Summer Shorts 3

Summer Shorts follows the secret sex lives of the residents in a small town named Carnal. This is volume 3, the sacrifice issue. In “American Girl,” Rafia Saad longs to be part of the in-crowd at her new school. She meets Veronica Smith, one of Academy’s most popular seniors, who is only too eager to help Rafia find an appropriate place in the school’s social hierarchy. But the position Veronica has in mind for Rafia involves one of the upstairs guest rooms and most of the boys in her senior class. How much will one girl sacrifice to satisfy her strong desires?


In “Five Finger Discount,” Jimmy Manley is caught shoplifting by Emil Bogdon, an immigrant security guard who doesn’t speak English terribly well. Jimmy has enjoyed hustling gay men in the past but is quite concerned with maintaining the appearance of an heterosexual all American boy. He thinks he has agreed to let Bogdon take him on a “little trip to heaven” in exchange for his freedom, but Bogdon is not as concerned as Jimmy with the appearance of heterosexuality in American boys. Bogdon cares about only one thing, which thing he makes abundantly clear to Jimmy when he unbuckles his belt, opens his pants, and lowers his fly. Before the afternoon is over, Jimmy will have to make a tough choice: Will he sacrifice the illusions he holds about himself, or will he continue on as he has in the past, a slave to appearances?


In “A Good Girl is an Easy Sacrifice,” Johnny Manley has a problem. When he loves a girl, he gets too invested. He longs to lose himself in the needs of his mate. But Johnny understands that this is no good for him. He knows he needs to change. He meets Dominique Thomas, a young girl fresh from the Caribbean. Johnny knows he needs to find new ways to relate to women. He hopes sweet Dominique can help him overcome. But if Johnny is to succeed, if he is to flourish and thrive, he will first have to make a sacrifice. Something about him must change. What might it be? Perhaps something to do with his illusions about women, good girls.