These short stories, although published separately, form a background continuum of So’s extraordinary and tragically short life. All the emotional turmoil and identity crisis of growing up with Cambodian refugee inheritance is here, along with all the perils of gay experiences in Silicon Valley society, forming a lighthearted, tragicomic shooting star of a read.
On the weekends, Ben met with another gay Southeast Asian man dedicated to fitness and tech. Vinny was helping with the development of Ben's app. He was Vietnamese. Our first encounter, I asked if his parents had hoped the alliteration of his name and his ethnicity would make it easier for him to assimilate. He laughed so loud that I regretted saying anything at all. Though Ben concluded that we - the three of us - would get along from then on out. 'This is gonna be fun', he said. Several times I watched Ben and Vinny code as I planned lessons about Ahab's inexorable hunt and Ishmael's never-ending musings. Waiting for Ben to stop working and slide his hand up my thigh, I wondered if the only thing that kept Ben's hands sliding up my thighs, was the fact that I was Cambodian. How easily could I be replaced by a different gay man who also happened to be Cambodian? Who could say? I listened to Ben and Vinny debate about memory issues and algorithms and recursion, observed their comfort in massaging each other's shoulders, and didn't care to know the answer to my question.
