For Darcy’s pride wasn’t that of the deadly sin; rather he had pride in being the gay bottom-boy he was, and a loathing of the prejudice that came...with being an outsider.Silence was the way he managed his difference, his rugby skills allowing him the patina of an insider and adorning him with two status badges: captain of the first fifteen and a senior prefect.So, on understanding the implications of the word ‘handsome,’ Charles had become much more sympathetic to his friend. And his support. Until one encounter made me change my mind.I was beginning to stay a bit longer when I spoke to the girls as there was always a lookout at the top of the slope, so I wasn’t afraid of being seen talking to the them and I had never met another person or dog walker on this path.The conversation got around to pets one day and I casually asked what pets the girls had. The youngest girls both had goldfish, Pigtails had a hamster, Freckles had a gerbil.“Blondie then piped up “would you like to see our. We started talking naturally as if we had always known each other. He was so knowledgeable and fun to listen to that I had not realized how much time had passed. I looked around and saw that except for a few random cars the place was emptied out. I told him that I had better get going and put my and out for a shake he took it and shook it gently, but then stepped closer to me and put his arms around me. I was shocked and could feel myself blushing but was hardly put off by it. He seemed. Our only thing slowing us down at the moment was what to do with Johnny. We couldn't take him with us, and we couldn't leave him by himself at home, so we had to find a babysitter. By the grace of Lady Luck, Mary knew of a girl who did babysitting and should be available on such short notice. Liz called, and the girl could come over right away if she were picked up. That was easy to arrange: Liz and Mary went to pick up the girl while Billy and I got everything ready.Johnny had just been fed,.