Swimming With the Alligators

Perhaps the most difficult thing a preteen son of divorced parents must discover is who his real friends are...

During a summer vacation away from home, new friends - adult males - charmed Eric, plied him with gifts, and showed him how hypnotism works...

He returned not a child, not a man, but with innocence lost.

It is said: You are as sick as your secrets.  Eric harbored a deeply buried secret ever since time spent with that gay couple.

He probably tried to expose it when he returned home and asked, "What does hypnotize mean?"

Where did you hear that word? I asked.

"Dennis. He said I wouldn't do anything I didn't want to do."

My heart sank. I explained hypnotism but made no other comments.  I didn't want to expose my suspicions.

In the ensuing years, I allowed my son to live with strong male relatives. He came back with me for his senior year.

It wasn't easy for him then. He was too new, too gentle, too attractive to the girls at school. Too too!  Not ordinary.

He was bullied. I know because he told me of an incident.

He asked me one day, "What do I do when someone tries to pick a fight?"

I instructed: Just walk away, or try to talk it out. If those tactics don't work, you may have to get physical, but as a last resort.

A few days later he came home late explaining he'd been in a fight, "I think I broke his nose."

He then confided, "I don't want to be gay! He accused me of being gay!"

My heart froze.

I had no problems with gayness. The issue was the suspicion of how my son's mind had been high jacked years earlier on his summer vacation.

Eric, like Vincent, was an excellent artist. Eric, like Vincent, shot himself.

And as the song reads, [Eric] "This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you."