Chapter 6 Summary

Paul believes that he would have ended up as a dumpy schoolteacher at a second-rate school if he continued the way he was headed. He says that coming out saved him from this fate. He could not have done it on his own, though. He had to meet Roger before he was able to take the final step. In Paul's book, Borrowed Time, he tells about his loving relationship with Roger and Roger's death from AIDS. Their hearts grow together during their struggle with Roger's AIDS, until Roger says at one point that they are really the same person.

Still, even as Paul matures and is able to come out, his past never completely goes away and intimacy is always a struggle for him. He is jealous of his new lovers' experiences, feeling that he can never catch up to them. He is...