Dance of a Lifetime

by Frank Downey

  The marks came up. They had beaten Evan and Shawna. After Coleman and Nicholas had skated, they discovered that they had beaten them, also. They had won the original dance. It left them right back in contention, in third overall and very close to second.

  * * *

  Thursday was the free dance. It was time to break out Sinatra: "How Little It Matters (How Little We Know)" and "I've Got You Under My Skin." It was a classy, elegant, steadily-building program. They really had sharpened it up.

  They skated first in the final group, and skated near-flawlessly. The crowd ate it up, going nuts when they were done. They were pleased with the way they had skated, and thought the marks were decent, but all the other contenders were yet to go. Nicholas and Coleman went first, and they only defeated Sophia and Warren in the free dance by one judge. That made Sophia and Warren feel more confident. Evan and Shawna couldn't beat them. They finished second in the free and second overall, going home with their second--and very special, considering what had preceded it--silver medal.

  * * *

  Sunday was the day for exhibitions. Sophia and Warren loved this. All their friends were there, showing off their own exhibitions, and the backstage scene was fun.

  The TV network had taped comments from each skater about their exhibitions to play on the broadcast, but they also played those comments on the big screen in the arena before each skater took the ice. Warren and Sophia's was playing as they stepped out by the ice entrance.

  Warren: "We hit a rough spot this fall."

  Sophia: "Yeah, we actually broke up, on and especially off the ice, for almost two months."

  Warren: "We're back together now, and very happy about it, and we kissed and made up a while ago."

  Sophia: "But now we need to kiss and make up on the ice!"

  They took the ice, to wild applause, both dressed in black flowing costumes with a big red heart on one sleeve. "Kiss Me Baby" began, and they gilded around the ice, renewing and repledging their love for one another, on the ice. Warren steered Sophia around the ice, in a program build on long flowing edges, elegant turns, and close embraces. At the end, they kissed, as the crowd went nuts. The First Couple of American Ice Dance were back.

  * * *

  They flew home to Boston, then piled back into Warren's van almost immediately for the haul back to Wisconsin. When they arrived there, they were surprised to get recognized a lot around campus.

  Their friends had spread the word. They got what was almost a hero's welcome back to campus. They found themselves being recognized more than ever. It was great.

  Fame, however, has a dark side.

  Chapter 72 - Darkness on the Edge of Town

  The semester started wonderfully. They planned to take as much of their free time as they could nailing down those compulsories. Warren had turned 18 during Nationals, which led to lots of jokes from Sophia about "being relieved that she wasn't committing statutory rape on poor innocent Warren anymore." They were together, and were happy. School was going to be tough again, but they had better learned how to deal with that. They had their friends, and all the recognition they were getting was a kick.

  One night, just a few days after school had started, Warren was walking across campus late at night. Sophia had a pile of work to do, so Warren had gone to get some food. He was headed back to the dorm, walking through a part of campus usually mostly deserted at night.

  Four kids were walking in the other direction.

  "Hey, you're that figure skater!"

  "Yeah, I am," Warren smiled.

  "Aren't all figure skaters fags?"

  "No. Some are, but not all." Warren said.

  "I've heard all figure skaters are fags," another one said. "And all of them with girlfriends and shit, that's just a smokescreen."

  "Nah. Believe me, my girlfriend is not a smokescreen."

  "Yeah, right. You're all fags. You are a fag."

  "Believe what you want," Warren said, not wanting to get into it. "Can I get by, please?"

  "I don't think so." They moved in closer to him. "Y'see, we've decided you're a fag. And you know what we do to fags?"

  "Yeah, what Reverend Watson says we should do to fags?"

  Oh shit, Warren thought, they're followers of that gay-bashing scumbag. I think I'm in a heap of trouble.

  He never saw the first punch until it was connecting with his eye.

  The four kids weakened him up with a couple of punches, then dragged him out of sight, behind one of the buildings. Then they started punching and kicking in earnest. One of them twisted his left wrist until he heard the bones crack. He took a couple kicks in the knee. His face and torso were battered. Waves of pain washed over him. He screamed until he didn't have the energy to scream. He tasted blood, and saw it in his eyes.

  Then, one of them said. "You know what we ought to do to this fag? Treat him like a fag!" The next thing Warren knew, his pants were being pulled down. Then, he felt himself being held up by two of the kids, while a third stood behind him. He felt pressure, and then a searing pain, in his anus.

  At that moment, he mercifully passed out.

  * * *

  Somehow, he managed to come to some time later, just barely. He was alone, on the grass. His legs weren't working properly. His left wrist was useless. He was having trouble breathing. He couldn't see past his swollen eyes very well. And there was blood everywhere.

  He was in big trouble. He managed to remain coherent enough to dig into his pocket for his cell phone. It was cracked, but still worked. He took his good hand and hit Sophia's speed dial number.

  "Hello," she said.

  "Behind Thompson hall. Send help. Ambulance. Hurry!" he managed to squeak out. Then the line went dead.

  Sophia, sick with fear, dialed 911. Then she threw on a coat, and with Elise in tow, headed to Thompson Hall. She arrived first, and ran behind the building to find Warren unconscious, badly beaten, in a pool of blood.

  "WARREN!!!" she howled, and ran down to hug him. Elise came alongside. "Sophie, move. I'm pre-med, I know first aid." She grabbed his hand. "He's got a pulse. His breathing sucks, though. Damn, where is that ambulance? He's lost a ton of blood." Just then the paramedics ran up and took over.

  * * *

  It was the next morning before they let Sophia in to see him.

  "Are you family?" asked the doctor.

  "I'm his girlfriend, I'm the closest thing. Our families are in Massachusetts. How is he?"

  "Concussion, broken cheek, multiple facial bruises, broken ribs, broken left wrist, one of his lungs collapsed, and his rectum is a mess. Plus both of his knees are bruised and sprained."

  "Oh my God."

  "He took a vicious beating."

  "Yeah, and from who?" said a voice from behind her. "Hi, I'm Officer Gorman, Madison PD."

  "I'm Sophia Daniels, I'm his girlfriend. And his ice skating partner."

  "Oh, yeah, you guys are those ice dancers, right?"

  "Yeah," she said sadly.

  "Sophia," the cop asked, "do you know anyone who would want to do this to Warren?"

  "No. Warren's well liked, he really is. If he has any enemies, I don't know about them."

  "Pookie?" a voice croaked from behind them.

  Sophia turned. "Oh, Snugglebear, you're awake!"

  "Barely. God, do I hurt."

  "Warren? Can you talk? Officer Gorman, Madison PD. Who did this to you?"

  "Four guys. Don't know if they were students, but they were that age. Said they were followers of that asshole preacher, Watson."

  "Did you know them? Do you know why they did this to you?"

  Warren tried to snort, which was hard with a respirator tube in his nose. "Oh, it was your routine gay-bashing, leaving aside for a moment the little detail that I'm not gay. They said that I must be, because I was a figure skater. I tried to get out of there, after the verbal abuse, but they blocked me, then started punching." He took a breath. "Dragged me behind the building and went to town."

&
nbsp; "Lovely. Could you identify them?"

  "I think so."

  "Good. This ought to be a lovely set of charges. Assault, hate crime, this might even be severe enough for attempted murder."

  "No doubt in my mind," said the Doctor. "Warren, if you didn't carry a cel phone, you would have bled to death. Oh, and, Officer, don't forget rape."

  "What?" said Warren.

  "Rape?" said the officer.

  "Yeah," the Doctor said. "Warren, you were anally raped."

  Sophia recoiled in horror at that. Warren just went ghost-white.

  * * *

  The Madison PD held a press conference. Word spread like wildfire after that, especially amongst the close-knit skating community, which reacted with horror, shock, and fear.

  Many skaters were contacted by the media for their comments. The ones most widely replayed were the astute comments of Evan Pogdar:

  "First of all, I am gay, so, yeah, I'm scared to death. But, it's bad enough that this was a gay-bashing. What's worse is that it was a witch hunt, with all the blind flailing of possible witches that that implies, because I know for a certain fact that Warren is not gay. Now we're bashing maybe-gays on the basis of their profession. It was a gay-bash, and it was a witch-hunt, and it was an attack on the figure skating community. First and foremost, though, it was an attack on Warren Kelleher, one of the finest guys I know. Warren wouldn't hurt a fly. I'm devastated over this. Hey, War, get well, eh?"

  * * *

  Warren's parents flew in from Boston. Sophia was glad to see them. She needed the help. She still had classes to go to, and she was meeting with Warren's professors.

  The figure skating community rallied. She was getting constant messages from friends--even skaters they barely knew--asking if they needed any help, what they could do. Sharon Nicholas and Steve Coleman, who trained in Chicago, even drove up for a day to say hi. And Sophia got a gratifying call from Lisa Jones, the president of the USFSA.

  "I've talked to Evan Pogdar and Shawna Vickers about this, Sophia," Lisa told her, "and we're all in agreement. If Warren can skate at Worlds, he skates. If he's physically able, you have your spot, and we are going to wait until the very last second to make a change if we have to. Evan and Shawna are going to travel to San Jose if there is any question, but, like I said--very last second. I hope you guys can skate."

  * * *

  There was a letter in the newspaper five days after the attack.

  "We do not condone violence, but let's not glorify a young man who is living a deviant lifestyle. He had been judged, and he will be judged, and if he does not renounce his deviancy, he will get only which is coming to him. He has affronted the Lord, and it is only fitting that the Lord's servants have reacted with offense."

  The letter was signed by the Reverend Adam Watson.

  Sophia was dumbfounded. Luckily, she didn't think Warren had seen it. Deviancy? What deviancy? Being a figure skater?

  The madness had affected the whole school. Elise was terrified. She never bothered to hide her bisexuality. Sophia spent every day worried.

  * * *

  The next day, at the dining hall, Sophia was met by a frantic Alexa.

  "My parents are here. A surprise visit. Boy, am I lucky, or what?" she spat out sarcastically. "They think I've been corrupted by the decadence here, so they are demanding that I go with them to see that Watson asshole after lunch."

  "Oh shit."

  "I'm a wimp in front of them. I can't confront them, or him."

  Sophia got a gleam in her eye. "You want some company?"

  She and Alexa went to meet her parents, who were babbling about the "great man and his good works, trying to rid the world of deviancy." Sophia held her tongue. She was going to let it all out with Watson there.

  He started in on his screed, with Alexa's parents nodding agreement. Alexa was so incensed that she found herself saying something before Sophia even had a chance to.

  "What about the kid that your followers put in the hospital? What about him?"

  "My followers were overzealous, but they were doing the Lord's work in trying to rid our world of deviants."

  "That 'deviant' has a name. His name is Warren Kelleher. He's one of my best friends. He's maybe the sweetest guy in the universe. He didn't deserve this."

  "See, this is why we had to come out here, to save you from this, Alexa," her mother said. "What kind of company are you keeping out here?"

  "Why is Warren a deviant?" Alexa persisted.

  "You don't think homosexuality is perverted?" her mother asked.

  "No, I don't, but that's another story. Warren is not gay. Don't you people read the papers? He's not gay."

  "That's what they all say," said Watson. "We know homos when we see them."

  "BULLSHIT!" yelled Sophia, seeing her cue. "Jesus Christ, you people are stupid! Evan Pogdar is right, what a witch-hunt. Warren is completely, indubitably, most emphatically not gay. And I think I should bloody know, considering I've been his girlfriend for almost four years! Your blind hatred has put the man I love in the hospital."

  "You're his girlfriend?" Alexa's father asked. "And it's not a cover-up?"

  "Yes, I am; and, no, it's not. I have no problems with gay people. Some of my closest friends in skating are gay. Two of my closest friends here are bisexual. Warren ain't one of them. This is where we've gotten--we're going to beat up people because we think they might be doing something in the privacy of their own damn bedroom that we don't like. It's none of you people's business what anybody does in bed, but the only person in Warren's bed is me. And, trust me when I tell you, Warren likes girls."

  "Oh, and here's another tidbit for you. This little item hasn't made the papers. Those four goons of yours, Reverend? They didn't just beat Warren up. They raped him. How's that for irony? Your great crusaders of ridding the world of homosexuality, and one of them performed an anal rape on a straight guy."

  "WHAT?" Watson and Alexa's father said at once.

  "That's right. They beat him, and they raped him, and they left him for dead. He would have died if he hadn't had his cel phone. This is the legacy that this madman is trying to leave Madison with. I, for one, plan to fight back with everything I've got. Warren did not deserve this, whether or not he's gay." She got up to leave the room.

  Alexa got up, too. "Oh, Mom, Dad? I might as well shatter all your illusions. If they wanted to beat up someone who has had sex with someone of the same gender, they should have gotten me." Her parents looked at her in shock. "One of Sophia's friends that's bisexual is me. In fact, the person I'm dating right now is a girl. Do you hope his goons beat the shit out of me next?" She followed Sophia out of the room.

  Chapter 73 - Aftermath

  Warren was in the hospital for a week. He was recovering, physically.

  Warren and Tim's next door neighbor, John, had a double room but had never had a roommate. They talked it over, and agreed. Tim offered to move in with John, so Sophia could stay with Warren. "He's gonna need you, Soph. I know how shook up he is." Sophia gratefully accepted their kind offer, and helped Tim move his stuff.

  When she brought Warren home from the hospital, that's the first thing he noticed.

  "Where's all of Tim's shit?"

  "He moved in with John, so I could stay with you as much as possible."

  "OK."

  The next day, the police called. Warren went down to a lineup, and picked out the four guys. They were still attending Watson's campus meetings, and the police had grabbed them there, based on Warren's descriptions. And physical evidence proved that one of them was definitely the one who had raped Warren. Because that was in the papers now, word of the rape got out. One of the effects of that was shock and disgust even among the Watson acolytes, because the irony that Sophia had spoken about was lost on no one.

  Sophia was glad that the goons had been caught--although she wasn't looking forward to Warren having to go through a trial--but she had bigger problems: getting Warren back on his feet.r />
  * * *

  It wasn't going well. It was a week after he had come home. His parents had flown back a couple days earlier, so it was all up to Sophia, and she wasn't having an easy time of it.

  "Warren?"

  "Hm?"

  "The doctors said you could skate. We have our ice time tomorrow morning. Want to give it a whirl?"

  "No."

  "We really should, soon, you know. We need to see if you can get to the point where we can go to Worlds. It's only a month and a half away."

  "I'm not going to Worlds."

  "We might be able to. If your wrist can handle it, we might be able to."

  "No."

  "OK, we'll talk about this later." She took a breath. "Hey, you want to go out? Get some food, hit a movie? Might be fun."

  "No."

  "Warren, you can't just sit in this room, except for going to class!"

  "Sure I can. Watch me."

  "Oh, Warren." She went to touch him on the shoulder. He flinched. She backed away, trying to hide how upset she was. "Oh, by the way, Christine Arsenault wants you to call her. I've got her number."

  "Oh."

  "You should call her. A good flirt might be what you need," she said playfully.

  "No."

  Sophia sighed. "Warren, you and Chris have been friends for a long time."

  "Yeah, but she's a skater. I don't want to have anything to do with skaters and skating."

  Sophia just sighed, and went back to reading her book.

  * * *

  A couple days later, Sophia was on Warren's computer, checking her e-mail.