Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2002 20:23:21 -0500
From: m yonge <myonge@hotmail.com>
Subject: joes bar 1

This is a story about one gay community's response to a gay bashing gang.
It is not a true story, it comes from the fantasy that is my mind  *L*
Because of the subject matter there is of course the allusion and
description of violence.  I have not written about violence for the sake of
violence, it is more a reporting of violence that has happened, to direct
the fundamental subject of the story.

The first two chapters set the stage for what is to come.  So you may find
it is rather slow going, you can judge for yourselves.  I felt they were
necessary to the story.

This is a story about gay sex.  If this offends you read no further.  If
this subject matter is illegal for you to read or have in your political
jurisdiction then please go no further.

My main purpose if for you to have some enjoyable reading.

I would appreciate any comments you might have

myonge@hotmail.com



Chapter 1:

It was late... well after midnight when Josh finally left the bar.  He had
said he wouldn't go but for a beer or two, but then he got to talking with
some friends and before he realised it, it was midnight.  His lover had told
him not to be late, what with the muggings around the bar...

As he left he looked around, the three hoods usually on the corner at the
end of the block weren't to be seen so he figured they must have gone home.

Josh crossed the street, now that he was out there alone he was more than a
little nervous and even considered going back to the bar and calling a cab.
But shit ... you don't call a cab to go a few blocks do you?

He came to a large parking lot that was pretty well lit and he felt a little
safer crossing it, because of the lighting, it cut off a good portion of his
walk home.  However when he was just about across he heard something that
made his blood run cold.  He stopped dead and looked around, his heart
pounding. Then as he looked into the shadows of an alleyway across the
street that he was heading too, he saw three shapes step out.

"Hey fagboy!!  Out a little late aren't you?"

For a split second Josh stood bolted to the ground and then he turned and
started running as fast as he could back where he had come from.  Terror
coursed through his body.

"Get the little bastard!!!"  he heard the sound of boots running on the
pavement behind him, boots that were running a lot faster than he was.

"You're dead Faggot "  another voice shouted.

Josh had never known such horrific fear, he knew he was running for his
life.  He could hear someone getting closer to him and just as he glanced
back over his shoulder, he felt a solid punch in the middle of his back that
sent him sprawling on the pavement.  He felt his head hit the ground and his
face scraping in the loose stones and grit on the asphalt.

The three men were on him before he could even try to get up.  He managed to
shout for help and curl up into a foetal position as the boots began to fly
at him.

The pain was incredible enveloping his entire body.  He was being kicked
about the back and head.  At one point someone took a handful of hair and
pulled his head back.  He received a boot in the mouth, feeling several
teeth break and a searing pain shoot along his jaw to the back of his head
and back again.

He didn't remember a lot else after that.  He remembered the intense pain
all over, he remembered at one point right after he was kicked in the mouth
some one saying, "you're going to kill him, you've done enough"  and another
voice responding "It'll be enough when I say it's enough"

He could feel the thudding of boots against his body, but could no longer
place any local pain... his body was just in the most intense pain
throughout.

He seemed to drift in and out of consciousness.  The next thing he knew he
was waking up in the hospital, in incredible pain.

_________________________________


This was the fourth time this month.  Joe made his way down the Hospital
corridor to the room where another of his customers lay, having been
severely beaten the night before, going home from "The Rainbow Connection"

Joe stayed just a few minutes, the boy, he was only 20.   Yes he was only a
boy. He had been a fairly regular customer.  Now here he lay here, his face
swollen and cut, several ribs broken where he had been kicked repeatedly.
There was no telling yet what else might be wrong.

The boy's lover was with him, softly sobbing as he looked at his friend
lying there so helpless.  "If only I had gone out with him last night" he
mumbled  "but I had had such a hard day at work, I was so tired."

"No Sam" Joe said gently, putting his arm over the man's shoulder "It was
not your fault.  How could either of you have known what was going to
happen?"

Joe expressed his sincere concern but what could he do?

The bar had been both a dream and a labour of love for Joe.  He had spent
several years as a bar tender in a bar across town, but he had always wanted
to have his own establishment.  So finally when this location came open, he
took the plunge, got the loan to open "The Rainbow Connection" his very own
place and the first gay bar in town.  That was about six months ago.

Business had been brisk and there had been no real trouble from the
community.  Yes there was the odd cat call to the patrons as they came or
left.  Some of the local churches had tried to keep him from opening but it
was a half hearted attempt and came to nothing.

Then about two months ago there were rumours that something was coming down
.  Joe got several threatening phone calls both at the bar and at home.  He
reported them to the police and had his phone traced for a while.  Nothing
came of it, the calls continued but when traced, they were from various
phone booths around town and nothing could be done.

Some of his customers reported being threatened, but again, that was all ...
threats only.  The police certainly came when called but it seemed they were
not really into the investigation, and again nothing came of the complaints.

About a month ago Joe got a call at home early one morning telling him that
whoever it was, was going to start picking off his customers one at a time
until he had none left.  The call ended with "Get out of town faggot, or we
will get you out, and it will be in a body bag"

Joe now called the police and demanded protection for himself, his business
and his patrons.  The police suggested that he close up shop for a while
until this blew over.  They said they could not, and therefore would not,
provide him with protection.  They would however step up patrol in the
evenings around his place.

Nothing happened for about three nights.  Then one evening one of the older
gentlemen that frequented his bar was accosted by a group of young men on
his way home.   A passer-by heard him groaning and found the man about an
hour after he had left the bar in an alley.  He was very badly beaten and
shaken up.

He had been taken by surprise and it all happened so quickly, he didn't see
a thing.  One moment he was walking along the next he was on the ground
being kicked in the face and stomach and back.  He spent two weeks in the
hospital and was still very ill.  He was now terrified to leave his
apartment.

Two nights later two of the younger men were chased and run down and beaten,
in the same area.  They were however able to give the police a better
description of their attackers.  Though nothing was done by the authorities,
because of "lack of proof" and "circumstantial evidence", the gay community
now had a good idea who their attackers were.

Last night's attack was the fourth, and from the description given it was
the same gang.

Joe had finally gone to the Mayor's office to demand that something be done
but he could tell behind all the assurances and show of concern that nothing
was going to happen.  They were not going to get any help.  He would have to
come up with something himself.  He was loosing business.  People were
afraid to come to his bar.  He knew that the town would be happy if he
closed down.  But that was not the solution.  Why should they, the gay
community, not have a place they could get together without fear?  Why
should they not have the protection other citizens have?

A number of his customers were talking about vigilantism.  Others were
talking about carrying guns.  That frightened Joe.  He knew that it could
only turn on them if they returned violence for violence.  So what could
they do?

Then Joe thought about an incident when he was in public school.   There was
a bully in the school, in his grade five class.  Everyone including the
teachers were afraid of him.  In grade five he was already about fifteen
years of age, he was tough and often was beating up on someone.

Giving him a detention was laughable.  He got the strap on a regular basis
but he would just laugh.  He loved it.  He would come back into the class
and show off his hands to every one, bragging how no one could hurt him.
Laugh, that is until his grade five teacher.  Mrs. M.  was a short fat
little lady, who had had polio and so walked with a brace on her leg.
However no one, but no one crossed her.  One day early in the year Jack
decided to try her out.  She was a "crip" what could she do?

Sure enough "Jack out in the hall!!!"

Mrs M. took the strap out of her desk and followed Jack out, and closed the
door.  For a  couple minutes all the kids in the class could hear was some
soft talking as Mrs. M. talked to Jack.  Normally teachers yelled at him but
today it was soft talk, and the kids couldn't make anything out.  There was
silence and  then they heard several resounding slaps of the leather strap
on skin as Mrs. M laid it on Jack.

A moment later Jack followed by Mrs. M came back into the class.  Jack was
beet red with his head down.  He walked to his seat and sat down, no showing
of hands, no bravado.  Mrs. M. never had any trouble from Jack that year.
He was always polite and attentive in her class.  Jack learned more that
year than he had ever done and ever would in years to come.

What was the change?  Mrs. M. had pulled his pants down and strapped his
ass.  She and only she had defeated him.

(Author's note: This is a true incident  that happened in the public school
I attended, exactly as related.  Only the names were changed.  "Jack" never
did cross Mrs. M. again.)

As Joe thought about this, a plan began to form.  They had to neutralise
these guys.  What could they do that would end this reign of terror, without
these bullies going to the police and getting Joe or anyone else in trouble?

Joe announced that the bar would be closed for the next few days.

He then called together several men to form a "war cabinet".  The next
several nights they were at the bar planning their attack.

Joe told the guys about Mrs. M. and Jack. " We have to put these guys in a
position that they can't do anything.  We have to defeat them, but I want to
do it without putting them in the hospital."  Joe said

"We need to get one or all or each of them in a position that they cannot
tell anyone nor can they continue in what they are doing."

Pete a large man with a weight lifters body spoke up " I know what you are
trying to say but what can we do man?  These guys are pickin' us off one at
a time, if we don't do something quick you might as well shutdown, because
no one is gonna want to come here"

Jason sitting across from him nodded in agreement.  "You got that right bud,
I'd just like to get one of those guys alone, you'll notice they never
bother Pete and I"

"That's because your both built like a brick shithouse" laughed Joe.

They all laughed

Then Joe thinking about what had just been took on a serious look.  "I think
you guys have hit on it you know?"

"Pete you said they're pickin' us off one at a time, Jase you said you'd
like to get one of them alone.  Well that's it... we got to pick them off
one at a time and spend some time alone with them...  only I'm thinking
alone in a way they're not bankin' on"

"Well how do we do that? "  asked Austin who had been sitting quiet till
now.  He was the third guy to get beat up just a couple weeks earlier.  His
bruised face was just starting to clear up.  "they always stick together"

"Well they gotta go home sometime, we need to follow them and find out where
they live.  That's gonna be our job for the next couple days, stay out of
sight and follow them around.  I want to know where they live and if they
work, where they work, where they hang out, and with whom.  I want to know
everything about them, if they fart I want to know about it."

"Austin you're an internet Whizz, we need to get phone numbers and
addresses, we need to find out about their families.  Find out whatever you
can about these guys on the net."

"When we get everything together, then we will attack... they won't know
what hit them"

They all agreed that that was where they would start.  With a couple other
men they started a surveillance of their predators.  They soon had just
about everyone in the gay community watching the gang members.  They took
note every time they saw them anywhere in town or out.  By the end of a week
they had a pretty good map of where these hoodlums went, worked, lived, ate
and shit.  One of the gang was careless enough to discard a credit card slip
which was quickly picked up and given to Austin to trace on the net

Austin with some software he downloaded, had far more information than he
cared to see on these guys. But they would use it, they were going to get
these guys and get them good.

The Bar opened up again but people came and went in groups of three or more
often with Pete or Jason acting as escorts.  They often saw the gang hanging
on the corner down from the bar.  They often shouted their threats and abuse
at anyone who went in or came out of the bar, but with Pete and Jason around
they held back... for now.  Joe knew it couldn't last for long.  He also
knew he was not going to get any help from the police.  They were often seen
on the corner talking to the gang and seemed to be on rather friendly terms
with them.

They did get some support such as it was from a totally unexpected source
halfway through the week when Joe was in visiting the last victim, Josh,  in
the hospital.  As he walked into the room he saw a smallish elderly lady
sitting beside  him talking softly to him.  Joe excused himself, but the
lady stood up and called him back and with a heavy Eastern European accent
said.  "I'm just leaving.. I was just visiting a friend down the hall and
saw this young man lying here all alone so I just dropped in to say hi."

Joe kinda looked... Josh shrugged and looked equally confused.  "I can't do
much anymore" she continued "so I come to the hospital to visit with
people."

"Oh" volunteered Joe and smiled at her  "that's nice"

"Well the bible tells us to visit the sick and if that's someway I can serve
my Lord then I can do that"

She turned to leave... then stopped and looked thoughtfully at both Joe and
Josh.  "You know what those people did to you is terrible, I don't have to
agree with what you live like, but this is wrong!"

"Have the police found the men that did this to this young man?  She asked
Joe.

Joe laughed bitterly "The police don't care lady!  And as far as I'm
concerned neither does your God"

She looked at him without anger "Then it is about time that the police do
care, and my boy... whatever you think, God does care"  With that she waved
at Josh and walked out of the room.

Joe grinned at Josh and sat down and visited with him for a while.  Josh was
to be released from the hospital in a few more days but he would be ill for
a long time.  "We're gonna fix these bastards Josh, you wait, we'll fix
them"

"Just don't get hurt Joe"  was all Josh said.

That evening as Joe was opening the Bar a man he hadn't seen before strode
up and asked if they could talk.  Joe invited him in and they went into the
bar.  The man turned down an offer of a beer but accepted a coffee instead.

"I'm Pastor Ron from the Emmanuel Baptist Church"  He started.  He raised
his hand to stop Joe who was about to tell him to leave.

"I understand that one of my parishioners was in to visit the young man that
was beaten up recently, dear Mrs. Zudeki. I came here to tell you for what
you may think it is worth not only are we praying for that young man and the
others that have been hurt but Mrs. Zudeki and I were in to visit the Mayor
today.  We told him that it is intolerable that the police are not making
more of an effort to solve these crimes.  I just want you to know that even
though we may seem to be at opposite ends on the issue of homosexuality,
when crime goes unanswered we all suffer.   We will be after the police
department to get to work on this.  That's all I wanted to tell you."

Joe just stared at the man in front of him. "errr.. thank you" he said
softly  "Mrs. Zudeki seems like a nice lady."

"She's a sweetheart"  agreed Pastor Ron.  "Well I had better go"

"Thank you for coming here sir"  said Joe, offering the man his hand.  They
shook hands and Joe walked with him to the door.  "The gang won't be here
yet so you should be safe to leave" continued Joe "Just be careful, they
don't care who you are and they sure wouldn't expect you to be coming out of
this place"

"Thank you I will be careful.. you be careful too, Thank you for listening
to me"  The pastor walked out the door and away.  Leaving Joe in a daze,
wondering what that was all about.

There was a marked increase in police presence for the next couple weeks,
and there was some movement on the investigations .   After a couple weeks
though the police were scaled down again and the gang members returned to
their usual spot.  Their favourite nights were Thursdays and Fridays, Joe's
busiest.  There was no word or sign of any charges having been laid.

Three weeks after the "visit" another young man was brutally beaten.  Joe
and the "War Committee" knew they had to move into action.  Joe got a phone
call the next day from the Pastor asking if there was anything he could do.
Joe bit his tongue for his rage, and just said there was nothing.  The gay
community would have to take care of it themselves.

They now had the names and addresses of each of the gang members, where they
worked, who their friends were.  They even had some photo's of the guys.
With out getting too far beyond the law, Austin with his software had been
able to find out some personal information about the guys as well. In
following those leads some pertinent information on each of the men was
obtained, including names and address of family members.  Something that
might coming in handy at some point



The bastard that seemed to be leader of the group was a young man Marcel,
about 25.  He was big, about 6' 210lbs black leather jacket,  the works.  He
lived in an apartment block  not too far from the bar, and worked in an
office downtown, suit and tie job.  Real weird... one of those weekend
hoodlum wannabes.

They knew his movements throughout the day.  He lived in an apartment block
with underground parking.  He left for work everyday about 7:45 and returned
at 4:30.  The parking had to be checked out because that was where they
would have to take him.  They just needed to get into the building, which
was only semi-secure, so that was not a major problem.

There was another big moose of a man Paul, who looked like a biker all the
time.  He was big, strong and didn't seem to be afraid of anything.  Must
weigh about 250 lbs. and bushy black beard always sporting a dirty red
bandanna on his head.  He worked at a bike shop at the other end of town.
And lived about ten blocks from the bar in a run down old rooming house.  He
always parked his bike at the rear of the house.  It would be a little
harder to pick him off but it was doable.

Steve was the third man.  He was just a young man about 22.  He stood about
6' and 180 lbs., trim, well built, nice looking dude.  No one could figure
how he had gotten involved with the other two.  Currently he was working
downtown as a stock boy in one of the office towers.  He was renting a house
not far from where he worked and usually walked to work.  He would be easy
to pick up, part of his route in the morning always lead him down a long
alley to the back of the office building he worked in.

Steve was an interesting kid, there was some reason to believe that he
didn't have his whole heart in the gay bashing he was doing.  Someone
thought they had seen him leaving alone from the scene of the last attack.
When they talked to Gary who had been beaten, about what happened, he
vaguely remembered someone checking him as he lay in the parking lot, and
then softly telling him that an ambulance was on the way.  The man that was
seen running from the scene fit Steve's description.

While "Joe's boys" were following these guys around, they were heard to be
arguing in a bar one evening.  Steve was saying that he didn't want to be
involved anymore.  It was wrong.  Paul had grabbed him and threatened to
beat the shit out of him if he didn't stay with them... and that was the end
of that argument.

On Thursday evening of that week all the people places and plans were ready.
"Tomorrow these boys are not going to make it to work, they're going to take
a day of, and have a weekend they will never forget" chuckled Pete with a
glint in his eye.