I've never lived in a big city before, how different my life would have been. Could I have survived the experience as a young gay boy...I don't honestly know, but I think not. This is a story about contrasts and character, about love and family, and most of all about the hope I discovered there. Once again I have tried to bring forth the best qualities of gay youth in my characters. The needs they each share, the love they so desire, and the support they need to find.

All of my characters are fictional, but the streets in this story are very real ... too real. It's a rough town, built of hard stone and even harder people. A tough place to grow up, where even the smallest signs of weakness can destroy a young man's life.

Even so, precious flowers grow in vacant lots, amidst the weeds and debris of the crumbled buildings in this city. Only through determination could a young boy survive in this climate. His dreams would have to be bigger than the reality of life. And here on the fertile plain of our imagination, he flourishes.