THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED RIPLEY 

RIPLEY’S BOYFRIEND
SAVING THE KID
RIPLEY’S CLOSET
ERIC’S APARTMENT
THE CLIFF
_______________

RIPLEY’S BOYFRIEND

“A figure had a flashlight. Tom saw
blue jeans and tennis shoes. The
boy from the bar.”—Patricia Highsmith,
THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED RIPLEY
__________

Cute 16-year old Frank Pierson—
a runaway young rich American

He’d heard of Tom Ripley—
by now with quite a reputation
___________

Mostly as a forger though—
rather than a cold murderer

With American Reeves Minot—
plus Bernard Tufts a painter
___________

In a lucrative forgery racket—
faking Philip Derwatt paintings

Derwatt having disappeared—
committing suicide in Greece
_____________

After the original Derwatts—
ran out, they did forgeries

Pretending Derwatt was alive—
and hiding down in Mexico

SAVING THE KID

“Frank can sleep with me,”
Tom said. “Neither of us is
going to know where we are”
—Patricia Highsmith, THE BOY 
WHO FOLLOWED RIPLEY
_________________

Ripley had shot the lock off—
and got Frank Pierson away

The young kidnappers fled—
they were punks not Mafioso
_____________

Back in Eric’s Berlin apartment—
Tom got the kid into bed

They’d got him high on drugs—
injected him with narcotics
______________

The kid had peed his pants—
Tom stripped him naked

Got him into bed between—
some decent clean sheets
_____________

The kid was lithe, handsome—
Tom realized he wanted him

He saved it for later on—
when the kid sobered up

RIPLEY’S CLOSET

“Frank smiled at all of them,
like a drunken child, and
smiled especially at Tom. 
Tom, dry in the mouth, had
taken a cold Pilsner Urquell
from Eric’s fridge.”—Patricia 
Highsmith THE BOY WHO 
FOLLOWED RIPLEY
_____________

Tom didn’t feel the same way—
he felt with Dickie Greenleaf

Not the same self-disgust and—
loathing Dickie made him feel
______________

Taunting Tom in the rowboat—
making him feel like a nelly fag

That’s why he bashed Dickie—
with the oar against his head
_________________

Dickie flying into an awful rage—
his bloody streaming face

He’d gone insane with pain—
trying to strangle Tom to death
______________

What else could Tom do but—
fight back & kill Dickie?

But Tom felt just the opposite—
with the helpless passed-out kid

ERIC’S APARTMENT

Tom woke up to a hum—
in Eric’s quiet Berlin apartment

A coffee grinder’s cozy hum—
Frank facedown next to him
______________

Asleep and breathing—
Tom bent over & kissed him

Putting on his dressing gown—
Tom left the kid in the bedroom
____________

Eric was putting various—
kinds of bread, rolls & jams

On an extra festive tray—
for young Frankie’s return
____________

The kid’s flight back home—
Tom would go with him

The millionaire’s young son—
what had he run away from?

THE CLIFF

The mother, the girlfriend—
the older druggy brother

The private investigator—
who gave Tom a big bonus
___________

It wasn’t until they stood—
both Frankie and Tom there

On the high cliff overlooking—
the rugged Atlantic surf
____________

That Tom realized why the—
millionaire’s young son did it

Pushing the wheelchair down—
off the steep precipitous cliff
___________

Down into roaring rocky surf—
his father asked him to do it

Tom looked down at the kid’s—
broken crumpled dead body