And he also created a magical atmosphere of trust between us by confessing his secret, which was that, as a very young boy starting at age four, he had been savagely and repeatedly physically abused by his stepfather, and the abuse had gotten so bad that he had had to drop out of school in eighth grade, even though he was very smart, and he'd spent almost 20 years rebuilding his life.
E aveva anche creato una magica atmosfera di fiducia tra noi confessando il suo segreto: quando era solo un bambino, all'età di appena quattro anni, era stato selvaggiamente e ripetutamente abusato dal patrigno, e le violenze erano arrivate ad un punto tale che aveva dovuto abbandonare la scuola, anche se era molto intelligente, e aveva passato quasi 20 anni a rifarsi la vita.