The Return Home

(Author's note: This is a thinly-fictionalized version of one of the most important things that ever happened to me. Some of it came from my diary. I've cleaned it up for publication, but otherwise kept everything exactly the way my diary and my memory have it, changing only the names to protect the guilty, who may have been able to rebuild their lives since this happened. Hell, it was more than 25 years ago. I've gotten over it; hopefully everyone else has too.

As I said, I've changed the names, and added some dialog. Still, if any of the participants read this, they'll recognize themselves. And, if my neighbors ever see this story, they'll finally realize what was going on back then. I know they were almost bursting with curiosity, but they didn't know me well enough yet to ask. After all; I was new there.)