Rudy's Romps Ch. 08

I wrote this story after receiving multiple requests from readers who read Part 1. In keeping with the theme of the first story, some controversial bits have been included here. If you cannot handle such topics, this story may not be suitable for you.

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Ronnie Really Gets His!

It was not a pleasant day on campus. The day before, little protests had been springing up all morning, all over the place. Some of the gripes were legitimate, while others had no foundation holding them up whatsoever. The dumbest example, in Ronnie Brown's opinion, was when the Politically Correct crowd had declared that white shirts were racist, and that nobody could wear white shirts anymore. That was the day before. On this day, things were even worse.

Because he was a closet revolutionary, Professor Rudy decided to take his class into the thick of it. His fifty-something students followed him out to the campus lawn, where they all sat down to watch various factions being formed, the protesting, the shouting, a few shoving matches that threatened to turn into brawls and coverage from local media outlets.

Frequently, Rudy would point out some thing or other, and ask one of his students to elaborate on it. Sometimes, the Prof called out a student at random, to get his or her opinion. Ronnie hoped the professor would not call on him, as he was still squeamish over what he and the professor had done together just the previous week. He'd been extra quiet so far, enough that some of the students around him were wondering when he was going to start up on his usual banter and wisecracks.

"And so you see, this whole farce of a protest is based on Divide and Conquer tactics that were first implemented by ancient Rome." The professor was finishing up an explanation. "The media stirs up public emotion by reporting the news in a biased way, and the people all go out marching to clamor about this injustice as if it were the major crisis of the day. Would anyone care to explain the Hegelian Dialect to the class?"

Several hands went up in the air.

Before the Prof could point anyone out, Ronnie jumped to his feet. "I'll answer that."

"Go ahead, Ronnie." The professor nodded at him.

Everybody was probably expecting Ronnie to say something stupid, but he wasn't going to do that this time. He'd read ahead in the professor's study materials, so he knew the question was going to come up sooner or later. He cleared his throat. "In simple terms, Hegelian Dialect can be summed up as Problem, Reaction, Solution. The state creates a problem, the masses react and the state implements the solution they had in mind in the first place."

"Well done, Ronnie." The Prof said, clapping his hands in a mock salute. "I think that's the first time you've given an acceptable answer this entire semester. Class, will you join me in giving Mr. Brown a hand?"

The entire class started clapping. Ronnie felt they were making fun of him, so he flipped off the professor first, and the rest of the students second. He didn't make a scene though, not like he usually did. Instead, he sat back down on the grass.

By having answered the question on his own, and smartly, maybe the professor wouldn't pick on him later. Also, maybe it would keep the professor from bringing up what they'd done together that day in the classroom. The last thing he wanted was for the entire class to know he'd participated in extracurricular activities with the older man.

Ronnie was more than a little bit relieved when the Prof moved on to another subject.

"There are those who will bow to public pressure, and those who will not." Rudy said. "I'd like to try an exercise today, for those of you who are bold enough to stand up to the crowd. Gretchen, will you bring up the materials I asked for?"

As the class watched, the pretty student aide walked up with a number of blank protest signs and a small bucket full of black markers.

"Raise your hands if you'd like to stir up some controversy, and if you feel prepared and brave enough to defend your positions." Rudy said. Only about half a dozen hands went up this time. The Prof asked his aide to pass out the materials to only those students, before he went on. "The purpose of this exercise is to invite debate, and to develop arguments and counter-arguments to the position you have chosen. On your signs, I'd like each of you to write down, in large, clear lettering, an event or idea that you know is correct, but which the mass media is deliberately presenting as incorrect. When you finish writing, hold up your signs so that the rest of class can see them. Any who have chosen not to participate can help me to defend the First Amendment Right to Free Speech that these students are exercising."

Ronnie looked back as the protest signs were raised, reading their messages. One said 'All Visitors Must Check In,' which was seen on an electric road sign on the day of the Sandy Hook shootings. Another sign read 'Weapons Of Mass Distraction Destroyed Iraq.' Ronnie couldn't figure out the next sign that went up. That one read 'Tim Osman Runs The World.'

Ronnie turned to the student beside him. "Hey, Brett, who the hell is Tim Osman?"

"That was Bin Laden's CIA codename." Brett replied.

Now that the rest of the class started seeing what their fellow students were doing, more of them started asking for their own signs. Soon enough, about fifteen signs were ready to go.

"Let's go out and show off our free speech, shall we?" The professor requested.

The entire class walked over to where the protests were at their thickest. Apparently, some of the students were complaining about a statue of George Washington that had stood on the campus grounds for nearly two hundred years. Some scoundrel had even tainted the national emblem with red graffiti. The protest was between those arguing against White Privilege, and those who kept saying such a thing did not exist. Professor Rudy and his class walked right through the middle of this fray. Neither side of protesters knew what to make of them of their provocative signs.

"Rudy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Another faculty member caught up to the professor. This was the ultra-liberal Mrs. Cameron Harper.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" The Prof asked. "We're conducting a peaceful protest, unlike your vandals that are defacing public property and tarnishing the memory of one of our Founding Fathers."

"Get your people out of here!" Harper shrieked. She looked back to the news crews, seeing that some of them were recording Rudy's students and the controversial signs they were carrying about. "Somebody help me! We have to get these people out of here!"

"We have Free Speech!" One of Rudy's female students refused to budge.

"No, you don't!" Harper refuted.

Abruptly, the woman and the student began wrestling for control of the student's sign. Because tensions were already high, people from all sides swarmed over to either cause more trouble, or to break the fight up.

Ronnie, troublemaker Ronnie, saw that a bunch of his fellow students had their phones out to record the disturbance. He was about to pull out his own phone, when campus security moved in, along with a number of cops that had been standing around keeping the peace. Ronnie saw Harper rip the sign away from another student, before she threw it to the ground and started stomping on it. Then he saw the cops grabbing the guy who'd been holding the sign. When the professor went to the student's aid, the cops grabbed him, too.

"Our signs did nothing!" A student next to Ronnie shouted, as more people crowded around and the cops started grabbing at them.

"A troublemaker starts trouble." Ronnie said to himself.

He saw the trampled sign on the ground. After picking it up, he had half a mind to whack Mrs. Harper on the head with it. The old bag deserved it for starting the whole brawl in the first place. Ronnie held the sign up high, making sure it was in full view of the news cameras. He was still holding it when campus security grabbed him and the people next to him, and started dragging them away. In the melee, somebody yanked the sign out of Ronnie's hands. That's when he finally got to read the message that was written on it.

Man-Spreading Is A Way Of Life.

Ronnie wondered what his parents would make of that, if they happened to see him on the news later.

"Nobody's going to jail." The dean told them later. The professor and ten of his students were being detained in a room away from the rest of the protesters. "You'll be free to leave as soon as the police say you can."

The professor and most of his students were adamant that they'd done nothing wrong by walking around with their protest signs. The rest of the students were nervous, because they'd never been detained before. Ronnie was in the middle, and not part of either side.

"The media is still out there, so I'm going to ask you to leave through the back exits." The dean continued. "I'm also asking that for the reputation of the school, none of you talk to the reporters."

"I will be pressing charges on Mrs. Harper." Rudy said. "She started the altercation by attacking one of my students."

"There's no need for that." The dean replied.

"Then I will ask my students to release the videos they made through social media, showing exactly what took place today. Further, I will go and speak to the news media myself. I'm not standing still for this. If you cared at all about this school's reputation, you would be arresting whoever defaced the Washington statue as well. It's not like you don't have any surveillance cameras pointed at it."

"You shouldn't make waves here."

Rudy merely crossed his arms and looked back at him.

The dean scanned the faces of the students. Some defied his scrutiny, while others nervously turned away. After a few moments of this, the dean finally relented. "You can leave now, if you use the back exits."

"Go on." Rudy seconded. "None of you need to get yourselves into any further binds here."

"What are you going to do, professor?" One of the young women asked.

"I will be staying here until I am given permission to walk out the front door." Rudy resolved. "Because apparently I must be given permission to do such a thing. I will also head over to the custodian's office to gather whatever supplies I need to get rid of that spray paint on the Washington statue."

"We're staying, too." The student decided.

A couple others agreed.

"I'm not asking any of you to do this." Rudy said. "I'll leave the final decision up to each one of you to make for yourselves."

In the end, two of the professor's students stayed behind, while the rest walked out. Ronnie was among the ones that left. By that time, the protest was over, and the grounds where it had taken place were empty except for bits of trash and the vandalized statue.

Ronnie's original idea was to go and grab his bike. The young man wanted to pedal his ass back home so he could grab a bite to eat. He was already on his way to the bike racks, when he turned one last time to see the Washington statue and its ugly new scars.

The thoughtful student recalled how the Prof had talked about the Stamp Tax that had set off the Revolutionary War. People like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin had gone to coffee houses to speak out against King George's taxation without representation. That was the basis for the Separatist Movement. Ronnie grinned; he could almost imagine Professor Rudy doing the same thing at the local Starbucks.

As he stared at that statue of George Washington, he thought, now that guy was a real troublemaker. That guy caused so much trouble that he ended up creating a brand new nation as a result.

It took nearly another hour before Rudy and his last two students were allowed to leave, right out the front door like they wanted. The drawback was that the college dean had kept them corralled until the news people had all left.

Rudy didn't press this or cause any further resentment. He merely walked over to do as he'd said. When he reached the Washington statue with his students, he found Ronnie there already. The unruliest student in class had taken the initiative in getting rid of the stains, surprising not only his fellow students, but the professor as well.

"I don't want to hear any shit about it." Ronnie snapped at him. "I just felt like doing it, okay?"

"Calm down, Ronnie-boy." Rudy said. "Nobody's blaming you for anything."

"Well, I don't want you to think I'm trying to kiss your ass."

"If I wanted my ass kissed, I would ask Gretchen." The Prof said.

The pretty student aide was standing right beside, trying to hold back a grin.

Because Ronnie brought out enough supplies, the others helped him finish up. Once it was all done, the other students excused themselves, leaving the Prof and his worst student alone. It almost seemed as if they were left guarding the statue, so no rabid liberals would come and assault it again.

"You've still got a hard edge in your voice, Ronnie." The Prof told him. "It's in your entire body. What is it that you're having so much trouble letting go?"

"There is nothing wrong with me."

"Well, I don't want to stay here all night. Let's take this stuff back to the custodian, and I'll give you a ride home."

"No thanks."

"What if I invite you out for a burger?"

Ronnie glanced up at the sky, noticing how late it was. He wished he had a bag of chips in his hand. "Yeah, okay. I'll go for a burger."

"I know what you really want, Ronnie." The professor said, as the two set of for the custodian's office.

Ronnie had a smart-ass comeback on the tip of his lips. He could have simply called Rudy a fucking fag, like he used to. Instead, he kept quiet and strolled alongside the older man.

"Are you going to tell me what's troubling you?" Rudy asked.

The professor had purchased burgers and fries for them both, and driven to a local historical site called Presidio Park. It was getting late by then, with deep shadows cast by the tall spruces and willows, and by the old mission standing at the top of the hill they'd parked close to. Soon, the evening would mature into night, Ronnie thought, and here they were parked in a known homosexual hangout area.

For some reason, Ronnie couldn't get the thought of gloryholes out of his head. He wondered if the professor was the kind of guy who went out to truck stops or rest stops to screw around with other men.

"Ronnie-boy, I asked you a question."

"I don't know." The young man frowned.

"Just be honest with me. You got into my car, so obviously you don't hate me. What sort of confusion is rolling around in your head?"

"You really want to know? You did something to me, and I don't know how to feel about it."

"I did something? There is a saying, you know. It takes two to tango."

"Okay, fine. We did something. You and me."

"Did you enjoy it?"

Ronnie clammed up for a couple of minutes. Or at least he didn't say anything, as he was still munching on his fries. He finally admitted, "I guess I enjoyed it."

"But you feel you weren't supposed to enjoy it?" Rudy asked. "Let me tell you a few historical facts. This is what things were like in ancient Greece. Women were around and they were loved, of course. A woman's duties would include procreation, raising children and producing heirs in order for a family's wealth to pass from one generation to the next.

"At the same time, it was perfectly natural for a man to take another man as his lover. The reasoning was that only a man could understand how another man thought and felt. In times of war, two men who were lovers would often be put into the same army units, as their captains and generals knew a man would fight more fiercely if his lover was standing next to him. There is even a romantic myth that lovers were chained together at the ankles. The idea was that if one died, then the other would not want to keep on living, and so they would die together.

"Ronnie, have you heard of the Epic Of Gilgamesh? It is a heroic epic from Babylon and Sumer. Revisionists will try to deny this, but if read correctly, the tale reveals that Gilgamesh and his fellow warrior Enkidu were in fact lovers."

"Thanks for the history lesson." Ronnie grumbled. "I've got it all figured out now."

"Don't you see? You are fighting against yourself, based on what you think society thinks of you. You are not letting yourself be you. You have this ideal that you should be somebody else. This is preventing you from being happy, because your ideal is at such a high pedestal that you will never reach it. That's another thing that the media uses to control the masses. It promotes an ideal that women have to be thin and beautiful, with hourglass figures and large breasts. By the same propaganda, men are being belittled into feeling guilty about every little thing they do. In my day, Hercules was the male ideal; today, the ideal is that a man should be a precious snowflake."

"Yeah, yeah, they tell us what to think, so we won't think for ourselves. I've heard it all before in class. I just don't see how it applies to me personally."

"Sometimes, you have to let go of expectations. This is a colored mirror, but you weren't the one that colored it. Wipe all those expectations away and start over. You have your entire life ahead of you, so live it the way you want to."

"I want to ask you something." Ronnie said. "Do you go out to wilderness areas and hump other guys in the bushes?"

The professor laughed. "I've never done that, Ronnie. As a matter of fact, I've only had a couple of male lovers, and I do enjoy a nice, sloppy vagina every so often. I think I know what you need, Ronnie. You need identity, but you expect somebody else to give that to you. I think it is time you gave that to yourself."

"I just feel weird about what we did." Ronnie admitted.

"Then don't do it again."

"I feel like I owe you something, like I have to put out. I don't know!"

"I don't think you owe me anything. Ask yourself what you really want. Ask yourself what will make you happy, because whatever it is you've been denying it. It is very clear to me and to many of your fellow students that you aren't happy at all. Do you think you're gay?"

At this point, Ronnie looked out the window. He saw a car driving down the hill, passing by the parking lot they were sitting in. It was dark enough that the car had its lights on. He tracked the lights until he couldn't see them anymore.

"I've always been calling other guys fags." Ronnie revealed. "And now I'm a fag."

"Enough, Ronnie. You're not the victim. That's what society wants to label you with. You're a young man, and you have likes and dislikes just like any other man. All you have to do is to define those attributes to what will work best for you. It's getting late now. Do you want me to drive you home?"

"Do you have something to do tonight?"

"Not in particular. My plans went out the window when I almost got arrested."

"Can we just stay here for a while, so I can think about stuff?"

"If you want." Rudy shrugged.

For the next few minutes, the two men sat there in silence. Rudy had already finished off his meal and sipped on his soft drink, while Ronnie ate the last of his fries.

"Do you think you got over on me, by doing what you did last time?" Ronnie asked, when he was ready to talk again.

"No, not really." The Prof answered. "You did get me nice and feisty, but I wasn't out to humble you. I was only trying to show you what I saw, because apparently you couldn't see it for yourself. This was never about domination, Ronnie. That was all inside of your head. It still is inside of your head."

The concept between right and wrong was a blurry line for Ronnie, right at that moment. He didn't want to ask the professor about that, because he'd probably get an hour-long lecture if he did. Instead, he thought back to that fateful day, when he'd locked the door to the professor's classroom and ended up getting more than he bargained for. Had it been so bad?