Are You Happy?

“Are You Happy?” is a short story about Phil, a gay man, and his fulfilling relationship with his partner, Kelvin, whom he meets in California after leaving New Mexico as a young man to escape his dysfunctional family. Years later, he returns home to see his dying mother, who wants him to help her die; this request causes him to think about the plane crash that the two of them survived together years earlier, a crash that led him to flee his demanding family and pursue the life he now has with Kelvin.