Matt and Timmy came back upstairs and both were laughing. It was obvious that they had a good time.
When I asked, “I take it you had a good time?”
“Yeah Josh came with his date Kevin and we got the guys together and made sure that they let him know we were happy for him.”
“I hope you did not embarrass him to much.”
“Well he did turn red and stayed that way most of the evening.”
Matt grinned at me then said, “But he really had a good time and thanked us before he left.”
“That’s good. I’m glad he’s finally having a chance to be himself and be accepted.”
“Yeah we all got together and talked about it. Most of the guys did not even realize that they were giving him a hard time.”
When I looked puzzled he said, “I mean in the youth support group. Some of the guys were uncomfortable around him because he is so “out there”.
I said dryly, “I believe the word is flamer now days.”
Matt blushed and said, “Yeah.”
“Anyway some of the guys were uncomfortable and that made Josh feel like he did not belong anywhere. Well we got together and talked about how the gay community is made up of many different subgroups. Some are really butch, and some guys act fem. Some are into leather, etc…
Well to make a long story short we decided that the group had to make a better effort to be more accepting of people who were different from themselves. I mean after all we are all different from what a lot of people would consider normal.
It took a while be in the end most of the guys figured out that it’s not Josh that has a problem its them. If they are uncomfortable around someone who is different from then and they are uncomfortable then they need to figure out what it is that they are afraid of.
So we decided to make sure that Josh felt like he was a part of the group and not someone who did not fit in.
That’s why we made all the fuss over him tonight.”
“Matt and Timmy I am proud of you!”
Matt looked embarrassed and said, “Well you’re the one that made us think about it. When those two guys came in and we made fun of them because of how they dressed and looked. You stopped us and made us think about what we were doing.”
“Yeah, Thanks Mr. Brooks. You really made me think about how I was judging people by their looks.”
“Hey you two are welcome. But don’t get too down on yourselves. You both did the right thing and learned from it. That makes me really proud of both of you. Most people would have agreed to save face but would have done the exact same thing all over again because they did not really have a desire to change.”
“Enough of this heavy talk. I made some cannoli’s. The shells are in the tin on the table and the filling is in the fridge.”
Matt came over, grinned, and said, “Thanks Uncle.”
Timmy got out a couple of shells and Matt got out the filling. Normally you would fill them with a cake decorating tip and bag. But for a quick snack you can use a spoon and that is what they did. When he had them filled he sprinkled powered sugar over them and sat 3 on the table.
Then we all sat down to enjoy them.
After our snack I said, “Tomorrow I have a engineer friend coming over. He is going to check and see if our roof would safely stand the weight of a deck.
Both Matt and Timmy looked surprised and I laughed and said, “Did you two think I was just pulling your leg.”
Timmy said, “We figured you were thinking about it but did not think you would do anything this summer.”
I nodded and said, “Its such a good idea that you two came up with that I decided to go ahead and do it.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that I can’t afford to hire someone to do it. That means we will be doing about 90% of the work.”
The look on their faces was priceless. They were intrigued but also not to happy about spending their spare time working on the hot roof.
I said, “Look guys it is going to be a lot of hard work. If you two are not willing to help then we can’t do it.
But if you are willing then in a couple of weeks we could have it finished. It could be finished sooner but I have to work and you two have school and activities. But the plans I have looked at could be completed working part time in about 2 ½ weeks.
Just think about it guys. You would have somewhere you could just go and have some time out doors where you can be yourselves.”
They looked at each other and Timmy nodded turned to me grinning and said, “Thanks Mr. Brooks.”
“Your welcome Timmy.”
Matt got up and came around the table and gave me a hug and said, “Thanks uncle.”
I hugged him back and said, “Enough talk you two go have some fun and I will let you know what the guy says tomorrow.”
They finished up their drinks and headed into the computer room to chat with some of their friends online.
I headed back to my damn paperwork.
It was fairly late before Steve came to pick up Timmy. It as almost midnight when I heard the doorbell ring and I headed down to let him in.
I opened the door and he said, “Joe I am sorry that I am so late. But we have been following up on some of the leads from the preacher case. It turns out he was into drugs as well as child pornography. We have been able to get a lot of good information on his clients from his computer. I can’t tell you who of course but there will be a lot of shocked people when this all unfolds. Some very well known people are implicated in this.
The reason I am telling you is that I will have to work a lot of hours on this for the next couple of weeks.
Would it be possible for Timmy to stay over here? If it will be too much I can see if I can hire someone to stay at the house.”
“Nonsense Steve. Of course he can stay here.”
He looked really relieved and said; “Thanks I really appreciate it. As you know being a single parent is not easy.”
I nodded and said, “You’ve got that right. That just means we have to stick together and help each other out.”
“Well I had better grab Timmy and head home. I doubt that either one of them will have any objection to him spending more time over here. But please do me a favor and let me know if it gets to be too much on you.”
I nodded and he said, “Good. Joe you and Matt have been a godsend in our lives and I want you to know how much I appreciate both of you.”
He surprised me and reached out and gave me a hug. Its not that he was uncomfortable with me it’s just that he was not all that touchy a person. We had talked about it on several occasions when we talked of the boys. He told me that his family never did hug each other and rarely spoke of their love for each other. He had sworn that he would do better with his children and he did try. I hugged him back and said, “Steve I appreciate all that you have done for us as well. Not many fathers would have accepted us into their lives like you have.”
I was really touched when he said, “It would have been their loss.”
With that he turned and headed up the stairs and I followed after locking the door.
© Joseph Men 2005