Scott McClanahan

I sat in the bleacher beside Ammie and let the people take pictures of me.

“It’s a boy dressed up like a girl.”

I sang along to the Christmas pageant songs and tried to disappear.

I didn’t feel cute in my baby doll clothes anymore, and besides that I was shivering.  I was cold.

I was so cold that there were goose bumps bumping up on my legs.

I tried scooting closer to Ammie. She put her arm around me and tried warming me up, and I felt myself getting smaller. Before long it was like I wasn’t even there anymore.

It was like I was gone.