Rank by Richard Compson Sater

Author:Richard Compson Sater [Sater, Richard Compson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626398467
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2016-10-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

I overslept the next morning. I’d done nothing the previous day to tire me out, unless it was the discussion with my mom, which had been exhausting in ways that had nothing to do with physical labor. Maybe I’d been keyed up because the general was out of my sight and with my father, a potentially volatile combination. Or maybe the whole situation simply frustrated me. At any rate, the clock read 9:09 when I woke up.

Dad would still be asleep, his tradition for a Saturday. We wouldn’t see him until nearly noon, the only day of the week he indulged in such luxury, perhaps to catch up from the other days, when he arose at five a.m. My mom would already have laundry under way, and no doubt the general was on his second or third cup of coffee. I dressed quickly and headed downstairs, stopping short when I heard the general laughing, hearty. And one thing that truly shocked me: I could smell his tobacco.

A light, cool breeze in the hallway told me that the window was open, but my mother was actually letting him smoke his pipe in the house. In my memory, no one else had ever been granted such a privilege. Clearly, the general’s stock had skyrocketed overnight.

I don’t usually eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help myself on this occasion. Quietly, I padded toward the kitchen entryway and stopped just outside. Though they could not see me, I had clear vision of the table, of my mother already dressed, and enough of the general to determine that he wore his shabby brown bathrobe. If he had tied the sash as carelessly as usual, my mother would have a good view of his furry chest. Clement and Sixtus prowled underfoot, restless, in case someone might drop a toast crust or a hamburger.

I backed up and chose my vantage point, well out of sight but well within earshot. “You have to understand our concerns,” my mother was saying as I held my breath and tuned in. “Harris is really taken with you. You know that, don’t you?”

A pause. “Is he?”

“Of course he is. Don’t tell me you haven’t figured that out. And he’s scared to death of you, too. I don’t know what you’ve done to him, but I don’t quite understand how he can be in love with you and afraid of you at the same time.”

The general was quiet.

“Seamus, I need some assurance from you,” she said. “Harris is our only son. Our only child. We want what’s best for him, and we want him to be happy, too. He came out to us when he was still in high school. He must’ve been about seventeen. Bruce and I were stunned. We had no idea. For a long time, we thought it might be just a phase he was going through, that he’d get over it and be just like other boys. But it didn’t happen, and we’ve accepted that. I didn’t know the first thing about the gay life, and believe me, I wanted to know.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.