If you are underage or graphic sexual stories are prohibited in your community...do not read this. This story is completely fictional. I would appreciate all comments especially those of a constructive or encouraging nature. My e-mail address: edswanky@hotmail.com
Christopher Answers
Chapter 13
The ten o'clock visit between Dave and his psychiatrist went very well. In the course of the meeting, the doctor asked Dave what he felt about his attempted suicide. Dave pretty much reiterated the apology he had given yesterday afternoon, touching on all the points about how his death would have impacted family and friends. The doctor said for him to continue but Dave didn't know what else to say. He thought about it and then said he wanted to live for himself more than anything. "Life seems so precious to me. I'd like to find the same kind of happiness that my Uncles have found with each other. Right now, I think Tom and I can achieve that but if not I'll keep searching until I do."
"David, that is what I was hoping you would say. You have put good work into this and have accomplished a lot for yourself. I respect that very much."
"You can check out anytime, I'll tell the floor nurse to make all the arrangements."
Tuesday at school went fairly well for our boys. Gary seemed to be gathering his courage but couldn't quite get himself to approach the 'gay' table at lunch. He wasn't sure if he would have been welcomed to sit down even if he had mustered the necessary heart. Timmy was with his friends and Gary and he made eye contact once or twice. Gary's friends picked up from yesterday with what they thought was 'the expected dialogue' of taking verbal swipes at the 'homos' sitting together. Noticed was the lack of input from Gary so the conversation took a turn to the important baseball game after school today. Gary didn't seem much interested in that subject either, which had his friends somewhat irritated with his apparent lack of attention to them.
Gary was indeed troubled. He knew that Justin was expecting him to apologize to his friends and he wanted to do just that. His delay was precipitated by his fear of rejection from this new group of people that he had so viciously maligned. He was still deeply ashamed and needed a little more time to formulate the words necessary to convey that. Justin was in the next class with him after lunch, perhaps ....
Gone was the piercing stare from yesterday. Justin more or less ignored him, mere words were not enough for Justin to be convinced. Gary would have to prove to him by some public action that he had indeed changed. Gary half-heartedly tried to engage him after class but Justin left for his next class before he had a chance. The bell rang following the final afternoon period and the baseball players made their way to the stadium for the big game. Craig drove his car and had invited Justin to ride with him instead of taking the team bus. Tom followed behind in his car which normally would have Dave sitting close beside him.
Coach was there to greet the players as they arrived. Justin looked at him briefly and was fully prepared for a confrontation if he was denied access to the locker room. No such confrontation was necessary as Coach Doug shook his hand and offered an apology for last Saturday. Coach said he was sorry that Christopher had turned in his resignation as student manager and told Justin that he understood completely.
Tom and Craig silently listened to Coach Doug and were glad that Justin told him, 'no problem'. Gary and several of his friends were already inside and changing into their uniforms. The team starting line-up was posted on the bulletin board and several of the second-stringers were anxiously reading it to see if they would be getting a chance to play.
Dave Arnett's left field position was the only change made from the previous game. A young sophomore, Taylor West was given the fill-in job. Since Tom was the centerfielder, he stopped by his locker to compare notes on fielding signals and tentatively offered his concern for Dave. Tom accepted the offer of concern and told him the visual and verbal signs to wave each other off a ball hit in the area where their coverage zones overlapped.
Tom really didn't know this Taylor West very well. The one unusual feature about him was the kid's shoulder-length brown hair that seemed to be coming from everywhere underneath his baseball cap. The kid was rather handsome, about the same size as Dave. Toms eyes followed the boy as he went toward the door. His uniform hugged his body in all the right places. Particularly attractive to Tom's eye was the prominent roundness of his butt and the way his ass cheeks swayed when he walked. Taylor was shy but there was an air of quiet confidence about him that belied that. Tom was sure that Taylor would perform well in the game today.
Tom found himself wondering if Dave would be a little jealous.... he smiled and secretly hoped so. He loved it when Dave was a little unsure of what Tom was thinking. He had this way about him of coyly staring at Tom, trying to bring his attentions back on to him. All thoughts of Taylor West left him as he hurried to finish dressing. Dave would be in the stands and he wanted to talk to him before the game got underway. They hadn't seen each other since 8 PM. Tom longed to touch him but knew that he would have to wait until after the game when they could be together in a more private setting. Dave told him that he was going to be there with his parents and Tom's Dad, Carlos. Bob talked to Carlos at work yesterday and they agreed to sit together. Actually their two Dads were a lot alike, Tom thought. They are both longshoreman and work hard to earn their living. Bob is a larger man but they are both physically hardened by the nature of their work.
Elder John had never attended his son's baseball games but decided to show for this one. He didn't make the phone call to Coach Walters that he had intended on doing. He changed his mind following his own son's disclosure of the same sins that Justin and Tom were guilty.
John was hoping that an incident would happen at the game to provide more fuel for his Thursday subcommittee meeting with Principal Ed Jordan. Now that he couldn't depend on his son for additional information, he devised a plan.
He went to a local bar near the stadium, something that he never did. Three guys in their early twenties were playing pool and drinking. At first they thought he was some 'old queer' because he kept buying them beers. When he heard one of them refer to him as a 'fag', he outlined his devious plan to them.
He wanted them to sit in the stands and yell anti-gay remarks at Justin and Tom during the course of the game. Tickets to the game and fifty dollars each was his offer to them. The men were familiar with the 'Justin' situation and were homophobic enough to have done it for nothing.
Elder John hung back in the stairwell after pointing out where Dave was sitting with his parents and Carlos Papson. The stage was set and he seemed quite pleased with the plan he put in motion. He was certain that others in the stands would join the three in creating a scene that would be reviewed at his meeting with Ed Jordan. A smile, reserved only for righteous people doing God's work, turned the corners of his mouth toward the heavens.
The three husky young men watched as a easy grounder was picked up by Justin in the first inning and thrown to first for the out.
"NICE PLAY, FAGGOT!" one of them yelled from four rows up and to the left of the seats occupied by Bob, Dave, Ruth and Carl. All heads turned toward them. Bob did a slow burn as Ruth put her hand atop his which were now balled up into fists. Just ignore them, she said. The remark was loud enough for the players to hear and Justin's eyes followed the turned heads toward their position in the stands. He didn't recognize any of the three but made a mental note of their facial features.
Tom seemed a little pre-occupied with David being in the stands. He reacted too slowly to a hard shot to center and had to one-hand the ball off the wall. He flipped it to Taylor who threw a perfect strike to the second baseman for the tag out.
"SHOULDA HAD A PLAY ON THAT BALL, PANSY!
"YEAH, That LONG-HAIRED BOY saved your ass!!"
"What's your BOYFRIEND gonna think!!
The three of them were just sober enough to really enjoy playing off each other's words. They laughed, amazed at their ability to ad-lib and gave each other high-fives.
Bob had enough of this and yelled back to them to shut-up or he was going to do it for them. The three young toughs responded by mocking him, acting like they were all terrified.
"What's an old man like you gonna do, the biggest of them said. Look fellas, there's pansy's boyfriend, Dave! Hey Dave, I think you better watch out for your replacement down there on the field. Tom seems to have taken a liking to that kid with the long hair."
That was it. Bob stood and made his way up the steps followed by Carlos. Elder John peeked out from the stairwell long enough to be spotted by Gary from behind home plate. Justin saw the three guys stand and move out in the aisle. He bolted from the field to even up the odds, literally leaping over the low railing that separated the field from the bleachers. He was behind Carl on the steps as Bob grabbed the big guy who had done all the latest talking. One swing with his ham-hock sized fist and the guy went crashing into people two rows up. Carl grabbed the second guy's leg as he kicked toward him and jumped on top. Justin flew into the third guy with his fists blazing.
People in the stands started to fight with each other as it turned into an out-and-out brawl. Tom showed up from center field to fight alongside his father. Gary threw off his catching equipment and ran up in the stands to join the fray. Tempers lost, people were screaming at each other and racing from other parts of the stands to get in their licks. At one point, Justin and Gary were back-to-back slugging it out with several new guys who jumped in. It was really turning ugly.
The few policemen at the game were swinging their nightsticks as sirens were heard. Blue-coated reinforcements showed up in force from all parts of the city.
Elder John quietly made his way toward the parking lot, got in his car and drove off. The smirk on his face told the whole story. Thursday's meeting was going to be very interesting, he thought to himself.
The game was declared a forfeit and the loss knocked them out of any chance to qualify for the State championships. The three hecklers along with Bob Arnett and Carlos Papson were arrested. Coach Walters knew some of the arresting officers and convinced them to let him handle the disciplining of his three young ballplayers.
Principal Ed Jordan was not at the game because he was attending an elementary school play in which his daughter had a minor role. He first heard about it from dozens of messages left on his phone recorder. He quickly turned on the TV to catch the local news coverage at 7 PM. Some footage from a fan's camcorder captured most of the confrontation:
He didn't recognize any of the key participants until Justin appeared in his baseball uniform and started pummeling one of them. The jerky footage revealed two more of his students in baseball uniforms. Tom Papson and Gary Watkins could be seen swinging wildly as swarms of other people fought each other. At one point all three of his students were seen wrestling around on the seats as fists, legs, and elbows thrashed about in the melee.
The scene cut away to a view from a different angle and camcorder several rows higher as uniformed police began to restore some measure of control. The next pictures were reporter interviews conducted with fans giving their perspective of how the whole thing got started. From those and the TV anchor man's comments it was clear that the root cause was the reaction to the public revelation of Justin and Tom's homosexuality. It seems that some people's new perception of them as homos didn't square with their athletic abilities on the ball field. They were being forced to re-evaluate the stereotypes they held of all gay people and some of them just didn't like it.
Ed's first phone call was to Doug Walters before returning calls from several school board members and media personalities. He mostly declined to answer their questions saying that he needed time to examine all the facts. At Ed's request, Doug, several assistant coaches and some other teachers in attendance at the game met in his school office around 10 PM. It was after midnight when the meeting finally concluded.
At about one in the morning, Ed and his wife Mary pulled the covers down and got into bed. As they snuggled together, Ed asked her if she wanted to have sex with the Principal of Jefferson High School while she still had the opportunity.
"If you wait a few days to accept that offer, instead of sex with a 42 year old, trim black man you'll probably be having sex with an older pot-bellied white guy with a copy of Jerry Falwell's latest book on his nightstand."
Mary laughed at the absurdity of his remark.
Bob, Ruth and Dave sat at their kitchen table discussing the events surrounding Bob's arrest.
"You need an attorney, Ruth said. I think we should contact Ray and ask him for his opinion. I'm sure that he has experience dealing with cases of discrimination like this one. Your brother Dave told me that he is a well-respected lawyer and his main practice is discrimination cases. Maybe he would be willing to represent you and Carlos if this case is going to be prosecuted."
Bob thought about it and decided that Ruth was right. He also thought about how very lucky he was to have such an intelligent wife. He barely graduated highschool but Ruth had finished college and knew so much more about most things than he did. Bob also gave some thought to his brother Dave and the reasons that he effectively disowned him from the family. How much of that was the fact that Dave is gay and how much was my equally stupid prejudice about Ray being a black man.
"I think you're right Ruth. Let's call him tomorrow morning to see what he thinks."
When Bob and his wife Ruth pulled the covers down and got into bed, Bob put his arms around her and asked if she wanted to have sex with an uneducated longshoreman who thinks with his fists instead of his brain.
Ruth laughed at the absurdity of his remark.
end chapter 13
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