A school friend had lost all his family by 15, and ended up running away to the city after a period talking with Social Workers. I never understood how he had the money to leave.
About a year later, he called me from Canberra, where he was now working as an escort.
It was strange. He acted like this was a normal thing to do, almost as if he had cool credibility, and, although I tried to save him, he was strong-willed and, well, he was attracted to both the money and the power the job provided, not really seeing how his clients were just using him. Almost as if they were sucking the life and the youth out of him.
This was during the height of Third Wave Feminism in the nineties, where the idea of being a 'Sex Worker' was being normalised as a positive.
There were many other underage boys there, with regular clients in the Canberra region. My friend would talk about how they'd get to 'travel', and be moved from city to city. This included many underage American boys, and, I didn't understand how they could be moved not only around the country, but how did they get out to Australia without parental consent? Who was moving them?
There was one client, who'd always send a limo. He would only request American Boys. When I asked my friend why, he explained it was because it was assumed they wouldn't know anything about Australian Politics. He'd overheard the conversations that happened when they were all in the common room and these American Boys spotted him on TV, but weren't intelligent enough to understand what a 'Prime Minister' meant, politically. They just thought he was a very wealthy man.
I was horrified and scared. What can you do at 16? I've since seen how the Social Welfare system here fails so many childhood victims of abuse, and I can only think it does so because it's designed to do so.
If Q really has the intel, he should know I'm telling the truth.
My friend was dead by 36. The man who tried to save his life through CPR was shocked to discover he was 20 years younger than he'd thought.
He looked like an old man. As I said, it was if they sucked the life force out of him.
Keating is no friend of God.
I pray these people pay.
Godspeed, Q.