The Den by Jeff O'Brien

Author:Jeff O'Brien [O'Brien, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-15T22:00:00+00:00

11.

“I guess Sarah must really be pulling a no-call no-show,” said Catherine from the drama section.

“Looks that way indeed,” replied Thane, scanning some returns behind the counter.

It was just past 11 pm and Sarah had made no contact with Thane. He’d texted her several times throughout the day to no avail.

“Did you two break up?”

Thane snickered, doing his best to keep his composure. “Well, we were never an item to begin with, but she could at least let me know why she isn’t here.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty inconsiderate.” Catherine returned to the counter as a customer approached with several DVDs, and rang the rental in. Thane listened intently, just to the sound of Catherine’s voice. It came out in such soft, soothing tones, somehow easing the pain from his experience last night. Once the customer was gone, she turned to Thane. “So I guess your nightly ritual won’t be as fun tonight.”

“Well, I already know the answer to this, but you’re more than welcome to partake in it with me.”

“I’ve been thinking about that since last night, actually.”

“Oh?”

“Well, all things aside, I do work here now. We all have to go through our lives seeing things we don’t want to see, hearing things we don’t want to hear, etc. Temptation will always be there whether I like it or not.”

Temptation? “This is true,” reasoned Thane with a nod.

“And no amount of faith or prayer is going to keep it away from me. I can only pray for the strength to resist it.”

“That sounds completely logical to me.”

“I’m sure Sister Margaret back at the convent would disapprove, but I don’t believe my faith should be used as an excuse to get me out of things that are expected of me.”

“You know, it’s really not a big deal. The ritual could be a one-person job just as easily.”

“I know that, and I know you’re also just being kind. And I like that a lot about you. But as a personal choice, I’d like to partake in the ritual.”

“Well, then I certainly won’t stop you.”

“Why do you call it a ritual though? What’s so special about it to warrant the title? It’s the same thing we do out here with the regular movies. At our age I can’t imagine seeing images of nudity and sex is really all that monumental an occasion. Even for me, and I’ve sworn it off.”

Sworn it off? Thane was growing increasingly curious as to Catherine’s pre-convent life.

“Well,” began Thane with a nervous laugh, “the ritual part is more the dialogue we exchange. We scrutinize the covers of the movies, mostly making jokes about them. There isn’t really a lot of imagery in there that I’d actually call erotic. About ninety percent of it is pretty tacky.”

“Oh, well that doesn’t sound so bad, actually. I could use a good laugh.”.

“Okay then. I’m willing to bet we just saw our last customer of the night. Let’s go partake in the sacred ritual.”

“I’ll do the honors,” said Catherine, crouching down to pick up the bin.

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