NOTE: This is the fictional coming of age story of Jake Grimke as he matures through high school, into college and eventually into adulthood in the Baltimore, Maryland region. 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 one 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 will encounter as well their personal triumphs, you should use the BACK button on your browser forthwith.
By Monday's senior lunch period, Jackie Pence had already cajoled the school's music department chairman Mr. Hartley into letting the Mohawks play a couple of numbers during the Christmas Concert; just the one for the student body, not the one for the parents scheduled for Thursday and Friday nights of the following week. Jackie was the female version of Jake Grimke: very friendly, attractive, scholarly and gifted enough to make everything work her way. Breaking away from her table full of cheerleaders, she walked over to the jock table where Mohawks Evan, Erik, Jake and Aaron were finishing their lunches.
"Just three songs, all easy, the Show Choir and Band will back you guys up," Jackie announced as Jake crumpled up his brown bag and arched it into a nearby trash can.
"Let's hear `em," Jake said.
"Well, I was thinking with Evan's raspy baritone he should do Santa Claus Is Coming to Town' like Springsteen does it; then see if you guys can strum up What A Wonderful World It Would Be' and then we can all sing `Do They Know It's Christmas' together for a finale."
Aaron looked at Erik and then Jake, "What if Evan doesn't want to sing like Springsteen, then what?"
Erik looked at Aaron, "C'mon bro, lighten up, it's just three songs. Don't sweat the small stuff; you just have to play bass."
"I'm down with that," Jake chimed in, "it's not like she is asking us to do anything from Messiah"
Jackie smiled at Jake, "maybe we can finish with a group sing of Jingle Bells or something like that."
The light went off in Jake's head and he announced, "I'll tell you what we finish up with: A team effort. Let's get the rest of our team to gear up, pad up, and work the crowd for some donations for Children's Medical Center. The rest of the guys can collect money in the crosse of their sticks while we perform and we give that to them when we do our concert there on Saturday."
Aaron started to shake his head no but knew it was pointless. This was one of Jake's classic brainstorms and it was going to take off like a wind-fed wildfire. Erik volunteered, "Aaron and I will get the rest of the guys fired up to help, you can count on us Jake."
Evan finally chimed in with "Don't forget, Show Choir has to back us up at Children's a week from Saturday. That means rides and all; I'll handle that stuff since Jackie has all their contact info."
Just as the bell rang to signal the end of senior lunch, Evan balled up his brown bag and shot for the same trash can Jake did minutes before but Jake smacked it down as Evan stood and gave his girlfriend a quick kiss before the start of their last two classes for the day. Jake used his next to last period study hall to knock out his college algebra homework before the Mohawks all sat through their last period organic chemistry class together.
On the way to the Grimke house with Evan driving Jake in the jeep, he told his best buddy how great the idea for the school concert was panning out to involve so many people. Jake wondered out loud if it would all materialize as he was beginning to envision it and still had to confirm with Maria Valdez at Children's if it was okay for the Mohawks and a few extras to show up for the Christmas Party.
Emma had a pot of homemade chili going while John was tinkering with some old HO gauge model railroad stuff for the annual train garden that would be set up at his fire station, a tradition in many of the Baltimore area firehouses during the holidays when the boys arrived home from school. Jake was relieved that his dad was home and not working another overtime shift and Mom had the night off from tutoring a student or running another choir practice at St. Michael's. Evan gave Jake just enough time and space to share a private greeting with his parent's before he got one of his own from the Grimkes.
"I'm pretty sure I got or can download those songs on ITunes," Jake said to Evan as they bounded upstairs.
"Sweet," Evan added, "sorry if Jackie was too bossy earlier, she has a knack for that sometimes."
"No, it's cool, she just had an idea and ran with it," Jake replied as his Mac came to life.
"Well, I like the Mohawks just being us and not something everybody can jump in on a whim or `cause they think it's cool."
"Hey, Ev, it's Christmas, spread a little joy bro, just a little," Jake replied.
"I know, I just don't want this to be a three ring circus where she has us in sequined tuxedos or something crazy like that," Evan rambled on.
"Listen bro, Jackie's a great girl, just let her creativity work. I'll tamp it down if she wants us all jacked up in sequins."
Jake perused his music library, only having a Louie Armstrong version of "What a Wonderful World It Would Be" He searched for other versions of it and then for The Boss's version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and "Do They Know It's Christmas" and had them all downloaded to his lap top in a few minutes. While they downloaded, he called Maria Valdez at Children's and formally volunteered the Mohawks and company for the Christmas party there. Of course, Maria was grateful that her newest volunteers had volunteered in such a big way so soon and readily accepted their offer to play for the Christmas party.
As "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" played through the speakers on Jake's desk, Evan sang along, matching Springsteen's voice and inflections while smiling at Jake, "I can do this bro; we are going to rock Christmas now!"
And after dinner The Mohawks practiced the songs together in the Grimke garage for two nights and then two afternoons in the choir room at Severn. On the final practice at school, Will Hurley joined them on saxophone for "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and other members of the Show Band chimed in with bells and glockenspiel to ring in the rest of the music.
Each member of the Mohawks did his part for the show. Erik and Aaron recruited the rest of the lacrosse team to help collect donations for Children's while Evan worked out the logistics of transportation for the concert with Jackie. Even though he was originally against Jackie Pence's idea, Mr. Hartley was suitably impressed with the effort the Mohawks were making in their rehearsals and finally admitted his twenty year old Christmas program could adjust to a little change up.
On Thursday, December 20, most of the lacrosse team was unnoticeably missing from senior lunch as they got dressed in their warm-up pants, pads gloves and jerseys and brought their sticks to the upper level of the Severn High School Auditorium. Jake and the rest of the Mohawks were backstage doing a last minute sound check during lunch while the rest of the school choirs and band assembled in the front rows of the auditorium.
As senior lunch ended, the student body began to file into the auditorium. The program opened predictably, with holiday standards such as "O Holy Night", "Joy to The World", "For Unto Us A Child Is Born" and "Hallelujah Chorus" from Messiah among other familiar pieces.
After the choir and band worked through the opening numbers, Mr. Hartley took the mic and announced that the Show Choir and Band would be taking the stage next with some very special guests. They started with a holiday show tune medley including "We Need A Little Christmas Now" followed by "Turkey Lurkey Time" before Severn's principal, Mr. Lafferty, took the stage to wish everybody a happy holiday and to remind the assembled students of others who were less fortunate as the holiday season unfolded around them. And during that short break, The Mohawks dressed in warm-up pants and jerseys slipped on stage and took up their instruments and waited for the end of Mr Lafferty's introduction of The Mohawks.
Evan stepped up to the microphone after the initial wave of applause subsided from the student body and as the first notes started, he began his own introduction, paralleling that of The Boss himself talking to his band mates as a whole "It's all cold down along the lacrosse field, winds whipping down the sidelines, Hey Erik, you guys know what time of year it is?"
"Yeah" Erik replied
"What time?" Evan asked again.
"It's Christmas time" Erik answered again
"It's what?" Evan asked a third time.
"It's Christmas time!" Erik answered louder.
"Christmas time," Evan replied, "you guys all, you guys all been good and practicing real hard? Yeah? Hey Jake; you been practicing real hard so Santa'll bring you a new lacrosse stick?"
Jake, unknowing that Evan had changed the wording of the intro at the last minute tried not to mess up on the keyboards as Evan turned to the audience and continued, "everybody out there been good or what?"
Not hearing much of a response Evan added, "oh that's not many, not many; you guys are in trouble!"
And with that Erik rolled the drums into a thundering opening and Evan belted out "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" better than in any of the rehearsals they did and to a standing ovation from the entire student body. And as the song ended the lead singers switched up and Jake moved up from keyboard to lead guitar and began jamming the opening chords for "What A Wonderful World It Would Be" as he began singing "I see trees of green, red roses too..."
As the song's final notes reverberated into the back of the auditorium, members of the Show Choir and lacrosse team fanned down the aisles of the auditorium. Jake stayed at the microphone and began his pitch "Not sure how many of you know this but, we, The Mohawks and Show Choir and Band are going to play a small Christmas gig at Children's Medical Center in Baltimore this Saturday. And just in case you don't know, there are some very, very sick children there and if you could, if all of you could find a few dollars to spare, we'd like to take it to them at Children's on Saturday. So, seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen and even faculty and staff, please dig into your pockets and find the couple of dollars that you were going to spend at McDonald's or 7-11 this afternoon," and turning to a crowd of faculty members "or happy hour and give it up for these kids. Just give it to one of the lacrosse players you see in the aisles and we'll make sure it gets to those who need it at Children's."
After a few riffs on his bass, Aaron started the final song, "It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid, at Christmas time we let in light and banish hate."
Erik chimed in next with, "And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy. Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time."
"But say a prayer - pray for the other ones, At Christmas time," added Evan.
Jake leaned into the same mic as Evan with "it's hard, but when you're having fun, there's a world outside your window" before they sang together "And it's a world of dreaded fear, where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears. And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom."
As they sang the students and teachers reached into their wallets and purses and backpacks and pockets and began to fill the crosses of the lacrosse sticks extended in front of them. Syms and Beecher had enough brains when organizing this part to have five gallon buckets to dump the cash into located in each aisle and soon they were filling as The Mohawks led up to the finish of the song with "Here's to you, raise your glass for everyone, here's to them, underneath that burning sun. Do they know it's Christmas time at all?"
And then the finale started with the Show Choir singing the familiar verse "Feed the world" while the Mohawks and Show Choir sang together "Let them know it's Christmas time" before every voice in the auditorium joined in the singing.
The Mohawks and Show Choir ad-libbed a few more rounds of "Feed the World" so that all the money could be collected from everybody who wanted to give. Jake caught Miss Birdsong from the English Department visibly wiping tears from her eyes as she watched the performance by one of her favorite of students. Other members of the faculty and staff were equally moved and realized that this was one of those rare instances in their careers when one senior class would stand just a little taller than the rest they would remember from their careers.
After the concert and final bell of the day, the lacrosse team stayed to count the money, $1187.94 and handed it over to Coach Dase who reached in his wallet and added $12.06 to make it an even $1200.00. The entire lacrosse team was on an adrenaline rush, high-fiving and body-slamming each other like it was some great come-from-behind victory. The Mohawks had renewed their rock star status among their teammates as well with the student body at Severn.
Coach Dase called Mr. Lafferty with the final count and escorted the lacrosse team down to the main office where a throng of students waited after classes ended to hear the final count. Jake stood on a bench in the hall and began with "thanks to all of you, Severn High School will be giving $1200.00 to Children's Medical Center on Saturday."
The crowded erupted in applause and began yelling "Mo-hawks, Mo-hawks, Mo-hawks" as the team entered the office with the cash all counted. Mr. Lafferty and Coach Dase would fill out a deposit slip for Severn High School's Student Affairs account and then draft a check and co-sign it for presentation to Children's Medical Center.
On Saturday in the smaller auditorium at the medical center with a more subdued crowd, The Mohawks and Show Choir and Band kept their promise. About 80 kids were there, including Jon Morehouse along with many of their parents and siblings enjoying the small concert as best as they could. Jon was beaming that his lacrosse heroes were playing and had kept their promise to return.
Dr. Pearce was equally impressed with the Show Choir and Band and the effort by Jake and Evan with their own band. Will Hurley in his capacity as vice president of the Senior Class, presented the check to Dr. Pearce and Maria Valdez on behalf of the student body at Severn and then gave kudos to The Mohawks for making such a generous gift possible.
As the band broke down their equipment and mingled with some of the patients, family members and staff sharing cookies and punch, Maria Valdez found Jake to offer her thanks. "It was out of the blue that you guys offered to play and play so well and the donation was just, I don't know what to say to you thank you guys. You guys are angels in my book," Maria said, trying hard to fight back the tears.
Jake knew she needed a hug and gave her a classic Jake big hug while looking over her shoulder and seeing an Adonis. He was just a fraction of an inch taller than Jake but with a similar build and a huge smile full of bright white teeth that enhanced his dark Mediterranean features. Jake drank in the sight and etched it in his memory as the embrace ended, assured that Maria was not going to cry right now.
"Jose, this is Jake, he's one of the new volunteers here at Children's," Maria began to make the introductions, "Jake, this is my son Jose. He's home from Johns Hopkins where he is an architecture major."
"You guys were sensational! There has never been a Christmas show like that here before and I know; I have been to many of them," Jose said, joining in with his mom to shower the performers with praise; Jose continued by saying to his mom as privately as he could "and this one is a keeper!"
Jake wasn't sure but thought he caught a little bit of a wink in his direction from Jose. Jose read Jake like a book but Jake didn't know it yet. As he finished helping his band mates pick up the equipment and take it out to the cars, he kept looking for Jose and every time his eyes found Jose's dark brown eyes, they were looking back at him with a big infectious smile that almost made Jake blush.
Back at the Grimke garage, Jake and Evan unloaded Evan's jeep and Will Hurley brought back some speakers and other equipment in his SUV that wouldn't fit in the jeep. Evan, usually one to stick around and hang out with Jake bailed, saying he had to spend the rest of the weekend with his father for their holiday time together. Jake was cool with this and knew it was a chore for Evan to deal with his old man but also knew that Evan respected his duty to be with his father even though his father was rarely there when Evan needed him to be.
And so that left Jake and Will alone in the Grimke garage to finish putting the equipment away. Jake decided the time was right and sat Will down across from him. "I need your help," Jake stated very firmly and very seriously.
"Wow, Jake Grimke needs help? What's up with that?" Will answered.
"I'm going to tell you something that you can't tell anybody else. Not a soul," Jake continued with equal seriousness, "nobody, got it?"
"Okay, I promise," Will answered again, wondering what was coming next.
"Really Will, totally serious here, this is heavy stuff for me," Jake pleaded, "I need to know I can count on you like I count on Evan."
"You're ready to put me in that league?" Will asked, feeling elevated in friendship status.
"Will, I am like you, I am gay," Jake said soberly to Will.
Will could have been knocked over with a feather. He stared at Jake and then answered, "no way, not Jake Grimke, can't be, no way ever!"
Jake sat there and just nodded affirmatively before adding, "just don't tell anybody, please don't. I want to tell them, I want them to hear it from my mouth."
Will stood up and offered his hand to shake, "Fair enough, I won't tell a soul, nobody will hear about it from my lips."
They shook and then Will pulled Jake into a hug, "Listen, all that shit I did last year is so, well, last year. I just can't un-ring that bell if you get my drift. Just be careful of what bells you want to ring, okay? I'll keep my promise to you if you keep that promise to me."
"Deal," Jake answered, "I got another problem Will."
"What's that buddy?"
"How do you know? How do you know if another guy is into you or gay?"
"Lot's of ways, why, is there somebody you like?"
"Just met him today at the concert. Jose Valdez, he's the son of Maria Valdez, one of the nurses at Children's"
"Yeah, I think I caught both of you checking one another out."
"So, how do I know? How do I ask him out on a date?" Jake asked Will.