aterovis_bm_reapthewhirlwind.p65 by Arlene Chance Page B

been taught. Could I be in love with Joey? It was getting harder and harder to come up with reasonable excuses as to why I wasn’t. The idea really shook me.
    I felt a sudden need for the comfort of light so I crawled across the bed and reached for the lamp on my bedside table. My hand was shaking so hard however that I couldn’t twist the little knob that turned it on. In 60

    REAP THE WHIRLWIND
    frustration, I threw my hands up knocking the clip-on shade off in the process and toppling the lamp onto the floor where I heard the light bulb smash. I cursed and fumbled in the darkness. I found the shade and was feeling for the lamp when a soft knock came at my door.
    I heaved a sigh, crawled back to the foot of the bed, and went to open it. It was Aidan. He eyed the shade still in my hand and gave me a curious look.
    “The party’s over, dude,” he said in a hushed voice.
    To my utter embarrassment I burst into tears. I threw the shade across the floor and threw myself face down on the bed.
    “Will! What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice filled with concern. I heard the door close and a few seconds later felt his hand on my back. “Look, Will, I know we really don’t know each other that well yet, but I already feel close to you and I consider you my friend. So I’m going to make the same offer to you that applies to all my friends. If you want to talk about anything, I mean anything at all, I’ll always be here to listen. I’m a good listener and I won’t judge or repeat anything you tell me.
    You have my word.”
    I cried all the harder. I felt the hand leave my back quickly followed by the sound of the window opening.
    Cool air washed over me.
    “Let’s step out for some fresh air, shall we?” he said formally.
    I looked up to find Aidan straddling the window sash with one leg flung out on the fire escape. He held out a hand and smiled. I was so surprised I simply got up and let him help me through the window, sniffling like a little kid the whole time.
    We sat down Indian style next to each other, our knees 61

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    almost but not quite touching. We sat in silence broken only by my continued sniveling. Finally, he said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “I think I’m in love with Joey!” I blurted out and started crying again.
    “Wow—um—that’s not what I expected,” he said in a stunned voice.
    “Does that mean I’m gay? I don’t wanna be gay. I can’t be gay!” I wailed.
    “Shh, shh, shh,” Aidan hissed. He sounded so much like a snake with a lisp that I started giggling through my tears, then I hiccupped. “People are trying to sleep,”
    he said seriously. He was eying me as if he was afraid I was losing it. Maybe I was. He went on, “I don’t know if it means you’re gay or not. Maybe you’re bi. Or maybe you just love Joey, you know like a fluke. But if you are gay then you need to face it and accept it. It’s not that bad you know.”
    “Yes it is! You don’t understand; I’m a Christian.”
    “So? I didn’t realize the two were mutually exclusive.”
    “They are according to my dad.”
    “Well, no offense, I mean I’ve never even met your dad, but I’m pretty sure he’s not God.”
    “But the Bible—”
    “Christianity is based on the teachings of Jesus, right?”
    “Yeah, but—”
    “Show me where Jesus ever once even mentions homosexuality.”
    “It—” I thought for a minute. “He doesn’t.”
    “Exactly. And it doesn’t really say anything about homosexuality as we know it anywhere else either.”
    “But it does, I’ve read it!”
    62

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    “No, you’ve read a modern interpretation of an ancient language; an interpretation that’s been made to say what the religious leaders of the time wanted it to say. The original languages of the Bible didn’t even have a word for homosexual, not as we think of it today. In most cases, wherever you see anything that’s been translated as gay or homosexual, the original texts are talking about male prostitutes or pedophiles.”
    “How do you know so much about