Long Time Companion

 by: Hankster

© 2010 by the Author

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 4

The phone rang again.  It took Adam a moment to realize it was not ringing in his dream, but in his room in the present.  He picked it up.

“Adam, it’s Jamie.  You’re sleeping too much.  It’s almost dinner time.   Get yourself ready and I’ll be by in a half hour.”

“Yes, of course.  You’re right.  I’ll be ready when you get here.

Adam got through dinner like a robot.  He had no appetite, but he ate everything.  Everything was delicious but he tasted nothing.  He went back to his apartment right after dinner and Jamie didn’t argue with him.  He figured he would battle Adam’s retreat into another world after the funeral.

Adam wondered if he could fall asleep after having slept most of the day so he took a Tylenol PM to help him along.

***

“Hey wake up, sleepy head,” Evan said while shaking Adam’s shoulder.  “We need a break from long hours of studying.  There’s a drag show at The Male Room tonight.  Let’s go.”

They were studying for final exams in their senior year.  Adam was exhausted and had fallen asleep.  “We shouldn’t waste the time,” he told Evan. 

“I don’t think my brain can absorb one more thing,” Evan said, “so let’s take that break.”

“You win, big boy,” Adam said.  Adam still called Evan ‘big boy’ even though he had grown almost as tall and muscular as his partner during their college years.

The Male Room was very crowded.  There were no tables available so they stood at the bar with many other guys.  Each of them nursed a coke to legitimize their attendance.  When they had come in this evening Adam spotted a sign in the lobby announcing that tonight’s female impersonator would be “Mother Eve.” 

Six years had passed since Adam had been initiated into the homosexual world by Eve.  He considered this a good omen for the upcoming exams.  After about an hour, the dance floor was cleared off and an MC announced the dulcet rhythms of Mother Eve.  Eve did not limit herself to the dance floor, but moved freely among the patrons while she sang.  At one point she went right by Adam and Evan.  She hesitated in front of Adam and finished her song facing him.  The song was lewd and suggestive, and as she sang she wrapped her hand around Adam’s crotch.  Adam pulled back and Eve whispered in his ear.  “Please wait for me after the show Adam.  I’ll come out in men’s clothing and I really want to talk to you.”

“What was that all about?” Evan asked.

“Honestly I have no idea, but she knew my name.  It must be someone I know, but that I didn’t know did drag.”  They waited about twenty minutes and then a very handsome gentleman about Evan’s age approached them.  Adam recognized Eve immediately.  It was his Eve, his first time Eve.  He was ecstatic, and gave Eve a big hug. 

“How in the world did you ever recognize me?” Adam asked.  “It’s been a hundred years.”

“You made a deep impression on me.  After you left, I wanted to kick myself for not taking your telephone number and setting up another date.  You were delicious you know.”

“That’s funny because I felt the same way.  I so wanted a repeat performance.  I waited more than two years for another go at it, with Evan here.”  Adam turned to Evan, took his hand and said, “Eve I’d like you to meet my partner, Evan.” 

The two men shook hands and Evan said, “It’s kind of hard to call a handsome guy like you Eve.  What’s your real name?”

“It’s Evan,” Eve said, and broke out laughing.  “Hey guys, if you have a half hour more, please hang out here.  My partner is coming to pick me up.  I’d like you to meet him.  I’ll buy you both a drink while you wait.”

“Deal!”  Evan said. “We weren’t planning a quick exit.”

Adam spotted an empty table and the three took seats there.  Eve then returned to the bar and picked up fresh drinks for them.  When she was seated, she proposed a toast and then Adam said, “You have no idea how scared I was when you picked me up on the subway.”

“Not so.  I could see you shaking in your boots, but the minute I went down on you, you became an animal.  Is he still an animal, Evan?” Eve asked.

Evan laughed and nodded his head.  “Thank God,” he said.  They all laughed. 

***

Suddenly everything got black and Adam clearly heard a clock ticking.  The sleeping pill had not lasted through the night.  Adam looked at the luminous dial on his clock radio.  It was 2:22 in the morning. 

“Three twos,” Adam thought.  He tried to assign some significance to it, but nothing came to mind.  Then it hit him like a thunderbolt.  Before they ever met, Hans had gone to a plastic surgeon to have the numbers removed from his forearm.  Ben and Sarah refused to do that.  It was a constant reminder to everyone they met of the atrocities that man had committed against man.  Hans told Adam once that the numbers on his forearm had been 22222, all twos. 

“Hans,” Adam called out in the night.  “Are you here?”

There was silence in the room.  Nevertheless Adam felt a presence surrounding him.  He was not frightened.  Whatever he was feeling was warm and comforting.  He was certain that Hans was here with him and he felt much better.  In fact, he fell asleep again.

***

It was the night of their first block party.  Hans and Barry had promised to come.  Adam and Evan were waiting at the Richter’s for them to arrive.  Adam had placed their neatly packed picnic basket on the floor beside his chair.

As if he was privy to all their conversations, Ben said, “We will watch carefully all the people tonight.  If the bigots live on this street, they will give themselves away and I will know who they are.  Barry and Hans will observe also.  Hans will know.”

Hans and Barry arrived shortly after that and they all went directly to the party.  “Put your stuff here,” a young voice yelled.  It was Billy Bingham and he was pointing to one of the tables.  Sarah scooped him up and started smothering him with kisses.  Billy tried desperately to evade her clutches but she held him too tightly.

Barry and Hans were well known to the residents of the street, but everyone came over to meet the newcomers.  Because they all seemed so friendly, Adam and Evan let their guards down, but Ben and Hans were observing closely.  Finally Hans looked at Ben and he nodded.  They had identified the culprits.  The two of them then sat down smugly and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Later that evening when everything was cleaned away, and Adam and Evan had returned home, there was a knock on their door.  Adam went to open it and there stood Hans, Barry and Ben.  They rushed in without invitation.

“We’re pretty sure we know who the bigots may be, but we have to do some research.  It may take a little while but we’ll get back to you,” Hans said. 

***

Adam had set his alarm clock to go off early on the morning of Evan’s funeral and now it was ringing shrilly.  He shut it off and crept wearily out of bed.  As if nothing had happened; as if this was just another ordinary day; he went through his morning routines.  After he showered and dressed in his only good suit, an all purpose navy blue, he found a tie in his closet.  He practically never wore a tie anymore.  Without regard for a good match or not, he put it on, barely remembering how to tie a Windsor knot.

He almost always wore crew socks and sneakers these days, but he put on a pair of black knee high socks and his only pair of dress shoes.  He looked in the mirror and supposed that he was ready for Evan’s big send off.   Then he sat down in a chair to wait for Jamie.

He rarely saw Jamie in a suit and was amazed at how handsome he looked.  Neither of them felt like eating breakfast, but agreed to go to the dining room for a cup of coffee.  The dining room was rather crowded with residents obviously dressed for a funeral.  Steve Baron, the Executive Director, had reluctantly agreed to provide a bus to the funeral home, the cemetery, and then back to Sunnydale for the celebration of Evan’s life, which Jamie had arranged for.  As for Adam and Jamie they felt it more appropriate to go alone in a private vehicle.  The funeral home was providing a limo for Adam and Jamie to go to the cemetery and back.

Adam sat with Jamie in the family receiving room before the service.  After signing the guest book in the lobby, most of the attendees came into the room to express their condolences.  During this ritual, which was distressing Adam no end, he suddenly regretted that he and Evan had not wished to adopt children like some of their friends had.  It would have been nice to have some family around him to comfort him.  Adam shook everyone’s hand without really knowing who he was speaking to.  He went through the entire funeral in a trance.  He didn’t wake up from it until he was back in Sunnydale at the reception.

***

He and Evan were in The Star of David Funeral Home.  They sat quietly in the second row, holding hands.  In front of them sat Barry, Hans and Ben.  Sarah had passed much too young at the age of fifty-five.  The experiments the Nazis had performed on her in the camp had left her body permanently weakened.  The Nazis had won after all.  She got sick often and didn’t seem to have enough of an immune system to ward off, and then fight off, these infections.  She finally succumbed after a long bout with pneumonia.  Barry and Hans sat on each side of Ben.  Each of them had an arm around him.  Next to Adam sat the Binghams.  Billy had flown down from FSU in Tallahassee to attend the funeral.  Adam kept staring at him.  He had grown into a handsome, athletic young man.  Evan could not help thinking that some pretty young girl was going to be lucky enough someday to snare him.

After the funeral, everyone went back to Ben’s house.  Hans and Barry had provided delicious food for the mourners.  A friend of theirs was a caterer and he had everything set up for them by the time everyone returned from the cemetery.  He had also provided food for the people who would visit in the next three days to express condolences.  Hans explained that it was a period that they called shiva (mourning).

“We have way too much food,” Hans said to Adam and Evan.  “Everybody who comes to the shiva will bring something to eat.  It’s a custom.  This way the mourners don’t have to concern themselves, and the house will have enough food for everyone.  Please feel free to take some food home for your dinner.  You’ll be doing us a favor.  I know a lot will be wasted, but this way, less food will go down the drain.”

Barry added, “We’ll be staying here for a few days.  We don’t want Ben to be alone so please come over often.”

“Of course,” Evan said, as he and Adam got up to leave.  “We’ll see you later. Maybe we’ll have dinner here with you tonight.”

“Great,” Hans said and he kissed both Adam and Evan on the lips in front of all the company.  As they left the Richter’s, Billy Bingham ran after them.

“Hey fellas, hold up a sec, will you,” he called after them.  “Can I come in for a minute?  I want to talk to you about a problem I’m having.”

“Sure,” Evan said.  The three went into the house and Billy sat right down on the sofa.  Adam sat next to him.  

“Can I get you something?” Evan asked.  Billy shook his head so Evan sat down on an easy chair facing the sofa.”  He and Adam looked at Billy.  It was his ball game.

“I want to tell you something,” Billy started.

“Wait,” Evan said.  “Is this something you should be telling your parents first?”

“Yes, but I can’t,” Billy almost screamed out.  “After I tell you guys, please help me to tell them.”

Adam’s first thought was that Billy was going to come out to them.  But that seemed absurd.  He had known the young man since he was practically a toddler.  Surely some of his gaydar would have warned him.  No, he was going to tell them that he wanted to quit school.  If that was it, he and Evan would do their best to talk him out of it.

“Talk fast before I burst,” Adam demanded.

“I think I’m gay,” Billy said and he dropped his head.

So Adam was right in what he thought this was about.  Evan stood up from the easy chair and positioned himself in front of Billy.  He asked, “What do you mean, you think?  Don’t you know?”

“Of course I know,” Billy said emphatically.  “I guess I was trying to leave a tightly sealed door a little bit ajar.”

Finally Adam asked, “Aside from masturbation fantasies have you….?”  He couldn’t quite finish the sentence.

Billy nodded.  “Many times,” he said.  “I have a boy friend up at school.  He wanted to come down here with me, but I told him it would be best if he wasn’t around when I told my folks.”

“Why are you afraid to tell them?” Evan asked.  “They have always been very open minded about these things.  Your father even went with us and Ben when we confronted those bozos who painted ‘faggots’ on our front door.”

“I know.  It’s easy to be liberal when it doesn’t concern you.  Remember, I’m an only child and I’m sure they dream of spoiling grand children some day.”

“The only thing I can advise is that you tell them as soon as possible,” Evan said.

“I’m sure that’s very wise,” Adam said.  “I was going to wait until after graduation when we moved away, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we came out just before graduation.  I wanted to wait because I thought I’d be disowned.  I was foolish and very wrong.”

“That’s funny,” Billy said.  “Fred and I will graduate in June.  It’s only two months away.  We made the same decision as you did, Adam.  We’ll tell our folks after graduation and we are applying for work in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  We haven’t heard anything yet, but we are confident.”

“Tell them now” Evan said sternly.

***

Adam was stirred from his memories when he heard a voice say, “Adam, I am so sorry.”  He looked up to see a handsome man in his early sixties holding out his hand and crying.

It took Adam a second to focus in on the man’s face.  It was someone he hadn’t seen in many years, but had been in constant touch with.

“Billy! Billy,” Adam said.  “How wonderful it is to see you.”

“You two can talk later,” Jamie said.  “They are calling us into the chapel.”

Adam went through the service in a near fog.  It was like his body was there but his mind was elsewhere.  He caught glimmers of himself frolicking on the beach with Evan, holding his hand in a movie, making love in the shower, fighting about some idiotic minutia.  Jamie sat on his right and Billy sat on his left.  They stood him up at the proper time and took him to the limo.  Billy told Jamie that he had taken a cab from the airport and had no transportation so he went with Adam and Jamie to the cemetery in the limo.

The service at graveside was short and sweet.  When the casket was lowered, Adam maintained control, but when he tossed the first handful of dirt into the open cavern, he collapsed, and Billy and Jamie had to stand him up.

The only thing Adam could remember about the ride home was Jamie asking him if he was up to going to the dining room at Sunnydale.’’  Yes,” Adam answered.  “I must.  I’ll be all right if you and Billy will stay beside me.”

“Of course,” they both answered together.

The miracle of the memorial luncheon was that Steve Baron actually came over to Adam to express his condolences.  Steve was really expressing his relief that at last there would be no more queer hanky panky going on at his independent living facility.  Upon reflection, he thought to himself that there were no other gays living there that he was aware of. 

When the dining room staff started to clean up, Adam said that he would like to go to his apartment.  “I don’t want to slight you, Jamie,” he said, “but it’s been a lifetime since I have seen Billy.  Would you mind if he came back with me?”

“Not at all,” Jamie answered.  “I want to get out of this monkey suit anyway.”

Billy took Adam’s arm.  The two old friends smiled at each other and headed for Adam’s place.

“How did you find out about Evan?” Adam asked Billy.

“Your friend Jamie called me.  He said that he was calling everyone in your telephone directory, and that there weren’t that many people to call.”

“He’s right,” Adam lamented.  “Most of my friends have passed away.  It was so difficult to remove your mother’s name when you wrote to tell me that she died last year.  Pretty soon, there will be nobody left to remove and somebody will be removing me.”

‘Yes,” Billy said.  “It is sad.  I can’t tell you how many friends Fred and I lost to AIDS in the eighties.  I thank God that we were a couple and monogamous.”

“How is Fred?” Adam asked.

“He’s great, but since he became a state senator we hardly see each other anymore.  I fly up to Sacramento every other weekend.  It’s really hard.”

They seated each other comfortably in the living room.  Adam smiled broadly at Billy.  “It is so wonderful to see you again after all these years,” he said. 

“Fred will be home for a couple of weeks in August,” Billy informed Adam.  “Why don’t you fly out to LA and spend a couple of weeks with us.  We would love to have you.  And it’s a lot cooler in LA in August than in Ft. Lauderdale, if I remember correctly.”

“I believe you remember correctly.  That sounds like a wonderful idea.  I’ll give it some serious thought.  After your dad died, and your mother moved out there, Evan and I had every intention of paying you a visit, but something always came up to spoil our plans.  That reminds me.  Where are you staying?”

“I checked into a motel near the airport.  I’m leaving tomorrow early in the morning, so it’s good enough.”

“Do you remember Sarah’s funeral?” Adam asked.  “You were so afraid to tell your folks that you were gay.  It turned out just fine, didn’t it?  They were disappointed about the grandchildren thing, but they never stopped loving you or supporting you.”

“They sure did.  They made a big barbeque the first weekend after graduation so they could meet Fred.  You were there, Ben Richter and Hans and Barry.  I was the happiest guy in the world then.  I had so many friends who had been disowned, but I was lucky.  My parents still loved me.  When Fred’s folks said they wanted nothing to do with him, my folks made him their own.”

“They were very special people,” Adam commented.  “But you moved away anyway.”

“We didn’t want to, but we both landed terrific jobs in LA and we had to do it.” 

“It was sad for all of us when you moved, but Evan and I had done the same thing so I had to be supportive too.  Please stay and have dinner with me, just the two of us.  I know a great restaurant nearby.  We can walk over,” Adam said.

“Of course.  That would be wonderful, but I’ll have to leave right after dinner.”

To be continued...

Posted: 05/07/10