Stories

In a small Western Massachusetts former mill town, now part of a larger college circuit, a Chinese-American high school student is suspected of selling drugs simply because he's recently moved from New York City.

The students know about it. The principal knows. The teachers and staff members have heard about it, too.

When one of the school's security guards learns too much, she calls the Waldron police, and Detective Elena Petrakis leads the investigation.

Backing her -- as in Recycle -- are Chief Owen Neland, Senior Detective Don Burris, Lt. Ike Omari, and Sgts. Jae Ryu and Rob Perez, who offer advice and support.

Life has been very hard for me these past few months, with the Covid Virus quickly spreading around the world, which had resulted in the shutting down of a lot of businesses due to quarantine restrictions, and which resulted in me loosing me job and soon after my rental home of the past four years. Although I was single, gay and have no close family, with my parents killed in a train crash while on holidays when I was seventeen, and my two older siblings, Melissa and Trenton, not wanting to know me because of my sexuality, but I had managed to complete my high school education with high grades.

Parker Frazier attends Somerset High School, a suburban white school. Over the weekend, a fight breaks out during a basketball game against an inner-city school. Tempers flared, and racial epithets were shouted. On Monday, protesters appeared outside the school. One young man caught Parker's attention. While driving home after school, he witnessed a police officer brutally arrest the young man he saw earlier that morning. Parker videotaped it with his phone and posted it on Facebook. He was not prepared for what happened next.

A gay man arrives home and wishes his husband Happy Anniversary, but is soon informed it's not their anniversary. That's when he states that he was referring to the anniversary of same-sex marriage being legalized. Once this is cleared up, they discuss the impact and possible future for same-sex marriage.

Mike Stetson and Robbie Hartford are both fifteen. The two boys were born and raised living beside each other. Mike's Dads and Robbie's Dads met in college, and formed a lasting brotherhood. The two couples bought a hundred acres of land, built their main houses beside each other. All through their lives Mike and Robbie have been there for one another, and now that they're maturing, the teens are falling for one another, but are afraid to change or lose their friendship.

Thiago Zeca Baravento, the son of an American woman and a first generation Brazilian father, rises above the expectations of many for a black man born and raised in the predominantly minority Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Anacostia. After graduating from Howard University with a doctorate in pharmacology, and looking to provide his son Fabricio with a good life, Thiago leaves the District of Columbia, promising to one day return to his hometown.

A young man enters the confessional. He tells Father Peter Ruxton that he is gay, in love, and filled with self-loathing because the Church teaches that what he is doing is a sin. The priest, who struggles with his own sexuality, tries to offer counsel that shows compassion and empathy, while remaining within the strictures of his Church’s position on homosexual behavior. It does not end well. The young man leaves filled with bitterness, and Peter faces the reality that he must leave the Church if he is to be true to himself. He begins his search to find himself and his authentic life.

This is a collection of very short stories, that I had written over thirty years ago, when I first started to write, and they are recollections of real events that took place on the farm where I grew up in Western Australia…

Only four chapters for now, unless I recall a few other events in the mean time...

Q

Twenty-nine-year-old Sam Miller owns a duplex on the beach and lives there with his fourteen-year-old son, Devon (Devie). He rents out the other half to thirty-five-year-old Taylor Winters and his fourteen-year-old son, Cillian (Cillie). The dads share an attraction to one another, and their kids have an attraction for each other. The two sets of couples decide to explore becoming a family while Taylor, and Sam date, and Cillian, and Devon date.

Despite promises to the contrary a teenage boy finds himself in yet another Juvenile Care home. He feels abandoned by his own parents, as if he was refuse, placed besides the garbage can at collection day. Feeling hurt and rejected, he withdraws and experiences a paralyzing all-encompassing loneliness. Until he receives attention, warmth and affection from another boy. Where would that lead to?