Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 16:35:24 -0500
From: Alan A. <eastcoastasulax@gmail.com>
Subject: Jake Grimke Chapter 31

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 had finished cutting the grass and putting away the lawn mower in
the garage at his wingman's house when Annie Harmes returned from her
morning errands. "Hi Mrs. Harmes," Jake said, "how are you this
morning?"

"Listen, just call me Annie when your folks aren't around, okay?  And
I'm doing just fine; your mother called and we are going to out to
dinner tonight," Annie replied, "and you?  Aren't you heading down to
Charlottesville soon to register and everything?"

"Yep, end of the month," Jake replied, "any word from Ev?"

"Nope, not for two more weeks; that's when they are allowed to call
home for the first time, on that Sunday afternoon," Annie explained.

"I want to be here for that if you don't mind," Jake pleaded.

"I'll let you know," Annie stated, pulling out her checkbook, "what's
the going rate these days for yard work?"

"It's on me, just helping out my wingman in absentia," Jake replied,
motioning for Annie to put away her checkbook.

"You and Evan are such sweet hearts," Annie said, before catching herself.

"Don't worry about it Annie, have fun tonight," Jake said as he retied
his shoe laces before the run home.

Arriving home, Jake was crusted with tiny flecks of grass that clung
to his sweaty ankles, his shirt and shorts soaked with perspiration
and greeted by his mother dumping a basket of weeds she had pulled
from her vegetable garden into one of the trash cans outside the
garage. "Jake honey, I'm not sure which is worse, what I see before me
or what lurks in that lacrosse bag of yours," Emma commented, "go get
a shower and then have some lunch."

Jake spread his arms out to hug his mom who feigned to dislike her
sweaty-chlorinated swimmer-lacrosse jock-lawn mowing teenage son
hugging, "my big baby boy.  We love you Jake."

"Love you too Mom," Jake said, "I'm going to get a shower then head up
to Baltimore for a late lunch with Jose, then St. M's, then dinner
with Dad."

"A late lunch, is that what you young people call it now," Emma said
with a twinkle in her eye, "back in my day it was called a nooner.
Just call me when you get there and when you leave."

"Ahhhhhhh, Mom," Jake whined as he headed upstairs, busted about his
ulterior intentions by his mother.

Jake resisted the urge to jack off in the shower as he cleaned up from
his triathlon of swimming, running and lawn mowing.  He gathered up
the little bit of sheet music he had and put it into his backpack that
he once used to haul his textbooks and homework around the corridors
of Severn High School.  Then he texted Jose that he was leaving Severn
and to expect him within the hour after having Emma call Father Lowery
at St. Michael's to be expecting the young organist.

Jose was pleased that Jake would be spending a few extra hours in
Baltimore over the coming two week period as they began making out
behind the closed door of Jose's room at FIJI.  Jake was soapy clean
without a trace of deodorant or cologne as Jose was a little rough and
scruffy, not having showered since he arrived back in Baltimore less
than 18 hours ago.

The shadow of Jose's thin beard tickled Jake as they playfully made
out, Jose's classes over for the day, confined to the tiny twin bed in
the room compared to the expanse of the queen-sized bed they had in
Alejandro's penthouse apartment over the past weekend.  Before long,
both were naked and Jose was attempting to engulf all of Jake into his
mouth while he poked a digit gently inside of Jake's tight ass.

Jake writhed in pleasure as Jose gently probed the finger inside the
lacrosse jock's ass while gently sucking on his lacrosse stick.  All
Jake could do was moan and clench the sheets of Jose's bed until Jose
took him to the point of no return.  The lacrosse player's body tensed
as his balls and shaft unleashed a load over 24 hours in the making.

After a little more making out, Jose ordered Jake to get dressed
before heading out for lunch.  After finishing some sandwiches at a
deli, Jose and Jake walked back to the campus and stopped at the
student health center where Jose signed himself in after presenting
his student ID.

"What are we doing here?" Jake asked.

"Getting you tested," Jose replied, "I can bring any of my partners
here for a free STD screening, even if they aren't students."

Jake moved in closer to Jose, nudging against him, whispering in his
ear, "I love you.

"I love you too Jake-o" Jose replied.

And as he finished writing with his right hand, Jose put his left hand
across Jake's butt in public, something Jake had never experienced
before, a gay public display of affection.

The clinic was practically deserted and within a few minutes, a young
male clinician came out, "Grimke?"

Standing immediately, Jake took a last look at Jose and followed him
back in to the examining room.  The clinician wrapped a tourniquet
around Jake's strong upper arm and coaxed Jake to relax his arm before
taking the blood sample.  After the blood tubes were drawn, he
instructed Jake how to take a saliva sample for the oral rapid HIV
test.  After Jake completed the oral swab, the clinician gave Jake
tips for safe same sex contact and reminded him to use condoms
whenever possible.  As the twenty minute window closed on the oral
test, Jake received a confidential identification number and toll free
telephone line to call for his results which would be available in a
few days.

As the timer beeped to announce twenty minutes, the clinician reported
Jake was HIV negative and sent him out to Jose who was texting one of
his FIJI brothers.

"Good to go," Jake announced to Jose, "thanks for doing this for me, for us."

"Your welcome," Jose said as they walked back to FIJI for Jake to pick
up his car and head down St. Paul Street to St. Michael's after a
passionate good bye kiss that anybody could have witnessed.

Jake parked in the staff lot and let himself in the church office door
like he had done many times before, talking with Mrs. Hermanny, the
long-time church secretary who absolutely gushed about how big and
grown up Jake had become as Father Lowery came out from his office to
let Jake up into the chancel.

"Just let me know when you are done Jake so that we can lock up,"
Father Lowery said.

"Will do," Jake replied as he made himself comfortable at the bench of
the Moller opus.

Jake went through some scales and toyed with some different stop
combinations, realizing it had been since Easter when he last played.
He dabbled with a few first lines out of the 1980 Hymnal, looking for
familiar tunes that anybody who attended church with any regularity
would probably recognize.  Notes from St. Anne, Austria, Sine Nomine
filled the empty nave as he went through the tunes, embellishing each
with flourishes from different combinations of stops.

Feeling comfortable once again in front of the great instrument, he
thumbed through some of the pieces of music he brought, settling on
Eugene Gigout's Toccata in B-Minor for a first piece which he played
well before opting for another.

He skipped Widor's famous toccata, knowing it was one of his mother's
favorites to play and not wanting to steal any of her thunder, he
searched until he found the music for the final movement from Louis
Vierne's first organ symphony.  He looked at the notes his mother had
made for her registrations and took them as merely guidelines and set
his own and began to play.  Jake's first attempts to play it were
adequate, but he knew the instrument in front of him could do more and
by the time he had changed his registrations a third time, the whole
church literally shook.

Jake stopped, pleased with himself and knowing that some kids were
about to be blown out of the water with what one person and such an
instrument can do.  He made his final notes and picked up the rest of
his sheet music and found Father Lowery sitting in the front pew with
a big smile, "the apple didn't fall far from the tree did it young
man?"

"No sir," Jake replied, then prying for an opinion, "what did you think?"

"You kicked ass Jake," Father Lowery said, "that was awesome!"

Jake blushed a little hearing the rector use such language then
smiled, "I'll be back later in the week for some more practice."

"I look forward to it Jake," Father Lowery said as he locked the
chancel up and followed Jake out to his car.

Jake put his backpack in the trunk of the Saab and elected to keep the
top up for the short trip down to Steadman station, looking at his
watch and seeing that he would be there just after his dad reported
for duty.

Although it had been a while since Jake had been to Steadman, he
remembered the "Members Only" door near the employee lot and let
himself in and walked quickly across the apparatus floor to the
Lombard Street side of the house where Rescue 1 and all the other
Special Operations units were parked.  The crew was checking out the
rig and their riding positions when Jake saw his dad checking out his
air pack in the front passenger seat of the massive tandem rear axle
custom built rig.

"Hey Dad," Jake said, half startling Captain Grimke.

As the low air alarm sounded, John turned, "Jake, how are you, you get
Annie's grass cut today?"

"All done and a rehearsal done at St. M's," Jake tacked on.

John reached down and handed Jake his spare black firefighter's coat
with GRIMKE sewn on in yellow reflective trim, "Wear this if we go out
on anything, that way nobody will screw with you; you're riding in
back with Shapiro, Wright and Deavers; you might remember Mike
Proctor, he's the driver now, tillered when I was Truck 19."

"Hey Mike, how you been?" Jake asked shaking the driver's hand just as
the tones announced a call.

"Rescue 1, Proceed to 1120 Eutaw Street for the stalled elevator,
reported two trapped between seventh and eighth floor.  Rescue 1
switch to Channel 2 for your response at 17:33 hours."

"Get on up in their kid," Shapiro said before the rest of the crew
climbed into the riding compartment and the rig began a non-emergency
response towards the address given.

"How comes we're not going with lights and sirens?" Jake asked the crew.

"If we did that every time we got called for a stalled elevator,
they'd have to replace the siren once a week on this thing," Shapiro
replied.

Deavers added, "usually the ladder companies handle the stalled
elevator calls but with so many closed companies, we end up doing some
of the more mundane stuff."

"Headquarters to Rescue 1, disregard your current assignment, switch
back to channel 1 for a new assignment," the radio speaker boomed.

"Could be good," Wright said.

"Special Alarm, Rescue 1 and Truck 25 respond to Northern Parkway and
Roland Avenue, Engine 44 on the scene, with a vehicle overturned
confirming entrapment; those units, Channel 3."

Shapiro, Wright and Deavers cheered in the back as the siren wound up
on the front bumper and speed increased, "Jake here is bringing us
some luck tonight."

The rush hour stop and go traffic made it seem like they would never
get there.  Captain Grimke worked the siren and air horn pedal
switches much as Jake had worked the pedal keys an hour or so before
on the organ, just that there are 30 less pedals to push.  In the crew
compartment, the firefighters finished putting on their turnout gear
as the air brakes hissed, announcing the arrival of Rescue 1.

"Special Operations Deputy on the scene with Rescue 1, Roland and
Northern Parkway," Jake could hear echo on the radio thinking, Chief
Whitelaw.

Captain Grimke was already taking a lap around the four door sedan
resting on the passenger's side and consulting with the medics about
the severity of their injuries.  Both were conscious and it looked
like some stabilization coupled with a roof removal would get them
extricated the fastest.  While Jake had a rough idea of what was going
to be done, he was more impressed that each man knew his job and how
it integrated with what the rest of the crew was doing.  Captain
Grimke called the play, Shapiro and Proctor handled the stabilization
aspect of the rescue while Deavers and Wright got the tools ready to
cut the roof off.

"Hey Jake," Chief Whitelaw said standing next to the younger Grimke,
putting a firm hand on Jake's shoulder in salutation, "your dad said
you would be coming up for dinner tonight."

"Hey Chief, how are you doing?" Jake replied.

"All good, heard you had a banner year on the lacrosse field,"
Whitelaw continued.

Jake watched as the winch cable was stretched and anchored to the
chassis of the overturned car and trying not to to sound too proud,
replied, "yes, sir, state champs."

The crew from Rescue 1 assisted by personnel from Truck 25 worked to
stabilize the car before the roof removal began.  A pair of
firefighters manned a hoseline in case any leaking gasoline found an
ignition source while news and traffic helicopters overhead provided
eyewitness accounts of what was happening to the motorists stuck in
traffic and those waiting for the motorists to come home safely.

Chief Whitelaw took a look at Jake who was mentally recording the
scene, like he might need to know how to do this later in life before
he started, "Go to school Jake, get your degree.  If you think you
still want to do this after you graduate, let me know, I can open some
doors for you.  Baltimore's not the place anymore, we're losing too
many companies and men for the amount of work we got to do."

"It's been a long time since I rode with Dad," Jake said kind of
surprised to hear Whitelaw trash talking the home team, "I hadn't
given it much thought until just now, just watching the team work;
it's just like lacrosse."

"I know son, I know exactly what you are saying.  Just understand, our
job here in Baltimore has been made extremely dangerous by all the
staffing cuts and closed companies.  I'm sure you have heard your dad
say the same thing and not sure how much you and your dad have talked
about you following in his footsteps at all, but not here young man;
not here," the Special Operations Deputy continued.

Jake remembered the dwelling fire right before Christmas where two
lives were lost and his dad's railing against the city for having
closed the closest engine company.  "I understand what you are saying
Chief, it makes perfect sense to me," was Jake's reply.

"I'm not going anywhere soon Jake, I'll be around a few more years,
who knows, may be even make it to Fire Chief and then perhaps I can
make things better for your dad and others," Whitelaw added after
glancing his watch, watching with Jake as the extrication moved into
the roof removal phase, "but your body language right now is reminding
me of what I remember from your father when he reported to the Fire
Academy and if you want this sort of a life, I'll be more than glad to
help you."

Jake just nodded in the affirmative as Chief Whitelaw looked at his
watch again once the roof was off, "Thanks, I won't forget Chief
Whitelaw; I will not forget."

Captain Grimke walked over to the Special Operations Deputy and Jake
now that the vehicle's occupants were freed and turned over to the
paramedics for care and transportation, "Hey Boss, how are you
tonight?"

"Impressive work, captain, 12 minutes to get them out," Whitelaw commented.

"Thank you sir," Captain Grimke replied, smiling at his son, "I'll
pass that on to the rest of the crew."

After a few more remarks between the Deputy and his hand picked
captain on Rescue 1 Chief Whitelaw got into his red and white SUV and
headed home as Captain Grimke turned to Jake, "Did you and the Deputy
have a nice talk?"

"Yes sir," Jake answered while the crew picked up the equipment to be
put back on the rig.

"Tell me about it some day," Captain Grimke said as he climbed into
the front seat for the ride back to Steadman as Jake got in back with
the rest of the crew.