Keep Me As An Apple of Your Eye - 11. December 11

Wednesday, December 11

The Light of Love

How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147

“Erick, get me the box of salt, please. This soup needs some spicing up. Also, grab the container of thyme.”

Todd was in full cook mode. Todd had found a chef’s hat and was enjoying playing the television style guest chef role. Fortunately, he had the cooking chops to back up his bravado. He had volunteered the two of them to help at the homeless shelter. The shelter was sponsored by a coalition of churches in the Williamsburg area and Todd had volunteered their help when they were at church the prior Sunday morning. Erick felt helpless and was glad to take direction from Todd. People were scurrying around to finish setting the tables before the doors opened. At least Erick felt he could put the flatware and napkins on the tables. After that he would help in the serving line by putting a thick slice of Italian bread on the plates after Todd had ladled chicken barley soup into the bowls.

The doors opened and people flooded the dining hall. Most were men. Erick took note of a young man who could not have been more than sixteen. He was dirty and unkempt. Rebecca, who was the pastor at a local church, asked that everyone bow their heads while she led them in prayer. Arlene, who worked with Rebecca, went table to table to ask them to go to the serving window to get their food. They had the front side of the house well organized. Erick and Todd stood next to each other while serving and enjoyed bumping shoulders and smiling at each other. Erick was glad that Todd had volunteered them for this job. It felt so good to help others.

Most of the men knew each other and were chatting among themselves. Erick noticed that the young guy sat by himself and didn’t say anything to the others. He looked absolutely lost and terrified. Erick took him another bowl of soup after he had devoured the first one. That act of kindness engendered a smile and thank you.

“My name’s Erick let me know if you need anything. Okay? That is Todd and he will help also.”

The boy nodded his head. He gave Erick a strange look.

“Are you Jewish?”

“Yes, I am.” Erick had worn his kippah.

“So, am I.” The boy’s eyes welled with tears. Erick gave a pleading look to Todd who was better with this type of situation. Todd immediately came out from the kitchen. Erick moved out of the way and Todd sat in his place. He had a gentle conversation with the boy. To deflect attention, Erick went around offering dessert to the other men.

When it was time to clean up after dinner, put the tables away and get out the cots, Todd stayed close by the young man. They worked together as a team to help clean up from dinner and set up the room for sleeping.

Erick got everyone’s attention and said that the bathrooms were down the hall. He told them there were supplies to wash their faces and brush their teeth. He then announced that when they came back, they would be offered foot washing and clean socks. The shelter had learned that washing feet and giving away clean socks was helpful to the homeless. Most were embarrassed about having someone wash their feet and just wanted the clean socks. The volunteers were adamant that it was a package deal. The old socks went into a garbage bag and were disposed of. Erick thought they needed to be burned.

The boy looked a lot better after washing his face and hands. He had brushed his teeth. Whereas many of the men were missing teeth or had bad orthodontics, the boy had beautiful, straight, white teeth. Todd and Erick were at different stations for foot washing and the boy chose Erick. He pulled off his Ralph Lauren boots and Erick got a whiff of the teenage foot pong. It smelled like a locker room. It didn’t stink of foot rot which was a good thing. His toenails were painted bright red. His look challenged Erick to make a derogatory comment about his painted toenails. Erick smiled.

“Great color. It looks good on you.” The boy relaxed and smiled.

“I call it ‘whorehouse red’.” Again, there was that challenging look.

“So, my name’s Erick and you met Todd. What’s your name?”

“Jeremiah.” He whispered his name so Erick was the only one who could hear it.

Erick very gently lifted Jeremiah’s left foot and started washing it. He noticed a large blister on the bottom of the foot. Jeremiah winced when Erick touched it.

“I guess my boots weren’t made for walking.”

Erick chuckled wondering if this young boy even knew from Nancy Sinatra. He put the left foot on a towel and then lifted the right. There was a blister on that foot also. How did the boy walk with bilateral blisters? Luckily, a nurse volunteered at the shelter and Erick got her attention. She came over and looked at Jeremiah’s feet.

“Young man, you should not be walking for a couple of days. If the blister’s break, you could get an infection in your feet. Do you have another pair of boots?”

Jeremiah hung his head. “No ma’am. I have nothing and nowhere to go.”

Erick was astounded. The nurse left to get some ointment for Jeremiah’s feet.

“Can I ask how old you are?”

“Yes, you can ask.” Jeremiah smiled.

Erick also smiled. “Okay, smarty pants, how old are you?”

“I am fifteen. I turn sixteen in a few weeks.”

“Will you tell me what happened?”

Jeremiah looked at Erick. He then looked at Todd.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

Erick swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure about disclosing that he was gay in this shelter of men. He nodded his head.

Jeremiah smiled from ear to ear.

“It doesn’t matter what happened. This is who I am now. A homeless queer Jew boy.”

“It matters to me and to Todd.”

“What can you do? I am good sex. Maybe ya’ll need someone to spice things up for you. I will give you a discount on my usual rates.”

Erick was astounded by what was said. Jeremiah laughed.

“You need to toughen up if you are going to survive helping here, old man.” Jeremiah smiled when he called Erick an old man. He meant it as a joke and Erick received it that way.

“I am lucky that my parents accepted my brother and me.”

“You have a queer brother?”

“Yep. We are twins.”

“That would be fun having sex with twins. Can we get together? Hell, I would pay you.”

Erick was again taken aback by this young man. He seemed so brazen and out there. Yet he was so young.

“How long have you been homeless?”

“Three weeks. My parents kicked me out because I am queer. Fuck them. I am tough. I will probably get killed living on the streets. They will regret it then. That will teach them a big lesson.”

Erick didn’t bother to correct the critically flawed rationalization. He, however, was surprised at the chutzpah of this young man. He was either tough as nails or was a marvelous actor. At first, Erick couldn’t decide which but it was when he reached out and hugged him that he knew. Jeremiah slumped in his arms and held on as if his life depended on it. Just for a second he made himself vulnerable. Jeremiah wiped away a tear. Then the tough guy façade reappeared.

“You feel nice and tight. I bet you have a hot body under those clothes, big daddy and you have a hairy chest peeking out from your shirt. Dayyum, you are one hot Jew boy. Do you have the meat to go along with it?” Erick worked hard not to be surprised by what Jeremiah was saying to him. Erick knew that he and Todd had to do something to help.

“Do you always sleep here at night?”

“Yep, this place is safe. Also, they have the best food around. I can wash my face and brush my teeth. I am so mean to the old guys they are afraid to get near me. I told one guy I would cut off his balls if he touched me so they are all a little leery of me. They are too old and too nasty to fuck anyway. I want a man with money. I need to be kept in style, honey.” The faux cocky, self-assured persona was back.

Erick told him good night and that he looked forward to seeing him the next time they volunteered. Jeremiah tried to bump fists with Erick. Jeremiah laughed when Erick didn’t know how to do it.

“You are such a white, white-boy. It is a good thing you have a partner because you wouldn’t survive in the real world. If you ever want some hot street boy let me know. I would rock your world.”

Erick knew that Jeremiah would rock his world if given the chance. But that wasn’t going to happen.

Erick and Todd got back to the apartment and they lit the Advent candles and reflected on their evening. Todd was the first to speak.

“Where was God in that gathering tonight? I know we were there helping but was God there?”

“I saw the face of God in those men. They had primal, basic needs and we were there to help. I don’t know that we were building them up though. We were giving food and shelter. That was good to do but they need so much more. Jeremiah was putting on a good front but he was one scared boy. How can we help him? I felt connected to him. He is young, gay and Jewish.”

“Well, we will find out tomorrow morning. I volunteered us to fix breakfast. The person who was supposed to cook called while you were talking with Jeremiah and I agreed that we would be back at 5 tomorrow morning. So lover boy, we need some sleep and no swimming tomorrow. Call Nash and let him know.”

They finished with prayer and while Todd was getting things put away, Erick went to the telephone and called Nash. His announcement was met with disappointment. Erick then called Yonatan. He gave a brief summary of what he knew. He told Yonatan that he and Todd would be back at the shelter at 5 in the morning and hopefully he could learn more then. Yonatan asked where the shelter was located.

“Let me talk with Matan. No, scratch that. Matan is solely focused on our ceremony on Saturday. I will speak with Black. Love you and see you on Friday night for dinner.”

Erick went to bed and snuggled next to his lover. He was grateful that he had a lover, an apartment, a job, a loving brother and loving parents. He said a prayer praising God for the life he was prone to take for granted. He realized that the encounter with Jeremiah had changed him forever.

Suggested Music:

“In the Arms of an Angel”

Performer: Sarah McLachlan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SiylvmFI_8