‘I WATCHED IT MANY TIMES, EVERY DAY AFTER SCHOOL. I JUST HAD TO KEEP GOING BACK’
IN THE cavernous church of Our Lady Immaculate I sat in a wooden pew and looked up at the stone Jesus above the altar until I was called forward by the priest for confession, far out of earshot of anyone – we didn’t use those little booths like you see in the movies for school-time confessions.
“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned,” I said, just 13 years old.
“Confess your sins, young man,” he said.
“I stole my brother’s Pokémon cards and I lied to my teacher about my homework and I’ve been watching videos I shouldn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Adult videos,” I replied.
And I’d watch them again, probably as soon as I got back from confession and was alone – because I’d started and a habit was formed and it was all really rather fine, even if I did feel the need to confess it back then.
It was the time of running home from school to lie on the floor watching endless reruns of Friends and The Simpsons and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or playing video games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. I’d grown up with Myspace and MSN Messenger, and among it all I
