"What do you mean you have no white peaches?" Henri asks the owner of the market stall where he's been browsing for the past five minutes, turning away in disgust at the selection on offer.
"He even does the shopping!" Michael's sarcasm is palpable as he tweaks Gus's little hat and smiles at the boy being held by his usurper of a father.
Henri glances behind and starts wandering the aisles of the farmers market when he sees Michael, "Oh look who's 'ere Gus, your sperm donor! I thought you had a job."
"It's called a lunch break!" Michael pops a grape into his mouth from the brown paper bag in his hand and chews slowly, following Gus and Henri.
"Uh huh," Henri picks up a mushroom to inspect it. "You know you shouldn't put things in your mouth that aren't washed..."
"You French, so hygienic! I'll take my chances."
"As you wish, you take the risk."
Michael pops another grape into his mouth. "You know," he muses out loud, "You're taking quite a risk yourself. If someone wanted to, they could report you..."
Henri looks him in the eye. "Yes," he acknowledges, "There could be trouble for me, I could be sent back to France.
Michael nods knowingly.
"But..." Henri continues, "It would be far worse for Geordie. She could be sent to jail which is not exactly the Cote D'Azur."
Michael nearly swallows his grape whole, "You know you really shouldn't be doing this."
"Oh I tried stopping her, but you know Geordie. She won't hear of it. You know what a big heart she has. What do you think?" Henri shows Michael a particularly large zucchini.
"Is it for dinner or for you?"
"Ha, ha, ha," Henri looks at him witheringly before turning back to the vegetables. Michael puts his bag of grapes down, suddenly he's no longer hungry.
"Come here sonny boy!" Michael holds his hands out for Gus, but Henri turns him away.
"No, no, no, I have to get home to start the ratatouille."
Michael's having none of it, "Fuck your ratatouille. Give me my kid or I'll shove that zucchini up your arse!"
"Just for a minute then..." Henri conceeds Gus to Michael reluctantly, adding sarcastically, "I wish I 'ad a picture to capture this rare moment!"
Michael ignores him, concentrating on Gus but Henri just carries on talking.
"You know, when Geordie and I are married, we'll need you to keep your distance. We have to think about appearances. I'm even thinking of adopting Gus, that way everything would be nice and legal."
Michael breathes out slowly, thankful that Henri is behind his back otherwise he probably would have punched him by now. His mind whirs, where would that leave him, and where would it leave Maddie? He'll always be Gus's biological father, no-one can take that away from him, but Maddie? She'd be nowhere.
"Alors, we need to go," Henri reaches for Gus, taking him out of Michael's arms leaving him standing in the vegetable aisle.
~~~
"Hey hey! Ho ho! Homophobia's got to go! Hey hey! Ho ho! Homophobia's got to go!" the crowd chants, standing on the steps outside Luke's school, placards waving that declare homophobia has to stay out of school and other slogans to that affect.
Luke joins in, dressed not in his school uniform, but rather in jeans and a silver jacket. Chloe stands next to him, also in her normal clothes, as she enthusiastically waves a banner above her head. Joy leads the chanting, the group mainly made up of her P-Flag parents with some students mixed in too.
YOU ARE READING
Queer as Muke
Fiksi Penggemar"The thing you need to know is, it's all about sex. It's true. In fact they say men think about sex every twenty-eight seconds. Of course that's straight men. With gay men it's every nine." Twenty nine year old advertising executive Michael Cliffor...
