Diamonds From Darkness

It was a rather warm day for early October. The trees were starting to turn all of the glorious colors of fall when, on one Tuesday afternoon in 1968 at 4:05, Thomas O’Grady came into the world. The lively colors of autumn coated the landscape and provided it with such animation. It was a perfect backdrop for the beginning of Thomas’s journey.

Thomas’s three aunts absolutely adored him, each one adding something special to his life. Just up the street, Margaret who went by May, the oldest at fourteen, loved to play the big sister role. She’d show him how to stack blocks and let him scribble with bright crayons. Ann, at eleven, was a fantastic storyteller. She could spin tales about daring adventures and brave heroes that would keep him glued to her side for hours. And then there was little Lynn, just eight years old, whose giggles were contagious. She had a knack for turning every day into a fun game, bringing so much joy to their time together.

It was just before Thomas’s 3rd birthday when his brother Joseph was born. The arrival of a new addition to the family was surely exciting, and Thomas was happy to become the big brother.  However, the novelty of a little brother wore off rather quickly. Now, Thomas had to share his parents with someone else. With the divided attention, he had to share his toys, share Christmas, and, worst of all, share his birthday party.

It was late winter in 1975 when Thomas’s family decided to move. They left the busy city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and headed to a tiny place with a lesser population called Glenburn.

Glenburn was such a small town that it didn’t even have its own school or post office. There was a small schoolhouse from back in the day, but it had been vacant for a long time. Thomas had to go to a school in the neighboring town of Waverly. Thomas didn’t fit in very well with the other children. The area where the school district was located, “The Abingtons,” was home to many of the “rich kids.” While Thomas’s family wasn’t poor, they certainly didn’t belong to the same social circle as most of the other families in the area.

Thomas was dyslexic. Being a third grader, Thomas still found reading challenging, and he knew that he needed to do something about it. Thomas started going to the library and checking out book on horses and dog, his two favorite things. He thought if he tried reading stuff he liked, it would help.

Aside from his reading difficulty, which he was getting better at, Thomas loved math. He enjoyed the game of numbers and solving. His favorite ones were the word problems; it was as if he were a whiz at anything, including numbers, but he was especially good with timetables.

By the time Thomas got to high school, he had started to mature quite a bit. He had visibly grown taller, his face had thinned out, and he had a more confident air about him.  But beneath it all, something troubled him deeply. Thomas couldn’t shake the growing realization that he was undeniably attracted to men. There were times when he tried to suppress this feeling, but that didn’t seem to work.

Academically, Thomas was a star. He took mostly honors classes and excelled in nearly every subject. By the time he graduated in 1987, he had an impressive GPA of 101.6 and ranked third in his class. His SAT score of 1580 out of 1600 was another piece of evidence of his hard work and dedication. He excelled in high school and was a member of the National Honor Society, graduating third in his class, but he missed the valedictorian title by just a quarter of a percent.

Thomas moved to Philadelphia to go to The University of Pennsylvania to study Veterinary Science. He moved in with his cousin Casey who was already living there. Casey was also gay.  One night while Thomas and Casey were out, Casey was brutally attacked. When Thomas noticed what had happened, something switched inside him and he was unable to control his anger.

They found out the names and addresses of each of the guys that attacked Casey, but instead of going to the police, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

They started with the easiest target and ended his existence. They kept going down the list one at a time. They left time between the kills to let the other guys figure out what was happening. It was a game for Thomas.

Along the way, Thomas and Casey also took care of some other scumbags around the Philadelphia area. Since Thomas worked for the vet, he had a particular hatred for people who abused innocent creatures. He and Casey sought them out and ended their reign of terror on these animals.

The dean of the college was very impressed with Thomas's GPA. Even with working full-time at the vet clinic, he had maintained a 4.0 GPA. The dean called Thomas to his office for a meeting. After the meeting, as he stepped outside the office, he noticed the dean’s secretary, Dan. He quickly struck up a brief conversation with him. The conversation soon transitioned into smooth flirting.  They planned to go on a date two days later.

After the date on their way to Dan's apartment, Thomas halted, grabbed Dan by the waist, and gently pushed him against the wall. Dan, feeling the rhythm of Thomas’s touch, let him have his way. Thomas stared into Dan's gleaming eyes. The lust between them hung like a moving pendulum, and the distance between them was merely an inch. Each craved the other’s golden touch of love and passion. Thomas pressed his lips against Dan’s, almost burying himself in the embrace. With a prolonged kiss, Dan gasped for some air as Thomas moved away from his face; blood gushed to his cheek and pumped even faster in his veins. He could feel the heat forming in his chest and loins. They took their staircase desire to the bedroom where Thomas dominated Dan.

Thomas took his Oldenburg stallion MC to his second event . This time, he decided to enter the advanced division. He would have a more difficult dressage test followed by a higher set of cross-country obstacles and then a much more challenging stadium jumping course.

After the dressage test, Thomas and MC again had the highest score. They also went clean in the cross-country course. A clean round followed this in the first stage of the stadium course. Now, all he had to do was ride in the jump-off. MC was a rather large horse, especially with all the added muscle from the endurance riding that Thomas had been doing with him.

After seeing Thomas's riding ability, the head coach of the prestigious United States Equestrian Team, USET, based in Gladstone, New Jersey, approached him with an incredible opportunity.

"We've been keeping an eye on you and your horse; what’s the name… ah… MC," the coach said. "How would you like to try out for the National team?"

A few weeks later, Thomas trailered MC up to Gladstone to showcase his skills in front of the entire national team. To his delight, the coach and selectors were thoroughly impressed. They unanimously voted to extend an invitation for Thomas and MC to join the squad.