dkstories

The KGB was an organization not hemmed in by stupid considerations like the Geneva Convention, the International Agreement on Human Rights or any of the other numerous considerations in how to treat a prisoner. When Brian arrived at Lubyanka prison they made it clear to him that he would tell them what they wanted to know, and they started the process with their fists. Part of him hoped that Davey would somehow come for him, but on the second day they gave him copies of Pravda, the main ne

They were angry, and yet at the same time they were happy. The crowds that surged around us were a veritable flux of emotions ranging from extreme anger to almost giddiness about the things going on around them. Certainly it was far more emotion than we had ever seen before from the normally stoic Muscovites. So far, everything was going pretty much as we had expected. Senior members of the Soviet leadership had arrested Mikhail Gorbachev and declared an emergency across the nation. Bo

We buried Mikhail Verakov twelve days after I returned to Moscow. Like so many other Russian men, he died from lung cancer and pneumonia. Over the last few years, I had seen the close bond that had developed between Davey and this man, and so I wasn’t surprised at how hard Davey took the man’s death. Mika was not Davey’s real father, and Davey knew that, but he loved the man anyway for a variety of reasons. Part of it had to do with the unconditional love that Mika had always given him.

“I do not think you understand the importance of being able to dream of a better life.” Davey said to his ‘father’ as we rode in the car back into Moscow. For the past week we’d stayed in the dacha while the old man took the time ‘off’ from work. Not that he did no work. He had an office in the dacha, and spent many hours on the phone when he was not entertaining the two of us. It had now been a few days more than three weeks since that first trip out to the dacha, and we were now heading ba

It was going to be another hot, bright, glorious day. Davey and I made our tenth and final lap around the track, and slowed from our slow run to a fast walk as we began to cool down. Both of us were wearing the red and gold sweat suits of ASU, as we normally did on our morning run. There were a few other students around, but most of them stayed far away from us. “It’s going to be hot, today.” Davey said in Russian. It had been four weeks since the last time we spoke English, just b

When we graduated from the Robinson Academy, we were part of a graduating class of sixty-three. All sixty-three graduates of the Academy went on to college, something not quite unusual for that school, but unusual in most public schools. Fourteen of those graduates went on to one of the four military Academies. Five (including Sean and Brandon) went to MIT. Most went to Ivy League schools like Yale or Harvard. Davey and I were the only two going to a little school in the heavily wooded area

“I don’t know quite what to say, Brian.” Uncle Rich’s voice was weak, and he looked like death warmed over in his hospital bed. An I.V. line pumped liquids into him, but it was only a matter of time, hours, maybe a day or two if he was really lucky. He knew it as well as I did, sitting in this ward of the hospital in San Francisco. Outside it was Christmas, and people were celebrating the holiday with their families. I was too, in my own way, but it was a far different celebration. “I’

I opened my eyes and smiled at the sight of my old bedroom. Sunlight was just peaking in through the drapes, and I could clearly make out the football and wrestling posters on the walls, the comforter Mom had changed out when I’d reached fourteen, and the older, smaller dresser I’d had until I entered high school. Yep, I’d come back for a third childhood, and the preliminary evidence showed we’d hit it around the right timeframe. I got out of bed slowly, knowing from the last experience

“I’m tired.” Davey said to me as I entered the medium-sized room that had been hastily turned into sleeping quarters for all of us. Six cot-beds had been arranged with typical military wool blankets and thin pillows. Davey and the others, except Sean, had gotten here first and already the six cots were now arranged in pairs right next to each other. Our bags were at the foot of each set of cots. “So am I.” I said softly, knowing full well our hosts would be listening to every conversati

“Remind me why we’re doing this again?” Davey asked with a heavy sigh as we sat down for lunch. It was a little restaurant just off of Indian School Road, and we both were tired, sweaty, and hungry. We managed to get a sneer from the waiter when he saw the t-shirts we were wearing, but he took our order just the same. “Because it’s important to build the right connections from the beginning.” I reminded him as the waiter left. “You know I support the other guy, right?” He leaned in a

I remembered the last timeline quite clearly, and the reactions of Davey’s family to his sexuality. An older, wiser Davey had years and years to prepare them in subtle ways. Sometimes I think he did it almost without even thinking or planning it, just presented his family with ‘learning experiences’ that nudged them in the right direction. Unfortunately, he had none of that in this timeline. He didn’t have the experience of his first disastrous coming out, nor the memories of years of

I was lying on the ground with a sharp pain in my midsection. My ears were ringing from the force my head had hit the grass with, despite the helmet, and it was hard to even breath at the moment. It was the last practice before our Championship game, and we were only wearing shoulder pads and helmets instead of full gear, and we most definitely were not supposed to be hitting each other this hard. “Jones, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Coach Cole snarled as he reached me and knelt down

The silence in the room was deafening following Davey’s statement to his mother. The way she kept opening and closing her mouth made me think of a fish. My mother had gone pale, and Bev was staring at him with wide eyes. What surprised me the most was the calm look on Davey’s face. I had to wonder if he was going insane at that moment. “What are you saying?” Sandy asked Davey at long last. Her voice was weak, and I thought she might be on the verge of passing out. “If just being a

It was amazing what a simple apology could do. Some people have made a science of apologizing, both now and in the future. Certainly for anyone in the public spotlight knowing how to give the correct apology at the correct time was an important thing to know. Sometimes a bouquet of flowers with a simple note saying “I’m Sorry” would heal over a spat between lovers. It could be a box of chocolates, or a special trip including a favorite activity of the person being apologized to would wo

“Why’d you do it?” Davey asked me yet again as we stood looking out the window of his bedroom. Below us, his sister and her two friends were hanging over the railing of the back porch, looking at the river churning in the small canyon below. The room was empty, because we were officially just ‘looking’ at the place while his mother contemplated buying the house with her new wealth. “Davey…” I started to say but he shook his head and looked at me with sad eyes. He’d barely spoken to me f