Stories

Boccaccio's Decameron, a story of renewal and recreation in defiance of a decimating pandemic, relates how ten self-isolated Italians pass the time regaling each other with tall tales during the Black Plague. While Covid19 wasn't nearly as decimating, the opportunity for such entertainment did exist. As a takeoff on that idea, this short story might well be a modern version of one of the tales, recounting events of earlier, less stressful times.

This is the second story in the Wearing Green on Thursday series. Bruce Hutton has graduated from high school, gone on a road trip, loved and lost his best friend, and is now an engineering student at Stanford University outside Palo Alto, California. We follow his life and loves as he becomes comfortable living as a gay man in the 1980s.

Andy and Donnie have been friends since the beginning, growing up in the same neighborhood, sharing the same friends, and now playing football on the same team in middle school. They’ve been inseparable throughout it all; but now a new line has been inserted in the equation that is their lives, one they have to learn to deal with, or face having their friendship perish:

Love.

1985 obituary of Paul Bunyan from Wood Enthusiast Monthly.

Marc Wynn has accompanied his beloved aunt to estate sales for years, but he's never found anything he couldn't live without-until he meets Sawyer Calhoun. Sawyer wastes no time in revealing his romantic interest in Marc, but their promising first evening ends badly with Sawyer as adamant about broadcasting his sexuality as Marc is about hiding his. But when Sawyer hires Marc to restore his grandfather's house, their intense attraction grows into an emotional connection neither can resist. During the renovations, surprises come to light, and Sawyer must face his past when a tragedy threatens Marc's livelihood.

Fifteen year old Sammy Day finds acceptance and love on a baseball field.
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Denys, a journalist, drifts through his days sad and desperately alone. By a stroke of unexpected chance, a runaway appears in his life. However, teenage Theo carries a lot of anger in him, and his feelings of loss are just as palpable as Denys’.

Yet, perhaps – somehow – man and boy can help fix what's broken in the other. That is, if they're able to survive what the Russians have planned for their city.

Obviously, this is a continuation of The Root Beer Boys and picks up where that story ended. Same characters, other relationships begin to develop among the boys.

A story of what might have been if only I had known then what I know now. . .

Characters:

Dan, 15 years old, confused about his sexuality.
Dad, 40 years old, more understanding and compassionate than most dads of that era.
Joseph, Dan’s friend, same age, perhaps more aware of his sexuality than Dan.

There is so much wishful thinking in this story. I wish every gay/straight/bisexual/confused/questioning young person, male or female, could have this kind of understanding and support.

A young man in reluctant thrall to his burgeoning sexuality. A best friend who doesn't understand why he's been pushed away. Two other young men, who may or may not be related, in the throes of a weird-but-friendly competition. A baseball card and a shell necklace and a reefer before the storm. A ruined shotgun shack. And, lastly, a psychedelic patchwork quilt. What do these things have in common? Free love.