Chapter 69

“You remember that I told your mom to leave you be. That if you didn’t want to swim, it was your choice.”

“Yes…?”

“And in high school, when that kid…Tom? Tony? What was his name?”

“I have no idea—”

“You know, the guy…the captain on that team…”

“Tom,” Randy confirmed. “And it was football. Which I sucked at anyway—”

“Right, Tom.” His father nodded. “He said he wasn’t going to have any fag on his team. You told you mom that you’d changed your mind and wanted to do something else when she asked if you made the team. But me…you told me what really happened. And I told you that kind of discrimination wasn’t going to be tolerated. That we’d go to the school board. You said—”

“That it wasn’t worth the effort,” Randy finished for him. “And it wouldn’t have been. Besides, I really wasn’t all that into the game anyway.”

“Mm-hmm. And I said that if that’s what you really wanted, then I wouldn’t push the issue.”