"Good Memory Kiddo..."

They always say "where there's fire there's heat". That reminds me of my school times when being called gay wasn't a rarity. I was always in denial of course, but later I decided I didn't have to explain anything to anyone, so what was said I [pretended that I] didn't care. Later I would find other classmates that would be bullied by the machos and take on the same action as mine: denial.

In adolescence, as I was discussing with my father yesterday at lunch, image is everything, especially in sexist societies as this one I was brought up in, and the stakes get higher at that particular time. So for my classmates and I it was better to lie to ourselves than to be out of the acceptance zone.

But all this sociological crap is to introduce what happened today. I was at the mall with my family and as we left I ran into an old classmate of mine, Julio César. [Big name uh!] He came towards me with a killer smile and grew taller than what I could remember as we approached each other. He gave me his hand and I shook it but my slow brain [doomed even more by AWFUL cappuccino I had had] didn't recognize him. My inicial receptivity to his smile was more because of the smile itself and the fact that he had a beard around it, than to the fact I knew him.

It was a brief greeting and as dad and I walked away I told him:

"If you ask me who he is I'll have no answer."

"Good memory kiddo..." he replied.

And I put myself to thinking... so, just like that, he came to my mind: Julio the other classmate who used to be bullied by the machos. Julio used to walk with the machos [like the way Gretchen followed Regina], so I imagine that concealing was harder for him; but it made me want to get connections with him again. I mean, I have no idea if he's outted [at least to his own mind] but uhg he's a cutie and as the old say says...

[Song: Love At First Sight - Kylie Minogue]