Jimbo - 10. School Bells Redux

I left home early on Wednesday morning knowing that I couldn’t be late for all of my 8 a.m. classes. Plus, I never knew what the traffic was going to be like on the Peninsula. I had to listen to morning radio to find out if the traffic was going to be dreadful both morning and afternoon. It was not going to be predictable. This morning, I was actually very early and decided to grab a cup of coffee in the student union. I was taking my first sip while looking at the student bulletin boards. They were covered with information on upcoming events. I saw a poster for the LGBT campus group and that they were having a cook out and social on Saturday evening. I smiled and thought that was a way to get to meet other guys on campus. We really didn’t have any friends and this might be the perfect opportunity to start building a network of peers our own age. At that moment I looked at the wall clock and realized I was going to be late for my class. I dropped the coffee cup into a garbage container and started sprinting for class. I slid into a seat just as the teacher called my name. Thank God, my last name started with a W. English 101. I groaned because I would read stories and try to write essays and all of my thoughts were just jumbled words. I was a better speaker than writer. The instructor passed out a syllabus for the course and I saw that a paper was due on Friday. This certainly wasn’t high school. The rest of the morning went okay with history, psychology and math courses. I spent the afternoon in the library working on my English essay. I felt really pleased with my progress. I drove the Wrangler into the driveway just at dinner time.

I walked in the door and encountered a very unhappy Mason. It seemed that day one had bled into day two. He slumped at the dinner table and said he had no appetite.

“Mason, darling, love of my life, talk to me.”

“I hate it.”

“Can you give me more information?”

“I hate it.”

“I get that. Did someone do something specific?”

“I hate it.”

My breath shuddered. Black had been looking back and forth between us as we spoke. It was like a ping pong game.

“Okay, what would make you happy?”

Mason sat upright and looked me in the eyes.

“Get me out of that school. I can get my GED and then start college.”

“I think we should talk with your parents before taking such a drastic action.”

“You’re just like them. I thought you were my partner but you are just like my parents and I don’t need another parent. You asked me what I wanted and I when told you, I was immediately shot down. I want to go to William and Mary with you. I can do college level work. I have the highest GPA of anyone in my school. I am a fucking genius or so I am told. Of course, some people think I am just stupid. You did call me an idiot at camp this summer; even you think I am dumb. All anyone wants to do is hold me back instead of helping me move forward. I fucking hate you and I hate the school.” He stood up threw his napkin on the table and walked out. I then heard the bedroom door slam.

“Why did I say yes to this?” It was a rhetorical question and Black knew to keep his mouth shut. I wanted to be a turtle in working through this problem but Mason was like a hare moving at full speed. A call to Paris was in order.

I went into the office and closed the door. I gathered my thoughts before dialing the number. It was midnight in Paris but this couldn’t be helped. Mr. Jenner answered the phone and after I told him the situation he blew up. Not at me but at this ongoing drama from Mason about school. I had made a major mistake calling. Mrs. Jenner got on the phone and inquired after my health. After giving her an update, she reminded me that I had medical appointments on Friday. Shit. I had an English paper due and I wouldn’t be at school. We then had a reasoned conversation about Mason and his problems at school. She told me that they had decided not to pursue what Mason wanted because she had concerns about his emotional intelligence and they were concerned that he wouldn’t fit into college life. I asked if they thought he fit into school life at Norfolk County Day School as this had been an ongoing problem. I heard her sigh. She made a veiled reference to their concerns about sending Mason off to college when they weren’t sure of their own future. We talked through the pros and cons of making a drastic change during the first week of school. He could take the GED at any time but the semester had already started at colleges. No college would let him in. Perhaps a community college was the answer but I realized that Mason would be just as unhappy there. Judy then said that she and Herbert were very busy with their work and that they appointed me to make all decisions. She said it might sound cold and callous but she knew I would do the right thing. That put an end to the call. I sat alone shaking my head and wondering if all parents were totally fucked up.

It was time to call Mr. Cohen. I promised Judy (as she asked me to call her) that I would call back over the weekend to give her an update after I made my decision. I hung up the phone and just sat at the desk. I called Mr. Cohen and told him what I wanted to happen. He pushed back, I pushed forward. He then asked if I was absolutely sure and I confirmed what I had just told him. He promised to call me back on Thursday night with an update.

Now I had to face the real test. Mason had told me at dinner that he hated me. He said he didn’t want another parent though he was a minor and I was his guardian. I had the authority to make decisions of his behalf, whether he liked them or not, but I didn’t live my life that way. Would every difficult situation with him result in a stand-off? We both needed to look toward the same goal and the pathway to get us there. I could not tolerate fighting about everything. After a huge sigh, I got up from the desk and walked into the kitchen. Black asked if we were going to have dessert. I nodded my head in the affirmative and told him to give me fifteen minutes.

I went to the bedroom and knocked on the door. It was my bedroom also so I could have just walked in but I wanted to respect that Mason had chosen it as his place of refuge and I needed for him to invite me into his space.

He was sitting on the bed, head hanging down and used tissues at his side. Without looking up he told me he was sorry but by the end of each school day he was at wit’s end because he was so beaten down and unfortunately had taken his anger out on me. He looked up, tears running down his face, and said, “Jimbo, I swear on all that is holy, I cannot do this anymore. Please relieve me of this pain. I beg you. Help me, please.”

I was stunned. This problem had existed for years at school and his parents, particularly his father, hadn’t found a pathway out of this agony for their son. I sat on the bed, took his hands in mine and told him of my plan. He was ebullient. I cautioned that it depended on whether Mr. Cohen could make the pieces of the puzzle fit. I don’t think he heard that warning as he was climbing on me, telling me that I was the greatest person ever, that I was the best lover in the world and that I was smartest man alive. His superlatives were untrue but I did not dissuade him from continuing. He was being a teenager.

We walked into the kitchen for dessert and Black asked me if I needed to tell him anything. I laughed and said that I was the greatest person alive, that I was the smartest person in the house AND I was the best lover ever.

“Top that, Black!”

“I am not going to try. Again, is there anything you need to tell me?”

“Actually, there is. Mason is going to school with me tomorrow and since I have medical appointments all day Friday, I want him there to support me. I will write a note for the school and would like for you to deliver it in the morning.”

Black said nothing as we ate our peach pie and vanilla ice cream.

On Thursday morning, I awoke at 3 a.m. and went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. As soon as it was ready, I went to the office to rewrite my paper for Dr. Antonucci. It was an autobiography of my life over the past month. It was my truth. I finished just at Black and Mason got up for breakfast.

Mason put on a W&M tee shirt, shorts and sneakers to wear on campus. I liked the look and decided that we would be matching book ends. As we were crossing the James River, he asked if he could attend Dr. Antonucci’s class. I said yes if the professor agreed. We arrived early and had a leisurely walk across campus. He was holding my hand and looking at the other students who were half asleep stumbling to their first class of the day. He looked like a college freshman. He was well received by Dr. Antonucci and he sat beside me. He was immediately spell bound by the lecture topic for the day and asked several cogent questions. I could see Dr. Antonucci smile each time Mason would ask a question, then a clarifying question and then a challenge to what had been said. At the end of class, we turned in our papers and we left for coffee with Gino.

I spent the rest of the morning in classes while Mason explored several of the museums associated with Colonial Williamsburg. We met for lunch and then I said I needed library time to finish my English essay. He decided to accompany me and promised not to interfere. Ha! He read what I had written and gave me a look that let me know it was not up to his standards. He then helped me outline my paper, suggested language changes that would be more meaningful and reviewed it one last time before I took it to my instructor. It was my work with a healthy dose of Mason woven into the essay. Mason was a great tutor. Luckily, the instructor was there and I explained that I had medical appointments the next day and wanted to give him the paper so it wouldn’t be late. He smiled and said most students would have arrived on Monday with a note from the doctor’s office and then would hand in the paper. That would have given them the weekend to complete it. I had scored Brownie points with him. I went to see my other instructors to tell them I would not be in their classes the next day. They were all so grateful that I was letting them know ahead of time.

We left campus and decided to head home early. I was exhausted both physically and mentally. Mason was bouncing around in his seat.

“See Jimbo, if I had my driver’s license, I could drive us home while you took a nap. Doesn’t that make sense. I think I came up with the perfect rationale of why I should have my license.”

I didn’t say anything. I knew that he was ten steps ahead of me and I didn’t want another battle. He finally settled down and was quiet the rest of the way home. When I pulled into the driveway, I noticed that he had fallen asleep. That was remarkable because Wranglers were not known for being quiet vehicles. Especially when the top was down.

Mason was quite happy at dinner. I asked Black if there was anything I should know. He said that he didn’t of know anything other than a large package had arrived with certificates for me being the smartest, greatest and sexiest person alive. We all laughed. I told him that I wanted them framed and hung in the foyer.

The call with Mr. Cohen was not the slam-dunk I had hoped for. There were significant complications but he was working on it. He hoped to have an answer by Sunday. I thanked him for his work and to continue his endeavors.

“Just to be clear, I want this resolved by Sunday and I expect your staff to accomplish that unless there is some legal reason it cannot be done. Administrative rules hold little sway for me these days. I can count on you to do as I ask, can’t I Mr. Cohen?”

He assured me that it would be taken care of.

I wasn’t sure. Time would tell.

I went to the den where Mason was watching television. He patted the cushion next to where he was sitting and said it was reserved especially for me. He was watching a movie and said I needed to watch it also. When I awoke, my head was in Mason’s lap and his hand was stroking my hair. He looked down and smiled at me.

“Did I miss anything?”

“Nothing important. The movie is ending so we can go to bed in about five minutes.”

I had slept through the entire movie. I didn’t realize how exhausting it was to go to school full time, be supportive of a partner, and try to keep our entire universe in alignment. I thought how easy life would have been at Virginia Tech; agriculture classes, drinking with the guys, and probably joining a fraternity. It gave me pause.