I never look at his face

Naah, never look at a guy's face.

Never looked at the "5 o'clock shadow" stubble that sends my hormones on a route march when his cheek rubs against mine.

Didn't notice the way the corners of his mouth twitch slightly when he'd been angry with me but was about to laugh.

The cute dimples on his face when he pulled that wide smile? Didn't know he had 'em.

At night when he's asleep and the lights from the city below are the only light, that he has a cute cupid's bow? Really? I must have been asleep.

The sharply-chiseled triangle of a nose that juts out from the face? Must have missed that. Certainly didn't jokingly call him "button nose" since people said guys with long dicks had small noses.

Never felt a thrill up my spine when he would check me out from the corner of his eyes after I made a snide remark.

Nor did I react when he pulled one eyebrow up questioningly in response to something that wasn't quite right.

Didn't ask what he was thinking when the eyes that normally sparked as they flicked across my features would go still and focus on some unseen object 500 metres away.

Can't remember him 36 years later.

Naah. 

[A short piece from my mate Horatio Nimier in response to a discussion at my Google group.  You can read Horatio's stories here, here and here]

The Good Archbishop, he says ....

The Jesus I worship is not likely to collaborate with those who vilify and persecute an already oppressed minority [...]. I could not myself keep quiet whilst people were being penalized for something about which they could do nothing, their sexuality. For it is so improbable that any sane, normal person would deliberately choose a lifestyle exposing him or her to so much vilification, opprobrium and physical abuse, even death. To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

[With thanks to my mate Horatio Nimier who reminded me of Archbishop Tutu's  comment.  You can read Horatio's stories here, here and here]

Sarie Marais

One of the things about growing up in a trilingual environment is that one takes non-English words for granted in conversation.  My lady and I, my sister, my mother -- we pepper our conversation all the time with Afrikaans.

So when I decided to write a ghost story set in South Africa, I had to translate many frequently used phrases.  I thought that that spoilt the story for others, and in fact made it not very good.  Anyway, you may nevertheless enjoy it.  You can read it here.  If you click on the Roman numeral in the text it'll take you to the footnote, and then if you click on the Roman numeral in the footnote, it'll take you back to where you were in the text.

My mate Horatio Nimier, a fellow ex-South African and also an accomplished author,  has also written a tale set in South Africa.  You can read this wonderful story ( good enough in my opinion for paid publication) here