Curt yanked the posterboard off the door. He was about to crumple it up before he reconsidered and ran into to show his mother. She was in the kitchen, reading something on her tablet as the early morning light streamed in through the nearest window.
“Did you know this was left on our door?” he asked.
She glanced at him questioningly. He handed her the sheet so she could examine it more closely. Her expression never changed.
“I guess this is a little blowback from getting the Ten Commandments monument nixed.” She appeared unimpressed as she wadded it up. “Let’s hope this is as far as it goes.”
Curt waited for some other comment but his mom returned to her reading. Apparently, she wasn’t worried about this “gift”. Thus, he departed and traveled a few blocks over to Kate’s small, yellow split level house. Curt suspected Kate had received a similar delivery to her door, but nothing was there now. He rang the doorbell.
Kate answered a minute later dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a snug maroon tee with a low neckline.
“Hey, come on in,” she said, her complexion paler than normal. “My parents already left for work, so they never saw it.”
Kate’s parents oscillated about her sexual orientation. Her mother, a practicing Catholic, predictably struggled more than her functionally agnostic father, who spoke little of Kate’s sexual preferences. She first thought Kate being gay was a phase that she’d grow out of. Later on, she seemed to accept Kate, though fretted that such an “alternative lifestyle” would make Kate’s life infinitely harder. Even now, she seemed to think Kate had chosen to be gay and could switch her orientation to straight if she really put her mind to it.
“This is what I found on my door,” Kate said after leading Curt into her chaotic room, where clothes lay strewn about the room. No one had ever accused Kate of being a neat freak.
What Kate showed Curt closely resembled what he’d found on his own door. Only the personalized postscript was different. Kate had two biblical references scrawled on hers: Romans 1:25 and 18-20.
“It’s one of those verses religious people use to attack gays,” she said, sparing Curt from having to look up the reference himself. “The second is a promise of judgment from God, in case I wasn’t convinced He already hated me.”
Curt sighed. “I found the same thing on my door. Accept they focused on us being atheists. I guess they personalize for people’s sins.”
She faked a smile. “That’s nice. They’re kind of like a hateful Things Remembered store.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Expecting someone?” Curt asked.
Kate shook her head. “Only you.”
The two stood motionless for a minute before Kate descended the stairs, with Curt following close behind. Once they reached the entryway, she looked through the glass on the side of the door.
“It’s Justin,” she said, turning back toward Curt. “Did you tell him about this?”
“No.” Unless his mom had. Given her blasé reaction, that seemed unlikely.
She opened the door. “Hey, Justin, what are you doing here?”
Curt peeked from around Kate and gave a small wave. Justin, dressed for work in a polo shirt and tan slacks, nodded at him.
“Hey. I heard that people found stuff on their doors this morning, so I’ve just been driving around town, checking on people.”
Kate narrowed her eyes. “A Ten Commandments poster with bible verses written on it?”
He nodded and leaned against the doorframe. “Yeah. Basically. Not all of them have Bible verses on them, though. Some are just the Ten Commandments.”
“How many people have gotten them?” Curt asked.
Justin shrugged. “Ten to twenty right now. Mostly folks from our respective communities. Greg got a particularly heinous one. Beneath his Ten Commandments, someone clipped out an article about Tom’s accident, then put a reference to the Lake of Fire passage from Revelation.”
Curt shook his head at the insensitivity. “How’s he taking it?” Curt asked.
“It’s Greg. He’s pissed. And this time with good reason. Who knows what he’ll do.”
“What do you plan to do?” Curt asked, eyeing Justin.
“I don’t know, yet.” Justin scratched his head. “I need to think about what an appropriate response would be.”
“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Curt warned him, imagining what his mother would say if she was there.
“Stupid? I promise you, my response will possess a great deal of intelligence.” He stood upright once more. “In the meantime, I wouldn’t worry about this. It’s just grandstanding, trying to get under our skin.”
With a succinct wave, Justin bounded down the steps toward his still-running car.
“I don’t care what he says,” Kate said, crossing her arms while watching him leave. “Someone stood on my steps and put this on my door. In my book, that’s one step up from leaving nasty comments on an online comment section. This is unnerving.”
“Yeah, I know. Do you want me to walk you to school?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Okay.”
While Curt waited for Kate to gather her things for school, he reflected on what had transpired. As he suspected the previous night, they hadn’t seen the end of the Ten Commandments monument controversy. Now the situation seemed destined to be a negative feedback loop where each side attacked the other. The only question was, how far would each side go?
30
A Distraction
Hannah watched Curt from across the hallway. His back was turned toward her as he unloaded books from his backpack into his locker. The two hadn’t spoken since their tumultuous, theologically charged conversation on Saturday. Several times, she’d contemplated texting him, her fingers hovering over the buttons. Each time she’d stopped. Their conversation about hell seemed destined to reverberate into any future exchange they shared. How could they move past this seemingly immoveable obstacle in their relationship?
For his part, Curt hadn’t reached out, either. He’d barely even made eye contact with her, and when he had, it only lasted for a few fleeting seconds. Why would he want to talk to her? She’d essentially claimed his father was burning in hell and her theology, locked in place by thousand-year-old scriptures, hadn’t changed.
She bit the bullet and crossed the hallway. Folding her hands, Hannah waited for Curt to turn around. When he didn’t, she cleared her throat and said, “Hi, Curt.”
That drew his attention, at least for a second, and earned a tepid hello before he faced his locker again.
“How are you?” she asked.
“I’m okay.” His voice was distant and detached. Curt gathered an armful of books and closed his locker.
“So I guess the Ten Commandments monument isn’t going to happen,” she ventured. This wasn’t the best subject for small talk, as it threatened to dredge up the most likely irreconcilable differences that separated them, but it was something.
“Yeah, I guess not.” His tone remained flat.
“My brother and father weren’t very happy about it,” she said with a slight smile.
Curt nodded and glanced down the hallway. “They weren’t alone. In fact, someone was so upset about it that they put up Ten Commandment posters all around town. Well, I guess not all around town. They mainly targeted godless sinners, like me. Some of them had personalized messages. Mine called me a fool and said God’s wrath was being poured out on me. Kate got a nasty one, too, that targeted her sexuality. And Greg’s made light of Tom’s death, promising that Tom was burning in hell.” He stared at her, perhaps waiting for a reaction. The last detail, in particular, was germane to their conflict.
“That’s awful. Who would do that?” she asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “Your brother and Jake come to mind.”
“But we’re supposed to love people,” Hannah stammered, even as her mind traced back to the conversation she overheard in the hallway about Samuel’s plans if
the Ten Commandments monument fell through. She hoped her brother wasn’t involved but increasingly feared he was the longer she talked with Curt.
“Well, maybe this is how you guys express love. You warn us about the dangers of hell. I guess we should all be thanking whoever did this.” An inflection of bitterness crept into his words. He turned to leave.
Hannah’s eyes dropped to the ground. Her next question felt ridiculous, but she asked it anyway.
“I was hoping we could get together after school. Maybe we could talk?” She lifted her head.
“I can’t. Kate was pretty freaked out about the message on her door, so I’m going to walk her home after school.”
“Oh, okay.”
“See you around,” Curt said, leaving her standing at his locker.
She watched him depart. Perhaps this was destined to be their fate: walking away from each other. And not just in the present world, but in the world to come, where they’d be eternally separated from one another. Hannah sighed. Why did there have to be a hell? She’d never liked the doctrine. It always felt unfair. But what could she do about it? God’s ways were His own. Hannah had no choice but to believe it.
The final bell had rung a few minutes ago. Curt was hustling toward Kate’s locker when someone grabbed his arm. He turned to see Alexis.
“We need to talk,” she said. Her long dark hair was twisted into a braid. She wore a burgundy tank top that showed off her olive-skinned shoulders and white shorts that once again offered generous views of her thighs.
“It’s not really a good time,” Curt protested as she pulled him into an empty and unlocked classroom.
“There never seems to be a good time to talk with you these days,” she said. Alexis crossed her arms, her shimmering green eyes clouded over with a mixture of pain and anger. “I bare my soul to you a few days ago, and you’ve been blowing me off ever since. If you don’t feel the same way that I do, just tell me. But I deserve to hear it from you.”
He swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Alexis. I don’t mean to blow you off, but I’ve been going through a lot of stuff lately.” Like my father’s death, he thought. That was kind of a big deal. So was Tom’s death.
“This is about her, isn’t it?” she asked, emphasizing the ‘her’.
“Who?”
“Hannah. Everyone’s been talking about you lately. Hugging in the hallways. Walking through town, holding hands.”
“Nothing is going on between me and Hannah,” he said, embarrassed that his “secret” dalliances with Hannah had become part of the public domain. Then again, they hadn’t exactly done a great job of concealing them.
“You two would never work together. You’re too different. She sees the world completely differently than you.”
“I know.”
“She won’t appreciate you as I do.”
That was debatable, as it remained to be seen how much Alexis would appreciate him after the initial buzz from the prospect of rekindling their relationship wore off.
Alexis lunged toward him, her arms circling his neck. She planted a passionate kiss on his lips. Curt didn’t fight it. Physical affection had always been hard for him to resist. In a few seconds, he became a willing participant in the embrace.
She finally pulled away, her eyes remaining shut for a minute. Alexis opened them and smiled.
“I know that meant something to you. I could feel it.”
“It did, Alexis,” Curt started, struggling to clear his head. Her intoxicating proximity confused his thoughts. “But I need to go-”
She leaned in for another kiss, amping up the passion and aggression as she pushed Curt into the wall. All of this physical contact was making it harder for Curt to keep her at arm’s length, emotionally speaking. Mere words wouldn’t have penetrated his defenses, but this? He’d wanted to do this with Hannah, to feel her affection. That pent up desire was now manifesting itself with Alexis.
Alexis released her lips, tilting her head to give access to her neck, an erogenous zone for her. The same desire for Alexis that used to dominate his waking moments washed over him again. He plunged his lips to her neck. His hands dropped to her hips, pulling her close.
“I missed you so much,” she said in a seductive whisper. “I know you want me, too. She’ll never give herself to you like this.”
She. Alexis undoubtedly meant Hannah. But the female pronoun reminded him of Kate. He had to walk her home. However, Curt couldn’t extract himself from Alexis’ irresistible gravity.
“Do you want to go back to my house? My parents aren’t home…” she said, running her hands along Curt’s neck.
He didn’t answer, continuing to kiss her. The invitation brought year-old memories to the forefront of his mind—memories that often revisited him at night. He searched for the strength to refuse, to fulfill his responsibility to Kate.
“I can’t.” He gently pushed Alexis away as both of them gasped for breath. “I have to walk Kate home. Someone left something hateful on her door last night, and she’s freaked out about it.”
Alexis’ face curved into a frown. “Oh no. That’s terrible. Who would do such a thing?”
“I don’t know for sure. But I have to go.”
She grabbed his wrist. “Let me come with you.”
He studied her face, his eyes tracing the contours of her cheekbones. “Okay.” Either he accepted to speed up the process or he wanted her with him. At that exact moment, Curt couldn’t tell.
By the time Alexis and Curt reached Kate’s locker, she was gone. So was everyone else, making Curt wonder how much time had passed in the empty classroom.
“Well, I guess she already left,” Alexis concluded, sounding almost relieved that they’d been too late. Perhaps Alexis thought that meant they could resume their extracurricular activities.
“Come on, let’s try to catch up with her,” Curt told Alexis.
Curt hightailed it toward the door, forcing Alexis to either follow or release him. Guilt that he’d abandoned Kate in favor of making out with Alexis more so than actual fear that something bad would befall Kate motivated his present actions. It was daylight in Beaumont, after all. How dangerous could a walk home after school really be?
31
Street Harassment
Like usual, Hannah was one of the last students out the door. When she reached the main exit, she saw Kate walking along the sidewalk alone. Hadn’t Curt said he planned to walk her home? Perhaps he’d just said that to blow Hannah off. Whatever the case, she remembered the sign Kate found on her door. Her classmate might welcome company, even from Hannah. She took the risk and ran to catch up with Kate.
“Hi,” she said, the sudden noise making Kate jump.
“Hey,” Kate said, giving Hannah the side-eye.
The two had rarely talked before, though Kate was friends with a few of the girls from Hannah’s softball team. At least one of them professed to be gay as well.
“Is it okay if I walk with you?” Hannah asked.
“Uh, I guess.”
That hardly counted as a resounding yes, but Hannah pulled alongside Kate and matched her strides.
The flowers of June abounded. Annuals—petunias, begonias, and marigolds—lined garden beds and filled baskets, brightening people’s yards with color. This section of Beaumont tended to be nicer than other parts: the lawns were more spacious and the houses a little bigger. Some parts of town were particularly rundown and hinted at the socioeconomic and ideological schisms present in Beaumont. But here, on the precipice of summer, as the sun shone down and birds tweeted, it was hard to imagine any dissension lurked in the town. Of course, looks could be deceiving.
“I heard that someone left something on your door,” Hannah said. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“Thanks,” muttered Kate, clearly unimpressed with Hannah’s apology.
“What they did was wrong.”
Kate gave her a crooked grin. “What exactly was wrong about it?”
“They shouldn’t have said that.” Granted, Hannah didn’t know what exactly they had said. She suspected it had been an expression of hatred, and, in her mind, there was no place for that in Christianity.
“Shouldn’t have said that or shouldn’t have thought that?”
Hannah’s cheeks flushed. Once again, she’d been pushed to reveal her true opinion. She couldn’t answer ‘both were wrong’ according to Christianity, at least, not honestly.
“Whoever acts that way isn’t acting like a Christian.”
Kate shook her head. “Sure seems like a lot of Christians act that way.”
“Not real Christians.”
This last comment brought Kate to a screeching halt. She swiveled toward Hannah, who also stopped, waiting nervously for a potential tongue lashing from Kate.
“Don’t try to pull that bullshit on me.”
Hannah recoiled from Kate’s abrasive tone.
“If you want to argue that whoever put those signs on people’s doors was as religious as Trump is, fine. Maybe that’s true. Maybe religion was just a prop for whoever did this. But even if he or she wasn’t religious, your Bible either validates or initiates that hatred.”
Kate continued walking, forcing Hannah to keep up, though she briefly considered letting Kate go on alone.
“You know what I want, Hannah? I want to live a life with equal rights and be treated as a human. I want to be able to love whoever I want to. I don’t have any other agenda. It seems like the people standing in my way the most are people who believe the same as you do.”
Apparently not finished yet, Kate stopped again. “Your house isn’t in this direction, Hannah.” She pointed in the direction of Hannah’s neighborhood. “Go home.”
Across the Western Sky Page 16
