Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 21:23:58 EDT
From: HnstSkr4@aol.com
Subject: This is Seth - Chapter 9

Warning: This story doesn't contain any sex.  It's the story of gay teens.
None of the characters are based on real people, nor are they meant to
resemble any living or dead people.

Let me know what you think of the story by emailing me at Hnstskr4@aol.com

I want to thank everyone who has emailed.  I also want to thank those who
have read the story.  It means a lot hearing from you.  Please continue
reading!  There is a lot more to come.  I own all rights to this story.
Chuck B.

I've got such a great response to the story and would love to hear from
everyone who reads it.

I'm using a different technique for writing this story, so if you don't
like it, let me know, or if you really like it, let me know that, too.

Copyright © 2010, 2011

Characters Mentioned In This Chapter Seth - Seth is the main character.  He
is 17 at the start of this story.  Dad AKA Charles Thompson Mom AKA Dawn
Thompson (nee Walker) Scottie Westbrook age 18 Coach - Seth's and Scottie's
wrestling coach Uncle Tim Walker - Dawn Thompson's younger brother Uncle
Mike -- Uncle Tim's life partner


Chapter 9

Dodging the Blues

It's been one week since I came out to Scottie.  Since that day, he's
stopped being my friend altogether.  He outted me to the coach, who then
outed me to the team.  If I didn't have a reason to be down on myself
before, I do now.  Guess the good news is that I'm not being beaten up at
school or after school.  Even though Scottie isn't a part of my life right
now, things are okay.

Things aren't perfect, but they could be much worse.  Currently Scottie
isn't talking to me.  The guys on the team have started to follow his
example.  Guess I'm lucky to still have Devin, Paige and my family in my
life.  There are still people who are willing to listen to me and put up
with me.  Feels good to still have my family with me, not every gay teen
can say that.  I also have been feeling a little hyper for some reason.

I've had a lot of energy to burn lately, which is weird.  All this new
found energy is being thrown into wrestling practice. Coach seems to
appreciate it, but my team-mates don't seem to like it that much.  Today
after practice Coach told me that the guys seem to be pulling away from me.
I've noticed that too.  This extra energy has led me to take on a couple
other chores at home.  My siblings are loving this, because I took one
chore from each of them.  Mom told me it's just my way of dealing with
depression.  Am I depressed?  I don't feel all sad and stuff.  On the other
hand, Mom knows me best, so it must be true.  It's weird, really weird, how
this event is playing out.

It's not bad at church except for at practice, now church is a different
story.  We are a bit tighter bunch and what affects one of us affects us
all.  It seems that Scottie has taken it upon himself to tell the guys at
church.  Right now, it's not so bad because it seems as though only the
guys my age know anything.  I just hope it stays this way till I'm ready to
speak up.  I don't want any more stresses in my life.  It's to the point
where I want to cry when I'm alone, too.  I have days where I don't want to
do anything at all.

It has really boiled down to me just staying busy.  All of this has helped
me spend more time with my friends... mainly Paige and Devin.  Likewise,
I've had more time to spend on the animals.  I'm really loving it.  The
animals seem to enjoy too.  I love spending time with them.  It helps me
relax. Right now, Nightmare is out on my lap.  Nightmare is my 3-foot
monitor lizard.  I usually have him out for an hour every day and just let
him roam the room.  It's funny though, he seems to like the bed.  As long
as he doesn't mess on it, more power to him.  Someone is coming up the
stairs.  Even with my door closed, I can still hear them.  From the sound
of the footsteps, I'm guessing it's Mom.

There is a knock on my bedroom door.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah Mom, come on in."

She approaches the bed and goes to sit down but Nightmare suddenly moves
beneath the bedsheets.  She eyes the moving bulge and then backs away from
the bed.

"Son, please tell me that is Gypsy or Chang."

Gypsy and Chang are the family cats.

"Nope, it's Nightmare."

Once she found that it was Nightmare underneath the covers, she backed off
even more.

"Seth, Dad and I were talking and we think you need a night away from the
house."

Where does she think I'm going to go?  I'd love to escape for a night.  It
would be great to forget about my problem and just have some fun.  I wonder
where they plan on sending me.

"Go ahead and pack for one night, and one night only."

"Where am I going?"

I have images in my head of some ritzy Chicago hotel running through my
head.

"It's a surprise!"

Oh no!

"I think you'll like this surprise."

Surprises usually don't work very well for me.

After running around for an hour, I was finally packed and ready to get on
the road.  Mom and Dad packed up the rest of the family and we left the
house.  It didn't take very long for me to fall asleep in the car.  I have
a habit of falling asleep on any long trips.  Luckily, I'm on spring break
so I don't have to worry about my attendance at school or my homework.  At
one point, I woke up only to find that Dad had stopped to get gas.  I have
no idea how much time or distance has gone by, but we finally have reached
our destination.  The house is a large colonial style home, complete with
bricks and English ivy. The car came to a stop and my parents got out.  I
watched as Mom and Dad approached the door and knocked.  A guy who looked
like he's in his 30s opened the door.  Mom hugged him and Dad gave him a
hug too.  They talked for a couple minutes and then Mom motioned for me to
come up to the house.

How am I supposed to relax at the home of stranger?  I'm feeling a lot of
anxiety right now.  I just have to have faith in my parents.  They would
never steer me into dangerous waters.  I'm going to approach this situation
with an open mind.  Mom is smiling as I approach and Dad has stepped to the
side, allowing me to get up close to the stranger.  The stranger is smiling
too.  He looks at me and then looks at my mom and says:

"He looks a lot like Charles, a very handsome young man."

This stranger has to be my Uncle Tim.  Mom and Dad said their goodbyes to
me and to Uncle Tim.

I watched as Mom and Dad pulled away from Uncle Tim's house.

"So I finally get to see my nephew, Seth.  I have to admit that this visit
was a little unexpected, but it's welcome nonetheless. Come on inside!"

I followed my uncle inside his house.  Wow... this place is huge!  His
living room is the size of our living room and dining room combined.  I'm
in awe.  "Do you want to put your stuff away?"

"Sure!"

He turned around and led me to a flight of stairs.  He led me up the stairs
and down a short hallway.  We stopped in between two other rooms.

"This room was supposed to be Uncle Mike's Den, but we decided to turn it
into a spare bedroom."

He opened the door and again, I was in awe.  This room was almost double
the size of my room back home.  He pointed to a door to the left of the
entrance and said:

"That door leads to the bathroom just make sure you knock before you enter,
okay?"

"Sure, Uncle Tim!"

Uncle Tim has to be around 5'9".  He doesn't even look to be middle aged at
all. He must work out a little every now and then.  Another thing that I've
noticed is the use of house plants.  I think I've seen ten so far.  As
Uncle Tim got ready to leave the bedroom, a cat walked into the room,
followed by a kitten.  Mom is a Siamese and the baby seems to be a Siamese
also.  Uncle Tim acknowledged their presence.

"Hey Ice, you taking the baby on the grand tour again?"

The mother meowed and rubbed up against his leg.  He scooped her up and
rubbed her belly.  I squatted down and reached out for the kitten.  I'm
surprised that it didn't try to run away.  It hissed at me, but I called
its bluff.  When I got the kitten up in my arms, I noticed Ice's eyes were
glued on her kitten and on me.  I did manage to get the kitten calmed down
enough play with him.

Uncle Tim put Ice back on the floor and headed downstairs.  She was
watching me very closely, so I thought I had better put the baby down.

"Here you go, little one, go back to mommy."

He seemed to be happy to be back on the floor.  I got my stuff put away and
headed downstairs.  On my way down the stairs, I overheard my uncle
canceling plans, which made me feel sad until I heard him bragging about
me.  When I got to the bottom of the stairs, the front door opened wide and
another guy walked into the house.  He had light brown hair, and blue eyes.
He's tall too, around 6'1".  Uncle Tim walked up to him and kissed him.

I guess this guy is my Uncle Mike.  He appears to be in his early thirties.
He turned and looked at me and then looked back at his husband.

"Are you going to introduce us?"

Uncle Tim just grinned.  I didn't say anything.  Uncle Tim put his right
arm up on my shoulder and said:

"This handsome guy is my... our nephew, Seth."

Uncle Tim dropped his right arm from my shoulder.

"Seth, this is your Uncle Mike."

I watched his right arm disappear behind Uncle Mike's backside.  Uncle Mike
and I exchanged a handshake and then Uncle Mike turned to check his mail.
Uncle Tim headed off into the kitchen and I sat down in the living room.
Uncle Mike disappeared only to reappear in a few minutes dressed in shorts
and a t-shirt.  He sat down in the living room for a few seconds and then
looked at me and said:

"Do you like Pizza?"

"Yeah I do!"

"Cool, because I think that I hear Tim calling us to help out in the
kitchen."

We got up and headed straight to the kitchen.

The kitchen was huge, but that's good, because I got the impression that
they cook together a lot.  Uncle Tim already had the pizza dough ready.  He
was opening a glass jar of pizza sauce.

"In case you're wondering, the pizza sauce is homemade.  Even the tomatoes
and the other ingredients were raised in the backyard."

Uncle Mike seemed pretty proud of the pizza sauce.

"Seth would you mind putting the sauce on the crust?"

"Sure, Uncle Tim!"

I was handed a ladle and the jar of sauce.  Uncle Tim was working on a
whole pineapple.  Uncle Mike was cutting up some pieces of ham.

"So tell us something about yourself, Seth."

Do they have any idea how boring I am?  I hate talking about myself.  Hope
they don't expect me to ramble on about myself.  I'd rather hear about my
uncles.

"Well, I like to write, draw, and work out.  I keep a couple exotic pets.
I'm also on the wrestling team."

Uncle Tim took time out from working on his pineapple to say:

"You know it takes a determined person to track someone down like you did."

"Well, I needed advice and I didn't know where else to turn, so I had to
find you."

I could see questions burning on Uncle Mike's lips.

"So what kind of exotics do you have?"

"Well, I have a monitor lizard named Nightmare, and a blue and yellow
macaw."

Uncle Mike grimaced at the utterance of the word `lizard'.

"Well, the macaw sound pretty cool, but the monitor lizard is
ummm... different."

"Nah... Uncle Mike, Nightmare is a big baby."

We made small talk while we finished our pizzas.  I wonder if they always
make dinner together or if this is something special. Our dinner for the
evening was homemade Hawaiian pizza, tossed salad, and fresh fruit.

After dinner we gathered in the living room to discuss the current mess in
my life.  You know, if it wasn't my Uncles asking me to talk about it, I
think that I'd tell them that it was none of their business.

"So tell me more about this little bump in the road," Uncle Tim said.

"Well, it started when I told Scottie about my sexuality."

"Who's Scottie?"

I had forgotten that Uncle Mike had no clue about what has happened, and
I'm not even sure what Uncle Tim knows or doesn't know.

"Well, Scottie is my best friend, and I've known him for what feels like
forever.  I guess he *was* my best friend."

You could see sorrow washing over Uncle Mike's face.

"I take it, that he didn't take things very well."

I think that goes without saying.

"He never became physical with me, but he did get very upset and stormed
out of my house."

Wonder if they went through that with any of their friends.  By the looks
on their faces, they must be deep in thought.

"The next day at school, Scottie was avoiding me.  At practice, my worrying
about Scottie telling anyone had affected my workout and practice matches.
Heck, even Scottie had a rough practice.  My guess is that he was worried
or angry about having to be around me.  Coach called both of us into his
office to find out what was going on.  I tried lying to the coach by
blaming it on stress brought on by a family issue."

Uncle Tim cringed when I said the word "lying".

"Not my best thought out plan ever, but I was hoping he might buy it.  Then
Scottie outted me to the coach."

Uncle Mike became a little bit ticked off.

"He did what?  I hate it when people out other people.  I guess they don't
stop to think of the consequences at all."

He's right too; I mean, of course he's right.

"Yeah he didn't think things through very well at all.  Now the good news
is that Scottie didn't actually plan on outing me to anyone."

Uncle Tim didn't look all that happy.

"Really, he didn't??  It sounds to me like he intended to tell someone."

I wonder if my life forced Scottie's hand.

"Coach kicked Scottie out of his office and then asked me if my sexuality
would affect my wrestling.  I answered him honestly, `No it wouldn't.'"

Uncle Mike smiled for the first time in like five minutes, the man actually
smiled.

"Bravo, your team-mates and your coach need to see that you haven't
changed, even though they now know that you're gay."

I'm so glad that these guys are my uncles.

"Coach sent me out to the lockers and followed right behind me.  He called
the team together and outted me for the second time in five minutes.  He
told the guys on the team that he wouldn't accept any homophobic behavior
and then, because of the poor practice that Scottie and I had, he made the
entire team run suicides."

Again, Uncle Tim looked a little mad.

"Wait... you're upset that Scottie outted you and you're not upset over
what your coach did?"

"I guess I just assumed that what he did, he did to stop any rumors and to
help get the word out that hatred won't be tolerated."

I think, I just let my uncle's down.  Uncle Mike patted me on the back and
then said:

"It's never okay for someone else to out you."

Had Uncle Mike and Uncle Tim been outted by someone before?  I bet they
have.

"So, now what do I do?"

"I think you need to just carry on and do what you're doing.  Show the
world that you're still Seth Thompson," Uncle Tim said with a smile on his
face.  Now it was Uncle Mike's turn to dish out advice.

"Don't let anyone tell you that you've changed."

Good piece of advice, but what about Scottie.  Do I drop him as a friend or
do I wait on him to come around?

"Do I give up on Scottie?"

Uncle Mike was quick this time around to dish out his thoughts on my
question.

"Absolutely not, there is a good chance that he will wake up and see that
you're the same guy that you've always been."

I think that is the second or third time that I've heard this, so I hope
it`s true.  We had enough of piecing together a brief window in my life,
and it's now time for some movies and popcorn.  I'm so used to microwave
popcorn that Uncle Tim taking a large pot out of the cupboard didn't
register and honestly left me guessing as to what he was going to do with
it.  Fifteen minutes later, we were kicked back watching movies until
midnight. In the morning, we had real blueberry pancakes, ham, hash browns,
and fresh fruit.  As we ate, Uncle Mike and Uncle Tim talked with me a bit
more about what it means to be an "out" gay teen or man.  They encouraged
me to use my size in defending others as long as my safety wasn't in
jeopardy, but a part of me wasn't comfortable with that.  With my size, if
I really honestly thought that I could make a difference for someone else,
I would lay down my safety for them.  Well, my visit with my uncles was
coming to an end.


My little vacation was now over and I was sad to have to say goodbye to my
uncles.  Mom and Dad pulled up to the house and I opened up the door to
leave.  As I walked down the sidewalk, I felt a stirring within me that I'm
alive and well.  Being around my uncles had made me realize a couple of
things about myself that I didn't know before coming here: I can be happy
and I don't have to be alone.  Still, having a boyfriend isn't exactly what
I want right now.  I'm also not totally ready to say goodbye to the church.
I truly hate that option.  I've also come to realize that I've been
side-stepping around a lot of issues going on in my life.