Blind Item #9 - Introducing - A Dancing Boy Blind Item

PS/D/L: And this is really strange...For months, off and on, I'd been having these visions - in my mind's eye - about a "making of" doc or short for "The Little Drummer Boy" feature. I had this reoccurring image of a young actor, late teens or early twenties, on a sound stage during the production - he was the only one I could see clearly. I knew he probably wasn't one of the leads, but that was it. It was only after I woke up this morning that I realized that this young actor/model, Solan Gunn, was him, and what the part is.

He's the third accuser of the bishop - the "betrayer" - who either leaves or escapes from the breakaway Catholic church's reform school, immediately connecting with my young likeness. (In the first feature, he steals my likeness's high school journal, and outs me in a bid to win popularity with the Cool Kids, including my nemesis - or one of them, anyhow. I end up losing my community service gig as a result, and lie about it to the headmaster. What follows is that reoccurring nightmare some people, including me, have about finding out you didn't actually graduate from high school, or whatever, and you're forced to go back. My likeness is forced to complete his community service requirement near the beginning of "The Little Drummer Boy," which is how I meet the Catholic boy, Patrick Rayner.)

Solan's character has nowhere to go - he's estranged from his family - so I let him stay at my house. He reveals what happened to him at the hands of the bishop, and given his past betrayal and other factors, not even I entirely trust that he's telling the truth. But I urge him to go to the facilitator of the local lgbt youth group - who is also a teacher at the nearby high school (I have Chad Allen in mind for this part) - and tell him about the abuse. He does, and of course the teacher is required by law to report it to authorities. The sheriff opens an investigation into the church, but the bishop has a mole in the department, and suspicion (of wrongdoing, I mean) falls back on Solan's character. His choice? Jail or back to reform school. Feeling defeated, he chooses the latter.

And on the eve of his return to the church he is kidnapped and crucified - purportedly the third victim of the satanic cult, the "betrayer." (In fact, of course, he'd been murdered by the bishop and his minions.) In future installments, he'll continue to appear in my dreams, offering support and counsel. (In TLDB, there is a dream sequence based on the gospel of Mark. My younger self dreams that Solan's character either didn't die or has been resurrected. I go to a cave in the desert, and push aside a boulder blocking the entrance, only to find an empty tomb.)