Wolf-Boy

A coming of age story set in Provincetown, Truro, and Dennis Cape Cod during the summer of 1979. Sixteen-year-old Danny Halligan is seeking to define his sexual identity, struggling to navigate his feeling toward 18-year old childhood friend Liam Preston. Their lives spiral out of control when they meet 21-year-old Gracie Rose, a charismatic photographer and Yale dropout with a vision of a flesh festival on film. Danny finds his mind unraveling as he is caught up in a torrent of drugs, sex and photography. Entire days are lost in drug fueled grappling and flesh wars in a massive tree fort known as the Palace of the Palpable Pines. Gracie’ s vision includes masking her subjects to maintain their anonymity. Liam becomes Lone Ranger while Danny’ s fur covered mask transforms him into Wolf-Boy. Danny is left mentally and physically ravaged as Gracie gains ever more fame for her ground-breaking photographs, known as Transfiguration Photos.

David Fitzpatrick was born in Dearborn, Michigan, grew up in Connecticut, graduated from Skidmore College, and earned his MFA degree from Fairfield University in 2011. His work has been published by The New Haven Review, Barely South Review, Fiction Weekly, and Running Wild Press. He lives in Middletown, Connecticut with his wife, Amy, a photographer, and their furry kids.

C O N T E N T S A Creation Story 1 Forever Tiny and Wild 8 Flamboyance 12 Psychotic Elephants Roaring 20 Cruel Cousins 32 Palatial Palace of the Palpable Pines 38 Yale-Harvard Game 47 Mom’ s Leap 52 Miles to Go 65 Here’ s Johnny 70 Magical Potions 73 Gracie, Dancing 78 Pathway to Liam 83 Later, a Phone Is Ringing 89 Goofy Child 91 A Phone Rings Again... 101 Details, Details... 104 Final Polaroid of the Season 107 First Extravaganza 111 Luminous Tangerine Lizards 123 Dream Or Memory? 129 Guilt 143 Buck 147 Randy and Danny 160 Power of Words 165 The Oddity of Gracie 174 Extravaganza II 183 Not Too Shabby 199 Colorful and On Fire 205 Liam’ s Rise 212 Randy, Take Two 214 A Hard Rain 219 Slipping Away 235 Not All Tears 239 Danny’ s Emotional Lockjaw 248 To Want or Not 253 Marshmallow Therapy 264 Danny, Gracie in the Creek 272 Final Extravaganza 277 Vultures Circling 289 Farewell 293 A Phone Rings Once Again 298 Provincetown 300 Legacy 311 Taking Flight 313 My Lucky Days 315 Journeying On 320 Acknowledgments 323 About Running Wild Press 325