Chapter 19: Recovering

Ted Brown shifted nervously from foot to foot and looked around like a wild animal that finds itself surrounded by a pack of wolves. His father held him in place in front of the door with a hand across the back of his neck. His mother stood to his side and watched him with a worried expression. She hoped that her boy could do this. In an encouraging voice, she said, “Ring the doorbell.”

He looked over at his mother and said, “This isn’t a good idea. I don’t really know him.”

“Son, you have to do this,” his father said in a stern voice. Ever since the attack, Ted hid in his room coming out only for meals and the visits to the psychologist. He was worried that Ted would never get out of the house and interact with people.

As a result of the increased pressure on the back of his neck, Ted reached out and rang the doorbell. Hearing the sound of the bell, his hand flew back as if burnt. He tried to step back when a young woman answered the door wearing a swimsuit and a wrap. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She could easily have been one of the cheerleaders at school.

Cathy looked at the trio standing at the door and asked, “Could I help you?”

Staring at the woman, Ted couldn’t say a word. He felt as if his tongue had swollen in his mouth. When Ted didn’t say anything, his mother said, “Hello. I’m Shirley Brown. We’d like to talk to Harry.”

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Brown. I’m Cathy Anders. Harry is getting ready to leave, but I’m sure that he’ll be glad to talk to you for a minute or two,” Cathy said recognizing the last name. Stepping back, she said, “Would you come in, please?”

“Thank you,” Shirley said surprised by the manners. She also realized that they hadn’t thought about what they would have done if Harry hadn’t been home. As soon as Ted had consented to come over, they had hustled him out of the house before he could change his mind.

When Ted didn’t move, his father gave him a not so gentle nudge in the direction of the door. Ted walked into the house with wooden steps. He wished his parents wouldn’t crowd him, particularly around strangers. His eyes flicked around the room looking for a way out.

“I’m Cathy Anders,” she said looking at Ted. She had heard that he was shy, but this young man was taking the term shy to a whole new level. He couldn’t even look in her direction.

Seeing that his son wasn’t going to answer, he said, “I’m Daryl Brown and this is my son, Ted.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Brown and Master Brown,” Cathy said. Having learned the identity of the young man, it wasn’t difficult for her to guess the probable nature of the visit. She knew that her parents really wanted to meet him and his family. Judging by the terrified expression on Ted’s face, she knew that probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Still, she said, “I know that my parents would love to meet you, but I assume that you would you like to speak to Harry alone. Would you prefer to wait here for Harry or by the pool with my parents?”

Ted managed to say, “Here.”

Cathy smiled at him and said, “Please, have a seat while I get Harry for you.”

The family entered the formal living room and sat down on the sofa with Ted sandwiched between his parents. Ted watched her leave the room. It was a little more than a minute later when Harry entered the living room. Spotting the family, he said, “Welcome to our home, Mr. and Mrs. Brown. I’m Harry Anders. Hello, Ted. I’m happy to see you.”

The family shifted in their seats. Each was waiting for the other to say something. Finally, Daryl stood and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harry.”

Shirley said, “We’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

Holding up his hand with the finger cast on it, Harry said, “I’d shake hands except my finger is broken.”

Daryl looked at the hand. He knew how the hand had gotten broken. He looked down at Ted and said, “Say hello, Ted.”

“Hello,” Ted echoed.

“Please have a seat, Mr. Brown,” Harry said as he made his way to the loveseat. Sitting down, he looked across at Ted. The poor guy looked like hell. He said, “I’m glad that you’re okay, Ted. I was worried.”

“I don’t know. It probably would have been better if he had killed me,” Ted replied staring at the floor. The idea that a man tried to rape him made him sick to his stomach. It made him wonder if he was gay and had never realized it.

His parents stared at him in shock. Harry didn’t know what to say, but knew he should say something. He said, “I can see why you would say something like that. I have nightmares about that afternoon. I imagine yours are a thousand times worse than mine.”

Ted looked up at Harry amazed that someone understood what he was feeling. He nodded his head and said, “I keep living that afternoon over and over.”

“I can imagine. I bet you keep wondering why he chose you.”

“That’s right,” Ted said.

“I’m sure that it was random chance. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He could grab you and he did,” Harry said with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders.

“I ... I keep thinking it was because he thought I...” Ted faltered and then said, “was a girly boy.”

Harry laughed at the thought and said, “Don’t be ridiculous. What on earth would make you think that? You’re a regular guy just like me. That asshole was sick.”

The easy dismissal of his fear as being unfounded was surprisingly reassuring to Ted. His parents were staring at him unaware that he had even considered that as the reason he had been attacked. Wanting confirmation, he asked, “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Harry said. His sister had described the kid’s reaction on seeing her. She had thought it was cute. Glancing over at the parents for a second, Harry leaned forward and said, “Ted, there’s no doubt that you like girls. Okay?”

“Okay,” Ted answered. He sat back and thought about it for a minute. Deciding that Harry was being honest, he said, “Thank you for saving me.”

“You’re welcome. In a way it was good that I was there. We discovered that I had some anger management issues that needed to be worked out,” Harry said. He was seeing a psychologist twice a week because of that day. Seeing the expression on the mother’s face, he added, “It’s a long story.”

Shirley said, “We’ve wanted to meet you for such a long time to thank you for saving our son.”

“You can say that again,” Daryl said, “That was some brave thing you did.”

Harry didn’t feel that it had been a particularly brave thing he had done. In hind sight, he was sure that if he’d thought about it, he would have run off in the other direction. He was convinced that his anger had seen an outlet and taken it.

Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t feel particularly brave.”

“It sounds like you are having some problems dealing with what you did,” Shirley said.

“I am having some problems. I was really lucky that I surprised him. I’m going to start taking Karate lessons soon,” Harry said. He looked over at Ted and asked, “Would you like to join me?”

The suggestion was the best thing either parent had heard. Ted thought about it for a moment and then said, “Yes, I would.”

“Excellent. My sister and my girlfriend are planning on going with me, too.”

“Your sister?” Ted asked. His voice cracked when he said the word sister.

“Don’t worry about her. She’s pretty cool for a sister,” Harry said dismissively. He looked down at his watch and realized that he was running late for his date. It was a half hour walk to her house and he should have left five minutes ago. Looking up, he said, “Could you excuse me for a minute? I need to let my date know that I’ll be a little late.”

Both parents stood getting ready to leave. Shirley said, “Don’t let us hold you up. We’ll be going now. We just wanted to thank you for all that you’ve done for us.”

“That’s okay, Mrs. Brown. I know that my parents would love to meet you. Let me make my call and I’ll take you out to the patio,” Harry said.

“Okay.”

When Harry left the room, Ted said, “His girlfriend is Lisa McCullum. She’s the girl who went and got the coaches.”

“Oh,” Daryl said thinking that explained why she had been there in the woods. They had planned on going over to her house to thank her for getting help.

Ted didn’t know what to think when Harry’s father addressed him as Master Brown. No one had ever called him that before. He could tell that it wasn’t intended as an insult since he addressed Cathy’s boyfriend in the same manner. Without understanding why he was doing it, he was automatically addressing Harry’s parents as Mr. and Mrs. Anders.

Ted’s parents were just as confused by the form of address. They were pleasantly surprised at the manners being exhibited by all of the young people seated around the patio table. Although this was a large house, they hadn’t expected such formality while lounging around in the backyard.

Once the Browns had been seated, June turned to shirley and said, “Perhaps you kids would enjoy a little swim before dinner.”

Taking the hint, Cathy said, “Sure.”

She grabbed her boyfriend’s hand and led him over to the pool. Ted thought he was going to fall out of his chair when she dropped her wrap. It didn’t matter to him that she was a year younger than him. The reaction of his body to the sight of her body was more than enough to convince him that he wasn’t gay.