Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2012 21:19:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: BR
Subject: two boys: a love story part 5

PlEaSe DoN't ReAd ThIs If YoUr JuRiSdIcTiOn DoEs NoT aLlOw YoU tO dO sO, oR
iF yOu ArE NoT YeT 18 yEaRs OlD. tHaNk YoU...aNd NoW...


			  Two Boys: A Love Story
				  Part V


Don parked his car in the parking lot at the rear of the building, just as
the signs instructed. After we parked, I got out of the passenger seat and
closed the door behind me. Don got out and locked the driver side door and
we walked together to the front entrance. It was Wednesday, three days
after the fire, and it was my first visit to Mom since she had been brought
here. We entered the cozily decorated front reception area and stood in
line at the receptionists desk to sign in. When it got to be my turn, I
approached the desk and signed my name in the large sign- in book and
looked up to face the receptionist.

"What is the name of the patient?" The receptionist asked.

"Grace Simmons." I replied.

The receptionist looked Mom up on the computer. "Your name, please?"

"Byron Welleham." I said.

"May I please see your walkers ID?" She said.

I took my Florida walkers ID out of my pocket and showed it to her. She
looked at it and then handed it back to me.

"What is your relationship to the patient?"

"I'm her son."

The receptionist then handed me a visitor badge. "Visitation begins in ten
minutes, an orderly will come down and take you up to the patient area. You
will have 15 minutes to visit the patient. You and only you have been
authorized by the patient to visit her upstairs. Once the visit is
completed, you'll be escorted back to the desk and you will return your
visitors badge. Do you have any questions?"

"No, Ma'am." I said.

"Very good. Please have a seat." She said.

Don and I went over to the one of the couches and sat down. There were
three other people also waiting to visit patients. There was an older
looking black man and a young, Hispanic looking couple, and they all looked
as miserable as I felt.

"How are you holding up, Byron?" Don leaned over and asked me. "If this is
too much for you we can always come back tomorrow."

"No." I said without looking at him. "She said on the phone that she really
wants me to see her today." Don didn't want to be there and was trying to
leave. What a selfish prick, I thought.

Don turned and faced forward with a pained look on his face. I was still
mad at him about everything that had happened. When Mom and I found our
house burning down last Sunday, Don told us that he had left a lit
cigarette in the ashtray on the shelf next to Mom's bed. He had passed out
on the couch, and the cigarette had burned away and dropped down onto one
of the pillows. The smoke detector woke him up and he discovered the bed in
flames and fire spreading up the wall. He was able to get his guitar and a
couple of Mom's things out in time, but everything else went up in a
blaze. Mom had a complete nervous breakdown right there on the lawn when he
told her all of this, and she had to be taken away in an ambulance to this
awful place where we now were. Don said we could move into his house, but I
was still not in any mood to forgive him. I was so mad at him that I wound
up staying back over at Adam's house on Sunday night.

Adam had his own problems. Steve Krauter had told his mom about the porno
that he saw Chris watching at Adam's house. He also apparently had told her
that Adam and I were "holding hands and kissing". She then called up Sherry
in a rage, yelling and screaming and making various threats. Sherry
confronted Adam about it, searched his room, and found the DVD. She
responded by grounding Adam for two weeks, by limiting his computer access,
and told him that his backpack would be searched every time he came back
from his dad's from then on. Sherry then called Don and gave him an earful
about it as well. Steve stopped talking to both me and Adam at school, and
now sat at the completely opposite side of the cafeteria from where we sat,
as though we had some kind of infectious disease.

An orderly showed up and told us to follow him. Don said he would meet me
downstairs right there by the door after the visit was over. The four of us
then followed the orderly into a secured area, down a long corridor, into a
second secured area, and up an elevator to the second floor where Mom was.

When I got to the second floor I was hustled though a couple hallways and
then through a door. I checked in at the little reception desk they had,
and I was lead to room #14. I knocked on the door and Mom answered and
immediately grabbed and started hugging me. As I looked in the room I saw
it was a small room with two beds and a small dresser in the corner and a
small chair. Mom started crying and sobbing onto my shoulder.

"Oh you look so handsome, I love you." She said with her hands on my face
before she burst back into tears and buried her head back on my shoulder. I
was shocked at her appearance. She looked very old and tired and had deep
lines on her face. She had dark bags under her eyes and she smelled
bad. She wore a pair of pajama bottoms, a t-shirt, and a bathrobe.  Her
long brown hair was stringy and looked unwashed. Mom eventually got some
composure and said we should go to the common room that they had at the end
of the hall.

"So how is school?" She sniffled as we walked down the hall.

"It's fine." I said.

"Do...do you like it at ...Don's house?" She asked.

"It's ok." I said.

We got to the common room and sat on a couple of chairs. Mom immediately
started sobbing and took some kleenex out of the pocket on her robe and
wiped her eyes. I looked around and saw that the common room was brightly
lit with lots of windows. There was a ping pong table, a TV, and lots of
couches and chairs, as well as a large table. The old black guy and the
Hispanic couple were both sitting on different couches and talking to
patients. The old dude was just sitting and staring at this old woman who
just stared straight ahead and into space.  Pretty soon Mom was sobbing
right into her kleenex.

"Do you know why I'm here?" She bawled.

"Yes. I was there." I said.

"He left us!" She yelled. "How can that man have put us in this position?
We were married for 16 years! And he just leaves! And so I have to come
down here and that asshole Don burns my house down!" She began sobbing
harder. "How could he have put us in this position!?"

A nurse came and stood next to us, watching Mom. I guessed that they were
about to lock her back up. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok, Mom, it's ok. " I said, trying to get her to calm down so that
the visit wasn't cut short.

"I don't have any hope, Byron! I need someone to give me hope!" She cried.

"It's ok, Mom." I said again.

She looked at me with tears flowing out of her eyes, her skin looking grey
and lifeless. "Oh Byron, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for all of this! I'm
sorry you had to move! I'm sorry about your father! I'm sorry about the
house!  I'm sorry that I failed you as a mother! I'm sorry..." She then
squeezed her eyes shut with tears literally squirting out and began gasping
and sobbing hysterically. The nurse and an orderly immediately came rushing
in, picked Mom up off the chair, and lead her back to her room while she
shrieked and sobbed. I stood shaking where I was. The orderly then came
back and told me he would take me back to the front desk. I nodded numbly
and we walked back to the elevator. While I was in the elevator the tears
started flowing and I put my head against the wall of the elevator with my
arm over my eyes.

 "I'm sorry, Kid." Said the orderly as he patted my shoulder. The elevator
then opened up on the ground floor. I wiped off my eyes and stepped out
into the harsh fluorescent lighting in the hallway. We walked back to the
main lobby. I signed out and returned my badge. Don was outside smoking a
cigarette.

"Well that was quick." He said as I stepped out the door.

"I'm ready when you are." I said.

"So did you ask her about adding me to her visitors list?" He asked.

"She's still really upset. She probably would have said no If I asked her
then." I said.

"I knew you'd forget." Don muttered as we starting walking back to the car.

On the way back, Don stopped by where our house used to be. They had
bulldozed all the wreckage away, so all that was left was a big charred
spot surrounded by yellow tape. We then headed back to Don's house, which
was now my home for the time being.

"So, this isn't the first time she's been institutionalized, right?" Don
asked as he drove.

"No. She was right after Dad left." I said.

"Yeah, I didn't know about that." Don muttered.

"She went after Dad with a broken bottle, and then tried to slash her
wrists with it." I said.

"Great..." Don replied.

We then pulled into the parking lot of his townhouse complex, parked, and
then walked into the house after Don checked his mail in the outside
mailbox.  Rich and Danny were on the couch playing Xbox with the stereo
playing. Rich was Don's employee at the print shop he owned and Danny was
Rich's room mate. Danny drove a truck for a bakery. They often hung out at
Don's house after work.

"Well I see you guys have made yourselves comfortable." Don said.

"Your ex called while you were out. She said you're not answering your cell
and she needs to talk to you." Rich said as he thumbed away at his
controller.

"Did she say what it was all about?" Don winced.

"Nope, she just said for you to call her at home." Rich said. He then put
down his controller, picked the bong up off of the coffee table, and took a
big, gurgling hit.

"Hey come on! The kid is right here!" Don said.

"Oh right, sorry." Rich said. He then held the bong out to me. "Want a hit,
kid?" Rich grinned. I laughed and stepped backwards while holding out my
hands in front of me with my two forefingers crossed in a crucifix shape. I
wouldn't have done any even if they were serious about offering me some, it
definitely wasn't my thing.

Don grabbed a PBR out of the refrigerator. "I guess I should see what's
going on now with that bitch Sherry." Don said as he began dialing the
phone. I then went to the stairs and down to the basement.

"Marco? Yo yo Marco!" I called out over the Phish concert he had playing on
the stereo.

"Hey dude! I'm in the work room!" I heard him yell. Marco was Don's room
mate. Don had moved into Marco's old house after he had split with Sherry,
and they got this current house that they now live in once the lease on
their old place had expired. Marco lived in the basement and shared the
kitchen and the living room with Don. The basement was furnished, and had a
bedroom and a bathroom. Marco's "workroom" was actually a small area in
front of the sliding door that Marco had hung curtains around. I went
through the curtains and saw Marco hunched over his work table, working on
a model engine.

I stood next to Marco and put my arm up on his shoulder. "Wutcha workin'
on, Marc?" I said.

"This, my friend, is a scale model of the engine for the 1962 Plymouth
Satellite. I'm just putting the finishing touches on it." Marco
replied. Marco was born to a Cuban father and a Mexican mother, and yet he
spoke in a thick, southern drawl. I had met him back when I first stayed
over here with Adam a few months ago, and I thought he a really cool
guy. He was 25 years old, worked for a telemarketing firm, and had a
girlfriend that he was constantly breaking up with, and had been for years.

"Looks pretty good." I said as I looked at the engine..

Marco picked up a half smoked marijuana joint out of the ashtray on the
work table and lit it up. "So how's your Mom? Did you visit her today?" He
asked as he took several deep drags.

"Yeah..." I said as I looked away.

"How did it go?" He asked. I looked down and didn't say anything. Marco put
out the joint."Come on, let's go to the couch and talk." He said. We walked
over to the couch, which I sat down on. Marco turned the music down and sat
on a chair by the coffee table.

"She was real bad, Marc." I said.

"How so?"

"She was crying and upset. She smelled really bad and she looked dead." I
said, trying really hard not to start crying.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Marco said.

"It was just like last time. I didn't get to see her then, but I heard
about it from Dad. I thought she had gotten better, but apparently she
hasn't."

"I guess the fire brought it all back for her." Marco said.

I shuddered when he said that. I could still hear the fire engines, see the
house burning, and smell the burning wood and aluminum siding. I had also
lost most of my stuff. I had packed three days worth of clothes in my
overnight bag, and I had my Droid and my MP3 with me. Everything else was
gone. Adam was nice enough to give me one of his computers, so I had on
line access to do schoolwork and such. Don also took me out to Walmart and
bought me some clothes.

"I just wish I knew how to help her." I said.

Marco got up and went to get a Budweiser out of his refrigerator. "Don't
beat yourself up." He said as he sat back down and opened his beer. "You're
just a kid, it's not your job to help her. There are others to do
that. Your job is just to go to school and look cute and stay out of
trouble. You can help her out that way." He then took a chug of his beer.

"I guess you're right, I just feel so helpless." I said.

"Everyone feels helpless sometimes. It's a part of life." Marco said.

I smiled at that. We then went back to Marco's model engine and I watched
him work on it for a while. I then went back upstairs to my room. Don told
me while I was on my way upstairs that he talked to Sherry and she said
that since Adam was grounded he won't be coming over this weekend. This was
horrible, disappointing news because I was really looking forward to having
him over this weekend. I got upstairs and went to the computer to IM Adam,
but I remembered that he was grounded and off of his computer. I did my
homework and eventually flopped down on the bed and went to sleep.

The next day in school Adam asked me how Mom was doing as we sat down to
lunch.

"She looked like shit." I replied. "She really went crazy."

"That sucks. I'm sorry my dad burned down your house." He said.

"Adam, I told you to stop apologizing for that. It's not your fault." I
said.

"I know. I'm just going to miss your house and miss your room. Do you
remember the first time I came over?" He said as he looked at me.

I smiled. "Yeah, I remember that."

Just then the other kids in our lunch group started arriving so the
conversation switched over to sports and supermodels. As we all talked I
looked over at Steve Krauter at the other table where he sat. He was
looking at and pointing at us while he talked to the group of kids he was
sitting with. Some of the other kids would turn and look at us while he was
talking. I was starting to wonder exactly what he was saying.

That night I was informed by Don that Mom would be coming home on
Saturday. I was glad that she was coming home but I was worried about what
would happen afterwords. There was a lot of unpleasant business to attend
to in regards to the house, and I was hoping that she would be able to
survive all of it.

The next day I got to school at my usual time. I noticed that things were
odd as soon as I got into class. The classroom kind of went quiet when I
came in. When I sat at my desk next to Adam, I saw some kids whispering
into each others ears and I heard a couple of giggles. I looked over at
Steve Krauter and he was looking at us with a slight smile on his
face. During class I passed a note to Adam.

"What's with everybody?" I wrote.

Adam passed a note back to me. "I don't know. Something weird is going on."

At lunch, as we sat down at our table, a couple of girls from class came
over.

"So is it true?" This girl Heather asked.

"Is what true?" Replied Adam.

"That you guys are gay?" She replied.

"Who told you that?" I said.

"Steve did. He's told everybody that." Heather said.

My heart sank in my chest as the girls giggled and withdrew to their
seats. Adam was looking over at Steve with an enraged look on his face. Our
usual lunchtime group then arrived. Chris Richards was with them and looked
distressed, but the other kids were all laughing.

"So when is the wedding, guys?" Chris Stover said.

"Yeah, which of you is the man and which of you is the woman?" Laughed
Scott Crawford.

"Shut up, Scott!" Said Adam angrily.

"I think Adam would look cute in a wedding dress." Chris laughed again.

"You guys are a couple of homos." Said Malcolm Juarez.

"You guys should wear pink to school to match the color of the house you're
going to get." Said Scott.

Adam then took his juice box and sprayed it right into Scott's face. Scott
got up in anger and Adam responded by picking his chair up and throwing it
at him. It hit Scott in the face and Scott collapsed to the ground,
bleeding from under his left eye. Adam then sprinted over to where Steve
was sitting. Steve tried to shield himself with his hands but Adam flew
into him and knocked him off his seat and to the ground. I ran over as Adam
got on top of him and started wailing on his face. I grabbed Adam to get
him off of Steve, and he turned around and punched me right in my eye,
hard. I put my hand over my eye and saw Adam put his hands over his mouth
in horror. The cafeteria monitors and one of the custodian then flew over
and yanked Adam off of Steve and took him to the office. Steve, Scott, and
I all went to the clinic. Steve got it the worst. He had a black eye, was
bleeding from his nose, and his glasses broke when Adam knocked them off of
his face.
 I had a black right eye and Scott had a big, nasty cut and a big bruise
under his. When I got back to class I saw that Adam was not at his desk. I
found out at the end of the day that he was suspended for three days and
would not be back until next Thursday.

I was absolutely desperate to talk to Adam but I had no way of reaching
him. He was already grounded and was now in even bigger trouble. When I got
home I called his house and there was no answer. I tried again a short time
later and Maddie answered. I asked her to tell Adam that I wasn't mad at
him and she said she would, she also said that there was no way I was going
to be able to talk to him at all until he returns to school next week and
to prepare myself for that. I was absolutely bummed out that I wouldn't be
able to communicate at all with him until then. I felt lonely and
depressed.

The next day was Saturday, and Don went to pick up Mom from the hospital
and brought her home. As soon as she came in and saw me she came over and
gave me a big hug. I hugged her back. Don put his hand on her shoulder and
she shrunk away from him. She went upstairs and Don followed and I could
hear them fighting and arguing. Mom was accusing Don of burning her house
down on purpose and calling him various nasty things. Don finally stormed
downstairs, grabbed a PBR out of the fridge, and sat down at the kitchen
table with his back to me. I could hear Mom sobbing upstairs. Just then the
phone rang. I got up and answered it and heard Adam's voice on the other
end.

"Buyer?" He said.

"Hey..."

"Buyer, call me right back. Mom and Gerald are out." He then hung up.

I then hung up. Don asked who it was and I said it was a wrong number. I
then went down to Marco's room. Marco was out working so the whole basement
was dark and quiet. I found the phone and called Adam back.

"Hey Adam." I said.

"I'm so sorry I hit you, Byron..." Adam sobbed into the phone.

"I know it was an accident. Don't worry about it." I said.

"I'm in so much trouble." He sniffled.

"Yeah, you beat up Steve pretty good."

"I tried to be Steve's friend, and he turned around and talked about us
behind our backs." Adam sighed.

"Yeah he's a complete jerk. He went on everybody's Facebook and told them
about us. So what are you doing all day? "

"I can't use my computer or my TV, I can't leave the house. The only thing
they let me do is read." He said. Just then I heard some background noise
on the line. "Shit, they're back." He said. " I gotta go, see you!" He then
hung up abruptly. I hung up the phone ans went back upstairs. I could hear
Mom sobbing upstairs and Don was drinking another PBR at the table. I knew
this was going to be a very, very long weekend.

			       End of Part V