Free The Child by Sarah Schulman Page B

someday our niece/nephew will be that child. But maybe it’ll be someone else. Let’s keep our eyes open in case a child needs you, needs me. I think it would make you feel better.”
    “I need you,” Eva said. “But I am not a child. I’ve only done two things right in my entire life. You. And no children.”

10
    Stew Mulcahey and Dan Wisotscky were alone together.
    Stew was scared. Which side was Wisotscky on? Stew felt somewhat lulled by the guy’s soft tones, but then he noticed a slight flickering in the eyes. The calculation of assessment. He seemed nice, but it could easily be a trick.
    “Now we will begin the individual evaluation component of the intake. Stew?” Dan asked kindly. He’d obviously settled on taking the kindly approach. “When you are sitting at home on your computer, have you ever gone to the Hairy Chest Page?”
    Stew’s face was flat, but inside he was panicking. His new plan was that if he couldn’t think of the right thing to say, he would just be quiet.
    “I know you met those men on the Internet. You think they’re your friends, but they’re not.”
    Stew flinched. He dug his nails into his palms. He was a good soldier.
    “This might be tough for you, Stew. But some police officers from Buffalo, New York, using online names that tend to attract kiddie porn traders, collected thousands of graphic images from men like your friends. These include forty-one baby rape photographs. Would you like to see these photographs, Stew?”
    Stew looked around the office. The desk wasn’t as impressive as it had been when he first walked in. It was fake wood. He knew the difference. These chairs were made of shit.
    “No, thank you.”

    “I think you should take a look. I want you to realize how sick these men are who violated you. How low they’ll stoop. Once you realize that, you can put this event behind you forever. Once you see an eight-year-old baby boy being raped, you’ll throw up. You’ll never forget it. Would you like to see a young girl and an adult male having sex?”
    Wisotscky got beady-eyed now. A fanatic. Stew definitely had to be fearful, to watch his step.
    “No, thank you.”
    If Wisotscky was disappointed, he hid it.
    “What do you want to be when you grow up, Stew?”
    The thing about Wisotscky that was bugging Stew the most was the way he kept saying his name. Stew. Stew. Stoooooooo. Oooooooooo.
    “I want to work in computers.”
    “You like computers.”
    “Yeah.”
    “How are you doing in school?”
    “Uhhh.”
    “You got to stay in school to get a good job. Get your own place.”
    That was the giveaway that Wisotscky was on their side. Everyone wanted Stew out of the house; they were all in it together. But he knew he had nowhere to go. He knew he would starve and have to peddle his ass and get AIDS. If they kicked him out, he was dead.
    “I don’t want my own place.”
    No one was going to talk Stew into that. He’d get his own place, eventually. But he needed his parents. His father and mother could stop acting that way. If Wisotscky would tell them to.

    “Calm down. Take it easy on your parents and then they’ll calm down, too. I’m sure your father cares about you. I’ve seen a lot of fathers, and yours really loves you.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Stew.” Stoooooooooooo. “Fathers aren’t perfect and they make mistakes, but you have to be able to forgive him.”
    Stew rethought the situation. Maybe Wisotscky could be won over. This was Stew’s only chance. He would just explain it to Wisotscky really clearly, and then the guy would help him. He would tell Stew’s father to lay off.
    “I do forgive him. And each time I forgive him, I hope he’ll never do it again. But he always does. He doesn’t care that I forgave him, because he thinks he didn’t do anything wrong in the first place. In fact, he’s mad that I forgave him. Then he does it again, anyway, so forgiving him doesn’t change anything.”
    Stew felt good. He’d said it