Max said, “I remember Rob Gerring said to me something like ‘So you know your sister is trying to come out as bisexual? I think she’s just doing it for attention.'” My brother paused for effect: “Robbie Gerring! The gayest kid in the closet at Maple Grove.” He really, really was.

The irony. The difficulty of this truth of self hatred. The truth of the closet. It was lost on neither of us. We laughed, because we’re adults. The horrors of high school are long, long passed. I am out now, and I hope Robbie is too.