From: ap.4469@layout.Berkeley.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.personals
Subject: OF MEN AND MEN -- 14
Followup-To: poster
Date: 10 Apr 1992 09:31:44 GMT
Organization: Anonymous Contact Service @ layout.Berkeley.EDU
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      It was mid afternoon, and Paul had just come home from
school.  His mother, who was usually still at work, happened to
be home.  Paul was thirteen at the time.
 
      He loved his mother very much.  No one in the family of six
communicated together as well as Paul and his mom.  They shared a
special bond others in the family could not match.  Paul's older
brother seemed jealous at times of this relationship.  Paul,
meanwhile, never envied his brother's closer relations (such as
they were) to their father.
 
      Everyone was watching the TV.  The Phil Donahue show was on. 
The year was 1973--long before the genre of TV shows parading
every imaginable social oddity was the norm.  Phil was a trail-
blazer in this regard.  A pioneer.
 
      Paul only glanced at the screen for a moment as he strolled
into the living room.  He was distracted by the way his mother's
eyes appeared to be frozen to the screen.  She looked up and
smiled uncomfortably for a fleeting second.  They both looked
back at the screen.  Something was not right.
 
      Paul listened carefully to try to figure out what Phil's
guests were talking about.  There were two sets of adults,
husbands and wives from the look of things.  One of the couples
was holding hands while the other two sat back in their chairs in
a more relaxed position.  Paul's mother was leaning slightly
forward on the sofa.
 
      "We're not ashamed of our son," said one of the men,
somewhat sheepishly.  The woman next to him, who looked like she
was about the age of Paul's grandmother, nodded her head in
silent agreement.
 
      "What did he do, mom?" Paul inquired.  There was no
immediate answer.
 
      "He's a fag," Paul's older brother filled in, laughing
derisively.  He wasn't completely certain what a fag was or did,
but he knew there was something disgusting and repulsive
involved.  Paul's eyes flashed back to his mother's, but she
continued to stare at the screen.
 
      Phil was holding a large microphone to the mouth of a member
of the audience, who kept saying the word "sin" over and over. 
Other people in the audience were nodding their heads as the
camera panned out.  Now a caller from Florida was speaking
excitedly.  Everyone was looking up as if the voice was coming
from heaven or somewhere.  Paul just stood there in visible
discomfort as the male voice coming over the speakers blathered
on.
 
      "I'm sorry, but people like your sons are just perverts,"
the anonymous caller opined, pausing to organize his thoughts. 
"And I can't believe you've got the nerve to come on this show...
displaying your soiled laundry for the whole country to see...."
 
      Paul was mortified inside.  He looked again at his mother. 
As she got up and headed past Paul toward the kitchen, she
sighed, "I hope none of you ever tells me you're gay......."
 
(To be continued).
 
 

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