SNOWSHINE

Chapter 8

12 days ago...

       Justin stood there in the dwindling twilight directly across the street from Babylon.

       "It was right here," he thought, "It was right here that I saw Brian the first time."

       Alas, this time there was no Brian, no friends, no one at all. It was too early for all that and Babylon and most of the other bars on Liberty Ave. were closed. The street itself was deserted.

       The streetlights came on in a sweeping motion all along the street. Once again, Justin was standing in the middle of a puddle of light. This time there was no vain twink to shove him out of the way. He pulled his hood down and his white hair fairly gleamed in the light.

       "Here I am, Brian. I'm here. I'm six years late but I'm here," Justin whispered in melancholy reflection.

       Nobody answered him. There was nobody there. Babylon's heavy door remained fast shut and impassive, deaf to his words and blind to his sadness.

       A tear ran down his cheek but its track started to slow halfway down and when he blinked it away, it froze on the way down and hit the ground solid. In wonder, he picked it up and looked at it. It shone and sparkled in the light. It was as if he had cried out a diamond. He knew he could not spend the night out on the streets tonight. It was cold and getting colder, perhaps even a storm would hit. If he were outside tonight, he would be dead before the sun rose.

       And whatever it took, even if it was the sole reason to piss off Stockwell, Justin intended to survive.

       BWOP! BWOP! A cop car blared its siren in a warning to say..."I'm coming! Look out!"

       Shit! Another one! Justin had been ducking those things all day for the past two days and he was beginning to get sick of that sound. He pulled his hood over his head and ran into an alley. He pressed himself against the wall and behind a dumpster, out of sight.

       BWOP! BWOP! The cop car was closer now. Justin could hear the tires crunching in the snow as it cruised slowly down the street. It drew level with the alley. Justin pressed himself desperately against the wall. The cops shone a bright spotlight into the alley and it lit up like day. However, it revealed nothing but an empty alley and the cop car finally moved on.

       Justin knew they were looking for him. Over and over throughout the last two days, he'd had to backtrack, turn corners that he didn't want, take shortcuts through alleyways, go into stores and ask for the back way out, over and over. Cops were everywhere. And these cars, the ones with searchlights seemed to be on every street, every avenue, hounding him, dogging his footsteps. He was damn sick of it.

       Yes, he needed to get off the street tonight to escape the weather and if nothing else, just to escape those damnable cars.

       As soon as the car had moved on, Justin popped his head out and as soon as the coast was clear, ran the other way.

       He was a block away from Babylon when the wind picked up and it started to snow. Two blocks away, it really started to snow. Justin ducked into a recess of a doorway and shivered. He felt like he had reached the end of the line. He didn't know what to do. He just didn't. He couldn't keep on the run and alert and warm all at the same time. He had to find a refuge. He just had to.

       And then, two blocks down and one block over to the right from Babylon, he found it. On the corner was a small but cozy looking diner called Liberty Diner. Above the door flew the American and the Rainbow flags. Lights shone out of the front like a friendly beacon.

       Justin needed no further urging. It was like it was heaven sent. He jogged across the street and toward it.

       BWOP! BWOP!

       Justin gritted his teeth. Goddammit! How he hated that sound now! Couldn't they give him a moment of peace?

       He ran faster and ducked inside Liberty Diner before the cops in the car could see him.

       The inside was as warm and cozy as it looked like from the outside. The floor was white linoleum, the booths were bright orange. There were horizontal blinds over the windows. Justin took a seat and turned the blinds closed over his window with a ‘SNAP' just as the cop's spotlight hit it. And then it was past and he was safe. For now.

       "Yur cuttin' it kinda close there, old timer," said a transvestite who had materialized out of nowhere. "We close at 7."

       It was 6: 45 PM.

       Old timer huh? Hmmmm.... Justin thought quickly.

       "Ohhh, please...uh...Kiki," Justin implored in a wavery old man's voice, looking at her tag. "Surely I have time for a cup of hot chocolate and maybe..." he scanned the menu desperately, "A burger?"

       Kiki shook her head slowly and snapped her gum.

       "Hot turkey sandwich?" Justin tried again gamely.

       Another shake.

       "Cold turkey?"

       Kiki started a shake and then considered. "Well....maybe..."

       "Cold turkey aaannnd...I help you wash up?" offered Justin.

       "Really?" Kiki asked sceptically.

       "Really. Call it compensation for helping out an old man in need. Oh, please miss, don't send me back out there with something warm in me," Justin made his voice as wavery and pathetic as possible and gave her a full dose of wide puppy dog eyes.

       He never did know what convinced her. Maybe the fact that he was old, maybe his voice or his eyes or a combination of all three. Maybe it was the fact he called him miss. But she finally agreed and brought him what he asked for and a hot turkey sandwich besides.

       "Ohhh, thank you miss! Thank-you for your kindness to a lonely old man! I'm sure it will be repaid one day!"

       "Never mind that! Just eat up and I'll be waiting for you in the kitchen!"

       "Oh, yes'm!" Justin began to eat with gusto. Kiki eyed him but left him be to go into the kitchen.

       "Who is it!" screeched a voice.

       "Calm down. It's just an old man! He's nice! He offered to help me clean up."

       "No, that's not a good idea!" said a woman's voice. "We need the diner's space to go over this material and stuff envelopes. We can't let Stockwell become mayor! Wait till you see this draft that my contact at the Gay/Lesbian Center sent me."

       "We can always just...you know!" said the screechy voice.

       "We can NOT!" said Kiki furiously, "He's just a kindly old man! And keep your voices down! He might here you!'

       Kiki popped her head out of the order window and checked on Justin. "How you doin' hon!?"

       Justin smiled widely with his mouth closed and full in what he hoped was a clueless and adorable fashion. He waved with his sleeve down over his hand to make it seem like his clothes didn't fit and to hide the fact his hand wasn't wrinkled. He cupped his hand over his ear and gestured.

       "What!!?" he yelled loudly, "Sometimes the hearing aid goes out! I'm a little deaf!" he screamed.

       Kiki held out a spread palm to indicate 5 minutes and Justin gave a thumbs up in response. Kiki's head popped back in.

       "Well, you heard him. He's deaf. He's not a threat. So put that away and stop that kind of talk, Whiny!"

       Put that away? Was he packing heat? What was going on with these people? What had he walked into?

       "Indeed. This behaviour is getting us nowhere. But mother is right. Nothing can be done till the customer leaves," said a voice that was so young it sounded...childlike.

       "Don't worry Double G. I gave him 5 minutes and he's eating quite fast. He'll be done soon. Vixen, what's this all about?"

       "It's called Proposition 14. It's the newest outrage that Stockwell has come up with targeting gays. And guess who's leading the charge! Brian Kinney!

       There were shocked reactions all around. Justin identified at least three new voices. It must be packed in there.

       "Brian Kinney! At last you've surfaced," Vixen mused to herself regretfully, "After all these years, only to show up as Stockwell's campaign manager!"

       More gasps all around.

       "But why? Doesn't he realise what a monster Stockwell is?" said one of the new voices.

       "Of course. He must. He just doesn't care. It boils down to two things, just as it always did. Himself and money. He's Brian Fucking Kinney. He'll never change," said Vixen.

       "So...he not only abandons us but now he betrays us as well," Whiny said, "I didn't know it was possible, but I hate him even more than I already did. If I ever meet him face to face, he's a dead man!"

       Everyone ignored him which was the norm. "What's this Proposition 14?" Kiki asked.

       "It's a bill Stockwell and Brian made up targeting gays and it's basically a written hate crime! It'll make gay bars illegal, going out in public as a gay couple impossible and allow anyone to deny recreational services to an out gay person in nearly any venue. We wouldn't even be able to go see a movie unless we were in the closet!"

       Everyone was stupefied and then made the appropriate outraged noises. Even Justin nearly choked. Brian?? Brian did this? Impossible. It was impossible. Wasn't it?

       "I don't believe it! I simply don't believe it!" said a strident voice. (Yet another one, it must be simply packed back there) "Brian Kinney is a lot of things and an asshole no question but he's also gay enough to have worked his way through Babylon twice! There's no way he would have had any part in writing anything so hideous! He just wouldn't!"

       "Oh Ma, wake up and smell the coffee! He's changed somehow!" whined Whiny, "We all have. He stopped coming to Liberty Diner, the Avenue and Babylon years ago! He doesn't care about us anymore! Who knows? Maybe he never did!"

       "Michael Navotney! Now you know that's not true! You remember when he was here, he spent lots of time here and with you and..."

       "Yeah, as long as it suited him! As long as we did whatever he wanted! Otherwise we could have been as important as whatever he brushed off the bottom of his shoe!"

       "I already said that he was an asshole!" Strident person shot back, "And selfish to boot but being selfish is a far cry from betraying your whole sexual orientation! He just wouldn't do it. I won't believe it!"

       Justin silently agreed and blessed the strident voice.

       There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. Justin read the writing on the wall and shoved the rest of his food in his mouth. Sure enough...

       "Well, I'll go check on the old timer then," Kiki piped up trying to break the tension

       "Do more then check! Get rid of him! And if you let him back here...he's dead!" Whiny warned, keeping the tension intact.

       "For fuck's sake, Whiny..." it was Kiki's turn to whine but she let herself trail off as she left the kitchen.

       "How you doin' hon," she said.

       Justin was just finishing up. "Oh, that was the best thing, I ever ate in a long time!" he gushed a la old man. "How can I ever repay you?"

       "With $7.95 plus tip. And then I need you to leave before the weather really gets going too hard."

       "Oh, of course, of course!" said Justin who had no intention of leaving. "Here's 10 dollars. Will that be enough?"

       "Yes, that's fine! And now..."

       "I know! I know! I hope you don't think I'd forgotten my promise! I'm going to help you clean up!"

       "WHAT!? NO! I mean, no...no, that's ok! Really!"

       "Nonsense! Now don't you worry! With my help you'll be up and outta here in no time. Now...where's the kitchen? Is that the door?" Justin began to dodder towards the back, in classic old man style, pretending oblivion to both Kiki's panic stricken face and the click he heard behind the door.

       "The...the dishwasher!" Kiki blurted out.

       "I beg your pardon, young lady?" Justin stopped in front of the kitchen door.

       "I mean...well, I just remembered! The dishwasher's nearly full. With your dishes it will make a full load and neither of us will have to do any work at all! So you can just leave! Just go!" Justin was amused at the slight hysterical quality Kiki was unable to keep out of her voice.

       "Ohhhhh...Are you sure?" Justin asked a little sadly.

       "Yes! Oh yes! Absolutely!" Kiki said manically.

       "Oh. All right then." Justin put the dishes down on the counter. He shuffled over and gave her a small awkward hug. "Well, you're a very good waitress, to take care of me so well," he said awkwardly. "May I use the washroom before I go?"

       Justin was amused to hear a collective groan behind the kitchen door. He ignored it utterly.

       "Uhhh, sure. But hurry up and then just be on your way, OK? You're all paid up and everything."

       "All right, all right. Thank you, miss. I won't be long."

       Kiki watched the old timer shuffle into the bathroom and then picked up the dishes and went into the kitchen where she dumped the dishes into the sink of hot water that Debbie had ready. They had no dishwasher.

       "I thought I told you to get rid of him!" Whiny hissed.

       "What was I going to do? Deny an old man the bathroom?" Kiki hissed back, starting on the dishes. "He'll be like five minutes! Can you hold your water...for five more minutes!?"

       She finished the dishes and sure enough it wasn't too much longer that they heard the bell over the door ring. They all let out a collective sigh of relief. After Kiki had poked her head out to make sure the coast was clear. It was. She dashed over to the door and locked it, pulled shades and turned the open sign to Closed before anybody else could come in.

       "Coast is clear!" she cried.

       And so, out of the kitchen trooped an assortment of characters that needed to be seen to be believed.

       There came:

       A large mid 50 ish woman with bushy red hair. (Strident voice)

       A thirty-five or so year old dark haired man in a black suit who was finally putting his gun away in his shoulder holster.

       A blond woman holding the hand of a dark haired six year old boy.

       A short man with beautiful teeth followed closely and holding the jealous hand of a 40-ish man dressed all in leather.

       And finally a tall, thin man who you could tell by sight that his gay "flame" as it were, burned high and bright and brighter than the rest. He was dressed in pink and tight pants, walked with a swish in his step, and had a charming gap in his front teeth.

       One by one, the kitchen disgorged its inhabitants and Kiki's head spun as always. It was like watching clown after clown step out of one of those tiny cars.

       "I'll be right back," said Whiny and disappeared into the washroom. He re-appeared a few minutes later. "All clear," he reported.

       "Oh Whiny, he wouldn't have been there. We all heard the bell ring," Kiki said.

       "You never know," Whiny said distrustfully.

       Everybody sat down at two booths adjacent to each other and sat down to a kind of council of war. Lindsay brought out the draft of Prop 14 and one by one they all got to read it.

       "Over my dead body!" said the red haired woman.

       "Terrible!" said the man with the wide teeth.

       ‘My Aunt Lula just turned over!" declared the tall, gap-toothed man.

       "This is monstrous!" the man in leather burst out, "Oh, I wish Mel - uh...that we had a lawyer. Sorry Linds."

       "No, that's ok! You're right. I wish Melanie was here too. If not for that, in a professional capacity. She'd make mincemeat out of this. As it is...I don't know anyone else that was as good as her with this stuff. Maybe if I put out some feelers at the GLC..."

       "Bahhh...That'll take too long!" scoffed Whiny. "Something's got to be done now!"

       "Well, that's why we're here. I've prepared some draft letters that will go to politicians, the mayor, governor, state reps, the works. And the GLC! We've got to cover all the bases. We've got to stop this...this Prop 14!"

       "Hmmmm....Stop Prop 14! I like the sound of that!" said the tall, gap-toothed man. "That's what we should call ourselves!"

       There was a general murmur of agreement.

       After that, they all got to work. Lindsay and the short man with the teeth whose name was Blake, pulled out laptops and began to type out the sample letters. Others ran out to a stationery store and had Stop Prop 14 and the letters photocopied multiple times. They all talked animatedly about their plans.

       "This is all very well and good," said the little boy at one point, "But it's not nearly enough."

       "What do you mean Double G?" asked his mother.

       "A letter campaign can be ignored. We need to think bigger. We need to be active! Rallies! Protests! Do things that they can't ignore!"

       "The kid's right," the man in leather said, "As usual."

       They all continued in their work but as it grew later, they began to flag, one by one. Double G fell asleep. Blake, his leathered lover, and Michael wanted to go to Babylon. Emmett, the tall flamer began to get tired. Even Kiki began to yawn and finally begged off to go home to his/her lover. And so, even though they were not halfway through, they decided to call it a night. They left the remaining paperwork to be envelope stuffed out on the two booths to be finished in the morning. They packed up, Lindsay awoke Double G and they all trooped out. Debbie was last out. She took a last look over everything and shut off the lights and then locked the door.

       Everything was silent and still and dark in the diner.

       About 5 minutes passed.

       There was a faint thumping from somewhere.

       And then, from underneath one of the booths, a square piece of wood that was socketed into the frame of the booth popped out and skittered across the diner floor. It was now revealed that there was a cavity underneath the seat of the booth. And from out of this cavity, slid a very cramped and very dirty Justin Taylor.

TBC