Uncle Song
“What are you doing here?” A familiar voice jolts Simon. He thought he was alone but he turns to see somebody coming out of a stall. It is Patrick.
“Nothing,” Simon says.
“Sissy Simone,” Patrick sneers. He comes close to Simon. “Sissy Simone, Sissy Simone.”
“That’s not my name,” Simon says quietly. He looks down so Patrick can’t see his red eyes and nose. “Excuse me.”
Patrick stretches his arms and blocks the doorway. “Excuse me,” he mimics. “You’re worse than a girl.”
Simon feels another wave of tears coming. He opens his mouth to reply but his chin begins to quiver. “Shut up, Patrick,” he manages to say.
“Shut up Patrick,” Patrick repeats before dropping his arms.
Simon turns away quickly to brush his hand across his eyes. Luckily, Patrick is undoing his tie and doesn’t notice. He eases his feet out of his shoes and takes off his socks as well. The boys who go to the arcades after school always get rid of the parts of their uniforms that make them identifiable as SMBS boys first. Without the badge, the tie and the monogrammed socks, Patrick could be anybody, and if he misbehaves in public, nobody will know which school principal to call up and lodge their complaint to.
“Why are you staring?” Patrick asks when he catches Simon’s eye. Then he grins. “Is Sissy Simone admiring me?”
“No,” Simon says.
Patrick chuckles. “I hope not. That’s seriously sick, man. Like that Gay Song guy.”
Simon’s stomach flips. “He isn’t like that anymore. Weren’t you listening to his talk?”
Patrick rolls his eyes. “Please, lah. Once they do that stuff once it’s not like they can turn around and just stop. He’s got a mental problem. It takes these people years to become normal again. They have to see doctors and everything. My father said so.”
Simon shakes his head. “You didn’t listen to what he said. He found God. He didn’t need doctors.”
“You’re so dumb, man,” Patrick says. He runs his hands under the tap and slicks back his hair and then sighs, noticing Simon still watching him.
“Okay, I’ll tell you something about Lee Ghim Song,” he says. “But you promise you don’t tell anyone. My father will kill me if anybody else finds out.”
Simon hesitates so he won’t sound so eager. It feels as though a hard fist is kneading into his gut. “Tell if you want,” he says nonchalantly.
“That Ghim Song guy is still gay.”
“He’s not.”
“He is. I’ve got proof. My parents saw him one night in the cinema with another man. They weren’t watching the movie, you know what I mean? Somebody told the manager at the cinema and he kicked them out. Afterwards my father gave him a call and threatened to tell the church.”
“It wasn’t him,” Simon blurts out. Possible explanations whirl through his mind. The cinema was dark. The man was not Uncle Song. The man was Uncle Song but he wasn’t doing what they thought.
Patrick narrows his eyes at him. “He admitted it was him at the cinema and then he begged my father not to expose him to everyone. At first my father was like, no way, I can’t have you talking to my son’s youth group about the Bible when you’re doing these kinds of things. Plus if my father kept quiet about something like that he could get into trouble. But Ghim Song kept begging. He told my father he was trying to follow the right path or whatever, but it was very difficult. My father ended up feeling sorry for him and just asked him to quit speaking to my youth group. Whatever he does anywhere else is none of our business, he said.”