Music From Another World - Robin Talley Page 0,100

scrawled across their backs in bright blue finger paint. “I never thought I’d get to see it.”

I smiled at her. Tammy bumped my elbow, the backs of her knuckles brushing mine. Only for an instant, but I was already blushing all over again.

We watched in silence as the next few floats passed. The parade was nearing its end, and the crowd was getting louder and more boisterous, surging toward the end of the block.

“Is something going on up there?” Tammy stood on her tiptoes, twisting to see.

Peter must have finally detached himself from Dean, because he was coming up behind us when I turned to look. The last floats were trailing off.

“How much of this do you think people will see on the news?” I pointed to the camera on the top of the truck behind us.

Peter shook his head. “Not much. They only show the most salacious stuff.”

“What I mean is, you need to start being more careful.”

His eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, I mean…” I cast my eyes back toward the spot where Dean had first attacked my brother’s face. “And…” I nodded toward the TV camera.

Peter followed my gaze and crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s your point?”

He couldn’t possibly not know what I was getting at. Tammy was watching us silently, but I could tell from her wide, anxious eyes that she understood, too. “What if someone got you on film—you know, looking gay, and it wound up on the news?”

“I look gay every single day.” Peter chewed on the corner of his lip and turned toward the stage set up at the far end of the block. Music was playing over the speakers, and people were moving quickly in that direction. “I don’t look any more gay here than I do anyplace else.”

“You know what I mean. I thought you were worried about people finding out.”

“What, I’m not allowed to have a life?” Peter took a step forward, then another, following the crowd. I struggled to keep up as he weaved between bare-chested men and women with fringed haircuts. Tammy stayed close on our heels. “Maybe I like Dean. Maybe I like him a lot. Why shouldn’t I get to show it?”

I didn’t understand. I thought my brother wanted me to help him keep his secret. Also… “You’ve barely talked about this Dean guy. Suddenly you’re infatuated?”

“What are you, the relationship police?”

“No, I’m only—”

A huge cheer from the crowd cut me off.

“Whoa! Is that—?” Tammy pointed to the stage, until the cheering got so loud I couldn’t hear her.

A man was walking toward the microphone, so far in the distance all I could see was his white T-shirt and black armband. But the energy around us was enough to tell me who it was.

Peter fought through the crowd, clearly trying to get as far away from me as possible. I spotted Evelyn not far behind us, standing with Lisa and Alex, all of them waving their arms and shouting happily as the crowd’s cheers turned deafening.

Supervisor Milk was about to speak.

“It’s him!” Tammy shouted into my ear. “I can’t believe it!”

I searched the crowd again until I spotted my brother. He’d somehow circled back around, and he was behind us now, near Evelyn and the others. He had his arm around Dean, and his chin was lifted high. He wasn’t looking at me, and it was clear that was deliberate.

I swiveled back around to face the front as Harvey’s speech began.

The crowd had quieted enough that we could hear him, his voice carrying out through the microphone and over the thousands of faces gathered, fresh cheers erupting after almost every line. His voice was powerful, but it was his words that were arresting.

He sounded so happy. So strong.

He talked about being gay as though it was normal—as though it was fun. He said everyone should be treated equally, and somehow, when he said it, it sounded so obvious I didn’t know why everyone else didn’t think exactly the