writing about my new adventures in a spiral notebook or just doodling and people watching. As I was engrossed in my notebook, I spied out of the corner of my eye a young woman sitting on the opposite side of the bench from me etching on a large sketchpad. She looked over and smiled at me and asked me if I had a place to stay.

"Sure. But it's not much."

I told her some made up story about how I got here and what I was doing, and I don't think she believed any of it. She said I looked like a needed a bath and offered the use of hers. She was staying with her boyfriend in a small apartment nearby; and as we went up in the elevator she gave me the most peculiar look, but I shrugged it off.

Her name was Mandy, and I look back fondly on the few moments I spent with her. She led me to the bathroom and closed the door behind her to give me some privacy, telling me to make good use of the soap and especially the shampoo. She lent me her boyfriend's bathrobe and asked me to let her know when

I was done. I must admit, I must have gotten pretty grungy over the last few days, and I remember leaving a serious bathtub ring I was careful to wipe off as I drained the tub.

When I got back to the tiny living room, she asked me to sit while she combed through my hair. I can't describe adequately how comforting it felt to be groomed by this woman. I don't remember any sexual arousal precisely, but very definitely a kind of closeness to her. At any other later age, as a man with normal desires, I might have made some kind of advance, or at least considered it, and the emerging man in me did feel some faint stirrings down below. But there was still enough of the child in me to just enjoy being mothered by someone I hardly knew. Looking back now, I'm sure she saw through my fabricated story and knew I was a runaway.

Before I left, she gave me a change of clothes, saying her boyfriend was about my size, and lent me one of their two sleeping bags. I really appreciated the sleeping bag that night, which was a cold one even for the Windy City. Not being accustomed to the dangers of the city, I left the sleeping bag in the unlocked apartment when I