"Hear the shoutin' from the mountains on out to the sea
No two ways about it, people have to be free (they gotta be free)
Ask me my opinion, my opinion will be
Natural situation for a man to be free" - People Got to be Free by The Rascals (Cavaliere/Brigati)

The city was flying pretty high for a while. I know baseball might seem a silly thing but sometimes it takes something seemingly silly to lead us past our differences and see ourselves as fellow humans.

Of course life keeps going even when your team wins the championship. I was pushing papers around my desk between hard luck cases that I was trying to figure out how to help when I heard a knock on my office doorway.

I looked up to see Kid leaning heavily against the door frame grinning at me. I took note of the cane he was leaning on almost as heavily as the doorway.

"Pretty sure we got some rain coming," he said by way of explanation.

I nodded to the chairs in front of my desk and was becoming unnerved by the grin on his face.

"Just say it," I said. "Whatever has you grinning like the Cheshire Cat…just say it."

"Just wondering where my old buddy Jimmy went," he said,still grinning at me. "Guy I knew had greasy long hair and broke out in hives if he got within a half mile of a school."

"You just love being back here where you can yank my chain again, don't you?" I tried to make it sound like I was put out about it but frankly, I was pretty glad to have him back and teasing me too.

He just grinned at me. For all he left in that jungle and all the extra baggage he brought back, when it came down to it, we were still those two little boys bound by things beyond our control and that would never change.

I could see him taking stock of my office, he'd never been in it before. His eyes landed on the wedding picture with everyone smiling and hopeful and not a clue what was in store for any of us. His fingers lightly played over Lou's smiling face and his own younger one and then went to Noah. He didn't get the chance to spend much time with Noah but I know Kid considered him a friend. Then his eyes shifted to the picture of those two little boys we had once been. I could see the tears beginning to form in his eyes. He looked at me, his brow furrowed in question.

"Joanie had that printed and framed not long after you shipped out," I explained. "She knew I needed a reminder of…who we'd been and how that shaped who we are. Plus it helps get on more even ground with my students. They can see that I used to be a dorky kid once too."

Kid nodded and settled heavily into a chair.

"I'd ask if you needed something but you've never come to my office before so I think I already know the answer."

"Yeah…I, well, when the boys were born…my job was sitting in a waiting room, pacing and drinking bad coffee," he began and I started to see his problem. "Things have changed. Men are allowed in the delivery room now and Lou wants me there. I should be there. I wasn't there for her for so much and I want to see my child as it comes into the world but…I'm not sure I'm strong enough. And I'm not talking about my legs either."

I nodded. I was wondering myself how much good I was really going to do Joanie in there. I was also a little concerned for him since close quarters and tense situations weren't really his strong suit anymore.

"Tell you what," I said. "I heard about a little seminar at a hospital around here where some nurses and midwives are going to talk to some fathers-to-be about what to expect. I was going to go this weekend and see what they had to say. They said no wives allowed so that the men wouldn't feel self-conscious about asking any questions. How about you come with me?"

He smiled and nodded.

"And, I've heard there can be more than one person in with the mom when she's in labor. For all of her dramatics, Theresa knows when things are serious and she will stop at nothing to see to her sister's welfare. I'd recommend having her with you. I'm contemplating seeing if short stuff will come in and back me up when Joanie goes into labor."

His smile widened.

"You are smarter than me," he said. "Don't know if I ever told you that or not."

I shook my head.

"Nah…we've always needed the other one to figure stuff out for us. Neither one of us can see the answer staring right at us."

I won't bore you with the seminar. I found it interesting, as did Kid. But these days I think most of what we learned is pretty common knowledge. It was a good atmosphere where everyone felt like they could ask whatever without being made to feel dumb or like a bad husband. I think we both felt better about being in the room with our wives after that. Like we might actually do some good and not just get in the way.

It's a good thing we got that seminar in when we did because not a week later and I got a call from Theresa telling me to come down to the hospital to meet the baby.

Joanie and I hurried down there and Theresa met us in the hall in front of the nursery where she pointed to a baby with a pink card on the front of the bassinet.

"That," she said, "is Erin Christine Cassidy. Not sure how Bobby and Jack are going to take this. I don't think they ever considered they might get a sister."

I had to laugh at that. Honestly, I had thought they would probably have another boy as well. Joanie and I went to Lou's room knowing that Kid would be there as well.

That was the first time I'd been able to share in a new little one with my best friend. Bobby and Jack, I just got the phone call with them. But this time I could hug my brother and congratulate him as I'd been able to do for everyone else. Man, that felt good.

"Jimmy, you got to do something about that racist son of a bitch, man!"

I heard the door close just before the angry tirade. I had been having a pretty sedate day up to that point. Until Leon burst through my office door. As you might have guessed, Leon was Black but he honestly wasn't one to bring it up or accuse anyone of racism without a good reason.

Nodding to the chairs across from my desk I just looked at him waiting for an explanation.

Leon seemed to deflate into a chair more than actually sit down in it.

"It's Mr. Jonas. I never would have thought it about him but, man, there's no other reason for this!"

I'll first explain that Glenn Jonas took over as guidance counselor after I moved into the social worker position. I hadn't heard or seen anything to indicate racist tendencies either.

"What happened? Did he say something to you?"

I was thinking maybe he had hauled out some slurs or something.

"He didn't have to say much. Just that he won't let me take Chemistry next semester. I need that so I can be prepped to go pre-med when I get to college."

"Did he give a reason for keeping you from Chem? Are all the classes already full?"

"He said he didn't think it would be a good fit."

There wasn't another reason for him to say that. Leon was an honor roll student who worked his tail off in all of his classes and kept up with a crazy amount of extra-curriculars and community activities. There was no reason to think Chem wouldn't be a good fit for him and I knew he was eventually headed for med school. Chemistry was pretty important for pre-med.

"I'll talk to him," I assured Leon. "Somehow I will get you that Chem credit."

Leon left the office and I went straight to talk to Glenn.

"What brings you to my humble office, Jim?" Glenn smiled as he caught sight of me in his doorway.

"Just had a chat with Leon Chase," I said without allowing any emotion in my words.

"Yeah, he was saying something about needing a Chemistry class. I steered him right though."

"What exactly does that mean, 'steered him right'?"

"He doesn't need that class, Jim. And he'd be taking the spot of someone who does need it for their college applications. I do the same for the girls. We all know that they're better served with shorthand and typing classes."

"What about Leon's college applications?"

"You need to get serious and live in the same world as the rest of us."

"I think you need to look around and see the world changing. Have you walked around a college campus lately? It's not all white boys. Good friend of mine grew up poor and Black on the South side of Chicago. He graduated from U of M law school. My wife's college roommate has a doctorate in biology. Leon is going to college and he's pre-med. He needs that Chem class."

"Well, I'm sure your wife's friend is putting that degree to good use making babies and hosting dinner parties."

"She runs a research lab at U of M," I said flatly. "And before you go digging yourself a deeper hole, my wife is a practicing trial attorney. I'm not sure what kind of blinders you wear to not see things change but it's not the same world you think it is–or that you want it to be. I will go over your head on this and it won't be pleasant for you. Leon Chase needs Chemistry next semester. And don't worry about his college applications. I'll see to those myself."

I stalked out of his office and had half a mind to call Sherry and tell her what that idiot said about her. The thought of her punching his lights out improved my mood immensely.

I didn't get much chance to worry about that jerk though. That weekend Joanie was in the mood to shop. She'd picked up the odd item here or there for the baby but that was the weekend we picked wallpaper and paint and the main furniture. It was a little overwhelming for me.

There's bound to be at least one person hearing this story that wants the details of the baby's room. At least it's not dresses or ladies' hairstyles. This I actually can fill you in on. First, Joanie fell absolutely in love with this wallpaper that was all in yellow and green and had pictures of nursery rhyme characters all over it. It was pretty cute and I didn't figure I'd mind looking at it so I agreed. That was for two of the walls and she wanted just solid paint on the other two. She was still pretty certain about spring green and we found a shade that went nice with the wallpaper and I really liked it. To finish the look, we decided to recarpet with a dark green shag. Oh roll your eyes. Shag was the thing to have back then.

We even found a crib that coordinated. It was white and had pictures on the end of a cat playing a fiddle, a cow jumping over the moon and even a plate and a spoon running off hand in hand. Honestly, for as overwhelming as it all was, it was really exciting too. I think the overwhelmed feeling came from knowing that, aside from the carpet being installed, I was pretty much the one who needed to do everything. I didn't know the first thing about hanging wallpaper but I figured at least one of the other guys had done it before and might lend me a hand.

Dean was with us that weekend and got drug along to shop for the nursery. I don't think it meant that much to him and he was pretty bored. Until Joanie told him to pick out some paint and some new bedding and a few other things as well. It made sense. He was basically just living in a guest room. It was time for it to be his room.

That evening I thanked her for doing that for him. For thinking of something I should have thought of myself. She brushed away my thanks but I meant it. I don't think I would have thought of something like that and Dean wasn't bold enough to ask for it.

The next day was Sunday and everyone was there because they knew Kid and Lou would be there with the boys and little Erin.

There might have been a grumble or two when Jack and Bobby first heard they had a sister but I think the grumbles were forgotten once they met her. They were so protective of her and of their mom. It was good to see and I could see Dean watching them and I know he even went and talked to Jesse about how Jesse felt when Sarah Jean was born. I know he was trying. It's a lot of change we were asking him to handle all at once really and he was doing his best to go with the flow. I know it was hard on him though.

I had an idea of something that might help him out in some areas…as far as the other kids at school. I talked to Sarah and got her to agree to let him spend Sunday night with us. The temperatures were still mild so I decided I'd ride the motorcycle to work the next day and I'd drop Dean off at his school on my way in. Judging by the oohs and aahs, it had the desired effect.

Getting back to my office, it was clear that Glenn Jonas had taken our earlier conversation as an outright declaration of war. My office was filled with Black students and female students all having been told that they couldn't get physics or chem or honors anything and if they didn't like it then they should let me try to sort it.

This guy was turning into a real pain in my ass. Once I got the worst of the panic taken care of, I got to thinking the best way to handle things. I wasn't sure if I could do for everyone what I did for Leon. I had actually hooked him up with WCCC so he could actually take college chem 101. There were certain openings for high school students and the cost of community college back then wasn't that much. I actually paid for the class for him. I think it might have been twenty bucks or something like that.

So I pondered a little and then got an idea. It was a little bit of a devilish idea but one that had merit. I picked up the phone. I heard the greeting on the other end of the line.

"Hi Uncle Eli," I said.

"James, what a nice surprise to hear from you. How are you?"

"I'd say I'm doing pretty well but then I have a little issue that you might be able to help me with."

I went on to explain what was going on in the counseling office.

"I know I'm no legal mastermind but doesn't the treatment of my Black students violate the Brown decision?"

He chuckled.

"That it does, James. And I think, if I understand you correctly, that you'd like for us to threaten legal action on the grounds of Brown and the 14th Amendment."

"Yeah…I can't be the one to bring this though. Can I have one of the kids or their parents call you or something?"

"That would be best," he said. "Would you mind if I turned the sex discrimination argument over to Joanie? She has a better understanding."

"Of course I don't. Once she hears about this, she'll be livid if I don't let her be a part of it."

"What exactly do we hope to accomplish?"

"I'd like for the school district to see that it could be costly to allow sexism and racism to exist so brazenly in a public school."

"I think that can be managed quite easily."

Hello again. Not as long of a chapter as some. Mostly kind of fluffy except for that racist chauvinist pig in the counseling center. What an a-hole! You know Jimmy won't stand for that. And he's got some back up with Uncle Eli. Sadly there's no legal precedent for discrimination against women. It was a good many years before Justice Ginsburg took on the case that basically outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex. But they aren't looking to take this to court so I'm sure Joanie can rant about how Brown v Board of Education of Topeka could be argued to extend to everyone and how the 14th amendment requires fair treatment for all under the constitution. You know this will get her dander up.

And Erin. How sweet! A little girl to try to tame their ruffian boys a little. Hoping it won't take long to get the next chapter up but we'll see. Oh! I wanted to ask you all something. If I were to work at getting an update to any other unfinished story that I have going...which are you all waiting on the most? I have God Given Solace, Into the Lyon's Den, It's all Over now Baby Blue...and this one and I think that's all I have left anyone hanging on. Except for an old Criminal Minds story and I don't know how successful I'd be on that one since it's a case fic and I feel really out of touch with my profiling skills. So...is there a preference? Let me know. Love you all! - J