“You came back strong,” Errol noted.
“I came back strong? You make it sound like I was way behind. You only answered one more question right and won.”
“True. For an old man, you can keep up.”
They smiled.
Errol began setting up for another game. “We gotta have a tiebreaker.”
“We do, but it’s after eleven. You should be asleep.”
“I can function on less than seven hours.”
“You probably can, but that wouldn’t be best.”
“Come on, Dad. I’m fifteen, not five.”
“I don’t want you draggin’ yourself from class to class. We got a GPA to keep.”
Errol frowned, putting the pieces to the game inside the box.
It had been years since Raheim had seen him pout. And for him to do it at this age . . . it made Raheim smile inside. “We can pick up our battle another time.”
“When?” Errol perked up.
“How about next Sunday?”
“You sure you wanna spend Father’s Day gettin’ trounced?”
They laughed. Uh-huh, music.
Raheim shrugged. “That’s a chance I don’t mind takin’.”
“Okay. Thanks for helping me prepare.”
“Prepare?”
“Yeah, for the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament. I’ll be trying out when they come to town next month.”
“Ah. I always wanted to go on the show.”
“You still can. It’s not too late.”
He nodded. “No. It’s not.”
“We can be the first father-and-son champs.”
“Hmm. Now that would be somethin’.”
“Oh, I gotta take out the trash. Excuse me.”
Raheim watched as he also made sure the back door was locked and the alarm was on (things Raheim used to do). Raheim met him at the bottom of the stairs. “This was fun, son.”
“Yeah. You need to come around . . . more.”
“I will.” He hugged him. “You have a jood night.”
“Ain’t you gonna tuck me in, like Destiny?”
There was their song again.
“You’re a little big for that. But I’ll make sure you tuck yourself in jood.”
Errol grinned. Raheim followed him upstairs.
“Jood night, Unc.” Errol waved as they passed the great room.
Mitchell was sitting on the sofa—his back against the left armrest, his knees bent—reading the script. “Jood night.”
As Raheim stood just outside his door, Errol turned on his iTunes visual (Lizz Wright’s “Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly” began to play), climbed under the covers, and clasped his hands behind his head.
“Jood night, son.”
“Jood night, Dad.”
“I love you.” Raheim hadn’t said it to him in a while.
“And I love you, too, times two!”
Like the Supremes, Raheim heard a symphony as he shut off Errol’s light and closed his door.
As Mitchell closed the script, Raheim sat next to him.
“So, whatcha think?”
Mitchell placed it on the coffee table. He smiled. He pretended to open an envelope. “And the Oscar goes to . . . Raheim Errol Rivers Jr.”
“Ya think so?”
“Definitely. If Denzel can win as a corrupt cop, you can win as a closeted baseball player.”
“I ain’t Denzel.”
“No, you’re not. But he won playing the Bad Negro and Sidney, the Good Negro. This role doesn’t fall on either side of those extremes; it’s in the middle. Glenn is presented as a decent, flawed man with an age-old dilemma—to be or not to be—and we get to see how he decides to be. So our third time will definitely be the charm. You’ll be breaking new ground. How many Black actors play a gay role in which they don’t drag up or queen out?”
“True.”
“I’m sure many turned it down because it isn’t camp; they can’t coon their way through it. So the fact that he’s gay but acts, looks, and talks like a so-called straight man will also work in your favor. The majority of female voters will be attracted to him and the majority of male voters will view him as just one of the guys. And it won’t hurt that you’ve battled an addiction. They love to reward folks who have overcome obstacles, been through the fire. Some will view this as your comeback.”
“My comeback? With a comeback, you comin’ back to the spot you left. I’m in a different place now. It’s . . . it’s more like a rebirth.”
“When they throw comeback in your face, that should be your comeback.”
They chuckled.
“There are a lot of juicy moments. But, as with Diane Lane in Unfaithful, everyone will be talking about that one scene.”
“You mean, the part where I, uh, he has sex for the first time and realizes what it really means?”
“Yup. You will have gone through every emotion in that one moment that many of us have and still do. I can just hear Ebert and Roeper raving about it now. I see you’ve already claimed the role as your own.”
Raheim nodded.
“Some folks won’t be ready for it; there’s still fallout over the rumors about Mike Piazza and the player supposedly involved with that editor at OUT. And I didn’t know Glenn introduced the high-five to baseball thirty years ago—that’ll make many straight jocks in and outside of the pro-sports world squirm.” Mitchell leaned forward. “The role will require a lot of you. You’ll probably have to go through some sort of spring training.” He knuckled Raheim in the chest with his middle finger. “But you’re rather well preserved for a thirty-one-year-old, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Raheim giggled.
“I’m sure your son will be glad to give you a few pointers on the game. And, if you won’t be, I bet he’d love to play Glenn as a teenager.”
“Ha, he already put his bid in for that.”
“And, you’ve gotta sing, in a church choir. I can’t wait to hear that!”
“Uh, will you help me out with that?”
“Of course.” Mitchell studied him. “Some of the scenes . . . they may be . . . emotionally intense.”
“I can handle it. I guess everything I’ve been through . . . it’s kinda prepared me for it. I . . . I can identify with him in a lot of ways.”
“How?” Mitchell knew how; he just wanted to hear it.
“Not bein’ able to . . . be yourself. Afraid of what people are gonna think, say.” Raheim peered at him. “Hidin’ the one I love from the others I love.”
“Mmm. Something he says reminds me of you, too.”
“What?”
“‘I didn’t think you could be gay and not be a sissy.’”
Raheim waved that comment off. “I don’t think like that no more.”
Mitchell was glad to hear that—and knew he meant it. “And . . . I’m sure you’ll be asked the question.”
“Yeah.”
“What will you say?”
Raheim considered it. “Somethin’ like, ‘I’m not gay, but my man is.’”
They howled.
“Jood answer,” Mitchell affirmed. “Nathan Lane couldn’t have said it better. Gene will be shocked. Babyface will be proud. And B.D.? He’ll want to throw you a coming-way-out party.”
“I bet he will.”
“And he won’t be the only one. If the white queens lusted you before as a model, they’re gonna love you because of this role. But some of the Children won’t be celebrating, since you’re surrounded by whites in the film.”
“You gonna be in that group . . . ?” Raheim mumbled.
“Of course not. Now, would I prefer this was, say, an adaptation of an E. Lynn Harris novel, where you’d have a better chance of being in the arms of another brother? Yes. But, apparently, that wasn’t Glenn’s life. Speakin’ of: How do you feel about the love scenes?” Mitchell already knew that, too.
“I’m not feelin’ kissin’ a white boy,” Raheim groused.
“A white boy? I counted three.
And, you do more than kiss one of them.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“That one scene is a little explicit, but it’s important to the story. It may end up on the cutting-room floor though. Because the players walk around naked and talk trash about women in the locker room, it’s guaranteed an R. That scene will definitely bump it up to an NC-17.”
“And don’t forget about the naked groupies.”
“Mmm-hmm . . . this’ll probably be the first time male groupies in professional sports will be portrayed. Uh . . . have you ever found a naked man in your hotel room like Glenn?”
Hmm . . . he never asked that question while we were together. Guess he feels safe asking it now . . . “Nah. But there’s been plenty that wanted to get naked in my hotel room.”
“I’m sure.”
Raheim huffed. “I just don’t wanna be kissin’ a troll.”
Mitchell laughed. “If it’ll help, you can pretend you’re kissing me.”
He placed his hand on Mitchell’s. “I’d rather not pretend.”
They hadn’t touched in any way in years. Mitchell drew in a quick breath; as he silently let it out, he folded his hand onto Raheim’s. They smiled.
“Are you ready to be annointed the spokesperson for the Black gay/lesbian/bi/SGL/queer/transgendered/transsexual/two-spirit community?” Mitchell asked sarcastically.
Raheim chuckled. “What’s that?”
“I know, right? But you’ll be the most visible member of the tribe, so you’ll be expected to speak for all of us. I know at least one person who will be giving you the third-degree.”
“Who?”
“Roe.”
“For real?”
“Yup. Ever since Errol told him his godfather is gay, he’s had twenty million questions. Finding out about me shocked his world; finding out about you is gonna rock his world.”
“Mmm . . . I thought E. woulda told him by now. And Sid.”
“I think Errol’s waiting for the right time to tell them.”
“Ha, somebody told me a long time ago there ain’t no such thing as the right time.”
Mitchell acknowledged that with a nod. “He’s waiting for the right person to do it. One thing’s for certain: Roe’s father won’t be pleased to know that his best friend’s father not only plays a homo in a movie but is one.”
“Then I guess we gonna hafta work on him, too.”
“And are you ready for every detail of your private life to be fodder for the tabloids?” Mitchell joked.
“I was just on international TV talkin’ about my gamblin’ problem. I ain’t got nothin’ to hide.”
“You don’t think so? I got a few tales I could sell to the National Inquirer.”
“Sell away—so long as I get a cut.”
They laughed.
“As I’ve learned, you can work the bad publicity—it all comes down to spin. Uh . . . you gonna come with me to the Oscars?”
“Ooh, the chance to rub elbows with Halle and kee-kee with Jada? If you’re still single, it’s a date.”
“If you’re my date, I won’t be.”
They grinned.
Raheim settled back but leaned in to the left, moving a little closer to him. “So, tell me about the job.”
Mitchell took the fax off the coffee table and handed it to him. After Raheim read it over, Mitchell filled him in on the conversation he’d had with Em. By the time he was done, Raheim’s arms were draped across Mitchell’s legs, which were stretched across Raheim’s thighs.
“They would want to be comin’ at you like that. You deserve it.”
“Thanks.”
“Sounds like a great opp.”
“It is.”
“But . . . ?” Raheim knew Mitchell had reservations—or, rather, one. And he knew what that reservation was. . . .
“I . . . I just don’t know if now is the right time.”
Raheim’s eyebrows rose. “Right time?”
Mitchell breathed a chuckle. “The best time to do something like this.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I do have a full house.”
Raheim stated the obvious. “E. is goin’ away to college next year. And Destiny ain’t a baby no more. In fact, things are fallin’ into place the way we . . . you planned.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know. That you would stay home with Destiny until she went to the first grade.”
He remembered. “Yeah. Boy, those years flew by.”
“Uh-huh. They grow up . . . and away. And Destiny’s really independent. It’s time she really saw that her daddy can be, too.”
Mitchell was thrown by that comment. “Huh?”
“Well, you been there for her ever since she was born—right there.”
Mitchell became a little defensive. “I was supposed to be.”
“Of course you was supposed to be. You’ve given her a life many kids don’t get. But, like I said, she ain’t a baby. You can’t be afraid to let go.”
“Let go?”
“Yeah. You armed her with the tools to go out in the world and make a space for herself and she’s already doing that in her own way. Now you gotta give yourself permission to do what you want for you, knowin’ that what you do will make things better for the both of y’all. That’s gonna be another jood lesson for her: she’ll know where that independence can take her.”
Mitchell looked at Raheim quizzically. “You been watchin’ Dr. Phil?”
They laughed.
“Actually, yeah. The past few days. I’m goin’ on his show next month.”
Mitchell knew what the topic would be. “You’re becoming, what they call on the talk show circuit, an ‘expert.’”
“Not an expert, just experienced. That’s how I know it ain’t gonna be easy, lettin’ go. I’m still tryin’ to do it with Li’l . . . E.”
“So I hear.”
“We can’t keep ’em little forever. We gotta cut the cord. She can survive. And you can too.”
Silence.
“It’s . . . gonna be scary,” Mitchell admitted.
“What is?”
“Being . . . out there. I haven’t been out there in so long.”
“You make it sound like another planet.”
“In a way it will be. I haven’t punched a time clock as a journalist in ten years. The world is a much different place.”
“It is. But you’ll be coming at it differently, as the E-I-C. And you can handle it. The question is can it handle you. It may not be able to take you and Emil.”
“Hmm . . . two Black SGL men helming Black magazines not specifically for Black SGL people. That would be major. Funny, but I never thought of that.”
“I bet they have. They probably don’t want you wavin’ a rainbow flag . . .”
“You know I won’t be.”
“Yeah. But they gotta know your bein’ SGL is gonna draw attention to the magazine.”
“And it’s all about spin.”
“Right.”
“Hmmph. No wonder the letter mentions race and sexual orientation as issues the company takes seriously. Because of that, I should ask for twice the money.”
They laughed.
Mitchell sighed. “That means I may have to have that talk with Destiny.”
“You haven’t already?”
“No. We’ve talked about there being different kinds of families in the world. But not that her daddy is a Same-Gender-Loving man.”
“How did that topic come up?”
“At the beginning of the school year, she made a friend named Tammy, who has a mother and a stepmother. She wanted to know how this could be.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That some children only have a daddy, like she does. Some only have a mommy. Some have both a mommy and daddy, some have two daddies like Errol, and some have two mommies like Tammy. Sometimes the parents that made you don’t raise you—and that’s not a bad thing. Look at Tammy: she lives with her st
epmother. And look at us.”
“Mmm. I remember when I told Li’l . . . E. about us. I couldn’t even say the word gay . . .”
Li’l Brotha Man, you know what it means when two people are together, right?
Uh-huh. That means they a couple.
Right. And who can make up a couple?
A man and a woman.
Right. But, a man and a woman . . . they not the only two people that can make a couple.
What do you mean, Daddy?
A man can be with a woman. But a man can also be with a man. And a woman with a woman. They all couples. Just different kinds.
How can that be, Daddy? A man and a woman get married and have a baby. Like you and Mommy. But you didn’t get married.
That’s right. But the way a person feels for someone else . . . it don’t have to have anything to do with havin’ a baby or gettin’ married. See . . . there are some men who just have feelings for women. And there are some men who just have feelings for men. And then there are some men who have feelings for men and women. Like me.
You have feelings for men and women?
Yeah.
Like . . . I have feelings for you, and I have feelings for Mommy?
No, Li’l Brotha Man. It’s different. The way you feel for me and Mommy, that’s how a parent and child feel about each other. What I’m talkin’ about . . . I had feelings for your mom and now I have the same kind of feelings for . . . Mitchell.
Mitch-hull?
Yeah.
How can you do that?
It’s . . . it’s just natural for me. I feel really close to Mitchell the way I used to feel close to Mommy. But that don’t mean I don’t have feelings for Mommy. I still care for her. But . . . I feel closer to Mitchell now.
Oh. Do Mommy know you and Mitchell . . . close?
Yeah, she do. And, to be honest with you, she’s not too happy about it.
Why?
’Cause . . . now she likes Mitchell a lot, and she loves the way he’s been a godfather to you. You like that, too, right?
Uh-huh, I do.
She knows you mean a lot to him. But . . . she’s a little uncomfortable with our bein’ together. You know what that word mean, uncomfortable?
Uh-huh. That’s when something bothers you.
Right. It’s not that she don’t like Mitchell. It’s that me and Mitchell bein’ a couple, loving each other . . . I guess its hard for her to accept.
So . . . you love Mitch-hull?
A House Is Not a Home Page 19
