A old man recalls his youth...
***
Back when I was 18 it was easy to intimidate me. All it would take was a stern look and I would shrink into nothingness, and when it came to stern looks there was nobody better at it than Father Scarff. Having been a well mannered lad back then I had never felt the wrath of the strict priest like many of my friends.
That good nature was what got me that summer job at the church that summer of 1969, and since I would need money for books for fall when I was to start at Hudson Valley Community College, I figured that I had it made but on this one morning in July my little head did the thinking for me and to say it didn't work out would be an understatement.
While picking up litter from the lot in back of the church where the local kids played stick-ball, a kid I knew from the neighborhood was standing in a corner of the back wall of the rectory taking a leak after the game broke up. Kenny was a cute kid that I had always had a crush on, and since he would be going away for college soon I got brave for one of the few times in my life, figuring that if not now, when?
Coming up beside him while he peed I told him I thought he had a cute dick, which was true since I had seen it many times after gym class in the locker room. He gave me an odd look but didn't hide himself but instead turned a bit so I could get a better look.
At that point in my life I was kidding myself about my sexuality, telling myself it was just a phase I was going through while seeking out ways to look at other guys naked. The showers at school were ideal, but since school was over I had to settle for peeks at other guy in public restrooms. I was far from ideal but there were no other outlets for my curiosity.
This was just like that, watching Kenny peeing against the wall, and after his stream turned into a trickle I asked if I could help him finish. He didn't say anything but didn't stop me when I reached over and took it by the shaft and wiggled it around, and when my wiggling turned into pulling and stretching his modest sized organ I could feel him getting hard.
I had managed to keep my homosexual tendencies a secret from everybody during my high school years when I knelt down in front of Kenny my secret was out.
There was nobody back there, since I had looked around carefully before I swooped down on Kenny, and within a minute I had Kenny hard and was pressing his back against the brick wall as my mouth slid up and down his skin flute fast and hard.
Heaven turned to hell fast though, because all of a sudden Kenny let out a yelp and scrambled away from me, leaving me confused as I knelt there, but confusion turned to horror as I felt a hand grab me by the nape of my neck and lift me to my feet.
"Master James," the booming voice of the burly priest bellowed as he effortlessly lifted me while spinning me towards the wall that I had just pinned Kenny against. "This is what I pay you for?"
This public display of cock-sucking clearly wasn't in the job description and although I mumbled an explanation that was hopefully inaudible because it was stupid and implausible, I decided that silence was a better defense so I shut up. His steel grey eyes were also a factor in that decision, and I withered against the bricks while wishing I would get beamed up to the Enterprise like what happened on my favorite TV show Star Trek, which I recall had just gotten cancelled.
No help was forthcoming from Spock or anybody else, so I was prepared to hear the words that I knew would be coming, and then I would have to explain to my Mom that I had lost my job, although I prayed that the actual reason would never be told to her because she was highly emotional and given to hysterics at times.
"Inside, Master James," Father Scarff commanded with a wave of his beefy hand and an extended index finger as he addressed me over-formally like he did when he was not pleased, and I did as I was told.
I supposed he was going to pay me what I was owed and send me on my way, but I didn't even want to the money. It wasn't because I hadn't earned it, because I had really busted my butt - except for that brief interlude he had just witnessed - but because I was so ashamed. What had gone on back there was a sin, and where I had done it made it even worse.
"Sit," Father Scarff sat as he pointed at the chair on the other side of his enormous desk, and after he sat down and folded his hands in front of him I waited for the lecture.
I knew all about the weakness of the flesh and how I must walk in the spirit and turn away from temptation. Heck, it was Father Scarff who had pounded it into my skull every Sunday, except for the ones I weaseled out of. To say that I had proved the message hadn't sunk in completely - well, he witnessed that first hand.
It wasn't fire and brimstone he gave me though. He explained that he wasn't mad but disappointed in me. So was I, and outside of brief glances up to meet his withering eyes I kept my eyes on the desk where his burly arms rested, the reddish grey hair coating his forearms as he tapped his fingers together.
"Do you understand me, Master James?" Father Scarff asked me, breaking me out of my trance, and I nodded while trying to catch up on what he had been talking about.
Something about everything in its proper place, to everything there is a season, and it sounded like a song by the Byrds as he tried to reason with me. I wasn't fighting the sermon, but I had been expecting to catch hell and here was Father Scarff telling me he understood because he was young once too.
"I suppose telling your mother about this would be the proper thing to do," he mused while I tried not to cry or worse, but he let the sentence trail off as he shook his head.
Father stepped away from the desk and began walking around the room much like he did while delivering his sermons, and I kept my eyes forward as he came behind me hand place his hand on the back of my neck, squeezing it a little as he told me that doing what I did to that young boy was not right.