After the death of their mother, Chris Bottoms adopted his little brother Ted, and Chris and his partner Mickey settle down to raise him. Through paperwork left by his mother, Chris learns his brother has a deeply troubled past.<br><br>During a Thanksgiving visit with Chris and Ted’s maternal grandparents, they find out Chris’s grandfather allowed his friends to abuse Ted, so Chris severs all ties with that side of his family.<br><br>Through his job at a hospital, Chris hears of a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic who has developed an ileostomy reversal technique that has proven successful in cases like his. When Chris enters the clinic for preliminary testing, he learns he is a good candidate for the procedure and schedules the first of two surgeries for the beginning of January. A visit from estranged relatives while he’s in the hospital leaves him wondering how many secrets one family can have.

Bottoms Out

On the education front, Chris had written a strongly worded letter to the editor of the local newspaper, and a few people had responded to it favorably, but that was it. He finally decided that he had better things to do than go after the school, and by extension, the church.


Ted was flourishing under the tutelage of the Clark sisters, and they were both more than satisfied with his progress. He still wasn’t at all outgoing, and steadfastly refused to take his bike and ride around the neighborhood on Saturday mornings on the chance that he might run into kids his age. Chris had talked to Lydia Brannon about Ted’s lack of gregariousness a couple more times, but she told him not to worry and let things develop as they would.


MICKEY ACCOMPANIED CHRIS to his first appointment with Dr. Banzhof at the Mayo Clinic.


“I wonder why Mayo built the facility halfway to the beach?” Chris said. “It’s a long way from downtown.”


Chapter 46