Chariots on the Highway

by Limor Moyal

  Love you always,

  Mother Flora

  Dan cried, not just simple tears, but a real cry, sobbing, with noises and a dripping nose. This letter, the things that Flora said, it was everything!

  It was the truth! A truth he discovered in a year-long journey. A journey that changed him from one extreme to the other. A journey that brought him to discover himself.

  And Flora, Flora knew that.

  He wanted to tell her that, and he said it, in his heart. He hoped she could hear him.

  “Flora, I love you, and I took the reins, and I have a passenger, it’s Tom. And I love him, and the road is so beautiful Flora, that sometimes I feel like I can’t take this much beauty. And I'm not afraid to go into traffic when he’s with me, or come across road blocks, because I know I'm not alone. Goodbye to you, my dear Flora.”

  28 All the World is Green

  February 1st was a date that Dan hated. He was born on that day and he hated birthdays in any way, shape or form. That’s why he kept the date a secret, and made sure that no one could decide to celebrate it and ruin his day.

  When he arrived home and parked his Jeep next to Tom’s Chevrolet, he started to worry. On Wednesday, Tom was supposed to study late.

  He looked around to make sure Tom hadn’t done the worst of all and arranged the horror known as a ‘surprise party.’

  He went inside the house, the table was set, there was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket and lit candles were in the middle of the table. In the background he could hear All The World is Green by Tom Waits, one of his favorite singers. While he stood and tried to comprehend the situation at hand, a pair of strong warm hands grabbed him from behind. Tom’s touch and smell flooded his senses. He leaned backward onto him and closed his eyes, “Happy birthday, my love, you’re thirty-five today. I know you hate birthdays, but I love birthdays and I love you, so deal with it,” whispered Tom.

  “If it means good food, good music, and you with no clothes, I think there’s a chance I might change my opinion about birthdays,” answered Dan and turned around. He came closer and gently kissed him, and slowly it turned into a hungry passionate kiss.

  “I want you! Now!” Dan whispered.

  “You like running the whole world, you’re a control freak, and you’re bossy!” Tom answered with a wicked grin.

  “Apparently, I don’t do that too well, Tommy, because you’re still dressed!” Dan answered and pinned him to the wall, while rubbing against him.

  “Actually, you’re very good at it. Only tonight, I make the decisions. So first of all, dinner, and then a present, then you can do what you want with me,” whispered Tom.

  Dan smiled at him, gave him a little kiss and sat down.

  Tom served him the dinner he’d made all by himself. He wasn’t an expert when it came to the kitchen, and Dan was the one to do most of the cooking in the house. But tonight, he decided to cook for his beloved, and had been on the phone with Liz for a whole hour for recipes and explanations. At the end of the conversation she told him “Tom! Finally, you’re acting like a real gay guy!” Tom loved her.

  Dan enjoyed the simple home cooking. Knowing that the main ingredient in them was love made them delicacies for him. They drank and danced in the candle light, and then made slow love on the living room’s carpet.

  That night, in bed, Tom remembered the gift, “I forgot the gift! Wait here. I'm going to run down and get it,” Tom tried stopping him, “Tom, I don’t need a present, you’re my present,” but it was too late, Tom was already at the staircase and, after a minute, he returned with a smile and a present wrapped in childish colorful wrapping paper. Dan tore the wrapping apart, and inside there was a little toy car, similar to the Chevrolet he’d bought for Tom.

  “You got me a car?” Dan asked with a smile.

  “Yeah, well. You bought me a car, and at the moment I don’t have money to buy you a real car as a present. But it was important to me to buy you a car, to tell you that I love you back, that I appreciate your care for me, that I'm sorry I acted like a baby when you bought me the Chevrolet.

  And that one day, Dan, when I’m grown up and rich. I'll buy you a real car. But in the meantime you’ll have to do with this one!” Dan gave him a kiss and melted from the unique gift.

  “Tommy, do you remember me reading you the letter Flora wrote me?” he asked.

  “How can I forget?” answered Tom.

  “Do you remember how she was saying that the road is much more beautiful and significant when you find the passenger to sit next to you and share the journey with you?” asked Dan.

  “I remember!” said Tom.

  Dan sat on the bed and made Tom sit facing him. They were both clothed in nothing but moonlight. Tom’s golden eyes were shining, and Dan saw burning love in them.

  “Tom, it doesn’t matter what you drive, and the road doesn’t matter too much either.

  It also doesn’t really matter what waits at the end of the road.

  What matters is who’s in the passenger seat next to you. And I want you to be in the seat next to me. I want you to be my passenger, and I want to be yours. I want you to marry me. Not now, but when it’s possible to do it here in our country. Only when our country will acknowledge our right to marry each other. But it will happen, and then, Tom, I want you to be mine forever.

  I want us to have a kid. He could be your biological son… I won’t love him any less than I love you.

  When I'm with you, Tommy, I'm a good Dan, and a Dan I love to be, and a Dan that I think, for the first time maybe, can be a father. Not a bad one, actually.

  One day you’ll be old, Tommy, and after I've seen your father, I know what it means. You’ll have a little belly, and thinning hair and even small bags under your eyes. But I will love you when you’re old, and I will love you bold, and I will love you angry, and I will love you sleeping, I will never stop loving you. I want to wake up with you every morning, eat with you every day, and see the world with you. I want to be with you, even when my cock goes into retirement and even the Viagra won’t help. I want to be with you even when the ‘falling in love’ fog burns away and instead of it comes a routine of shopping, trash T.V, and morning breath. I want to die with you, or at least before you. Because I don’t want to spend a second in this life without you next to me.”

  Tom looked at him, tears falling from his eyes and sliding onto his cheeks, wetting his lips and sliding down his throat. He was silent.

  “So what do you say, Tommy? Are you joining me on my chariot?”

  Tom smiled and wiped away the tears.

  “You had me at ‘thinning hair’,” said Tom, “Of course I agree, Dan, there’s nothing in the world I want more than being with you, and I've known that from the first moment.

  I love you, Dan, and I promise, you will never find yourself standing alone in traffic again”.

  END

  Acknowledgments

  A lot of people took part in this long process of writing my first book.

  First and foremost I want to thank my family for the support, unconditional love and patience they showed me. My dear husband my four amazing kids and of course all other members of my dear family. You mean the world to me.

  To Alona Freeman who held my hand and pulled me further in moment when I felt stuck or lost.

  To Elina Mirkin my precious friend that constantly fuel my soul with words of encouragement.

  To Amitai Nissimov for transforming my Hebrew text and thoughts to English,

  And to the dear Nick Pageant, my editor, who manage to take an English text and bring it back to life, and being a true friend all along the way.

  To Chen Leopold Glazer for the photographs and the love.

  To Dr. Roni Nissimov, on his professional guidance and support.

  And to All my beta readers in English and in Hebrew that have dedicated their time, and helped me make my story as good as it could be.

  About the Author

  My name is Limor Moy
al, I was born in Israel, on the night of October 4th 1973, straight into the battle clouds of the Yom Kippur War.

  I was born curious, alert and passionate about everything that the world around me has to offer. Curiosity and desire, these two traits lead me to any choice and decision I made in life. I explore anything that catches my interest and attention, I'm a true believer in 'CARPE DIEM', and act on my dreams, never postponing them. As I see it, life is short and sweet and you should never do things tomorrow if they can be done today. I consider myself an artist. I love arts and I love words, combining the two together is my way to express myself. I believe my writing reflects my artistic personality as well as my romantic yet realistic soul. When I'm writing it feels like sculpting with words, just like real art, only the materials I'm using are adjectives, metaphors, and descriptive images. Even before I started writing I was, and still am, a devout reader. I read a lot, it won't be an exaggeration to say that I read three books a week. I read mostly English, since I'm a big believer in reading the original language, (even though my native tongue is Hebrew). I read novels of all genres, mostly contemporary but I do read historic novels from time to time (Mystery, Paranormal, Military, M/M) and of course I also read classics, historic and contemporary.

  The classics were those who shaped me as a person and a reader.

  When I begin a relationship with a book, the connection starts without any preconditions from me, except for the basic requirement that the book would not insult my intelligence, but I can easily manage with everything else (dirty talk, taboo content, out of comfort zone content, or dark materials are welcomed).

  I always knew that one day, when the time came, I will be a writer. "Chariots on the Highway" (The original name in Hebrew is "Chariots on the Ayalon") is my first novel, but I already started working on my next one.

  The book is available in Hebrew and English. At the moment I'm in the process of writing my second novel .If you wish to read my reviews please visit my Goodreads page or my website www.en.limormoyal.com. You welcome to say hello on my FB page or mail me at limormoyal@gmail.com .