Sloane wanted to take the boy in his arms and cuddle him, but his conscience was screaming that he must not do that. Professors these days are required to be ever aware of the possibilities of entrapment, of students who will claim they’ve been subjected to s****l harassment or worse. Sloane didn’t think Billy was that kind of kid. His take was that this was a very loving boy who needed to be hugged, held. But the college had rules against fraternization of that sort. Many faculty members entertained student groups in their homes, and he knew it wasn’t really unusual to do what he had done for Billy on Thanksgiving Day.
But all sorts of warning signals went off when he thought about any kind of physical contact with the boy. Yet Billy sat there, head back, eyes closed, a look of peace on
