Hills Department Store is gone. But I remember wandering the aisles of the poor kid’s carnival looking for myself. I even remember Joe. I feel bad for taking his shirt from him. Joe and I had more in common than I, even then, could stomach. Poor and queer. I hated him in that way we sometimes learn early to hate ourselves when we’re different. I wish I could find him and apologize for hating him so much and for stealing his shirt. I wish I could send my apology up into the night air and have it reach him through the skyscrapers of the big city I hope he moved to. Wherever he is, he’ll sit
...more
