I awoke bright and early the next morning and lay there thinking
about the dream that I’d had. It was a
little odd and more than a bit scary.
Josh was visibly older than he had been in my other dreams of the future
and the scenery was not recognizable. It
seemed hot and dusty and I recall seeing palm trees in the distance. Ever the realist, I rejected the idea of
clairvoyance and paid it little mind.
Josh was still fast asleep, but Brutus was wide awake. Before I even opened my eyes, I could feel
his cold, wet nose poking me in the face in between the puppy kisses.
“Want to go for a walk Brutus?” I whispered.
He promptly sat down, cocked his head from side to side and
frantically wagged his tail. I took that
as a yes. I quickly threw on some
clothes and then took Brutus outside to do his business.
It was still early and the sun was just peaking over the eastern
horizon, but it was already warm and comfortable. It was going to be a very pleasant day for
driving. After breakfast, our first
order of the day was to head to
While visiting
Josh was still snoring when I returned with Brutus. After feeding the rapidly growing puppy, I
took a quick shower and then dressed for the day. It was getting close to
“Brutus, go see Josh,” I whispered to the puppy.
Brutus bounded off with a happy bark and then jumped up on the bed
with Josh. Josh was lying flat on his
back and Brutus hopped on his chest and began to madly lick his face. Within seconds, Brutus’ efforts had the
desired effect and I could hear Josh weakly protesting as he began to wake up.
“Blech, yuck….. Brutus!”
Josh protested
I just stood there laughing at the innocence of a big happy puppy
and his master. Josh kept turning his
head from side to side trying to escape from Brutus’s tongue, but Brutus kept
right with him. Brutus’ tail was wagging
so fast that I half expected him to take off like a helicopter.
“Want a treat Brutus?” Josh
finally managed to say.
Brutus jumped down in an instant and ran over to where the
suitcases were; knowing that his doggie treats were inside.
“You put him up to that didn’t you?” Josh asked yawning, as he rummaged through
his suitcase for the doggie cookies.
“Who me?” I asked
pretending to be innocent. “I would
never do something like that,” I pleaded.
“Oh yeah?” Josh said and
then launched himself at me. Pretty soon
we were wrestling like maniacs on the bed.
Even Brutus got into the act and started prancing around and barking at
both of us.
It took me longer than usual to get Josh pinned. He was definitely getting bigger and stronger
all the time.
“You’ll be as tall as me by this time next year bud,” I said and
ruffled his hair. “I’ll bet you’ll be
over six feet tall by the time you’re my age.”
“Really? That’ll be cool.”
“Keep exercising and working out and you’ll be built like a tank
too,” I replied.
“You mean like Ah-nold?” Josh asked in a barely passable Arnold
Schwarzenegger imitation.
“You never know bud,” I said and hugged him. “You better go grab a shower and get
ready. I’m going to start loading the
Jeep. We need to grab some breakfast and
then swing by a laundromat and wash our clothes before we head off to Shelly’s
place.”
“Mmmm food,” Josh said and licked his lips.
Half an hour later, we were back in the Jeep heading over to the
local White Spot restaurant for breakfast.
White Spot is another of those wonderful restaurant chains that only
exists in the western portion of the country.
Their menu was comparable to Humpty’s and their burgers simply cannot be
beat, but this morning we gorged ourselves with the breakfast menu.
“So bud, after we visit with the Masons and then
“I can’t wait. It’ll bet
it’ll amazing,” Josh said enthusiastically.
“It will be great, but we need to keep our wits about us. Up there, we’ll be as good as all alone at
certain points. We need to pay close
attention to every detail and not make any mistakes.”
“Keep an eye on how the Jeep’s running, make sure we don’t run out
of gas, water or food; right?”
“Yeah, we need to do all those things, but we also need to keep an
eye on road conditions, weather, and wildlife.”
“Wildlife?” Josh asked.
“Yeah, when we camp out, we need to be very aware of our
surroundings AND we need to take precautions against bears and things. We need to keep all food out of the tent and
we need to keep an eye on Brutus. Most
wild animals will go the other way if they sense us, but if a bear or something
gets curious, Brutus will probably be our best early warning. He’ll probably sense wild animals long before
we will.”
“Kind of a four legged burglar alarm, eh?”
“Pretty much. Do you
remember all the safety stuff that I taught you about firearms?”
“Yeah, I memorized that stuff,” Josh replied.
“Good; because up in the territories, we’re going to sleep with
the rifles in our tent and whenever we go into the bush, we’ll be taking the
rifles with us. I’ll take the .308 and
you’ll carry the .22.”
“Cool!” Josh exclaimed.
After breakfast, we located a local laundromat and got our clothes
washed and dried. Before taking the
short drive to
Before long, we were driving up the Mason’s driveway. I’d barely parked the Jeep when the front
door flew open and Shelly, followed closely by her brother Eddie ran towards
us. I could see that Shelly had a lot
more colour in her face than she had before and obviously had more energy. She was dressed in a pair of shorts, a
t-shirt and a baseball cap. Debbie and
Trevor weren’t far behind their excited kids.
Josh opened his door and stepped out with Brutus right at his
heels. “Happy Birthday Shelly!” he said
with a big heart warming smile.
Shelly threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug just
before she noticed Brutus.
“Who’s that?” Shelly asked.
“His name’s Brutus. We
found him back in
“Oh he’s so cute!” Shelly
said and then knelt down beside the puppy.
Brutus, who was on his best behavior, sat down promptly, and
offered up his paw for Shelly to shake.
“He’s smart too!” Shelly
said enthusiastically.
“What kind of dog is he?” Eddie asked.
“The vet said he’s part German Shepherd and part Black Lab,” Josh
replied.
“He’s adorable,” Debbie said as she arrived at the side of the
Jeep.
“You don’t mind having him around do you?” I asked.
“Hell no,” Trevor replied.
“He looks like a friendly little critter and the kids seen to love him.”
“Why don’t you boys grab your bags and we’ll get you settled into
the guest room, and then we’ll have some lunch before the party guests arrive,”
Debbie suggested.
“Sounds good. I know Josh
will never turn down food,” I chuckled.
“Eddie’s the same way. I
can’t believe how much boys eat,” Debbie replied.
Josh and I grabbed our overnight bags along with Brutus’ stuff and
we followed the Masons into the house.
Their house was an immaculate two-story home with a double car garage
located at the end of a cul-de-sac and featured an expansive lawn with plenty
of tree cover.
“The guest room is at the top of the stairs, at the end of the
hall on the right,” Trevor said.
“Eddie, why don’t you go show them,” Debbie suggested.
Eddie happily obliged and scampered up the stairs in front of Josh
and me. He led us to a small green
painted room with a single king sized bed, a dresser and a desk.
“Will you guys be OK here?”
Debbie asked from the doorway as Josh and I put away clean clothes from
the laundromat.
“We’ll be just fine.
Thanks,” I replied.
“I’m glad. When you’re
done, come on out to the back yard.
Trevor has some burgers cooking on the barbecue.”
“I could go for some burgers right about now,” Josh announced.
In the last hour of peace before Shelly’s friends arrived for her
birthday party, the six of us dined on hamburgers and homemade potato
salad. When we finished eating, Josh
Shelly, Eddie, and Brutus went and played in the back yard giving me a chance
to talk to Debbie and Trevor.
“Shelly’s looking better,” I observed.
“We can’t believe the change in her. Since the trip to
“She isn’t out of the woods yet,” Trevor remarked. “But the doctors are giving us hope.”
“You know what the pediatric oncologist said?” Debbie asked.
“What?”
“He said that the science of this disease is pretty straight
forward and, unfortunately, doesn’t offer much hope. He also said that in his experience, the
human spirit, when properly motivated, regularly beats the science.”
“I hope this is one of those cases,” I said with a wan smile.
“I can’t help but think that it’s Josh who is somehow giving
Shelly that motivation,” Debbie said.
“He does tend to have a strong affect on people; myself included,”
I said thoughtfully. “There’s something
about him that I just can’t place.”
“Shelly is madly in love with him,” Trevor chuckled.
“Well, I know that Josh has a real soft spot in his heart for her
too.” I commented. “I know he’s encouraged by her devotion to
life and in the fullness of time, I think they’ll be a good support for one
another.”
I watched as Debbie’s brow furrowed and she spoke hesitantly. “Tom . . .
that’s very nice of you to say, but you live in
“Well,” I grinned at the warmth of my thoughts, “Things have kinda
changed since we saw you in
Debbie’s smile grew into a half laugh, half giggle. “Tom that’s wonderful! Shelly will be thrilled that he’ll be closer;
we all will.”
Trevor’s eyes and face revealed the same emotion. “Tom, that is good news. My God, that’s only a day’s drive away.” He paused for a moment, raised his chin, and
stared at me. “The four of you are...
quite close ....?”
“Yes Trevor, we are,” I said seriously, thinking about the motive
of his question. Then with a slight
smile, I added, “as you realize from the medal ceremony, we have quite a
history together. Bryan and Mark had to
leave their home in
“You didn’t shock our sensibilities at all,” Trevor smiled
warmly. “We rather suspected as much and
I’m glad that you’re being honest with yourself and that you trusted us enough
to tell us. It does beg the question
though; are Josh and Mark comfortable with your relationship with
Before I answered, a long heavy sigh released the tension from my
chest because of their acceptance. “On
that trip through
“Tom, I’m very happy for you and Bryan too, of course.” Debbie said smiling. “I should explain that Trevor and I have
researched a lot about what’s it like for a gay teenager growing up and
although it’ll be a few years before Eddie will know for himself, we thought as
all responsible parents should, we’d have to be ready with the right
answers. In part, we gained this insight
from a few gay people that Trevor works with.
Tolerance is not the word to use in a confrontation between gay and
straight; acceptance and consideration for another person’s right to be
themselves without bringing harm to anyone, is the better solution. Pardon me for prying, but was there any
sexual abuse in
“No,” I replied, “Thank God, but there was physical beatings and
verbal abuse. Now though, their father’s
suffering for it with loneliness, and
“From watching the medal presentation in
“PROUD!” I exclaimed. “You have no idea!” I went on to tell them about the surprise the
three of us had in
Trevor sort of closed the subject as he looked out in the yard
watching the kids playing. “Tom, I think
you’re right, they will be good support for each other.”
While the kids and Brutus continued having fun in the back yard,
we cleared away the lunch dishes and prepared for Shelly’s birthday party. Before we knew it, her friends began to
arrive and I began to feel a little sorry for Josh. By the time all of Shelly’s guests arrived,
with the exception of Eddie, Josh was the only boy in a crowd of about ten
girls between the age of ten and twelve.
More than a few of Shelly’s guests were quite obviously gaga over Josh,
but he was a good sport about it and he took it all in stride.
The highlight of the party came after dinner when Shelly was
presented with her birthday cake and gifts.
Debbie, who was a very talented cake decorator had created a cake in the
shape of a horse and had used coloured icing to create a surprising amount of
detail. The cake was a hit with all the
guests but the best was yet to come.
Shelly began opening her gifts and she received quite an array of
clothing, CDs and books. Her parents and
brother gave her a new bicycle. She
opened Josh’s gift last. When she opened
the box, she just stared at it for a moment without saying a word. She then reached into the box and opened the
locket to look at the photo inside.
After a couple of seconds, she placed the locket on the table, turned to
Josh, catching him totally off guard; she placed a kiss right on his lips.
Josh turned about 15 shades of red and then smiled
sheepishly. Evidently he had enjoyed his
first kiss.
“Thank you Josh, I’ll never take this off,” Shelly said
enthusiastically as she put the locket around her neck.
“You’re welcome,” he managed to croak out.
“Oh Josh, that’s beautiful,” Debbie said and reached across the
table to gently squeeze his hand.
Shelly’s friends gathered around her and admired her beautiful new
locket. I swore that at that moment,
Shelly looked healthier and happier than I had ever seen her. He cheeks had a wonderful rosy colour to them
and her eyes were virtually sparkling. I
reached my arm over and placed it around Josh’s shoulders. When he looked at me, I winked at him and
smiled warmly. It was all the
communications that we needed between us.
Brutus seemed to be really enjoying the party too. Shelly and all her guests had been fawning
all over him and he was in puppy heaven.
From the looks of his belly, I was pretty certain that he had received
more than his fill of table scraps compliments of Shelly’s guests.
By the time the party wore down and the guests began to leave, it
was obvious that the day had taken its toll on Shelly. She still looked radiantly happy, but she was
obviously tired out. After kissing her
parents and hugging Josh, she headed off to bed. I was actually amazed, just a couple of weeks
earlier, she never would have had the energy to enjoy such a birthday bash.
Eddie was pretty tired too and he headed off to bed as well after
helping his parents, Josh and me clean up the mess. Josh, Shelly’s parents and I sat down in the
living room
“Josh, that was a wonderful gift that you gave Shelly,” Debbie
said. “I haven’t seen her so happy in a
very long time.”
“I knew it was perfect for her as soon as I saw it,” he
replied. Josh went on to tell Debbie and
Trevor all about the locket and where he got it.
“You’re a remarkable young man Josh. You have no idea how much you’re helping
Shelly. Since she met you, she’s turned
around 100%,” Trevor said.
“I told you earlier that the doctors are giving us some hope. They had previously said that it wasn’t
possible or even worthwhile to give her anymore chemotherapy. Since she’s doing so much better, they’re
willing to try a new, experimental chemo drug that they think might help her.”
“That’s great,” Josh said.
“That’s wonderful news,” I added.
“It is, but if it shows promise, she’ll probably need a couple of
rounds of treatment and the doctors said we’ll need to convince the province to
fully fund it. Normally, they don’t
fully fund experimental treatments.”
I could tell what Josh was thinking before he said a word.
“I’ll bet I can help with that.
It’s sometimes embarrassing, but people recognize me all over the place
these days and maybe I can use that somehow.
I’m going to be on the Air Farce show sometime after we get home. Maybe I can do something there too.”
“I bet you probably could too.
Josh, I think you could sell ice to Eskimos,” Debbie laughed. “Every little bit will help.”
Josh was the next to turn in for the night about an hour
later. We had a big day ahead of us and
we were both looking forward to the upcoming ferry ride to
“That boy is going far,” Trevor remarked after Josh headed
upstairs.
“I agree. I can’t place it
but I somehow feel ‘touched’ when I’m around him. I don’t know what the world has in store for
Josh, but he’s going to take the tiger by the tail and hold the world in the
palm of his hand,” Debbie added.
“I get the same feeling.
Since he adopted me, I’ve felt like my life has a new purpose and a new
direction.”
After watching the
My last thoughts of the day came as relief and happiness. I’d taken a big risk in coming out to the
Mason’s that afternoon. If it turned out
that they were homophobic, how would it have affected Josh and Shelly, or Josh
and I? The ramifications of that
happening would have been endless.
However the outcome had made me happy, we could add another family to
our set of close friends, thanks to Josh.
Within minutes, I was sound asleep.
The next morning, Josh and I joined the Masons for a large, sit
down breakfast before loading up the Jeep and preparing to depart for
When we were finally ready to leave, it was an emotional
scene. Debbie, Trevor, and Eddie all
said their goodbyes to Josh and me and there were hugs all around. I lifted Shelly up and kissed her lightly on
the cheek. “Take care Shelly and keep
getting better,” I said.
“I will,” she said and smiled broadly then hugged me tightly.
Josh and Shelly then hugged each other tightly and exchanged a
brief kiss.
“I love you Josh,” I heard Shelly say.
“I love you too Shelly,” Josh replied.
After Brutus received a last round of pats and belly scratches,
the three of us boarded the Jeep and headed back towards the coast.
“You really made Shelly happy Joshy,” I said as we entered the
highway.
“I know. She really loved
the locket. Dad, I think I really do
love her,” Josh replied. “How do I know
for sure?”
“That’s a tough one bud.
You just know. Listen to your
heart kiddo,” I said. “At the end of
each day, reflect on where your thoughts of Shelly have been. In time, your thoughts and concerns will tell
you. Josh, yesterday I really stepped
out on a limb. I told Debbie and Trevor
that Bryan and I are a gay couple.
Before I told them, I was really scared of what might have happened
between you and Shelly if they were a little homophobic. In the end it was OK, they completely
understood; in fact, they had already suspected.”
Josh laughed. “Dad, you had
nothing to worry about. I’d already told
Shelly and she thought it was nice. I’d
asked her about what her mom and dad might think and she told me they probably
wouldn’t care. I’m sure if they weren’t
cool with it though, Shelly and I could have straightened them out.”
“Oh really Mr. Chambers,” I chided as he continued grinning at me,
“and just how would you have done that?”
Josh started laughing again, “Charm dad, just a touch of
charm.” His laughter was contagious, as
was his infectious charm. Once we
settled down, Josh asked, “Where are we off to now?”
“Well son, we’ll see the sights in
As I Josh and I continued to talk about our day’s destination, I
glanced into my rearview mirror and noticed a large truck coming up behind us
at a pretty good clip. He was pretty far
back, but gaining quickly.
“Look at this jerk,” I said to Josh and pointed to the rear of the
Jeep.
“Holy crap he’s going fast,” Josh observed.
I glanced at my speedometer and saw that we were doing about 120
km/h and the truck was still gaining rapidly on us.
“Hold on Josh!” I shouted as
the truck raced for our rear bumper and then swerved into the next lane with
only seconds and inches to spare. The
blast of displaced air slammed the Jeep and I felt it begin to slide onto the
gravel shoulder. I hammered the brakes
and felt the ABS pulse back against my foot and I fought for steering
control. After a couple of fish tails, I
managed to get back onto the centre of my lane.
“Jesus H. Christ!” I
shouted. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. That was
pretty scary,” Josh remarked.
“I swear I’ll kill that bastard if I ever encounter him
again.” Over my years of driving, I’d
seen young drivers perform foolish acts in their vehicles, but I’d never been a
victim of their aggressive manners.
“It was a red cab with blue markings,” Josh informed me.
“Did you notice a name on the trailer?”
“No, it was going too fast.
I’d recognize that cab anywhere though.”
At that moment, I would have cheerfully strangled the driver who
had nearly run us off the road. The guy
was obviously a maniac who, in all likelihood was going to get someone
killed.
“I wish we’d managed to get the plate number. The Mounties would have had a thing or two to
say to that asshole,” I muttered in disgust.
Before long, we arrived in
“This is a beautiful city,” Josh remarked.
“Yeah, it’s a whole different pace from what we experience in
“The view of the mountains is amazing too. Good thing they didn’t block it out with a
whole lot of big buildings.”
“I think they planned it that way.
I’m pretty sure that I read somewhere that they limited the height of
downtown buildings so as not to obstruct the view of the mountains.”
“Good thinking,” Josh smiled.
“How about we catch a ride on the Sky Train to get back to the
Jeep,” I suggested.
“What’s the sky train?”
Josh asked.
“It’s kind of like a subway but it’s above ground. Part of it crosses the
“That sounds like fun.”
We boarded the Sky Train and rode back to the Stadium-Chinatown
station and retrieved the Jeep. From
there, we drove to the west side of the downtown core and soon found ourselves
on Sunset beach.
“Wow, look at this place!”
Josh exclaimed.
Sunset beach is a breathtakingly beautiful expanse of sandy beach
located close to the famed
Before heading to
“I’m hungry,” Josh announced.
“Let’s grab some hotdogs over at that stand.”
“That sounds good,” I replied and we walked over to a hotdog cart
just beyond the parking area. I ordered
a sausage on a bun for myself, while Josh ordered two jumbo hotdogs with all
the toppings. We both had iced tea to
drink.
With Brutus in tow, we began to walk down the beach while eating
our lunch. By the time we finished
eating, we had arrived at the Vancouver Aquatic Centre that features an Olympic
sized pool. Just beyond it, there was a
leash free zone where dogs were allowed to run free and play with other dogs.
“We have to take Brutus over there,” Josh said.
“I’ll bet he’ll get a kick out of that.”
We headed to the leash free zone and as we approached, Brutus
began to get excited. He could see and
hear all the other dogs and he was anxious to get to play with them. We made our way through the gate and then we
unsnapped Brutus’s leash. The little dog
took off like a shot and went tearing after a large golden retriever who was
after a Frisbee thrown by his master. It
was pretty funny listening to his high pitched bark as he playfully chased
bigger dogs all over the place.
It was a good thing that adult dogs generally have good tolerance
for puppies because I’m sure that some of them would have been pretty annoyed
with Brutus’ juvenile antics. Brutus was
quite a real hit with the other dog owners who were there. When he wasn’t racing around at something
near the speed of light, he was busy showing off for the other dog owners. He was quite the little ham too. He would sit and offer to shake a paw and
roll over on his back so people could scratch his belly. People just loved him.
When Brutus began to run out of steam, we reattached his leash and
made our way back to the Jeep. The
little dog had definitely enjoyed being able to play with other dogs for a
change and he’d tired himself out. As
soon as he climbed into the Jeep, he curled up on the back seat and went right
to sleep.
We drove the short distance to
We entered the park and followed
We parked the Jeep and got out to shoot photos and video footage
of the poles before heading to the famous Sea Wall. The Sea Wall is almost 9 km long and
completely surrounds the park. There is
a trail, known as the Sea Wall Walk that follows the sea wall all the way
around the park but we were pretty worn out from our earlier walking tour and
we only managed to walk about a kilometre of it before turning back. Even Brutus was exhausted and Josh ended up
carrying him most of the way.
After dropping Brutus off at the Jeep, we went in search of
dinner. We ended up stopping at a quaint
little fish and chips restaurant. We
both had the surf-and-turf platter that included a nice steak and a great
assortment of seafood.
We got back to the Jeep and headed back towards the Stanley Park
Causeway. The Causeway cuts a swath
right through the middle of the park and leads the way to the well known
“Joshy, we’re going to drive through an area that isn’t quite as
nice as what we’ve seen so far, but I think it’s important to see it.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s known as the lower east side. It’s a pretty depressing place from what I
understand. It’s a poor area with a lot
of drug and prostitution problems. There
are even boys and girls your age out there working as prostitutes.”
“Dad that’s awful,” Josh replied.
“It is awful. We’re not
going to stay there for very long. We
aren’t even going to stop if we can avoid it,” I replied.
It was just beginning to get dark when we arrived in the area of
the lower east side. The buildings were
in stark contrast to the gleaming towers of the downtown core and the beauty of
I heard a small gasp from Josh as we passed the
“I think I’ve seen enough of this Dad,” he said softly.
“I know bud. I think I have
too.”
I turned the Jeep down the next street with the hope of being able
to loop back and return the way we’d come.
After making the turn onto the side street, I noticed a red and blue cab
from a transport truck.
“Dad, isn’t that the guy who nearly ran us off the road this
morning?” Josh asked.
“I think it might be,” I replied.
“Get the camera and get some pictures as we drive by.”
I drove slowly past the truck as Josh filmed as much of it as he
could. As we passed it, I noticed what
looked like a struggle going on inside.
Just beyond the truck, I did a U-turn and parked behind a van. I wanted to get out and get a closer look at
the truck and what was going on inside.
“Why are we stopping?” Josh
asked.
“There’s something going on over there. Someone might be in trouble,” I replied. No sooner had I said that, when the passenger
door of the truck flew open and a disheveled looking young girl that appeared
to have a bloody nose, jumped out and fled down the street away from us, as a
man jumped out of the driver’s side of the truck. I was about to jump out of the Jeep when
Josh shouted.
“Dad wait! THAT’S BOB!”
That froze me in my tracks.
Sure enough, I looked through the windshield of the Jeep and there was
Bob with a crazed look on his face shouting obscenities at the fleeing young
girl. Josh was filming the whole thing
with the video camera and I grabbed the digital camera and rifled off a bunch
of photos. Bob either couldn’t see us or
he didn’t realize that it was my Jeep.
The tinted windows made most of the interior or the Jeep largely
invisible.
“Fuck!” I exclaimed. “This isn’t good at all bud. I’m sorry that I ever questioned your
judgment about Bob.”
“That’s alright Dad. I just
had a feeling about him. We have to tell
Mom about this,” Josh said urgently.
“I know, lets just see what else he does. I have a bad feeling that underage hookers
aren’t the only reason he’s down here.”