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The Closing

Chapter 9

As I tossed and turned in bed my mind kept drifting back to Matt’s problems. He was going to face some real challenges in the next several months. His therapist would be reporting the abuse he had suffered. That was sure to cause all hell to break lose with his mother and father. Of course they would only think of themselves and how the allegations would affect their standings socially. It was so ironic they had physically and emotionally abused Matt for years. And their only thoughts would be about what the people they knew thought. My sister was someone I had thought I knew. It was true that I did not think much of her choices. I guess I had wanted to believe that she was better than our parents. Now Matt had to pay the price for their choices. It was so unfair. He was a wonderful kid. Bright sensitive all he needed to thrive was someone to live up to the trust that he put in them. Around 3:00 AM I finally fell asleep it seemed I had just gotten to sleep when the alarm went off at 6:00 AM. I dragged myself out of bed and hit the shower. It was my habit to get up early and get ready so I could make breakfast for Matt and I while he got ready. The eggs and bacon were ready by the time Matt stumbled down for breakfast. He was not a morning person that was sure. He ate his breakfast in silence. Thanked me and grabbed his books and went down to catch the buss to school. I watched him get on the bus from the kitchen window. Then I cleaned up from breakfast and went to my office to clear up some paperwork. I needed to get my quarterly tax information together for the accountant. I was just finishing up when I heard Zack come in.

I yelled out from my office. “Zack there is coffee in the carafe if you want some.”

“Thanks Mr. Brooks.”

“Thank me after you taste it Zack.”

“I did not sleep well last night and I made the coffee extra strong this morning.”

He laughed and poured himself a cup and turned to me. “Mr. Brooks would it be ok if I come in late next Wednesday?”

“Sure What's up?”

“I have an appointment in the afternoon with my dad and the therapist you recommended.”

“That’s great news Zack. So your dad agreed to get counseling?”

“Yeah he seems to mean it Mr. Brooks but then he always seems to mean it. I am trying to not get my hopes up too much.”

“The fact that he agreed tells me that he is at least trying Zack. What time do you think you will be in?”

“Sometime around 6:00 PM. The appointment is for 3:30 PM and is for an hour. So by the time I get out and grab something it eat it will be 5:30.”

“That’s fine Zack if you feel like you need to you can take the whole night off. I don’t mine handling the whole night.”

“No that’s ok 6:00 is fine that gives me plenty of time.”

Zack went back down to open up the store and I went back to my paperwork. It took me about a half an hour to finish printing out the documents and organizing things for the accountant. He was meeting me here at the store around 1:00 PM. For about the thousandth time I wished for some better lighting in my office. Every time I worked for any extended amount of time my eyes killed me.

I sat there for a while after finishing up just thinking about Matt and his parents. Suddenly something I had been thinking about earlier came back to me. They cared far too much about what other people thought. They would do almost anything to keep the abuse from becoming common knowledge. I made a quick phone call to my attorney to run it past him.

His receptionist answered and put me right through to him. I had not expected to catch him in so early.

He laughed at my surprised tone and said “Joe what can I do for you.”

“Kevin I was thinking over Matt’s situation and something occurred to me and I wanted to run it past you.”

“What is it?”

“Well my sister and her husband are all about appearances and what others at church think. That is one of the reasons she reacted so badly to the news about her son being gay. That is also why I am so worried about her fighting this because of the damage it will do to their precious reputations. What I was wondering is could some kind of deal be made where they give up all parental rights in return for not being prosecuted or at least not getting jail time. I don’t know if that is possible but it would ensure Matt’s safety and avoid the added trauma of having to testify against his parents.”

“Joe it’s a wonderful idea but it depends on the recommendation of the his Therapist and psychiatrist that CPS would appoint to evaluate the situation. I can run it by them and see if they will even consider it. That’s all I can promise with it. But my gut feeling is providing the Therapist and psychiatrist find you to be a fit parental figure it will be given serious consideration”

“Kevin I hope so he does not need anymore guilt than he is already feeling. He knows in his head he did the right thing in reporting it but it is eating at him that he might be putting his mother and father away for a long time. I have tried to tell him that it is not his fault but he has a way to go before he overcomes all the crap they put in his head. You know what its like for someone being abused its always their fault that the person abusing them is doing it. It gets said so often that they believe it.”

“Well let me know what you find out. I would love to be able to tell Matt that he did not have to testify in court against his parents. Though if Matt were not being hurt by it they could go to hell where they belong.”

“Don’t worry Joe I will pass the idea on and when I get an answer I will let you know.”

“Ok, thanks for all your help Kevin, say hi to Cathy and the kids for me.”

“Will do, bye for now.”

After hanging up with Kevin I finished off the last of my coffee with a grimace. It had grown cold and I hated cold strong coffee. I walked out to the counter and just watched for a few minutes. As usual Zack had things well in hand. I was waiting for a shipment of new books to come it. They would have to be priced and placed on the shelves. There was still a lot of kid in me and when the new books came in I loved to look them over. I was busy for about an hour with them. Then it was time for my meeting with the accountant. He was a good friend and someone I had used since I decided to open up a business. He had been invaluable in helping me learn the ropes of owning and operating a business. We had met at a fundraiser for the local gay youth support group. I had just moved to town and purchased the building. One of the first things I had done was to find out what the area offered as far as gay businesses and to see if I could be some help with the local support group as I had done crisis intervention and hot line help where I lived before. While there was no group in town there was one about an hour away. I contacted them and started volunteering with them. Well we ended up serving together as facilitators with the same group on several occasions. One thing led to another and we actually dated for a while. It was never anything serious we were too different in our likes and dislikes but we had remained friends.

I greeted him at the counter. “Ryan come on back to my office I think I have everything ready for you.”

He just grinned and said, “I would be surprised if you did not.”

It took just over an hour to finish up everything.

As he was getting the paperwork packed away he asked me about Matt. I filled him in and he headed back to his office.

I went up to the new youth group space to check things out. The youth were coming tonight to have their first meeting in the new space. They had gotten their occupancy permit at the beginning of the week and tonight was to be the first meeting. Everything looked great they had done a great job on the space and along the way had developed a real sense of pride in their organization. Adults and youth had worked side-by-side getting things done. Even Zack’s dad had helped.

When I went back upstairs Matt was getting ready to attend the meeting. This entailed trying on several different outfits till he found something he liked.

I could not resist and said “So Matt who is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Who has you all in a tizzy?”

“Nobody” He answered a little too quickly.

Chuckling I said, “That outfit looks fine Matt”

He rolled his eyes at me and shook his head and headed back to his room.

I sighed something was just not right with Matt and I was worried. On the surface everything seemed fine. He was doing well in his therapy and at school but I felt like I was missing something.

When it was time Matt and I walked down together to great everyone as they came in. By the time the tour was over we had 23 youth and 12 parents. It was a great turnout. You could tell the youth were excited to have a space to call their own. I must say they had made the main meeting area rather colorful. The entire left sidewall was a giant rainbow flag. They also had made a Youth Group Flag as well which I thought was very well done. I had donated some older bookshelves and they had started a GLBT library for the youth in the left corner. To the left middle were several couches in a semi circle around a donated TV and VCR. All three classrooms had tables with chairs for group meetings. We had divided them up according to length of time coming to the meetings as well as age brackets. The new comers were in fairly structured groups till they could be integrated into the open discussion groups. I was going to be facilitating for the newcomer group meeting once a month. Our job as facilitators was to keep the groups on topic and keep things from getting out of hand. We were there to guide not control the meetings. I knew from past experience that it was a fine line between guidance and controlling the situation. We wanted the youth to be able to speak their minds. And talk over their experiences with their peers, something they could not do in the outside world.

Mr. Davis the Co Chair came over with his wife and said “Mr. Brooks we can’t begin to thank you enough for your generosity. This means so much to the youth.”

“Its something that I was in a position to do and it benefits Matt as well. I am glad it has worked out so well. And please stop with the Mr. stuff you know my first name is Joe.”

“All right Joe it is.” He said grinning.

I saw Matt was talking with another youth who was about his age. Pointing to Matt and the other boy I said, “That is more than enough payment right there.”

“Yeah it is isn’t it? Well duty calls I had better mingle.” He said.

I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a slice of pizza and a root beer. I was glad I did not have to clean up after this many teenagers. They were a high energy bunch that if for sure.

I was in a bit of a fight over where the Trans kids would fit in. Some wanted the girls to be separated from the males so both could discuss items they might be self conscious about in mixed company. I could see the reasons for that but what about the guys and who honestly were identifying as female and females who identified as male. We had several kids in this situation and I did not want them to feel like outsiders in the group. All too often the Gay community forgets the T part of GLBT. If I had anything to do with it they were not going to be forgotten here.

Suddenly I realized someone was talking to me. Looking up I saw Matt and Zack.

“What’s Up?” I asked

“They are ready to cut the cake and they want you to do it uncle.”

“Ok lets take care of it then.”

One of the families had baked it and had done a great job on it. It had the date and information about this being the first meeting of the youth group in the their new location. As I cut the first slice everyone gathered round and Mr. Davis asked to say a few words.
He cleared his throat and said “Tonight we are meeting for the first time in our own location. This is something we have dreamed about for years. If it were not for Mr. Brooks and Matt that dream would have taken many more years to come to pass. I know he does not like to make a big deal about all of this. But just know this Mr. Books, I mean Joe we are very grateful for all that you done.”

I blushing bright red by the time he was finished. Fortunately all the youth rushed forward to get some of the cake and that gave me a few seconds to compose myself. I really am shy and don’t like being in the spotlight but I knew they were sincere in their gratitude.

They whole meeting and party had been very well organized and clean up crews made quick work of the mess. Within an hour I was locking up the front door and Matt and I were heading up to our floor.

The first thing I did when we got upstairs was to put on some coffee. Then I settled down at the kitchen table to read the newspaper while Matt got online for a few minutes before bed. It was our routine and I had tried very hard to establish one that Matt and I both could live with. This was our quite time where we both could unwind before bed. In the morning we would have chores for both of us. It was my turn to do laundry and I would start it in the morning.

At 11:00 PM I called out “Matt hon its time for bed.”

I heard him logging off the computer and he came in and gave me a hug good night. I was dead on my feet, the day had just been too long, my head barely hit the pillow before I was asleep.