GAyMES

By Joseph L. Philippe

Ten years have passed since the bar encounter of Mike the barber and Pierce the tattoo artist. The crazy scheme of a gay service mall they had dreamed up over too many beers eventually took life and became HQ, short for Headquarters. It took no time for the small interior mall, carved out of an old theatre, to become the meeting place for the Village’s gay community. The art gallery, the spa, the gym, the leather shop and the barbershop, among other facilities, are attracting the gay boys who often go to HQ just to people watch.

Meanwhile, the University’s school of music has recovered from the doldrums and an unenviable reputation of being outdated. After a difficult period of reorganisation under the new dean, it is now thriving and has regained the respect it once had among music learning institutions. However, as in most academic environments, there are factions and internal strife. The supporters of the traditional approach who used to be running the place prior to the arrival of the latest dean are now finding that they have lost their clout to the proponents of modern music. GAyMES is a chronicle of the adventures and misadventures of the characters gravitating around these two different and occasionally overlapping environments. Not all are nice but all are human.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joseph L. Philippe
• Release date: Mar 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9780995058910

Joseph L. Philippe

The youngest of three boys, J.L.P. was a surprise to Mom and Dad. They were expecting a baby girl! It was a shock. They dealt with it the best they could, but J.L.P. never could make up for not being the daughter that had so carelessly been heralded. Oh, he did distinguish himself, no doubt about it. He outshone his siblings but... he was the ugly duckling. His brothers were perfect while he was, well, just not what had been expected. A gay boy! Joseph L. Philippe is a new author on the LGBT scene. He is currently living in Montreal, Canada. GAyMES is his first novel.

Book preview

GAyMES

by

Joseph L. Philippe

Copyright © 2016 Joseph L. Philippe

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and other factors are the fruit of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. All the characters in the book remain fictitious and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Professor Dalton can be cruel. The Gay mall can be fun. Secrets can come back to haunt you. Life can be unfair.

GAyMES is a chronicle of the adventures and misadventures of the characters gravitating around HQ, the gay service mall, and the university’s School of Music. Most are nice, but a few leave a lot to be desired. And likely a little of every one of us in all of them.

The youngest of three boys, J.L.P. was a surprise to Mom and Dad.

They were expecting a baby girl! It was a shock. They dealt with it the best they could, but J.L.P. never could make up for not being the daughter that had so carelessly been heralded. Oh, he did distinguish himself, no doubt about it. He outshone his siblings but… he was the ugly duckling. His brothers were perfect while he was, well, just not what had been expected. A gay boy!

Joseph L. Philippe is a new author on the LGBT scene. He is currently living in Montreal, Canada. GAyMES is his first novel.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

Hans Mörgen

Dalton

The Barber and the Tattoo artist

School of Music

The old Imperial Theatre

Negotiations

The Partners

Genesis

Along comes Patrick

A photo shoot

A barbershop quartet

CHAPTER TWO

HQ… ten years later

One investor less

Rehearsing

Claire

Dalton and Jason

Eph and Yvan

Meeting Dalton

HQ chatter - Patrick and Pierce

CHAPTER THREE

The Little Leather Shop

Cat and mouse

Phil

Tony

Rock on

Mentoring Yvan

To Hair or not to Hair

HQ chatter - Paul and Molar

CHAPTER FOUR

Sandrine

Touching base

Turmoil

James

Jason’s first visit

Tony’s Project

The monograph

HQ chatter - Phil and Troy

CHAPTER FIVE

Mike and Jason

Dilemma

LUTHER

Getting clipped

Beyond the monograph

A massage with Molar

HQ chatter - Paul and Troy

CHAPTER SIX

Blake

Making plans

Au Balcon - The art gallery

James and Troy

The contract

The politics of a University Committee

The Gallery opening

Nat & Koko

Gerald

HQ chatter - Chuck and Madame Arthur

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ricky

The vernissage

Missing the deadline

Having a drink with the artist

HQ chatter - Louis and Madame Arthur

CHAPTER EIGHT

At The Juice Bar

Straight guy, Gay world

Maria-Louisa

Dinner with friends

Morning after

HQ chatter - Jeff and Stella

Time for change

Guys chatting

Cocktail

A Business Dinner

Mike

HQ chatter - Sandrine and Stella

CHAPTER TEN

Kurt returns

Bad news

The plan

The tenure

Peter and Hans

The raveling

That name! Where have I…?

Marjory and Jason

HQ chatter - James and Yvan

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Looking for answers

The unraveling

Kurt and Dalton

Dismissal

Year-end evaluation

Marjory and Beatrice

Girls talking

HQ chatter - Lance and Pierce

Friday night

News report

Stumbling

Sequels

Getting involved

A job well done

HQ Chatter - Jeff and Charlie

EPILOGUE

Chuck and Monty

ABOUT JOSEPH

CHAPTER ONE

Hans Mörgen

February 200_

Choir practice was over. All the boys ran out. It was the end of the day - end of the week - and everyone was anxious to get his coat and board the school bus. Realising that he had forgotten his score of the Easter Anthem they had started working on in the music room, Hans rushed back along the corridors. He would have just enough time to get the sheets of music and return to get his coat.

The bus left without him, he had to walk home.

That weekend he was moody, locked himself in his room, hardly ate…

Monday morning, he refused to go to school. His mom had to drive him, wondering what was wrong with her son, normally so eager to get to school. He just would not say.

The alarm was raised in the afternoon when Hans was found, his lifeless body hanging from the balustrade of the chapel’s balcony.

Dalton

One wouldn’t say that he was famous as such, but Dalton was a name well known in certain circles. Definitely in the music scene of the city, and to a certain extent in the SM underground. No one knew for sure if Dalton was a first name or a last name. He was just DALTON, occasionally called Mr. Dalton or derisively Sir Dalton by those who had a problem with his ego.

Born Giuseppe Amaury Dallatone, he had never accepted to be called Amaury (too close to amour) and Dallatone quickly became Dalton to his friends. So used to it, when he saw the prospect of his given name appearing on his PhD, as it had on all his earlier diplomas, he decided to have it legally changed to simply DALTON; and that was what appeared from then on, whenever and wherever. On his office door, on concert programs, in publication, just Dalton. It had a certain cachet.

There was also that best forgotten incident associated with the name Dallatone - that choir boy…

The Barber and the Tattoo artist

A barber and a tattoo artist walk into a gay bar… Well, that was it, basically.

Really!

Ten years prior, Mike the barber had struck up a conversation with Pierce the tattoo artist in a gay bar over a few beers and lots of laughter. Beer after beer, they had been inventing the most outrageous service concept they could imagine for their neighbourhood community. There were lots of and we could also offer… or, even better we could have…

Pierce suggested the $500 Haircut that would include a tattoo, a piercing, a collagen injection at a location of your choice, shaving of your pubic hair, a massage and of course… a haircut.

Mike suggested the Full Body Service - full body shave, full body tattoo or full body whatever, depending on what you could afford.

Pierce came up with the Leather Man Make Over for the ones who didn’t know how to dress when going out to bars. And so on, over a few hours and too many beers.

In a drunken stupor, by the end of the evening they were convinced that they had to do it. It would be too much fun. Life was too short.

Hey man, you and me… we’re doing this.

They said good night and went their separate ways.

The next morning - or afternoon to be more precise - neither were so sure about it when sober. Mike picked up his phone and called the number on the business card Pierce had given him. Hearing a hoarse voice he did not recognise, he asked, Is this Pierce? and when it was confirmed, Do you remember last night, Pierce? But all he heard was a groan and the line went dead.

So, it had just been two guys talking silly. He remembered some of the things they had talked about and smiled. Better forget about it. Yet, some of it could possibly be implemented, he thought, and anyway he still needed to find larger premises. The shop was getting too busy and crowding over on weekends in its tight current location.

Two days later, it was a very sober and business minded Pierce who returned Mike’s call. Hey Mike, Pierce here. Remember me? Saturday night? The Eagle? One occasionally meets guys at a bar who become a blur the next day, especially if one had too much to drink. I think we should get together over coffee - he stressed the word coffee - and talk some more. That’s if you still remember what we talked about Saturday night.

Of course Mike remembered. He hadn’t stopped thinking about it. So, they agreed to meet that evening at a small coffee shop in the village.

Having been investigating commercial spaces to relocate his booming little barber shop, Buzz Off, Mike was the one who had initiated the idea on the Saturday night. While looking for rental space, specifically in the village, he had only come across storefronts similar to what he already had or spaces that were way too big and, by the same token, too expensive. So, out of the blue he had come up with the idea, while chatting with Pierce, that the possible solution to his problem might be to take on a larger space than needed for himself and share it with someone with a similar clientele, that is, young, hip and gay.

Although Pierce had not thought of moving at that point, as he and Mike started exploring the possibilities that renting space together would offer, he became intrigued at first before being absolutely taken by the idea. One thing leading to another, they had started imagining other services that could join theirs, like a massage parlour, a nutritionist, a juice bar, a sex shop, a magazine stand, a fortune teller… why not. Everything is possible after a few beers.

We could have a juice bar with, as barmen, boys in harnesses.

We’ll have a pillory post at the entrance, You have been found guilty of cheating on your partner and are hereby condemned to the pillory post," Pierce slurred as sententiously as he could manage.

That kind of off the wall bantering.

By closing time, they were ready to buy a building and had every business in the village move in with them. They had even found the perfect location, an abandoned old theatre, the Imperial, a movie palace of the belle-époque, which had been closed for over two decades. It would offer enough space to accommodate a large number of these services and become a great gathering place for the community. That had been Saturday night.

On Monday night, over coffee this time, Pierce was saying to Mike, I’ve been thinking it over since… Saturday night and I really think that your idea has potential. I think that we should investigate the possibility of going ahead. What do you say?

That old theatre would be perfect, size wise and location wise. We might be able to buy it cheap and the renos could be kept to a minimum. We would not need to do anything fancy. Famous last words, as the saying goes.

By the end of the night they had agreed to explore the possibilities and proceed, if there were no major obstacles.

School of Music

The university’s School of Music, a learning institution internationally known for the quality of its programs, had not always been at the forefront of the music world. However, it had had a steady, albeit slow evolution, over its more than one hundred and fifty years of existence. Yet, over the last decade, under the inspired stewardship of outstanding administrators, it had distinguished itself by the quality of its graduates and the variety of fields in which they excelled. It had also become known for its avant-gardism and as an excellent laboratory for young musicians who wanted to explore the new media while maintaining a good balance between the traditional and the experimental. This, however, had not been without its share of tensions, dynamic as you may wish, between the proponents of the two approaches inside the school of music. The traditionalist liked to scoff at new technologies while the moderns looked down on the stuffy mentality of the followers of the conservative old school approach.

While the proponents of the modern/contemporary/avant-garde music had always been a minority, they had made up in popularity what they lacked in number.

Established in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the original School of Music had been housed in a rather ornate Victorian Gothic pile of stones, complete with turrets and gargoyles, pointed arched leaded glass windows, and massive steel-ribbed doors. The architects of the day, emboldened by the generous budget set aside from the legacy of a rich widow, had not spared any tricks of the trade to embellish the new school which immediately drew the criticism of the population and became known as the Rupert’s folly, from the name of the deceased benefactor, or simply… The Folly. The name Rupert Pavilion never to be mentioned again after the official opening. Mrs. Leonidas Rupert would not have been pleased.

Of course, over the years, the Folly had been added on, not always in good taste, but somehow the original gothic jewel had never been much tampered with other than to update its mechanical and electrical components. The origin of the name Folly had long ago been reduced to a footnote in the school’s calendar and the old building had become a favorite of the city’s historical society. Not to mention the fact that young musicians were always quick to discover the unusual pleasures of the hallways and stairwells’ stunning acoustics. Stone walls and ribbed vaulted ceilings seemed to capture the sound and let it float in the air as if tangible. You could almost touch it. Naturally, there were a multitude of soundproof practice rooms at their disposal, over sixty to be more precise, but it was hard to keep the music students from testing their voice or instrument in one of the back emergency stairwells.

As often happens inside large institutions, there are clans and factions. At the School of Music, an ever annoying battle had been ongoing between the moderns and the traditionalists.

The moderns, a tightly knit small bunch of eclectics, liked to explore music in all its venues, provided it was different. Whether it was jazz, rock, film, electroacoustic, digital… it was of interest, and it was certainly getting their attention. They liked to say that they were looking forward to where music was headed, accusing the traditionalists of being narrow minded dynausores.

The traditionalists were those who thought that real music died with the advent of Berg, Schoenberg and Stockhausen.

Naturally, each faction had its champion. The traditionalists tended to file rank behind Professor Dalton while the moderns were more inclined to follow the lead of Professor Arbuthnot.

Although he was neutral in theory, the dean, having been responsible for recruiting the iconoclastic Arbuthnot, was generally more lenient to the demands of the modern camp. Not surprisingly, the school calendar gradually became heavily weighted in their favour with emphasis on new technologies in an attempt to give graduates an edge outside the crowded concert halls.

The old Imperial Theatre

The owners of the old theatre, having been trying for years to sell the Imperial as a functioning movie theatre, had gone through a number of commercial agents and almost given up hope of ever unloading their twelve hundred seats plus white elephant. The neighbourhood of their old building had progressively morphed into the gay village and, in desperation, they had turned the listing over to a young non-commercial gay agent, Geoff Berton.

Geoff had listened to Mike and Pierce with curiosity. They seemed really serious. However, when he told them the price, Mike and Pierce immediately realised that it was likely out of their range. What did they think a large property like that would sell for, wondered Geoff. They went to see the place anyway. Throughout the visit, they couldn’t help getting excited about their project, talking about all the things they would do if only money were not a consideration. They had to try. Were the owners really motivated, then certainly they would consider a lowball offer.

Unfortunately, it was the banks that were not so keen on the risk. With sadness, they reported back to Geoff that it was not to be; they could not afford it, the banks having shown no interest in their project. That is when Geoff, who had listened to their ideas and witnessed their initial enthusiasm, offered to help. Although he did not have the financial capacity to take on a project of that magnitude by himself, he knew of a couple of people who just might be interested by the idea and be willing to join him as partners. The concept was certainly an interesting one and the potential for a good return was there. What was out of range for a barber and a tattoo artist could very well be just right for some savvy investor with the right amount of money and vision. Someone like his friend Chuck, for instance, a financial advisor with some family money.

You know, guys, I think your idea has great potential. As a matter of fact, I think that it’s a really interesting concept and I’d like to see what I can do to make it happen. The village could use something like that. So, tell you what. Find another couple of serious shops that would move in with you - at least two more - and I’ll start seeing what I can do at my end.

Mike and Pierce, thrilled with the possibility of seeing their project come to life after all, went around the community talking to other potential tenants. What did it matter if they did not own the building? As a matter of fact, they saw it as a blessing. One less thing to worry about. They were modest business owners, not entrepreneurs.

All fired up, they got back to Geoff after only a week with two serious prospective tenants who would definitely move in with them, an art gallery owner and an aesthetician who were both looking to open up facilities in the village. A few more had also shown genuine interest.

Negotiations

Originally, after closing the place down, the Imperial’s fussy owners had been trying to sell it at what they estimated was market value for a building of that size, regardless of its vocation and location. They had turned down a first offer and that had been it. The old theatre had just sat there, empty. It was a capital loss in their accounting books, no more. But as the years went by, the capital loss became a capital liability and they had insinuated as much to Geoff upon transferring the listing to him. Geoff knew they were now ripe for a low offer. Of course, it did not mean that they were ready to give it away, but he was confident that he would not need much convincing once he had an offer in hand.

Somewhat surprised by the activity generated by their new agent, their hopes were however quickly dashed when Geoff reported that the interested parties, that is Mike and Pierce, were not in a financial situation to go ahead.

They would have held the mortgage, was the owners comment, but still, no offer was presented.

When at long last they saw the offer put together by Chuck - offer on which Geoff had to disclose that he was one of the interested parties - they tried bravely to argue for a better price, sending the offer back at near full asking price saying that the price was low enough.

However, when Chuck’s offer was returned, marked FINAL, with only a small adjustment to what he had originally offered, the owners caved in and decided to let the old Imperial go. It was time. As Geoff had pointed out to them, how many more years are you ready to pay the taxes, the maintenance and the insurance premiums? Are you going to fall behind on your taxes and let the city take it over? Getting something will be better that nothing after having held on to it for so long.

The Partners

When Geoff sought backers to undertake the conversion of the old Imperial Theatre into a gay commercial centre, the first name that had crossed his mind had been that of his friend Chuck.

The go-to man in the community, Chuck was much in demand. Whether it was fund raising, promoting a cause or simply seeking advice, the financial advisor was the first one you went to with your concerns. He was a natural. His patrician looks did not hurt either. Short blond hair, combed forward, hiding a nascent receding hairline, a perfectly chiseled face and high cheek bones, a classic look, he was the Roman Emperor. Piercing and slightly squinting eyes further gave the impression he was totally focussed on his task. His trim body was kept in shape with a daily three mile jogging routine. Not a bad package - and financially astute.

He may not have been rolling in it, but he did have some available capital and knew how to invest. And this particular venture was possibly just something that could interest him. A sound investment; or at least Geoff thought so. The gay component was not likely to displease Chuck either. It was common knowledge in the financial world that the pink dollar was worth a lot more than the green one.

But Chuck, like Geoff, did not have enough ready money to do the deal and besides, converting an existing building and giving it a new vocation was not his expertise. Geoff knew real estate and Chuck knew finances, but neither knew much about construction. Yet, the project was too good to pass up and after a day of reflection, Chuck knew exactly who would be the ideal candidate to approach and wasted no time convincing him to come on board.

Marco, young owner of a startup construction company, was getting his name known throughout the city with successful small, but spectacular commercial projects, and his reputation as a hardworking, hard playing bachelor was getting noticed - especially in the gay community. Chuck was right, Marco loved the idea and not because he lacked work; he had so many projects on the go that his resources were already stretched to the limit, but this was something different and throwing caution to the wind, he told Chuck to count him in. He had not been able to resist the uniqueness of the challenge and its gay element.

With the strength and knowledge of the construction world behind them, the trio had little difficulty securing the financial advances required to get the project going.

Genesis

Initially, no pleasure was to be found in the project. If Geoff could have dumped the old theatre back in the lap of its original owners, he would have done so in a New-York minute. As soon as one started renovating an old building, everything had to be brought up to standard with current building and fire codes and, the Imperial was over ninety years old! Everything had to be redone. It was going to be expensive, much more than anticipated. Tearing it down and starting fresh might have been more economical, but it was not an option. The heritage foundation had seen to it. Not that the interior was particularly interesting, most of the grand décor and expensive fixtures having been stripped by the previous owners in earlier attempts to modernise. Imperial it remained in name and size only. But, one knows how heritage people are; the shell had to be kept.

Geoff had hired an architect friend of his to redesign the space and give it a modern funky look. A few windows had been carefully introduced on the street side to bring natural light and create visual interest without destroying the historical look of the building. As you walked in, a series of large platforms were cascading down where the orchestra seats had been, not so long ago. In order to take advantage of the ceiling height, the balcony had been extended along the side walls to create a horseshoe shape mezzanine looking over the main floor retail pods. A central ramp was snaking between the platforms of various sizes and the open concept created interaction between the different business owners.

It was almost a year later when Mike, Pierce, and the others were finally able to move in to their new place of business. Geoff had delivered. The old theatre had been refurbished and transformed into a funky interior mall for half a dozen small businesses. Brass door handles polished, it was SHOW TIME!

Along comes Patrick

Having long worked as a janitor for the school board, Patrick had been made redundant as schools were closing one after the other in the inner city