The Intervention

The Intervention

By T. Victor Lloyd

Kenyon Parker was doing what he usually did right after dinner – talking to Brandon – when his mother called him from downstairs.

           “Kenyon, can you come down to the den for a few minutes? I need to talk to you.”

           That was suspicious, he thought. “She never wants to talk with me in the den,” he relayed to Brandon. “Uh oh,” he said, now a bit nervous. “Unless I’m in trouble. “Hold on, Brandon” He held his cell phone away from his face. “I’m on my phone, can it wait?” he yelled back. “I’m talking homework with Brandon.”

           “No,” she replied. “We…I mean I want to talk to you about something important. Please come down now.”

           He thought she sounded anxious. “Sounds serious, bro. I better go. I bet its about the argument I had with Cameron. She’s always babying him when he tells on me. I’ll call your right back.” He listened as Brandon said his goodbye and wished him good luck. “Thanks, man,” Kenyon replied.

           “Kenyon, please…”

           “I’m coming, Mom! Hold on!” He added a “damn” just loud enough hoping that she heard it and knew that he was irritated.

           The den was a right turn at the bottom of the stairs, down a short hall, and another right through the formal dining room. He was almost halfway through the dining room when he saw them. A bunch of people, their backs to him, gathered in an uneven semi-circle facing the love seat against the back wall.  He immediately slowed his steps, trying to take in the scene in front of him as he approached the den. He thought he recognized a few of the people based on partial profiles but it gave no clue as to what might be going on. It wasn’t his birthday – not even close – so that wasn’t it. Graduation was last spring. Nope. Maybe a late scholarship to the university came through but that wouldn’t bring out seven or eight people. No speeding tickets – lately, anyway. All these scenarios danced around his frontal lobe as he walked the last few feet before stopping at the gently arched entry to the den. He scanned the room again. His parents were sitting together in the matching recliners on the right that faced the large screen TV. For the first time he could see, sitting on the couch that faced the love seat three more people that he couldn’t see at first because of the people sitting on dining room chairs behind it.

           “Come on in and sit here,” his father said in a strange – too strange – friendly voice, and pointed to the love seat. As he moved hesitantly around the gathered audience – that’s what it looked like, an audience – or a jury – he immediately began to recognize the faces of the people gathered. Aunt Karen and Uncle Marty and his cousin April. She was in graduate school studying social work or some helping-people-work. Papaw Parker. His wife died last year. Mr. and Mrs. Logan who lived next door. Jason, Jeremy, and Kirsten, his best friends from high school. They all formed the semi-circle. As he sat down, he saw another aunt and uncle – Martha and Ray. They were older. That’s why, he assumed, they got the couch. He scanned the room again. All eyes were on him. Suddenly he panicked. Cameron. His little brat of a brother wasn’t there. He was always part of any family meeting or when guests were there. Unless… unless it was really serious and for adult ears only.

           “Kenyon,” his mother started, “we all…”

           “Wait a minute!” he blurted out, interrupting her. “Is this one of those inter… inter… you know, those…

           “Interventions?” his cousin filled in.

           “Yeah, one of those!” he said, pointing to April, his eyes giving away his fear, “one of those things! He sat on the edge of the love sea, nervously looking around and stopping at his parents. “I don’t drink! I hate alcohol! And I don’t use drugs. You know that!”

           “Yes, dear,” his mother assured him, “we know all that and we all admire you for that. So, no, this is not an intervention.

           Kenyon scanned the room slowly again. This was all too unreal, he thought. Like that old TV show he saw a few times. The Twilight Zone or whatever it was called. Everyone was smiling or showing a look of support or some goofy face. “What the fuck?” he mouthed to his school friends not caring if anybody else noticed. They, along with his cousin and Uncle Marty chuckled under their breath.

           “What did he say? Papaw Parker asked, looking toward Kenyon’s parents who just smiled.

           Kenyon wanted to scream. He literally felt like his brain was going to explode out of his ears. It felt like every pore of his body suddenly started oozing out sweat.

           His Dad leaned forward. Kenyon swore everyone else in the room seemed to do the same. At least that’s what he thought he saw. “Kenyon, we know.”

           “What the fuck?” This time he didn’t just mouth it. “Know what?” Now, almost everyone chuckled. “What?” he said, his exasperation growing. “Oh, wait! You mean about smoking weed? Okay, I did. It’s legal now. And I was going to tell you! That’s what I was talking to Brandon about. I wanted to know how he told his parents. They were cool about it, by the way.”

           Before he got any more worked up his dad spoke again. “No, Kenyon, it’s not about weed. You know how we feel about that. We would just expect that you’re careful.”

           Kenyon relaxed a little hearing his dad say that and sat back. That was what he thought would be a difficult conversation now out of the way.

           “But that’s not why we’re all here,” his mother said, picking up from where his father had started after he turned to her and nodded. She paused. Kenyon saw her smile as a tear formed and started its journey down her cheek before she dabbed it away with the Kleenex Kenyon noticed for the first time that was in her folded hands on her lap.

           He waited. Everybody’s eyes were on his mother.

           Oh my god, he thought! Someone died. That had to be it! He waited. Scanned the room looking for someone to speak up. He couldn’t hold back. The silence was deafening. “Isn’t nobody going to say it?” he cried out, desperation accenting his voice. “Who died!?” He was on the verge of crying.

           Kenyon’s parents both looked toward his best friends from high school asking with their eyes for their help.

           “Kenyon,” Jeremy began, “no one died.” All three of them saw the anguish slowly disappear from his face, slowly changing into utter confusion.

           Kirsten jumped right in. “Your mom called us because they learned that you are gay.” She let that sink in for a moment. As he looked at his parents and appeared to start to deny it, Kirsten stopped him. “They found out in a rotten way when Cameron came home from school quite upset when some older boys made fun of him because one of them saw you and Brandon holding hands walking down by Riverfront Park. Your mom called me right away and asked about the rumor…” She held up her hand to stop him from angrily reacting. “She asked because she loves you and wanted to know how to tell you they found out and that they loved you and totally support you.”

           Kenyon’s eyes opened wider as he looked towards his parents. His dad nodded, agreeing with Kirsten’s explanation. His mother dabbed both eyes. His grandfather asked those next to him what she said.

           Jason spoke next. “Your mom said this is not an intervention. Well, the way I see it, it really is. From what I know, interventions are supposed to help a person stop doing something that is harmful to them.” He looked over towards April. “Did I say that right?”

           “It was perfect,” she replied and gave the “OK” sign.

           “In your case, Kenny, its not drugs or alcohol or anything like that. It’s the closet you were living in here at home. We knew it about you. You basically told us without directly telling us. But we respected your need to say it when you were ready. I ran into your Aunt Karen at the grocery store, and it turns out they kind of figured it out on their own.”

           Kenyon looked over at them. His Aunt Karen blew him a kiss and smiled. He returned the smile as he shrugged his shoulders.

           “Your aunt pretty much told me that others in your extended family, those that are here and others who couldn’t make it but send their love and support, had kind of figured it out also. Not because of you being fem or dramatic. Although I have to add that I still think you’d make a gorgeous drag queen.” He waited as everyone literally burst out laughing. Except Papaw Parker who asked what was so funny. “And yes, Kenyon, your grandfather knows also.”

           Kenyon’s dad interrupted when Jason said that. “You see, Kenyon, your Uncle Steve, mine and Marty’s older brother, died of HIV a few years before your mother and I met. Our parents were devastated because they had no idea Steve was gay. And they were devastated not only by his death, but more so by his silence about his life and, we assume, his fear of rejection. He was wrong. And this was all during the big AIDS crisis. We didn’t talk about it because, well, we were afraid of people’s reaction. It was an ugly time back then.” He looked at his son’s friends signaling them to continue.

           Jeremy spoke next. “We pretty much figured how hard it can be telling your friends and family, especially your parents. And it would even be harder once you were in a relationship, something that parents want to share and support when one of their kids is in love. And it doesn’t matter with a girl or a guy. It’s love. When your mom asked the three of us what she and your dad should do we agreed to come up with an answer. We knew we couldn’t let you stay in that closet much longer. Maybe we’re wrong and should have let you do it your own way and in your own time. But sometimes love doesn’t like to wait too long. So, we talked about it and came up with this idea. We wanted to make sure that you came out with a whole bunch of people waiting to tell you it’s okay.

           Kenyon brought his right hand up and covered his eyes and cried. His mother started to get up to put her arm around him but both April and Karen signaled “no” to her. Kenyon wiped his eyes with both hands and slowly looked at everyone in the room, pausing with each one and tried to say thank you but his voice wouldn’t let him.

           Kirsten finally spoke up. “There is one more thing we have to do, Kenyon. Your mom will tell you.”

           Kenyon’s mom cleared her throat. “There…is… excuse me… (she cleared her throat again) there is one other person who was supposed to be here, but they said they would be late. But I think they have arrived.”

           Kenyon looked puzzled as he looked toward the dining room where he expected the unknown person to enter. Behind him, quietly opening the door to the garage that stood adjacent to the den, that person came in and silently approached Kenyon from behind the love seat. He rested both his hands on Kenyon’s shoulders and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you,” he said, and walked around to sit next to him. Kenyon placed his hand gently on Brandon’s cheek and mouthed “I love you.”

           “The love seat was my idea,” Brandon said, and everyone laughed.

           “Who’s that?” Papaw Parker asked and everyone laughed louder.

           Finally, Kenyon spoke. “You all scared the shit out of me, but I couldn’t figure out why everyone was smiling! It was obvious there was an elephant in the room. I just didn’t know it was pink!”

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