Paragraph(s) of the day from A Different Closet
“You aren’t gay, are you?”
“Do what?”
“You’re not gay,” Green said.
Keith wasn't sure what to say, though he knew his ruse was up. Having checked the shelves and racks of his imagination for more than a year, he had been unable to find any guide to his dishonesty. There were no manuals, no set of instructions. He was unwilling to put on a performance, and theretofore none had been required. It was enough in his crowd, with most of these men around him, to simply say he was gay, but with Green, and Lardner, and now Dornfeld, it was a different matter. He looked at the television screen above him, saw two announcers bundled in their booth and then one drawing marks on a play run in slow motion from the week before, and he sensed a surge of embarrassment that reminded him of moments from childhood when people who had earned his respect were armed with evidence contrary to something he’d said or maintained. Prepared or not, it was time. “Yes, that’s correct,” he said. “I’m not gay.”
And so it was over. He wondered whether he could return to his job at the Post-Dispatch. Green looked up at the nearest television. The game was underway.“That’s fine,” Green said. “Believe it or not, as odd as this may sound, your sexuality is irrelevant.”
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