Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:01:48 +0200
From: Sean Halford <seanjhalford@gmail.com>
Subject: Stronger Than Lions Chapter 28

Stronger Than Lions


by


Sean J. Halford




Chapter 28


Counter-Intelligence


-----------------------


A calm descended on the weekend. I helped Chris moved back into his house,
and I let him be for the rest of the Saturday. I figured he needed to have
some family time with his mom. My father told us to keep quiet about all
the drama for now; he would call her later when she settled in. As it
happened, Fiona invited us for lunch on Sunday. There was a vitality in her
that I hadn't seen before: the month in rehab had helped her regain part of
herself that had been lost for a long time. It was sweet seeing my
boyfriend fuss over her.

After we finished lunch outside on the Hathaways' terrace overlooking the
Constantia Valley, my father gently motioned Chris and me to excuse
ourselves.


We went to Chris's room and played online with Rob for an hour - who wiped
us out several times with malevolent glee. We were about to mount a third
offensive when our respective parents called us back.


Fiona was understandably furious and shocked.


'Your father is one serious piece of work,' she said to her son
grimly. 'Wait till your brothers find out.' She brightened: `Which reminds
me, Tom and Andy are coming down in two weeks. I thought I'd surprise
you. We're going to have a full house again.'


That's awesome, Mom,' said Chris, beaming. 'I wonder if Andy will bring his
latest conquest with him.'


'Oh dear,' said Fiona. 'Around the world with eighty girls. I nearly said
"IN eighty girls."


My father and I laughed nervously, and Chris grinned. Fiona's rather outré
sense of humour was back and stronger than ever.


'Well,' said my dad. 'You two are going to lay low. Chris, you're back at
school tomorrow, and I'm going to speak to the Major. I believe there's
going to be an official presentation by Eagle to the school next week. Cal,
you're still officially suspended so you get on top of your work... I
believe you've got a lot practising to do.'


I nodded. Beethoven's Pathétique Sonata was still an Alp to be scaled.


'I haven't seen Tom and Andy in nearly a year,' said Chris. He looked a bit
worried.


I squeezed his hand. 'You're worried about Tom, eh?'


He nodded. 'Yeah. He's always been the most conservative one.'


'Don't worry, Chrissie,' said Fiona. 'You know, he's actually always stood
up for you, in his own way.'


She walked over to her son and ran her fingers through his hair.

'That day... when Snowball was run over, and you were so upset, and your
dad told you to toughen up... Tom was nine and he marched into a meeting
your dad was having with his farm managers. He told him he was a mean man
and wouldn't speak to him for days. He gave you Cubby, you know, it was his
toy.'

Chris's eyes moistened. 'I didn't know that.'


'It's true. I'll talk to him, if he has any problem. If.'


Chris's phone beeped.


'Oh, jeez, I forgot about this evening.'


'What?' I asked.


'It's Sam. You know, one of my friends from KZN who's now at varsity
here. I arranged to meet up with him and my other pal Vusi. Plus, they want
to meet you.'


'Shit,' I said. 'That's gonna be weird.'


'Oh please, Cal. They're cool okes. I want to.. want to show you
off. Pleaaaase?'


He made the baby face. I nodded. 'Ok.'


'On one condition,' said my father, raising his eyebrow. 'You both get some
work done. Time for us to go, Cal.'


*


I was nervous as hell, but as soon as I met Sam and Vusi I relaxed. They
were both very friendly. Sam was a bit of a hipster, spouting the names of
obscure bands and using, yes really, the word "ironic" at every
opportunity. Vusi was an alarmingly large Zulu with a sense of humour as
dry as the Namib Desert. He was a first year medical student and Sam was
doing computer engineering. Neither of them batted an eyelid when Chris put
his arm around me. I stiffened at first.


'Relax dude,' said Vusi. 'We're cool.'


'Mrs Smythe would totally platz if she saw you guys,' said Sam,
sniggering. 'Oh, sorry, Chris, I didn't mean...'


'It's cool,' he said. 'That's blood under the bridge.'


'Are you guys like out?'


'I guess,' I said. 'I mean, neither of us imagined this would happen. And
we didn't exactly come out in the way we wanted to.'


Chris gave them a précis of the events.


'Jeez, dude,' said Vusi, shaking his head and motioning to the waiter to
bring us another round of beers. 'It's like apartheid all over again. I
mean, it's the 21st century, and we're in Cape fucking Town. The gay
capital of South Africa. I mean, I'm not trying to box you guys as a
stereotype.'

Chris laughed. 'We haven't been out clubbing or anything, if that's what
you mean. In fact here in the Southern Suburbs it feels as if the only gays
in the village. Or only bi's. I don't know, it gets confusing.'


'What,' said Sam, 'you guys still scope babes?'


I nodded with a grin.


'Wicked, man,' said Vusi.


'Yeah,' said Chris, digging me in the ribs with his elbow, ' old Cal here
can be a bit of a ladies man, as it turns out.'


I looked at him in shock, but he burst out in guffaws. 'Just messing with
ya,' he said sotto voce, and I made a face.


'Can I take a pic of you guys?' said Sam. 'My girlfriend asked me for one.'


`Ok... but why?' I asked.


'Oh, she finds the idea of two hot guys together a real turn-on.'


I tried not to choke on my beer, and Chris and I bunched together in a
pose.


'Cute,' said Sam. 'Well, Cal, let's see. Vusi and I have got a shitload of
embarrassing stories about your man.'


'Oh dear,' said Chris, and rolled his eyes. 'I should have known this was
coming.'


'Do tell,' I said, and grinned while Chris rolled his eyes.






*

I had a feeling my time off wouldn't last long.


At eleven o'clock on Monday morning, my phone rang.


'Mr MacLeod? This is Mrs van der Heever from the Headmaster's office.' Her
voice was plummy with the affected Received Pronunciation she liked to
adopt when speaking to students.


'Yes, ma'am?' I answered, trying to sound as calm and courteous as I could.


'Major O'Reilly would like to see you in his office at once.'


'Ma'am, I am at home following Mr Dawkins's orders. It will take me a while
to get ready to school.


'Oh,' she said, 'of course.' I heard her rustling about frantically. I
chuckled to myself; the old bat's smarmy tone had vanished. 'How soonest
can you get here?'


'As soon as I can,' I replied flatly. 'I will need to cycle to school,
naturally.'


'Very well,' she said, and rang off.


I decided to have a long shower and take as long as I needed.


I arrived just after noon and presented myself in the Major's office.


'Oh, good,' said Mrs van der Heever, and anxiously motioned me to the
Major's door.


It felt surreal, entering the imposing lair for the second time in just
over a week. To my astonishment, Chris was there, sitting at one of the
desk chairs.


The Major walked up to me and shook my hand, nearly crushing it with his
strength.


'Good afternoon, Caleb,' he said pleasantly. 'Please, won't you sit down.'


'Thank you, sir.'


He seated himself. I sat bolt upright. His military demeanour demanded it.


He seemed to notice this.  'At ease, my boy. This isn't the army, as much
as I would like it to be run like one.'


I smiled weakly and stole a glance at Chris, who was looking as nervous as
I was. Chris was fumbling with what looked like a clipboard and a wad of
papers. I also saw he had his laptop with him.


'I'm glad you could make it, and I'm sorry it's such short notice. I said,
relax, Mr MacLeod. Nobody is in trouble here.'

*

I nearly wilted with relief. Chris continued fiddling with his papers.  'Mr
Hathaway, why not put that down, it's not needed right now.'


'Yes, sir. Of course.'


'Now, Caleb. There seems to have been a gross misunderstanding. I have
learnt that both of you have been unjustly accused of something you didn't
do. Worse, you were punished as such. It has come to my attention that
there was an unnecessary overreaction to a certain small indiscretion. Am I
correct that the two of you are a couple?'


He asked it so matter-of-factly that I was completely disarmed. 'Yes, sir,'
we both said, nodding meekly.


'Very good. Interesting. Never come across it before officially in this
school. I say, officially. Now I must make it clear to you that although
this is a Catholic school, there's no censure placed upon any students who
choose to be in a relationship, provided that this does not interfere with
their school career. I guess that would apply to any relationship between
two pupils, two boys as well as two girls.


'Of course, this is a bit of a delicate matter, as I'm not aware of any
openly... well, gay relationship at this school before, and I worry about
prejudice. Prejudice that has already reared its ugly head. People are,
unfortunately, always afraid of what they don't understand. During my days
in the Army there were some terrible things that happened to men who well,
preferred other men. They were sent for all sorts of bogus therapies. Some
even had shock treatments, to try and "cure" them.

`I've always believed that being gay is not something to be "cured". I'm
glad we live in a more tolerant age now. What concerns me is that, as the
head of this school I'm responsible for the safety of all the students, and
the reality is I won't be able to protect you from every slander or insult
that may come your way.'

'Sir,' said Chris, 'I... we wouldn't expect you to protect us from
everything. But thank you.'


'Not at all. I'm very upset however, that you two were used as pawns in a
larger game. I know all about the donation that the school stands to
receive, and how some over-eagerness to secure it turned into
manipulation. I want to assure you that no student's welfare shall be
placed above any monetary interest.'


'Wow, sir,' I said, shaking my head.


'Indeed.' The Major twiddled one end of his moustache, and for all I knew,
I could have been a private being addressed by a World War I officer.


'So firstly, I am overturning your suspension, Caleb, and you are to be
back at school from tomorrow. And you are back on the swim team. Rest
assured that your school records are untouched. However, the two of you are
given an hour's detention each, which I believe is the appropriate penalty
for students kissing on school premises.'


Chris and I both chuckled. 'Yes sir!' said Chris.


'I will supervise it personally, later today. But you can do that after the
meeting in the boardroom.'


'Sir?' I asked. Both Chris and I looked confused.


'A senior member of the governing body came to see me this morning and
explained to me what had been going on. I further learnt that, without my
knowledge, the benefactor had arranged a meeting with the governing body to
take place today, while I was still on leave. So I came in. I was naturally
concerned that no-one had bothered to inform me about this while I was away
at the educational congress I was attending in Port Elizabeth.


'The presentation is happening right now, and I would ask you two gentlemen
to join me, as I shall be making a statement that pertains to both of
you. Mr Hathaway, are you happy to continue, bearing in mind that your
father is going to be there?'


'Yes sir.'


'Continue with what?' I asked.


'You'll see,' said Chris with a sly grin.

The Major gave my boyfriend a conspiratorial look. I felt as if I were
caught up in some clandestine counter-intelligence operation.


'Almost half-past!' said the Major, standing up. 'If you would be so kind
as to follow me.'


He walked briskly out of the office and down the corridor, which was
flanked with yellowing photographs of St Francis rugby players from the
past. We tried to keep up with him as best we could as his black academic
gown flapped like the outsize wings of a giant bat.