Chapter 2 Episode Two

Jamie's Great-aunt Sadie was waiting in the archaic kitchen when he got home. He dropped his backpack into a near-by chair and bent to kiss her wrinkled cheek.

Sadie smiled up at him, her green eyes crinkling at the corners. "So, how was school?"

Jamie went to the fridge and scrounged around until he found what he was looking for. He slapped together three ham sandwiches, grabbed a bottle of Coke from the door, and closed the refrigerator with his foot. He settled into the chair next to his aunt and crammed his mouth full of sandwich. It wasn't until he was half-way through the first sandwich that he realized he'd been asked a question.

"School was okay. Same as always." This he said around a mouthful of ham and cheese on rye.

Aunt Sadie clicked her tongue. "For heaven's sake, Jamie, you don't have to gobble your food down in such a way. No one is going to take it away from you." She stared at him for a moment, then said, "So, do you have plans for this evening?"

Jamie swallowed hard, almost choking on a large chunk of bread. Here came the tricky part. "Yes, ma'am. I'm going to the Valentine's Dance with Ben."

Aunt Sadie made a grumbling trek across the black and white tile floor on her way to the white porcelain double-sink. Jamie winced at the sound of banging pots and pans, but it was nothing he wasn't used to. The Queen Ann home Sadie inherited from her father had seen more than one of her hissy fits. After a full two minutes of dish rattling and pan tossing, Sadie turned back to Jamie and said, "I wish you could tell me what you see in that hooligan."

Jamie almost laughed at Sadie's old fashioned term for Ben. Her short, iron-gray curls had frizzed up during her tirade, framing her face like a halo. At four-foot-ten, even Jamie towered over her. He couldn't help but marvel at how lucky he was to have ended up with her instead of in a foster home like Ben. Instead of laughing, he said, "If you don't want me to go with him, I won't." It was a bluff, and they both knew it.

"You know better than that. You're eighteen years old, and I figure that makes you old enough to pick your own friends. I just wish you had someone in your life besides Ben."

Jamie took a hefty swig of his drink. "Ben's a good guy. He just hasn't had the same advantages as the rest of us."

Sadie shook her head. "Not having had parents doesn't give him the right to do half the things he's done since Nora Slater took him into her home. You'd think he'd be grateful to even have a home after more or less living on the streets, but if he is, he certainly doesn't show it. Why she didn't send him packing the day he turned eighteen is beyond me."

Jamie stared down at the scarred surface of the ancient table. "Well, in that case, why didn't you send me packing when I turned eighteen?"

"James Winston Walker!" Aunt Sadie put down the bowl she'd been holding and came back to the table. Using one short finger, she tilted Jamie's chin so he was looking directly at her. "How can you even ask me that?"

Jamie shrugged. "It's a legitimate question. If Ben deserves to be thrown out of the only home he's had for the past three years, then why don't I deserve the same treatment. I've been sponging off you for a heck of a lot longer than three years. At least Nora got paid by the state to look after Ben. What did you get when my mom dropped me in your lap and took off fourteen years ago?"

Sadie released his chin and sat down in the chair next to his. "I got you, and I've never regretted it, not for an instant. I was fifty years old and had given up hope of ever having children of my own, spinster that I was. I'd just lost my only sister--your grandmother--to cancer, and my parents were long since gone. I just assumed I'd spend the rest of my days alone. You changed all that. I've cursed my niece a thousand times for choosing drugs and that worthless boyfriend of hers over her own child, but not a day goes by that I don't thank her for bringing you to me."

"Then why doesn't Ben deserve the same chance I've been given?"

Sadie stood up and smoothed the wrinkles out of her slacks. "I'll do my best to get along with him, Jamie, for your sake. But if he hurts you, he'll answer to me." She paused. "I wish you and Dillon could have patched up your friendship. He was a good influence on you. You were always so happy when the two of you were together."

Jamie held back a sigh. "It was Dillon's choice to end the," he forced himself to say it, "friendship, Aunt Sadie. There's nothing I can do about it."

"I just can't believe Dillon would break off a twelve year friendship just because you 'came out.' So what if you are gay? You're still you."

She didn't know the half of it, and he wasn't about to enlighten her. He couldn't resist ribbing her a little bit, though. "You didn't exactly jump for joy when I first told you, either."

"Nonsense. I admit, I was shocked at first. And I'm still not sure I understand it, exactly." She gave him a warm smile. "But I love you for who you are, not for who you're attracted to."

Jamie nodded. "I know that. But Ben is a part of who I am. When Dillon dropped me, Ben was there. He's never once let me down, and I refuse to turn my back on him just because he's gotten into a patch of trouble here and there." Aunt Sadie started to object, but Jamie said, "Just give him the benefit of the doubt. Please? For me?"

Aunt Sadie sighed and gave in.