© 1996

Leaning against the smooth rosewood table, Tommy Drummond looks down at the picture of Hartford-Abernathy Academy for young adult men. He sees an ivy covered castle built with huge stones surrounded by formal gardens. The caption under the picture says the academy trains the leaders of tomarrow. Even at the age of 16, Tommy knows real leaders do not depend on military boarding schools to insure their success. Real leaders create their own futures. Tommy knows he needs a plan to deal with his mother.

Tommy is afraid. He imagines his mother bent over the rosewood table, her dress pushed up over her hips, panties down around her knees, with some strange man thrusting into her from behind. He is terrified that following the divorce, his mother, Mary Drummond, will sniff after other men like a bitch in heat. Tommy hates the idea of his mother dating strange men.

He lets his eyes fall to the persian carpet, half afraid that he will see his mother laying on the floor, exhausted, with her legs splayed wide open. He forces his eyes to roam to the far wall. It is filled from floor to ceiling with bookcases. These are his father's books, Charles Anthony Drummond. He feels a lump form in his throat. His mother, Mary, is in the process of divorcing his father after an 18 year marriage. The books will be packed and shipped after Tommy is sent to the military academy. It seems to Tommy, as if he is just another package to be handled, just another detail to manage, for the divorce to be complete. Unlike his father, Tommy does not intend to be managed. He belongs here in the 12 room white Georgian house where he grew up surrounded by four acres of wooded pasture. He is determined to take control of his future.

The sharp staccato sound of high heeled shoes clicking on the slate covered foyer announces the arrival of Tommy's mother. He hopes she will pass by the library and go upstairs. He needs time alone. He needs time to think. The clicking taps fade as Mary Drummond steps into the library. With an analytical eye, Tommy watches her cross the room. She is an attractive, tall, redheaded woman, fond of wearing formal ankle length dresses. She has the errect posture of an equestrienne. She is thin, but prominent breasts help round out her figure removing any doubt that she is female. There are wrinkles in the corners of her eyes and mouth but no other signs of her fourty years of age. She is still wearing her wedding ring. Tommy knows this is for his benefit. The ring will come off as soon as he has departed for the Academy. Catching another man will be no problem for his mother.

"Well, I see you found the Hartford-Abernathy Catalog," Mary says approaching her son cautiously. "What do you think?"

"I like the idea of building for the future," says Tommy surprising himself as well as his mother.

Expecting a protest, his mother automatically replies with a vague rebuttal. "You need the independence and being around other young men your age will help you develop."

"I just hope I fit in," says Tommy looking up at his mother with a worried expression.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine," says his mother patting the back of his head with her hand. "You leave tomarrow." Tommy can almost feel his mother's heart skip with joy at how easy it is all turning out.

After his mother departs on another of her errands, Tommy uses her Sony camcorder to tape himself in her bedroom. He sits in a corner chair, rubbing his crouch, unzipping, and grabbing himself. He stops dozens of times to change the angle of the camcorder and adjust the zoom. He looks directly into the camera and talks to it as if it were a person. The things he says make no sense. He is constantly stopping and starting the record mode. In the end, with the camcorder on full zoom, pumping furiously, he imagines his mother teaching him the rules of chess. The chessboard is laying on top of her dress between her legs. It is positioned wrong with the corner pointed in where her legs meet. He tries to tell her the chess board is crooked, but she keeps pushing pawns into his mouth. As the tips of the pawns pass his lips, they turn to chocolate making it impossible for him to protest.

After rezipping his pants, Tommy is on the telephone. Only three of the four school friends he calls show up. Tommy has bribed them into helping him make a video tape. If they cooperate, he agrees to give them his comic book collection.

Using the Sony camcorder, he records the boys entering his mother's bedroom and sitting boldly on her bed. Their focus of attention is a chair in the opposite corner of the room from where Tommy masturbated. A portable television set sits in the chair, with the sound turned off, displaying silent cartoons. Tommy stands behind television. He prompts the boys on what to say, to look at the television and register surprise in their faces. The boys squirm around on the bed making innocuous comments.

Tommy knows about the failed investigations. Private detectives hired by both Mr. and Mrs Drummond attempted to find evidence of infedelity or improprieties that might impact the property settlement. They were not successful. Mary Elizabeth Drummond will end up with the house and about four million in stocks. Charles Drummond will keep his Overseas Investment Business valued at about seven million and the condominium in town. Not all of these monetary details have been resolved and the final papers still have to be signed. According to the divorce attorneys, these details could drag on for months.

Two weeks after Tommy Drummond has departed for Hartford- Abernathy Academy, Mary Drummond, returning from a solitary shopping trip, is surprised to hear her son playing the piano in the music room. His face reflects defeat and resignation. He stops playing when she enters the room, but keeps staring into the sheet music.

"Tommy, why aren't you at the Academy?"
"I can't."
"You can't what?"
"I don't fit in."
"Do you need an increase in your expense account?"
"No, that's not it."
"OK, then tell me the problem," Mary says sitting down on the arm of the piano bench and putting her arm around her son.

"Well, it's like this," begins Tommy. He explains how the other boys all come from very elite families. Families with generations of wealthy doctors, lawyers, coporate executives, and political leaders. The boys from these families form a clique, a super elite at Hartford-Abernathy Academy. Once accepted into this group, your future at the academy is assured. However, those not accepted are shunned in polite but terribly effective ways with a code of silence. Those not accepted are ignored by the other boys. They do not exist. Not being part of the elite in-group makes matriculation at the Academy virtually intolerable.

"Surely, there must be something you can do to be accepted," his mother interrupts him.

Tommy looks up into his mother's eyes before answering. "I have been accepted, but first I must pass the initiation test."

Mary frowns. "Dean Atkinson assured me that there are no hazing initiations anymore at the Academy. Hazing has been outlawed."

"It's not hazing, Mom." "Well, then be a man, and tell your mother," Mary says affectionately, patting the back of Tommy's head.

"It's simple. I need to make a videotape with your camcorder, return to Hartford-Abernathy with it, and I'll be accepted."

"Well," says Mary standing up with relief, "If there's any way I can help you, just let me know."

"Actually, you can help," says Tommy.
"How?"
"The videotape is supposed to be about you."
"Me?"
"Yes, the other boys saw the picture of you that I took with me to the Academy. They think you're a very pretty woman."

"Well, thank you," says Mary who thinks she is very well preserved. She has not had any male appreciation of her appearance since the divorce. Mary has been having self-doubts about her ability to compete with other women. It feels nice to be admired. It feels even better to be admired by your son's young college prep roommates.

"They want me to videotape you undressing," says Tommy with a look of defeat in his face.

"What!"
"I knew it wouldn't work," says Tommy.
"Why would they want that?"
"Because I don't have a sister."
"So?"
"So, the other boys have to bring back videotapes of their sisters."
"Humm, I think I understand now. This is sort of a candid camera thing. Catch the girls unaware. A peeping boy videotape. Am I right?"
"Yes, but I wasn't supposed to tell you."
"What did they expect?"
"I was supposed to hide under your bed or in your closet and videotape you without your knowing." Tommy hangs his head down in shame.

Mary pats the back of Tommy's head in consolation. "You did the right thing. Don't feel ashamed." Tommy raises his head and stares into her breasts without speaking.

Suddenly, Mary stops talking and leaves the room. Tommy is uncertain how to re-open the conversation. All during dinner, Mary looks at Tommy with long curious glances. Her face is a mystery. Does she pity him? Is she trying to think up an alternative to his initiation? Will she go along with it? It is impossible to determine.

After dinner, Mary asks Tommy into the library for a talk. He notices the furniture is re-arranged. The books are gone, replaced with a collection of handpainted plates, the rosewood table moved to the far end of the room and a collection of chairs placed in a semi-circle. The entire atmosphere of the room has changed. In less then two weeks, it has become her room. When his mother picks up her wine glass, Tommy notices the pale white band of bare skin on her wedding ring finger. Tommy can feel his insides shaking.

Pouring herself another glass of white wine, Mary Elizabeth Drummond sits in one of the chairs in the small semi-circle and motions Tommy to sit beside her. Rotating the wine glass slowly between the fingers of her two hands, Mary starts speaking.