Sunday Afternoon
Sunday July 18th @ 12:30 PM - Campsite.
Bill just went to the campgrounds 'facilities' to take a shower.
Zack, Shelley and TK are sitting around a picnic table eating. Zack
looks around to make sure Bill's out of earshot. Then he turns to TK,
"Shelley and I were talking, and since were leaving tomorrow, and Bill
is heading back to Topeka tomorrow, we've been thinking of dropping him
off, if it's all right with you." "Of course it's all right with me, why
wouldn't it be?"
Shelley looks at her not so little brother, "It's just we
don't
want to seem pushy or anything. If ... Oh, you know." TK laughs, "Come
on now. .... Really ... Don't worry about it. " Then he looks at the two
of them, "I really like Bill, and it would be great to drop him off. ...
But there's something I want to run by you two. ... I've decided to tell
Mom and Grams about me, and I was wondering how you think they'll take
it?" Shelley asks, "You're sure about this?" "Yeah, I am.
Don't you
think I should?"
Thinking over carefully what she was saying, "It's up
to you. ...
You know I'll be behind you all the way. As to Grams, as far as you're
concerned, she thinks you walk on water. She'll probably organize one of
the PFLAG groups if you let her. But Mom, it's gonna be different. She
won't be happy, but it's not like you have to worry about getting
booted out. It'll just take her some time to become adjusted to it."
Shelley adds, "You're not thinking of telling anyone else are you?" "No
only Mom & Grams. I don't want to have to deal with the assholes that
live back home. .. But it's like last night, Bill and I, trust me we
didn't do anything, but I ended up feeling so good, I wanted to yell it
out. .. But as it is right now, I can't tell the people that mean so
much to me."
Bill walks up still drying his hair, "What's up?"
Zack says, "TK is talking about letting his family back home
know
he's gay." A pained expression crosses Bill's face, he then forces a
smile as quickly. "I wish you luck. I really do. But be careful." He
then walks over to TK and gives him a quick hug around the shoulders.
Zack motions to Bill to sit down with them at the table.
"Hey you
still hungry we got all this food." Bill sits next to TK, just close
enough that their bare legs are touching. "Nah, I'm stuffed." Zack comes
back, "Shelley and I were wondering if you'd like to hitch a ride back
to Topeka with us. Were going right past it, and it wouldn't be any
problem. It'll be more fun than the bus."
"God, that'd be great!" Shelley smiles looking at him,
says, "If
you wanna then we'll have to get the rest of your stuff from CJ's place
this afternoon, and you'd have to stay with us again here tonite. We'll
be leaving early in the morning, and we won't have a lot of time to make
extra stops." Bill glances quickly at TK, then back at Shelley, "I
suppose I could manage it. .. TK would you mind sharing the tent again."
Instead, of answering, TK just shakes his head, and turns red.
@ 12:30 PM - The King House.
Virginia King is sitting on her verandah, calmly sipping on a
iced
tea. Hearing car doors slamming, she looks up to see Steve and Mark
walking up the sidewalk. Mark gives the impression he doesn't really
want to be there, by the way he has his hands stuffed in his pockets and
he keeps studying the ground as he's walking. She calls out, "Good
afternoon, boys. Come on up." Steve responds, "We're coming, Mrs. King."
He looks down and under his breath he says to Mark, "Come on, trust me
it'll be alright."
"Can I get you boys an iced tea? I also have lemonade in the
house"
"Don't bother, iced tea will be fine, won't it Mark?" "Yeah, it'll be
fine." As she pours them each a glass, she says, "I'm glad you could
drop by." Steve replies, "That's all right ma'am. But just why did you
want t see us?"
"Well, I remember yesterday you saying that you
and a friend were
looking for an apartment. And I just might have the solution to your
quest." She looks at the two, "Steve, Mark, this house is big. We've
even closed off the third floor. At one time we thought to turn it into
an apartment to rent out." She picks up a tray of dilled corned bread,
offering them each a piece. "I was talking it over with my
daughter-in-law, Betty, and we have a proposition for you. If you help
us turn the third floor into a real apartment, you can rent it. The rent
would be $400 per month after it's all fixed up." Mark looks up at her,
"Do you know about ... about ... us?" She nods her head. Mark goes on,
"Why are you doing this?"
The question catches her off guard, "Well, I figured
we could help
each other out. I would like to convert that old part of the house into
something useful. ... To be honest, it takes a lot of money to run this
place., and with Shelley graduating next from high school next year, and
Todd the year after, we're going to need money for school and other
things." She sweeps her arm encompassing the yard. "There's alot to do
around here, also. There would be certain rules, no loud music on
weeknights after 10:30, No parties." Pointing to the garage, "You
could have one parking place in the garage, and you could park your
other car along side the out buildings."
She stands, "Before you say yes or no, why don't I show you
the
place. Come on lets head upstairs." She takes them on tour, pointing out
that the there were already two bathrooms up there, the heat and air
conditioning ducts could be re-opened, that the balcony on the outside
was connected the second and third floors by stairs, making it a private
entrance. She pointed out the room's that would need work turning one
into a kitchen, and another into a sitting room. An honest woman at
heart, she did not gloss over all the work that would be needed.
Eventually leading them back to the verandah, "Why don't you think about
it for awhile. I'm going to run in and get that lemonade."
Steve looks at Mark and asks, "Well, what do you
think?" "Don't
know. This is just too good. Something's got to be wrong here." "I think
we should take it. That third floor is huge, we'd never be able to
afford a place that size. It would be great!" "I just don't know, it's
just too convenient, and what about Shelley and Todd. Mrs. King might
not care if we're" he whispers, "boyfriends" Switching back to a normal
tone, "But they could be a real pain in the ass." Steve finally says,
"Hey, I trust Mrs. King, there's no way in hell that she'd set this up
without knowing it'd be cool. So?" Mark resigned, nods his head and says
"OK, roomie let's give it a shot."
A little too conveniently, just as they have agreed on it,
Mrs.
King comes carrying the lemonade, and three glasses of ice, almost as if
she was listening in. "Well boys? What's it going to be?" "We'll take
it, ma'am. do you want us to us to sign a lease or something, Mrs.
King?" "No, that won't be necessary unless you want one, but there is
only one thing I do want. From now on please call me Virg."
@ 1:45 PM - Gary & Ted's.
The four of them are just sitting in front of the TV watching
Tennis. The room was air conditioned, which is why they were indoors.
Ted who is bored by the match on the tube, suggests, "You know we cold
always watch a movie. Will, you or Bart ever see a movie called "Billy's
Hollywood Screen Kiss", we got it if you want to watch it." "I don't
know, Bart what about you?" " Anything's fine with me." Ted with a broad
smile, "Well, I know it's hard for you to control you're enthusiasm, So
Billy's it is." You ever see the TV show, 'Will & Grace'? Well the guy
who plays Jack has the lead."
The movie is over and Ted is rewinding it. Gary asks,
"Will and
Bart, Ted and I were talking earlier about stuff, and I was wondering
when you guys knew you were gay. Hesitantly, Bart starts, "Sometimes I
don't know, Will had been a part of my life from when we first met in
kindergarten. We did everything together. ... Having him there was
natural. ... Then when we got to high school. I started dreaming about
him. It started off simple like my usual dreams but they started ending
differently. Instead of riding off on our bikes together, I'd hold hands
with him."
Bart is now looking at Will only, "Well anyway, it got
scarier and
scarier, soon my dreams would be all about Will and they got to the
point where we would be kissing and ... you know touching each other.
But what really got me was that the first time I had a wet dream about
Will. I woke up shaking, just after I started ... well coming. I wasn't
supposed to be havin those kind of dreams about guys. ... But this was
with Will, how could anything be wrong if Will was involved. I had
heard all the stories about guys going through phases where they just
sorta experimented with other guys. I was praying that was all it was."
"The only thing wrong with that, was I'd find myself
at school,
and get these dirty daydreams about Will and me doing stuff together, I
started wearing all my T-shirts that were long enough to cover my front
so nobody would see I constantly had a hardon. I thought I might be gay
then but I didn't wanna be. How could you wanna be gay? Everybody knew
that being queer was as low as you could get. ... I just fought it as
much as I could. ... Then it was the night after Ted got kicked out,
Will and I watched Beautiful Thing. It was the first time, I saw a movie
with two guys ... where it didn't seem bad or wrong. Then when Will told
me that he was gay, I just knew that this was no fucking phase I was
going through. I didn't want to deny it anymore." ... Bart says quietly,
"All that other shit stopped, when I said out loud for the first time
that I was gay. It was when I told Will then I was, I was also sorta
telling myself, you know what I mean?"
Will - "Yeah. For me it was..."
Before Will can continue, barging through the front door are
Zack,
Shelley, TK and Bill. Zack says "Hey everybody, thought we stop by and
talk about tomorrow."
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