Tomkin Watts - Stories

During a stopover in London, a youthful encounter triggers Robert’s memories; almost sixty, he muses about youth and middle age, love and time.

Wars have been fought over obsessions, and millions have died; but not all obsessions produce effects that severe or lethal. Most only affect a small group of people. But what personal obsessions often have in common is that trivial, careless remark, or an unknowing or uncaring act, that triggers them in someone of an impressionable age. A small thing, perhaps, but it can last a lifetime, as our narrator discovers.

Everyone who comes out has a different story to tell: with some, it comes with a sudden flash of revelation; with others it may have been a long, slow, sometimes painful process of unwinding internalized constraints. For some, it is a matter of recognizing what they have always enjoyed; for others, it is an entry into entirely new experiences. As college seniors in the mid-70’s, Robert and his best friend Paul come out, each with a different story.

Perhaps childhood memories are not always about what we think they are. Through a chance encounter, a young physician learns things he didn’t know about his late parents.

A middle-aged reckoning with the past: a moderately successful gay author stops in New York on a book tour, and confronts memories of his school days. How we perceive ourselves, how we perceive others and how others perceive us, can change as our vantage points shift in time and space.

A story of gay life, partly set in San Francisco during the late 1970’s. But all the gay men who moved there during that time came from someplace else, and in this story, Michael, as an adolescent in his home town, navigates the tugs of two conflicting religious strains within his family, while at the same time coming to terms with his sexuality. As you will see, in his twenties he escapes to San Francisco—but is it freedom that he finds there?

Perhaps this story is merely a sorry little attempt at magical realism. Or perhaps it only takes place in the mind of its narrator, or in his dream, or perhaps some of it really happens to him—or a combination of all that. But none of that matters; none of those ideas either add to or detract from the story. With a nod to the many modern adaptations, here is another take on the Pygmalion myth. As with all such stories, be careful what you wish for!

Ben has a problem. Will he resolve it? Will he redeem himself or condemn himself to a lonely old age?

A controlling mother's effect on her compliant daughter. This is my only story with no gay content. The story grew from a short sketch in the first section.