In Memory of Eric

One Friday night in February, Eric C., 16, tried to kill himself with a drug overdose. He was mostly successful. He wound up in intensive care, his life hanging by a thread, and that thread tied to this earth by high-tech machines. There was no hope, though, and so on Sunday his parents gave permission to remove him from life-support. In this way they finished the job they themselves had started on Friday afternoon, when Eric told them he was gay and they kicked him out of the house. He was a sophomore at Fairview High School and an acquaintance of my children. I don't know where he's been laid to rest.