Over breakfast on Sunday morning Damon told Bryce that he was glad he had gone to the Shelbyville Horse Show the previous evening for two reasons, “one of which has nothing to do with you.”
Bryce feigned shock. “Nothing to do with me! How is that possible?”
“Well, after watching those horses perform last night, I realized that they are not really all that frightening, as long as I don’t have to ride them. In fact, they are beautiful and noble animals. And that is something which is entirely independent of you, Boyfriend,” Damon asserted.
“Yes, it is. But you would never have realized this without me kicking your butt into the saddle, and dragging you to the show,” Bryce claimed.
Damon considered that. “Okay. The beauty and nobility of the horses is entirely independent of you, but I guess my realization of that is connected to you. You, Boyfriend, are ubiquitous. And that’s a word I learned from you as well,” he preempted Bryce from pointing out.
Bryce grinned. “I love you. But hey! You said two reasons. What’s the other?”
“The other is that, after watching you watch the horses, I have still another insight into what makes you tick,” Damon grinned back at him.
“Oh, oh. If you figure out any more about me, I’ll have no secrets left,” Bryce kidded.
“As if!” his boyfriend commented. “To change the subject, what’s on the agenda for this week?”
“Why would you want to change the subject, especially when the subject is me?” Bryce replied.
“You don’t really want an answer to that, do you?” Damon kidded.
“Well, perhaps not. Anyway, other than getting settled more thoroughly in our new quarters, this should be a pretty free week. Of course, it might have taken us the entire two weeks to find a decent apartment, but I’m really glad it didn’t. I was getting pretty discouraged by the time we ran across our new place on Thursday. Anything you want to do?”
“Not really. Let’s just take it easy. We won’t get much time to do that once the semester gets underway,” Damon replied.
In line with this decision, the guys spent about a half hour after breakfast just driving around. Clifton had a nice park area on the river, called, obviously enough, Riverfront Park, which they had not taken advantage of last year, so they explored that a bit, and also drove to find where their friend, Beau Lyle, and his grandparents lived. Beau lived with his parents in an upscale, newer neighborhood, whereas the elder Lyles dwelt in what they had referred to as the old family home, only a short distance from the Caldwell house where Bryce and Damon had their apartment. That part of town had been the choice address in the period from about 1880 to 1920, but deteriorated significantly after World War II, in part as a result of various governmental policies, and in part because of the development of malls and the flight to the suburbs. Everyone wanted his own little fake manor house, with a swath of lawn around it, which they then spent time complaining about maintaining.
Their leisurely drive through Clifton ended, of course, in the parking lot of St. Boniface Catholic Church, where they again greeted the Sandoval family. Once again, Kyle was accompanied by his heavily pregnant girlfriend, Kathy Collins, and once again Mike’s boyfriend, David Simpson, was absent.
“Hear from David lately?” Bryce asked Mike.
“Oh, yeah. I get an e-mail, text, or call a couple of time a week. He’s not happy at home. His mom is still making the lives of the rest of the family miserable, but Dave kind of figures he ought to share the misery with the rest of the family. I keep telling him he’s not responsible for his mother’s prejudices, but I know it’s hard on him, especially as his brother seems to hold him responsible,” Mike replied.
“How can … What’s his brother’s name? Anyway, how can he hold Dave responsible for what their mother does?” Bryce asked.
“His name is Greg. I don’t think Greg holds Dave responsible for being gay, but he thinks he should have kept it to himself, at least until he was out on his own and not around the house,” Mike explained. “Anyway, Dave will be coming back to campus on Wednesday. He says he cannot take it any longer than that.”
“I’m sure you’ll be glad to see him back,” Bryce sympathized.
“Definitely,” Mike agreed.
The official designation of the Sunday was one of those lackluster numbered Sundays in ordinary time. The term ‘ordinary time’ seemed so blah, but Father Fenwick again provided an impressive liturgy, with great music. The sermon was presented this Sunday by Deacon Jeffers, who was not a great speaker, but who was so obviously sincere. Not surprisingly, he managed to get in a word about the St. Vincent de Paul soup kitchen. The only surprise came at the end of Mass, when, just before the final blessing, announcements were made.
“Mr. Markham, who has been our organist and music director here at St. Boniface for six years, has accepted a position elsewhere. We wish him every happiness in his new position at St. Patrick’s. We will be conducting a search for a new music director as efficiently as possible, and in the meanwhile I have made arrangements for Miss Quincy, a retired organist, to fill in for us,” Father Fenwick announced.
“Well, that must have come as a surprise. It’s pretty obvious that this was not anticipated,” Bryce noted.
“I’ve heard a few rumors,” Isobel Sandoval said, “but perhaps we can learn more from Deacon Jeffers this afternoon.”
Over Sunday dinner at the Olive Garden, Isobel related that she heard from a friend who is in the choir that there had been a serious argument between the music director and the pastor. It seems Father Fenwick thought some of the selections played about a month ago were entirely inappropriate.
“I don’t remember the titles,” Isobel said. “As I recall, it was Carmen something.”
“Oh, oh,” Bryce said. “I’ll bet it was from Karl Orff’s Carmina Burana. I told you last year that would get somebody in trouble.”
“Yes, that’s the title. Why is that inappropriate?” Isobel asked.
“Mom, I told you about that,” Mike replied. “It’s in Latin, but it’s very secular, and even salacious in places. It is definitely not church music.”
“Oh, yes. I do remember you mentioning that before.”
“Father Payne was so dense he never noticed. Anything in Latin was okay by him. But I guess Father Fenwick actually recognized the music, and perhaps understood the words,” Mike speculated.
“I kind of enjoyed the joke when I heard it last fall, but I have to agree, it is inappropriate. It was just because something was being pulled over on Father Payne that I enjoyed it,” Bryce said.
The conversation wandered about for some time. Finally, it was Damon who asked Kathy about her family. “Mike’s boyfriend is having problems with his family. As I recall, you were, too. Are things any better?”
“My problems are not as bad as Dave’s,” Kathy replied. “But, you notice I’m here every Sunday. Basically, me getting pregnant before getting married is considered a great embarrassment by my family, so they really don’t want to be seen with me. I think my mom would have a heart attack if I said I was going to church with them on Sunday. I don’t know what they’re telling people, but I don’t imagine it’s anything good. Or true, for that matter,” Kathy replied.
“That’s really sad. It’s a shame when folks are so narrow minded,” Damon said. Bryce looked at his partner, who, he knew, had more than his share of problems with his own family. It was so great that Damon could comfort Kathy under the circumstances.
Kathy went on. “It’s bad enough that I got pregnant, but the folks really can’t forgive me for falling for Kyle. They are so prejudiced against anyone who’s not white. I mean, if you look at Kyle, or anyone else in his family, it’s not like I’m marrying you, Damon. That would really set them off. Kyle is about as white as I am, actually, but just because he has a Spanish surname and high cheek bones and is a little darker complected than me, that makes him different, somehow. And words like “nigger” and “chink” and “spick” fly around when my family discuss the people they consider different. They seem convinced that all the problems of the country are because these “foreign” elements are pulling down the economy with welfare, and diluting the white elements. I get so angry at my folks, but there’s nothing I can do. If I try arguing, I get called names and sent to my room. I don’t want to cause a final disruption until I finish high school and can marry Kyle,” she said sadly.
Isobel kissed her. “You know we’re here whenever you need us, Dear.”
Kyle held his fiancée tight.
After that sobering insight into the mentality of some working class Catholics, they broke up, with Bryce and Damon agreeing to meet Isobel, Mike, Kyle, and Terry at the soup kitchen, but Kathy would remain at the Sandoval home, as her condition tired her too much to put in three hours at the soup kitchen. And she definitely did not want to spend the time at her family home. As it turned out, Kathy was feeling so depressed that Kyle stayed with her, resulting in one less volunteer at the soup kitchen.
Back at their apartment, Bryce and Damon spoke about the situation with Kathy.
“I know your bishops have said some really stupid things about us gays, but they have come out against the kinds of prejudices Kathy’s family exhibit. How can they consider themselves good Catholics and still be so prejudiced?” Damon asked.
“That’s one of the arguments I have against the positions the hierarchy have taken on gay rights and on contraception,” Bryce replied. “Most Catholics don’t know an awful lot of theology. After Vatican II, in the later 60s and in the 70s, instruction in religion in most Catholic schools at all levels underwent a real crisis. I was lucky. My school resisted all the fads. But most did not. As a result, anyone who went through the schools since then got a very garbled version of the Catholic religion. I remember a talk with Jack Datillo last semester, when he told me about his experiences. It was all just emotional feel good stuff. You know, love everybody and help the poor. Well, as I told him, there’s nothing wrong with that, but nothing specifically Catholic, either. Nothing to make you stick with the Church when you run into a crisis in life. You can get that from the media. Another aspect of this was the impression that it did not matter what church one went to, we’re all the same. A bastard version of ecumenism. That’s one side of things.
“Another is that the hierarchy are so out of touch with the Catholic people that no one pays much attention to them except when it suits. It’s only the narrow minded types like my brother who quote the bishops on gay issues and some other things. I’ve seen poll results which indicate that Catholics by huge majorities disagree with the bishops on such matters as birth control and gay rights, and that’s great. But you can bet Chip ignores the bishops when it comes to such things as immigrants and what the bishops called “a preferential option for the poor.” The problem here is, nobody pays attention to them when they’re right either. So the pronouncements on racism, and on emigration, and other issues where I think they have solid theological bases for their positions, are ignored just like on those other issues. The bishops have lost the confidence of the people. So people like the Collinses and my brother just go with the prejudices they grew up with or absorbed from the people around them, and ignore the bishops when it suits them, and still think they’re good Catholics because they go to church every Sunday.
“That’s a problem for me, because in some ways I’m doing the same thing. I think the bishops are way off when it comes to gay issues, so I ignore them. The difference is, I have actually studied the issues, and I think I have solid theological grounds for my position. It’s not just prejudice, and it’s not just self-serving,” Bryce wound up.
“Boyfriend, after watching you struggle with it last year, I have no doubts about your sincerity, or about the amount of studying you put into your position,” Damon said, and kissed his boyfriend.
Later, Bryce called his parents in Lincoln. Bryce had taken some photographs of their apartment, and sent them by e-mail to the Winslow home in Lincoln. Martha was ecstatic over the place the boys had acquired, and easily agreed to finance a few additions, such as lounge chairs for both of them, and even a large screen television. There was even talk about a second desk top computer for Damon, but he was resisting, insisting he could use Bryce’s laptop in the event they both needed one at the same time. Just as last week, after talking for a time, Martha insisted on speaking to Damon as well.
As Bryce had come clean about his efforts to get Sterling to help Damon’s sister Vanessa, there was no need to disguise it when he recovered the phone and asked to speak to his father. They were hopeful when Sterling reported that he had spoken with a retired acquaintance in Chicago whose son was opening a new law office and would be hiring a receptionist. That seemed like something Vanessa could do, and she had taken decent care of her looks, so she would not be immediately rejected as inappropriate when she interviewed. Someone with tattoos, body piercings, or a really startling hair style, simply would stand no chance with the kind of conservative legal firm known to Sterling Winslow. Damon hopefully reported that Vanessa was a better speller than he, always correcting him in high school. That was to the good as well.
The soup kitchen was about as usual that Sunday. DeShawn and Malcolm were delighted to be employed by both Bryce and the Sandovals. Damon instructed them to save some of their money for emergencies, only to learn that DeShawn had been doing so all along. Malcolm, however, shamefacedly admitted he spent everything each week. He promised to do better in the future. Deacon Jeffers was clearly uncomfortable talking about the change in music director at St. Boniface, but did confirm that there was a conflict between the old one and the pastor over what was appropriate music for church.
As the week developed, Bryce and Damon got pretty settled in their new quarters. The lounge chairs and television authorized by Martha were acquired and brought up the stairs with some difficulty, as the staircase was narrow. These items were installed, the lounge chairs on either side of the fireplace in the study, and the television in the “common area” where they would entertain visitors. They did not see Dr. Caldwell all week, and so they still did not know whether he had not made the connection between the change in furnishings and the guys’ sexual orientation, or whether he had simply not studied the list Bryce had given him. Or, just possibly, he had made the connection and was okay with it.
Damon positioned his copy of Michelangelo’s David prominently in the “common area.” Also, at the entrance he attached to the wall his plaque from Pompeii with the warning cave cane. He enjoyed the little barking dog. In a more private place, namely on the wall of the bedroom, he hung his copy of Caravaggio’s St. John the Baptist in a frame he picked up at a discount store. The Murano glass goblets acquired at Venice were displayed on a small side table rescued from the storage room on the third floor, but positioned out of the way, so as not to be endangered by someone bumping into it. With the help of Mike Sandoval, who as a senior this year was now legal, they acquired a respectable collection of potables, including several wines to drink from those goblets, and some Bourbon – Woodford Reserve for special occasions and Old Forrester for everyday.
The guys invited their friends to visit, including Mike and his partner David when David arrived back on campus. Also visiting were those who helped with the move, Keith Hamilton and Beau Lyle. Bryce happened to bump into Caroline Koehler in the campus bookstore on Friday, and invited her over to see the place, while listening to her accounts of her music festivals and camps during the summer. She had attended the Sewanee Summer Music Festival at the University of the South, featuring over fifty internationally known guest instructors, and could talk of nothing else. Sometime in the future, when she had wound down, they would consult her about her minor discipline, cooking.
On Thursday, Damon got an excited phone call from his sister Vanessa. It was the first time she had called him on his new cell phone. She was absolutely ecstatic. She had been offered a full time job as receptionist at a law office, at a decent wage, so she and the kids could move out of the drug infested atmosphere of their mother’s apartment in the projects. She could afford to send the three younger ones to a decent day care, and Nathan would be starting Kindergarten. She was so excited she babbled on forever. Damon shed tears of happiness for his sister and her children. Maybe they would not turn out like his mother, his brother, or his other sisters. Given a chance, it was possible to break out of the no-future life into which they were born, as Damon’s own case illustrated.
Nathan insisted on speaking with his Uncle Damon. He had received new postcards from Europe, and wanted Damon to explain what was on them and why he was getting them after his uncle was already home, so he had better come visit soon. Damon took the opportunity to play Dutch Uncle, and instructed Nathan to pay close attention in Kindergarten, and behave himself. This the boy promised to do.
During the week, Bryce arose each morning to put in time at the fitness center on campus, while Damon slept in. There was nothing new about that, except that Damon was no longer as much of a problem to get up for breakfast as he once was. The guys were experimenting with making their own meals, and a few of them were actually edible. Bryce was impossible. Twice what he prepared simply had to be thrown out and trips made to their favorite small restaurant substituted. Damon, however, proved to have a talent for cooking, although he had little background. He promised to consult Caroline when he had a chance, and in the meanwhile Bryce bought him a copy of Cooking for Dummies, which Damon said applied to Bryce more than to himself.
In the process, the guys came to know the proprietors of the little restaurant pretty well. They were a couple, Frank and Melissa Cooper, and their daughter Janie. They seemed like real nice people, who never gave the guys any grief, even though they sometimes forgot themselves and exhibited a little PDA, such as holding hands. The food was simple, but always good and plentiful, and the price was always reasonable. The guys had made use of this facility often last year, and planned to do so in the coming year.
On Saturday there was a second call from Vanessa. She definitely had the job, and had made her plans accordingly. She had rented her own furnished place with some of the money Bryce had given her. It was nothing fancy, like theirs, but it was in a safe neighborhood. It was still in subsidized housing, but it was nothing like that where they had been living. Despite her new job, she qualified for the apartment because of the four children, her own three and the one their sister Wanita had left behind. The place was clean, and, most importantly, it was safe. There had been nothing like the criminal activity in the new area that was an everyday occurrence in the old one. Damon knew that all this was possible because of the influence exercised by Sterling Winslow, and was extremely grateful.
The following Sunday was a special liturgy, as the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, August 15, happened to fall on a Sunday this year. Bryce explained that Catholics believed that the Mother of God was given the special favor of being taken bodily into heaven. Whether this occurred before or after death is not part of the dogma, but there was a general belief that it followed natural death at Ephesus under the care of St. John, the beloved disciple to whom care of her had been entrusted by Jesus on the cross. Although the formal definition of the doctrine was only proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1950, it was a belief, like the Immaculate Conception, which had been around for a very long time. This was clearly illustrated in some of the art works the guys had seen on their European tour, such as that by Raphael. The belief was shared with members of the Orthodox and other Eastern branches of Christianity and with some Anglicans. Protestants seem to have a down on Mary, refusing to grant her any special recognition. Even those who claim to accept the first seven ecumenical councils, including Ephesus in 451, which acknowledged Mary as Mother of God, still give her no special recognition in liturgical worship. In any case, this would be a more elaborate and solemn ceremony than the usual Sunday Mass.
To the delight of Bryce, on this occasion Father Fenwick employed no fewer than sixteen altar boys, ranging in age from high school seniors to ten year olds. During the canon of the Mass, four altar boys knelt before the altar with canon candles, accompanied by the thurifer. The priest was also generous in the use of incense, so that at times the sanctuary was hazy. Bryce was reminded of something he had read about a Byzantine practice of the clergy moving out to a side porch during Easter ceremonies at Hagia Sophia in Constantinople back before the Turks grabbed the structure and turned it into a mosque. No one seemed to know why this was part of the liturgy, until someone figured out that by the time this move took place, the sanctuary was so filled with incense that the clergy could not see each other and probably had trouble breathing, and had to give it time to clear some. The temporary organist at St. Boniface also did a great job on short notice, testifying to the professionalism of the choir as well as her own dedication. Several people spoke of keeping her permanently, but Isobel Sandoval told Bryce that would not happen. The woman was nearly eighty years old, and was substituting as a favor to Father Fenwick, but had no desire for a permanent position.
On this occasion, the pastor himself preached, although it would seem out of sequence, as Deacon O’Malley had not been heard since the guys returned to Clifton. In his presentation, Father Fenwick spoke of the bodily assumption of the Virgin as a prelude and promise of our own resurrection. He pointed out that the oldest statement of Christian faith, known as the Apostles Creed and dating in its earliest versions to the second century, explicitly acknowledges belief in “the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.” To illustrate how silly some objections to orthodox belief can be, he told the story of a woman he encountered who claimed to be ruled solely by scientific reasoning. She said she did not believe in the resurrection of the body because there were not enough carbon molecules around to have a body for everyone who had ever existed. “As though the Creator of the universe could not come up with a few extra molecules if needed,” the priest concluded.
Over Sunday dinner, everyone declared himself pleased with the celebration, and with the work of Father Fenwick as pastor thus far. At that same time, Damon embarrassed Bryce by lauding him and his father to the skies for their assistance to his sister and her children, something the group had not heard about previously.
“Is this the same father who was giving you so much grief last winter?” Mike asked Bryce.
“The very same,” Bryce replied. “I guess even old fogies can change.”
“You be careful. After all this, I will not allow any trashing of Sterling Winslow,” Damon announced. “Besides, he’s a lawyer, and that’s what I intend to be.”
The other guys moaned.
On this occasion, also, Dave Simpson, Mike’s partner, was with them. He confirmed the accounts of his visit home given last week by Mike, and expressed his relief at being back in Clifton, where he did not have to watch his every word and action, and where he could be fully accepted for who he was. Even though his father had accepted him, he still felt guilty every time the least reference was made to his absent mother, and that happened several times a day.
“Fundamentalists, whether Christian, Moslem, or any other kind, have a lot to answer for,” Bryce concluded.
The rest of Sunday passed in predictable manner, in relaxation and preparation for the opening of the new academic year.