Altimexis - Stories

Although modern day “Naptown” is very different from Indianapolis in 1972, it's still in the Bible Belt and gay teens face challenges even today. Let me explain what I faced that led me deeply into the closet. (Revised June 18, 2010)

Jake and Ken are getting married, and then they're taking their sons, Roger and Kyle, on a ten-week European vacation. Francis (Freck), Kyle's boyfriend, will be going with them, but he has a history that includes drugs and a suicide attempt when he was only eleven. On top of that, Freck, a freckle-faced redhead who was raised Catholic, now has a Jewish boyfriend and has come to realize that he's one-quarter Jewish. Naturally, he's curious about what it all means. But what will happen when his life hits a minor bump in the road?

When Jack loses his wife of more than 40 years, he finds himself besieged by widows looking for a husband. How strange it is, then, when he realizes the one he wants is his neighbor, Larry. (2010 Fall Anthology - No Going Back)

Young Adam, aka Simon, aka J.J. grew up in Southern Indiana, the victim of sexual abuse for as long as he could remember. The one thing he had going for himself was his intelligence, which allowed him to master advanced college-level material online. On his 13th birthday, however, his father left him no choice but to fight back the only way he could. Forced to run away, he began an amazing journey that would lead him to the highest corporate echelons, and more importantly, to love.

What do Bar Mitzvahs and food carts have in common? Nothing… unless you’re talking about a precocious young teen with a Jewish boyfriend and a best friend who's half black Cajun and half Asian, and who’s a gifted teenage chef. With a double Bar Mitzvah on the Fourth of July weekend, why not make it a pool party? Oy Vey!

Asher White was everything Clarke hated. He was half-black and half-Asian, and out and proud. But when Asher actually managed to beat Clarke in wrestling, he just snapped and punched Asher out. Clarke knew this was it. He'd worked so hard to get into New York's elite Stuyvesant High School and now it would be for naught. Grasping at straws, he tells the vice-principle the one secret not even he knows he has. With the help of a new friend, he is forced to confront years of abuse he has suffered at home. After all, bullying starts in the home, and it must end in the home.

The invitation to spend a week of sightseeing in Washington, D.C. seemed like a great idea to Kyle. With his good friend, Seth, interning in Congress, it was a great opportunity for him and his boyfriend to see things most tourists didn't see. Kyle thought he'd fully recovered from the injuries he’d sustained three years earlier, but then a series of encounters forced him to recall a time he’d long thought he'd put behind him.

Seth Moore grew up on New York’s Lower East side, the son of a New York State assemblyman. He loved his dad and admired his dedication, but then his dad was arrested on federal charges of corruption. It couldn’t be! When the Feds moved against his boyfriend’s family and seized their restaurants, their only means of support, something had to be done. Would Seth’s dad cop a plea to insider trading and go prison for a crime he didn’t commit, all for the sake of his son and the boy he loved?

David and Jeremy aren't about to let tradition keep them for dancing together at Homecoming. GSA president Paul has a plan, but it seems to run into a snag at first. (Fall 2007 Anthology - Worth Fighting For) This is the 3rd story in the Naptown Tales series, which can also be found at Awesome Dude and Nifty. A slightly modified version more suitable for younger teens can be found at Codey’s World. Please see the Introduction for important background info.

Born with hereditary spastic paraparesis, Simon had spent most of his life in a wheelchair, unable to walk and barely able to use his hands. To his parents, home schooling had seemed to be the only way for Simon to get an education; yet Simon was smart and yearned to be another Stephen Hawking - not to live with his parents until they became to infirm to care for him. He decided to take a chance on applying to the Bronx High School of Science, one of the best public secondary schools in the world. Going to a public high school would be scary, but there'd be new opportunities to live life, and to love.