Bryce

The Second Semester

Chapter 33 - Pieces without Solutions

            On Wednesday morning, after his workout and his first two classes, Bryce thought it would be appropriate to check with the hospital or the Counseling Center to see what the situation was with Cory Blaine.  Not certain where Cory was at this point, he walked to the hospital to find out.  The Counseling Center was located on the ground floor of the hospital anyway, with a separate entrance.  As he approached, he noticed Dr. Westover and an unknown woman standing near the Counseling Center entrance.  They were shouting at each other, so that Bryce knew they were talking about Cory before he got anywhere near.  He decided to pause and find out what that was all about before going any further.

            “Angie, I had nothing to do with this!  I haven’t even seen the boy in months!” Westover shouted.

            “It’s you and your filthy habits which are responsible,” the woman addressed as Angie yelled back.

            “How can you say that?  You know Cory has nothing to do with me!  He didn’t even want to come to U of C because of me being here,” Westover replied.

            “You did something to him!  I don’t know what, but you’re responsible.  He was a perfectly normal boy before you came along!” the other shouted.

            “That’s nonsense!  I didn’t ‘come along.’ I’ve been here for fifteen years.  You’re the one who insisted that he come here because he would qualify for a discount as a member of a faculty member’s family.”

            “Cory said all along you were evil!  He said you were spreading filth and degradation.  I should have listened to him!”  Angie wailed.

            “Angie, you’re being irrational.  That’s nothing but biased propaganda,” Westover insisted.

            “I knew all along you were some kind of twisted pervert, but I thought you’d at least respect your nephew.  I’m sure you did something to send him into this state of depression.  You’ve been queer since we were kids, and now you’re taking it out on Cory,” she accused.

            “For the last time, I did nothing to Cory.  I haven’t even seen him in months.  Whatever brought this emotional breakdown on, it has nothing to do with me.  Now, just take your prejudices and leave me alone,” Westover insisted.

            “Oh, no!  You’re going to pay!  You’re going to pay through the nose for screwing up my baby’s life!” the woman yelled, and began to assault Dr. Westover.

            Bryce thought he had heard enough.  He knew that a member of the campus security force was always stationed in the lobby of the hospital, so he ran there and alerted the man that there was a problem in front of the Counseling Center entrance.  The guard set out at a run.

            Bryce considered that going to see Cory, whether he was in the hospital or the Counseling Center, was probably not a good idea.  He had learned enough from the exchange he overheard.  Cory was suffering from some kind of emotional breakdown, and the “Uncle Connie” he kept mumbling about last night was Dr. Conrad Westover.  That was enough for now.  If there were, as the woman who was evidently Cory’s mother insisted, problems between Cory and his uncle going back some time, this might explain some of his passionate hatred for homosexuals.  One of the older brothers at SAT had mentioned something like that previously, now that Bryce thought about it.  Dr. Westover was certainly not one to hide his orientation, which would only irritate his nephew’s biases more.  Having an uncle like Conrad Westover would put quite a strain on the nerves of someone as homophobic as Cory turned out to be.

            Bryce walked back to the University Center and met Damon for lunch.  Over pizza and coke, he shared what he had learned.

            “I guess going on that errand of mercy paid off,” Damon commented.

            “I’m not sure it was an errand of mercy,” Bryce hedged.  “More like I was just curious.”

            Damon gave him one of his special looks.  “What was that you were babbling about a few days ago?  Seven copious acts of mercy, wasn’t it?  And visiting the sick was among them.”

            Bryce snorted a laugh, almost spewing his latest bite of pizza.  “That’s ‘corporal works of mercy,’ Birdbrain.”

            “It’s a shame insulting your partner is not among them,” Damon declared with a grin.  “Besides, I like my version better.”

            Having completed their lunch, both guys went off to their Biology class.

            After Biology came Bryce’s class on Georgian Britain under Professor Dickinson.  By this point in the semester, Dr. Dickinson was lecturing on the career of Edmund Burke, giving one view on the rebellion of the American colonies from across the water.  Burke was born in Dublin in 1729, the son of a father, Richard, who had conformed to the established Church of Ireland in order to pursue a career in law.  Under the Irish penal laws in force after the defeat of King James II in 1690, no one could practice any of the learned professions unless he was a member of the Anglican establishment.  Although Burke’s enemies accused him of being secretly a Catholic, in fact he remained an Anglican all his life.  However, he favored religious toleration, writing on one occasion that he knew Protestants who were such in order to oppress Catholics, and, if the situation were reversed, would become Catholics in order to oppress Protestants.  One of Burke’s earliest writings was a satire, A Vindication of Natural Society, published in the spring of 1756.  In it he satirized Lord Bolingbroke’s Letters on the Study and Use of History, which attempted to support an atheistic interpretation of society.  Burke showed that the arguments used by Bolingbroke could equally validly be applied to all social and civil institutions, leading to the conclusion that those arguments led directly not to the rational society Bolingbroke claimed, but to utter chaos.  It was kind of like the arguments in favor of abortion, which apply to a child after birth just as much as to the child in the womb, although its proponents act horrified when this is pointed out.

            In 1765 Burke entered the British House of Commons as a partisan of the Marquess of Rockingham, becoming eventually one of the best known orators of his day.  He became a member of the group which included the subject of Bryce’s English class, Dr. Samuel Johnson, as well as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, David Garrick, Charles Burney, and Edward Gibbon, a heady collection of intellects, to be sure.  In Parliament, Burke argued in favor of limited and constitutional government, and against the attempts of King George III to act as an ‘enlightened despot,’ emulating those on the continent.  He argued for free trade between England and Ireland, for a repeal of some of the Irish penal laws, against capital punishment, and against the pillory for sodomy.

            In the debates leading up to the American Revolution, Burke argued that the Americans were Englishmen, and were entitled to the rights of Englishmen, of which they were being deprived by the unjust enactments of the King and his favorites.  Once the armed conflict began, he depicted it as a clash between “our English brethren in the Colonies” and a German descended king employing German mercenaries to enforce his will.  While Burke’s voice remained a minority throughout the conflict with the colonies, later the independent United States, his career does indicate that public opinion in England was divided on the issue.  Dr. Dickinson indicated that the class would hear more about Burke before the semester ended.

            After class, Bryce met with Damon, and the two put in some time studying until dinner time.  They decided not to go off campus this evening, but made their way back to the University Center, where they had lunched.  There, they were found by Mike Sandoval and David Simpson, who joined them for the repast.  In the course of the conversation, Mike mentioned that he had accompanied David to the third floor of the undergraduate library that afternoon.  He joked that he did not want his partner going up there unaccompanied, at which David punched him on the arm.  But, Mike said, while they were indulging their prurient interest scoping out the restroom, which was supposed to be a place for gay hook-ups, Jason Todd came out, looking flushed and more than a little guilty, and scurried away.  That was definitely not good news.  By the time they had finished eating, Bryce and Damon had decided to stop by Jason’s dorm room, using his absence from Sigma Alpha Tau recently as an excuse.

            After rapping on Jason’s door and being invited to enter, Bryce said, “Long time no see, Buddy.  Where have you been keeping yourself?”

            “I’ve been really busy lately,” Jason excused himself.

            “We’ve missed you at the last few fraternity meetings,” Damon said, “and this past one was really something.”

            That led to a discussion of the entire attempt of Cory Blaine to blackmail Curtis Manning into withdrawing from contention for the presidency of the fraternity.  Jason was interested, but also seemed a little edgy.

            Deciding to take the bull by the horns, Bryce said, “A couple of friends of ours said they  saw you on the third floor of the library this afternoon.”

            “So what if they did?  That’s not a restricted area or anything,” Jason said with some heat.

            “No problem, if that’s where your studies take you.  I didn’t know there was much up there of interest to music majors.  Isn’t there a specialized music library over in the Foster Building?” Bryce asked.

            “Yeah.  I was up there for another reason,” Jason admitted.

            “Jason, I hope you’re not involved in the goings on in that restroom where I hear anonymous sex takes place,” Bryce said, finally getting to the purpose of the visit.

            “What if I am?  That’s none of your business, Bryce.  Not everybody is lucky enough to find a steady partner to take care of his needs.  I have needs, too, you know,” Jason replied with some hostility.

            “Jason, I can’t tell you what to do, of course.  But please think about what you’re doing.  That kind of thing is just full of dangers,’ Bryce warned.

            “Dangers?  What kind of dangers?” Jason demanded.

            “Well, to start with, there’s no telling what kinds of diseases guys in places like that might be spreading around,” Bryce stated the obvious.

            “I use protection.  Besides, that’s nobody’s business but mine.  I’m not hurting anyone else, even if I did catch something,” Jason insisted.

            “Not so, Buddy,” Bryce returned.  “If you caught something, there’s a good chance you could pass it on to somebody else before you were aware of it and got treated.  Besides, every time somebody purposely puts himself in a position of needing health care, he’s driving up the costs for everyone else.  Leave it for the people who really need it.”

            “That’s so lame.  Like a visit to the Health Center on campus is going to break anyone’s budget,” Jason mocked.

            “Perhaps not, but it’s part of an attitude of entitlement that’s causing extensive economic problems nation-wide,” Bryce replied.

            “Apart from that, I heard of a case where some homophobe caught someone up there and beat the shit out of him,” Damon added.

            “And that kind of promiscuous sex plays into the hands of those who depict gays as inherently immoral,” Bryce added.  “It harms the entire gay cause.”

            “Look, guys, I am not answerable to you.  As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with what I’m doing, so lay off,” Jason argued.

            “Don’t you feel, even a little, that anonymous sex is wrong?’ Bryce asked.

            “Wrong?  What’s wrong with it?  Just a little release, a little pleasure,” Jason said.

            “I kind of think that what is wrong is that it’s anonymous.  There’s nothing personal in it.  Basically, you’re using another person as though he were a thing, there only for your pleasure, like one of those blow-up dolls, and he’s doing the same thing.  I believe any time we use people as things, it’s morally wrong,” Bryce stated.

            “Well, that’s because of your religious hang-ups, and I don’t share your religious hang-ups,” Jason stated.

            “Not only mine, Jason.  It seems to me most religions say something like that,” Bryce replied.

            “Well, I don’t give a damn about most religions.  All religions are just fumbling attempts to come to grips with the unknown, and there’s no real reason to choose one over another, or to choose any of them if you don’t have this psychological dependency for someone telling you what to do,” Jason declared.

            “That’s kind of harsh,” Damon said.

            “But true,” Jason insisted.

            “Don’t you believe in God? ... or in heaven and hell?” Damon asked.

            “I guess there’s some kind of cosmic power I can call God.  Sort of something to hold the universe together.  But I don’t think God is interested in what I do in that restroom, or in any of the other affairs of us humans.  And, no, I don’t believe in hell.  I kind of think when we pass over we’ll all kind of improve, and exist on a better plane,” Jason explained.

            “Your God sounds more like a force in physics than anything I recognize,” Bryce said.  “Kind of like gravity or entropy.”

            “Yeah, kind of,” Jason agreed.  “So God has nothing to do with hooking up on the third floor of the library.  If you want to believe in ancient Jewish myths and medieval fairy tales, that’s fine with me.  Whatever turns you on.  But spare me your preaching.  I don’t need it.  Now, I have work to do, so excuse me, guys,” Jason said, indicating the door.

            As they walked back to their own dorm, Damon said, “Well, that was a bust.”

            “Yeah,” Bryce agreed.  “We need to keep an eye on Jason, though.  He could be getting himself into a lot of trouble.”

            “I wonder where he came up with his ideas about God?” Damon speculated.  “They are so superficial, they were probably pre-packaged in Hollywood.”

            “Probably some TV talk show.  That’s about the intellectual level of that kind of thinking,” Bryce suggested.

            Damon chuckled.  “Or maybe a sit-com.”

            The rest of the week passed with few new developments, either with respect to Cory Blaine or with respect to Jason Todd.  Cory was withdrawn from school by his mother, who claimed he was suffering from a nervous breakdown brought on by overwork.  There was no immediate reference to either Dr. Westover or to Sigma Alpha Tau fraternity in the announcement of his departure.

            On Thursday morning Bryce was asked by Curtis, whom he met at the gym of course, to show up at the fraternity house that afternoon.  Curtis said he had been contacted by e-mail by Harry Dwyer requesting a meeting at four o’clock, but he did not know what the purpose of the meeting was to be.  He wanted a witness, just in case it was something hostile.  Consequently, Bryce was there as requested, sitting in one of the lounge areas and talking with Curtis when Harry appeared.  He approached the two of them hesitantly, then paused.

            “You wanted to see me?” Curtis asked.

            “Yeah.  Look, I didn’t realize where all this was going.  Like I said the other night, all I wanted was to be president.  Cory said he could make that happen.  I didn’t realize all the trouble it could cause,” Harry stated, as he pulled up a chair.

            “You didn’t think that video was going to cause trouble?” Curtis asked, astounded.

            “Naw.  I kind of thought it was funny, you know.  I just thought you would be embarrassed, and drop out of the race, and that would be it.  I never thought Cory would really send it out to, you know, deans and the like, or to the old boys.”

            “Harry, you have a weird sense of humor if you thought that was funny.  But it’s over and done with now.  Was there something else you wanted?” Curtis enquired.

            “Yeah.  There’s the party tomorrow.  I kind of invited this girl I know, see?  And now I’m wondering if you would be real pissed off if I showed up,” Harry explained.

            Curtis cast a glance at Bryce.  He sighed.  “Harry, it’s an SAT party.  You’re still a member as far as I know.  If you want to come, then come.  It won’t bother me.”

            “Thanks, Curtis.  My girl would be really pissed off if I had to cancel on her,” the ex-candidate said, and happily departed.

            “You know, I think maybe Tom is right.  Having Harry as president would be a disaster, even without Cory pulling the strings behind the scene,” Curtis said to Bryce.

            “He’s not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree,” Bryce agreed.  “What’s his major?”

            “Something in Secondary Education, I think,” Curtis replied.

            “Oh, shit!  You mean some day that could be teaching high school kids?” Bryce exclaimed.

            “Maybe he’ll flunk out,” Curtis held out a glimmer of hope.

            But later, when Bryce related the events of the afternoon to Damon, he considered that some of his teachers had been a lot like Harry.  They were really coaches who had to teach something in order to get to coach a team, and did not care about anything else.  Bryce realized that his high school experiences might not be all that typical.  At his school, all the teachers – or at least all those he had – had graduate degrees in the subject they taught, and coached as a sideline, not the other way around.

            Thursday evening saw the meeting of the Johnson study group.  The second major examination in that class was scheduled for the following day.  Although Bryce was concerned about Jason Todd, he could not allow that to result in neglecting his academic work.  That, after all, was his primary reason for being at Clifton in the first place.  Consequently, as far a possible, he put other matters aside and focused on the affairs of Dr. Samuel Johnson.  The overlap with the coverage of Edmund Burke in his class on Eighteenth-Century Britain was fortuitous, as it gave him an added dimension to his understanding of the man and the era.  On Friday morning, therefore, he felt fairly confident as he went into his English 413 class in the Stuart-Warren Building.

            On Friday evening, the much discussed party at Sigma Alpha Tau took place.  As he had done at several previous parties, Bryce put in some time at the door, collecting twenty dollars from non-member male students, but allowing of-age females free entry.  He also had to turn away several non-students who attempted to crash the party.  It had been the experience of the fraternity in past years that non-students were too much of a risk.  They tended to get violent when drunk, and tended to get drunk pretty rapidly after arriving.  Besides, there was the insurance issue.  Students were covered, one way or another, by University policy, but non-students might have no insurance at all, and cause problems if anything happened.  Evidently, there had been some bad experiences in the past, and the fraternity had adopted stringent policies, which Bryce now had to enforce.

            Bryce noticed Harry Dwyer when he turned up with a very sexy looking female early in the evening.  He seemed perfectly happy with the situation.  Mike Sandoval and David Simpson also arrived, with David again kidding Bryce that they should get in for the price of one, just like the straight couple ahead of them.  He had used this argument whenever Bryce was collecting at the door, so it was by now something of an expected ritual.  Another set of attendees was Ken Broussard and Annette Rimbault, Marc’s sister, but Marc himself did not appear during Bryce’s stint at the door.  From among the residents of Clay Hall came Wayne Diebold, the football player who had sort of been won over to accept gays by Bryce and Damon last semester.  Like Harry Dwyer, Wayne had a good looking female on his arm.

            Once Bryce was relieved of door duty, he snagged a drink, and began to circulate, casually looking for Damon, Kitty, and Caroline as he did.  As they had done in the past, he and Damon had asked the girls to accompany them to the party.  It was a mutually agreeable arrangement.  All four of them liked to dance, and Kitty liked to check out the other possibilities as well.  None of them were interested in any kind of romantic relationship.  Besides, they liked each other’s company.

            As he circulated, Bryce encountered Curtis and Maddy.  There were several fraternity brothers gathered around Curtis, sort of paying homage to the president-in-waiting.  Now that Harry had withdrawn from the race, there was no contest for the presidency.  There could always be nominations from the floor at the election meeting, but it seemed unlikely.  Bryce approached and stood next to Maddy.

            “While I was working the door, Harry arrived with his date,” he quietly mentioned.

            “I was surprised when Curtis told me about Harry wanting to attend yesterday,” Maddy replied.  “I would think he would be too embarrassed.”

            “It’s hard to embarrass someone with skin as thick as Harry’s,” Bryce said.  “I don’t know the girl he’s with.”

            “Oh, she’s a lot like him.  Her name’s Darla Cantrell.  She’s an Elementary Ed major and a cheerleader.  Not really a bad person, but not very exciting to talk to either,” Maddy filled him in.

            “Sounds like a good match for Harry, then,” Bryce decided.

            At that point, the music in the large assembly room picked up in volume, and began the typical rhythms which Bryce associated with Damon and Kitty’s performances.  As he began to move in that direction, Curtis and Maddy did likewise, breaking out of the circle of adulation which had surrounded Curtis.  On the way, Bryce quietly asked Curtis, “How much of that attention you’re getting is real?”

            “Oh, maybe half,” Curtis answered.  “Next year, I’ll have to call on lots of the brothers for a whole series of things, so it’s good to get to know the interests and abilities of as many as possible.  Of course, I know a lot of them already, but I am learning some new stuff, including some guys not to entrust with anything important.”

            “Always valuable information,” Bryce conceded.

            As anticipated, in the center of the assembly room were Damon and Kitty, putting on a show for the crowds.  They gyrated and twisted in ways which seemed anatomically impossible, keeping in rhythm with the music.  Those watching encouraged them with shouts and exclamations.

            Caroline Koehler moved up next to Bryce.  “Neither you nor I can carry off that kind of performance, but I do expect a couple of dances before the evening gets too much later,” she informed Bryce.

            “As soon as there’s something I can dance to without needing a chiropractor later,” Bryce laughed.  “In fact, I was sort of looking for you when I connected with Maddy and Curtis instead.”

            “Accept no substitutes.  I’m the genuine article,” Caroline joked.

            The music came to an end, and a sweating and panting Damon and Kitty came to the sidelines where Bryce and Caroline stood.

            “Water!  Beer!  Anything liquid!” Damon demanded.  “I’m dying of thirst after all that.”

            “Me, too,” Kitty panted.

            Bryce immediately disappeared, returning moments later with two cold beers and handed them to the performers.  “You certainly earned your pay.  The crowd was enthusiastic,” he praised his partner.  “But aren’t you starting a little early?”

            “Kitty and I have been requested to put on a show twice this evening.  We’ll be back by popular request,” Damon informed Bryce with the air of a celebrity condescending to an ill-informed fan.

            Bryce laughed, and poked his partner in the ribs, but agreed, “You do a great job out there.”

            The music which was now playing was at a considerably lower decibel and tempo, so Caroline indicated it was time for Bryce to deliver on his promises.  They moved onto the dance floor, and put in a very acceptable performance, even if not in the same league as that of Damon and Kitty.  As they circulated, Bryce noticed Ken Broussard and Annette Rimbault also dancing, and, passing close by, said to Annette, “I haven’t seen your brother here tonight.”

            “No,” she replied, “I couldn’t get him to come this time.  He’s so anti-social at times.”

            Bryce wondered whether Annette knew her brother was gay.  Some gays, he knew, were uncomfortable in situations such as this, where they were more or less expected to have a female companion.  Somehow, he could not quite see Marc having the kind of relationship with a woman that he had with Caroline.  He was too intense.  In fact, Bryce considered, Marc would probably consider what he was doing to be hypocritical, when he simply saw it as having a good time.  Not all relationships had to be based on sex.

            Before the dance ended, Bryce also caught sight of Harry and his date.  What was her name?  Darla something.  They did look good together, and Harry did not seem to notice that some of the brothers shied away from him.  As Bryce and Caroline danced near, however, he heard the girl giggle and say in a falsetto voice, “Oh, Harry!  You’re sooooo clever.”  Airhead, Bryce thought, and steered Caroline in a different direction.

            Before the evening ended, Damon and Kitty put on another show, to the accolades of the assembly.  This time, Bryce was on the ball with two cold beers waiting as they came off the dance floor.  There was a good crowd at the party, so the fraternity would not lose on this one, like the one before spring break.  But Bryce did not find Jason Todd anywhere among the party-goers, just as Marc Rimbault likewise continued to be absent.  Sometimes, those not present were as significant as those present.