Work Text:
“Your father wore something similar to his prom.” 68 year old Grant Anderson buckled himself into the Pontiac as his grandson started the ignition and pulled out of the small driveway. “His suit was green though. Do you remember the pictures?”
“I do.” Anderson nodded and smiled. “It was velvet if memory serves…green velvet.”
“Yes it was. Are you taking a pretty girl, Grant? I took a really pretty girl on my prom. She wasn’t as pretty as your grandma but she had to turn me down because she already had a beau. The girl I took looked like Linda Darnell.”
“Forever Amber Linda Darnell or A Letter to Three Wives Linda Darnell?”
“I never thought about that.” Grandpa replied. “She was a stunner though. Do you have a date yet? I don’t want you holding out for Linda Darnell.”
“Well actually I'm taking a rather handsome guy.”
“A guy?” his grandfather looked at him. “Why?”
“Why not?”
“I guess that’s true as well. Are you fighting the establishment Grant, because I'm all for that. You know I protested the war.”
“Which one, Grandpa?” Anderson asked.
“All of them. I was born right after America entered WWII and my bum leg kept me out of Vietnam but I would’ve been a conscientious objector anyway. Maybe I would’ve moved to Canada if they tried to draft me. Men who date men can get married there you know. I read that on the internet.”
“They can get married here too…in DC anyway.”
“I read that in the Post. The times are surely changing and I'm glad I'm here to see it.”
“I'm not fighting the Establishment though, Grandpa. I mean if they feel screwed then that’s fine by me, but I'm taking Hotch on the prom because I care about him. He's my boyfriend.” He squinted when he said it. Coming out still felt weird. Sometimes Anderson felt that the whole world knew but there were still people he loved who never heard it from his lips.
“Are you gay?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I thought Mom would’ve told you by now. I came out to her when I was thirteen. She thought it was because I missed Dad and the male influence in my life. That didn’t make sense but a lot didn’t make sense around that time.”
“I forget things sometimes, like where I left my keys or if I fed the cat.” Grandpa said. “I'm old; shit happens. I don’t think I would’ve forgotten that. Grant, that’s a big one.”
“It’s a rather big one, I guess.” Anderson said. “I don’t think you would’ve forgotten.”
“I'm sure a lot of people have told you that homosexuality is a sin. The Bible says so.”
“Actually it says man shall not lie with man as he does with woman, for it is an abomination. I think I'm OK since I've never lied with a woman before.”
“Smartass.” He poked Anderson's arm. “May as well let the good guys find loopholes in the good book since the bad guys do it all the time, huh?”
“I try.” Anderson smiled.
“I think you got that from me. So, is this boy from a good family?”
“Yeah. His father is a former State Senator from Virginia. His mother kinda looks like Joanne Woodward in her heyday; she's very Southern and elegant.”
“Joanne Woodward is gorgeous.”
“She was a babe in From the Terrace.” Anderson said.
“How many times did Grandma make you sit through that movie?”
“More times than I can count. More times than The Way We Were, and that was a lot. Before you ask though, Barbra Streisand didn’t make me gay. I don’t even like Yentl.”
“And it wasn’t Judy Garland either?” Grandpa asked.
“It may have been a little bit Judy Garland. Science has all but proven that she just has that effect on mere mortals.”
“I'm not one to argue with true blue science.”
They were quiet for a while, just driving down the road. It was raining now, not pouring but a steady rain. That was going to slow down traffic, which was already dreadfully slow on Sundays anyway. A one way trip between Grandpa’s senior condo and the Anderson home was usually an hour and twenty minutes on a good day. Anderson didn’t know how long he’d be in the car this go round. Luckily his grandfather was always good company.
“Wanna listen to some music?” Anderson asked. “I got Born to Run in the CD player.”
“What are you waiting for? Let’s hear The Boss.”
Smiling, Anderson turned on the radio and then the CD player. It had been his father who introduced him to Bruce Springsteen, as Grandpa had done with him years before. They used to listen to him, and lots of other music together, all the time. Those memories were so precious to Anderson. As he got older many of his childhood memories faded from consciousness.
He held onto the music with his dad with both hands. He was happy to still have his grandfather, who was wonderful on his own but also like a small piece of his father. The two had always been close. In recent years Anderson got all wrapped up in his own teenage happenings, as most teenagers would. But driving along with Thunder Road playing and the highway laid out in front of them like they were Thelma and Louise, he reminded himself that he would have to spend more time with the original Grant Anderson while they had it.
“Hey Grandpa?”
“Yeah kid?”
“You're OK with me being gay, right? I mean if you're not OK I get it because sometimes family is not OK no matter how much they love you. I just don’t want you to be ashamed of me or anything. I'm still the same Grant I always was.”
“I watch those parents who disown their kids and grandkids on Dr. Phil sometimes, and it’s always over something stupid. You, and your sisters, are the last connection I have to my beloved son. And even if Dan were still here, you'd still be amazing. You're my grandson and I love you. I would never be ashamed of you.
“It’s not like you're the first gay person I know or anything…not to negate your struggle in the least. Gary and Joe, my neighbors, are gay too. We have barbecues and sometimes I go over to their place to play cards or watch Miss Marple. They love British mysteries. They also know lots of pretty women, which I admit is good for me.”
“I remember Joe.” Anderson said.
“You should, since you once told him that his German accent made him sound like a movie bad guy.” Grandpa laughed.
“It does!” Anderson laughed too. “I was only like 10…I didn’t realize there are things that go through your head that you're not actually supposed to say aloud.”
“There are?”
“That’s what I heard anyway. You can tell me I'm wrong and I’ll accept it as absolute.”
“Does prom date have a name?” Grandpa asked.
“Aaron Hotchner.”
“Oh, I've heard about him. Your mother said he ran the yearbook committee and that she made him spaghetti. And he's your boyfriend or just a random guy? Kids these days do a lot of random dating, and there's nothing wrong with that. They're committing later and later in life…they might be onto something we never were. Most of us were pretty locked down on life by 18. I couldn’t imagine you being that way.”
“He's my boyfriend. I wooed him with my penchant for useless trivia and my smoldering blue-grey eyes.”
“That’s how you get ‘em. I look forward to meeting him.”
“I thought about inviting him on our road trip.” Anderson said. “I was going to bring Spencer along but we’ll be gone about two weeks and I know Spencer doesn’t like to leave his mom for that long. His dad works all the time so he doesn’t always pay attention to what she might need. You wouldn’t mind if Hotch tags along, would you?”
“If you bring your boyfriend I'm going to need you to help me pick up lovely senior women along the way. We can hit roadside diners and bingo halls.”
“Done.” Anderson held out his fist and his grandfather hit it with his.
The Anderson men were taking the nearly 2300 road trip to the Grand Canyon for Anderson's high school graduation. He’d always wanted to see it. More importantly, he'd always wanted to get into his car and just drive away. There was honestly no one he’d rather spend that time with more than Grandpa and Hotch. If Amanda didn’t get car sick on long drives he was sure he could’ve dragged her along too. There would be music, the wind in their hair, the moon in the sky, and a collection of America’s best mid-priced motels. He was looking forward to every awesome minute of it.
“You’ve come such a long way, Grant. We were all worried about you when your dad died…I know how tough that time was for you. My mother died when I was eleven and my father was a good provider but not much for nurturing. I had to raise myself and my younger brother and sister even after my stepmother came alone. You’ve done so well in school. You have friends and things that interest you and you even manage to find time for your old grandpa. You're a good kid.”
“I try to be.” Anderson smiled some.
“You still going into the FBI?” Grandpa asked.
“That’s my plan. Though I might make a short film before then, maybe try to do a semester abroad since I'm going to school so close, and Amanda and I plan to spend at least one summer following this Carpenters tribute band around the United States. I think I’ll find time for all of it.”
“You're only young once.” Grandpa said. “You can do it when you're old but then it'll take a shorter amount of time to forget the memories. Better to have all of that fun now.”
School couldn’t be over fast enough. Anderson was planning on making this summer one of the best of his life. If he was lucky there would be more good ones over the rest of his life but this would be one of the first where he would get to try on a more adventurous spirit. For a long time Anderson preferred the pleasure of his own company, or something like that. In a few months he would come all the way out…in more ways than one.
***