I raised myself on my elbow and said, 'Of course I do, but I haven't carried rubbers with me since I was sixteen.' 'No one knows who I really am, not my friends or my folks. He grabbed my hand, clutching it tightly. There was a lot of pain in the little word. He stared down at his hands and said, 'No.' 'It's easy to come out in a bar,' he said, 'or in bed.' A shadow crossed his face. 'Few of us come out all at once,' I said, gently. Afterwards I came up and shook your hand.' The smile faded and he looked at me gravely. 'I gave so many speeches that year,' I said apologetically. 'Two years ago you gave a speech at a rally at UCLA against the sodomy law. They were empty gestures, the kind it was beginning to seem that these people were full of.

It was as if I was the last of a long line of grown-ups who would fail him. 'There are only two stages to dying, Henry.Her hard, intelligent face showed no sign of being charmed. 'When you die, Grant, the tailors and barbers will declare a day of national mourning.' 'As for me, when I die I'll direct my family to bury me without fanfare.'.The rich are different, I thought: condemned to live their lives in public, they go through their paces at the edge of hysteria like show dogs from which every trait has been bred but anxiety.'I could tell you but it would completely miss the point.' I can't picture what you men do with each other.' A moment later she said, 'I have never understood homosexuality. I think most people who get to that room go crazy because they're surrounded with missed possibilities and no principle to explain or justify why they made the choices they did.' 'Every choice closes doors,' I said, 'and at some point you are left in the little room of yourself.Henry Rios series of novels The Little Death (1986) 'Every choice closes doors,' I said, 'and at some point you are left in the little room of yourself. 3.1 Created equal: Why gay rights matter to America (1994).2 'The Children of Eve' series of novels (historical fiction).

Rag and Bone by Michael Nava