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

“Naw. Like I said, it’s warm, sort of.” Guy waved his hand at the sky. “Still, who ordered this?”


No one claimed responsibility, but Tone did offer him one of large trash bags he said he carried for such emergencies. They were slit up the front to form a cape of sorts. Dani and Mack had similar ones, so when they left the stand of trees, they looked like four ghosts in the negative, according to Dani. The real Ghost was safely ensconced in Guy’s backpack, and had been since she felt the first raindrops. Shadow didn’t seem to mind being wet, or if he did, he didn’t act like it.


“Not to sound like a spend-thrift, but if anyone wants breakfast there’s a coffee spot not too far from here,” Mack said. “I don’t think they’d kick us out on a day like this if we shed the plastic bags before we go in and wear our masks. At least we’d be out of this mess for a while.”


Chapter 18