Could He Do It?

Welcome to The Spot Writers. This month “A character faces an important decision.”

In December 2018, Phil (using his Alan Kemister pen name) published his most recent novel. Tilting at Windmills, the second in the Barrettsport Mysteries series of soft-boiled police detective stories set in an imaginary Nova Scotia coastal community is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Tilting-Windmills-Barrettsport-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B07L5WR948/. He’s currently working on a saga about the hazards of ignoring climate change.

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Could He Do It?

by Phil Yeats

 Leonard was a lost soul in the heady days of hippie mania, free love, and every sort of relationship. He couldn’t join the culture, living in the moment like so many others. He always worried about the consequences. Loving the one you’re with if you can’t be with the one you love didn’t work for him.

Five years after he graduated from university, an old friend appeared while he sat outside his neighbourhood pub, enjoying a solitary after-work beer.

“I always admired the way you ignored everyone and followed your muse,” Susan said after a brief hello, how are you.

Len stared, bewildered. Since high school, he’d lived in fear of bullies insisting everyone adhere to their narrow definition of proper behaviour. “Nothing admirable about my conduct. I was a misfit who avoided interaction with others.”

She shook her head. “You stuck to your principles, but I didn’t. For years I lived a lie, pretending to be someone I wasn’t. But let’s not argue. I need your help.”

She sipped the glass of wine she brought to the table while he nursed his beer. He’d applauded her bravery when she acknowledged a lesbian relationship during their senior year. Hiding her orientation earlier when it was illegal was sensible, not cowardly.

“What sort of help?” he asked.

A smile brightened her face. “You remember Patricia?”

He’d met her partner in 1969 at their university graduation ceremony. After the diploma presentations, they bypassed the formal reception because he wasn’t comfortable with crowds, and they wanted to avoid bringing attention to their relationship. They sauntered to an off-campus pub for a quiet celebration before he flew away to graduate school. He’d returned when he found a home town job three years later.

“You’re still together, living happily ever after?”

“And we need your help with baby-making.”

Len damn near dropped his glass. “You mean sperm donation?”

She smiled. If he was an imaginative sort, he might have called it mischievous. “Come for supper tomorrow. We can discuss it.”

A few minutes later, she strolled away. He ordered a second beer and contemplated what could become his first serious, open-ended commitment to anyone. Have courage; this may complicate your simple, well-ordered life, but it’s the right thing. And how difficult can it be?

 

The following evening, Patricia returned to the kitchen after some small talk.

He got down to business after taking a deep breath to build his courage. “So, you want a baby and need a sperm donor,” he said to Susan. “I’m honoured you’ve chosen me. What do I do? Visit your favoured fertility clinic, squirt some into a beaker, and leave everything else to the experts?”

“Not on. In our backward province, the clinics only accept married couples. And a gay couple, no chance!”

“Trip to an out-of-province clinic? Could get rather complicated, couldn’t it?”

Patricia arrived with three glasses of wine. “We thought we could cut out the middleman.”

He hesitated after taking his glass. “At-home, do-it-yourself insemination using a turkey baster?” he asked.

Susan put her glass on a table and snuggled close to him—an intimate gesture and unexpected with her partner standing only a metre away. “Guys have built in turkey basters,” she whispered.

He choked on his wine as he squirmed away. He could handle a sterile, mechanical process in a clinic. Masterminding the manoeuvre in their apartment might also work, but Susan’s whispered suggestion went too far.

He’d only tried twice in his miserable life to establish a relationship with a woman. Both attempts ended in disasters. He was so worried about getting them pregnant, he couldn’t perform. This time, getting her pregnant would be the idea so no impediment, but could he make love to an avowed lesbian with her lover hovering nearby?

Susan disappeared when Patricia nodded toward the kitchen. She turned to Len. “You’re uncomfortable with this idea. I am too, but think back to 1967. Susan in her threadbare tie-died T-shirts and long, flowing skirts, no bra, long brown hair. She was into pushing sexual boundaries, trying anything. She wanted you, even after we were a couple, but you remained aloof, unassailable. Now, if you’re willing, we could have our baby, and Susan could have her old friend from college back. A friend she’s never forgotten. This could work out. We could develop a beautiful relationship.”

“But—” She held her fingers against his lips.

“Think about it. That’s all I ask. We’ll get together on the weekend, and you can give us your decision. Now, we should forget all this and enjoy dinner.”

A few hours later Len wandered to his apartment. He had a decision to make. It could mean very little if he treated it cavalierly with the love ’em and leave ’em mantra many guys favoured during college. Not that he really believed most guys meant what they said. Or it could mean a great deal if he fell into his normal habit of imagining all the consequences. Could he even pull it off? It wasn’t like he had any experience or success in this whole business.

 

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The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/