Valentines Day Challenge

Lucysmom

Pairing m/f

Rating:Pg STD talk

Disclaimer: Don't own Ray K . Wish I did

Agony

Stanley Raymond Kowalski was sitting on the floor of his best friend, Thaddeus Tadesko's bedroom. Ray loved Tad's room, especially the stuffed otter lamp his uncle, Al , the amateur taxidermist had made for him. Ray and Tad were supposed to be working on their Valentine cards for Sister Claire's sixth grade class.. Sister had a policy: If you gave out Valentine cards, you had to give one to everyone in the class, even the girls. Yechh, except for Evelyn Masters; she was different. Practically all the boys wanted to give Evelyn a Valentine. Sister had even given them all a class list with everyone's name on it, so that no one would be without a Valentine. Tad's older brother, Richy had even told them that Sister Claire counted to make sure everyone got the right amount of cards.

However, Ray and Tad were not crossing names off their lists, Ray and Tad had their noses deep

within -What Every Teenage Boy Needs to Know About His Body, a book Tad had found in Richy's room and borrowed without permission. They were getting to the good parts- Then they came to the section on SEX. It wasn't called Sex ; it was called Intimate Relationships, but SEX, it was. All of a sudden they came to a section on Venereal Diseases. Ewww. They read the gory details: Burning, itching , discharge, red spots on the body. Can lead to blindness, madness, even DEATH. Ray and Tad looked at each other and laughed. Then there was something about toilet bowl seats and doorknobs. They put the book down and went back to writing their cards. Ray was up to Patricia Rastinkovich. As is often the case of children with unusual or funny names, poor Patricia was called Stinky by most of her class. Never in front of Sister Claire, but the rest of the time, she suffered and cringed and cried at night. She was pretty sure she really did not stink, but it still hurt. And it hurt a lot at Valentine's Day. She always got the cards with skunks and such on it, when she got a card. At least in the sixth grade, she would get as many cards as the rest of her class. Patricia loved Sister Claire .

Ray looked through his selection of cards, he found a skunk card with something a little mushy, but it was a skunk. He signed Ray Kowalski on the back and wrote Stinky R on the envelope. He stuffed the card inside and crossed off Patricia's name, He felt kind of bad, because he too had a name he didn't like, Stanley. He moved to the next name on his list, but not before dipping into the bowl of Valentine candy hearts beside him. He read Yahoo and popped it in his mouth..

As Ray was walking home, he began to think about Richy's book. He sometimes burned. He sometimes itched and just the other morning there was a milky discharge in his underwear when he woke up in the morning. Just today he had noticed red spots on his chest. He touched toilet seats. He touched doorknobs. Oh my gosh, he had venerable disease. He was gonna go blind. He was gonna go mad. He was gonna DIE. As he passed St. Anthony's Church, he looked at his watch. They were having Saturday Confession right now. He could confess his sins and at least die absolved. He entered the church. Genuflected and entered a pew. He thought about what he would tell the priest. He decided to start small so that Father would not have a heart attack. Who was he kidding? If he got old Father Jerry nothing would save him. He would have a priest's death on his conscience. Ray fervently hoped Father Mike was on duty. When Old Mrs. Pulaski exited the confessional, Ray entered. When it was his turn, he began his confession. Luckily he had gotten Father Mike. He started his story by explaining about sending a mean valentine card to a classmate. Then he kind of real quickly added that he had venerable disease. The priest kind of gasped, snorted and tried not to laugh while he asked if he meant venereal disease. Ray told him yeah, that's what he said. Father Mike asked Ray how old he was and Ray told him that he was twelve. Then Father Mike asked him how often he had sexual relations with a woman. Ray said, "huh?"

Father Mike asked him why he thought he had venereal disease and Ray explained about the book and all his various symptoms. Father Mike told him not to worry, that he did not have V.D ,but to have his mother look at the red spots. Everything he described was just a normal part of becoming an adult. Then he added that he was more concerned about Ray's treatment of his classmate. He told Ray he would have to make amends and fix the situation. That would be his penance. Ray said his Act of Contrition. Thanked him and left the church.

The first thing he did when he got home was rip up Patricia's Valentine, throw it away and pick out a new one with a bee and roses that asked her, "to bee my Valentine." Then he signed it: "Your friend, Ray Kowalski." He wrote Patricia R on a new envelope and put it with his pile of cards to take to school. Two days later Ray found out that along with his Valentine's he gave his entire class chicken pox.

Ten Years later Feb.14th

Patricia R. Hooper was holding her brand new son preparing for his Baptism. When the priest asked her and her husband what name they had chosen for their son, they both said James Raymond

Hooper. Pat had told Jim about Ray's kindness in the sixth grade and how when he , and his friends had stopped calling her Stinky and told the other kids not to do it either, her life had improved immensely. She never forgot Ray's kindness and his Valentine card still had a special place in her scrapbook. Pat knew that Jim was the man for her when he immediately agreed that their baby's middle name should be Raymond after hearing her story.

This is for all the kids who were different in grade school. We weren't alone. We are all different and special. Happy Valentine's Day and please be careful out there STD's are not funny .