Summary

The novel begins with Ike hesitantly opening his door to two detectives. He thinks, “It was bad enough being a Black man in the good ol’ US of A and talking to the cops” (1). They tell him his son, Isiah, has been murdered. The next chapter depicts the funeral for Isiah and his husband, Derek, who was also murdered. Derek’s father, Buddy Lee, meets and talks with Ike for the first time. He briefly talks about being an ex-con (a history he shares with Ike) but Ike is reticent, saying, “Just because I don’t wanna talk about it doesn’t mean I want to forget about it. It reminds me of why I don’t ever wanna go back” (7). Both men were intolerant of their sons’ homosexuality, and their interracial marriage was not well received by the families, either.

Chapters...