"Honey," Marlo's mom says, "we love you. And lately we've become concerned about certain-- behaviors. We're afraid you're being influenced by a-- way of thinking. A, uh, unnatural--"

"I'm not sure what you mean," he says, and shoves down the rising horror in his chest. 

"What your mom is trying to say," his father says, "is that we're afraid you might be a homosexual."

"I'm not, though, Melissa —"

"We talked to Melissa," Marlo's mom says. "She has the same concerns. She says she's never felt that you were-- passionate about her."

He shrinks. (It wasn't that kind if relationship, that doesn't mean — he'd tried to do right by her —)

"There's someone here in the kitchen who can talk to you, Marlo."

He nods and goes to the kitchen. 

"Hello, Marlo, my name is Christine, and I'm from True Directions. We're a program that helps people struggling with homosexuality."

"Okay." He feels like he's floating slightly to the left of himself. 

"We can help you understand the reasons behind your homosexual tendencies and how to heal them."

"How long does — treatment — usually take?" 

"A few months. You can do it over the summer."

Alright. So he doesn't have to miss school, that's — good, at least. 

"Okay," and he only sounds a little bit absent. "Okay." 

"There is hope, Marlo. I myself used to be a homosexual. But now I'm an ex-gay."

In spite of her neatly manicured fingernails, nicely applied lipstick, and long flowing hair, she gives off an unmistakeable aura of being butch. 

"Is there anything I need to sign?" 

"There is some paperwork. Would you like to talk about your feelings about the intervention? Denial is a normal stage of the recovery process."

"I'm not really sure what my feelings are yet." 

"All right. You'll have to sign our privacy policy and a copy of the rules--"

He signs the privacy policy, looks over the rules before signing.

No movies rated above G! No interaction with women unless supervised! No Internet, and they'll check your computer to see if you're looking at unauthorized material! No rock, rap, pop, country, Broadway, "gay culture," or contemporary Christian music! No gambling! Random drug tests! Clothing should not be countercultural or associated with gay culture! Hair should not cross the collar, eyebrows, or ears, and it should not be in a ponytail! 

...he'll get a haircut between now and then. Hair grows back. 

He signs. 

A few days later--

"I am NOT."

"Denial," Christine says in the tone of someone who has said this a lot, "is a normal stage of the recovery process."

"Except I'm not going to recover from being gay, because I'm not gay!"