Chapter 3: Arlene

Barry knew that his friend was being raised by a single mother, Arlene. They had met a few times but he didn’t know her well. And he didn’t know the circumstances of why she was raising Larry on her own.

Barry didn’t know that when Larry was only 10, Arlene’s fractious marriage had collapsed when she found Larry’s father Archie in their bed with a 24-year-old student, Eddie. He had infected them (Arlene and Archie) with both Gonorrhea and Hepatitis. Considering the circumstances, Archie agreed to an immediate divorce. Arlene had their house, received support, and had full physical custody of Larry. Archie retained legal custody rights and visitation every other weekend.

During the divorce, and afterwards, Arlene was seething with a hatred of homosexuals.

Wednesday, the guys were back on the porch, as usual.

“So, Larry, what game should we play today? How about Minecraft?”

“Fuck you! I’ve been thinking of Hera all day.

“Hera? Who’s Hera?”

“I am going to kick your ass so hard that shit will ooze from your nose.”

“I suppose you want to look at her pictures, Larry. Just give me a minute, OK, I got it. There.”

Barry had the images from his phone’s camera running as a continuous slide show on the large display monitor.

In a minute or two, without further comment, they were again standing in front of the display with their pants down, jerking off while reminiscing about the previous day’s fun.

That’s when Arlene (who had returned home early) walked in on them and shrieked.

Misapprehension

Although they were both stunned, Barry moved first. He snatched up and fastened his pants and went through the porch door and out through the gate in a blur, headed for home.

“Mom, I’m sorry, we just, well, it’s the internet.”

“SHUT UP. GO TO YOUR ROOM.”

Arlene spent the rest of the day and evening raging. About 7:30 she put a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of water at his bedroom door and knocked.

When he opened the door, he tried to apologize.

“Mother, I’m so—”

“Shut up. You have two things to do tomorrow. First, tell Barry to stay away, he’s never coming to this house again. Second, do whatever you need to do, turn in your books, whatever. Because tomorrow is your last day at Morehead High School. I’m going down there and withdrawing you officially. You’ll go somewhere else instead.

“But, Mom, I didn’t—”

Arlene grabbed the knob and pulled the door shut behind her with a bang as she left. Then, a minute later, she was back.

“I want your phone. Turn it over, now!”

Without argument, he gave her the phone. At least, he thought, it was locked and she didn’t know the pass code.

Blame

On her own phone, Arlene began composing an email to Larry’s father.

Almost immediately, Arlene’s phone started blowing up with incoming messages, so she blocked Archie’s number. Her son’s phone was also going crazy, so she pried out and destroyed the phone’s SIM card.