Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 04:18:50 -0800 From: fritz@nehalemtel.net Subject: I Love Corey, Chapter Sixty-nine Here I go, another disclaimer. I know you're tired of them. So am I, but alas, they serve an useful purpose. They use up some of the reject words I have just lying around. All you youngsters better get your lazy backsides out of here. You might get caught. Then you would have to explain why you were here, reading the story. Unless you can think up a good excuse, it is just easier to leave. Of course if you are of legal age, you are free to remain. For those of you who get all upset from reading stories that contain descriptions of gay sex, you had better leave also. This story does contain such things from time to time. It is not my intention to offend you, and by leaving you will escape that fate. Of course if those descriptions don't offend you, you are once again free to remain. There is one other reason you might need to leave. There are areas that prohibit the reading of stories such as this one, and if you happen to live in such an area, you had better leave before you are caught. Don't give the bigots a chance to brag over catching you. It really accomplishes nothing except to show how narrow minded they are. Now that I have run everyone off, I suppose I should finish the disclaimer but I'm not sure why. I suppose habit is as good a reason as any. The storyline and the characters do not exist. It, and they are not based on any actions or any persons, living or dead. That makes it fiction. If you think you see such a resemblance to anyone, or any happening, it is accidental and was not intended. I don't know how to make it any clearer than that. Please feel free to read and enjoy the story. Just do me the courtesy of crediting me for any quotes that you use from it, and request permission before posting it elsewhere. I'm open to any suggestions on how to make money from it and will be more than happy to share such riches with any person who actually comes up with a legitimate plan of action regarding ways to become enriched by this story. Don is once again busy, trying to find and point out all my mistakes. That makes him a very busy person. Finding mistakes is easy, but finding all of them takes time and requires lots of work. I thank him for his efforts and so should you. Feel free to email with any suggestions, comments, questions, or complaints. I try to answer all such emails but must warn you that, if you do not put I love Corey in the subject line, I probably will not see your email. Owing to the large amount of spam, I just delete emails in which I don't recognize the sender or the subject. Send such emails to fritz@nehalemtel.net In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the following chapter. Fritz ****************************************************************************** I Love Corey, Chapter Sixty-nine Outside of having a sore face and a black eye, I felt pretty good when I woke up. A good night's sleep, cuddled up with Corey, had revived me. I stumbled to the bathroom to get ready to face the day. While my cheek was a little sore, it didn't bother me much to shave and soon I was headed for the kitchen to start the coffee and read the paper. I had just poured my first cup of coffee when Corey, closely followed by Mark, joined me. Corey started squeezing some oranges for juice, and then he and Mark each grabbed a section of the paper. When my first cup of coffee was gone, it was time to start breakfast. Some oatmeal, with some raisins cooked in it and topped with part of a sliced banana, some whole-wheat toast, and the orange juice soon filled everyone up. Mark had headed off to get Kyle out of bed, as soon as I started the oatmeal, and he had succeeded by the time it was ready to eat. Dog had managed to get JJ and LT going, so everything seemed under control. By the time I left, it looked like everyone would be ready by the time the school bus arrived. Jerry and I had to explain all that had happened. Jeez, what a pain. Everyone had heard most of the details, so explaining it seemed sort of pointless. However, everyone wanted to hear everything again, and so we did. It didn't help that no one had any suggestions on how to prevent any future such occurrences. I mean how can you stop something that is totally irrational? There was no way to predict when someone would slip over the edge and act in an irrational manner, so how can you prevent it. Still everyone wanted to talk about it, even if they had no ideas on how to stop it. The bell finally saved me and I headed off to class. The day was a mess. It was bad enough that the rumor mill had been hard at work and I had to explain what had happened to my classes, but it seemed as if everyone, in authority, had to come and ask questions. I got pulled out of class to be questioned by a couple of policemen, a representative of the District Attorney's office, and of course Judy. Not only that, some of them came back for more than one round of questions. No matter how hard I tried, it seemed as if I didn't even come close to teaching anything. It was almost as if they knew just when I was going to get to the subject and another person would show up and interrupt me. Finally classes were about over and all I could hope was the practice would go better than the day had gone. Just as I was about to get things ready for the practice, Judy made her third visit of the day. To say I was somewhat surprised, when she asked me to stop and talk with Justin, on my way home, doesn't even come close to covering it. Not only that, I got the distinct impression that it wasn't just a request, but more of an order. Granted she was polite, but she made her request very plain. I was informed that Justin wanted to talk with me and she thought that I should do so. When I agreed, she gave me a smile and left. The kids were all pretty quiet during practice, but I didn't do much to draw them out either. I was still wondering why Justin wanted to talk with me. Still, we got through the practice and some of the players were showing signs of improvement, that is if I was any judge of such things. Eventually practice was over and Corey, with the help of LT and Mark, had the laundry through the washers and into the dryers so we could leave. I would have rather gone home and had dinner, but Judy had seemed rather insistent so I swung past the hospital. By having the boys with me, I had an excuse not to stay very long. As we got out of the elevator, the boys started heading for the waiting area and I turned towards Justin's room. Judy had told me which room he was in and it was just a couple of doors to the right of the elevator. A woman, about mid-thirties for age, was just stepping out of what I thought was Justin's room. She stopped me and also asked the boys if they would like to go on in and visit with Justin. The boys looked sort of trapped, but decided to visit with him. I was then dragged off to listen to what Mrs. Laski had to say. I had no idea just what to expect, but what I got wasn't anywhere close to any thoughts I'd had. Mrs. Laski told me that Justin had told them all about what had happened when he walked off, and, from what she said, it appeared he had told it about like it happened. In other words, Mr. Laski had to have known the truth. That made his actions even less understandable. I was trying to get some of my thoughts in order when she continued. "Justin's sorry. Please forgive him. He wants to get back on the team." "But why did his father act the way he did?" I was really lost, not having any idea on how to proceed. Mrs. Laski sighed. "My husband is used to intimidating people. He thought he could force you to take Justin back without an apology. When it was apparent you had covered all bases, he took it out on Justin. He was the one that insisted that Justin throw curveballs. Then when it didn't work out the way he thought it would, he didn't want to admit he was wrong." What a mess. The Laski's had a lot more problems than I could solve. However, from some of what Judy had said, I had a hunch that I wouldn't have to solve them by myself. If Justin's environment didn't improve, he wouldn't be there much longer. Judy had made it pretty clear, when she was talking to me, that she wouldn't tolerate any more abuse of Justin, and would remove him from his parents if any more occurred. The whole situation was a mess. Justin was caught in the middle of a situation in which his father was trying to re-live his childhood through his son. Then I had to add in that the father wasn't willing to follow rules, but instead thought he could bulldoze his way through anything. All I could really do was feel sorry of Justin. He could only be described as an innocent bystander to his father's ambitions. I couldn't think of anything to say so I turned and headed for Justin's room. The boys were talking with Justin when I stuck my head through the door. I nodded that they should leave and give me a chance to talk with him. They filed out and I was left with Justin, who couldn't bring himself to look at me. He just looked towards his toes. "Hi Justin," I greeted him. "Hello," he muttered without raising his eyes. "So, how are you feeling and how soon will you get out of here?" "Alright I guess," he mumbled. "Maybe tomorrow." So far things weren't going real well. Justin wouldn't even look at me and I was somewhat at a loss as to how to proceed. I decided to take a somewhat different tact. "Has the doctor given you any idea when you might be ready to start playing ball again?" For the first time he raised his eyes and actually looked at me. In fact he looked somewhat startled. "You mean I can play baseball again?" he asked, his voice rising somewhat. "Well," I chuckled, "You will have to apologize for swearing, and I suppose you will have to be suspended for a week or so because of it, but since you can't play until you heal, I'd bet the suspension will be over long before you're able to play. Think you might be able to apologize for swearing?" "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "Really sorry." Once again he was looking at his feet. However, his voice was a little stronger than it had been. "Apology accepted. Now I guess I'll have to suspend you for a week for using bad language. Think you'll be ready to start practicing when the week is up?" Justin didn't say anything but he did look up for a few seconds. Then his eyes again dropped and I could soon see a few tears start to run down his cheeks. I decided maybe I needed to say more. "Justin, all people make mistakes. Kids make them. Adults make them. However, in this case you were caught in the middle. You love your dad and he gave you some bad advice. The thing to do is learn from it and move on. Like I said, we all make mistakes, even parents. Your father just wants the best for you and he got a little carried away in trying to get it for you..." Before I could get any further he interrupted, "No he doesn't. He just wants me to do the things he never did. I just wish he'd leave me alone." I was taken aback at the bitterness and anger in his voice. "He doesn't care what I want, only what he wants." With that he again fell silent. A lot of thoughts went through my mind, but none of them seemed like they would help Justin. He seemed really down and also appeared to have a lot of hostility towards his father. I wanted to try to help him but I didn't want to make things worse between his father and him, so I was busy, trying to think of something to say that might help. "Look Justin, like I said, we all make mistakes. Your father just got caught up in wanting you to succeed and got carried away. He wants you to be able to do all the things he never did. In fact, he wants you to be better than he is. Sometimes we make the mistake of forgetting that everyone is unique and should be able to do those things that they want to do. We allow ourselves to forget how much we hated being forced to do some things. I'm not talking about chores or things like that, but rather activities we enjoy. If you don't want to play baseball, that's your choice. While I'd like to have you back, if you don't want to play, I can understand it. I never played baseball in school. Instead I went out for track and soccer. There wasn't much use in trying out for football because I was too small to be good at it. If you'd rather play some other sport, I can try to talk with your parents. Hopefully they'll let you play whatever you want to play." Justin looked up. "I like baseball. It's just that he never lets me just play. I always have to do it his way." "Well, what would you like to do? You can try-out for any position you want." "Pitching's fine. It's just that Dad won't leave me alone." "Tell you what, I'll talk with your mother and see if I can't get your father to lay off. Then maybe you can just enjoy playing when you heal up." After that we talked a little more, and shortly thereafter, I excused myself and told him I would look forward to seeing him as soon as he was able to return to school. Then I was left with talking with Mrs. Laski. Talking with Mrs. Laski turned out to be easier than I imagined it would be. She had already made up her mind to talk with her husband and her thoughts were much more detailed than mine. We parted on a good note and I gathered up the boys and started for the Gator. Just as we got in the elevator I decided to pay Terry a quick visit. The boys didn't seem too disappointed with that, so we went up another floor and I headed for Terry's room. When I got to his room, Dianne, along with Jimmy and Cindy were there. Terry was much more alert than the last time I had visited and seemed glad to have more company. If anything, he looked even worse, but at least he was rational. The last time I had visited him, he hadn't made much sense. We chatted a few more minutes and then I told Terry I had to leave so I could fix dinner for the boys. From the way he clung to my hand, and the way he said good-by, I wondered if he thought this might be the last time I saw him. I was glad that he and Dianne had patched things up. At least there would be no regrets on that score. The boys didn't have much homework and they finished it all while I cooked dinner. I was pleased to notice that both Kyle and Mark were improving and hoped they would continue to do so. They had a ways to go, but they were applying themselves and it was paying off. I had the homework almost all checked by the time the boys had the dishes picked up and the kitchen cleaned up. There wasn't much on the tube, so the boys started surfing the net. I was busy working on my lesson plans when Corey came and asked me to come and look at something they had found. He looked upset and I wondered what they had found. One look and I could see what the problem was. They had stumbled upon Fred Phelps' "God Hates Fags" site. What a cesspool of hatred and lies. The only thing was, they were looking to me for some kind of an explanation about it. How was I supposed to explain, what I considered a deranged mind, to them? Not only that, they wanted to know why such sites were even allowed to exist. I decided to start on why it was allowed to exist first. "Well guys, you've read the Bill of Rights, haven't you?" I got nods from a couple of them. "I'll refresh your memories and the others can hear it for the first time. The first amendment says, `Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.' Let's talk about the freedom of speech part. That means freedom of speech for everyone, not just people you agree with. It also means that we will encounter people saying things with which we disagree, but in order for your rights to be protected, you have to make sure that everyone's rights are protected. The first amendment gives you the right to say almost anything with a few exceptions. You can't slander someone, you can't shout fire in a crowded building, but most other speech is protected. By slander, they mean saying things that are not true and you have no way to prove them. You can say `I think,' and that makes even the slander part not subject to limits. For example, if I say that someone stole money from me, that might be prohibited unless I can show reason why I believe that to be true, but if I say I think he stole money from me, that is protected. Then I am only expressing an opinion, not stating facts. Opinions are protected speech. It's a lot more complicated than that, but you'd have to be an attorney to understand it, and I'm not. So, Phelps is allowed to say about anything he wants. At least that is what the Supreme Court has ruled." "But he's wrong and hateful," LT said. "Yup, that he is, but if you want the right to say almost anything, you have to allow others the same right. Will it be abused? Of course it will, but if you try to come up with a way to limit it, then someone else's rights will be limited. It's just one of those things. If you want to be able to say almost anything you want, you have to let others do the same thing. That some of those people will say what you consider stupid and hateful things is the price you pay for your right to say what you want. If you try to come up with rules, or laws, that stop people like Phelps from saying what he wants to say, then you will find you can't say he is a bigot and full of bullshit." "That sucks," Corey said. "No Corey, it doesn't. Our founding fathers gave us a pretty good system; in fact, I would argue that we are the freest of all the countries. Everyone has the right to speak, but no one is required to listen to such speech. If you start to try to limit the freedom of speech, then you might find that you can't criticize the government, hate groups, or many other people or things. All it would take is for someone to get in a position of power and declare such things against the law by reason of the restrictions placed upon free speech. Sure, people say things we wish they wouldn't. They even say things we think are hateful, but the alternative is not being allowed to express our own opinions. Do you want it against the law for you to say you think Phelps is as idiot and bigot?" "But there must be someway to stop people like him," LT replied. "Look LT, a lot of people have looked at the problem. None have been able to come up with a way to prohibit such speech without creating more problems than it would solve. Most people will look at what Phelps says and quickly realize he is a fool and just plain wrong. Yet if you try to stop him from saying those things, you quickly find your own rights to speak becoming limited. Sure he has some followers, but those people are just as bad as he is and stopping free speech would not eliminate them." "But,,, well,,, well what can we do about people like him?" Kyle asked, joining the conversation for the first time. "That's a good question Kyle. You can start by making sure you don't do the kinds of things you think Phelps is doing. Then you can oppose such views if someone brings them up. I don't mean that you need to go around on some kind of a crusade against such views. That's up to you, but you do need to be willing to stand up to what you think is wrong." Kyle looked a little lost so I decided to continue. "Look Kyle, what I mean is when you hear something that you disagree with, check it out and if it seems to be wrong, challenge it. As long as people are willing to accept hateful statements, people will continue to make them. Let me tell you a little example that relates to my father." "In order to understand the story, I need to fill you in a little on Dad and Mom. Dad was a rabid Republican. Mom was an equally rabid Democrat. This took place when President Clinton was in his first term. The folks invited some people, that had moved into our neighborhood, over for dinner, kind of a get acquainted dinner. Anyhow, after dinner they were sitting around, visiting and getting further acquainted. This fellow started talking about how President Clinton had ordered the Arkansas State Police to kill people and, according to him, there were people buried all over because of those orders. Now remember, Dad was a Republican and he didn't care for President Clinton. Yet he challenged the fellow on it. First he started out by asking him where he got the information so he, meaning Dad, could turn such information over to the authorities so it could be investigated and prosecuted. Of course the fellow couldn't supply such information. Then Dad continued to press the issue. He asked for the names of any of the people killed so he could go to the press and get an investigation started that way. Once again the fellow couldn't supply any information. Then Dad asked him how he knew it was true. The fellow's answer, well everyone knows about it. Dad said he didn't know about it. The fellow said if Dad would follow the news, he would have heard all about it. Once again Dad pressed him for an answer and asked what news publications had carried such news because he followed the news pretty closely and he hadn't seen anything about it. By now the fellow was getting pretty angry, however Dad didn't let up. He asked the fellow that since he couldn't present any evidence or proof that such a thing had taken place, what made him think it was true. The fellow tried to avoid giving an answer, but Dad wouldn't quit. Finally the fellow told Dad that Clinton was a Democrat and he would do things like that so therefore it had to be true. After that, he stood up, and he and his wife left. They were mad and the folks were mad. When they had left, I asked Dad why he had defended President Clinton since I knew he didn't care for him. He told me that whether he liked someone or not had nothing to do with it. He told me you should never tell lies about someone, and that you should always be fair. He went on to explain that being fair meant standing up for someone, even though you might dislike him. Of course the stories about President Clinton were untrue, but that taught me a lesson. Well, actually Mom and Dad explained it more, but the lesson is this; you need to develop a moral and ethical code, and stand by it. That means you treat everyone fairly. If you can't do that, then you are not a very nice person. They went on to explain that you should watch how a person treats the people he thinks might be his enemies. They told me that was a good way to learn and understand what kind of person he really is. If a person can't treat his enemies fairly, then you probably shouldn't become friends with that person because you can't depend upon him. He may decide you are his enemy and treat you unfairly. To put it in context, we are talking about Fred Phelps. I can say I disagree with him and think he is an idiot for saying the things he does, but I can't run around saying he kills people because I have no evidence that he does. If someone else says such a thing, I'll challenge them on it. That's being fair. To carry it a little further, I can't even say he is a liar because I don't know if he truly believes what he is saying or is saying things he knows are lies. Only if he knows what he is saying in untrue, is he lying. Just because I dislike him doesn't give me the right to tell lies about him. Now I intensely dislike him, and think the world would be better off without his type of hatred, but that doesn't give me the right to lie about him or anyone else. That wouldn't be fair. That's the first thing you can do. Make sure you are being fair to everyone, not just those you think of as your friends." "When it comes to Fred Phelps, if someone brings him up and appears to agree with him, ask them if they are Christians. If they answer yes, ask them where in the New Testament Christ condemned homosexuals. The fact is that Christ preached love and not hate, and He never mentioned homosexuals. He taught us that all men are our brothers and we need to watch out for, and protect, and love them. The next question is, if God makes people, and He never makes mistakes, why did God allow homosexuals to be born? Those questions will leave most bigots without answers. If they insist on using the Old Testament, ask them about human sacrifice, multiple wives, and not eating pork. Those things are some of the rules that the Old Testament teaches. The Old Testament also accepted slavery. I don't think any of us want to go back to those things." "You mean you'd defend Fred Phelps?" Corey sputtered. "Yes, if he was accused of something he wasn't guilty of. I wouldn't really like it, but if I can't be fair to everyone, I don't have much of a moral code." The conversation stalled for a while. I could see all the boys thinking about what I had said and wondered what was going through their minds. "How about Reverend Langston?" JJ asked. "If someone was saying something that wasn't true, yes I would defend him." "But he wouldn't defend you," LT said. "You don't know that for a fact LT. He might or he might not. You shouldn't say things about him that you don't know to be true. However, what you said makes no difference. I can't control what other people do; only what I do. If I'm going to be fair, I have to be fair to everyone. If I'm not, then I can't consider myself a fair person." Once again they had nothing to say for a while, but just sat there looking at each other. I could see them trying to digest what I had said. A couple of times one of them acted like he might say something, but nothing came out. "But, well, I mean how do we know when someone is telling the truth?" Mark finally broke the silence. "That's a tough one Mark. In the case of the fellow Dad argued with, it was easy. According to him there were lots of bodies and it is almost impossible to keep that kind of secret. Far too many people would have had to be involved, and the more people that know about something, the harder it is to keep it a secret. Also, there were almost certainly people on the Arkansas State Police who disliked Clinton, and they would have been eager to tell everyone. Other times you'll just have to use your judgment. Maybe I can give you a few tips, but in the end, you'll have to make up your own mind. If you hear something you think sounds a little strange, ask questions. People that are lying, or repeating lies, will frequently not have answers. Just like Dad didn't get any good answers to where the information came from, they will try to brush you off with phrases like everybody knows it, or something like that. If someone tells you someone is a liar, ask what lies he told. Be insistent. If someone calls someone else a liar, he should at least be able to tell you what he is basing it on. That means what he thinks the lies are. If he can't tell you that, then he must be a mind reader to know the person is a liar. Since science hasn't had very good luck at finding mind readers, it's safe to say most people can't read minds, and so they need to be able to tell you what they are basing it on. If they can't produce the so-called actual lies, then it's a pretty good bet that they don't really know any. The political extremists, on both sides of the isle, are great for telling lies about the other side. The fellow Dad was talking with was obviously such a person. Otherwise he wouldn't have gotten mad, but would have been willing to give some information as to why he believed such a story. When people get mad and won't answer, or try to dodge the questions, they probably don't have such answers. That makes it a pretty good bet that what they said shouldn't be believed without a lot of checking. You also need to consider the persons reputation. If they are known for telling the truth, then you probably need to give what they say more credence. However, even someone known for telling the truth can be wrong. Still, a known liar should be treated with more skepticism than someone who normally tells the truth. As you get older, you'll be able to spot it easier, but everyone can be fooled part of the time. Just don't take everything you hear, or read, as the absolute truth." Once again there was silence while they thought about what I was telling them. It seemed to go on for quite a while and I was beginning to wonder if they had any more questions. About then Dog came over and laid his head on my lap. That seemed like a nice break so I scooped him up for a good belly rub. It didn't take long until I was getting the usual moans and groans out of him. When I looked up, the boys were headed for the fridge to get themselves something to drink. They all seemed deep in thought. After that, they scattered out to watch some television. Soon LT was popping some popcorn and things were about normal. How they could want popcorn after their big dinner, I had no idea. However two bags disappeared like magic and the microwave was busy with a third. While Dog got some, most went into the cavernous pits known as boy stomachs. With the boys watching the tube, I decided to really look over the progress on the new downstairs bedrooms. Things were really looking nice and it looked like Walt would be done soon. Tomorrow the new beds should arrive so tomorrow night the boys could move back into their old bedrooms. With that, I threw a load of wash in the washing machine and went back upstairs to work on my lesson plans. It seemed like about all I ever did anymore was wash and cook. The boys were pretty quite the rest of the evening. They didn't even seem to pay much attention to the tube. Every time I looked in on them, it was on but they looked like they were miles away. No one said much, and even when we went to bed, Corey didn't say anything, but just curled up in his favorite place and quickly fell asleep. Things were back to normal in the morning, so I quit worrying about it. They would either come to terms with what I had told them about fairness, or would ask more questions about it. In the meantime, there were the usual things to do. I got some conversation out of Corey and Mark, and the usual grunts out of the rest of the boys. I really need to find out how Mark gets Kyle out of bed. It might come in handy some time. I was pretty sure that Dog's big feet were what was working with JJ and LT. Then again, maybe it was his tongue. Oh well, if Dog failed, I guess I would try walking on them first. If that didn't work, I could always try licking their ears. With that thought in mind, I left for school, snickering to myself. The day went well. For some reason the students actually paid attention and we covered more than I had planed. Practice was about the same way. Maybe I was just getting more used to baseball practice, but I managed to notice more about how the players were doing, and they even seemed to be improving. However, from what I could see and tell, they had a long way to go. All I could hope for was that other teams wouldn't be that much better. If they were, it was going to be a long season in my opinion. However, I really had no way to know since this was the first time I had ever coached any baseball. Since the start of baseball practice, the usual gang of boys had not been showing up and playing basketball at home. While it was easier on the food supplies, I missed them. Mrs. Mason was still working as a nurse supervisor at the hospital, and she was getting home early enough so that Billy and Larry had dinner at Billy's house. The rest of the neighborhood boys didn't seem to come over either. Of course we were getting home a lot closer to dinnertime and they probably were unwilling to risk missing a bite, but still it seemed strange not to have a whole gang of boys eating me out of house and home. However, tonight it was just as well. The new beds had been delivered and the boys started moving back into their rooms while I fixed dinner. Well, I did have to stop and greet Dog and give him his usual belly rub. After that he seemed happy getting in the boys' way. By the time dinner was ready, the boys had most of their stuff back in their freshly remodeled rooms. I didn't even hear very much bickering about who was going to put what where. After dinner I started grading papers, while the boys picked up the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. They rushed right through that job so they could get back to arranging their rooms. Soon I was all alone, with Dog's head on my foot, grading papers. Since I didn't have many papers to do, it didn't take long, and when finished I headed for the boys' rooms to see how things were going and how everything looked. The new bedsteads looked even better than I had thought they would. The custom furniture builder had done an excellent job on them. Even though the bottom bed was queen sized, there was still lots of room in each of their rooms. JJ and LT had acquired a few posters and such to hang on their walls, but Mark and Kyle's room still looked pretty bare. I reminded them that they still needed to get their homework done and returned to the computer room to look over my notes and see if I could figure out who the best baseball players were. Since the first game was next Wednesday, I needed to pick out a starting line-up and figure out whom to use as substitutes. While I couldn't make any final decisions, at least I could get some idea of what would be the starting line-up. Some of the kids had shown real improvement and some of them had been pretty good to start with. Now it was just a question of picking out the best and figuring out how to try to get everyone else some playing time. Corey and LT had done a pretty good job of noting the strengths and weaknesses of the players, but Mark wasn't very good at it yet. Still, he was pretty young and he tried. However, his handwriting was terrible, and sometimes it took a while to figure out what he had written down. The boys were still fiddling around in their rooms when I had gotten as far as I could on team evaluations. I decided to surf the net a little. I hadn't had much time to do that since the boys arrived, and I started by checking some of the sites I used to check every day. I was so far behind on the stories on Nifty that I decided it was a lost cause and went on to checking some others. Then I noticed a new link on one of them. It was to a site called the Mail Crew. Since it was new to me, I decided to check it out. Sometimes things fall into your lap just when you need them. We had all been trying to figure out a way to make sure everyone had someone to talk with since last Sunday's dinner at the Sterretts. This site looked like the answer to that problem. I called the boys in and let them check it out, and soon they were all excited about the idea. They all agreed that it looked like the ideal way to solve the problem. Corey grabbed the phone and called Cody, and soon they were jabbering away about the site, and if they thought it would be something that they could do. Since the Sterretts were coming for dinner Sunday evening, we finally decided to think about it, and talk more about it then. That would give everyone a couple of days to think about it and come up with questions and suggestions. I was finally forced to chase the boys out so I could use my computer. It wasn't like they didn't have their own, and I had never updated my own laptop to work on the wireless network. I got a little grumbling but they headed off to fire their own computers up, leaving me to read all about the Mail Crew. The information on the site suggested that it wouldn't be that hard to organize one. The really nice thing was that they had a lot of do's and don'ts. The more I read, the better the whole idea looked. However, it was up to the kids. If they wanted to do it, I would support them in any way I could, but if they decided they didn't want to do it, well, we would just have to keep looking for another idea. While most of those associated with the Mail Crew appeared to be a few years older than my boys, I didn't think that would make much difference. The important thing was that it looked like a good way to allow kids, who had problems with their sexuality, a chance to interact with others with the same questions and fears. The fact that it was for kids and run by kids should make it so those seeking help were less self-conscious and more willing to open up. As I was finishing up, looking over the Mail Crew's site, I could hear a bunch of chattering coming from the kitchen. When I checked it out, there were five boys around the kitchen table, all with their laptops running, and all of them seemed to be talking at once. It actually sounded worse than when I walked into a classroom. I glanced around and retreated to the family room where I found Dog. I grinned at him, figuring the noise was too much for him just like it was for me. Of course he jumped up and immediately came over to my chair, and his sad brown eyes soon accomplished what he wanted. I picked him up and gave him another belly rub. His groaning almost drowned out the waves of boy chatter coming from the kitchen. I swear that Dog would put up with belly rubs every ten minutes if he could just talk us into it. I'd just finished rubbing Dog's belly when I heard the printer start to work. It went on for quite a while and I wondered what the boys were printing out. There was still a bunch of chatter coming from the kitchen so I just ignored them and relaxed. Suddenly it seemed about time to put the clothes in the dryer so downstairs I went. When I came back up, the boys grabbed me. They were all talking at once but I managed to figure out that they thought the idea of starting something, like the Mail Crew, was something they wanted to do. We kicked it around for a while and I managed to convince them that it was something they would have to do, not me. It wasn't that I wasn't willing to help, but the whole idea was that the site would be a place where kids could exchange ideas and talk without having to worry about an adult butting in. I told them that if someone wanted to talk with an adult, I would be happy to do so but they had to be willing to do most of the work. After all, that was the whole idea, kids interacting with other kids. I finally chased the boys off to bed. Dog looked a little puzzled because he wasn't sure just where JJ and LT were going to sleep. However, it didn't take him long to figure out where they were and he trotted off to join them. For the first time, in a couple of weeks, we were all on the same floor again. As I snuggled into bed with Corey, the thought went through my mind that I could now have a lot of company. I was gaining two bedrooms downstairs in the basement, and although I had lost one bedroom upstairs, I had gained one bed. The next time all my family came there would be plenty of beds for everyone, and now all I had left to do was to figure out who to inflict the giggle boxes on. I guess I could just wait and see which bunch of boys was in the doghouse at the time. It was about like the usual morning. The boys were chattering about the Mail Crew idea, well, Corey and Mark were chattering. As for the other boys, once in a while JJ would grunt and there was absolutely no response from Kyle. I think LT was at least awake enough to hear what Corey and Mark were saying, but I wouldn't bet on it. I just went to school as usual, leaving them to get themselves organized. So far they had managed to make it and I had faith they would manage to do so again today. The morning meeting was a waste of time but the rest of the day went better than normal. The kids paid more attention than they usually did for a Friday, so I managed to get a little ahead on my planned lessons. In fact, everything was going so well I was really enjoying it. There was a note in my mailbox to see Jerry the last period of the day, but that wasn't unusual so I thought nothing of it. A couple of kids stopped in during lunch and asked some simple questions, but nothing requiring any real counseling, just the usual type of questions that any adult could answer off the top of his head. In fact, I could remember asking my parents the same questions and felt badly that they didn't feel comfortable enough with their parents to ask them those questions. Finally it was last period and I headed for Jerry's office rather than setting things up for baseball practice. Jerry suggested we get some coffee before talking and we stepped into the teachers lounge and filled our mugs. Then it was into his office for whatever he wanted to talk about. So far he hadn't given me any idea of what that might be. "Well Sam, I really don't know how to start this. The school board had an executive meeting about you last night, and made some decisions. I don't think you'll be real happy about them but I couldn't convince the board members to change their minds." His opening statement sent chills through me. Suddenly I was scared, scared that someone on the school board had found out about my relationship with Corey. The only thing was, why weren't the cops here hauling me off? Maybe someone on the school board wanted to try to cover it up and didn't want the publicity and potential lawsuits such publicity might bring. I really wanted to set my coffee mug down, but I couldn't move. All I could do was sit and watch Jerry as he continued to look at some papers on his desk. I was sure those papers contained my future. To be continued...