NOTE: This is a fictional coming of age story of Jake Grimke as he matures through high school and into college in the Baltimore, Maryland area. It contains and embraces accurate representations of life in Baltimore and its suburbs; Maryland's traditional sport of lacrosse and the career path a firefighter might follow in his profession. All of the characters in this story are fictional and resemblance to any person whether dead or alive is purely coincidental. If you liked this installment, please send me some feed back; I got a rough idea where this is headed but I am always open to some suggestions. Needless to say, if you are offended by handsome athletic young men growing up gay and the obstacles they encounter aswell their triumphs, you should use the BACK button on your browser forthwith.
It was always easy for Evan Harmes to get invited for a meal at the Grimkes', in fact, Emma insisted that "Jake's brother" have an open invitation considering the intensity of domestic discord happening between Evan's parents at his own house. And tonight was like most any other Friday night at the Grimkes', a classic cookout with burgers and brats and beans and a few beers for everybody. Yes everybody; John and Emma allowed Jake and his friends to have some beer under their supervision with the stipulation that nobody get behind the wheel of a car or do something equally stupid. All it took was the parents of the kids visiting to call or visit John and Emma and give their permission. The Grimkes kept enough on hand for a small party but not enough for everybody to get sloppy drunk.
Jake and Evan set up the amplifiers and guitars in the garage right after Erik Syms arrived with his drum set bringing bassist and long poler Aaron Beecher. While John grilled the guys did a sound check and Emma walked them through some chords together on an old Hammond B3 electric organ. After the cookout, John and Emma led the boy band through their old favorites with a modern twist on the guitar riffs. Before long, the small jam session turned into an impromptu block party as neighbors strolled up the Grimkes' driveway gathering to listen to the music.
After lead-ins and introductions by John or Emma, the boys were able to play the music of Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, the Beatles and Rolling Stones and others without any sheet music. John knew most of the music and lyrics from his own days trying to cover his favorites and Jake had picked up on much of the material over their years of playing together.
Before it was over, Emma stepped away from the old Hammond and John put down his Fender guitar and together, they let the boys play more of the modern music that they were accustomed to listening to with their friends. All of them had strong voices and just like on the lacrosse field, they could back each other up in almost any situation.
Emma and John looked at Jake and his friends enjoying themselves and at their neighbors enjoying the late summer evening.
The jam session was a great and unplanned break from the studying John was doing for his upcoming captain's promotional examination in the fire department. To Emma's delight, John shelved the books for 24 hours and they enjoyed a romantic evening together, reflecting back on the good fortunes of their lives and how proud they were of Jake. And when questioned from friends and neighbors or family about when Jake was going to start dating, Emma and John protected their son's sexuality. Like Jake asked them to say and just as he said to others, Jake was too focused on school work and athletics to really consider dating anyone seriously.
In addition to his full-time career with the Baltimore Fire Department, John was an adjunct instructor for the University of Maryland's Fire and Rescue Institute. Once or twice a year, Lt. Grimke would be contracted to a teach a basic firefighting skills class at one of the local volunteer fire companies, sometimes with a young teenage Jake sitting in the back of the classroom working on his homework as his dad lectured on how and where to place an initial hoseline at a building fire or conduct the primary search at a residential fire. At 14, Jake was way too young to participate in such a dangerous profession and really didn't envision himself following in his dad's footsteps but Jake hung on every word that his father spoke in front of those classes of future firefighters.
John Grimke's schedule was a combination of day work and night work, two ten hour days from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM followed by two 14-hour nights from 5:00 PM to 7:00 AM capped off with four days off before the cycle started again. He was the lieutenant on B-platoon at Ladder 19 located in northwest Baltimore where fire duty was an everyday occurrence and multiple jobs during the tour of duty were not unheard of. Of course, Emma and Jake worried about their husband and father but he always came home, unscratched and unscathed, just tired and sore but always proclaiming he had the greatest job in the world.
The boys kept practicing a few nights each week after school throughout the fall of their senior year, whenever they could all be together depending on team practices and part-time work schedules. After some minor arguments all of them agreed to just a handful of songs that they could sing and play really well together. They did covers of songs like The Rose, What a Wonderful World It Would Be and Born to Run; nothing original, none of them, even Jake the most talented in their band, were up to the task of penning an original melody.
On the Friday afternoon of the fall talent show, Will Hurley was having the snot beaten out of him by a couple of the second-string tackles from the football who thought that just because he ran cross country and was geeky and president of Severn High School's chapter of the National Honor Society that he just might be gay. In the locker room Ernie Holst and Chord Michaels took turns; one holding Hurley while the other punched and kicked him so hard that Will's body dented the sheet metal of one of the locker doors. Jake heard the noises as he passed through the locker room on his way out and searched until he found the source of the commotion.
Immediately, Jake threw himself into the middle of the fray without any regard for his own personal safety, he head butted Ernie into a locker on the opposite wall before he could land one more punch into Will. Chord let go of Hurley to charge Jake as Ernie slumped to the floor with the wind knocked out of his lungs. Jake raised his left forearm as if he was blocking a long poler just in time for Chord to run into it full force and almost break his nose before landing hard on the floor next to Ernie.
Will was bleeding from a long but not too deep gash to his forehead but smiling hard at Jake. Jake kept an eye on the two bullies laid out on the locker room floor while Will picked up the contents of his backpack that had been strewn about the floor of the locker room during the melee.
"Thanks Jake, I don't know how to pay you back, you were right there at the right time," Will offered.
"No problem, I am just glad I was able to be there for you, nobody deserves to be treated like that. You want to report this to Coach Dase? I'm sure Coach would like a little more dirt on these two so they can be benched for good."
Will looked at them waking out of their stupor, "I don't think so Jake. I'll give them a pass this time; but if they do anything to me again or anybody else I know, I'll jump to the front of the line at Dase's office."
Jake reached in his gym bag and found the white tee shirt he had worn under his street clothes earlier in the day and wet it under the cold water spigot of a nearby sink. "Here, clean that cut up before your parents see it and freak out," he said, holding it against Will's injury.
Will sighed out loud, "sadly, they have gotten kind of used to it. It's been a while since I got beaten up this bad let alone double-teamed by those assholes. I just want to get the fuck out of here in June and leave this town behind."
"Well, you do what you got to do," Jake tried to segue into a new topic in the same breath, "you doing the lighting tonight for the talent show?"
"Yeah, duh, what do I have to do on a Friday night" Will answered.
"Take good care of The Mohawks, would you please," Jake asked with a smile.
"You got it bro."
And Jake and Evan and Erik and Aaron played their hearts out that night. The teenage girls in the audience were screaming like their counterparts did 50 years ago for some British upstarts called The Beatles. John and Emma were proud of Jake, in spite of the haircuts each boy gave the other in the Grimke garage before the concert. Evan's mom sat with the Grimkes in the audience, amazed that Evan could play the guitar so well. They were the only act that the students demanded an encore from, chanting "Mo-Hawks, Mo-Hawks, Mo-Hawks." before Mr Lafferty, the principal, came on stage to silence the crowd.
The following fall Monday morning, Jake Grimke cornered Joey Gardner, captain of the football team in the cafeteria as he sat with his team mates before first bell, Ernie and Chord sitting at the table with him. "What are you doing in pigskin country Jake," Joey asked with a smirk, "ready to play a real man's game?"
"No, I'm not dumb enough," Jake shot back, and, then with a glare to Michaels and Holst; and in a quiet snarl, "we need to talk, NOW!"
"Yeah, okay, let's go," Joey acquiescenced; `this about Friday afternoon with Hurley?
They strode down the hallway minutes ahead of the first bell. Jake started, "Yeah, I caught couple of your size 17 cleat size 2 helmet Neanderthals beating up Will in the locker room and that is totally not cool with me. You better sit on those assholes or its gonna fuck you up too like it or not. Will's being pretty laid back about this but it pisses me off this day in age that those dismal fucks think it's okay to beat somebody up just for shits and grins. You hear me Joey? Sit on them or they are going to fuck up things for you too."
"Why the fuck you so bent out of shape Jake?" Joey asked.
"Cause, I just am," Jake answered, " you know as well as I do it's not right and they expect us to be leaders when we are team captains, off the field as much as on the field; if not more so."
Joey stared at the floor before looking Jake in the eye, "Hurley practically made a federal case out of bringing another dude to the Junior-Senior prom last year."
"So what." Jake stood his ground, "you know that's no excuse for Michaels and Holst to double-team him. I hear what your guys say about him and then threaten Will unless he helps your thugs get their homework done. Some of your guys are pricks, total fucking pricks Joey; I got my guys in line, get yours there too; I mean it."
The first bell rings and the corridor fills with those from the cafeteria, the football team leading the pack. "Alright," Joey capitulates, "but why, why are you on his side?"
"Cause, Joey," Jake pauses and collects his thoughts, "just maybe, maybe, it's the right thing to do. I heard once somewhere, `Doing the easy thing isn't always right and doing the right thing isn't always easy;' make sense?"
"I get that Jake, but I don't get why you, why are you so out in front of this for Will?" Joey implored to know.
Jake shakes his head side to side and carefully chooses his words, "Because. Because Joey, he might not be the only one here."
Evan stood behind Jake as they turned to head to homeroom for attendance, putting his hand on his wingman's shoulder and said, "nicely done, very nicely done bro."
Joey cooled down by the end of homeroom and as Gardner, Grimke and Harmes exited homeroom from the alphabetical roll call Joey stopped the two lacrosse players and said to Jake "I'll talk to Ernie and Chord, I'm pretty sure there won't be anymore problems from them or the rest of the football team."
"Cool," said Jake with a quick man-hug in the hallway to the football captain, "I knew you were smart enough to see things in that light."