
"At seventeen, Cal and his mother move from the city to a remote island. His mother becomes withdrawn and Cal worries that she has found out that he is gay. His father, who is stationed overseas, has warned him that if she finds out about his sexuality, it will kill her.
With no one to talk to and nowhere to go, Cal starts collecting driftwood to build himself a safe place, and while doing so, makes an unlikely friend. But when something terrible happens, will this friendship give him the strength he needs?"

Driftwood Dragon By Emery C. Walters The last thing my father said to me before he shipped out overseas was, if I persisted with this drama of thinking I’m gay, it would kill my mother like a dragon breathing fire on her. So of course I had to build a dragon. I hadn’t intended to build a dragon. It’s just that after he’d moved us here to the island the base was on, he’d left. I had no friends here, couldn’t take my music lessons anymore, and there was nothing to do and no way to get to it if there had been. We lived just off base, off the bus lines, close to a rocky strip of coastline where the water was too cold for swimming or surfing, and I knew nobody at all. I couldn’t get a job and there was nowhere I could even volunteer. Staying home with my mother until school started was a no
