There's the usual flurry of activity when the new semester starts. After a week or two we get back into the routine. Mike's in another of the classes I teach, and Tommy's settled happily in his new curriculum.
Mike and Tommy begin attending Mass regularly on Sunday. Both tell me they like the pastor and join the Lutheran students league. When I ask how old the pastor is, Mike shakes his head sadly. "He's really getting along in years. He's probably old as you."
I swat him on the rear, while Tommy stands there grinning.
A few days later Tommy comes by my office. "Got a minute?"
"Sure. What's up?"
"If you've got time this afternoon, would you go with me to the church to talk to pastor?"
I feign ignorance. "What about?"
"I like the church Mike goes to. It makes me feel good, and if Mike and me are brothers I want us to be the same."
"I'm glad you think so much of Mike, but this is a big change for you. Are you sure?" From what little he's said, I gather he was raised in some Pentecostal faith.
He nods. "I want to."
"I'll be glad to go with you, but I have a lab this afternoon. Let me call and make an appointment with the pastor."
The next afternoon I'm the one surprised, because when we enter his study, the pastor is wearing jeans and a plaid shirt instead of his collar. His loafer-clad feet are propped up on his desk. He jumps up and gives Tommy and me a big grin. "Come in and have a seat. Coffee?"
When he hands us each a cup and takes another for himself, he says, "I guess you've heard all the old jokes about Lutherans and their coffee. Most of them are true. If there was ever a shortage, I expect our church would go under. It's good to meet you, Doctor Torrence. I had a call last week from Pastor Elkhill that you might come by to see me. I understand that you wish to convert, Tommy."
"Yes, sir."
"Call me Eric." He gets serious and asks Tommy a number of questions, then tells him he'd rather see him alone than in the confirmation class with the younger kids. "What about you, Doctor Torrence?"
Obviously, Martha and Dave filled their pastor in and he passed it all along. I like this man who is no older than I, but before I can answer, Tommy says, "Please, dad."
If it means that much to him and Mike I can't refuse. "I haven't been baptized, Pastor."
"It's Eric. That's no problem. I'll instruct you with Tommy. After, we can baptize you, then confirm both of you at the same service."
"You do realize that I will be going back home for good at the end of this semester? I'm filling in for a professor taking a sabbatical."
"You're always welcome at St. Johns, and I'll be happy to write a letter of transfer when you return home." He sets up a schedule of conferences with Tommy and me and gives us some literature and a video to watch before the first class. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Tommy, would you give us a few minutes alone?" When Tommy has gone out, I look at Eric. "I need to tell you something in strictest confidence."
He sits up straight. "You want to make confession?"
"In a way, I suppose."
He picks up his phone and tells his secretary we're going into the sanctuary and not to be disturbed. He drapes a stole around his neck and asks me to sit next to him on the altar rail. "What troubles you, Drew?"
"I don't want to join a church under false pretenses, so you need to know that I'm gay and living with the man who has been my lover since we were younger than Tommy and Mike."
For a moment he looks startled, then asks if we've touched the boys in any sexual way. On my assurance that we have not and that both boys are straight, he asks if Tor and I will continue to remain lovers. I tell him our life together is permanent.
He sits in silence for a few moments, then drops to his knees before the altar. I watch his lips moving as he prays. Finally, he stands up and tells me to kneel. He puts his hand on my head and recites an absolution, then removes the stole. "Let's go back to the office where it's warmer."
He pours us another cup of coffee. "You didn't have to seek private confession and absolution for your relationship with your lover, Drew. The general confession covers it. Besides, I do not regard genuine love between two people of age as a sin. That becomes a problem only with seminarians seeking to become priests. In any event, there are a growing number of us who feel the synod is out of date in its thinking, especially with the mounting evidence that being gay is genetic and not a chosen lifestyle."
"I'm glad you feel that way, Eric. Tor and I are not ashamed of our life together but, because of the way a lot of people feel about gays, it's not something we want known openly. That's why I wanted to tell you in confidence."
"I understand completely. I'm a counselor to gay students, so I have some concept of the anguish gays go through. I'll tell you as I tell them, as long as you live circumspectly, and I don't mean closeted, who has any right to object? I know you probably fear it might affect the way students react to your teaching, and that's commendable. I look forward to our sessions together."
"Thanks, Eric. I wanted to do this for the boys."
He smiles. "It's for your immortal soul, my friend. I have no hesitancy in accepting you into Christ's body if you so wish." He holds out his hand. "Welcome." Eric is so understanding and non-judgmental it's no wonder Mike and Tommy like him.
"If I'm causin' you a lot of trouble, dad. I'm sorry." Tommy says when we're on our way home.
"None at all, babe. It's just that I wasn't sure how Eric would feel. Tor and I aren't the kind of people you usually find in church."
"Don't seem right to me."
"Why?"
"Preachers are always talking about how God is for everybody, then they turn around and don't want some people in church. That's why I didn't go much back home. I told Pastor Eric about it."
"Good for you."
"Don't say nothing to Mike. I kind of want to make it special."
"Whatever you want, babe."
Whenever Mike is out, Tommy and I sit together studying the material the pastor gave us. I'm thrilled as I feel Tommy grow closer to me, calling me dad more frequently. I wish Tor could share this with me.
I get a real surprise when Tommy says one evening, "Guess all this studying will help me be a better librarian."
"How?"
"If somebody asks me about religious stuff, I can help them some."
"That's what Doctor Ashford meant when he told you librarians have more general knowledge about things than anyone else. Nothing you learn will be wasted."
He smiles. "I'm glad about that."
When we go for our first meeting with Eric, Tommy and I leave Mike complaining about having to do the dinner dishes. I told Mike we were going to the library for some work. Eric welcomes us to his study and pours the ritual coffee, before taking his seat.
For over two hours he questions Tommy and me closely on what we have studied. At last he smiles and says, "Well, that's two sessions' work in one. At this rate we can finish with two more meetings together. I'm enjoying our exchange of ideas. While I like the class for the kids, it's slow going at times."
On a Wednesday evening two weeks later, after a particularly long and grueling session, Eric asks if I mind talking about personal matters with Tommy present. I tell him I don't, that Tommy already knows most of it. He begins to ask me more about Tor's and my life together. Several times Tommy's quick to jump to our defense.
Eric finally smiles. "You and Tor have conducted yourselves admirably in taking two young men into your home and doing your best for them. There are a few straight homes in this parish I wish were as good as yours. Because we've finished well ahead of the kids' confirmation class, I'll confirm you and Tommy Sunday after next. Because Tommy asked, I'm going to give the organist the day off and ask Mike to play instead. I also called Doctor and Mrs. Curtis and asked them to be your sponsor and Tommy's godparents as you asked."
"Thanks, Eric. There's no one better than the Curtises. Wish we could take you back to the beach as pastor there."
"I haven't been here a year yet. Besides, if I got a parish there, they'd have to run to the ocean if they needed me when the surf's up."
"You're kidding."
"I love surfing, especially windsurfing."
"Wish I could try it," Tommy says.
"Why can't you?"
"I can't swim good like Mike and dad yet, and there's this." Tommy pulls up his jeans legs and shows Eric his prosthetic feet.
"You'll need to be a strong swimmer, but that's the only hold back. When I was in college, I used to surf with a guy that has one leg. He wasn't into a lot of fancy tricks, but he could hold his own with the others in straight surfing. He used an old leg he didn't mind getting wet."
Tommy grins. "Great. I'll learn to swim better."
"Do. What the heck, I might even come down and teach you to surf when I get my vacation. I like a guy with lots of determination."