Shadow of my Father - 47. Chapter 47

The guys and Bernice discussed the possibility on seeing Patrick on Saturday. The more and more they talked about, the more excited they got. Josh started to worry that maybe they were going to get their hopes up and Mr. Quane will call him to inform that they couldn’t go due to Patrick having a set back or really not being ready. If that call would come in, Josh knew how it would bother him to blow his friends good moods.

“Hey guys, we can’t talk like this because I still haven’t got the call from Mr. Quane. I don’t want you guys to get your hopes up and then I come in here tomorrow or call you on Saturday morning to tell you it is a no-go. We all need to settle down and hope that doesn’t happen, but prepared just in case.”

Reluctantly everyone agreed with Josh, but didn’t drop the subject. They just emphasized at the end of every sentence if things don’t change. Josh sat back and just listened to his friends talk. He saw light in their eyes that had been missing since the shooting. It looked like Elizabeth almost killed the spirit of everyone here at the table.

As Josh took at his friends, he saw Chris looking towards the entrance of the cafeteria. All of a sudden Chris’ facial expression changed form happiness to fear, as if he is seeing a ghost. Josh turned around to see what Chris is looking at. Just as he turned, Russ and the security detail went into action.

Before Chris’ dad could take two steps into the cafeteria, Russ’s detail had him and were dragging him out. The students that were at the tables close to the door jumped up on their chairs and started rooting and yelling as they saw Russ and his men drag away Chris’ dad. That caused everyone else that didn’t know what was going on to look over at them and ask why they are making so much noise.

When Josh looked over to Chris, he saw his friends face gripped in fear. “Chris, Chris, hey Chris, listen to me…” Josh started to snap his fingers. Finally Chris looked into Josh’s eyes. “You don’t have anything to worry about. Russ and his guys got him before he could even step into the lunch room. So don’t worry, you are safe believe it or not.”

Eric, Bernice and the others looked just listened to Josh. They were so into their conversation, they didn’t even see what Josh and Chris saw. It took Josh’s detail to spring into action before they knew what was going on. By then, they didn’t see Chris’ dad because their fellow students at the tables near the door were already up on their seats.

“Josh I don’t understand how he is even out of jail. I thought he was locked up and wouldn’t be out for a very long time. It hasn’t even been a year since the last time he caused problems for me. How is he out of jail Josh, how?” Chris started to yell towards the end.

Josh looked at his friend unable to come up with an answer to his question. He also thought that Chris’ father was going to be locked up for a long time, but here he is. The guy is not only out, but he is over here making trouble for his son at school. How did he think he was going to get to Chris while he was at school with all the security Josh started to wonder as he tried to come up with an answer for Chris.

As Josh sat there thinking, several members of Josh’s brothers’ security detailed arrived, followed by Lloyd. When Russ and several other members of his detail pulled Chris’ father out of the cafeteria, it left only two agents; way below the amount of agents the Governor wanted around his sons at all times.

When Lloyd got over to the table, he checked with Josh to see if he was okay. Once Lloyd was satisfied that Josh and his friends were fine, he placed the other men in position before heading out of the cafeteria. All through this, Josh felt everyone’s eye in the cafeteria was looking at him, which made him uncomfortable.

“Good job Russ! That’s the way it is done! The threat didn’t get anywhere near Josh and I am pleased. I am sure the Governor will be pleased as well.” Lloyd patted Russ on the shoulder as he looked over to Chris’ dad in handcuffs. “I thought this threat was in jail and was going to be there for a very long time.”

“I thought so too. So believe me when a say I was surprised to hear from my agents at the door he was walking down the hallway. I told them to take action if he enters the cafeteria. I would rather take the action and be wrong about this guy, especially about this guy since he loves to beat on his son.”

Lloyd agreed with Russ as he walked over to Chris’ father. “Sir how did you get out of jail and why are you here at this school?”

Chris’ dad looked up at Lloyd and smiled. “I don’t have to answer any of your questions and you know that. But I will answer your last part since it isn’t any secret. My faggot son goes to this school and I was just here to pick him up. I have enrolled him into a private school for troubled youth. Me being his father I have the right to do so.”

“You lost those rights the day the state took your son from you for beating him and almost killing him. You don’t have to answer my questions, but I will get my answers. You were warned to stay away from you son. I know for sure the court order that has been in place that says you must stay at least a hundred feet away from your son has not been lifted.

Plus you should have known not to come into this school where the Governor’s son attends. No sane person in your shoes would have ever thought they would have gotten away with what you were planning, forcefully removing your son. So that is telling me you have a few bolts loose in your head.”

Lloyd walked back over to Russ to see if he heard anything on why or how Mr. Jimenez got out of jail. Russ hung up the phone and informed Lloyd that he was granted bail while his case was on appeal. Neither of them could understand why that was granted. But it didn’t matter anymore because he broke the law when he tried to take his son.

Just then the police arrived to take Mr. Jimenez into custody. Russ ordered the rest of his agents to catch up with Josh. There was no need for them to be here and Lloyd agreed. As the men left, the police took Russ’ statement on what happened. When they finished taking the statement, several suits arrived and called the officers over.

The officers briefed the detectives on what happened. They then gave them the statements they had already gathered before standing off to the side. The detectives went over the officers’ notes. When they finished, they walked up to Russ and Lloyd and asked them to take the handcuffs off of Mr. Jimenez.

“Excuse me; this guy is a threat to his son. Put that aside, he is a threat to the Governor’s son and that alone warrants his arrest. He walked into this school after being told he is not allowed around the Governor’s son or family. That isn’t part of the court order of a hundred feet, he just isn’t allowed around the Governor’s family;” Lloyd said almost yelling to get them to do their job!

“Sorry sir, your agents reacted too soon. They should have allowed Mr. Jimenez to break the one hundred feet court order. Along as he doesn’t do that, he can be around his son and friends. You guys don’t have the right or the power to over step the judgments of our local or state laws.”

Lloyd couldn’t believe what he was hearing. No wonder Jonathan couldn’t do anything with the threats from Elizabeth, the local police tied his hands. There is no way he is going to let them tie his though. Because of the police not wanting to do their job, two people died a month ago and left many lives shattered.

“Fine if you don’t want to do your jobs, I will find someone else that will. There is no way I am going to have someone die because you guys tie my hands. Your ridiculous rules had a high price a month ago when two teenagers were killed. Don’t you see that or are you hoping for something like that to happen again?”

The detectives took offense to what Lloyd just said. They demanded him to remove the handcuffs off of Mr. Jimenez, and Lloyd refused to do so again. He leaned over and told Russ to call the state police and see if they could send units down. He doesn’t know if the state police can do much for him, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

The detectives moved toward Mr. Jimenez and Lloyd stopped them. “You touch the person I have in custody and I will put you in custody.” The detectives looked at Lloyd and moved back. They got on the radio to their dispatch. Lloyd heard them asking for more units to be sent to their location.

He pulled Mr. Jimenez up and walked him over to the principal’s office. He wanted to get Mr. Jimenez out of the way before the first bell rang. Plus he wanted Mr. Jimenez near him while he makes a call to the Governor. Lloyd hoped that the Governor could pull some kind of rank or something here.

Just as Lloyd got off the phone, the detectives walked in with six uniformed police officers. He couldn’t help but chuckle that the detectives called in so many officers. Not once, at least in his mind, did he get unruly with them. He just demanded them to do their jobs, which they were refusing to do.

“Sir, would you please to step to the middle of the room, un-holster your gun and place it on the ground. Then drop to your knees and interlock you fingers behind you head. When I come around, don’t resist as I place you under arrest.”

“Sorry detective you won’t do any such thing.” The detectives and the officers looked to the door to see several state troopers. “We have been called in by the Governor to do your job. That is something we don’t like to do since city matters are for you to deal with. But whenever the Governor says jump, we do.”

“You have no jurisdiction here. So if you don’t want to get in trouble, you will leave it up to us to handle this problem.” The detective that was placing Lloyd under arrest walked over to the state police.

“Are we actually going to have this battle on whose jurisdiction this is? Because if we are, you are going to lose due to the fact you refused to arrest the guy. We are going to arrest him and put him before state judge, not a district judge. He is a threat to the Governor’s family and he was warned not to get anywhere near them.

He came into the building and was seen as a threat to the Governor’s son when he walked into the cafeteria.” The state trooper looked over to Russ. “When you saw the guy in question, was he heading over to the Governor’s family? Also did he look threatening as if he was going to do harm to the Governor’s son?”

“Yes sir when I saw him enter the cafeteria, it was obvious that he was walking towards the Governor’s son’s table. He had a look of a man on a mission to do harm. Since he is on our watch list, we didn’t let him get anywhere near the Governor’s son. We weren’t about to have another incident like we had four weeks ago happen again.”

The detective stepped forward and pulled out his notes. “Wait a minute here you stated to us that you knew he was coming after his son, not the Governor’s son. So that doesn’t fall in your jurisdiction, but ours. And since he didn’t break the one hundred feet line when they took Mr. Jimenez into custody, we can’t arrest him.”

“Sir, where was the guy’s son sitting?” The state trooper asked quickly.

“He was sitting across from the Governor’s son at the same table. Therefore he was still a threat to the Governor’s son since the two were sitting so close together. There is no way we could have let him through even if we knew he was only here for his son. So many things could have gone wrong from a gun being pulled out to a knife.”

The state trooper walked over to Mr. Jimenez and pulled him up. He started to read Mr. Jimenez his rights as the detective objected. As he handed Chris’ dad to his partner to place in their car, the detective ordered the officers to take custody of Mr. Jimenez. Lloyd couldn’t believe what was unfolding before his eyes.

It looked like there was going to be a stand off between the local police and the state troopers. Lloyd knows if the detective gets what he wants, he will let Mr. Jimenez go. That is something he can’t let happen since the guy is a threat to Josh. With what Lloyd knows about Mr. Jimenez’s past, he will try again to get to his son resulting in Josh being in danger and once again he can’t have that happen.

Just then several older gentlemen walked in dressed in suits. Right away Lloyd knew that they were important with the way the officers and the detectives reacted; they went to attention. They went up to the detectives and talked with them for a few minutes. Then he turned a looked around the room.

“This room has way too many officers for my taste.” The guy smiled wryly. “To those who don’t know who I am, I am the Chief of Police. I got a call from the Governor and let me say he wasn’t too happy. Now I am not at all happy since I had to cancel my morning meetings to come over here and act like a hall monitor.”

The Chief of Police turned to his personnel and spoke. “I don’t care if you are called down here to take into custody a person that just looked wrong at the Governor’s family, you WILL do your damn jobs and arrest them! Let the courts and attorneys sort it all out. That isn’t our job. Do I make myself clear on this?” The officers and detectives meekly nodded their heads in the affirmative.

“Ever since the Governor was sworn in and his family stayed here, we knew we had our work cut out for us. We promised the Governor we can handle it. Then he gets a call from his security men here letting him know that not only do we refuse to do our jobs, but you want to arrest one of his men!” The Chief of Police turned around and pointed at his butt. “Do you see that I have no ass left? The Governor chewed me out for what is going on here. Let me tell you I don’t like those kinds of calls!

So this is what you are going to do now and from now on. You will get your heads pulled out of your collective asses do your damn job and stop trying to find loopholes.” He turned to the state troopers. “Are you guys going to take custody of the individual or do you want us to? I promise you if we do take custody of him, we will arrest him and put him in front of a judge.”

“No sir, we are going to take custody of him since your guys made it clear he would more than likely walk out a free man today. This way we can book him in state court, have his bail revoked and he will be sitting in jail until his court date.”

The Chief of Police took the state trooper to the side and talked out of ear shot from everyone. When they were done, the state trooper handed over Mr. Jimenez to the local police. He later explained to Lloyd that he has to recognize the local authority. He was also told several other things, but he couldn’t repeat them. That got Lloyd angry, but he knew he wasn’t going to get any answers from the state trooper.

He told Russ to head back to Josh while he stays here and cleans up this mess. After the police had left, Lloyd walked to the room the principal gave them as their office. He sat down at his desk and called Rich. He informed him what happened. After he finished, Rich had the same reaction as Lloyd; pissed off!

“What do you think is going on here Lloyd? I can find out, but I am wondering what you think is going on.” Lloyd told Rich he had no idea before being put on hold. He stayed on hold for over thirty minutes, but the got a surprise when Rich got back on the line.

“Well Rich you aren’t going to believe what I found out. Chris’ father turned into a jailhouse snitch. He over heard several conversations while he was locked up. He reported some of what he heard to his attorneys. They in return gave the information to the police. The police checked it out and found it to be true.

But they needed all the information that Mr. Jimenez heard which he wasn’t going to give without a deal. The deal was blanket immunity on all his past crimes. In order to make him look good for the jury when the case goes to trial, the district attorney and local police went around cleaning up his messes. They make it look like it never happened.”

“So no matter what, that guy can keep making trouble and there is nothing we can do about it?” Lloyd said angrily into the phone. “That is really leaving me with no other choice here. In order to keep Josh safe, he can’t be friends with Chris. You know how much that is going to affect me here doing my job?”

“The Governor doesn’t want you to move on removing Chris from the group just yet. If Chris’ dad comes around again, keep doing what you did this morning. If he comes in a threatening manner, well you know what you need to do there. Do this until I can get the local police and district attorney to see it isn’t in their best interest protecting this guy. Once I do that, Mr. Jimenez will be out of your hair.”

Lloyd didn’t like this one bit. Although he wasn’t around when the Elizabeth issue was going on, he feels like this is his Elizabeth horror. It is really starting to sound to Lloyd the only way out of this is Mr. Jimenez doing something as dumb as Elizabeth. In return he will end up dead and maybe other innocent by standers like Frank.

The rest of the day, check that, the rest of the week, the only thing being talked about by every student is what had happened on Thursday morning during breakfast. To make matters worse, everything that happened in the principal’s office got around. Poor Chris, no matter where he was at school, everyone looked at him and whispered.

When last period finally rolled around, Chris couldn’t wait to get away from school for two days. On the way to his locker, he hoped when he returned to school on Monday, everyone would have moved onto a new issue. But he knows that is wishful thinking on his part. The only way they are going to leave this juicy topic is if something bigger happens, like the school burning down to the ground!

As Chris put his books away, he remembered about the sing off in the auditorium. He doesn’t want to let Josh down since he promised him that he was going to go and support him. So Chris grabbed the books he needed for homework, closed his locker and started walking to the auditorium with his head held high. He didn’t pay any attention to anyone that was pointing at him and talking as he walked down the hall.

Chris couldn’t believe that the auditorium was actually filled. He was lucky that Cesar and the guys saved him a seat because a lot of students and teachers were already leaning against the wall. For the first time since yesterday, no one was looking at him. They were too busy yelling to get the show kicked off.

Cesar told Chris who was singing in the sing off as he sat down. Two of the groups Cesar mentioned Chris knew; Glee Club and Show Chorus, but two of the other three Chris hasn’t heard of. The school band really didn’t have a chance, nor did the other two since they weren’t known. So the competition really comes down to Glee and Show Chorus. Of course he is hoping that Josh and the Show Chorus win.

Mr. Franklin had his group take this competition seriously. The two songs he had his group learn, he hopes to use in their first actual competition with other schools. But that really depends on how well they perform the songs here today. If it doesn’t go over well in front of their home crowd, it won’t work elsewhere.

Since they are the last to perform, Mr. Franklin had his students relax and not think about the songs they were going to sing or the other groups they are competing against. He felt if they paid too much attention to the other groups or practiced their songs back stage, they won’t do well on the stage. So he just had they relax and talk amongst themselves.

Mr. Edgar on the other hand, just like the other two groups waiting their turn, made their students practice. The more and more they went over their songs, the more they looked like they were going to throw up. Mr. Franklin can see that Mr. Edger is pulling out all the stops in order to win this.

Just like Chris thought, the band didn’t do much but play their instruments. The second group sang so off key, they knew they lost. The third group surprised Chris though, they actually sang pretty well. Then it was the Glee Club. When they came on stage, the room went dead quiet. No one clapped or booed; there was just quiet anticipation.

The music started, the spot lights turned on, and the young lady that replaced Josh started to sing. The entire audience was stunned. She sang so differently, so good, Chris thought it was a different girl, bit it wasn’t. When she finished the solo song, the room broke out into cheers and applause. Quickly the group song started and once again they looked like a totally different group out there.

When they left the stage, Chris and Cesar shared their concerns with each other. They feared that the Glee Club was so good that the Show Chorus didn’t have a chance. The bar was set so high and even Josh wouldn’t be able to get over it, but they soon found out their worries and thoughts were off base.

The lights were turned off and all anyone could hear is one set of foot steps on the stage, but couldn’t see a thing because it was pitch black in the room. Maybe a minute later one spotlight cut through the darkness shining on Josh who was sitting on a chair in the middle of the stage with a guitar on his lap. It was so quiet in the room; you could hear everyone breathing as they waited to see what Josh was going to sing.

He started to play the guitar and as he looked over at Cesar, he started to sing “When You Say Nothing At All”, by Keith Whitney. There was no band or anyone else on the stage, just Josh singing and his guitar. Everyone in the auditorium just sat there in awe with how Josh sang the song Keith Whitney took to number one in nineteen eighty-eight.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7fF91CQO_4&feature=related]

Everyone in the school by now knows that Josh is gay and should have known who he was singing to, but that didn’t matter. The girls just looked at Josh with love struck eyes, imagining that he is singing the song to them. The boyfriends to these girls actually felt threatened. The gay guys felt that Josh was singing to them.

Chris couldn’t believe that Josh not only matched the solo performance that the Glee Club did, but beat it. He saw the entire Glee Club walked out to the isles to watch Josh as he sang. The only reason they came out, Chris thought, was because they needed to see for themselves what they were hearing and watch their chances of winning fading away.

As Josh came to the end of the song, every girl in the audience was looking at him with lust in their eyes and tears rolling down their cheeks. Chris looked over to Cesar, but didn’t see the same thing he saw in the girls faces. He saw tears rolling down Cesar’s cheeks, but it wasn’t lust in his face, it was the pure love that he has for Josh.

The audience jumped to their feet as the lights went out and Josh walked off the stage. They didn’t even stop applauding when the lights turned back on. The Show Chorus didn’t sing their second song until they settled down. Once the applause stopped, the music started and everyone was back on their feet.

The Show Chorus chose their group song, “Satisfaction”, by The Rolling Stones. It didn’t take long for every student to sing along with the Chorus. Like many of the Rolling Stones songs, this song everyone knew. Since they knew it, they were all able to get into the song and just have fun.

Just like the assembly before spring break, when the Show Chorus finished their last song, the students chanted for them to sing another. But this time Principal Michaels was ready for that and quickly ended the chants as he waked on the stage raising a paper in the air. Everyone knew what the paper was and quieted down to hear who won.

Third place was the group that surprised Chris on how good they sounded. That was no surprise when it was announced. Now the next announcement is what everyone is waiting to hear. They all leaned forward and watched as Principal Michaels read the paper. He looked over to the judges with a confused look on his face. Before announcing the first place winner, he walked over to the judges.

Principal Michaels cleared his throat as he walked back to the middle of the stage. He opened the paper once again and started to speak. “The runner up of to the first sing off of Newman High School is the Show Chorus and the winner ………”

The students jumped up from their seats booing and chanting ‘the fix is in’. They didn’t let Principal Michaels announce the winner, which was the Glee Club. They were getting so loud; the groups were escorted off stage. Principal Michaels had hoped that would have settled the students down, but it didn’t. They kept chanting “the fix was in” over and over again. Not having any other choice, they waited the students out.

The students finally got tired after twenty or so minutes of chanting and started to leave. As they were leaving, Principal Michaels walked over to the judges. He made it clear to them that they didn’t vote for the best group today. As he scolded them, several members of the Glee Club walked over to Josh and the Show Chorus.

“It looks like you guys finally got put back into your place, behind us.” They laughed and high fived each other. “You can’t beat the best group on campus, but we don’t blame you for trying. We are still the number one group in this school, as always.”

“Go ahead and think that, but we all know you didn’t win this competition. To prove my point, just look what happened when it was announced. Our fellow students know which group is the rightful winner, and it isn’t you guys. So if I was you , I wouldn’t come to school on Monday repeating what you just said.”

The guys from the Glee Club looked at Josh, trying to come up with a come back, but couldn’t. They finally gave up and walked back over to their other members. As they left, Principal Michaels apologized to everyone for what happened and told them that they are safe to leave. Several members of the Glee Club yelled out to Principal Michaels to announce to them at least who won. Principal Michaels ignored them, turned his back to the Glee Club and walked out.

Russ held Josh back in order to ensure he doesn’t get mixed into the crowd. It is a lot harder to keep Josh safe when that happens. When the last student stepped out, Russ informed the others agents that they are moving. They walked out into the hallway and headed over to the entrance that lead out to Schuster Street, but Lloyd stopped them.

He informed Russ and Josh that the press is outside wanting to know what had happened during the sing off. Josh couldn’t believe the press was all over this little school event. Then he found out that one of the local channels had snuck in and was broadcasting the event from start to finish. Everyone out there in TV land saw what had happened here.

Due to the press camped out in front, the students didn’t leave. The crowd was too big to take Josh out in. They didn’t fear the students, but the other bystanders that don’t attend the school they felt might be a threat. With so many students around, they could get through and harm Josh just to get their fifteen minutes of fame.

Lloyd and Russ decided to take Josh out the door that leads into the football field. The reason for that was the football stadium and field were built in front of the school, meaning no vehicles or reporters could get there at this time of the day. The gates on the side of the building are locked up at four. The only way in or out of the school is through the Schuster doors.

As they made their way out, Russ called for a second SUV to come and pick them up on the street that runs behind the field. That way the reporters would continue to think Josh is still in the building and will be coming out the doors where they are since the SUV is still waiting there. Josh couldn’t help but feel like James Bond through all this.

There was not a soul in sight as they walked through the field. When they reached the street, the second SUV drove up. Just as they climbed in, several news vans came around the corner. It was too late. Josh was already in the vehicle and the vehicle had already started to pull away. When they realized that the news vans stopped and turned around.

Josh beat Cesar and his brothers getting home since they were waiting for him in the other SUV. A few minutes after he got home, they walked in. As things settled down, and they were able to talk about what had happened, they couldn’t help but laugh. Josh even told them how he felt being taken out the through the field and to another SUV.

It took Rose to call them for dinner to stop talking about it. All through dinner they talked about how the new house is going. Each of them was getting more excited because they had a hand into creating their own rooms. When the house is done and they are able to move into their new rooms, and they will be exactly how they want it.

After dinner they helped clean up before going to the den to watch TV. When they walked into the den, they found their grandmother waiting for the six o’clock news. One thing they all know is to never disturb their grandmother during the six or ten o’clock news, at least the first fifteen minutes of it.

The top story of the local news was the sing off at their high school. Since their high school was on the news, the boys were glued to the TV. The reporter in the studio went out on location to another reporter, who was still at the high school. The reporter went through the sing off from beginning to the end before handing back over to the studio.

The reporter in the studio prepped the viewing audience for the video they were about to show, which was the two groups that placed in the top two in the sing off. When Josh’s solo came on, Rose and Isabella couldn’t hold back their tears. They wiped the tears away from their faces several times as Josh sang.

There was a couple of seconds of dead air before the reporter came back on the air. “I don’t know what to say about what I saw except I will keep my opinion to myself for now. On the corner of the screen are two numbers. Please call in and vote for which group you felt sang better. The top number is for the first group, The Glee Club, the bottom number for the second group, The Show Chorus. What you guys decide on will be announced on the ten o’clock news, so tune in.”

The reporter moved on to other head lines, but the numbers were kept on the screen. Everyone jumped out of their seat and ran to the phone to vote, but Rose got to it first. She dialed the number for The Show Chorus and when it was answered, it was a recording. It thanked her for voting for the Show Chorus. When she tried again to vote, the system didn’t allow her to. It stated that the household had already voted.

Since the system didn’t allow them to vote as many times as they would like, they didn’t try again. Rose gave over the TV to the boys and went to the kitchen to help Isabella clean up. She couldn’t get the picture of her grandson sitting on the stage singing with just the guitar out of her mind. When she walked into the kitchen, she once again had tears rolling down her cheeks.

The boys played video games to pass the time till the ten o’clock news. The phone rang a little after eight, causing everyone to jump up. Rose answered and called Josh over. When they heard Josh say Mr. Quane, they knew it was dealing with Patrick. They went back and took the game off of pause.

When Josh rejoined the group, he told Cesar that Mr. Quane doesn’t see a problem with all of them going to visit Patrick tomorrow. That put a smile on Cesar’s face. Although he isn’t part of the original group, he has gotten close to everyone, including Patrick. He has wanted to visit with Patrick since the shooting, and now he has his chance.

Josh and Cesar held hands as they watched Carlos, Daniel and Brandon take their turns. The only time they weren’t holding hands was when it was their turn to play. Other than that, no one could pry Josh and Cesar apart. No one even bothered to try because they knew better.

Cesar wanted to tell Josh how much it meant to him that he sang to him in front of the whole school, now the city. But he decided against it because the lyrics of the song told him how Josh feels about him. So instead he showed Josh his thanks through his expressions and the way he was with him. He had hoped that he conveyed to him that Josh made him feel special, like a king.

Everyone gathered back in the den a few minute before the ten o’clock news. It led off by going over what had happened at the school and showed the two groups again. When the tape ended, there was no dead air this time. The same reporter from the six o’clock news came back on.

“I chose to keep my comments to myself at the six o’clock news so I wouldn’t influence anyone’s vote. Now that the voting is closed, I am going to give my opinion on what I think about what had happened at Newman High School. What is wrong with the judges that sat in judgment of this competition? I wonder if they saw the same groups, or did they walk out. There is no way The Glee Club beat the Show Chorus.”

The reporter looked down at the desk and moved a couple of papers around. “That is my opinion for what ever it is worth. Now let’s see what you all thought about the two groups. A over whelming number of you called in and voted, thank you! Here are the results; the Show Chorus beat the Glee Club hands down with seventy two percent of the votes. Congratulations to the Show Chorus and everyone that sang at Newman today.”

The news reporter moved onto the other news, just like she did in the earlier news cast. Rose turned down the TV as they all turned and congratulated Josh on winning the vote for the best group. Josh didn’t feel that was right because it wasn’t just him that sang out there on that stage. The congratulations should be given to the entire Show Chorus.

As things settled down in the den, it dawned on Josh his family didn’t mean anything bad by just congratulating him. He is pretty sure if the entire group was here, they would have given them all a pat on the back as well.

Josh and Cesar went up stairs first. After seeing the recording of Josh singing his solo for the second time, and being there in person, Cesar was a little frisky. He kept placing his hand on Josh’s upper leg or near his crotch. That caused both of the boys to get hard. They decided to go upstairs and help each other out.

This time they didn’t immediately tear off each other’s clothes the minute they walked into the room. They walked over to the edge of the bed grabbing each other’s hands. Cesar finally was able to tell Josh how his singing touched him. After he finished, they moved closer together, not saying a word to each other.

Cesar looked deeply and passionately at Josh. He raised his right hand and gently placed it on the side of Josh’s face. Slowly he moved Josh’s head until Josh was looking into his eyes. Neither of them had to say a word, just the look in their faces said it all. They saw the love in each others faces that they have for each other.

Slowly Cesar leaned in to kiss Josh on the lips. Once their lips touched, Josh wrapped his right hand behind Cesar’s head and Cesar did the same. At the same time, they pulled each other into the kiss, not stopping until they couldn’t get any closer. Josh moved his left hand between Cesar’s legs finding Cesar’s dick and firmly caressing it even though it was still concealed by clothes. That immediately caused Cesar to moan into Josh’s mouth.

Josh broke the kiss but kept looking deeply into Cesar’s soul through his eyes. He reached behind Cesar and firmly grasped his buns and pulled Cesar into his crotch creating pressure and nearly electric sensations for both of them. Both were fully aroused and in high passion and ready to move to the next level.

Cesar had heard Josh’s profession of love from the stage during the performance and he now wanted to FEEL Josh’s love in a more physical and tangible way. Breaking the clinch, Cesar pulled back slightly to gain freer access to Josh’s clothing to begin the process of getting his loved naked. He pulled Josh’s shirt out from his jeans and deftly slid his hands underneath the shirt. He moved his hands upward along Josh’s sides lifting the shirt in the process. Josh responded without hesitation by lifting his arms over his head allowing Cesar to slide the still buttoned shirt up and over his head. Cesar still marvels at the sight of Josh’s naked torso in every minute detail.

Josh wants to see Cesar the same way but rather than removing the shirt as Cesar had done, Josh patiently unfastened each button starting at the collar and working his way down. Cesar was caressing Josh near the waist and as Josh got the bottom button undone, he slid his hands around Cesar’s waist working the shirt tails out of his jeans. He then moved his hands up over Cesar’s torso and deftly slid the shirt off his shoulders letting it fall to the floor. With the shirt gone, Josh’s hands came down across Cesar’s chest. He stopped at his lover’s nipples and rolled both at the same time between his thumbs and forefingers. That caused Cesar to stiffen and arch his back and to inhale deeply while his eyes closed almost all the way.

Josh wants to have his lover in his full glory and he wants that now. With a bit less patience, Josh unfastened Cesar’s belt and unbuttoned his jeans. He noticed the large wet spot on the front of Cesar’s jeans and smiled knowing that he’s soon going to get a taste of the clear nectar that caused that spot. Josh slid Cesar’s pants and briefs down past his butt all at once. He was careful to pull the band of the briefs away so Cesar’s hard cock wouldn’t be caught as the briefs were pulled downward.

Cesar wanted to be totally naked so he sat back on the bed and Josh slid his pants and briefs off his legs completely. Josh then removed his socks, leaving Cesar fully naked looking striking; masculine yet vulnerable in a way that conveyed not only deep love but complete trust.

The sight of Cesar totally naked and aroused got Josh’s passions more into high gear. He quickly removed every stitch of his own clothes and in a short moment was as naked as Cesar.

Cesar was sitting on the edge of the bed and Josh moved up to him. Cesar pulled Josh to him and nuzzled his face into Josh’s package, kissing and licking whatever part he came in contact with. He licked the tip of Josh’s cock, getting a good taste of the clear sweet precum. He fondled Josh’s balls as he kissed the head of his cock, taking just the tip into his mouth and running his tongue over that sweet sensitive spot on the bottom, just behind the head.

Without explanation, Cesar pulled up and lay back, lifting his feet up onto the edge of the bed. His legs were spread wide giving Josh a full view of all of Cesar’s male glories. Josh took that as an invitation and got down on his knees getting his face close in. He inhaled the musk that is uniquely Cesar. Josh leaned in and tongued Cesar’s sack and then gently sucked in his balls, one at a time and rolled them in an oral massage, in his mouth. He then licked his way ‘south’ across Cesar’s perineum. As he was doing that, Cesar confirmed what he wanted from Josh; he lifted his legs up fully exposing his most private of places to his lover. Josh needed no conscious thought to immediately start tonguing Cesar’s rosebud. As he licked, the rose started to relax and open inviting Josh’s tongue to probe more deeply. Josh took the clues and probed the opening as firmly as he could. He’d place his lips on the opening and kiss it intensifying the sensations for his lover. Josh used his fingers on each side of the opening to gently urge it to open further and he’d gently probe a bit deeper as Cesar opened up to his attentions.

Passions were running wild for both. Cesar told Josh that he wants to feel his love deep inside. That confirmed in Josh’s mind what the main course of this feast was to be. With hardly a pause, Josh retrieved the KY tube from the nightstand drawer. He placed a goodly amount on Cesar’s opening and gently worked the lube inside to make sure that there would be no unwanted or uncomfortable friction. He then generously lubed his steely hard cock from tip to base.

Josh stood up as Cesar found a pillow. Josh placed Cesar’s ankles on his shoulders. Cesar lifted up and Josh slid the pillow under his hips, putting all things in good alignment.

“Josh, give me the love you sang to me about today. Let me feel from you what I heard. I need you deep inside me!”

Josh lined his cock up with Cesar’s hole and pressed in gently yet firmly. With very little resistance, Josh’s cock head slipped from view as it entered Cesar’s body. Josh hesitated as Cesar adjusted to his presence, but that only took a moment. Cesar wanted all Josh has to give and wants it now. Cesar rotated his hips indicating he was ready and Josh slid in to the hilt sending surges of thrill though both of their entire beings.

Once fully buried inside Cesar, Josh started slowly long-stroking. Josh bent his knees slightly resulting in his cock being more at an upward angle. This caused his the head of his cock to firmly massage Cesar’s prostate on every in-stroke.

After only a few strokes Cesar let Josh know that it was time to go for it with passion. Josh responded keeping the strokes long, increasing the speed and vigor. Josh’s arms were wrapped around Cesar’s thighs keeping his body pulled up close to ensure the deepest penetration.

Josh felt Cesar’s muscles clamp down on his cock and that sent him over the edge. That reaction from Cesar indicated that he had also peaked. Both of the lovers went into that surreal zone as their orgasms began. Josh added more vigor to his strokes and that was all that was needed. Cesar felt Josh’s cockhead swelling even more inside him and then the wonderful flood of warmth as Josh shot his full load deep into Cesar’s body.
At the same moment, Cesar’s untouched cock began shooting rapid fire, powerful shots all over his left shoulder, chest and then, as the orgasm subsided a bit, making pools of hot love juice on his stomach.

Josh being totally spent fell forward onto Cesar. Cesar’s legs dropped down until his feet touched the floor. After a moment of reentry into reality, Cesar kissed Josh deeply. He held Josh’s head, looking into his eyes, smiling.

“Josh, you truly do love me as the words you sang said. You have shown me the true depth of your love. I now have some of you inside me. I am truly yours forever. Please, Josh, please love me this way for all time.”

“Oh, Cesar, what would my life be without your love? I am merely Ok within myself. You and your love make me far better than I am just by myself. Yes, Cesar, I will love you for all time. I never want to have a day go by that we aren’t together and sharing this love. Yes, I will love you for all time!”

At that point, Josh’s now softening cock slipped out of Cesar. Both giggled at the sensation of the separation signaling the culmination of their lovemaking.

Josh got a still damp towel and washcloth from the hamper and cleaned Cesar’s cum off him and then cleaned himself up. Cesar moved to his side of the bed and Josh slid in and came up to Cesar’s side. They kissed once more and both drifted into a deep and peaceful sleep, not to stir until morning.

The next morning the boys bummed around the house after breakfast. At twelve, Josh and Cesar went up and got ready to go and see Patrick. Just as they finished getting ready, Bernice and Eric arrived. Shortly after they arrived, Chris and BJ walked in. They all climbed into the SUV and headed off to the hospital. On their way, Josh went over the few things Mr. Quane asked him to pass along to the others when he called last night.

Daniel Jr. and Carlos headed out the door right behind Josh and his friends. They actually dragged Brandon along with them since he didn’t go with Josh. They figured that they weren’t going to be with their girlfriends, so it wouldn’t hurt to bring their little brother along and they both really want to keeping mending the bridges they burned earlier in the year.

First they went down to see how the house was looking. To their surprise, the construction crew was working on a Saturday. That meant they weren’t able to fool around on the property like they had planned. Instead they were just able to get down and walk around to see how much has been done so far.

That is when they got their other surprise. The piping had been laid down already and they were digging a ditch, at least it looked like a ditch. The foreman took time out to explain what they were looking at. His guys were digging up the area where the basement is going to be in the house. Right now it looks like nothing but a hole, but when they even it all up and form and pour the walls, it will look like a basement.

In order not to take much more of the foreman’s time, the boys thanked him and got back into the SUV. Since they couldn’t fool around at their new house, they decided to go down to the Coliseum to ice skate. The city lays down ice in the Coliseum all the way to the end of April for kids to ice skate on.

When they arrived at the Coliseum they went and rented ice skates, changed and got onto the ice. What Daniel and Carlos didn’t know was that Brandon didn’t know how to ice skate. So when he got on the ice, he fell flat on his butt! Brandon thought it was the same as roller skating, but he found out right away how wrong he was!

The first time Brandon fell, Daniel and Carlos laughed at him. They thought he just tripped or lost his balance. When they saw him get up and go right back down almost immediately, they realized there was more to this than they knew. They skated over to Brandon and helped him up and over to the wall.

“Hey little brother, why didn’t you tell us that you didn’t know how to ice skate?” Daniel asked his little brother as he helped him stay on his feet. “If you would have told us, we would have found something else to do instead of ice skating.”

“Don’t worry about me you guys. Give me a chance to get my skating legs and I will be skating circles around you.”

Carlos knew that his brother was putting on a brave act because he was shaking like crazy. Not wanting to put his little brother on the spot, Carlos decided to teach him how to skate without getting Brandon’s permission. He knew if he would ask Brandon that the answer would be ‘no’. At least that would be the answer if his little brother is at all like him and Daniel. They are hard headed, prideful guys that refuse to show weakness.

“Well Brandon, lets do this. Let me and Daniel here, be your support until you get your ice legs. You well get them really fast because you’re a Lopez’s guy. All Lopez guys are very athletic and can do any sport that is thrown at them.”

Not letting Brandon answer, Carlos pulled him out on to the ice, keeping him as close to the wall as possible. As they started going around the ring, both Daniel and Carlos gave Brandon pointers on how to skate. Just like Carlos said, it didn’t take long for Brandon to get his ice legs. He couldn’t skate circles around his brothers yet, but he was able to skate without holding onto the wall or his brothers.

Just like every Saturday since he took the oath of office, Daniel went into the office to work. He loved working on the weekends more than the week days. The reason is that he can get through all the paperwork on his desk without being disturbed. He does schedule meetings on Saturday and Sunday, but not nearly the amount he has on his schedule during the week.

Since the Governor works the weekends, Rich comes in as well. He doesn’t really care because he doesn’t have anything else to do. Also like the Governor, he uses the weekends to get his paper work done. It is peaceful and there is no one coming and going from his office. That is one thing Rich didn’t count on, the amount of people he sees during a day.

Most weekends, Daniel and Rich don’t see each other unless they need to talk about something that can’t wait until Monday or if there is a meeting scheduled that needs both of their attendance. Other than that, they give each other this time to do their jobs.

This weekend was different though. Rich got restless and started walking the halls. Somehow he ended up walking over to the Governor’s office. When he realized that he had done that, he turned to leave, but Daniel saw him. When Daniel called him into his office, it surprised Rich. He didn’t leave, knowing that he should, but instead he walked in and sat down.

“Rich, what has you roaming the empty halls today? I figure you have more paperwork to do than I do since you are the man that runs the office.” The Governor got up and walked over to the chair next to Rich and sat down.

Rich looked over at the Governor, trying to read him. “Governor I haven’t been truthful with you and I feel I need to be. Normally I don’t tell my bosses what I am about to tell you, but since I am involved with this issue at the core, I need to be up front with you. After I tell you what I am about to, if you need me to stay away from this issue when you take it on, I will understand and I will do what you ask me to do.”

“Look Rich, there isn’t really anything you can say or do that will stun me. Ever since I entered into this world…” Daniel pointed around the room. “I have seen some crazy things I never thought went on. So please tell me what it is and I promise you I won’t think any differently of you when you finish.”

“Well Governor, since we are going to eventually work on gay rights, and I am going to be part of the team to help you write the bill, I think you should know that I am gay. I won’t let that influence me in anyway, but you should know that. I also don’t want you caught off guard when a member of the press asks you if you knew I was gay. Trust me when I say if they don’t know it yet, they will find out.”

Daniel leaned forward in his seat and looked into Rich’s eyes. “What you just told me I already knew. After you came on board to run my campaign, I had you checked out. I had everyone checked out that worked for me then and now. I like to know who I am dealing with. You sounded too good to be true, but you are.

With that said, I don’t care about your sexuality. All I care about is that you come in here and do your job. Being gay is no conflict to you doing that. As far as asking you step aside when we create the bill for gay rights, I won’t do that. If I did that to you, I should also step aside since I have a gay son. There is no way I am going to do that, so again I am not going to ask you to so it either.

In fact I will listen to you more than the others that will give their feed back on how the bill is written. Simply put, none of us can say we know how it is being gay, because we aren’t. So we don’t know really how the gay community is hurting. You do and you can enlighten me in order to frame a bill that will make a difference.”

Rich knew that Daniel was accepting with his son, and he thought that he would be the same with people outside his family. Many people go around and say they are for gay rights, but in the privacy of their office or home they hate the idea, but they have to say that to get elected. They’d rather see gays die than have equal rights.

“To say you surprised me with your remarks is an understatement sir. I didn’t know that you checked out your people when hiring them, but I don’t blame you. If I was in your shoes I would have done the same, which I have. All the people that we have working for us now, I have had them checked out. I didn’t want any surprises down the line.”

The Governor and Rich talked about where they should go on the gay rights bill. Right away they agreed that when it comes down to same couple marriages, the words “marriage” and “marry” needs to be left out of the wording of the bill. They both agree that is where the religious right is getting all huffy and puffy at. Unions are fine, but “marry” or “marriage” can’t be written in the bill.

Josh could see in his friends’ faces the look he had last weekend; a mixture of being scared and sorrowful. Not sorrow for Patrick, but for the loss he and they have endured when Frank was taken away from them. All Josh could hope for is that they come out of the meeting better than they went in, just like he did last weekend.

This time the walk to the therapist office didn’t seem long to Josh. When they arrived, the door was open, like last time, so they walked in. Mr. Quane was standing in the middle of the waiting room. Josh greeted him and then introduced everyone. But is seemed that Mr. Quane knew their names before Josh said them because as he shook their hand he said their names along with Josh.

“Okay everyone, follow me into my office.” Mr. Quane waved his hand in the air and started walking into his office. “I have asked Josh to go over the rules with you in order to give you guys more time with Patrick. Do you have any questions on the rules?” Every one shook their heads no. “Good, but let me be clear here on the rules. If you don’t follow them, I will end this meeting and send you away”.

Almost at once, everyone promised to follow the rules. That is all Mr. Quane needed before inviting Patrick in. Just like the last time, Patrick walked in through the other door and just stood there close to the door. Everyone got up, but didn’t move. They waited for Patrick to make the first move.

Patrick looked up from the floor with a look on his face that Josh couldn’t place. It wasn’t a look of embarrassment or being scared or sad. Josh just couldn’t put his finger on how Patrick was feeling. Then Patrick smiled, while made everyone in the group smile and walk over to him. One by one they each took Patrick into a hug.

This time there was no breakdown on anyone’s part. After all of them had a chance to hug Patrick, they made their way to the couch and sat down. Almost the minute their butts hit the cushions, they started talking as if no time had passed between them. None of them brought up Frank, until Patrick did.

“I am sorry guys for not doing anything to save Frank. I really messed up there and now I can’t stop thinking how badly I messed up. Frank could still be here today if I would have just moved and tried to take the bowling ball away from Elizabeth or at least pushed her to the ground. I feel I should have done something more than just standing there, not going to Frank’s aid when he needed me the most.”

Bernice was the first one to speak up. “You listen to me Patrick and don’t make me say this again: It wasn’t your fault, or anyone’s in this room for that matter, what happened to Frank. It was that crazy…” Bernice stopped and gathered her thoughts before continuing. She didn’t want to say something that would get her kicked out. “It was Elizabeth and her hatred and anger she had inside of her. No one could have stopped her once she started to swing that bowling ball! No one!”

“Yeah Patrick, Elizabeth had it in her mind to hurt Josh that day. I don’t think she wanted to kill Josh, but who knows the answer to that. One thing I do know is that if you would have tried to step in, we would have buried you as well. It hurts that Frank is gone. A day doesn’t go by I don’t think about my friend. But a day also doesn’t go by that I don’t think about you either. We all miss you and want you back.”

Eric pulled Patrick into a hug. “So do whatever you have to do in here to better and come back to us. We need you to be somewhat complete. The reason I say somewhat is because we will never be complete again with Frank gone.”

The others took their turn explaining their feelings about what Patrick said. They pretty much all echoed the same thing Bernice and Eric said. By the time they all said their peace; each of them had tears rolling down their faces. They tried to be macho men, but couldn’t hide the fact that they actually were crying.

They moved on to the subject of the sing off and what had happened. Patrick couldn’t believe the other students reacted the way they did when the principal informed them on who won. He also couldn’t believe that judges, whoever they were, voted the way they did especially if what his friends are saying about how good Josh and the Show Chorus was. But hearing Josh sing in the past, he knows his friends are telling the truth.

Before they knew it, the allotted time with Patrick had expired. Mr. Quane hated to end their meeting, but had to. He thanked them for coming over and will get in touch with Josh about next weekend. As they left, they promised Patrick that they will come every time they get permission to come. He can count on his friends being there in his corner.

Their walk back to the SUV was quiet. Each of them felt empty because they had to leave a friend behind. The only bright light at the end of this tunnel is that they might be able to see him again next weekend. They just wished they could see him whenever they wanted and without a doctor sitting there listening to every word they were saying.

On the way back to the house, Josh’s detail dropped each of his friends off at their houses. They all only got permission to go and see Patrick, but had to go home right after that. They tried to get permission to hang at Josh’s house, but their parents still don’t feel that they are safe around Josh, except for Bernice and Chris.

As the week went on, everyone fell into their normal routine. No huge drama popped up with the group. They were able to go through their daily routine like normal kids for the first time. Josh got so used to things going bad. Ever since he came out, his life hasn’t stayed calm for that long.

Barbara headed back to Austin to be with Daniel the Sunday after the sing off. She wanted to be with her husband. She enjoyed getting to know his kids but she felt bad that Daniel was all alone in Austin. In her mind that is not what a wife should do. A wife should always be at her husband’s side.

Although Chris’ dad didn’t show his face after being dragged out of the school in handcuffs, Chris was still the talk of the school. Even after what had happened at the sing off, they still talked about Chris and what the scene his father made. Everywhere he went at school they kept starring and talking about him.

Josh and the others stood by Chris’ side. Whenever they were together and they walked by another student or a group of students that were pointing at Chris, one of them would tell the kids off resulting in everyone in the group became part of the gossip. They didn’t care. They stick by their friend no matter what.

The security detail were the only ones that knew the truth about Mr. Jimenez. They never told Josh, Chris or Chris’ foster parents what they found out about Mr. Jimenez but at the same time, they kept a watchful eye out for him. They all knew that Chris’ dad wasn’t about to give up so easily.

Due to them keeping a watchful eye out for Mr. Jimenez, they spotted him lurking around the school. Lloyd did as he was told by Rich and had him arrested again, but that didn’t matter. He showed back up at the school days later. By the end of the week, Lloyd was running out of patience with Mr. Jimenez. When he turned him over to the EPPD, he warned them and Mr. Jimenez if he comes around again, they will shoot first and ask questions afterward. That got his attention, because he didn’t come around again.

Josh had one busy Friday. He had two competitions in one night. First he and the swim team had their second match. This time the schools they were competing against came in to compete. The single events Josh were in, he won pretty easily, but not as easily like he did a couple weeks before. The team events were a different story. Josh had to swim faster than he ever had in the past in order to help his team to victory.

Later that night, Josh and The Show Chorus won their first competition. They not only beat other Glee Clubs, but their own school Glee Club. They used the same songs they sang the night of the sing off, with one more add on, “Final Count Down”, by Europe. They felt they proved once and for all that they are the better group at the school right now.

The Governor felt bad that he was unable to fly in to see his son compete. His schedule just didn’t permit him that pleasure. Between what he is doing in Austin as far as legislation and his first town hall meeting that Sunday, the Governor couldn’t block off enough time off of his schedule to fly in to see Josh’s competition and then fly back to Austin for his meetings and then to east Texas to Tyler for his first town hall meeting.

From the moment the Governor landed, to when he lifted off, there was not a quiet moment. When his plane landed, Daniel and his staff were greeted by over a thousand residents. All of them were there to support the Governor, but they had questions for him. Since the airport wasn’t where the town hall meeting was being held, Daniel made a short speech and at the end he invited all them to join him at the local high school.
All the way to the high school, the streets were lined with residents, which surprised both the Governor and Rich. There was a small difference with these residents than the ones that met the Governor at the airport. There were a few people lined up on the streets holding up negative signs mainly about the Governor’s gay son and how he treated the church during that lunch.

Daniel ignored the negative stuff and kept waving to the residents as they passed them, with a big smile on his face. When they arrived at the school, he and Barbara walked into a packed gym holding hands. Daniel looked around and saw that his staff did as he asked. They allowed everyone to come in, no matter where they stood on the issues. He saw signs of support and signs that were against him for one reason or another.

They were greeted by the Mayor when they reached the stage. After shaking hands with the Mayor, Daniel and Barbara took their seats in the middle of the stage. The Mayor quieted the audience, introduced the Governor before handing over the proceedings to Daniel. He grabbed the microphone and tapped it a couple of times.

“Good morning everyone, it is good to see you all. My wife and I are so happy to see that you all came out here today. You all know that I am not here to make a big speech, so I don’t have one prepared. I am here to hear your concerns. Please ask me questions or tell me what you think I should be doing for you.

Before I hand this over to you, I would like to say one final thing. Let the person that has the microphone talk. Don’t interrupt them because you don’t agree with them. None of us will agree with the other on every single topic. I am here to listen to all of you, not just one side. With that said, let’s kick this off!”

Several people got out of their seats and walked down to the podium that was set up with a microphone for people to ask their question or voice their concerns. The Governor sat back down in his seat and waited for the first question. The first one to reach the podium was a middle age woman with two young teenage boys at her side.

“Governor Lopez, I didn’t vote for you in the last election because of your personal life. I felt that if you couldn’t keep things right in your home, you couldn’t keep things right in Austin as our Governor. When you won, I figured I had no other choice but to accept it. I waited to see what you were going to do as our Governor, and to honest with you, you haven’t done much of anything. My life is just as bad or worse. No new jobs have opened up here and things haven’t come down in price. What do you say to that sir?”

Governor Lopez stood up and walked over to the edge of the stage. “I won’t be one of the politicians that are going to blame their predecessor for the problems. Anything that is going on in this state, good or bad, is mine to own! After all I am the one that is sitting in the hot seat now.

You are right ma’am things haven’t changed much since I was sworn in. But the problems that we have didn’t happen overnight and won’t be fixed over night. I was sworn this past January and since then I have pushed through a lot of legislation that works for you and me, for regular Texans. Give it a chance to take affect and you will see things change for the better.”

“I am sorry Governor, but that answer won’t do. You are asking us to continue to suffer and wait for these changes to take affect. The mean time, I am struggling to keep food on the table and clothes on the back of my children. I agree the problems we have now didn’t happen overnight, but you made it sound like you had a magical pill for us.”

“There is a bill before the state congress that, if passed, will give immediate help to those families that are struggling now. Right now your representatives in those houses are holding up that bill in order to get me to agree to fund their pork barrel projects that I took away. They are playing with your lives to give more money to the rich people of this state.”

----Bull shit----, ----your lying----, ----tell us the truth----, started to be yelled out in by people in the back of the gym. The Governor waited until the hecklers settled down before he continued.

“Ma’am the bill sitting in the house will give immediate relief to families like yours. It is a temporary program that allows families like yours to go into your local grocery store and Wal-Mart to buy clothes and food at hugely discounted prices. You will be issued a picture ID card from the state, showing you qualify for this program.

It won’t get you things for free, but it will allow you to buy things at a lot lower cost to help you get through these troubled times. The great thing also about this program is that it won’t raise taxes one red cent. It is being paid for with the money that was redirected from the pork projects that your representatives in Austin wanted back. It can only be one or the other, and they want to let families like yours continue to struggle in order to give money to the rich. I am not willing to do that.

The middle age woman was satisfied with the answer and sat back down. One after another the Governor took on the questions that were asked. Every so often the same people in the back interrupted the proceedings as they did with the first question, but the Governor went on. When the local police went over to remove them, Governor Lopez asked the police to let them stay.

Towards the middle of the town hall meeting, a local priest walked up to the podium. “Governor Lopez I don’t know what your religion is, but that really doesn’t matter because the bible is bible no matter the religion of the person. I have a two part concern and question for you. I hope you answer them in order to put these issues to rest.”

The Governor nodded his head. “My first is concerning your first marriage. You got married in the church with your first wife, and then you divorced her. Shortly after that, you remarried with your current wife and you did that again in the church. You can get divorced under the law, but you can’t get divorced by the church. In return you can’t get married again in the church. Why and how did you get married by a priest again?

My second concern is your son Joshua. It is a sin under God to lay down with another man. If a man does that, they are to be put to death. Not only you have accepted your son being gay, but you are condoning his relationship with the other boy. In fact the other young man is now living in your home and they are sharing the same room. Your son is a sinner and you need to do what it takes to correct the sin.”

Governor Lopez got up from his seat and walked to the edge of the stage again. He gathered his thoughts on the question he knew was going to be asked. Not the first one, but the second one. That is one of the main reasons he and Rich chose this small town first, they are right on the Bible Belt of Texas.

“As far as getting married again in the church, Father Gomez, the pastor that married me and Barabra, did what he needed to do to get me a divorce with the church. He made it clear that he couldn’t marry me unless that went through, at least in a church ceremony. Now as you and everyone here in Texas already knows, I got married in the church. That means my pastor got the divorce for me through the church.

Now the second question, slash concern about my son. I won’t stand up here and tell a priest I know more about the Bible than he does, because I don’t. What I will say is that we don’t take the bible exactly like it was written today. It was written in a different time and times have changed, which the church still has to catch up to that.

What I mean by that is simple. As I said we no longer literally take what is written in the Bible and do it. If we did, a woman that isn’t a virgin on her wedding night, the husband is supposed to take her to her father and stone her to death. We wear clothing made out of more then just one cloth. We don’t cut the fingers off of those that steal. And I can go on and on with examples from the new and Old Testament, but you are a priest and you know what is written.

Yes you are right my son is gay. He didn’t choose to be, he was born that way. Since he was born that way means God made him that way because man is made in the image of God.” The Governor cleared his throat. “I love my sons no matter who they love or what they do in their lives and Josh is no exception. He has a big heart and he is very smart. I know he is going to do a lot more with his life than I can imagine. People need to stop literally taking the Bible by its word and just love their fellow man, as God asks.”

The priest walked away from the podium, but the next person followed up on his questions. The rest of the town hall meeting was split between the problems within the state and Daniel’s personal life. Every single question that was thrown at him, he answered no matter how private they were.

By the time the Governor left, many of the people that showed up to protest against his policies had changed their tune after hearing him out. He even got some of the religious people to open their eyes and see where he was coming from as far as taking the Bible literally. If they did that, many people would be stoned to death or killed over things they do through their daily lives that have been accepted as normal behavior today.

TO BE CONTINUED…………………..

WRITER’S CORNER:

{Welcome back one and all to another chapter of Shadow of My Father. There is a lot going on in the lives of each character in the story. So much is going on, it is hard to spend enough time in each of their lives and move the story line along. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that I did justice to each plot I touched.

Before I move on to my summation I would like to recommend a movie for you all to watch. As I wrote out this chapter, I watched this movie, “Prayers for Bobby”. It is an excellent movie and it touched my emotional strings. I don’t condone suicide. In fact I believe there is nothing in life bad enough to commit suicide.

This movie is about a family that is really religious and literally took the Bible as written. When the young boy came out, his mother tried to change him to be ‘normal’. She thought she could by the Bible, therapy and then eventually disowning her son. Due to all the stuff that was taught to this young boy while growing up, he couldn’t deal with being gay. By his upbringing he felt being gay was a sin, by the Bible, and since he couldn’t stop being who he was, he took his life. In life I wonder what would have been if he gotten the right help he needed.

It took him to take his life in order for his mother to finally come around. She realized that the Bible can’t be taken literally as written. Now she is fighting for gay rights, but it was sad it took her to lose her son to get there. If you are or know anyone that is thinking about taking their lives, talk with someone. Now there is a lot of help out there for gay teens trying to come to terms with being gay. Please don’t take your life, because the world would be a lesser place without you.

Sorry for writing as much as I did on that subject. It’s just that movie hit me right where it counts, because I thought my world was falling apart when I realized I was gay. I thought of suicide, but a friend was there to help me through it.

Now let’s talk a little about the story. It started out with a surprise, Chris’ dad. I know you all have been wondering where he has been. The last we saw of him was him being taken away in handcuffs at the hospital after the car crash. Then he showed up at the Coach’s house and made a scene. Now he is back, and making trouble.

Rich found out how he got out of jail, becoming a jail house snitch. So sad that things like that happen in our legal system. The D.A. wants to make a case on someone they think is more dangerous to society, they are willing to give free passes to a person doing lesser crimes to win that prosecution. That is what is going on with Chris’ dad, and that is sad.

I don’t think that is the last we are going to see of him. He wants Chris back and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it done. I really hope it doesn’t end up being another Elizabeth solution, because if it goes down that way, there is no doubt in my mind that the Governor is going to move his family to Austin.

The sing off, what I can I say there. First I hope you enjoy the video I put in the chapter so you can see what Josh sang as his solo. It is a song I didn’t even know way back in the late eighties. Josh really loves Cesar, and if any reader out there thought otherwise, the singing of a song to Cesar in front of the school should have removed any doubt.

The judges, who were they? Were they students or were they teachers. Whoever they were, they didn’t see or hear the same groups the others heard. Even the principal knew it was wrong and something was going to happen when he made the announcement of the winner. Then the press got a hold of it, had the viewers vote on who was the best, and the Show Chorus won. Man this plot continues to get more and more interesting.

Daniel and Carlos are really showing a side that we never saw before. When you first met these guys, you thought they were evil, far from the truth. They really do love their younger brothers and will do anything to be there for them. They went ice skating and found out that Brandon didn’t know how to. They took their time and taught him how to skate. That is love that you rarely see in families today.

Josh and his friends went down to see Patrick. I love that scene because we are seeing that it takes a family and community to heal. Patrick gets better with his friends around then he does when he is just one on one with the therapist. I really hope that Mr. Quane sees that and lets him out of the hospital to be with his family and friends.

Rich came out to the Governor in this chapter. No one should have been surprised on the Governor’s reaction to Rich’s news. Daniel doesn’t think the old way; he thinks that everyone has the right to be who they are. That includes their love life. I am also glad Daniel made it clear to Rich he wants him involved when they write the gay rights legislation.

Daniel’s first town hall meeting, what can I say about that? I like how the Governor handled it and made answered every questions and concern thrown at him. Too many politicians today do these town hall meetings, but they never actually answer the questions asked. Daniel did, even those concerning his marriage, Josh and anything else dealing with his personal or public life.

So many open plots and so many more plots to come in this story. I love the political scenes a lot and I hope I am not offending anyone with them. Keep in mind it is only a story and I am trying my best not to preach my beliefs. Please stay tuned and I promise that you guys won’t regret opening every new chapter.

I could stay here all day long, with all the open plots already in this story, but I won’t. I warn you though! Don’t skip a chapter, or you will be lost. There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR’S CORNER:

What a shot right at the start with Chris’ dad showing up at the school! I had all but forgotten about this warped character. He’s slicker than Teflon and it seems that nothing will stick to him. He is going to be overconfident and get taken down one way or another. I think there should be an investigation into how this scumbag ever got a deal that allowed him to be in the free. No matter what information he had to offer, a walk on all his charges is completely unacceptable. There is some blindly ambitious prosecutor behind all this. I hope that Mr. Jimenez is taken down by some means other than the Governor’s security personnel. Daniel Sr. doesn’t need any more controversy or drama related to his family.

I agree that the outcome of the sing off was fixed. Josh’s group was certainly vindicated first by the student and Principal Michael’s reactions then by the straw poll conducted by the media. I sense Mr. Edger’s hand in this. I think he has gotten in too deep and has done something shady to get this result. I also wonder just what people were judges for the competition.

It appears Josh’s solo performance touched everyone in the audience, but it appears that it had a huge impact on Cesar. Was that a love session between Josh and Cesar or what? The love between these two grows in depth as time goes along. They seem to be on the right path to be a team for all time. I hope that nothing ever comes between them.

Talk about a “Daniel in the lions’ den” situation; that was the Governor facing his first town hall meeting. He knew full well what he was doing and what he was walking into. His choice of the small east Texas town of Tyler was a perfect choice in that the “skeletons” were all pulled out of the closet and aired publicly in one meeting. This should, for the most part, put those questions to rest. As they say in a court of law: Question asked and answered. I doubt Daniel changed anyone’s mind or beliefs, but the way he candidly answered the queries left little room for ongoing argument. Now that the personal life controversies have been aired, perhaps the subsequent meetings will be able to focus on matters of state.

Let JPG and me hear from you! Let us hear your thoughts and feelings on the story, the characters, the plots and what you think should happen. Remember, a significant number of readers’ suggestions have become elements in all JPG’s stories. Your input is important to both author and editor.

Until next time,

“Daddy” Rick