The Hathaway

Exploration

We all stood in stunned silence for a moment, until the HR manager, who had been among those who had greeted me, stepped forward and offered, “Do you want to file a complaint? You have plenty of witnesses.”

“No,” I stated flatly, “What's the point?”

One of the preparators chimed in, “That was harassment. She deserves to be punished.”

“Maybe she does,” I turned and faced my friends, “But I'm not going to be the one doing it. Besides, that's the same thinking she's using. It's all about retribution, not forgiveness, unbending rules that don't allow for human frailty and error. I need to believe that there is hope in this world, even for haters like her. So please, if you want to support what I'm doing, please don't condemn her just yet.”

They all muttered among themselves, a begrudging agreement, but respecting my wishes. The HR manager said, “We'll do as you ask, but know, we have your back. However, it is my job to speak to her about her behavior, even if you are not filing a complaint.”

“I understand,” I said, then added, “Can you promise me you won't fire her?”

“I'll do my best, for your sake. But it will really depend on her. He shook my hand and headed off to his office. The whole crowd of co-worker followed suit, and despite the overt expression of hate from Evelyn, when I made it to my office I felt safe and supported.

Just before lunch I heard a commotion in the lobby and recognized a couple of young voices. I peeked out, and sure enough, the kids were looking at some of the exhibits and commenting on them to each other. I went out to greet them and they seemed happy to see me. One of them found the display about the Foster and asked, “Is this the house with the ghosts in the basement?”

I rolled my eyes at Sylvia and answered their questions. They all shared an excitement over the stories I had told them about the boarding house and wanted to know if they could see it some time. “Well, it's a private home, and people actually live there, We can't just barge in. But I'll speak to Mr. Phipps and see if he'd let us sneak in for a moment or two. This made them happy and another of them asked if they could see my office.

We sometimes did behind the scenes tours for school groups or other organizations, so I thought it would be fine. By now a few of my co-workers had appeared and were welcoming the children to the museum and to the town. When my manager stuck his head in and greeted them, I took the opportunity to ask, “They want to see what goes on behind the scenes, do you think it would be ok? I'll be quick.”

“Of course,” he agreed. “Joey here knows just about everything that goes on.”

I took them to my office and to the lab where we worked on restoring fragile artifacts, ending by pointing out the archives where everything was stored until needed. I thought it best not to barge in on Evelyn after the events of the morning, but little did I know, she was not in her office. As we turned a corner in the hallway we came face to face with her as she was returning. We all stopped and faced each other in awkward silence. The kids could sense the tension and said nothing. After a moment, Sabina stepped forward and offered her hand. “Hi, I'm Sabina. What's your name?” A simple enough gesture, I thought, but evidently Evelyn had other ideas.

She shrank back, placing the files she was carrying between them, and shrieked, “Don't touch me!” Turning her attention to Sylvia, she added, “Keep that child away from me.”

Sylvia had instinctively reached out and drawn Sabina back at the first sign of distress, and Evelyn flattened herself against the wall, managing to squeeze by without making physical contact. As she retreated into her office, she gave me he dirtiest of looks and sputtered some guttural sounds that sounded all the world like swearing.

“Well, that was odd.” I tried to make light of it, but the kids would have none of it.

“She's one of the protesters, isn't she?” Kevin looked at me and dared me to deny it.

I knew they would settle for nothing short of the truth. “I can honestly say I have never seen her picket our home, but I do know that she is involved in the church that is sort of hosting the protesters, and I know without a doubt that she disapproves of...well, of a lot of things, including me.”

I ushered them back to the main gallery, and quietly said to Sabina, “That was very brave and very kind. I hope you know that not everyone will be as hateful as she was.”

“Oh,” Sabina assured me, “I know.” Then after a pause she added, “Besides, it wasn't the lady who was being mean, it was the shadow inside her. He's afraid of me for some reason, but I think when he goes away she will be able to be my friend.” She ran off to join her friends as I tried to understand what she had just said.

“Hello, Joey?” I was brought back to the present by Sylvia. “This morning we ran into some of the church ladies who came to the counter protest and they invited us to their church for lunch. Do you want to join us? It's just down the street.”

I blinked and stuttered, “I...That's great...umm...I can't, Ben is bringing another picnic in a few minutes, but maybe we'll see you when you come out, we usually sit on the common just past the church.”

“Great,” she smiled. “We'll look for you. You know the kids really like you and Ben, they keep saying how you are a cute couple, and I even heard Chad whisper to Kevin that he wished you guys were his parents.”

That got my full attention. I took a deeper look at these kids wandering in the gallery, and for the first time I knew I was going to love each and every one of them as if they were my own. I knew that no matter the resistance or the vitriol, it was worth it. “Thank you,” I replied, “I think we already are.”

Ben arrived a few minutes later. “Sorry for being late, the protesters have been particularly obnoxious today, although they haven't done anything illegal. Three of them followed me most of the way into town, close enough so I could hear them spouting hate amongst themselves, but just far enough back so I couldn't claim they were threatening me.”

“Hmm, maybe we should ask the police chief where the boundaries are between freedom of speech and harassment. And speaking of harassment...” I filled him in on the evens of the morning as we headed out to the common. He tried to talk me into filing a complaint and of course I refused.

“But then you're giving them permission to...”

“I'm giving them permission to be human and make mistakes. Even her own people were mortified by her behavior. If we go down that road right now we'll be as bad as they are.” He did not looked convinced. “Besides, by embodying the Christian virtue of forgiveness we highlight that they are not acting in a way consistent with their own teachings. The time may come for formal action, but I'd like to give them every chance we can. Maybe they will, I don't know, become the Christians they claim to be.”

He held my hand and gave me the tenderest look. “You're such a fucking optimist.” Then leaning forward he continued, “And I guess that's why I love you so much.” With that he placed a tender but passionate kiss on my lips.

“Oh my God! They're at it again!” Ash, the third and youngest boy in the group, yelled back to his buddies.

I heard the rest of them running up behind him and Kevin's voice offered a loud, “At least they're not doing what they did last night.”

“I beg your pardon, young man!” Ben chided jovially, “We did plenty of this last night, you just couldn't hear it.”

The entire group offered the perfunctory “Ewww!” then surrounded us to share the treasures they had found at the church's thrift shop. The two older boys tried to maintain their cool , but even Kevin let a little excitement slip when he showed me the leather jacket he had found. Sylvia stood and watched with a broad smile on her face and then gathered them up to head home. They even seemed excited about the prospect of running the gauntlet of protesters. As they faded into the distance I could hear one of them suggest singing 'we shall overcome' or something like that, and moments after they rounded the corner and were out of sight I caught the faint echo of singing coming from their direction.

“Oh my god,” Ben wiped a tear from his eyes, “How could anyone throw so much hate at those wonderful kids? After all they've been through, and they can still...” He lost his words and I held his hand as he regathered himself. “I never expected that I would...”

“I'm falling in love with them too,” I assured him. “But there's one more thing before I go back to work.” He listened carefully as I told him about the interaction Sabina had with Evelyn and the revelation she made afterwards. “The kids want to see the boarding house. Can you check in with Mr. P. and see if he's up for it? I think Andi needs to meet Sabina and that would be a good way of getting them together.”

“I'm on it,” He said as he picked up the remains of our lunch. “I'll head straight over and see if I can catch him before he heads upstairs for the afternoon.”

By three o'clock I had a call from Ben, “It's all set. Miss M. is hosting dinner tonight at the boarding house. Mr. P. was thrilled at the prospect of meeting them and having more than just a couple mouths to feed. I think it made his day. I called Sylvia from the boarding house before finalizing everything, and she loved the idea. Miss M. is going to give them a candlelight tour of the basement after dinner, they don't know about that yet, it's supposed to be a surprise.”

“What about Andi?” I asked.

“I told her what you told me and she was intrigued. She's looking forward to it as well.” After a pause, he asked, “So...umm...do you think we'll have enough time to make a little more noise before heading out tonight?”

I chuckled, “Depends on if I can get up the stairs without being intercepted, I imagine.”

“Make the effort,” he pleaded. “I'm already naked and getting hard just at the thought of it.”

That was it for me, I couldn't concentrate for the rest of the day and ended up leaving a little early.