Life • Death • Hope • Family

DREAM THAT YOU CAN FLY

A MUSICAL BY
ROBERT GREGORY BROWNE

When teenager Tom Dawley mustered up the courage to come out to his deeply religious parents, the reception to this news was everything he feared. Before long, they kicked him out of their home and told him not to return until he'd mended his "wicked" ways.Now, years later—amidst the turmoil of 1980's America—Tom is alone and diagnosed with AIDS, and the only people he can turn to in his final days are family.After a short stint living with his sister Katie, Tom soon finds himself back under the roof of the parents who scorned him: his father, George, a pious, self-righteous man, and his mother, Louise, whose desperate need to connect with her son directly conflicts with her faith and her husband’s stubborn dogmatism.Their road isn't an easy one, but with the help of Sammy Emmanuel—an unapologetically upbeat hospice nurse who pulls no punches—Tom, George, Louise, and Katie learn lessons in love, acceptance, forgiveness, and the importance of family in a less than tolerant world.

All Songs Written by Robert Gregory Browne
© 2015-2026 Robert Gregory Browne. All Rights Reserved.

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Chapter One

The Quiet Before

The morning light broke slowly over the ridge, painting the valley in sharp hues of amber and gold. For the first time in months, the air felt clear. He pulled his coat tighter against the chill, watching the distant smoke curl up from the village chimneys.

Everything was exactly as he left it, yet entirely changed. The gravel crunched under his boots as he took his first steps down the path. A dog barked somewhere in the distance, a lonely sound that echoed off the damp stone walls of the old mill.

He hadn't expected anyone to be waiting for him. The letters had stopped arriving back in November, right around the time the first heavy snows blocked the mountain pass. He reached into his pocket, his fingers brushing against the frayed edges of the last postcard she had sent.

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