Baptismal
The sun poked through the trees, illuminating the moss on the large boulders in the clearing.
“You’re my first,” Will remarked sheepishly.
“I’m the first guy you held hands with?” Robert asked.
“Yours is the first hand I’ve held,” Will respond.
Will laughed loudly, the noise echoing off the boulders around him.
“Well, I am honored,” he said casually.
They stood there for a moment silently, waist deep in the small pond that formed when the creek grew during summer, their hands clasped under the water.
“Any other firsts you want to get out of the way?” Robert asked coyly.
“Well….” Will replied, before deciding it was his turn to take the initiative.
He leaned in and pressed his lips against Robert’s. He could tell he wasn’t doing a very good job, but Robert didn’t seem to mind and after a second any thoughts of quality fled his mind, and a new feeling flooded his body. After several engrossing seconds, the two split apart, both smiling.
They talked some more as they got out of the water and sat on a boulder to dry off. It was hot even by July standards, but the shade of the trees made it bearable. The two boys put their clothes back on and wordlessly held hands again as they started walking back home through the woods. As the tree they instinctively broke apart, and a sense of awkwardness overcame Will.
“Same time tomorrow?” Robert asked.
“I can’t. I have church and then fireworks for Fourth of July,” Will replied.
Robert nodded but didn’t say anything back.
“Aren’t you going?” Will asked.
“To church?”
“No, I know you don’t go, to Fourth of July?”
“Oh, no, or at least my family doesn’t usually go. My dad doesn’t like fireworks,” Robert replied.
They kept walking through the tall grass towards the outskirts of a neighborhood on the other side of the field behind the church.
“Can you go?” Will asked, sheepishness returning to his voice.
Robert smiled without looking over.
“Yeah, I guess I can go by myself,” he replied.
“Great! You know the old covered wagon at the corner of the square?”
“Yeah.”
“My family usually sets up right around there. Meet us there at sunset?”
“Yeah, okay,” Robert said, smiling wider.
The next day Will was woken up by an unfamiliar hand shaking him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, still coming out of a deep sleep.
“Nothing if you get up now so we aren’t late,” came a deep voice in response.
Will squinted awake to see his uncle Ronald standing above him in an impressive three-piece suit.
“Good morning,” Will said, unsure of why Ronald was here in his bedroom.
“Sorry to wake you, son, but I have to be at church a little early,” Ronald explained.
Will nodded, and Ronald walked out of the room. He got dressed quickly before packing into the car with the rest of the family. His sister and his mother were all squeezed into the back with him, and Ronald rode in the front as Will’s father drove.
“I appreciate everyone leaving a bit early, but being deacon comes with certain responsibilities,” Ronald explained.
Ronald loved to tell anyone who would listen that he was a deacon at the church.
The car ride felt longer than usual and was mostly made up of Will’s sister Molly explaining in great detail why her new horse doll was her new favorite, with their mother bobbing her head like she was following along very closely. Once they arrived, they all piled out of the car and started to walk in. Ronald left once inside to head to the back for “deacon responsibilities.”
After a few more minutes in the pews of Molly discussing the possible names she would give her horse doll, Father Larry mercifully began his sermon. Will spent a few minutes trying to pay attention, but then immediately drifted off. He noticed some kids from his school, and when they too would look around in boredom, he would catch their eye, and they would exchange funny faces. After that wore thin and his mother had gently elbowed him to stop, he started making a roster of the boys he saw from his class and which position he would want them to play on a theoretical baseball team.
There were four boys from his class, two a year above him in tenth grade and three seniors, just enough to make a complete team. Obviously, Will imagined himself as the pitcher and tried to determine the rest of the positions mostly by size. He knew the seniors wouldn’t like the idea of a freshman pitching, but Will concluded that this was his team, so they would have to bear it.
“And now if you will all rise, we will be doing something quite different today,” Father Larry announced.
Murmurs quickly flooded the crowd as they stood up, looking around anxiously.
“We will be taking a little field trip to save a soul.”
The congregation, all dressed in their Sunday best, trooped out of the church and out into the field behind it towards the woods. Father Larry led the way, while Ronald brought up the rear. It was clear some of the better dressed partitioners were unsure of walking through even the tamest wilderness in their outfits, but the herd moved at such a consistent pace there was little room to linger.
As they entered the tree line, a sense of nervousness crept over Will. He hadn’t realized how hot it was that day and how many people there were around him. As they got closer and closer to the pond, he began to look around with increasing intensity. What soul would they be saving? What did Father Larry know? Why was Ronald dressed so nice? Panic set in, and he quickly fell back to the end of the crowd where Ronald was ushering people along.
“Whose soul are we going to save?” he asked Ronald, hoping his voice sounded casual and unassuming.
“You’ll see, son,” Ronald replied, a smile on his face that Will didn't like at all.
The crowd reached the pond and Will’s heart sank. They all moved around it, encircling it with some room by the bank where Father Larry stood.
“My friends, there is a sinner among us,” he announced, faux graveness in his voice.
Will was breathing heavily, his eyes darting around. He was absolutely positive at any minute someone was going to grab him and reveal what he and Robert had done in this exact spot the day before.
“Wilmer, please step forward,” Father Larry gestured to a man at the front of the crowd.
He looked a little shabby but had what was clearly a new suit on that was the same color brown as his combed hair.
“This sinner has not committed an act against God but was born with it. I am talking of original sin, which must be washed away through the act of baptism,” Father Larry explained.
The man and Father Larry walked together into the pond, where Father Larry, without hesitation, dunked the man, suit an all, into the water. When the man popped up, he took a huge breath and the crowd applauded. Will’s eyes were wide like a cornered rodent, but he did feel a sense of relief. The combination of the relief and adrenaline carried him through the day in a nervous haze.
Before he knew it, he was back in the car, and the sun was low in the sky. They parked at the town square and headed towards the covered wagon. After laying out some blankets and a few baskets of food, Will and his family sat to wait for the sun to set and the fireworks to begin.
Will nearly jumped when a large hand clasped on his shoulder. He looked up to see Ronald standing over him, still in his deacon suit.
“I hope you took in the lesson of the day,” he said in a voice that seemed a little too knowing.
“Original sin can be washed away in the baptismal pool, but the sins we choose must be confessed and penance must be paid,” he said sternly.
Will nodded but didn’t respond. Ronald seemed to accept this and walked away to greet a nearby family.
*
Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw Robert in the crowd. He was talking with a few other boys, laughing at something one of them had said.
“I need to go find Molly. She went off with her friends somewhere,” Will’s mom said.
“I’ll do it,” Will replied quickly, practically leaping up off the blanket and bolting away before his mom could object.
He moved towards the nearby bathrooms, vanishing around the corner. He watched as Robert departed the small group of boys and went over to the covered wagon. He looked around, but only saw Will’s mother and father who he didn’t know. After a few minutes and a lap around the wagon, he walked off. Will couldn’t make out the look on his face, but he felt like it was one of dejection.
“What are you doing?” A voice came from behind him.
He jumped, only to find Molly holding her horse doll.
“Oh, uh, looking for you,” he said.
“By the boys’ bathroom?” she asked, a doubtful look on her face.
“Well, it worked, didn’t it,” Will responded quickly, grasping her shoulders and pointing her in the direction of their mom.
“All right, head back. I’ll be there soon,” he said, giving her a nudge forward.
Molly walked off and as soon as she was a few steps away, he ducked into the bathroom. He splashed water on his face before going into a bathroom stall and sitting down. He could see the fireworks start out of the small window at the top of the bathroom wall and watched as the vibrant colors exploded into the night.
~