[In Chapter 18, Mike and Dan took a day off from work. They had breakfast at Angel Falls, shopped at WestHill Hardware and saw "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" at Weathervane Community Playhouse.]
The alarm sounded, Mike adjusted the clock radio and WCLV played quiet classical music. Mike and Dan hugged each other into awareness, while Rebecca Fischer, the WCLV announcer reported that the weather would again be unseasonably warm. Gordon Thomas, the traffic reporter, said that nothing was happening on the highways, yet.
Dan caressed Mike and, suddenly, both were aroused.
"Whoa," laughed Mike. "I can't make love this morning. I have to be at work by 7:45. I have an 8 a.m. meeting. Can we put this on hold until tonight?"
Dan pretended to be upset, "Tonight, after dinner, when we're tired?"
"Ok, how about before dinner?"
"You got a date," said Dan, leaping from the bed.
Within an hour, each man was on his way to work. Mike walked into his office on Main Street, looked at his watch and said to himself, "7:44 a.m., one minute early. " He went to the break room, poured a cup of coffee and walked to his office.
He looked out the window at the sunny day and could see the trees bouncing around in the wind. He sat at his desk and found on top of his in-box a memo from the president of the company, Horace Hardstone, the memo simply said, "I want to see you when you come in."
Mike was always tense around Horace Hardstone. "Hardstone is tough, rough and tough," he told Dan when describing Hardstone. "He intimidates me. I'm scared. It's like being called into the principal's office. I feel guilty and I haven't done anything."
Mike called Hardstone's secretary and asked for an appointment.
"Oh, Mr. Hardstone is in now. He can see you in fifteen minutes," Penny said. Office gossip said that Hardstone divorced his wife to marry Penny. He and Penny had never dated. Hardstone made demands and for some reason everyone met his demands. Except Penny. She laughed at Hardstone and said, "Get serious. I don't date people at the place where I work. You're way out of line."
While he waited for the fifteen minutes to pass, Mike squirmed, twisted and swore he could feel his blood pressure going up. "Why do I let Hardstone do this to me? Why do I let Hardstone let me do this to myself?" he muttered, attempting to relax.
The fifteen minutes seemed like an hour. Mike stopped at the restroom, checked himself in the mirror and walked into Hardstone's office.
"Mike, thank you for coming by," Hardstone said, taking another puff on a large cigar that he always seemed to have with him. "I try to do unpleasant things first thing in the morning. Then, the rest of my day can be better. I don't like the tension of looking forward to unpleasant duties. As president of this company, I am responsible for unpleasant duties. Unpleasant duties are in my job description. I don't assign them to other people in the company. Mike, let me get to the point -- I hear that you live with another man. Are you gay? Queer? Before you answer, let me tell you something. I don't like homosexuals. And I don't want them working here. If you're that way, I hope you'll submit a letter of resignation by the end of the week and find your career someplace else."
Mike opened his mouth to speak. "Mike, you don't have to say anything. Thank you for stopping by. Let's be in touch," with that Hardstone stood, opened the door to his office and signaled that Mike was to leave.
Mike hurried back to his own office and dialed Dan's number on the telephone.
[Mike has a variety of options. First, he can deny that he's gay. Second, he can move out of the house he shares with Dan. Third, he can have integrity and tell Hardstone that he is gay and lives with another man. What will he do? Find out in the next exciting chapter of Tales of Akron.]
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