A Little Excerpt

Summer 2019

Rhody Leyman and his friend, Graham Maggliardi, Kevin’s older brother, spent an evening on the rooftop of Graham’s Brooklyn, New York apartment building. They brought their lawn chairs and a few beers out and decided to contemplate life for an hour or two. It was just the two of them for the time being, so that was nice.

“My heart has been beating very fast recently,” Rhody remarked after a few minutes of silence between the two of them.
“You alright?” Graham asked.
“I think it’s my anxiety and all. I’ve dealt with this most of my life, and of course my shrink knows about it. There’s one thing I’m not sure you all know about.”
“What is it?”
“I actually have two last names. I usually just go by Rhody Leyman, but my real name is Matthew Bacaluso-Leyman. Those are my dad’s last names as well,” Rhody remarked.
“I like it,” Graham replied. “How are you feeling right now?”
“I’m alright now. It happens every few hours. This afternoon, my heart was pounding so hard that I almost threw up because of it. I’m gonna tell my shrink about this when I speak with them again.”
“You gonna play rugby tomorrow with everyone? Boyfriend Ayaan wanted me to ask you.”
“I hope I’m up for it. Depending on how I feel, of course.”
“Yeah, just let me know. I’ll hang out with you if you don’t.”
“You got a deal.”