Peanut Butter and Jelly (boyxboy)

Chapter Thirteen

“How bad do you think it will hurt the case if I puke?” Tyler asked.

Gabriel grinned at him. “I’d rather not find out if it’s all the same to you.”

“No promises,” Tyler said, and he was only half joking.

After months of waiting, the day of the guardianship hearing had finally arrived. As glad as he was that it would be over soon, he couldn’t stop shaking and sweating. What if the judge didn’t let him stay with his aunt and uncle? What if the judge was this uptight, conservative, religious fanatic who thought he should be deprogrammed?

I’d have to run away.

“Tyler, we’re up,” Gabriel’s voice broke into his dark thoughts. “Just relax and remember what we talked about.”

What they’d talked about was part of the reason Tyler didn’t think he’d be able to relax. On the drive to the courthouse, his uncle reminded him they were going to have to discuss his sexual orientation in court. Worse than that, they were going to have to do it for other people to hear. They didn’t have a choice. Without talking about it, they couldn’t make a case for why he needed to stay with Cory and Gabriel. It was easy enough for Tyler to say he’d do what he had to so he could stay with them, but seeing all the people in the courtroom waiting their turn to be heard made the bile in his stomach inch dangerously close to his throat.

The judge, the honorable Thomas J. Harden, looked okay. He had brown and gray hair and brown eyes, and he wore those big black robes like the judges on TV and in the movies always wore. The fact that he had the same first name as Tyler’s biological father just seemed like a bad sign. Judge Harden didn’t waste any time. Right after they got sworn in, he got to the point.

“The court will now hear testimony regarding the petition for permanent guardianship filed on behalf of minor, Tyler Thomas Davidson by Gabriel Adam Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln, I see you’re the paternal uncle of the minor. Is that correct?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”  

“And why is that you’re requesting guardianship of said minor?”

“Your Honor, I believe my nephew’s well being will be compromised if he remains in the care of his parents.”

“Why is that? After all, he’s been in their care for sixteen years, hasn’t he?”

Tyler’s heart pounded so hard in his chest that he strained to hear what his uncle said next.

“Yes, he has, and for those sixteen years, he kept a secret hidden from them that allowed him to be accepted by them. The night they discovered his secret is the night I believe they lost their ability to properly care for him.”

“I assume you’re referring to him being a homosexual.”

The murmurs and whispers of the people behind him made Tyler blush.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Gabriel repeated. “The night my sister and brother-in-law learned of this, they spent several hours conducting a prayer circle for Tyler in which they ordered him to ask God’s forgiveness for what they called ‘the affliction of his homosexuality’. In addition to that, they encouraged his younger siblings to turn against him by requiring them to participate in this prayer circle and by allowing them to call him defamatory names such as faggot and queer.”

Hearing his uncle’s speech brought the humiliating memories of that night to the surface. Tyler’s face flamed as he recalled the rage in his father’s eyes and the shame on his mother’s face and the contempt of his brother.

“And at the end of this evening of degradation, Your Honor, Tyler’s parents informed him of their intention to send him to the Sinner’s Salvation Academy in Texas so that he could be deprogrammed,” Gabriel continued.