"Athens" by Dorvis Slaughter. When I think of "boy lovers," I usually don't have pleasant thoughts. The idea of a dirty old man seducing a sweet young boy is a real turn-off to me. Then I come across a story like this, and it makes me stop and think.

First, let me say that in spite of minor errors that could be cleaned up with a more careful proofreading, this is an extremely well written story. The language flows naturally, the mood is set beautifully, and I had the feeling that I was really understanding the emotions that were being expressed. In addition, if I approach the story purely as a case study of a man who likes to have sex with attractive little boys, it's an excellent case study. A person who wants to understand (but not condone) child molesters would be well advised to read this story in order to more completely understand the mind of "boy lovers."

Aha! I've called them child molesters! I've entered a moral judgment, which the author said in his disclaimer is unfair. Not really. I get the feeling that although he sees some ambiguity, the author pretty clearly approves of the activity of the protagonist of this story; and so he is inviting the possibility of disagreement. Most people in our society disagree with the author. I personally don't like to have to live with the idea that my sister has to watch out so that the nice young man who coaches her son's baseball team isn't left alone with her son too often, for fear that he might decide to "love" the boy. The notion that the sex in this story is a "consensual" activity is ambiguous; our society assumes that adults are capable of mature judgment and sexual consent, whereas children are not. (This is obviously a wrong assumption in many cases; but that's the way the laws are written.) I know several children who have gotten into emotional trouble as the result of almost exactly the kind of "romance" described in this story. On the other hand, I hasten to point out, that although they experienced serious emotional difficulty, most of them eventually grew into mature, sexually happy adults.

Enough! This story is either a good case study, an interesting story about a romance between a child and an adult, a dangerous story that could encourage people to consent to highly inappropriate activities, or a combination of all of these. But it's a good story.