Beaten and thrown out of his home by his father, Guy ends up on the streets. A few days later he's 'adopted' by two strays, a German shepherd mix and a gray kitten. Later that night, when he returns to a vacant house he'd found the previous day, he meets three other homeless teens -- Mack, Tone, and Dani. After a false start, because they think he's a punk looking for trouble, they become friends. Dani insists the animals need names, and she decides to call the kitten Ghost, while the dog becomes Shadow. When Mack and Guy are threatened by two real punks in the alley behind the house, Shadow defends them, with Mack's help. This leads to their decision that it isn’t safe to remain where they are. As they move on, the quartet's friendship deepens, and Guy eventually trusts them enough to tell them he's gay ... which they accept with no problem, as it turns out so are Mack and Tone. Now they have to continue dealing with life on the streets while COVID ravages the country, making being homeless a fight for their very survival.

Strays in the Time of COVID

She looked at Guy, shaking her head. “Come on. Don’t tell me he understood me.”


“He’s pretty smart, so who knows.”


She rubbed Shadow’s head, promising that she wasn’t going to make him go outside. “Well, except if you have to pee. You, too.” She pointed to Ghost. “We don’t have a litter box so…”


Guy got the message, picked up Ghost, told Shadow, “Come,” and took them out to the alley. Tone was coming back, minus any tagalongs, and kept Guy company while he waited for the animals to do their thing.


“You’re really going to keep them?” he asked.


“You better believe it,” Guy replied. “Like I told Mack, I wasn’t allowed to have pets growing up. Now I’m making up for it.”


Tone hesitated, then said, “You like him, don’t you?”


Guy shrugged. “He seems like a good guy.”


“He is. But that’s not what I meant.”


“Oh? Oh…” Guy frowned. “You’re saying he’s gay and you think I am, too. Right?”


Chapter 11