I was sitting on the back porch having a rather modest Anniversary dinner with Bob when I said to him, “Isn’t it amazing to think that we have lived together for all these years in probably the most intimate relationship that any two human beings can have, and yet for the first 24 years of my life I didn’t even know you existed.” That is such a simple fact but, tonight for some reason, it seemed so unbelievable. We talked about the fact that the night we first laid eyes on each other, we were at a place called “The Desert Inn” ( it was alongside the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, NY ). The Desert Inn was basically a bar/dance place that young people frequented - the slang terminology used to describe such a place back in the 1960’s was “a pick up joint”. Until tonight I always thought that it was probably one of Bob’s usual hangouts. He said he rarely, if ever went there. Surprisingly, I rarely, if ever went there either. But for some reason, the night before Thanksgiving in 1969 we both happened to go. Bob was there with his friends and I was there alone, waiting to meet up with friends. I drove my own car that Wednesday night because I was scheduled to work in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Downstate Medical Center on Thanksgiving day, and I didn’t want to stay out too late. I spoke to Bob that night but our conversation was rather brief as shortly after arriving at The Desert Inn, his friend, Walter, had come over to me as I stood on the edge of the dance floor, bought me a drink and asked me to dance. When Bob was introduced to me and started a conversation, Walter basically “grabbed my hand and pulled me away” at the same time saying to Bob, “ what is this, an interview?” ( LOL Bob was always a good interviewer!!)
I went out just once with Walter but believe me, once was more than enough. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that “he was not my person “.
I remember feeling badly that I hadn’t gotten to spend more time with the other guy, Bob. Seems like men had more power in this regard. Anyway, I figured I wouldn’t find him again in a city with over 8 million people.
One month later, in late December 1969, my friend, Gail, coaxed me into going to another hangout called “Pep McGuires” on Queens Blvd in Flushing, NY. It was not my “cup of tea” but I consented to go for an hour. Bob was standing there on the other side of that big square bar and I boldly walked right up to him and said, “Do you remember me?”
So this is how a complete stranger became my most intimate human being.
I just think life is interesting and amazing, don’t you?
No comments:
Post a Comment