Better that only you know than everybody knows but nobody wants to talk about it. Communal shame is terrifying. Here’s an excerpt from the story Guts.

This friend of mine, he waits months under a black cloud, waiting for his folks to confront him. And they never do. Ever. Even now he’s grown up, that invisible carrot hangs over every Christmas dinner, every birthday party. Every Easter egg hunt with his kids, his parents’ grandkids, that ghost carrot is hovering over all of them.