Read A Time for Friends for Free Online Page B

him to argue.
    ‘Have I any choice?’ he retorted, entertained at the notion that he could make a straight, six foot Kerry man jealous.
    ‘No! You can wear jeans, and a T-shirt and jacket and a normal type of leather belt, not one of those ones with the big buckles, and get your hair cut in a buzz cut.’
    ‘Aahhh, that’s going a bit far now, Orla,’ he protested. He liked his casually tossed blond shaggy look.
    ‘OK then, but let me blow-dry it and part it at the side.’
    ‘Orlaaaaaaaaaa! A side parting, noooooooooo!’
    ‘You can’t look gay,’ she protested.
    ‘But I
am
gay!’ he pointed out.
    ‘I need you to be a manly man, just for one night,’ she’d pouted. ‘Pleaseeeeee.’
    ‘Do with me what you will!’ Jonathan had said resignedly and laughed when his friend flung her arms around him.
    They had planned to hit the nightclub that weekend but fortunately for him Orla’s period had arrived unexpectedly early and she was flattened with a migraine and, big no-no, her chin had
erupted with three large spots. Not a good look to make an ex jealous, she’d informed Jonathan glumly before trudging upstairs to get something to eat, and take to the bed.
    He might take to the bed himself, Jonathan yawned. He needed to get in the right frame of mind for his course tomorrow. Today had been a tough day at work, and he still felt shaky after a run-in
with Gerard, but at least he’d stood up for himself and let his obnoxious boss know that he was no longer prepared to be bullied.
    He took the small notebook out of his pocket and flipped open the cover. Beneath the date and time that he had written in neatly were the words:
My grade 4, Gerard Hook, called me a
shirt-lifter in public in the staff canteen, while I was on my tea break. My colleague Gwen Reilly was a witness and is prepared to verify my complaint.
    Jonathan reread the sentences. He would make a stand if he had to, but hopefully, Hook would tone it down now that he was aware that Jonathan wasn’t prepared to take his odious guff any
more.
    It didn’t get any easier. He’d had to stand his ground many times at school, and as a teenager and young adult, but today marked another turning point on his journey. Gwen had been
laughing uproariously at one of his witticisms when he’d heard Gerard say in his raspy growl, ‘Hey, you!’
    Jonathan felt his stomach tie itself in knots but he ignored the other man, who had never used his first name since he’d started in the office.
    ‘You
! I’m talking to you,’ Gerard said irately.
    ‘I think he’s talking to you, Jon,’ Gwen murmured.
    ‘I’m not answering to “you”. I have a name!’ Jonathan kept his back resolutely to his boss who was sitting at the table behind him.
    The next minute Gerard was standing beside them.
    ‘You lot are here more than fifteen minutes. Get back to your desks. What do you mean by
ignoring
me when I’m speaking to you?’
    ‘Oh!’ said Jonathan politely. ‘I didn’t hear my name being called. What can I do for you, Mr Hook?’
    ‘Don’t get smart with me, you little shirt-lifter.’ Gerard was so incensed he was almost spitting.
    The hum of chatter at their table had ceased and all eyes were on Jonathan. A strange calm descended on him and he took a small notebook he carried out of his pocket. Very slowly and
deliberately he opened it to a blank page, looked at his watch, wrote down the time and date and began to write.
    ‘What are you writing in that?’ Gerard blustered, realizing he had overstepped the mark.
    ‘I am writing down the time and date, and your gratuitous insult, Mr Hook, and if you persist in your bullying and disrespectful behaviour, I
will
be reporting you to the
Personnel Department and may take the matter to my solicitor.’ He stood up and with his head held high left the canteen and made for the men’s loos. Once behind the relative privacy of
a cubicle door he let the hot tears flow silently and tried hard to smother his