Echoes in the Darkness by Joseph Wambaugh Read Free Book Online Page A

Bill Bradfield's past because there were still dangerous people who might resent his having been a young revolutionary. And while Vince was crossing his heart and hoping to die or something, Bill Bradfield revealed yet another secret that would require even more discretion. He cautioned that it should never be revealed to a living soul, particularly not another soul at Upper Merion.
    Bill Bradfield said, "I want you to come to our place for dinner tonight. Mine and Sues. I live with Sue Myers, and no one can know. We'd be fired if the district found out."
    Vince had only a few seconds to chew on that one when Bill Bradfield said, "I want to assure you that my relationship with Sue is not and never has been sexual. By the way, how do you feel about chastity?"
    And Vince, who'd had about as much sexual experience as his Star Trek hero, Dr. Spock, started wondering where this conversation was going.
    Bill Bradfield said, "I respect so much about you. Your mind is incredibly receptive, and I admire that you're a devout Catholic. I've spent a great many years in contemplation of the teachings of Thomas Aquinas. I respect chastity most of all. I think the Church is correct in urging young men to remain absolutely chaste until marriage. I hope you agree."
    "Of course," Vince reassured him. "Of course I do. In fact, I almost entered the seminary. I thought very seriously about becoming a priest."
    "Well, well," Bill Bradfield said. "That's admirable. I want you to know that the relationship between Sue and me is one of friendship. We have a lot in common and I care for her deeply, but only in a platonic sense."
    It's not certain if at this time Bill Bradfield had learned a few things about Vince Valaitis. For one, Vince still wore a scapular around his neck, a practice that most Catholics had abandoned a generation earlier. Moreover, he carried at all times a set of rosary beads. Most Catholics who still did that lived in convents.
    A dinner invitation to the apartment occupied by Sue Myers and Bill Bradfield represented the best thing that happened to Vince at Upper Merion.
    "I felt tremendously flattered," he admitted much later. "I was honored."
    Bill Bradfield had painted three Chinese characters on the white interior wall next to needlepoint hangings that Sue had done. He explained to Vince that the writing was from the Ezra Pound translation of Confucius.
    It said, "Day by day, make things new," and pertained to Pound's advice that all translators should try to tum a translation into a poem in the new language. Bill Bradfield was trying to turn his life into a new kind of poetry.
    Privately, Bill Bradfield revealed a little more about his Cuban adventure. He had been forced to spend a short time hiding out in a bordello. The prostitutes made passes at him, but he resisted. His traveling companion was a friend named Tom. The prostitutes left Tom alone after they were told he was homosexual.
    Vince managed to amuse Sue and Bill Bradfield when the talk turned to their principal, Dr. Jay Smith. Vince told them the prince of darkness story and they laughed. He didn't tell them that he had an overpowering urge to draw his rosary and point that crucifix like a six-gun every time the principal passed his way.
    Pretty soon Vince was relaxed and enjoying himself immensely. He flashed his trekkie's bunny tooth grin after Bill Bradfield made a startling suggestion.
    "I was simply bowled over," Vince Valaitis remembered. "Bill Bradfield asked me if I'd like to live in their building. There was a vacancy coming up and he thought I'd make a fine neighbor."
    He didn't need coaxing. Soon Vince was moving in downstairs, getting all settled with a videocassette recorder, his collection of fantasy films and his brand-new tombstone that had been chiseled out of granite for someone named Mary Hume.
    When he'd had a chance to buy that tombstone, he couldn't resist. After all, this was his first real home away from home other than an apartment he'd