in her room and asked to come in.

"Are you going to scold me some more?" she muttered, eyes averted, as he closed the door behind him.

Alipang stepped up to within inches of her, without immediately touching her. "No. Change 'scold' to 'hold.' "

As she swung toward him in response to those words, he had just an instant to see by her face that she had already been crying. Then her face was buried in his shirt, her arms were around him like steel objects trapped against a magnet, and her whole body was crowded up against his body. Not slow to return the embrace, he held her in a motionless but strenuous love-clinch, both of them urgently squeezing themselves into each other for some ninety silent seconds.

In order to feel all right about kissing her again, he had to say this much first: "Maybe it _will_ do some good that you brought up--that question. If we've thought about it, and our feeling _isn't_ exactly the same as what we're looking for outside...well, then, it's apples and oranges."

"Which fruit is us?" Chilena whispered, then raised her face to begin kissing his neck and cheeks before he even answered the frivolous question. But after the earlier near-quarrel, he was glad she would say something frivolous.

"We're apples, because that's a more at-home fruit...unless you live in Florida, of course." Then he could allow himself to start kissing her, too.
 
Alipang spent some time urging Chilena not to be hateful to her biological relatives, and redoubling his promises not to stray from her side for one instant while the Jakekens were here.

When their father's voice flew from downstairs to announce that the Jakekens' car was pulling up, this produced on the siblings the same sensation they had discussed not long ago: feeling as if their mutual comforting in privacy were a pleasant swim in a pool, and the lifeguard was ordering them out of it. They defiantly exchanged more caresses and kisses before breaking off their embrace--for now. Then they started downstairs hand in hand.

Jim and Kathleen Jakekens, looking both better-dressed and fatter than Chilena's vague memory of them, were chattering at Mom and Dad like machineguns shooting marshmallow bullets, and oojy-boojying Melody and Harmony. A young man, probably about the same age as Kim Tisdale, was nearer the stairs, and was the first visitor to see Chilena. He bore no resemblance at all to Chilena; but he did resemble another of Chilena's vague memories...

"Mike?" she asked, in a faint voice.

"That's right, Lizzy, or I mean Chilena," he affirmed. "May I--may I hug you?"

"YOU may," she replied, with clear emphasis, releasing Alipang's hand to put her arms around her birth-brother, willingly though not as enthusiastically as hugging Alipang. In his ear she said, "It wasn't you who gave me away."

"No, it wasn't." Mike turned to Alipang, even as Mr. and Mrs. Jakekens were doing their own inevitable crowding in upon Chilena. "You're Alipang?" He offered his hand, adding, "Let me thank you for being to...OUR sister...what I never had the chance to be." The last part was what earned him Alipang's consent to shake hands.

"You're welcome, Mike. Be assured: she has love here. But excuse me;" and he stepped past Mike, to make sure that Chilena was not forced to submit to more than the minimum obligatory amount of handling by her birth parents.

When everyone sat down to talk, Alipang made sure that Chilena was safely seated on his lap. The placement of her arms around his neck, and the gaze she gave to the visitors, made it clear that she was sitting where she was by her own desire and preference.
 
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From within the shelter of her _true_ brother's protective arms, Chilena watched her birth parents, searching for any clue to whether one or the other was more sorry to have left her, more honestly glad to see her now, more anxious to make amends--as if they _could_ make any amends to her. But their faces were not sufficiently readable to be sure.

"You know how rough we had it, Eric," Jim was telling Dad. "The Moroccan assignment was our big chance, our ship finally coming in. But most places in the Middle East aren't so friendly to girls. That was one reason why we judged that Lizzy--I mean Chilena, and that's a lovely name you gave her--would be safer with you. As a matter of fact, Kathleen and Mike stayed back in the States with a cousin of mine for the first few months I was over in Marrakesh with Alex and Winthrop, getting established."

"Things went our way in the long run," said Kathleen; "but not so fast that it wouldn't have been rough on--Chilena to be there. Now, we're prosperous. We've been _very_ prosperous for the last two years in particular. So much so that we--but one thing at a time." She exchanged a glance with Jim, who took over again.

"Eric...Cecilia...I know that the things you did for us, when we were struggling in Richmond, you didn't do for any reward; and there can't be any price tag to account for the life of love and happiness that you've obviously given our baby girl..."

Alipang, feeling Chilena's body tensing like a bowstring where it pressed against him, whispered in Tagalog, "No matter what he says, please, FOR ME, don't get angry." She answered silently, with a hand caressing the back of his neck and head.

"...but maybe you could do US the kindness...of _permitting_ us to pay back the money we still clearly owe you, with interest. I calculated it, and I have a cashiers' check here for you." He extended a bank envelope to Cecilia, who happened to be nearer to him. "I don't pretend that it makes up for what we made Chilena suffer emotionally before you created new bonds of love with her; but as I say, we did what we thought was best at the time. And there's no question that we owe you the money."

Bringing out the check, Cecilia Havens read it with widening eyes. "Eleven thousand three hundred and sixty dollars! That's amazing! Thank you!"--and she handed it to her husband, who said, "That's truly honorable of you. We'll use this money to help with our children's education."

"Don't think of it as trying to buy forgiveness," Alipang whispered to Chilena, still in Tagalog. "Stay calm, and let them have the dignity of repaying a debt."

Mike had been watching his sister by blood, and _her_ brother by love, all this time. His face looked as if he could guess what Alipang was telling Chilena, and why she needed to be told it.
 
Subjects of conversation broadened from there. Jim said that they were back in the States permanently now, and he was being awarded an upper-management job at his firm's offices in Silver Spring, Maryland, adjoining the District of Columbia. Kathleen said that she would be working in managament for the chain of nursing homes to which Smoky Lake's one nursing home belonged; also that her older sons, Alex and Winthrop, now both had wives, and Alex's wife was expecting a baby. Jim said that they were taking an apartment in the newest apartment complex in Smoky Lake, to be used when--he fondly hoped--Chilena would permit them to visit her.

Wanting to please Alipang--not wanting to allow anything like another dispute to ignite between herself and him, ever again--Chilena now tackled the necessity of replying to her birth parents with her own mouth. Making her tone as amiable as she could manage, she said, "Visiting me here, in the presence of my _family,_ is no problem. Visits anywhere else, we can discuss case by case. 'We' includes my _parents,_ of course." Then she leaned back against Alipang, who rubbed the side of his head against hers in wordless approval.

"That's reasonable," Jim conceded; and then his wife took the floor.

"We've saved something big for last....Lizzy, by meeting your darling little sisters, I know you must have plenty of experience with small children. I wonder if there's any chance of you doing some special babysitting for us...for a very good wage, of course."

Chilena was nonplussed at this, unsure whether it sounded good or not. So for the first time in this conversation, Alipang spoke for her: "Babysitting whom? By your telling, you don't have your first grandchild born yet."

"That's true, Al," replied Jim, before Kathleen recovered her stride.

"No grandchildren to babysit," Chilena's birth mother agreed; "and Alex is up in Massachussets. But...Sweetie, you need to believe me, really * I * need you to believe me, that what I'm going to tell you doesn't mean we ever thought you were something redundant that could be replaced by a substitute....But, when we were secure, when we became able to offer better conditions...there are so many..." She turned her head away from Chilena's accusing stare; "Jim, please, you tell her."

Jim Jakekens nodded to his wife, then addressed Eric and Cecilia instead of his genetic daughter. "The whole Middle East is full of--orphans. You must have heard of the phrase 'Pay it forward'? It was far too late for us to undo the life that Lizzy--Chilena had lived apart from us; but we could give new hope to some _other_ child, of about the age that Chilena was when we gave her to you."

"Two children," Kathleen rallied to say.

"Yes, two. A boy and a girl, preschool age, adopted while we were still in Morocco. Their original names were something like Mekyo and Kina; we call them Dustin and Nikki. Those are the children we thought you might be willing to babysit on certain occasions, Chilena."

During this unfolding revelation, Alipang's body had once again detected seismic tremors in Chilena's body. Before Jim Jakekens had finished, Alipang forestalled an eruption by kissing his sister on the corner of her mouth, after which he spoke pre-emptively: "Sir, you must know how I came to be adopted by our parents. I can't say a word against you lifting kids out of the kind of poverty I experienced. You did a good thing."

Wariness toward Alipang changed into gratitude on the faces of all three visitors. Chilena, blocked from lashing out, maintained a fairly peaceful expression--as she whispered into Alipang's ear in Tagalog, "Stairway fight, later."

"You're on," he whispered back in the same tongue.

Eric Havens told Jim, "The babysitting is a possibility. We'll need to know things like where it would take place, hours involved and so on; but it's possible."

Now the talk became casual, safer. Photo albums of the Havens family were brought out, and some prints of pictures of Chilena at various ages were given to her birth parents. At last the siege was over; Chilena's castle, in the form of her brother, had kept her sanity safe while surrounded by ogres. Upon farewells, she tolerated a brief hug each from Jim and Kathleen Jakekens, and didn't object at all to being hugged by Mike.

When Mike shook hands with Alipang, Alipang's hand came away with a folded piece of paper. He waited until the company was definitely gone before handing it to Chilena, as he felt sure it was really for her benefit.

Chilena showed it to their parents at the same time she read it aloud for them and Alipang: " 'This is in case they don't give you true contact info.' Then he gives a cellphone number and an e-mail address for himself."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

NOTE: Much of this post is derived from the ideas GentleVoice had when she was playing Chilena to my Alipang in the "Homeschoolers in Highschool" roleplay.
 
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Dr. and Mrs. Havens were glad to be relieved by their elder children from the job of putting Melody and Harmony to bed, so they could move straight to discussing the implications of the Jakekens' visit. One of the first things Eric said to Cecilia was, "The banks won't be open till Tuesday; then we'll see if Jim's check is legit."

This disturbed Cecilia more than anything occurring while Jim, Kathleen and Mike had been in the house. "You think he would write a bad check? But why? What would he gain by it?"

"I don't _know_ that he would. But he was a pretty flighty guy in the old days in Richmond. There are people who like to _pretend_ to do a good deed, just for the good feeling they get at the moment of pretending, even if they know the hoax will be exposed before long. On Tuesday, we'll know more."

Cecilia drew a long breath as ammunition for a long sigh. "We may know something sooner. Just before she and Al took the babies upstairs, Chil went online long enough to send an e-mail to the address Mike gave her, so he'll have her address. He seemed more sincere than his parents; maybe he'll have something to tell us this weekend."

The parents who had raised Chilena went on pondering for hours (including extensive prayer) about the parents who had given up Chilena. When at last they headed up for bed, all was quiet on the second floor; every door was closed. Assuming that all their children were in their beds and asleep, Eric and Cecilia went to bed also. Once in bed, Eric whispered to his beloved, "It's good that we didn't tell them through all the recent craziness up to now; but we'll have to tell them soon, or they'll be hurt about our silence when they find out by seeing you starting to show."

Cecilia kissed her husband long and well, then replied, "Wait just a little longer, darling. I'm so afraid of jinxing it. A little longer, and maybe I'll be able to believe that God intends to give us one natural-born child after all."

"It's your call, dear, but also my prayer. I keep thinking of the Scripture in Joel about God restoring the years that the locusts ate. I believe He _will_ give us this one."

"Amen. In the hope that He will, we need to be especially nice to the ones we already have, so they won't feel undervalued when they have a new sibling who's the only one _born_ to us."



The parents' guess about the children sleeping was three-quarters right. That is, all the kids were asleep...but only Melody and Harmony were actually IN their own beds. After Chilena had sung them to sleep, she and Alipang had sat on the floor of the little ones' room, with backs to a wall and heads leaning together, waiting to hear Mom and Dad going up to bed so they could go have their stairway fight followed by a downstairs meeting. But the wait was so long that they fell asleep where they sat.

Awakening hazily in darkness at an uncertain time, they first determined by each other's closeness that they never had left the babies' room. Then they peeped out onto the landing; the house was shrouded in after-midnight stillness. His mouth feeling dry as dust, and guessing that it would be the same for Chilena, he led her into the bathroom where each got a drink of water. Then they stared at each other at a distance of ten inches...until Chilena whispered, "Scoundrel and rogue, I challenge you to battle!"

Out of the grin that burst forth on Alipang's face came the answering whisper, "And I shall battle your challenge!"--following the silliness-formula of their very earliest stairway fights from over three years ago.

"Then I defy you to combat!"

"And I shall combat your defiance!"

"Defend yourself!" Her arms went around him, right there in the bathroom.

"On guard!" His arms went around her likewise; then they kissed just once, and crept to the top of the stairs, where in their standard beginning they sat embracing on the first step.

"How dare you make excuses for the wicked bio-stepmother and bio-stepfather?" hissed Chilena, snuggling closer. "Just for that, I shall battle you in battling battle!"

"How dare _you_ distrust my judgment, wench?" he retorted, rubbing his cheek against hers. "Just for that, I shall defeat you into the final defeat of defeatedness!"

This time they didn't kiss each other the whole way down the stairs, but hugged and hugged and hugged, step by step, renewing their tight embrace at every loosening from downward movement. When they reached the entryway floor, each one whispered simultaneously, "I win!"

Then they kissed, rose to their feet, hugged, went to the sofa, kissed again, and settled into a downstairs meeting much less playful than their cuddly duel. There was, after all, plenty to talk about.
 
When they had exhausted speculation about Chilena's birth parents--and the siblings had more far-fetched guesses about the Jakekens' possible motivations than Dr. and Mrs. Havens had indulged in--they prayed together holding hands. The Amen was followed by a special request from one Co-Director of Downstairs Meetings to be allowed to listen to the other Co-Director's heartbeat. The request was approved unanimously, and cardiac listening was conducted for two minutes or so.

At last, Chilena raised her head to look drowsily into her brother's eyes. "Is there any further business on the agenda?"

"Yes, there is," Alipang replied, beginning to hoist her up onto his lap again. With her smile renewed, Chilena leaned into him and kissed him soundly. "Um, _besides_ that," he added, also smiling more brightly as he arranged her up close in his arms. "It's important business, though I consider it good news--good enough to celebrate;" and he kissed her three times, right cheek, lips and left cheek. Then she pillowed her blonde head on his shoulder, kissing his left cheek on the way, and murmured, "You have the floor."

"Here's what it is, honey. After the slight glitch in operations this morning, we were so preoccupied with being glad Jason was out of trouble, and then with your birth parents coming, that I forgot to tell you this. You know how upset I've been about Kim bad-mouthing me..."

"You mean, _we've_ been upset," came the voice from his shoulder. "Is the good news that you're forgetting all about Kim and you'll start asking Summer out?" The thought was enough to warrant the regulation tightening of her arms around him, called for by custom at some point in every lap-sitting.

"Well, actually, no." Alipang decided he'd better not delay his own hug-tightening. "When I went out this morning, to walk to the Pansit, Kim came driving up to me just a few doors away from our house, and offered to drive me there as she headed to work. She didn't wait long to reveal why she had come: she wanted to _apologize_ to me for all her snotty behavior! It was a _good_ apology, too, not one of those phony ones that are ninety percent self-justfication. She flat-out admitted she was wrong, and asked for my forgiveness."

Chilena's head snapped up now, to go forehead-to-forehead. "And you _did_ forgive her?"

He rubbed noses with her. "Hello! We're Christians here, remember? Forgiving is in our contract."

"Well, did you forgive her like, 'Okay, I forgive you, now don't bother me anymore,' or like, 'I love you, marry me'?"

"Neither. But I did have the friendliest talk I've had with her yet. And her family _will_ be at church tomorrow... Aww, Chilena, don't run off!" She had begun to slide off his lap, but he pulled her back--costing himself pain in the ribcage, but not letting her know this.

Suddenly upset, Chilena redoubled hugging his neck, as if trying to squeeze Kim Tisdale out of his brain. "No, Al, no! Don't set yourself up for heartache! Even if she did give you a cheap and easy 'I'm sorry,' that doesn't make her the girl for you! Can't you give Summer a _chance?_ I just know _she'd_ go out with you if you asked her! And then you'd have a girlfriend I could feel good about, just like you feel good about Dan."

"Chil, Summer isn't ready to be _anyone's_ girlfriend. She just has too much on her plate. Look, if I did feel that God meant for Summer and me to be together that way, I _wouldn't_ waste my wishes on Kim, because of _course_ Summer's a terrific girl. But I _don't_ believe it's God's will for me to be in love with Summer. So if I'm at zero girlfriend, I might as well be there with fantasies as with nothing."

She dropped her face onto his shoulder. "And you _need_ fantasies about a stuck-up _senior_ girl?"

"Sweets, I tried to tell you, Kim _isn't_ so stuck up." He started kissing Chilena on hair, ear and cheek, the longest series of kisses to have occurred between them since the tense moments this morning. Only after her face rotated up to meet his, and _they_ kissed again, did he resume talking. "She gave _much_ more than bare minimum apology; she made confessions about her shortcomings, more than I would ever have asked her to do even while I was really steamed at her. I don't think she would have done that if she didn't want to be friends with me; and after what you've argued for about Summer, you can't say now that _friendship_ with Kim couldn't lead to more in time."

"Yes, I can say it," Chilena sulked. "I just don't _like_ her, Al, and I don't think she's good enough for you."

Alipang switched to body language for his argument, engulfing her in hugs and softly rocking her in his arms. She argued back in the same language, her hands stroking as much of his back as they could reach. In this way they fought to a delicious draw; then Alipang told her, "The battling battle has been well battled, sweets, but no matter where the debate stands, we both _need_ to sleep more. This meeting is adjourned."

They knew how tired they were when they trudged up the stairs. Too tired to make a play-fight of going back up, they had only just enough strength remaining to slump into each other on the landing and kiss goodnight--with even their mouths going slack with fatigue as they met. Both flopped onto their beds and fell asleep in their clothes.
 
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