It was Sunday at the O’Brien’s house and you could sense the higher level of focus amongst the family. Linda and Walt O’Brien had already been married 30 years and spent those three decades raising nine children. There was plenty of love, caring, and discipline to go around; and although the matriarch and patriarch of the O’Brien family were both of strong fiber, it was always clear that the true leader was a power higher than any person of skin and bone. The Catholic Church ruled the O’Brien family. The words of the bible were strictly adhered to. The ten commandments were the law chiseled deeply into the grain of their children from the time they popped out of Mrs. O’Brien’s womb. It was no surprise that all of the O’Briens attended parochial schools and were eager listeners in Sunday youth classes.
Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien were as old-school Catholics as they come. They did not have sex until they were married. When they did make love it was only with the intention to procreate. There was no meat on Friday, no using the Lord’s name in vain, and Mrs. O’Brien hung on to her rosary beads in worship as Walt preformed the Eucharist. Homosexuals were considered deviants and gay marriage was an unthinkable union. Everything that happened in their life, and in the world , was according to God’s plan and purpose. When they lost a child at birth it was because God wanted that baby’s soul in heaven. When Mrs. O’Brien caught her youngest son masturbating she cried for days and prayed that the devil had not completely possessed him. So when Kristen , the fifth of their nine children, broke her news to them , the O’Briens were shook to their cores in a way that would only drive them deeper into their faith.
Kristen was all you could picture when thinking of a good Catholic girl. Dark thick hair pushed back to show off her pure skinned face and large brown eyes. At seventeen ,ready to turn eighteen , she had already developed the body that had grown men taking a second look. In school, her figure was not accented because of the uniform she adorned every day. But on the weekends and at casual school functions Kristen turned heads with her skin-tight Jordache jeans and high heeled boots. Her appearance and outward innocence had the high school boys craning. Bobby Daniels was a 28 year old gym teacher and the men’s varsity basketball coach. Bobby had been married for four years and had two little baby girls. Good looking and athletic, he certainly got his share of attention and flirtations from the young ladies of the Senior class. Of the throngs, there was only one girl Bobby went out of his way to reciprocate.
It always starts with physical attraction. A shared glance, a connection, a common ground. Next comes awkward conversation, mostly in front of others with attempts by both sides not to show motive. For teacher and student the next part is the trickiest. Getting moments alone without raising eyebrows of students, teachers, parents, and administrators was difficult. Attempts were made to discover a shared free period or lunch and to find ways to bump into each other. For Bobby and Kristen, that time started in the fall of ’84 at second period. Coach Daniels had a free period and Kristen had a study hall that was easy to get a pass out of. Their meeting place for these beginning flickers was his small office just off of the gym. Small talk about next year, marriage, college, boys, turned quickly into secrets, whispers, and ended up with desires.
Where is the line between love and lust, desire and affirmation, adult and child , the bible’s definition of responsible sex and the real world view? Age old questions whose answers vary from juror to juror. In the case of Kristen O’Brien and Bobby Daniels the lines were blurry to both. It was clear that a risky and life altering affair was sewing its seeds in the bowels of the senate gym.
