“We will, Mrs. T. We have talked about it, and we are staunch about that too.”
“OK, well we will see how we go with Noah and Shayne.”
“Oh, you will be alright with them.”
“I will look forward to it then.”
“What I wanted to ask was…. will you let me bum you?”
Justine’s jaw dropped and Nikau seemed to go into a quiet panic pinching his bottom lip where the audacious question had come from.
The reply therefore caught Nikau by surprise, after a short pause Justine just said, “OK.”
Then noting the look of sudden glee on his face, “But I have to prepare for you, and you must do exactly as I say. Be tender.”
“Wow Mrs. T, that’s massive. Yes, double please.”
When he had calmed down a little, he had a request. Jacob told me about your weird teas. Can we have some now I would like to try them out.”
It seemed like an urge to get to know her better and Justine was happy to oblige. They retired to the house, and both partook tea. Naked of course.
Nikau told her of his background, his whanau and his tribal relationship. Justine was entranced. He loved talking about all this stuff and at one point the emotion got to him, and he sang a short waiata. (Māori song) He concluded with a note of bitterness. “You know the pastor doesn’t want to know about all this stuff. He just wants me to be a good white boy.”
******
Noah and Shayne
Another warm morning, Justine had moved a small bench seat into the glade. She placed it on a sun-drenched corner and contemplated how she might develop the glade. It would be perfect for an outside office she thought and made a mental note to extend the wifi. Where the bush track joined, she thought of creating a moon gate.
Glancing at her watch she noted that Noah was due soon. For today she was dressed in a floral blouse and denim jeans. By what the other lads had inferred, Noah and Shane might be an item. She wondered if Joshua had told them about her having been gay when she was younger.
The realization then dawned on her about where this was all going. It had started with a moment of madness, a weird sexual opportunity where in her own mental state she was unable to resist. Despite her initial remorse she had allowed it to become a daily habit where she denied the risks to the point where having sex with these lads was a craving that she had not the will to sensibly stop.
Beyond the sex she was being drawn into their world and the reason why they were doing it themselves. They were old enough to understand the risks to her and to themselves.
She still did not fully understand this. They had cut themselves off from the values of the church and what they had gleaned from the internet and their expectations of the university world they were entering they were searching for a new order with more inclusive values. It seemed the suicide of Bens brother affected this group profoundly and they had become acutely aware of the consequences of the pastor’s blind beliefs.
Justine felt she was being drawn into some form of counsellor role which she was not prepared or trained for. It must have been at the back of her mind when she dressed. She was hardly dressed in preparation for morning sex.
Her intuition was proved right when, not just Noah, but Shayne arrived as well. Appearing along the track came two slender dark-haired lads. One wore a cap, the other had an oversized pair of red rimmed glasses. Both were wearing island shirts over their baggy swimming trunks. Both were well groomed and entered the glade in a cloud of aftershave. Neither were smiling on greeting her.
“Hello Mrs. T, I am sorry that there are two of us, we really just wanted to talk. ”
It was the lad in the glasses who spoke, Justine not knowing which were which.
“That’s OK guys, I think I understand. God, you both look like brothers.”
They finally smiled.
“I am Noah,” It was the red rimmed glasses version speaking, “and this is Shayne.” Shane nodded in recognition of his name as Justine smiled at him.
“Do you want to come inside for tea then?”
“Hey, Jacob told us about your tea. We are cool with that.” He glanced at Shayne, who nodded.
“Right, it’s done then.” Justine strode inside with both in tow, then ushered them to her seats in her breakfast room while she rounded the kitchen bench to prepare the tea.
She glanced at them sitting around the breakfast table. They were looking back her and she noticed something for the first time in their expressions. Fear perhaps. She was please she had chosen to have a cup of tea. “Is gumboot tea Ok, guys”
“Sure is, Mrs. T,” in unison.
Justine was glad at that. A pot of tea always relaxes people. Sharing a pot brings people together.
Tea prepared she lay down the pot, cups small jug of milk and dish of sugar. She completed the table by unloading the remains of a packet of chocolate biscuits on a plate. She then paused.
“So, lads, what did you want to discuss?”
It was Shayne this time, straight to the point. “Why are you doing this Mrs. T, why are you fucking the guys?”
While making tea Justine had thought of the possibility of getting this question. She decided that her answer had to be confident, rational and honest as she could be. “Joshua made it obvious that you had a collective problem. I took an action; I realize it was unconventional to help Joshua in this way and he wanted the same for the others.”
“Normal people don’t use sex that way.”
“I am not a normal person.”
Both the lad’s jaws dropped unable to reply.
“This was a personal decision between Joshua and me. I am not coercing any of you. I have the promise of your discretion. I believe that all of you are, yourselves by the standards of today, in a peculiar situation that does not prepare you well for Uni. This is what Joshua expressed to me.”
“But you are married?”
“That is a personal situation for me which I am not willing to discuss except to say I am currently in a situation where I do not see the marriage continuing.”
Shayne was still taking the lead in what appeared to an interrogation.” Jacob told us you were once a lesbian. Aren’t you afraid of being a sinner? That you will not receive salvation from Jesus Christ and be condemned to hell?”
“Absolutely not. I sense people who carry these beliefs are already in hell. They carry their hell around them all their lives and infect others as well as their children with their own private hell!”
Justine spoke this forcefully. Both Lads looked stunned as they soaked the statement in.
“Time for tea, I think.” Justine finally uttered. “Who needs milk…sugar?”
They pick up their cups and Justine nudges the plate of Chocolate biscuits toward them. “Is the tea strong enough. There is a jug there with hot water if you wish it weaker.” Both lads nodded and shook their heads in a chaotic affirmative that tea was OK.
Justine addressed their concerns. “You guys are sounding pretty extreme in these statements. I thought New Zealand Baptists were pretty liberal. How is the local church organized? Why are they so strict on this stuff? If you’ll pardon the expression, your Pastor sounds like a prick.”
“It’s not just the Pastor it’s the whole eldership. I think we are stricter than the others, I don’t think it is fair.” Noah replied.