Read Online The Red Thread by Bryan Ellis - Free Book Online

talked.
    “You’re up early for any reason?” Dad inquires.
    “Just woke up early.”
    “Huh,” he grunts, sounding like a caveman. He’s always been sophisticated like that.
    Dad gets up and says he has to start heading to the office, or he’ll be late. My dad works in a small cubicle at an insurance office. It’s not the job he dreamed of, but it’s where he ended up. He’s worked there for my entire life, but when I was growing up, when we would fix cars together, he would tell me of his dreams to open up his own car shop. Cars were always his life. In our basement the walls are still covered with shelves upon shelves of classic model cars. Any automobile connoisseur would tell you it’s quite impressive. Although, it’s nothing compared to my collection of books. My bedroom might as well be a library.
    I sit down at the kitchen table, and Mom sits down in front of me. She sips a mug of coffee and lets out a sigh.
    “This is good.”
    “It’s the same coffee you drink every day, Mom.”
    “So are you up for any special reason? I know you said before you just woke up early, but you never just wake up early. There’s a better chance of your sister failing a class.”
    “Now that is impossible.” My sister is back at college, and I miss her terribly. Whenever she is home, it just feels right having the whole family together again.
    Mom laughs at my sarcasm, pushing her long, dark brown hair behind her ears. The same blue eyes like mine stare back at me. Her skin, like mine, is pale and smooth. My mother is plain, yet she is still quite beautiful. She never did much care for dressing up or wearing too much makeup. She likes to keep to herself and stays out of the gossip in this town the best she can. I’m glad, because I would hate for her to hear what the town thinks of me. The Mrs. Rattrees of Wilshire would kill my mother. If there is one way to hurt her, it is to hurt one of her children.
    One of my fondest memories of her has to be when I was in elementary school. I was beaten up by a group of young boys who were pretending to be badass. They thought they were in a gang, but never in my life have I seen a gang of sixth graders. Neither have I seen a gang in Wilshire. Wilshire isn’t exactly the badass capital of the world. Yeah, we have some deplorable people, but that’s every town. The people here are usually harmless. It’s their biting words you need to watch out for. But these sixth graders I guess were trying to start something new in Wilshire. They failed. You can thank my mom for that. They beat me up for being a weirdo, and they called me faggot, but at the time I didn’t even know what that word meant, nor did I know I was gay at that age either. I just figured every young boy was attracted to other boys. After beating me up, I went home all bloody.
    My dad wasn’t home, but my mom was. I saw the anger boil up in her body. It was like watching a volcano preparing to erupt, and my mom erupted all right. She marched to each one of those kid’s houses and told their parents what they did. I went along with her, and to see their parents’ reactions was exquisite! Most kids don’t want their parents meddling in their business, but when you’re just a scrawny little sixth grader, there isn’t much you can do. Yeah, those kids bothered me until the day I graduated high school, but they never physically attacked me again. Their gang never came together, and instead they just stayed three lousy assholes. They didn’t go to college, and none of them have jobs.
    I guess I shouldn’t say much, since I’m a psychotic college dropout. I’m not one who can judge others. I have a reason for the way I am. They had no reason or excuse. They were just assholes.
    Even when I came out, my mom took it so well. In most movies, television shows, or books, coming out is this huge, painful process. It involves lots of tears and fighting and your parents coming to terms with who you are and how you