Between Mothers and Sons

“Mom, can I talk to you for a minute?” Ray asked his mother while she was ironing his shirts. He was not at all sure how this conversation was going to go. He loved both of his parents, but was closest to his mom. He had never kept anything a secret from her. He had only recently admitted some things to his dad, but his mother had always known.

“Of course, Stanley. What is it, Son?”

“Well, Mom, you’ve met Ben Fraser.”

“Oh, yes, your nice Canadian friend. Although I’m sure I don’t understand why a Canadian police officer is your partner. Is he in some kind of an exchange program?”

“No, Mom. He first came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of his father and remained at the Canadian Consulate as a lesion, I mean liason. But that’s not important just now. What is important is.., well. Anyway, we work together on cases sometimes. So we’re like partners, and friends.”

“Stanley? Is there something else that you want to tell me?”

“Yeah, ya see, Mom, Fraser’s more than just a friend. I mean, me and him, the two of us. I mean, it’s like this...” Ray paced nervously around the small living room in his apartment. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

Mrs. Kowalski finished hanging the shirt she had just finished and turned off the iron. Crossing to where Ray was nervously pacing, she stopped to stand in front of him.

“Stanley, Son. Look at me. Maybe I can make this a little easier for you. The two of you are partners in more ways than one. Am I right?”

Ray looked at his mother in comlete surprise. Surely his mother couldn’t know. Surely his mother couldn’t possibly know that there was such a thing as being gay. Surely his mother, not ‘his’ mother.

“Mom?”

“It’s ok, Stanley. I’ve seen the two of you look at each other. I may be a little old fashioned, but I’m not stupid. I know love when I see it. And he’s a fine young man, so polite and everything. But I think we’ll just keep this between the two of us for a little while. After the way your dad reacted when you went to the Academy...well, I think he wouldn’t be too crazy about the idea of you sleeping a police officer, especially one who is another man.”

Again, Ray looked at his mother in surprise. Sleeping with...now that was something that he really had trouble with. His mother ‘knew’ that he and Fraser were sleeping with each other.

“Mom!” Ray blushed as he looked at his mother.

“It’s ok, Stanley. You see, in the trailer park in Arizona, there is a nice young couple that live next to us...Larry and Arthur. Larry has been really good about helping us. You know, Son, there are things that your dad just can’t do anymore. So Larry does a lot around the place for us. And Arthur has his own interior decorating business and has given me some wonderful advice.”

She drew her son into her arms and held him tightly for a moment. “Now, Stanley, why don’t you call him and invite him over for Sunday dinner. I’ll fix something nice, and we can get to know each other a little better.”

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