Boston Legal Aid/slash
Alan mused as he sat on the balcony and smoked yet another cigar, and sipped on yet another Scotch. Since Denny had begun his experimental drug, he was doing well enough to be alone for a great deal of the time, and Alan wondered if he dare to practice law again, even on a volunteer basis. He had heard of Legal Aid clinics in Boston, where his pay would be very limited or non-existent, but he was pretty sure that Denny would want no part of those alternatives! So why couldn't HE work there? He felt certain that it would be the sort of work he would love most. Since Ronald Reagan had brought back the attitude of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, Legal Aid clinics had begun to run very low on funds, so he thought that volunteering for free work would be appreciated by both poor clients and Legal Aid clinics who were being required to take on more and more responsibilities with little or no federal funding, like many of the other unfunded mandates that had grown into monsters facing those wishing to help society, much like the "poor man's" welfare in Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries.. He had always thought of these as the product of some of the noblest thoughts in the world. He felt sure that if wide-spread health insurance ever became embraced, there would be plenty of law cases around, especially if the poor were allowed health-care. He knew that no criminal law legal aid was offered in Boston, but alleviation in civil cases could help many elderly, real estate, and family law areas that were not available to those with limited income.
About 12:00 noon, his husband (Denny), burst in the door, smiling and chuckling. "I have always thought of coming home for lunch for a little whoopee" as a midday treat! And here you are!"
Alan got up to greet him with a warm hug and a cheek brush. "I am indeed," pouted Alan. "Yes, just like a great useless whale."
Denny pulled back from the embrace to look Alan in the face: "Why so glum, dearest?' he wanted to know.
Alan replied with some hesitation, "Denny, I could be working now, and doing some good! I am not physically handicapped or ill! So I am working somewhat for Chang, Poole, and Schmidt. But they have dumped you summarily, so I have little use for them. And I am not talking about the great hulking salary I made before the buy-out!"
"I suppose the charm of Chang, Poole and Schmidt is wearing off," Denny guessed. "So, my being at home to you is not enough! Nor my living with you!"
Alan realized he had been right in his hesitance to broach this subject. "This has nothing to do with you, my love!"
"We just get settled in when he wants to take a job! Isn't that the way!"
Alan sighed, then returned: "This is not an episode of 'Father Knows Best'. I thought the days of husbands demanding their spouses to stay home and cook and clean were long gone!"
Denny screwed up his face and lowered his voice. "So I am no longer fulfilling for you?And it's not my fault that I can't give you a baby in which you can lose yourself, you know!"
"So untrue (the not fulfilling part)! And we both know that I am not one to deliver your baby, baby! I just feel that I can both work and help others and not slight you. I feel lazy and unhelpful now."
Denny looked close to tears. "Alan, you are not unhelpful to me! Where is this that you can be so helpful?"
Alan slid his arm around Denny's shoulder and pressed his cheek to Denny's. "I am thinking about Legal Aid work. Their federal funding has become dangerously low especially since Ronald Reagan, the two Bushes and the cadre of conservative legions insisting that every one should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, whether they can or not. And the legal aid clinics are crying out for bar-recognized lawyers to help the elderly's cases, real estate cases, and even medical fraud cases to be addressed. Those who remain are like volunteer doctors in poor clinic situations. Part of their problem is that they must give some compensation to assisting attorneys. I could offer them my services free, saving them a great deal of money, importantly, and mostly they offer associated and contributing attorneys payment of their malpractice insurance as well. And mine is paid up for quite a while, helping them further."
Denny screwed up his face. "And just how much would you be making, my dear?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? Nothing! That's the point. We don't NEED to make money now. I have earned quite enough to live with you on my own money very well."
"And so how often would you be home?" Denny still looked disappointed. "Just as my new medicine is working, now we can travel and fish, and whatever else we enjoy doing, You are going to run out on me!"
"I know, but I feel I can help others who cannot afford these advantages. Of course, I would still be coming home to you every night! There are a lot of these clinics in Boston, you know."
"So we can still shower together, etc.?"
"Especially the etc!" Alan brushed his lips on Denny's and felt the same thrill he had felt since they married three years ago. Although Denny had proposed on the balcony at Crane, Poole ad Schmidt, saying the sex wouldn't be much, Alan had managed to demonstrate to Denny that the sex could be VERY good, with him at least! He had even grown to love the king-sized penis in his anus. As he had told Denny before, he had become so good at fellatio not with gay men, but because he could reach himself (Of course then, he was younger, more flexible, and into yoga, making good use of its stretching and flexibility training.) Now he was older, and whether it was the larger belly or the stiffer joints, he was glad of Denny's help in continuing to enjoy sex!
"How about the other advantages of co-habiting?"
"Like my cooking special meals for us?"
"Among other things!"
"I've never been an especially good maid,you know, Denny"
"Just because you refused to wear that French maid's costume!"
"Oh, come now, the skirt on that thing was absurdly short!"
Alan warmed to the excitement of the proposed legal aid career. "Look here what an ad says about a Boston Legal Aid service." Alan read aloud to Denny:"Program Description:
Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) provides free civil (non-criminal) legal assistance to low-income people in Boston and thirty-one additional cities and towns. The help we offer ranges from legal advice to full case representation, depending on client need. Our staff of attorneys and paralegals is divided into areas of legal expertise to best address the problems faced by people living in poverty. A national leader in poverty law, GBLS also undertakes representation and legal advocacy to address the root causes of poverty.
Denny scoffed: "You soft hearted liberal!You are all alike! Well, that's okay, I guess, I've grown so accustomed to your love for me, that I have begun to see how you can become besotted with the problems of others! And I must admit that our towering debt run-up in Iraq has benefited none of us!"
"No, it hasn't, my love! Especially the poor among us!"
"Or the services that help them! Omigod, I'm beginning to sound like you!" Denny exclaimed.
"You mean humanitarian or like a feeling person?" Alan wanted to know.
"Stuff like that rubs off, you know!"
"Only if you have the proper stuff in you already, dear, which you do, down deep".
"If you think you can compliment me that way, well, I'm not so sure".
"Don't worry you can still play paint-ball in appropriate places"
"Does that mean with you?"
"Absolutely, if I can play with you!"
"I can think of other things we might enjoy more."
"Only if you want to lover" replied Alan.
" That's another way you have changed me!"
"You want to change back?" asked Alan, shrinking slightly in his seat!
" You just try not being a proper husband!" scolded Denny!
Alan's court reputation had preceded him, so that although he had butterflies in his stomach when he applied for a gratis job, he was readily and enthusiastically welcomed. He felt for the first time in maybe years that he might be practicing his actual values. The head of the Legal Aid organization at which he interviewed (the day after he talked to Denny about working there) asked if he wanted to get started right away or take some time. Alan answered that he had had enough idle time, and that he would like to jump right in.
The cases were not as quirky and riveting as the ones that Alan had seen at Crane, Poole, and Schmidt. They would never make an Emmy television show! But this was life, among real people, living real lives. Alan felt like he was practicing real law, but with the great advantage of having had the experience of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt and meeting his greatest love just before moving there, that is, Denny, then moving forward with him to a wondrous large stage later in life. This was life, no matter how common and ordinary the cases seemed compared to the quirky cases he had seen in the past, these cases were important to the lives of real people. He felt charged up from the first day. And, best of all, at the end of the day, it was a short ride home to Denny, who made everything quirky, and Alan could absorb another of Denny's "pearls" to complete his day!
In some aspects the cases were similar to those he had faced at Crane, Poole & Schmidt. People were still losing their homes, like Clarence, and credit cards were still taking terrible advantage of those who had the life (ever more, Alan felt), but Alan also wished that he had Jerry Espenson's financial acumen for him to consult from the top floor of C., P., & S. again! Still he had learned a lot from Jerry. He felt that Jerry's teaching him helped clients who had no resources with which to pay for their needs other than their credit cards, then put up with the escalating interest rates, or to borrow from the ruinous PayDay operations. And then telling Denny about all at the end of the day made it all worthwhile. Denny seemed to be becoming accustomed to hearing about poor people the very people he had once asked Alan, "Do you think I would like them?" , at least he was experiencing them from a close source and seemed to be increasingly understanding.
One evening, Alan walked out onto the balcony and Denny appeared to be dozing in his chair. Alan, not usually given to negative feelings, suddenly thought, "What if he is not dozing, but gone!" Tears welled up in his eyes at just the thought of the possibility. Then, Denny sneezed, and Alan's heart began to beat once more. Alan walked softly to Denny's chair and gently brushed the hair on the back of Denny's neck Alan shivered to feel the warmth of his lover's neck. Tenderly, he then slid his hand down to Denny's shoulder and lightly squeezed it. Denny's head shot back and he gazed clear-eyed into Alan's eyes, startled at first, then, softly, and lovingly.
Alan asked what was with the startled response.
Denny explained: "I was drifting when I felt your hand on my neck and shoulder. And I thought thought it was a Vulcan nerve pinch."
Alan smiled at him. "Where did you get that term?"
"From some science fiction I was reading, undoubtedly"
"Na," said Alan quietly, "Just an Alan nerve pinch."
Denny responded with a smile and a warmth of voice, "Much nicer-more like my husband. So what poor soul did you help today? Do you think they appreciate you sufficiently?"
"They seem to like the court verdicts!" Alan said as modestly as he could.
"Whoever didn't appreciate your representation?"
Alan answered assertively: "Me, when it keeps me from you! Have you eaten?"
"Are you going to be one of those husbands who thinks he can do it all?"
"Until I think I can't, love."
Denny studied Alan's face for signs of weariness. "Now you let me know when you can't any more!"
"You'll be the first to know, my dearest love!"