Second Chance, Chapter 35
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Chapter 35
Luc and Garret spent from Wednesday night to Friday afternoon together at Josh and Eric's house. They didn't spend the whole time trying to get in each other's pants, but did manage to play around enough to keep them happy. Neither was ready to use the "L" word in describing their relationship, but both were definitely closer physically and emotionally by the end of the week. They seemed to be as interested in pleasing each other as in getting off themselves. And they began to bond in other ways.
Since Garret had a car, they were free to do things together -- just the two of them. They went over to Luc's to play pool and video games one morning and Sophia invited Garret to stay for lunch. Luc was hesitant to have his mother quizzing his buddy, but he didn't know how to gracefully refuse. He was relieved that she didn't ask any embarrassing questions and that Garret got along quite well with her. Now that she'd met him, there wouldn't be any question about having him over from time to time. Since his mother had been so welcoming to Rob's boyfriend, perhaps she would be okay with them too if she figured out that they were "seeing" each other.
Friday's big news on the `net was the unanimous decision by the Supreme Court of Iowa that the law banning gay marriage in that state was unconstitutional. (Dane had emailed Eric and Josh the minute the news became public.) What made it earthshaking was that this was a state in the heartland. People on the coasts tended to think of the Midwest as being provincial and conservative. What a shocker to have California take a step backward and Iowa to take one forward.
Many celebration parties were planned by gay organizations around the country as well as in Iowa. This could set a precedent for the rest of the US because it focused on the civil rights of gays and lesbians and took away its focus on religion.
Iowa had led the way in school desegregation and women's rights. Therefore, it wasn't all that astonishing that the state might do the same for others who found themselves marginalized in society.
It was the main dinnertime topic at the Brady/Larson home that evening.
"Maybe I should have stayed in Iowa so we could be married there," Scott said.
"No way, Dad!" Eric responded. "I'm so glad we're living here so I have my Tigger to cuddle."
Josh blushed at the mention of his intimate nickname, hoping that no one would pick up on it and tease him - and no one did.
"We can still get married in Iowa if we want," Ben stated. "They don't have a residency requirement to be wed there and if they try to pass one, it will have to apply to heterosexual couples as well or be ruled discriminatory. Besides, I don't think their legislature is going to touch it with economic issues and flood recovery problems. I think it's here to stay. We might plan a summer wedding. We already have two best men to stand up with us."
"I wish we could get married too," Josh sighed. "I know what you're gonna say, but if we're old enough to do it, we should be old enough to do it legally!"
"I don't think I need any specific details on the `do it' part!" Ben chuckled as his son turned bright red.
On Saturday, Mother Nature proved that she was still in control and would decide when spring would arrive. The boys were greeted by several inches of snow and bitter cold when they got up in the morning. It was amazing that they'd been out shirtless washing their vehicles only a few days before. But this wasn't unusual for late March in the upper Midwest.
After breakfast, they fired up the snow blower and cleared the drive and walks. City maintenance crews had already plowed the streets, so there wasn't any problem getting around.
By Sunday, all but a little of the snow had melted. The extended family went to church to hear the choir's presentation of Gabriel Faure's "Requiem Mass" which was a beautiful, as well as moving, presentation. Most of the congregation had little background in Latin, so an English translation was provided in the bulletin for them.
During the announcements that preceded it, Dr. Mann mentioned the Supreme Court's action in Iowa and what it meant to furthering civil rights for all citizens of that state. His comments were met by applause from almost everyone in the congregation.
Visitors who agreed with him were happy that he had chosen to bring up the subject. Several of them had been to celebrations on Friday night, but had not expected to have a member of the clergy laud it on Sunday morning. Some who had come primarily to hear the music were thinking about returning to hear this man speak.
Rob was especially pleased to be hearing a choral requiem mass performed because he had grown up assuming that Protestant churches wouldn't be comfortable with anything that came out of the Catholic tradition. This was as majestic as any service he'd attended, and the choir was one of the best he'd ever heard in a religious setting. He wished he could be participating in it. He wondered if he'd ever find the time to join a choir or if that would be one more thing that a single parent would have to forego.
Robbie stayed awake for most of the service and couldn't have been better behaved. He seemed to actually attend to the sounds. Rob had been dreading the thought of having to take his son hurriedly to the cry-room in the midst of it.
After the service, several people came up to tell Rob what a fantastic little brother he had. When he told them that Robbie was his son, they commented that fathers looked younger every year. He didn't tell them how young he really was.
Blake got a call from his family on Sunday afternoon. Walter and Ursula Ault were pressuring their son to come home to spend Easter with them, but he said that he had to work. It was true that he would be serving in the dining room at the country club. However, he hadn't planned to visit them anyway.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to hide the truth from them. He had to let everyone at home and at school assume that he was straight until grades were recorded for the spring term. After that, he would level with his family. He could predict their reaction down to the words they would use -- disgusting, hell-bound, depraved, sinful, gross -- to mention a few. He had little doubt but that he'd be cut off forever.
Rob had said he'd go along when Blake came out, but Blake wasn't sure that he wanted to subject Rob to the kind of scene that would ensue. Rob had been through enough with his father and it might not be good to open old emotional wounds. However Rob was adamant about not letting Blake face them alone.
At school on Monday, there wasn't any talk about gay marriage among the kids except for a few who were LGBT club members. The subject was brought up in some of the government and American history classes because of its relevance to those disciplines. A large number of the students were completely unaware of what had transpired in the state to their south.
Track season was beginning, but it would affect Eric and Josh only indirectly since they weren't runners. They would go to meets to support their friends. Dylan, Garret, Luc, and Aaron were the only ones they knew well who were involved.
Garret had gone out as a freshman because he was Dylan's buddy, but had really gotten into it for its own sake. He managed to get Luc to join him this season. That gave them another excuse to be buds - one that would be accepted by Garret's parents without the boys having to explain why they wanted to hang out together.
Aaron might not have had the incentive to get involved had not Sam encouraged him to join the team. Sam insisted that Aaron would be as swift on land as he was in the water because of being "light on his feet". Both of them joked easily about their orientation, much to the disgust of Jake who couldn't upset them with taunting words since they said those same words to each other in jest.
Toward the end of practice on Thursday, Jake was feeling pissed at the world because he'd tripped and skinned his knee when he and Aaron had accidentally collided. No matter what the circumstances were, he blamed it on the younger boy. Jake was going to teach him a lesson as soon as he could.
As if by magic, a window of opportunity presented itself. Dylan, Garret, and Luc were running an extra mile to build up their endurance. Aaron was feeling sore from the impact and elected to go back to the locker room early with Sam to shower.
Mr. Landis, their coach, was summoned to his office for an important phone call and there was no adult around to supervise the locker room for a short time. The minute the coast was clear, Jake charged into the shower and slugged Aaron, knocking him to the floor. It happened so quickly that Aaron was completely blind-sided. Sam was shocked by the unprovoked attack. He cursed himself for not anticipating it in time to prevent it. But once he figured out what was happening, he went into action. He pivoted around striking Jake in the chest with his foot, knocking the wind out of him temporarily. Jake recovered and rushed Sam like an enraged bull. Sam used Jake's own force to send him flying against the wall.
"Are you going to leave Aaron alone, or do you want more?" Sam asked as calmly as he could. "I'm not interested in hurting you, but I can't promise that it won't happen."
"Fuck you!" Jake responded trying to make Sam as angry as he was.
"I'm not interested in having intercourse with you, Jake, but I'll ask around if anyone else would." Sam smiled.
Coach Landis entered the area just in time to hear Jake go into a string of cursing. He used every hurtful gay epithet that he knew in his verbal attack.
"Jake, get dressed. We're going to the office - NOW!"
"Look Coach, this fairy started it! I never laid a hand on him."
"Jake, that's one more example of language that is not tolerated in this school. I've already witnessed enough to have you suspended from classes for several days and from the team indefinitely."
"Yeah, well if you're taking their side in this, you can go fuck yourself!"
Jake stormed off to his locker while the coach alerted the main office about the situation.
"Aaron, are you okay?" Mr. Landis asked as Sam was helping his buddy up from the floor.
"I think so. He hit me hard enough that I feel like I've been out for a few seconds. I remember going down and then I saw Jake go flying across the room. Sam, you're awesome!"
"It's nothing that anyone couldn't do with martial arts training. It was Jake's uncontrolled fury that made him fly across the room. I just helped channel it."
"Wow, could you teach me?"
"It would be my pleasure." Sam bowed.
"Okay, I think both of you should finish your showers and get dressed so you can tell Mr. Shaffer the whole story. Dr. Parsons may want to hear it first-hand too. There have been other complaints about Jake picking fights and I think it's time he had a `come to Jesus meeting' with the administration."
"Can't we just let it go?" Aaron asked.
"No! I'm not going to let hate crimes go unpunished on my watch. With boys like that, if you give them a pass, they'll just keep on doing the same things. I know it's probably too late to change his attitude, but it's not too late for him to take responsibility for his actions. Besides, he sealed his fate when he suggested that I perform an impossible solo sexual act." Mr. Landis grinned
That last comment made both boys laugh, but then Aaron winced in pain.
"You know, Son, after that actress Natasha Richardson died from a fall on the ski run, I'm taking no chances. You're going to the emergency room to get checked out and you can talk to the principals tomorrow."
The other boys showed up about that time. After hearing that Aaron had been attacked, Dylan agreed that his little bro should get checked at the hospital. Aaron was not thrilled to be going, but Dylan said he and Sam would come to the ER as soon as he got dressed.
The ambulance was there in a very few minutes spiriting Aaron away. He didn't feel like he needed to go, but he guessed that it didn't hurt to be safe. Besides, one of the attendants was really cute!
Dylan and Sam arrived shortly after the ambulance and Aaron and Dylan's mother wasn't far behind them.
"What in the world happened? I can't stand having my sons end up in the hospital all the time!" Beth Reid exclaimed.
"I wasn't there, Mom, but I suspect Aaron brought a lot of this on himself."
"I was there," Sam replied. "Aaron didn't say a word to Jake. They had run into each other on the track when Jake tripped over his shoelace. We were in the shower when he just came in and slugged Aaron. There was no provocation whatsoever! It happened so fast that I couldn't prevent it."
"What could a 130 pound guy like you do to hold off that big lunk?" Dylan asked.
"I'm trained in some ancient self-defense techniques," Sam smiled. "Jake didn't leave without a few bruises of his own."
"No shit!"
"Dylan!"
"Sorry, Mom. I'm just so impressed that I forgot myself."
"I don't like your other comment either."
"What?"
"The one about Aaron bringing it on himself. No one should have to face being hurt verbally or physically because of his orientation!"
"But Mom, he's so out there' that he's bound to make people uncomfortable. He's also called Jake lard-ass' and stuff like that. I wouldn't do that to make Jake angry even though I could take him easily in a fair fight."
"Did he start out calling him names or was it in response to being called something first?"
"Well I guess that Jake did call him a `fairy' but he could have just left it alone. Sometimes he doesn't know when to shut up. I hope that Sam can teach him enough karate or judo or whatever to defend his big mouth!"
The ER physician interrupted the conversation as he called them into the examining room. Aaron looked rather pale and Sam was quicker than Dylan in going to his bedside.
"I don't feel that Aaron's in any real danger, but I want to run a few more tests and keep him overnight for observation," the doctor began. "He sustained a mild concussion, but hopefully he'll be good as new in the morning. However, I'm taking no chances. His coach is to be commended for insisting that he come in."
"Can Sam stay with me in my room tonight?" Aaron pleaded.
The doctor raised his eyebrows and shook his head.
"If you have a buddy there, you're likely to fool around and not get enough sleep. I have two teenagers at home and I know how you kids operate," he grinned.
"Well, it was worth a try," Aaron pouted. "Can he come back during visiting hours?"
"I'm sure that would be fine. Now I'm sending you over for an MRI, so you're going to be occupied for a while."
Beth said she would stay, but Dylan should take Sam home so that his mother wouldn't worry about him. They could both return after dinner.
As soon as they left, Beth called Bob to give him an update on their son's condition. He had been in an important meeting and had just been given the message that Aaron was at the hospital. His wife's call came in time to spare him needless worry. He said he'd join her in a few minutes.
Aaron was released the following morning in time to make it to school for lunch and afternoon classes. At the end of the day, he and Sam went to the principal's office instead of track practice. Aaron wasn't allowed to run for a couple of days anyway and Sam was in good enough shape that missing a day or two wouldn't impede his progress.
The boys were interviewed separately by Dr. Parsons and Mr. Shaffer. Their accounts of the event were very close without being identical. Therefore, the men agreed that they hadn't rehearsed their lines and that both were likely telling the truth.
Two other team members, who had witnessed the collision, had been questioned earlier in the day and their stories jibed with that part of Aaron's and Sam's accounts.
Jake had not shown up to school that day and efforts to locate him had been in vain. Dr. Parsons had personally called his house and had received no response. He was beginning to be concerned about the boy's welfare.
Author's notes: Thanks to you who emailed since last posting. I appreciate hearing from all of you. As always, I hope I didn't miss anyone. The list includes: David G, Bill K, Rutabaga, Carroll, Burch B, Dan C, Jim C, Jim We, Karserus, Paul R, Mike S, Dan F, John McD, Paul R, Anien, Baruch, Mike DeW, Mox, Tom A, and Polar.
Did anyone else catch the news about the organization of psychologists saying that trying to make gays straight was not something that they can endorse? It's about time! Below is the link.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090805/ap_on_re_us/us_psychologists_gays
David