In Mike We Trust by P. E. Ryan Read Free Book Online

stuff?”
    â€œSad truth of it is the technology’s probably left me behind now. I don’t know why I got the degree; I’m never going to chain myself to a company. Not that knowing the basics doesn’t come in handy now and then.” He pointed across the coffee table at Garth in a mock-dramatic way. “And not that education isn’t important.”
    â€œYeah, yeah,” Garth said. He knew that was true, but at the same time he admired Mike’s take on life, how he lived it exactly the way he wanted to, despite the “norm”—the very qualities Garth’s dad hadn’tapproved of. But maybe his dad never really got to know Mike as an adult.
    â€œHow about you?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œWhat do you like to do—besides build boat models? Go to movies? Read? Fight the girls off with a stick?”
    Garth hesitated, mid-chew. “I don’t fight them off with a stick.”
    â€œA good-looking guy like you? Come on. You’ve got the Rudd genes. You might have twins, you know.”
    â€œYou think?”
    Mike nodded. “They tend to skip a generation, and you’re the generation that got skipped.” He stuffed a forkful of pasta into his mouth. “Oh, I get it. You don’t fight the girls off; you let them have you. Smart man.”
    Family, Garth thought. He’s family. If I tell him I’m not breaking the promise, right?
    Mike seemed worldly enough not to flip out about it. Plus, he couldn’t bear the thought of two, possibly three weeks with his uncle in the house making the same occasional, straight nudge-nudge remarks he had to endure at school. He took a swallow of soda so enormous it burned his throat and said, “I don’t plan on having kids, actually.”
    â€œNo? Bachelor for life, like me?”
    â€œI’m not into girls.”
    He saw the grin leave his uncle’s mouth for just a moment. Mike studied him, narrowing his eyes, as if reassessing him as a person. Then, slowly, the grin returned and he began to nod his head yes. “All right,” he said. “That’s cool. I like somebody who…knows what he likes.”
    â€œReally? You’re okay with it?”
    Mike shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be? I have gay friends.”
    â€œYou do ?”
    He laughed. “We’re talking about people, not Martians. What is it, nine, ten percent of the world is gay? Probably more than that, if truth be told. Of course I have gay friends. You’ve got gay friends, right?”
    Garth felt his face redden. “Actually, I don’t. My friend Lisa does, though.”
    â€œWell, why aren’t her friends your friends?”
    â€œBecause…”
    â€œYou’re not out to her.”
    â€œNo, it’s not that.” Suddenly, the topic felt too complicated to articulate, even though he thought about it all the time. He was beginning to doubt whether or not he should have said anything. What was that phrase Mr. Mosier had used in chemistry class? In for a penny, in for a pound. “Lisa knows. But then I told Mom,and she freaked out and made me promise not to tell anyone else. Outside the family, I mean. So you don’t count. But then I couldn’t tell her I told Lisa, and I had to tell Lisa not to tell anyone. It’s kind of a mess.”
    â€œWait—your mom freaked out that you’re gay?”
    â€œShe’s just…hyperworried I’ll get beaten up or something.” He went on to give his uncle a condensed version of the argument they’d had.
    Mike took it all in with a puzzled look on his face. “How can someone be expected to ‘shelve’ his sexuality for three years? Someone who isn’t confused, that is.”
    Garth felt a wave of relief wash over him. Mike’s reaction was the same as Lisa’s had been, but it was different—and good—to hear it from an adult. And a relative, no less. It