CONTENTS      LAST VINEGAR STROKE     DOORKNOBS     ROCK MAGIC     FROM THE CHANCERY ARCHIVES OF KING HENRY V     A POCKETKNIFE AND A CIVIL UNION     EVEN YOU CAN BE A WINNER!     AUTHORS

       Hot water sputters from the faucet as Eric squeezes the plastic bottle of Palmolive. A yellow droplet plummets into the sink. The yellow droplet of dish soap breaks through the water's surface and topples to the bottom of the sink before it begins to disperse. Eric turns the faucet off and drops some dishes into the foamy water. He looks out the fogged up window at the wall of darkness. Eric wipes the condensed moisture from the window with the palm of his hand. As he stares out the window the lights in his neighbors' house stain the wall of darkness. Eric watches Glen, one of his neighbors, tiptoe into the living room and crouch in front of the stereo. Glen then straightens and begins dancing. George, Glen's long time boyfriend, then enters the room. Glen struts over to George and grabs his wrist. He then drags George to the center of the living room where the two men begin dancing together. Eric feels as though he is watching a silent film and the screen is the rectangular window of the old schoolhouse. Eric cranks the window open to see if he can hear his neighbors' music. The smell of thawing earth wafts into the kitchen. Eric hears the beat of the song. The swirling wind carries the smell of a dog's droppings into the kitchen so Eric closes his window. He steps back from the sink and makes his way to the bedroom. Eric leaves the dishes to soak and the two men to dance.
       The next morning Eric wakes to the sound of the phone ringing. He blindly feels for the phone on the night-stand and brings the receiver to his ear.
       "Hello," he says hoarsely.
       "Hello, Eric. It's Sunny. I didn't wake you, did I?" the old man asks.
       "No, you didn't wake me. What can I do for you, Sunny?"
       "I was just wonderin' if you wanted me to stop by this mornin' to take a look at your leaky pipes."
       "Sure, Sunny. That would be fine. What time do you plan on stopping by?"
       "How 'bout in fifteen minutes?"
       "Sounds good. I will see you then. Goodbye."
       Eric slides the receiver into its cradle and snatches his alarm clock up from the night-stand. The clock reads 6:45 am. Why in the hell does Sunny call me at 6:45 am on a Saturday morning? Eric says softly to himself. He peels the heavy quilt off of his body and slides out of bed. He shuffles to the kitchen, his body heavy with sleep. The water in the sink is now an orange-brown color. Eric adds some more dish soap and turns the sputtering faucet on. He then washes the dishes. As Eric scrubs he peers through the window at the old schoolhouse. He sees no movement in the house, which means the two men must still be sleeping. After Eric is finished with the dishes he sheds his pajamas and pulls on some navy blue sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt. At 7:00 am he hears Sunny's station wagon pull into the driveway. Eric slips on some green rubber boots and exits the house. Sunny pulls on the tan steering wheel to lift his stout body out of the seat. The old man's features are pushed in except for his pear-shaped nose.
       "How you doin', Eric?" Sunny asks breathlessly.
       "Fine, Sunny. How are you doing?" Eric replies.
       "OK. I'm doin' OK," Sunny answers as he opens the back door and lifts a red toolbox from the back seat.
       "I appreciate you coming over on a Saturday."
       "I take work when I can get it. Saturday is just another day."
       "Well, I do appreciate it."
       The two men hear the schoolhouse's front door slam. Glen scampers down the handful of stairs and walks towards them. The brown, soggy grass squishes underneath the young man's Nikes. Glen's face is broad and his black, bushy eyebrows veil much of his forehead.
       "How are you guys doing?" Glen asks through his fixed smile.
       "Just fine, Glen. How about yourself?" Eric answers warmly.
       "I am terrific. Thanks for asking. Eric, I am assuming that Sunny is here to fix your leaky pipes, but I just have a quick question for him. Do you have a minute, Sunny?"
       "Um... Sure. I guess I got a minute," Sunny answers hesitatingly.
       "OK. Well... Uh... There is an old school desk in our living room and "Sunny + Evelyn" is carved into its surface. Anyway... the owner of the general store... what is his name?... Melvin! That's it. Melvin told me that you went to school here over fifty years ago. Did you carve that into the surface of the desk?"
       "I certainly did. I sat in the back of the schoolhouse my eighth grade year and I carved "Sunny + Evelyn" during a history lecture," Sunny replies as he avoids eye contact with Glen.
       "What happened when your teacher discovered what you had done?" Glen asks curiously.
       "Mrs. Murray swatted the back of my head and took my pocketknife away from me. She gave it back to me the last day of my eighth grade year."
       "So do you still keep in touch with Evelyn? Does she still live in the area?" Glen continues.
       "She does live in the area. Actually, she lives in the same house. She is my wife. We have been married for forty-five years now. I guess carving that into the surface of the desk bound us together. I love her just as much now as I did then. Maybe some day you will get married to some nice girl."
       "Well... I do not think so... Uh... I'm gay, Sunny," Glen answers falteringly.
       "I know. I know you are. I think that you are just confused though. I think that you will meet a nice girl some day and get married when you ain't so confused," Sunny continues.
       "Well, I guess I am going to go back to the house now. Thanks for the story, Sunny. I'll talk to you soon, Eric. See you later," Glen says uncomfortably.
       "Goodbye," Eric replies, his voice quavering.
       The two men watch Glen bound up the stairs and enter the schoolhouse. Sunny adjusts his grip on the toolbox handle and shuffles towards the door of the house. Eric watches the old man near his front door without moving. Sunny staggers up the steps and turns his head to look back at Eric. Eric sprints up the steps and holds the door open for the old man. The two men enter the house and Sunny sets the toolbox on the kitchen floor. He then kneels down in front of the sink and empties the cleaning products from the cabinet beneath. The old man then rolls onto his back and begins disassembling the pipes. Sunny then stops and looks up at Eric.
       "It just ain't right, Eric. It just ain't right." Sunny says quietly.
       "What? What isn't right?" Eric asks curiously.
       "It just ain't right that two gays live in that old schoolhouse. That is where I went to school. That is where I was taught what was right and what was wrong. It ain't right that a man have sex with another man. It ain't natural."
       "Well..."
       "No. It ain't natural. You know that me and my buddies used to beat up guys that we thought was gay. It just ain't right. The Bible even say that it ain't right."
       "That is one interpretation..."
       "That is the only interpretation. I am sorry, but it just ain't right. And don't you know that everyone has been complainin' about those two. If you drive by at night, you can see them huggin' and kissin' through the windows. No one wants to see that. It's like they on display. It reminds me of my grandson's ant farm. You can see what's goin' on inside that schoolhouse just as easily as you can see what those ants are up to."
       "Maybe people should just drive by and not look in their windows then. George and Glen are not asking anyone to look inside their windows."
       "Maybe they should buy some window shades or somethin'. No one wants to see two men huggin' and kissin'."
       "George and Glen love each other very much, Sunny. Maybe as much as you and Evelyn love each other. If you spent a little time with them, you would see that it is true."
       "Love, yeah right. A man can't love another man. Those two are confused. They don't know what love is. And I don't want to spend no time with them."
       "You must know by now that civil unions are legal in Vermont and...well...George and Glen will be married in about three weeks."
       "I don't want to talk about those two men anymore."
       Sunny fixes the leaky pipes in silence. After he finishes he tosses his rusty tools into the red toolbox and puts the cleaning products back under the sink. The old man struggles to his feet and then bends for the silver toolbox handle. Eric tears a check from his checkbook and hands it to Sunny. The old man snatches the check and stomps out the door without saying goodbye.

* * * * *

       Eric scoops up his camera and pushes the screen door open with his backside. He hops from one patch of thin, stubbly grass to the next, in order to avoid the mud. He sees Glen, George, George's sister, and a Justice of the Peace standing beneath a budding maple tree. Glen is wearing dark blue jeans and a red sweater. George is wearing khaki pants and a green button-up shirt, which is neatly tucked into his khakis. George has coarse, gold hair. His eyes are green and his lips thin.
       "Hello, everyone," Eric says as he nears the small group.
       "Hello, Eric," Glen and George reply in unison.
       "What a beautiful morning, huh?" Eric continues.
       "It certainly is," Glen responds excitedly. Glen hugs Eric tightly and says, "I want to thank you so much for being a part of our wedding. It means so much to George and I."
       "Oh... I am more than happy to be a part of your wedding," Eric says.
       "Eric, this is my older sister, Martha... I see that you brought your camera. Would you mind taking a few pictures of Glen and I before we exchange vows?" George asks.
       "I would love to. Why don't you two stand with your backs to the road because the apple trees on the other side are blossoming. The white and pink blossoms will make a nice background," Eric suggests.
       "Sounds good," George answers. The two men stand side by side, clutching each other. Eric peers through his viewfinder and sees the blurry couple. As he focuses he sees an automobile pull onto the shoulder of the road behind the two men. Eric lowers the camera and sees Sunny struggling to pull himself out of the station wagon. He then runs around the front of the car yelling, "Wait! Wait! Wait!" Eric sees what appears to be a knife at Sunny's side. Eric drops the camera onto the soggy grass and runs towards Sunny.
       "No, Sunny. Don't do this. Give me the knife," Eric screams as he pulls back on the old man's right arm.
       "Let go of me," Sunny says angrily.
       "No, Sunny. I won't. I can't let you do this."
       "I said let go of me. Let me see Glen and George. I got something to say to them."
       "No. I am not going to let you see them. I think that you should give me the knife and then leave."
       "No, I ain't leavin' until I give them this knife. I want them to have it. I used this knife to carve into the surface of that desk we was talkin' about. I thought that Glen could use it to carve a message into the desk. It may bring them good luck."
       Eric lets Sunny's left arm drop. Sunny walks slowly towards Glen. Glen holds out his right hand. The old man gently places the silver pocketknife in Glen's palm and smiles. Sunny then turns his back on Glen and walks back to the car. Before he reaches the edge of the lawn he turns to say, "the knife don't close any more because it's rusted open." He then walks around the front of his car and falls into the front seat. The engine starts and the station wagon drives away.

Copyright 2006 by Corey Cook