A Beginner's Guide to Stealing Home
By M. Arbon
()
About this ebook
"So, you quit the call centre and didn't tell anybody about it?" Colin asked.
Arthur counted the stitches on his knitting needle. When he finished, Colin was still looking at him.
"I got laid off," Arthur said.
"And didn't tell anybody about it," Colin finished.
"I got another job," Arthur said defensively.
"Call centre drone to knitting guy. Man, that is hardcore," Colin said in admiration.
-Arthur Wu is a knitting nerd whose family thinks he works in tech support
-his kinda sorta boyfriend Colin is a total slacker, man
-it's a summer fling
-Arthur's awesome grandmother is awesome
-so are his sisters
-there's a whole lot of knitting
This 10,000-word story was previously published in Shousetsu Bang*Bang.
M. Arbon
M. Arbon writes stories, mostly queer, often sexy, about people who try hard not to be jerks. M. lives and works in Toronto, Canada. M.'s stories have appeared in the anthologies His Seed and Best Gay Stories 2017, as well as being published as stand-alone volumes.
Read more from M. Arbon
The New Kitchen Boy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProgramming Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Chain of Beads Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCup of Tea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Am the One Who Has You Now Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Unexpected Stay In Highbridge Town Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRun For Your Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnother Pair of Hands Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Beginner's Guide to Stealing Home
Related ebooks
Another Pair of Hands Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrow and Firefly Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hidden Hearts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFindley Black and the Ghosts of Printer's Devil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPretty Plastic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrow and Crown Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Teaspoon of Desire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove, Lies, and Cryptids Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExecutive Decision Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cooking Mage & The Parchment Prankster Part One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life Siphon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Accidental Baker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Old Dogs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTaking Flight: Celtic Myths Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCowboys and Kilts Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not So Cookie Cutter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King's Time: The Brass Machine: Book Three Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPurple Haze: Aliens in New York, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCherries on Top Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shiny Things: Short North, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSongs By Heart: sweet gay romance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rose and Spindle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Things in Heaven and Earth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Stealth Lovers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSilver Bells Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhere There's Smoke (Aidan Undercover Mystery) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPandora Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Gay Fiction For You
Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kiss Her Once for Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pomegranate: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Young Mungo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Him: Him, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silver in the Wood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exquisite Corpse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost Wall: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Marvellous Light Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zombie: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Orlando: A Biography Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Persian Boy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then He Sang a Lullaby Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maurice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We the Animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Trash Warlock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Boy's Own Story: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Faggots Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Impossible Beauties: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slammerkin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reality of Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lie With Me: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Querelle of Roberval Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seduced by My Sister's Boyfriend Part 1: A Gay Taboo Erotica Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jonny Appleseed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Magnolia Park: A Comic, Pornographic Novel of Erotic Obsession and Other Horrors in the Deep South Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5We Are Water: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Charioteer: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Beginner's Guide to Stealing Home
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
A Beginner's Guide to Stealing Home - M. Arbon
A Beginner's Guide to Stealing Home
M. Arbon
Thirteen Flowers Press
A Beginner's Guide to Stealing Home
Arthur made a one-handed grab for the ball. It bounced off his fingertip, gaining momentum, and ricocheted off the edge of the peeling bleacher bench. He had time for another wild, futile lunge before it skipped along the foot plank, veered, and rolled through the gap. Making an agonized noise between his teeth, Arthur crouched and peered into the shadows beneath the bleachers.
Twenty-five dollars' worth of hand-dyed merino lay in the dirt.
Keeping an iron grip on the second ball and the two circular needles in his other hand, Arthur righted himself and contemplated his options.
Realistically, there was only one. He sighed and fished in the cloth supermarket tote he used as a project bag. The zippered notions pouch was at the bottom. He pulled out the little, sharp scissors and gave a preparatory wince.
A voice underneath him said, Yo, do you want me to throw it back up to you?
Arthur bent over and looked through the gap. A white guy about his own age had picked up the ball and was holding it in a three-fingered pitching grip. He made as if to toss it upwards.
No,
Arthur said hastily, imagining yarn unreeling everywhere as he missed the catch. Can you catch something else?
There's more?
the guy asked, sounding amused.
It's all attached.
Arthur put the half-finished sock into the tote, trying not to tug too hard on the length of fingering yarn that attached the ball of merino to the rest. He squatted and fed the bag through the gap. Okay?
Hit me,
he said, and Arthur dropped the bag. The guy caught the handles with a neat overhand maneuver.
I'll be right down.
I'm coming up,
the guy said in the same moment, and by the time Arthur had screwed the lid on his thermos, the guy was climbing the bleachers towards him.
Thank you,
Arthur said, taking the offered bag and yarn. He looped the handles over his arm and gingerly picked particles of soil off the ball. At least it wasn't muddy.
So what are you making?
Arthur had only recently gotten used to answering that question in glorious detail. He pulled the circulars out of the tote. It's just a plain cuff-down pattern, but I'm really loving this yarn. There's a bit of silk in with the merino it to give it a lustre, and the dyer's colours are wonderful. I'm just doing basic stripes, but with one semi-solid colourway and one variegated you get a really interesting effect.
The guy regarded the four inches of ribbing. Is that knitting?
Arthur reversed his momentum. Yes.
What is it?
It's a sock.
Blonde eyebrows went up. A sock.
A pair of socks. This is the first one.
You're making socks? By hand? That's a thing you can do?
Yes.
Arthur braced himself for the familiar catalogue of jokes.
"That's amazing." His expression looked as though