Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Black&Ugly: A Story of Men & Wheelbarrows
    Black&Ugly: A Story of Men & Wheelbarrows
    Black&Ugly: A Story of Men & Wheelbarrows
    Ebook28 pages22 minutes

    Black&Ugly: A Story of Men & Wheelbarrows

    By Larry Benjamin

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    'Get your black ugly ass up outta that bed!'

    That's how his mother had woken him every morning. 'Get your black ugly ass up outta that bed!'

    Later, the adjectives multiplied. Tar baby. Faggot. Queer. Tar baby faggot queer. And still later, when he'd started to achieve, started to make friends with white guys, 'Oreo' and 'snow queen' were added to the vocabulary of hate.

    When he was young, he'd learned that words hurt, maimed, scarred. When he got older, he'd learned that words could also comfort, heal. But he'd never forgotten the first lesson. Perhaps that was why he'd chosen a career in finance. Numbers added up; they did not tear down.

    Also in this series: The Christmas Present.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBeaten Track Publishing
    Release dateDec 11, 2015
    ISBN9781786450074
    Black&Ugly: A Story of Men & Wheelbarrows
    Author

    Larry Benjamin

    Bronx-born wordsmith, Larry Benjamin considers himself less a writer than an artist whose chosen medium is the written word rather than clay or paint or bronze. He is the author of two previous novels: Unbroken, which was a 2014 Lambda Literary finalist, and a 2014 IPPY (Independent Publishers Book Award) Gold medalist, and What Binds Us. He is also the author of Damaged Angels, a collection of short stories, and the allegorical novella Vampire Rising.He lives in Philadelphia with his husband and their two dogs.

    Read more from Larry Benjamin

    Related authors

    Related to Black&Ugly

    Titles in the series (2)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Gay Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Monster

      Dec 1, 2022

      Monster
      7 min read

    • Article

      Hilton ALS

      Jun 15, 2018

      Hilton ALS
      29 min read

    • Article

      Meet the Writer

      May 27, 2023

      Meet the Writer
      4 min read

    • Article

      Ann Patchett

      Sep 27, 2019

      Ann Patchett
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      It Happened To Me…

      Jan 26, 2023

      It Happened To Me…
      7 min read

    • Article

      Thirteen

      Jan 30, 2020

      Thirteen
      21 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Ashleigh Bryant Phillips

      Jun 10, 2020

      Ashleigh Bryant Phillips
      6 min read

    • Article

      White Paper Family

      Aug 11, 2019

      White Paper Family
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Alchemist

      Apr 29, 2024

      The Alchemist
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Wolf

      Nov 6, 2018

      The Wolf
      12 min read

    • Article

      Begin Again

      Jun 14, 2022

      My grandfather came to live with me. There was nowhere else for him to go. What had happened to all his children? Death, decay, exile—I hardly know. My own parents died of pain. But I must not be too gloomy, at the beginning, or you will leave me, an

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      Happy Endings

      Sep 1, 2023

      Happy Endings
      5 min read

    • Article

      The July War

      Sep 8, 2020

      In summer, our neighborhood quiets in phases. The quieting begins in May. Schools give their older kids, the seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds, a month off to prepare for the baccalaureate exams. Following a ritual as old as our parents, the students

      21 min read

    • Article

      I’m the One Who Survives: An Excerpt from ‘The Postcard’

      May 15, 2023

      I remember with cruel clarity the day when someone said to me—I was still only little—“Your family died in an oven.” The post I’m the One Who Survives: An Excerpt from ‘The Postcard’ appeared first on The Millions.

      9 min read

    • Article

      This Back Is a Familiar Back

      May 1, 2023

      This Back Is a Familiar Back
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Way She Was

      Nov 17, 2023

      The Way She Was
      15 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Poetry No. 116

      Mar 19, 2024

      The Art of Poetry No. 116
      32 min read

    • Article

      A WING AND a prayer

      Sep 28, 2021

      A raven saved my life Cate McMurray, 47, from West Midlands I ’d always known I was different. As a small child, I used to see and hear people who weren’t there. One day, I was playing hide ‘n’ seek with my two sisters, and tucked myself away in a cu

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Inherited Imagination

      Aug 18, 2020

      The Inherited Imagination
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Joke

      Sep 1, 2020

      Although best known for his 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury was also a prolific writer of short stories, having published his first while still a teenager. This previously unpublished story likely dates to 1950, the year The Martian Chronicle

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Black&Ugly

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Black&Ugly - Larry Benjamin

      BLACK&UGLY

      A TALE OF MEN & WHEELBARROWS

      a short story by

      LARRY BENJAMIN

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      Copyright 2015 Larry Benjamin.

      https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/larrybenjamin

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      * * * * *

      Cover Design by Decorous Anarchy

      www.beatentrackpublishing.com

      This story is a work of fiction and the characters and events in it exist only in its pages and in the author’s imagination.

      * * * * *

      "Get your black ugly ass up outta that bed!"

      That’s how his mother had woken him every morning. Get your black ugly ass up outta that bed!

      Later, the adjectives multiplied. Tar baby. Faggot. Queer. Tar baby faggot queer. And still later, when he’d started to achieve, started to make friends with white guys, Oreo and snow queen were added to the vocabulary of hate.

      When he was young, he’d learned that words hurt, maimed, scarred. When he got older, he’d learned that words could also comfort, heal. But he’d never forgotten the first lesson. Perhaps that was why he’d chosen a career in finance. Numbers added

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1