sleep away at Camp Wiŋtke

Chapter 26

"What?" his mother exclaimed, jerking her head around to look at her husband's face.

"What?" Albert echoed, his eyes going wide with shock. He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"I've been reading about this while you were gone," his father explained. "And just as you have discovered, there are more boys out there dealing with this than I ever thought. I've read too many stories of runaways, or worse, of kids trying to deal with either their sexual attraction like your friend Terry, grappling with changing their gender like you friend Rachelle, or just wanting to, er, act more feminine like Belinda and Daniela, and regardless of which, dealing with how their life turned out after not being accepted by their families. Some even ended up comitting suicide."

"John, you can't be serious," his mother whispered harshly, hurt, anger, and confusion seething in her eyes.

"Would you prefer he keep sneaking into your things, and every time you put on a pair of panties you wonder if your son just had his penis in them and they havent been washed or worse, have him run away to live on the street, doing drugs and turning tricks with diseased, unwashed older men to survive," he asked, looking at her calmly. "I don't exactly like this. I don't completely understand it. I'll bet he doesn't fully understand everything at this point either. I love my child and refuse to lose him or see his life destroyed over something as trivial as him wanting to dress up like a girl sometimes. Maybe he'll grow out of it; most do, but then maybe he won't. I suspect he has an idea of just how bad things at school can get if anyone there finds out."

Albert nodded, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, thought so," his father sighed. "I suspect some of the other boys at the camp had some stories that weren't very good."

He watched another slight nod from his son. "So, we get him a couple things of his own and next year we let him go back to that camp if he still wants to go."

"I can't believe you are going to do this," his wife shot back. "Well, I am not going to be a party to it. If you want him to have a dress or emasculate himself with panties, and heels, or whatever, you can go shopping with him. I'm shocked that you aren't man enough to stand up to him and tell him no. You're not the man I thought you were."

"I think I'm being more v of a man about this by not wanting to lose my son or see him destroy himself because of our refusal to even try to understan---"

Before he could finish, his wife had gotten up and quickly left the room.

Albert and his Dad sat silently for a moment before his Dad finally spoke.

"She'll eventually calm down," his Dad offered. "I'll talk to her tonight. Trust me, once shes had time to think about what I've said, she'll come around."

"Dad, thank you for trying to understand," Albert remarked with a slight smile.

"Well, I can't claim to understand, because I don't, but I do have a little experience with it," he glanced back at the door to the room. Once he was certain they were alone, hopefully out of earshot of his wife, he continued, his voice lower.

"I have never spoken of this to anyone, not even your mother, but I saw one of your uncles dancing around in front of a mirror in a dress once. He thought he was home alone. I never spoke to him about it, and far as I know he never got caught by anyone else, but things happened over the years that made me believe my brother did it more than just one time. Nobody ever guessed back then, and if he's still doing it today, I couldn't tell you. Now, if that's how you end up dealing with things, well I don't know that I can argue. It could be a lot worse, like the story your Aunt Julie told me about her friend's son. They found out he was sneaking out at night, dressed in his sister's clothes. They made him stop, taking extreme measures to keep him from being able to express himself and he ended up running away.

"They didn't hear from him for three months and then they got a visit from a police officer telling them their son had been found dead in a back alley with his severed penis shoved down his own throat. Apparently the wrong guys found out the prostitute they had paid for services, was actually a guy."

Albert got up, went over and hugged his father.

"Thank you," he whispered to his Dad.

"Al, don't say anything to anyone about what I just told you about your uncle, understand?"

Albert nodded at his father. He definitely knew the importance of keeping a secret. He still had one of his own he didn't think his dad was ready to hear yet.