Chapter 1I never thought of myself as gay, not that I had anything against it. The Mathesons were a very large family, and it made sense that if ten percent of the population were gay, then ten percent of us might be as well.
Take my Uncle Pete, for instance. He was my dad’s older brother, and a Marine, and gay, and everyone in the family accepted him, so it wasn’t as if the worry of being ostracized by those I loved was what kept me from wondering if I might also be gay. It just never crossed my mind. I’d been dating girls since I was fourteen, and aside from the kissing thing—God, I loved kissing, but Cindy had complained I’d hurt her lip, and ever after I made sure I was careful, which kind of took the pleasure out of it, but there you go—it was the best thing since ginger ale, as the
