Legally Ginger?

The Poptart System

"Chris, if you continue to eat those I'm afraid that you will make yourself sick." Elder Church said as Elder Poptarts shoved another sugary pastry into his mouth. This had been going on for weeks as the two Elders were getting closer.

Without Elder McKinley running things the Mormons United club started to get a little slack. No one had picked a different official leader yet, but if someone had a question most times they would come to Elder Church. It was started to get to him. He had never had the pressure of leadership pushed on him before.

Elder Poptarts was so kind to help him through this. When the dark haired Elder had any worries the shorter one would always come to talk him out of it. It was a nice system.

However, Elder Church should have known that talking about Elder Poptarts favorite snack would have side effects. "Excuse me?" Elder Poptarts said after he had swallowed the one he had in his mouth.

Elder Church for shivers down his spine. He realized that tone of voice. "I mean, I'm sorry, I just, I didn't mean, it's just that, I'm worried, and it's, I don't want, but it's..." He was silenced when Elder Poptarts took his own finger and put it on Elder Church's lips.

"I know." They had talked about it before. The cancer issue. They hated talking about it, but Elder Church had been closer since Elder McKinley left. Elder Poptarts had no one else to tell. It slipped out one day.

-One Summer Day-

They were sitting on Elder McKinleys bed. Telling jokes at the red-heads expense when the conversation took a turn. Neither one could remember how the topic came up.

"When I was younger..." Elder Church swallowed thickly. "My dad he would..." tears sprang in his eyes as he looked for something around the room. As if he were afraid to say this for fear of some ghost being here to tell about it. Elder Poptarts reached for his hand. Once they were linked he squeezed Elder Church's hand for encouragement. That's when Elder Church noticed that he was shaking.

"I..." he continued, his voice cracking, "would get beat. My father would always come home drunk. He would scream things and hurt me if I didn't move out of his way. If one of his favorite sports teams lost he would get so angry he would beat my mother until her face was broken. Then he would come after me with his belt." The tears were free-falling down Elder Churchs face as he shook and tried to continue.

Elder Poptarts rubbed soothing circles in the back of his hand and waited patiently. Once he was sure that Elder Church had composed himself he gently scooted closer and laid against the bigger man. Elder Church couldn't tell what the other Elder was trying to do, but when Elder Poptarts didn't move he eventually, slowly rapped his arms around the other one.

Elder Poptarts took a shaky breath. "When I was about sixteen my sister used to teach me ballet. I loved it, the thrill of dancing gracefully across a smooth floor. She gave me a pair of ballet shoes for my birthday. Well, it was her birthday coming up." Elder Poptarts paused.

"She had gotten diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of months before. She was so strong, and we loved each other so much. We did everything together. I wanted to get her something special." The man started shaking and Elder Church held on to the poor thing tighter. "I-I went to the Apple S-Store to get her the n-new IPhone that s-she had talked so f-f-fervently about." Elder Poptarts was speaking through his sobs. "T-They called me as I was b-buying it. 'Son,' they s-said, 'you're sister is dying in the hospital, we don't think she has much time.' I-I got in my c-car and raced t-to the hospital. W-when I got t-th-th-there..." Elder Church held on to his friend tighter.

He gently rocked them back and forth as Elder Poptarts tried to regulate his breathing through his short sobs that shook his body. "Her l-last word were, 'Where is my brother?' a-and she died at 2:46 p.m. I a-arrived at 2:48." That was the end of it.

Neither Elder had talked about their pasts after that. However Elder Poptarts was the first to respond when Elder Church got too angry or lost. He also helped him with his back problems. There were a lot of scars.

In turn Elder Church would help Elder Poptarts with dealing with his depression and guilt and convincing him to eat healthier so Elder Poptarts could take ballet again.

Neither one realized how dependent they became on each other, or that they were healing each other together. They just had a system, and it worked.

So, one day when Elder James Church asked the other Elder to call him James; in the same second Elder Chris "Poptarts" asked James to call him Chris, the system seemed the most in sync.

The other Elders weren't blind, except for maybe Elder Davis, who wore thick glasses to read sometimes. They saw what was happening, and were glad. No more outbursts from Elder Church on what this meant and that. Honestly it was scary to see how carried away he would get. No more worrying about Elder Poptarts locking himself in his room with six boxes of pure sugar for an entire day. There would be crumbs everywhere after the gigantic smorgasbord of sweets was complete.

The pair seemed happier, and the club couldn't be more approving with not having to deal with the terror they did apart.

"My ballet teacher said I could have a box." Chris said smiling at the other mans worry. "I'm doing better. I promise, and you calmed down so fast." He put down the last Poptart in the box to give James a congratulations hug. They smiled together and Chris spilt his last Poptart in half.

It really was a beautiful system.