Ann said Hi...and everyone got a hug.
"Can you believe that Kenny doesn't have a boyfriend?" Teddy asked Ann and Dylan.
"No, frankly," Ann said and Dylan nodded.
"Well, he doesn't," Teddy said as Kenny stood by looking more than a bit bemused.
"I don't want one. I don't have time for one," Kenny said,
and Ann said,
"Good for you boy, plenty of time for that."
"My thoughts exactly."
"But," Dylan interjected..."Bet you could have plenty if you wanted."
"Yeh, maybe."
Ann:
"Oh, before I forget. the Lassiters are coming for dinner. You guys gonna eat with us too?"
"Yeh, Yeh, ok sure." The three Lassiter children and Jake said in unison.
"Good. Pig parts and poison mushrooms tonight."
"Mother, please," Jake said laughing.
"What?" Ann said with a smirk.
"Teddy," Dylan said.
"Yeh."
"You ok?"
"Sure, why not?"
"You been through a lot, boy. Wouldn't be logical if you didn't have some after stuff. Yah know?"
Teddy stood for a minute and then began a thorough eyeball search of his shoes. Making sure of something, perhaps...or just perhaps hoping the question and everyone else would just drop into a big dark sinkhole.
"Teddy?" Ann asked as she slipped around Dylan and put her arms around Teddy.
"Yeh?"
"C'mon sweetie. Let's get this behind us."
"What I am trying to do, Ann."
"Needs to talk it out sprout," Dylan added.
"I don't wanna."
"Honey, it will fester and eat at you until it is all-consuming if you don't get it out and dispensed with," Ann continued.
"Honey, it will get better. I promise," Ann said softly into his ear.
At that point, he began to lose it.
"I sure hope so. This sucks."
"I know baby, I know."
"I never thought much about things like this back in Connecticut. Everyone always seemed so accepting. But to be hated or even just royally disliked for something that others perceive about you, true or not, is horrible. Bad. I'm not used to this."
Ann continued...
"People and kids especially, can be unforgivingly cruel when they look at others around them and perceive them as different from themselves...even if they are not. Adults do it too. We are now such a polarized country, and primarily that is because of imagined differences, not reality but merely others perceptions. We are for the most part much more alike than different...all of us are human beings and share pretty much the same qualities as everyone else. But so many of us try to create divisions based on what they seem to see rather than what is there. Gender, orientation, age, color, nationality, ethnicity, you name it. Black, white, male, female, gay and straight...the list goes on honey, but we don't have to give into that crap. Others can think and see what they want but WE have to make the choice to accept others as they are and for whom they are...irrespective of the differences, or we fall into the same trap of hatred and bigotry. Trust me, as a prosecutor I see this BS all the time."
"Yeh, I guess."
"We are better than that."
"Yeh, we are," and Teddy slowly began to smile.
"It is WE who define ourselves, and Teddy...NEVER let others define you. They will get it wrong every time and you shouldn't do that either. You need to engage in acceptance and tolerance rather than discrimination and hate. Hate eats at you like a cancer, love nourishes. Tolerance soothes the soul, bigotry erodes it and destroys your inner peace. You should never want to engage in hate for it will eat you alive. Love is always the answer. Just ask Dylan and Jake."
A big smile began to cross Teddy's face and also Dylan's and Jake's. Ann hugged him hard, and then so did Dylan and Jake. Real love-fest.
"Thanks, Ann."
"No problem kiddo. It is called 'Life Amidst The Roses' rather than "Death Amidst The Thorns."
"YEH. I would rather be a rose than a thorn."
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