Chapter 43
July 12th
My Uncle is doing much better and they say his arm should be fine. They did have to go in and remove some scar tissue. It seems that it was keeping him from having his full range of motion. I had to ask what that meant and they explained that the scar tissue had been pressing on the nerve and that had been causing him to be in constant pain. It had also kept him from moving his arm in certain positions. I was mad at him when I found out because he had told me that he was fine. If I had known I would not allowed him to do as much around the house as he had been. Anyway he had the surgery to correct it last month and now he is feeling much better. The doctor said that everything went really well.
July 14th
Josh came through the trial ok. He is such a strong kid. I was really worried about how he would make it though it all but he has spending a lot of time with Kevin and is seeing Dr. Woodlief regularly. After he came off of the high of it all being over he had a really rough stretch where he got depressed. But now he was doing great. One thing is for sure Josh is unique. He showed up last month with his hair dyed purple with sparkles in it. You should have seen him strutting down the halls.
When he sat down for lunch that first day he took a lot of good natured ribbing about the sparkles but to tell you the truth the color looked good on him.
So I turned to Timmy and whispered in his ear, “Hey hon do you think that color would look good on me.”
Maybe I should have waited for him to swallow his drink. Because the next thing I knew he was choking on his drink. Naturally everyone wanted to know what I had whispered to him.
After I had made sure that he was ok I tried to answer them. But I was having a hard time because I was laughing too hard. When I finally managed to get it out everyone else joined in except Josh. I think he was a little hurt. So I said, “Guys?” After I had their attention I said, “I was serious I like the color and was asking Timmy if he thought it would look good on me. I guess I caught him off guard.”
Timmy chimed in and said, “You could say that. But if you like the color its cool with me.”
Turning towards him I looked him right in the eye to make sure that he was serious. He gave me a slight nod and smiled. So I said, “Josh how did you get that color?”
Shocked he stared at me for a minute before he replied. “Are you serious!”
“Yep.”
“What about your Uncle?”
“He wont mind but I will clear it with him anyway.”
“Then he giggled and said, “Wait till I tell my mom. She threw a fit when I told her I wanted to dye my hair and put in the sparkles. She even said, “You don’t see Matt and Timmy doing that.”
“Hey wait.” “I have a better idea I’m not going to tell her till after you do it.” Then he laughed again and said, “ After you dye yours I will have you walk up to our car when she picks me up. Then we will pretend nothing is different and see how she brings it up.”
You could see the devil dancing in his eyes and I did not have the heart to mess up his plan so I said, “Ok you’ve got a deal.”
Since she had given him a hard time about it he wanted to have some fun at her expense.
After a minute Josh got a hopeful look on his face and said, “I don’t suppose that you are going to use sparkles are you?”
Laughing I said, “Nope.”
He giggled and said, “Aww come on Matt.”
Rolling my eyes I shook my head and said, “Josh I don’t want to take away all your glory.”
He smiled at me and let it drop.
When I got home I asked my Uncle if I could dye my hair. He smiled and said, “If you want to that’s fine. What color?”
“Josh came to school today with his dyed a dark purple. And I think it looks great. I asked Timmy if he thought it would look good on me and he told me he was fine with it. Of course that was after he finished coughing on his drink.”
My Uncle rolled his eyes and said, “Seriously though was he ok with it?”
“Yeah he smiled and told me he was fine with it.”
“Ok. You know my rule. It’s your body. As long as its not permanent I don’t mind. Just as long as you check with me first.”
That’s what he had always told me before but this was the first time I had actually wanted to do something that would push the envelope with him.
I smiled and said, “Thanks Uncle. I really like the color and it will be fun to do something a little crazy. Besides you should be grateful that I am not going to copy Josh and put sparkles in it.”
He laughed and said, “I am glad that he is feeling comfortable enough to be himself.”
“Yeah me to.”
“How is his boyfriend doing?”
“He is doing ok. He was having some trouble at his school but it settled down.”
“What was going on?”
“Some asshole was giving him some grief at school. But the school stepped in and put an end to it. With all that happened to Josh all the schools in the region are on best behavior. Nobody wants a repeat of what happened to him.”
“Uncle?”
“Yeah Matt.”
“What’s going to happen with Mom and Dads trial? Have you heard anymore from the lawyer?”
He sighed and said, “He called today and said, that he expects to hear one way or the other by the end of the week.”
“Did he think they would go along with it?”
“He did not know. It’s up to the D.A.’s office and the courts.”
I nodded. But I was very
frustrated. It was so hard not knowing if I was going to have to testify against
them or not. I did not know if I could go through with it or not.
Just when you think you have your feelings sorted out about someone you find out
that you don’t. On the surface I really hated them. But as I talked with Dr.
Woodlief I realized that some part of me still wanted their love and acceptance.
In my head I realized that was never going to happen. But that did not make it
any easier to deal with.
I think that my Uncle felt the same way about his family. Sometimes something would be said about them and he would get a sad look on his face. You could tell that it still hurt him even after all these years.
After my uncle and I finished talking I went back to my room and IM Josh and he gave me the information I needed to dye my hair. Then I called Timmy and asked him to pick it up and bring it over tomorrow when he came. He even agreed to put it on for me.
July 15th
It turned out great! I think it looks good and so does Timmy. But when he asked his dad he was less than thrilled with the idea. So we wont have matching hair for now.
After we were finished I called Josh to let him know that I had followed through. He was so excited that he got me laughing. He giggled and said, “Ok so I am going A little overboard with it. But you have to admit it will be fun.”
“Yeah as long as your mom does not get mad at me it will be fine.”
“She wont be. But she will be surprised. She still thinks that you are too butch to do something like this.”
“Yeah that’s me Mr. Butch”
“Compared to me anyone is butch.”
I turned serious and said, “Hey man. Josh you’re unique and that’s a good thing. You have more courage than any 10 of those macho assholes that pick on kids smaller than themselves.
“Thanks Matt.”
“It’s true Josh. So don’t fall for all that crap.”
“You want to hear something funny?”
“Sure.”
“You can’t tell David he would be pissed that I forgot to tell him.”
“Ok.”
“Well you remember that idiot girl that was giving me grief in study hall?”
“Yeah.”
“Well she has been pretty quiet till today. When I walked in, in all my glory she was less than pleased. Anyway she asked me what I had all over my hair. I could not help myself and I said, “You should know. It’s fairy dust.”
“She did not know how to respond. Anyway Dawn turned and grinned at me and the rest of the class just lost it. The more they laughed the madder Debbie got. Finally she muttered “Stupid Fags” and started talking with her friend.
Several of the girls in the room made a point of telling me that it looked good. Though most of the guys just tried to pretend that I was not in the room. They did not know what to think.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll talk with you later and thanks for the sharing your hair color with me.”
“You’re welcome. Bye Matt.”
After I hung up I walked back into the kitchen to show my uncle. When he saw me he just grinned and I asked “What?”
“I like it.”
“Does that mean that you are going to try it?”
Laughing he said, “Nope. I don’t dye my hair at all. I have earned every one of these gray hairs.”
July 16th
Today was kind of interesting. I got more than one funny look. At first I was kind of self conscious about it but then I began to relax and enjoy it.
When I got to lunch Josh was giddy with delight. He could hardly wait to for his mother to come pick him up. When the day finally ended he told me to wait just inside the school till I saw her pull up. Then I was to walk on up like nothing was different. To tell the truth I was kind of looking forward to it as well. I figured that she would be a little flustered but would be ok with it.
When I walked up she started to say, “Hi Ma…tt” You could tell that she was not expecting it that was for sure. But she recovered quickly and said, “Well I see that someone else has been playing in the cool aid. Josh giggled and said, “Mom!”
She laughed and said, “I have to admit it looks good on both of you.” She leaned closer to me and said, “Well at least you refrained from using the sparkles.”
Then she turned to Josh and said, “Ok honey. You got me. I admit it.”
Josh grinned at me and then hopped into the van and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow Matt.”
I smiled and waved as they drove away.
© Joseph Men 2005