“Edgar Gomez’s ‘Alligator Tears’ Unveils the Heart-Wrenching Secrets Behind Laughter and Loss”
“…She didn’t disown me or kick me out. Just a few tears, but maybe those were normal. Wasn’t coming out supposed to be sad? The moment we entered the next store, I grabbed a random pair of jeans from a stack and fled to the dressing room. Inside, I sat with them folded on my lap, laughing. I did it, the thing I was most afraid of, and she’d said it was okay.
“It wasn’t though….”
In seven sentences, just seventy-six words, I am haunted by my 1987 coming out moment. Although I chose to do so at home (and I admire Edgar’s choice of doing so in public, much braver than I could have been), my mother’s tears, her white lie — saying it was okay when it wasn’t—and the fear that weighed me down before my confession began, are all present.
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