Tanner’s dad wasn’t going to get into town till Thanksgiving morning. I had the impression from listening to Tanner that the networks paid ginormous salaries to their on-air talent but also demanded an awful lot of their time. Tanner’s dad was taping segments that would be aired during the Thanksgiving games. Tanner told me they’d wanted him in person, but, for once, he’d put his foot down, and as he was a very popular presence on Giants broadcasts, the network had grudgingly made an allowance. They were letting him off for Thanksgiving, but he had to be back for Sunday’s game. Luckily, the Giants weren’t on the schedule for Thursday’s doubleheader.
So, on Wednesday, we were ready.
After school that day, rather than going to my house, we went to Tanner’s. We walked in, and he took me into the kitchen. Three people were there, and he introduced me to all of them.
“Trip, this is my step-grandfather, my step-grandmother, and my stepmother.” Then, looking at the three of them, he said, “This is Trip, my project partner and the person I’ve been spending all my time with lately.”
Now it was my turn. I’ve already noted my effeminate mannerisms. As I’ve had little chance to view myself, I don’t really know how brazen they are but do know they did become more pronounced in stressful situations and certainly were enough to be part of the reason I was ostracized when I first came out. But as they were just part of me, an unconscious part, it was somewhat difficult for me to emphasize them. Tanner had had me practice certain things and given me pointers—suggestions, really—on how to up the ante, how to dramatize what was needed. That had turned into quite a practice session, and we’d both started laughing so hard it had become another time when we’d both ended up on the bed. A time I’d felt over-the-top horny. A time, looking at his eyes, I could read that he could also want to get involved in some boy/boy activities. But if he had wanted to, he’d been able to control it. We hadn’t done anything, but he’d sure looked like he wanted to.
Anyway, I’d practiced, and now, walking toward the three people in the kitchen I was meeting for the first time, I extended my hand, swished a little, and managed a slight, hopefully coy, lisp.
If Tanner hadn’t worked with me, I don’t think I’d have been able to pull this off. I’d have been too outrageous and probably not very believable. But he had, and I could see them buying my act. I could tell by the way they drew back, the looks of disgust on their faces, and the way none of them would take my offered hand.
“Tanner!” his step-grandmother said, aghast and showing it.
“Tanner, explain this!” his stepmother said. “Why did you bring, this . . . this into our home?!”
“Get him out of here. How dare you!” That was his step-grandfather. “Now!” He was yelling, almost screaming. “And he’s never to come back. And you! You’re forbidden to ever associate with him again!”
“But . . . but, why?” That was me. Looking hurt and confused and moving my hands around like I was batting invisible flies. I didn’t know how to act gay, I only know how to be me, and I thought I was making a mockery of it. I was gay, but acting gay? That was a whole different thing altogether. I wasn’t enjoying this at all. And seeing their reaction, I didn’t have to act hurt. I was. I was being rejected without them knowing me at all.
Tanner’s turn. He stood up taller, facing them, meeting their eyes, defiance showing in his. “Trip’s my friend. My best friend. This is where I live, so it’s my house, too, and I should be able to bring friends here. We’ve been working together, and it isn’t fair I only do that at his house. I’ve decided; we’ll work here sometimes.”
“Absolutely not!” That was his stepmother. “We have standards in this house and bringing queers into it just isn’t going to happen. And you’re grounded. You’ve proved by being with this . . . this . . . this fairy you have no maturity or judgment at all. You need more supervision. So, for you, there’s no more going out anywhere without my knowledge and permission. Go to school and come straight home. No more sports, either. You’ve lost all your privileges, mister.”
“But that isn’t fair,” I said with some emotion in my voice. I wasn’t acting now.
“I decide what’s fair in my house,” the old man said, his face having gone red. He was still yelling at me. “I make the rules here, who can come in and who can’t. And by God, that’s doesn’t include anyone like you, you pervert. Get out! Now!”
I turned to look at Tanner and saw shame on his face. I knew the shame was because I was being treated this way. I couldn’t have loved him more than I did right then.
“Let’s go,” I said and resisted taking his hand to pull him away, even though that had been part of our plan. I decided it wasn’t needed, that his step-grandfather might be further infuriated, and was afraid of how Tanner might react. He didn’t look all that far away from deciding to attack the man physically.
≈ ≈ ≈
Tanner’s dad, Mr. Booth, didn’t get into town until a short time before we were to have our Thanksgiving meal. He came in one of the network’s private jets, and he came directly to our house from the airport. He was a huge man, not only tall but simply immense. He had to weigh well over three hundred pounds but wasn’t fat. Yet, there was nothing menacing about him. He spoke softy, smiled a lot, and his calm, amiable nature seemed to somehow diminish his intimidating size.
Tanner hugged him tightly and for an extended period. I could see the expression on his face; he obviously had deeply missed his dad.
The three of us and my parents had only a brief time to get acquainted before Mom served dinner. The turkey was huge, over twenty pounds, and roasted to a rich, hickory brown. Dad carved, and quickly we were all tucking in. Mom, with Dad’s, my, and Tanner’s help, had created all the traditional sides, so there was a lot of food on the table, food made with lots and lots of love and laughter. Mom had prepared the gravy since she was much better at it than any of the rest of us.
We did our best to reduce the table’s load, and the dinner ended up with us groaning instead of the table.
Mr. Booth, whose name was Justin—which he asked us all to call him—was very gregarious and funny; it was a pleasure to have him dining with us. It wasn’t long before we felt we’d known him forever. He had a lot of stories, really funny ones, about playing football, about men with names we’d all heard, and then about learning the ins and outs of broadcasting. He told us about how what looked so polished and well-put-together on the screen was such a mess behind it.
After the pumpkin pie, we all retired to the living room and continued chatting. I kept glancing at Tanner and saw he was beginning to stress. He knew what was ahead and was growing more and more nervous. I took pity on him.
“Mom, Dad. Tanner and I have some serious things to talk about with Mr. Booth. We want to do that upstairs. So if you don’t mind, and if you don’t mind, Mr. Booth, we’d like to do that now.”
There were no objections, so the three of us headed upstairs while my parents took care of the dishes.
Tanner and I had known we’d have to wait till after dinner to talk turkey with Mr. Booth. (Hey, it was Thanksgiving and I had turkey on my mind. Jeez! Cut me some slack here!) Mr. Booth had told me to call him Justin, but I just couldn’t.
We were almost too full to make it up to my bedroom, but that’s where we wanted to talk, and that’s where we went.
I’d brought another chair to the room earlier so we’d all have a place to sit. I knew Tanner would want the bed as usual, but I managed to get him into one of the chairs and I took the other, leaving the bed for Mr. Booth. That seemed safer for a 300-plus-pound man.
We’d decided in advance that Tanner should take the lead. We’d actually decided pretty much everything in advance. “Dad,” he said, “we have a lot to talk about. I’m very sorry I never let on how bad things were here. You can blame me for that. I knew you loved, uh, her, and I didn’t want to get in the middle of that. So, I didn’t say what maybe I should have said. But we’ll get to that. First, we want you to see what we’ve been doing since the first day of school, how we first were put together as partners and why we’ve spent so much time together since then.”
That was my cue. It would have been easy to let Tanner do all the talking, but Tanner wanted his dad to get to know me a little. I didn’t know why, but that was part of Tanner’s plan, so I’d been given things to talk about.
“We had an assignment in World History. We were to learn all the European countries.” I told him all about the project and how our partnerships were assigned by our teacher. I told him how much work was involved, and I showed him the map we’d assembled with all the information on it. I told him that working on the assignment was why, except for when Tanner had practices and games, he spent most of his free time with me. Because of that, we’d become fast friends. Best friends.
That, of course, invited a question from Mr. Booth. “You guys never worked at Tanner’s house?”
Tanner answered. “I thought it best if we didn’t. You’ll know why shortly.”
I started in again so there’d be no more questions. We had this planned out and it was best this way. “As I said, we’ve become very good friends. You should be very proud of your son. Because of him, my life has changed for the better. You can see, everyone can, that I have effeminate mannerisms. From the first, it was really hard at school for me. I was shunned there after I’d come out as gay. I was bullied and isolated, and it got so I hated going to school. Then, Tanner made the fact I’m gay no longer an issue. He did that simply by being my friend, accepting me. He’s done so much for me and my self-esteem.
“Now, I’m no longer bullied or isolated; I like school again. I have friends again, and because of him I’m on the school newspaper writing a column. It’s called Growing Pains. I’m very happy now, and this has all happened because of your son.”
Mr. Booth had been smiling as I’d been spilling this out. Now he said, “Well, I’m glad to hear that but not surprised. I am proud of Tanner, always have been. And it’s no surprise he’d take up for and support a gay kid who was being treated badly. I’ve been the same way all my life, supporting people who need support for whatever reason, and I tried to instill that in Tanner. People helping people has to be what life’s about.
“I played football with a lot of black guys who’d been treated unspeakably badly in their youth. They didn’t need help playing football, but in most other facets of their lives, they didn’t have the experience or role models needed to deal with what they faced. Just having and handling money was an issue; you have no idea. Anyway, I jumped in when I could. Prejudice and injustice have always made me mad, and Tanner and I talked about it a lot. I even knew some gay people, not a lot as they usually don’t feel welcome in a pro football environment, but there were a couple of players and some people on the admin side of the team I was on when I retired. I can’t stand unfair treatment. You’re telling me Tanner can’t, either. Again, no surprise. And I am proud.”
Tanner’s turn. He gave me a quick glance, and I nodded. “Dad,” he said, “I feel strongly about what you just said, and that’s the main cause of the problems I’ve been having here. Rather than tell you about it, you should just see this.”
Tanner had used his phone to take a video of what had happened the day before at his house. He hadn’t let on he was doing it, but, well, I guess you don’t have to be gay to be devious. We’d gone there expecting what had transpired. It had been more vicious than I’d thought, but we expected something, and Tanner had been ready when I’d offered to shake hands with everyone. He recorded everything on his cellphone till we left. Afterward, at my house, we’d transferred the video to my computer, knowing it would be more dramatic on a larger screen.
Mr. Booth got up from his chair and came over to watch the screen, and I booted it up. When the video was finished, Mr. Booth looked stunned.
“I’ve been dealing with this since you left, Dad. It’s gotten worse with time. Her parents are about as nasty as anyone could be, and they keep filling, uh, her head with it. I can’t even talk to her anymore. I get too mad. Anyway, I’m not supposed to be with Trip any longer. You just saw that. We’re still memorizing what we need for our upcoming test in World History, and besides that, Trip’s my best friend. And I love his parents and spending time here. We haven’t had a chance to show you around yet, but, well, we’ll do that soon. In the meantime, I’m only here today because I sneaked away. I’m supposed to only go where she approves of me going. Today, I was supposed to go to dinner with them. I don’t know what’ll happen when I go back tonight. I know it won’t be pretty.”
Mr. Booth shook his head. “You don’t have to do that. I’m supposed to fly back to New York tonight. You can come with me.”
Tanner looked at me before answering, then turned to his father. “What I’d like from you, Dad, is permission to stay here at least until the school semester is over. By here, I mean this house. And maybe next semester, too. Mr. and Mrs. Schroder have told me they’d love to have me here. They say Trip’s happier now than he’s been in years and that I’m the reason for that and that I’m good for them as well because I keep him out of their hair. They like teasing me. And him. But there’s plenty of room for me here. What I want is your permission to stay here—not go back to living with her and them.”