Following a brief note that in some sense, he might have been truly homeless at 13 in 2000, Gerald reveals that he is gay. This revelation comes not through any direct statement but through a multipage description of his adolescent appreciation of (if not obsession with) a video by D’Angelo. The description ends simply with: “I was a thirteen-year-old boy, not a saint” (78).

Gerald’s father is then released and reformed, at least insofar as he finds religion. Gerald and his father live with his paternal grandmother Clarice for a while, where Gerald has some privacy for the first time.

Gerald hints at the challenges of being gay, such as when he describes girls teasing him for his voice. He also recounts when a girl decides he is her boyfriend, like it or not, which is especially uncomfortable for him.

Aside from class with Mrs. Davis and one other teacher, school is always an ordeal for him. Even in kindergarten he struggled against nap time, a fight he ultimately won through sheer persistence when the teacher gave him index cards on which to write every word he saw while the other children napped.

At Clarice’s house, he feels increasingly unwelcome, especially because his father (whom she calls “Crow”) can do no wrong.