The phone was ringing as I made my way inthe front door. "John, are you there?" Mom asked before I could say anything. Slightly out of breath I wheeze...d into the mouthpiece, "Yes Mom, I'mhome." "I was really starting to get worried," she informed me. "I'm sorry Mom, is it eleven o'clock already?" I asked her. She laughedand admitted that no it wasn't, but she hadn't expected that I'd be outso late. "Are you having a good time Mom?" I just had to ask. "I'm having a wonderful time darling," she. "Bob said, "That's a great idea, let's go to the lake. The kids will love the sand." He and Alice started off.Less than two hundred yards away found us at the shore of a huge lake. You could just see the far side. This must have been a really big quarry. But then everything is bigger in Texas. The shore, as far as you could see in either direction had about two hundred feet of sand between the grass and the lake. The closer to the lake, the deeper the sand appeared. Groupings of beach chairs. Stop babying me!” Now there are different alarm bells going off in my head. The ones that scream and tell me to run. I watch you as you frown down at me, I think you are debating whether to lecture me or spank me. I don’t want either, my head hurts and you are annoying me now. You sit down and drum your fingers on the table top. That’s different. I look down at my yoghurt and tentively pick up my spoon and start to eat. The coolness soothes my throat but it hits my stomach like lead.“I’m. But I don't blame them for thefact I didn't fit in. I ... don't think I would have fitted anywhere." Why not?'"I ... my whole life I didn't feel right. Like something about me wasbackwards, upside down. I was a square peg being hammered into a roundhole, and it hurt."Larry took the new girl's hand, and said, "Go on." When I went through puberty it was ... aweful. everybody else was sohappy to see me become bigger, and stronger, and more masculine -everybody but me. Finally, when I hit eighteen,.