The Boys and the Bees by Mari Donne

Author:Mari Donne [Donne, Mari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

I CALLED Jamie later and told him about Ty’s epiphany when he learned what trick-or-treating was, and he told me about some of the kids who’d come by his house. Then I told him about Rachel.

“Wow. That’s some complication. I can’t even imagine finding out you’ve accidentally created a new person.”

“Yeah, but she’s got lots of practice with babies. She got pregnant with Alyssa her junior year in high school.”

There was a long pause. “Mark, I don’t want to be snarky, but do Rachel and Matt understand about birth control?”

I couldn’t blame him for asking the question. “They do. I made sure they did. I even offered to pay for a vasectomy for Matt once.”

“What did he say?”

“That he wouldn’t get one because he wanted to get married and have kids someday.”

The silence this time was even longer.

“Yeah, that was my reaction too,” I said at last. “I’ve even started to wonder if they do it to punish themselves. We were all taught any kind of extramarital sex was a huge sin, so….” I hated following that thought to its conclusion.

“So they let God punish them with babies?”

“It’s what my father says every time it happens. That they’re being punished. But at the same time, all of them love the kids once they’re here.”

“Well, that’s good.” He seemed to feel his response was inadequate, because he added a few seconds later, “I mean, I don’t know what I would have done, especially if I’d still been in high school.”

“I don’t think I could have coped if it had been me,” I agreed. “Of course, there wasn’t any likelihood of that happening. I didn’t even have a sex life in high school, with boys or girls.”

“Me either.”

I snorted at that. “Jamie, you took a guy to the prom!”

“That was just before graduation.” He laughed a little at the memory, though. “I’d met this guy who was a sophomore at Grinnell, so I decided to start the college phase of my life a little early. It didn’t really count as a high school thing.”

“You called in the American Civil Liberties Union when the principal tried to stop you. The story made CNN. I think it counts.”

“Okay, I’ll give you my second semester senior year. But before that? Do you remember when someone wrote ‘Jamie Novotny sucks cock’ on the bathroom wall, and then someone else wrote ‘I wish’ underneath?”

“Yeah.” I’d cringed at that.

“Well, I was the second graffitist… graffiti writer… whatever.” He chuckled. “Not that I’d have known what to do if anyone had offered me the opportunity at that point.”

I was amazed. He’d been, what? Fifteen? And he’d been able to deal with something like that with humor?

Jamie might just have been the bravest kid I’d ever known. In a very scary way, a way terrifying to someone who worried about his safety. I thought again about his stint teaching at the state penitentiary and was very glad it was over before I ever heard about it.

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.