Journeymen: Making of Stone Viewer

Gavin hated the birthmark. He’d tried unsuccessfully to rub it off many times. The swirling, red spiral looked like an electric burner against his white skin. He could still hear Clem’s voice taunting, ‘Hey, leper boy, want to drown today?’ After suffering a summer as Clem’s personal chew toy, he’d never again returned to the community pool. The second glances and teasing whispers that the birthmark elicited, forced him to avoid school sports that would require him to undress in the locker room.

His mother told him, "Don't let anyone make fun of what makes you special." What made him special? Certainly not this ugly tapeworm super glued to his skin. It didn’t matter anymore anyway. Gavin was over all that. No one said anything about his birthmark, because he kept it concealed. That is, until he told Mr. Twinnings about it. After that, everything changed.