Mical Delaney

Born in Louisville, Kentucky in spring of 1977, Mical was a bright, inquisitive child that brought joy to the lives of everyone around him. He was the apple of his parents’ eyes until they were taken from him when he was only two, a drunk driver slammed into their car after crossing the meridian. Mical had been in the backseat, strapped securely in his car seat and had managed to survive where neither of his parents had made it. His closest living relative was his mother’s sister, his Aunt Doris. Doris and her husband Henry owned a small farm up in the bluegrass area of the state, and took the child in. Doris tried, she really did. She did care for him and tried to do the best she could despite her husband’s overbearing and domineering hand.

Uncle Henry put the boy to work as soon as the child was capable of understanding basic chores. He started in the house, helping his Aunt with cleaning the house, cooking and canning for kitchen use during the cold winter months when they’d use livestock sales rather than livestock and produce to push them through the winter until they could replant the crops come spring. Once he was old enough, Henry started him out in the fields, taking care of the animals and crops. He was taught how to repair things that broke down, inside the house and outside on the farm, so he grew up strong.

By the time Mical started high school, he knew that he wasn’t attracted to girls like most boys his age. He was attracted to boys, but this was something he kept to himself for a few years as the small community he’d grown up wasn’t very gay-friendly. He was 16 when he came out to his Aunt, and it was by accident. He’d invited a friend over to study, a girl-type friend, rather than a girlfriend. He and Moon had grown up together as her family owned the farm further down the road and the families often suppressed together or partnered up at local farmer’s markets to sell their wares. He trusted her, she was the closest thing he had to a best friend, so he felt safe in confiding in her his largest secret. He was gay. When he admitted as such to his friend, she was nothing but loving and supportive, promising to keep his secret. And neither were aware that Doris was standing in the hallway between the kitchen and living room where she overheard the conversation. She didn’t interrupt, and she never talked to him about it, feeling that her nephew may not have been comfortable enough with either herself or her husband to come out openly. When he was ready, she’d be ready to listen.

It would be another year before Henry would become aware, and by that point, Mical had a secret boyfriend, a young man named Caleb, who happened to be Moon’s cousin. They’d scheduled a date for when Mical’s Aunt and Uncle would be out of the house for a few hours. If Henry and Doris had come home earlier, they would have caught the boys doing nothing but watching a few movies in the living room but as luck would have it, they caught the boys making out on the couch instead later on. Henry blew up, screaming all sorts of hate speech, and utterly refusing to have one of THOSE in his house. By the look on his Aunt’s face, Mical knew that she knew and she was sorry for this, but she was too scared of her husband to argue against him. She did some up while he was throwing his stuff into duffel bags and gave him as much cash as she could scrounge up, gave him a hug and promised that she would always love him, no matter what, but it was safer for him out of the house and away from his uncle than it was to stay there. He agreed, thanked and hugged her back. She’d loved him his whole life and he wasn’t going to let his asshole homophobic uncle ruin that.

He left the small rural farming community that he’d lived in as long as he could remember, everything important to him packed in the trunk of his old beater car, which he had bought on his own when he turned 16 by doing chores on neighboring farms for extra cash and had fixed up using his knowledge of machinery learned on the farm. He headed south, looking for more communities where he could live his life more openly. He worked odd jobs, finally falling into construction after he turned 18. It was something he could do without officially finishing high school. They didn’t care as long as he was eager to learn the trade and did it well, both of which he did.

Mical moved around for work, taking it wherever he could find it, eventually finding himself down in the Philly area, which is where he eventually laid down his roots. He built himself a life, working at one of the local construction companies. He dated often, had a few serious relationships but hadn’t met the right person by the time the world decided to turn itself inside out that fateful night in December. He salvaged what he could from his ruined home and set out...in search of...well...anything. Reply Like More