Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley

Author:Jim Grimsley
Language: fr
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Gay Teenagers, Teenage Boys, Gay, Gay Teenagers - Fiction, Fathers and Sons - Fiction, Southern States - Fiction, Fathers and Sons, Romance, Family Life, Literary, General, Abusive Men - Fiction, Teenage Boys - Fiction, Love Stories, Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Abusive Men, Southern States
ISBN: 9780684829920
Publisher: Anne-Marie Métailié
Published: 1995-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

It is easy for Nathan to refuse to look back. He has been granted two days of safety, and the woodland enfolds him in green gold. By now the pond and cemetery are familiar landmarks, and Nathan knows by certain signs—the particular twist of a branch, the bend of the creek that runs through the woods here—that they are following the path to the Indian mound. Roy's long strides set an easy pace and his silence engulfs Nathan so that both move with attention to quiet. The country thereabouts is haunted with memories of the courtship between the boys, and near the creek bed they look at each other. "Don't say anything about that," Roy warns, but he is laughing when he says it.

On the Indian mound they see two figures waiting. Burke and Randy hoist their backpacks, moving in tandem. Burke hollers, "About time you lazy assholes got here," and Roy answers, "I get where I'm going exactly when I please," as he and Nathan climb the mound.

A shyness overtakes Nathan during the climb, and he is almost speechless when Randy claps him on the back. "I see you got your ma to let you come with us. That's good, I'm glad."

Burke spits into a patch of golden leaves, saliva stretching to a thread. "Nathan ain't no baby."

Wind sends a shower of maple leaves around them. The sharp chill of approaching dusk wakens Nathan to his freedom. Randy asks where they're going, and Roy answers, with an air of mystery that restores his swagger, that it's a secret place his uncle showed him, a good long walk into the woods, pretty far from everything. Up toward Handle, a direction the others seem to know. Burke and Randy ask more questions but Roy refuses answers. They will have to wait and see.

So Roy sets out walking east and everyone follows. The sun hangs high enough that the forest is full of light; and the peaceful afternoon expands. For Nathan it is as if he has walked out of Friday into some ceaseless stillness, a timelessness of superior quality. The shadow of Dad vanishes. They march through bright colored splendors, high leafy vaults, waves of vine and frond. The red and silver maples have turned colors, but the oaks and pines are still retaining their green. The images of the other boys shimmer against the fervid backdrop. Burke's bronze arms slide among the leaves, his dense body careens through the dusk, heavier than its surroundings; Randy's rounder figure follows in Burke's wake, his golden hair sometimes disappearing behind Burke's back. Nathan occasionally turns back to study the two, but mostly watches Roy's smooth gait, the movement of his shoulders beneath the backpack, the gloss of dusk in his jet hair. Nathan trails him like a lesser moon.

It is a kind of church, requiring reverence. This revelation comes to Nathan as he is gazing from side to side, guarding the delight and freedom of the moment as if they must be protected carefully in order to preserve them.

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