Out of doors, finally

Two Saturdays ago, Atty. Ernesto Superal Yee brilliantly exalted into the sublime such a topic at the Coffee Beanery (located along A.S. Fortuna Street) through his recently launched book that has a gay character, Out Of Doors. And, yes, it went perfectly well with Rai Rai Ken's authentic Japanese dishes. Dumaguete-based lawyer and poet/fictionist Ernie Yee is among the notable writers profiting from an admirable sense of dedication that attends good writing.

Through the readings of the book's excerpts by two equally celebrated figures in their own right, the guests were able to grip the author's intention - a fiction that does not at all give emphasis on discursive sexualities, but a new brand of narrative echoing a shared human experience.

TV host Jude Bacalso chose to read the part wherein Adrian's mother bathed him using a "tabo", elucidating a little further about gay-mother issues. But this is another topic altogether. The part Jude read so beautifully was actually a flashback of Adrian's life. The telling of the inserted event is very palpable, allowing us to even "hear" the sound of the water that drenched the main character's body.

Dr. Angel Pesirla, in his well-modulated, expressive, theatrical way of telling a story, did not permit the crushing sound of Coffee Beanery's coffee maker to overpower his voice. This Director of External Affairs and International Linkages/ Dean, College of Arts and Sciences/Resident Dramatist of the Cebu Normal University conveyed the story to the guests as if he wrote the book himself.

Dr. Pesirla preferred to read an excerpt from the dramatic "From The Rain" chapter wherein Adrian discovers his "significant other" exchanging wheezing sound with another man. The author gives us very vivid, poetic descriptions that are never offensive.

Through this particular excerpt, we learn about Adrian's elegance. How he contains the stirrings of his heart without getting caught all throughout the process. The author ends up this specific scene where Adrian keeps staring at the men who laughingly drive their way home, leaving him under the heavy rain, drenched again.

Perhaps, the implicit ideas of water and rain - all the same state of matter - in these excerpts are not necessarily images of one's blissful or traumatic experiences, but representations of various human experiences that could possibly build or wash one's sense of self away. Out Of Doors is undeniably done in good taste by dealing with a gay character in subtle and elegant prose, making it inoffensive especially to straight readers.