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You-Know-What Hits The Fan

The day started out like any other day in the Malone house. Twins being fed, the three children getting ready and rushing off to school.. and Marnie starting her daily cleaning spree. Bennie had decided to sleep in, and didn’t actually wake up until mid afternoon. After school, the kids discovered that Marnie hadn’t bothered to make lunch for them – so they resorted to the downstairs popcorn popper.

However, Phoenix discovered that there must be a trick to it, because his kettle corn certainly didn’t taste quite right…

Jaz ignored their brothers discussing the ins and outs of popcorn popping heatedly, and finished her homework. Feeling overwhelmed by the whole hullabaloo of the Malone family, Jaz retired to their room, and decided it was past time to call for some mental and emotional support.

Gemma answered on the first ring, and, upon hearing Jaz’s voice, was immediately concerned. Jaz took a deep breath and tried to explain.

Jaz told Gemma all about the aborted attempt at coming out to their family, and Gemma was appropriately incensed by the fact that Jaz’s parents and brothers had not only refused to let them change pronouns, but had actually gone so far as to LAUGH at them. Jaz immediately felt better, having someone support that it was OKAY to be mad at their family for what they did was a balm to Jaz’s hurting soul.

“Gemma, I’m afraid that’s not all.” Jaz finally confessed. “I found Bennie practicing a comedy sketch that he was writing about my trying to come out.”

Gemma was quiet for a moment, and Jaz immediately worried that maybe they shouldn’t have told Gemma that.

“He… what??” Gemma said, finally.

“Yeah. I yelled at him to stop, and made him promise not to use it.. but I don’t know if he’ll keep his promise. He’s never kept any other promises he’s made.. although he doesn’t make them very often. I just don’t know what to say to him to make him understand.” Jaz replied miserably.

Gemma, again, paused. Then sighed deeply. “Some people may just never understand. No matter how much you try to explain, or how good you are at explaining, sometimes it’s not enough. I’m so very sorry this happened to you. I had high hopes that things would work out better for you.”

“Yeah. It’s okay, though, as long as Bennie keeps his promise. I chickened out on telling my friends that I’m non-binary because of this whole mess, though.” Jaz confessed.

“I think, under the circumstances – you did exactly the right thing. Would you like me to try to speak to your Dad? I could try talking to your mother, too, but I don’t think she’s going to listen to me – not after her reaction to our initial meeting.” Gemma said softly.

“Let me think about it, Gemma.” Jaz replied after a moment. The only thing that was running through their mind was the way their parents had reacted to the school calling. What would they do if Gemma called?? Jaz didn’t want Gemma to be laughed at and treated badly – and Jaz was sure that, with their parent’s attitudes, Gemma’s talking to them would not be taken well. Protecting their friend was more important to Jaz than getting their situation improved. “I’ll let you know.”

“Okay, sweetie. We’ll see you on Tuesday, okay? Call me before then if you need ANYTHING.” Gemma emphasized.

Smiling broadly, Jaz said “Okay!” and said their goodbyes. Pulling out their homework, Jaz happily started work on their Extra credit work, despite the fact there was certainly no need for them to improve their already top-notch grades.

In a neighboring town, Benji was scoping out a café as a possible target when he noticed something he really didn’t want to see. There was a policeman walking around talking to people with a notepad. Hoping that he hadn’t been spotted, Benji decided this café was a “bust”, and headed back to the bus stop.

“Excuse me!” the officer called, stopping Benji in his tracks.

Trying to hide his nerves, Benji turned and smiled at the man. “Can I help you?”

“Sure thing. I’m looking for a young man by the name of Benji Malone.” the officer said, then continued, “I’ve been told he was planning on visiting this café this morning. Have you seen him? He’s probably about your age.”

“Oh, Sure. He was in my class at school.” Benji fibbed, trying to hide the gut-level ball of cold worry that had come over him the instant he heard his name. He pointed behind himself, and continued, “I think he went across the street after seeing how long the line was for coffee.”

“Oh? Really?” The officer was looking at him shrewdly. “Can I see your identification, sir?”

Resisting the urge to nervously giggle at being called a “sir”, Benji smiled and said, “Oh, dear, I actually left that in my other pants…. ” then pretended to pat his back pockets as if he’d lost something. “And I really must be going. I have a job interview in Newcrest this afternoon, and I have to ride the bus to get there…”

Turning to leave, he hoped the bus was going to be on time, and he could just walk away and hop on the bus… but the officer was apparently more aware than Benji thought he was.

“Stop!” the officer called, grabbing him by the arm as he tried to walk away. “Please take that wallet out of your pocket, young man. Then hand it to me.”

Sighing miserably, Benji pulled out the obvious wallet and handed it to the officer. He watched closely, hoping for an opening to turn and run, but the man took one look at the ID inside the wallet and reached immediately for his handcuffs.

“Benjamin Malone, Junior, you’re under arrest under suspicion of multiple grand larcenies.” The officer said, jingling the handcuffs and quickly taking control of the situation. Before Benji could react, he was cuffed and in the back of a police car, headed to the local police station.

Back at the station, Benji obediently followed the officer to the booking area.

His picture was taken, then they instructed him to face the wall, put his hands on it, and spread his legs for search.

After finding some unusual things in Benji’s pocket, the officer indicated the fingerprint machine.

After an almost unsuccessful fingerprinting, Benji was led away towards the holding cells. The officer still hadn’t said a whole lot, and Benji was too upset to say anything. Somewhere in his brain, he had already realized that talking was probably the worst thing he could do, anyway.

The officer led him to the holding cells, and locked him in. Benji, suddenly realizing the finality of the clanging bars… yelled out, “Wait! I thought I got a phone call!”

He tried again, but the officer seemed to be ignoring him. Walking around the cell, Benji sighed and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Looking in the cell mirror, he wondered idly who had given him up. The plan had been foolproof. This wasn’t supposed to happen!

Back at the Malone house, Bennie was on his way out the door to go to work, humming softly to himself, when his phone rang.

“Hello?” he asked, then paused to listen.

“Will you accept a call from Benjamin Malone, Junior, from the Police Department in Willow Creek?” a tinny voice asked, and Bennie closed his eyes and sighed.

“Fine. Yes. Put him on.” Bennie said unhappily.

On the other end of the line, Benji paused as if waiting for people to leave the room, then started in on the fact that he’d been arrested, but he didn’t DO anything, and if Bennie could just pay a tiny bail fee, Benji could go back home tonight and call a lawyer to fight this whole thing.

Shaking his head, Bennie listened for a while, then, just after the bit about bail and lawyers, interrupted his eldest son. “No, Benji. I will not pay your bail.”

“DAD!” Benji wailed, “You have no idea how bad this is, I NEED to go home. What’s going to happen to Shaylee when I don’t come home tonight??! Can’t you just get some money out of the bank and forward it to me? I don’t think you’d even need to come all this way. You could still make it to work!”

“Son, I don’t have the money. And even if I didn’t.. I wouldn’t pay your bail. I knew one day you would end up just where you are. I was hoping you’d change your ways before that happened, but apparently that didn’t happen. Please, don’t call here again. I’m not interested in your excuses.” Bennie sighed, hung up on his spluttering son, and put his phone away. Dusting off his hands on his slacks, he headed off to work.

Later, at the lounge Bennie was due to perform at, a man came over to where he sat and, out of the blue, made him an offer.

… One Bennie most definitely couldn’t refuse. He agreed, and signed a bunch of paperwork, then was taken off in a fancy limo to Del Sol Valley’s TV studio.

The director told him to pick his best sketch, and give it a practice or two, and they’d be right back to get him to perform it. Looking around, nerves started rattling in his head. Tonight was his debut – on LIVE TV! He’d always known he was destined to hit it big, but this was more than he’d ever dreamed of. As he sat there, going through all the routines he had memorized, he tried to find one that hadn’t had a bunch of hecklers or boo’s from the audience while performing. One by one, he crossed every single one off the list.

The door opened, and someone poked their head in. “We’re ready for you. You ready, man?”

Bennie felt his heart drop to the soles of his shoes. Then, a thought popped into his head. Sure, he’d promised Jaz that he wouldn’t use his new sketch… but she wasn’t here to ask … and he was SURE she would be okay with it, if she knew the situation. He was going to be famous. Jaz would be able to buy all the new toys she could ever want, this silly thing about being non-whatever-she-called-it would blow over, and – finally – Bennie would be able to pay bills on their new house. They wouldn’t have to move again!

“Sir?” the man at the door asked, and Bennie realized he hadn’t replied. With no time left, Bennie made a split-second decision. Taking a deep breath, and pasting on a smile he hoped wasn’t completely fake, he replied, “Yep! Let’s DO this!”

The bright lights and the hopeful faces of the crew burned into Bennie’s mind, and he managed, somehow, to pull off a perfectly executed performance. His promise to Jaz forgotten, he relished the chuckles from the audience (whether it was laugh tracks or people actually on the other side of the lights, Bennie couldn’t say), and performed his sketch flawlessly. Afterwards, the director congratulated him, and told him they’d give him a call the next day when the reviews came in.

Still reeling, Bennie headed home with a goofy smile on his face. Finally, he’d made it. The limo driver proved that. Climbing into the back of the limo, and pouring himself a celebratory drink, Bennie started the celebration. He couldn’t wait to tell his family. Everyone was going to be so proud…. he would have to remember to ask for a tape of the performance when they called tomorrow, since there was no way that the comedy channel had been recorded tonight. The kids had probably been on their silly games all night, and Bennie really wanted a copy of that performance to show off.

OS: Day Seventeen < | Challenge Home Page | > OS: Day Nineteen