Deloit Stories are my attempt at a gay novel set in a small rural Michigan town in the 80s .
They say write what you know.
It's been in the works for the better part of a decade now. Who knows? If it takes much longer to finish, I'll be able to publish it as historical fiction.

Duke Barany completed his ride and was now free to stop and catch his breath, to rest concealed in the shade of the big, leafy catalpa tree while secretly spying on his new neighbor ...and he was free to fall in lust again. The endorphin fueled euphoria that came with his accomplishment was an added bonus. Duke freed his feet from the intricate peddle grips and straddled the crossbar of his expensive new blood red Motobecane 15-speed, racing bike. Looking up at the wide green leaves, Duke decided that this was still his favorite tree. When he was younger he'd been fascinated by the brown claw-like seed pods that hung from this, the only catalpa tree he'd ever encountered. However, today it wasn't local flora that fascinated him. Nope, it was the local fauna. This tree stood on the long western side of a three way intersection, just beyond a stop sign, while across the street, Duke spotted his intriguing new neighbor.

The shade of this tree provided the perfect place to catch his breath for a moment... and to watch the exotic wildlife unobserved. He unfastened his water bottle from the bike and emptied what remained of its now-tepid contents over his head. Wiping a few stray drops from his eyes and shaking his head, he enjoyed the way that the water rained down from his sweat-soaked hair onto his overheated chest and shoulders. The water evaporating off his skin and scalp felt refreshing. He hoped it would suck up some of the surplus heat that was now radiating from every pore of his now pleasantly fatigued body.

“As soon as I catch my breath, and enjoy a bit of spying, I'll head home.” Duke resolved.

With that he glanced over his shoulder at the two small hills that lay between him and the cool oasis of his pool at home. A quick dip would really help him cool down, but for now he was content to rest in the shade of this tree, enjoy the scenery, and bask in his accomplishment. “Sixty Miles”

Duke thought back to this weekend when he and Shelley laid out the new course.

“Sixty miles!” Shelley protested. “You really are crazy... and hard up. You know there are easier ways to chase boys.”

Duke harrumphed but let his best gal-pal have her say. “Like anyone could stop Shelley from sharing her opinions” Duke thought to himself. And, after all, she was being a sport keeping him company while he measured out the new course.

“Iron Man Triathlon! Is this just your insane way of overcompensating for the sissy thing?” she asked. Shelley was still having some trouble dealing with the whole “admitting he was gay” thing, and was working it out by ribbing him with all the derogatory terms she'd never be impolite enough to use with anyone she loved less.

“No” Duke insisted but then he wondered if she might not be a little bit right. This triathlon obsession of his had started at roughly the same time as when he resolved to start coming out. “The forty mile course is no challenge anymore and I want to be able to do 120 by the end of the summer.”

“Well, as your Fag Hag, I suppose I should be cheering you on. Go Duke.” Shelley had retorted in a bogus, artificially sweet voice while miming a pom-pom salute. Despite her forced cheer, Duke could tell that she was still having a tough time dealing with his revelation. Their friendship had cooled a bit since he'd let her in on his secret. He and Shelley had been pals since grade school but since he came out to her it was like that was all she could think of.

Duke started to rethink that problem, but immediately returned to the present, when movement across the street caught his eye, and Duke saw the new guy emerging from the shadows of the trees surrounding the little house.

The new guy seemed to be about his age but was built bigger. Duke ran toward the “lanky-swimmer” build, but New Guy was more of the “football-player” type. Not only was New Guy taller and beefier than Duke, but his bigger muscles were better developed as well. Duke decided again that he thoroughly approved of his new neighbor. Tan, very fit ...and fascinating. Deeply bronzed shoulders and strong arms stuck out of the jagged armholes of the now-sleeveless hoodie. Powerful looking legs protruded from the grey sweat shorts. The guy wore no socks – just an old black pair of Converse high-tops. Altogether an attractive package.

Strangely, new guy was carrying an antique scythe, like folks once used for cutting weeds or harvesting straw. The dangerous looking curved steel blade glinted wickedly in the sun and looked freshly sharpened. The scythe's long wooden shaft was curved as well and sported a short handle partway up its length to give the wielder extra leverage. “With that scythe,” Duke thought to himself, “If the guy's hoodie were up, New Guy would make a very hot Grim Reaper.”

On the other hand, Duke was happy that the hood was down. The guy had an attractive face, despite his scowl. The dark hair and dark eyes complimented his dark tan. Considering the deep tan and dark features, Duke briefly wondered if the guy were Latino but discounted that immediately. The guy had more of a mid-western melting-pot look about him. It was sorta the same look that Duke sported, to considerably lesser effect. In his vainer moments he preferred to think of his own look as “All-American Boy.”

New Guy wore his hair shorter than Duke's. Not one of those “duh... I'm a jock” crew-cuts that some of the more obnoxious school athletes adopted, but definitely shorter than was the style. It might just be because of the summer heat. Before this year Duke had kept his own hair shorter in the summer than he did in the winter. But this summer he was experimenting with letting it grow a bit.

New Guy's hoodie was unzipped -- again, not very “reaper-like.” But Duke approved. It revealed a nicely defined chest and some very fit looking abs. Just at that moment, as if to further pique Duke's interest, New Guy took off the hoodie. He briefly glowered up at the sun before stuffing the hoodie into the back of his grey shorts.

“Nice!” Duke concluded to himself. Duke had been checking out cute guys on the sly for ages now, but it was only since last spring that he'd decided to relax and enjoy it. Back in middle school when he'd first realized that he was more interested in cute guys than cute girls he'd been beyond worried.

In a small town like Deloit the gay thing was a big deal. Even the G-word was a big taboo. It was the worst epithet a guy could use when putting something down. Using against somebody was pretty much a guaranteed way to start a fight. The very idea that he might actually be gay had bothered him ...a lot. But, time went by, and he'd gotten more comfortable with the idea. It was only this spring that he'd mustered the courage to tell Shelley his best friend about it and that hadn't gone quite as planned.

Much to his chagrin, he and Shells still weren't really as comfortable together as they had been before. Shelley had seemed cool enough about it initially but she'd stupidly discussed it with her hippie parents. They'd gone out of their way to be cool about it, but Duke still felt weird whenever he was around them. Plus Shelley for some reason that he still didn't quite understand, seemed to be a bit offended.

“Jeez, Shelley! It's not like I dislike girls. I'm just not sold on sleeping with them.” He'd argued. “Don't you have enough guys lusting after you as it is?”

“No one can ever be too rich, too thin or have too many admirers.” Shelley had retorted.

“I still admire you Shelley, but unlike those other troglodytes I admire you for your mind... and your taste... and your charm. “ The surest way into Shelley's good graces was flattery. Then Duke played what he considered his trump card, his highest praise. “I admire your free-spirit.”

Shelley knew that Duke had always prided himself on being a free-spirit. He never felt the need to fit in completely. He was his own man. Look at his choice of sports; swimming, golfing, biking, ...and maybe soon triathlon. All individual sports. He was not a team-sports kind of guy. Who needs to fit in? Well, to be honest, he did to a point; but not as much as most teenagers he knew. He was masculine enough – the way he dressed and acted – no one at school suspected or said anything. So what if he chose to enjoy looking at guys rather than girls? That was his business, provided he kept it covert.

And he enjoyed it a lot, particularly in the warmer weather when guys took the smallest excuse to begin shedding their shirts. ...And it was always the fittest guys that led the way!

Guys who lusted after girls had to work a whole lot harder to see a whole lot less. Plus guys were so much simpler to understand than girls. Guys pretty much said what was on their minds. With girls you were never sure. Duke was convinced that even they weren't sure most of the time. Shelley, even admitted as much.

Oddly enough, what had “sealed the deal,” what made him decide that he was OK with the whole gay thing, was a talk that he had with his step-father. Even weirder, the talk was really about something else entirely. But while the ordeal had allowed him to feel better about himself now, at the time it had been excruciating.

Even though the episode had occurred three years ago, thinking about it now still mortified him a bit... He'd been horny and it was shortly after he'd discovered the joys of masturbation. He'd thought that he was the only one home. He had been in his room practicing his “newest favorite hobby” when his step-dad had walked in on him without knocking. Duke's reaction was “Shock! Embarrassment! Shame! Fear!” His dad had simply done a double take and laughed out loud. He then apologized and closed the door. When Duke finally got himself composed enough to leave his room, his step-dad was waiting for him downstairs on the couch.

“Duke, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“OK” Duke shuffled his feet digging the toe of his tattered black Keds into the gold shag carpet. He couldn't exactly look his dad in the eye.

“First.” his dad said. “I want to apologize about barging in on you, and about laughing at the situation. “You do know your door locks, right?”

“Yeah.” Like I'll ever make that mistake again, Duke thought to himself. “I didn't think anyone was home.”

“Well,” his dad said “I finished work early and thought maybe you and your brother would like to hit the golf course with me. Also, I wanted to say, I'm NOT going to tell your mother about this.” His dad continued on... “I don't think she'd really care all that much if I did tell her.”

His dad took a moment to look at Duke to judge how he was reacting. “But, it is kind of a guy thing.” Another pause. “OK?” Duke's dad asked and waited for Duke to nod before continuing. “I did want to tell you that it's perfectly normal for a guy your age to do that.”

“Yeah?” Duke said. He was still mortified but he was relieved that his dad was dealing with this so calmly.

“Yep, It's perfectly healthy. As far as I'm concerned, anything that you do, in private, as long as it's not done to excess, and doesn't hurt you or others is perfectly OK.” His dad stood up. “That said... Let's forget it ever happened. Now how bout that golf?”

Duke was amazed that his step-dad was so cool. But then amazement turned back into acute embarrassment when his step-dad added “That is... unless you're not done upstairs.”

What Duke hadn't told his father and what had initially upset him most was that he'd been been caught thinking of guys when he was doing it. Upon further reflection, he was pretty sure that his dad hadn't figured that out. But, time passed. He thought more about what his father had said that day. And he realized that that was covered too. It didn't hurt anybody when he fantasized about guys rather than girls. ...And as to doing it in excess... well, he was a teenager after all.