Page 116 of Rhymes with Metaphor
Afterwards, as they were sitting on the settee together, Joel said, “What if I’m wrong, Reg?”
“So what if you are?When I was your age, I thought I was going to play pro tennis.I was wrong.Being wrong didn’t hurt me.Now, I’m a poet, doing what I was meant to do.”
“It feels like I’m losing everything.”
“Look.”Reg put his arm around him.“You’ve got a room of your own, space to be yourself, and all the time you need to discover what you want to do.You do have this tendency to anticipate the worst happening.”
“That’s because it did,” said Joel.“He died.”
“Ah.”
“I miss him.”
“Yes,” said Reg, holding him.
“But you’re here.”
“Yes,” said Reg.“I won’t leave you.”
Joel’s hand ventured to Reg’s lap, and he touched him.
“Is that all right?”said Joel.
“Yes, it’s all right,” said Reg, and he let Joel continue.
“Am I...am I doing it properly?”said Joel.
“Yes, Joel.”Reg stroked the back of Joel’s neck.
Joel went about the task with studious concentration.And when Reg came, Joel’s face lit up with joy, as though he had come himself.He cleaned Reg up carefully and efficiently, as though Reg were his patient, then he looked at Reg.He swallowed loudly.“Thanks.”
“Happy now?”Reg whispered.
Joel nodded, too overcome to speak.And the smile on his face when he fell asleep that night returned the next morning when he woke.
“What should we do now?”said Reg.
“I can think of a few things,” said Joel.
They kept themselves occupied for the rest of the morning.
Juliet made one more attempt to bring Joel back under her control, recruiting her mother to call Joel via a conference call from Nunavut, where she was working.Reg offered to stay, but Joel said, “If you’re here, they’ll accuse you of trying to influence me.They need to know this is my choice.”
Reg left reluctantly.He drove aimlessly until a poem came to him unbidden, and of course, he had no paper to write it on and only a golf pencil in the glove compartment, and he had to try and write it all over the dashboard.
His phone buzzed with a text notification.It was from Juliet:
You have no idea what you’re doing to him.
So Reg knew that Joel had remained steadfast.He drove home, and Joel greeted him at the door with a hug, though he seemed subdued.
“All right?”said Reg.
“Yes.”
“What did they say?”
“They threatened to withdraw their financial support if I stay with you.What a joke.I’ve been on a full scholarship since I was seventeen.”
