“Itwouldbe more appropriate work than sorting through ladies’ underthings,” Father Benedict says.
* * *
It's notthat Aidan has beenchattythe last few times we've been in this room together, but today he’s even less talkative than he has been before. We fold in a silence that I wouldn’t exactly call companionable, until I break it to ask Marco, sitting at the coldest end of the room, “Hey, can you go make us some coffee in the kitchen?”
“Not a barista, Mr. D,” he says laconically, and keeps thumbing through something on his phone.
“Please,” I add, remembering my manners. “I need something to keep my hands warm.”
Marco gives a sigh and stands up. “Guess I could do with something warm in me, too. Can you stay outta trouble for five minutes?”
“Yes, Marco.” I give him my most cherubic look. “How about you, Aidan, you want something?”
He just shakes his head.
“What isupwith you today, Priest Boy?” I demand once Marco has left the room.
He blinks away his own thoughts. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve usually taken the opportunity to remind me what a shitty person I am by now.”
If anything, that just makes him look more upset. “I’m very sorry if that's the impression I've given you,” he says, softly. “I certainly didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable or unwelcome here.”
“I'm just pulling your dick,” I say, waving a hand. “Kidding around,” I add, as Aidan pulls his Pikachu face again. “Seriously, man, you need to chill.”
“I wish you wouldn't say things like that.”
“But youdoneed to chill,” I point out.
Slowly, a red flush is rising in Aidan's cheeks. “I mean about...”
“Pulling your dick? Jesus, get over yourself. It's a figure of speech, I have no interest in your boner, plus I'm a married man. I know you priests must be thinking dirty thoughts 24/7, what with all the shit you hear in the confessional, but I can't help you out. So just keep your homophobia under wraps.”
He shakes his head, but I do see a small smile on his lips. “I'm not homophobic. But there are others in this church who are. Father Benedict, for example.”
“But that's the Church’s job, isn't it?” I sneer. “To keep those darn queers in the closet.”
“Actually, it's my hope that I can help reform—or at leastinform—views once I take my vows.”
“Oh really, and then you’re gonna head up the Naughty Nuns at Pride?”
“That wouldn’t be my first choice of float. But Ihavemarched at Pride before, Finch.”
I snort, but Aidan doesn’t laugh with me. “Wait.” I put down the stupid folded newsletter. “Are you shitting me?”
“I am not. I marched with the LGBT Catholics and Friends float.”
“Because you’re LGBT-friendly, huh?”
“Because I’m gay.”
I sit back in my chair, mouth open. “But you’re notallowedto be gay,” I point out. “Silly priest.”
At that, hedoeslaugh. “Not a priest, Finch. Butlikepriests, I strive to keep my body holy. Being gay is fine. Acting on those urges is not. But neither would it be okay for me to go to bed with a woman. I’m a man of God, and God wants his dedicated soldiers to keep their bodies holy.”
“You know what?” I say, and I start to fold the newsletter again. “You say something like that, and it sounds all reasonable and shit. But it’s still not okay for dudes to get married to dudes, or chicks to chicks in your church. Huh?Mywedding, even though Luca and I are both Catholic—I mean, lapsed in my case, but whatever—we had to have it at a non-denominational church downtown. I didn’t give a fuck. But Luca? Hedid. So don’t come at me with this ‘it’s fine to be gay’ crap when you and your Pope are just as bad as any other homophobe off the street.”
“I’m sorry to hear the Church view has caused your husband pain.”
