Bryce

The Second Semester

Chapter 31 - Serious Stuff

            When the conclave in Bryce’s rooms broke up on Tuesday evening, Curtis’ friends were feeling pretty good.  Of course, it would be even better if there were no crisis with which to contend, but at least they now felt they had the upper hand, and Cory would not prevail.  It would take Justin some undetermined time to analyze the video and document how it was assembled from the individual segments on that thumb drive Damon delivered.  Consequently, they all agreed to do nothing until they were completely ready to counter their opponents’ moves.  There was a danger in this.  There was no deadline on the threat sent Curtis, but eventually Cory and Harry would tire of awaiting a response, and possibly carry through on their threat to distribute the bogus video.  If that happened, it would be impossible to contain the damage, even if it could be proven that the video was a pastiche.  The prospect of playing the enemy along, like a fish on a line, however, was very appealing.  They looked so frustrated by the time the fraternity business meeting broke up that evening, it was intriguing to imagine what they would look like in a few more days, or even a week.  They deserved a little torture.

            Over the next few days, while awaiting the results of Justin’s efforts, Bryce and Damon pursued their normal academic activities.  They attended classes, prepared the work which needed to be turned in, attended study sessions, worked on more long range projects, and in general were conscientious students.  They likewise continued their social activities, meeting their friends, passing the time in the evenings at the fraternity house, and going out to dinner. On Wednesday evening the partners dined at El Rincon Latino, where they exchanged badinage with Mike, comparing the menu there with what they enjoyed while on Puerto Rico.  On Friday, they accompanied Caroline to a concert offered by the School of Music, then attended with her and Kitty a party at Mike’s fraternity.  There, once again Damon and Kitty entertained the troops with their dancing, while Bryce engaged in conversation with several friends, including both Mike and his partner David.  One topic of conversation was Bryce’s fraternity brother, Jason Todd.  Since coming out to some of his fraternity brothers and his colleagues in his musical group towards the end of January, Bryce had not seen much of Jason.  In fact, he had missed the last fraternity business meeting, and Bryce could not recall seeing him at the one prior to the spring break, either.  Looking a bit uncomfortable mentioning it, David said he heard a rumor that Jason had been seen hanging out with some questionable characters, and frequenting a certain restroom in the library, which had the reputation as a meeting place for promiscuous gay sexual encounters.

            “Oh, Geez, I hope not,” Bryce exclaimed.

            “Maybe it’s no more than talk,” David replied.  “I haven’t seen him myself.”

            “And just what are you doing at that particular restroom,” Mike teasingly asked his boyfriend.

            “I wasn’t.  I just overheard two guys talking.  I don’t even know the guys, so they may be totally off the wall,” David defended himself.

            This possibility, however, left Bryce concerned for this fraternity brother.  Jason did not seem to be at the party, so he could not ask anything directly.  He did find Scott Huong there, and approached to speak with him.  Scott was a fellow member of the GLBT Club Executive Committee.

            “Hey, Scott, how you doing?”

            “Great!  You?”

            “Me, too.  Anything special going on with GLBT?”

            “I doubt that I know any more than you do,” Scott replied.  “Oh, wait.  I did see Gary at lunch.  He said the chatter so far seems against changing the name of the Club, but he’s heard mainly from other guys, and doesn’t know how strongly the female contingent feels about this.”

            “I guess that will come out at the next meeting,” Bryce said.  “I don’t feel strongly about it one way or the other.  But, hey, there’s something I want to ask someone who’s been around longer than I have.”

            “Shoot,” Scott invited him.

            “I heard a rumor that there’s a restroom in the library somewhere where gays kind of hook up.  Anything to that?” Bryce asked.

            Scott looked at him with a very serious expression.  “Are you having trouble with Damon?”

            “No.  Not at all.  What makes you think that?” Bryce immediately responded.

            “The only guys I know who make use of that place are loners with no real partners or even what you might call regular fuck buddies.  They go in for anonymous sex.  A guy I know said they were making a statement about sexual liberation, but I think, apart from anything else, they’re taking a terrible chance on catching some disease or another, and spreading it around,” Scott informed Bryce.

            “That is really sad.  I heard that I guy I know has been seen there, and was checking it out.  Thanks for telling me.  Where is this den of iniquity, anyway?” Bryce asked.

            “Third floor back by some of the older reference works that no one uses any more.  If I see you hanging around there, I’m telling Damon on you,” Scott joked.

            “Not to worry.  I don’t want to waste away into a skeleton, or turn into a drooling idiot, just to get a two minute thrill,” Bryce assured his friend.

            “We did discuss it at an ExCom meeting once, but that was before you joined us.  I think Gary wanted some kind of statement condemning the whole activity, but there were a couple of guys at the time who felt that any restriction on sexual activity was unacceptable, and it never came up before the entire Club,” Scott further elaborated.

            “I’ve heard of places like that in sleazy bars, but I’m surprised to find that such a place exists on campus,” Bryce said.  “What do you know about what goes on there?”

            “Never been there myself,” Scott assured him.  “It seems to be patronized by pathetic types who can’t find someone to relate to on a personal basis.  Maybe it’s the thrill.  I couldn’t tell you.  According to what we were told, guys go there to hook up for a quick blow job, or to pick up a partner for a single encounter. The sex is anonymous.  No names are exchanged, and the guys seldom encounter the same person twice.  The story is that a lot of the sex takes place without any kind of protection.  I guess that’s part of the thrill as well.”

            “How reliable are these rumors?” Bryce wanted to know.

            “Well, we got our information from an at-large member of the ExCom, one of the guys who walked out after that confrontational meeting when you were elected secretary.  He claimed he was personally familiar with the scene.  He called it pure sex, undiluted by personal feelings.  I call it insanity,” Scott said with some feeling.

            “Bareback with a stranger!” Bryce exclaimed, astonished that anyone could be so irresponsible, or so desperate.

            “That’s the way I understand it,” Scott confirmed.

            Bryce was concerned about Jason, however, and felt some responsibility, as he had encouraged Jason to come out.  This was definitely not what he had in mind.  One never quite knew what the consequences of one’s actions would be.  As a further check, Bryce sought out Caroline and asked whether she knew anything about Jason from her associations with the music school.

            “I’m just curious,” Bryce said, having located her.  “I haven’t seen Jason around in the past few weeks, and he used to be pretty regular at the fraternity meetings.”

            “Now that you mention it, he hasn’t been around the practice rooms or the hall as much lately,” Caroline said.  The hall was the concert auditorium where they had been earlier in the evening.  “I don’t know anything in particular, but I’ll pay more attention, and maybe ask around if you’re concerned.”

            “I was just asking,” Bryce backed off, not wanting to create a problem if there were none.

            Caroline just gave him one of her looks, which said, okay, don’t tell me what’s going on, but I know something is.

            On the way back to the dorm, Bryce asked Damon about the hook-up place in the library.  Damon adopted one of his patented expressions of superiority.  “We blacks are not afflicted with the same social ailments as you white folks.  There are no gay blacks.”

            Bryce chased him all the way back to their shared bedroom, where they were both distracted from the affairs of Jason Todd or anyone else for the rest of the evening.  It was only late the next afternoon that Damon remembered the question, and informed his boyfriend that he had heard of such a situation, but knew nothing specific about it.  Bryce related to Damon his concern for Jason, and both agreed to keep an eye out for any sign of trouble.

            “Maybe we ought to just stop by his dorm room or something,” Damon suggested.  “If he’s not showing up for fraternity meetings, that’s reason enough to check.”

            “Yeah.  You’re right.  But first, I’ll just send him an e-mail along those same lines and see what kind of answer I get,” Bryce decided, and sat down at his computer to do so.  Events, however, caused this concern to be put on a back burner for several days.

            Also on Saturday, while putting in time waiting for developments on campus, Bryce determined to follow through on the promise he made to his mother to try to discover what was going on between his sister Nan and her boyfriend.  Not having made prior arrangements, he did not expect his sister to be at home on a fairly nice Saturday in early spring.  Of course, he had not  checked the weather in Nebraska, either, so it might be snowing.  Rather than direct contact, he decided to rely on e-mail for this as well.  Taking his time, and selecting his words carefully, Bryce composed a chatty letter to Nan, mentioning the various activities in which he and Damon had been involved of late.  He slid from this into the comment that he had been faithful in communicating with their mother at least once each week, which in turn allowed him to also mention that Martha had informed him that she had met Nan’s boyfriend and was favorably impressed.  Then, acting cute with his sister, Bryce joked that at least with Damon and himself there was no danger of an unwanted grandchild in the Winslow household.  He figured that would tic off Nan, and she would respond with some kind of definitive statement. He had used this kind of approach before, and knew her vulnerable to this particular kind of joshing.

            Reading over his message before sending it off, Bryce noted that he had spent more time on the threat to Curtis and their efforts to counter it than he intended, but considered that, after all, that was what was most on his mind at the moment, and it could do no harm to let his sister see how clever he and his boyfriend were in contributing to the defeat of the evil ones.  When describing the threat, Bryce only said there was a doctored video of a very compromising nature, but did not go into detail, nor did he mention that he and Damon played a role in that film noir.  Satisfied with his missive, he sent it on its way to the Winslow home in Lincoln.

            Later that evening, as he and Damon were leaving a film of a very different sort, the first of the three films comprising the Lord of the Rings cycle, which were to be shown on campus on three successive weekends, they discovered that Curtis and Maddy had also been in the audience.  Only when the lights went up, and they began to disperse, did they catch sight of each other.  Curtis signaled that he had something to impart, so Bryce and Damon waited outside for their friends.

            Curtis approached and said in a voice not intended to carry, “I got the analysis of the e-mail and Cory’s computer from Hunter this afternoon.  Frankly, I can’t make head nor tails of it, but I asked Barczak to check it out.  He says it’s pretty air tight.  The e-mail sent me, with the attachment, came from Cory’s computer.  The damn thing goes on for pages of codes and symbols, so I’ll take his word for it.  I made three copies.  I have the original at the house and one copy at my work station in the stress of materials lab in the CE building.  Maddy has one.  I want you to keep the other copy, just to make certain this thing does not disappear when we need it.  I’ll do the same with Justin’s analysis of the video when I get it.  If those guys even suspect we have this information, they will spare no effort to destroy it.”

            “Good thinking.  Sure, I’ll be glad to keep a copy for you,” Bryce replied.

            “Walk back to the house with us.  I have the extra copy in the trunk of my car,” Curtis requested.

            And so the four of them made their way across campus to the Sigma Alpha Tau house, and to the parking area behind.  There, Curtis opened the trunk and extracted a sheaf of papers, outwardly not dissimilar to a term paper.  Bryce only glanced at it in the inadequate light from the street light illuminating the parking lot.  He rolled it up, and stuck it under his jacket.  Just as he did, Casey Sondheimer walked by.  Casey was considered an ally of the Blaine/Dwyer duo, and so potentially hostile to Curtis, and probably to Bryce and Damon as well.  He gave the four of them a searching look, but continued on his way, shortly after driving out.  Feeling under the gun, our guys did not know whether he had seen anything, and if he had, what he would make of it.  They were getting paranoid.

            Back in their dorm room, Bryce and Damon perused the report from Hunter Matthews, but could make no more sense out of most of it than could Curtis.  The concluding paragraph, however, was very encouraging.  Hunter had written, “The above analysis therefore shows conclusively that the e-mail message received by Curtis Manning at cmanning@clifton.edu on Monday, March 15, 2010, was sent from the desktop computer previously herein identified as being in apartment 213 at the Colosseum Apartments on Oak Street on the evening of Tuesday, March 16, 2010.  Margin of error is less than 1%.”  That was something both guys could understand and appreciate.

            It was only after celebrating this triumph that Bryce checked his e-mail.  There, he found a lengthy response to his earlier letter to his sister.  Nan clearly understood the intent of her brother’s comments on her boyfriend, and assured him that Brian was not merely an impressive athlete, but also a responsible human being.  She was interested in not only his body but his whole person.  And yes, they had been “intimate,” but he was not to worry, as they were being responsible.  She concluded this section of her letter with, “so you can tell Mom to quit worrying.”

            That, however, comprised the lesser portion of Nan’s missive.  She picked up on the reference in Bryce’s letter to an anonymous and slanderous video, and went on at some length about that.  It seems that a girl at the University of Nebraska, where Nan was a student, had received such a video, which showed her engaged in sex.  The assumption there was that it had been sent by an angry ex-boyfriend.  Fearing that the video had been sent to one of those sleazy web sites which advertised “genuine” college students, not paid models, the girl had attempted to kill herself.  Fortunately, her roommate returned from her weekend away earlier than anticipated, and got the girl to the hospital in time, but it was a disturbing phenomenon.  So disturbing, in fact, that their father, Sterling Winslow, was looking into the legal ramifications.  Nan did not know of any video of her which could be considered compromising in this manner, but Sterling wanted to be prepared, just in case.  Nan ended her e-mail with the admonition that Bryce talk with their father “even if it’s embarrassing,” and added further, “and if you don’t talk to Dad today or tomorrow, I’m showing him the e-mail you sent me.  This kind of thing has to stop!”

            Well, that certainly laid it on the line.  Although Bryce had somewhat reluctantly mentioned the possibility of consulting his father about the legal aspects of these threatening missives, he had been relieved when Curtis put that option on hold.  Yes, it would be embarrassing.  Given Nan’s insistence, and his confidence that she would follow through, however, Bryce felt he had no option.  He discussed the matter with Damon before they fell into bed that Saturday, but the following afternoon he would speak with both of his parents.

            Sunday morning passed much the same as usual.  Rising later than usual, Bryce and Damon attended Mass at St. Boniface, where they encountered the Sandoval family, including Mike’s partner David and Kyle’s girlfriend Kathy.  With Father Payne presiding, the Mass was celebrated with real dignity, but the sermon was an indecipherable hodge-podge of clichés and incomplete sentences.  Taking the much earlier advice of his mother to heart, Bryce simply blocked out the sermon by rereading the scriptures for that Sunday and meditating on them.  Before the Gospel was the Psalm reading, this Sunday from Psalm 130.  Bryce contemplated the words, “I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in his word.  More than sentinels await the dawn, let Israel await the Lord,” with the response, “With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.”  The Gospel reading that Sunday was the account of the raising of Lazarus from the Gospel According to St. John.  In it, Bryce was attracted to the words of Jesus, “because of the crowd here I have said this.”  Taken together, these passages encouraged Bryce to persevere, both in contacting his father that afternoon, and in working to frustrate the schemes of Cory Blair and his allies.  He would trust that right would prevail.  Sometimes it is necessary to go public, to play to the crowds, as it were, in order to help right to prevail.  His own embarrassment was a small price to pay for family harmony and support for Curtis.

            After their usual enjoyable lunch at the Olive Garden, Bryce and Damon parted with the Sandovals, returning to the dorm.  Damon had noted that Bryce had something on his mind.

            “Okay, Man of Mystery, what are you holding back?” Damon demanded.

            “Me!  Man of Mystery?  How can you say that?” Bryce mugged.

            “Don’t try to con me, Lover.  I know you have something on your mind, something that is bothering you,” Damon insisted.

            With a sigh, Bryce conceded, “You’re too clever by half.  I’m not looking forward to talking to my dad about that video.  I know we talked about it last night, and agreed it was best to bring it up myself, and not wait on Nan, but ... well, I just don’t know what to expect.”

            “Your dad knows we’re lovers, right?” Damon began.

            “Yeah, right.  We thrashed that out before Christmas.”

            “We had nothing to do with making that video, right?” Damon continued.

            “Of course not!  You know ....”

            But Damon put up his hand, stopping Bryce’s protests.  “Then we’re the victims, not the perpetrators, and there is nothing in the video anyway that your dad does not already know.  Don’t be such a wuss.  Call home!”

            Faced with Damon’s logic, Bryce checked the times to be certain his parents would be back from church and not engaged in Sunday dinner, and did as he was bade.  As it happened, the phone at the Winslow residence was answered by Nan.  When she recognized Bryce’s voice, before turning the phone over to their mother she asked, “Are you going to talk to Dad as well?”

            “Yes, Bossy.  As soon as I finish with Mom,” Bryce assured her.

            In his conversation with his mother, Bryce passed in review some of the events of the day, but avoided mention of the problems in the fraternity.  He did convey the information he had gleaned from his sister regarding her beau, Brian, emphasizing that they were being responsible, and that it was evidently serious.  Then Martha insisted on speaking with Damon, of whom she was quite fond.  This only added to Bryce’s nervousness, not that he was concerned about anything Damon might say, but only that he now had to wait before speaking with his father.

            Finally, Bryce got his father on the phone.  That was unusual, so Sterling immediately knew that something had come up.  Bryce began, “Nan was telling me about a girl who tried to kill herself after getting a threatening video.  Can we talk about that?”

            “Of course,” Sterling responded, “but why this interest?”

            Well, that got to the core of things pretty quickly.  “A good friend of mine here has received a threatening video.  You remember Curtis from when you were here before Christmas.  He’s the Pledge Master at the fraternity.”

            “Yes, of course.  A very solid young man, as I recall,” Sterling replied.

            “Curtis is a candidate for President.  He received a threat that if he did not withdraw, a very damning video would be distributed, not just to the fraternity brothers, but to the Administration as well,” Bryce explained.

            “Curtis is not contemplating suicide, I hope,” Sterling immediately asked.

            “No.  But he is upset, as you can imagine.  The guy who is his opponent, and his backer, who made the video, would be a disaster for the fraternity.  Besides, the video is embarrassing, and Curtis just does not want to kowtow to this kind of intimidation.”

            “Good for him,” Sterling agreed.  “What is so embarrassing on the video?  And what is your role in all this?  I know Curtis is a friend, but I detect something more.”

            “Right, Dad.  Well, here’s the whole situation ....”  Bryce spent fifteen uninterrupted minutes describing the situation as it developed over the past week, and the moves taken by the supporters of Curtis to counter the threat.  This was followed by a series of questions from Sterling eliciting specific facts, including the almost airtight assurance that the video came from Cory Blaine.

            As they were speaking, there was a knock on the door.  Damon answered, and found Curtis there.  He invited Curtis in, and explained that Bryce was on the phone with his father about the threat.

            “I thought we weren’t going to involve Bryce’s father unless we got desperate,” Curtis said.

            “We planned without Nan, Bryce’s sister.  Bryce mentioned an anonymous video and a threat in his e-mail to her, and she would not let him go until he talked it over with his father,” Damon explained.  “I know about sisters.  I have three of them.”

            “I only have one, but I know what you mean,” Curtis assured him.

            “No, Dad, we don’t have the analysis of the actual video yet,” Bryce said into his phone.

            Curtis interrupted.  “Yes we do.  That’s why I’m here.  I got this from Justin this morning,” he said, shoving some papers at Bryce.

            “Hold on, Dad,” Bryce said, and turned his attention to the papers Curtis held out to him.  “Quick, what’s the verdict?”

            “No doubt about it.  Justin identified frame by frame where the video I received was spliced together from the individual scenes on the thumb drive Damon gave him last Tuesday,” Curtis reported.  “I want you to keep a copy of this along with the analysis Hunter provided.”

            “Okay, Dad,” Bryce said, returning to his phone conversation.  “Curtis just arrived with the analysis of the video.  No doubt about it being a fake, joining three or four separate events.  ...  That’s great, Dad.  ...  Yeah, can you get that to me before Tuesday evening?  ...  Great!  And, Dad, I really appreciate it.  Not just the legal advice, but ... well, you know.  How you’re taking it and all.  ...  Yeah, I remember Professor Dickinson talking about professionalism as well.  Thanks, Dad.  Love you.”

            Turning to Damon and Curtis, Bryce reported, “My dad has been doing a little research because of a problem at Nebraska recently.  He says what we have here is a potential lawsuit against the creator and sender of the threat based on a series of offenses, including a couple of felonies.  Invasion of privacy.  Blackmail.  Some other stuff.  The laws about electronic media are in still in flux, as it’s a relatively new area, but Dad is certain he can make those charges stick.  If the threat is not withdrawn, and the compromising materials surrendered, Blaine and Dwyer could be hit with fines which will be very expensive, indeed, and possibly jail time.  Dad will fax a letter tomorrow from his office that we can use to confront those two.”

            “That’s the final item we need,” Curtis crowed.  “With Hunter’s analysis we can prove the e-mail and attachment came from Cory.  With Justin’s work, we can prove it’s a pastiche.  And with your dad’s letter we can threaten them in return.”

            “There is one danger,” Bryce pointed out.

            “What’s that?”

            “I don’t know how fanatical they are about preventing you from being elected, but if they are willing to take the risk of financial loss and jail time, they could still send out that video.  Even though we can prove it is a fake, a lot of people would not pay attention, and your reputation would be ruined.”

            “Those guys are real sleaze, but I don’t think they’re crazy,” Curtis encouraged his friends.