Simply Red

Max’s Perspective

Before we even got the Chinese food into the house, Gina called. As soon as I said hello, I was greeted with “This is pure bullshit!” Her voice was angry and her words sharp. “Principal Simmons called and asked me to be at the school board meeting on Wednesday to speak on your behalf if needed. That fucking bitch!” It may sound strange to say but hearing her that pissed off made me feel better than anything else. She was my friend and my colleague; she knew what I was like as a teacher and a human being… she experienced it daily. “You turned that kid from the class clown into a kid who loves to learn. You got through to him, and she’s too damn stupid to realize it!” She continued to rant and rave. God, it felt vindicating to hear her so mad. We talked for a while and then I hung up and went back to spending time with Brody.

He had set dinner out on the kitchen table, lit a candle, and had some R&B music quietly playing in the background, doing his best to help me relax. The food looked and smelled great, but I couldn’t touch it. I was still sick to my stomach over all of this. I talked to Brody about my conversations with everyone earlier that day. He just listened and nodded while he ate with his right hand and held my hand with his left. When I was finished talking, he said, “I’m going to the townhall meeting with you on Wednesday. I think maybe you should write a response to her email and be ready to read it. Maybe Zach’s dad can help you with it.” It was a good suggestion. After dinner I tried to draft something but I had to walk away from it for a while. I needed not to think about it. I took a hot bath before I went to bed. In bed, Brody spooned my naked body but I just couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned all night long which annoyed the hell out of Zoey.

The next morning was pure hell! I had started to feel so at home and comfortable at home, at school, in my new world in general… but that day I felt like an unwelcomed intruder. I snuck into my classroom and closed the door hoping not to have to talk to anyone before class. When Laurie, Sarah, and Gina showed up like they always did (and I knew they would), I did my best to smile and act normal. It wasn’t easy. When they all went to their classrooms, Gina stayed behind and gave me a hug. She whispered in my ear “You’re a great fucking teacher, this will pass. Just stay strong.” I hugged her back, then she left. I did my best to smile and act normal all day long. Principal Simmons checked in on me a couple of times sharing any updates from the board, there wasn’t much to share. He told me he had a couple of teachers ready to speak on my behalf if needed, and they had pulled all of Willy’s transcripts to show his progress under my care; he had my back.

As much as I felt out of sorts, and a little like an unwelcomed stranger that day, I was doing pretty good. However, there was one moment that almost killed me. I was in the hallway between classes and Willy Fargus came up from behind and said, “Hi Mr. H” Shit, I was supposed to avoid him, but I couldn’t just run away from this sweet kid.

“Hi Willy” I said as I turned hoping to escape into the crowd of children moving through the corridor. But before I could get away, he asked, “Why don’t you want me in your class anymore. What did I do wrong?” Oh. My. Fucking. God. My heart sank. This kid was blaming himself, and I couldn’t say a damn thing about it to make him understand.

I was struggling with my response, “You… you didn’t do anything wrong, Willy…” I stammered as I tried to come up with an answer that would free him of guilt without discussing the actual issue (which I had in my head as ‘your mother is an ignorant bitch’). I was at a loss, then Mrs. Jonsik came up from behind me and cut me off.

 “It’s my fault. I just missed you and wanted you back in my class” She said with a smile. She had taught third grade last year and had Willy in her class. She put a hand on his back and patted him, moving him in the direction of her classroom. When he was out of earshot, I thanked her for saving me. Then she surprised me. This woman had been cold as stone to me since I was outed at work but at that moment, she put a hand on my shoulder and said sincerely, “You don’t deserve this treatment Mr. Harrington.” Then she exhaled and said “I taught that kid last year and he was pure chaos. Today he was a joy… that’s all on you. I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this. You’re a good teacher” obviously she was aware of the situation. I smiled and thanked her; I had misjudged her. She may not be accepting of my orientation, but she respects me as a teacher… that was what I needed at that moment.

That night I wrote my statement for the board and talked to Nathan Hall again. He told me what to say and what not to say. He also told me that he found a lawyer in the area if I ended up needing one. He had talked to the guy and he was apparently familiar with my School District and School Board and said they are pretty liberal and have a reputation of standing by their people. He was part of a similar case with them a few years back involving a black teacher. One of the ignorant parents called for her dismissal, it got as far as one board meeting and the request was shot down and she kept her job. Unfortunately, the teacher felt so uncomfortable by the whole thing that she quit and went to teach at a private school. That sucked! I didn’t want that to happen to me, I loved it there.

 Wednesday was hard. I was trying to concentrate but my stomach was in nots and all I could think about was the board meeting. School finally ended and I went home before the meeting, I didn’t have a lot of time since the meeting was at five. Brody came home early from work. I had taken a shower and put on a suit and tie. “Take that off” Brody said, “Wear your regular school clothes, you look like a guilty criminal dressing up to impress the court.” 

“Well, that’s how I feel.” I replied.

“You aren’t guilty of a damn thing other than being yourself” Brody said. “Don’t give them the satisfaction.” I ended up wearing Khaki’s, a button down shirt and a tie --- that was my compromise. We drove the Jeep to the meeting; the Camaro drew too much attention and I wanted to keep a low profile. The meeting was at City Hall, I walked into the room; it resembled a court room. The board members were all seated in an elevated area at a long wooden counter, almost like a long, semi-circular judge’s bench. There was a podium facing them, and the parents and citizens who came to the meeting were seated behind the podium facing the board members. I saw Principal Simmons and he waved me over. I introduced him to my husband then took a seat next to him. Shortly after I arrived Gina came in, and then to my surprise Mrs. Jonsik entered; they both sat with us. I looked across the aisle and saw Mimi Fargus sitting with who I assumed was her husband (I had only met her once and had never met him). They were leering at me like they wanted to beat the crap out of me. I won’t lie, it was intimidating. There were several other parents sitting with them, I recognized a few of them.

The board went through several housekeeping items, old business, updates on projects, budgets, etc., then they opened the floor and up walked Mimi Fargus to the podium. “I’m Mimi Fargus, mother of William Fargus fourth grade…” then she read her email word-for-misspelled-word. The audience listened as she robotically struggled to read through her misguided rant. I could hear the other parents starting to get loud as they talked amongst themselves. When she finished, the board chair asked if anyone else wanted to speak on the subject.

Mrs. Jonsik walked up to the podium. She looked up at the spectators over her glasses, then looked down at the notecards in her hand. She set them down, ignored them, then looked up again. “I am Mrs. Jonsik, I have been teaching at the school for over thirty years. I have taught in every classroom there and currently teach fourth grade. William Fagus was moved to my classroom from Mr. H’s room yesterday. I taught third grade last year and Willy was in my class… the child I have had in my room for the last two days, is not the same distracted, class clown I taught in third grade. Willy is now a delightful student who is eager to learn and I attribute that to Mr. H.” She said as she looked directly at me then continued. “Yesterday I was in the hallway when I overheard Willy ask Mr. H. “Why don’t you want me in your class anymore. What did I do wrong?” She scanned the room and repeated “What did I do wrong?” For emphasis. “He sees being taken out of Mr. H’s classroom as a punishment. A punishment he doesn’t understand because there is no logical explanation.”

She continued, “If a child is lucky, they will connect with at least one teacher in their lifetime that makes them want to learn… For Willy that teacher is Mr. H and in my experienced opinion it’s a travesty that he was removed from his classroom over some petty bigotry.” She looked up and glared at Mimi Fargus. “Mr. H’s dismissal would be a monumental loss to our school and who knows how many children would be deprived of having that one teacher that changes their world.” She ended with “This entire topic is a waste of everyone’s time.” To my total shock the parents in the room (other than the Fergus’s) clapped.

 

One of the board members moved to dismiss the request as personal bias and unfounded. She then added “the only accusation here seems to be that Mr. H is gay. We are a welcoming school, and our EEO policy is clear. This is a non-issue.” Then the chair asked for a show of hands for yays and nays, it was unanimous and the request was dismissed. Brody hugged me, right there in front of everyone. I felt like I won a trial and never even needed to say a word in my own defense. Both Mrs. Jonsik and Gina hugged me, Principal Simmons shook my hand saying, “I’m glad you’re here. We’re lucky you chose our school.” Goddammit I felt vindicated.

As we were leaving, I passed Mr. and Mrs. Fargus, she glared at me and her husband looked down in embarrassment. The father of one of my students came up to me “Mr. H, I’m Marcy Grable’s father. I came here tonight because someone left me a voicemail saying there was an incident of a sexual nature between you and a student. As soon as I heard that woman read her complaint I was embarrassed to be here (he said, ‘that woman’ with distain).” Then he offered his hand and stated, “Please accept my apology, I am so embarrassed and cannot apologize enough. Can I buy you and your husband a drink?” he asked. I smiled and accepted his generous offer. As we talked more, other parents, Gina, Principal Simmons, and Mrs. Jonsik came up and joined the conversation. All of us ended up going out for a drink, and a few of the other parents joined us. It felt so good to know that I had support, it was a wonderful night.

By the time we got home that night I was a little buzzed and a lot horny. After a couple of days of worry that made me sick to my stomach, I felt fucking great! Brody took Zoey out and put Jimmy in his stall for the night. It was about my bedtime and I should’ve gone to sleep, but I was ready to stay up just a bit longer. When Brody came back into the house, I was already in the shower and called him in. The bathroom light was off and I had lit a candle to set the mood.

“What the hail is this, Maxwell?” He asked with a mischievous grin.

 “We’re celebrating the end of this hell” I said as I watched my husband strip down to his boxer-briefs, then step out of them and throw them on the floor. He walked over to the shower, opened the glass door and stepped in. We were face to face with the warm water cascading over us. I put my hand on his shoulder as he grabbed my ass ad pulled my wet body to his, our genitals touching. The feeling of his soft cock growing against mine was driving me wild. I kissed him hard, and he kissed me back… hard. We moved away from my lips and bit my neck, then looked up at me and grinned. He moved to my nipples and bit one, then the other hard before pulling away and looking at me with that dirty, but adorable shit-eating grin. Damn he was so cute when he got like this. He moved down and took my hardening cock into his warm mouth as the water continued to rush over us. He had me 100% hard in no time. He worked my cock like a pro while he pulled at my balls and probed at my wet hole. 

After several minutes he stood up and kissed me again as he reached around me and grabbed the bottle of shower gel. He poured some in his hand and soaped up my cock then looked me in the yes and said, “It’s a special occasion, y’all wanna fuck my ass again?” Oh my god. Brody NEVER bottomed! We were together for three years before he let me have his ass, and that was ONLY on our wedding night. There was no way in hell I was passing this opportunity up.

“Hell yeah, I do!” I said with a huge, dirty smile before I kissed him. He reached behind him and soaped up his hole, with one hand while he continued soaping my rod with the other. He gave me a final kiss before he flipped around, bent over, and braced himself against the tile wall pushing his ass towards me. I reached out and fingered his slick hole with my index finger, then added my middle finger. I turned my fingers around, stretching and loosening up his virgin-once-removed hole, dammit he was tight… and so freaking HOT. My fingers were burning from the heat of his hole. I bent down and kissed his ass, one cheek then the other and gave it a playful bite before I stood up and removed my fingers. I smacked his sweet, wet little bubble butt, stepped closer, and lined my soapy cock up with his hole. I bent down and whispered into his ear, “You sure you want this hard cock up your ass?” my voice was low and my words dirty. I had just had a couple of shitty days and I was escaping the stress by getting into a lusty fuck with my husband.

“Hell, yeah, I do… but start slow, I’m still new at this” Brody said. 

I pushed in slowly while he pushed back, gasping as the head slipped past his ass ring and into his hot channel. I stopped and let him get used to it. I could hear him sucking air through his teeth as he wiggled his cute ass in a circular motion as if stretching his own hole on my pole. After a few moments he pushed back and steadily took me deeper and deeper until my wet, red pubic bush was smashed against him. He reached back and put his hand on my chest as a sign for me to hold it there so he could adjust. “Gotdamn, Maxwell. It hurts like hell but feels so damn good” Brody said, his words coming out as a breathy grunt. I just stood still letting him be in charge. Slowly he moved himself forward until only my cockhead remained in his tight, tight, hole. He pushed back again impaling himself on my hard manhood. I just looked down and took in the sight of my white cock going in and out of his marvelous bubble butt… fuck it was amazing how his tight hole just absorbed me completely. “Oh Fuck, yeah, gotdammit, fuck me” screamed Brody… yes ‘screamed’. He was so lost in the ecstasy of it all as he fucked himself on me. I heeded his request and started pushing forward to meet his thrusts in a hard, hot fuck. Our grunts and groans echoed in the little shower chamber as we fucked like animals.

We could hear Zoey whimpering and scratching at the door wanting to burst in and save his two daddies as he heard us moaning and crying out. We both chuckled as we picked up the pace. I reached around and started stroking Brody’s cock as I fucked him hard. I grunted even louder (making Zoey bark) as I pumped my hot seed into his welcoming cavern. Brody shot his load all over the tile wall at the same time, and his ass grabbed my cock even tighter. I kept thrusting and stroking until every drop was expelled, then I collapsed against him, crushing his little body between my muscular frame and the hard, cum covered wall. I planted a playful bite on his neck for good measure while Brody looked at the floor and reached back to run his fingers through my soaked hair.

 After a minute or so of panting and heaving, I pulled my softening dick out of him and we soaped each other up and rinsed off. After we dried off, we opened the door and were greeted by a confused Zoey who was happy to see us both alive and happy. Brody and I jumped under the covers and he spooned my naked body. Zoey wasted no time jumping up on top of the covers and weaseling her way in between her two daddies. The three of us fell fast asleep and for the first time in three nights I slept through the night.

Thursday morning, I woke up still tired from missing two nights sleep, but ready to take on the world. I felt vindicated. I took care of the animals, made a quick breakfast for us, then Brody and I walked out to our cars, kissed goodbye and went our separate ways. It was the end of October and chilly out, but I had the top down and the music blasting as I rumbled down the colorful autumn country roads… I was trying to psyche myself up for a great day and put the bullshit of the last three days in my rearview mirror. I turned down the music as I pulled into the parking lot of the school, parked, and put the top up. When I stepped out of the car, I saw Mrs. Jonsik walking towards the school. I called out to her as I picked up my pace and caught up with her. “I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me last night” I said with sincerity. “It was very kind. 

She smiled sweetly at me and nodded, “You didn’t deserve that. At. ALL.” Her tone was firm and there was disgust in her voice. “Listen, I haven’t been around a lot of…” she hesitated “um… gay people. I want to apologize to you if I have come across as rude or cold. I just don’t know what to say or how to act around you.” She was so sincere and seemingly riddled with guilt. I just chuckled.

“Just treat me like any other teacher” I responded. She smiled and we got into small talk about the Fall Festival. Every year on the Friday before Halloween (which was the next day), the kids wore costumes, classes ended at noon, and each grade did fun activities. The day culminated in a costume parade in the auditorium that was attended by parents and grandparents. It was a school tradition. We decided to pull our classes together for the afternoon to make taffy apples and paint pumpkins. She lived out in the country too and had a garden with pumpkins. Between the two of us we had enough pumpkins to cover our classrooms (and Gina’s), and I was bringing in a couple of bushels of apples. We talked more on the walk from the car to the teacher’s lounge than we had the entire semester. Maybe some good came out of all this bullshit, I gained a friend. That morning, Mrs. Jenkins joined me, Gina, Laurie, and Sarah for coffee in my room before classes started.

My kids filed into the room and took their seats, as they were getting settled Principal Simmons entered with Willy Fargus… and his dad. Willy took his old seat and Principal Simmons said a quick good morning, then left the room with a smile. Mr. Fargus asked me to step into the hallway. He didn’t make much eye contact as he held his baseball cap in his hands and looked down “Mr. H. I think Willy will do better in your class. I’m sorry for any trouble we caused you” then walked away. That was it. No explanation, no small talk, nothing. Just an embarrassed apology. I just stood there for a moment and watched him walk away… I was in total shock. 

The rest of the day was business as usual. It was like the whole damn three days of hell never happened. I guess I should have been happy and relieved (which I was to a point), but the whole incident woke me up to the fact that I need to be guarded about my personal life. Brody had told me that from day one, but people had been so nice to me that I just assumed everyone was fine with me being gay. Lesson learned.

 Friday morning came and Brody helped me load Old Blue with bushels of pumpkins and apples then cover it with a tarp as Zoey ran around the truck hoping to go for a ride. Since I was taking the truck to work, Brody took the opportunity to commandeer the Camaro for the day. We kissed goodbye and rumbled down the drive before we went our separate ways. I pulled into the teacher’s lot and Mrs. Jonsik pulled up next to me in an old pick-up and we helped each other unload the bushels into my classroom. Teaching that morning was hard as hell! The kids were preoccupied with their costumes and excitedly anticipating the afternoon’s events. At 11:45 the kids headed to the lunchroom and Mrs. J (which is what the kids called her, so I decided to do the same) and I rearranged the desks in my room and moved some more chairs from her room in so that our classes could work together in small groups.

When the kids finished lunch, they came back to a party atmosphere. We had music playing (we let the kids take turns picking the music), and there were two areas set up for the kids to work. We had one area for making taffy apples, Mrs. J had two burners and two pots of melted caramels. The kids could put a stick into an apple, dip it in the caramel, then move to the next station to add toppings like nuts, chocolate chips, crushed Oreos and a bunch of other stuff Mrs. J pulled together.

The other area was for pumpkin decorating, and we had invited a special guest artist to help. Yup, Brody took the afternoon off and volunteered to help the kids paint and decorate pumpkins. It was so damn cute! He was sitting in a tiny chair at the table and talking through ideas with the kids. They were each working on their pumpkins and lining up to get help from Mr. Brody. The kids loved him and he was so damn good with them… patient, kind, encouraging, a natural teacher. 

Brody stuck around for the parade in the auditorium. We stood off stage and let the parents have the seats. All the teachers were helping their kids with the final details of their costumes, Brody was set up in a corner backstage doing face painting for the kids who wanted it as part of their costumes. It was so much fun with Brody there, and Mrs. J partnering with me on a whole different level. That day was my favorite day of teaching to-date. Me, Brody, the other teachers, the kids, all working together, laughing, having fun.

I peeked out from backstage and glanced into the audience at all the smiling, laughing parents with their phones and cameras pointed forward recording their kids walking across the stage in their costumes. Right in the middle of the crowd was Mimi Fargus with a big smile on her face as she watched Willy cross the stage dressed like Harry Potter.

My blood ran cold. Even though things had turned out good for me in the long run, I despised the woman. I was doing my best to let it go but I just couldn’t. This woman almost ruined my career due of her own ignorance and prejudice. I needed an apology from her… but I knew it would never happen. I learned a valuable lesson about living in the rural south that week.

  

To be continued…