TWILIGHT LOVE Chapter Seven
There is much truth in the expression that time flies when you are having fun. Every day, every hour I spend with Andy is fun. January flew by faster than I could say my name.
Andy and I sat on the big jet as it taxied to the gate at LaGuardia Airport. It was good to be back in our home town. We both stared out the window as we approached the gate. It was only 2 PM but the sky was dark and overcast, and there were snow flurries in the air. We looked at each other and shivered. The air conditioning had been shut off on the jet liner, but the outside cold air was already permeating through the cabin.
"I had forgotten," Andy complained.
"Me too!"
The `Fasten Seat Belt' sign was extinguished, and the door to the jet was opened. We stood up and retrieved our carry on bags and waited patiently to de-plane. The walk towards Baggage Claim, took us past dozens of terminal gates. I was nearly frozen. Wasn't there any heat in this terminal, or was it just my tropical blood reacting? Finally we reached the security gates and I saw Jaden standing just beyond the gates. He was loaded down with two heavy winter coats.
We all embraced as best we could, considering his burden. He handed each of us a coat, glad to be rid of them. I couldn't put mine on fast enough.
Thank goodness for the coats. It was even colder in Baggage Claim. Every time someone exited the terminal, the cold winter air entered. It was a pleasure to get into Jaden's car. He turned up the heat and we were comfy in no time.
"Where's Bob?" I asked "I thought he was coming with you."
"He was, but they called a last minute rehearsal for tomorrow evening's performance. It's the first Boheme of the season, and they have some kinks to work out," Jaden explained.
"I can't wait," Andy and I said in unison and laughed at the sameness of our thoughts.
Jaden crossed The Triborough Bridge and headed towards my old neighborhood. I hadn't been here since before my wife took ill, and a couple of years before that. Very little had really changed.
Jaden maneuvered the car through the gates of the underground tenants' parking garage and pulled into what used to be my old space. I had a sudden image of a youthful me pulling into the same space, and my equally youthful wife jumping swiftly out of the car, anxious to get upstairs to our apartment. I smiled at the thought. Andy noticed my smile and smiled back. Somehow he knew exactly what I was thinking.
Jaden helped us deposit our bags in one of the two guest bedrooms. They had converted the third bedroom into a music room. It housed a baby grand Steinway, a piano bench and one extra chair. The lighting had been changed to illuminate the sheet music on the piano. The ambience of the room was very cold and stark, but I assumed it was very utile.
"Bob assured me he would be home for dinner, Jaden told us. "We made reservations at a little neighborhood restaurant. It's Italian and the food is great and not expensive, which says a lot in New York."
"You don't mean Mario's on sixtieth?" I asked.
"Yes, do you know it?"
"Your mom and I ate there all the time. It will be a treat." I took Andy's hand and said, "You'll love it, sweets." I didn't want him to feel left out of all my reveries.
We sat in the living room waiting for Bob. The apartment was warm enough, but I sure didn't want anything cold, so Jaden made hot coffee, which he served with chocolate chip cookies.
We filled Jaden in on everything that was going on with our friends. He was genuinely interested. He even asked how Tracy was doing in nursing school. He told us that his practice was growing more rapidly than he had anticipated, and he was looking for a third legal associate. We told him how pleased we were to hear that he was doing so well.
Just then Bob came in. He kissed us both on the cheek and went to a shelf where he got a spray bottle and sprayed his throat.
"Just some disinfectant," he explained." It's not for you guys. It's for the whole world out there. I don't kiss anyone on the lips when I'm singing. I hope you'll forgive me."
"Of course," I said. "We certainly understand. Besides I wouldn't want to have come all this way and not see you perform."
As if on cue, the telephone rang. Jaden answered it, and spoke cordially with someone at the other end. He handed the phone to Bob. "It's your boss," he informed Bob.
"I'll take it in the bedroom," Bob said looking concerned. Jaden listened until Bob got on the line and then he hung up. We were all silent during the call, because Bob had looked so concerned.
After what seemed hours, but was only minutes, Bob came out of the bedroom smiling.
"Extra house money this week," he joked with Jaden. They're doing Butterfly tonight and Jimmy caught the flu." He looked at Andy and me and said, "James Starling is the tenor who was supposed to sing Pinkerton tonight. Anyway they asked me to fill in, and I agreed."
"How can you do that?" Andy asked. You're singing tomorrow, and Rudolfo is a killer role."
"I know. We discussed that. Pinkerton has a big first act, but doesn't even appear in Act Two. In Act Three, he has only one short aria. Butterfly practically sings the whole act on her own, so I'll be able to give my voice plenty of rest. Sorry guys, I just won't talk to you tomorrow. I told Larry I wouldn't do it unless I could get three house seats. The performance is sold out. To cut to the chase, there are three tickets for you all at the box office. It's a good thing we don't have show tickets tonight."
"Wow, I am so excited," I said to Bob. "Will you be able to have dinner with us?"
"No," he answered. "You all go to Mario's and from there to the theater. I've got to head back now. Jimmy is about five sizes bigger than I am and we have to do some quick wardrobe adjustments."
He refrained from kissing any of us, even Jaden, but he took Jaden's chin in his hands and said, "When I'm making a baby with Butterfly tonight, I'll pretend I'm fucking you." We all laughed. It seemed an incongruous statement from someone about to sing such an important dramatic role.
After he left, the three of us showered and dressed in appropriate attire, jackets and ties. In Ft. Lauderdale, it would have been perfectly all right to forgo the tie. When we walked into Mario's, Mario himself was acting as maitre d'. He greeted Jaden warmly. Then he looked at me with what seemed a glimmer of recognition.
"Hello Mario," I said. "I haven't been here for many years. I'm Jaden's dad, Harry Dell."
"Oh my God." Mario almost screamed. He grabbed my hand and started pumping it. "How long has it been?" he asked.
"Too long," I said, and left it at that.
In addition to his marvelous food, Mario kept sending over extra side dishes at no cost to us. I guess he was that glad to see me.
I picked up the tab over Jaden's protest. He gave in when I agreed to lose my wallet for the rest of the trip. We hailed a taxi, and for some reason it made me feel good when I told the driver to take us to Lincoln Center.
Jaden picked up our tickets at the will call box office, and we went to our seats. We were seated about seven rows back from the orchestra and somewhat right of center. When I opened the playbill, I discovered a hastily mimeographed notice that James Starling was ill and the role of Lt. Pinkerton would be sung tonight by Robert Harris. After a few minutes, a good looking couple sat down in the two empty seats to my right. Once settled in, the woman opened the playbill and read the notice. She gave a muffled cry of delight, and said to her husband, "We lucked out tonight, darling. Harris is singing Pinkerton."
I wondered if Jaden had heard her. I was certainly going to tell him, when she was out of earshot. He was seated between Andy and me so there was a good chance he had heard her. Andy, Jaden and I chatted for a brief while and the houselights began to dim. I always get a shiver of expectation when house lights dim. The show is about to begin and that always excites me.
Suddenly, I heard a ripple of applause which grew steadily until the audience was shouting. The conductor was walking to the podium. He turned toward the audience and bowed. Then he turned toward the orchestra raised his baton and the music began.
There is no doubt that Bob made a handsome hero, or in this case, an anti-hero, but the soprano who sang Butterfly was absolutely gorgeous. Not only did the two of them make a good looking, believable couple, but they were both fantastic actors. Bob's Pinkerton was so callous and uncaring about Butterfly's feelings, I was tempted to boo him. Butterfly was so fragile and pathetic, I wanted to take her in my arms to comfort her. The performances of all the other characters were vocally satisfying, but the acting was wonderful, as well. They were all so believable, I could not remember being so drawn into the action of a drama.
Toward the end of the opera, a remorseful Pinkerton sobs over Butterfly's body screaming, "Butterfly, Butterfly." Bob screamed and sobbed her name simultaneously. He stunned the audience with his acting and singing. The applause was almost non stop. The audience was standing and roaring its approval as the singing actors took their bows. As for me, I couldn't be prouder if Bob was my natural son. Andy looked at me and I knew he was thinking the same thing.
It occurred to me that in La Boheme, Bob's lover would die in the last act, leaving him to scream her name also. I figured that maybe that was a specialty of Bob and Puccini.
Jaden took us back stage to pick Bob up so that we could take one taxi home. On our way out, the beautiful young woman who had sung the role of Butterfly was leaving also. Much to my shock, Bob introduced me as his father and Andy as my partner. She shook our hands, and said that she was very pleased to meet us. We in turn told her how much we had enjoyed her magnificent performance.
By the time we got home, Andy and I were euphoric. I wanted to hug Bob over and over, but I was afraid of giving him a germ and kept my distance. Jaden put up water to boil for tea. He made Bob tea and honey after every performance.
"I can't wait for tomorrow," I said to Bob. "When you sang karaoke, I knew you had a magnificent tenor voice, but I had no idea, how powerful it was. And your acting was worthy of an academy award. Have you had acting lessons?" I asked.
"Not formally," Bob answered, but we have dramatic coaches who are engaged by the opera. Now, if you will excuse me, I must turn in and rest. It's unusual for me to sing two such strenuous roles two nights in a row."
Andy and I hugged the boys. They went into their bedroom and we went into ours. We were both too excited, and yes, too exhausted to have sex that night, but we lay scrunched against each other in bed. Our semi erect cocks rubbed together sensuously as we kissed and ran our hands over our bodies until we drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, I was awakened by bright sun light coming into the room. The cold and dank of yesterday was gone. I knew from experience that it could still be bitter cold, but the sun would have a warming effect even if it was only psychological. Then too, this could be the beginning of a January thaw, and that would be nice for us adopted Floridians.
The apartment house was built in the 1930's and it had only one bathroom. Andy was not in bed and I could hear the shower running. I decided to join him. I walked out of the room and headed for the shower. I was completely naked, of course, but after their visit to the nude beach with us, and their stay in Florida, the four of us had no modesty left when it came to parading around naked.
I slipped into the shower with Andy and we tried to be as quiet as possible so as not to disturb Bob. We began to kiss and fondle each other, but tried to refrain from making love, knowing full well that we were very noisy lovers. Still it was pleasant, and somehow comforting, having the warm water cascade down our bodies as we ran our hands all over our naked bodies.
After our showers, we shaved and used the bathroom individually for our bodily functions. We both preferred privacy in those matters. We dressed, and I listened quietly at the door to the boys' bedroom. I could distinctly hear light snoring, so Andy and I decided to have breakfast out at one of the thousands of great coffee shops which populated the island of Manhattan.
There was one such coffee shop right down the street at the corner. We were wearing our borrowed coats, which we certainly needed, but it was indeed a lot warmer than it had been the day before. The sun was reassuring and I no longer felt that I was going to turn into a snowman.
I ordered two eggs over medium, hash brown potatoes, coffee and an untoasted Kaiser roll, which in New York is known simply as a hard roll. They have Kaiser rolls in Ft. Lauderdale, but they taste like straw compared to the texture of a New York hard roll. Everyone says it's the water. New York gets its water from mountain lakes and streams upstate, and it's the purest and best tasting in America.
Andy ordered scrambled eggs with home fries, coffee and a toasted sesame bagel. In the end I ate half his bagel and he ate half my roll. There is nothing like the taste of New York food. We both suddenly realized that there was a lot about New York we really did miss, but it wasn't the weather.
After breakfast, Andy asked if I was up for a short walk. I nodded and he started out. I followed him. "I've seen where you used to live," he said. "Coincidentally, I lived only two streets away. I'm glad we never met. It would have been at the wrong time in the wrong place."
"You're right," I agreed. In a couple of minutes, he stopped in front of an apartment building similar to the one Jaden and Bob live in. All the buildings in this neighborhood must have been developed about the same time.
"This is it," he said, We looked at it, but of course we didn't go in. "We had lots of happy days here," Andy said, looking much as I had looked when we pulled into the parking garage yesterday afternoon. I put my arm around his shoulder and turned him around so that he faced away from the building.
"Let's face forward," I said, "and not look back."
"Right," he said. "It's such a beautiful day. The air is so brisk. Let's walk a bit before we go back. He locked his arm in mine and we started our walk. As we did, we played a little game, trying to remember what, if anything, had changed since our last visit to the old neighborhood. The only thing we agreed on, and knew for certain, was that a shoe repair shop we had both used had been replaced by a `Subway' shop. We wondered where the residents went to have their shoes repaired, and concluded that they didn't. When their shoes needed heels or soles, they simply threw them away and bought new ones.
It wasn't long before we both started to shiver so we headed back to the warmth of the apartment. When we got there, both boys were just leaving. Jaden said, he was going into the office for a few hours, and Bob said that he had some last minute rehearsing and a session with both the vocal and drama coach. He said he hoped to be home by 3 PM when he would try to nap and then have a light snack before heading to the theater.
We found ourselves alone and headed right for the bedroom, where we stripped in record time and threw ourselves on the bed in a sixty-nine position. Andy is an awesome cock sucker. I can't even describe what he can do with his extremely educated tongue. Whatever it is, it triggers the start of an orgasm in me much sooner than I would like. I have tried to learn and emulate, but I will never have his knack. Needless to say, I came a good five minutes before he did. I didn't mind at all. I have learned to love the taste of Andy's cock. I savor it and could stay down on him forever if my jaw would allow it. We both swallowed all of our cum so there was no mess at all. Afterwards, we lay wrapped up in each other's arms and fell asleep for a little bit of time.
When we awoke, we dressed and decided to have lunch out, and reacquaint ourselves once more with the wonderful taste of New York food. We went to a neighborhood deli, which thankfully was still in business. Andy ordered a roast beef sandwich on rye, and I opted for pastrami on rye. It came with cole slaw and a sour pickle, but I asked for, and got, a half sour pickle. Andy ordered a root beer with his sandwich and I ordered cream soda. Cream soda is vanilla flavored pop. Try to get that in Ft. Lauderdale. We both declined a side of French Fries. Andy and I were in food euphoria. I could see at least five extra pounds to lose when we got home.
By now it had warmed up considerably. The sun was high in the sky so we decided to walk a little more and maybe walk off some of the calories we had just eaten. In our travels, we passed a small park. New York had generously sprinkled small parks throughout heavily urban neighborhoods. These were aptly named `Pocket Parks.' We found a bench in the park and sat facing the sun which was warming our old bones. We sat like this for quite a while when my cell phone rang. I answered it and not surprisingly it was Colin.
I told him about Bob's extra performance last night and what a brilliant singing actor he was. So far all was going well. We had a good flight into New York, and we were looking forward to tonight's performance of La Boheme. We were going to see a Broadway musical tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Then on the day after that Bob and Jaden were going to a musical with us. I told him that Andy and I were eating ourselves into oblivion with New York food. He also assured us that all was well with him and his family. He asked if Andy was available, and that he would like to say hello. I handed the phone to Andy and to my very pleasant surprise, they chatted for about two minutes like two old friends. It was just small talk, but it was comfortable small talk, not forced by either one of them. I can't tell you how happy that made me. Andy handed the phone back to me and just as Colin and I were saying our last goodbyes, Andy's phone rang.
It was Richie, Tony, Al and Tom calling us from the nude beach. There was really too much confusion to talk long but we let them know that we were having a ball and would fill them in on everything when we saw them. I got the distinct impression that they envied us that we had children to visit and who visited us. When I told Andy what I felt, he agreed with me and then reached over and kissed me. I was still reticent about public displays of affection, but nothing held Andy back. I pulled away from him.
"People will see us," I complained.
"Who cares?" he said. "You really have to get over it."
"I know," I said and reached over and kissed him back.
If Bob had been brilliant last night, he was nothing short of a phenomenon this evening. This time he had been rehearsing for weeks. He had absorbed every bit of advice his vocal and drama coaches had given him and he was very well prepared. He was a good ten years older than the character he was playing, but his youthful appearance was totally believable. The same was true of Mimi. She looked beautiful on the stage albeit sporting a few extra pounds. She was pleasingly plump, and she certainly didn't look like she was dying of consumption. Regardless, her wonderful singing and acting had us believing in her from the first notes she sings halfway through the first act.
The end of the opera sets a very similar scene to the end of Butterfly. Mimi is dying on a cot in Rudolfo's garret with all their friends around her. Rudolfo cannot bear to see her suffering so much and he turns away for a few moments. Suddenly he realizes that the room has grown silent. He turns to Mimi and realizes she is dead. He calls her name twice, "Mimi, Mimi," as he throws himself on her body. When Bob sang out Mimi twice, it was so filled with heartbreak and pathos that most of the audience began to cry, including yours truly. How magnificent his voice is and what a magnificent actor he is as well.
The cast received a standing ovation. Audience members tossed flowers on the stage. Bob retrieved a rose, bowed to his Mimi and presented her with the rose as he kissed her hand. The entire experience was thrilling.
That night we sat around the kitchen table having tea, honey and cookies and reliving the excitement of the performance. Bob was having a hard time coming down from his high, but that was no tragedy. He took Jaden's hand in his, and said to Andy and me, "Listen guys, I'm not tired tonight and I don't have to go to sleep early. I don't even have to sing for a week, but please excuse Jaden and me. I haven't made love to my darling in several days, and I have lots to make up for."
Andy and I started to laugh. "We certainly empathize," Andy said. Go enjoy yourselves, and we might just do the same." Now Bob and Jaden were laughing as they walked hand in hand to their bedroom.
To be continued...