Chapter 80: Silver Linings, and Clouds

Wednesday, April 3, 1985

We had been waiting for Cammie to figure her Easter plans out before settling on ours. She finally decided to take a potentially big step. She was staying with Camille and Francis but would go to Easter services with the Rileys. Emily, Mark, and Morty would be going, too.

I suspected all of them would be quiet about their relationships. The Rileys’ church wasn’t the Clarkes’, but their sons sharing a girlfriend and their daughter having a girlfriend might not go over well.

Jas and I were staying with Camille and Francis on Friday and would go to services with them Saturday night. Then we would stay at Dad and Mom’s house Saturday night and go to Easter services with them on Sunday. Since the Sunday service was a sunrise service it made sense to stay there, even though they would be asleep by the time we made it there from Saturday night services.

Angie and Paige, meanwhile, were staying with Dad and Mom Friday, Tony and Jean Saturday, and would go to Easter services with Tony and Jean.

Jas and Angie got Claire’s attention before I could. They spent about ten minutes talking to her before Psychology. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but I suspected it wasn’t about me. Or, at least, not largely about me.

Mind you, when your girlfriend and your sister are talking to your other girlfriend...

Okay. Well. For most people, that sentence alone would portend big, big trouble!

Not so much for me, but it was still something I had to work to be entirely calm about. I trusted Jas and Angie with my life, both figuratively and literally, but it was still both slightly nerve-wracking and also rather amusing watching them chatter away with my other girlfriend.

Dr. Huffines had a big announcement for us in psychology just before she handed out our test papers. It came as a complete surprise. Earlier today, Governor Mark White signed an order making this Friday a state holiday. Thus, A&M would have no classes and we could, in theory, all go home early. Events scheduled for this weekend (fewer than usual) would continue.

I had no memory of this happening in my first life, but that was fortyish years ago. Perhaps it had. I certainly hadn’t been expecting it, in any case, nor had Angie. It was only twenty years for her, but she’d been even less concerned with Easter than I had.

We already had something scheduled for tomorrow night (the Brzezinski/Schlesinger/Shevchenko discussion). Everyone agreed we would stay for that and head down Friday morning. That would give us a bit more time with our families, anyway.

I spoke with Dr. Huffines after class. She asked Angie and me (and possibly Paige, if she wanted) to plan to speak on Monday. We were happy to oblige.

Claire hugged me as we left, then took my hand as we started walking.

“Guess you’re off the hook for Friday!” she said, giggling.

“Yup!” I said.

“I’m taking off after my last class tomorrow,” she said, giving my hand a squeeze. “I’ll miss you!”

“I’ll miss you, too,” I said.

“Ah!” she said, “But you will be with your other girlfriend.”

I chuckled and nodded.

“True! Oh, and we’re not leaving until Friday morning.”

“I’ve decided I’m telling my parents that I’ve been on a couple of dates, but it’s casual and not likely going anywhere,” she said.

“Seems fair to me.”

“It’s mostly true, anyway. I’m not really sure it’s casual by their standards, but ... eh. It’s fine. And it’s not going anywhere, but it’s fun. Anyway, dating someone will be a positive for them right now.”

“Good!” I said. “Happy to help!”

She giggled and squeezed my hand again.

“Really ... you are helping. I’ve got a lot more confidence now. Gotta keep it! But, still, it really helps.”

“Good.”

“You didn’t even ask,” she said, pretending to pout.

“Ask?” I said, grinning.

“What we were talking about before class.”

“Oh,” I said. “That.”

She gave me a playful shove.

“Yes, that!”

“If it was my business, you, Jas, or Angie would let me know.”

She grinned.

“Well, okay. That’s true! They were asking me about Kay. I guess you’ve given them enough information about her that they were plotting some matchmaking. Maybe. I mean, on the one hand, maybe I’m jealous, because we won’t last forever, but both of them promised they would tell you — and me! — if they thought they had someone for me. Kay is more ‘blind date’ material from their perspective.”

“Interesting,” I said. “Kay would be happy if someone invited her out, I think.”

“She would!” Claire said, grinning. “She really would. Now, if the guy sucked...”

“Yeah, that’s a problem.”

“Seriously, if it was phrased as a blind date, she would be fine. We all know blind dates are much more ‘miss’ than ‘hit.’ If it was ‘Hey, this guy is perfect for you,’ that’s where things can go wrong. Usually, that’s fine, too, but ... you know...”

“I know,” I said, nodding.

“Anyway, it’s nice, them thinking about it. They promised to think about me, too, but that’s more long-term. And ... that really is good for me. I’d much rather let us run our course than do anything now.”

I hugged her, smiling, and said, “I like that.”

“The thing is, Kay might like a blind date pointer but might not act on it until the fall, too,” she said. “We’ve only got a month or so of classes left. If lightning strikes, it strikes, but if it’s not lightning ... well, right now there’s a chance both of something distracting from the end of the semester and of it leaving both of them with a summer that’s even more lonely than it would otherwise be.”

“I get that,” I said. “But it all sounds as much long-term as anything else.”

“Yeah,” she said.

“I’ll cross my fingers.”

We reached the point where we usually parted ways, and she said, “See you Monday for class!” she said, giggling a bit and hugging me.

“See you then!” I said.

We kissed, then parted ways.

Cammie wanted to meet Mel at the MSC to pick up some supplies at the bookstore, so I wound up walking home alone.

As I turned a corner a few blocks from home, I was suddenly in pain and falling to the ground. It took me a second to realize someone had punched me in the head.

“Fag-lover!” someone shouted, and I felt a kick hit my side.

A second voice yelled, “Gays should burn!” and kicked me, too.

I was struggling to get up (and dodge any further kicks), and nearly had my bear spray out, when I heard a guy’s voice yell, from what sounded like far away, “What are you doing?”

“Run!” the second voice said, and I heard running.

I made it to my feet in time for Peter and Sarah to arrive.

“Are you all right?” Sarah said.

“Um...” I said, trying to figure that out. “I ... think so?”

I felt my head. No tender spots, and I was pretty certain I hadn’t been concussed. That would have been a concern!

“Pretty sure I’m just a bit shaken up,” I said.

“We didn’t get a good look at them,” Peter said. “I wasn’t even sure it was you until we got closer.”

“What happened?” Sarah said.

“They shouted some anti-gay slurs while punching and kicking,” I said. “Really, it happened very quickly. Just one punch and a couple of kicks.”

“This is terrifying!” Sarah said. “Right here in our quiet little neighborhood!”

“We’ll call the police,” Peter said. “I wish I had a better description, but...”

“I’m carrying some spray. Like mace, pretty much. Just hadn’t gotten it out.”

“Thanks for not spraying us!” Peter said, chuckling. “We’ll walk with you to your place.”

“I’m fine,” I said, but they walked along with me anyway. I would have, in their position.

“It’s because of the ruling, do you think?” Sarah said.

“Seems likely,” I said. “I’m sure that riled up a bunch of regressive types. It’ll probably die down before too long.”

“We can all hope!” Sarah said.

No one else was there when I got home. Peter called the police from my phone, made sure I was fine, then took off. I made sure to tell them to involve Detective Frederick, who was now my go-to for anything police-related.

As they left, Sarah said, “Glad you’re okay! See you in class!”

Everyone was concerned, as I’d expected them to be. I had a sore spot on my head, and a couple of bruises, but it wasn’t all that bad, thankfully. No sign of concussion at all.

We made a plan to walk in groups as much as possible, at least for the next week or so. Someone who lightly injured me might really do a number on one of the girls.

If they would just hit a girl, rather than doing something much, much worse to her instead.

Once I remembered to check the messages, one was waiting from the last of the property management companies. They, too, had no problem with the fence as long as they didn’t have to pay for it. In fact, they wanted to talk to us and might want to hire ‘our fence contractor’ to put up a fence on their property. Perhaps ‘MNMS’ might be a fence contractor?

Nah. We didn’t have a business license to do that, nor did we have any interest in getting one (at least not yet). On the other hand, they could pay us to do it, they would just have to know beforehand that we weren’t contractors. There’s nothing illegal in hiring random people to put up a fence for you, it’s doing business as a contractor without a license that’s a no-no.

Once I’d listened to that, I called Kyle and left him a message. There was nothing at all he could do about a random assault, but it was worth mentioning.

With the extra day (or so) in Houston, it was time (past time, really!) to restructure our LLCs. With some care (Martin’s department!) we could manage this without any unfortunate tax consequences and without realizing any profits.

When all was said and done, we had ‘M&M and Associates’ as the parent company. Name-wise, that didn’t include anyone but Angie and me, but Jas, Paige, Cammie, and Mel were all satisfied with it, so that worked, at least for now. Angie and I were fifty/fifty partners in M&M, but profit distribution was complicated. I was also the manager.