Chapter 3

The shit was a very large male with two equally large friends. They came in and went through the line together and as they passed the table where Simon sat, the big one made a comment.

“There’s that stuck up dyke bitch swimmer. I asked her out and she said no. To me! Here I am, second team all-conference and she say no. She has to be a dyke.”

Janey turned bright red and was about to speak when Jerry stood up.

“Hey, Dutch. Back off. Why would she date below her station? You’re second team, all-conference. Janey is All-American. She’s the third fastest Individual Medley swimmer in the US. When you get to be the third best linebacker in the US ask her again.”

All the swimmers laughed.

“Hey prick. I know you. You’re a fudge packer. All them damn swimmers are fucking queer...”

Simon took to his feet and at 6’4” looked the heavier football player in the eyes at the same level. Then he slipped into his very gay mode.

“Oh my, will you look at him? Tell me, Jerry, we don’t have to share a shower room with the football boys do we?”

“No Simon, we don’t,” the team captain answered, trying not to smile.

“Oh good,” Simon said with a flourished movement of his hands. “It just breaks my little heart to see what steroids do to those boys poor little peepees. And their tiny little balls, well, I’ve seen bigger marbles. Such a waste.”

“Who the fuck are you?”

“And the roid rage too. A shame. I’m so happy to be with you swimmers. Real men with real dicks.”

“You son of a bitch!”

Turning straight and solid, Simon countered, “My mother is not a bitch and if you don’t apologize to these great athletes, I’m going to end your football career right here and now.”

“What are you gonna do? Swish me to death?”

His friends laughed at that one.

“No. I’m going to wait until you make the first stupid move and then I’m going to kick the inside of your knee so hard it will be ruined for life. Then I’ll kick the other just so you don’t walk with an uneven limp. Come on sugar, you wanna dance?”

Simon blew Dutch a kiss and braced himself. Just then one of the football coaches came running in being led by a girl.

“Dutch! What the hell is going on?”

“These fags were giving me and the guys a problem.”

“Not quite correct, coach. Dutch, here, said some nasty things about our All-American Individual Medley swimmer and our visiting recruit here, Simon, stood up for her and us. It’s a good thing you got here or I’m afraid it could have come to blows and Simon here might have hurt Dutch.”

“Hurt me?” The huge guy raged.

Simon stood his ground and looked at the coach.

“I would have ended his career and potentially put him in a wheelchair. I’ve been picked on for a good portion of my life. I don’t like bullies. I don’t start fights and I don’t walk away from them. I learned how to disable an attacker when I was five foot six and 85 pounds at twelve years old. Now, I’m 6’4 and 200 pounds and I know how to kick and destroy a knee permanently.”

Now the entire swim team was standing behind Simon and Jerry.

“Dutch, get out of here.”

“But Coach! I haven’t had breakfast.”

“You’ve had all you’re going to have this morning. Take Mike and Robert and get out of here. NOW!”

The three big guys turned and left without a word. The coach turned back to the swimmers.

“I’m sorry.”

“Coach, we go to every game,” Jerry explained. “We support State football. Even when you have a losing record. We were second at the Division 2 National Championships last year and have several swimmers qualified for Olympic Trials in Omaha in June. We never talk down about football. We never compare our records against top teams. We never rub it in that our kids are the number one academic team in the school, way ahead of football, by the way. It would be nice to get the same sort of respect in return.”

“I understand. I’ll see what I can do about that. Tell me; when is your next home competition?”

“We go against Drury in two weeks.”

“Drury? I don’t know that I’ve heard of their football team.”

“They don’t have one. They are a small school out of Springfield, Missouri. They have a great architecture school and are one of the best swim teams in the country.”

The coach thought for a few seconds and then said, “I’ll see if I can get some of my guys to come and see how you all do what you do.”

“Whether you do or don’t won’t affect how we act. Our swimmers will still give the football team the respect they deserve as representatives of State. Thank you for not letting this situation escalate.”

“Dutch is an asshole. But he is our asshole and sometimes he has to be protected from his own stupidity.”

The coach nodded and walked away. The team gathered around Simon and Jerry. Jerry was looking a bit shaky but Simon was cool as could be. Terri took his hand as they sat.

“You really could have hurt him, couldn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Simon said quietly before he picked up a glass of chocolate milk. “Here’s to swimmers and the Kings of the Hill!”

All the swimmers grabbed their glasses and returned the toast before sitting and resuming their meals. Paul kept looking at Simon with a strange expression.

“Paul? Go ahead and ask your question.”

“It’s not so much a question as a thought. Just because you’re gay doesn’t make you weak.”

“I hope not. Now that doesn’t mean that I want to delay my flight home this afternoon and do King of the Hill again. I’m not sure even Dutch is that tough.”

Everyone at the table laughed and Terri squeezed Simon’s hand.

“I like you ... in a completely non-sexual way, of course.”

“Of course. I like you too, Terri.”

She smiled and took a big mouthful of her biscuits and gravy.

Having wiped out most of the chocolate milk and almost all of the bacon on the buffet, the swimmers were on their way out the door when the cafeteria manager stopped them.

“I don’t know what you kids did this morning, but the next time you do it let me know ahead of time. We’re almost out of bacon. I’m having to have a special shipment brought in for our BLT’s at lunch.”

“Yes, sir,” Jerry agreed. “I’ll let Coach know and he’ll have a manager tell you in advance like they do with the chocolate milk.”

“That would be lovely. You kids have a wonderful day.”

“You too, sir.”

The team members each shook hands with the manager as they walked past him and each one thanked him for the food and his efforts. Outside they went their separate ways. Janey, Terri, Paul and Simon walked towards the house.

“So, now what?” Simon asked Paul as they walked out.

“Well for most of us it’s back to the house and hitting the books. Some will do laundry; some will clean house. Some of the gang already took off for the grocery store. What would you like to do, Simon?”

“I don’t mind helping out with the cleaning.”

“Oh, a good little housewife, huh?”

The voice that spoke was not a swimmer. The four turned to see Dutch and his two friends standing around the corner of the building the swimmers were passing.

“Dutch, don’t do this,” Paul pleaded.

“Shut up. This fucking fairy threatened me and I don’t like threats.”

“He didn’t threaten you, Dutch. He warned you. Now please walk away.”

“No”

And with those words Dutch took a couple of steps towards the swimmers. Simon spread his arms and pushed everyone back behind him.

“Stay behind me.”

“Come on, let’s dance,” Dutch said, echoing Simon’s earlier words.

“Dutch, please don’t do this,” Simon said.

“You need to be put back in your place, you fucking queer.”

“Dutch, PLEASE don’t do this,” Simon asked again.

Dutch stepped forward and took a huge roundhouse swing at Simon’s head. Simon rolled with the punch so that it only glanced off of his face.

“DUTCH! Stop! Don’t do this!” This time it was said by Simon as a command not a plea or request.

Dutch stepped forward again and swung again. This time, Simon half turned as he dropped down on one leg. The other leg spun around violently, making contact with the outside of the knee on Dutch’s front leg. The sound of the crack causes Janey to bring her hand to her mouth as she tried to gag. Dutch’s eyes went wide as he collapsed onto the now useless leg and fell to the ground.

“Paul, call 911! Terri or Janey call campus security if you can.”

Terri said, “I’ll call the Coach. He’s gotta know about this.”

“I’ll call the campus cops,” Janey replied.

Dutch was rolling around on the ground screaming in pain and clutching at his destroyed knee. His two friends looked around for something to do while Simon dropped down on top of Dutch to stop him from moving and causing further injury to his knee.

“Dutch! Dutch! Stay still! If you move around too much you can cause more damage!”

Simon looked up at the two friends and ordered them, “You two get over here and hold him down. Don’t let him roll and don’t let him move his knee.”

“What did you do?”

“I warned him. Now get over here and help him. His football days might be over.”

The two big guys seemed to come out of their shock and got a hold of Dutch and locked him down. And that was how the ambulance and campus security and the police found them. The police arrived first and made sure the area was secure before they let the ambulance EMT’s approach.

The EMT’s got Dutch’s leg into an air cast and administered a mild sedative before loading him into the ambulance and heading off to the hospital. Campus security was standing back and taking notes while the police asked questions of the swimmers and the two other football players.

About the time that we were telling the story for the third time, the Coach showed up.

“Paul? What happened?”

“Coach, Dutch accosted us in the cafeteria and Simon stood up to him. One of the football coaches showed up and calmed things down and got Dutch out of the cafeteria. We were walking back to the house after breakfast when he and his friends stopped us. He took a couple of swings at Simon. Simon kept telling him not to do that and after the third time, Simon hit him in the knee. It sounded like Simon broke his knee pretty bad.

“Simon had us call 911 and Campus Security, Terri called you and that’s where we are. The police and Campus Security have been taking our stories.”

“Thanks, Paul.”

The Coach walked over to the police and introduced himself, Campus Security confirmed that he was who he said he was. They talked for a bit and then Coach came back to his swimmers.

“The four of you need to go back to the house. Simon, I’m afraid that you may have to remain with us for another day and fly home on Sunday or maybe even Monday. I’ll know for sure once the authorities finish their investigation. This area is covered by security cameras so your story should check out on video. You better call your parents and let them know what happened. I’ll call as well and assure them that you’re going to be alright.”

“Am I, Coach?”

“Of course you are. You defended yourself and your teammates. The video should show that. Jerry will keep you in his place. The rest of the team will take care of you. We’ll get your temp I.D. extended for a day or two so you can go to the cafeteria.”

“What about the football team, Coach?” Paul asked.

“What about them?”

“Might some of them be a bit pissed that their starting linebacker was taken out by a swimmer?”

“They might. I’ll call Coach Smith and fill him in. Which coach was in the cafeteria?”

“It was Coach Rogers.”

“I’ll have Coach Smith contact him for his side of the story. You all don’t worry about it. Now head back to the house.”

“Yes sir.”

“Coach, I’m sorry if this messes up my visit. I was really looking forward to joining the team and being a part of this family.”

“If you want to be, you will be. Make no mistake about that, Simon. Get going.”

Simon shook the coaches hand and the four returned to the house.

“He did what!?” Was the first thing Jerry said when he heard the story from Paul.

“He protected Terri, Janey and me. He did everything he could to get out of a fight but it didn’t work.”

“Wow. Well let’s try to keep things as normal as possible around here. Is Simon OK?”