Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:51:47 -0400
From: Alan A. <eastcoastasulax@gmail.com>
Subject: Jake Grimke Chapter 17

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 took his time getting to the cafeteria the next day, stopping to
talk to Coach Dase in the hall before entering the end of the express
cafeteria line for his pint of Hershey's chocolate milk.  The 30
minute senior lunch was already in full swing as he inched towards the
cashier talking to others and paid, focusing most of his attention on
the table where he sat with the Mohawks and now where Will usually
joined them.  Chord Michaels was standing by their table, almost next
to Will and Jake could see the unease on Will's face but knew he was
safe in the company of the rest of his teammates.

Chord stood between the tables, most of the girls on one side and most
of the boys on the other and mentally took roll call of who was and
who wasn't at Jackie's Christmas party before soberly starting in a
quiet voice at first, "hey everybody," and then,  "Will."

And not unlike his reception from certain seniors on the lacrosse team
the afternoon before, he perceived a similar sense of being outcast by
the other party attendees before he continued, "Jackie, Evan, I'm
sorry about the scene I caused  at your party, I don't have an excuse
for my behavior, none what so ever."

All eyes watched him as Jake walked quietly up to the table and stood
a short distance from everybody as Chord turned.  "Will, you and Jake
are good guys, it doesn't really matter to me and shouldn't to anyone
else if you are gay or straight.  I'm sorry I said those hate-filled
things to you and Jake the other night at the party, it was wrong and
uncalled for.  I've apologized to Jake already and now I want to
personally apologize to you in front of everybody," Chord said before
he turned to the rest of the hushed students assembled, "I'm sorry I
shamed Will and Jake in front of all of you and I've already promised
to do better and not let this happen again."

"Apology accepted," said a surprised Will before asking, "where's your
sidekick Ernie?"

"Some Christian Academy in the horse-ass end of nowhere in Virginia,"
Michaels replied, "his parents shipped him off there when they heard
what happened.  He's not coming back."

Chord Michaels made the cuts and started on defense with Aaron Beecher
and a promising junior named Tyler May with senior Kit Winterson
standing behind them in the goal.  Before Chord came along, Jake was
the relative newcomer, Erik Syms, Evan Harmes and Aaron all having
grown up together and attending the schools that fed into Severn High.
 Chord pushed himself to be accepted by the rest of the seniors on the
team, all of whom had varsity experience for at least the last couple
of seasons under their belts already but it didn't come easy,
especially after his social guffaw at the Christmas party in spite of
the apologies he made.

Before the final rosters were assembled, the Mohawks kept up with
their pre-practice warm-up drills; a run on the even days, usually up
and down the step aisles on the stadium's bleachers and in the weight
room on the odd days where each player came up with a different
exercise all them would do three or four sets of for core strength
training.  Morning time before first bell was used to review homework
together or quiz each other on a reading assignment before a teacher
could spring a pop-quiz on them.  Jake, Evan, Erik and Aaron
personified the word team, on and off the field.

After their strong junior year performances, the seniors on Coach
Dase's team of Severn Highlanders earned high praise in local sports
media circles and a prediction from one outlet that they would
probably go all the way to the Maryland state finals.  Will, an
accomplished photographer and videographer enjoyed spending the
afternoons taking pictures and shooting video of the team at practice
and at their first home game against Chesapeake High which was an easy
win for Severn.

Trooper Marsh took the schedule changes in stride and finally started
to warm up a bit but remained ever vigilant about her charge and
keeping governor's son on a strict timetable.   She opened up slowly
and revealed that she played on the women's lacrosse team at
not-too-distant Towson University while pursuing her bachelor of
science degree in criminology less than a decade before.  Finally,
Erik and the trooper from his security detail had a bond to share and
build on.

Jackie took the practices and games in stride, just as Evan had done
with her in the fall when she had cheerleading practice to attend, pep
rallies and football games to cheer for.  Anna loved watching the
games and wondered why the game never came across the ocean to Europe.
 Will explained, based on his own crash course from Jake, to her that
it was a game of the native American tribal warriors where legend has
it that games went on for days and were spread out over miles of the
Great Plains and into Canada.

Jake and Will continued to enjoy their fourth period American History
class, with Mr. Franz, the only senior elective they had together.
Each student in the class was assigned a paper to write about a U.S.
president with Jake drawing the name Teddy Roosevelt while Will got
stuck with Herbert Hoover.  Jake began research that evening and
immediately fell in love with the leader of the Rough Riders, pursuing
link after link on the internet to learn just another fact about the
first President Roosevelt before John Grimke stuck his into Jake's
room just after 11:00 pm and said, "Enough Mr. Rough Rider, lights
out; go to bed."

Jake smiled and turned, quoting Roosevelt, "It's not the critic who
counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or
when the doer of deeds could have done better..."

The one-time history major from the University of Virginia picked up
on cue, "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives
valiantly"

And together, they recited it to the best of their abilities, whether
newly learned or remembered from long ago, "who errs and comes short
again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions
and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the
end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails,
at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be
with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

"Good words to live by Jake," John said to Jake, already in his
sleeping lacrosse shorts and ready to slide into bed.

Emma waited at the doorway to Jake's room as Jake slid into bed and
John sat on the edge of it, hearing Jake ask, "think it would be
alright if I said that to the team before we play?"

"Might have to edit it down a little, I don't know how many of your
team mates can sit through a speech like that before taking the
field," said John with a smile as Emma wandered in to the room and
stood next to her husband.

`How are you and Will doing honey," Emma asked.

"We're fine, we're going to the Valentine's dance together but not on
a date together, just as friends," Jake explained to his parents now
both sitting on his bed.

"Well, your father is taking me on a quick romantic getaway to New
York City for dinner and a show," gushed Emma as she clung to John,
"so, we are going to have to miss your game against Northeast on
Friday."

Jake was glad to see his parents still clinging affectionately to each
other like some of his class mates do in the halls of Severn, "Yeah,
I'll give you two lovebirds a pass.  May I ask a favor, please?"

"You can ask anything you want," John replied, "but you may not like
the answer."

Jake steeled himself and boldly asked, "after the dance, could Will
spend the night?  I promise we will be responsible."

Both parents looked at each other and pondered the options almost as
fast as Jake can set-up a scoring play on the lacrosse field in his
head and communicate  it to his team mates through unspoken words.
With a quick look to her husband, Emma replied, "Let your father and I
talk it over, we'll give you an answer tomorrow."

It wouldn't be the first time Jake ever had a boy sleep over; after
all, Evan had slept many nights on the trundle bed that pulled out
from under Jake's right up until Jake came out to his parents the year
before.  But Emma and John Grimke were smart enough to know that if
Will spent the night, the trundle would stay rolled under their jock
son's bed amidst the dust bunnies.  Neither parent was really against
the idea, teenagers being teenagers were going to engage in sexual
exploration whether they had permission or not; it was more of how to
approach giving their permission without seeming like they were
throwing parental values, duties and cautions into the wind.

A few hours later, Captain Grimke stepped into his son's room as usual
just before he left for his day shift on Rescue 1 in time to wake Jake
to start getting ready for school.  "Hey, your mom and I talked over
this Will sleep-over thing last night," he said, sitting on the edge
of the bed, "and, we're okay with this but the responsibility for what
happens is on both of you.  The only caveat your mother has is that
both of Will's parents have to be in agreement on this.  You know Em
is going to call his mother so make sure everybody is singing from the
same sheet of music.  Your mother and I won't stand for any sneaking
around and you know that."

"I know Dad, that's why I asked and I'll tell Will the same thing"
Jake said with a smile, "have a good day Dad, see you at dinner.  I
love you.  Be safe."

"I love you too, see you at dinner Mr. Roosevelt,"  John said as Jake
started another day.