I was probably 13 years old and hitchhiking somewhere when Gene picked me up in his Dodge Swinger that looked like the one shown except it also had those hood pins with cotter keys that seemed intended to hold the hood down. That made his car even cooler with the added promise of a thrilling high speed ride that might blow the hood open were it not for those pins to keep it shut. 

Gene had thick long sideburns and seemed to be around 40 years old. He was super friendly and offered to take me wherever I was going. He also offered me some weed, and some pills and a long string of sexual questions and suggestions. 

I don't remember many details, just that over the next couple of months whenever I called he would come pick me up and took me for several more rides. There was always this ongoing sexual talk, clearly trying to get me to have sex with him. If I recall correctly, I resisted all of his advances and he finally gave up and stopped giving me rides. In hindsight I see clearly that this man was a pedophile and I was an attractive easy target.  

The next encounter with homosexuals that were very interested in young boys was with the owners of Totem Lake Florists in Kirkland, Washington. They had some kind of deal with the mall owners to put gardens in the log sided planters that decorated inside. They hired several local young boys to shovel in the soil and install plants, I was one of them.

When the project was done they put on a weekend party at a house on one of the islands in Puget Sound. Everything was there, a keg of beer, whiskey, wine, vodka, weed, cocaine, and if you wanted it, sex with other boys or the homosexual adults.  I don't remember much more than this, so I can't honestly say, but I don't think I was interested in the sex.

The year I was going into the 8th grade my mom rented a condo at this complex in Redmond, Washington. By this time I was fully into drugs and alcohol and one of the units was the residence of a homosexual from Britain. We met in the clubhouse and enthralled by his accent I accepted his invitation to come over for drinks and to smoke some pot and then visited his place a couple of times after, but I believe my lack of interest to his advances coupled with my full blown blackout drinking made this a short acquaintance.

When mom and I moved back to Sacramento she rented an apartment in what was then called Hurley Villa. I was probably 15 at this point and soon met Clay and Wally at the pool. They were here from Michigan to attend the Glen Fischback School of Photography and play tennis. They invited me up to their apartment and we became pretty good friends. There was never any sexual advance by either of them, and I am not so sure they were homosexuals, but I include them in this list because they got into business with me providing weed for me to sell at Encina High School. Nice guys, bad influence on an already troubled teenager. To be fair, I probably would have found some other way to get in trouble, so whatever. In some ways they were a positive light in my otherwise dark world.

I was 17 when the Army sent me to Fort Belvoir for HVAC school. I learned that there were adult strip clubs on 14th Street in nearby Washington DC. I was mesmerized by the totally nude dancers and still remember when one on stage spread her legs to reveal her vagina up close and personal. 

One drunken night a well dressed older man in a car picked me up and invited me to his apartment. He had some weed so I went but resisted his homosexual advances so he gave me his phone number and a little weed to take with me.  

Part of my punishment for trying to sell drugs to an undercover CID officer on Fort Carson in Colorado was a 90 day sentence at Leavenworth Military Prison. Upon arrival I was strip searched outdoors and I'll never forget the catcalls from a line of inmates watching from above. I turned 19 that summer, so not exactly pedophiles, but still, read on.

The first two weeks were spent in a solitary confinement cell and one night a trustee arranged for me to get out my cell to help sweep the floor. It was incredibly boring sitting alone in that small cell so I accepted the offer. After a few minutes he called me into an office and explained that I would owe him sexual favors for this privilege if I wanted it to continue. I told him to lock me back in the little cell, I was not interested!