Finally here is Chapter 10 of Guilty as Charged. Hopefully it won't take me as long to get Chapter 11 up. I quess it depends on your e-mails as to how quick I write it. If you e-mail me and want a response, please say so in your e-mail, and I'll respond.
Thanks and Happy Reading
CHAPTER TEN
The three men in Parnelli's tavern had no interest in the football game going on at the same time, as two of them were enjoying a good drink, well the other, Jake Parnelli, owner of the joint, was pouring them their drinks. Jake Parnelli hadn't been to a Belway Tigers football game in four years, or ever since that asshole of a couch benched his son in favor of some freshmen. Who in Jakes opinion probably gave the faggot coach a fucking blowjob to get his position. Little did it matter to him, that the same freshmen was now one of the top college players in the country, and his own son was barely making ends meet, working for an electrician in Brownsville. He liked most everybody, except for those damn homosexuals, who were always spouting out about how they were so mistreated, and people needed to learn a little tollerance and understanding. He had thought to himself, yeah I'll show them tollerance, with a two by four to the back of their heads.
He had seen the man sitting towards the door on more then one occasion. The man always sat on the same barstool, and always had the same thing, Bud in the bottle. He hardly spoke a word, and never had the man seen any type of expression on the man's face. He usually sat and drank at least a six pack before getting up and walking out. From the size of the man, Jake figured that if the man wanted to talk, he was gonna talk, and if he didn't then nobody was gonna make him.
The other guy sitting on the otherend of the bar, was a face that Jake wasn't familiar with. He knew almost everybody in Belway, except for maybe a handful of people who had recently moved to town, but most of them never stayed around long enough to remember their faces much less their names. There was something about the guy that Jake didn't like from the get go, first of all, the man didn't look old enough to be in his establishment, and there was nothing that Jake hated more then some underage punk trying to get a drink in his bar. Well Jake didn't have to worry about it, since it turned out the guy was already twenty-two, fixing to be twenty-three. They were getting to be younger and younger every year. The second thing he decided that he didn't like about the young man was the drink he had ordered. He had learned when he was ten from his own father, a sure fire way to tell a sissy boy was by the drink they ordered. A real man either drank straight beer, straight whiskey, or on occasion a Jack and Coke or someother type of man whiskey. A man never ordered a fruity drink, or anything that required a cherry. So, when the man ordered a malibu and coke with a cherry, Jake knew without a doubt that the boy was a flaming queer, and since it was his establishment he reserved the right to refuse service to anybody.
"I don't serve your kind in here," he said.
"Excuse me sir, " the young man said, "what do you mean by my kind?"
"You know what you are?" Jake said.
The man pulled a pack of Marlboro lights from his inside jacket pocket, "All I know is I'm just a guy wanting a drink, and if you don't serve guys wanting drinks, then why did you serve him," he said, pointed to the man sitting at the otherend of the bar.
"Just leave before there's trouble," Jake said, turning away from the young man.
"Excuse me," the young man said again. "I'll leave but I just would like to know what kind of people you will not serve."
"He's trying to tell you asshole, that he doesn't serve faggots."
The young man turned around to see the big man walking towards him, and for the first time, since he had come out to his parents, he could feel the genuine terror in his heart.
Carrie was trying to explain to Dale about Wendys cousin being gay, and Robs statement he had made earlier about gays and how it had effected her, when Dale asked the question we had all being wondering.
"As Wendy told Rob any of this?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," Carrie said, "Do you think it would help any, considering he made his point pretty darn clear."
"I don't know but it sure couldn't hurt," Dale said, "Hell some people probably think I'm a fag. Look at me I'm not the most masculine guy in the world, hell if it wasn't for Rob and Keith sticking up for me when Sammy John was picking on me I would still be that shy guy sitting all by himself during lunch and I most definitely wouldn't be here right now having this conversation with you. I think regardless of what Rob thinks of homosexuals, if he knew how Wendy thought about it, even though he probably would still have the same feelings about it, he would probably keep them to himself."
The stadium had started clearing out and Keith looked towards where Wendy and Sammy John had been sitting and noticed they weren't there anymore, hopefully they would be at Sinclairs Party and he could get her and Rob alone together and have them work it out. He couldn't help but think to himself , if she was pissed at Rob for his homophobic remarks, then why was she hanging around Sammy who was probably more homophobic then Rob. The conversation had drifted to other topics, manly the party at Sinclair's and the great game they had just watched.
"Did you see that play where Rob sidesteped that big offense lineman and made a bee line for that quarterback," Dale said, "I bet you that poor dude will be hurting for a week, hell no make that a month."
"Buddy the way I hit him, his children's grandchildren will be feeling it for years to come," Rob said.
Keith started laughing, "Damn good game bro, I bet your ready to go and celebrate that win."
Rob said, "I was all stoked about the party, but I'm not sure I can have fun without Wendy by my side. Do any of you all have any idea about why she is so pissed off at me, hell I tried calling her all week long, but everytime I called her mom told me she wasn't in, and then today I see her sitting with Sammy John, who you all know I wouldn't let my dog piss on if he was on fire, instead of sitting with you all. If you all know why she's mad then please tell me so I can make it better."
"Talk to her, make her talk to you," Todd said, "It's not my place to tell you whats wrong, especially since she hasn't even told any of us, for what I hear she hasn't even talked to Carrie and we all know that for two chicks not to gossip about anything for more then a day defies human logic."
"Yeah," Dale said, "Go to Sinclair's party, who knows she might even be there and you all can work it out, and if you can't then you'll know why it's over and you can both move on, but either way it's probably best if you do it tonight."
If it would have been anybody else talking to him like that Rob would have probably already laid them out, but somehow with Dale he always felt like the smaller of the two of them. If anybody would have thought he was afraid of Dale that thought was absolutely absurd, Dale just had a way of making him see things like nobody else could.
"Well I quess I could use a cold one," he replied.
Todd and Keith were walking down the road, neither one saying much. Keith had decided it was a good idea that Carrie had suggested she go with Rob and Dale to the party, even though the two of the really had no idea why, but they were both smart enough to never question anything Carrie decided, if you didn't know any better.
"Man," Keith finally said, "I can't believe I forgot to put gas in the car"
Todd laughed, "Yea, were the hell was your mind. You do know you are gonna owe me for this one, hell do you realize how much beer were missing out on drinking, especially with Dale there."
"And how do you prupose I pay you back," Keith asked.
"I can think of something, something I think you would really enjoy."
"I can't wait," Keith replied.
He was waiting for Todd to say something, when he noticed Todd was starring at the Blue pick-up parked across the street in front of Parenelli's Bar.