His little penis was a dark purple.His little penis was a dark purple. It was badly bruised and puffed up like a fat little sausage. But it was the other part of his anatomy that frightened me. His scrotum was nearly black and it was swollen to the size of a golf-ball, the skin stretched so tightly that it was almost transparent. "God what happened to you?" I breathed out. The boy followed my gaze downward, looking at his injury absently, as if he didn't care any longer, "It hurts," he cried. I was afraid to touch the boy's genitals, there was nothing I could do there by the side of the road anyway. "Look, I'm going to take you to the hospital." "Don't wanna go,... not to no hospital mister,... okay?... Please?" the boy pleaded. I wondered what the boy was afraid of. "You don't have much choice kid. This looks really bad." I closed the car door and went around to the driver's side and dropped down into my seat. I started the engine and engaged first gear and accelerated back on the freeway. Only this time I drove a lot slower than before because I knew now that the boy was in considerable pain. God only knew where the next exit was that had a hospital. Ten miles up the road I passed an exit. Like most exits in this part of the country there was nothing but a gas station and a road to nowhere. Another ten miles and then a sign that indicated two gas stations and a restaurant. I thought about getting off and asking about the location of the nearest hospital. Right before I passed the exit I saw a small green sign that said 'hospital this exit'. I swerved the car across the two lanes and careened onto the off ramp. The boy looked at me angrily as he saw the sign. "Look I'm sorry kid. I don't know what else to do, I think you need a doctor worse than you realize." I glanced at the boy as I came up to the stop sign. I didn't stop and made a quick right-hand turn on the county road. "What's your name anyway?" I asked. "Why?" " I can't keep calling you kid can I," I answered. That elicited a small weak smile from the boy. "Rafael," he said, his voice little more than a whisper. |