By Scribe
We had a couple of hours to
kill between arriving home and departing for the Mandarin so we decided to take
it easy and watch TV. I went down to my
apartment and loaded a Benny Hill video into the VCR to show Mark. While Josh
regaled Susan with tales of our aerial exploits, Mark hung around with me. He perched himself on my easy chair and I sat
down in my usual spot to wait for Josh.
“How’s your brother doing,
Mark?” I asked.
“Pretty
well. He says he’s making a lot of money now that
he’s finished school. He says computer
people are really in demand in
“Do you miss him?”
“Yeah, I miss him a lot. We talk on the phone every couple of days,
but I haven’t seen him in a long time.
He and my father don’t speak to each other. They had a big fight and then he moved out,”
Mark said as he looked down at the floor.
“I wish I could have gone with him.”
“He sounds like a pretty good
guy,” I replied trying to sound cheery.
“He’s a great guy. He used to look out for me and when my mom
got sick and my father started to drink.
When mom died everything fell apart.
He and dad were at each other’s throats all the time and then one night
something happened and next thing I know
“That’s too bad. Do you think you might want to go live with
“I’d love to but I don’t see
how it would happen,” Mark replied sadly.
“Do you think
“I know he would. We talk about it every once in a while.”
“Mark, I have something that
I need to ask you. Before I do, I want
you to know that you can trust me.
Whatever you tell me won’t leave this room. It’s important that I ask you this,” I said
carefully.
“I do trust you. I can see how much you care about Josh and
he’s always saying what a great guy you are.”
“I’m glad,” I said as paused
before continuing. “Mark, I noticed that
you have some bruises on your back. It
looks like someone took a belt to you.
Is that what happened?”
Mark’s eyes got very large
for a second and I could see that he was trying to decide how to proceed. He looked like a deer caught in the
headlights.
“Its ok Mark, I’m only asking
you that so that I can help you. If
someone is hurting you, I want to help you,” I said seriously.
Mark looked at me and locked
his eyes on mine. “My father did
it. He caught me looking at some dirty
pictures on the Internet and he went crazy.
He took off his belt and whipped me with it. It hurt like hell. He kept screaming that I was just like my
brother,” Mark said with a sob.
I got up and went over to the
chair where Mark was sitting and held out my arms. It took him less than a second to hop up and
throw himself at me. He buried his head
in my chest and sobbed.
“It’s alright Mark, it wasn’t
your fault. I don’t know you all that
well but I do know that you’re a wonderful young man. You’re a smart and polite boy with a lot of
potential. I don’t know why your father
reacted that way, but it isn’t your fault.”
“But they were dirty pictures
of other boys!” Mark sobbed and tried to
pull away from me as if he expected me to be revolted by his revelation.
“Mark, it doesn’t
matter. It’s normal for boys your age to
be curious about things like that. It
doesn’t mean that you’re gay but even if you are, it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter to your father either
way. Whether you like boys or you like
girls has no bearing on your character,” I said soothingly as I felt Mark hold
onto me even tighter. I felt him relax
and melt into me.
I stood there and just held
him while he let it all out of his system.
I saw Josh walk slowly into the apartment with a questioning look on his
face. I gave him thumbs up and I mouthed
“I’ll tell you later” to him. He nodded
and went back upstairs.
“Listen Mark, I’m going to
make you a promise. I promise you that
if your father ever lays a finger on you again, he will have to deal with
me. I have an idea as to how I may be
able to make your life a lot better but you’re going to have to trust me
because it might take a while,”
“Why would you help me after
what I just told you? I’m a freak. I think I’m queer,” he sobbed.
“Mark, don’t talk like
that. First of all, the word is gay, not
queer. Queer is a dirty word that
ignorant people like your father use.
Second of all, you may or may not be gay. Hormones do all sorts of funny things at your
age. Regardless, it doesn’t matter to me
and I guarantee that it doesn’t matter to Josh.
It doesn’t make you a freak. If
it did, then I’d be a freak too.”
“What do you mean?” Mark
asked.
“I mean I’m bisexual. That means I like women and I like men. Josh knows that and he doesn’t care, he loves
me just the same as he did before he knew that.”
Mark was wide-eyed. “I had no idea,” he said as he buried his
face in my chest again.
“Mark, I’m going to make some
calls and I’m going to see what I can do to help you out. Part of that is going to involve keeping your
father from hurting you. I want you to
call me at any time, day or night, if you feel that you’re in danger. If you have to, simply get away and get to a
phone or get yourself here. I will help
you. If he does hurt you again, I want
to know about it. You can tell Josh or
you can tell me.”
“I will. Thank-you for helping me. We’ve barely met and I’ve just told you my
darkest secret and you want to go out of your way to help me. Now I know why Josh brags about you so much
and why he loves you so much,” Mark said softly.
“I can’t stand seeing kids
get hurt and mistreated. You’re a good
friend of Josh’s and that makes you my friend too. I don’t know what I can do at this point, but
I will do something. I can promise you
that if your father lays a hand on you again, he will be very sorry. He had better hope that the cops get to him
before I do.”
Mark looked me in the eye and
I could tell that he knew just how serious I was. We gave each other a final squeeze and then
released our embrace. I handed Mark some
tissues to dry his eyes as I sat back down and started the movie. Josh, hearing the TV came back down. Bless his heart, he pretended that nothing
had happened and simply climbed up on the sofa with me and assumed his usual
position snuggled against my left side.
Mark excused himself to use the bathroom and I took the opportunity to
fill Josh in on what happened.
“The bastard,” Josh
hissed. “That asshole needs a good ass
kicking.”
“Well, that’s exactly what
he’ll get from me if he hurts Mark again,” I said seriously and Josh knew
better than anyone that I meant it.
“What can you do to help him?”
Josh asked.
“I’m not quite sure but I’m
going to call Andy for some advice and I’m going to see if I can get in touch
with
“I love you dad,” Josh said
as he hugged me firmly and kissed my cheek.
Just then Mark returned to
the living room. He looked at Josh and I
on the sofa and I could see the longing in his eyes. “Bryan and I used to sit like that and watch
TV,” he said sadly.
“There’s enough room here for
three of us if we move down,” Josh said with a smile.
Mark’s eyes seemed to light
up. Josh repositioned his legs and slid
down to the right side of the couch. I
moved over to the middle position and Mark sat down in my customary spot. After a few adjustments, I had Josh and Mark
snuggled up on either side of me and I wrapped one arm around each of
them. We stayed that way for the rest of
the afternoon and watched my collection of Benny Hill videos. It didn’t take long to learn that Mark shared
the same warped sense of humour that Josh and I had.
I was glad that Mark had the
same sense of humour because he was going to need
it. I still owed Josh a ‘gotcha’ for the
makeup incident and with Susan’s help I had planned a doozey! At about
I got Josh and Mark seated at
the kitchen table as I went to help Susan light the candles on Josh’s
cake. The cake was unusual for a
birthday cake. It was similar to a log
cake but it had one very important difference.
We lit the 14 candles (13 plus 1 for luck) and we all sang a passable
rendition of “Happy Birthday” to Josh.
He blew out all 14 candles in one breath and we all clapped. It was finally time for Josh to cut the cake.
Just as he poked the knife
into the cake, Susan and I ducked. I was
pretty sure that Josh had just enough time to realize that he’d been had before
it happened. There was a loud pop and
his cake exploded in a torrent of whipped cream and icing. Josh looked like a snowman with a face full
of icing. The look of complete surprise
on his face was absolutely priceless.
Susan quickly managed to snap a photo before he regained his
composure.
Mark, who also ended up
wearing a quantity of icing and whipped cream, sat there in complete shock
while Susan and I nearly split our sides laughing. After a few seconds Josh regained his
composure and started laughing right along with us. He also made a point of rubbing his icing
covered face against both of us.
We had a real cake for him,
but this one was my payback for the makeup incident. I had blown up a large balloon, placed it on
the cake-plate and then packed icing and whipped cream around it. When Josh unknowingly popped the balloon with
the knife, the force of it blasted the icing and whipped cream into his face.
“That’s it,” Josh
laughed. “You guys are really gonna get it now!
This was your idea, wasn’t it?”
Josh said looking at me with a mischievous grin on his face.
“I confess, I did it,” I said
between bursts of laughter. “Your mom
knew about it, but it was all my fault.”
“Don’t forget, your birthday
is only a couple of weeks away,” Josh said with a wink.
I knew I was going to get it
bad. This was one of the best pranks
that I’d ever managed to pull over on Josh.
Josh had long been the master of the practical joke and he wasn’t used
to having one pulled on him. To his
credit, he took it all in stride and with good humour.
We finally retrieved Josh’s
real birthday cake from the refrigerator and Josh gingerly poked it with the
knife before finally cutting it and serving us all a slice. None of us even bothered cleaning ourselves
up after the prank so we all ended up bursting out laughing each time we looked
at one another.
“You guys are all
certifiable,” Mark said with a laugh.
With both the joke cake and
the real cake taken care of, we moved onto the gifts. We were saving the trip announcement until
dinner time, but we all had something for him to open before hand. The first gift that he opened was from
Susan. He read the card and then tore
into the wrapping paper with relish.
Susan had given him some new camping gear – a sleeping bag, backpack,
mess kit and flashlight. Josh knew that
I was going to take him camping a lot, but he didn’t know that his new gear was
going to get a real workout during the summer months. Susan had asked me for help picking out his
gear and I selected items which were actually the same as my own. I knew Josh would want to have the same
things as I did but it would also ensure that everything was compatible.
“Thanks mom! This is so cool. We have to go camping for sure now,” Josh
said with a grin as he hugged Susan tightly.
“We sure will kiddo,” I said
with a smile.
Mark gave Josh his gift
next. It wasn’t wrapped, but Josh didn’t
mind. He gave him a beautifully detailed
and hand painted scale model of a Cessna 172 aircraft. The model came in a nice display case with a
clear cover. Josh loved it.
“Thanks Mark, this is really
nice. It’s just like the one I got to
fly,” Josh said as he gave his friend a brief hug.
He opened my gift last. He read the card and I could see his eyes
moisten up a bit. “Thanks Dad. That’s a really nice card,” he said as he
attacked the wrapping paper covering the gift.
“Cool! A colour
printer,” He hollered. “Thanks
dad!” Josh wrapped his arms around be
and smeared me with more icing from his face.
Josh was obviously delighted with the Canon printer that I had bought
for him.
“You’re welcome,” I said with
a smile as I wrapped my arms around him and returned his hug.
With the gifts opened, we
scattered and got ourselves cleaned up for dinner. Josh and Mark retired to his bedroom to
change and wash up while I went down to my apartment. Susan cleaned up the kitchen and then went to
get herself ready. Within a few minutes
we were all ready to go. The boys were
beside themselves with excitement and nearly drooling on the floor in anticipation
of the feast that awaited them.
We decided to take my
Jeep. Being the only licensed driver who
can handle a standard, I drove. Josh,
whose driver training had been going exceedingly well hopped into the back seat
with Mark while Susan took the passenger seat.
Josh spent the 10 minute drive filling Mark in on all the details of the
food nirvana that was the Mandarin.
The restaurant wasn’t all
that crowded for a Saturday night and we had a reservation so we were seated
almost immediately. Mark’s eyes were
just about bugging out of his head as he surveyed the buffet that lay before
us. Josh, now a veteran of the Mandarin
took on the role of tour guide for his friend and took care to point out the
location of all the tastiest treats such as lobsters and crab legs. I swear that the waitress took one look at
the sight of two hungry teenage boys and cringed.
We sat down just long enough
to place our drink orders and then we set upon the buffet. In the first of what would be many passes
through the line, we loaded our plates with a myriad of Asian delights. Susan and I had been sitting down at the
table for almost two minutes before the boys returned. Each of them was carrying plates which
resembled the leaning tower! Amazingly,
each of them had managed to balance two whole lobsters on top of everything
else. Watching them devour the twin mountains of food was as entertaining as it was awe
inspiring.
As I always did when I went
to the Mandarin, I ate a lot more than I should have or normally would
have. I managed to make my way through a
couple of really stacked plates. Susan
managed to down a little more than one plate and the boys easily put away four
each. Neither Susan nor I had room for
desert, but the boys sure did. We
watched in total amazement as they both came back to the table sporting plates
of fresh waffles with whipped cream and strawberries. I could only groan at the thought of eating
anything else.
We decided it was time to
bring Josh up to speed on the summer plans.
He was just digging into his plate of waffles when I began.
“Josh, there’s something we
have to tell you. Something important,”
I said as seriously as I could.
Josh looked up from his food
and looked back and forth between Susan and me.
“Honey, I guess you probably
guessed that Tommy wouldn’t be going to camp this summer. In fact, he’s going away for July and
August,” Susan said trying to keep a straight face.
Josh looked stricken and
unable to speak. “You’re going away for
the summer?” he managed to choke out.
“Yeah, bud. I sure am.
I’m going to be driving all over the country,” I said just barely
containing myself.
“You’re leaving me for the
whole summer?” He gasped.
“Leaving you? Of course not, you’re coming with me!” I said
with a huge grin.
It took a second for it to
sink in and when it did, Josh’s eyes lit up like searchlights.
“We’re going away for the
whole summer? Just the
two of us? We’re going to drive
all over
“Yes, yes and yes!” I said
with a laugh. “We’re going to leave the
day after school lets out and we’re not coming home until Labour
Day. We’re going to visit every province
and all three territories. We’re going
to camp out, we’re going to stay in motels and we’re going to spend the entire
summer together. We’re going to take
photos, shoot video and we’re going to keep a journal of the whole thing. If all goes well, we’re going to publish it
and maybe make some money from it.”
“I don’t care about making
money; this is going to be the best summer ever!” Josh chirped.
“There’s more honey,” Susan
said as she handed him an envelope.
Josh opened the envelope and
extracted a bank book and ATM card. He
opened the bank book and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “There’s $1,800.00 in this account!”
“That’s for you to spend on
the trip,” Susan said.
At that point, Josh’s mind
went into overload. He jumped up and
hugged Susan for all he was worth and told her in no uncertain terms how much
he loved her. He then gave me the same
treatment.
“I love you so much,” He said
as he enfolded me in one of his chest compressing hugs. “This is going to be the most amazing summer
of my life. This has been the best
birthday ever. I can’t even tell you how
much I love you because there aren’t words to describe it,” He gushed.
“I know bud, I love you the
same amount. This is going to be
amazing,” I said warmly as I returned his embrace.
“That’s going to be amazing,”
Mark said with a touch of sadness in his voice.
“Make sure you send me some postcards.”
I wanted to say something,
but I thought better of it. If all went
well, we’d do a lot better than just send him postcards. “Don’t worry Mark, we haven’t forgotten
you. If all goes as I plan, we’ll do
better than that. Remember, you have to
trust me,” I said as I ruffled his hair.
He smiled back at me and I knew he did trust me.
After the boys finished their
waffles, Susan paid the bill and I drove us home. I went down to my apartment to relax and
recover from overeating while Josh and Mark went up to his room to play with
his computer. I had a bit of a headache,
but it wasn’t all that bad. I drifted off
on the sofa and it was dark in my apartment when I was awakened several hours
later.
“Dad?” Josh said as he gently shook my shoulder.
“Hey kiddo, what’s up?” I
asked.
“Mark and I are playing
Doom. Can we borrow your laptop so we
can play together?” Josh asked.
“Sure bud, help yourself,” I replied.
“Are you ok?” Josh asked with
concern.
“Yeah, I have a bit of a
headache, but it’s nothing to worry about.
It’s nothing like I had when I was sick,” I said trying to reassure him.
“Come on, let’s get you to
bed and I’ll give you a massage. This is
the first one you’ve had in a while isn’t it?”
“Yeah, the last time I had
one was that night,” I said. ‘That
night’ needed no explanation. “Don’t
worry Josh; this is just a regular migraine.”
Josh helped me up and put his
arm around me as he led me into my bedroom.
I got undressed and climbed into bed and Josh climbed on top of my back
and proceeded to give me one of his amazing neck/shoulder rubs. His ministrations may have been clumsy
compared to those of a professional, but the love was unmistakable in his
touch.
“Turn over so I can do your
temples,” he instructed as he climbed off me.
I did as I was told. “Isn’t Mark going to wonder where you are?” I
asked.
“It’s ok, he can wait for a
few minutes,” Josh said with finality as he began to massage my temples.
After about 5 minutes I was
feeling a lot better. Josh lay down on
top of my chest and cuddled with me for a moment before he got up and grabbed
me some Tylenol and a glass of water.
“Take these and I’ll check on you later,” he said.
“Thanks son. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Josh
replied as he took the glass from me then leaned down and kissed me gently on
the forehead. Josh turned off the lights
as he exited my bedroom and went to rejoin Mark in his room.
A couple of hours or so
later, I heard some noise in my apartment and I began to awaken. The bathroom light was on and I could hear
someone rummaging around in there. I was
about to get up and investigate when I saw Josh, dressed only in his blue
briefs and carrying a Kleenex box, exit the bathroom and enter my bedroom. I didn’t want to let him know that he had
awakened me and have him feel bad about it so I pretended to be asleep. He quietly entered my room and sat down on
the side of my bed. He reached his hand
down and placed it on my forehead for a moment and then gently ruffled my hair.
He sat there for a few
minutes and, as I often did with him, he simply watched me, thinking I was
asleep. It was dark and my eyes were
closed but I could almost feel the love and adoration radiating from him in
waves. I knew that if I had opened my
eyes, I would have seen on his face a look of adoration not that different from
the look I wore when I watched him in candid moments. Before long he leaned down, kissed me
tenderly on the forehead and whispered, “I love you so much, Dad,” and nuzzled
his face against mine. He had evidently
satisfied himself that I was ok and his mission to check on me was complete so
he stood up and headed back to his own room.
I smiled to myself and I felt
warm inside and slowly drifted back off to sleep and once again dreamed of Josh
and whatever future lay ahead.
The next morning, I was
awakened quite suddenly by Josh. One
second I was sleeping peacefully and the next, I was jolted awake as 126 pounds
of Josh pounced on me and enfolded me in a massive hug.
“Wake up Dad,” he
laughed. “Breakfast’s ready”
Had anyone else used such an
unconventional method of waking me up for breakfast, I would have been more than
a little annoyed with them. With Josh,
however, things were quite different.
Even if I wanted to me mad, one look at his sparkling gray eyes and his
mischievous smile would have changed my mind in an instant. I blinked the sleep from my eyes and returned
his tight hug. “Morning kiddo,” I said.
“Feeling better this
morning?” He asked seriously.
“Other than needing a piss so
badly that my back molars are floating, I’m just as fine as paint,” I said with
a chuckle.
“Well, I don’t want you to
wet the bed and me in the process so I’ll let you up. I’m still going to get you back for the
exploding cake,” he said with a smirk as he kissed my cheek and then climbed
off me.
I took a moment to relieve my
bladder and when I returned to my bedroom, Josh as still there. He was stretched out on my bed with his back
propped up against the headboard and he looked troubled.
“You ok?” I asked as I sat down next to him and threw
my arm over his shoulders.
“Yeah…..I’m ok, I guess,” he
said.
“Come on Josh, you don’t
think you can fool me do you?
Something’s bothering you,” I said as I gave him a squeeze.
He seemed to think about it
for a moment and then he put his arms around me and snuggled into my side. “I did something bad,” he mumbled.
“What is it? Joshy, you can
trust me. Remember, no matter what it
is, it won’t change anything between us and I’ll do whatever I can to help
you,” I said warmly. I was concerned but
not overly worried. I figured he
couldn’t have gotten himself into that much trouble since the night before.
“I know, but it’s kind of
embarrassing,” he replied.
“Son, you never have to feel
embarrassed around me,” I said trying to reassure him.
He paused for a moment and
studied his feet as if there was something very interesting about the white
sport socks that he wore. “Mark and
I….we…..we uh…” he stumbled and then blurted out, “We jerked off together last
night.”
“Oh Joshy,
that’s nothing to worry about. There’s
nothing bad about that.”
“We didn’t just do it at the
same time. Well, we did the first
time. Then we….we did each other. It actually felt good that way. We did it a bunch of times and had contests
to see who would squirt first, who would squirt the farthest and who would
squirt the most,”
“Joshy,
there’s nothing wrong with all that.
That’s what boys do. It’s
perfectly natural and a lot of boys your age experiment with other boys. It’s nothing to be ashamed of and it’s
nothing to worry about,” I said as I hugged him tightly.
“I won all the contests,”
Josh said proudly and flashed his famous grin.
“I used up all my Kleenex and I had to come down and get some more,”
Josh chuckled. “I wanted to check on you
too to see if you were ok. I was worried
about your headache.”
“I’m fine, Josh. You don’t have to worry about my headaches
anymore. Sounds like you had a busy
night. I hope you used the baby oil that
I gave you, otherwise you’ll be sore again,” I said with concern.
“Yeah, I like it better when
I use that stuff anyway. Mark said he
uses hand lotion sometimes.”
“With the number of times the
two of you popped off, it might smell kind of funky in your room. You might want to open the window and air it
out a bit,” I laughed.
“It did smell kind of nasty
in there this morning. I hope my mom
doesn’t figure out what was going on! We
tried to keep the noise down so I hope she didn’t hear us!” Josh said with a nervous chuckle. “Did you ever do anything like that when you
were my age?” Josh asked.
“I sure did. Peter, who was my best friend, and I used to
have contests like that. I think I won
most of them too. Andy and I used to
jerk off together sometimes. Once I made
myself all raw and sore like you did and he looked after me like I did with
you,” I said fondly recalling the memories.
“A few times, Peter, Andy, a couple of Andy’s friends and I had a real
big circle jerk. It was a blast –
literally!”
Josh got the joke and laughed
out loud. “What’s a circle jerk?” He
asked.
“That’s when a bunch of guys
get together and jerk off and have contests like you and Mark did,” I
said. “We only did it a few times, but
it was fun. Neither Peter nor I were
much of a match for Andy and his friends who were 15 or 16 at the time. They
were like cannons compared to us.”
“Does this mean that I’m gay
or bi like you?” Josh asked. “ I look at some of the girls at school and my
dick gets as hard as an iron bar but I really liked fooling around with Mark.”
“It means only one thing,
Josh. It means that you’re a healthy,
growing boy. You will figure out what
you are sooner or later. Whether you’re
straight, gay or bi, it won’t matter a bit to me. Who you choose to have sex with has no impact
on your character and it won’t make any difference to me. It doesn’t bother you that I’m bisexual, does
it?”
“Of course
not! I love you and I’d love you no matter what,”
Josh said forcefully.
“I know. I feel the same way, Josh. Nothing will ever change that, especially
nothing as relatively trivial as your sexual orientation. Mark thinks he might be gay and I’m fine with
that,” I said seriously. “Joshy, you have plenty of time to discover your
sexuality. Nature will take its course
and sooner or later, you will figure out where you fit. Don’t be in a hurry to grow up and don’t
worry about things like this.”
“I know about Mark. He told me and he told me that he told you
about it. I didn’t let on that you’d
already filled me in on what happened to him.”
“Mark’s a really sweet kid
and he doesn’t deserve what he’s had to go through. Between his mother dying, his brother leaving
or being thrown out and his father turning on him, he’s had a rough go of it.”
“What are you planning on
doing?” Josh asked.
“That’s something that we
need to talk about, Josh. I need you to
make a very adult decision here. I’m
pretty certain that I can help Mark but it will have an impact on you too,” I
wrapped both my arms around Josh as he thought about what I had said.
“What do I need to
decide?” Josh asked.
“Josh, I’ve been thinking
about this since yesterday and I have a plan.
I have to talk to Andy and I have to get in touch with
Josh thought about it for all
of two seconds. “Help him. If he and his brother love each other even
half as much as we do, he’ll be much happier and much better off in
I kissed the top of Josh’s
head. “That’s exactly what I thought
you’d say, Josh. You’re an amazing young
man and you are for more mature than the average 13 year old,” I said lovingly
as I held him.
“Dad, I’ve met your mom and
your brother and your nephews, but I’ve never met your dad. Where is he?”
“He’s dead Josh. He was a police officer and he was shot and
killed in the line of duty when I was about 12,” I replied sadly.
“Oh…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. I had no idea,” Josh said in a worried voice.
“It’s ok Josh. It’s been a long time. I had my brothers to fill in as my substitute
dads just like you have me. Jimmy and
Andy and I were all very close when we were younger. We still are.
Andy and I are still very close.
Jimmy and I are close too, but he’s married now and has the twins so we
don’t see each other all that often.”
“Was your dad a ‘dad’ or was
he just a father?” Josh asked softly.
“He was a dad all the way,
kiddo. I loved him an awful lot. When he got shot, I wanted to go to the
police station and kill the man who shot him.
I would have if I had been given a chance.”
“I’d kill anyone who shot
you,” Josh replied firmly.
“I know kiddo. My mom, Andy and James helped me get through
it. We all helped each other get through
it. I realized that my dad wouldn’t have
wanted me to do that. He would have
wanted me to grow up and do something with my life, not rot in prison for
killing a useless piece of crap like the guy who shot him.”
“What happened to that guy?”
“He’s still in prison. The judge gave him 25 years to life for
murder. Unfortunately, he can apply for
parole after 15 years.”
“WHAT? He killed a cop and he could get out after
only 15 years?” Josh asked incredulously.
“Unfortunately that’s how our
system works,” I said resignedly.
“Someone needs to change
that,” Josh replied in an animated tone.
“I know, but what are we
going to do?”
Josh had a very thoughtful
look on his face. I could see the wheels
turning in his head. “We have to change
things,” Josh replied. “If something is
wrong, it needs to be fixed. It’s easy
to say it’s too tough and not do anything.
It’s harder to actually do something; things will never get better
unless people have the guts to do something.”
“You sure you’re only
13?” I asked Josh only half
jokingly. What he said was absolutely
right and made complete sense. After a
few minutes I got up and got dressed and both of us headed upstairs to join
Mark and Susan for breakfast. Neither of
us knew it at the time, but Josh had taken his first baby step on the road to
his future.