For Rent or For Real

Chapter 3-1

Chapter 3

Ted sat in Mr. Jennings’s outer office. After arriving at school he’d gone directly to the counselor’s secretary and asked if Mr. Jennings could see him. During second hour he’d received the blue pass that summoned him to the meeting. Now that he was here he began to get nervous. What was he going to say to the man? He didn’t have time to worry about it as Mr. Jennings’s office door opened and the handsome counselor invited Ted in.

Ted sat in a chair opposite the big desk, and Mr. Jennings took his seat behind it.

“What can I do for you today, Ted?”

Ted took a deep breath, avoided looking at Mr. Jennings, and bit his lip.

Mr. Jennings asked, “Ted?”

Taking a second deep breath, Ted said, “My stepdad threw me out of the house last night. He said I couldn’t live there anymore.”

“Where did you stay?” Mr. Jennings asked, his voice showing concern.

“In the park.” Ted could see Mr. Jennings didn’t think that was a very wise decision.

“You want to tell me why your dad threw you out?”

Ted knew this question was coming. No, he didn’t want to tell his counselor the circumstances of his eviction, but he didn’t feel he had a choice. “My stepdad is a very religious man. Fanatic is more like it. And he…well…he thinks I’m…gay,” Ted said before looking up at Mr. Jennings. He quickly added, “But I’m not! Anyway, Harold said he didn’t want a fag living in his house and then kicked me out.”

Ted waited for Mr. Jennings to ask why his stepfather thought he was a fag but the man didn’t. Instead he asked, “Do you want to go home?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t have anywhere else to go. It wasn’t much fun sleeping in the woods.” Ted was relieved Mr. Jennings didn’t probe further into where Mr. Davis had gotten the notion his stepson was gay.

“All right. I’ll call your folks and we’ll have them come in and we can talk about this.”

Ted flinched at the thought of meeting here with his stepfather. He knew there wouldn’t be much talking going on, yelling was more likely. Harold rarely talked rationally when he was pushed on his opinion about something which he felt strongly.

“Go on back to class and I’ll send for you when I get through to your parents.” Mr. Jennings got up and came around to Ted and put a hand on his shoulder as Ted rose from his chair. “It’s going to be all right,” he said reassuringly.

Ted nodded and thanked him. However, he wasn’t sure how the man could make things right.