Though Tyler was walking with clear intent and purpose and his earbuds were firmly in, blaring Jay Branan's cover of  "The Freshmen" in his ears, he heard the question clear as day:  "Do you a minute to save the children?" He stopped and smiled to himself, remembering how not even a year ago he himself had donned the vest and clipboard and stood on a street corner in the name of social change.

"Sure," he said, approaching the shocked, wide-eyed canvasser.

"Really?" he asked, the fear in his eyes revealing to Tyler that this would be his first pitch.

"Yeah. Exactly one minute. Tell me why I should worry about saving the children."

"Well our organization works tirelessly to protect children from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence all over the world... "

"How is that different from any federal or city funded programs? Also, forty seconds."

"Well along with creating child friendly spaces in emergencies, we develop public awareness campaigns against child trafficking... "

"Don't just regurgitate the pamphlet. I can read that. Why is it important to you? Twenty seconds."

"Because... " he paused a second before remembering the clock was ticking on his possible first contributor. "... well... because I wish there was something like this when I was growing up. Because if I could help one kid's childhood be marginally better than mine was maybe... because I maybe I wish someone had saved me."

Tyler smiled, took the clipboard away from him and started removing the kid's vest.

"What are you doing?" the kid asked fearfully.

"Saving you."

*

Tyler got the whole story seated at the bar at Scarlet. They were there in the limbo between dinner and going out, so they were actually able to have a conversation. Young Theo had reached the breaking point living at home with his parents in Small Town Iowa and packed his bags and headed on the next bus to Chicago. He had enough money saved up to rent a room in someone's house in Albany Park for the month, but it was getting pretty exhausting with six people living in a three-bedroom house. He took the first job that would take him and was hoping to save enough for a decent apartment, hopefully closer to where all the action is.

"Boystown, you mean?"

"Yeah," Theo blushed, sipping his beer. "This is actually the first time I've been here since I've moved."

"What do you think?"

"It's... a lot."

"Just wait til 10 o'clock."

"I don't know if I'll be able to handle it. I mean, being out and stuff is why I moved here but... "

"You're scared."

"Yeah. I just... I don't know what to expect."

Tyler sipped his beer thoughtfully for a moment. "You're going to make some friends along the way," he said.  "Keep them. Protect them. The real ones anyway. You're gonna have your heart broken, maybe more than once. Fuck 'em. And you're gonna have a lot of people tell you what gay life's supposed to be. What you're supposed to be. Fuck them too. Just be you."

 

"I should probably figure that part out first," Theo said, drinking his beer.

 

"That my friend," Tyler said, putting his hand on Theo's shoulder. "That will never end. Just make sure to have some fun along the way."

 

"Got it."

 

"Just avoid guys engaged to girls. And precocious high school seniors."

 

"Sound like there's a story there somewhere."

 

"A story for another night," Tyler said, finishing his beer and motioning to the bartender. "And another pint."

###