Conjugated - A Jonnor Tale

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Force of Equality

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Force of Equality

"You'll need more than fabulousness to defeat me, Rainbowalker," Darth Hater said.

"You're not strong with the Force of Equality like I am, Hater," Luke said. "What else have you got?"

Hater put his hand on his chin contemplatively. "I have thousands of years of obsolete history that says marriage should only be between a man and a woman. A bunch of silly arguments about why the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom is a license to discriminate. And there's more where that came from."

"Give it your best shot, then," Luke said. "Cuz you're on the wrong side of the Force and the wrong side of history, too." He activated his light saber, Hater did the same. They came together and as their sabers clashed the stage broke out into pandemonium, with Jay throwing his helmet off and fighting Jabba's guards.

"Those are all members of Jay's Tae Kwan Do class," Taylor explained to Sophia. "I hope this part works, it was the most complicated in the rehearsal."

As Jay and Hand battled the guards, Leia threw her "chain" around Jabba and started choking him with it.

"Did you digitally capture that from the movie or something?" Sophia asked. "It's so real!"

"Yes," Taylor said. "It was extracted using a rotoscoping technique and then fed into Mariana's projection system." She smiled as "Jabba" died.

Jay was kicking, spinning and thrusting at the guards, "Hand" was doing the same.

"Jude must have practiced quite a bit," Sophia whispered to Taylor.

"Yeah, Jay trained him on what to do. It's all his choreography actually, he's really good."

One by one the guards were knocked out and then Hand, Leia, and Jay stood back as Luke fought Darth Hater. It seemed to be a stalemate, but then Luke jumped back. "Time for my secret weapon!" he said. He aimed his open palm at Hater and a rainbow jumped out of it.

"Nooooooo!" Hater cried out. He crumpled to the ground and the audience cheered as the curtain closed.

The curtain opened again and the cast was lined up for a bow, to more cheering. Jude and Connor went over to the mike as the rest of the cast went off stage.

"We hope you enjoyed our little dramatization of how the force of equality is changing the world," Jude said. "In reality the fight is ongoing. There are still lots of kids out there who are afraid to come out, and LGBT kids and adults who get discriminated against. Protections against this discrimination are not strong or uniform across the country."

Connor spoke. "There are lots of LGBT homeless youth, and LGBT kids suffer from depression more than their peers and have a higher risk for self-harming behaviors and or suicide. The Ronnoc Center is going to offer comprehensive services to all of our area's LGBT youth. It will offer transitional housing, medical and psychiatric services, counseling and educational programs. It is one of the first facilities of its kind and will be a great benefit to our community."

"We want to thank you for donating to the Center," Jude said. "Enjoy the rest of the party." He and Connor waved to the applause and came down from the stage.

***

Later at Southridge, Connor was washing off his makeup when Jude came into the bathroom. "Hey so guess what...Jefferson is going to come here for Thanksgiving dinner."

"Oh nice," Connor said. "He can see what his guys did here, that'll be fun. So I talked to my dad, and he and Ella are actually thinking of selling the house and getting a condo, there's a condo building right across from the center. Would make it a lot easier for them."

"Oh okay," Jude said. "Would you have to go there too?"

"Nah," Connor said. "My dad is okay with me living here at Southridge, especially since we'll be paying mom's rent. He's planning to contribute some money too, for food and stuff." He turned to face Jude. "So if your moms are cool with this plan, it means we'll live together here, all the time. I wouldn't have to back to my dad's anymore, unless I wanted to of course."

"This is one of the best things I've ever heard," Jude said. "To be honest, it sucks when you're not here. I deal with it, but I don't like it."

Connor nodded and took Jude into his arms. "I don't like it either cakes. I miss you too much when I'm not here." He stared into Jude's eyes. "You know, so I can make googley eyes at you. Although being away does tell me how I just can't live without you."

"Now you won't have to. Live without me, that is." Jude kissed him. "No school tomorrow, you want to stay up late?"

"Officer-level thinking, Ship Captain Jude," Connor said.

"Is that your blaster in your pocket? Or are you just happy to see me?" Jude asked with a smile.

Connor laughed and holding Jude's hand, pulled him to the bedroom.

***

The first few weeks of November were a blur of activity. Jude and Connor signed their rental agreement with Stef and Lena, and finished the outside of Southridge. They used their initial salary money to expand the solar panel units and battery system, with the upgrade they would be able to power both the main house and Southridge with power to spare. A week before Thanksgiving, Jude and Connor rode over to the Stevens house to do their usual maintenance. Connor stopped and wistfully looked at the For Sale sign in the front.

"Did someone buy the bed?" Jude asked.

"Yeah, yesterday," Connor said. "I officially don't have a single thing in here anymore. Everything I had is either moved into Southridge or sold." He looked at Jude. "End of an era." He walked to the garage and opened it, rolled the lawn mower out. "This winter is being kind of weird," he said. "It's so warm."

"There was a news report on about that," Jude said. "It's the El Niño, it's making the temperature go up more than usual." He looked at Connor's glance. "Yeah, I'm an old granny that watches the news. Wanna make something of it?"

"Nah, cuz that 'granny' would beat my ass," Connor said, checking the gas level in the mower.

"I only beat your ass the way you like it to get beat," Jude said, winking at him.

"No lie, although technically you poke it, not beat it." He walked over to the gas can, picked it up. "Oh, I guess we need gas for the mower. That sucks, probably the last time we have to use it, unless the house doesn't sell right away."

"Didn't a bunch of people look at it already?" Jude asked.

"Yeah. Makes me wonder if we'll get any new faces at Anchor Beach."

"Maybe not, they may just go to the normal school. Some of the kids around here do."

"Yeah. Doesn't Jay's dad work at a gas station?"

Jude nodded and dug out his phone. "Yeah I'll text him." He typed in an inquiry and waited. His phone vibrated right away. "Yeah it's down on Third, and Jay is there, he's working there part time after school."

"Oh cool," Connor said. "Let's ride down there." They put their helmets back on and Connor strapped the gas can to his bike shelf. They got on and rode, it took about ten minutes to get there. "I think we need to pay first," Connor said. He opened the door. Jay was sweeping in one of the aisles. "Hey Jay!"

"Hey Connor," Jay greeted, waving. Connor went up to the counter, there was a greasy-haired guy there buying a pack of cigarettes. Connor crinkled his nose, feeling grateful that he didn't have any bad habits like smoking. The guy handed Jay's dad a twenty and Jay's dad popped the register open. The guy suddenly pulled out a gun.

"Empty it into a bag! Empty it!" the guy yelled. He turned as Jude entered and gasped as he saw the gun. "Do it," the guy said, turning the gun on Connor. "Or I'll shoot this kid."