Page 99 - Demo

%u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOKWhat They Did to the Kid 87who had more vocation than he did. Dempsey dropping out was a shock. Every time a close friend quit, I made an examination of conscience to see if my vocation remained sound. Any boy%u2019s quitting called into question my intellectual reasons for staying in the same way that priests feared other priests quitting the priesthood for good reasons other than alcohol or purity. %u201cGet changed, Ry,%u201d Mike said. %u201cLet%u2019s swim.%u201dLater, wet and cool in the shade, helping Rip and Kenny with the beer, I weighed the difference Dempsey%u2019s leaving might make on my life at Misery. Dempsey and Mike and Lock were best friends. Whenever Dempsey repeated that he was president of the Friends of the Friendless Friends, we always responded, %u201cWho are the Friends of the Friendless Friends?%u201d And he%u2019d say, %u201cI%u2019ll never tell.%u201d Our good times smoothed the rough spots. Any other boy in our senior-college class could have left without rocking my boat, but with Dempsey gone I%u2019d know the difference. I was sure word from him would come, a letter from him, to my home probably today, telling me he was leaving the seminary and why. I hoped the letter would come, even though my hope was both a tiny sin of vanity and a venial sin of disobedience, because Dempsey had crossed over and we were forbidden to communicate with boys who left Misery. Not-knowing was proof I was left out of inner circles of fraternity.%u201cLater I want to talk to you,%u201d Mike said as we came up dripping to the table.%u201cIs this irony? You big deal want to tell something to somebody...like...famous for not knowing everything?%u201d I waved my hand around my ears. %u201cDamn the mosquitoes,%u201d I said.%u201cYou%u2019ll get used to them.%u201d Kenny handed me a beer.%u201cNot in the daytime,%u201d I said. %u201cNever.%u201d%u201cYou guys like reject everything, don%u2019t you?%u201d Rip was up around Cloud 9. %u201cYou never want to accept life the way it is.%u201d He groped himself.%u201cHey! I only said I don%u2019t like mosquitoes.%u201d I turned to Mike for help.Rip shrugged. %u201cSooner or later every conversation turns like to sex, so...%u201d%u201cRip, don%u2019t,%u201d Mike said. %u201cYou%u2019re boring.%u201d%u201cSometimes Rip%u2019s the town philosopher,%u201d Kenny said.%u201cBig hairy deal,%u201d Rip said.%u201cThe village idiot,%u201d Kenny said.%u201cDon%u2019t start the bit,%u201d Mike said. %u201cYou never understand. I%u2019m not sure anymore I understand.%u201d%u201cYou understand it?%u201d Rip asked me.