The boys were being brats. In this age of lawsuits and accusations, what was I supposed to do?

This is a stock image from Josué Rodríguez as it appears on the stock photography site Pexels. Sorry, I couldn't take photos of the boys for the same reason I couldn't engage with them. https://www.pexels.com/@roodzn/

Every morning I drive to a local park for a 3-mile walk.

I take the same route every morning. It takes me to a stop sign, where there is a bus stop for middle school-aged kids. This stop is unusual in that all the kids are boys.

You know what happens when boys get together. They become performative to impress their peers. Sometimes their performances become aggressive.

That was the case the other day. As I pulled up to the stop sign, one of the boys said, “Hey, daddy.”

When I turned to look, he said, “Hey, fucker.”

I could have handled this a number of different ways. I could have gotten out and confronted them, but then they might have accused me of assaulting them or worse, soliciting them.

I could have called the school and complained, but I didn’t think the school would do anything. Schools are afraid of parents – and lawsuits – these days.

I could have found out who their parents are and complained to them, but what good would that have done? Parents almost always take their kids’ side. And then I would have awakened the next morning to find all four of my tires slashed and the house spray-painted with slurs.

So in the end I decided to drive away, and the next day I took a different route to the park.

I hated doing that. It felt like I was running away from a problem.

But in this country, and in these days of witch hunts and hysteria, a gay man is presumed guilty before innocent. So I believe I made the wisest, most prudent choice I could make under the circumstances.

But it still pisses me off.

Oh, and by the way … I had the foresight to buy a dash cam. A recording of the incident is in the dash cam.

About the author:

Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”

Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.

As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.

Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .