Stories

Following the party where Dave and Craig, both in their 60s, celebrated forty years of love and togetherness, a life changing event shattered their world of happiness. Forty years earlier, two very different appearing guys in their 20s, an auto mechanic and a college student, met during a Vermont snow storm. Their different backgrounds helped blend them into a loving couple. After the tragedy following the fortieth anniversary party, the move forward is complicated and challenging as a brawny Scotsman and a twenty year old naive nephew intertwine with the life of a sixty year old.

Jarrod, a closeted gay high school senior, is the epitome of a band geek. He is a member of every band his at his school, but his favorite is the marching band, where the number of unfairly attractive boys seems infinite. But, there is one boy that stands out above the rest. Connor, a 15-year-old high school freshmen, is the boy of Jarrod's dreams, but a relationship with Connor seems forever out of reach. That is, until the unexpected happens on Jarrod's last summer marching band trip to Calgary, Canada. This story follows the journey Jarrod and Connor take as they discover themselves and the possibility of something more.

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.