Pat

The Gay

“Should I go close it?” Pat asked after a few seconds.

“Yes please, then help Joey with her homework. I’m going to freshen up, remove all that negative energy from my body first. Let me know when you’re through so we can have dinner together,”

“Okay babe,” She left to go close the gate and I went upstairs.

I finished taking my shower and lay on the bed. I fell asleep but was woken up with a kiss. I got startled and quickly sat up. Pat laughed so hard.

“Do you think sleeping beauty aka snow white woke up the same way you just did when the prince gave her the kiss of life?”

“Snow white and sleeping beauty, are two different people. Snow white had wing men that helped her get the prince, talk about being friend zoned  and she was poisoned by her stepmom while sleeping beauty on the other hand got cursed because her parents didn’t invite the local witch to her christening party,”

“That right there is why I love you. That fucked up mind of yours is always a turn on,” she leaned over for another kiss.

“Is Joey through with her homework?”

“Yes, she also had her bath. She’s with Tariq downstairs waiting for us,”

“Mom, is it true you and Pat are going to hell because she dresses like a man and you are friends?” Joey asked as we sat down to eat.

“Don’t listen to what your aunt says. Is Pat a bad person just because she dresses differently?” she shook her head, “has she abused you or mistreated you ever?”

“No, she’s been good to us,”

“Then why would she go to hell?”

“I heard you tell Pat that aunt Suzy didn’t want to catch the gay that’s why she didn’t want to shake hands,”

“What’s ‘thege’?” Tariq asked.

“Not ‘thege, it’s ‘the gay’” Joey corrected him. Pat looked at me.

“Some people who choose to be stupid-

“I wouldn’t call it stupid,” Pat said.

“Okay, let’s say they just choose not to learn about things, they think that if someone is different or does something different from them it’ll rub off on them so they don’t even let them touch them,”

“Is that why she refused to shake hands with Pat? Is being gay bad?”

“Some people say it is but it’s how someone was created,”

“For example, in your class, you are good at English and love everything drama but you don’t like math and sports but someone else loves sports and math but they don’t like English and drama, does that make you or them a bad person?”

“No, that’s how they were created. Teacher Rehema told us everyone is different and it’s our differences that make us unique and she also said we should love being different,”

“And she was right, as long as your difference isn’t putting you or anyone else in harm’s way or hurting anyone, embrace it,”

“How can our differences hurt other people?” Joey had a question for every answer. I often got tired of answering them but Pat answered all of them even the most ridiculous ones.

“Well, someone that likes to hit other people or abuse them is different but what they are doing hurts other people,”

“Like John, he likes to hit other people, Teacher Rehema told us that he’s differently abled and takes medication. That if he hits us we shouldn’t hit him back but report him because he doesn’t understand what he’s doing most of the time,”

“I should meet this teacher Rehema of yours. She sounds like a modern day Jesus,” Pat said and I looked at her. “Nothing like that babe,”

“Enough talking, let’s have a quiet dinner now,”

“What’s the gay?” Tariq asked again.

“Oh baby, I’m sorry we didn’t answer your question,” I said.

“Gay is when a boy loves a boy and a girl loves a girl,” Joey said before taking a bite of her pizza.

“I’m gay,” he said and I almost choked on my fry but I spit it out.

“What makes you say that baby?”

“Because I love daddy and Chance and they are boys,”

“You can’t be gay,” Joey said

“and why not?”

“Because only big people are gay like Pat,” 

“That is a topic for another day,” even Pat didn’t argue with me on that.

After dinner, I gave Tariq his bath before tucking them in bed. I went and found Pat already in bed scrolling through her phone. I changed into my nightgown and she put her phone away when I got in bed.

“Having dinner with the three of you is the epitome of my day,” she said putting her hands across my belly, “There’s never a dull moment around that table. I wish I could do it every day,” she said giving me a kiss on my arm.

“And I wish I could have you holding me like this every night. I always feel safe and wanted in your arms. It’s like nothing else exists in this world when I’m in your arms, just you and the love I feel from and for you,”

“What’s stopping you?”

“For the sake of my kids, I have to keep you a secret. The society isn’t kind to a widow that finds love in the arms of another woman,”

“What if I start wearing femininely then I could move in with you as a friend and no one would be suspicious,”

“Don’t change yourself, not for me or for anyone else only for you. Don’t get uncomfortable just to please me or others. Do it because you want to not because you have to. I love you the way you are and I’ll accept you in any form you come in,”

“How the fuck am I supposed to ever stop loving you woman when you say such things to me?” she asked coming on top of me.

“Maybe you’ll find some young thing and she’ll show you new lesbian sex styles and you’ll leave,”

“I don’t mind learning new lesbian sex styles but leaving you, never,”

“Don’t even joke like that, third time’s the charm. If you cheat on me for the third time that would be it for us,”

“Technically there was never a second time, Bunny was the only time... but don’t worry, there won’t be a second or a third. I might be slow sometimes but I know it when I have it good and right now, I have it great,” she leaned in and gave me a kiss.

“You have the tastiest lips,”

“I could say the same thing about you,” she gave me another kiss, “Babe,”

“Yes love,”

“If it becomes too much for you here, just let me know. I can arrange for the five of us to move to Australia or Houston,”

“If it becomes too much, you won’t even have to ask, I’ll just get the kids’ passports and tell you to get us the visas,”

“That’s my baby,”

Pat spent so much time at my place it came to Sonia’s attention. She made such a fuss about it and even asked Pat to choose between me and her.

We were hanging out at her place along with Max and Halima when the drama unfolded. Pat took her outside. We never knew what she said to her but she came back alone and we never saw Sonia again.