About At the Sign of the Ancestors
Written by Kara Larson
25 pages / 10500 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-510-3, 1-60370-510-4
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc
Kit Chao's family holds on to many of the traditions of their Thai ancestry. One of those traditions is Thai fighting, or Muay Thai, a martial art Kit has been raised doing. He treats it as a sign of respect for his ancestors, and while his fighting days have passed, Kit still occasionally steps into the ring when his gym needs him. That bit of information isn't something he talks about too often, just as he has never officially told his fellow fighters and trainers about being gay.
Drew is Kit's first potential boyfriend in a long time. A teacher, like Kit is during his day job, Drew share academic interests with Kit, as well as an intense attraction. One thing Drew doesn't quite understand, though, is why Kit would risk his life and limbs to fight. They both have to do some intense soul-searching in order to keep their relationship from facing total knock-out.
Sample
As the bell rang and his students turned to face him, he could feel their gaze focus on his face. Most particularly, he could feel their eyes focus on his left one, which radiated a rainbow of colors from yellow to a purply-black. A quick intake of breath, and then he was met with silence.
''Damn, Mr. C, what were you doing over Christmas break?'' one of his students asked, mouth agape.
Kit Chao sighed, running a hand through his short dark hair. He’d just recently got it cut, so it was still clipped pretty close, which meant that running a hand through it was more like rubbing his head. At least none of his scars showed through his hair.
''Welcome back to Sophomore English,'' he said, wondering if there were actually any new students in the sea of faces that stared at him. ''I hope you all had a good vacation.''
''Not as good as you, Mr. C!'' another student quipped. ''Get beat up by your girlfriend?''
''Bet it was a gang,'' the first student cracked. ''Mr. C’s so small, someone probably jumped him."
Well, he was jumped. And all but knocked out. The black eye was his own fault anyway, since he'd let his guard down. The refs had called for no elbows, but then that asshole Glenn had snuck one in. Luckily, it hadn't cut his eyebrow like the last time he’d taken an elbow to the head.
''It was an accident and it’ll fade,'' he said, holding up his hands to fend off any more questions. He wondered how Superman handled the double life sometimes, though he was far from Clark Kent. Still, from mild-mannered English teacher to belted Muay Thai fighter, it was hard to make the leap between his lives every now and then. His entire world seemed to focus on bells ringing, and it was only the pong of the gym or the smell of whiteboard marker that would tell him the difference. Fifty-five minutes or three, a period in high school was just as grueling as a round in the ring.
''If you open up David Copperfield to page one…''