"Brian," Cynthia said over the intercom.

 

"Yes," Brian responded.

 

"There's a lady here to see you.  She says she was one of the protesters from outside.  You said if any of them wanted to speak to you, they should be put through."

Brian was surprised.  He never figured any of the small crowd who had heckled him this morning would actually take him up on his invitation to talk.  "Send her in."

A woman in her mid sixties or thereabouts entered his office.  Cynthia closed the door as she stepped out, leaving them alone.  The woman looked around uneasily and glanced at Brian furtively.  Then her eyes locked on a spot on the floor and stayed there.

 

"You wanted to speak to me?" Brian asked standing behind his desk.

 

"I … I don't know what I'm doing here.  I should go.  I've made a mistake."  She turned as if to leave.

 

"Wait, please," Brian said softly.  "Obviously you had something you wanted to say to me."

She turned slowly and looked at him really for the first time.  He could feel the depth of her stare.  She seemed to be searching for something deep inside him.

 

"Why did you kiss him in public?  Why do you flaunt yourself?"

Brian sighed.  Again with the flaunting; he was sick to death of that word.  "It's a long story."

 

"I'll go.  I don't want to waste your time."

 

"Do you really want to know the answer?" Brian asked suddenly feeling that it was important to make her understand.  If he could explain it to her then maybe he could explain it to everyone else as well.

 

She hesitated as if weighing his words.  "I came here because I wanted to understand," she said.  "I have time if you do."

Brian chuckled.  "Sit down, please."  She took a chair by his desk.  "Would you like something to drink?"

 

"Water, please.  This is harder than I thought.  I feel kind of parched."

Brian poured her a glass of water from the carafe on the sideboard.  She took a few sips, and then ventured another look at him.  Brian sat down in the chair next to her not wanting to have the desk between them.

 

"I feel like there's something you want to tell me," Brian said.

 

"I have wondered about you since you first announced you were going to run for mayor."

"Wondered what?"

"Why you would do that?  What kind of man you are?  A whole lot of things."

"Wouldn't you wonder that about any candidate?"

"Oh," she said as if surprised.  "Yes … yes, I guess I would."  This wasn't going the way she had expected.

 

"So what did you want to know about the kind of man I am?" Brian asked.

 

"My church says that you are an abomination."

 

Brian gritted his teeth making himself refrain from striking out at that statement.  It sounded way too much like his mother.  He gritted his teeth and kept his voice level as he said to her, "Do I look or sound like an abomination?"

 

She shook her head.  "You sound like a very reasonable and nice young man."

 

"Thank you."

"So why do you do … that?"

 

"I do … 'that' because that's what I am.  It's my nature."

"You don't have a choice?"

 

"Despite what some people would have you think, I don't.  I'm not sick and I can't be cured.  I'm just what I am."

She seemed to be digesting that.  "I see," she said slowly.  "So why did you kiss him in public?"

 

"'Him' is my partner, Justin, and I guess the simple answer is I kissed him because I love him."  Brian amazed himself that those words had come so easily out of his mouth.  Justin would have loved to hear this.

She smiled just a little.  "My husband would never have shown affection like that in public."

 

"But you would have liked him to?"

"Yes … yes, I suppose I would have, but he's dead now."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

 

"He's been gone a long time."  She looked thoughtful.  "So you love Justin, and … he loves you?"

"Yes."

"You said that was the simple answer.  Is there more to the story?"

"Yes."

"Would you tell me?"

 

"It's not easy for me to talk about it."

"It's bad?"

"Part of it."

 

"Oh, then you don't have to tell me."

"I think I do want to tell you … um … I don't know your name."

 

"Louise."

"So, Louise, you may have noticed that Justin is a little … younger than I am."

"Yes, I did."

Brian grimaced.  "When we met he was still in high school.  I'm twelve years older than him."

"My husband was nine years older than me," Louise said encouraging Brian to continue.

 

"He invited me to his prom."

"He did?  Did you go?"  She looked slightly horrified.

 

"At first I told him no, but then some things happened.  He went with his best friend, Daphne, and I showed up near the end of the prom.  He was so surprised and we danced in front of his whole class … all by ourselves with everybody watching."  Brian got a wistful look in his eye like he was reliving the whole thing.  "I kissed him when the song ended."

"That sounds like a good thing so far," Louise said.  "What's the bad part?"

"It's coming.  I whisked him out to my car and he said this was the best night of his life.  I kissed him again and he went to go back inside to take Daphne home.  He was going to meet me later."

 

Brian's eyes revealed the pain of what was to come.  "You can stop if it's too hard," Louise told him.

 

Brian shook his head.  He had started this and he would finish the story for the first time since it had happened.  He had never been able to get the whole thing out before, never wanted to.

 

"I got in the Jeep and I could see him in the side mirror walking away and looking back over his shoulder to smile at me.  He turned away and there was this kid from the prom with a baseball bat and he raised it and swung at Justin's head.  And I couldn't move fast enough.  I screamed his name but it was too late."  A single tear rolled down Brian's cheek.  He quickly wiped it away.

 

"What happened to Justin?"

 

"He was in a coma for three days and then weeks of rehab.  He's an artist and he almost lost his ability to draw."

"That's awful.  Is he all right now?"

"Yes, almost good as new."

"Why would somebody do that?"

 

"The same reason you were out there this morning.  We're fags and people hate us for that very fact."

"I … I don't hate you."

"I know that, or you wouldn't be sitting here talking to me.  You would never have come to my office."

 

"Nobody else would come with me to see you.  They are all part of my church, but they didn't want to talk to you.  They just want you to go away."

 

"That's what the kid wanted who bashed Justin.  He almost made him go away … forever."

Brian saw her shiver.  In a minute she seemed to recover a little bit.

 

"So what does that have to do with the kiss in the paper?" she asked in a slightly shaky voice.

 

"After Justin was bashed he had some lingering problems.  He still has trouble with his right hand sometimes and nightmares.  He can't remember that night.  He couldn't remember the dance or the kiss at his prom.  I thought I could give him a new memory at the inaugural.  It was almost the same," Brian said with a little catch in his throat.  "But I probably shouldn't have done it."

"Oh, yes, you should have.  That was a very lovely gesture," Louise stated.

 

Brian looked at her and smiled slightly.  "May I ask why you came with your church group.  I can tell you don't really want to follow that path."

 

He could see her blush.  "I … do you have time for this?  I know you must be busy."

"I told you my secrets.  I'd like to know yours," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

 

"I've been seeing this man from our church.  It's the first time I've had … companionship since my husband died.  It was nice.  He wanted to come this morning.  In fact he was one of the organizers.  He's a bit of a bigot as I found out today.  He wouldn't listen to me about talking to you.  I finally told him I was coming up here whether he liked it or not."

 

"I take it he didn't like it."

"No, they left without me.  He told me to get in the car, but I refused.  I came up here instead."

 

"So where does that leave you?"

"I won't be seeing him anymore, and I doubt I'll go back to that church.  There are other ones in my neighborhood that might have a better policy about such things as …"

 

"Homosexuality."

"Yes."

"I think you've been very brave, Louise."

"I don't know about that.  It took me almost an hour to get up enough gumption to come up here.  I sat in the lobby so long that a guard came over to ask what I was doing.  I think they thought I might be a terrorist."

 

They both chuckled at that.  Brian looked at her thinking that this could have been his own mother.  She was about the right age and she had many of the same values.  Why could he talk to her and make her understand when he couldn't do that with his own mother.  Maybe it was because she had a good heart and his own mother didn't seem to have a heart at all.  Brian made a quick decision.

 

"Louise, would you come for a cup of coffee with me.  There's a little café down on the first floor."

 

"Oh, I couldn't do that.  I've taken up enough of your time."

"I can make the time and I'd like to talk to you some more."

"Really?  Then certainly, Mr. Mayor," she said with a smile.

 

"Call me Brian."

"Thank you, Brian.  I'd be pleased to have coffee with you."

 

Brian told Cynthia where they were going and asked her to hold the fort until they returned.  Cynthia smiled as she watched them get on the elevator.  Her boss could charm the pants off anyone.

 

Louise and Brian talked over coffee for almost an hour.  He found out more about her husband and family.  They never had any children much to their regret.  Brian told her a bit about his own mother and their strained relationship as he chose to call it.  Louise was very sympathetic, but recommended that Brian talk to his mother every chance he got.  She was sure someone as kind and eloquent as Brian could convince his mother to change her attitude eventually.  Brian said he would try, but he knew that was very unlikely.

 

Finally Louise said she better let him get back to work.  She would have to take several buses to get back to her home.  They stood up to leave.  Brian walked her out to the lobby.  He asked her to wait for a minute while he went to make a call.  She looked around nervously as the guard seemed to be eyeing her with some concern.

 

When Brian returned he walked her out to the covered entranceway.

 

"I'm glad I came up to speak to you," she said.

 

"I'm glad you did too."

"I … learned a lot.  You are a fine man and I'm sure you'll be a great mayor."

Brian smiled.  "It's a little early for that prediction.  I'm barely keeping my head above water at this point.  There's so much to learn."

"You can do it.  I have faith in you."

 

"Thank you, Louise."  For some reason her faith in him meant a lot.

 

"You'll do fine," she said and suddenly she was hugging him and giving him a little peck on the cheek.  "I hope you don't mind," she said blushing a little.  "I just felt I had to do that."

"I didn't mind a bit."  He wished his own mother…  Brian immediately squelched that idea.  He wasn't going to go there.

 

Just then a limousine pulled up in the driveway.

 

"This must be somebody important.  Do you have to greet them?" she asked Brian.

 

"I already have."  Chuck got out of the car and held the door open.  "This is Chuck, my driver.  If you tell him where you live, he'll see that you get home safely," Brian told her.

 

"Oh my, I couldn't."

"Yes, you can.  My treat."

"Oh, thank you so much."  She walked over to the car and slid in.

 

"Ma'am," Chuck said as he closed the door.  He gave Brian a wink and got into the driver's seat.  The car pulled away.  Brian gave a little wave and turned to go back into the building.  Things were looking up.

 

                                                               -----

 

Justin had dinner ready when Brian arrived home around 6:30. 

 

"You didn't have to cook," Brian said after they had greeted each other.

 

"I know, but I thought it might be nice.  Did you have a good day?"

 

"Yes and no."

"What does that mean?"

 

"I'm going to change and then I'll tell you while we eat."

"Okay," Justin said watching Brian go up to the bedroom.  He wondered what had happened and he wanted to tell Brian about his own day.  He hoped the man asked.

 

Once they had taken a few bites of the chicken and roasted vegetables, Brian said, "You really are a good cook."

Justin beamed at him.  He loved it when Brian complimented him.  "Thanks.  So, are you going to tell me what happened today?"

"I arrived at City Hall to about ten protesters," Brian began.

 

"Didn't take them long."

"No, it didn't.  I was going to walk right past them like they weren't even there, but something told me to confront them."

"You didn't, did you?  You have to be careful."

"I know, but Chuck was right there, and sometimes I just get sick of being careful."

"That's an understatement."  Brian gave him a look.  "So what happened?"

"They backed off like all bullies once I called them on it.  I told them that if they wanted to talk to me to come on up to the office.  One of them did."

"Really?  I'm surprised.  What did he say?"

"I was surprised too, but it wasn't a 'he'.  It was Louise who turned out to be this really nice middle aged woman who sort of got dragged along to the protest by her bigot boyfriend."

 

"Jesus, they do find you, don't they?"

Brian snorted.  "We had a long chat and came to sort of an understanding."

 

"An understanding?  About what?"

"She wanted to know why we were flaunting ourselves in public by kissing like that.  I could learn to detest that fucking word!"

 

"Somebody said that to me today too."

"Who?"

 

"Some of the guys at school had seen the picture and started in on me about making my personal life public and being a celebrity, 'married' to the mayor."

Brian grimaced at the choice of words.  "Did they give you a hard time?"

"Not really.  I go to a fine arts school, remember.  A lot of them are gay too.  I think they were jealous."  Justin was rather pleased in fact that his classmates had been jealous.  He knew how lucky he was to have a hot partner, a great lover and a wonderful man.

 

"Louise said she wished her husband had shown public affection like that.  I … I ended up telling her about the prom and why we danced and kissed at the inaugural."

 

"You did?  You never talk about the prom."

"I think it was good for me to get it out.  It was the first time I ever told the whole story to anyone."

 

"Do you think you could tell me more about that night?" Justin asked in a small voice.

 

"I think maybe I can now," Brian admitted.  It would be easier now that he had talked about it with Louise.

"I still want to know a few things about what happened."

"You do?  You never said anything."

"Every time I brought up the prom you got this look on your face.  I couldn't ask you when I knew how much it hurt you."

 

Brian looked knowingly at his partner.  "You're right.  I probably would have bitten your head off or walked out," he admitted.

 

"You think?" Justin giggled.

 

Brian made a face at him, but then smiled.  "After we finish this, let's have another glass of wine and I'll try to answer whatever you want to know."

"I'd like that," Justin said softly.  "Now that was the good stuff.  What was the bad?"

 

"Tomorrow I get to chair my first council meeting."


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