Friday morning did not begin in the normal mode for either Bryce or Damon. In accordance with the demands of fraternity VP Bob Balducci, they turned out well before seven a.m. at the fraternity house to be transported to the highway leading from the airport into town. There, they were condemned to hard labor. At least, it seemed so at that hour, and in the cold morning air of late October. Moreover, it was still dark at seven in the morning, so they were working, cleaning up trash, by artificial light and in a light drizzle. Bryce had driven, as he wanted to get back for his nine o’clock class with Dr. Anjot. Damon would remain in servitude vile for another hour, until his class in US History at ten. At eleven, when he got out of his English class, Bryce returned to the job. It was taking longer than usual, both because of the worsening October weather, and because of the small number of brothers who actually turned out for this task. Bryce was pleased to note that Bob was keeping careful track of who was there, and when the various brothers came and went. Well before his Medieval England class at two, the job was finished.
It was the day before Homecoming. There was palpable excitement across campus, and it was doubtful that most students remembered anything from classes, even when they attended. In consequence, Dr. Anjot in French, Dr. Drake in English, and Dr. Dickinson in History all gave fairly non-demanding lectures, which were good reviews, but contained very little new information. As Dr. Dickinson said to Bryce after class, “I could be a real dastard, and cover today the Yorkist claims to the throne of England, and then put that on the exam. But what’s the point? I do want my students to appreciate the English contribution to our civilization, and alienating them, and flunking large percentages, does not accomplish that goal. Besides, I enjoy the charged atmosphere of Homecoming as well, even though I seldom attend a football game.”
Returning to the Sigma Alpha Tau house after that class, Bryce found posted the assignments given the brothers for that evening and the following day. Alumni, called ‘old boys,’ were already appearing on campus, and had to be accommodated. There would be an informal open house that evening and a cookout at the house before the game on Saturday afternoon. There was the parade on Saturday morning. All brothers were commanded, on pain of execution, to show up in the SAT section of the bleachers for the game in the afternoon and to cheer the home team lustily. Then, there would be a formal reception after the game. With considerable satisfaction, Bryce noted that those brothers who had shown up for the unpopular task of highway clean-up that morning were assigned light duties for the remainder of the Homecoming weekend. Those who had shirked this unpopular duty were assigned to be waiters, bartenders, clean-up crew, or other more demanding and time-consuming duties along with the pledges for the remainder of the weekend. Looking over the posted list of assignments, Bryce exulted in the knowledge that his officers did, indeed, know what was going on, and had a sense of fair play. Bryce was assigned only the duty of greeter and stand-by at the formal reception. Damon was given the, to him, agreeable responsibility of manning a grill during the cookout.
Even as Bryce stood looking over the assignment sheet on the bulletin board, Damon appeared. He was coming from his statistics class, and always looked a little dazed at that time. However, when Bryce pointed out the assignment list, and their role on it, he perked up. He decided this called for another excursion into the realm of culinary science, and so departed for the apartment.
Bryce also encountered his pledge, Roland Lyle. As a pledge, Roland had dutifully turned out that morning for pick-up duty, along with his partner, John Luke Lansing, but was also scheduled as a server that evening and the next day. This meant that he had to circulate among the guests with trays of appetizing goodies. Roland moaned that the life of a pledge was not an easy one.
In a playful mood, Bryce began to hum, then sing, the lines from Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance: “Oh, when constabulary duty’s to be done, to be done, a policeman’s lot is not a happy one.”
To his considerable pleasure, Roland joined in the chorus, but changed the wording: “Oh, when Homecoming party duty’s to be done, to be done, a poor pledge’s lot is not a happy one.”
“It doesn’t quite work, but it does express the reality right now,” Roland moaned.
Bryce laughed. “I went through it last year, so expect no sympathy from me, lowly pledge,” he laughed.
Roland hung his head, and placed his hand on his brow in melodramatic manner.
“Oh, by the way,” Roland perked up, “my Uncle Mark said to tell you that reference to that blog ‘Aryans Forever’ is priceless. If the Admin does not follow up, there will be hell to pay.”
“The more I hear about your uncle, the more I appreciate him,” Bryce replied.
For the rest of the afternoon, Bryce remained at the fraternity house. He extended his duties as greeter to welcome a couple of ‘old boys’ who arrived during those hours, and who had been promised room at the house for the weekend. Those he took to Keith Hamilton, the fraternity treasurer, who had responsibility for room assignments and keeping up with keys. There were no deep conversations, but Bryce felt he made a decent impression on the returning ‘old boys’ and so kept up the reputation of the fraternity.
Shortly after five, Bryce departed to the apartment. He found Damon deep in another culinary experiment, with his phone to his ear, in earnest consultation with Caroline Koehler. Hence, Bryce retreated to the library, where he checked his e-mail. There, he found a lengthy message from his father and a somewhat shorter one from his mother. His mother’s was typical, hopping from one topic to another. His sister Nan was really serious about her beau, and Martha expected an announcement at Christmas time. By saying nothing about his brother Chip, Martha indicated that he had not changed. She noted that Sterling was very interested in the materials Bryce had sent him, but did not expand on that. She did say she had looked over the application Bryce sent for Damon’s membership in SAR, and it looked good. That was comforting, as Martha was active in several lineage societies, and if there had been an obvious flaw, she would have caught it. She had served as registrar of her DAR chapter. She stuck in the usual admonitions to take care of his health, and be sure to attend church regularly, and other motherly things, entirely unnecessary, but appreciated.
Sterling’s message was meatier. First of all he acknowledged getting the application for Damon’s membership in SAR. He admonished his son that he should not get into the habit of forging signatures, but he understood Bryce’s desire to surprise Damon for Christmas. He had taken the application directly to the chapter registrar, and stood over him while he signed off and sent it off to the state level. He then contacted the state registrar, and ensured that it would be sent on to the national level without delay, so Bryce might have the completed certificate of membership to present to Damon at Christmas. The process usually took about two months.
But the greater part of Sterling’s e-mail was about the blog. He congratulated Bryce on having obtained the expertise of “Electronic Investigations” to authenticate the source. Sterling had the resources to check out things Bryce never even thought about. He reported that “Electronic Investigations” had an admirable record of accuracy, and so that identification would undoubtedly stand up in court. Bryce would have to pass that on to Hunter. Sterling also noted that, after receiving Bryce’s missive the previous day, he had contacted Mark Castleman and Prentice Young. Prentice had not yet received the report, so he admonished his son to make certain he got a copy. In any case, the three were coordinating their efforts to put pressure on the University administration. The purpose was not only to punish those who had taken part in the attack on the demonstrators, but also to pursue the matter of the initial attack on Peter Boyington. To this end, Sterling asked Bryce to inform him of everything he knew about that attack, and about Peter and his circumstances. This information would be shared with the other two lawyers.
Very much appreciating his father’s efforts, Bryce took a few moments to gather his thoughts, and then composed an equally lengthy reply to his father, in which he presented all the information he had gathered thus far about the attack on Peter. Looking it over, he was disappointed at it’s paucity. He also included a more extended commentary on Peter himself, but concluded with his assessment that it was not Peter, but Josh Young, who was the intended victim. That would certainly be of interest to Josh’s father. Bryce then added a paragraph about his meeting the evening before with Josh.
By the time that was completed, Damon appeared, announcing dinner, and the fact that Annette Rimbault and Ken Broussard would be joining them, at his invitation. Damon was reaching the point where he liked showing off his culinary accomplishments.
No serious business was discussed over dinner. Damon decreed that it was bad for digestion to discuss anything other than the sublime skills of the chef. That evoked peals of laughter from Annette, and a broad grin from Ken. Annette and Ken were both seniors this year, and intended to marry after graduating. They had been living together since last year, and had known each other for many years. Unlike Bryce, they were satisfied with the liturgy at the Newman Center, and were talking about having Father Miller preside at their marriage ceremony there. Annette was a year older than her brother Marc, and saw herself as something like a guide and protector, a role which Bryce had no doubt Marc declined to acknowledge. But Annette was immensely grateful for the opportunity which had arisen in connection with the campus demonstrations, as her articles in the local paper added significantly to the resumé she was sending out, already seeking employment for after graduation.
Ken was a fairly quiet, physically large individual, who managed to fade into the background simply by saying very little. He was obviously fond of Annette, and she of him, but he was not a lively conversationalist. Ken was a Business Management major, and expressed the confidence that he could find a job wherever they ended up. In his opinion, the attackers during the campus demonstration were ‘a bunch of goons,’ but he obviously felt no need to do anything about that. He also expressed the opinion that Marc was ‘okay,’ but he was far from going on a crusade on behalf of gays. Ken was, as Damon later put it, “the best we can hope for from the general populace.”
After Annette and Ken left, with Annette promising to follow up with an article on the ‘Aryans Forever’ blog, and after cleaning up, Bryce and Damon returned to the fraternity house. For the remainder of the evening, they were polite to returning ‘old boys’ and their guests, helping to maintain the reputation of the house, and thus the chain of obligations which assisted brothers as they entered the cruel world of commerce and earning a living.
On Saturday morning Bryce was able to again indulge in his workout, something he had been denied by circumstances the day before. As in the past, he walked to the gym with Curtis, and met there with Roland as well. The three worked very well together, and the experience, especially the few minutes sweating in the sauna towards the end, formed a bond which established confidence among them. It was at this time that Bryce brought the other two up to date on the affairs of Peter Boyington and Josh Young, and that Curtis reviewed the schedule for the rest of Homecoming.
After that refreshing beginning, and enjoying the sadistic pleasure of waking his partner, Bryce prepared for the day by dressing in a sweater in fraternity colors, Burgundy and gold. The gold brought out the color of his blond hair very nicely, he thought. Damon, on the other hand, admonished him for primping in front of the mirror this morning. Despite that, Damon also donned a similar sweater for the day.
Having breakfasted, the two walked to campus, and across to the main street on the other side, separating campus from the string of student oriented enterprises which drew them from time to time, especially Pat’s tavern. By the time they got there, there were already mobs of people lining the street awaiting the Homecoming parade. Neither Bryce nor Damon had been involved in assembling the SAT float this year, but most of the brothers and all the pledges had been busy for several weeks on this project. The theme of the parade was “Great Lovers.” Curtis had joked that he feared the consequences should Bryce be included on the planning committee. He would not have been able to resist including Damon and Pythias, and Clifton was not quite ready for that.
The parade began on time, but took a few minutes to arrive at the point where Bryce and Damon were waiting. There were quite a few students known to them who were part of the parade, including Kurt Bordenkircher, the member of SAT who served as sergeant-at-arms, and Wayne Diebold, the fellow from the dormitory last year, both of whom were members of the football team. Bryce counted Wayne as a success story, as he had developed from an unthinking homophobe last year into a demonstrator on behalf of the suspended students this year. Also in the parade was Jason Todd, who was marching with the University band in his role as saxophonist. The Sigma Alpha Tau float was a combined effort with Gamma Nu sorority, which was often paired with SAT. It depicted five well-known sets of lovers: Paris and Helen, Antony and Cleopatra, Lancelot and Guenevere, and Abelard and Heloise from the distant past, and Rhett and Scarlet of more recent fame. Fraternity President Curtis Manning had the role of Rhett Butler, while his wife, Madeline, was Scarlet O’Hara, seated on the most elevated part of the float, with the other four couples making up something like a court of honor. Bryce noted the presence of Madison McKinley, the airhead cheerleader who had annoyed Beau Lyle so greatly on their date with her mindless babble. She was prominently displayed along with the captain of the football team on the vehicle just before that of the parade marshal. That role was assigned an alumnus who had made good in the entertainment industry, and who played a popular figure on daytime television. He bravely sat on the elevated area behind the back seat of a convertible, and waved to the crowds, never for a moment losing the wide smile which was plastered across his face.
By the time the parade was over, it was lunch time. SAT and about a thousand other venues across campus offered something to eat. Damon had slipped away as soon as the SAT float passed, and was now presiding at a grill on the front lawn of the fraternity house, where he was dispensing burgers spiced with his own sauce. Well, it was one he and Caroline had concocted, and not really all that original, but very tasty. Of course, Bryce had to get his lunch from his partner, or he would never hear the end of it.
Between lunch and the game, the fraternity held something like another open house for returning old boys and anyone else, just about. It was while he was still enjoying his burger, but inside out of the wind, that Bryce was approached by his pledge, Roland Lyle, and a middle-aged man.
“Bryce, I’d like to introduce you to my uncle, Mark Castleman. I think you’ve corresponded, but Uncle Mark says he hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting you,” Roland said.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Castleman,” Bryce responded around a bite of burger.
“I am especially pleased to meet anyone who can make this nephew of mine perform all those tasks he tells me about,” Mark Castleman replied, ribbing Roland.
Bryce grinned. “All part of the pledging process,” he noted.
“Oh, I know,” Mark said. “I’m here legitimately, as it were, as I’m an old boy of SAT. When I went through the pledging process, though, it was considerably less safe. I won’t give away any secrets, even at this late date, but I’m very happy pledging has been modified to eliminate any hazing which might be a real danger.”
“I’m happy to report that this took place before I went through the process last year,” Bryce replied. “From what I hear, there are still a few Neanderthal fraternities who think they have to prove their manhood by doing really stupid things, but that is no longer typical of most of us.”
“Good. But discussing Roland’s pledging progress is not the real reason I wanted to meet you,” Mark stated. “I’ve been in correspondence with your father and with Prentice Young. I would like to have a few words with you later about some of the things which are going on in that context.”
“Any time which is convenient,” Bryce agreed. “I’m really anxious to bring these matters to a satisfactory conclusion. As I said to a friend only recently, until those who think it okay to beat up demonstrators, and even more those who attack individuals and send them to the hospital, are exposed and punished, none of us can really feel safe.”
“There’s little time before the game begins. What’s your schedule like afterwards? I know the brothers have responsibilities during the reception,” Mark Castleman asked.
Bryce smiled. “As I was one of those who turned out yesterday morning to help pick up trash along the highway, I’m spared any onerous duties this evening. I’m simply supposed to be around to greet new arrivals, and to fill in whenever I see a gap somewhere.”
“Excellent. Then, by the time the reception is well underway, you should be fairly free,” Mark concluded. “I’ll seek you out. If you could arrange for some place private, that would be great.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that,” Bryce promised. Then they both went back to socializing for a short time before making the trek over to the stadium for the game. Bryce and Damon were joined by Caroline Koehler and Kitty Jansen, as had been their practice in the past, but Bryce complained that Damon got all the attention, as he had dancing in common with Kitty and cooking in common with Caroline. Damon was not sympathetic, telling his partner to get out there and develop some social skills.
On the way, Bryce managed to get Keith Hamilton to himself for a couple of minutes. He briefly explained that he needed a private place to meet with an old boy sometime during the reception later that day. As Keith knew Bryce pretty well, having been his mentor last year when Bryce was a pledge, he could not resist teasing him about planning an assignation, and threatening to tell Damon, but he also promised to make his own room at the house available when it was needed.
The game was more exciting than anticipated. All the pundits predicted that U of C would romp over Murray State by a wide margin, but that was not happening. Throughout the first half, it was nip and tuck, with the lead swaying back and forth from one side to the other. The Clifton players sometimes seemed to be on opposite teams, lacking coordination. As the half ended, Murray was actually ahead, but not by much. Despite the disappointing performance of the team, the band put on a great display during half time, which lifted Clifton spirits at least somewhat. When play resumed, it was noted that several of the first string players were benched, their places taken by second and third stringers, including Kurt Bordenkircher and Wayne Diebold. This was cause for much speculation among the fans, as it seemed to go contrary to common sense to replace the leading players with less seasoned ones when the outcome was so uncertain. Whatever the coach had in mind, it worked. It took a few minutes for the new line-up to get adjusted, but not long into the third quarter things began to click. It was uphill work, but by the beginning of the fourth quarter, U of C was in the lead, and retained it to the last. In fact, in the last few minutes of play, a running back named Greg Lenihan made a touchdown, giving Clifton a respectable final score.
As the fans streamed out of the stadium, there was much talk about the game, and the unusual use of the players by Coach Morelli.
On the way to the reception at the Sigma Alpha Tau house, Bryce, Damon, and the girls found themselves walking with Roland Lyle and his uncle, Mark Castleman. They passed another fraternity house, and noticed Mack Campbell, Ed Cuttlesworth, and the Lomax brothers entering, accompanied by two older men, who ostentatiously did not acknowledge Mark when he greeted them.
“That was rude,” Damon commented.
Mark laughed. “I’m sure you recognized the students. With them were Ev Cuttlesworth and Terry Lomax. They imagine they’re doing irreparable damage to SAT’s reputation by attending the reception of the fraternity where their boys are members, even though both of them are SAT old boys.”
“As far as I can tell, no one noticed them at all except you,” Damon replied.
“They have what we might call an exaggerated notion of their own importance,” Mark said.
They arrived at the SAT house, where Bryce began his duty as greeter, and Roland went to the kitchen to get his tray of hors d’oeuvres to pass around among the visitors. Damon, having worked the grill earlier, was free to socialize. Mark found some old boys from his year with whom to pass the time, and try to analyze the odd outcome of the game.
Nearly an hour into the reception, a great stir was caused by the arrival of Greg Lenihan. He was not an SAT member, but was accompanied by Kurt Bordenkircher, who was, and by another non-member, Wayne Diebold, as well as a bevy of other hangers-on. He was making the rounds as the hero of the day, and had a solid wall of admirers around him. Both old boys and current brothers congratulated him on his final touchdown, and he had his hand shaken over and over.
Seeing Wayne off to one side, Bryce approached. “Hey, Wayne,” he greeted the football player, “really interesting game today.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Wayne replied. He looked around, and, seeing that all attention was on Greg, he said in a very low voice, “You’d be interested in what went down in the locker room during half time.”
“What’s that?” an interested Bryce asked.
“Well, you know how we kept messing up during the first half, right?”
“Sure looked that way to me,” Bryce agreed.
“It was because three of the first stringers were trying to make Greg look bad,” Wayne practically whispered.
“Why would they do that?” Bryce asked.
“Well ... what’s that word you use for people who don’t like you gay guys? Homo-frogs or something?” Wayne searched for the right word.
“Homophobes. You know, like you have a phobia about something,” Bryce contributed, beginning to get an idea about what happened.
“Yeah, that’s it. Anyway, those three guys who sat out the second half on the bench are real homophobes,” Wayne said, then he paused for
a few seconds. “I think I like homo-frogs better. Anyway, last Monday Greg came out to the team. He’s one of you guys. Those others wanted to kick him off the team, and said they could not play with a queer. I know, I know, you told me not to use that word, but that’s what they said. When Coach said the line-up would remain the same, they evidently decided to embarrass the whole team by avoiding any contact with Greg at all. Well, that screwed up our plays, and you saw the result during the first half.”
“Wow, that’s some story,” Bryce declared. “I’ll bet it would make a real splash in the Courier,” referring to the campus newspaper.
“I don’t know whether Greg wants the whole campus to know,” Wayne was hesitant.
“Do you remember that series of articles in the town paper, the Herald, that caused so much uproar last week?” Bryce asked.
“Well, sure,” Wayne replied.
“The person who wrote those articles is Annette Rimbault. She’s a student, and on the student paper staff, too. In fact, I see her across the room there. See the girl with the U of C banner stuck in her hair?” Bryce directed Wayne’s attention.
“Uh, yeah,” Wayne acknowledged her.
“Well, you talk to your teammate Greg, and if he’s willing, I’m sure Annette would do a really bang up job with the story,” Bryce encouraged him.
Bryce noticed Mark Castleman signaling him that he was ready to have that private talk he had mentioned earlier. Bryce went to Keith Hamilton and obtained the key to his room, then walked past Mark, saying in a low voice, “Room 207.”
Mark chuckled at Bryce’s performance, but played along. He waited about five minutes, then followed Bryce upstairs and found the room assigned the fraternity treasurer. He gave what could pass for a secret knock, and was laughing when Bryce opened the door and invited him in, after making certain the hall was empty.
“Why the cloak and dagger?” Mark asked.
“Makes it more fun,” Bryce replied with a guilty grin.
Mark smiled. But he was quickly all business. “Your father, Prentice Young, and I will be monitoring the campus situation very carefully this next week. We’ve agreed to give the President that much time to consider his response to the ‘Electronic Investigations’ report. Roland will keep me informed, but you seem to have more contacts than he, so I need you to be in touch whenever anything ... and I do mean anything ... relevant takes place. Getting information from more than one source is also a check on accuracy. We also need to know everything you know about the boy Peter and his family.”
“That’s great. I’m glad something is happening. As I told you before the game, the unresolved status of the attack on Peter means no one is safe,” Bryce said.
And so it was that, for most of the next hour, Bryce told Mark Castleman everything he knew about Peter Boyington and his family, about Sean Rollins and Barry Miller, and about the demonstrations and the responses to them. With Bryce’s permission, what he said was recorded by Mark, so he could study it at leisure in less crowded circumstances. Then, although it was not directly relevant to the series of troubles, Bryce also shared what he had been told earlier by Wayne Diebold. That impressed Mark, who said he would find some way to thank Coach Morelli for the position he took, but without outing Greg. That had to be his decision.
The interview over, Bryce played the game again, checking the corridor before exiting, and asking Mark to wait a few minutes before coming back downstairs. Mark laughed, and said he remembered that there was a restroom on that floor, which he would use before rejoining the crowd on the ground floor.