Just Hit 'Send' By Grasshopper

Just Hit 'Send' - The Happy Years by Grasshopper Ch. 9

Easy tapped the papers together a few times and then stapled them before sliding them into the file folder. He sighed, wishing things could, just once, be easy. Gabriel's father was being a total asshole and, try as he might, there wasn't too much Easy could do about it. He was the legal parent, after all. He had the last word.

Gabriel had become very important to Easy, to Val, to everyone in their family. He spent most all of his free time out at the beach, watching out for JD or just talking to whoever was around.

He'd come from an average American home, middleclass parents trying to make ends meet, wishing they had time for their kids, but watching that time slip away. Gabriel's older brother had earned a football scholarship for college and was doing pretty well at the state university. Gabriel had been heading in that direction with baseball when the bottom fell out.

Easy had 'negotiated' with Mr. Parelli for Gabriel's birth certificate, so that the boy could go to high school here. That hadn't been too difficult, since the man didn't want Gabriel in his house.

Gabriel was studying hard and his grades were good. He had a chance of snagging a scholarship for the local campus of UNC, but his father refused to sign the papers. Easy had requested temporary custody, but that had really set the guy off. Easy knew he had to be careful or Mr. Parelli might force Gabriel to leave the center.

The last phone call hadn't been pleasant, with Gabriel's father asking Easy if he was a queer. He assumed that the center was for all the little fags that ran away from good Christian homes and that all the people running it must be homosexuals. It was all Easy could do not to just hang up the phone and drive to the guy's house and punch his ignorant face in. But.... it was Christmas and he didn't want to take any chances with Gabriel's future.

"No, Mr. Parelli, we are not all gay here at the center. Neither are the lost children that we take in. This is a shelter for kids who need food and clothing and a warm, dry place to sleep. Your son happens to fall in to that category. His personal feelings are his own."

"It was his choice to run away. He's on his own. He coulda stayed here."

Easy thought, 'And what a wonderful, loving place that would have been.'

But, he answered, "And you would have accepted that he's gay and helped him to feel good about himself and shown him you care?"

"Shit, no. I'm not having some little faggot living in my house. He coulda stayed and we'da helped him get rid of all that crap."

The phone call had ended with Easy asking the man to at least consider signing the papers about the scholarship. Easy held little hope that he would.

"If he stops this faggy crap and promises to do what's right, I'll think about it," was the only answer he could pry out of Thomas Parelli.

Val stood in the doorway watching Easy battle with his thoughts. She had heard enough of the conversation to know what was troubling him. Walking in quietly, she rubbed his tight shoulders and said softly, "You're doing all you can. Gabriel will be okay. When he's eighteen, we'll find a way to get him a student loan. He'll go to school."

Easy sighed, grabbing Val's small hands and holding them to his chest, "I know, it's just that I hurt when I hear a father say those words because I heard that same tone when I was growing up. I know how it feels to not be worthy."

"You're very worthy," Val smiled. "Look at all the kids you help. The ones you've saved before it was too late for them. Ask Jordan if you are worthy. You saved him too."