And The Beagle Makes Three
Geoffrey Knight
Genre: Gay Drama /Comedy
Length: 26,000 words
Release Date: 04.12.18
BLURB
When Stuart Summerfield finally realized he was gay, he knew that telling his beloved wife Claire would be one of the hardest, most heartbreaking things he would ever do. Unfortunately Stu’s coming out wasn’t simply heartbreaking… it had the most unexpected and tragic consequences imaginable.
Now, almost one year after the car accident that took Claire’s life, Stu has buried himself in his work to push through the pain and guilt while doing his best to raise, Atticus, their young son, who has himself handled his grief in his own unique way. While getting by one day at a time proves difficult enough, it never crossed Stu’s mind that the family’s annual weekend away at the lakeside home of his sister-in-law, Bethany, would still go ahead now that Claire was gone.
Atticus, however, has other ideas. With his loyal beagle Digby by his side, Atty makes a phone call to Aunt Bethany in an effort to keep the family tradition alive, no matter what chaos and calamity might ensue.
And so over the course of one weekend filled with commotion—and emotion—Stu and Atty are about to learn that healing can open up your heart, that grief can sometimes be good, and that nobody travels the road to recovery alone.
The Power of Denial
Hi Love Bytes, thanks for having me and thanks for helping me celebrate the release of my new story And The Beagle Makes Three.
And The Beagle Makes Three is the story of single windowed dad Stu Summerfield and his eight-year-old son Atticus. Almost a year ago, Stu and Atty lost Claire – Stu’s wife and Atty’s mom. Claire died in an accident that resulted from Stu’s attempt to come out to his much-loved wife and admit to her – and finally to himself – that he is gay.
This is the back story from which my story stems. It’s a scenario that evolves around the fact that Stu has, for all intents and purposes, been in a state of denial about his sexuality for his entire life. In fact, so powerful was his sense of denial that not even he could see the truth until he really sat back and realized he was gay. After all, he doesn’t possess any stereotypical gay traits. He’s a landscaper and just an average guy in every way.
In my story, I wanted to explore the ramifications of Stu’s denial. In doing so, denial became the dominant theme in my story. All the main characters in the book are suffering from denial in one form or another, and the ripple effect this has on them and the other characters in the book is something that touches all their lives.
In reality, Stu’s scenario is not an unusual one, especially for gay men in their 40s and older. That’s not to say denial doesn’t exist in younger gay men… for many it does. Coming out is not an easy thing to do for anyone. Depending on the attitudes of friends and family, it can be one of the hardest, heart-wrenching, liberating, isolating, amazing experiences a gay person will ever go through.
I was born in 1969, so my formative gay years – my teen years – were the 1980s. That decade was NOT a fun time to deal with being gay. AIDS sent hysteria and moral judgement sweeping across the globe in the early 80s, and my view of the gay world was skewed through the eyes of a suburban family watching the news and blaming gay people for an epidemic that was killing at a frightening rate. I had no mentors, no gay role models, nobody gay at all in my life (at least not knowingly) that I could turn to for advice or comfort. And so the demon that is Denial decided to take up residence in my head.
The demon Denial of course was fed and pampered by my parents’ generation who didn’t care for or about homosexuals. Gays were a breed unto themselves and thankfully for my parents the homosexual community lived far, far away from blissful suburbia. To my parents, gay people were like a race of aliens they did not understand or discuss, except for one night when a flamboyant gay character appeared on a commercial on TV, primarily as the butt of some joke for advertising purposes. I remember my mother shaking her head and saying to me and my two brothers, “I hope none of you boys ever grow up like that. If you do, you’ll end up living a sad and lonely life.”
Harsh words for a young gay boy to hear! Lucky for me I had my demon friend Denial in my head to tell me I had nothing to worry about because I wasn’t gay… right?
Now don’t get me wrong, my parents are amazing people. They’re now the most supportive parents I could ever wish for. They love me and always have, and they love my partner Brett and our gorgeous daughter Elliot. They were, in those days, simply the product of a generation that didn’t like the idea of people who were different to them.
Thankfully attitudes have shifted greatly since then. We still have a long way to go, and for some poor kids… and mature gays… looking the demon Denial in the eye and telling him that he no longer has power of you continues to be a fear too great to overcome. The sad thing is, it’s no fault of their own. It’s the fault of a society eager to suppress those who are different.
Denial is created when people refuse to accept and love everyone for who they are.
Denial is a blinding and destructive force.
Denial warps us into believing we are someone we’re not.
Denial hurts everyone, not only the person living with Denial, but everyone who believes that the mask you hide behind is the true you.
For the sake of everyone we love – including ourselves – we must deny Denial its power. Because living in Denial is living a life half-lived.
Atty sat on a chair outside the principal’s office. He turned his head when he saw a flash of daylight reflect on the well-mopped floors as the door at the end of the corridor opened and his father come running toward him.
Stu practically slid to his knees in front of his son, grabbing Atty’s arms, feeling his forehead, looking for any bruises from bullies or red marks on Atty’s knuckles on the off-chance he’d fought back.
“Atty? Buddy, you okay? What’s happened?”
Atticus gave his father a concerned look and said quietly, “Dad, I made the whole class cry.”
“What do you mean you made the whole class cry? Why? How?”
“I didn’t mean to. I don’t think they liked my presentation.”
“What presentation? You didn’t tell me you had a presentation.”
“You were busy, I didn’t wanna bother you. I’ve never failed an assignment before. What do you think it feels like to get an F?”
Stu gave Atty a tight, long hug. “It’s okay to get an F once in a while. Nobody’s perfect all of the time, Atty.”
At that moment, the door to Principal Parsons’s office opened.
“Ah, Mr. Summerfield. I thought I heard your voice. Would you mind stepping inside?”
Principal Parsons gestured for Stu to enter the office, but as Atty moved to follow his father the principal held up his hand. “You can stay here for the moment, Atty. We’d like to have a word with your father in private. We won’t be long.” The door clicked shut and Atty took his seat and waited.
Inside Principal Parsons’s office, Mrs. Tilbury was already waiting for Stu to join them.
“Mr. Summerfield, it’s nice to see you again.” Mrs. Tilbury shook Stu’s hand but had trouble looking him in the eye.
“Is this about the beagle again?” Stu asked, taking the spare seat as Principal Parsons gestured to it.
“Yes, and we’re concerned the problem isn’t going away,” the principal answered. “It seems to be in complete contrast with the way Atticus appears to be working through his issues creatively.”
Stu shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
Mrs. Tilbury sat forward. “A few weeks ago, the children were given an assignment. They were asked to put together a presentation in any medium or format they liked, so long as it covered the topic of ‘The Story of My Life So Far’.” She took a breath and lost eye contact with Stu once more. “Naturally, given the last year that
Atticus has had—”
“Eleven months,” Stu interrupted quietly. “It’s been eleven months.”
Mrs. Tilbury cleared her throat and continued. “Given the last eleven months that Atticus has been through, I gave him the option not to participate, but he insisted on putting together a presentation.”
“Was it bad? Did he do something wrong?”
Principal Parsons and Mrs. Tilbury exchanged glances before Parsons said, “Why don’t you see for yourself. If you wouldn’t mind turning your chair around.”
It was only then that Stu noticed the film projector facing the back wall of the office. Mrs. Tilbury switched off the lights and set the projector running, the rickety film of Atty’s presentation jerking into motion.
Geoffrey Knight is the author of more than 30 gay fiction novels, novellas and short stories, ranging in genre from gay adventure, gay romance, gay suspense and gay comedies. He is the recipient of two Rainbow Awards including Best Mystery Winner and Best Overall Gay Fiction Runner-up. His work has been featured in several anthologies including Best Gay Erotica 2013, and he appeared as Guest of Honor at the inaugural Rainbow Con in Florida, 2014.
Geoffrey has worked in advertising, politics and journalism, but nothing is as fun as telling stories. He lives with his partner, their baby daughter, two dogs and two cats in a rambling old house in North Queensland, Australia, where the paint is fraying and life is good.
I just wanted to say I have a lot of sympathy for growing up in the 90s with parents who only knew what they saw on the news, who only reported what would sell copy… yikes.
(But I’d have bought just about anything with a beagle on it 😀 I have one downstairs myself. Can’t wait to see what kind of trouble this one gets into!)
Your story made me tear up. I’m of a similar age and I remember that time. It seems so long ago and yet, so recent as well.