Hi, I'm Taylor, a 28 year old married man with a 4 year old baby boy. You might say that I am just your everyday Joe. I watch football, love to barbecue, go to work to earn bread money for my little family, and I enjoy sitting down in a sports grill with the fellas to have some beer and talk chicks. My wife Becca is stunning, my boy Alexander is growing fast right before my eyes, we live in a nice middle class suburban neighborhood, and I find my work fulfilling. Just an average guy—a dime a dozen. But in reality that is only a part of me. In fact it's only the outer shell. For hidden away deep inside of me I have a dark secret: I am a closet homosexual. And I am in love with my dad.
It all started—well, at least I think it all started here—after Mom died when I was 19. She got in a car accident on her way to work one early morning. I was devastated, shocked, and although it was nearly Midterms in my sophomore year of college I decided to rush home to be with Dad and my sisters back at home for the funeral. Those were hard times. Emotionally strenuous for all of us. I was about to book a hotel room for the week long stay ahead of me but Dad insisted on me staying with him. So I agreed and he set up the guest bedroom for me and everything else in terms of arrangements for the funeral went on track. The first few days of my stay were totally normal so I won't talk about those. But something happened the night before the funeral, something totally unexpected: for the first time in my life I found myself looking at my father—grieving though he was—in a not so son-like way. Here's how it went down:
I was sitting there on the couch in the living room with one of my textbooks open in front of me, bored out of my mind, when a knock came at the door and Dad quietly entered.
"Hey Dad," I said, putting the book away onto a side table. "How are you? Have a seat."
He smiled a kind of sad smile and sat down on the couch right next to me, close like he wanted to whisper something to me. I scooted away towards the arm of the couch a bit but I didn't have much room there.
"Taylor, I want to thank you for everything you've done to help," he said softly. He was turned so that his knees and his chest were facing me at a slight angle.
"Dad, it's nothing," I said, and turned towards him. "Everything ready for tomorrow?"
He looked towards the ceiling and then returned to look upon my face again. "Yeah it is," he said. "All set . . . I wish I didn't have to keep on thinking about it though. My mind's a blur! I need to get thinking about something else." He chuckled.
"Hmm . . ." I took my eyes off of him and looked at the T.V. in front of us, with a DVD player on a stand just below. "How about we watch a movie tonight? Just like the old days?"
He pursed his lips, hesitant. Finally: "Okay, son," he said, smiling now and settling down. "Let's watch something. Anything you want. I don't care."
After searching through his somewhat scanty DVD collection we decided on something and flipped it on. I don't remember the name of the movie. But I do remember Dad, and how my feelings for him first began to bud as we sat there in the dark watching it.
It started like this: He had scooted up right next to me on the couch, as I stated before. That was fine, but throughout the film it seemed like he was getting closer to me every time I turned to look at him in the dull light coming from the T.V. It seemed that I could feel his body heat against me. I didn't mind all of this, enjoying the warmth since it was a little drafty in the room.
Now about halfway in the movie we suddenly became closer—a lot closer—since he raised his arm and put it around my back, placing his left hand on my shoulder. I shuddered at the feel of it but looking at his unturned face in the dark I noticed—for the first time, really—the sadness in those brown eyes, the loss this man has just suffered. I felt a wave of pity for him, and wanted him to be okay, to be comforted in his time of greatest need. I smiled at him and leaned deep into his open chest, and took his hand with both of mine. I began to massage it, locking and then unlocking fingers with him. I turned to look at him and he, in turn, turned his eyes towards me and smiled.
About five minutes later and I felt him leaning over to face me again at that same angle that he had at the beginning right when he had sat down with me. I kept my eyes on the screen but from their corners I saw him gazing on me. He reached out towards me with his right hand (his left being over my shoulder) and placed it softly around me towards my left side, just above my hip. Once there, I felt his thumb begin to roll over my skin, back and forth, and his hand slowly sliding up and then down again towards my hip. I shivered at the touch of his thumb against my stomach, and inside of my chest just above it my heart was thundering. He was, for these first few moments, still staring at me. I dared not turn to look into his eyes—those sad eyes. Finally he turned again to the T.V.
Gradually, my heart calmed and I started to like his hands on me, his left on my shoulder clasped in my own two hands as I continued to massage them, his right on my side sliding over my hip with his thumb caressing my stomach. I felt so comfortable then, and let my body melt into his warm embrace. In that position we went through the rest of the movie, though I wasn't paying any attention to it anymore, just to those soft hands, delicate fingers. I didn't even try to move even after the credits started rolling. We just sat there against each other enjoying the peaceful moment, listening to the music pouring from the dark screen.
"So . . ." Dad said after the last of the white lines on the screen had disappeared. "How did you enjoy the movie?"
"It was good," I said, lying. I hadn't even grasped the plot. It was all just a blur of cowboy dressed people flying across the screen jabbering about God knows what. "So . . ."
"Yup . . ." he said. "So . . . I guess we probably got to get to bed right?"
I sighed. "Yeah, suppose so." I rose my head and turned to look into his face again, the light from the DVD menu shining brightly upon it now. He looked back at me, his eyes serious, though not quite as sad as before. "Dad . . ."
"Thanks for . . . being there for me, Taylor," he said now slowly, and swallowed. His eyes, I noticed, passed over down my face all the way to my lips. "You are a good son."
With that, he let go of me and brought his left arm back towards his side again. I brushed back my hair with my hand and watched him as he got up from the couch now. I caught myself just then looking straight at his butt as he reached the T.V. and bent over to take out the DVD. I scanned the jean-clad bumps twice, and then quickly raised my face to his as he turned around.