With or Without You Read Online Free PDF Page B

get it. What does ‘Chaser’ mean?”
    Sable shrugs. “We’re all chasing after something, right? Respect. Friends. Love, maybe. A place to belong. Chasers can give you all that, if you’re willing to listen and put in the work.”
    Micah leans in. Mark’s posture improves. Even Will manages to tilt his head up and keep his eyes parallel to the ground. I’m listening too.
    Del’s sour look softens. “So, it’s like a club.”
    Sable slaps the mattress and grins. Why do I get sick to my stomach whenever he smiles?
    “It’s better than a club. It’s like a fraternity. It’s a ticket to a past you never knew you had and a passport to places you never thought you could go. It’s not gonna be easy. This isn’t the fucking Girl Scouts where you sell cookies and sew shit. You gotta prove yourself, show that you’ve got what it takes to be a Chaser. And I promise you, if you listen to me and follow my lead, your lives will change.
    “You’ll be with people who understand you. You’ll be able to go anywhere with anyone and not worry about getting messed with. No more disrespect. No more”—Sable grabs Davis’s head and turns Davis’s face sharply for all to see his eye—“getting the shit kicked out of you. You’ll have respect … and you’ll have power.”
    When Sable releases Davis’s face, my friend’s eyes lower. If Sable’s words weren’t enough to get Davis’s attention, physical contact did the trick. Davis doesn’t get much of that. Rough as Sable was, it wouldn’t take much for Davis to imagine it as a lover’s caress. Which I’m sure he’s doing now.
    “Okay, boys, show me what you got.” Sable gets up and starts pacing, weaving in and out of the arc of chairs. “When did the Stonewall riots occur? A date, I need a date.”
    Seven sets of eyes hit the floor. Davis continues to watch Sable with rapt attention.
    “No one?” Sable frowns. “Okay, something easier. What were the Stonewall riots?”
    We’re all quiet until Ross ventures an answer. “Wasn’t that, like, a bunch of gays who got beat up or something? In New York?”
    Sable slaps his hand down on Ross’s shoulder and squeezes it. “So close, man, so close. See, guys, that’s the problem. You don’t know anything about your own heritage. You ever feel like you don’t belong? Any idea why? It’s not because you’re gay. It’s not because you get picked on or shit like that. It’s because you can’t connect. You have no idea where you came from.”
    Sable jumps up on the bed, looming over us like a stone soldier from a war memorial, preparing for battle.He speaks faster, an occasional fist into his palm punctuating his fervor. “You might be proud to be an American because you spent years studying American history and you know what a bunch of dead guys did to make the country great. But you can’t take pride in being gay because you don’t know jack shit about what your gay forefathers did.”
    Sable steps down and turns slowly, making eye contact with each of us as he speaks. “The best way to understand what it is to be a Chaser is to wrap your head around gay history. It all started with Stonewall: June 27, 1969. That was the night—”
    “Hang on,” Mark interrupts, adjusting his baseball cap. “1969? So, what, nothing important happened before then?”
    “Sure, stuff happened.” Sable dismisses the question with a wave of his hand. “A lot of shitty stuff. But Stonewall is what turned all that around. So that’s where we start.”
    “But …,” Danny, the Asian kid, speaks up, looking very confused. “History is all about context, right? I mean, don’t we need to understand what went on before Stonewall to appreciate why it was important? I mean, c’mon, there were nightclub raids and blacklists and—”
    Sable lumps his fists on his hips, his face strikingly neutral. He takes a step toward Danny, who looks up athim. “You know a little something about history, Danny?”
    Danny manages a