Our non-erotic gay male books are now also published in ebook by BarbarianSpy Read an extract from Canine Connections by habu, an inspirational bundle of five novellas that embrace the theme of a gay man whose life is made bigger and better, or perhaps bearable, by the presence of a dog in it.
Extract from the included novella My Dog Jack Rick
didn’t like dogs. If he did he would have paid some attention to whether
his apartment house accepted dogs before signing a year’s lease and
painting the living room wall hunter green in anticipation of an even
longer tenancy. His
dad knew he didn’t like dogs—and had probably taken the time to
discover that there was a “no dogs” clause in Rick’s apartment
lease. So,
why, Rick wondered, did his dad use the most vulnerable moment of their
long and stormy relationship to saddle his son with Jack—or with
tremendous guilt if Rick had refused to take him. “One
last thing, Rick,” he had said, as Rick dipped his head low to hear what
had to be the eleventh last request—none of which had a thing to do with
either Rick or his sister, Rachel. “Sure
thing, Dad,” Rick had whispered, being quite sure that his dad would
come out of this hospitalization like he’d done several times before and
probably would go on ignoring both Rachel and Rick as he had dutifully
done since the day their mother had betrayed him and died of cancer. “Promise
me this last thing. I can’t go until I know it’s taken care of.” “Yes,
I promise,” Rick said. But the son had no idea what the father was going
to say. Perhaps that he be buried out at the sheep ranch he had loved so
much and so hard, certainly more than he’d ever loved another human
being, and that had been hard to him in return? Or maybe have his old Jeep
bronzed and used as his casket. Rick didn’t really care which. His dad
had been little more than an inconvenience and nagging guilt of
opportunity lost and relationships gone sour for no reason Rick could
fathom for more than a decade. And the son’s only comforting thought on
that failure to bond was that Rick knew he had given it more thought and
been more concerned about it than his father ever had. The
father loved his dog more than he loved Rick—or Rachel—or even his
wife when she was still alive, Rick would have been willing to bet. “I
want you to promise to take Jack. Not to put him down or send him to a
kennel. I want you to promise to give him a home and see that he is taken
care of—personally.” That
certainly was a bolt out of hell. Rick’s dad knew his son’s
circumstance, in a small inner-city apartment. Rick’s experience with
his dad’s dog, Jack, was that the hound didn’t even like Rick. Hell,
he growled at Rick and kept his body between the son and the father
whenever Rick had checked in on his dad and been rebuffed for the effort
yet again—giving Rick the impression that the dog thought him capable of
patricide. Which, at the moment, if his dad weren’t already dying,
seemed a viable choice to Rick. “Why,
Dad? Why not Rachel? She lives on a big spread. It would be what Jack is
used to. He’d adjust so much better . . .” “He
can’t stand Rachel. He’d die out of spite,” the dad answered. His
voice was weak, though. Rick had to lower his head even farther to catch
his words. Other non-erotic gay fiction E-books |
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Stephen Kessel |
habu |
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Turtle Airways Special Moving On The Velvet Interrogation Two Chances |
Included in Canine Connections or available separately. Dire Conditions Saving Cleo My Dog Jack |