Jeff Johnson was confused. He liked Jimmy Klosters a lot and Jimmy seemed to like him but Jeff thought about Olney Jefferson all the time. Olney was the first guy Jeff had ever fooled around with but after their first intimate contact, Olney became more and more remote. What was Olney’s problem?

One problem was that Olney was ashamed that he liked Jeff in a sexual way. Another problem was that whenever they were together, Olney never managed to have an erection and he would not let Jeff try some things he thought might help. It was very discouraging to Olney and extremely frustrating for Jeff. Jeff noticed Olney getting more and more depressed as the fall term wore on. Jeff knew he liked Olney and told him that. He had no idea what Olney felt.

The whole situation fell apart at the beginning of November, two weeks before Thanksgiving break. One evening, on Jeff’s way back to their quad, Eddie crutched up to him and said, "Olney’s on the roof! You’ve got to get him down!"

Eddie led Jeff to an open window overlooking the roof covering a lower part of their residence hall. Billy was at the window, trying to talk to Olney who was sitting on a steeply sloped part of the roof. It looked extremely dangerous: one slip and he could fall to his death.

Jeff stood at the window, looking at Olney out on the roof. Jeff was terrified of heights but he knew he had to help him. What could he do? He climbed out of the window onto the roof.

Jeff discovered that the roof was slippery. He had trouble moving across it. He wondered how Olney got out there with his one leg. Eventually Jeff managed to crawl out to him. Olney was sitting on the roof looking down.

"Go away. Leave me alone. Why did you come out here? You’re just going to get yourself killed."

Jeff shrugged. He realized that even though he was nervous, he needed to speak without stuttering. He didn’t know if he could. He asked Olney quietly why he was out on the roof.

"My body’s no good. I’m not a real man. I can’t get hard. My dick may be big, but it’s useless. I’ll never be able to make love. How could anybody ever want me? What’s the use?"

Jeff told him that he was all man. He told him he liked his dick really well. "You have already found someone who wants you because I care about you. I don’t want to lose you."

Olney didn’t even look up. Jeff reached over and raised his face with his hand. When he took his hand away it was wet. "Please come inside. Please talk to me. Please let me help. Will you come back in with me?" Jeff and Olney stared at one another. After several seconds, Olney nodded and they scooted back toward the open window. Eventually they made it and Billy helped them inside.

They walked Olney back to their quad, Billy on one side and Jeff on the other, Olney’s arms around their shoulders. When they got back, Jeff telephoned Josh and asked him to invite Eddie to spend the night with him. After Eddie left, Jeff went in Olney’s room and closed the door. He decided this was it – this was Olney’s last chance with him.

They spent the night talking. Though they lay together, Jeff on his back and Olney on his stomach with his leg between Jeff’s, they did not fool around. They engaged in "pillow talk." Olney explained his problem. He told Jeff that he had never been able to get hard or have an orgasm. He had been impotent all his life. Jeff said he would like to experiment with Olney and try to make him hard. He also told Olney that he needed to see a doctor to have everything checked out.

Olney was very nervous about going to a doctor. Jeff finally got him to agree to go to a doctor by saying that he would go with him. Jeff asked him if he wanted to go to the doctors at the health center on campus or find some other doctor.

Olney said he would prefer to go to his family doctor at home over Thanksgiving break. He invited Jeff to go home with him so Jeff could be with him when he went to the doctor.

"How’s that going to work out? How will we get to Florida? Where will I stay? What will your mom say?"

"My mother will be happy I’m bringing someone home for Thanksgiving. She gets lots of free airline tickets. She’ll give us two tickets. You’ll stay at my house."

"We’ll think of something. I’m more worried the doctor won’t be able or willing to help me." Olney was still bothered that people might think he was gay. "He’ll think I’m queer."

"So what? If he doesn’t like treating guys who like guys, we’ll ask him to refer us to some other Florida doctor who can help us."

"You are going to have to tell her sometime or she will find out from someone else. You said you like and admire your mother. Tell her yourself. Don’t let her find out from someone else. Don’t hurt her that way."

"No, but my sister’s pretty open about saying I’m queer. I’m pretty sure my mom knows. She’s said a few things. My grandmother has said some things that make me think she knows, too. She’s been very nice about it."

"Just the one: one sister, no brothers. She’s a couple of years older than me."

"At my grandmother’s house on our way here in July, she said her boyfriend would beat me up if he knew I was gay. She doesn’t like me much."

"No. I’m an only child. I guess that after I was born they didn’t want to take a chance having a whole family of one-legged kids bouncing up and down hopping around. My mother and father are divorced. My mother never remarried. I don’t think my father remarried either but I’m not sure because I’ve had so little contact with him. What about your father?"

"Mom and dad are divorced. He’s an attorney in The City. He remarried but I don’t know anything about his new family. I haven’t seen him or talked with him since he left. He’s helping me out with my college expenses, though. Mom hasn’t remarried."

"No, there’s no reason to. Mother is in real estate and insurance. She’s very successful. She’s helping me out. What about your mom?"

"My mom is a secretary at our local community college. She doesn’t make enough to help me out with my expenses. Right now she’s supporting my older sister, too." Jeff didn’t tell him about his mom’s problems or that she had lost her job.

Then, Jeff began to experiment with Olney, trying various ways to help him out. Although Jeff was able to make Olney harder, nothing that he tried made him hard enough.

Fall break, which included Thanksgiving Day, was a week long. Jeff really didn’t want to go home to the double wide with all its problems and he didn’t want to stay at SU during fall break. He could have gone to his grandmother’s house, but he wasn’t sure she would want him around for a whole week. So Jeff was glad Olney had invited him to go home with him for fall break.

Jeff called home to tell his mother his plans. Heather answered the phone. "Hello?"

"You’ve got to be kidding. Jeff can’t talk well enough to use a phone. Who is this?"

Jeff was speaking very quietly, so he spoke pretty well; he put the phone close to his lips. "Hi, mom. It’s me."

"Yep. Mom. I’m not coming home for Thanksgiving. I’m going to go home with Olney. You met him when I moved in."

"Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. Be a good guest. Take his parents a gift for letting you visit."

Olney’s mother sent him two first class round-trip plane tickets to Florida. They were to leave on Saturday and return on Sunday, eight days later. Because Jeff would miss cleaning the team locker room that week, including those two weekends, he had to get someone to substitute for him and, to compensate, he had to work extra hours before they left and would also have to work extra hours after they came back. He figured it would be worth the trouble if Olney could get some help.

Olney knew all about flying because he had flown so much and was surprised that Jeff had never flown before. He showed Jeff what to pack in his backpack and told him what to do. Jeff felt very comfortable having Olney with him. He was nervous about flying and had trouble speaking so Olney took over and helped him out whenever people asked him questions.

Once they were seated on the plane in first class, they were offered drinks (non-alcoholic, because they were underage) and they had a nice meal during the flight. It was very pleasant. Jeff got the window seat and Olney got the aisle seat. Jeff spent the flight with his face pressed to the window looking out, marveling at the sights and, though he was afraid of heights, delighting that the view was not scary at all. During the last part of the trip, they flew over the Gulf of Mexico and Jeff got to see boats and ships. Almost before Jeff knew it, they arrived at Sarasota airport.

Olney’s mother was there as they came out through security. She was dressed very elegantly and used a cane. Olney hugged and kissed her and then introduced her to Jeff.

When she said hello, Jeff realized she suffered from Cerebral Palsy. Her speech was very slow and garbled, her face twisting as she spoke. Jeff understood instantly why Olney could make out what he was saying no matter how poorly he spoke. Jeff nervously said hello to her and, because the noise in the airport made speaking quietly impossible, stuttered badly. She seemed to understand Jeff about as well as Jeff understood her.

They were picked up by a large chauffeur-driven four-door sedan – a limousine really – and taken south along route 41, a major highway. The traffic was very heavy. Olney told Jeff that the traffic was always much worse in winter than in summer. Eventually they headed over a bridge to one of the barrier islands called a "key."

They drove up to a house with a large circular driveway. The house was built of pale rose and ivory-colored bricks. The garage was under the house with high garage doors at the side of the house. In front, a long staircase went from ground level up to the front door. As they approached the house, a garage door opened and they drove into the tall ground floor garage that seemed to take up the entire space under the house. Apparently the limousine belonged to Olney’s mother because the chauffeur parked it in a space under the house that seemed designed for it. They took their stuff from the car and, while Olney’s mother rode an elevator up into the house, Olney and Jeff walked up a long flight of stairs to the first floor.

At the top of the stairs, a door opened into a small hallway next to the kitchen. That hall ran into the main hallway of the house leading from the front door to a large room with high windows. As Jeff was gawking, Olney’s mother rejoined them at the intersection of the two hallways.

The Jefferson family home looked big from the front but inside it was huge. There was a "great room" across the back of the house. It was two stories high with windows giving a beautiful view of the Intracoastal Waterway. The second story held two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. The bedrooms opened onto a balcony that ran the width of the great room. At one end of the balcony was a sweeping staircase and at the other was the elevator.

Mrs. Jefferson directed the two friends to the sweeping staircase. "Olney, Jeff will be staying in the guest bedroom upstairs. Jeff, Olney’s bedroom is next to yours, so if you need anything ask him for help."

Olney’s mother told him that she had had his 4-wheel drive sport utility vehicle gassed and serviced and it was ready for him to use to go to the beach. She pointed toward the windows and told him that his boat was ready as well.

Olney was proud of his boat. "We keep it at our dock here behind the house when we are using it. If conditions are right, I’ll let you drive it. Maybe we can go water skiing."

Olney’s mother smiled at Jeff’s excitement. "I hope you enjoy your week here."

Olney and Jeff climbed the stairs. Olney showed Jeff the guest bedroom and its bathroom. Jeff dropped his backpack in the bedroom. Then Olney showed Jeff his bedroom and bathroom. They were much larger than the guest room facilities. Olney’s bathroom had a huge bathtub with circulating jets of water.

Then Olney led Jeff back downstairs to the first floor where they sat on stools at a bar along one end of the great room, looking out of the large windows. Jeff drank in the sights and Olney sat watching him, enjoying the sparkle in his gray eyes.

"She has a bedroom/bathroom/office complex on this floor of the house – back there." Olney waived his arm toward one whole side of the house.

"I’m just wondering about privacy." Jeff was sensitive to this because he had slept his whole life on the couch in the living room of his family’s doublewide. He had not had any privacy. He was hoping that the doctor could help Olney and that then they could spend some time together fooling around before going back to SU.

Just then, Mrs. Jefferson joined them. Olney wanted to know her plans for the evening and for tomorrow, Sunday. She told him that she was expected to take part in a sightseeing cruise of the bay this evening and that Jeff might enjoy the cruise. She told them that they were welcome to accompany her if they wished but that she would not be able to spend much time with them: she was going on the cruise for business purposes. Though she would be dressed for the occasion, they would not need to dress up for the cruise. She asked them if they wished to go with her.

"Mother, I think Jeff would enjoy seeing the sights around the bay. What about it, Jeff?"

Then she mentioned that they would go to church on Sunday in the morning but she would be relaxing the rest of the day and they would be free to go to the beach if they wished.

The whole process of the business cruise fascinated Jeff. While they were waiting to leave, the doorbell rang and a very distinguished-looking gentleman with graying hair came into the house and, after greeting Olney and being introduced to Jeff, headed toward Mrs. Jefferson’s office. Jeff was curious about the man, Hamilton Worthington, especially since he gave Jeff a very interested look. Jeff thought he might be gay. "Is that your mother’s boyfriend?"

"Heavens, no. That’s an escort she rents for evenings like this. That guy is the best. You should watch him work."

"Mother’s giving him his orders for the evening." They sat on the barstools and waited for Olney’s mother to emerge from her office. Eventually she did, followed by Mr. Worthington who was carrying a wrap for Mrs. Jefferson as well as her purse and briefcase.

Mrs. Jefferson had her cane in one hand and held on to Mr. Worthington with her other hand as they walked to the elevator. Olney and Jeff took the stairs to the garage. Olney’s mother sat in the front seat of the limousine; Jeff, Olney and Mr. Worthington were wedged into the back seat. Fortunately the trip to the cruise boat was short.

Mrs. Jefferson, using her cane and holding onto Mr. Worthington, walked slowly onto the boat using the gangplank at the side. Jeff and Olney, on his crutches, followed. The captain greeted Olney’s mother warmly and welcomed Olney and, after introductions, Jeff. To Jeff, the boat looked like a large yacht – extremely luxurious. He asked the captain if he could get a tour.

"Yes, I can do that once we are underway. Right now, I must be here to greet our guests."

There were not many people on the boat yet. Olney pointed out some steps to an upper deck. "We will spend most of our time on the upper deck. Mother and Mr. Worthington will spend their time down here on the main deck doing business and entertaining." Olney went over to his mother and kissed her. "We’ll see you later. If you need us, let me know."

"Thank you." Mr. Worthington helped Mrs. Jefferson to a seat and sat next to her. A waitress came by with two flutes of Champaign, one for Mrs. Jefferson and one for Mr. Worthington.

Olney whispered in Jeff’s ear: "That’s sparkling apple juice. We need to go to the upper deck."

When they were topside, Jeff wanted to satisfy his curiosity about the apple juice. "Doesn’t your mother drink?"

"No. She rarely drinks alcoholic beverages because it makes her CP worse. Also, at business meetings, she says it’s an advantage if she does not drink when her negotiating partners are drinking. They will get Champaign and she and Mr. Worthington will get sparkling apple juice. Do you drink?"

Jeff decided to tell Olney about his mom. "No, not at all. My mother is an alcoholic; I’m afraid of drinking. Do you drink?"

"Hardly ever – it affects my balance. My mother’s right about the advantage of not drinking when everyone around you is."

Well-dressed men and women began arriving. They joined the group on the main deck. Occasionally a couple would bring a young person with them. The young people were shown to the upper deck where they introduced themselves to those already there. Some of the young people seemed to know one another. Olney seemed to know quite a few of them.

After they pulled away from the dock and got underway, the captain came to Jeff and offered to give him the tour he requested. Olney and several of the young people accompanied them. Jeff was impressed with how smoothly Olney moved up and down the steps on his crutches. They saw the pilot’s area with the radar image from the rotating antenna on the mast and they saw the noisy engine room. Their last stop was the galley where the buffet meal was being prepared.

In the galley, there was some sort of argument going on about the Champaign. Olney asked the captain to escort the others back to the upper deck while he and Jeff remained behind in the galley. Olney was curious. He looked around and found a man with a tag that said "Sommelier." He addressed him. "What’s the problem?"

"Mrs. Jefferson sent back her Champaign ... but there’s nothing wrong with it."

"She doesn’t drink Champaign. She and Mr. Worthington drink sparkling apple juice. It’s not that there is something wrong with the Champaign, it’s that you gave her the wrong thing to drink."

The sommelier looked stunned. "Where am I going to find sparkling apple juice? We didn’t bring any with us."

Olney went over to one of the refrigeration units, opened it and pointed out the bottles on a lower shelf. When the sommelier had opened a new bottle of sparkling apple juice, Olney tasted it and then asked for two Champaign flutes. He filled them himself and handed them to Jeff. "We’ll take them up."

They climbed the steps to the main deck. Olney crutched slowly toward his mother, stopped and waited for a lull in the conversation. "Mother, we have your Champaign." Jeff moved around Olney and handed one flute to Mrs. Jefferson and the other to Mr. Worthington.

Olney’s mother took a sip. "Yes, dear, thank you. This is my son, Olney, and his friend, Jeff. You two have been very thoughtful." Olney and Jeff headed back to the upper deck as the conversation around his mother resumed.

On the upper deck, Olney and Jeff went over to the railing looking toward the sunset. Olney spoke very quietly to Jeff. "We have these dinners catered by the same company every time but we always seem to get someone new who does not know our special requirements. Thank you for your help."

"I don’t know. We have been told that we should write out a detailed contract for the catering. I know we did that for this cruise, but it does not seem to have helped."

"In the past couple of years, almost every cruise has had a problem and the problems seem to be getting worse."

"One disaster is an accident, two disasters indicate bad management and continuous disasters are evidence of a plan."

"In my history teacher’s lectures on the Roman Empire." Jeff touched Olney on the back. "If you don’t mind my asking, how much does it cost to lease this boat for the evening?"

"We don’t lease it. My mother’s business owns it. She had it custom built. And before you ask, it cost twenty million dollars."

"Yeah. These dinner cruises help mother make deals that have paid for this boat many times over. You and I just paid for our presence here by making sure mother got the proper thing to drink. Let’s try the appetizers."

Jeff and Olney caged a few appetizers from a tray. Olney tasted them and said, "These aren’t right. Let’s go back down to the galley." Jeff wasn’t sure what they should taste like, but the gooey greasy consistency was not at all appetizing.

In the galley, they went up to the sommelier and Olney asked him who was in charge of the catering crew. The sommelier replied, "I guess I am. Our crew chief called in sick."

"Contract? No, I haven’t seen a contract. Here is all that I have." He showed Olney a single folded sheet of paper.

"This will not do. Do you have a contact phone number to get the information you need?"

The sommelier made a bleating sound. "Contact number? I’m new. I never supervised a catering crew before. I don’t know whom to contact. By the way, who are you?"

"I’m Olney Jefferson, Mrs. Jefferson’s son." Jeff could see the words "Oh shit!" form on the sommelier’s lips.

Olney crutched over to the wall, picked up the phone and pressed a button. "Sir. This is Olney Jefferson. Could you make a copy of the catering contract for this evening and bring it to the galley? I apologize for disturbing you, but this is an emergency."

A few minutes later, the captain and another officer came down to the galley with a file folder and handed it to Olney. "Thank you captain. Let me check this out." Olney flipped through the folder of papers. "Everything seems to be here. Thank you."

Olney turned toward the sommelier who was now looking distinctly uncomfortable. "This is a copy of the contract with all of the specifications for this evening’s catering. You will probably not have time to read it. Fortunately, I know it pretty well and can give you any help you need."

Jeff, Olney and the officer the captain brought with him settled into a small office just off the galley and helped the catering crew. Olney tasted everything that went out of the kitchen. If he vetoed it, it went into the garbage. The cooks were pretty irritated by that. Jeff and Olney took special trays up to his mother and Mr. Worthington with select appetizers and with fresh flutes of their sparkling apple juice. Olney made sure that he checked everything before Jeff carried the trays up to the main deck. Olney’s mother gave them a slightly puzzled look but responded smoothly to the situation.

Olney gave instructions to the waiters and waitresses serving the main deck. He told them that he would serve his mother and Mr. Worthington and that they should respond only to specific requests from the two of them.

When it came time for the buffet itself, there was less to do since it had been prepared ahead of time in the kitchens of the catering company. The officer asked permission to return to his other duties and Olney approved, asking him to take the single sheet of paper from the sommelier and have it copied and return the original and copy to him.

Then the sommelier approached Olney nervously and asked him about the wines to be served with dinner. Olney replied, "Oh, you’re the wine steward. I’m sure your selections will be excellent. Carry on." The sommelier smiled broadly and confirmed to the waiters the selection of wines for the meal.

Olney and Jeff prepared and carried plates containing the main course to Olney’s mother and Mr. Worthington. The two drank water with their meal. While the group on the main deck was eating, Jeff and Olney got plates from the galley and also ate. The sommelier didn’t eat; he studied the contract.

In the end, everything worked out fairly well. The sommelier was impressed with Olney’s knowledge of the contract and was grateful for the flexibility he showed given the limitations of the crew that the catering company had sent. The sommelier was also impressed that Olney didn’t try to interfere with his choice of wines: in every case, Olney deferred to the sommelier’s selections.

There was one awkward moment at the end of the evening. Brandy was served after the meal. The waiter tried serving it to Olney’s mother and Mr. Worthington. They declined. This time, the sommelier picked up on the problem and approached Olney. "Excuse me, but we are serving brandy after the meal, but your mother and Mr. Worthington have declined. Is there something special we should serve them?"

"Yes, please put brandy in a snifter and bring it here along with an empty snifter. Jeff, bring me some regular apple juice and some iced tea from the ‘fridge. I’ll try to match the two." The sommelier looked shocked. Olney poured apple juice into the empty snifter and added a little tea. Then he diluted it with some water. The color looked very close. Olney prepared a second snifter and then he and Jeff made their way up to the main deck. Just as they did with the flutes of "Champaign," they presented the snifters of "brandy" to Mrs. Jefferson and Mr. Worthington.

There wasn’t much left to do in the galley, so Olney and Jeff made their way back to the upper deck. They went over to the railing to look at the lights of Sarasota. "Jeff, I want to thank you for your help. You’re a real stand-up kind of guy." Olney rested his hands on the railing and Jeff turned sideways resting his elbow on the railing letting his fingers dangle down over the side. He moved his fingers so that they brushed Olney’s fingers.

"I’m glad I could be here to help you. Those lights are beautiful. I enjoyed the evening very much."

"Did you? You spent most of the evening in the galley. I’m sure that wasn’t much fun."

As he stroked Olney’s fingers, he replied quietly, "I enjoyed the evening: I was with you."

After they had returned home, Olney’s mother invited Olney and Jeff into the great room with Mr. Worthington for a "debriefing." "How do you think it went?"

Mr. Worthington replied first. "I thought it went well. By the end of the evening, Wallace and Garner were congratulating one another on what an excellent deal they had made with you. There were a couple of small glitches, but nothing major, in my opinion. You were able to smooth over the rough spots. Bravo!"

Olney spoke next. "Speaking of glitches, the caterers messed up again. The crew chief was missing, so the sommelier acted as crew chief. He was new and green as grass. He didn’t have a copy of the contract. The captain made a copy and I gave it to him. Jeff and I helped out and we recovered pretty well. I hope no one noticed. I had to dumpsterize several of the appetizers. Yuk!"

Jeff was very nervous, so he stuttered a lot. He told them that he just tried to stay out of Olney’s way and do what he wanted. He mentioned that he enjoyed the tour of the boat that he and several of the younger guests received. He also observed that the younger guests seemed to be bored much of the time. Perhaps in the future they could watch a movie or play video games or board games or parlor games or something.

"I’m pleased by your observations. Thank you ... and thank you for your help this evening. You made it go more smoothly than it might have."

Mrs. Jefferson then addressed Mr. Worthington. "Ham, you did an excellent job as always. You smoothed over some awkwardness and kept old Wallace from ripping out Garner’s throat at one point. I don’t know how you did it. I appreciate your help very much. Olney, you were magnificent! I knew something was going wrong below decks, but I doubt anyone on the main deck noticed. Everyone praised the selection of wines. Did you have anything to do with that?"

"No. I told the sommelier to make whatever selections he thought best and he seemed to know his business. I doubt whether he had ever been a crew chief before. That’s where he had problems. They didn’t even give him a copy of the contract so that he would know our special requirements. They just gave him this single sheet of paper." Olney handed it to his mother. "Why don’t we hire the guy? Besides knowing wines, he was very respectful and cooperative."

No one had any. Mr. Worthington stood up, shook hands with Mrs. Jefferson and thanked her. She passed him an envelope from her purse. He thanked her again and made his way to the front door. When it closed, Olney’s mother turned to Olney and Jeff and said, "Both of you saved the evening. The captain and first officer told me what you did. I am very proud and thankful. You can’t imagine how grateful I am. Olney, please lock up and set the alarm before you retire. Be ready at 9:00 AM for church tomorrow. We’ll be going to the 10:00 AM service. I have a lot to thank God for. Good night, Jeff."

Olney kissed his mother. He went to the front door and locked it and set the alarm on the security system. Olney and Jeff walked up the stairs together. Looking over the balcony, Jeff noticed Mrs. Jefferson sitting by herself staring thoughtfully out of the great room’s windows as he and Olney went to their separate rooms.

The next morning Jeff got ready and then went and sat at the bar in the great room waiting for Olney and his mother to appear. Sunlight was streaming into the room. Jeff felt happy. Olney’s mother appeared at about 8:30. She looked extremely tired. "Jeff, please join me in the kitchen for breakfast." Jeff followed Mrs. Jefferson into the kitchen. "There should be a bag of croissants over there." She pointed. "If you switch on the coffeemaker, it should be ready in a few minutes." She pointed again. "There are butter and jam in the refrigerator along with creamer. The sugar is over there." She pointed.

Jeff started the coffee and brought the bag of croissants, the jam, butter, creamer and sugar to the kitchen table. Jeff pulled out a chair for Mrs. Jefferson and helped her get seated as she wished. "It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day, Jeff."

"While we’re waiting for the coffee, how about telling me something about yourself."

Jeff told her about his stutter and about how he was doing better thanks to talking quietly and doing speech exercises at State University. He was nervous talking about his disability so he stuttered quite a bit. Mrs. Jefferson just listened patiently to him. Jeff realized that Olney had developed his patience not only from his mother’s disability but also from imitating her patience.

He told her it was in the San Joaquin Valley in the foothills of the Sierras north of Los Angeles.

Jeff told her that his parents were divorced, that his father, Garrett Johnson, was an attorney in San Francisco and that his mother, Garnet Johnson, had worked as a secretary at the local community college. Jeff told her that he had only one sibling, a sister, two years older.

Jeff replied that she was currently unemployed, that she was an alcoholic, that she had started drinking again but that she was going to meetings for alcoholics. He was hoping she would stop soon.

"No! After having seen what it did to my mother and my family, I won’t touch the stuff. Olney told me about your philosophy. He doesn’t drink either."

"I won the computer prize and the mathematics prize in my graduating class. I’m taking Calculus III right now. That puts me a year ahead of everyone else in my class."

"I do. We started helping each other last summer. Olney worked very hard. I think he is doing well this fall, too."

Just then, the coffeemaker burped and beeped. Jeff went over to it and took the glass coffeepot off the heat. "Do you have a trivet to put this on?"

"They are in the drawers over there." She pointed. "Cups are in the cupboard, there." Jeff brought the glass coffeepot to the table with the trivet and went back for the cups. Mrs. Jefferson used cream but no sugar. Jeff used both.

"The plates are next to where you found the cups and the silverware is in those drawers." Mrs. Jefferson pointed.

"Over there." Jeff went to the indicated drawer and found cloth napkins and brought them to the table. "Would you like your croissant warmed?"

"Yes, thank you." Jeff put two croissants on his plate and took them to the microwave. At the last minute he asked, "Should I wrap them in a napkin?"

Jeff wrapped them in a napkin, placed them on the plate and put them in the microwave. While they warmed, he retrieved another plate for himself. Before he could return to the table, Mrs. Jefferson asked him to bring a butter knife for the butter and spoons for the jam. When he returned to the table with the warmed croissants and plate and utensils, Mrs. Jefferson grimaced. Jeff was briefly startled but then noticed a twinkle in her eye; it was a smile.

Jeff reached for the plate to offer a croissant to Mrs. Jefferson but before he could complete the move, she bowed her head and said, "Let us pray. Lord, thank you for Jeff Johnson and for this food we are about to enjoy. Amen." Jeff managed to bow his head during most of the short prayer.

Mrs. Jefferson and Jeff ate quietly. The coffee and croissants were excellent. To make conversation, Jeff asked Olney’s mother how she got into business. She seemed pleased by the question.

"My father was in the real estate business here in Sarasota back in the 1950’s before the big boom. He asked me to become an insurance agent to sell policies to his clients. I was successful. When the big boom came, I worked with him investing in real estate. When pieces of a big ranch went on sale, I told my father I expected it to be a wonderful investment. We had no idea how wonderful it would be. We pooled our resources and bought big chunks of land at the south end of town. The land increased in value much more than we ever expected. Then my father died and I moved into commercial development partnering with other people. Not all my investments have been as good as buying that ranch land but my business has done well. During the cruise last night, we put together a partnership investing in a new shopping mall. The others didn’t want to have me as a partner, but they had little choice: I own the land under the site for the mall." Her eyes twinkled as she laughed.

Jeff was curious about her success, asking, "Why do you think you are successful?"

Jeff sat quietly, eating a croissant and drinking his coffee, thinking. He was not sure he agreed with her. Jeff always thought that his own life was one disaster after another. Olney’s mother’s life was different: though she also was a person with a disability, her life was not a string of disasters. When he compared their lives he realized that she had been given an excellent start in life whereas he had not. He felt that that was one big factor in her success. He tried to think of others.

"I’m thinking about your success. What advice could you give me? Certainly the Lord’s favor has been a big part of your success. But, is some of it just accidents? What about disasters?"

"Yes, accidents happen to everyone. Good accidents are called opportunities. You need to be prepared and ready when opportunities occur so you can take advantage of them. Study hard in school. Work hard. Ask questions. Be as prepared as you can be. Keep your eyes open. Learn as much as you can.

"Bad accidents are called disasters. You need to be prepared and ready in case disasters occur so you can recover from them. Insurance is one kind of preparation for disasters. Look at this house. The big garage under this house is designed to raise the living part up above expected storm surges. That makes our insurance less expensive and that tells me that this is the right way to build a house here. Insurance people know about disasters. They can give you advice to help prevent disasters and the insurance itself helps you recover from disasters.

"The help that you and Olney gave me last night forms a second kind of preparation. That kind of preparation is called ‘Plan B’ – you know – ‘Plan A’ is what you start with and what you are expecting to work and ‘Plan B’ is what you do when ‘Plan A’ fails. I was expecting that there would be no problems with the catering because Olney had written a detailed contract for me last summer. They signed it and I though that would end our catering problems. That contract was my ‘Plan A.’ It didn’t work and I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have a ‘Plan B.’ It turned out you and Olney were my ‘Plan B.’ I’m glad you decided to be on the cruise with me.

"Opportunities happen in everyone’s life. Disasters happen, too. The only advice I can give is to be prepared."

He could only think of his own life. What "insurance" did he have? None: he had no one to give him advice as to how to prevent disasters and he had no way to recover when they occurred. He also had no "Plan B" for his life. Going to State University was his "Plan A" and he had no "Plan B." Olney’s mother must have read his mind because she asked him, "So, Jeff, what are your plans for your life?"

"I plan to become a computer engineer or a mathematician after I graduate from SU."

"Have you thought about graduate school rather than getting a job right after graduation?"

Jeff thought about his love life. Was Olney "Plan A?" Was Jimmy "Plan B?" What was Tommy?

He thought about his academic life and realized Dr. Testeronomy was "Plan B" for his math class and Coach Gelling had been his "insurance." He had a warm feeling when he realized that SU had helped him with disasters. He smiled.

Mrs. Jefferson noticed. "You are smiling. You see examples of what I am saying in your own life?"

"Yes, ma’am. Thank you very much. This conversation has been very important to me. I learned far more here than in any lecture at SU except for the one by my history teacher on the Roman Empire."

"He said, ‘One disaster is an accident, two disasters indicate bad management and continuous disasters are evidence of a plan.’ He was trying to explain the collapse of the Roman Empire."

"I don’t know. I’m not sure why Olney was upset with the quality of the appetizers. They just seemed unappetizing to me, but I’m not ... I mean, what do I know?"

"The appetizers were inappropriate because I have CP. You ought to see me try to wipe gluey stuff from my fingers; I wanted dry appetizers. The appetizers were also inappropriate because we were on a boat. I wanted something easy on the stomach, something light with ginger in it. Ginger helps settle the stomach. The channel is usually very quiet but we might have hit some waves. It would be a big problem if everyone were hanging over the rails vomiting. Those appetizers could have prevented me from making a deal. That, plus the problems with the ‘Champaign’ and the ‘brandy’ could have jeopardized it. You know my feelings about alcohol and it makes my CP worse."

"I have done business with this caterer for over thirty years. He is an old friend of mine."

"Jeff, I enjoyed this conversation very much. Could you please go up and find out what is delaying Olney?"

Jeff went up the stairs, walked down the balcony to Olney’s door and knocked on it. There was no answer, so he opened the door and looked in. He was still in bed. Jeff entered and closed the door. Olney was in bed on his stomach, sound asleep. Jeff pulled the covers off him and looked at him. He was nude. His large buttock was sticking up in the air and his dick looked like a small leg. Jeff expected him to have a morning woody, but when he picked it up and stroked it, he found it to be limp. Jeff put the end near his mouth and spoke into it as if he were speaking into a microphone. "Earth calling Olney. Earth calling Olney. Come in, Olney." No response. Then he stroked Olney more. Olney stirred a little but did not wake up so Jeff pressed his finger against Olney’s hole.

Olney’s eyes snapped open and he raised his head. "Wha ... what are you doing?"

"I’m waking you up. If you don’t get up soon, you will be late for church. It’s 9:15. You were supposed to be up at 9. Get a move on."

"Not until you get up, go into the bathroom and get ready to go to church. Come on, I’ll walk you into the bathroom."

Groggily, Olney got up and put his right arm around Jeff’s shoulders. Jeff walked him into the bathroom and helped him start the shower. Once Olney started soaping himself, Jeff retreated to his own bathroom to wash his hands. When he was done, he returned to Olney’s room and carried his crutches into the bathroom. Olney was shaving in the shower so Jeff returned to the kitchen.

Mrs. Jefferson was putting away the breakfast things. Jeff helped her. As they worked, she said, "Do you think he will be on time?"

"I think so. When I checked on him before coming down, he was shaving in the shower. How long does it take to drive to church?"

"It depends on the bridge. Sometimes it has to be open. That blocks traffic. Once we get over the bridge, it is only about a 10-minute drive. I like to leave here before 9:30."

After they had cleaned up and Jeff had wiped the table, they went back to the great room to sit and watch the waterway, waiting for Olney to appear. There seemed to be a lot of boat traffic behind the house. Eventually, Olney showed up and they left for church with Olney driving the limousine.

They were slightly early. The church was named "Olde Tyme Gospel Cathedral." Jeff wondered just how "Olde Tyme" it was. He doubted they would read the scriptures in Greek or Hebrew; he thought they would probably read them in the original – in the King James Version. He was right.

The main theme of the service seemed to be concerned with the danger posed by sinful liberals and homosexuals. Neither Olney nor his mother seemed surprised by this; perhaps it was a common theme. The minister told a story about how a religious group had to shut down its program because of protests by gay activists and the decision of a liberal activist judge.

Mrs. Jefferson asked Jeff to put his mother’s name on a prayer card for later in the service. He did. She asked Olney to fill out a prayer card asking for a special prayer of thanksgiving for an anonymous person. He did.

Except for the theme and the obvious prejudice of the minister, Jeff felt the service was nice enough. They prayed for his mother by name and that made Jeff feel very good. They also made a prayer of thanksgiving for an anonymous person and that gave him a warm feeling. When the basket was passed, neither Jeff nor Olney put anything in it. Mrs. Jefferson put an envelope in it. No mention was made that Thursday would be Thanksgiving Day.

The church service lasted for a little over an hour and a half. As they left the church, the minister shook hands with everyone and thanked them for coming. He smiled and made some friendly comments to Mrs. Jefferson and Olney as he warmly shook their hands. Jeff was introduced as a friend of Olney’s from college and received a perfunctory handshake.

They had lunch at a nearby restaurant because Olney was starved; he had not eaten breakfast. After lunch they returned to the Jefferson family home and changed clothes.

Olney and Jeff headed out to the beach in Olney’s red four-wheel drive SUV. It was high, had a short wheelbase, big tires and a roll cage. It was open to the air and Jeff enjoyed roaring along with the wind blowing on him. They stopped at a beach park and Olney drove out onto the hard-packed sand. He hopped out, got some yellow plastic disks from the SUV and clipped them to the tips of his crutches. They prevented the crutch tips from sinking into the sand. Jeff was impressed.

They drove to several other beaches and spent the afternoon walking along the beach and talking. Jeff asked Olney about the theme of the church service, "Is homosexuality a common theme of the church service?"

Jeff had been irritated by several comments the minister made. He asked about one. "The minister spoke about ‘special rights.’ Do you know what he meant?"

"I’m not sure. He mentioned that we get our rights from God individually. Now fuzzy-thinking liberals want to grant rights based on what group you belong to."

"Olney, in any system of prejudice, bigotry is directed toward people based on what group they belong to. People struggling to end prejudice want to end it based on groups because that’s how it works. For example, some people are prejudiced against people with disabilities – against that group of people because they think there is something wrong with them. So, liberals and conservatives passed laws protecting people in that group from the actions of the bigots. You, your mother and I are all members of that group. I don’t feel that I have any ‘special rights.’ Do you?"

"By asking to be treated fairly, do you think we are asking for ‘special rights?’"

Olney was puzzled, "I don’t know ... maybe to force religious institutions to hire gay people ... something like that?"

"This is another example of what I was talking about. Those institutions were refusing to hire gay people because they belonged to a certain group: they were discriminating against people based on what group they belonged to. In that particular case, tax funds were being used to hire people and gay people were not hired because they belonged to a certain group."

"Gay activists shut their program down because gay people wanted special rights."

"No, they were told they couldn’t discriminate against gay people using tax money. They had three options: they could have continued their program using private donations and could have discriminated all they wanted; they could have stopped discriminating or they could have shut their program down. The law forbade them to use public funds to discriminate. Gay people didn’t want any special rights; they wanted equal access to jobs funded by public tax money – by their own tax money. The religious institution chose to shut their program down; gay activists didn’t shut it down."

Olney didn’t seem convinced. Jeff had been lucky to go to meetings of both the gay-straight student alliance and the organization for students with disabilities. Both groups discussed discrimination and Jeff was surprised to hear how similar the two discussions were. By listening to the minister and to Olney, Jeff came to understand more clearly how discrimination worked.

While Olney didn’t seem to have learned anything from their talk, Jeff did and so, for him, it was a wonderful afternoon. They returned to the house in time for dinner.

Mrs. Jefferson had been asleep on a couch in the great room and she awakened when they came into the house. She told them there was food in the refrigerator and they could prepare anything they liked. They ate sandwiches. Mrs. Jefferson had a salad.

As they ate, they discussed the schedule for the rest of the week. Mrs. Jefferson said that she would be out almost all day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but would be at home in the evening. Olney said that he and Jeff would be out those days, too, to do shopping and perhaps be on the boat or go swimming. He wasn’t sure what would be happening in the evening.

Mrs. Jefferson said that she wanted Thursday to be a family day, which she hoped to spend with them. Olney said that both of them would be available all day Thursday.

After dinner, Olney and Jeff retreated to Olney’s room where they played video games and watched movies. They stayed up late because they did not have to get up early for any reason.

On Monday morning, after eating some of the leftover croissants for breakfast, Olney and Jeff headed out in the SUV. They went to a mall and found a pay phone that Olney used to call his family doctor for an appointment. He explained that he needed an appointment as soon as possible and they gave him an appointment for the next day, Tuesday, at 9:00AM. On the way back home, they checked the beach and saw that there was some "wave action." They got Olney’s surfboard and took it to a beach on one of the keys where Olney taught Jeff how to surf. Jeff found it to be harder than it looked on television. Olney was able to surf easily on his one leg by squatting and holding onto the board with his hands. He also did some handstands on the board.

Olney’s mother ordered dinner delivered from one of the Amish restaurants in town. It was delivered by taxicab. Jeff enjoyed the dinner because it was so much like the dinners his grandmother prepared.

That evening, Jeff and Olney again played video games and watched movies, but this time they retired early. Tomorrow would be Olney’s big day.

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