sleep away at Camp Wiŋtke

Chapter 19

"What?" his mother jerked 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 sexuality like your friend Terry, or just wanting to, er, act more feminine and how their life turned out after not being accepted by their families."

"John, you can't be serious," his mother whispered harshly.

"Would you prefer he keep sneaking into your things, or run away and live on the street," he looked 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, but I refuse to lose my son over something as trivial as him wanting to wear a dress 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 frilly little panties 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."

She got 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, she'll come around."

"Dad, thank you for trying to understand," Albert remarked with a little 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 he continued.

"I have never spoken of this to anyone, but I saw one of your uncle's 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 is 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 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 knew the importance of keeping a secret.