Hail Santa!
Chapter 2: Cowboys and Angles
My family considered all content not created by the Watchtower Organization to be “worldly.” This means it was made in Satan’s world, and therefore it was typically tainted with material designed to turn us away from Jehovah’s love.
Any media containing sex, violence, occultism, and homosexual themes (all the fun stuff basically) made the hit list on what not to watch on TV as a Jehovah’s Witness.
Granted, it wasn’t tightly enforced, just heavily frowned upon. Almost every Witness, no matter how devout, had at least one cheat show, movie, or song that they just couldn’t resist breaking the rules for. They do their little guilty sigh when “our choices in entertainment” are brought up from the podium, then once every-now-and-then they take a moment to indulge in their chosen media.
My mom’s favorite, and by extension mine, was a TV drama called SPURRED. Set in the 1800s, it takes place with a gang of outlaws as they muddle through life, love, and liberty.
It’s fun, action-packed, full-on frontal with the ladies and the guys; it was easy to see why I indulged alongside my mom, even with her skipping ahead on all the juicy bits to save her conscience just a tad.
If a scene she insisted on skipping looked particularly interesting, I’d typically just end up watching it again on my own later in the night on my phone. Usually I didn’t bother, the sex wasn’t interesting enough every time to warrant watching the episode again just to skip to it, unless Sally West was involved.
She was the womanly eye-candy of the show, but an excellent character regardless. She starts off as the daughter of an abusive farmer father, a real dickhead who uses his daughter as a slave since his wife passed. He molests her, beats her, calls her horrible names, and refuses to let her marry so she can leave him.
Eventually, the gang of outlaws the show follows take the man hostage after learning that he is actually a very wealthy guy despite his simple roots. Sally takes her shot at freedom and helps the outlaws find the money, on the condition that they take her along and teach her how to be a badass so she will never be victimized again.
She shoots her own pa in the back of the head as she leaves, and from then on she metamorphosizes into a strong, independent person capable of holding her own far beyond what she ever thought she could.
Sally ends up falling in love with Pete, and they have a multiple season long affair. It looked like they’d always be together, Sally even got to talking about them running off away from the life and starting a family together, but Season 5’s ending revealed a bombshell.
Pete ended up having an affair with Ulysses, the gang leader’s right hand man. Or at least, it surely seemed that way. Sally is out hunting rabbits when she happens to notice her husband’s horse, Glory, grazing alongside Maybell, Ulysses’ horse. There’s only one tent in the field, and a small long-forgotten fire in front, but no sign of the two men.
Sally kicks her filly into a trot to go investigate, and around the campfire lay clothing and liquor strewn about haphazardly. Moaning coming from the tent, she gulps and pulls the flaps open to reveal Pete riding Ulysses like his life depended on it.
The guilty parties quickly squirm into a more presentable position, Sally walks away, pulls her face into her horse’s mane, and cries.
And that’s how Season 5 ended, no explanation, not even a hint as to whether this had been going on the entire time or was just a fluke. Pete and Ulysses had a shit ton of chemistry together, but I never guessed they would end up as lovers.
My mom and I just sat there in shock as the credits rolled. I was hot-faced, expecting her to go on some rant about how “they just gotta put the gay agenda in everything now, don’t they!” But surprisingly, she was more shocked that Pete would cheat on Sally, her favorite character.
Mom looked around for the remote and let out a mumbling comment, “after all that poor girl has been through, now her husband is screwing his best friend.”
“Least it wasn’t another girl, right?”
Mom gave a wide-eyed look. “Well from the looks of it, Pete would rather be the girl.”
“Him being a bottom doesn’t mean he wants to be a girl, mom.”
“Ulysses was on the bottom.”
“No, mom. The guy taking it is called the bottom, whether he’s actually on the bottom or not.”
“And how would you know this, Kai?”
I shrugged. “School?”
My mom couldn’t help but give out a chuckle. “Nice try. How about heading to bed instead of lecturing me on gay lovemaking. ”
“A much preferable act when compared to teaching my mom what bottoming means.”
“Much preferable to learning that you even know these things at all.”
🕮
Thursdays were my version of Mondays.
For others, Monday signaled the end of the weekend and the beginning of the work or school week. It was the end of rest and the start of the new, the longest day of the week and a harbinger of doom from the start.
Thursday was that for me, purely because it was a meeting night. I didn’t really get two days of relaxation, every moment I spent away from life essentials was a moment I could and should be dedicating to God.
I woke up, 6AM as usual. Family prayer, Daily Text, off to the Kingdom Hall, and out in service by 8:30. In service from then until 10AM, then it’s back home, books open, homeschool in session. 3PM, school is out, time for a handful of me-time until 6PM, where I’m getting back in my meeting clothes and getting all dolled up for the Kingdom Hall again.
It was grueling. I was a teenager who wanted to be living life, meeting girls, experimenting and trying new things and figuring out who I am and who I wanted to be. But instead, I’m in an itchy indigo suit with a tie tied too tightly around my throat, sitting on an ugly, red, squeaky retractable chair while JW original orchestral music plays throughout the stuffy hall.
I look around for Alan, my saving grace, but he’s nowhere in sight. It’s incredibly unusual for him to be late, so it’s concerning, but then I catch his eye as he turns away from a tall, silver-haired and blue-eyed gentleman standing behind a doorway.
He’s flush red for some reason, and looks nervous as he walks over to me.
“Paul is the new Elder in our hall, did you say hi to him yet?” Alan asked me.
“Not really, doesn’t look like my kind of guy.”
“Well he’s an Elder, we should strive to get to know our spiritual shepherds, Kai.”
“Or should I, as Jesus might say, treat him as I would anybody else?”
“That’d be accurate if you had a track record of treating everyone with respect.”
“Respect is earned, not given. Only cult leaders, government officials and unqualified work managers demand respect where none is due.”
“Well a certain degree of respect for everyone is how you earn respect yourself.”
“I don’t need anyone to respect me. My ego isn’t that big.”
Alan smiled and shushed me.“If we’re going to talk about ego, maybe we could discuss that blog you had back in middle school. Remember the one? You made over a thousand fake accounts just so you could brag to the other kids in the congregation that you were some kind of niche celebrity?”
“And nobody cared! That’s how it should be! That should be a lesson to learn from, not an example of egomania.”
“Recently then, last week at the mall you asked me to put your initials on my high score.”
“You never put your own name anyways!”
“I play for fun, not for glory.”
Brother Ichabod began his short ascent up the stage steps, a black tablet in his hands as he readjusted his glasses and looked out at the faces of everyone in the hall, some smiling, some neutral, most of them tired-eyed and secretly wishing they were at home watching TV.
His presence on stage encouraged those still standing and talking to run off and find their seats. “Good evening to you brothers and sisters. If everyone could just finish taking a seat, we are going to begin the meeting now with song…” He trailed off, looked down, took a second to unlock his tablet screen and struggled with it for a few seconds before finally continuing with, “song number 54, We Must Have The Faith.”
That annoyingly cheerful, disney-esque tune played through the Kingdom Hall, bouncing off yellow-wallpapered walls and through the ears of everyone unfortunate enough to think this music is divine.
I mumbled along, Alan sung proudly and loud. Part of me was jealous that I didn’t share his zeal, surely the meetings wouldn’t be such a bore if I actually believed anything I was being taught.
The song ends, my sister Loretta holds my hand as Brother Ichabod leads with a prayer, “dear wondrous, powerful, and loving God Jehovah, we come before you, bowing our heads, as humble servants of you, oh Lord…”
He continues, but I’ve already tuned out. I open my eyes, glance around the room, mostly at Alan.
He’s so tall next to me, his black curls gave off the illusion that they could graze the ceiling once he raised his head again.
Maybe he wanted to hold my hand during the prayer. Maybe I wanted to. Maybe I couldn’t stop thinking about reaching out and gracing his fingers, giving his hand a gentle squeeze so he could know it’s all alright.
But he was the confident one here. He was the one holding his own hand, listening intently to the prayer; he felt comforted just being in this room at all. The Kingdom Hall was Alan’s home.
So, I deduced it must have been me who needed the comfort, me who needed reassurance that things were going to be okay, me who needed him to hold my hand.
Just as I went to reach out and slide my fingers within his palm, just shyly tickling the baby soft skin of his hands, the first “Amen” rang throughout the hall, signaling the beginning of the meeting, the opening of eyes, the unbowing of heads and the resting of asses in seats.
Many years of this routine gave me an excellent imagination. While the others took notes, listened intently to the brothers as they gave their presentations, and raised their hands to participate in the workbook discussion, I had a running daydream about being a cowboy.
Out in the wild west, living off my wits, riding my stallion across the plains. Rescuing damsels in distress, shooting bad guys, looting civil war treasure!
I wasn’t so sure about that last one but it’s my imagination and anything could happen.
Alan is the local pastor, of course. He guides others in spiritual matters and has dedicated his life to Jesus and to helping those in the community atone for their sins. But deep inside, he’s troubled. His romantic desires are wired for men. He struggles with this curse day in and day out, wanting something of which he can never, ever have.
Until he meets a cowboy, a short fella compared to the tall and lanky pastor. This cowboy takes him on a journey to see the new world, see the sights God created, help him realize that he doesn’t need books or bibles or a big fancy church to worship God and help others find spiritual comfort. Help him see that the rules are man made, that humans are meant to be free, and that religion is a tool designed to hijack human spirituality and make mindless drones who are more in love with their rules and church than God himself.
Maybe I’m getting preachy myself, but in my world of pre-1900’s America, Alan is a happy gay man, settled down in a log cabin with his romantic partner. I never really figured out what that romantic partner looked like, but I visit them often, hitching my horse out front and going inside for a nice hot cup of coffee before I’m off again on one of my many journeys.
By the time the adventure is over, we’re all getting up for the final song, Loyally Submitting to Theocratic Order. If you think that sounds culty, just go listen to it. You’ll be right.
The second prayer, I’m suddenly reminded of my attempt from earlier. I don’t even think twice, I go for it, reach for his hand, touch his skin again and I’m relieved when his tightly held palms fall away from each other just so he can intertwine his fingers with mine.
A smile arrived on my face, I looked up at him again and saw a smile on his face too. He was a beautiful creature when he smiled, enchanting. It was hard to take my eyes off of him, I barely knew why.
After the final amen, the brothers and sisters slowly dispersed into themselves. Sisters gathered in small groups to discuss plans for outings or service, brothers congregated around Elders in hopes that some of the superior spirituality would rub off onto them. I stood around talking to Alan, who went on about his favorite parts of the meeting and asked me mine, to which I replied, as I always do, “I was a pretty big fan of the entire meeting, honestly.”
And Alan didn’t seem to take that as a sign that I wasn’t listening, although he probably knew I wasn’t. He just took it as a sign that he needed to make an effort to make me interested.
It was impossible, but it was entertaining to see him try. “Maybe sometime next week we could catch the JW Broadcast together!”
There is nothing I’d like to do less. But this was Alan, so the invitation was still a pleasant one despite my intent to do anything else.
“Right, right, or, get this, we could hang out at the mall next week.”
“We always hang out at the mall, Kai. We never do anything spiritual together.”
“Alan, you and I both know that the only time two teenagers decide they wanna do something spiritual together it’s because they’re dating and they think that if they bring God into it they’ll be less likely to bang.”
Alan rolled his eyes at me. “I can’t make you do anything spiritual with me, Kai. But if you wanna go to the mall, I guess I’ll just have to watch JW Broadcasting on my phone while we walk around.”
“Suit yourself, Alan. But that’s gonna be pretty bizarre to the people in the dildo aisle at Spencer’s.”
Off in the corner of my eye, my baby brother instincts detected my sister Lorrie talking to a boy. Some big chubby kid, couldn’t have been much older than 20, so at least he was in her age-range.
But the look on his face was anything but age-appropriate, or Kingdom Hall appropriate to be fair. It might have just been my uncanny ability to sense a bad situation months prior to it actually occurring, but I had a bad feeling about that louse.
I hated him. Never spoke two words to the guy, never came face to face with him even, but I hated him.
“Alan, let’s go see my-” I turned to face him, and he was gone. Alan, my backup brother, was off talking to the new Elder again.
“Fine, guess I’ll deal with this douche myself.” I say without any reassurance that this guy was actually bad news. Maybe I was oversensitive, maybe it was just my primal desire to keep my family safe from intruders. Maybe I just needed to express some Christian Love and get to know the guy before I judge him.
“‘Sup, name’s Hezekiah.” I reach out my hand to him, he stands about a foot taller than me but I refuse to break eye contact.
He raises an eyebrow at me and laughs. “‘Sup? We ain’t in the hood, friend.”
I scowled. Loretta put a hand on my shoulder.
“Nathan, this is my brother, Kai.”
“Ahhh, well, nice to meet you then. You’re a lucky kid, ain’t you?”
“I’m 17, hardly a kid, kid. ”
“Well you didn’t set that up how I expected, you’re a lucky kid being the brother of such a beautiful thing like your sister here.”
Lorrie giggled, the girl was 18 and this was the first boy to ever notice her as a woman and not a child; of course she was going to be happy about it.
“Yeah, I know, right? Too bad she’s a lesbian.” Lorrie hit me on the shoulder in response, I accepted it.
“Lesbians.” Nathan made the most exaggerated face he could muster. “Ugh. They put the L in UGLY. What abominations to Jehovah’s purpose. You know, I can comprehend gay men to an extent, don’t agree with it, but I get it. Men were made first, we are independent creatures. But a woman needs a man. She was made from man, only with a man could a woman truly be complete. Plus, the pieces don’t fit! It’s like sticking two legos together on the hole sides!”
“Does your mom know you’re an asshole?”
“Kai, go talk to Alan or something.” Lorrie pushed me away. My sister pushed me away from her sexist love interest because I had the gall to say something about his bigoted remarks.
Women, am I right?
🕮
Thursday nights after the meeting were like a breath of fresh air. As much as I hated going to the hall, wearing heavy, itchy dress clothes and trying to act like I care about anyone or anything in the religion, there were few feelings that topped coming home and stripping off the Godly personality in the privacy of my bedroom.
There was nothing quite like feeling free of the burden of being a good Witness boy, to feel naked and alive for the next few moments before bed. The feeling was exceedingly rare as my family ramped up the dedication as I grew older. For my formative years, I went in service once a week and was allowed a paper pad and pen at the meetings to draw to my heart's content. Time flew faster, I could get lost in creating a story on a single page and before I knew it we were in the car and heading home.
The moment I turned 11, the paper was taken away. Instead, I was given a worksheet to write down what I was learning at the hall. I was forced to pay attention.
As time went on, the organization began phasing out physical books and notepads were discouraged. Witness families were encouraged to buy tablets and use the JW apps on their devices to keep up with the meetings.
As the religion worked to go more digital, my family picked up the slack by tacking more onto our to-do list. Now, there isn’t a day that goes by without some sort of Godly dedication involved.
It was exhausting. The religion took over my life like a parasite I had no choice but to feed my life to. I felt like I was born just to be a slavemaker, a custom made creation designed and trained to break down the independent molds of outsiders and spread the parasite’s eggs with hopes that they blossom.
I never asked for this life, but ultimately, it wasn’t all bad.
I had my own little world to enjoy, to return to when the demands of Witness life had been sufficiently met. When I came home drained of energy, ability, and thought, I could plop down into bed, pop my earphones in, and engage in 2.5 hours of delicious debauchery before bed.
And in between the episodes of TV shows I was told to avoid, movies I was forbidden from watching, and the occasional guilty pleasure of porn, I had Alan to fall back on.
Sending memes back and forth or fun tidbits from our days, or even just making some future plans that will never come to fruition. I cherished him and all that he brought into my life.
Alan was the one good thing about being a Jehovah’s Witness.
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