NOTE: This is a fictional coming of age story of Jake Grimke as he matures through high school and into college in the Baltimore, Maryland area. It contains and embraces accurate representations of life in Baltimore and its suburbs; Maryland's traditional sport of lacrosse and the career path a firefighter might follow in his profession. All of the characters in this story are fictional and resemblance to any person whether dead or alive is purely coincidental. If you liked this installment or this series, please send me some feed back; I got a rough idea where this is headed but I am always open to some suggestions. Needless to say, if you are offended by handsome athletic young men growing up gay and the obstacles they encounter as well their personal triumphs, you should use the BACK button on your browser forthwith.
The Mohawks enjoyed being the school rockstars between their pre-Halloween debut at the talent show and Thanksgiving. Right after the students returned to school from the Thanksgiving break, it was time to hunker down for finals, cheer on the football team into divisional championships and start thinking about the upcoming winter holidays. Evan began dating Jackie Pense from the cheerleading squad while Jake kept to his studies and pre-lacrosse season weight training regimen at the local gym. He could always find time to be with his mom while his dad worked as she continued to give organ lessons at St. Michael's.
Emma was impressed with her son's abilities and encouraged him to learn how to play more difficult pieces on the great organ at St. Michael's before or after one of her student's lessons. Emma Leigh Matthews grew up in an Episcopal church family in Baltimore, the only daughter of the rector and his wife. After graduating from one of Baltimore's private school for girls, she attended Yale University where she earned her bachelors and master's degree in sacred music.
John Grimke, Junior grew up just outside of Richmond, Virginia, the son of a Richmond firefighter. Even though he was insistent on following in his own father's footsteps to become a Richmond firefighter, Captain Grimke insisted that John Junior attend college before making a final decision about a career as a firefighter. To please his father, he applied to many colleges and universities within Virginia and ended up earning a bachelor's degree in history from the storied University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
As much as John Grimke, Jr. wanted to work side by side with his father in the Richmond Fire Department, fire companies were being closed as Richmond's tax base shrunk. Always one to take his father's advice, John applied to fire departments from Washington, DC to Philadelphia, hoping to land a city firefighting job like his father enjoyed. As the recruiting and hiring processes inched along towards a job from any of them, the Baltimore Fire Department offered him a position in its next recruit school at their fire academy on Pulaski Highway.
After a couple of years learning the basics of his trade, John was in a Baltimore bar one night with some of his coworkers drinking beer and watching the Orioles game on the television when an attractive young lady with her girlfriends kept making eye contact with him. Unlike most of his buddies, John left his navy blue FD issued tee shirts at home when he was out socializing; he just didn't feel the urge to be a firefighter 24/7 like some. And one of his FD-tee shirted buddies did catch the young Emma Leigh Matthews checking out John Grimke, Junior a few times and pointed this out to their buddy.
John put down his beer and bravely walked over to the gaggle of girls and introduced himself and it was the beginning of their enduring love for each other: Big strong blue collar fireman with more than half-a-brain meets beautiful smart and sexy church-going girl. They were married within 18 months and settling into their lives in Baltimore when Emma told John she was pregnant.
The intervening years were culminating into the question of where Jake and his friends would attend college. Evan had recently received a Letter of Assurance of from the United States Naval Academy tentatively offering him a seat in the next plebe class in Annapolis as long as he maintained his current grade point average. Jake had applied to study journalism at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University and had a concurrent application in with his father's alma mater at the University of Virginia where he was being heavily recruited for the men's lacrosse team. If both athletes followed through, they would be playing lacrosse on opposing teams for the first time ever.
In the hallway at Severn High School the week after Thanksgiving break was over, Will caught up with Jake and asking him if he wouldn't mind sitting for an interview for his journalism class. Will started "we have an assignment; we are supposed to interview somebody we admire."
"So why me?" Jake asked back as he was getting his varsity letterman's coat out of his locker before heading to the gym.
"Well, you are always squared away, everything always seems to work out for you and, well, you pretty much saved my ass in the locker room last month," answered Will before he continued, "you seem so understated yet everything just clicks around you."
Jake looked at his watch and with a smile, "I can make some time for you Will, when, now?"
Half surprised at the positive response, Will answered, "Sure, we can do now."
They turned and walked down to the school library and into one of the small group study rooms there and Will began asking the questions. It was really nothing more than a bio piece until Will got to the final question. "So Jake Grimke, is there something that nobody here at Severn knows about you?" Will asked, not sure what answer he might get.
"Something nobody knows about me?" mused Jake. As Jake's weekend schedule flashed through his head in about six nano-seconds, he realized he would be hanging out with his mom at St. Michael's for an hour or two while she gave some lessons. "Meet me at St. Michael's church at Mount Vernon Place at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I'll show you something nobody knows about me."
"Mount Vernon Square? That's in B-more, right?" asked Will.
"Yeah hon, Baltimore," snarked Jake with devilish grin.
Just before two o'clock, Emma finished with her student on the huge Moller organ at Saint Michael's and sat down in the front pew to review and critique her student when Jake asked, "Hey Mom, you mind if I try that Widor toccata again?"
"Sure, of course honey," Emma answered and she and her student went out a side door just as Will Hurley entered in the front door and walked down the center aisle.
"Hey Jake, what are we doing here?" Will inquisitively asked.
"Well, you wanted to know something about me that nobody else at Severn knows, except for maybe Harmes: I don't think anybody else knows I can play that thing," Jake volunteered to Will pointing to the bench and console of the great organ in the sanctuary.
"Really?" asked Will, himself, having played clarinet and saxophone in the school band. "I knew you and Evan played in your band but I had no idea that, that, well, that a jock like you could play something, so, so, I don't know, classical."
Jake smiled warmly at Will and walked up the steps to the sanctuary with Will slowly following up behind. After a few adjustments, Jake planted himself on the bench of the instrument and gave Will a crash course on what all the manuals, pedals, knobs and switches did and how they could all be interconnected. As he did the with first part of the interview, Will set up his voice recorder as Jake began pulling different stops and played a few notes to give a Will an idea of the different types of musical sounds that could be played on the Moller opus.
Jake could tell that Will was drinking in the entire experience and began to play a few scales on the different keyboards, demonstrating to Will how whole divisions of the organ could be coupled to play together with just one hand and how the swell boxes could be opened and closed to make the music from the pipe loft louder or softer depending on the desired effect. Will was attentive to Jake's enthusiasm for the instrument and listened as he played more scales including one on the fog-horn sounding grand bombarde before he finished by blasting a few notes on the high pressure trompette en chamade stop used for the ceremonial music in the church.
"Hey Jake, you mind if I make a video of this?" Will asked as Jake finished the piecemeal demonstration of the instrument's capabilities.
Jake pondered and then asked, "for what?"
"I don't know, just seems pretty cool that you know so much about the organ. Maybe I could use it in my multi-media class for a project."
Jake thought about it, having seen the high quality video montage Will did for the football team' pep rally last season, "alright, but don't you dare upload it to YouTube; I'll be really pissed, feel really violated."
"I promise, I'll even give you the raw footage and a copy of the finished project when I get it back," volunteered Will.
"I trust you, just respect my wishes; that's all I ask," Jake reiterated firmly.
Jake stood in his khaki pants and polo shirt and cleared off the sheet music for the Toccata from Symphony #5 by Charles Marie Widor figuring if he was going to be recorded, it might as well be something he was better prepared to play. He rifled through the pages in his music portfolio until he found another toccata; this one by a more contemporary English composer, David Patrick. After making the registrations, Jake asked Will, "are your ready?"
Will nodded yes and Jake made the beautiful Moller organ explode in sound with the opening notes. Despite voicing his readiness, Will was totally unprepared for what Jake began to play. The demonstration notes and scales that Jake played minutes before were no prelude for what he was doing now as his fingers jumped across the black and white keys, pausing to engage a thumb piston here and there while his feet danced between the 32 pedals on the floor, swell pedals and toe studs, bringing the bass notes to life to accent what his fingers were playing above.
Meanwhile, Emma's student was done and gone for the day when she emerged and watched her son playing his heart out for Will. While Emma was very knowledgeable of the instrument at St. Michael's, she rarely played with the intensity, save for high holies, that Jake was demonstrating with his particular piece. Observing Will recording with his camera, she held her applause until the last notes finished reverberating off the stone walls and columns in the nave, before she began yelling, "Bravo, bravo, encore, encore!"
Emma Grimke strode up to the instrument she was in charge of with Jake smiling that he had pleased his mother so much with his playing as she began to ask, "What happened to practicing Widor's 5th?"
"Mom, this, is Will, Will Hurley from school; he is interviewing me for his journalism class and asked me to tell him something that nobody else at Severn would know about me. So I decided to show him that I played the pipe organ."
"Mrs. Grimke, he is really good; you taught him very well."
"Well, we'll just see how good he is Will. Jake, get out your music for Widor's 5th; and Will, just call me Emma."
"Aw Mom, do I have to? C'mon, I nailed the Patrick piece dead on and then some."
Jake really wanted to play it for Will, he was actually enjoying being able to show off this talent to somebody who might appreciate it outside of his mother. With a little more cajoling from his mom and some encouragement from Will, Jake pulled the sheet music for the Widor piece and sat himself at the bench once more and set his registrations for this piece.
Will had the video camera rolling again and with Emma standing to the right of the bench to turn the pages, Jake began to solemnly play one of the most famous pieces ever written for the pipe organ. His mother had insisted that he never race through it like some organists do and to play it with all of the dignity and splendor Widor himself had intended it to be played with when he penned his most famous work from St. Sulpice in Paris.
And as he finished, it was a perfect play; not a missed note, the registration befitting the piece and the tempo respecting the composer's wishes. Jake smiled, having finally nailed this piece perfectly and looked for Evan to high five except when he turned, there was no Evan, only his mom and Will. He high-fived each of them and began to shut down the organ's works and pack up his music. Will was obviously awed at what he saw and heard while Emma was justifiably proud of what she had just witnessed her favorite organ student accomplish.
Emma went back to the first pew to gather up her teaching materials as Will turned to Jake and began to express his gratitude for sharing. "Jake; I never would have expected that from you, I am totally impressed; awed in fact. Of course, it's just natural for you, everything just goes your way at whatever you do it seems."
"Glad you liked the show; I kind of liked having an audience. I always play better when there is somebody watching; I don't know, maybe I am a little bit of a show-off sometimes," Jake admitted.
"Well, if, if, um, you would ever want to hang out sometime, I'd really like that. And I know what everybody thinks of me Jake and if that's a problem for you, I am cool with it."
"Jake, honey, you ready to go?" Emma asked once all her material was packed up.
Jake did what any teenage male does when he hears his mom call him honey in front of any of his peers. He cringed a little and looked at her, then at Will with a quick smile and then back at his mom, "Will is going to give me a ride home, okay?"
"That's fine sweetie, just be home by 7:00 so you can be there when your father gets home."
"I promise Mom, 7:00 PM," Jake replied, picking up his portfolio of music.
"Okay Jake....nice to meet you Will," Emma said giving him a little hug as she waited for a bigger hug from Jake.
Emma headed out the side entrance as Will and Jake ambled down the center aisle of St. Michael's towards the front doors in the rear of the church. Once out in the Saturday afternoon sun Jake turned to will as they walked down the steps to Will's car and asked, "May I ask you something?" "Sure Jake," answered Will; "anything you want."
"Well, it's kind of personal," he prefaced the question, remembering how gingerly Evan Harmes had danced around a similar question, "what's it like, being, you know, gay?"
"Why you want to know that Jake?" Will replied as they got to his car.