Remember your best friend?
Image courtesy of pxfuel by way of a Creative Commons license.
Remember when you were younger and your phone would ring and it would be your best friend and he’d say, “What are you doing?” and you’d say, “I’ve got this to do and this and this,” and he’d say “No you don’t. I’ll be there in 5 minutes.” And he’d show up and you’d get into his car and off you’d go and be gone all day and half the night, and you’d do this thing and this thing and this thing, and some of those things were wonderful and some of them were terrifying and when you got home later that night, every muscle in your body was aching, and you were tired, and maybe you were a little sunburned, and maybe you were a little drunk. …
But you would know that this had been the best day of your life.
Yeah.
I remember.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, Ello and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .
I think I’m depressed. Wait, I know I’m depressed.
Part of it has to do with Mom’s and my sister Sandie’s passing. I’m living in Mom’s house, slowly parceling out her stuff, and being reminded every minute of every day that she and my sister are gone.
After 24 years of looking after Mom, I am trying to put my life back together. I have few friends and seem to have forgotten how to make new friends or even hang on to the old ones.
I’m dealing with Mom’s estate issues and my health issues. That’ll keep a person busy.
One change I’ve made is going through my old Facebook posts and deleting them. Every day Facebook presents me with a batch of “memories” and I delete them all or restrict the audience. I’m doing this because I feel like I (foolishly) provided Facebook and the public with too much personal information. Maybe now I can get rid of some of it.
Today, as I was going through my batch of “memories,” I came upon a post I wrote a few years ago, about the “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” launched by presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. If you recall, Chick-fil-A was receiving criticism for its efforts to repeal the rights of LGBTQ individuals. Here in Fort Walton Beach, the Chick-fil-A across from Walmart was flooded with visitors who claimed they were standing up for freedom of speech.
I parsed through the comments on that post and was horrified by the hatred for LGBTQ people I saw expressed there. Many did not believe the LGBTQ deserved any protections from discrimination or persecution, and did not liken the campaign for equal rights as a civil rights issue (although many of the federal protections for LGBTQ people are extended through Title VII and Title IX).
More significant was the cynical concealment of their dislike for LGBTQ people by passing it off as a concern for “freedom of speech.” (Chick-fil-A does a lot more than “speak.”) Others dismissed the LGBTQ community as a group of people wanting special privileges and treatment.
After reading those comments I was plunged into a dark depression, because I had forgotten most of that awful day, and I simultaneously realized – again – that this country hates me.
The country I was born in hates me.
I also realized that, for as long as I remain here, I will always be a second class citizen. Or perhaps a third class citizen. I will be reminded on a daily basis of everything I have lost, and everything I will never have.
I don’t have the money to go somewhere else so it appears I’m stuck. Just as stuck as I was the first half of my life, before I learned not to hate myself for what I am. Such a wonderful “memory.”
I’ll delete this post next time I see it.
About the author:
Del Stone Jr. is a professional fiction writer. He is known primarily for his work in the contemporary dark fiction field, but has also published science fiction and contemporary fantasy. Stone’s stories, poetry and scripts have appeared in publications such as Amazing Stories, Eldritch Tales, and Bantam-Spectra’s Full Spectrum. His short fiction has been published in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII; Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; the Pocket Books anthology More Phobias; the Barnes & Noble anthologies 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, and 100 Astounding Little Alien Stories; the HWA anthology Psychos; and other short fiction venues, like Blood Muse, Live Without a Net, Zombiesque and Sex Macabre. Stone’s comic book debut was in the Clive Barker series of books, Hellraiser, published by Marvel/Epic and reprinted in The Best of Hellraiser anthology. He has also published stories in Penthouse Comix, and worked with artist Dave Dorman on many projects, including the illustrated novella “Roadkill,” a short story for the Andrew Vachss anthology Underground from Dark Horse, an ashcan titled “December” for Hero Illustrated, and several of Dorman’s Wasted Lands novellas and comics, such as Rail from Image and “The Uninvited.” Stone’s novel, Dead Heat, won the 1996 International Horror Guild’s award for best first novel and was a runner-up for the Bram Stoker Award. Stone has also been a finalist for the IHG award for short fiction, the British Fantasy Award for best novella, and a semifinalist for the Nebula and Writers of the Future awards. His stories have appeared in anthologies that have won the Bram Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Two of his works were optioned for film, the novella “Black Tide” and short story “Crisis Line.”
Stone recently retired after a 41-year career in journalism. He won numerous awards for his work, and in 1986 was named Florida’s best columnist in his circulation division by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. In 2001 he received an honorable mention from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his essay “When Freedom of Speech Ends” and in 2003 he was voted Best of the Best in the category of columnists by Emerald Coast Magazine. He participated in book signings and awareness campaigns, and was a guest on local television and radio programs.
As an addendum, Stone is single, kills tomatoes and morning glories with ruthless efficiency, once tied the stem of a cocktail cherry in a knot with his tongue, and carries a permanent scar on his chest after having been shot with a paintball gun. He’s in his 60s as of this writing but doesn’t look a day over 94.
Contact Del at [email protected]. He is also on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Visit his website at delstonejr.com .