After visiting Peter and Josh in the hospital, Bryce and Damon adjourned to Pat’s for a couple of beers before retiring for the night. They found the tavern more crowded than usual for a Wednesday evening, and a good deal of the conversation they overheard focused on the events on the quad that afternoon. Fortunately, they found Jason Todd, Nate Hagan, and Derek Jansen ensconced at a table, and simply pushed in with them.
“Well, hello, Bryce. Why don’t you join us?” Jason mocked.
“It’s more crowded than usual. Not a free table anywhere, so what are fraternity brothers for?” Bryce grinned.
“So, what’s your take on the meeting? And where have you been since then?” Jason asked.
“I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome of the meeting,” Bryce replied, “and Damon and I were visiting Peter and Josh in the hospital, if you must know.”
“It’s one of these Catholic things,” Damon kidded his lover. “Some kind of works of mercy, but I can’t remember whether it’s private or corporal or sergeant.”
Bryce rolled his eyes, then punched his roommate. Nate, however, noted for the benefit of the others, “I remember that from my own Catholic upbringing. It’s corporal, but also major and general,” he quipped.
“Honestly, sometimes I think you Catholics talk in code,” Jason complained.
“Maybe, but it’s not a secret code,” Bryce replied.
They spent some time discussing the events of the day, both the clash on the quad and the meeting, as also the situations of Peter Boyington and Josh Young. Fortunately, while both were in for some extended stay in the hospital, neither had suffered a life-threatening attack. The consensus at the table was to support the resolutions adopted at the LGBT meeting, including the call for protests at Dinklemore Hall until the unjust disciplinary action against the demonstrators was reversed. Bryce and Damon shared with the others their observation that one of the attackers was Buck Lomax, who had also been injured. Then they explained who Buck was.
“Oh, I remember him,” Derek said. “At the party you guys put on to tempt us unsuspecting freshmen into joining the fraternity, he was there spouting off. He informed the rest of us peons that his family were extremely well off and influential, so he was a shoo-in for membership. I also decided not to follow through if that were going to be the kind of brothers I would have to deal with.”
“But in the end, it was you who was invited to pledge, not Buck,” Damon pointed out.
“Oh, I’ve been very pleased with the way things turned out,” Derek assured his listeners. “When I went to the first pledge meeting, and that pompous ass wasn’t there, I felt a lot better about Sigma Alpha Tau.”
“If I remember correctly,” Nate said, “at the meeting Dr. Burnett said the Administration did not know who the so-called defenders were. But you say this Buck character was among the wounded. What’s the story on that?”
“I don’t know,” Bryce admitted.
“Buck was definitely among the wounded,” Damon said. “We found him right after the clash, sitting on the ground with all the other wounded, holding his head, and moaning. He had on fatigues, with the name Lomax over the breast pocket, and then I remembered seeing him with his brother and Campbell at the rush party.”
“What I suspect, given the previous actions of the Administration, is that he is simply being covered up because of that influence his family wields. That influence is called bribery in other circumstances,” Bryce speculated.
“He’s in my English class,” Derek volunteered. “I’ll be sure to notice whether he’s there, and if he is whether he shows any sign of injury. He’ll probably be tossing back his little candies.”
“Little candies?” Nate asked.
“Yeah. He always seems to have a little packet of candies, and tosses them into his mouth, but never offers anyone else one,” Derek reported. “Selfish bastard.”
“Fits,” Jason commented.
Then they spent ten minutes on the corporal works of mercy, during which Damon got to talk about the painting by Caravaggio. After that, they went home after a long and exhausting day.
Thursday morning seemed impossibly normal after the events of the previous day. After the usual morning rituals, Bryce and Damon attended their class in Art History with Prof. Padgett. She completed her coverage of Gothic sculpture with pictures and commentary on the works at Rheims, Amiens, and Dijon, commenting on the realism of Gothic sculpture as a foretaste of the realism to be found in Renaissance painting.
Leaving their classroom, Bryce and Damon noted a gathering in front of Dinklemore Hall. Led by Felicity Gaines, four students carried plaques calling the disciplinary actions taken the day before unjust and biased, and specifically accusing the Administration of homophobia. As they approached, Felicity called out, “Oh, good. Here are reinforcements. These two guys need to get to class.” And so it was that Bryce and Damon found themselves drafted into carrying plaques. They had intended to be involved anyway, but this was a bit quicker than they anticipated. For the next hour and a half, they held up their signs and stood or paced back and forth in front of the main entrance to the central administration building.
Sometime around twenty minutes after they began, John Zoeller came out of the building. “The VIPs inside want you guys to break it up,” he informed the students.
“Not surprising,” Damon commented.
“And we want them to just be fair to all the students,” Felicity stated.
“Just doing my job, delivering the message,” Office Zoeller said.
As he began to move off, Bryce moved aside with him, so as to be able to speak privately. “What happened to Buck Lomax?”
Zoeller looked bothered. “I have been told that he was never on campus yesterday.”
“But you saw him, and you interviewed him,” Bryce protested.
“Yeah, and the interview was taped in the office, and is on file. But I can’t use it without some kind of court order or something, unless I want to lose my job,” the security guard said with bitterness.
“Find anything interesting? Off the record, of course,” Bryce asked.
“Could be. I know who the organizers were, and most of the participants. That’s on file, too. Young Lomax evidently was hit over the head by Josh Young, who grabbed a stick or bat of some sort from one of the attackers. Lomax was real pleased that Young got beat up pretty badly. Funny thing, but he said a couple of times, ‘We got him this time.’”
“Yeah,” Bryce said, “Josh said something about that when we saw him in the hospital yesterday evening. Evidently, one of your colleagues tried to intimidate Josh, too. I told him not to say anything to anyone but you.”
“I’m skating on thin ice, but I’ll find time this afternoon to pay a visit to the hospital,” Officer Zoeller promised. “Most of the guys on the force are sympathetic, and, as I think I told you before, cannot stand either Lomax or Campbell, but we are employed by the University, so our personal opinions don’t count, I guess.”
“Just remain alert for any clues, especially ones those VIPs can’t ignore,” Bryce asked him.
“They’re pretty good at ignoring what they don’t want to see,” Zoeller said as he walked off.
About 12:30 Bryce and Damon were relieved by other students, and went in search of lunch. Once again, Damon had only a half hour before his next class, although Bryce had longer. No sooner had they turned their placards over to the relief force and set off, however, than they were accosted by Annette Rimbault, the student who lived on the third floor of the Caldwell House with Ken Broussard.
“Can I talk to you two?” she asked.
“Sure, Annette. What’s up?” Bryce agreed.
“I’m on the staff of the Courier,” she began. The Clifton Courier was the student newspaper, not noted for anything much at all in the opinion of both Bryce and Damon, but they nodded and waited to see what Annette had in mind. “We were told not to speak to any of the students carrying posters, but you’re not carrying posters, are you?”
With a grin, Bryce responded, “Nope. Not a poster in sight. Do you see a poster, Damon?”
Damon ostentatiously looked Bryce up and down, then checked him from the back as well. “Nope, no posters.”
Annette giggled at these antics.
“What’s with the no talking to poster boys?” Bryce quipped.
“We – that is, the staff – were given a prepared statement by the Vice-President for Student Affairs, and were told that was sufficient coverage of an unfortunate incident which did not deserve additional attention. So, I guess the Administration just wants to bury the story,” Annette told them.
“What about the town paper?” Damon asked.
“We-ell,” Annette said, drawing out the word, “I’m doing an internship two days a week with the Herald, so I’ve kind of been asked by my mentor to put together something. But nobody will talk to me about what’s going on. I mean, I know about the rally on Tuesday and the clash yesterday, and I can’t quite buy the story given out by the Admin. But what is really going on?”
“Let’s have lunch,” Bryce proposed. “Damon has class in less than half an hour, but we can tell you more over something to eat.”
“Sounds good,” Annette agreed.
Over lunch, Bryce and Damon told Annette what they knew, beginning with the attack on Peter Boyington on Sunday morning. Before he had to leave, Damon told her about the attack on him last year, and pointed out the parallels with the attack on Peter. They even admitted to the division within the LGBT Club over how to react to that. Josh Young represented the more activist approach, while the resolutions adopted by the Executive Committee on Tuesday evening, and by the entire Club on Wednesday, represent the more moderate approach. Damon noted that Mack Campbell and Bick Lomax had been found guilty of attacking him, but appealed the decision, which the Administration thought entitled them to readmission to the University. After Damon left, Bryce also told her all about the tension between the Administration and Sigma Alpha Tau over readmitting Mack and Bick to the fraternity. He stated clearly that he could not prove those two were involved in the attack on Peter, or in the assault on the demonstrators, but circumstantial evidence pointed that way. The financial contributions made by the two families might explain why the Administration was so eager to support those two and their brother. He told Annette about Buck being injured in the melee yesterday, but not being suspended or even mentioned by anyone in the Administration. Finally, Bryce advised Annette to interview Felicity Gaines, Peter Boyington, and Josh Young, and then, if he would co-operate, also Officer John Zoeller of Campus Security. He then wrote a note to Office Zoeller, asking him to give Annette as much help as he could without jeopardizing his job, and gave that to Annette as well. He likewise promised to e-mail her copies of the resolutions adopted by SAT and the LGBT Club.
As Annette happily went off to interview others, Bryce wondered whether he had done the right thing. He had not paid much attention to the student newspaper, and had no idea how effective a writer Annette might be, or how discrete she might be with her sources.
For an hour and a half, Bryce was able to forget campus disturbances. Dr. Belzi lectured on the Platonic Academy of Florence, Marsilio Ficino, and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Pico supposedly had a photographic memory, although they did not call it that in the Renaissance, as there were no photographs yet. Bryce had always wanted a stronger memory, so he was surprised when Dr. Belzi mentioned that many people with something like a photographic memory were not especially intelligent, but Pico had both a very strong memory and a first class intellect. Dr. Belzi was not given to making jokes in class, but he looked right at Bryce when he mentioned that at age 20 Pico thought he had mastered all the philosophies of the world, and he summarized them in 900 propositions which he offered to defend against all comers. Then the Professor gave a small smile as he noted, “That’s about the age of most sophomores, and we know that the word ‘sophomore’ means half wise and half foolish.” Bryce was not the only one to groan at that.
After class, Bryce again went to visit Peter and Josh in the hospital. Damon was evidently busy brushing up some of his term papers, something Bryce needed to do as well. It’s okay to put them aside for a time, but if the time lasts too long, it seems that the edge wears off, and it becomes a task to dredge up the associations and connections which lie behind the words. Hence, Bryce arrived on his own. He found that Peter had several visitors, so he went to see Josh first.
When he knocked on the doorpost and walked in, he found Josh being interviewed by Annette Rimbault. She looked up and, recognizing Bryce, grinned. “Thanks for the leads. This is going to be a Pulitzer story.”
“I just hope it doesn’t get you in trouble,” the ever cautious Bryce replied.
“Just when I was beginning to think you were not all that bad, you have to come up with something like that,” Josh complained. “Isn’t finding out the truth about all this important to you?”
“Of course it is. I just want to find out the truth without getting Annette kicked out of school,” Bryce replied.
Josh grinned. “If that happens, we’ll organize a protest rally.”
Annette was really excited about what she was learning, and wanted to pursue every aspect of the case – or maybe that should be cases, if the return of Campbell and Lomax, the attack on Peter, and the assault on the demonstrators were considered separate cases.
“If they’re separate cases, then the suppositions under which I’ve been operating are all wet,” Bryce admitted.
“If they’re separate cases I’ll eat my hat,” Josh said.
“Josh, you don’t wear a hat,” Bryce pointed out.
“Figure of speech. You know what I mean,” Josh replied.
“Yes, I do, and I agree. There are just too many factors for it all to be unconnected in some way. But that’s not proof. Not the kind of proof we’d need to put Campbell and Lomax in prison where they deserve to be for attacking Damon last year, and probably Peter this year. I still have no idea why they attacked Peter. If I knew that, maybe some other things would make sense,” Bryce complained.
“How many students have been suspended because of all this?” Josh asked.
“I checked on that,” Annette said. “There were eleven students suspended yesterday afternoon. Those were the ones left on the ground after the demonstration broke up. The reason given was ‘endangering the safety of the campus’ according to the report I saw.” She smiled. “I have a friend in the office of the VPSA.”
“I didn’t know anyone was friendly in that office,” Josh mumbled.
“She’s just a student worker. That doesn’t mean she likes everything that goes on there. In fact, since she doesn’t like some stuff, she’s more likely to pass information on to me,” Annette pointed out.
“Sneaky,” Bryce commented.
“I’ll keep digging,” Annette promised.
“Speaking of student workers in various offices,” Bryce said, “I’m reminded that Bob Balducci, the Vice-President of Sigma Alpha Tau, announced at a meeting when we were discussing re-admitting Campbell and Lomax that he worked in the Business Office. That’s how he knew about the donations made to the University Development Fund by the families of those two. That’s someone else you might want to interview, Annette.”
“Thanks, I’ll add him to my list. I guess I must be off, doing more sleuthing and grilling,” she said with appropriate gestures, which made both guys laugh.
Bryce turned back to Josh. “And how are you? What’s the latest on your battle wounds?”
“The obvious wounds, where I have bruises and cuts, are not serious at all, and I have no broken bones, although my elbow is sprained. I think that’s because of trying to catch myself when I fell. But I do have a mild concussion, so they’re keeping me here for the next few days,” Josh gave an account of his condition.
“Did you know you messed up Buck Lomax?” Bryce asked.
“No! How’d you find that out?” Josh exclaimed, indicating that this was welcome news.
Bryce smiled, knowing he had sources of information, too. “Ever since he helped when Damon was attacked last year, we’ve been kind of friendly with John Zoeller, who’s on the Campus Security force. He was royally pissed when the VPSA refused to let them break up the clash between your crowd and the vigilantes. When Damon and I were leaving, we noticed one of your attackers also sitting there holding his head, along with your group. When we saw that he had the name Lomax on his shirt, we told Zoeller. He took the guy into custody, and interviewed him, but the Admin then told him none of that had happened. But he has the interview on record. Lomax admitted it was you who beat him about the head with some kind of stick or bat.”
“Oh, wow. That’s some story. And the part about me beating on Lomax is not the most interesting part,” Josh declared.
“I know,” Bryce said. “I told Annette to interview Officer Zoeller, too.”
Josh grinned. “Some bozo was coming at me with what looked like a hockey stick. I ducked, and grabbed his wrist, so he let go of the stick. Then I started beating him with his own weapon. But there were always two or three guys ganging up on me, so I was not very effective. I’m glad I got at least one of the SOBs.”
Bryce grinned. “The Lomaxes will probably sue you for bodily assault, or whatever it’s called.”
“Let them. My dad is the best defense lawyer in Ohio,” Josh replied.
For some reason, this surprised Bryce. He actually knew nothing about Josh’s family background, but somehow assumed he came from a struggling situation. Just shows how wrong assumptions could be.
Shortly thereafter, Bryce left Josh to visit with Peter. He found Damon already there.
“There he is,” Damon exclaimed. “This piker told me ages ago he was coming to visit you, Peter, but only now shows up.”
“I’ve been having a very interesting conversation with Josh,” Bryce defended himself.
“Hard to believe,” Damon commented.
“Why? Don’t you believe me?” a wounded Bryce asked.
“Perk up,” Damon said. “I wasn’t questioning your veracity. It’s just that I’ve never seen Josh engage in conversation. Usually he’s shouting.”
At that, Peter sniggered. “He is kind of forceful when he talks to you,” he agreed.
Bryce noted the absence of Peter’s mother. “What have you done with your mother?” he asked.
“I think she’s finally convinced that no one is going to attack me here in the hospital,” Peter answered. “She stayed around when there were visitors she didn’t know, but when Damon showed up, she agreed to go lie down for a bit. I could tell she was dragging.”
“I inspire confidence,” Damon proclaimed.
All three guys laughed.
“Mom’s getting used to the idea that I’m gay,” Peter noted with considerable satisfaction. “We’ve talked a lot when no one else is here. I think when Dad comes, I’ll have an ally.”
“That’s great, Peter!” Bryce congratulated him.
“It sure will be a relief not to have to pretend and be on my guard all the time,” Peter agreed.
They continued to talk for some time, covering the events on campus yesterday over and over. Bryce told Peter about Annette doing a story on the whole mess. He replied that Annette had come to his room earlier, but several other people were there at the time, so they did nothing except exchange a few pleasantries. Bryce also told Peter about Officer Zoeller, and the information he had. They went over the attack on Peter still another time, but no new facts emerged. None of them had any idea why Peter had been chosen to be beat up.
Leaving the hospital, Bryce and Damon decided to take their evening meal at the small restaurant run by the Cooper family. Janie was back in service as their waitress. In exchanging pleasantries, Bryce carefully avoided any mention to tattoos, although that was on his mind as he remembered her mother’s description of Janie’s boyfriend. Both guys decided to go with the ‘special’ that day, country fried steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Not wishing to put the Coopers in an awkward position, they did not ask for beer, but had iced tea to drink. They spent about an hour speaking of none of the campus subjects, neither classes nor papers nor demonstrations. Instead, they talked about visits, both the recent visit to Vanessa and her children in Chicago, and the forthcoming visit to the Winslows over Thanksgiving. They also talked of the SAT party coming up the next day, and Homecoming a week away. These non-threatening topics served to relax and comfort the two guys. They also exchanged comments with Janie and her mother Melissa at the counter as they checked out.
Refreshed, Bryce went off to his French study group, while Damon went to the SAT house to meet his friend and former mentor, DuBois Kennedy. Bryce spent a couple of hours immersed in Boileau and Racine, giving his fellow students the benefit of his researches on the great playwright. His comments on the monastery of Port Royal and the Jansenists in general clearly surprised Marc Rimbault, who commented that he had expected Bryce to be on the other side in that clash.
Damon had more interesting conversations with DuBois, his brother Martin, and his pledge Tyler Rollins. He was pleased to see that Tyler showed no sign of unease being in a group with three black guys. He really had overcome the racist influence of his background. They talked about the events on campus, and about the response of the Administration. All of them were outraged at the injustice of suspending those who were protesting, but doing nothing about those who attacked them. It turned out that DuBois had attended the LGBT meeting the previous evening, not that there was any doubt about his heterosexual credentials, but out of curiosity to see what Dr. Burnett would say. His assessment was simple: “The man’s an idiot.” That kind of heavy-handed treatment of the issue simply would not be accepted these days. Maybe fifty years ago, but not now.
Tyler was kind of uneasy at some of the conversation. Damon noticed, but did not want to put him on the spot, but after a particularly squirmy episode, he said, “Tyler, do you have anything to add to what we already know?”
“Yeah, kind of,” Tyler said.
“What’s that mean,” Damon asked with a smile.
“Okay, I can’t tell you how I know this, okay? But earlier today I found out for sure that Sean and his buddy Barry were involved in the melee on campus yesterday. They’ve been boasting about it to certain people. I don’t want to get Sean in trouble, but I think beating up people because they’re gay, or even because they support people who are gay, really stinks.”
The others considered that for a moment. Then DuBois asked, “Is there anything you can tell us that’ll point to those involved?”
Tyler chewed on his lip for a moment, then said, “Check out a blog called ‘Aryans Forever.’ Just don’t tell anyone I told you about it, okay?”
“Sure, Tyler,” Damon responded. “We don’t want to get you in trouble with your family. Thanks for the pointer.”
Damon got home before Bryce, and so checked out the blog Tyler mentioned. It contained the most far out racist ramblings about the superiority of the white, or Aryan, race, a lot of it in ungrammatical English. But the most recent posting was a triumphant account of how the author, identified only as B, and his partner, identified as S, had “beaten the ever living crap out of a bunch of queers and lesbos right in front of everybody.” It went on to state that they had been prepped by an officer of the Campus Security force, and assured that they would not be disciplined in any way, “even if we crack a few skulls open.” The post then made an interesting statement. “We got the chief cocksucker, the one that our allies missed on Sunday.”
Damon printed out that posting. When Bryce came home from his study group, they discussed it. Something was beginning to make sense. Could it be that Peter Boyington was never the intended victim? That Josh Young had been the object of the bigots’ attention all along?