“Thank you for coming,” the familiar voice said. I felt a chil down the back of my neck. “Trust me, I have never been more honest than when I say I only wish I could be there with you today.”
The skinny woman I didn’t know laughed aloud and then, embarrassed, covered her mouth. Her companion, though, took a sharp breath and started to quietly sob. The skinny one put her arm around her. Opposites attract, I thought.
I saw Paul Harrington staring at me, but I wouldn’t return his gaze. Although I did wonder why he was looking at me when his father’s last appearance was playing on a screen a few feet away.
“I’m sure this videotape may seem a bit dramatic to you, but every time I tried to write this down, I found myself uncharacteristical y at a loss for words.
So, I thought, why not just tape the damn thing and be done with it?
“First, I’d like to address my sons. Michael, Paul.
What can I say? I can stil remember the day each of you was born; they were among the happiest of my life. For so many years, watching you grow up was what gave shape and meaning to my existence. As hard as I worked, I always believed it was for you, my boys, the lights of my life.
“But you can’t let anyone, even your children, become your life. And for a long time that’s what I did, ignoring parts of myself that I was afraid would take me away from you. Denying the things my soul craved, denying my heart.
“But the heart can only be denied for so long.
“By the time I was ready to face the truth, I was almost dead inside. But I wanted to wait until I thought you boys could deal with my being gay. I wanted to believe that we could stil be a family.”
Al en’s expression turned sad.
“But I was wrong.
“While you were children, I could forgive you. But now you are men, and stil your minds are closed. As are your hearts. I’ve reached out to you both over the years, but each time I’ve been rebuffed.
“What you are doing, Michael, makes me especial y sad.”
I made a mental note-what was Michael doing?
“Stil, I have provided for each of you in my wil.”
I looked at the Harrington boys. Paul’s sudden smile made me think of a vulture finding a particularly tasty corpse on the road. Alana clenched her fist and nodded as if to say “yes!”
Michael stayed stoic.
“Oh, not as much as I could have. And not as much as I know you’re hoping for. But enough for me to go to my grave knowing I did the right thing.
“Even if my boys didn’t.
“Now, to my dear friend Kevin.”
I could feel al the eyes in the room fal on me.
“Kevin, you have refused the gifts I’ve offered you over the years. But what you didn’t know is that I’ve been taking the money I wanted to give you and investing it on your behalf.
“And, if you don’t mind my saying so, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s investing.”
Al en smiled.
“You’ve always told me that you wanted to earn enough money to put yourself through school. Wel, now you’l find that you have more than enough to fol ow that dream. And maybe even take a nice vacation before you enrol.
“Maybe you can take that friend Freddy you’re always going on about. I’ve got a feeling you two are going to be spending a lot of time together.”
Freddy looked at me in surprise. I tried not to notice. Had I led Al en to think that my feelings for Freddy extended beyond friendship?
Did they?
And what was Al en’s inheritance going to mean in my life? Had my world just changed? Again?
Al en continued. “Kevin, I thank you for your companionship. Although my own boys wouldn’t let me be a part of their lives, you were like a son to me.
Now, go and make me proud.”
Alana turned to Paul. “Oh, please.” He harrumphed in response.
“You real y should see a doctor about that noise you keep making,” Freddy said with mock sincerity.
“Shhh,” Ms. Steel said, barely suppressing a grin.
“The bulk of my estate,” Al en said “I leave to the Association for the Acceptance of Lesbian and Gay Youth.” The two women I didn’t know gasped and clutched each other. The heavier one blushed furiously.
“Lori, May, I believe you have the opportunity to do something wonderful with your work. I only hope that through your contributions you can help ensure that other young people don’t have to face the repression and isolation I felt for so much of my life. I’m so glad I can help you begin your journey.”
“Lastly, a message to my sons. Wel, my biological ones, that is.
“You’ve wasted a lot of your lives on negative emotions. But it’s not too late for you to change.
Anger is the only poison in the world that kil s both the giver and the receiver.
“Get over it.”
The screen went black. Ms. Steel pressed a button, and it disappeared back into the ceiling as the lights came back on.
“Wel,” said Alana, tapping the table with her perfectly manicured nails, “I guess he put the homosexual agenda ahead of his own family right until the end, didn’t he?”
Even her husband looked shocked by the bluntness of Alana’s comment.
The thinner woman (Lori? May?) from the gay youth group wrinkled her nose in disgust and rose from her chair. “Ms. Steel, thank you for arranging for us to come in today. Unfortunately,” she said, looking at Alana Harrington, “I’m afraid the air in here has gotten quite fetid.”
Her companion stood, too. She looked genuinely grief-stricken. “I’m s-s-s-sorry about your father,” she said shyly to the Harrington boys. “Your father-in-law, too,” she added to Alana. “I…” she began, and then dissolved into heavy sobs. Her companion led her from the room.
Alana watched the two women leave.
“Wel,” she said, “at least we don’t have to deal with any more dykes.”
Tamela Steel’s glare was withering. “Not. Quite.”
“Oh,” Alana said.
“What does ‘fetid’ mean?” Freddy asked.
I gave Ms. Steel credit-she managed to conclude the meeting without throwing Alana Harrington out the window. She explained that we would al be receiving notices through registered mail that explained how much we each stood to inherit, and that we would be issued checks when the estate passed through probate.
In as professional a manner as possible, she ushered us out of the office, only breaking character to slap Freddy on the ass once the Harringtons cleared the hal way. “You stick with that boy,” she said, motioning towards me. “Al en Harrington was a great man. Any companion of his is bound to be a good catch.”
“We’re just friends,” Freddy said.
Ms. Steel looked at us. “Oh, is that the story? Wel, I like a good story, too.”
I wasn’t quite sure I knew what she meant, but she was heading back into her office and I never got the chance to ask.
Freddy and I were anxious to talk, but when we reached the elevator, Paul and Alana Harrington were waiting there. Michael was nowhere to be seen.
“Wel, wel, wel,” Alana tril ed. “If it isn’t the boy toy and his dusky boyfriend.”
“‘Dusky?’” Freddy asked me. “What is this, Mandingo?”
Paul put a limp arm around his wife. “Just ignore them, darling. I would never have brought you if I had known you’d have to associate with whores.”
“Hey,” Freddy said, “I’m not a whore!”
I looked at Paul, then at Alana. He might be good looking, but there was no way he was man enough for a shark like her. Unless he had a twelve-inch dick, there was no way she married him for anything but his money. “Speaking of whores,” I said to her,
“what was it that brought you two crazy kids together?”
Alana’s eyes narrowed and her already thin lips curled under. The veins in her neck stretched taught as guitar strings. “You trash,” she hissed at me. “How dare you talk to me that way? Do you have any idea what I do to boys like you?”
I could tel that Alana was used to her imperial manner intimidating folk, but I’m a little gay guy who’s faced bul ies since junior high. This bitch had no idea who she was dealing with.