It Started With a Coke
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2011 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 9

The Devil’s Child

After Tim had departed, Doctor Greg knocked on the door.  After I told him to enter, he handed me two pills and a glass of milk and two cookies, “Seth, take these.  They’ll help you sleep and you won’t toss in your sleep, so much.  Make sure you eat the cookies and drink the milk before you take the pills.”

On Wednesday morning, Alex came to wake me up.  I was showing some wood because I needed to go the bathroom.  Alex pointed, “Geez, Seth my boy, were you dreaming about Susan or Tim?”

“Geez, Alex, is sex all you think about?”

“Is there anything else to think about other than eating?  “Get your body ready for school.  Do you need me to help you?”

“I don’t think so.  I’ll take a sponge bath and maybe tonight we can figure out a way for me to take a shower without getting my cast wet.”

While you’re taking your sponge bath, I’ll go get you some of Greg’s clothes for you to wear to school.  Maybe after dinner tonight, we can get you some real clothes of your own.”

When I arrived in the kitchen, Doctor Wood was fixing French toast.  I didn’t know what it was, but it sure smelled good.  “Doctor Wood, what are you making?  It sure smells good.”

Doctor Wood pointed his spatula at me, “Seth, it‘s French toast.  How many times do you have to be told that when we‘re at home, you are to call me Greg?”

Alex brought three plates of French toast with two slices of bacon to the table.  I started to drink my orange juice and it tasted different than any I had ever had.   “This almost doesn‘t taste like the frozen orange juice that we have at home.”

.Alex laughed, “That’s because it was just squeezed this morning.  The oranges came fresh right off the tree.  Now eat your French toast before it gets cold.”

I hesitated, to see what Alex and Dr. Greg did with their French toast.  Alex asked, “Seth, would you like the regular maple syrup or the raspberry syrup.”

“Either is fine with me.” 

Dr. Wood handed me the raspberry syrup.  “This is my favorite.   Try some.”

Who was I to argue?  I poured a light coating of syrup over the two slices of bread and started to eat and thought I was I in heaven.  I was to find out later, that Alex and Dr, Wood were watching and smiling, because it was as if I was shoveling it in.”

When I had finished everything on my plate, Alex asked, “Seth, would you like some more French toast?”

I wiped my mouth and tried to hide a burp, “No thanks, Alex.  That’s more to eat than I have had on many entire days.  If I had any more, I’d fall asleep during my classes.”

I stood and maneuvered myself to the sink with my dishes without my crutches. I rinsed them and put them in dish washer.  Dr. Wood took exception, “Seth, I don’t think that you are ready for activity like that, yet.  Please, just take it easy for at least a couple days.  Give your ankle an opportunity to heal properly.   Limit yourself to things that you can do with your crutches.”

Dr. Wood and Alex delivered me to school.  I was walking to the door when I noticed that my dad’s car was parked in front of the school.  I thought to myself, ‘I’m in trouble, now.’

I walked past the office and didn’t even look in and went to my locker and Susan was waiting for me. “Seth, the office has been calling for you.  They keep saying that you are to report to the office.”

“I saw my father’s car parked in front of the school when I was walking in.  I wonder what his problem is now?  I guess I’d better go see what he wants.”

I made my way to the office and Dad was pacing up and down.  When Dad saw me, he said in a raised voice, “Seth, what are you trying to do?  Make a fool of your Mother and me.  Some people saw you at the Dairy Queen last night and you seemed to be fine.”

“What is your problem?  Nothing happened at the Dairy Queen, except we had an ice cream sundae.  Are you saying that ice cream is bad for me?  If it’s bad for me, then there must be a lot of sick people.  Besides, I was with Susan Morrow and her brother and nothing happened.”

“Don’t back talk to me!”

Dad turned to Mr. Pierce, “How soon will I be receiving the money from the insurance company, for Seth‘s accident?”

Mr. Pierce had the funniest look on his face, “Reverend Morrison, the insurance for Seth’s accident has nothing to do with you.  The insurance company will pay the money directly to the provider of the care.   In this case, the payment will go to Doctor  Wood’s office.”

Dad was getting red in the face, “Why should the payments go directly to that heathen when I paid the premium.”

Mr. Pierce stood, “First of all, Mr. Morrison, you did not pay the premium on the insurance policy, the school district did.  Second, the insurance company has agreed upon the amount, with the care providers as to how much they will pay.  Unless you have health insurance on Seth that you have paid for, you are due nothing.”

Dad was irate, “You mean the insurance company is paying for Seth to live with Doctor Wood and his sexual partner?”

“Mr. Morrison, I can assure you that Doctor Wood and Alex are not receiving a cent for providing a shelter for Seth where he is able to move about with a degree of safety.”

“I want Seth out of that house immediately.”

Mr. Pierce was shaking his head, “What you want has nothing to do with Seth's education.  I suggest you go to see the legal authorities and express your concerns.  Seth, get a pass and go to class.  I have some things that I would like to say to your father in private.   I don’t think your father will be bothering you during school hours, again.”

My Dad stood, “Mr. Pierce, you haven’t heard the last of this.  You can’t tell my son what to do.  Seth, I’ll be picking you up after school today.”

I decided that I wasn‘t going to grovel like he wanted me to do, “I have an appointment with my physical therapist, so you don’t need to come pick me up.  Doctor Wood is sending his van which I can get into easily to go for my therapy session.”

I went to my classroom.  The rest of the morning went as scheduled and I had all of my work done.  The only thing different was that everyone I came in contact with acted as if I were a long lost friend.  At lunch, Susan and I were quickly joined by some of Susan’s friends.  We were having a fun time at lunch when a school counselor approached our table, “Seth, there is someone here who would like to talk to you.”

“Is it my parents?”

“No, it is someone from the state CPS Department.”

“What does the person want?  Did I do something wrong, Mrs. Myers?”

“Seth, you’ve done nothing wrong, but your father has been talking to the CPS people, and Mr. Thomas is here to check out the complaint.”

As I was getting up from the table, I laughed, “People, you will need to come visit me in the jail.”

Mrs. Myers and I were talking as we walked to the conference room that I didn’t even know existed.  When we walked in, Mrs. Myers introduced me, “Mr. Thomas, this is Mr. Seth Morrison.  I believe you wanted to visit with him.”

Mr. Thomas stood and shook my hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Seth.  Please be seated.”

Mrs. Myers asked, “Do you need me to stay?  I have another appointment in ten minutes.”

Mr. Thomas frowned, “Lou, I think it would be best if you sat in on this conference.  It shouldn’t take long.”

Mrs. Myers sat down and Mr. Thomas started, “Seth, your father came to my office this morning wanting to know how he could get you out of 'the den of inequity that you were living in'.  He wanted me to order that you return home immediately.”

I put up my hand, “Mr. Thomas, did Mr. Morrison explain why I wasn’t living at home?”

“No, he indicated that you were whisked away because you had an accident.  He was more concerned that you were living with two homosexuals.  He didn’t even explain what kind of accident you had.”

“Mr. Thomas, I slipped and broke a bone in my ankle at the state tennis tournament, last Friday.  The trainer wrapped it and my parents ignored it all weekend.  It wasn’t until Monday that I went to see Doctor Wood; thanks to Coach Richmond.”

“He took me to Doctor Wood who had to reset a bone in the ankle.  There was no way that I could go home, since there would be no place where I could sleep.  The bedrooms are all on the second floor of the parsonage, and Dad is always having meetings on the first floor living area.  It was decided that I would stay with Doctor Wood and Alex at least temporarily, and then I would stay with Mrs. Martz,”

“Have you had any sexual contact with Doctor Wood or this Alex?”

“Absolutely not, they have been very professional in their dealings with me.  I have seen them naked when they were swimming in the pool, but I wasn’t in the pool with them.  Do you realize that I had never had French toast for breakfast, until this morning?”

Mr. Thomas shook his head, “Seth, why is your Dad so paranoid about the fact that you might be gay?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I guess I started the problem.  One afternoon I mowed the next door neighbor, Mrs. Martz‘s, yard.  She gave me a coke to drink.  That was the first coke I had ever had and when I walked into the house carrying the coke, my Mother went berserk accusing me of all sorts of things.  There were a bunch of repercussions as a result of the incident and I have been a hostage in the house for almost two years.  Just ask anyone.  I looked like I never changed clothes because all the clothes were dress slacks, a dress shirt and ties.  My parents drove me to and from school, even though it was easily within walking distance."

Mr. Thomas looked me in the eyes, “Your father said that you were gay, is that correct?”

“Mr. Thomas, that’s part of the problem.  When my parents were berating me about the coke making me sound like I was evil, I decided to hit them with a double whammy and told them that I thought I was gay.  That’s when they made me a prisoner in the house.  I’m pretty sure that I’m gay, but I’ve never had any experiences that you would consider gay.”

Mr. Thomas stood, “Seth, would you please write a synopsis of what you have been describing today, and send it to me, please include more information if you think it is applicable.  I think it might be wise for you to move in with Mrs. Martz as soon as possible.  If you were to stay with Doctor Wood and Alex for too much longer, people might begin to talk, especially if your father talks to too many people.”

“I’ll talk to Doctor Wood and Mrs. Martz and explain what's happening.  They’ll probably talk to you after school.”

When I walked into sixth hour class, Susan leaned over and whispered, “Seth, what’s happening.”

I shrugged my shoulder and mouthed, “Later.”

There was no time to talk, because we were met at the door of the room by Mark and Matt.  Mark asked, “Seth, what in the world is happening to you.  First you had to go to the office this morning and then again at lunch.  You probably didn’t even have time to eat any lunch.”

“Guys, I don’t know what’s going to happen.  My parents are hell bent on wheels trying to get me to come home.  I guess their parishioners are finally getting wise that my father is not the pious person whom he pretends he is.  I’ll call everyone later and let you know what’s happening, assuming I’m not living at home.”

As the seventh period was ending, the public address system was activated, “Will Seth Morrison please come to the office?  Your ride is here.”

I gathered my things from my locker, fully expecting that it was either my mother of father.  When I arrived at the office, Doctor Wood and Alex were waiting for me.  They had been talking to Mr. Pierce.  Doctor Wood put his arm around me, “We figured that we would come and get you to thwart any attempts by your parents to cart you away.   Mr. Thomas says that your father needs psychiatric help and that probably your mother does as well.  You’ll probably start to live with Mrs. Martz tomorrow or Friday, so people won’t begin to talk about things that they know nothing about.” 

As we were pulling away from the school, my mother’s car drove up and parked in front of the front door.  She went to front door and was obviously waiting for me to exit.  Alex laughed, “Your Mother is going to be disappointed that she didn’t capture you.  Let’s go get your therapy done before the goons come to try to save you from being used and misused.”

Alex was as good as good as Cindy had been the day before and I could feel the tension in my in my stiff muscles.  Doctor Wood checked my leg, “Guys, I think it is time to stop.  Too much exercising so soon could cause Seth to require additional recovery time.”

As we were finishing the exercises the phone rang,   Doctor Wood answered, “Hi, Doctor Wood speaking. … Oh, Hi Tim… Let me ask him.   Seth, it’s Tim Morrow, and their parents have asked you to dinner at their house.  It would probably be a good ploy to keep your parents confused.  I think that the Morrows used to attend your father’s church, before he started preaching that everything wicked had been invading the soul. He has gotten worse in the last six years, or about the time you reached puberty.”

Did he ever do anything sexual with you that would have caused him to become so paranoid?”

“No, but both he and mother would walk into my bedroom and bathroom regardless of how I was dressed.” 

Both guys looked at me funny, Alex laughed, “Why didn’t you lock your door?”

“Simple, there were never any locks on the door in my room.  My parents were determined that I was the devils’ child.  I’m sure that I was an accident.  My brothers and sisters are quite a bit older than me.  By the time I came along, my parents were too set in their ways and couldn’t accept that the world was changing.”

Doctor Wood asked, “Have you ever explained to your brothers and sisters what was happening?’”

 I started to laugh, “Since my father moved to the church here, we almost never see them.  They live in Hagerstown, Maryland where my father was the pastor in the church, before we moved here.  The age difference between my brothers and me is such that I have a nephew who is a year and half older than me and one who is a year younger than me.  I have a brother, a sister who was never married and a sister who is divorced.  When any of the brothers or sisters do come for a visit, it is only for a very short time.”

Doctor Wood shook his head, “This gets weirder and weirder.  Let’s get you to the house, so you can take a real shower before you go to the Morrows for dinner.

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: Weirder doesn't even begin to tell how awful Seth's life has been, living with those nut cases. Personally, if I were in charge, they would lose all parental rights to Seth, immediately.

I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 02/25/11