Rough Seas

“We’re heading into a rough sea.”
“Yes, we changed our course today.”
-as heard in the 1957 film,
An Affair to Remember

Yesterday, Sunday, September 13, 2009, I read an article from the Associated Press about how ‘Italy grapples with priest sex abuse’.

The beginning of the article went something like this:

VERONA, Italy - It happened night after night, the deaf man said, sometimes in the priest’s bedroom, sometimes in the bathroom, even in the confessional.
When he was a young boy at a Catholic-run institute for the deaf, Alessandro Vantini said, priests sodomized him so relentlessly he came to feel "as if I were dead." This year, he and dozens of other former students did something highly unusual for Italy: They went public with claims they were forced to perform sex acts with priests.

I have to say that I attended Catholic School from 1966 to 1970 and I never experienced any sort of misbehavior from the priests I knew. It is sad that this does happen.

While the above story is a very serious matter I thought I would pass on a joke (about priests). Someone sent me this joke a few months back. It made me laugh 'at the time'. Who really knows’ what goes on behind closed doors?

Two priests are off to the showers late one night. They undress and
step into the showers before they realize there is no soap.

Father John says he has soap in his room and goes to get it, not bothering to dress. He grabs two bars of soap, one in each hand, and heads back to the showers.

He is halfway down the hall when he sees three nuns heading his way. Having no place to hide, he stands against the wall and freezes like he's a statue.

The nuns stop and comment on how life-like he looks.

The first nun suddenly reaches out and pulls on his manhood. Startled,
he drops a bar of soap.
"Oh look" says the first nun, "It's a soap dispenser".

To test her theory, the second nun also pulls on his manhood. Sure
enough, he drops the second bar of soap.

Now the third nun decides to have a go. She pulls once, Then twice and
three times but nothing happens. So she gives several more tugs, and then yells.
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, hand lotion, too!"

Twenty-five years ago today:

September 15, 1984
Saturday

The telephone rang a bit before 11AM. It was Suzy Miller. She told me about her visit to see her Dad in Arkansas. She even managed a short visit to Texas, too. She went on to share some news about a high-school pal, Sandy Renk.
“You won’t believe it but Sandy is marrying some guy in October who has a nine year old son. And Sandy hates the son,” she said.

Suzy and I ended up at Ole’s Waffle Shop for breakfast. We followed that with an hour at Longs Drugstore. I was trying to figure out which photo reprints I wanted. We also spent time looking and buying greeting cards.

Suzy and I went bicycling together and had a sufficient ‘cool down’ by sharing a Coca-Cola near her apartment building swimming pool.

I cruised on my bike and spent some time with ‘mom and dad’. Then I proceeded to go cycling again along South Shore beach. Once home again I got a call from Suzy Miller who wanted to see what I was up to.
“I’m tired and I’m going to take a nap,” I said. For some reason I could not tell her about my forthcoming date with Karen.
“I may go dancing with some friends from work,” I continued.
“Well, if you change your mind and want to see a movie…call me,” Suzy said.

I telephoned Karen an hour or so later. I agreed to pick her up at around 9:30PM; whereby, we would head over to The Oasis nightclub. It will be fun. I am hungry now, so I will take a quick shower and run over and raid mom’s fridge.
Again, my bicycle was good therapy and the thought of a marriage proposal to Karen (or anyone for that matter) is frightening. I mean, what if I get a positive “yes” or “I will” as an answer! I really do not know what to do. Why am I even considering marriage ideas now?

Now that Chris Cordellos has come to an end it is good for me. I am glad he is ‘just a pal’ now. The varied times we have spent will never be forgotten. After all, a lot of it is now documented.

I gathered my things and drove over to San Francisco to pick up Karen. We danced at The Oasis. I saw that Richard guy from yesterday, too. I guess he’s a ‘regular’ at this place. While I was standing with Karen some guy came over to ask Karen to dance. Luckily, she said, “No, Thank you.” She did not make me look like a complete fool.

We left The Oasis for Hippo’s Burgers at 1AM. We laughed aloud together about the ‘Hamburger Sundae’ that we saw on the menu. She insisted on paying for the meal. I took her home and we kissed ‘goodnight’.