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The Name on My Wrist

By J.M. Snyder

ISBN: 9781465773906
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  • The Name on My Wrist

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GENRE: Gay Romance
LENGTH: 2,637 words
RATING: flame rating 1

James, middle-aged, is given to one-night flings with younger men in whom he searches for someone he lost long ago. A random comment by his latest catch draws his mind back to the past, to a boy he once loved so fiercely, a boy drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. A boy lost in the war. A boy James has never forgotten.

Warning: This is a very sad little story. It's also one of my best.

EXCERPT:

    The room is dark and I can feel his awkwardness like a loaded gun between us. I haven't known him long but he's just the way I like them -- younger than me and blond. He's one of the guys I've come here with this weekend, at this house along the beach, and he's so full of energy, like I used to be. He reminds me of someone I used to know, someone I swore I'd never forget.

    He's in his twenties and out among our friends he's all talk but in here I feel him tremble beneath me -- I touch him, kiss him, lay him back to the bed like I've done with dozens of boys before, whispering it'll be okay, and I know he's just as nervous as I once was, years ago when Don breathed against my neck for the first time, told me he loved me, it'd be okay. I don't say the word love now, this isn't that, it's nothing like that. I don't even remember this guy's name.

    When he fumbles with his jeans, he catches a glimpse of the bracelet I wear around my left wrist and laughs anxiously. "This won't be too much for you, will it?" he asks.

    I pull back, not sure what he means.

    He points at my wrist. "That one of those med things?"

    It's a POW-MIA bracelet, I explain. Means I lost someone in the war. Means someone I loved never made it home. Pvt. Donald L. Jones. I trace the name with my finger and for the first time in a long while, I really see the bracelet -- I've worn it so long, I barely feel it anymore, it's become a part of me, like a wedding band or a cross around my neck. But now I squint in the darkness and see the engraved letters; I see the boy behind those words. Nineteen and amazing. Invincible. Mine.

    Another nervous laugh. "Just so you don't have a heart condition," he says. He reaches for me but the moment's lost, I'm lost, back to a time when I was younger and only had one man, one love, who was everything I ever wanted a boy to be.

by Elke L.

This is the first book I've read by J.M. Snyder, so I didn't know what to expect, but it only took a few lines and I was hooked. Wow! Snyder's clear prose with enough metaphors to give you a better picture, but not so many as to annoy you, is a pleasure to read. But it's not just pictures, well painted as they are. No, you get plenty of haptic, too, which you may say is necessary for any intimate M/M scene, but Snyder goes well beyond that. Just think 'dog tags falling into the hollow of your throat, the aluminium smooth and warmed by the wearer's skin...' Great little story, effectively aimed at your heart strings. Definitely recommend!

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