Greg Templin slung his backpack over his shoulder as he clocked out of work on the computer. The lunch rush was over, ending his shift for the day. "Julie," he called to another server, who was still working. "I'm going to be sitting out on the patio with Elaine and the others. Can you order me a 'Honey Brown' beer, when you get a chance?"

       "Sure, Greg." She replied as she picked up a bus-tub full of dishes and headed back toward the kitchen.

       Greg walked out the door to the restaurant's patio. His coworkers: Tammie, Dolores, and Lyn were already seated at the table, relaxing under the shade of its umbrella.

       Lyn was in the midst of telling everyone a story. She paused momentarily, noticing Greg's arrival.

       "Elaine is changing her clothes. She'll be out in a minute." Greg explained. Elaine was the guest of honor for this post-work gathering. It was her last day before her maternity leave. Her baby would be due in less than a month.

       "I was just starting to tell Dolores and Tammie about the lady who thought she'd been shot," Lyn explained to Greg.

       "Oh, Lyn, that story was so hilarious." Lyn had told Greg the story earlier in the day.

       "I know," she agreed, trying to hold back her laughter.

       "Go on, Lyn, Tell us!" Dolores urged.

       "Anyway... my customer said, the guy he heard it from, had been shopping in the mall for an hour or two. When he went back in the parking lot he saw the same woman - still slumped over in her car." Lyn poured the rest of her bottle of beer into her glass as she spoke. "So he went and got mall security and the both went back to the lady's car."

       "Is this that story about the lady who thought she was shot?" Julie asked as she arrived with Greg's beer.

       "Greg already told me that one. I love this story." Elaine added, as she finally arrived.

       "Quiet! Let her finish!" Tammie demanded.

       "Well, then they banged on the car door and window, yelled at her, trying to get her attention. When they finally did get her attention, she told them she had been shot. They asked her why she thought she'd been shot, because there was obviously no blood or any bullet holes anywhere. The woman explained that she had been hit in the back of her head and she could feel her brains coming out, with her hand."

       "Ooh, gross."

       "Keep in mind, she'd been sitting like that for a couple of hours." Greg reminded.

       "They figured out what had happened was that one of those 'Pillsbury' dough cans had exploded in the back seat of her car, hitting her in the back of the head. Some of the dough had caked itself in her hair and she thought it was her brains coming out of her head!" Everyone burst out laughing as Lyn finished the story.

       "Dios mio!" Dolores exclaimed.

       "Was she really old, or something?" Tammie asked.

       "I don't know, my customer didn't say."

       "Can you imagine her sitting like that for over an hour? Even if she did think she was shot, why didn't she try to get some help?" Elaine wondered.

       "That story can't be true."

       "I hate to interrupt," Julie began. "Tammie, did you or Greg want to order anything to eat? Everyone else already gave me their orders."

       "I have to pick up Tyler from school, so I'm just having the beer." Greg replied.

       "I'm not having anything either, my stomach has been bothering me lately." Tammie admitted.

       "Bothering you how?" Dolores asked suggestively.

       "Yeah, Tammie! Pregnancies happen in cycles of three. I was the first to get pregnant, Jill was second - you could be next." Elaine commented.

       Tammie was married, but a dedicated user of the pill. She made it well known to all that pregnancy was out of the question. "Well, that third person won't be me! What about you, Dolores?"

       "One kid's plenty for this unmarried mama. Besides, you don't have no babies if you don't have no dates."

       "Actually, that's not true." Tammie quipped.

       "Remember when you were sick around Christmas, Elaine?" Greg recalled. "We kept making fun, saying you were pregnant. And you kept denying it saying, 'not me, not me.'"

       "And I was!" Elaine laughed. "See, Tammie it's your turn."

       "Well, Greg became a virtual mother -- taking in Tyler." Lyn seemed to be trying to thrust the attention away from Tammie. "Maybe Greg is the third."

       Everyone laughed at the idea. Everyone except Greg, he was perplexed by the thought of being Tyler's mother.

       About an hour later, Greg turned off Bagley Road and pulled into the Berea High School parking lot. Tyler was sitting alone on the sidewalk, reading Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.'

       "How was school?" Greg asked, while Tyler eased himself into the car seat.

       "Ok."

       "Just - Ok?" Greg asked, as he drove back onto Bagley, heading for Hopkins Airport. "Nothing interesting happened?"

       "Well, for a Monday it was about average."

       "You sound kinda' down."

       "Well, I am. Being in summer school is so depressing! Not to mention having to get a job too. I haven't done anything fun. Summer isn't really summer for me!" Tyler rubbed his fingers through his dark hair. He was letting it grow out, though it was still short, because he had it buzzed off two months before.

       "I guess your summer was kind of a drag. But we're going to pick up my friend, Orly, from the airport now. You'll like her; she's a lot of fun. And we're going to Cedar Point this weekend."

       "That'll be great." Tyler finally showed a glimmer of excitement in his puppy-dog Robert Mitchum eyes.

       "I also wanted to ask you how it went at PRYSM. You never really told me anything. Did you like it?"

       "Yeah, I guess." Tyler answered flatly.

       "Did you meet anyone?"

       "I met a lot of people."

       "Come on, tell me something that happened." Greg was glad that Tyler had agreed to go. He wanted Tyler to meet other gay people his age. "Did you meet anyone special?"

       "Special? I thought you wanted me to go so I could talk to someone my age about my situation, to unload - Not take part in a gay version of the 'Love Connection!'"

       "That doesn't rule out meeting someone nice. Besides, by 'special,' I might mean just a friend, or someone that you clicked with."

       "Well, as it happens, I did meet someone."

       "Do tell." Greg's ears perked with interest. He continued to drive along Rocky River Drive as it turned into the Berea Freeway.

       "Someone asked me out."

       "Why didn't you tell me? What's his name?"

       "Kiambu Sheridan."

       "Kiambu? Is that an African name?"

       "Yeah, he said it means; this one will be rich."

       "That's someone to hold onto!" Greg said campily, while putting his hand out as if to display a big diamond ring. "Did you make plans for a date then?"

       "But, I didn't say yes."

       "Oh." Greg said dejectedly, sounding as though he himself had been turned down. "Why not?"

       "He's nice, but I'm not ready. I'm still kinda'... I don't know. I guess I'm still a little messed up, being thrown out by my parents and all. I explained that to Kiambu."

       "Well, that's good you told him, so he didn't think you blew him off. Maybe you two can be friends." Greg was trying to be encouraging. "I just heard Berea has a gay-straight alliance group. Did you know about that?"

       "I guess. I'll look into it."

       "Do you think you'll go back to PRYSM?"

       "I think so, but not this Saturday. This Saturday we're going to Cedar Point!"

       Greg wanted to ask Tyler more about what happened at PRYSM, but they had reached the airport. They would soon be meeting Greg's friend, Orly.