The Last Seat(pg.2)

     My days were filled as any child that age under strict control and guidance of parents and Catholic nuns with scrutiny at all times, children of the Catholic faith are born guilty, I had no reprieve even on weekends, church service held me in chains 52 times a year. 

     I had to be an altar boy like every boy who entered the doorway of St. Thomas School and church, and that meant corporal punishment, we were forced to serve God with all our hearts, and any child play was strictly prohibited. I'd managed to keep my nose out of trouble most of the time. 

     Seven grueling years I spent in that Catholic penitentiary, molded in the perfect form for their obedient alms. Rusty decided to join up to play basketball, and he asked me to join as well, so I did, I was green as others were too, we only managed three wins that season. 

    Rusty was a mischievous sort, quite great at it too. His smile helped him to meet any resistance as well, his charm was plugged into all outlets, Elvis had nothing on ole Rusty.

     In my fifth year at St. Thomas life became tiresome, I grew tired of this regime of prayer and devotion, rituals became banal as putting on those uniforms, my grades seem to fall into the abyss, I ran out of lies to tell my parents. The only enjoyment I truly embraced was on the weekends when I got to stay overnight and many times over the weekend with Rusty at his parents' home. They were lovely and caring parents, had very few flaws, and let me and Rusty be kids. I and Rusty would spend hours outside on their modest farm, we always veered far away from the boundaries of safety, once I went outside without a coat with the temperature at 15 degrees, we shot basketball for an hour, then, Rusty, all of sudden headed into the forest, I hollered at him, "wait, I got no coat on!" He yelled back, "come on chicken." So, I caught up with him, and in a matter of minutes we were several miles away and I'm freezing with no coat on. 

     "Hey, man I'm cold, you have a coat on and I don't," I said with the hope of him caving in and wanting to head back to warm up back at their house. I was literally freezing to death, I was turning blue. 

     Then Rusty looked back at me and said, "I want to show you something incredible!" 

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