CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by GUSTAVO ARELLANO
(Editor’s note: the names of sex-abuse victims are pseudonyms.)
The blood. And shit. And semen. Robert can’t get it out of his mind, his dreams, his life.
He was 14 in the summer of 1984. He had moved with his family to Texas sometime before and now, on summer vacation, had returned with them to visit friends and old neighbors in Santa Ana. While in his former hometown, Robert’s family ran into their old parish priest, Father Eleuterio Ramos. Ramos had tickets to the Olympic gold-medal soccer game at the Rose Bowl that week. He had invited Robert’s former neighbor, Michael, but Michael refused. Robert agreed.
The day before the match, Robert and Ramos spent the day in Tijuana. They rode horses, ate lunch and, despite Robert’s youth, knocked back beers. They crossed the border and visited a porn store in San Diego, where they were going to stay the night. As Robert skimmed through the movies, he noticed Ramos talking to three strangers who eyed Robert and occasionally nodded.