Excerpts

Chapter 3: Executive Meeting 1 - “Locker Room Talk”

Three days later. Sitting at the head of the table of a Starbucks near Liberty Village, President Stefan sipped his black coffee, and then cleared his throat: “Welcome to the first council meeting of our new league, ladies and ladies. Ernest, part of your role with us is taking minutes. So start writing down everything I say in that little laptop of yours.” 

“Okay.” Ernest pulled out his MacBook and pressed the on button, careful not to tip over his organic hibiscus tea.

“We don’t have time for your gadget to power up, so take notes by hand.”

“I don’t have anything to write on. Trying to reduce the use of paper. How about I record everything on my phone.”

Stefan sneered. “That could be incriminating. Just remember everything.”

… 

Stefan looked pensive. “Am I the only one who’s disturbed by this new member?”

“Abby?” Bibi questioned

“No, the dude … Khalid ... the brown one.”

“What about him?” Ernest asked.

“Guys, he’s … “ Stefan hesitated.

“What?”

“You know, he’s …”

Bibi grew impatient. “Just cut the carbs and tell us!”

Stefan’s voice landed in a thud. “He’s straight.”

The table went silent.

“Yeah? It was shocking at first, but so what?” Bibi said.

“So … what? We’re just going to let him join? What’s next?”

Ernest thought it was a joke. “I’m sorry, what year is it?”

Stefan smiled condescendingly: “You’re new. You know nothing about how this league works, okay?”

Bibi sipped his iced coffee. “Yes, it’s a different situation, but Stef, there is no actual rule prohibiting them from joining.”

Stefan already knew this, having looked up the league’s rules the last two nights, which had been copied from the Toronto Torches’ league policies. There was no mention of banning any type of person. “But still, it’s messed up. We don’t know anything about this guy. Like how old is he?”

“Angelica told me he’s twenty-four,” Dakota said.

“Exactly, he’s young. What is he doing in a gay league? We don’t know what he wants. We don’t know what the …. straight agenda, or whatever it is, is!”

“Straight agenda?” Ernest asked, further appalled.

“Listen, I have no problem with them. I have some straight friends. But in our league? Relax Ernest. This is just locker room talk.”

Ernest shook his head. “Us, them … we’re not all that different. It’s what we get labelled as that makes us different.”

“Thank you Miss Teen Woke 2020,” Stefan quipped. He turned to Dakota. “What if we were able to figure out if they were straight before they joined online? Maybe build a wall on the server to block ’em? Is that possible?”

“You want to build a wall? This ain’t Mexico, Trumpy,” Bibi said. “You’re a little uptight Stef.”

… 

Ernest cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to be challenging, Stefan.”

“Ernest, you can call me Steffi. Stef.”

“Ok. Stef. But isn’t one of the tenets of our group to be safe space for all?”

“Yeah … all of us.”

“Us, as in who?”

“As in you and me, and Bibi, and everyone who doesn’t fit in that garbage straight world,” Stefan said, locking eyes with him. “Straight guys have it so easy. This league is for us.”

“That doesn’t sound right to me. We need to be inclusive.”

Stefan’s eyes rolled. “You’re one of those new age crazy liberals, aren’t you? Are you upset or triggered right now? Need to call your therapist?”

Bibi looked up from his phone. “Listen to the kid, Stef. It is 2020.”

Stefan got up, threw his cup in the recycling, and walked back to the table as Ernest watched.

“Coffee cups don’t go into recycling. You need to put it in the garbage,” Ernest said.

Stefan’s eyebrows furrowed; he was perturbed. He then softened his face and forced a  smile: “Fine, Greta Thunberg. We’ll let the straight guy in … and see what happens.”

~~~