In mid afternoon on Saturday, July 31, Bryce and Damon arrived at the Sigma Alpha Tau fraternity house on the fringe of the campus of the University of Clifton. Arrangements had been made for the guys to stay at the fraternity house while searching for their apartment off campus. During the summers in general, and especially during the periods between terms, there were plenty of vacant rooms at the house. A deposit was made with the Treasurer, Keith Hamilton, and any personal items of the regular inhabitants of the rooms stored away. Even during these down times, some officer of the fraternity was on the premises just in case something arose requiring immediate attention. Currently, that was Keith. As Keith had been Bryce’s mentor during pledging last fall, and was a good friend, obtaining rooms was especially easy to accomplish, and decent rooms were set aside for the two young men. Of course, at the fraternity they would be in separate rooms, even though everyone knew they were partners. Keith also informed them tongue in cheek that there were several parcels which had arrived during the summer, and he would be charging them storage fees when they wanted to retrieve them. These were some of the items send from Rome at the same time they turned in their rental car.
That evening, Bryce and Damon supped at their favorite small restaurant, then spent several hours talking over a few beers at Pat’s Tavern. They would not be able to follow up on their apartment search until Monday, although they might be able to claim some items left at their former dormitory, Clay Hall, if a cooperative figure were in charge. Over their beers, a serious topic had to be ironed out. Tomorrow was a Sunday, and Bryce would be attending Mass at St. Boniface. At their second dinner with Father Long in Rome, Damon had made it quite clear that he was not going to join the Catholic Church any time soon. In Lincoln, he had attended with the Winslow family, but that was a matter of courtesy to his hosts. What would be the situation now that they were on their own?
Bryce waited until they were into their second beer before raising the subject. But then he began, “Tomorrow morning I will be checking out St. Boniface. From what I understand from the e-mails I received from Mike while we were traveling, Father Fenwick is the new pastor.”
“He’s the guy you and the Sandovals wanted, right?” Damon asked.
“Yes. We were all very impressed when he first showed up last spring, and especially when he substituted at Easter when Father Payne was ill,” Bryce confirmed.
“I’m glad things worked out for you,” Damon replied, still not giving Bryce a hint as to his own intentions. “I guess Deacon Jeffers will still be there, and still be in charge at the soup kitchen.”
“I imagine so. Mike did not mention any change there, and there’s no reason why the change in pastors should affect that arrangement. The soup kitchen is not a parish function, but a work by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, with Deacon Jeffers acting in his private capacity as lead man. The Sandovals do seem to have become regulars there over the summer,” Bryce said.
“Now I know who St. Vincent de Paul was, thanks to our visit to Paris last month,” Damon commented.
“But you do remember that he did not found the Society which bears his name, don’t you? It continues his work, but was begun only in the nineteenth century,” Bryce reminded his partner.
“Yeah, but it’s still nice to know about him. I’ll bet that half the guys who work there don’t know who he was,” Damon insisted.
“You’re probably right.” Bryce took a deep breath, then decided on a frontal attack. “Will you be going with me in the morning?”
Damon seemed surprised at the question. “Don’t you want me to?”
“Of course I want you to. But, after our talk with Father Long, I wasn’t sure whether you wanted to be there,” Bryce explained.
“Look, Bryce, I have no problem with you being Catholic. I have no problem with the Sandovals. I sure have no problem with Deacon Jeffers and the soup kitchen, or with St. Vincent de Paul. It’s just the homophobic proclamations of your leaders that tick me off,” Damon declared with some feeling.
“So, we’ll more or less be the same as last year?” Bryce asked.
“More or less. Let me lay it on the line. There were a couple of times when I was seriously thinking of joining the Catholic Church. I was real close last Easter. I was really affected by my experiences at Lourdes. I like this guy St. Martin of Tours. There’s a lot I find very positive about your Church. But as long as your pope and bishops keep telling me I’m unnatural and disordered, I’m not going to join. I mean, that’s a slap in the face. That’s telling me I’ll always be a second class citizen as far as they’re concerned. Shit man! I had enough of that growing up a black boy from the Chicago projects! I don’t need any more of it. If I can’t be accepted as an equal, just as good as anyone else in your Church, then it’s not for me.”
“Damon, I understand your feelings. You know how much I struggled with this last year. I was already Catholic, but when I recognized that I was also gay, it caused me all kinds of trouble and inner turmoil. I’m still not one hundred percent easy with it, and I sure don’t appreciate the statements of the Vatican and the bishops. If I didn’t believe, I would definitely have left the Church. But I do believe, so I’ll continue to struggle with it. Besides, as I said before, I think it’s important to work for change from within instead of isolating myself from what is still one of the most influential institutions on earth.
“Sure, I’m disappointed that you won’t be joining me. I would love it if you could share my Faith. It would be something more binding us together. But I do understand where you’re coming from. I guess I didn’t see the parallel between the homophobic position of the hierarchy and the racism you’ve encountered as clearly as I should have, but now I do, and I respect your position. I said all along that I would not want you to join just to please me, or for any other reason than that you sincerely believe. I still say that. Emotionally, I guess I was not ready for your declaration back in Rome, and I’m really sorry if I’ve been any less loving since then. I don’t mean to be.”
“Boyfriend, we both have issues to work through,” Damon responded. “Didn’t you tell me part of your outlook says we humans are less than perfect? We just need to keep working at our relationship.”
“You’re right. I guess that will be true as long as we live. We’ll never reach a place where we can take each other for granted. It would be sad if we ever did. You put up with me, and I’ll put up with you,” Bryce agreed.
“So, down to brass tacks, I’ll go to church with you in the morning. I like your church. The music appeals to me. All the ceremony appeals to me. With Father Payne gone, my chief objection is gone, too. This new man seems pretty cool, so we’ll have to see how it works out,” Damon said.
“I’m sorry you won’t be able to receive communion. I hope this does not cause more feelings of being treated as a second class citizen,” Bryce probed.
“Not really. I understand that receiving communion is for members, and I’m a visitor, even if I visit every Sunday. Besides, I still have some doubts about your beliefs in that area, so it would not be appropriate for me to receive communion. Maybe we can talk about that some more, and about abortion. You did promise to talk about that back when we were in Rome,” Damon reminded Bryce.
“Yeah, I know. This is one area where I wish I could be completely dispassionate. Calm, cool, and collected. That’s the image I have of myself, but I know it’s not completely true. I get emotional about some things, and abortion is one of them,” Bryce admitted.
“We don’t have to do it now, but I do want to understand where you’re coming from,” Damon insisted.
“I promise. Some day.”
With that agreed on, the two spoke of other things, including their apartment search, and the up-coming semester. Then, they walked back to the SAT house, and enjoyed each other in a very intimate manner. They might be assigned separate rooms, but that did not mean they had to actually sleep in separate rooms.
On Sunday morning Bryce drove them out to the Cracker Barrel near the Interstate where they had a great breakfast to start the day. Later they arrived at St. Boniface. It was a classic case of “deja vu all over again” as they stepped out of Bryce’s Mustang and encountered the Sandoval family in the church parking lot. Exuberant greetings were exchanged among the friends. The biggest change since May was Kyle Sandoval’s girlfriend, Kathy Collins, who was now only five or six weeks away from giving birth. She kind of waddled rather than walked, and when the guys leaned in to kiss her, there was a definite distance between them caused by the protruding stomach she exhibited. Still, she seemed to be in good spirits. Mike’s boyfriend, David Simpson, was not with them this morning. Mike briefly related that he had attended the summer session, but went home for the period between terms. All this was grist for the conversation mill when they went out to lunch afterwards. One thing definitely settled was that Bryce would resume his role as host on Sundays. That had been insisted on several times in the e-mails he and Mike had exchanged over the summer, including the latest one sent just before Bryce and Damon left Lincoln.
Entering the church, they found the new pastor, Father Timothy Fenwick, the deacons, and the altar boys milling about in the back of the church, preparatory to the entrance procession. When Deacon Jeffers saw them, he beckoned and asked whether they would be at the soup kitchen that afternoon. He was greatly relieved when they said they would, as during the summers, when many regulars went on vacation, and between terms at the University, volunteers were scarce. Only a short time after getting settled in a pew the organist began some introductory music, then the soprano in the choir chanted the Introit. The 11:00 Mass at St. Boniface had begun.
The Gospel reading for that Sunday was taken from the account of the Marriage Feast at Cana in the second chapter of St. John’s Gospel. After discussing marriage as a sacrament of the Church and a grace for those thus joined together, Father Fenwick added, “I have been asked about same-sex marriages. I think you all know the rulings from Rome on that matter, so my personal opinions do not come into play here. However, I think you all also know that there are some homosexual members of this congregation, and I expect that they will be treated with the same Christian respect as every other member.” There were some surprised looks exchanged at that, not least among those in the Sandoval pew.
As they were leaving, Isobel Sandoval asked her son Mike, “Were you the one asking Father about gay marriages?”
“No, Mom. I was pretty sure there was nothing he could do along those lines. I don’t know who asked. But I really appreciate his comment this morning,” Mike replied.
“Yes. There aren’t many, but there are a few poison tongues in the parish. Maybe this will give them something to think about. On the other hand, they might begin a letter writing campaign against Father to the Bishop,” she speculated.
“In that case, maybe we should pre-empt them by writing to the Bishop in favor of his position,” Kyle suggested. Before they even got in their respective vehicles, that was agreed upon.
At their favorite Olive Garden, the receptionist was pleased to see Bryce and Damon back. Those in their group were seated in one of the many alcoves, so they had a modicum of privacy in their discussions, although there was really little anyone would want to overhear anyway. After a few more comments on Father Fenwick’s sermon, the discussion turned to Kathy’s upcoming delivery of Kyle’s child. The tentative date of September 10 had been set by her physician. She giggled and said she was hoping for the previous Monday.
“Why is that?” Bryce innocently asked. “Are you anxious to get this over with?”
“No, Dodo,” Mike punched him. “The previous Monday is Labor Day.”
Everyone laughed as Bryce turned red.
In the conversation which followed, Bryce learned that Kyle had graduated from high school in the spring, as anticipated, and would be entering the University as a freshman Business major, intending to follow his father in the restaurant business. He had proposed to Kathy, so they were now officially engaged. She showed off her ring.
“I would have married her in June, which is the traditional month, except the vain little woman would not do it when she was obviously pregnant. I thought that would be a good sign for a prosperous marriage,” Kyle kidded Kathy.
She gave him a very exasperated look, but then explained to Bryce and Damon, “I do want a nice set of wedding photos, so I’m willing to wait until next June. By then, I will be out of high school, too. Of course, in my present condition I’m not enrolled for the upcoming term. They seem to think it’s a bad example to have heavily pregnant girls in school. I’ll be home schooled, but after I deliver our little boy, I’ll return to school to put in the rest of my senior year.”
“You’d think, with all the emphasis on not having abortions, a Catholic school would appreciate seeing someone living up to the Church’s guidelines,” Kyle teased.
“I think the only people who agreed with Kyle’s wish for a June wedding this year were my parents,” Kathy said with some bitterness. Her parents had been anything but supportive.
“Yeah, I think they want her out of the house as soon as possible. But we’re still negociating. If they get desperate enough, they might pay for the whole thing,” Kyle grinned.
Kathy gave him another of her special looks.
After that, most of the talk was about the European adventure of Bryce and Damon. Damon was pleased to see Mike looking envious of his advantages, not something he often experienced from anyone.
Returning to the SAT house after Sunday dinner, Bryce called home and spoke with his mother, assuring her that they had arrived in one piece, and everything was fine. Then Martha insisted on speaking with Damon, as though she wanted verification that her son was not just pasting over any difficulties. But when the phone was returned to him, Bryce asked to speak with his father. On the phone with Sterling, Bryce asked whether there was anything he had been able to do as yet about Damon’s sister in Chicago. His father wanted more information, which Bryce had been careful to pick up during their brief stop-over there a few days ago. Vanessa’s full name was Vanessa Gayle Graves, and yes, she had graduated from high school, despite her frequent pregnancies. She had taken some secretarial courses in high school, but Bryce had no idea how proficient she was. He supplied his father with her Social Security number and contact information. No, she did not have a current boyfriend. No, she was not pregnant again. She was on birth control, one of the ‘medicines’ she had purchased with Bryce’s money. There was no doubt that she would be willing to move away from her mother as soon as she could afford it. Sterling promised to get busy contacting friends and acquaintances in the Windy City.
Once the calls to Nebraska were completed, first Bryce then Damon got busy with their e-mail. While traveling from Lincoln to Clifton, they had neglected to check, and both found a list of messages awaiting a response. Together they answered some of their correspondents from their European trip. Bryce decided to take his in order of meeting them in Europe, with input from Damon, so he first replied to an e-mail from Manuel Calero from Santiago. They did not seem to have made any special friends in France, but just that morning Mike had mentioned that David Simpson was corresponding with the German student they had put him in touch with, so the next missive went to Reinhard Weidner in Aachen. This was followed by another German posting, to Wolfgang König and Bettina Lauffer in Freiburg. Most of these students were on vacation at this time, as, except for special seminars and the like, most European universities did not operate in late July and August. Then there were their friends from the Gay Village in Rome, Ray and Tony.
At that point, Bryce turned the computer over to Damon, who was the special correspondent with the International Relations student Paolo Rinaldi in Milan, but he also had a couple of African contacts. First of all there was the Ngolo family from Bamako in the Republic of Mali, whom the guys had met at Lourdes. Then there was Innocent Kwode from Ghana, with whom Damon had struck up a conversation in Rome. The Ngolos, back home, regarded Damon as a kinsman, as he had informed them of his descent from the Bambara speaking people, as documented by DNA analysis. Damon was especially pleased to find that Innocent had made contact with Cardinal Turkson, and some resolution of his sister’s problem back home was in the works. Now, Innocent had to find a way to get back home himself. He joked that he might walk from Rome to Ghana, except for the inconvenient fact that the Mediterranean Sea was in the way.
The requirements of correspondence satisfied, Bryce and Damon set out for the soup kitchen, after first calling DeShawn Quinlan to tell them they would be picking up him and Malcolm. DeShawn was excited that Bryce and Damon were back earlier than expected. He asserted that guarding the Sandoval vehicle was not nearly as much fun as guarding Bryce’s Mustang. Damon later noted that the Sandovals had an older model van, which carried a lot less prestige among the people DeShawn wanted to impress. Nonetheless, the two nine year olds had soldiered on, guarding the Sandoval van the entire time Bryce and Damon had been away. At dinner, Isobel had complimented the boys, and also noted that they had prevented at least one attempt at vandalism during the summer, so she intended to continue paying them, even after Bryce added his usual twenty dollars a piece each Sunday. They not only needed the money, but they were worth it. Bryce could not resist teasing the boys about becoming capitalist entrepreneurs. In the process, they learned a new word – plutocrat. But it backfired, in that DeShawn declared that, as Bryce was the man with all the money, he was the plutocrat, and then both he and Malcolm teased him with that title all the way home afterwards. Damon laughed heartily at his partner thus having the tables turned on him.
After their light supper at the soup kitchen, Bryce and Damon decided to pay a visit to Pat’s Tavern upon their return to the campus area. As they entered, they noticed that it was not nearly as busy as was usual during term. They took a booth away from the entrance, and picked up a couple of draughts on the way. On the whole, the guys felt that they had a good start on their return to Clifton. On Monday, they would began looking in earnest for an apartment. Then they would be set up for the coming semester.
While they were congratulating themselves, Beau Lyle walked in. Beau had been a pledge with them last fall, so they were now brothers in Sigma Alpha Tau. When he saw the two, he headed for their booth.
“You guys engaged in some kind of conspiracy, or may I join you?” Beau asked.
“Oh, we’re definitely in a conspiracy, but you can join us anyway,” Bryce responded with a grin.
Beau grabbed Bryce’s beer, and held it up so the bartender could see it, and held up three fingers, ordering another round. Then he drank what remained of Bryce’s beer, to the loud protests of his fraternity brother.
They spent some time going over the guys’ European trip. That seemed like it was going to be standard fare until all their friends had been given the spiel. Like Keith Hamilton and Mike Sandoval, Beau proclaimed himself envious, but he then told the pair about his skiing trip to Colorado, and his participation in several horse shows during the summer. His family was not exactly hurting for cash. His grandfather was the proprietor of the Cadillac dealership in Clifton, and his father worked for the family business, so they were doing okay. Beau was a Business Management major, intending to follow in the same occupation, somewhat like Kyle Sandoval. He was putting in some hours at the dealership during the summer, and figured following his father and grandfather was a lot better than being on the job market, the economy being what it was. Besides, he liked dealing with customers. He had an outgoing personality, which augured well for his future success.
After they had been talking for well over an hour, Beau paused, and shifted gears. “I’ve been talking to Phil Cecil about you two.”
“Us? What are you up to?” Bryce responded.
“Why me?’ Damon asked.
Beau smiled. “You may recall that I introduced you two to my cousin Roland and his friend last spring. Now, while I am disgustingly heterosexual, Roland is a queer like you guys.” It was only the grin on his face and the sparkle in his eyes which prevented immediate mayhem. Still, Beau was made to pay for the next round of beer. Then he continued, “Now Roland and his friend John Luke are registered to enter the University in a few weeks, and I fully expect both of them to pledge Sigma Alpha Tau. So, as I said, I’ve been talking to Phil. As I recall, Bryce, you had some difficulty with your first mentor last year.”
“Unfortunately true,” Bryce confirmed.
“Well, I’m trying to avoid similar problems for Roland and John Luke. While most of the guys are pretty open, there are still a few who are not very sympathetic to you …”
At that point, both Bryce and Damon raised their glasses of beer over Beau’s head and tipped them threateningly.
“ … gays … you gay guys,” Beau hastily finished his sentence with a big grin. Seeing his friends’ beers return to the table, he continued. “Consequently, I’ve been talking to Phil about appropriate mentors for the two of them.”
“Aren’t you making a few assumptions, there, ole Buddy?” Bryce asked.
“Such as?”
“Such as, number one, both Roland and John Luke actually want to join SAT. Such as Damon and I want to be mentors. Such as, they get selected in the initial process,” Bryce enumerated.
“And such as we’ll be any better than Mack Campbell was for Bryce last year,” Damon added.
“Yeah. Aren’t you kind of profiling us?” Bryce continued the attack. “You think all gays are alike, and we automatically support each other?”
Beau looked astounded at this response, until he noticed grins escaping from the corners of the mouths of both his interlocutors. “You guys are full of shit. Are you seriously telling me you don’t want to mentor Roland and John Luke?”
“No, Beau, we’re just pulling your leg. But my partner did make a valid point,” Damon said. “Not all gays are alike.”
“I know that,” Beau assured them. “I had a class with Cody Underwood last spring. I would never recommend him as a mentor for my cousin, or anyone else, and I am profoundly grateful that he is not a member of SAT.” Cody was a swishy type, very in-your-face about his orientation.
“I’ve encountered him,” Bryce agreed. “Enough said.”
“So, are you willing to mentor one of my protegés?” Beau pressed.
“Protegés, is it? Well … as a special favor to a fraternity brother, I guess,” Bryce pretended reluctance. “How about you, Damon?”
Damon answered seriously. “You want me to mentor a rich white boy?”
“Yeah. It’ll be good for you. Get you over some of your class consciousness,” Beau teased him, then added in a more serious vein, “I don’t think having a black mentor would be a problem for either Roland or John Luke, and I have no doubts about you, Damon.”
Damon was suffused with a warm feeling of belonging. Being a brother of SAT was great. With only a slight catch in his voice, he said, “In that case, send them on.”
“Still Phil’s call, but he seemed really agreeable when I talked to him a couple of days ago. You know, living here in Clifton, it’s really convenient to have access to the campus and the fraternity whenever I want,” Beau mused. “And the officers do come in from time to time to make sure the house is still there.”
“Yeah, I forget sometimes that you’re a local,” Bryce said.
“In addition to the propinquity involved, there are other benefits,” Beau stated. “I hear that you, Bryce, like to ride, but I’ll bet you don’t have the opportunities I do. Like I said earlier, I took part in a couple of shows already this summer, and next weekend I’ll be at Shelbyville. I have my own horse at a stable about an hours’ drive from campus.”
“Oh, wow! You’re right. I am seriously envious,” Bryce proclaimed. “Even in the heart of the Great Plains, I’ve heard of the Shelbyville show, and of the World Championship Horse Show later in the month. I’ve got to take that in this year.”
“Be glad to help out along those lines,” Beau assured his brothers. “And the stable where I keep my mount also has horses for hire, so if you want, some weekend maybe you two can come out and ride with me. My grandparents own the place.”
“I’d love to,” Bryce said emphatically, “and Damon will come because he loves me,” he added and kissed his partner on the cheek.
“Please, no PDA,” Beau grinned, shielding his eyes.
“Don’t push your luck,” Damon threatened Bryce.
Shortly thereafter, they broke up, Beau returning home, and Bryce and Damon to the SAT house.