Epilogue

Kerry’s blond hair blew across his face in the pale morning breeze. He watched with dry eyes as he saw the stretcher loaded aboard the small plane, and then he watched, his heart aching, but his body straight and tall, as Mike boarded the same small plane. For a few seconds, Mike turned to face the two figures standing by the airport gate, both blond, both tall and ramrod straight, but only one was his lover. There was no need for words, they had said all that any two could say while they lay together, joined in perfect union. Mike turned back and climbed inside, as the door closed on him, and on Kerry.

Kerry wanted to rush and join Mike in the plane, but knew that wasn’t possible. He had to settle for knowing that sometime in the

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upcoming year he would be able to visit Mike up in Canada, and while it was the best he could expect, he felt the ache in his heart nonetheless.

William could feel his son’s loss, and yet he smiled to himself. It had worked out better than he had hoped for. He wished he could tell Kerry about it, but the time wasn’t right, not yet. His arm was around his son’s shoulders and he could feel the pain in Kerry’s young body. It had been difficult for him to stay outside his study earlier, as the loud noises had penetrated even his sturdy office walls. It must have been some love making, he thought, as he recalled the startled expressions of the two state troopers who waited with him in the outer office. Such unbridled passion that must have been released in that study. He shook his head, remembering his own youth and how he and Kerry’s mother had shook the neighborhood with their wild passion and yet they never heard it themselves. That was how it was with his son, as he stood there, watching the small plane taxi off to the take off runway. As the plane roared its engine, he could feel his son slump against him, and it made him proud to know that he finally was a father whom his son could respect and love, not from duty, but from real desire.

The tears finally started as the plane gradually gathered speed along the concrete runway. Kerry couldn’t hold them back, and he was glad that he was here, in his father’s arms, as he said good-bye to Mike. He still didn’t know what had happened and he was anxious to find out, but not now.

It was as if he were watching his future evaporate before his eyes. He doubted if he would ever find someone as wonderful as Mike to hold and snuggle to. The ache in his heart seemed almost to rip his chest apart, as if trying to reach out and pluck Mike from the roaring plane. Kerry knew there was no choice, deep down he knew it, but he still wished that it could be different. Sadness filled his body, and already he longed for one more touch of Mike’s strong hand against his cheeks, one more gentle brush of his lips.

Kerry jumped as he felt another arm laid across his shoulders, and suddenly he smelled his mother’s perfume waft by his nose. He turned to see her standing next to him.

“Mom, why are you here?”

“Your father asked me to, son. William, I have everything that you asked for.”

“Good, thank you, dear.”

“What things? What is going on, Dad?”

“Your Mother is taking a trip for a month or two.”

“What? Where are you going?”

“You mean where are we going, don’t you Kerry?”

“Huh?”

William looked at his wife and smiled at her. He reached across and kissed her lightly on the cheek. He then took his son and turned him to face him. He saw the confusion and the pain in his young face, but that would change, with time and with his help. At least he hoped it would.

“Kerry, it is best if you and your other friends are out of town for a while… Now don’t get started, young man. Listen before you snap my head off… okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, now your Mother has the tickets and your luggage in her car. She will take you to pick up your friends, Trey and Brett? Isn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s them, but where are we going and for how long?”

William looked into his son’s pained eyes. He could see the way Kerry kept glancing off in the direction the plane had just gone, and he could feel his son’s anguish, but he had to tell him.

“Kerry, it is prudent that you and your friends be far away from here for a while, so your Mother and I have decided that you are going to have to go to college out of state… Now hold on, and hear me out. We know how you feel, and well, due to circumstances, it is also advisable that your two other friends, Trey and Brett, also leave now. So, son, you and your friends are going to go with your mother who is going to find you three a nice place to live near campus, and get you

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enrolled.

“She is going to get you three settled, and set up a bank account where you will be able to draw an allowance every month for your living expenses. Now don’t argue with me, this is final and that is all there is to it.

“We are going to miss you… Kerry, I wish we could have more time together before you leave, but there just isn’t that luxury. Your plane leaves in a few hours and you have a long journey ahead of you. I…  well, I want you to know that both your Mother and I are proud of you, and…”

“I love you too, Dad, and, well… don’t want to leave, but I guess you are right, it is for the best but… well, I just wish I could have been on that plane, not the one I guess I am going to be on.”

“Well, I think you won’t mind too much, Kerry. You see, we decided that you need a good rounded education, so you and your friends are enrolled at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I hear they have a hot new rookie enrolled for their football team.”

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