September 22, 2003

Yesterday the cheerleaders cheered for the end of the Boston-New York AIDS Ride at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center.

We started our routine and it was going spectacularly. The hitch mount went up, the vault-over went up. We were preparing to do the split mount, in which I and another girl stand in four burly guys’ hands while a very small girl does a split on our shoulders before flipping over into more burly guys’ hands.

So I and the other girl jumped up into the guys’ hands, the very small girl jumped onto our shoulders . . .

. . . and then I looked into the crowd and saw somebody wearing a white suit.

After Labor Day.

I was so shocked and appalled that I almost dropped the very small girl. Luckily, I was able to master my dismay quickly enough to prevent her death.

But if I ever see him again, I may not be able to master my dismay quickly enough to prevent his.