Devious Pathways, 1983
When I was in prep school and college it was another dimension entirely. There were no cell phones and hence no cell phone addicts yet in America. You talk about drug addicts and Huxley’s “SOMA” (a mind control drug, a pacifier- “Brave New World”) as well as no rigid and crazy and scary sexual Classifications to be afraid of. The words “Fruit” and “Fairy” and “Flit,” in the ‘50’s, (the 3 f-words)’ were unpleasant to hear if pointed in your direction, but mostly they only meant “weirdo” or “outcast” or “queer,” which only meant that you didn’t fit in.
I first learned what the word “faggot” meant my first year in college! and all of this stuff leaving the real “Homosexual” in the woodwork having a field day because nobody in Baltimore or anywhere else realized what perverted and filthy and scandalous sexual acts they were accomplishing! Specifically teen-age hitchhikers. Back then kids didn’t know what a homosexual was in the first place was as well as a Heterosexual. One day I went to the dictionary in 7th grade and looked them up and was proud that I was learning something on my own, but it never mentioned anything about the Sex Stuff!
For boys as well as for girls, the only conceivable plan of attack was boyfriend or girlfriend, and it all helped a lot if the boy had a big “School Letter” displayed on the front of his “School sweater!” And then it was “Married with children.” And then Uncles and great uncles, uncles twice removed, uncles with Lew Gehrig’s Disease or dementia and or hardening of the arteries and aunts with severe bladder dysfunction, uremic poisoning and emphysema and depression because they knew they would never live to see the return of the 17-year locusts, and then grandchildren, golden retrievers, sanitary napkins, etc. all came tumbling out! But fortunately, so many others found out “devious pathways,” by accident, dumb luck, or ignorance, and all the time being blissfully unconscious, specifically teenage hitchhikers if paid a little money!
Steps of Fantasy, Sin and Desire
Especially during the ‘50’s, ‘60’s, ‘70’s and ‘80’s, marble front steps were much more than a superior launching pad of dreams for sex and desire. If one possessed all the stories, personalities, motivations and needs of all the boys who had stood by or sat here, you could write volumes. These steps were a sex magnet for decades. Whatever those steps were attached to, they were directly across the street from Patterson Park and along Patterson Park Avenue. Once the “gem” of Baltimore City, the park’s whole south border running right alongside “Eastern Avenue,” the east side was a hustling mecca for countless decades.
White Coffee Pot
The “White Coffee Pots” all over Baltimore City in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s served much more than hot coffee, cold “Cokes,” hamburgers, and sandwiches. They were strictly a Baltimore concern and were always located at corners where there was plenty of foot and car traffic. This particular “Pot” was located in south-east Baltimore at the corner of Eastern Avenue “the Avenue” and B’way. The year was 1976 and 1977. If you were looking for a hustler, a few of them were usually sitting right there behind those large plate glass windows and looking directly at you, convincingly occupied with a beverage or hamburger, or casually leaning against the well-lit side running along “Eastern Avenue.” All it took was direct eye contact and a slight knowing movement of the head to make a connection.
The Age Gap! Nuclear Exasperation!
“The Age Gap!,” “The Age Gap!,” “The Age Gap!”
If I hear that idiot expression one more time, I’ll puke! The Age Gap is the whole point of the relationship! But what else can you expect from a Puritan Culture in America! Even the Cowboys and Indians knew better. The newspaper boys, the telegraph boys, the elevator boys, the powder monkeys, and the stable boys used to. So, put that in your stuffed turkey this year as well as your little nut cups.