Page 175 - What They Did to the Kid

What They Did to the Kid 163

business of the girl at the lake and so forth. But don’t you see, you
only did that because you were running scared.” Dryden stands up
and walks around the desk. “I know, Michael. I know how it is. I
was once the same my Self. When I was a boy, my father locked me
in a broom closet for fourteen hours because he caught the child
next door examining my body.” He sits on the desk and leans over
Mike. “Which do you suppose was worse? The examina tion or the
punishment?”
Mike blows out huge flumes of smoke. “What did you do?”
Mike asks.
“I found my own true Self,” the priest says. “In that tiny broom
closet, I began to find my Self. After years of guilt and torture, I
found my Self.”
“You found yourself?”
“Yes. My Self. And the seminarians that come to me? I let each
find his own Self. Gnothi sauton, Know thy Self. After that, the rest
is easy.” Dryden walks across the room to a closet door. “Stand up,
Michael.”
Mike rises.
“Jesus loves you, Michael. Body and mind. Jesus loves you.” He
opens his closet. “Take off your cassock, Mich ael.”
“Why?” Mike asks.
“I want to hang it up. I want you to look at your Self. Here in
this mirror on the door.”
Mike hesitates. He begins to unbutton his cassock.
“Trust me,” the priest says. “This is different than you think.”
Mike hands him the cassock. He sees himself standing in the
mirror, black khaki trousers and white teeshirt.
“Jesus loves you, Michael.” Dryden stands next to the mirror. He
and Mike’s reflection stand together. “Your body is good, Michael.
Good as your soul. Jesus loves both, because both are you. Jesus loves
you. Do you believe that, Michael?”
“Yes,” Mike says. “Yes, I believe it.”
“Do you believe your body is good, Michael?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Have you ever looked closely at your body, Michael?”

©Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved
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