Page 44 - NS 2024

“THIS IS EVERYTHING” he is proclaiming and his friend squeezes him tighter, laughing in agreement.
The second boy is silent now but he is the one who will defend them the next morning, when the footage from the camera is reviewed and the priest, principal and two pairs of parents watch their display. He is the one who will stand up and shout:
“If I thought I had anything to apologize for I would never have done it in the first place!”
Those with the power to do so will separate them, demand their contrition, their bending. But punishment and disapproval is a story for a different light. A harsher sunshine that will never claim their loyalty.
The boys are seventeen and brave and do not know yet that this story ends badly. Who gives a fuck about the ending anyway? They surely don’t. The curtain call doesn’t exist to them right now. This act is the only act.
It is theirs. We watch and they defy even us.
Right now, they are vibrant and vital and in love with the world.
This alone makes it worth the telling.
Litany of Queer Joy