Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2011 21:53:56 -0400
From: Alan A. <eastcoastasulax@gmail.com>
Subject: Jake Grimke Chapter 16

NOTE:  This is the fictional coming of age story of Jake Grimke as he
matures through high school, into college and eventually into
adulthood in the Baltimore, Maryland region.  It contains and embraces
accurate representations of life in Baltimore and its suburbs;
Maryland's traditional sport of lacrosse and the career path a
firefighter might follow in his profession.  All of the characters in
this story are fictional and resemblance to any one person whether
dead or alive is purely coincidental.  If you liked this installment,
please send me some feed back; I got a rough idea where this is headed
but I am always open to some suggestions. Needless to say, if you are
offended by handsome athletic young men growing up gay and the
obstacles they will encounter as well their personal triumphs, you
should use the BACK button on your browser forthwith.

Jake could almost picture Will's mom, Angela, hanging out with his mom
and Annie Harmes on one of their girls-only shopping trips. She was a
beautiful petite Asian woman with exceptionally well-defined features
that stood in stark contrast to the strapping figure of Will's father
Jim, who only recently retired from the United States Marine Corps as
a full colonel and just accepted a position with the National Security
Administration at nearby Fort George C. Meade.  And Jake could almost
see his own father and Jim talking football or fishing while having a
few cold beers and it made him smile as they all enjoyed Saturday
night supper at the Hurleys.

"Will says you're headed to UVa in the fall, is that right son?" the
colonel asked.

"Yes sir; and please call me Jake," Jake replied adding in a
non-offensive tone, preferring that only his natural father refer to
him as son.

"Well, we are very excited that young Will here is headed to NYU in
the fall," the colonel continued, "they have a prestigious arts
program there, hopefully he will find something he likes and do well
with it."

"Colonel," Jake started, sensing the intensity of regimentation in the
Hurley house, "you can be proud of Will, he is smart and a real
go-getter."

Angela, without a trace of any accent, jumped in, "So what do you boys
have plans for tonight?"

Will said, "we're going to meet everybody at the mall, see the new
Pixar animated movie."

"And tomorrow, we're all going to the Governor's Mansion for a private
tour," Jake added.

The colonel, with his eye brows scrunched together, asked directly to
Will, "and who is this everybody, this we?"

"Well, Jake and I, Evan and Jackie, Aaron and Shelia are all going to
meet our friend Erik Syms there since he lives in the Governor's
Mansion now," Will enumerated.

"How come I've never met any of these people before Will?" the colonel
demanded to know.

Jake jumped in, "The guys are my friends from the lacrosse team and we
play in a band together at school.  We're all going over there to work
on a class project."

The colonel's interrogation continued, his curiosity unsatisfied,
"What sort of project is this?"

And before Jake could formulate an answer, Will spewed out, "extra credit sir."

A smile finally appeared on the retired colonel's face as he heard
Will's answer, making him say, "very well then, carry on; can't hurt
to have a few extra points in the grade book boys."

"Yes Sir" Jake and Will answered together as they left for the mall in
Jake's Saab.

On their way to the Mall, Will reached over and put his left hand on
top of Jake's right hand resting on the shift lever in the center of
the car.  Jake smiled as he felt Will squeeze his hand, "I got great
news, Evan's dad has agreed to help with whatever we need."

"Oh yeah?" asked Will elatedly.

"Yep," Jake went on, "Ev and I spent the day at Children's which might
be the last for while once lacrosse kicks in to full gear.  Evan says
his dad must have been incredibly guilt-ridden and offered up anything
we could think of so we need to have a good meeting tomorrow and then
spool this bird up and dump it in his old man's lap."

"Jake, we can't just take advantage of his generosity like that," Will
cautioned.

"You know what I mean; we hammer out the rough draft, get it to Mr.
Harmes who polishes it for us, or at least tells us where we need to
polish it, what will work or not work," Jake said as a better
interpreted his concept to Will.

"Okay, now, what all are we going to do for music," asked Will.

"Leave that alone for now," Jake said, "but personally, I kind of like
to do a modern twist on some of the classic rock stuff, like we did at
Christmas.  Look over there, everybody is waiting for us."

And even though Anna had her boyfriend at home in Munich, Erik made
sure she got to all the school functions and hung out with "in-crowd"
as was the norm at most American high schools and Severn was no
exception to that unwritten rule of American life.  Trooper Marsh had
Saturday and Sunday off but the black Chevy Suburban didn't and it was
manned by a relief trooper from the Governor's security detail.
Everybody laughed and enjoyed the new Pixar release and before long,
it was time for all of them to be home at their responsible hour.

The next day, after the private tour of the Governor's Mansion
everybody was treated to a brunch in the family dining room.  Once the
dishes were cleared, Will brought the steering committee meeting to
order.  Evan announced that his father would be more than glad to help
in any way, shape or form to get the project rolling from brainstorm
to full-fledged production.  The Mohawks formed their own
sub-committee to come up with a play list and recruit student
musicians who might have an interest in playing for the concert.

On Tuesday, January 8th, the Mohawks were already running the stadium
step aisles at 2:30 pm as they did the week before, just as the first
of the lacrosse wannabees showed up for tryouts.  They concentrated on
their running, catching glimpses of returning veterans and candidates.
 Each of them watched from the sideline of the practice field as Coach
Dase and his assistants put them all through basic stick and ball
handling drills.  "Oh fuck, is that Michaels with a long-pole?"
noticed  Beecher.

"I believe you are right, Aaron," confirmed Erik also noting the now
omnipresent Chevy Suburban keeping tabs on them as well.

"You know we are hurting on defense this year Jake," Aaron posed to
the team captain and anybody else listening, "he started long-pole on
JV last year but I'm not sure he's got enough game to make varsity."

Jake observed, not really wanting to give any credit to his own and
Will's antagonizer, "he's got speed, I'll say that much for him.  I
bet Dase waves him on to the next round."

"You okay with that Jake?" Ev asked.

"I don't have a choice, if he's got game fine," Jake continued,
assessing the antagonizer's stick skills, "otherwise, he's a senior,
and if he doesn't make it past the cuts, he doesn't play.  Not my say
so, that rests with the coaches."

The four reached into their gear bags and put on last year's gloves
and helmets that became this year's practice gear before they picked
up their sticks and enjoyed a good throwing session while watching the
tryouts.  As the last coach's whistle blew from tryouts, a lone figure
walked towards them, carrying his JV helmet, gloves and defense length
stick.

"Hey guys," said Chord, sensing a little bit of a collective cold
shoulder from the Mohawks, "Hey Jake."

"Chord, how'd tryouts go?" Jake neutrally asked.

"Not bad so far, but that's not what I am really here about," expanded Michaels.

"Oh?" asked Evan, "you come over here and try to be nice to Jake now
after how you acted at Jackie's?"

"Let's hear him out guys," said the team captain,looking at each
player before letting Chord continue.

"Listen, Jake, I did you wrong at Jackie's, I did all of you wrong at
her party but especially you Jake," Chord said, first looking at the
ground before he looked each of them in the eye, "I owe all of you an
apology and if you could see it in your hearts to forgive me, I
promise I'll be better: no more name calling, no more locker room
mischief, I swear it."

He continued, making eye contact directly with Jake, "I've known you
since we started here; when we were freshmen together in Mr. McMahon's
geometry section, you kept me from failing that class and helped pull
me through it.  And what I did at Jackie's, what I said, that was the
worst thing I could have said to you or Will, the worst possible word
I could have used.  I'm sorry Jake, I'm really really sorry."

Jake looked at him, then his team mates before looking back at Chord
and brought up his stick, pressing the crosse of it into Chord's
unprotected chest and holding it there firmly, "I'll forgive you on
one condition."

"Name it," Chord replied, "I'll do anything."

"Tomorrow at senior lunch, you come to our table and you apologize to
Will Hurley, in front of everybody, Jackie, Shelia, Joey, Anna, I mean
everybody Chord, the same people you embarrassed him in front of at
Jackie's party; that's my  condition," Jake proffered.

"I can do that, I'll do that Jake, I promise, senior lunch tomorrow,"
Chord vowed.

Jake nodded, "We got a few more minutes here; Chord, why don't you get
your helmet on, glove up and show us how much game you got."

"Really?" Chord asked.

"Yeah, Beecher here needs another long-poler back there to keep him
company while the rest of us are on the front line," Jake said with
his usual understated confidence.